“Studying” Abroad

So I know what you are all probably thinking, do I ever actually study while studying abroad?! And the answer is yes, I do study, but very little… I have class three days a week but, in my defense, they are long days of class. Every so often I have to write papers and I occasionally do some reading. To be honest, what little work I have is extremely easy, and I love it! Last semester was my hardest semester yet and I worked myself to the bone, so I’ve used this semester to recharge and enjoy life, because in the fall I hardly had a life.

I’ve discovered that traveling is the best kind of education, so technically I am studying/learning every weekend that I travel somewhere. For example, I’ve learned how to speak four languages while abroad!! Italian, Spanish, French and even Arabic! Mom, Dad you’d be so proud! You’d even be amazed by my large vocab. I can say “hello” and “thank you” in all four languages, aren’t you impressed?! The best is when you walk into a restaurant and say hello, only to have them rattle off something long and extensive in the same language you just spoke in. That is when I give them my blank I-am-American-and-only-know-how-to-say-hello-in-(insert language) look. Most of the time we continue the conversation in English, but some times I’ve had to resort to hand gestures to get my point across.

Friday through Monday I usually travel and Tuesday through Thursday I’m in school. I have three classes on Tuesday (9am to 5:30pm, it’s a loooong day), one class on Wednesday (3pm-8:30pm) and three on Thursday (9am to 2:45pm).  The classes I’m taking are Italian Cinema, Italian Renaissance and Culture, Italian language, Photography and Intro to Marketing. In the beginning I wasn’t a huge fan of all my classes but I’ve grown to really like them, and the teachers! Three out of the five classes I’m in are with all UNC students. For some reason, UNC makes us take these three specific classes in order to study abroad in Florence, so I haven’t met many people outside of UNC, but I’ve gotten close with all the people in my program. It’s like we’ve become one big family of sorts. We do everything together. We all even get sick together!! You should hear the classroom during these times, it’s like a symphony of coughs, sneezes and sniffles.

In my Italian Cinema class we learn about Italian history and culture through Italian films. It has turned out to be a very interesting class that I’ve come to enjoy. At first I hated the class and wasn’t a huge fan of the teacher, but now I really like them both, especially the teacher!! Rossella is the cutest, tiniest little woman who wears a black skirt, black shirt and black boots everyday – it’s like her uniform. She has a short red bob with blunt bangs and she always wears her eyeliner in a fierce cat-eye style. Someone once joked that she looks like Katinka from Zoolander, which is sort of true, but I think Rossella is prettier. Her English isn’t great but it’s gotten much better since the beginning. She tries very hard to be good at it and she often apologizes for her English in class and in emails, it’s really quite cute. I can tell that she cares a lot about her students and is also very passionate about film. She gets excited over the movies we discuss and whenever she plays us clips you can always catch her smiling at the screen.

My Renaissance class and teacher, Cecilia, is also great! It is an intriguing class because we learn about the things that we see every day around Florence. Instead of imagining these cathedrals and paintings that we learn about, we actually get to see them in person, which is pretty cool. We often have field trips to different churches around Florence. The other thing I love about my Renaissance class is the room it is in. It is a cute little classroom with beautiful paintings covering the ceiling. When I’m in that class I really do feel like I’m in Italy.

Now for my Italian language class, where do I begin?! For starters, I absolutely LOVE my Italian teacher Daniele. He is the funniest, spunkiest, coolest, most entertaining teacher I’ve ever had! He is 37 years old, from Italy, wears a diamond earring in one ear and always wears the most stylish outfits (usually complete with a scarf). If you ever took Italian at UNC you may know him too because he did an exchange program at UNC Chapel Hill where he taught Italian for a year. I think this is why he loves us as much as we love him, I can tell that he definitely has an affinity for UNC and the students there. He is always really playful and animated in class but we’ve heard that he isn’t this way with his other non-UNC classes. He comes to class five minutes late every day and when he walks in the door he always says, “Ciao bambini, come va?” which means “Hello children, how are you?” One of his favorite things to do is clap extremely loud, so that the whole room rings from the impact of his hands. It startles me every freaking time. In his class you also better be careful about which language you are speaking because if you accidentally say something in Spanish he will (jokingly) threaten to throw a chair at you, or throw you out the window. Whenever he reaches for a chair we all crack up laughing.

