and I'm back!!!

Landed in Florence 1/2 hr late at 11:20 am. Split a cab with Jenn back to Piazza della Repubblica, dropped off my things and then took a bus with Alana and Leora in time to make my 1 pm class (ha to all those people that said I would never be able to make my clas). After class I hung out with Alana for a while, caught up and studied/ taught ourselves the material for our make up Italian quiz that evening. The quiz wasn't so bad and I think I did well, especially for having needed to teach myself 2 weeks of material (although, I have to say Alana was an amazing study partner). I then walked back to the apt with a bunch of people, made dinner, showered and unpacked before crashing...
it's so weird to be back after such an amazing break...
until next time!
-arrivederci

Duomo Tours

Had class as usual and then gave a tour of the duomo. My tours today were exceptionally fun because the people I gave tours to really seemed to enjoy them and were extremely friendly making the whole waiting in a freezing cathedral to give tours worth it. One German mother and daughter loved my tour so much that the daughter wanted to come to Florence after college and volunteer as a tour guide for a little bit :-P.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Last day in Jerusalem

I woke up early this morning (7:40) because I had to be out of the upstairs apartment by 8. I then headed downstairs and hung out there for a while before heading out to meet Avital and head to Hebrew U together. But... once I got to town Abby wasn't answering her phone. And neither was Becky so I had no idea where anyone was or where I should meet them. So I just hung out in the Ben Yehuda area and did some shopping before heading back to the Comet's to drop everything off. I then met up with Adina Goldberger which was really nice. She never leaves Migdal Oz but her grandmother has been in for a while so they've been doing things together. It was nice seeing Adina and catching up with her. People from before eventually called me back, some overslept like crazy and others didnt realize they had so much class today. So it's sad I won't be able to see some of them but atleast I was able to see them before. Finally, Becky was able to make it into Jerusalem so I went and met her at the place she was staying - The Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center. It was a gorgeous building. We then went to a cute pasta place on Ben Yehuda for dinner. It was nice to catch up with her after not seeing her for so long. We then stopped off at the hostel again before heading to the Comet's. We took a few pictures to show to all the relatives and I then headed to the bus to go to Efrat.
I wasn't going to the make it to the bus at the tachana so I headed to malcha to catch the bus from there. But I got there like 10 minutes before hte bus was supposed to leave from the tachana hamerkazi so i decided to just take the bus to Gilo and tremp. There was a lot of traffic going into the gush but once we got past the check point we got there really quickly. Once I got there Hadar thought she had to leave to go to her brother's because her new born nephew hadn't slept in 24 hours and her brother and sister-in-law needed help. I was going to go to Migdal Oz and hang out with people there but I was really sad that I wouldn't get to hang out with Hadar. But in the end her mom went so we were able to hang out :) yaya!! Hadar was so cute and she kept feeding me and even made me an ice cream surprise.
We did end up going to Migdal Oz for a bit and visited Liyana. I really love Hadar's house and once again had a nice time hanging out with her and her family.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Shushan Purim

Woke up early so I could get to Jerusalem and meet up with Adi in the tachana hamerkazi before he had to head back to his base. When I got to the bus stop Becky was still there (she had left at 8 when I was waking up). She said all the buses had passed her because they were full so they didnt stop. So we walked to a bus stop 10 minutes away that had otehr buses to Jerusalem. But on the walk we saw the bus that I was planning on making pass and it wasn't so full so we could have gotten on. We then caught a bus 20 minutes later. Adi called me around 25 minutes before I got to the tachana hamerkazi and told me he was already there but he couldn't wait for me because he had to continue on to his base. So it was sad that i couldn't see Adi one last time before I left. I then headed to the Comet's to drop off my napsack. I hung out wit Michele for a bit before heading to Rimone's seudah. It was so cute seeing Rimone host a seudah. I don't think i've seen her since she got married. She and Josh were really cute together. One of their guests had left and came back an hour later completely wasted. It was sad to see him go from being so happy to extremely sick. We then looked at Rimone and Josh's wedding pictures (apparently it was the first time they looked through all of them at once). I then walked around the shuk for a bit before heading to the kotel to daven mincha. On the way I walked down Ben Yehuda and saw a really cute girl dressed as a butterfly dance to one of the street performers playing music. A few tourists started to take pictures of her. It was crazy how many costumes I saw and how many drunk people there were. I even saw like 12 year olds who could barely walk straight because they were so drunk. The kotel wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be and I was able to even find a seat to sit down and write a note to stick in the kotel. I also wrote a few notes for people who had asked me to write notes for them. I then was really tired and decided to take a bus back to Rimone's. It prob took 3 times as long because of all the traffic and the route it took but I was able to sit down so that was fine. I hung out at Rimone's for a bit and eventually left with Abby/ Avital. We went to Masaryk and had a really nice dinner. We also got an amazing chocolate volcano cake for desert.
We weren't so hungy after the meal but we waited like 15 minutes after we finished eating to get the cake because it was too good to pass up on. I also ran next door before we got desert to get a gift for the Comet's. Reva had told me about a really nice tea that i could give to the Comet's for dessert but I wasn't able to find it anywhere. So I finally gave up and was going to get a bottle of wine but then found the tea in the wine shop so that was a nice surprise. After dinner I went back to Avital's place and we hung out there for a while. Her place was really nice. The Comet's then called me to ask me to come back because Yoni had a phone interview and I didn't have a key. So I raced back to the Comet's. I was proud of myself that i was able to find my way from Avital's to the Comet's. I got lost for one block but only for like half a block and then turned back and found my way. I slept in the office upstairs because originally Becky was supposed to join me and we were supposed to have dinner and then both sleep at the Comet's but she called me early today to let me know that she wasn't going to make it in time. So I had the office upstairs and a king size bed all to myself :).
until next time!
-arrivederci

Purim

I woke up at around 8 for Megillah reading and Reva and I made it to shul like 5 minutes before minyan even started. It was nice to once again go to minyan in the morning... After megillah reading we went to Aroma for breakfast. Everyone then headed to their seudah's and I passed out while Reva did last minute prep for the seudah and distributed her mishloach manot.

Her mishloach manot was in theme with her costume (thanks to my brilliant idea :-P) and she found the milk pitchers that they use in Israel and inside she had a bunch of cow related items - a milky, the chocolate bars with cows on it and a few other items that I can't remember. I then woke up and headed over to Sara's and Danielle's for the seudah. It was a really nice seudah and the food was delicious. It was buffet style and we all just hung out for a few hours and had a really nice time.
People kept coming and going and as the day got later people became more and more drunk. One guy left completely sober and came back ridiculously drunk. Someone was giving a dvar torah and he started cracking up and falling on the floor. It was quite amusing. After a while most people left except for me, Reva, Avigayil, Sara, Matan, Ariel, and Chaim. Matan and Ariel were a tad drunk and it was really funny watching them. Ariel and Chaim were playing and singing guitar. After a while we had a sort of karaoke thing going and the girls would sing along to lyrics that we googled and Ariel would play while Matan would drunkenly try and play the guitar (he doesn't know how to). Then Ariel fell asleep and we took a few pictures with him. Then we all headed back to Reva's apartment and watched Definitely, Maybe. It was really cute there were around 10 girls crowded around my tiny laptop screen watching the movie. Reva also made us amazing kettlecorn popcorn that she popped by herself. She rocks!!!
until next time!
-arrivederci

