Day 1

These are just a few of the shots of the sights that took my breath away today. We started out wandering around again today and wandered to the Duomo. Christian and I started out the adventure by making friends with a girl named Zoe who is also in the program with us. The rest of the members of our program were trickling in through out the day and Zoe had traveled by herself so Christian and I invited her to join us on our wanderings. We started out with a visit to the supermarket where we spent an hour just looking at the produce and the oil and the pastas. The three of us split a minny pick nick lunch (we bought a loaf of bread, some pinapple juice, and cheese ) and we went back to our room in the hotel where we ate on our balcony. Because its Italy and that is what you do in Italy.
After lunch we went on a minny walking tour. We headed over to the Duomo (the first four pictures) which is simply breathtaking. All the detail. I can't wait to go inside and look at it more. We went back there later this evening as well and it was just as cool in the evening all lit up with the shadows. We ran into the San Lorenzo market which was an open air market of leather leather every where. There were beautiful masks, and scarfs, and leather; leather bags, journals (which I bought for 14 euros), belts, wallets, key chains, jackets, ect. You name it, it was there, in leather. The three of us enjoyed and afternoon of wandering around looking at all the goods and enjoying the architecture of the city.
We headed back to our rooms to freshen up before the program actually started. Happy day one! Of course there was boring paperwork to fill out but it was worth it for the dinner we had. As a group (all 19 of us plus 4 professors) went to dinner at a restaurant (that I was too distracted to catch the name of) we all sat down to a lovely 2 course meal of garden pasta (penne pasta with a mild pestoish sauce with zucchini, carrots and mushrooms) and turkey with a light gravy with zucchini, green beans and carrots. There was wine, and ice water to drink and for those who were vegetarians, there was a caprisi salad option (with simply beautiful tomatoes.) Dinner was a non stop chit chat affair as we enjoyed good food, good wine and good company. First impressions mean a lot, and so far everyone seems talkative and mellow and interested in enjoying themselves as we learn more than just art. Most of us are hear because we love art, but we are mainly here to soak up everything we can culture wise.
We finished up the night with a brief evening walking tour (with gelato. I had peach and blue berry and it was so good and so fresh and simply delicious.)
It was an excellent day to say the least.Tomorrow will be a little bit more paper work and another dinner, but there are more people here to hang out and explore the city with. Who knows what day two will bring?