I cannot believe that it has already been one week since I first arrived in Italy. While some things still need some time to adjust to, others do not such as:
- Savoring meals made from scratch using fresh ingredients!
- pizza & gelato everywhere you look
- Crossing the street even when there’s traffic, knowing the cars will stop. Our saying everytime we think about stopping has been “locals don’t flinch.” This one could be an issue upon returning to the states.
I have had issues adjusting to is the amount of smoking that goes on here, seeing as I have always been one of those people that begins to fake cough when passing someone smoking in public. At this point there’s a good chance I have developed second hand smoke but I’ll try & look at it on the positive side as: ” it’s part of the experience” or “it’s included in the cost of tuition”. Another difficult adjustment for many of us has been paying a cover charge that includes the utensils you use at restaurants, paying for water everywhere you go, and even paying to sit down at some places!
On my first night in Rome I was re-booked at a different hotel than I had originally planned. The taxi driver drove me (if you could call it that– ever want to be in a rally race, drive with a local in Rome) to the other hotel where I asked the 2 important questions: is breakfast included & what time does the pool close. I went out on the patio that was attached to my room & caught the sun setting over the Vatican! Someone pinch me! What a great first night relaxing in Rome after a long day/s of travel.
The next day we had our first orientation session followed by dinner. There we experienced our first blackout in Italy. I know the first night & already partying wild. No, the restaurant was very busy & blew a fuse resulting in a loss of power or blackout!
My third day in Rome was by far the most exciting, I finally got to see all of my Lizzie McGuire dreams come true, excepting having Gordo & Paolo there to enjoy them with me. Listening to the history that our tour guide was sharing with us I couldn’t fathom just how old and how much detail was put into each & every monument we passed. Our guide (pictured dancing below) was hilarious, she made sure to keep reminding us that the Domans invented everything. My favorite story she shared was that it takes forever for anything to get done in Rome; there’s always 3 workers, one is smoking, another is chatting and the third is directing the other 2!
Once the tour was over we ventured out for food & the Spanish steps. While waiting for the bus to fetch us we sat down on the curb to give our legs a rest. Not even 5 minutes later we were given a gift, a crappy one if you will. It came from a pigeon up ahead. I had never seen one with such a range, this one pigeon hit 5 of us! This was my first time ever being pooped on by a bird & one I definitely won’t ever forget– or stop laughing about!
The next morning we boarded a bus & headed out for Florence! I had a hard time allowing myself to sleep as we passed through the Tuscan countryside that was too beautiful to miss out on. When we arrived I was greeted with my host mom. My host family, who I adore consists of Donatella, Jonny, their daughters Daniella & Nicole and another American student, Isabel, who happens to be from Appleton–small world! The speak mainly Italian but some English & while I’ve only been here less than a week I have already learned so much.
Our first day in Florence/Firenze was free for us to explore. So for me that consisted of getting lost multiple times & hanging out with friends. Getting lost was kind of my thing for the first few days here, but I didn’t mind it. Everywhere you look it is beautiful, that’s what I’ve realized about Italy, many times you see photos of places, visit having high expectations then find yourself disappointed with what it looks like in person, here that is not the case.
On Monday we had a walking tour of Florence. We were blessed with another great tour guide that happened to be the Jersey Shores cast’s guide as well when they visited. I found it funny how we had visited all of these historic monuments & such but when he showed us where the cast lived everyone immediately snapped a photo! Tuesday marked the first day of classes. I will be taking 3 weeks of intensive Italian for beginners and 3 weeks of Art & Architecture of Tuscany– I expect myself to be tour guide qualified after this one! After my class I met up with students from our program to hike Piazza Michelangelo, where we were able to witness the various forms of beauty that make up Firenze. The view was breathtaking and I am so excited to call this place home for the next couple of months.
The food here has been amazing. You can really taste a difference even in similar dishes to the US due to the freshness of the ingredients here. My favorite part of living with a host family has been, not a surprise here, the authentic Italian meals. Usually dinner is served around 8 pm starting with a pasta or rice dish then followed by meat & veggies. The dinner is then finished with a dessert, usually a fruit salad or gelato, & espresso.
Longitudes, latitudes, altitudes + adi-tudes 