Week #7: February 18-24

Ciao!
It's hard to believe that my journey here in Florence is half over. It's a very sad feeling but am excited for the next weeks coming up! This coming week will be midterms week so I have been very busy with classes. Since our photography teacher, Gloria was sick all last week we have gotten behind in class. Monday we developed our shadow pictures and started printing them. I wasn't totally pleased with how the pictures turned out. I had underexposed most of my pictures so I needed filters to print most of the pictures. Tuesday I spent quite a few hours finishing up my shadow prints (even though they aren't do until Monday, Feb. 25).

 I also had my last group meeting of Firenze Journey until after my spring break. I am sad there won't be one this coming Tuesday. Wednesday I was totally busy with classes all day and between one of my classes Sarah and I booked our trips through Florence for Fun to Venice and Cinque Terre. Both are in April. YAY!! Finally Thursday rolled around and we were back at Tina's house cooking again. We made three kinds of pasta: Pasta Alle Zucchine e Pancetta, Pasta with Walnut Sauce, and Pasta With Radicchio. We also once again made salsa verde...yummmm. For dessert we made custard and ate the chocolate we bought at the Chocolate Festival last week. We also made this dish of steamed cauliflower that was topped with Besciamella and bread crumbs. Besciamella is three simple ingredients: Butter, Flour, and Milk (and of course salt and pepper). All these dishes were so unbelievably simple to make! I didn't try the Pasta Alle Zucchine e Pancetta because it had bacon in it. It was pretty much just bacon and zucchinis. The Pasta with Radicchio was probably my favorite. The bitterness of the Radicchio partnered up with the sweet wine was wonderful. In our custard we added orange zest and it turned out delicious. The food is amazing like always and I got all the recipes once again. Can't wait to cook all these meals for my family!

Since my week was pretty busy with school I thought I would share the itinerary my Aunt Margaret sent me:

Thursday, February 28 is when I meet up with my aunt and uncle. I will be finishing up my last midterm around 3-4pm. I stay with them at the hotel for 3 days and we will be exploring Florence together. I can't wait to show them around the city I have fallen in love with!

Sunday, March 3 we leave Florence and head to Lucca for 4 nights. Three of the days involve leisure touring around Lucca, Pisa, Viareggio, Siena, and Livorno.

Thursday, March 7 we leave Lucca for Perugia. We spend two days touring around Perugia. Aunt Margaret said this place was highly recommended so I am excited to explore it.

Sunday, March 10 is when I am dropped off in Florence and have to say good-bye to my aunt and uncle :( I am sure we will have many wonderful memories to share though.

I cannot wait to explore all of Tuscany with my Aunt and Uncle! I just have to make it through midterms week. Sorry I don't have an exciting weekend to share with you all. It has been rain/snowing here in Florence so I have decided it's probably a sign to stay in and focus on my tests for the week. I promise a lot of stories when I get back from spring break! Ciao ciao!!