Arriving and First Few Days in Florence

I’m writing my first blog post a few days after we arrived in Florence and those few days have been a whirlwind. Traveling went smoothly as well as arriving in the neighborhood of Gavinana. After settling into our rooms we had a quick orientation. We then had an amazing welcome dinner at a local restaurant and plant nursery called Eden Flower Bistro.

After dinner we came back and rested for the next day. Monday consisted of a walking tour of our neighborhood and introductions to the wonderful drawing teacher Susann. In the afternoon we learned how to navigate the public transport. The evening consisted of relaxing and I got my first gelato of the trip. Our Tuesday was a much more whirlwind of a day. We started by having our first drawing class followed by lunch and then our very first Italian culture and language class. Then it was off to the city center for our walking tour. 
The tour was amazing and prepared us for when will be visiting different sites in the city center during the rest of our trip. We then had a choice of dinner options to choose from and I had some amazing poke before getting some more gelato. Wednesday was a much more relaxing day with us spending most of it at the Casale before heading out to our excursion of rafting on the Arno river. 
Rafting on the Arno was so much fun!! We where divided into two groups and had such a good time seeing a whole new view of the city. Once we finished our rafting tour we headed back to the Casale and had dinner. Tomorrow we will start our day by having our first drawing class at a new location and then paper marbling.