Ta'anit Esther

Woke up at around 11:30 after going to bed at 2 and then sort of just hung out in the apartment for a bit. I then finished making my costume and went shopping with Reva for stuff for the breakfast and other random stuff. We then came back to the apartment and baked hamentashen with Atara for a bit before heading to Danielle Grushko's to start decorating the apartment for the seudah tomorrow.
When we got back we quickly made a salad before Reva ran out to practice for megillah reading. All day I was debating whether or not to go to Migdal Oz or stay here for megillah reading and finally at like 4 I decided I wanted to go to Migdal Oz but the one ride i could have had was full and I wouldn't have made it in time otherwise. Really annoying but whatever, nothing I could do about it... I then finished up my costume and we waited for Sarena before heading to the place where the women's megillah reading was going to take place. It was really cute. Reva read two prakim and then there was a nice break fast. We then headed back to Reva's apartment for a little bit.
I changed out of my bananagrams costume because the bottle started to get really annoying. We then headed to the amphitheatre. Everyone was super excited about this amphitheatre. It was on the Bar Ilan campus like a 15 minute walk from the gate. I still can't get over how big the campus is. Anyways, we just hung out there for a bit and drank girls drinks. We didn't have a bottle opener so Reva and Shoshana opened up the bottles by banging them against the side of the steps. It was really funny. Also, because Reva rarely drinks she had no idea what chasers were so she left the juice in the apartment so we just had spritzers and vodka. But even so noone really got drunk and we just sat around singing and talking. Adi also came for like 2 hours. It was really nice to see him again after so long. After I walked him back to his car I went back to Reva's apartment and Yaakov was there with Sarena but when I got to the apartment I had to run to the bathroom and missed his name so I just thought he was another random guy from the building. But then when i got out and sat down with them I was like Sarena I thought Yaakov was here, and they all looked at me strangely and said this is Yaakov... then we all started laughing at me and played bananagrams until heading to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Migdal Oz

Woke up a few times but only got out of bed at 11:30... which was amazing. Hadar had left for work at 9am so I hung out downstairs with her sister for a little bit before heading to the makolet where I bought minutes for my Israel phone. It was so weird being back in Efrat and seeing all the places that I used to visit everyday. I then walked to Migdal Oz and took a tremp up the hill. It was so sad on my walk I passed one of the gates and one of the chayalim asked me if there was a makolet nearby and I told him there was one in Efrat and he got excited and asked how far away so i said like a 10 minute walk. He then looked really really sad so I told him he should ask any girls he sees walking to Efrat if they could buy him something. Then once I got to Migdal Oz I called my friends and they gave me the code to get into the campus. My friends that were still learning there weren't in that day because they were working but there were still a few people that I recognized. I davened in Miri's makom and then headed down for lunch. I saw a bunch of people I knew at lunch including Talya Harczstark and Nichama Twersky. It was so weird being back in Migdal Oz and seeing all the little changes since I had been there. I then started walking to Efrat and caught a tremp to Kenyon Malka. I wasn't meeting Miri for a while so I walked around the mall for a bit but didn't really find anything I liked. I then waited for a bus to take me to merkaz hair. While I was waiting for a bus, a guy got out of his car and started yelling at the bus driver. Apparently the bus driver had nearly run him over and the other driver was going crazy. He even started to get really violent and break things in his arms reach. But the bus driver stayed calm and eventually the other driver got back in his car and drove off. There was no real damage done everything was able to snap back into place but it was still really scary. I decided not to get on that bus and just waited for a diff one. I made it to Cup of Joe and waited a few minutes for Miri to show up. It was nice catching up with her and I was proud of myself that I was able to speak with her in hebrew. After Miri left I tried to get in touch with Kayla Zecher but she wasn't answering her phone so I decided to just head to the shuk and pick up mishloach manot. I ran into Sarah Zweig and we walked around the shuk together. I then walked to the tachana ha'merkazi and bought myself burgers bar for pre fast dinner. Its so weird how much the tachana ha'merkazi has changed since my year in Israel. The one change that I can't stand is how the bathrooms are no longer free. There used to be a bathroom in the foodcourt and one on the sublevel that were free but now you have to pay for all of them. It's only 1 shekel but it still just bothers me because I can't go a billion times before I have to take a long bus ride. I ran into someone I knew on the busride home and there were no seats together by the time we got on the bus but a guy was really nice and gave up his seat and sat next to a charedi guy so we could sit next to each other. I then got back to Reva's apartment and all of her roommates including Shoshana Cohen were there so we hung out for a while before heading to bed. Also, Atara Berkowitz had made really good vegetable soup that we all had.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Shabbat at Bar Ilan

Sarena, Reva and I took a few preshabbos pictures before heading to shul. It was so nice going to shul on Friday night and being able to participate in the davening and sing along. I also loved seeing all the guys with kippahs. I couldn't stop telling Reva how happy I was to be in Israel and how nice it was to see so many Jews and so much kosher food. She pointed out that it was as if I was coming from Poland to Israel and in a way she's right. I hate how Florence doesn't really have any Jewish life and I didn't realize just how much I missed it until I got to Israel and was surrounded by Jews. I ran into a few people I knew at shul including a girl from Ramaz and Raquella Seigel. Dinner was really cute. A bunch of us went to the dorms and ate in the kitchen. The food was delicious. Then we went back to Reva's apartment and played bananagrams before heading to bed.
In the morning we went to shul and heard parshat Zachor. It was so interesting hearing different guys read it in the different nusachs. We then went back to Reva's for lunch and one of her downstairs neighbors also joined us. We once again played bananagrams and we also played Kent. Reva and I of course were on the same team and we were awesome! go cousins!!! Meital also stopped by for a little bit but then had to leave to study for her orgo exam.
On Motzash Reva and I went to a L'Chaim for Sarit Silk and Meir Silverman in Alon Shvut (Sarena took the bus with us to Jerusalem). Right as we got off the bus at Tzomet HaGush I got a phone call from Yedidyah Silverman asking me where I was. I told him I just got to Tzomet HaGush and he asked if I wanted him to pick me up so I said sure that would be great. Once at the sheva brachot I saw people I hadn't seen in a while. It was really great catching up with people. Then after the sheva brachot Yedidyah once again offered to drive me, this time to Hadar's in Efrat. Yedidyah is ridiculously nice. He left his bro's L'chaim to pick me up and then drop me off. It was so exciting seeing Hadar again. I really missed her. It's always nice going to her house because she's such an amazing hostess and her family is always so friendly. It was also nice because we spent like 3 hours talking... in Hebrew! I didn't know I was capable of it but it was so nice being able to talk in hebrew for so long and not really stumble with the language.
until next time!
-arrivederci

off to Israel!

Woke up at 4am and took a cab to the airport. I got to the airport before it opened so I had to wait inside the terminal for around 15 minutes before checking in. One of the people who worked in the airport went around to all the women who worked there and gave them a bouquet of flowers and I also got one.

I then hung out in the airport for an hour and a half before taking the shuttle to the plane. The plane ride wasn't so bad and I fell asleep for some of it. I had a connecting flight in Vienna so I had an hour and half before boarding the next plane. I would have loved to have a longer layover and travel Vienna but whatever... I got internet access in the airport and downloaded a tv show to watch on the plane there. The plane took off 1/2 hr late so I was a little scared about shabbos but it ended up working out fine and we landed on time. I saw next to a guy who was probably over 6"6'. He barely fit in the seat and he couldn't sit straight but had to sit sideways so his knees would fit. I have no idea how he was able to sit like that for 3 hours. But he was really nice and we spoke for most of the flight. I then landed at the airport and took a cab to Bar Ilan. When I stepped out of the airport the weather was beautiful. I was wearing short sleeves and was still really hot. It was so exciting to be in Israel again. I even had so much fun talking to my cab driver. We got to talking and he asked me if I was dati, and I said yes. But then he looked me up and down in the rearview mirror and gave me a weird look because I was wearing sweatpants and short sleeves and then he said ehhh... to each their own (or whatever the equivalent is in hebrew). He was nice. I then arrived at Reva's and showered and got ready for shabbat. I still can't believe I'm in Israel...
until next time!
-arrivederci

Marketing Exam

Just took my marketing midterm and didn't not do as well as I had wanted to. It was a multiple choice test with 30 questions so each question was worth over 3 points. Not only that but there were 7 different versions of the test floating around so not everyone had the same questions. Everyone in the class is really upset because the questions were ridiculously detailed and totally arbitrary. It was also annoying because there were three questions that I wasnt sure about so I spoke to the professor during the test and then while i was up there I circled an answer and he was like no no no and shook his head so then i erased my answer and circled a different one and he shrugged. Then when we went over the test after everyone was done I saw that the answers that I initially circled were right. So that's like 9 points worth of questions that i was goign to get right but got wrong because he said no no no. It's ridiculous... But whatever. Done with marketing... I then went upstairs to the library to work on my art market paper and I lost my cell phone in the process :'(. I tried calling it from skype and everything but I think someone stole it because I kept getting a weird WIND message and then it started saying that the number does not exit. So that put a huge damper on my already really sad day. I worked on my paper until around 6 and then went to go print it. I then went to the bus stop because it was already dark and didnt want to walk home in teh dark. I had spoken to people before about going to Ruth's for dinner but in the end noone wanted to go because they all needed to study. So I decided to go by myself and have a nice relaxing dinner alone and spend like 2 hrs at Ruth's have a nice meal and study. I got to Ruth's and asked to be seated at a small table but she decided to place me at a huge six person table. Then around 5 minutes later 2 people that I'm not friends with entered the restaurant and the woman decided to place them at the end of my table. So already it was slightly awkward. But then a few minutes after that Abe came in. I figured Abe isn't hte type to go to dinner by himself so of course he was meeting someone. It turns out he was meeting two other people I'm not friends with. Once the other two people arrived the woman decided to place the three of them at my table. It was a super awkward dinner. Especially because I ordered before they all got there so I got my food before everyone else. But I just finished my food and left... Then I got back to the room and was still pretty upset about the exam that morning but I started talking to Emily and even though she didnt get so many wrong it was still nice talking to her about the exam. We spoke for like an hour and by the time i got around to studying I was way too exhausted and just decided to head to bed without really studying at all... oh well hopefully i'll have time to study tomorrow.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Finally Finished

For some reason I've been waking up at around 8am every morning for the past few days... It's weird. I woke up and had a really nice relaxed davening before heading to mercato centrale to buy fruits and vegetables. I got back had a nice lunch before heading to school. I was feeling really lazy so I took the bus to school and got there around 40 minutes before my class. So I decided to work a little on my Villas paper before class. After class I continued to work on my never ending Villas paper and was ready to print it out but of course I had trouble with the printer. So I asked one of the RHMs for help and he couldn't figure it out so he let me print my paper from his computer. We then got to talking for a while so I spent around 45 minutes printing out my paper... But yay I'm done!!! My min 10 page paper is now 17 and I'm finally done!!! But of course I then had to go to the library and do research on a different research paper. But I got distracted because Yonati was finally done with finals and had time to skype for a bit. So she talked while I typed back for a while but then that got too annoying so I went to a classroom for like 30 min and we chatted. I then went back to the library and tried to do some research but was very unsuccessful. By then it was around 6:30 and getting really dark so I decided to head back and take the bus. On the walk from San Marco I decided to stop in Uno and see if they can fix my macbook. Fortunately since I have apple care anything they did would be free but unfortunately they would have to ship it to Milan and it would take atleast 1 month. So looks like my comp is gonna be broken for a while :'(
Got back to the apt and made some steamed veges and pasta for dinner before studying for my marketing exam on Wednesday...
fun fun!
until next time!
-arrivederci

Update!

After spending all day studying in the room, the room got really really stuffy. I asked a few people in the building if they wanted to go for a 2 minute walk with me but surprise surprise they all had to study :'(. But thankfully Leora also hadn't left he building at all so she went with me for a walk. It had rained all day so the weather was really nice outside and it was great to finally get some fresh air. Leora and I just walked around the piazza for a few minutes but it was exactly what I needed.
Okay now back to studying...
until next time!
-arrivederci

Studying...

Unfortunately, I didn't end up going to Siena or Pisa today because everyone needed to study so I had no one to go with. I was thinking of going to Siena by myself but it was supposed to rain all day so I decided not to. Unfortunately, I not only did not go to Siena or Pisa but I also did not leave the building. I know it's really sad. I spent the majority of the day working on papers and studying. Fun!!! Although, I did have a nice distraction when I played a really fun guessing game with Rami. Ahh... I miss the good ole' days... Anyway, off to go study some more...
until next time!
-arrivederci

Shabbat

Went to shul with Alana, Ilana, Leora, Laura, Mara, Jenn and Shayna and got there just in time for Adon Olam. We then headed next door to the building where basically all the Jews live to have a meal at shabbat meal prepared for us by Simcha. A private donation was made to the shul and they used the money to host the Jewish students in Florence and local Jewish students. Unfortunately the Florence Jews didn't all make it and we only had around 6 people show up. But we had around 20 visiting students so we still had a really nice time. The group included Ellie Rubin, Caitlin, Abe, Zandi, the people I walked to shul with, Alix Krinick, Blair, Esther. Allison Rabinowitz and two of her friends also showed up and Valerie also joined us. The food was good but the space was really nice. Unlike Chabad we had a ton of room and there was heat so we could eat without having to wear our coats which was definitely nice. We also had real wine and it was a really fun experience. We spoke to a few of the Italians for a little bit (but tey mainly just stuck to themselves). In Italy, highschool is different and they have to choose different schools that are focused around different subjects. They have gymnasium, architecture, art, linguistics... The boy I spoke to was in a linguistics school. He spoke German, French, Spanish, Italian, English and a little bit of hebrew. I am so jealous! I really wish that I knew 3 languages fluently... However, after talking to him a bit longer he told us that he failed twice and that's why he's 18 and in high school. We're still a bit confused as to what this means because we thought they only took exams in their final year but whatever. After dinner we walked back and Valerie showed me where Uno (the mac store) was so hopefully I'll go there soon to get my computer fixed... we'll see.
Shabbos morning I woke up at 8:40 for some reason and couldn't fall back asleep. So I just lay in bed until the cleaning people came at 9:15. I asked them to come back in 5 minutes but they came back 2 hours later. But it was nice because I had time to get dressed and daven. I don't really like going to shul anymore because I don't like their style of davening and would rather have a meaningful davening in my room using my Ashkenazi siddur. I then read one of my textbooks for a bit before heading over to Chabad. Lunch was really nice and we met another girl from Syracuse who is studying in Florence. The majority of the Syracuse students live in homestays. As a result her Italian was so much better than ours. It also turns out that I met her on the train on the way to Paris. She remembered me telling Zandi about the housing situation. What a small world. There were also visiting chabad guys studying in Venice to become Chabad Rabbis. Alana was going to ask one of them to marry her - she would love the life of a chabad wife (constantly meeting new people every week), but at the last second chickened out. After lunch Valerie took me, Mara, Laura and Alana for a little walk of the area and showed us where co-op was. It's a huge supermarket which we will hopefully go to from now on. It's a little bit out of the way but they have everything and it's so much cheaper than Standa or Mercato Centrale. We then walked to the Duomo with Valerie. We weren't sure if she wanted us to invite her back to our place or not but we all wanted to take a nap anyways so we didn't. I passed out and woke up a little before shabbos was over. I was going to go upstairs for seudat shlishit but they had already closed the sliding doors so i was trapped. But a few minutes later I heard someone in the hallway and someone was opening the doors for us again. So I went upstairs and Mara, Ilana, Leora and I played bananagrams and had seudat shlishit. I then davened maariv and said havdalah for everyone.
After shabbos I did some work before heading to Ricasoli with Laura and Mara. Ricasoli has such a cute apartment and they always do really cute things together. Tonight they had a nice dinner for everyone and invited a bunch of people over. It was a lot of fun. The only annoying thing was that none of the food or wine was kosher so I couldn't have anything. It's so frustrating not being able to do so many things with other people. Because of shabbos I can only travel with people who are shomer shabbos and same thing with kosher. It's so hard to hang out with people because I cannot meet them for dinner at a restaurant or even eat by them. I either have to make them food or bring my own dishes. But at the same time I do love keeping kosher and having shabbos. It can just be frustrating at times. It's especially hard in Florence where keeping kosher is much harder than it is in NY.
Until next time!
-arrivederci

Florentine Villas

One of my less exciting days... Woke up early and pretty much spent the entire day working on my villas paper :'(. I really love this assignment but just hate that I have midterms to worry about and can't focus all my time on this project.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Buddhist Institution

