I am FINALLY here in Italy and have yet to update this thing even though it is supposed to be my Italian blog. Oops!!
Italy has been interesting, to say the least. The first few days were hard but it is finally starting to get better and I am starting to not get as homesick. I think finally getting over jetlag definitely helped.
Okay.. soo we (me, Megan, Jen & Topher) left California (and the United States!) on Tuesday for Europe! Our flight left LAX at 6.30pm and we got into Paris the next day around 2 in the afternoon. I could barely sleep the entire flight because every time I tried to sleep I couldn’t sleep in a comfortable position even though I got an entire row to myself since the flight was eerily empty (literally probably only 50 people on the international flight.. it was bizarre!) So instead of sleeping I read the tons of American fashion magazines I bought at the airport in order to lessen my flight anxiety and watched all the movies and television that AirFrance has to offer in their economy section .. especially Sex and the City and How I Met Your Mother (shocker). Before I knew it we had landed! It was weird because Paris landscape strangely looked like the midwest. We all felt like we had landed in Nebraska instead of Europe! The plane took forever to deboard so by the time we got off we had to literally run through the Charles de Gauelle airport in order to make our next flight. Customs there was super easy - they literally just stamped our passport. We had trouble getting through security again though because me and Jen got stopped and our bags got searched and they took forever looking for them. We again had to run to our gate and got on our flight to Florence with 3 minutes to spare. I was sweating sooo bad and the Italian women sitting next to me definitely did not seem too pleased to be sitting next to me. The flight to Florence was amazing though. It was only an hour and a half and we flew right over the Alps which were gorgeous so I just stared out the window the whole time. We finally landed in Florence around 6pm and we were all exhausted. We had to get our luggage (thankfully none of it was lost) and then we all managed to get taxis at a pretty affordable rate and got to our hostel. Being in Florence at first was weird because it did not look at all like I thought it would - especially at night. Our hostel, Plus Florence, even though it was nice, seemed a little depressing when we first got there. The four of us all stayed in one room that was extremely cramped - it had 2 sets of bunk beds and one of the tiniest bathrooms ever. We dropped off all of our luggage then went out to get food because it seemed like we hadn’t eaten in forever even though we ate dinner (strange pasta but good couscous and chocolate pudding) and breakfast (good coffee but weird food) on the plane. We went to a mediocre pizza place that was kind of like a combo restaurant/bar/7 eleven type thing. I got the margerita pizza and it was okay. We also got chianti (except for Jen) and it was pretty good. I almost fell asleep at dinner though because I was so exhausted. I literally have never been that tired ever. This man came into the restaurant that we were in and was wearing a gajillion sparkly fedoras (this is a very common thing here.. we have seen almost 6 other men like that here since!) and holding a bouquet of flowers and a huge lighter and asked if we would buy one and it was so awkward that I burst out laughing (ullll?). After our awkward dinner experience we went and found a cute gelato shop I think called Antiqua in Faenza (not sure) and me and Megan got gelato. I got pistachio gelato for 1 euro and it was AMAZING! Very good and definitely worth the walk. We walked to the Duomo afterwards but then we realized how tired we were so we went back to the hostel to sleep but we all ended up on Facebook. I was exhausted so my homesickness was really bad, and even after everyone went to sleep I could not fall asleep, so the next day was brutal.
