When I woke up today, I thought it was going to be another cold, dreary day in Florence. I grudgingly put on my rain boots and layered up for potential bad weather. However, it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! After class, Alyssa, Taylor and I went to the student travel agency to book a trip to Interlaken, Switzerland. We are going to go Paragliding! Afterwards we casually walked around the city—getting Gelatto, bartering with street vendors, buying scarves, and drooling over H&M and Zara, I was officially bit by the shopping bug. It was a good thing I didn’t have much money because I was sure I would have bought a lot more.

As we made our stroll around the new market and the Piazza della Republica, we saw a guy making large chalk paintings on the sidewalk. Also we saw a man posing in the street, dressed in a “windblown” costume for money.

The city was alive with bustling shoppers and students getting out of school. Everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather. I finally saw the sun! I never realized how much I missed it until I saw it today. Hopefully it will stay out for the rest of my trip. But tomorrow’s forecast warns of snow…