Classes begin

We had our first lecture today with Dr. Sofi who is a practicing internal medicine specialist. He has studied the Medditerrenean diet and lifestyle and has done a lot of research on the topic. The first thing he pointed out is that it is not a "diet" as we think about it, it is a lifestyle. I feel like I am already understanding is lifestyle after just a few days. When we go out to eat, we spend at least 2.5 - 3 hours at the restaurant. The food delivery is methodically brought out with plant of time to enjoy each course.  This spacing prevents me from scrafing my food down so I don't feel super bloated when I am done eating. I cant say that I see a have difference in portion sizes really, at least not in the places where we have eaten. Because if all the courses were served on the same plate  at once it would pretty much look like a regular american size meal. The delivery and spacing of each course makes it different. So a couple of nights ago they brought out first course, pasta, then I got my salad, no ranch dressing here..lol - just straight up balsamic vinegar and olive oil, which I use anyway. So no problem for me. Then they brought out the third course, my delicious pork chop. And there was wine among that and bread. It was awesome! Of course after that we went to get our gelato.  It was not rushed, it settled well in my tummy and was so enjoyable!  The other part is the walking... walking, walking, walking. That is what we spend most of our time doing, which is great. I have been averaging 18,000 to 20,000 steps a day. Back home on a good day I averaged like 6,000. So I am walking a lot!
At 3:00 I have my first cooking class.  Can't wait for that! Will try to get some photos up soon. You an look on Facebook. I put a free there.  Va bene!

Florence here I am!

I made it to Florence. It is amazing here. My class instructor met me at the train station and we headed to our apartment building. We are one block from the Academia, the place where Michaelangelo's David is located. Two blocks from the duomo the most photographed structure in Florence. Shoppers will not be bored around here. Shops on the streets and in every building pretty much. Foodies will find a restaurant, cafe, wine bar, pizzeria, every 10 feet. You could go to a different restaurant or 3 every day and never go to the same place twice in a year! Last night I was alone and managed to meet a couple from Houston, TX. I boldly asked if I could join them for dinner. We had such a great time together. After dinner I took them to Groms gelateria, the best gelato in Florence acording to my instructors and Rick Steves. Organic and all natural. I had pistachio and coffee flavors... I almost fainted it was so delicious. Today I am in my apartment. I am housed on the first floor with the instructors. So glad because the other students are on 2nd floor. No elevators and I have a super heavy load. My room has glass doors that open into a courtyard. I will post pictures on Facebook. I haven't figured out the photo upload from my camera yet. I have to get on a real computer on campus to do that, but I can mobile upload to Facebook.  Well that is all for now. Ciao.