The next day, Wednesday, we checked out of the hostel, but left our luggage there and went to a cafe to get breakfast. I got an Italian bagel and a cappucino. I ordered a medium coffee expecting a coffee the size of the ones in America but it was so tiny! Apparently they believe in stronger yet more powerful stuff here. Then we went and checked into our school and got the keys to our apartment on Via Pietrapiana! On our way there I got stopped by a large black Italian man on a bicycle who said “I love you” then drove away. I forgot how forward/creepy the men are supposed to be here. We then got our luggage back from the hostel and took separate cabs to the apartment (I went with a girl we met at the hostel and Jen and Megan went in a separate cab). Our cab driver was SO mean! He dropped me off at the entrance of our street and Megan and Jen’s cab driver dropped them off at a different entrance to the street so I moved my stuff in with the help of another girl we had met at the hostel that we ran into on the street and then called Megan and Jen and we all moved our stuff in. I cannot describe how much I love our apartment. It is in a cute section of town (although it is not near the river/Ponte Vecchio or the designer section of town which is a lot nicer) and it is one of the nicer apartments. It has a HUGE living room/kitchen and 2 bathrooms (the only heated rooms in the apartment weirdly) and 2 cute bedrooms. Everything is super colorful and Italian looking and everytime we come back to it I fall more and more in love with it. I already know that I am going to have a hard time moving out of this place. It has the highest ceilings yet the smallest storage space ever. We still have not figured out what to do with all of our stuff yet. Anyways, after we moved in Alex, Flo and Charles came over and we started talking about the trips that we were interested in and then Molly came over with her roommate. It was really good to see a face from home! Then we all (minus Molly and her roommate) went and ate lunch at The Oil Shoppe which is a great panino place right by our apartment. I got the vegetarian panino because they were out of mozarella (in Italy.. like really??) but it ended up being really good. I made a note to go back there because apparently they give student discounts! We then went to the 99 euro cent store (very interesting.. but you can get a lot of stuff there suprisingly) then realized how tired we were to explore more and went back to the apartment. As I was taking a shower our 4th roommate Cara came. She is from Ohio and is soo cool - she remained calm even though all of her luggage was lost. She fits in really well with us and I’m really happy that she is living with us. After Cara got settled we went to Billa (the supermercato right next to our apartment) and bought groceries for dinner. Even though some things here are ridiculously expensive, groceries are not! We got all the groceries for dinner and then some for only 13 euro! We then went back to the apartment and made ourselves spaghetti (original, I know) while watching Italian MTV, which is extraordinarily outdated. They were showing Britney Spears music videos from the late 90’s and lots of Mariah Carey (they seem to love her here). We also bought some 2 euro wine and each had a glass.. but I’m sure that we will find better wine here (especially after my Wine tasting class!!) soon. We all went to bed early because we had to wake up for orientation super early the next morning.
Thursday morning we woke up at 7am to get ready for orientation. Even though we didn’t need to be there til 8.45am, and had woken up that early, we still managed to be late to leave for orientation. We could not find the theatre we were supposed to meet in for orientation for the life of us so we got a scenic tour of the designer district of Florence (which is where our orientation was). Even though we got there late, they didn’t start the orientation until 20 minutes after got there which gave us plenty of time to listen to the group of guidos sitting behind us have a loud conversation about how hungover they were from the night before and for me and Megan to go get cappucinos. After hearing the orientation was supposed to be super boring I was pleasantly surprised at how interesting it ended up being. The police officer who talked to us had an interesting slideshow but gave us good tips and was super nice (he gave us his e-mail address? definitely different than America). After orientation me, Cara, Megan, Jen, Alex, Charles, Flo + other Chapman students we met up with (4 more) all aimlessly wandered to Gusto Pizza near the Ponte Vecchio. It was well worth us getting lost and almost being late for the 2nd part of orientation because the pizza was PHENOMINAL. Me and Megan devoured our calprese pizza (best pepperoni I have ever eaten. EVER.) in about 2 seconds. Give or take. Everyone else couldn’t stop raving about the pizza, it was literally that good. We then had to go back to the 2nd part of orientation where I found out that I had to take the Italian placement test (surprise!) but finally got to see the other Chapman people that I knew on the program. This orientation was a little more boring but it ended up being even worse because I was anxiously anticipating the placement test the entire time. The dean was actually surprisingly cute though and had good advice for us (ex/ “don’t give Italian boys the key to your apartments, or your hearts”) and our advisor seems really nice. Her name is Laura and she is from Jersey and is full of personality. After orientation ended the placement test started (and so did my panic attack.. just kidding.. kind of.. not really..). It ended up not being that bad. I couldn’t finish it and then had to go to the interview which ended up being a ton of rapid Italian questions fired at me which I could only half answer but the women ended up being nice and putting me into Italian 202 (although she did wink at me and say “there are tutoring services available..”). I met up with Zack (a Chapman student I met earlier at Gusto Pizza) and he walked me home which was nice because I still do not know my way around this city very well (although I am getting more comfortable). After he walked me home (and somehow managed to walk himself home), I got really homesick but then it got better because we got ready and went out for the first time! Going out in Florence is definitely interesting. Me, Cara, Alex, Megan, Jen, Flo and Charles all started out at the Pharmacy (I think this is what it is called) which ended up being an entirely Italian club. We ended up leaving after realizing how expensive the drink prices were and then went to Kikiuya per Megan’s friends suggestion. Me and Megan got the dragoon beer which was by the far the BEST beer I have ever consumed. It has this great taste and is so smooth when you drink it. But it is 12% alcohol so me and Megan were definitely tipsy after we left the bar (Italians don’t mess around with their alcohol). Before we left though we were given these interesting lollipops that we guessed were supposed to make the drinks taste better? They tasted weird at first but then the more we sucked on them the better tasting they got. It ended up being one of the best lollipops I’ve ever had (Italy.. why does everything taste so much better here?!). We then explored 3 more bars (I forget the names of 2 because we were only briefly in them but one was called The Red Garter). The Red Garter was definitely a little Americanized but we ended up staying awhile because an Italian Queen tribute band was playing and a fat Italian man in a tanktop was dancing (quite well actually) to the band’s version of Queen songs (parts were in Italian..). Me and Megan ended up getting a glass of Limoncella (not the best.. but strong!) and we all danced and sang to Queen. And died when they played Bohemian Rhapsody of course (could we be more American?). Afterwards we went back to the Pharmacy and were dancing until the DJ outed us as the only Americans in the place and placed the speakers right next to our ears and shouted “AMERICANS!” (So much for being inconspicuous..) He then insisted that we take pictures with him and the other DJ. We left shortly after that and walked home. On the way me and Megan desperately tried to find a bathroom but of course there were no stores open except restaurants. We finally found one (“Dov’e il bagno??”) and were so grateful. Walking home, I got grabbed my Italian man and then he proceeded to say something to me (probably creepy). THE MEN HERE ARE SO CREEPILY AGGRESSIVE. I still need to learn to stop making eye contact with them which apparently (according to the dean) means that we want to “prolong our interaction with them.” Ullll? We were so desperate for food that we stopped at Eby’s (again, I think that is what it is called) an Italian Mexican food shop right by our apartment that is open until 3am (Italians know what’s up). We got empinadas (mine was spinach .. and okay but it was only 1 euro so I shouldn’t complain). We got back to the apartment around 2am and crashed.