I had an extremely interesting day. I was exhausted this morning and decided to take the bus to school (something I rarely do). So I got on the bus and tried to reach the machine to pay for the ride but it was just out of reach and the bus was really crowded. So another NYU student - a girl I sort of recognize but have no idea what her name - offered to swipe it for me. I have a 10 pass card so she kept swiping it thinking that it didn't go through but she ended up swiping me 3 times. So it was so frustrating because even though it's only 2 euro wasted it's still just annoying because it's 2 bus rides to school that i could have taken instead of walking... So I was sort of grumpy on the bus but before we got off she came up to me and apologized profusely and insisted on reimbursing me. I said that it was fine and it wasn't really her fault she just didn't know how to work the 10 pass cards. We then started talking for a bit and I felt a lot better. Knowing that she cared and felt bad made me less upset because it makes me feel better knowing that people actually care about other people. I then got off the bus and headed to my Art Market class. I have it in a huge room that never has good lighting so I always get really sleepy in that class. It also doesn't help that it's a 9am Thursday class. After class I ran into Abe. I never see Abe anymore so it was nice talking to him for like 15 minutes. I then studied for my Italian quiz for a bit. I think it went well. But we'll see on Monday... After class I looked up online how to visit my Villa. It's really cool that maps.google.com will give you public transportation directions. I looked up which buses to take and surprisingly made it to my villa without getting lost at all. I then spent the next hour walking around the land and taking tons of pictures. I tried to buzz into my villa but unfortunately noone answered the door. I was majorly disappointed but didn't really think there was anything else I could do. After I walked around the majority of my land I was about to head back but decided to return to one section that I hadn't visited. As it turns out this is the enterance to my villa - Villa Bellagio. Because i've been looking at maps from the late 19th century I went to the wrong door. They recently changed the entrance to the villa to the completely opposite side. I am so happy that I didn't head straight home. I walked up to the guards and asked them if I could just walk in. They then asked me if I was Buddhist and I said no but that I wanted to visit for a University class. The guard then shrugged and let me in. I then spent the next 30 minutes walking around by myself and taking notes on what I saw. I then ran into a Japanese group and we hung out for like an hour and a half. The tour guide spoke English and Italian and the Japanese spoke a little English so we were all able to commnicate. They're 22 years old and visiting as a graduation present. They were also Buddhist - hence why they were visiting. I then hung out with people who worked at the Buddhist center and tried having conversations with them in Italian because most of them didn't speak any English. They asked to take a picture with me. They counted down from ten and at the last second shot their hands up and made the peace sign. I started cracking up and knew I had to take a picture for Zandi who is obsessed with when they do that.
The tour guide then showed me a book about Villa Bellagio. I had looked in the library for this book but of course our tiny Villa La Pietra library doesn't have it. I spent the next 30 minutes reading the book and taking notes on the history of the land. I then said goodbye to the Japanese group and waiting for the tour guide to return to photocopy pictures in the book. He said he would only be 5 minutes (he was just putting the Japanese group in a cab) but 30 minutes later he was no where to be found. Another tour guide arrived and she tried to call the first tour guide but eventually he returned. He brought me up into the tour (the initial building of the villa) and showed me around parts of the villa that I wouldn't have been able to visit without him. Then as we were going upstairs to photo copy he remembered that the machine was broken. It was really frustrating but I appreciated all his effort in showing me around. I then rushed to catch a bus and made it to the bus stop just as the bus was arriving. It was a different number bus than the one I took to the villa so I had to ask the driver which bus I needed to transfer to in order to get to "il Duomo". I managed to get on all the right buses and made it back to my apartment in time for dinner with Alana. Alana and I had another date tonight and watched Lost together. I made steamed vegetables - cauliflower and broccoli, salad, quinoa (of course:-P) and a fish steak.
I really enjoyed having a real meal again and had a lot of fun hanging out with Alana. I really miss having her as my roommate.

old roomie dinner!

our yummy dinner

Laura and Nicole then stopped by for a bit. Nicole has been promising to visit me for the past 3 weeks and finally got around to it.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Planning a villa war...

the floor of my room while working on the villa project

Today started out as usual. Intro to marketing was boring as usual and my group presented and of course the entire class was cracking up at Ryan because he always gives really funny presentations. However, after the break Ryan found out that his friends sister had committed suicide. To make the situation even more horrifying - his friend found out that her sister had passed away through facebook. Her parents were flying to her college to tell her in person but word spread before they got a chance to tell her. It was an awful situation and I can't imagine how she must feel.
After class the day got a bit more cheery and I went upstairs to the library to do research on one of my two research midterm papers. I then went to Italian class and we reviewed for our super quiz tomorrow. I then met up with Ellie and scanned our maps but the printer wasn't working and the maps weren't such good quality. So instead I went back to the library and did more research. I then walked home and went to the little office space to do some work. I also sent in my application for the Science and Technology explorations floor. Alana and I then walked to Ruth's for a dinner date. It's weird not living with Alana any more and it was nice to have a chance to catch up with her. Ruth's of course took around 2 hours but we had a very enjoyable meal. However, we started talking about housing now and for next year and I got really sad because I hate having new roommates because each time it's so stressful having to get accustomed to different people's mannerisms and styles of living. Since I applied to be an RA and won't find out for another month I couldn't commit to anyone to be their roommate so I was going to have to go random. I was getting exhausted trying to imagine having 3 new roommates and dealing with the process all over again. It was extremely overwhelming. But I had to study for my Italian quiz so Leora and I studied for a bit. Afterward, I started talking to Maya and since the people she was planning on living with wanted Palladium she said she'd apply to Coral explorations with me if we found a third person. So she asked Valerie if she would want to apply with us and we all applied for the Museum for the Minds floor together. Even though there is no guarantee that we'll all get housing together just knowing there is a chance I'll live with people I know is extremely reassuring. :)
until next time!
-arrivederci

Villa Medici at Castello

Was so excited when I woke up because it's Adar!!! Had a rushed but meaningful Rosh Chodesh davening before heading to catch the bus to our villa trip. We visited another Medici villa (Villa Medici at Castello). This villa was the origin of the first dictionary in the world. It is home to the academia and they still have copies of the different editions of the dictionary. The woman who works that the villa took out the original 2nd edition of the dictionary and we were able to touch it and turn the pages. Someone on our tour told us that the reason it wasn't disintegrating (it was printed in 1623) was because they used to use better quality paper back then. Now our paper contains acid (which is cheaper) and as a result paper disintegrates faster. We then walked around the gardens and saw the huge lemon house. I still get so excited each time we see a villa and visit the lemon house. I really hope that I'm able to see when they bring the lemon trees out of the lemon house at La Pietra. I feel like it is such an exciting time schleping all those trees out of the lemon house.
I then took the bus back to La Pietra and had lunch with Zandi, Ellie and Emily. I then had Italian and then walked back to my apt. I spent a while uploading pictures from the villa visits and working on my villas paper. Super excited for it but its a little overwhelming figuring out what to do. I then walked with Shayna and Jenn for the super awesome chabad meal. Valerie (we met her a few shabboses ago at Chabad lunch) was also there so it was nice seeing her. I then went to Standa with Alana and on the way I saw a guy with a top hat and a stick. It was amazing. I then tried chasing him down the block to take a picture of him but it was too dark and he was walking really really fast so I didn't get a good picture of him :(. But standa was of course super fun!! It's always nice getting food.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Ricasoli

I went to sleep at like 11:30 the night before and woke up at 8:30 this morning and it was great! I had such a good nights sleep. I then had a really nice davening because I wasn't rushed to get to class and it was just such a nice way to start my day. I did some work before heading to Mercato Centrale to buy fruits and vegetables. I love going to Mercato Centrale because now I'm finally eating vegetables again. :) I then went to campus for Italian. I walked back with Leora and on the walk she told me that Shiffy Staiman got engaged. It was so weird because on my walk to school I was actually thinking about Shiffy and how I hadn't spoken to her in a while. Crazy! I'm so excited for her and Noam. I got back to my apartment and did some work. I then steamed some vegetables and Alana stopped by and we ate my veges and talked. I miss living with Alana so it was nice catching up with her for a little bit. I then rushed over to Ricasoli to have dinner with Ellie and start our Florentine Villa project. I brought my kosher pot and dishes so that we can make pasta for the two of us. It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be and it was really nice hanging out at Ricasoli. I miss having a common room where everyone hangs out (like we did in Piazza D'Azeglio) so it was nice spending time at Ricasoli and seeing so many people. Ellie and I spent a while looking at the maps and trying to find our portion of the land. Megan never told us which villas were on our piece of land so we had to search through the entire book before finding our villa. But I eventually got in contact with her and confirmed our villa and then the process went a lot faster. We have to write a paper about the transformation of our land over time. It's a really interesting assignment but it's just very time consuming so that's a little frustrating. I spent like 4 hours at Ricasoli and then finally at 11 I headed home.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Carnivale!

