I never thought I would get sick...

Yesterday (Thursday) is my favorite day of the week besides the fact that I have to wake up at 7:30 because Thursday is my only day with an early class, it's weird that I am complaining though because every day last semester, I was up by 6:40. Even though, I have to wake up early, Thursday is still my favorite day. So early in the morning, we headed to Chocolate Class at Apicius when our teacher (Andrea Bianchini) decided that we were going to go to his store for class today instead. So, we made the mile or more hike to his shop which I had been to before (the retail part) but this time we got a behind the scenes look at the real chocolate making. He has two stores in Florence but only one of them actually makes the chocolate and that's the one we went to. We were able to see the chocolate machine running and his workers at work making the chocolate. I was in Heaven. We then proceeded to try like 27 different pieces of chocolate (well, it probably wasn't that many but it sure felt like it). I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD GET SICK OF CHOCOLATE. I love chocolate beyond belief and if you put it in front of me, I will surely eat it but we just ate so much chocolate in class, he just kept feeding us more and more. We tried so many like little chocolate squares which are small and very good in proportion but we tried so many different flavors. The chocolate are filled with ganache, all different kinds from plain to a pepper one, to rosemary, and even lavender and lemon. We even got to try a chocolate chip cookie straight from the oven. After about the tenth piece of chocolate, I felt so sick and never before have I said that I felt sick or that I could not eat another piece of chocolate. It's still is and will always be my favorite class. Who could ask for a better class than learning about different types of chocolate and being able to taste them all!

Next was cultural class which is always a blast! (NOT!) There are just way too many people in the class and it is very difficult to listen to the teacher. Luckily, though the class is only an hour long. We learned a bit about where we are going next weekend on our field trip to Naples, Pompeii, Capri, and Sorrento... I must say that I am very excited to travel outside of Florence again. We anxiously sit and class and wait for the end because it is our weekly to tradition to go the Tripe Stand and order our tripe panino. However, when we arrived, they were all out of paninos so we just had to get a bowl of tripe (which I'll admit was a little bit more difficult because it forced me to look at what I was eating instead of just eating a sandwich)... it will still just as delicious though.

After lunch, we went to the big supermarket on the other side of the city from our apartment (big mistake!) and we bought food to make an All-American dinner. Emily cooked for us and we had hamburgers, baked potato chips, and vegetables. Burgers are the typical American meal and I cannot tell you the last time I had a burger but they were so good. The big supermarket is amazing because they sell everything, even salad dressing! It just stinks because than you have to carry all your groceries back which took us about twenty-five minutes with heavy bags (which, yes... you have to pay for... 5 euro cents a bag) I definitely will not forget my re-usable bag ever again. Think about how much paper/ plastic could be saved if all grocery bags started charging for their bags. The re-usable bags are also sturdier and hold more so all around its better to bring your own bags.

I also love Thursdays because that's usually when we go out and wonder around and do some exploring. We decided to walk up to Pizzale Michelangelo again and of course it was cloudy again so my pictures still are not that clear but the views are still amazing. We then walked around the back and went up to the Chiesa San Miniato al Monte (St. Minias on the Mountain Church) which was absolutely beautiful and provided so many other great views of the city. There were also gorgeous cemeteries up there. Even though it was cloudy, the weather was till warm so after climbing up all the stairs, we decided to sit on a bench for awhile and just enjoy the gorgeous views of the city.