Florence, Italy!! (part one: haircut 'n stuff)

So post-Pisa we took the train into Florence. Darija, Sasha, Emily, Amy, and myself all landed in Florence and then I split off. Why? Because I was heading to meet my CouchSurfing hosts and they were headed off to their hostel.

As I met up with my host, Cassiope, I stepped off the platform and landed in a hole! Next to porta potties! The hole was filled with dirt and pee! Welcome to Firenze!

But other than that, my first night in Florence was awesome.
Cassiope and Holly-Marie were my two CouchSurfing hosts. What's CouchSurfing? Ok, it might sound sketchy but I don't think it is: It's an online community of travelers from all over the world who want to 1) have free places to stay on their travels and 2) have cultural exchanges. Ok, it's probably the other way around. But yeah, you go somewhere you send emails to people saying "Hey, I'm coming to Bulgaria, can you host me?" And then they'll write back with a yes or no. Even if they can't host you, some people will say "hey, let's meet up for coffee or a drink" which I think is great because you still get to meet amazing new people (who are, hopefully, interesting) and you get to see the city/town/village from a local's perspective.

Basically I got to stay at their place, in Florence, for free, for two nights. These are two 20 year old girls in the same program, from the US, living in Italy to learn Italian. They are two amazing girls who fed me and gave me a place to stay, gave me a "best of the best" list of Florence, a map, and a kickass vegan dinner. While I was there, they were also hosting another girl, Lucy, from a tiny town in southern California.

So Cassiope picked me up at the train station, after my graceful plummet into the hole of pee and mud, and took me to her house which was right above the Mercato Centrale, the giant market of Florence. Even at 6 o'clock at night it was hopping and everyone was selling leather leather leather everywhere. Leather wallets, belts, bags, jackets, everything. We climbed the eight hundred floors to their house, met Lucy, and started making dinner for Holly-Marie, who was coming back from work.

Once we got to the kitchen, we split up. Cassiope and Holly-Marie were on vegan-vegetable-pasta duty and Lucy was going to... cut my hair.

Yup, I had a girl whom I'd never met cut my hair with the kind of scissors you use for making snowflakes out of computer paper. It was AWESOME.

As was the vegan vegetable pasta.

Post-dinner, I met up with the girls who were stayin gin the hostel to do a little walk-around of Florence. Turns out it was FREEZING so we all bounce back and I returned to the CouchSurfing house and hung out with my hosts for the night. Good times. CouchSurfing was REALLY great for me. I'll trust Lucy with my hair anytime (although, I must admit, it did come out a lil' lopsided but whatevs) and if you want vegan recipes, just call up C or H-M. Frick yes.