Woke up late and did some work before heading to see the Carnivale parade with Ellie and Emily. At first we walked around and sat by the Arno thinking that we would see the parade. After waiting for a bit I decided to ask a guard when and where the parade was and it turns out that we were right after where the parade turns. So we walked further up the Arno and found the beginning point of the parade. It was really exciting seeing all the different costumes from the different countries. We also got showered with the confetti multiple times. We hung out and watched the entire parade. In the middle Zandi met up with us and we then walked around for a bit.
Emily left to go buy gifts for friends back home and Zandi and Ellie and I went to H&M to buy some clothing (yes I know we're in a foreign country and we're going to a store that's in America - but whatever). We hung out there for a bit then headed to the Acadamia to see the David. It was really cool. We kept moving around to different seats to get different views of the David. We then walked through the other rooms but Zandi and I agreed that we didn't really find anything meaninful or moving in the art because religiously it didnt have any significance to us and since there were so many busts and artwork of Jesus on the cross they lost any sense of uniqueness. I then went to Ricasoli and hung out for a bit. I finally saw Nirali and we bonded for a while. Afterwards I came back to my apt and made dinner. I then spoke to Aliyah Guttmann and Ashira Gailor for like an hour on skype. But Aliyah's microphone was broken so I basically had a 1 hour monologue. It was exciting. And i gave them a tour of the building and even showed them how our tiny elevator worked. I then did some work and headed to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Villa Field Trip

I had a Villa Field Trip today and woke up at 8:10 in order to get to the train station by 9. I ran into Michelle and Michael on the way to the station and we walked together. When I got there it was only Gobbi Sica (our teacher), Iris (the chaperone), two professors that teach at NYU (married to each other) and then the 3 other coupls in our class. I was getting scared that noone else would show and I'd have to spend the day with like 4 couples. But thankfully the rest of the students eventually showed up and Ellie offered to be my date :). After around a 45 minute bus ride we finally arrive at the first Medici Villa - Villa Medici at Artimino. But unfortunately there was an event being held in the villa and even though we made a reservation we weren't going to be allowed inside. So we walked around the exterior and then our super awesome teacher barged into the building and the people in charge eventually caved and let us atleast see the 3rd floor of the building. It's a shame we weren't able to see the 2nd floor of the building because it is supposed to be magnificent but the 3rd floor is better than nothing. We then got back on the bus and headed to our second villa. There was a restaurant across the street from the villa where we all went for lunch. I brought a peanut butter sandwich and an apple and ate that while everyone else enjoyed a nice meal. The two professors bought us all wine (I had a soda instead). We thought the school would have treated us to lunch but instead we had to pay for it. But even so it was really cute going to lunch with the class. We then went to the next villa - Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano. This villa was incredible. It had a sun dial on both the front and back facades and it was just a beautiful building. On the inside there was a private theater for special performances. There was also an amazing art collection upstairs with rooms devoted to painting of flowers, cytrus trees, weird animals and much more. In the back there was a romantic style garden that sadly was not being so well maintained, but was still beautiful to walk through. We then got back on the bus and went home. I then hurried back to the apartment and got ready for shabbos. I don't have a watch so I set up my computer so that it would stay on all shabbos so I could see what time it is and won't start getting dressed for shul if it's 6am. Unfortunately as I was rushing my laptop fell out of the case and fell on the floor and the DVD drive broke :(. Now every time I turn on my computer the DVD drive makes really scary noises. Hopefully I'll get it fixed soon...
until next time!
-arrivederci

Fiorentina vs AJAX Soccer Game!

I went to the Opificio delle Pietre Dure today with my Art Market class. It was extremely interesting. We saw marble mosaics which were incredible. The masters would cut the marble into small pieces and then use animal glue to create a beautiful piece of art. I found it so cool how they would first (or another master would first) make a painting and then create a marble mosaic from the painting. Often times I found the mosaic to be so much more detailed than the painting. They would manipulate the colors in the marble and use the changes in color in the painting. We then got a private tour of the workshop and were able to see the Baptistery doors which were being restored. I was asking one of the workers a question about how they cut the marble and then he just offered to show us. It was really cool that they use wire and powder to cut the marble.
After the museum visit I went back to my place for lunch and then was running late so took the bus to school. On the bus I ran into Leora, Ilana and Alana. Since it was a Thursday and half the class is taking Italian pass/fail there were hardly any people there. After class I headed home and in the piazza in front of our house I could hear a loud crowd of roudy men. As I got closer I could see that everyone was really drunk (even though it was only 3:30pm) and were all dressed up in soccer paraphernalia. It started to get me really excited for the soccer game. I then went back to my apartment relaxed and had dinner before heading downstairs to meet Alana, Leora and Laura for the soccer game.
We walked to San Marco to meet the rest of the NYU group and catch a bus to the game. It was so intense. They have separate buses for the AJAX (Amsterdam) and Fiorentina fans. A few AJAX fans buses passed us and the fans were going crazy. They were jumping up and down and making the bus rock back and forth, chanting the team songs really loudly and one bus even showered us with beer. I was getting a little scared that if the pre-game was like this - the real game would be crazy intense. But thankfully once we got there I saw that the Ajax fans were separate by like a 40 foot metal fence and a plastic casing. I can just imagine what had to happen at a different game in order to require such crazy separation between the fans. Yvette, a girl from NYU had painted her face with the Fiorentina logo and I asked her to also paint one on mine. I have never really seen a soccer game before but it was really exciting.
We had seats right up against the floor so could see the players really well. They were all ridiculously in shape. I thought that Fiorentina was the better team. They constantly had the ball near the Ajax goal but unfortunately every chance they had at scoring a goal they missed it by less than a foot. There was one point where they actually scored a goal but unfortunately they were offsides so it didnt count. In the second half AJAX scored a goal and after that Fiorentina went downhill. I think that they psyched themselves out and then just kept on turning over the ball. Even though Fiorentina lost I still had an amazing time. Leora and I left with like 15 seconds left so we could make the first bus and get home at a reasonable time. So we ran to a bus stop and got on the first bus. I think we got home around 30 min before the rest of the NYU group but even so it was nice to just get out of there and get back early. I then came back, filled out an application for a summer internship and then went to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Italian students, Community service and once again dinner at Ruth's

Went to class today and once again it was extremely boring but thankfully I had my laptop :). Right after class ended I had a special Italian class. An Italian High School came to NYU and we spent an hour and 15 minutes communicating to them in Italian and English. I was with Arshi and we spoke to an 18 year-old Italian girl and a 19 year-old Italian guy. They were extremely interesting and it was so much fun talking to them. I then went back to the room and steamed some cabbage for lunch. I finally figured out how to use the frier as a steamer and the cabbage came out really well. I then had my community service meeting. In the end I'm going to be giving tours of the Duomo which is great because it's so close to my apartment. I'm really excited to go on my guided tour on Monday and learn how to give tours. I got my badge that says I'm a tour guide and also grants me free access into all the Churchs. I then came back to the room and spoke with Emily and we decided to rearrange the entire bedroom. I love the new arrangement. Instead of having our beds in the middle of the room we now each have our own side and it really opens up the entire room. Then Mara and I went to Ruth's for dinner and had a really nice experience. Ruth's was surprisingly empty for a Wednesday night but that was nice for us because we got our food in under 10 minutes and had a really pleasant time. We both got the meal of the day which was lasagna and it tasted really good. We then stopped by Standa and stocked up on some more food before heading home. When I came back I helped Ilana with some of her Paris planning and showered her places to go and explained how to do certain things.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Dinner at Chabad

Had a normal day of classes, went to the gym and then headed back to the apartment. The Chabad Rabbi and Rebbitzen organized a subsidized fleishig dinner for us. It was only 8 euro for pasta, salads, chicken, shnitzel, cake, fruit and much more. It was amazing and I'm looking forward to going back every Tuesday. I then skyped with a few people before heading to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Neighborhood Tour

