My First week in Florence

By Tammy H. – Guestblogger from Florence
Another great day. After class, I went to 'Florence for Fun,' a travel agency around the corner from school and signed up for a "Hiking in Chianti" tour this Saturday. We'll hike through the forests and vineyards in Chianti while passing by medieval hamlets and castles. After 2 hours of walking, we'll enjoy lunch with a wine and oil tasting in the historic Sassolini Familyvilla. I'm really excited about this tour.
Then, while walking around looking for an Internet cafe, I asked some young girls standing next to a Vespa to help me. They then pointed at the new building next to us and told me it's a library where I can use the Internet for free. Great! So I went inside, applied for a visitor's card, got set up and here I am now, typing away on a brand-new, non-sticky keyboard.
After 4 days in school, I think I've made a lot of progress with my Italian thanks to the two lively teachers, my international classmates & schoolmates and my homestay lady. The school is very conveniently situated in the center of the city across from the oldest hospital in Florence, two blocks away from Duomo, the landmark cathedral and meeting place of young folks and tourists in town, and only 20 minutes walk from my homestay. Classes are small with 6 to 8 or 9 students so we all get a lot of practice.
The school has five computers with Internet access for us to use free of charge. There are bulletin boards with useful info of all kinds of activities in Florence so we can choose where to go and what to do in our spare time. There are good and reasonable vending machines where I can get a small bottle of water or a cup of cappuccino, espresso or any other coffee flavor for 50 cents, which is a really good deal.
Around the school are small supermarkets where I can buy my own snacks or food and fruits for lunch and numerous small restaurants (or trattorie) for inexpensive lunch. Today I went to The Oil Shop, a small sandwich/salad shop and had a delicious roasted chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread with fresh lettuce and tomato slices inside. It was yummy! Around the corner are various stores, travel agencies and a new library where I can have one hour of free Internet access each day…
About Florence, it's quite different from other European cities I've visited. There is a baroque-style and antique look and feel here as if it's still in the medieval time. The stone or paved streets are shady and narrow with sidewalks on both sides, making it very easy for walking everywhere. There are many walkers, bikers and motor bikers, almost as many as there are cars and buses. It seems there once were many palaces and castles in this cities but now they all look like tall old apartment buildings to me except for heavy and carved wooden gates, doors and old time iron hooks which were used to tie down horses…