benedetto. felice. amato.: Firenze

We arrived in Florence on Monday morning and dove right into this beautiful place! We are staying at a little place called Villa Morghen. It used to be a Benedictine Monastery until a few years ago when it was transformed into this beautiful, quaint little villa! It is so beautiful! On Tuesday morning we started class. I love Italian class! I can't wait until I know enough to have a little conversation with the sweet old ladies at the church near the villa. After class we went right into town and straight to the top of the Duomo to get a better idea of how the city is laid out. We are staying a little ways out of town in Settignano, about a 20 minute bus ride to the center of Florence. The view from the top of the Duomo is absolutely unbelievable! That night we all went out for a welcome dinner and ate some delicious pizza. It was a nice evening filled with music and great fellowship. We continued with classes Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday morning we went on our first weekend excursion to Cinque Terre. It began with a hike comprable to La Luz (except the view was of the Liguarian Sea, not Albuquerque). It was really one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen. We walked through uneven trails surrounded by vineyards and olive trees. It was a tough hike but totally worth it. When we got to the third of the five towns we found a sign that said "To the Sea" - We followed it and sat by the water and talked for a while. We jumped in, swam, and watched the sun set from the ocean. It was lovely. Saturday we spent the whole day relaxing on the beach and strolling through town. Its been a great experience to meet new friends on the trip. There are 36-ish of us and I only knew about 10 before we got here. I am really enjoying the opportunity to make new friendships while we are all on this adventure together!

This is the view outside of our bedroom window at the villa.

Beautiful Florence.

Can't wait to explore more of this beautiful city!

So cool!

All the pictures in the world could not have captured how beautiful this actually was.

As I grumbled about being tired during the hike my friend Angela says, "Hey look, God put that flower there just so you could see it! He loves you so much!" Love that girl!