He is an incredible teacher and makes the class go by so quickly, while teaching us so much. He often puts on full acts to explain what words mean. My favorite was when he acted out the Italian word for “gypsy.” We were learning how to say things we like and don’t like and his example was “Non mi piacciono zingari” but none of us knew what a “zingari” was. Instead of explaining in words what it was, he took his scarf, wrapped it around his head and then walked up to each of us with his hand outstretched as if he were begging for money. It was probably one the funniest things ever and he put the entire class in stitches! Another time he acted out the difference between the Italian word for taking a leisurely swim and going for an intense workout swim. That was very amusing as well. If Daniele would go back to UNC I would definitely take more Italian classes with him, just because he is so much fun.

As for my other two classes, photography and marketing, they are fascinating but not as entertaining. I really enjoy my photography class, except I hate that it is five and a half hours long. I never knew they could even make classes last that long!! We have one 30 minute break for dinner, but besides that it’s all photography and Photoshop. It has been incredibly beneficial though and I’ve learned so much more about photos and editing.

Photos from my photography class

My marketing class is a little dry and not as fun as the others, but the teacher is sweet and a little bit quirky, which makes the class interesting. She is an older German woman, with short white hair and one purple highlight. She also wears a skirt every day and sometimes they are a little tighter and shorter than need be, but never overly revealing. The class is two and a half hours long so by the end my attention span is shot.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed “studying” at Lorenzo de Medici. I don’t think I would change anything about my classes or my teachers. The workload is FANTASTIC (because it hardly exists) and the teachers are awesome. Going pack to the UNC workload in the fall is going to be the struggle of the century. How am I to go from one hour of homework a week to over 40 hours of homework a week?!?!

Well, believe it or not I’ve got to go write a paper for my Renaissance class. It is coming close to the end of the year, which means final papers and presentations. Stay posted for another blog post about how depressed I am about leaving…

Ciao for now!!

Falling More In Love With Florence

Two weekends ago I spent some good quality time with my old friend, Florence. It had been far too long since I had a relaxing weekend to myself. Having an empty agenda sounded like a dream. I’ve also begun to realize that my time here is slowly coming to an end and there is still so much more on my to-do list. An entire weekend in Florence with no plans was exactly what I wanted and needed! Also, I’ve lately become a little frustrated with Florence because of the mass influx of tourists and selfie sticks, so I was also in need of a weekend where I could re-fall in love with Florence, and that’s exactly what last weekend was!!

Friday was full of aimless wandering and exploring. Ann Marie and I discovered a number of things we had never seen before, like the University of Florence, real Florentine apartments, real Florentines and Greek food! We walked about a mile outside of the city center and were surprised to find so many beautiful streets and buildings that we had never seen before. It felt like a real Italian town; free of tourists, the smell of garbage and gypsies! We figured that it must be where the real Italian people live because there are very few who live in the city center. During our walk we stumbled upon a beautiful building with a large courtyard and gated garden. We couldn’t help but go into the courtyard to get a better look, and the door was propped open, making it all the more inviting. We’re still not sure what it is but one section of it may be some sort of doctors office. Inside we found a beautiful grand staircase, that we climbed, but it led to locked doors, so we couldn’t explore further. After exploring a few other areas we decided to move onto something new because we really couldn’t figure out what it was. (I later found it is Palazzo Capponi, but I’m still not sure what it is!!)

Palazzo Capponi courtyard

We walked, with no destination, for a while longer around the beautiful outskirts of the city center. Many buildings were covered in vines with yellow or purple flowers and there were palm trees and beds of grass every few blocks. For those of you who don’t know, greenery is a very rare sight in Florence, it’s very much a concrete jungle. It was so nice to leisurely roam around and take in all of Florence. It also made me realize how little of Florence I actually see because I never leave the center. The farthest place I walk to is about 25 minutes away, and that is considered very far. I finally got to see parts of Florence that make up the real, non-touristy section of the city.

On our walk we stopped in a store called Tiger and that is were I found love (with the store, of course). It was like graphic design and interior design heaven!! They had the cutest little things from desk supplies, to kitchen utensils, to living room accessories and snacks. I had a hard time suppressing the urge to buy everything. I am proud to say that I only bought a few things, mostly desk supplies, but I plan on going back a few times before I leave.

