Transportation: Unfortunately riding bikes in the city is the one thing I may never get used to, with the honking horns, loads of tourists, and every other Italian trying to hurry for the only time in their life whether by car or moped. It is so hectic and I breathe a sigh of relief every time I get back home and can hop off that bike. Almost every day I have to take Giova to school and pick him up by bike, a bike that when sitting I can just barely get the end of my tip toes to touch the ground. I much prefer walking. You can't view enough of Florence by bike, you go too fast and are too busy making sure you don't collide with every moving or stationary object. I love to walk down a street looking up, with many buildings the top half is cooler than what you can see at eye level. For example, the other day when I was walking (looking up) there was a row of windows on a building, all identical, except for one. One was painted onto the wall, it looked almost exactly like the others and if you don't look closely, you'll never notice. I put the pic below so you can see for yourselves :)
School? Although I had planned on taking and picking up Giova from school, I hadn't planned to go myself, but by the end of September that's where I found myself to be. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I spend two hours in the morning at La Parola where I hope to learn Italian. I'm getting better and I try to listen to the conversations going on in the streets to see how much of it I can put together, is it considered eavesdropping if I can only make out a third of their words? Soon I'll be having my own conversations in Italian! The girls in my Italian class are fantastic, they're almost all au pairs as well. Some from America, one from Holland, one from Ireland, and a few from Germany. We're almost all at the beginners level so it makes the atmosphere fun and inviting. A few are in the class just to help with their grammar and that's not so helpful for the rest of us but it's no big deal. Our teacher Maria, is incredibly nice and a great teacher! I'm back to saying ughhhh I have to do my homework! Words I thought I wouldn't hear outta my mouth for quite some time but there they are. Sometimes when Giova has homework, we'll sit down together with Mavi and do it all together.
Work: This part has become very routine for the most part. Mondays are school and tutor, Tuesdays are school then free, Wednesdays are half days at school then tutor and horse riding, thursdays are school and swimming and fridays are free, saturdays are morning soccer and the rest of the weekend is the biggest alteration in our weekly schedule. I quite like routine, it makes things simple but man does it make time fly! September came and went before I knew it. Giova is so exhausted by the end of the school days that after dinner at 7:30, he's asleep watching a movie by 9. Some nights I have to babysit and others I don't, so some nights I have to stay in, and some I can go out and roam the streets like the rest of Florence's inhabitants. I also recently became a Bus2Alps ambassador meaning I have a code, ASHLEYP and anyone who signs up for a tour using my code will get 5% off and I make 5%. So I'll be passin word along to try to earn a little extra money. In a recent "tip of the week" email I recieved from them it had a quote that brings me to my next point..
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Even in Florence there are so many incredible sights to see, I especially loved the Boboli Gardens and the San Miniato church. A little history lesson, it is said the the Saint San Miniato was ordered to be beheaded in Piazza Signoria and once he was beheaded, he picked up his head and started off through the trees, the place he fell and finally died is where they built the church. By the way, Piazza Signoria and this church are on opposite sides of the river, and quite far away from each other. The below picture is me, Gem and Jess and Boboli Gardens with the Pitti Palace behind us.
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