pre-departure foodies & fotos.

In less than five days I depart for my study abroad program hosted by Florence University of the Arts in Firenze, also known as Florence. This beautiful city in the region of Toscana will be my new home from 12 May to 22 June.  After taking beginning Italian 1 this past semester at the University of Florida, I am banking on complete fluency.  As long as I know food I can get by, right?

"Voglio un panino con salume e formaggio e senz'alto voglio un gelato."

I am packing for this trip of a lifetime where I will meet amazing people, see beautiful cities along the coast of Italy, and learn Italian and their culture, but ALL I can think about is gelato! I once traveled to Italy with my family when I was seven, but my memory has failed me because I do not remember anything except how much I LOVED gelato.  (I am sorry mom and dad if you are reading my blog right now because I know there was so much more to the trip, but nothing else was quite as delicious as our daily gelato ventures!)  The daily trips to the gelateria will no longer be a pastime in just a few short days! I do not think I will have trouble persuading my fellow Gators for gelato on gelato.

Speaking of my fellow Gators, there are so many coming on this trip! It is amazing to know I will be surrounded by so many different and fun individuals while traveling through Italy!  Get ready for a an adventure through my eyes because my pictures will serve as a visual to my life in Italy.  There will be posts about everything (yeah, I won't just be posting about food here), and I plan on photographing my way through Italy behind the lens of my Sony Alpha!

Hope you will enjoy my future posts.  I have never blogged before, so I plan on making an appearance here as often as possible and as often as Wifi is available to me! Ciao, Alla prossima i miei amici!

Rachele