must read.

June 3rd, 2012

7 of us went canyoning today which is where we spent the day in the Tuscan countryside jumping off of and sliding down mountains/waterfalls.  We all had helmets on and harnesses to protect us but it was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life.  After doing that for 3 hours, we went to this small restaurant that is in a town with a population of 100 people.  They brought out this massive cast iron pan that had fresh pasta and sauce to give us all 2 servings. It was some of the best food I’ve had so far.

If that doesn’t sound good enough our tour guide, Simone, then brought us to a villa rental property which is conveniently located NEXT DOOR to Leonardo Da Vinci’s home. It was amazing. On the property it had these great views with tons of cherry trees which ended up being our snack for the rest of the day.

We came home and ended the night by watching the sunset while eating Hazelnut Gelato with Nutella and waffle cone pieces swirled through it.

p e r f e c t i o n.

dolce vita

May 30th, 2012

I’m exhausted today so I’m going to keep this post short and sweet!

Class was the same as usual but Hiba and I went to go see the real statue of david. It was surreal and massive! The statue is a sign of freedom for Florence and they have a fake one outside where the real one used to be. It was moved indoors when the Romans tried to destroy it. We aren’t allowed to take photos in the museum but I managed to get one from my cell.

I found out why Toscana doesn’t use salt in their breads. They got into a fight with Pisa, their salt supplier, centuries ago so the locals had to make breads without it and it just stuck. Weird, right?

Then Chelsey and I went to a dolce workshop to learn how to make biscotti and a traditional cake from Florence. It was some of the best pastries I’ve had since I got here! Don’t worry guys, I’m bringing the recipes home with me.