Today was not such an eventful day. But I woke up early and did some work before heading to Mercato Centrale to pick up some fruits and vegetables. The place is huge and is full of different vendors selling many different items. Upstairs is where all the fruits and vegetables are and it was a little overwhelming trying to figure out which vendor to buy food from. I then rushed back to my apartment and got my laundry and took the bus to campus. Our new place has a washing machine but no drier and since I haven't done laundry in like 3 weeks our room would be covered in my clothing if i had to air dry everything. After class I did my laundry and went to the gym. I then rushed home, showered and went on a neighborhood tour with Alexa and a few other Piazza Della Repubblica residents. She showed us surrounding shops and helped us get oriented with our surroundings. Afterwards I walked to Standa (so far away now!!) and stocked up on some food. I then returned home and did some work before heading upstairs and spending around 1 1/2 hrs doing my Italian homework with Ilana and Leora.
until next time!
-arrivederci

toveling in arno

Yep, that's right. You guess it. I finally toveled dishes in the Arno. I woke up early this morning in order to finish a paper nd rush to class. I then spent the hour in between classes studying for my Italian quiz. I think I did okay but I know I made a few mistakes. I then went back to my apartment and skyped with a few people before heading out to tovel my dishes. On my way out I ran into Zandi who had just visited Laura s. I convinced him to tag along with me and we headed to the Arno. We walked along the side for a bit before finding a place to walk down to the Arno. Unfortunately, the gate leading down said private property on it. But I was not discouraged and decided to buzz anyways and see if they'd let me in. Zandi thought that it was pointless and there was no way we'd get down. BUT I buzzed and they opened the door. It was awesome and I was able to tovel my dishes :). On my way home I walked Zandi back part of the way and stopped at the kosher market to pick up food for shabbos. I then rushed back because Abe was meeting me for dinner. For some reason Abe got his cell phone number confused and had been giving out the wrong number so I couldn't reach him to tell him I was running a bit late. So he had to wait for me in the dark stairwell for around 10 minutes :(. For some reason no one in the building was picking up their cell phones so he had no where to go to wait for me. But I finally made it back and started to make him dinner. The OSL bought us new pots because we could no longer share the pots and pans we got together. So I started to boil water on the new pots and it started shaking like crazy! It was really scary but apparently it just has to do with how water boils and the fact that the pots are cheap and don't lie flat on the burner. I also had vegetables that I wanted to try and steam but instead of a steamer they bought us a frier... But we had a nice dinner... once again consisting of pasta. (Although after steaming in the frier for around an hour they were finally slightly steamed). I then saw that Tall Sam was on skype and we skyped with him for a bit before Abe had to leave. I then called back Tall Sam and.... BOUGHT MY TICKETS TO BERLIN! So excited to go visit him!!! I then packed for the weekend and went to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

good-bye to the fam and of course dinner at Ruth's

I woke up and headed to class. Once again Intro to Marketing was boring but at least I had my laptop this time. After class I went upstairs to work on my Art Market paper for a bit. I then had Italian and afterwards I met Mommy, Daddy and Jack on campus. I showed them around campus for a bit before bringing them to Villa La Pietra where they got a private tour of the house and gardens. Daddy and Mommy really enjoyed it. I had already gone on a tour with my villas class but it was fun going again because I learned new things that my teacher hadn't mentioned in class. For instance, there is one room with a fresco on all 4 walls and ceiling. There is a painting of cupid and because it was angled weirdly we think the artist didnt know how to draw the foot so instead he made it 3D. It's not so easy to spot so I didn't notice it in my first visit but it's so cool that the fresco is 3D! I then introduced the fam to a few friends and we hung out in the cafe for a while. We then bused back (my 3rd time since I got here) and went to the hotel to hang out for a bit before they left. I then rushed over to Ruth's to meet everyone for an OSL sponsored dinner (they were treating us to dinner because of the move). Dinner was a little hectic but it was nice. We got a huge bottle of wine and all split meals and it was really nice. We also got to bond with Alessandra, Mary and Alexa. After dinner Alana and I walked back to the apartment and I went with her to her apartment to pick up the pots and kitchen items that OSL bought for us now that we're all split up and can't share the kosher stuff anymore. I then worked on my paper before heading to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Flowers for the room

Today I had a Florentine Villa trip so I headed up the hill to meet the bus to take us to our villa. It was a gross day outside so it was nice that the majority of the trip was inside the villa or on the bus. After the first villa visit we stopped at a second villa which was now a convent. However, we didn't have an appointment at the second villa so we got escorted out by a tiny tiny nun. It was the funniest thing. We had walked into the center of the villa and as we were escorted out they kept closing the doors behind. Afterwards I headed to my apartment for a bit before meeting my Italian class in the piazza in front of my apartment. We had to walk around and describe what we saw so Leora and I wrote what we saw in English, then headed back to my room and looked up certain words online and then went back outside and our teacher said we did a very nice job :). Just dont tell him we cheated. He then took us out to coffee, tea or gelato. Afterwards I went to visit Mommy at the hotel (Jack and Daddy went to Venice for the day). She had gone to Mercato Centrale for me and bought me fruits and vegetables (it's only open in the morning and since I have class from 9-2:15 I can only go on Mondays). She also bought me three potted flower plants for my apartment. We went back to my apartment, dropped the stuff off and then went for a walk around the center. Afterwards we headed back to my place where I made us a pasta salad - gotta love Italy! I then packed an overnight bag so I could sleep at the hotel and I brought movies for us to watch. Daddy and Jack got back shortly after and we all hung out before going to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Family visits!!

Woke up early, got dressed and waited for the family to arrive in Florence. Once they called I headed over to the hotel to meet them. We rushed over to Piazza D'Azeglio so I could show them the place before I handed over my key. We got there and the cleaning ladies were cleaning up and smoking like crazy. They thought the place was gorgeous. I picked up a few things I had forgotten at the apartment and we then stopped by Ruth's but it was of course closed so we went to the kosher market and got sandwiches. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by Standa and I helped them stock up on some food for the next few days. I then walked them back to the hotel and we picked up the stuff they brought for me :). I then showed them my new place before splitting up and heading to school. After class I went back to my place and did some work before meeting the fam at the hotel and heading over to Ruth's for dinner. Shayna and Jenn were there baking. It was a really nice meal and we got a bottle of wine. I really enjoyed myself. We then went back to the hotel and hung out for a while before Daddy walked me back to my apartment. I then went up to visit Michelle and then Alana for a little bit before heading to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

On the other side of the river!!!

I woke up at around 8:45, got dressed headed to the hotel to meet Eddie and Dani. I got there a little before them but once they arrived we dropped off our bags at the hotel and walked to Le Marais to get food for shabbos. I was really proud of myself that I was able to get us there without getting lost (although, i did sneak a few looks at the map). We first went to Korcarz - an amazing bakery where we bought tons of deserts and food for shabbos. My favorite cookie is monte cao. You should def try it if you're in France (they sell them all over France). We then went to the kosher market and bought meats, cheese, wine and other stuff for shabbos. I wanted to get Dani and Eddie a Mickey's burger but they closed right before we got there so instead I got them one of the famous falafels. They of course were delicious and they were so filling that none of us could finish our falafels. We then took the metro back to the hotel to drop off our bags and were happy to find out that my parents and Jack had arrived. We hung out for a bit and then all split up. Daddy went off to get some last minute things for shabbos, Eddie and Dani went to see the Eiffel Tour and Jack, Miriam, Mommy and I went for a walk. We walked to teh Louvre and then through the Touilleries. It was a really nice walk. Somehow we got seperated so Jack and I headed back to the hotel on our own. We then all got ready for shabbos and had a really delicious shabbos meal in the hotel room.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Off to Paris

Today is the day I leave for Paris - so excited!!! I went to class as usual and while I was in class it was pouring but thankfully the rain stopped before I headed back to my apartment. I then did some last minute packing and got ready to run out the door. As I was about to leave Emily told me that we got an email saying that there was an urgent housing emergence:
"...We hope that you’re having a good semester with us thus far. Unfortunately, we have some urgent news about your living situation. We were notified last Friday that the managing agent of your residence is involved in a serious legal dispute with the owner of the building. Through our attorneys, we immediately attempted to intervene with the owner to establish a contract directly with him for the remainder of the semester. We were led to believe that the owner would agree to work with us, but to our surprise and dismay, he has not responded. Because of the uncertainty of the situation, which is entirely out of our control, we think it advisable to move you to another residence. We have arranged for other housing for you and will do everything we can to ensure that this unforeseen move will present as little inconvenience to you as possible. We intend to complete this move on Sunday, February 8, 2009...."

