Devotissimo suo, Sarah: Vino and Rugby!

This past week was a bit gloomy. Though it's warmer here overall and there is no snow, the weather here reminds me a bit of back home--gorgeous and sunny one day, cold and windy the next. So unfortunately, this week wasn't spent basking in the gardens as much as the previous week. But I still can't complain too much.

Thursday, as everyone back home knows was St. Patrick's Day. However here in Italy that is not of much importance. Instead, Thursday was the celebration of 150 years of Italian unity! Go Italy! The entire city was covered with Italian flags and various red and green decor. The big celebration was Wednesday night, so quite a few people from the Villa headed into the city to see what it was all about since we heard rumors of fireworks! Florence isn't always the most bumping town, especially at night. So it was quite an experience to see the streets flooded with people of all ages, dressed for the occasion, out celebrating. The buildings were all lit up with red and green lights which was very cool. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera out with me! We listened to some live music in the piazzas and walked all over. Finally around midnight we wanted to go stake out a spot to watch these fireworks. We headed across the river because that certainly would provide the best view. They were supposed to begin at 12:30, so sometime around 12:45 the first firework shot off. I was pretty impressed with the proximity to start time. However, the fireworks left much to be desired. It was a pretty weak show if you ask me. I think St. Cloud puts on a far more awe-inspiring show. But it's the experience that counts! And it certainly was a good time.

This weekend, I decided again to stay in Florence and enjoy my time here. On Friday, those of us at the villa for the weekend went to Poggio a Caiano to visit an old Medici Villa and a winery. The villa was pretty impressive, but of course "No foto! No foto!" Being the mature 20 and 21 year olds that we are, we entertained ourselves by finding oddities in the paintings. I think I most enjoyed the nature gallery in the top floor where there were many pictures of flora and fauna, as my professor of Italy and the Invention of America would refer to them as. In fact, she came along on the trip and told us to keep an eye out for all the vegetables brought to Europe from the New World. I found some great paintings. Some of my favorites consisted of depictions of dead animals and carcasses. Stellar taste Lorenzo de'Medici. After the little bit of education they could squeeze into the free trip, we headed to where we were all most excited for...the winery! We had a tour guide who showed us through the wine cellars and where the keep the wine that is being aged in barrels. Supposedly, the winery has been in business since the 800s! So they have their wine stuff right. During WWII, Nazi soldiers actually stayed at the villa where the winery is and drank all the wine. However, they were lucky enough to be able to keep some of it hidden. After the tour we sat down and got to taste two of the wines for ourselves. Tasting turned into having a few glasses. I am becoming quite the red wine fan.

Saturday Becca, Grace, and I pried ourselves out of bed and headed into Florence, which turned out to be a fantastic idea. Since by now we have visited nearly everywhere, we decided to head across to the other side of the river. We just kept walking and walking and ended up in what seemed to be Italian neighborhoods. It was almost bizarre to see just houses with yards and not a city or apartments. Eventually we made it near Piazza Michelangelo and had a fantastic view of the city below. We didn't quite know we would be in for such a workout, so by the time we returned to the villa, we were completely exhausted. However, we only had a couple hours to rally before 12 of us headed back into Florence for dinner. Dinner was great, but I was exhausted after and went back to the villa to get some sleep.

Sunday morning bright and early, Becca, Grace, Gem, and I took the train to Livorno, a town on the coast about an hour and a half away to go watch Heather play rugby. We took a taxi to the stadium and waited around for a bit for the game to start. We thought it was supposed to start at 10:30, so this meant sometime after 11 they finally began. The Florence RhinoGirls lost their first two games, but turned it around (all thanks to my dear Heather) and won the last two! Go Rhinogirls! Getting home from Livorno proved to be a bit difficult. Of course, we forgot to get a taxi number and it was 2pm on a Sunday in Italy, so absolutely everything was closed. Luckily, Gem was able to googlemap us directions to get to the train station, which was just about an hour walk. I am pretty certain we looked like hitch hikers. Livorno is not at all a touristy town, so we stuck out like sore thumbs. After getting on the train back to Florence, it stopped after about 20 minutes in Pisa. After waiting for a while on the train, everyone was instructed to get off because that one was being cancelled due to a suicide at the Florence train station. No one really knew what to do. We got on and off about 6 different trains, thinking this one would eventually take us to Florence. Then we would look around, figure out that everyone left on the train was English-speaking, and realize that we must be wrong. We clearly were not understanding whatever directions people over the loudspeaker were giving us. Something about taking a train then a bus then a train then a taxi then a boat then a plane...I'm not sure how much of that would have even been true or an exaggeration. TrenItalia likes to throw surprises at you and not explain anything. After about an hour of this complete confusion, we decided to take a taxi from Pisa back to Sesto. We asked the taxi driver how much it would be, and if he could fit five people. He said he thought about 150 euros. Out of complete desperation (we just HAD to be home in time for dinner..it was Ravioli Sunday!) we climbed in and headed back to the villa. Thankfully we made it, and even though the meter said some astronomical price, our saint of a driver let us have it for 150. And the best part, we made it just in time for dinner.

This morning I woke up to the phenomenal news that Italian class is cancelled for today and tomorrow. Art is also cancelled this week. And we have a speaker Tuesday night instead of one lecture Wednesday. So basically, this week is full of activities! And this weekend is the program trip to Venice! I will update after that!