my last couple days in florence

well. I made it through finals week, with the help of Jordan of course who came out to visit me (yay!). we went up to Fiesole and looked out over Florence..which was incredible. Mostly we ate delicious food and talked and slept. We actually made a bunch of super good food, you guys would be proud. Poor man's caviar (eggplant, not fish eggs) and toast with frutta di bosco jam and mozzarella buffalo were definitely the best that we created. ask either one of us for the recipes, we may or may not give them to you for a small fee. or a quick massage. I would do anything for an Olivia Jones massage right now.

Seeing Jordan made me pretty home sick for my friends back in the states. I MISS YOU GUYS. COME TO ROME. but, I am going to live my last week abroad up and to the max because now I dont have to worry about hw or having to go to class. Speaking of Rome, I was initially going to meet my mom in Dublin...earlier today...but the Iceland volcano caused serious problems for the European airlines. aka, they are all still closed. RyanAir is closed until Wednesday..Lufthansa (germany) is closed until...who knows. My entire program was supposed to leave on a group flight tomorrow morning, but it was canceled because no one can get to paris or frankfurt. It has been pure chaos as everyone is trying to get home. Luckily everyone's landlords are letting them extend the lease for a couple days while we are all stuck in Florence. Not that it is really like being "stuck"...who minds being stuck in a beautiful european city for a couple extra days? im not complaining. i was only really worried because my mom was coming in and i didn't want her to be in dublin by herself. but it all worked out, as it always does.

For now, I am staying at the most excellent hotel in florence. I feel so unworthy of it, I had to dress up and take a shower to even enter the place. But I love it. My shower doubles as a sauna. I have a handwritten note from the hotel manager welcoming me to his hotel (Dear Ms. Hockett Alden haha). and I have a bed that I can lay both hot-dog and hamburger style on and nothing hangs off. I could stay here forever. But until Tuesday will be just fine :)

It was beautiful and sunny today so Melinda, Katie, Winnie and i all got gelato, sat in Piazza Repubblica, and listened to a guy playing guitar and singing simon and garfunkel tunes. he even played radiohead's creep. it was the best afternoon. I was in dire need of some vitamin d and some chillage with a gelato (soy vanilla and dark chocolate, best combo ever).

I want to put up some pictures, but haven't gotten them off my camera yet. The last pictures I have on iPhoto are from Easter. So i'll put those up. Every year Florence has this whole to-do for Easter in the Piazza del Duomo inbetween the cathedrale and the battista. This is prime because my living room window looks out over that very piazza. Anyway, they have a parade with music and everyone is in costume from the 1700s and it is incredible. The grand finale is a huge barge which explodes with fireworks. 2 oxen bring it in and while they set up the fireworks part, ladies all dressed in bonnets hand out white flowers to the droves of people that show up to watch.