John Mark’s Study Abroad

Florence Video

Florence Day 1

We took about an two hour train this morning to Florence from Rome.  As soon as we got to our hotel and checked in we went to the Duomo.  Justin is the expert on the building and told us all about the construction of the Dome.  Afterwards we got to go up to the top, it was beautiful from the top, you could see for miles.  Florence is such a cool city.  It is in the Tuscany region, but is still a big city, but small enough that you can walk all around.

Notice i still have not shaved since the U.S. (almost 3 weeks)

That night we just enjoyed walking the city, watching soccer, and then went to a club called Be Bop.  An “Oasis” cover band was playing… I hardly know any “Oasis” songs, who knew they were big enough to have a bad that just covers their songs.  It was a blast, we meet a bunch of people from UGA and Bama.

Florence Day 2

The next day we went to 3 different museums.  It was interesting, but maybe a little bit too much intake for one day.  One of the cool things we did see was the David, a huge meat market, the Panels of the East Door on the Baptistry.  Each Panel depicted a scene from the old testament (adam and eve, cane and able, Moses, ect.)

Florence Day 3

The next day we spent all day in Pisa, taking pictures in front of the leaning tower of Pisa.  You can see alot of them in the video if you watch it.  We all went to the top of Pisa, it was gorgeous.

That evening we got home and bought a soccer ball for $8 and went to a park and played each other in soccer in honor of the Euro Cup.

Florence Day 4

The next day was almost completly free, we started the morning at the Uffizi Museum.  It was huge, and some really cool paintings by all the famous artist, Michelangelo, Donatello, ect.  After the museum i went to the 10:30 Catholic Mass at the Duomo.  Since i went by myself i sat between two Italians that could hardly speak english at all.  Even though it is not the traditional service that i am use to, it was still refreshing worshiping the Lord in such a beautiful building.  The huge Dome above was a painting of Heaven at the top, then earth in the middle, and hell at the base of the dome.  Really Interesting.

That afternoon we went on a long bike tour of Florence. It was Cole, Jay, Jeff, Jep and myself, and we rode about 23 miles.

It was a blast, once we got to the top we stopped at a vineyard and got some wine, and a huge platter of meats.  We averaged about 20 miles an hour on the way home since it was all down hill.

Florence Day 5

The next day was our first full free day.  We took a huge group to Cinque Terre.  It again was one of those places that you absolutely can not describe with words, or pictures.  There are 5 cities along the coast, about 10 miles apart total.  We walked from 1 to 2, then took a train to 3, then walked 3-4, then trained to 5. So overall we had a good long hike through the mountains, and a nice relaxing afternoon on the beach of the last city.  After running with jeff through florence, playing soccer the next day, riding bikes up the mountains, then hiking Cinque Terre i felt it was only fair for me to get a $5 message on the beach.  It was great also, very relaxing.

So overall i think Florence has been my favorite place!  I got to do a lot of activities which i love, saw alot of interesting sites, and our group is getting closer and closer together, and we are just having a blast enjoying each others company.

Ciao, we are off to Venice

John Mark