Anyways Florence is AMAZING! Its different from Verona but I loved the atmosphere. It's one of those cities that is always alive and inviting to everyone. It felt like a bigger and busier version of Verona, and WAY more touristy. We heard more people speaking English on the streets than Italian, which is why I am so happy I chose Verona. While Florence would be such a fun place to live, I feel like I'm getting more of the culture in my every day life.
Florence was definitely a memorable adventure that taught me some important lessons at the same time. We all headed to the train station Friday after class--there were about 20 people who went, which was pretty cool, but we didn't all stay together there. Right when we got to our hostel, called Veronique, Lo & I went to meet up with Katie!!! I was so excited to see her, I was jumping around, hugging her soo much! We went to the store to get food and cooked dinner at her apt before going out. She had only been in Florence for about 4 days at that point so it was really cool to experience her first weekend with her. Her apartment is soooo different from my little place but I loved it. She lives with 7 girls from all over the country! We drank some wine with them and then headed to a little pub called The Lion's Fountain. After that we went to a club called Bbop where I used my sneakiness to simultaneously play a joke on Katie and get us free drinks. I stayed with Katie that night just like we were roomies again :)
The next day we met up with my friends at the Accademia to see Michelangelo's The David! It was unbelievable, I've never seen any artwork so amazing...and I've been to the Louvre! The sheer size of the statue was mesmerizing. But we couldn't take pictures in the museum so I took one of the smaller statue that stands in one of the main squares of town.
After seeing the David we walked to get lunch. Katie and I got McDonalds....shocking I know. But it was a quick cheap meal...can't live luxuriously all the time. After that we walked through the Palazzo degli Uffizi and looked at all of the amazing statues. That's where the smaller David was. There were also sculptures of some of the greats: Donatello, Dante, Galileo, da Vinci, Machiavelli, and so many more! I took pictures so check out the picture site for all of Florence too. We walked through to the beautiful River Arno to take some toursity pictures. Then we met back up with the group to walk through the Uffizi museum. There was so much amazing artwork by so many famous people, I could not believe it. There was so much history too because some of the works dated back thousands of years. Many had been in the museum since the 1600s. We saw da Vinci's famous works the Adoration of the Magi and Annunciation.
Once we toured through the many rooms of the Uffizi we headed to Ponte Vecchio (meaning old bridge). The bridge is the oldest, and most beautiful, in Florence. It was saved by the Nazi's during WWII because of its beauty. Now it houses very expensive shopping. It is also one of the most picturesque places for photoshoots. We walked to the Palazzo Pitti, which is the Medici palace across the river. But because it was closing soon we decided to save it for the next day and head back to the hostel to rest. But first we stopped in the square by where we were staying to ride the Merry-go-Round. Sounds juvenile but it was, like everything in Italy, ornate.
Back at the hostel, as we got ready for dinner, is where I learned my very important lesson of travel. I thought we had rented out the entire floor of our hostel. So I left my makeup in the bathroom area because we were running late for dinner and I planned to finish it when we got back. That was mistake number one. Mistake number too was forgetting the camera on the table after taking pictures of the hostel so people could see what one looks like. Obviously we locked up the bedrooms and the floor and left. When we came back from dinner, my makeup and camera both were gone. There were new people in another room on the floor and the cleaning people had also been through, so I had no way of figuring out who took all my stuff. No one got anything taken from the bedrooms so that was good. But learning the hard way really, really sucks sometimes. It's ironic that two of the things that I use everyday and usually don't go anywhere without got taken from me. I would've been fine losing clothes but no such luck. :( Its okay though because I had extra makeup back home and my big camera is still safe, so there's the silver lining...?
But on the bright side dinner was DELICIOUS and soo much fun! We had to wait forever to get tables because of course we travel in abnormally large groups of 20. But the wait turned out to be well worth it. Dinner was 10 euro and here is what I got: a personal pizza, bruschetta, wine, limoncella, Baileys. It was one of the best dinner's I've ever had!! And the cherry on top (because this is before I knew my stuff was gone). Some Italians thought I was Italian! So in my broken Italian I told them yes and that I was staying here with family haha and they believed me. I was so proud of myself and complimented that people thought I looked like I belong here! Because who wants to stand out as an American really...?!
That night we went out to a discoteca--my first one--called Space. It was a pretty cool club with a lot of different floors and you don't pay until you leave. Which could have potentially have been disastrous but luckily I only had my one free drink that came with paying the cover charge.