My Tiger purchases

After walking all afternoon we were pretty tired, so we decided that the best way to rest our feet would be by having a picnic near the Arno River.  Ann Marie and I had a romantic picnic with prosecco and our beloved stroopwaffels. The bubbly really goes straight to your head though and before I knew it I was a little bit drunk. That would have been totally fine with me if I hadn’t of had an internship interview coming up in the next three hours. But don’t worry, I stuffed my mouth with so much buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes that I was completely sober by the time of my interview! (P.S. I got that internship position, but ended up turning it down for another)

That night we tried out the Greek place – which was delicious – and went to the “famous” discoteca called Space. It had been a long time since I’d gone out in Florence on a weekend. Space was very cool and a lot of fun, and it was surprisingly filled with all Italians, and males. Since Florence is such a popular study abroad place, bars and clubs are usually filled with many Americans, but not Space on a Friday night! I met a cute guy who told me how he wanted to be an actor and live in America. We bonded over The Vampire Diaries and our love for California. For those of you who know me well, and are familiar with the joke about the guys I like, I know what you’re thinking… and no, he wasn’t gay… At least I’m 95% positive that he wasn’t… Sadly our love fizzled out quickly and I left him for the dance floor, where my friends were. There, in the sea of Italian males, I met another pretty cute Italian guy. His name was Andrea and at the end of the night he asked to take a picture with me… which he later sent to me on his friends Facebook because he had deleted his.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of the accordion playing an adorable song outside my window. It felt like I was in a movie! Oh and did I happen to mention that I awoke at 3:30pm… We may have closed the club the night before at 4am, but in my defense I hadn’t slept in in weeeeeks! Ann Marie and I got breakfast/lunch/linner at La Milkeria and I ordered a Nutella waffle with fruit, which was amazing!! What was rest of the day wasn’t overly eventful. However, I did get my haircut by a world renowned hair dresser, Gianluca Sasso at International Studio, so that was pretty cool. He did a great job too, I didn’t shed one tear once the chopping was done! It was also only an inch…

For dinner, Ann Marie and I made the 47 minute walk out to the Florence 2015 STREEAT Foodtruck Festival. We thought Google Maps was lying when it gave us that ridiculously long travel time, but it turns out it was correct. It was quite a trek, but it was totally worth every step! We went down the Arno River, through the park, past the little Carnival, and then through the park some more. There were around 15 or 20 food trucks there and TONS of Italians! We may have been the only Americans. I loved it because I really felt like I was in Italy. Reading the food truck menus were a little difficult, because everything was in Italian only, but we figured it out. To start, I had a small platter of fried olives, artichokes and cheese. It was AMAZING!! I also had a beer and a good – but strange – veggie wrap. There was a DJ and tables set up all around the pond and in the grassy areas. It was my first food truck festival and it was great!

Later that night we went out with Maddie and her friend again, but this time we went to our favorite club, Yab. As always, it was a good time. We danced all night and on the dance floor I met another cute Italian guy. Italy, you sure know how to make attractive men! Ann Marie didn’t have quite the love story though, as she spent the majority of her night hiding from and dodging a guy we call “her stalker.” A view weeks earlier he consecutively liked 40 of her Facebook photos AND called her on Facebook messenger, who even knew you could make phone calls through Facebook?! We ended our evening with a trip to see Mustafa, at Mesopotamia Kebab, to get some delicious late night kebabs. Ann Marie and I blissfully ate our kebabs and fries on the floor in complete silence before going to sleep.

Sunday was another late-to-rise kinda day, however, we were awake before 3:30pm! I think I got out of bed at approximately 1:30pm. That’s what happens when neither of us set an alarm, we sleep for years! Ann Marie and I had an amazing brunch at Odeon and then went to the Jewish synagogue. Everyone always says that the synagogue is incredibly beautiful so I had to see it, and boy were they right, it was amazing! The walls and ceilings were covered in an intricate Moroccan-like pattern with colors of orange, red and blue – to name a few. Of course I decided to wear a tank top and shorts that day so I had to wrap myself in fabric scraps that the synagogue had. I’m basically the worse Jew ever… I really enjoyed the synagogue though and I’d go back for Friday night services.

