Day 25: Monday
Made it to Florence! We woke up at 6:45am in order to have enough time to get us and all our luggage to Termini by 8:50am. We left the house around 7:40am and there was a bus in no time, which we were worried about being full, but we made it on. The only struggle was lifting my bag up there. I have my huge suitcase plus a heavy duffle bag full of all my books and all our community kitchen and bathroom stuff. We made it to Termini and found the rest of the group with about a half hour to spare. I feel horrible because I'm now full-blown sick with a cough and a runny nose and congestion and a sore throat and a headache. That combined with the carrying of all my stuff to the station made me pass out on the train, and we were in Florence before I knew it. Getting off the train was much easier, and soon we found the Accent lady who took us outside and updated us about the day and our apartments. We got cabs to our apartments, and now it’s just me and Elli in one room and Sarah and Breanne in the other. Some of the boys, Mike, David, Chris, Don, Alex, and Andrew, are across the hall from us, but Kari, Kelley, and Amanda live in a building around the corner, while Brandon, Dylan, Joe, and Brian live far away. The apartments are amazing though! Not only is the location much better because there are actually people outside and we live in the shopping district about five minutes from the Duomo, but the apartments are just better than Rome. They’re huge, and we have so many more dishes! Our shower actually has a place to hang the head so we don’t have to hold it the whole time, and it’s full sized. We have a living room area which is huge with a couch and two chairs and a table and a tv. The only thing about the apartments is the internet. Ours doesn’t work at all, and the boys’ is spotty and goes in and out all the time. So that will be fun.
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| Living Room |
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| Kitchen |
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| Bedroom |
After we dropped our stuff off we decided to go eat, and we found a café right across the street where I got a mini pizza and some fruit. Then we walked over to the Duomo because we were meeting the Accent people at 1pm, and it’s amazing! It’s way bigger than I thought it would be, and the façade is gorgeous because it has color! Greens and pinks! It’s amazing, I can’t wait to see it more.
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| Duomo |
We had a small walking tour of the area in which they showed us all things we don’t need to know about and did not show us a grocery store, which is the only thing anyone cares about. Then they took us across the river (I got to see Pont Vecchio!) to the Accent center where we had a short orientation where we learned almost nothing of importance that we didn’t already know. We got our class schedule, which really sucks because we’re going to be super busy this week and I will barely get to see my family when they’re here tomorrow and Wednesday. Thankfully Petrie decided not to hold class today though because everyone was struggling and needed a siesta. We went home and tried to figure out the internet to no avail, but I managed to send an email to my parents and a message to Jordan to let them know I made it. Then I gave up and decided to take a nap since I was tired and still not feeling well. When I woke up we were all starving so we wandered out to find a place to eat, and we didn’t go far until we found somewhere. I had four cheese risotto but it was way too cheesy and I would’ve much rather have had what Mike had, calamari and fries. After dinner we had to find groceries, so we found a grocery store near the Duomo but the selection was extremely limited, but we got enough to last us until we’re better oriented and can find a better supermarket. We stopped for some gelato on the way home, then desperately tried to get on the internet, which worked out better than before. I was able to check all my email and tweet and post a status, but it took forever. I have pretty much given in to the fact that our internet is going to be shit the entire time and I’ll just have to go on the internet at the Accent center during and after class. So pictures and blog posts may be significantly less frequent while I’m in Florence. It’s a beautiful city though and I’m already so in love with it. Since we live in the shopping district everyone is even more well-dressed than normal and it is amazing. Gucci and Louis Vuitton and Tiffany’s and many more are literally right down the street. All day there’s been balloons outside, and there’s people out there jamming to guitar now, and they let the balloons go over the city and it was beautiful. I’m not looking forward to a busy day tomorrow already and trying to figure out everything with trying to see my family, but I am so excited to see them and show them my cute apartment and introduce them to my friends. I’m going to try to get some reading done for class I guess since there’s no internet and nothing else to do, and then I’m going to try to get to bed early tonight because I’m still exhausted and sick. First day in Florence=success! (I'm able to post during class...sorry Petrie).
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| View out of the window of balloons |
