Shabbat in Florence was not what I expected. Most of the apt went to the synagogue for Friday night services. We were all blown away at how gorgeous the synagogue is. The inside is magnificent and massive. There were around 20 women and just barely enough men to make a minyan. This emphasized how huge the shul was but even if it had been packed it still would have seemed gigantic. The services were very different from those at home. They have different tunes and the chazan says most of the prayers out loud. It was really nice davening at a shul with a different minhag and different tunes and I enjoyed the experience but to be honest I love Friday night davening back home and I think that it's going to be one of the things I miss most on shabbos. Afterwards we headed to the chabbad house. The chabad house was probably around the size of my bedroom and while i have a huge bedroom the chabad house wasn't so big. It was nice to have hot food again and even tough the food wasn't fantastic we all ate so much of it just because we haven't really eaten in a week. The chabad couple were very friendly and they have several children but only one son was there. He was quite the character. It must be hard for him because they live in Bologna but come to Florence for shabbos. After dinner we headed back to our apt and Blair and Esther joined us and hung out with us for a while. We played bananagrams and just hung out talking and reading for a while. Shabbos day most of us didnt make it to shul but went to the Chabad for lunch and then once again came back hung out and played bananagrams. Then a few of us went back to chabad for havdalah. They way I described shabbos may make it seem like it wasn't so much fun but honestly I had a really nice time. We all hung out in the apt and got to know each other a bit better and I'm really excited to be living with everyone...
until next time!
-arrivederci
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