Firenze

Lost roomie.

 Cigarette vending machine

  An artist apparently goes around Europe and defaces the Do Not Enter signs.

  chalk

  A student from Mexico asking us for help with his photo project

  The apartment

  

 I Skype everyone from home including kitten Issac.

 Ciao form Florence! This town is so beautiful. It’s about 30 minutes walking distance from one end to the other, so it’s manageable compared to how giant Rome was last week. Also, the demographic is much younger here than in Rome which completely surprised me. Florence is somewhat of a college town for lack of a better description—there are people living here who were born and raised in Florence, as well as international students studying from all corners of the world. I feel like I hear a different language on every street I turn.
I can’t believe all the gorgeous landmarks here. The Santa Croce and The Duomo are my favorites of course, but there are squares all over the place with statues, etc. I got here Thursday and am just now starting to figure out where everything is. I’ve grown up in the technology age and, since moving to Europe, have found that I never learned how to use a map. Seriously, it’s hard! Everything is so small and difficult to put in relation to where you are, especially in another language/country where the streets are strange and different. I need to buy a compass or something. Google Maps has affected my life more than I ever realized. In America I would use it to get somewhere in the town I grew up in, to walk somewhere at school, to get to lunch with a friend…I mean all the time. It was a crutch. It’s scary that I don’t COMPLETELY know how to get to my classes tomorrow, but I’m going to try my best!

So yesterday was basically a wasted day—I slept from 1 am until almost 4 pm the next day. I slept through my roommates coming in and out of the apartment, two meals, a hike that I’ll just have to go on another time, and literally a parade outside my door. I am finally sleeping normally after that, though. Jetlag was not good to me. And I didn’t feel great because I had been drinking the water from the faucets, and apparently you’re not supposed to do that here, little did I know. So I bought giant 27-cent water bottles at the market this morning. I went to the main city centre market yesterday and bought fresh vegetables, balsamic vinaigrette, and dried fruit. It is so, so good and I can’t wait to go back this week! Since that really isn’t enough to live off of, I also bought some necessities at the corner store today. I got peanut butter (5 euro?!), jelly, bread, feta, fruit, oatmeal, salmon, spinach, strawberries, and a few other staples. You know how after you go grocery shopping, you try to hang as many bags from your arms and in your hands as possible so that you don’t have to make multiple trips from the car to the house? Well…here, you have to do all that, but it’s just because there is no car. There’s just a 10-minute walk from the store to the apartment. My hands had no circulation after that trek.

My roommate Marissa and I are already regulars at “The Old Stove”, a pub at the bottom of the stairs in our apartment. You only have to walk 20 steps outside and you’re there. I would describe it as a sports bar if nothing else…they have burgers, French fries and chicken wings! It’s a taste of America when I need it (and when I don’t, considering we go every night). We’ve made friends with all 3-4 of the staff there, and especially with who we can only assume is the owner, Jimmy. He speaks Italian of course but also very good English. Every time we go he hooks us up with so much more than what we pay for: one night I got a burger, water bottle, slice of pound cake and a drink from the bar and paid 5 euro, and tonight I got two orders of hot tea and he threw us a basket of French fries for 2.50 euro each. The Old Stove is our favorite.

One thing I’ve noticed in both Rome and Florence is glass-encased restaurants. I had never seen this in any picture before, never heard of it…I didn’t know it was a thing that existed. As you’re walking down the street, you’ll see what appears to be an outdoor café with tables and chairs, like a normal restaurant, but then a box of glass over the whole thing. It looks like a bubble on the ground. We tried one here in Florence and got a great deal for being students. That’s another thing they don’t do in America, is give away freebees like they do here. You can barter with waiters and shop owners, and a lot of times they’ll throw in free food or drinks “just because”. Never in my life. There are cigarette vending machines instead of soda, chalk artists on the streets, designer stores everywhere you look (someone save me from Chanel), fake police officers to be wary of, and every dog is wearing a sweater. 

It’s been an adjustment getting used to not seeing people I was used to seeing every day but Skype is a life savor. It’s wonderful. And even though not speaking Italian isn’t the easiest thing, I’m picking it up like I would never be able to in a classroom at home. I try to keep in mind the advice that my group leader gave me: “nothing is good or bad, just different.” It’s so easy to think of something as better or worse than home, but really it’s neither. It’s just all just different from the lifestyle I’ve lived for almost 20 years. I’m only a week in, but so far total immersion is a strange but beautiful experience.

xo