La Dolce Vita

On the plane to Italy I saw a shooting star while we were jetting across the Atlantic Ocean.

The only wish I could think of quickly was to get me to Florence safely.

I figured I don’t need a star for all my dreams to come true in Italy.

I live on Via Dei Pepi….with Pepi. Yes, the street is named after my home’s family. The house is beautiful and is right next to Santa Croce where most of the weekend markets are located.

The bell rings noting each meal of the day. We always wake up before the “ding ding” though because of the clammer of pots and dishes in the kitchen preparing for la colazione. The food is cooked by scratch everyday which seems to be done with little effort and only takes about 30 minutes to prepare the best food

in Italy. We eat around a huge table and are served course after course of Italian goodness. We have roommates and visitors from all over the world that speak in every language imaginable and dinner is always a mixture of them all.

The walk to school everyday is a painters dream. The colors are never dull painted on the huge ancient buildings, even when the day is covered in rain. On sunny days the water glistens and twinkles mirroring all the colors of Ponte Vecchio and the cobblestone seems to beg you to take a different route to school everyday. We stop on the way for fresh fruit, mostly oranges, located on every corner each morning.

I study Italian wine three times a week with the most famous Italian wine family in Italy and I eat chocolate from the chocolate market outside my house on the weekends with friends around the building that holds Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo’s bodies. I frolic on the same streets at night where the greatest

artists and philosophers in history walked everyday.

I am absolutely in love. I'm in love with this city, with the people, with my new friends.

Today was sunny outside, markets were everywhere, people had smiles and the smell of food throughout the piazza made everyone want to play outside. The sun’s refection on the water danced around t

he gondolas and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. We got lost on the way home which we were not surprised at all about seeing that we have not been on time or gone the right way once since we arrived, and the shops and boutiques seemed to scream at us to come inside, which

of course, we did.

We are regular customers of a lively il ristorante, Bar Salamanca, which is conveniently located about 100 steps from our house. When you walk in the smell of Spanish food and the sound of salsa music is permeating through the air. The walls are deep red with dark wood panels and candles light up the walls. Soccer is always on the big screen and the bartenders and waiters are quite possibly the cutest boys in the entire Italian peninsula. After too much sangria and fruit someone inevitably starts to move their hips and out comes the start of much dancing. If you go to Florence, go get some Spanish loving at Salamanca, you won’t be disappointed.

I’m not sure if I knew exactly how happy I would be here until I arrived. It was beyond what I imagined, above any expectations and no sign of unhappiness is creeping by. This place is heaven, perfect and the definition of la dolce vita.

We just booked our southern Italy trip for April. Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii for a

three day weekend. I hope that I don’t “accidentally” miss the bus to go home…