the beginning of the end?

With finals, seeing friends and soaking up all of Florence while I still can, this week has been a whirlwind! Since I'm leaving in less than a week I have been eating most of my meals out to eat all the Italian food that I can. Florence lights up around the holidays too! I was worried that I'd miss Christmas in the city, but I have to say, Florence does it better than New York. All the streets are lit up with hanging lights, and there's a Christmas Market in the Plaza in front of Santa Croce church.

On Monday I finally tried a restaurant that Sam told me to go to ages ago, called Osteria Santo Spirito. It's on the other side the river, which is the less touristy side of Florence, and it was delicious! Grace invited us me, Laura and Olivia out with her mom, who so reminded me of Grace. It made me miss my mom and dad too, so I'm glad I'll be seeing them soon! We all got the same pasta dish that came highly recommended, the baked gnocchi with cheese. It was so rich, but so delicious!

Cheesy gnocchi

On Tuesday, we went to our last beer pong tourney. A bar called Red Garter hosts it every Tuesday, and it's become a fun tradition this semester. We got there too late to play officially, so we just hijacked a table and played for fun (and Laura and I won both games, mainly thanks to her mad skills!) I also discovered the magic that is the Secret Bakery. There are these locations in Florence that sell pastries illegally really late at night (we went at 4am). You mainly hear about the location through word of mouth, and the one we went to was in a sketchy alleyway, where we had to knock on the door and whisper our order and wait for them to make them. Sahel, Olivia and I all got nutella filled donuts. Laura had to go home early, but I'll definitely be revisiting with her before we leave!

Celebrating our victory!

On Wednesday, I went to the NYU art show, where student drawings, paintings and photography from classes this semester was featured, to support Laura, who was in a drawing class this semester! Her stuff was all so good, as was a lot of other pieces in the show! I'm so jealous of people with artistic talent. After that, I went to Ethiopian food with my friend Meron, who is Ethiopian, and Sahel, Sam and David. It was delicious! Way better than the Ethiopian I've had in the city. They got a giant platter to share, and I had my own vegan plate.

Laura's artwork!

 On Thursday, La Pietra Dialogues (where I work) hosted a talk with Jim Messina, Obama's 2012 campaign manager! He gave a lecture, and then had a short Q&A with NYU students only. It was such an amazing opportunity. He was captivating and seemed very approachable. I wrote a blog post about the event for my job, which you can read here: http://www.lapietradialogues.org/blog/?p=364


Afterwards, I went to Gusta Pizza with David, Laura, Sahel and Grace, which is easily the best pizza I've ever had. I always get Laura and I's typical salty pizza, which has anchovies and capers. It's delicious! It may be the thing I miss most, food-wise.

SALTY PIZZA

On Friday, Laura and I were feeling lazy so we just made mac n' cheese (compliments of my Mom bringing me Annie's when she visited) and invited some people over to watch Love Actually, my favorite Christmas movie! It was such a homey night, and really got me into the Christmas spirit.

mac n' cheese with peas!

We spent all day Saturday studying, and then to give ourselves a break, we went to the Mexican place here in Florence (called Tijuana's) for dinner and strawberry margaritas! I had nachos with cheese, refried beans, guacamole and mixed veggies. After that, we went to the Christmas markets for dessert and mulled wine, and then went back to my apartment. Everyone stayed for a bit, but not after long Laura and I were back in megabed and watched Away We Go. I forgot how much I loved that movie, it's one of Laura and I's favorites.

Me, David, Grace and Sahel

my pipin' hot cinnamon pastry dessert

Easily the best line from Away We Go

I spent all day studying and getting ready for my finals tomorrow. I have an in-class test for my politics class, my Italian Oral exam, and then a paper due for the Etruscans, and then on Tuesday my Politics paper is due and my final project for Metropolitan studies is due. In other words I have a busy week ahead of me, but then on Friday I'm home free (literally). I can't believe how fast this semester has gone, but I have to admit I'm excited to get home and see everyone and celebrate Christmas, Indiana style.

New thing: secret bakery