June 21th: Mmmm...Gelato

Rejuvenated from our evening yoga, we woke up and headed over to a local cafe to continue with our Florence reading and writing time over some coffee and avocado toast—Jill's plain, mine with sun-dried tomatoes, and Viv's with salmon.

Wondering ‘Round

After breakfast, Viv headed back to our airbnb to await a very important FEDEX package carrying her new credit card inside. Jill and I walked around the city, and with a green apple in my hand, we challenged multiple bookstores to see if they had the second edition of "The Throne of Glass" in English. Jill had impressively finished the first book in less than a week so the craving for the continuation of the storyline was consuming her thoughts.

After an unsuccessful book search, we wondered in and out of thrift shops, homegood stores, and souvenir sellers to collect some gifts for our friends and family back home. We also purchased our own pasta cutters, so we can make the pasta we learned how to make yesterday at home.

Upon our arrival, Viv was perched downstairs with her book awaiting her package. Not long after Jill and I went upstairs to cool off, Viv rushed upstairs to share the wonderful news that her credit card was no longer lost but rather in her hand. WOOO HOOO big dance party :)

Luckily, Viv had enough euros saved up incase of an emergency like this, but after the few days of stress we were all happy to go out for a well-deserved lunch to refuel and celebrate the return of Viv’s card. At an outdoor restaurant close to the Duomo, we ate Italian pizza and aperol spritz in the intense summer heat.

“ ...even though our nights had different narratives the ice cream was consistent on both sides. "

Choose Your Own Adventure

Afterwards, we chilled at the apartment until Jill and Viv went to meet up with some NYU friends who are currently studying at NYU’s Florence program. I was feeling like having a chill night, so I worked on the blog and, of course, grabbed some Italian gelato and hung out around the Duomo before heading back to the airbnb.

Jill and Viv had gin and tonics at hole-in-wall gin bar and got into conversation with their waitress, Marlow, who was a NY-based actress and worked on broadway for 10 years. Marlow offered advice about casting in Italy and shinned a light on what working as an actress in Florence was like. Jill and Viv also met up with their friend (shout out Emmie) at a very cool bar across the river. They loved hearing about what the NYU Florence program and facilities were like, and from what they told me it sounds really awesome!

On their way back to the airbnb from drinks, the girls also stopped for gelato too, so even though our nights had different narratives the ice cream was consistent on both sides :)