But I didn't really have any time to think about it because I had to meet David Zandi and Ellie Rubin at the train. Once I got there I couldn't find my wallet and thought I left it at the apartment in the hug rush and got really scared but luckily I found it in the bottom of my bag. We then bought tickets for the train and boarded the train. On the train I called OSL to understand what was happening. They explained the situation and why we were switching and answered my questions on they layout of the new place. They said that the rooms were changing. So afterward I called a few people to figure out housing because I wasn't going to be able to make it to the meeting that night because I was going to be on a plane to Paris. It was extremely stressful and everyone was really upset and confused. We finally arrived at the airport and had a while to kill so Zandi and Ellie got some food and walked around for a bit. We then boarded the airplane and we pushed our way to the front because the seating was on a first come basis. I managed to grab us an exit row - none of the seats reclined on the plane but atleast we got large seats. We thought that it would be chaos because of the no assigned seating but we actually boarded the plane in like 10 minutes and everything went really fast. Ellie suggested that this was probably because people who fly ryanair want to save money and just want to get to the destination. Ellie passed out and Zandi and I talked for a while. Once at the airport in France (it was outside of Paris in a weird airport) we rushed off the airplane and there was chaos to get on the buses that drive us to Paris. The first one filled up really quickly and I was really scared we'd have to wait a while for the next bus, but we only had to wait like 10 minutes. Finally, finally after like 8 hours in transit, we arrived in Paris. I remembered how to work the metro because of my summer with Miriam and I got us all tickets and got us on the right metro in the correct direction. Ellie and Zandi were heading to meet friends and we said goodbye after a few stops. I eventually arrived at Miriam's apartment but my phone wasn't working so I couldn't reach her to get her to let me in to her apartment. There were two people sitting and smoking across from her apartment so I asked them if I could borrow their phone and call my sister. They were actually realy nice and let me use their phone to call Miriam. Miriam came down and let me in and then made me a declicious pasta dinner. Miriam and I hung out for a bit but she had a French final the next day so she had to study. I then video chatted with Joshy and Val and they cheered me up a bit about the whole housing situation...
until next time!
-arrivederci

Wed - Ruth's of course

Had intro to marketing this morning and it was extremely boring. The material is
interesting but the professor doesn't really know english so well so he repeats himself like 3 times before moving on and teaches straight out of the textbook so the class sort of drones on. Afterward I had my community service meeting to try and figure out what I want to do for community service. My two options basically are working at the Jewish Community Center 4 hours a week or working as a tour guide in a church two hours a week. Working at the Jewish Center would be nice but its a huge time committment and I'd basically be teaching hebrew school for free. So I think I'm going to opt to do the church but I still haven't decided yet. I then went to the gym for an hour which was fun but again not as fun as the gym at Palladium. Afterward I went back to the apartment and ran a few errands. I then went to go buy Dani an apron as a surprise gift but I had no more money and only had 10 minutes until the booth closed so I ran to the nearest ATM but it wouldnt let me take out money so then I ran to a few others and then finally I was able to take out money and made it back in time just in time to get the apron.
That night we of course went to Ruth's because it's Wednesday night. It was a lot of fun. I went with Laura , Mara Bernstein, Alana Weber, Leora Petashnick and Ilana Greenblum. Since dinner always takes so long I decided to bring Bananagrams but once we got there no one wanted to play so I just played by myself. I almost finished all the pieces but then the food arrived (faster than usual). Abe was also there with a bunch of his friends from Israel who were traveling.

After dinner Abe stopped by because his internet wasn't working and so we had a little party in the room. Joshy also finally got his webcam so we all video chatted with him and it was really nice to speak to him again.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Rain, rain go away, come again another day!

Woke up this morning only to find that the weather once again predicted rain...

I then met Michelle and Michael and walked to Museo Firenze Com'era for my Florentine Villas class. The museum was interesting because it showed the history of the landscape of Florence. There was a painting of Florence from the 1400s and as a joke I told Ellie that I don't see the synagogue! Ellie and I then realized that we had no idea when the synagogue was built and kept trying to figure out when the synagogue was built by examining the different paintings and maps of Florence. It was exciting moving through the ages and searching for the synagogue. We slowly saw that part of Florence start to develop but unfortunately never got a chance to see a map with the synagogue. The museum ended after the center of Florence, which contained the Jewish Ghetto, was rebuilt. Only after the Jewish Ghetto was demolished was the synagogue built.
Afterwards I went back to Ellie's apartment on Via Ricasoli to see if their apartment had any of my Art Market books. Unfortunately they didn't...
I then went back to my apartment and had a leisurely lunch before realizing I was going to be late and rushing to campus. I made it to class in only 30 minutes which is really impressive :).
After class I spent sometime and caught up on what I did last week (yes I know I'm cheating by not writing on the actual days but it's nice to have a record of my trip...). I then went to Villa U'Livi t request a new museum card (still can't believe i lost it!) and then walked home in the pouring rain!! I was drenched. I had an umbrella and a coat but my Uggs were soaked through and my coat (which I discovered last week wasn't waterproof leaked and my sleeves were all wet). But once I got home I changed into dry clothing and felt so nice. Once back at the apartment, I did a load of laundry and uploaded some pictures before heading off to the Odeon Cinema with Nirali to see Revolutionary Road. Leora and Ilana joined us but Nirali and I had a date so we really only walked with Leora and Ilana. The OSL subsidized the tickets and they told us to arrive at the theater by 7:45. But once we got there we found out that the movie didn't start until 8:20 which was sort of annoying but Nirali and I had a nice time. The theater was gorgeous. They had an upstairs balcony and Nirali and I decided to sit up there. Unfortunately because we were so high up and heat rises it was sooo hot up there!!! But we decided to stay up there anyways. The movie was so intense. I started to tear up a few times but never actually cried (but I brought a thing of tissues just in case!). During the movie there was one scene where Kate Winslet realized how trapped she was feeling and then a screen door closed and the bars on the door made it seem as if she were in a jail. I love when I notice little things like that and I hope that somewhere Dr. Jucovy is proud of me :). I'm still not really sure what I think of the movie, I still need to digest it a little. Even if the movie was emotionally distressing, I still had a really nice time with Nirali.
until next time!
-arrivederci

GYM!!

So this morning I woke up "late" (8:30 as opposed to 7:30) and just sort of hung out in the apartment until it was time to head to school. It was so nice not having to wake up and rush to get to school. In Italian we got our first quiz back and I got a 40!!! (it was out of 40) so that was super exciting. I had a few spelling errors but he rounds our grades up so I had a 39.25 and ended up with a 40!! Then after class I went to the gym for the first time!!! It was def not as exciting as the Palladium gym (especially since Robert and Dave weren't there with me) but it was still nice to finally run on a treadmill again. Aftewards I walked back. On the way i stopped at the Questra (Police Station). No nothing was wrong, but I can't find my museum pass and in order to get a new one I need to fill out a police report and then show it to school and only then will they issue me a new card. It's a bit strange... But it was fun. I don't know the last time I was at a police station, let alone a police station in another country. At first I went to the wrong entrance but the guards directed me to the other side of the building where the office I needed was located. The guard at this side of the building told me to walk down a corridor then enter the second door on my left, knock on the door and then he just sort of nodded his head. So I followed his instructions (btw this isn't a bustling police station like the ones you see on TV with tons of people and phones ringing all the time and people being led around in handcuffs - this place was empty!). So i walk into the empty room and knock on the door. I hear a mans voice say something (which I assume was "enter" in Italian, but being that I don't speak Italian I have no idea and just decided to enter anyways). There were three men in the room who did not appear to really be doing anything of any value. One of them was sitting at a desk with his computer off and no papers in front of him. The only thing he appeared to be doing was talking to another guy at a different desk who also did not appear to be doing any work. The third guy handed me the forms to fill out. After filling out the report for my "lost or stolen" museum card, I headed back to my apartment.
At 6pm I went with Laura S, Alana and Leora to meet Shulamith, the Rabbi's wife, and Linda, his daughter. Shulamith showed us which items were kosher. Many of the items we already knew about but she was able to tell us which milk was skim, and also showed us kosher bread, yogurts, ricotta cheese, and chips. There were also a few things we weren't sure about but bought anyway and thankfully everything we bought was kosher :). (And don't worry Mollie the rice cakes are okay).
Later in the night we got a surprise visit from Abe because his internet was down. I was able to skype with Lara, Abe's mom and Tort for a bit. Which was super exciting because all three had come up several times over the weekend.
Anyways, it is way past my bedtime...
until next time!
-arrivederci