The Great Synagogue of Florence from the outside

After the synagogue we went to Palazzo Vecchio and did the complete two hour tour. We saw the ancient underground Roman theatre that Palazzo Vecchio is built on, as well as the various rooms in the palace and the tower. While up on the tower we could hear the street performers down below playing different musical tunes. One of the perks of studying abroad in Florence is that you have a permanent study abroad soundtrack for all your days. We were the only ones up on the tower so we pranced around the top, listening to the music from below and enjoying the incredible view of the duomo and the mountains.

We ended our amazing weekend with drinks and aperitivo on the rooftop of the Westin Excelsior with a few of our friends. And to top everything off, I was offered an internship as a graphic designer with Horizon Media in New York City!!! It looks like my next stop after Florence will be New York!!!

What remains of the Roman theatre

Inside Palazzo Vecchio

The view from the tower

Florence For A Change

Every weekend of this semester I have traveled to a different place. Sometimes it’s a day trip, but most times it’s a long, multiple nights kind of trip. This past weekend was the first time since the first weekend I got here that I stayed in Florence the entire time. And you know what I realized, I really love Florence! It was nice not to travel for a change because, as much as I love airports, I had had my fair share of them this past month. Traveling is also extremely tiring so I was definitely in need of some down time.

My two friends from UGA, who are studying abroad in London, came to Florence for the weekend as part of their Italy tour spring break. They were the first people to visit me here and it was so fun showing them all around Florence. On Saturday night Ann Marie and I took them out to Osteria Santo Spirito, one of the best restaurants in Florence. I got the most delicious pasta with clams and Victoria and Katelyn got some traditional limoncello. Later we took them to Yab Night Club because we wanted to give them an authentic night out in Italy. Most other places, like Red Garter or TwentyOne, are filled with American study abroad students and sometimes it’s hard to tell if you are in Italy or America. Of course it is impossible to avoid all Americans when going out in Florence and inevitably we met some American guys. They seemed normal and not creepy until one of them randomly, and to my surprise, introduced me to someone as his wife. I remember standing with my mouth gaping open at him, unable to shake hands with the guy in front of me when I heard him say it. He could tell I was shocked and he encouraged me to go with it, which I eventually did because why not, I knew I’d never see either of them again.

On Sunday we did a grand tour of Florence and walked all around the city. We tried to get into The Boboli Gardens but because it was the first Sunday of the month the line was out the door, and then some. Florence does this annoying-yet-trying-to-be-nice thing where all public museums and historical buildings are free to enter on the first Sunday of every month. It sounds great in theory but it is actually awful because lines wrap around buildings and into the streets. I also have a museum card so I get into places for free on any day of the week, but even if I didn’t have that card I’d still rather pay seven euro than wait in line for an hour.

We went to Gusta Pizza for lunch because you can’t visit Florence without eating there. It would just be wrong. Gusta Pizza is the best pizza I’ve ever had in my entire life and I’ve had A LOT of New York pizza before, this beats any of it. We all made ourselves sick because the pizza was so incredible that we couldn’t stop until every last crumb of our personal pizzas was gone. A long walk after lunch helped us feel a little less guilty about the mass amount of pizza we had just ate. We made our way back across the river to Piazza della Signoria and found ourselves in the middle of some parade-like performance. There were tons of men in medieval/renaissance costumes with large flags and instruments. I had no idea what was going on but it looked really cool and they put on a good show! We eventually ended our walking tour with a visit to the Gucci museum, which I had been dying to go to.

I planned so many things for us to do on Monday but Mother Nature had other plans and we couldn’t do any of the things I wanted to do because of the rain. It wasn’t until Wednesday that we were finally able to go to the Boboli Gardens. I immediately fell in love with the gardens and I kept wondering why I hadn’t been earlier. It is my new favorite place in Florence. Actually… it may be tied with Piazzale Michelangelo. We went there on Tuesday night and the whole city of Florence was lit up. It was absolutely stunning.

