The Map

Today I was with my buddy Jeff and he as been to Italy before. Ill share what little wisdom I gleaned from our conversation. I found out about this terrific little town called Siena, which is not too far from Florence. This town, according to Jeff, is a walled castle city which sounds interesting. Also, he took me to this gelato shop in Chesterfield and introduced me to the glorious taste of gelato. After the gelato we went to Barnes and Noble and Jeff bought me a rail map of Europe and we discussed many places that i have to go when I am there. I will.

The Soonly

I know that I still have a month left until I go to Florence but I have been doing alot of reading about Florence and how things work abroad. I thought I might fill in my few readers on some of the interesting things that I have learned. Florence is still an archaic city. They do not accept plastic anywhere. Pick pockets are rampant and the only thing in your wallet is cash. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Florence has two currencys; the euro, which every other nation in europe (except the snotty English) uses and the Lira. The citizens of Italy and especailly Florence love their lira and some shops only accept them. The conversion rate is a standard exchange rate is 1936.27 Lira to 1 Euro. Sounds silly.

The Apartment

When I decided to study abroad I met with a girl who went to florence last semester through the same program. She emphatically told me to not to live in the dorms but to get an apartment. The problem is you have to find your own apartment and most of the websites for tourist try and screw you or only do short term leasing. I have been looking on websites like craigslist for several months now because I want to have the apartment when I get over there. Sleeping in a bus station just doesnt sound like fun to me. I finally got an apartment, its 900 E a month (expensive). Its a block from the Duomo, Its exciting.
http://www.apartmentsflorence.it/4.html

The Month

My bags are packed, Im ready to go. I am getting more and more excited as the days count down. The only thing left for me to get is a place to stay in Florence. An Apartment would be great.