thur

My Art Market class went to the Fondazione Horne Museum. It was interesting seeing all the objects we had spoken about in the previous class. I was also really excited because a lot of the paintings in the musuem had biblical references and I knew the stories, whereas the other three people in my class seemed to be hearing them for the first time. One painting was of a woman leaving a palace looking really sad. It turns out it was supposed to be Queen Vashti and our teacher explained the first half of the Purim story to us. After class I went back to the apartment for lunch and then walked to school with Alana. We tested each other on our Italian and then each split up to take our tests. My test was not so hard but I think that I made a few careless spelling errors. After class I once again walked to the train station but this time successfully bought our train tickets to Rome. Later that night I had a very nice skype date with Rami :). It was nice to finally catch up with him even if he still hasn't gotten a web cam and I couldn't see him.
I finally bought my tickets home for Pesach. I was debating whether or not to go home for 3 shabbatot or two, but in the end I decided to leave Tue and come back Sunday so that I could have an extra shabbat to travel in Italy/Europe. So hopefully I'll plan something super awesome for that weekend.
At around 8:30 a bunch of people left to go to the Vintage Fair but I was too exhausted to go and didn't really think I would buy anything. I was scared I would regret not going and feel like I missed out on something but when Alana got back she said that she didn't really enjoy it and that most of the items were way too expensive (200 euro for a used bag).
I then packed my bag for Rome and went to bed.
until next time!
-arrivederci

Ruth's

So far this week we have been very lucky with our weather and have been having sunny days. After marketing I went to the library to do my reading because I still haven't bought the books for the Art Market yet... I got most of it done and then rushed to Italian. I was supposed to meet up with Michelle and Michael to go with them to the vintage fair but while I was waiting for them I ran into Katie and we decided to walk back together. We walked to the center of Florence and then split up (she went to her apt and I headed to the train station). I was going to buy tickets for me, Alana and Abe but the automatic ticket machine wouldnt let me buy more than one ticket at a time and I didn't want to keep charging it to my credit card because it costs $3 every time I use it :'( so instead I decided to just wait until I spoke with them to confirm what time we wanted to leave. I then went to the Tourists Office to see if anything interesting was going on in Florence but the woman was extremely rude and not helpful at all. Throughout the entire time I was talking with Michelle on the phone but in the end I decided not to meet them at the Vintage fair and just head back to the apartment. Once again I was disappointed because noone wanted to go tovel dishes with me in the Arno :'(.
Because it's Wednesday that means RUTH'S!!! We all had to study for an Italian quiz and decided to bring our notes to Ruth's because dinner always takes so long anyways. We got there at 7:15 because we got emails all day from Hannah Urkowitz telling us about the 7-10:30 Ruth's student special. But of course they weren't opening until 7:30 so we just sort of hung out for 15 minutes. A little while into our meal a girl walks in and starts talking to us like we know her. It turns out she was Hannah. Crazy! So we spoke to her for a bit and she shared her lifes story with us and gave us some tips on Florence. Then we asked Simcha about the Rabbi's wife and it turns out she was sitting at the table over! So he introduced her to us and I asked her if she would be willing to meet with us and show us how to buy kosher food in the supermarket. Then I asked Simcha about toveling and he's like I'm going tomorrow. I can tovel your dishes if you want! So I went back to the apartment to get our dishes to give to Simcha. I then went to Borgo Pinti to see if they have any of my books. I found one of my books for the Art Market (so its a good thing I waited to buy it) and I found the course packet for Florentine Villas. It's so nice that students leave their books for future students to use.
Once I got back to the apartment I found out that one of the girls in our apartment actually went to the Arno to tovel the dishes she bought with another girl. Honestly, I'm not so surprised because they never really seemed to care about anyone else in the apartment or try to include us at all but I was still really disappointed that she didn't ask me to join her or offer to come with me anytime I asked people if they wanted to come with me to tovel dishes. I had even offered to tovel the dishes for them if they wanted. But whatever, if they want to stick to themselves then there is nothing we can do about it.
until next time!
-arrivederci

La Pietra

Today I had my Florentine Villas class and we learned about Villa La Pietra (the main villa on NYU's Florence campus that the entire campus is named after). We had a tour of the inside of the villa and then our teacher gave us a tour of the gardens. First of all I think you all need to just appreciate what my teacher was wearing. It was amazing!! As Nirali put it "it looks like a cat crawled on top of her and exploded". But seriously I am obsessed with her outfits. They are always so much fun! I really enjoyed exploring the villa and I'm looking forward to the other site visits. As I've mentioned previously the classes are 2 hrs and 45 min and I have to get up at around 7:30 in order to make it to class on time. But it's really nice because our walks around the villas are very refreshing and help us stay awake. It was especially nice because it happened to be a gorgeous day. It was perfect for exploring the gardens. It was really cool because on the side of the villa there is a lemon and orange garden. But in the winter they move all the trees into a "lemon house". It sounds really weird - what does that mean that they move the trees into the "lemon house". Most of the plants are in pots and they actually move all the pots into the house in order to make sure that they don't die. It was extremely cool walking into the lemon house and seeing all the lemon trees.
I got home at around 3pm and really wanted to go tovel dishes but unfortunately no Jews were around to go with me. Leora and Alana showed up a little while later but they were too exhausted from classes to want to embark on this adventure (I mean after all we may end up falling into the Arno in our attempt to tovel the dishes).
until next time!
-arrivederci

Ciao Bella!

Since I decided to drop Foreign Media I woke up late and went to the leather market with Nirali and Laura. We walked around for a while perusing the merchandise. I found a cute little booth with clothing that I really liked but none of it fit :'(. It was really sad. I kept seeing bags that I liked but they were all like 90 or 75 euro and the creepy guys kept saying but for you 60 euro. But I still didn't want to pay that much for a bag. Finally we found a booth and the bag was 55 euro. But because of my indecisive nature i wasn't sure if I should buy it or not. So he kept bringing down the price for me and finally I bought it for 40 euro. My first bag :). It's purple and super awesome. We then tried to find Laura a hat and sweatshirt but with no luck. Nirali bought a notebook for her Gardans and Landscapes class. Luckily I noticed that the book she was initially going to buy was an addressbook and NOT a notebook with blank pages like she thought. I then rushed to La Pietra for my Italian class. On the way back it started pouring and Alana and I took the bus back. Even so we still managed to get sopping wet because we had to wait outside in the rain for a while and then had to walk from the bus stop to our apartment. Unfortunately, I realized that my coat and knapsack are not water proof :'(. Oh well... Once back at the apartment I started to make plans for my trip to Rome with Alana and Abe. So excited!!!
until next time!
-arrivederci

Sun, Sun, Sun...

(Yes I was thinking of Yossi singing "Here Comes the Sun" when I named this post)
Today I woke up and it was beautiful outside. Did you know that the sky was blue? Because I hadn't seen it in so long that I'm pretty sure I started to forget what it looked like. But the sky was a gorgeous shade of blue and the sun was shining (a rarity in my time in Florence so far). A bunch of us woke up relatively early and left for the train station to catch the NYU bus to Lucca. It took us a while to find the actual bus stop but eventually we made it :). The bus ride was around an hour and when we got to Lucca the weather was even more gorgeous than in Florence. We broke up into groups and NYU had a tour guide waiting for each group. We were shown around Lucca and learned about the history of different buildings. I had a really enjoyable time. Afterwards we had free time and went shopping in an open-air market (Nirali and Mara bought notebooks) and then we went out to eat. We decided on a dairy restaurant and people ordered pasta and wine. I brought lunch from home and very stealthily ate my peanut butter sandwich which I hid under the table. After lunch we walked around a bit more and then found a gelatto place where most people bought ice cream. There was a piazza with a carousel which def rivaled the carousel at Piazza D'Azeglio. We then hung out on the benches until it was time to leave. Once on the buses I realized that we forgot to visit a super awesome tower with trees on top, but oh well... we can always come back. Then we got back to Piazza D'Azeglio and it was really nice because Abe joined us for dinner. During dinner Robert Aeder skyped us. First of all it was really nice to see Robert again after so long, but also it was really exciting because we started to try and figure out a third country where a bunch of us could meet Robert (he's in London for the semester). It was overall an amazing day!
until next time!
-arrivederci