September 14th

Started off the day with my parfait then headed over to my wine tasting class. Today we had three wines, two white and one red. I have never really loved a wine, but I LOVED this wine. It was so sweet and in a word, perfect. It was 14% alcohol and I couldn't even taste the alcohol which is amazing because, as I have learned, 14% in a wine is rather high alcohol content. We are learning how to judge wines based on color, consistency, and also learning the history of wine. It is actually really fascinating and something I will remember for a long, long time.

After class and my delicious wine, I headed over to meet Courtney for lunch. There is a restaurant run by the culinary kids that attend my school. I had a pasta dish with creamy white sauce, cherry tomatoes, and arugula. It was pretty good! It was a little on the cold side, but it was still pretty flavorful.

After lunch I came home and had a really intense nap. I napped for about an hour and a half and it was a great nap. After my nap I had the rest of our chicken soup we made for dinner and Courtney headed off to class. Once she was gone, Ellen, one of my other roommates, and I went on a two our long walk across the river. We ended up at a place called Pizza de Michelangelo and it was gorgeous. You could see all of Florence and since it was sunset, it made for a really romantic setting; Ellen and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Pictures are on facebook, of course.

When we made it home I had a tuna (tonno), apple, and cherry tomato salad, it was good and my last night of it for the week. I did pretty well with planning out my meals for this week. Tomorrow Courtney and I were invited to our first dinner party at the apartment of some girls that we met last weekend! I am so excited! On our way home, of course we will be getting some gelato for dessert.

I ended the night with a skype with my dad. It was great and filled with laughter. I love him so much and miss him and mom a lot. I will see them soon though! Wow, only three more months left. I was talking with Courtney about this last night, even though we have only been here for two weeks, it seems like we have been here for two months. I know the rest of the time will fly by, but at the moment it seems like it is creeping. I love it here, don't get me wrong, but time is just a funny concept.

Con amore, Ciao!