Life "Pre-Uni"

Last week, in order to escape the dust and noise of the renovations, I travelled to Elba Island (which you may remember from a post last year) where I was lucky enough to stay with some friends of Lorenzo's cousins for a few nights.
I have to admit that it is a pretty hard life living on an Italian island... you have to wake up late, have breakfast, head to the beach, have a swim, have some  pizza on the beach, have a nap in the sun... have another swim, have a coffee, go home- shower and change... maybe another nap- head to a bar to have aperitivo, seafood dinner, out for drinks, stay out late, get to bed late... then start the process again.
You all sit there thinking it's so easy...

Considering there's been next to no rain in Italy for the last couple of months, needless to say I was graced with 4 days of hot, beautiful weather, coupled with crystal clear, blue water. Just stunning! Unlike Australian beaches, most of the beaches at Elba have stones rather than sand and have no waves so the water is placid and clear- perfect for snokling and exploring. To get to some of the nicer beaches you often have to 'treck' down the hillside, through shrubbery and dirt patches, which, when you reach the beach all hot and sweaty, makes it all the more worth it!

For at least 2 of the nights I was there I was the designated doll, and was dressed and made up accordingly by two friends; Elisa and Andrea, then smuggled in the car to our various destinations...

Giovani e Sorellina mia (Elisa)

Cristiana e Topi Topi

Andrea (Topi Topi) e Erika (Zia Paris)

Now I'm back in Florence (one of the hottest cities in Europe at the moment at 40 degrees) back to preparing for my italian exam and dreaming of going back to Elba!!

Ben tornata!

Oh hello there! Long time no.. see? Sorry for that! A few changes have come about since I last posted in January, and I think it could be a very interesting second half of 2012!

In February I headed back to Australia, where I was working and struggling to get a visa to come back to Italy, and finally after 6 months I am happy to say I am back in Florence with a study visa in my hot little passport!

I have enrolled at the Ag College at the University of Florence (much to my fathers joy that one of his offspring are following in his footsteps of Agriculture) to study Viticulture and Enologie, and presuming I pass my entry level Italian language test on the 3rd of September... it will provide me with a visa for the duration of the course (which, for one who doesn't have to repeat any subjects, is 3 years... no promises!) and allows me to work up to 20 hours a week. So presuming all goes well, I should be here for a little while!!

I've also moved out of the city in Florence and am temporarily living with Lorenzo and his parents about 5km out of the old city centre while they divide the house in two, essentially creating a little flat next door which we will hopefully be able to move into within a month.
I'll admit that I was somewhat dubious about moving a 20minute tram ride from the city (especially to live with someone else's parents!!), but after a week of living out here I feel so much more at home. There is a garden, a wood fired oven, markets around the corner, more locals, few tourists and it just feels like a more genuine version of Italy! Even if it is a little challenging sometimes ;)

So between now and the start of uni I am in holidays! Well deserved too- I worked for a good 6 months there you know!! Free to busk in the Tuscan sunshine as I see fit (if it can be called busking when the temperature reaches 38 degrees daily and you are cowering inside to escape the heat...) and study my Italian so I don't fail my entry test and get kicked out of the country!!

Time's a racin'

I have less than one week left in Florence before I head back to Brisbane for (hopefully only) a few months... and considering I stopped working at the pub a week ago, I have had all the time in the world to get to see all the parts of Florence that I haven't gotten around to before... like Michelangelo's David... or Chiesa Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo; only the 4th biggest cathederal in the world... and maybe the biggest tourist attraction in Florence)...

 

I also had a going away dinner party on Tuesday night which was a heap of fun.

Helped to show me how many amazing people I have met this year!

 

So thanks to everyone that has made this year a blast... Hopefully I will be back soon enough to do it all again!!

The Dags strike again...

