Sneak Peak

Florence is just a bit overwhelming. Well, maybe I just have moments of being a bit overwhelmed. How grateful I am for this life I'm leading, but holy potatoes is it exhausting (see here for this explained in GIF form). By the time I feel like I have any free time during the week after traveling, classes, activities, clubs, friends, homework, etc. I just want a moment to chill. Which has lead to moments of sitting at home enjoying not doing anything (which when it was pouring buckets outside was pretty acceptable behavior). 

However, I want to make the most out of every single moment of my time here, in my fantastic home abroad. Luckily, with the sun finally out and shining here in Florence, I'm beginning to search out places to bask in doing nothing, but outside. If you sit in your room and read a book you're a hermit, but if you do it outside in a park you're a romantic; I like to consider myself a romantic hermit. 

In San Diego I've spend countless hours at Balboa Park, one of my favorite places to go and escape from the stress of life. Like San Diego, Florence is a place where you have to go out and search for a place to escape from the city-livin' life. Boboli Gardens are an excellent place for this. 

The Gardens are connected to the rear of Pitti Palace, which I visited a few weeks ago when the weather was still a bit nippy. At around 11 acres, I couldn't even begin to see the whole of the gardens as I explored during a study break last week, but I thought I'd give you a little sneak peak of just a little bit of it. 

Gelato, Bicyles, and Tights

La-la-la-Lucca! The little Tuscan town of Lucca swept me away on Saturday into rays of sunshine, smiles, and happy humming. 

To enter Lucca you must first get past the mighty medieval wall. There are plenty of entrances, but we chose those most cryptic. I felt a little like Indiana Jones creeping through a lost tunnel. 

A Simple Sunday

Waking up with nothing to do is blissful. Not having to hit snooze a dozen times and whine to the morning gods that it is too early is one of the better moments in life. Even living in Italy, it can really be these little things that make you appreciate life. 

Sundays are one of my favorite days of the week. There are so many great simplicities on Sundays. My primary preference is "Scumball Sundays" (patent pending), when I don't leave the house or do anything relatively close to productive. Brunch is the primary meal of the day, and there's no going wrong with bacon and mimosas at 11 am. Everything is a little more relaxed on a Sunday. The streets are quieter, hushed from those suffering hangovers, and no one is rushing around with the usual frantic purpose of the week. 

Having been a frantic rusher for the past few weekends (not that there are any complaints here) I have been craving a chill weekend to enjoy Florence and a little relaxation. Friday and Saturday, I spent predominately tucked in hiding from the rain. I took advantage of an uncommon "Scumball Saturday", filled with tea and a Criminal Minds marathon. 

On Sunday I woke to a quite apartment. My whole gang of roommates had departed for the day so I had the place to myself. I think we all know that being home alone is one of those "little things" I was talking about. I opened the apartment windows to let in the sun that had finally peaked out from behind the clouds, turned on iTunes, and began to sing along. I cracked a few eggs on the stove and had breakfast going in no time. I danced around the kitchen, as I moved my cuisine from pan to plate.