Ciao! I would like to dedicate this post to the Italian Cuisine that I've been having since I've been here because who doesn't love food?? Especially Italian. Italian food is full of all different variations of pasta: spaghetti with carbonara sauce, spaghetti with spicy tomato sauce, ravioli with blue cheese, gnocchi, penne, etc. There is pizza in almost every restaurant. Each has their own twist on things whether it be a penne pasta bread bowl or a prosciutto thick-crusted pizza stuffed with ricotta cheese... Yum is right. I have definitely been eating good here! We have come to know they are not huge breakfast eaters here in Italy. Unfortunately, the eggs and bacon meal is an American thing. However, they do have Cafe's that have different variations of pastries and croissants for breakfast- typically stuffed with jelly, custard, or nutella. As I mentioned in a previous post, my program offers a meal plan with different restaurants listed on it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Almost every morning I go to Pizzinos Cafe which is located on the same road as my school, and it is also one of the cafes listed on our meal plan. It is a nice grab-and-go Cafe to stop in on my way to class in the morning. Pastries cost around €1.30 and coffee could be anywhere from €1.50-2.50. Our breakfast cards are worth €4.50 so they'll give us an in-store credit to use the next time we come in if we have left over money! Lunch for me varies every day. On Monday's and Wednesday's I don't have class until the afternoon so I typically will stop into Pizzinos Cafe again, (yes, I'm a frequent customer) since they offer sandwiches and pizza mid-day. If I don't go there I find other sandwich shops or eat any left-overs I may have in my apartment. On Tuesday's and Thursday's I usually go to a Cafe called Mama's Bakery and get a more American styled lunch and will stay to do homework in-between classes. There is a famous sandwich shop called All'Antico Vinaio, which is just a short walk from my apartment. It is known to be the best sandwich in Florence. Since this place is so busy, there are two of them located right across from each other on Via dei Neri. 90% of the time, without exaggeration, there are about 50-75 people in each line waiting to order this sandwich. Crazy! I knew I had to try it eventually but I was not going to wait an hour in line to order a sandwich. Buuut one day I left class early to go buy cold medicine from a pharmacy right next door, and the line was so short that day it wasn't even out the door! I took this chance to check it out. I ordered one of the five famous sandwiches, la Dante, which had capocollo, cream cheese, arugula, and truffle spread. Not going to lie, these sandwhiches aren't the most pleasing to look at, buy hey, it did taste good. Now onto dinner, my favorite! Again, I have a few preferred places I tend to go to each week- it doesn't hurt that they're fairly close to my apartment (5-8 min walk). One of my top dishes so far has been Spaghetti alla carbonara from la Ghiotta. I also enjoy this particular restaurant because every time I have gone the same server is there and will help me and whoever I'm with with our Italian when we order. Another meal that I've ordered from this restaurant was a ricotta cheese stuffed pizza with tomato sauce topped with prosciutto. My friends and I have come to love the Italian dinner experience. It is nice to go out and spend 1.5-2 hours just sitting and talking to each other without feeling rushed or like we need to leave. The waiters will take our order, bring us our food, and besides that they won't bother us. They do not care if we stay or leave since tipping at restaurants is not recognized here so there's no reason to be concerned about turning over tables. Eating out is more of an event and I've learned to really appreciate it. Dessert time. I may of lied before saying dinner was my favorite, cause in my opinion gelato trumps everything. In Florence, you can't walk more than 2 minutes without passing a Gelateria and I love it. On average I probably have gelato three times a week give or take, and honestly, I don't feel bad about it. There is a lot of talk about studying abroad and gaining weight. So far my friends and I like to think that we even out our caloric intake with the amount of walking we do. Also the food here is very fresh and feels clean. It is clear we are almost never given processed food and I have noticed a huge (positive) difference in how I feel after eating verse when I was back home. With how much I have eaten out here, I can only count 1-2 times where I have left feeling gross. After all, I am only here for 4 months, and if I need to spend a little more time at the gym when I come back, so be it. It's SO worth it! If you care to see any other photos of my delicious Italian cuisine, I attached more below. If not, thanks for reading!! Ciao Jen :)
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