A little help from my friends

All pictures from Natalie

These pictures were taken last Friday when a couple friends from home came to stay with me. It's always nice when friends from home and school meet and get along great. I know some of them are blurry, but they were too good not to put in! I have a huge grin on my face in almost every photo. There's nothing like catching up and laughing, all the while being silly. The next morning I went to Central Park with Jimmy, Chloe and Chloe's cousin Megan because I had to write a paper on the Balto Statue. It was the first warm spring day of the year and it was the perfect way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon.

I took my last midterm before Spring Break today! I have lots of exciting things happening in the next couple days, so stay tuned!

Back in the New York Groove

Hi! I've moved back into New York City and am starting to get back in the swing of things. This semester I'm living in a dorm in the West Village. This is an area that I don't know very well, but I'm so excited to explore! I had my first day of class yesterday and the saga continues today. My classes are super spread out which means that I will be taking multiple trips to campus throughout the day. Mostly I've been enjoying large cups of coffee and eating things with avocado. Yesterday I went out for a drink with Francesca and Chloe to catch up and rehash the day. Afterwards I went down to the East side with Francesca and Joe for silliness and ramen.

Sunday Funday

Sundays in Florence are my favorite. Everyone is out milling about and wandering the streets. I've been in Florence for two Sundays in a row and have already developed a routine. Chloe and I go to All'antico Vinaio and wait in line anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. It's completely worth it though.  The deli is on one side of the street and the bakery where they get their bread is on the other! Occasionally you'll see a man carrying a stack of steaming hot loaves from one side to the other. This past time I told the man behind the counter to make me whatever he wanted. I'm not exactly sure what I got, but I think it was homemade sausage, truffled cheese (does that exist?) and some type of other spread. It was amazing! Places like All'antico don't have menus where you can chose from premade sandwiches, they don't even have a menu telling you what there is. You just point to things and occasionally ask what something is.

After that we made our way over to H&M. I didn't buy anything, but I didn't try on the amazing coat pictured above. I know it's just a comforter, but since I spend the majority of time in my bed I feel like I need this. Obviously, for one million reasons (one of them may or may not be that it's 250 euro...) I did not and will not ever get it. A girl can dream. Realistically if I did ever own something like this I wouldn't be able to sit anywhere without falling asleep which would be awkward for all parties involved. Then Chloe and I go food shopping, followed by homework and laying in bed.

The picture of the vat of cheese was from dinner on Saturday night with David. We made our way over to the other side of the river and spent a solid hour and a half wandering around looking for this fondue restaurant. We eventually found it, but it didn't open for another thirty minutes so we spent our time walking up and down the banks of the Arno. When we got there we realized how expensive it was, but we had made such a big deal about it we couldn't not go! We got cheese fondue with fresh and toasted bread, apples, pears and potatoes. It was so much fun to eat! David is really terrible at judging how much food he can fit in his mouth and it resulted in us cracking up the entire meal, we were definitely NOT fancy enough for the atmosphere. After eating an entire vat of cheese we got gelato and walked back across the river.