Firenze

Benvenuto a Firenze!

We FINALLY arrived in Florence on Friday after the trip from hell. You would think that traveling two hours to another country in Europe would be relatively easy, but this was not the case. It is a good thing that every single person working for British Airways is super helpful and nice. We were supposed to leave the hotel at 7:45am SHARP. However, due to some people who apparently cannot follow directions, we sat on the bus for an hour before we actually departed from the hotel. One girl was sound asleep, even though her roommate swore that they had a conversation when the alarm one off. Another boy was absolutely convinced that his flight was supposed to leave the next day, so he did not get up and was consequently left at the hotel.

I pretty much need to send the majority of my stuff home: my suitcases are too heavy to carry. Of course, I had to pay extra for the overweight bag, which was fine. But the woman who I talked to when I paid totally reprimanded me and told me to remember to bring less the next time I traveled through Europe. As if I did not know that already. To top this all off, my small red suitcase, which is DEFINITELY carry-on size, must have gotten itself a steroid injection between the time I left the Newark Airport and the time I departed from London Gatwick. After trying to make it shrink, I ended up having to check this bag too. I was so frustrated that I went up to the woman in tears, and I guess she must have taken pity on me because she did not charge me for my extra bag, which was sweet of her. So I finally got to security and was on the verge of breaking down. My bag was exploding and I just wanted to apparate to Florence, but unfortunately I am not Harry Potter (Apparating is when you wave your wand and are immediately in another location without so much as a blink. It comes from the Latin word “paro” which means to appear. Too bad I am not a witch or a wizard). As if my luck was not already horrible, my bag was searched—every single thing in my bag was taken out and put on the table. It was really not a big deal, they just took out a bottle of soap that was apparently too big to carry onto the plane, but miraculously made it through the Newark security. After about thirty minutes of this whole thing, I made it to Dana and Brenna who were waiting for me on the other side and I just broke down. Everyone was perfectly nice about everything, but I was agitated and exhausted and it was just not fun.

Luckily, the plane ride was smooth and only two hours long. Everyone got their luggage without a problem, and we got on the bus and headed out of Pisa to Florence. The bus ride was fine, it just took us forever to get from the outskirts of Florence into the center of the city because we arrived during rush hour.

The city is beautiful at night, and the first things I saw when we crossed the Arno were the top of the Duomo and the tower in Piazza della Signoria. We actually drove right past the building where I took classes two years ago! I pointed out what everything was to Dana and Brenna, and was getting excited to be there.

We are staying in the four-star Hotel Anglo American for the duration of our stay in Florence. It is a gorgeous hotel and only about a fifteen-minute walk into the center of town. My roommates are Renee, who I hung out with in London, and Sinead, who I happened to sit next to on the bus tour in London. She lives outside of Philadelphia and goes to Pitt. We were originally supposed to have four girls in the room, but one of them ended up moving out and into somewhere else with some friends. It is better this way: we have a ton of floor space and lots of room to hang out. They are both super down-to-earth and we all want the same things out of the program, which is reassuring.

I have not exactly hit stride yet, although I feel like I should have by now. I know it is a bit of an adjustment, and we have only been here for two days, but that will come soon enough. Until then I will just work on patiently reorienting myself with this city I love and everything Italian.