Bassano, Florence, and more!

The first few weeks here at CIMBA have been both relaxing and busy. There have been many days where I have been exhausted from all the things we were doing, but other days where I feel like I have a lot of time to myself. The first weekend here, we took a bus to Bassano for a night out. It was very fun, but it was pouring rain the entire time. First we walked the streets trying to find somewhere to eat. We found a small pizzeria after about 15 minutes. The pizza was really good (although all of it is really good here), but the wine was even better! We wanted to go to the club, but the club that was closest to where we were was only open on Fridays. So, we ended up walking over to a very small bar and spent the night there sampling wine and talking with the Italians. The Italians we met were very friendly and very willing to talk to us. Most of them wanted to practice their English with us, but they also were teaching us some Italian words and phrases. I finally know how to say more than just “ciao!”

The first few weeks here at CIMBA are called CAP weeks. We are split into three groups. The first week my group did LIFE. LIFE is a very intense leadership training. I learned a lot about myself during the training and how I can achieve my future goals. Last week, the second week, we did the Da Vinci challenge.  I really enjoyed it because we were able to do a lot of group activities. One of my favorite activities was one of the activities I was most scared to do. We climbed up onto a platform and did the trust fall. The Di Vinci challenge is about learning how to work together as a team using communication and being able to trust each other. I am definitely sore from everything we did yesterday, but it was fun! This week we are doing the PSDM workshop and KT training. I don’t know much about it yet because today was my first day, but so far we have learned how to effectively address concerns and ask questions.

This past weekend was the best two days I have had here at CIMBA so far. Almost every student in the CIMBA program made his or her way to Florence. We took two buses to Prato and then took a train from Prato to Florence. The travel time was about 4 hours. My group had eleven girls in it and we stayed in an apartment near the train station. The apartment was very big and fit all of us perfectly. The best part was that it was pretty cheap! On the first night in Florence we made our way to the Lion’s Pub, which is a popular pub for American study abroad students. There were a lot of young Italians and there was even a performance that night. On Saturday, we did a lot of Florence site seeing.  We started the day out with breakfast at a coffee shop. The coffee was pretty good, but the bagel and cream cheese was not the same as I am used to.

During the day we saw the real David by Michelangelo. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but we did get a picture of the replica.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also walked around the duomo for a while. The best part of the day was walking to the top of Piazzale Michelangelo. The view was gorgeous and we could see all of Florence. We stayed at the top for a long time taking pictures and just enjoying the sight. We also got gelato while we were at the top. I got pineapple and wild berry gelato on a cone. I thought it was very good, but I have heard that there are some really good hidden gelato places.

 

Saturday night we went to Space Electronic, which was another popular club. This was a pretty fun place and they played good music. I enjoyed it mostly because a lot of CIMBA students were there and it was fun to hang out with everyone together. Our apartment was only a block away from this club, which was very convenient. On Sunday we were pretty lazy. We shopped most of the morning. I got a dress from a store called OVS, which had pretty good deals. We also went to an H&M where most of us bought something. At the end of the day we went to Gusta Pizza. This is named “the best pizza place” in Florence. I ordered a pesto and mozzarella pizza, which was very good. The bus ride home was very long and everyone was pretty exhausted. Florence was a beautiful city and I would love to go back someday!