My Journey to Italia

Florence!

Friday the 15th was school and our replacement test. Hopefully I don’t get moved down to level 3, although I think I could benefit from that. Level 4 Italian is hard and there is a lot of stuff we were supposed to have learned in Irvine but never got to. That makes it really difficult. Anyhow, after that I Ali, Niki and I tried to go eat at the Italian student mensa (cafeteria) but for some reason it was closed. So we wandered a bit until we found a cute café and got some sandwiches. That night I went back into town with to meet a big group of girls. They were all dressed up to go out on the town and I had normal clothes on! How lame was I! But oh well, we went to this bar called the Red Barron, apparently a big hang out for Americans and sleazy Italian men. Oh joy. It was ok, kinda dark and cramped. I ordered my first alcoholic drink ever though! (Aren’t you all shocked!) A Pinocolat. It tasted good because I couldn’t even taste the alcohol! And it didn’t affect me at all. Once the dancing started I was ready to leave. The music was some weird Indian techno too so that wasn’t super cool. It was really bad music. Two guys from the program ended up walking me back the entire way to my home stay, which was really nice. It was after 1:30 in the morning so I’m glad they were there!

Then yesterday I got up early again and hopped on the bus to Florence for the day! A big group of us left together and then split up when we got there. The bus ride was really nice, through the Tuscan countryside again, and only an hour long. It dropped us in the center of Florence, at the bus and train terminal.

With just my first glimpses of Florence I knew I loved it! It is a beautiful city! I can’t wait to go back numerous times, I already know I get to go with Mom and Dad so that’s exciting! The streets are wide and flat, not like Siena’s at all, and the buildings are bright and cheerful!

Our first stop was candy stores were where gaped at the marzipan treats shaped like fruits! We didn’t get anything and continued onto the Duomo. It was breathtaking! I couldn’t stop staring at its beautiful exterior. The greens, and whites, the detail, the statues, it was amazing. One of the most beautiful church’s, of the most beautiful structures, I’ve ever seen. Inside was beautiful as well, but a little dark due to the rain blocking the light. We didn’t climb the dome, I’ll save that for later, but it supposed to be amazing at the top, with 3-D paintings even. Apparently the church was built before the technology for a dome was developed, the builders knew someone would figure it out eventually, and they did!

We met up with three of Ali’s friends from old schools and walked with them towards the Uffizi Museum and saw the imitation David. We did a little shopping on the way too. I bought a scarf! The guy said “for you, special price!” And then proceeded to ask me out that night! I declined his offer but did by the scarf for 5 euros. Then it was onto the Ponte Vecchio. As Dad told me, it has always been famous for the jewelry that is sold there (and is still sold there today.) Ali’s friend, who is an Art History major, told me after World War II almost all of the bridges in Florence were blown up by the Italians to keep them from the German’s but they couldn’t bring themselves to blow that one up. And a good thing!

Then Niki, Ali and I wandered around the streets of Florence for the next few hours. It started to rain quite a bit so it got a little hard to walk around, but it was still enjoyable. We didn’t see too many tourist attractions, or any really, but it was still a beautiful city. With lots of shopping, we did look in some stores and I found beautiful shoes I wanted to by at Coin, Italy’s department store like Macy’s.

Around 7:00 we met up with some other UC students at a Mexican restaurant we had seen earlier. Yes, Mexican! A lot of the students were craving Mexican so they had to eat there. The place was actually pretty cute and we were lucky to get a table because they were all reserved. The food was good, spicy and warm, but not exactly what I’d call Mexican! I got a Margarita too (it was half priced during happy hour) that was pretty good.

As the night rolled to a close Ali and I found ourselves saying goodbye to the rest of the group who were staying in hostels and started walking for the 9:15 bus to Siena. The last one. We left the restaurant around 8:35. It was at most a 20 minute walk. We got lost. We got really lost. It was pouring rain. We ended up asking every person we saw on the street “dove la stazione di treno?” (where is the train station?) as we ran by. We gave up on our umbrella. Her cards and money fell out of her pocket onto the ground. They got wet. Our sandals were soaked. Finally we made it to the station with only 10 minutes to spare. We had no idea were the bus picked up so we proceed to run around the station asking people where to go. No one knew. The bus was supposed to leave in 3 minutes and in a desperate attempt we ran a little farther outside the train station hoping to see the blue Siena buses. And guess what? We did! But it was leaving so I waved at the driver and he stopped. He said this wasn’t the bus to Siena but the one pulling up behind him was. Whew! There was a group of people waiting and they all chuckled at the drenched American girls. It was fun though. Like a scene from a movie. It wouldn’t have been funny though if we hadn’t made the bus!

posted by Madeline Faye @ 4:48 PM