There’s something about Florence in the evening. The way the city is lit up from windows and street lights, the hushed tones coating the streets and the smell of Italian food pouring out of hole in the wall restaurants. The view from my bedroom window will simply never get old and makes my mornings and nights extra special.

The night we went to cooking class was extra special though. Cooking in Italy seems like it could only be a dream, but some how we managed to do it and it was incredible. Making the tortellini from scratch and learning how to make authentic desserts is pretty much as amazing as it can get in a food city like Florence. Learning about different types of bruschetta, fresh ingredients, ways to roll different kinds of pasta dough, smelling the garlic and the rosemary fill the room with a mouth watering aroma and trying new things like white beans truly made my Italy experience even better. All everyone was telling me before I came here was how delicious the food was going to be and they were clearly right. All while the streets were lit up and the moon was glowing.

That cooking class showed me what I can do in the kitchen, how creative people can be because we cooked things I wouldn’t have thought of, that trying new foods and techniques can be such a positive thing and that food can bring people together while both cooking together and eating together (just like we have been learning in cinema class!). Doing all of that on a gorgeous night in Italy couldn’t have been a more magical combination. Like my dad would always sing- that’s amore.