I'm still alive! I have been having a merry old time here in Florence over the past month, from eating myself stupid over christmas (for literally 3 days straight) to dancing on tables at new years to finishing work at the pub and getting ready to head back to the land they call Oz.
This post however, is dedicated to my family... the only one I have... thank god, or there could be trouble. As my family were completely spread out this year- my sister in Singapore, my brother in Perth, my parents in Toowoomba and me over here- yet wanted to keep with our dress up tradition (where we draw a name out of the hat and then buy a costume for that name for Christmas day) we organised costumes and shipped them off to their future wearers. We didn't take into account that Italian post is the slowest post I have ever come across and the last package arrived today, nearly 2 months after being sent!!!
So today we had some Christmas cheer over Skype... this was the outcome...

 

  

Unfortunately the photos aren't of a great quality (what can you expect taking a photo of a computer screen!!) but the tradition was there and it was alot of fun as always, only a little bit late!

Cambiaaaa tutto cambia.

This weekend was my first introduction to the Dolomites. Mountains. Snow. Ski. Mountain food. Mountain grog.

The View from our apartment- before snow.

The ski slope in view of our apartment- that I didn't attempt.

The View from our apartment- after snow.

 

Together with Lorenzos cousins Erika and Cristiana, Cristianas husband Giovanni and Giovanni's son Lorenzo we rented apartments in La Villa, a small ski town in the Dolomites, for 4 nights. My ski teacher (Lorenzo) was tough but fair, and at the end of my second day I was skiing and falling with confidence. Perhaps somewhat ambitiously we took the ski lift up to a higher slope where I fell numerous times, bruising my hand and legs and drawing blood under my chin... spectacular fall if I do say so myself.

The professionals!

 

 The owners of the apartments were saying that this year is the worst year they have seen in terms of snow, obviously enough to ski on- because they make it at night, but the snow was very sparse on the surrounding hills. However Monday afternoon the snow came and it was just beautiful! Better late than never right!

 

The Girly Weekend

Remember the girls from my Italian class? Well a couple of weekends ago Amelia (American) and I went to visit Sofia (German) at her house in Dusseldorf!

We arrived late Friday night and stayed up stayed up to the wee hours catching up and drinking bubbles, which consequently meant it was a very relaxed start to Saturday. Sofia treated us to a good hearty German breakfast before taking us into Dusseldorf center to see the sights.

  

 

 
Together we saw the city, drank some gluhwein, took a walk along the Rhein, tried reibekuchen (potato cakes, something like hashbrowns or rosti... but made fresh infront of you and served with apple sauce... strange, but amazing), walked through the Christmas markets, ate currywurst and pommes, went to the top of the Burgplatz tower... to get a coffee... went to the port to see the crazy architecture by Frank Gehry, had more gluhwein, tried alt bier (at this point I'm giving up trying to discuise the fact that all we did was eat and drink) went out for sushi (because Dusseldorf has a huge Japanese population and therefore some amazing Japanese restaurants) followed by a glass of wine... then a movie at home with a big bowl of icecream, chocolate and more bubbles...

 

 

Although different from the party weekend I had imagined with super late nights and a few too many to drink, it was a fantastic girly weekend that I haven't had in ages, thank you girls!!

Photo-less updates

I know photo-less blogs are boring however my new camera is broken (hooray). SO no photos today, but because is has been some weeks since I posted I thought I should give you an update...

Nothing much has been happening at all in these weeks that I have felt the need to share, the weather is getting colder (1 degree last night) but the days are still (touch wood) beautiful and the sun makes everything ok.

My debit card got cloned last week and they took a nice hunk out of my bank account, so I'm in the process of disputing and hopefully getting my money back for that.

I went to about 6 different patisseries last week to try and land myself another stage (this time focusing on pastry alone) but turns out the laws have changed since my stage with the Hotel and now I need to go to a school for at least a month in order to participate in a stage... and considering I only have about 2 and a half months before I make my way back to Australia, there isn't a whole lot of point in that.

Hotel Brunelleschi have offered me a job from April next year as their patissiere, which depending on visas (which as always, nobody knows how to apply for let alone know what visa I actually need) I am seriously considering.

My time has freed up alot since I finished my stage at the hotel so I have been working at the pub more regularly in these weeks and consequently my daily routine has changed to exclude mornings and the days here have been slipping away. It's hard to belive it's nearly Christmas!!!

Anyway, I will leave it at that. Hopefully the next time I blog I will have a camera and photos!!