'Now That's Culture Shock'

Good morning to the people who woke up in the bitter cold today. It is hard to believe that today is already Day 7 in Firenze. Crazy how fast this week went. After getting to our apartment and checking it out my roommates and I were pumped about the place...then we saw the apartments of others on our program. I will stop my complaining at that, because it is still a really nice place (except for the construction surrounding the building and the lack of internet, my bad I said I was done complaining). Classes started on Monday, and after about 6 weeks off it wasn't the worst thing to get back into classes. Monday I have The Jewish Experience in Tuscany, which is pretty much the history of Jews in Italy (already got an invite to the passover Seder, What Up!). Tuesday I start with my European History post 1946, then have my Holocaust: Jewish and Christian Response in the afternoon. Wednesday I have my Italian 101 class, which I am about to head off to, and Thursday it's back to HJCR. Not a rough schedule, but the classes seem to have a decent amount of work. They all have two tests and a few papers dispersed throughout the semester. The food in Florence has been superb, but we have slowed down on the amount of meals that we are eating out because it can get a little expensive. Here are some highlights. The first night we found a nice local restaurant and the waitor gave us a free bottle of his family wine to welcome us to Florence. Monday my roommates and I decided we needed to try Italian Chinese food. My roommate put it best when talking about the lack of free rice that comes with meals, 'now that's culture shock'. But the place that has taken the cake so far has to be Antico Noe. It is this small sandwich shop in an alley, but it is the best sandwich in town. It is the only place so far anyone has found sliced turket, and each sandwich costs only €4, phenominal deal. So the food is good, the classes are OK, and the city is small and easy to get around. Really no complaints from my end. Also got the ball rolling on three trips; Interlaken Feb 12, Amsterdam the 19th, and London on April 2nd. Time for class. Keep in touch.

JK