Chapter 4: Orientation to Lorenzo de' Medici

On Thursday morning, Dana and I were to attend an all-day orientation session to learn about the city, our classes, and other various pieces of information we needed to know from LdM staff members and advisors. After sitting in the wrong room, wrong session, and wrong building for three hours (we really are winners), we finally got it right. All of our staff members have very thick Italian accents, and seem really excited to help us make the most of our time here. Later that night, we were invited to a welcome dinner for new students put on by the school. We met up in front of one of the academic buildings (they are all scattered around a few different streets and buildings), and walked from there. Over 100 students showed up, and we couldn't imagine what restaurant could possibly hold us all. After being led across the city on foot by staff members ( we were basically a very large, loud, embarrassingly obvious group of Americans parading through Florence like helpless tourists), our walk ended abruptly. We were suddenly on a gently sloping expanse of grass between an ivy-covered restaurant and the beautiful Arno River, with an amazing view of Ponte Vecchio at dusk! Dozens of tiny tables and chairs lit by twinkling candles were scattered around the grass, with long tables of free food and free wine against the wall of the restaurant. What a welcome to LdM!