REAL WORLD: FLORENCE

I didn’t believe Lindsay at first when she was like, yeah Im living in an apartment in Florence with 14 other people and its like being on Real World. Well I visited this past weekend --- and it was like just like Real World. So much needless drama. Lots of dirty dishes. The trash situation in the kitchen rivals the trash strike in Napels. Apparently they are also interesting building guests. One of the first weeks the other people in the building left them a note that read: 'This is a home, not a hostel." It was funny as an outsider, but I’m thankful my group is not only less dramatic, but that I live alone in a home-stay.
Florence is beautiful – though Verona still wins out as my favorite city. The problem with Florence is tourism. Everyone speaks English. Everyone is an American college student. I would go to the vendors and they would speak to me in English and continue speaking to me in English even though I would speak Italian. Some people on Lindsay’s program have never spoken Italian. While Im in the bottom of Italian classes here, Lindsay is technically in the advanced levels. Its funny how while several of my friends are in Italy, we are all having night and day differences in experiences.

I saw a lot of Florence considering I was only there for two days and we woke up around noon both days. First, we went to the Duomo and climbed up to the very top. The view was spectacular and worth the 6 euros. Then we went to the Uffizi, which made my life complete. Lindsay and her other friend were tired and went back to their apartment, but Joey and I stayed until closing. We were there for over four hours! After I had been through all the rooms, I went back again! I must have stared at this one Titian painting for fifteen minutes. It was a breathtaking collection of art. In almost every room I would be browsing and then a famous painting would catch my eye and I would do a double-take as my jaw would drop. For example, The Duke and Duchess of Urbino, Primavera, Birth of Venus (and tons more by Botticelli alone), and these beautiful Carravaggios. I was glad Joey also appreciated the art too. Sometimes you go to a museum and the people around you just don’t understand it and blankly stare at things and quickly walk out. Some people had these great large books, Uffizi guides, that further explained the paintings. I was sooo jealous. I ended up buying a really small one cause I figure my parents will want to come in the summer and then I can go back and have my own little guide. I kinda really want a big one too--- but right now I have to weigh costs like, do I want to take a trip to Rome, or buy a uber-large Uffizi guide?

That night we did the whole discotecha thing. A club called “Space.” It was mess of American college girls and three times as many Italian men screaming “bellissima” at me. We went only because some kids from my program were there and I wanted them to meet Lindsay and all hang out. I really don’t get hit on in Padova… Florence was another story. Men grabbed me as I walked around the club. I never felt unsafe, or sketched out, it was just really obnoxious. Some of my friends had pretty persistent encounters, my guy of the evening was pretty harmless. This one guy was behind us when we were getting into the club and I noticed he was staring a lot and he later found me and introduced himself. He wasn’t creepy, but was just forward. He told me he had seen me earlier and he thought I was very beautiful and he wanted to take me to his vineyard sometime and then he tried to kiss me. I just was really polite, danced with him a bit and then told him I needed to go be with my friends…but every time I turned around he was there smiling at me. My friend Tara on the other hand, thought it was appropriate (probably in an non-sober thought process) to give a guy her number on Friday night. He texted her every hour the whole weekend. On Saturday night she went out again and then the next morning he texted her and was like, I hear you went to a club without me, and you didn’t call, that’s not appropriate! Poor Tara is like, wait, were not dating, how did you know I went to a club, and why on earth did I give you my number?

Anyway, on Sunday, Lindsay took us to the Medici gardens. It was a fantastic combination of old art sculptures along with newer pieces. Not to mention an amazing landscaping job! From the top of the garden you could see the city of Florence. Spectacular. Then we dropped off Lindsay to finish her homework and Joey and I went to the markets before heading to the train station.

All in all, Florence looks just like the postcards. I would love to visit more, but Im still very thankful I picked a program in a smaller, more traditionally Italian city.