our apartment on via verrazzano

hey everyone, it's almost the end of my first week and i'm finally settled into my apartment.  we moved in on tuesday, and all the apartments for students are really close together and near the school.  i live on a tiny street called via verrazzano with five other girls all from the new england area.  our apartment is small, but really cozy and cute--it has green shutters, a big brown front door, and palm trees in the backyard (which i still don't understand since it's been almost as cold as boston).  the best part, though, is that our street comes out into a piazza with a beautiful view of la basilica di santa croce.

piazza di santa croce, the view from our street

this week has been very busy with orientation events, but i still found time to explore the city yesterday with caroline, a good friend from bc.  we walked all over the southern part of the city, wandering over il ponte vecchio, tasting our first italian gelato, and eventually making our way back to il duomo.  everything here is so beautiful, it's unreal.

despite our free time, i'm really excited to start school.  right now, it almost feels like we're all stuck in limbo--i don't ever have a clue what time it is, or even the day of the week, and it feels like i've been here a month already.  i can't wait to get into the swing of things, practicing italian, starting classes, my internship, traveling around to other parts of italy and europe.  there are just so many things to do, it's overwhelming. time to get started!

p.s. these are just a couple of the pictures i've taken in the past couple days.  more to come...i promise!