Life in Italia

I have successfully completed my first week of classes. I think I will enjoy them all, it will definitely be a new experience for me. The most challenging ones I think I will have are Fashion Illustration, simply because I am not very artistically inclined, and Textile Technology because that class seems like it will be quite intense, yet fun as well.

I have no classes on Friday, so after I slept in until noon, which seems to be a habit on the weekend because the wooden shutters on windows in Italy block out all sunlight which is normally what wakes me up, I got ready and my roommates and I went out for a walk in town. We went to a local travel agency that works with study abroad students and booked a trip to Munich, Germany for Springfest in April. After booking our trip we went for a walk down the street just north of the river and came upon this little market that sold mostly tribal crafts, Native American and African crafts. It was quite interesting to see what they had.

On Saturday two of my roommates, Lindsay and Tori, went on a hike that we saw in one Lindsay's travel books on the south side of the river. It was mostly an uphill 2 mile hike, but the view at the end was worth it. At the top there was an amazing view of the majority of Florence as well as the San Miniato Church with a cemetery around it, and next to it was the Piazzale Michelangelo. It really was an amazing view and a lot to take in. After that walk we went to get gelato. That was one of my first experiences with the language barrier. Tori had gone to this particular Gelato place before and got a waffle with gelato on it which she said was amazing and we had to try at least once while we were here. Well, the particular people working when we went spoke no English and we ended up paying 10 euro for a gelato, which is about 15 american dollars. I guess you live and you learn, but it was quite delicious. That night we went out with some girls from Iowa State that go to the Accademia with us, Brooke, Jamie, and Lydia. We went to Ristorante Pizzeria Dante, which the Iowa State girls were recommended to by some friends of theirs who had recently studied abroad in Florence. We mentioned their friends name and the owner, Hanni, instantly became our friend and gave us free water and free wine. I am not a huge fan of wine, but the wine at this restaurant was very good, as well as the food and desserts. Wine it Italy is very different from wine in the states, it goes straight to your head and there is no awful headache the next day, some may say that is a win win. Hanni invited us back for dinner on Sunday, for free. Which we accepted and that too was quite amazing. After eating and socializing for a couple hours at Dante we went to a club called the Red Garter, which had american music, yet the crowd was very Italian. A different experience than clubs in the States, but very fun nonetheless. We had quite a fun night.

Sunday was a more relaxed day, but our apartment had no heat and no hot water, not fun at all. My roommates and the Iowa State girls went back to Dante and had dinner with our new friend Hanni, we were there about 2 hours and had some interesting conversation with Hanni and some of his staff. They are quite the friendly bunch and if you ever come to Florence, you must eat here. Hanni also owns a few other restaurants in Florence and invited us to his bar for breakfast. A bar in Italy is more like a caffe in America, a very key point when living or traveling here. We all went to breakfast this morning (Monday) and again Hanni gave us another free meal, which was very hospitable of him. As of now my apartment still has no heat and no hot water, so Tori and I went to the apartment of the Iowa State girls and showered there tonight, it was nice to shower, since I hadn't since Saturday afternoon. Hopefully our water will be fixed tomorrow.

Everyday here is a new adventure, even if it is only going to class and back. You never what you will see on the walks there, it's something new everyday. To me that is the best way to live, because I get bored easily, so it's nice to have a new experience each day.

Ciao!

A foreign world

My first full day in Florence was quite long. We had orientation to the school where we were given tours of both of the buildings and then a tour of Florence (mostly information on how useful shops and markets near where we lived) it was interesting and may I add beautiful, or Bella in Italian. I met some fun people, but at this point mostly Americans that were in my program. During the many people who spoke to us during my program it wasn't really a shock that many of them were foreigners who happened to study here fall in love with Italy and never go home. Perhaps that will be me. Being here for only a week now I have already fallen in love with this city. After the first night of orientation, me and a couple of my roommates went out to dinner, we stumbled upon this little pizzeria restaurant and decided to eat there. Once we got inside it seemed like more of a local restaurant rather than a touristy place like many in Florence, but the waiters spoke English so that was helpful. That dinner was really my first experience of feeling like a foreigner in this country, the waiters were nice, but still had a bit of a cold shoulder, and the other customers looked at us quite funny. I imagine this is how foreign people in America feel much of the time. Nonetheless the pizza was amazing, much better than anything you could find in the states.

