Buon Compleanno Nicole!

     The best birthday ever began promptly at midnight. At exactly12:00am I was overwhelmed with happy birthday wishes. All of my roommates ran into the dining room and yelled happy birthday to me, and my sister, my parents, and my cousin tried to call me or message me on skype at the same time. The celebrating continued when my roommates and I decided that we were going to take "nutella shots". Unfortunately nutella has yet to be made into a delicious alcoholic beverage, so our shots consisted of eating an entire spoonful of the delicious stuff at once. It was definitely the best shot I've ever had! lol  
     After our nutella shots I skyped with my family for a while and then went to bed because I had to get up early the next morning for class.
 

Stesha, me and Caitlin taking our nutella shots

     I woke up at 7:45am and made myself some eggs and potatoes for breakfast. They were good, but not nearly as delicious as what my dad makes at home (love you Dad!) After breakfast I got dressed and went to my only class of the day: Photography. Even though it starts early in the morning (9:00) and doesn’t end until 2:00, that particular class was a lot of fun! We got to develop our pictures we had taken over the week and then we were able to print one of them. The whole process took the entire class period, but I love photography and I was really happy with the way my pictures turned out, so I didn’t mind spending 5 hours of my birthday in class.

     After photo I met my roommates Stesha and Emma for lunch at Ganzo. Ganzo is a restaurant owned by FUA (my school) so all of the students get 30 free meal vouchers. The food is delicious, you can drink as much water as you want (one of my favorite things, since water is so expensive in Italy!) and it’s all for free! It’s great! I had a chicken cutlet with arugula, tomatoes and grated parmesan cheese on top. It was very yummy. After lunch Emma and I went to get some gelato. I had chocolate and biscotti flavor, and as always it was delicious.

     Shortly after we got back from gelato I went to my room and found a surprise waiting for me! When I walked in the door there was a sign on the stairs to my loft that said "Happy 20th Birthday Nicole" and when I continued up the stairs I saw that my entire room had been decorated with crepe paper and balloons! It put a huge smile on my face and was one of the first things that truly made my day. 



      A few hours later, after a little relaxation and getting to talk to some of my family back home, it was time to get ready for dinner. While we were getting ready, Caitlin popped a bottle of champagne that Shannon, Claire and Cami had bought for me and we all toasted to my birthday. As we were enjoying the delicious strawberry champagne and were about ready to leave, my roommates surprised me for the second time. Stesha came into the living room carrying a cake lit up with candles and everyone started singing Happy Birthday to me! Yet again I felt so loved and couldn't stop smiling! (This was the second thing that truly made my day.) After I blew out my candles we all ate a little slice of Stesha's homemade cake. It was a yellow cake with nutella frosting (Best frosting ever! I don't know why I haven't thought of using nutella as frosting before!) and had "Happy Birthday" spelled out in sprinkles. It was very yummy and we all wanted more, but we had to save room for dinner! 

     We left the apartment around 7:30, met up with my friends Emily and Janine and then made our way to the restaurant Il Gato e la Volpe (The Cat and the Fox). It was recommended to us by our tour guide from Cinque Terre who lives in Florence so we figured my birthday would be a perfect time to try it out. After struggling to maneuver the uneven cobblestone streets in our heels we managed to make it to the restaurant without breaking an ankle (yaya!). We sat down, and my birthday feast began! In Italy, whenever you go out for a meal your table is served a basket of bread. Most of the time the bread is pretty dry and the crust is a little tough, but the bread we had that night was out of this world! It was like focaccia bread and was cut into strips. It had a delicious seasoning on top and was very soft and moist. In addition to our amazing bread they brought us some olive oil, and vinegar that was the best I have had since being in Italy. It was a much thicker consistency than normal vinegar and it was so flavorful. We drenched our bread in it and ate piece after piece. We couldn't stop! Even though we ate so much bread we were still able to find room for dinner. I had penne with salmon and a creamy sauce on top. It was yummy, but it was very rich and after all the bread I had eaten I couldn't finish it all. After we finished our food our waiter brought us free limoncello shots and brought me a piece of cheesecake. They even turned off all the lights and sang happy birthday to me! It was so nice of them! By that point I was really stuffed, but I couldn't let a piece of cheesecake with strawberry sauced drizzled on top go to waste! So I ate a few bites and then passed it around to my friends. After the last bite of cheesecake was finished we paid for our dinner (they gave us a 15% discount!) and left ranting and raving about the place. We will definitely be back!

Birthday Cheescake!

    After dinner we went back to the apartment, hung out for a little bit, and then went to the Red Garter. The Red Garter is a popular bar in Florence that has karaoke, music, and dancing and it is a lot of fun. One of the reasons I chose to go there for my birthday was because I really wanted to do karaoke! Last time I went some of my friends and I were next in line to karaoke when we had to leave. I was super bummed so I decided that I had to go back for my birthday! I knew exactly what I wanted to sing (Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi) and I was ready to go, but right when we got there they stopped karaoke! I was so sad! (haha wow... I'm sitting here writing this while listening to my ipod and Living on a Prayer just came on! It's a sign! I definitely have to sing this song before I leave Florence!) Although I couldn't karaoke, that didn't stop me from having an amazing time. We ordered a few drinks, sang along with all the songs they played and danced the night away. It was so much fun and was definitely the cherry on top of my amazing birthday.

Red Garter- Last pic of the night!

     All the birthday love I received from my roommates, family and friends, the delicious food, the nutella shots, the singing and dancing, and the beautiful setting of Florence Italy all made for the best birthday ever! I can only hope that all of my birthday's to come are just as amazing!