I have arrived in Firenze. Our bus left at 6am so I made sure to dress very fashionable to make up for the fact that my eyes were a tad swollen from a late night the night before.

Last night, wearing a red shirtdress and a blue chunky necklace, my roommates and I made our way to the other side of town for the opening of a new pizza and bar place called LE TERRAZZE.

We went for one reason and one reason alone. Free. Gratis. Pizza, seafood, beer, wine, Coca Cola, water bottles, live music, tons of people. Did I mention I got all the free wine and pizza I could possibly ever want? One of the waiters was a little flirty and literally stayed by our table and brought us pizza and wine whenever our plate or glass was empty. It was amazing.

After a leisurely walk home, we laid out our outfits for our first day in Firenze and went to sleep.

I saw the sunrise on the bus ride to Firenze which took almost 3 hours. It was a great way to start the day. Luckily, it was not raining when we arrived, but halfway down the corridor near the Uffizi, it began. My roommates and I decided to part from the group of students and go find our hostel. Located right down the street from the famous “Duomo” by Brunelleschi, we found our insanely fantastic hostel.

It was stylish, had air conditioning, had GREAT security, and it was so clean! They offered us breakfast and, while we couldn’t check in until 2pm, they let us hang out and leave our luggage in the storage room. So accommodating.

We headed to the open-air market to do some shopping. Leather jackets, belts, wallets, bracelets, briefcases, luggage, Venetian glass, postcards, trinkets, antiques, journals. It had so many beautiful things. I couldn’t stop myself when I spotted a Medici leather purse. It was too gorgeous. So I bought it. A few scarves and bracelets for gifts later, we headed back to our hostel. We stopped to get some pizza at my favorite pizzeria on Via dei Servi. The pieces cost about $2.50 or less depending on how fresh (isn’t that fair?!) and they are the size of your head. Perfect. When we walked back to the hostel, I spotted Oscar on the terrace at the bar he worked at.

Oscar and I dated for about a week last summer. When he realized I wasn’t going to..eh um.. “put out,” he gave up fast. I was still okay with being friends with him because he didn’t damage me completely. My heart never was attached, so it never really got broken. He ran over to me and kissed me passionately on either side of the cheek. He took my phone number and told me he’d call me tonight and we could go out for a beer and catch up. Giovanni, the bar’s owner, arrived and came over as well. He said I looked just as he remembered and he was so happy to see me. It was a very sweet moment for me. I felt at home. I am home.

Tonight I’m wearing this great body black body suit with a high waisted black and white printed skirt. If it wasn’t raining, I’d wear these great heels I have, but my good ole trusty (and super cute) gladiator sandals will have to do. Oh, weather.