Woke up bright and early to take my “final”, which in reality was a 15-minute quiz. My teacher gave us her email address and was so sweet, she was so great and it was sad saying good-bye to her. After the test we got cappuccinos and then went to use the sketchiest Internet café I have ever seen. It was half internet café and half clothing store, smelled funny, and was super sketchy all around. But, it was internet, and we were desperate.
After the Internet café/clothing store, Emily, Miriam, and I went to get lunch on Piazza del Campo. The best part about lunch was that we got FREE TAP WATER. In America this is obviously normal, but in Italy they only believe in bottled water despite the fact that their tap water is perfectly fine to drink, which means you always have to pay for water when you go out to eat. We didn’t order water, but the waiter just felt like being nice I guess and brought us three glasses of tap water. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to wait for our bus to leave for Florence!!!!! WE finally got loaded on to the bus and waved goodbye to Siena! About an hour later I got my first views of Florence. We pulled around a curve and all of the sudden the city just magically appeared into view in the valley below us, and all I could say was, “Whoa”. I was floored by its beauty, and I wasn’t even in the actual city yet. I could not believe I was finally about to pull into this city after so many months of planning and so many years of wanting to go abroad, it was such a surreal feeling.
We got off the bus and my roommates and I (Miriam, plus Rachel and Kaitlin from Pitt and Kirsten and Beth from the University of New Hampshire) immediately got into a cab (3 to a cab, which was a miracle considering the amount of luggage we had) and arrived at our apartment 10 minutes later. Our apartment is great!!! Its really homey and old (in a good way, as in rustic), with brick and wood beamed ceilings. Its really big—3 bedrooms, 3 baths, a kitchen, and a living/dining room. When you stick your head out the window you see Santa Croce to your right and the Synagogue to your left (poetic, I know) and we’re about 2.5 minutes from Piazza Santa Croce and all of the amazing bars and restaurants around here. It was interesting talking to our landlady because she speaks very little English, but we made it work. The rest of the afternoon we spent unpacking and getting settled. That night for dinner AIFS took us to this legit PALACE—complete with ginormous chandeliers, statues, ornate paintings and furniture, everything—it was incredible.
After dinner, Miriam, Emily, and I went back to our place (we only got lost very briefly, which is kind of sad looking back on it because this place is literally a straight shot from my apartment) and my two camp friends who are also studying abroad here, Jordan and Matt (aka Negrin) were waiting for us with their roommate Doug. It was SO great to see my friends from home and I am so pumped to have them here all semester.
From our apartment, we went to a disco called Space, which is literally like Turtle on steroids, but cleaner. We danced the night away with a bunch of other abroad students, and it was great to have the boys with us to ward off the creepy Italian men. Before we knew it, it was 3 30 AM, and then the adventure of leaving Space happened. It was the most absurd thing I’ve ever experienced. You had to bring up your drink card and push through about a thousand people to pay and then push through another 1000 people to get out of the actual club, so absurd. By the time we got home it was 4 am…Miriam and I were shocked, because we don’t stay out till 4 am, but it was well worth it. Pretty much a great first night in FIRENZE!!!
Arrivederci!!
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