Finally a weekend in Florence...

We finally were able to spend a weekend in Florence and we had a whole agenda planned out for it of what we wanted to do and although everything didn't go exactly as planned, we still had so much fun. It was nice to finally not be traveling on a bus, train, or boat, using a map to get around, taking a 3 hour long walking tour, or taking a million and one pictures of monuments. I'll fill you in on a few highlights of the weekend...

1. I LOST MY PHONE. I know I said it got stolen and essentially it did but I lost it before it got stolen. I have this little clutch that falls loosely on my shoulder and Friday night when we were walking home I was taking pictures and it must have fallen off my shoulder and I didn't realize. I suddenly stopped in the street and freaked when I realized I didn't have it anymore. We re-traced our steps but it was ultimately GONE FOREVER! Luckily, the only thing in the little clutch was my phone and 5 euro. I frantically felt my pockets and thank goodness I had taken my camera and keys (the two most important things) out of my clutch earlier. Oh well, hopefully I'll have my phone replaced by Monday.

2. Kristen, our friend from Rome came to visit for the weekend and we had soooo much fun with her and did lots and lots of shopping! I actually finished up all my souvenir shopping!

3. Friday night was one of the BEST nights ever at our favorite bar, AMADEUS. Although, sadly we found out that the owner just sold the bar to someone else so all our favorite bartenders will be there no longer. :(

4. We took away PIZZA and saw the sunset at Pizzale Michelangelo. Well, we kind of missed the sunset a little bit because the pizza we TOOK AWAY was on the other side of the city but it was still amazing to sit on the steps and eat our pizza and see night fall. It was the funniest thing ever to walk through the city (3 American girls with 3 pizza boxes). So many people asked if they could have some and they were laughing so much at us. They do have take away pizza here but it is very rare and you definitely stand out running through the city with pizza boxes!

5. We went to American Diner again and I had the most amazing veggie burger made with spinach, onions, and broccoli and of course FRENCH FRIES with HEINZ ketchup! We actually all had burgers, you can tell we really miss home!

6. We met a girl from Australia who was traveling in Europe but who lives in Australia but is originally from America. She studied abroad in Australia while in college, met a boy, fell in love, finished school in America and then moved back to Australia. She talked about how much she loved it, and I had been thinking about going to Australia and now I really want to. I don't know if I could be abroad for another semester though, but who knows... maybe after I graduate?!?!

7. This beautiful weather in Florence is not helping my studies. I just can't resist going outside when the weather is so nice. So I have decided to spend as much time outside during the day and will be staying up later at night to do all my work.

8. The volcano in Iceland is a terrible thing. Many of our friend's parents who were due to visit this week cannot fly over. One of my roommate's parent's were in Spain all last week and were due to fly to Florence on Saturday but because of the volcano, the Florence airport shut down all incoming flights to Italy. I feel really bad but there is nothing anyone can do. Hopefully it clears up soon or we'll all be in trouble when it comes time to fly home.

9. I love staying in Florence on the weekends because that means we can go to BRUNCH at Ganzo. The brunch at school back home will never compare to the brunch in Florence!

10. I fall more in love with this city everyday. As much as I'm excited to come home, it will be really hard to leave.