Oh Back to School, Back to School...

Today was my first day of classes!  I am currently a student at the Lorenzo de Medici University here in Florence where the school is comprised of all international students, mainly American.

The classes are very small and our teachers are mostly Italian with English as their second language, therefore making it difficult to understand them at times.

This picture below is the view of the beautiful and magnificent  Duomo from one of the libraries.  It's going to be difficult to study when you can be so easily distracted by the beauty of the Duomo here in Florence.    

Although I had my "boring classes" today I am excited for my more fun classes tomorrow starting off with Italian Language and ending with Italian Wine and Culture (obviously going to be my favorite!)

Tonight, LdM hosted a Welcome Dinner for all the students at the Palazzo Borghese which is very close to the Arno.  Even though the walk was a bit of a hike in this windy/freezing weather it was worth it just to be in the building...absolutely beautiful!

Gorgeous Interior and Chandelier !

LdM students at our casual, stand around, and make awkward conversation dinner.

Free Refills on soft drinks, but we had a voucher for only 1 glass of wine...boo

Overall the dinner was nice and hey, it was a free meal.  We have classes again tomorrow through Thursday and then finally the weekend.  API has sponsored a Self Defense Class for us this Friday which means we can't travel.  However, we thinking of taking a day trip somewhere...possibly Pisa?  You'll know our decision once I blog about it! Ciao!

Chef Alli

Yesterday we took a fantastic cooking class over the Arno at a place called In Travola.  Here, we learned how to make a few simple courses and then got to eat it!

I was in charge of smashing the potatoes and then mixing them up with 4 different types of flower for the gnocchi dish.

We also began prepping for our warm caprese salad which contained roasted egg plant, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, oregano, and parmesan cheese.  Of course, nothing in Italy is made without some Olive Oil too!

After slaving in the kitchen we went down into this small cellar that was beautifully decorated and ate lunch!

Caprese Salad

Gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce

Gnocchi with meat ragu

My cooking group with our chef!  He loved singing American Songs, especially songs by Air Supply.

After our lunch we spend the rest of the day roaming around Florence doing a little sight seeing and shopping.  As always, we came home for a nap and then cooked our first home dinner!  Unfortunately I didn't get any pics, but we'll be cooking a lot more at home this semester so I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on our adventures in the kitchen!  Well, I don't really do much of the cooking, I just stir whatever Mina tells me too....LOL.

We're off to find where are classes are today...unfortunately we start school tomorrow. Ciao!