Florence!

Ciao!
I am currently in Florence visiting Shelley (a suite mate from sophomore year)- it is my last day here and I am pretty sad about it!
I got here Monday night late and Shelley and I were both so tired we just went to bed.  Side note: I hate traveling alone!  It is so stressful and just plain lonely!  I was surrounded by families which just made me miss home even more!
On Tuesday, I slept until Shelley got out of class.  Then, we went to the place where Shelley's favorite sandwich is, and I tried it for lunch.  It was incredible!  Ham, cheese, lettuce, and some Italian seasoning on this amazing bread cooked in the oven.  It sounds so simple, but the bread and seasoning just made it sooo good!  After that, Shelley came to work out and I got on the internet for a little bit.  Sent an e-mail to my mom to let her know I got to Shelley's apartment okay.  After Shelley worked out, we went to the food market so she could show me around and so I could try some of the dried fruit she has been raving about.  I got kiwi, banana chips, strawberries, and coconut.  They were all delicious but the kiwi and strawberry are by far my favorite!  Shelley also got melon and that was good as well!  After we went to the market, Shelley had her baking class so we went back to her apartment.  She took me up to her balcony so I could see the view and it was really cool!  You could see a lot of the city's rooftops and it was nice and sunny, which made it better.  When Shelley got back from class, we went to Gusta's for pizza.  We split the spinach, mozzarella, and ricotta cheese pizza.  The best pizza I have ever had HANDS DOWN!  I probably could have eaten the whole pizza by myself it was that good!  I am glad I didn't eat the whole pizza though, because I had to save room for gelato!!  We went to Shelley's favorite place and I tried the cheesecake and the caramel kinds in a cup.  TO DIE FOR!  I could literally eat gelato every day of my life!  That night we went to a bar to play beer pong.  It was pretty fun- but we left pretty early because we had such a long walk back to Shelley's apartment.
On Wednesday, Shelley and I worked out after she got out of class.  She had to meet with a girl for one of her classes, and I just got on the internet to send my mom another e-mail while she was busy doing that.  Then we went souvenir shopping in the market.  We had a little time to kill and were craving some gelato so we stopped at a place near Sante Croce.  I got cheesecake and strawberry and loved them both!!  I figured out later that the place we went to was called Vivoli and my Aunt Linda had recommended I go there!  It was a funny coincidence that that place was the random gelato place Shelley and I picked that night.  Then, we went to Piazza de Republica, which is like a big square with shops and restaurants.  Shelley bought an espresso maker and couldn't stop talking about how excited she was about it.  Next, we headed to Tijuana for mexican food and margaritas!  We got peach margs and chicken and sausage quesadillas.  It was really good mexican food- especially for Italy!  The service was pretty crappy so I guess it is a good thing you don't tip over here...  We were supposed to go out with Shelley's friends that night and we went over there to hang out with them but it got to be midnight and they still hadn't left to go out yet, so Shelley and I decided to call it a night and go back to her apartment.  We were both really tired and wanted to get up at a decent time Thursday to see some more sights.
On Thursday, we got up and went back to the market so I could take all of my pictures of the amazing food there!  We wanted to get these sandwiches at this place in the market that Shelley's roommate said were really good.  We had roast beef sandwiches for lunch which were pretty good- but the meat was a little too red for me.  I am like my dad and have to have my meat medium-well or well done and this was probably medium-rare.  I still ate it because I will try almost everything, but it was rough for me to eat something still bleeding...  After that, I said we should have canolis because I wasn't completely full yet.  So we had canolis from the market- it was my first canoli EVER!  I FELL IN LOVE!  I could seriously have those every day for dessert.  I have been missing out by not ever trying a canoli before.  After walking around there for a little while, we went inside the Duomo.  It was beautiful and the ceilings were so tall!  I do think that Notre Dame is prettier...  I don't think anything could compare!  After the Duomo, we did some shopping in the market.  Shelley bought 4 (YES 4) scarves and I bought an Italia track jacket!  I haven't bought anything except shot glasses and post cards from every other place I have traveled to and I don't plan on buying anything else in Amsterdam so I decided to buy this one thing!  Then, we headed to the long and treacherous walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo.  There were so many stairs!  We were definitely out of breath by the time we got to the top but it was sooo worth it!  The view is phenomenal!!  We stayed up looking around for awhile then sat on the steps and enjoyed the view.  It got pretty cold since it was overcast so we left to go to dinner.  We went to this place to get pasta and I got fettucini alfredo with chicken.  It was good, but not great!  I was a little disappointed in the pasta- I was expecting it to be amazing!  I don't know if it was what I got or the place...  It just wasn't as creamy as I would expect alfredo sauce to be.  Oh well.  The bread they gave us before we got our food was completely worth it!!  We of course had to get dessert after dinner so we went looking for canoli.  It started to rain so we went to a place Shelley hasn't tried canoli at before.  We were both a little nervous about trying it because it had probably sat out there all day long...  We were glad we decided to get it!!  It was cold, which made it even better, and really crispy- which is important!  We pretty much ran back to her apartment to eat the canoli and loved every bite!!  We were tired from having walked around all day and just wanted to watch a movie.  Shelley had downloaded Winning London (an old Mary Kate and Ashley movie) so we watched that and went to bed.  I forgot how corny those movies are!  But still fun to watch, of course.
Today (Friday), Shelley left for her day trip at 8:30am and I stayed and slept in.  I got up at 10am and got ready then went to try and get internet from a cafe right next to Shelley's apartment.  Shelley doesn't have internet in her apartment (really crappy, right?!)  They have to pay per hour for whenever they use their wireless.  Sooo dumb!  Anyway, the internet at the cafe didn't work so I had to text Shelley and ask her where I could go to get internet.  I ended up coming to her school's gym and using their wireless.  It works pretty well!  No one is really around so it has been nice.  I uploaded all my pictures to facebook and skyped Kevin.  Now I am updating this and I need to update my journal next.  So I am accomplishing a lot today.  It is overcast and cold again, so I am  not missing much by not being outside today.  I walked to the Duomo by myself and got Shelley's favorite sandwich again for lunch because it is so good!  I got back alright and was proud of myself!  All the streets look the same to me so I was happy I could get there and back without getting lost.
I head back to Brighton early tomorrow morning then head out again on Sunday morning for Amsterdam!  I come back Wednesday for good until I go home June 13th (only 2 months away)!  I like traveling but I am exhausted from all of it.  I am ready to be back in Brighton and relax.  Even though I have to work on papers, it will be nice to finally have some down time.
I hope everything is going great back in America- I hear you all are having some great warm weather!  We had it for a week or so, and now it is cold again.  Hopefully when I get back to Brighton, it will be sunny and warm!!  I miss the 70 and 80 degrees you all are having right now so enjoy it!  I will post more when I get back from Amsterdam on the 20th!
Ciao!!