When
visualizing my trip abroad before I left, I pictured myself exploring the city
by day and vigorously blogging every single night about every last minute
detail of my experience living in the heart of Italy. I even tried to begin on
my first night. I sat down on my bed in my new apartment after over 19 hours of
travel and my brain felt so overloaded with new information that I couldn’t
even begin to fathom the idea of putting my experience into a single sentence.
I now
realize my error. One day is not enough time to put into words the aged,
complex, bustling, soulful city that is Florence. One week is not enough. Four
months may not even be enough, but I feel as if I’ve explored Florence enough
now to both feel lost in its foreign ways and also somewhat at home here. But
how could I ever explain it?
In
true Florentine fashion, I need to be expressive. And indeed, Florence is such
an expressive city, a city full of passion, life and zest. What else could be
said for the part of the world that gave us so much art and influence on
culture? The people are loud and full of life. Florence is passion. Personality
practically drips from the city.
My
roommates and I have been parading through the city endlessly. As a result, I
now feel a little more comfortable here, and I finally feel less like a visitor
and more as if this is a place I can reside, and its only my second week. I
guess there is a reason why Florence is a city that people fall in love with.
It has wonders of the world that people fall over themselves to see and it
welcomes you like an old friend.
I’ve
learned that the best way to get more comfortable with living in a new place is
to go out, sometimes alone, and just wander, get a little lost. It’s not like I
could ever get bored here. There are tiny little shops and bars (bar means
espresso bar here – a place you’d get a coffee drink) to duck into, locally
owned boutiques and artists selling their work on the edges of the cobbled
road. I know it might take me a while to blend in and start truly living as a
Florentine, but hey! It’s only my second week.
I keep
reminding myself; my Italian persona is not perfect yet, and that’s okay. I
still fumble asking the checkout lady or barista “Quanto?” when I’m
buying groceries or purchasing coffee, and I don’t have my route to school memorized yet. I sometimes see a local
with a dog or a family with children and my stomach twists as I long for my own
family and my own dog. But there is one thing I know for sure…this is an
adventure. This is an adventure that is all my own. I’ve lived at home or close
to home for my entire life, and I’ve never done anything remotely like this
before. It is time to learn, to explore, to get lost in Europe and become an
Italian!
And if
there is one thing I’ve learned for absolute certain, it’s that when I walk
around Florence and see the beautiful window boxes spilling with flowers, or
when I walk across the Ponte Vecchio every day to school and see the breathtaking
river before me, or when I turn the corner a stumble upon the Duomo, a famous
statue or piazza, is that I know I’ve never been in a more beautiful or
interesting place in my whole life.