The view from Piazzale Michelangelo

After seeing the gardens we went inside the Pitti Palace and walked around the costume gallery and jewels gallery. Fashion and jewelry museum exhibits, just the kind of exhibits I love! Basically I fell in love with all things related to the Pitti Palace and I can’t wait to go back again, which will probably be tomorrow.

Victoria and I in the Boboli Gardens

The most outrageous part of Victoria and Katelyn’s visit was “The Coco Guy’s” concert aka O.T. Genasis. He sings the song “Coco” and if you don’t know it have no fear because you can learn all the lyrics in approximately 30 seconds. All you need to know is “I’m in love with the coco” and “baking soda, I got baking soda.” If you know those two lines you’ll be set to see him in concert! He sings one song, and one song only, therefore, he restarted the song three times before singing it all the way through. Even though he is a one hit wonder and his song only has two different lines, it was a fun concert. I still cannot get the song out of my head to save my life. It may be a ridiculous song, but it sure is a ridiculously catchy song.

O.T. Genasis “The Coco Guy”

I’m spending this weekend in Florence AGAIN because I loved it so much last weekend. Isn’t spending time in the city you’re studying abroad in such a novel idea?! Yeah, I thought so too. Maybe I will finally get to climb the duomo and bell tower! One can only hope. Stay posted to find out!

Side Note: I caved and bought a selfie stick

Better Late Than Never

The past two days have been days of many firsts. I went to my first European soccer game and I saw Michelangelo’s statue of David for the first time. The Fiorentina soccer team played against the Tottenham team from England. Me, Ann Marie and our friend Maddie were all super pumped for the game because neither of us had ever seen a soccer game in Europe. Before we went to the game we wanted to buy jerseys and beer, because you just aren’t doing sporting events right if you don’t have some beer. We were disappointed and surprised to discover that we couldn’t buy beer anywhere in Florence between the hours of 2pm and 6pm. Florence banned any sale of alcohol  because of last weeks events in Rome at the soccer game. Last Thursday, February 19th 2015, Dutch soccer fans started a riot in the streets of Rome, severely damaging the Fontana della Baraccia and destroying window shops, cars and buses. These pictures from the riot will help you understand why they ordered a ban on alcohol. Bottles, and blood and drunkards were everywhere! Not a pretty scene…

We set out for the train station beerless, but in our jerseys, to find the bus to get us to the stadium. Per usual, we didn’t know where to go so we asked some official looking men. They were from the Tottenham team and told us that if we took off/hid our jerseys we could get a free ride on the Tottenham fan club bus. We did as told and zipped our jackets up to our chins to hide the purple jerseys. The bus was jam-packed with English men all eager for the big game. The bus also had a police car escorting it with flashing lights. It was very legitimate and intense. At times the men would bang on the flimsy windows and chant songs. We were scared of what would happen if they found out we were rooting for the Florence team so we had to quickly learn their chants and join them in song. It went something along the lines of, “Everywhere we go, everywhere we go, it’s Tottenham boys making all the noise, everywhere we go.”

I must say, it is a pretty catchy song and we couldn’t get it out of our heads once we got off the bus. On our walk to the Fiorentina gate entrance Ann Marie kept singing the chant out loud and every so often she would get people to join in with her, it was so hysterical. The best part was that she was wearing her Fiorentina jersey while singing so she probably threw a lot of people for a loop.

The game itself was really fun and exciting and I found that I actually enjoy watching soccer – much easier to keep track of the ball than it is in football. People get so into the game and the chants, there was more team spirit than I had ever experienced in my life. There was a Fiorentina chant but it was in Italian so I didn’t really know what they were saying, but I tried to follow along and sing with them.

It got pretty chilly mid game and I realized Maddie was only wearing a long sleeve and a jersey. I asked her if she was cold and seconds after she said yes she was given a puffy jacket, gloves and a hat from the men sitting behind us. Then all of a sudden I felt a hat being placed on my head as well to help shield me from the cold. In a matter of 30 seconds Maddie went from freezing cold to extremely warm, thanks to the kind men sitting behind us, who – may I mention – spoke hardly any English so I don’t know how they knew she was so cold.

We wound up winning 2-0 and some how, by the grace of god, made it back to Florence on the correct bus. This time we went back on the regular public transportation and we didn’t have to hide our colors.

