Off to Florence!

The bus ride from Rome to Florence was about four hours.  I was incredibly tired, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the beautiful view out of my window.  Hands down one of the most amazing views I have ever seen.  Rolling green hills, small family style vineyards and farms, mountains in the background, etc.  We made a stop halfway at this little “break shop” which was similar to a convenient store.  It seemed as if you could get any Italian snack or trinket you dreamed of there.  It was similar to America, but different.  I know that sounds very matter of fact, but it is hard to explain.  A lot of things over here in Italy resemble things like over in the U.S., so I feel comfortable, but then again every word I read is in Italian.  It is a very humbling experience when you realize that you are the “oddball”.  I want to adapt and learn the Italian culture, and I am.  It’s exciting!!  I expected the language to be similar to Spanish, but it is more different and difficult than I thought.  Props to everyone taking an Italian course while they are here.  I will have to learn my Italian through shopping, exploring, and wine classes, and I am perfectly okay with that. 

The coach buses finally were driving into Firenze! (Florence in Italian).  The buildings and landscape had more greenery than Rome.  This is exactly my kind of city!!  The buses dropped us off on the side of the road somewhere random while we waited for what they call “mini buses” (actually just vans) to pick us up and take us to our apartments!!  Shannon, Torri, Christin, and I squeezed into our mini bus with all of our bags to take us to our new home on Via di Conti.  We unlock a monster sized, wooden, antique door with a giant lock on it and walk in like we are entering some sort of sacred castle in the Disney movies.  Oh my goodies.  Our little apartment is so cute and vintage!!!!! It is on the second floor, which is actually equivalent to the third floor in the states because they start at zero.  They told us to expect “small living spaces”, but man oh man…they were completely wrong!  Our little apartment is equipped with two beautiful, spacious bedrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a little sun room/living room, and a ROOFTOP TERRACE!  WHAT A DREAM!! We all started to jump up and down and scream.  Perfect location for some sunshine, sunsets, bonding, and blogging.  Shannon and I’s room has these long, white, translucent curtains in our room that drape gorgeously and let in the perfect amount of light to our room.  The funniest part is our shower.  It is literally a shower head stuck on our wall and the drain is in the floor.  When we shower, we have to turn on and off our water so that the water is on only when we need it.  It is definitely an experience and will make us appreciate our showers back home so much!  Our apartment on Via di Conti is in the perfect location.  Our house tenant came in and explained to us how to use the washing machine, oven, stove, etc.  She also told us that that we are right in the center of everything.  Two minutes away from Lorenzo de’ Medici, the university we are studying at, and two minutes away from the Duomo, the Florence Cathedral.  Everyone keeps talking about the Duomo, so I was super eager to see it up close and in person.  I am just truly in love with our new little home!!

After settling in, hanging up our clothes, and getting acquainted with it, the roomies set off to get to know our surrounding area!  We discovered that our house tenant was not exaggerating when she said we were only two minutes away from the Duomo.  The Duomo was yet again, I will say it, breath taking.  The Duomo seems as if it is in the center of all of the major shopping and markets in Florence.  It towers above at about 300 feet.  The front doors have become our meeting spot for API.  Later in the evening, API (which I forgot to mention is a group of around eighty college students) met at the Duomo and we walked over to the Grand Hotel Baglioni for a fancy dinner.  We enjoyed the buffet dinner on the lovely rooftop terrace of the grand hotel while the sun was setting.  The sky blended with colors of pinks, oranges, purples and blues.  Again, another perfect moment just like out of the movies.  Our round, white tablecloth tables were placed under a romantic, rustic canopy covered in flowers and vines.  I don’t think the view of Florence could get anymore beautiful than that.  We could see for miles and miles!   It was a beautiful first day, bella primo giorno, in Florence.

On Thursday we had our first tour around Firenze.  We enjoyed a quaint, sugary breakfast at Oblate on another balcony over looking the Duomo.  Caffetteria delle Oblate was also a place that hosted live music and our API advisor, Ellen, told us that it would be a place where tourists would rarely go.  Very unique!  Shannon and I have been trying to scout out neighborhood restaurants and hang out spots that local Italians like to spend time at.  We learned this would be hard to do since around 10,000 students all over the world study abroad in Florence every summer.  That does not include all of the tourists!  After our Italian breakfast at Oblate we had a tour of all of the AMAZING shopping areas in Europe and the Ponte Vecchio.  A group of girls got caught up in taking pictures and got lost for about ten minutes!  We were speed walking everywhere and so confused.  It was a nice little experience and honestly nothing new for Shannon and I to get lost again, haha.  Thank goodness for our Piccell phones because we finally found everyone!  Then finally we got to see the Central Market!  The Central Market is a place where there are many locals that set up little “stands” or “areas” with fresh foods including all sorts of vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, pastas, etc.  The roomies and I all purchased fruits and veggies to finally have a healthy lunch!  It was the opportune moment to use the Italian I had learned so far.  It felt really neat being able to speak a completely different language in just a few days of being in Italy!  I give all of my credit to my lovely roommates Christin and Torri because they teach Shannon and I everything.  It is so fun to try, I mean what to we have to lose if we get it wrong?!  We gotta start somewhere!!  My first fresh, home meal in Florence included: cherries, strawberries, blackberries, and turkey.  Yummy! J  After lunchtime, we had our academic orientation at Lorenzo de Medici.  It got everyone really pumped to start classes…well at least the people taking fun classes like “Pairing Food and Wine” which is majority of the API population.

 

In the evening, a group of about thirty API kids and I had a cooking class at In Tavola Cooking Courses.  Our cooking teachers taught us how to make every single dish down to the last detail!  This included our appetizer millefoglie di verdure, our main course pasta pici with two different sauces ragu’ alla Bolognese and sugo all’aglione, and our dessert tiramisu.  We even hand rolled our pasta noodles!!  Yummy!  We were given the recipes, so I am excited to come home and cook this meal for my family.  Everyone agreed it was one of the best meals so far.  As our group walked back to our apartments, we wandered straight into an Italian man in the middle of the street performing a magic show.  A boy, my friend Travis from A&M, and a girl from API were dragged in and forced to participate by doing funny dance moves, act like they are playing these instruments, hold balloons in funny places, shake their butts, walk really funny, and provocative motions.  My belly hurt I was laughing so hard!!  Shannon and I ended the night by sharing our first glass of wine in Florence at a wine bar called Le Cappelle Medicee right down the pathway from our apartment.  We just talked about life and everything that’s happened on our trip so far and reflected on how incredibly happy and lucky we were to be here in Italy sharing that moment together.

Reflection:

One of the most interesting things that I have learned so far while in Italy has been that during the week, Monday through Saturday, all shops are closed from 13:00 to 16:00 p.m. and completely closed on Sundays.  This is because Italians allow themselves in the afternoons and on Sundays to relax and spend time with their families, no matter if it means that they will lose some business during those times.  I truly wish that these things were priorities in the states.  In America, everyone is GO GO GO and hungry for the next dollar they can make.  In Italy, family is number one.  My family is first and the most important people in my life.  My desire is that someday our lifestyles will adapt and become somewhat like the Italians in that sense.  Thank you God for blessing me with the best family ever!  I wish that y'all could be here to share these memories with me!  My goal for when I come back to the states is to make more "me time"/relaxation time and more time for my family.

Tanto Amore,

Diane