Weekend Update!

So much has already happened this weekend I can't belive it is only Sunday morning. Friday me and some friends walked across the river and pretty much straight up, there on a giant hill overlooking all of Florence is a church called San Mianato. The church itself is gorgeous, but what was more lovely was the fact that you could see all of Florence and look down on the Duomo and try to find where I live. I am so excited to take my parents up there! It was quite the walk though, and in my Moffitt spirit I was booking it, and turned around to find my friends about three blocks back.....apparently I was the only one wanting to burn off some Gelato. So once we got to the church we walked around it for a little bit and then went inside to hear the Gregorian  monks chant! It was so haunting and even though there were only five of them their voices could fill the entire church. Friday night we drank some wine and our neighbors came over to watch a movie, then we all went to bed early since Saturday was a very early get-up for everyone.
Saturday was an adventure day! Me and four friends went to Chianti through a student travel agency. After the bus ride there through amazing rolling hillsides covered in chateu's (which I am determined to own one day), we arrived in Greve. From there, us and about 20 other american students, each on ditzier and skimpier dressed than the next went for a two hour hike through the vineyards and up to a gorgeous old church. Don't be fooled by the length of time it took us to do the walk...it was barely two miles, but it just took a long time due to constant picture taking and the exterme slowness of the average twenty year old girl.
We ended our walk at this giant old house from around 1500 where the family has been wine makers for 400 years. They told us all about chianti wine and had us try a few different kinds that they make right there in the vineyard. We were served a huge lunch of pasta, lunch meat, brusschetta, and of course multiple glasses of wine. It turns out that in Italian culture lunch is the largest meal of the day, and Gelatto is meant to be eaten inbetween lunch and dinner, not after dinner. Saturday night it was pouring rain, but a group of us decided to go out anyways and stopped at the first bar we saw. This turned out to be a bad choice since it was dead and the bartender hated us! Due to the rain though no one felt like wandering around to find something better so we settled in and had a good time.
Overall the day was really fun and it was great to get outside the city, I can't be in the city-crowdness for to long so I will have to be on the lookout for lots of chances to get outside Florence.