The other first I experienced was going to see the David. I am kind of ashamed to admit that I have been living in Florence for a month and a half and I am just now seeing the David. I’m not the only one though, almost all the other people in my UNC program have yet to see the David/are also going this weekend. Additionally, I still haven’t climbed to the top of the duomo or gone up the bell tower… two more things on my bucket list that I need to check off.

I was really surprised by how large the statue of David was. He was much taller and bigger than I had ever imagined. I was also blown away by the impressive and accurate detail of his body. His hands were unreal, you could perfectly see every vain in his hand, making it look weirdly realistic. How Michelangelo created him out of marble will never cease to amaze me.

Me, Rachel, Jane and “Mr. New Booty”

I’m so happy that I finally got to see the David and go to a European soccer game. I’ve missed spending time in Florence, and finally staying put has made me realize just how much I love this place. I don’t know why I keep leaving this beautiful, warm, sunny city for freezing cold, rainy ones! Next on the Florence agenda is climbing the duomo/bell tower and going to the Boboli Gardens.

Yes… Ann Marie and I did indeed do the Zeta crown on top of the David…

Transitioning Phases: Entering Phase 2

As stated in our LdM Orientation Handbook there are four stages of cultural adjustment that every student who studies abroad goes through.

1. The Honeymoon
2. The Crisis
3. The Recovery
4. Adjustment

The honeymoon phase is the initial reactions of excitement, fascination and enthusiasm. The crisis phase is the feelings of inadequacy, frustration, sadness, anxiety, and anger. During this stage, you notice the differences between your worldview and your host cultures worldview, and you wish that the host culture’s worldview were more similar to your worldview. The recovery phase is comprised of crisis resolution and cultural learning, it is when you begin to accept the differences. And last, but not least, the recovery phase is the enjoyment of and adaptation in the new environment.

Since I’ve been here I have been in a full-out honeymoon phase. Soaking everything in and loving all that Florence has to offer. But, now that two weeks have gone by, I’ve come to the realization that this isn’t a vacation. I am starting to transition into a new phase. I wouldn’t say I’m in the crisis phase, but I would say I’m in limbo between that and the honeymoon phase. I am starting to realize that this is home for the next four months. Until May, I will never see a Target, or a Harris Teeter, or a Hummer, or a Chipotle. It is exciting and, all at the same time, overwhelming.

I have begun to do more and more things that make me realize this isn’t in fact a vacation. For example, I go food shopping. I buy eggs, milk, fruit, bread, and all the other things you don’t buy when you’re on vacation. I am cooking dinner at my apartment a lot, rather than eating out all the time. I am also doing things like just sitting in my apartment doing nothing. As strange, and as boring as that sounds, it is the thing that makes me feel the most like I am truly living here. On vacation you don’t just sit around and do nothing, you explore! But when you are home you sometimes have lazy days where you never get out of your pajamas or leave your house. Feeling like it’s okay to have one of those lazy days has made me realize this is home. I have a plethora of other days to explore this beautiful city!

“It feels good to be lost in the right direction.” 

Aimlessly roaming around the city, with no agenda or day plan, also put this into perspective for me. I have the time to waste a day walking around because I have so many other days to do fun, extravagant things.

A few days ago Ann Marie and I walked around Florence for hours with absolutely no schedule. That day was one of my favorite so far. We ventured through adorable back roads and strolled down the riverside. In our traveling, we wound up stumbling upon a delicious Laduree store. They had macarons galore and we both decided it was mandatory to try a few. The flavors I got were raspberry, caramel with salted butter and chocolate marshmallow coconut. We ate the macarons on the bridge over the Arno River. I STRONGLY recommend the caramel with salted butter macaron. Trust me, it will change your life!! It was an incredible view of the Ponte Vecchio, city and mountains. I had one of those moments where you think, “I need to take mental picture of this because it is so perfect.”

Savoring every last bite

After our spontaneous macaron trip we hiked up to Piazzale Michelangelo to catch the sunset. The view from up there was breathtaking. I remember looking out and thinking, “holy shit… I live here.” It was unreal.

Tuesday I start real class and I’m sure that is when I will start my quick progression into the crisis phase. As for now, I will continue to enjoy the limbo phase between the honeymoon and the crisis.

The view from Piazzale Michelangelo