Italy starts to boil...

So Wednesday I prepared sandwiches for homeless people but unfortunately could not serve them due to the ridiculous blisters on my poor feet :-( Everyday I come back to the apartment here I wish I had one of those foot baths/massage things.. That would be so wonderful. Thursday after a long class day I went out with some friends around Trastevere & ate some gnocchi. Friday morning we took a train to Florence where it is even more boiling hot than Rome right now. Luckily our hotel had AIR CONDITIONING!!!! After going around town and to the school there for free lunch, I got to go to the Accademia where the statue of David is.. Talk about amazing. That statue is 16 feet tall without the stand and is carved out of a single piece of marble. I have never enjoyed art so much! In line to get into the museum 2 girls behind us were from Puerto Rico which was really cool because I talked to them in Spanish.. but then that messed up my Italian. The guy directly in front of us in line was from New Zealand and I really wanted to ask him if it was business time. The other couple in front of us were from Brazil and I kept thinking how cool it was how people from so many different places were there in Florence! Anyway after going through the museum we returned to the hotel where we took a fantastic air conditioned nap :-) We walked around Florence afterward and ate at a nice restaurant. Friday night I got to enjoy my first cannolo (yes it's cannolo because it's singular). Saturday we went to the Uffizi which hosts the majority of the renaissance art collection. Purtroppo (unfortunately) I don't really know a lot about art.. but the birth of Venus painting was there! Maria (the secretary for AI that was with us on the trip) and I tried to change our train ticket back to Rome for earlier but it didn't work out so she took me out and bought me a kebab, which in Italy looks more like a gyro or a burrito.. but I think kebab refers to the style of meat. After walking around the city we got the train back to Rome which arrived as it was raining (yet still very hot). I went out for a friend's birthday and got to eat at Montecarlo's which is a really good pizza/pasta/traditional Italian place. Today I went out and got some souvenirs but I think I actually melted. When I got back I bought some gelato (of course) and today I think I will just try to chill around the city hopefully staying indoors and wishing I could see some 4th of July fireworks or eat some brisket at home *sigh*

That's it for now!
-Mary