Ahh Italia. The European leg of our trip was centered around coming to Italy. We were SO excited. It was going to be the highlight of the European stint and possibly the overall highlight of the trip. Oh what expectations it had to live up to.
The first week in Italy (Florence) was really tough for me. Throughout the week I constantly told myself to remember how lucky I am to be here and to be on this adventure, but man it was hard to stay positive at times.
- Hotter than Africa.
- Expectations not met with living accommodations or with school.
- Unplanned injury.
I can't remember if Jake's post commented on how hot it has been but it has been in the high 90s/over 100 degrees every day. I don't do hot. I hate sweating. I'd choose throwing on dozens of layers of clothes over sweating anytime. Ugh. Jake spoke about our living situation so let me give an update on that: we moved out of the host family apartment. When we signed up for the two week conversational Italian class in Florence, we chose to stay with a host family for two weeks. That means we agreed to pay for that. However, payment wasn't due until we arrived. So....on Wednesday (we arrived Sunday night), when we decided to proactively remind the school that we hadn't paid for our living accommodations yet, we told them that we'd stay with the family for the first week but would move out and find our own accommodations for week two. They said "no" and through many minutes of discussion and negotiation, we came to an agreement that we would in fact move out. Our reasoning was that #1 it was too hot for any human being #2 we had no space to live in, only to sleep in and #3 that it wasn't what we expected - it wasn't a "host family" - they didn't interact with us at all. The school staff explained however that it is not in the Italian culture to "catch up" over breakfast. That is something that is saved for dinner time. So, Thursday morning rolls around and the husband and wife of the host family are up interacting with us over breakfast. Very conversational. Of course when I got to school that day (by the way, yes the bell rings and that is really funny to me...brings me back...anyways...) I asked what conversation with the family had been like. The school staff told the family that the temperature of the apartment was too much for us so we were moving out. They also mentioned that we expected to interact with them more. The family felt bad and said that they sleep in in the summer, wanted to give us space etc. They were up again with us Friday. Long story short, the overall situation improved but it was still SO HOT and we didn't have any space to do all the planning we need to do for future legs of the trip. We moved out on Saturday and are in a hostel now. It is kind of ghetto but the owners are super helpful and we have our own room and our own bathroom with more overall space. The AC slowly attempts to bring the room down to 19 degrees Celsius and that works for me.
The unplanned injury? I left this out of previous posts but it is starting to affect the trip so I should probably mention it. Did you look at the amazing photos of Milos? It was incredible. We weren't there 30 minutes before I wiped out. I wiped out HARD. I was daintily going into the beautiful Aegean Sea and KAPLAT, totally wiped out. So hard. I slipped on a wet rock that must have had an inconspicuous layer of algae on it. Well, when we were in Milos it hurt but I didn't do much other than ride around on a scooter or lay on the beach. After a few days walking around Istanbul, and then Florence, I am in so much pain, it is awful. I may have bruised a bone? I haven't Googled it yet because I'm afraid to. I'm trying to rest/elevate/(I have no access to ice) but it is kind of hard to do when you are on a walking tour of Europe. Ugh.
Outside of all of the above - Florence is pretty awesome. We already blogged about the food and wine - so good! We have walked around a lot and visited many a piazza but haven't gone into a lot of the sights yet. If you are following us on Instagram (_no_permanent_address_) you would have seen my post of the Duomo (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) - WOW. It is truly amazing from the outside and we plan on going in on one of the days to come. Most days we have gone to class from 9-12:15, gotten some lunch, done our homework and then gone to the library where there is both free wifi and air conditioning. There we do research/booking for future parts of our trip (Rome, Amalfi, Croatia....still need to plan SE Asia....). However, we did spend an afternoon at the Accademia where Michelangelo's David is. It is truly, truly, incredible. What a masterpiece.
While I thought it was incredible and definitely the focal point of the museum, I actually thought that the "Prisoners" were just as amazing. Now imagine a young Florentine named Michelangelo chipping away at a block of marble like that to create something like David. Seeing an unfinished block of marble really put into perspective all that goes into creating something so spectacular. Pictures don't do it justice.
We are on a budget right? Nerd alert: we have been downloading the Rick Steve's free podcasts of things like Florence, the Accademia and listening to them (ya know, hitting play at exactly the same time) together. It's a great free tour guide around the city. Speaking of free tours, there is a Medici Family free tour that takes place in Florence so I am going to do that that someday this week after class. You don't have to be in Florence for long to know that the Medici family owned this town back during the days of the Renaissance. I am familiar with the Medici Family because I (am not afraid to admit) really enjoy watching the show "Reign" on the CW. Of course its a fictional show based on some real life events. The Medici family was a rich (non-royal) family that basically ran Florence. One of the daughters married the heir to the throne of France and became Queen of France. etc. etc. etc. I want to learn more. We have a lot more to do in Florence and little time to accomplish it as we have school to attend, homework to do and laundry that needs to be done! Tomorrow we are going to go to the Uffizi Gallery which is said to have "the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere"...by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Giotto etc.
On Saturday we took a tour to Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa. Too summarize, each town was so much more quaint than "big" Florence. I'd love to go back and spend a few more hours in both Siena and Sangi, and we probably will. For now, I know that you are all dying to see our cheesy Pisa shots, so here you go!
So much to say but this has been long enough! Buonasera!
Jesslyn