Friday, TODAY! We woke up at 1pm (thank you left over jetlag). We were kind of bummed because we wanted to get up early and explore (all this walking is wearing us out!! I have never been this tired and hungry all the time as I am here.. but it works because now I am sleeping so soundly) but it ended up working out because me, Jen and Cara went to the San Lorenzo market. We got lost (unsurprisingly - we are still getting used to the city) so we ended up getting there right when it closed. Right outside the central market is a ton of purses, leather jackets, jewelry, souvenirs, etc. We couldn’t tell if they were the illegal ones we were told we would get fined for buying but the leather jackets were so pretty that we decided it might be worth the 10,000 euro fine. The central market (the grocery store part) is huge and they have so much there so we are going back early tomorrow morning. We still got a lot of groceries for very cheap. I got the ground beef (2 euro for 1 pound [or .45 kg]!) and the man at the meat stand was so gross and didnt wash his hands before wrapping the meat and handing me the bag so I ended up getting ground beef all over my hands (EW! I need to remember to carry hand sanitizer with me at all times here apparently). We also picked up some mozarella, foccatia bread, oranges, bananas, apples and the ground beef. After the market officially closed we stopped by a pastery shop and each got pasteries. I got this mini Nutella pie and it was SO AMAZING. Hit up the 99 euro cent store (hollllla) and got more essentials for the apartment. Then went back to the apartment and got Megan. We had to drop off our housing agreement form at the school and so we checked on Cara’s baggage status and she finally got one back! So she headed back to the apartment to drop it off while we went off exploring. We finally went to the Ponte Vecchio and explored that area. It is sooo gorgeous. Everything here (from the sky, to the buildings, to the water, the people, etc.) is so beautiful. I could sit and stare at the buildings here forever. It is unreal. I honestly feel like I am on a movie set. It hasn’t hit me yet that I am going to be living here for 4 months but it is slowly starting to now that I am getting more comfortable speaking Italian to the locals (even though one corrected the way I say thank you when I thanked him for taking our picture in from the Duomo.. apparently its “graziE” not “grazi”) and getting more comfortable in this city. It is sooo small too. People said that and I didn’t believe them but it is totally true. I ran into all the people I know from Chapman that afternoon alone just on the streets! SO CRAZY! Then after we went to the Ponte Vecchio, we met up with Alex. We went back to Billa and got more groceries and then Cara made us spaghetti with sausage and a side of carrots at Alex’s apartment while me, Alex, Megan and Jen all booked our trip to Morocco!! We are going there the last week of February and I am SO EFFING EXCITED!!!! We are riding camels in the Sahara and going to Marakesh! After we ate dinner (and were drained from booking the trip.. it was way more exhausting then we anticipated) me, Cara, Jen and Megan walked to Grom. Best. Gelato. Ever. I got the bacio gelato (which tastes like Nutella.. way to branch out Katie!). I am definitely going back to get more. We walked back to our apartment and it started raining so we voted against going out again tonight. So we have just had a lazy evening in the apartment which is good because we are still tired and I am still super sick and have no voice (I sound like a man, it’s cute). Perfect time to finally update this thing!
It is almost 1am and we are waking up early to meet up with Alex tomorrow at the San Lorenzo market (round 2!) so I am going to attempt to write in my travel journal then go to bed! I will try to update this thing more often and try to upload pictures soon!
Buonanotte!!
