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My friend Jen and I at the dinner
I never imagined how tiring traveling every weekend  was going to be. The past two weeks I've had "off" and got to spend some time in Florence catching up on work but more importantly, sleep.

The past week we've had a few events around Florence to keep us occupied. Marist held an "aperitivo" dinner in the ballroom of Hotel Astoria hosted by the Marist President and his wife. President and Mrs. Murray, along with other members of the Marist Admissions staff, were in attendance for the dinner. Back on campus, I work as a student assistant in the Admissions Office and my boss is the director for international admissions, dealing directly with the Marist-LdM campus. Before I left, he told me a lot about the campus and really got me excited for Florence, so it was cool to see him and the other Admissions staff in Florence.


This past Sunday we had the opportunity to attend a Florence soccer game for five euro, one of the events on my Florence bucket list. On our way to the stadium, I picked up a jersey and was ready for action. ACF Fiorentina plays in the Serie A league, the top division of the Italian football league system. At the game I went to, they took on Atalanta BC from Bergamo in Northern Italy.

Being at the game was a lot of fun. Just as you see on TV, the fans REALLY get into the action. Almost the entire time there was a chant going on, people holding up their scarves, or someone yelling at the few Atalanta fans in the visitors section. Fiorentina played a great game and won 4-1.
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Certainly going to miss this food
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Stadio Comunale Artemio Franchi
My friend Nikki met her parents in Switzerland over the weekend and brought them back with her to Florence. Last night we all went out for dinner. Literally the next door over from my apartment is a restaurant named La Giostra that I've heard incredible reviews about. Every night I pass it and see a line of people out the door waiting to get in, so I recommended that we go there.

Little did we know just how well ranked this restaurant was. On the wall next to our table, one magazine ranked it the best restaurant in the region of Tuscany and another ranked it the 27th best restaurant in all of Europe. Looking around we saw pictures of famous celebrities who had eaten there including Bruce Springsteen, George Lucas, Brad Pitt, Chevy Chase, Michael Cain, John Travolta, Neil Patrick Harris, John Malkovich, and more.

The food was to die for. I had spaghetti with lobster that was incredible and tried some pear ravioli as well. I decided that I'll be living at this restaurant for the next three weeks. And on top of that I even can connect to the Wifi from my apartment because its so close!
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Thank you Esposito's for an incredible dinner!
I have one more trip left this semester, and it looks like it's going to be my favorite (or should I say 'favourite') by far. Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Scotland to play at the birthplace of golf, St. Andrews. This afternoon I found out that we got a tee time to play at the Old Course on Friday and I've watch every YouTube video I could find about the course this afternoon. I never thought I'd be playing on the same course where Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods all won the British Open! Let's just hope I remember how to swing a club...

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family back home! I'll be thinking of everyone during my overnight layover in Dusseldorf Airport in Germany. And finally,



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