The next morning we checked out of the hostel and because Katie is a saint, we put all of our bags at her apartment for the day. Our first stop was back to Palazzo Pitti to see the beautiful gardens of the Medici family. It was literally acres of gorgeous land and we spent hours wandering around admiring everything. It still astounds me that this was just the backyard to their palace and any of the Medici's could roam the gardens any time they wanted. It really reinforced my dream of getting my own castle. Random fact: the Uffizi was offices that belonged to the Medici family and they had secret passageways to get there so they didn't have to go out in public!! Their lives were so fascinating! Here's a view from the gardens of Florence with the mountains in the background...talk about breathtaking. I still can't believe I'm seeing all these things!
After we finally managed to pull ourselves away from the gardens (we literally wanted to stay all day), we headed to get lunch. This was a horrible mistake. We went to a place by the Duomo that was Self-Service...if you are in Florence NEVER, EVER EAT HERE. Every single person who ate there agreed that it was by far the worst meal we had ever eaten in our entire lives. Thinking about it makes me nauseous still. But the Duomo, the main church, makes up for the awful food. If I lived in Florence I would walk around it every day because it is such a force taking up the entire square in the heart of the city. We wanted to go on the free tour of it but unfortunately did not make it in time. After that it was time to SHOP!! We spent hours in the outdoor markets hunting for the best deals on fine Italian leather and scarves, and anything we could find. I ended up getting a really pretty brown leather purse for only 30 euro. I also got a navy blue hand painted mask for Carnival next weekend. I also got bracelets, scarves, a dress, and a mini journal. All in all I would say it was very successful shopping. Once we finished shopping is when we finally realized that staying until the last train home was not the best idea. We were ready to leave but still had hours left to kill. We ended up sitting in a cafe and I had hot tea. Finally we ventured out again to wander through the shops because Saldi (the big sale) is still going on thanks to the world wide bad economy. By the time 5:30 came around we were more than ready to head to the train station.
Here begins a whole new learning experience. Me, Lauren, Alex, & Amelia bought tickets together and we had to switches. No problem right. So the first transfer works perfectly we take a train from the main station in Florence to one still in the city but further out. Then we switch to a train to Bologna. Let me tell you about Bologna's train station. There literally is no inside. It's also dirty with homeless people living in the tunnels. It also has very confusing signs. So of course it is just our luck that we are on the wrong tracks and miss our train back home to Verona. Of course this train is also the LAST train of the night. Let me just put you in my frame of mind for a second: we have been on our feet walking since 10 am in the freezing cold (Florence is colder than Verona), we are carrying heavy backpacks and shopping back, it is dirty, and we a exhausted and have class the next morning. I had one of those truly depressing moments when your spirits just sink as the realization hits that you have no way home that night. But we were resourceful and looked for other trains that were stopping in Verona. We found a German train heading to Munich that stopped in Verona, leaving in a few hours. So we even stopped at information to ask about it and they were all for us train crashing. We had to sit in a smelly room with old men coughing to wait. But while we were waiting we also saw a really disturbing site: a guy (we think was on drugs) fell off a train and hit his head on the platform, his feet were hanging off under the train, and he was bleeding from the head. He was also screaming and gasping for air so loudly that we stopped to look. I'm so glad we had Alex with us because it was one of the scariest things I have ever seen, there just was something not right about the guy and he scared the hell out of me. I could not have been more relieved a few hours later to finally be a stowaway on an overnight train to Germany. We found a dining car and sat for a few hours playing cards. It turned out to be a lot of fun and we got lucky because they never came around to ask us for the tickets we did not posess. We FINALLY made it home around 1am and I still think I'm short of sleep from that weekend 3 days later!!
But Florence was an amazing experience and it felt so good to finally see Katie again. I pulled out one of my cheesy lines like being with Katie felt like being home again...haha. But it really did because in this new experience you are thrown in with 37 kids who don't know you and you get so close so fast, but it just felt great to be with one of my best friends again. We are already trying to plan when we can hang out again!
This week I have my Italian final on Friday then we are celebrating with some drinks! Then Saturday I will be in Venice celebrating Carnival!!! And then on Sunday we have another Claudio trip!! Speaking of Claudio, I have to tell you about my business class that started this week and the amazing trips I am taking with it. But I think I'll save it for another time. I promise to get pictures up soon!
I love and miss you all! As much as I appreciate all of the amazing experiences here, I will always appreciate the people waiting for me back home even more <3 (too cheesy??)
PS I can see the Alps from my walk home from school everyday!! I still can't believe this is really my life. Coming here is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me!
PPS I also have a new roommate. Her name is Katerina, she's 26 and from the Czech Republic. We have no idea what happened to Daria...but like I said here's to new adventures!
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