1st full day in Italy

Today started out by getting up for breakfast which was ready for us at 8:30. We had a special treat this morning - pastries! We had doughnuts, crossiant-ish things, and filled pastries. They also had fruit and yogurt and coffees. I had a doughnut and probably OD'd on sugar, but it was good. Then we had some more orientation and went over some of the guidelines for us and why they are how they are, etc. Then we went over the schedule and learned some Italian words/phrases. We learned how to sing and say "I love you with the love of the Lord. I see in you the glory of my King." It's really cool. Then we had an epic lunch! I'm loving the food here - pasta and bread every day!!!

After lunch we went to Scandicci, the town we're in, and walked all around and went and ordered drinks at Mario's bar (which is what the coffee shops here are called). Then we went to the ATM and then walked around more and visited the Mayor's office. Apparently here the rainbow symbolizes the desire for world peace, which I think is just beautiful. There were gates outside the Mayor's office in all different colors. Then we went to the Acciaiolo castle where we had a cultural experience and met and talked with Italian people and students. The language barrier was frustrating, but overall the general point got across. At the castle they were having a "Slow Food" get-together. We experienced and tried lots of great natural foods they made for us. I had some sheep cheese and a special type of salami which comes from this specific breed of pigs that live on certain hills. It was on bread. I also tried this apple and nut dessert cake. It was all very good. The mayor made an appearance and talked to us and was very kind and personable. He wants us to add him on facebook! I think I'll look into that later tonight :)

Then after the castle/park fun was over a group of us decided to head back to the villa. We made it back just fine. It was interesting navigating the streets and getting back across the bridge over the highway, but it was good. We climbed back up the 16% grade hill to get back - I'm sure I'll be feeling this tomorrow! Then we had dinner, which was delicious, and then a short meeting about our whisperers - which are hearing devices used for tours and such so we can all hear everything that's said- and they gave us each a little moleskin notebook to take notes in! Then we talked about student worker jobs and I am going to be the female maintainence person. Each day we are here at the villa I will go to each of the girls' rooms and check the towels and toilet paper levels and take out the trash. It won't be hard at all, but they'll pay me in Euros right before free travel time and right before the Cinque Terre trip at the end of the semester, so it'll be awesome. Right now I'm about to research some free travel options and see what seems interesting and reasonable. Then I'm going to clean up and hit the sack!