The second day of orientation was similar to the first, nothing too exciting. That night two of my roommates and I went grocery shopping, quite and interesting experience when you can't read the labels very well, but it turned out okay. Then on Saturday, my partner program had arranged a trip to the Chianti area, just south of Florence, to two small hill towns, Castellina and Greve. We went to Castellina first and the feeling of a foreigner was much more pronounced, not only did the shopkeepers look at you a little funny, but so did the everyday people on the street. Not necessarily and unwelcoming look, but more a look of what you would give a tiger in the zoo with a little less awe. Regardless the towns were gorgeous, still similar winding streets, an amazing view, and fun little markets. The second town, Greve, was a bit bigger than Castellina, still just as beautiful. We were taken to a famous estate, Il Paliggio, for lunch and a wine tasting, because this estate makes wine and olive oil. The lunch was quite good along with the wine. After the lunch we were taken on a tour of the estate, which had part of an old castle in which part had burned down and then it was turned to a fortress, and then finally into the vineyard. The dungeon of the castle was turned into the wine cellar, which we also got to tour. That night instead of going out to a club in town, two of my roommates and I ended up sitting in our kitchen trying to plan some trips we wanted to take and having some bonding time. It was nice because in our apartment of five, I was the last to arrive and the others had already seemed to group up, two of them knew each other previously and the other two always went off and did their own thing, which they still do. But after Saturday I bonded with the other two and found many similarities.

Sunday two of my roommates and I went exploring in the city and did a little bit of shopping, getting some school supplies and what not. We also kept in mind some shops and markets that were reasonably priced, and some restaurants to try out. That night we went out to eat at a little restaurant, which was very good. The waiter could speak about 6 different languages, and he was very friendly, not minding that we were foreign. He was cute too which didn't hurt either. After dinner we went over to the apartment that some other girls in the program live that I have made friends with, and talked and then ended up discussing some trips to take over the semester.

Monday was my first day of classes, a different experience from the US. They have each class only one day a week for three hours at a time. Except I have Italian 4 days a week for two hours at a time. My first class photographing Florence seems like it will be a wonderful experience. Italian is going to be challenging, our teacher speaks to us only in Italian, but if we have a question she will try to answer in English. My third class Textile Technology, is full of foreigners, I am the only American, a girl from Australia, a girl from South Africa, 1 girl and 1 guy from Italy, A girl from Norway, a girl from Asia, and two other girls that I don't know their nationality. The course seems like it will be fun, but quite intense.

I have done so much already in the week that I have been here, it is impossible to include everything, and many things it is impossible to put the feelings into words. It interesting because in some instances I want to just be in my comfort zone, but here there really is no comfort zone. I am constantly forced to go outside my comfort level and grow and experience new things. To some that may sound frightening, but really that is exactly what I wanted this experience to do. Sometimes a person just needs something big to push them to be who they want to be, and when they always have a comfort zone, they will always retreat to it when they can. It is definitely challenging to not have that but I like it.

Ciao!

I made it!

Ciao Tutti!

I have made it to Florence, or Firenze as Italians call it.  I am in the midst of my second day here and I have already had many different experiences.  Let me start with the part on how I got here.  I spent a little over 24 hours and 2 days worth of my time(because of the time change) in airports and on airplanes, with only about 2 and a half hours of sleep.  All that time was definitely worth getting here.  I fell asleep on the plane ride from Zurich to Florence for about a half hour and woke just in time for the complementary snack, and shortly after the decent into Florence.  I was lucky enough to have a window seat and got to see an amazing view flying over the mountains that are just north of Florence.  Words cannot express the immensity of that view, but I can try.  It was breathtaking, the peaks with snow covered and as we got closer to the valley in which Florence resides little patches of green grass popped up more frequently and then I could see the mountains speckled with houses and little villages.  They look so tiny and neat, but from what I have read about Italy I knew they couldn't be as neat inside as on the outside.

Then we started flying over Florence, which was amazing, the red and yellow tuscan brick buildings were easily visible and nothing short of my expectations.  Just like the small hill towns Florence look so neat and tidy. Soon we had landed at the airport and shortly after transported to our apartments.  

Immediately after I got in the taxi I knew that the neat and tidy city I saw from the plane was just organized chaos.  It was exciting and a bit frightening at the same time.  I felt that at anytime there could be a huge crash and a pile of cars, what with the zig-zagging vespas and the fast paced driving of any other vehicle on the road.

After about 3o minutes I had arrived at my doorstep where I was told I lived on the second floor, but I soon learned that in Italy the second floor is actually about 8 small flights of stairs.  Once in my apartment I briefly met my roommates and my landlord and was then off to go find my school for our welcoming dinner.  I live about a ten minute walk from my school and about 5 minutes from the Ponte Vecchio and right down the street from the Uffizi.  It is a great location.  Every street is lined with small shops and many designer shops as well. It is a city truly full of life.  The welcoming dinner was amazing, a meat platter and some oiled bread for the appetizer, follwed by a type of pasta that resembles a small coin bag that was filled with something that was slightly sweet and well complemented by the sauce, and then for dessert we were served triamisu, which is much better that what they have in the states.  A very delicious dinner.

After the dinner I went back to my apartment only to get lost for the first time in Florence.  It was a nice little walk around my area and the whole time only about a block away from my apartment. We finally made it back home and I unpacked and went to bed and got my much needed rest.