One Sweet Summer: last week in Verona..and on to Firenze (a.k.a. Florence)

Here I am, sitting (again) next to a park after just having consumed something. While usually I am sipping on a cappuchino in Verona's Piazza Urbe, I have just finished a dinner of fried rice with Lizzy and Lanier. They just left to go get gelato, but I've already had my fill for today (they usual "caffe" flavor) and want to take advantage of the free WiFi at this sushi restaurant.

The past week in Verona has been busy but still so much fun.

Katie in our room after we all washed our clothes (the dryers are no bueno..) The pull-out couch bed is Lanier's, the small kitchen is in the back, and Katie and my beds are behind that white door.

Monday was spent attempting to study for my two finals on Thursday morning.

Tuesday (after attempting to study again in Piazza Urbe) I went out with an Italian friend I met over here. We went to a yummy pizza restaurant and then walked along the river.

Wednesday it was REALLY time to crack down for finals. I actually did concentrate most of the afternoon, after being pleasantly diverted with a Skype from Brittney :)

Thursday it was show time. I got up at 6 a.m. to review some more, then went to my first exam at 8 (INTL 4330: Post-Industrial Democracies with Dr. Ornston). After writing for 2 hours (I accidentally answered all 8 of the ID questions. We were only required to write about 5..)
After a short break, I then went to Dr. Johnson's Strategic Intelligence class to write for another 2.5 hours. I have greatly enjoyed his class, but that might have been one of the most challenging IA exams I've taken! My hand was cramping up!

Thursday afternoon was a relief, however. Lanier, Lizzy, and I went sightseeing again. We went back to the Casa di Giuletta (where supposedly the Capulets lived in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet;" it actually has little true history to it..it's really just a tourist attraction).
Then we went to the Amphitheater, some Roman ruins, and a beautiful garden on the other side of the Adige River:

three Ls with Julietta (no, Lizzy is not a weirdo by cupping Juliet's breast.. it's an old tradition!)

in the Amphitheatro

Lanier and I overlooking Verona!

gorgeous gardens and great view

After our afternoon excursion, we rested up before our big night out. And ohhh was it fun. The professors took us all to a fair-well dinner up in the hills overlooking the city. We had an amazing four course dinner. I had the best pesto pasta I've ever had!

After dinner, instead of returning us all to the Residence, we just told the bus driver to drop us ALL off at Campus Bar. I mean, might as well be efficient, right? :p

We all had a lot of fun just drinking and catching up after the long week of studying. I really enjoying hanging out with our entire group (~48). The more, the merrier, and it was definitely merry. Even Marco (the nice guy who works the front desk at the Residence) came out with us!

Friday morning was a scramble to get up and onto the bus. We had to say goodbye to fair Verona and make our way to Florence, where I am right now.

Saturday we went to the Uffizi Gallery (which houses the works of Donatello, Michaelangelo, Botticelli, and more). We also went to another historic church (whose name escapes me at the moment..) BUT Michaelangelo was buried there! We have also seen the Duomo several times, though I still haven't gone in because the line is super long.

We shopped later that afternoon.

That evening, Katie, Nathan, Lanier, Lizzy, Chris, and Caitlin and I went to dinner with Dr. Bulloch, a political science professor at UGA. He took us to a delicious "osteria" that specialized in wild boar. I was a little skeptical at first, but tried some of Chris' and it was really good actually (be proud, Dad. I'm consuming SOME protein. And wild game, at that!)

Today, we went to the all' Academia and saw the David. The tour guide kinda lost me with how fast she spoke, so unfortunately I didn't get much out of that art museum. After shopping again with the girls, I left early and came back and napped.

Then I decided I wanted to do some exploring on my own, so I went to the Palazza Pitti, a palace where the Medici family lived. It was humongous!

I wandered (well, actually hiked/trekked..) through the extensive gardens behind the palace. I was rewarded by beautiful views of Florence. I enjoyed being alone in nature again, too, as hippy-ish as that sounds. I know Rome will be a lot of fun, but I was grateful just to search through the gardens at my own pace. It was also not very crowded there; I've been getting annoyed with how many tourists there are in Florence. I took even more time to myself when I discovered that one of the old buildings on the grounds was converted into a "kaffeehaus" overlooking the city. I sprang for a glass of water and just focused on breathing and taking in the moment. These last few days of our trip are going to be a lot of fun, but fast-paced.

Down in the actual Palace, I looked through two interesting exhibits: the Costume Gallery and a traveling exhibit called "Treasures from the Kremlin." The latter was particularly interesting; there were beautifully decorated swords, royal jewelry, crowns, and other artifacts on loan from the Kremlin's museum in Moscow. I'm not sure why, but I've always been fascinated by Russia and its culture, perhaps because it is such a large country yet so different from the other large nations in Europe.

a few photos of the Russian artifacts I saw: