Introvert Abroad
Pushing Myself to Experience the World
12/4/2018 36 Comments The Finish LineIt’s about that time! I know that my last few posts have kind of felt like some sort of countdown to the end of the semester, and I guess in some way, that’s right. I liked keeping a good awareness of how much time I had left in Italy, just to make sure that I wasn’t letting the time slip me by. I didn’t want to wake up one morning and realize that I had to get on a plane home without having done things that I’d always wanted to do. I wanted to have this good balance between living in the moment and being aware of how much time I had left without having some sort of panicky, internal clock that ominously ticked each second away. I have to say, writing the blog posts really helped! Even so, it really does feel like the end of the semester came out of nowhere. Here I am, doing my final projects and making farewell plans with the friends that I got used to seeing every day. It’s kind of incredible that this semester has felt both like several lifetimes and just a few weeks. So in classic Katie fashion, I think I’m going to take this time to think back on my semester. I like to think that no experience abroad is a wasted one. Just getting out into the world and immersing yourself in a different culture is what makes it worthwhile. You don’t have to visit seven different countries or go out every night or be fluent in three different languages or anything! You really don’t have to do anything to learn more about what it’s like to live in, you know, not the U.S. Florence is kind of magic in that way, if you take the time to pay attention. I’ve learned to appreciate a lot of the things that had me so homesick at the beginning of the semester. I also learned to look past those things and find love for the city I was visiting. It slowly felt less and less like I was an intruder and more like I was just a person experiencing the world around me. For example, instead of feeling shame for not being able to understand the conversations around me, I learned to appreciate the multitude of languages spoken in one place. I’m not from a big city, so this level of diversity when it comes to people is incredible to me. And not to mention, hearing Italian conversations works great for homework background noise. It’s easy to get distracted by listening in on strangers’ conversations, but you can’t do that when you don’t understand them! Things became better as I went through the semester. The people and events and food and everything that I felt like I was missing out on eventually became chances to experience new things. Not having my favorite brand of fast food gave me the chance to try new recipes with my roommates. Not having a play to work on gave me the chance to go and travel with my free weekends. Not having my close friends to always text and hang out with gave me the chance to put myself out there and learn to make new friends, friends who I shared incredible experiences with. I felt like the longer I stayed away from home, the more I became a version of myself that I hadn’t met yet. A version of me that wasn’t influenced by my regular sense of obligation or environmental stress or social pressures or anything. I was just being myself trying to navigate in an unfamiliar environment. You never really experience this level of freedom at home. This feeling that you can just live for you because that’s what people expect you to do. Everyone here is just waiting to hear or tell about their latest adventure. Italy in particular has this completely upside down mentality from what I’m used to. A mentality where their priorities lie with overall life enjoyment and meaningful relationships with others rather than staying unnecessarily busy to fulfill superficial measures of life success. I’m definitely going to miss that. I’m the type of person who loves to stretch themselves too thin. I want try everything, but I don’t just want to do it, I want to do it well. Some might say I’m too competitive or I just need to learn how to prioritize. Sure, I’ll learn to find some balance, but there’ll always be an endless list of things that I’d love to learn how to do in the back of my mind. I think Florence satisfied my desire to constantly add to my life while also taking it easy. I kept thinking this whole semester was an “easy” semester for me, but I was still doing so much without even really thinking about it! I was taking three studio classes, doing two internships, designing a show at my homeschool (yes, I had to have skype meetings), and traveling to my heart’s content! I was seeing the world while getting work done and eating good food and hanging with awesome people and just appreciating myself and what I bring to this world. It’s a kind of blissful way of living that I’d had yet to experience in my twenty years so far. I remember writing a scholarship essay over the summer to try to get enough money to live comfortably while abroad. I was so passionate about being able to articulate how badly I wanted to wake up every day in a city that breathes art and culture. How I wanted to walk among new people with every street I crossed, how I wanted to grow into a version of myself that I didn’t recognize, but was proud of. I’m used to being let down by reality, it’s one of the few downsides of being a dreamer. This time was different though. Sure, there were times that I hated it. There were so many times that I wanted to cry until I exhausted myself, fall asleep, and wake up in South Carolina. Those times were just a part of the journey. It was so worth those few moments to experience the awe of just being where I was and seeing what I saw. So if you’re stuck thinking about all of the bad things that kept you from really enjoying your experience abroad, just try to think about those few moments that you’d never experience anywhere else. I’m personally extremely thankful for the people that I met here. New adventures are made truly incredible by the people you share the experience with. My roommates are incredible, not only for being there when I vented or cried, but also just because they’re fantastic, talented, and amazing people. My chatpal was so incredibly patient with my Italian, and also just a funny and sweet girl who showed me some hidden gems of the city. My travel week buddies started off this whole semester on a fantastic foot. I don’t know if I would have had the confidence to explore as much as I did without you guys to push me and show me how to really have fun. My professors not only showed me new skills, but new ways of thinking. My internship friends showed me to appreciate everything and enjoy talking to everyone. And my SAI office folks, you guys were always there whenever any of us needed you. I don’t think I could say “thank you” enough to everyone I met here. And I know for sure that I can never thank Florence enough for changing my life. This city is really something special, and I’m so glad that I got to be here at the same time as so many other incredible people trying to find their place in this world. I’m sure I’ll have even more thoughts and feelings after I finally get home, but even now that I’m still here, I want to say: “Thank you for everything. I’ll miss you, and I’ll do my best to come back one day.” And I think that about does it for me. I hope those of you who read my blog enjoyed the journey, and I hope you enjoyed your own time abroad even more. Good luck with finals, have safe travels home, and finally, arrivederci!
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11/27/2018 0 Comments Gift Giving Season!The holiday season is about here! You might’ve seen all of the lights that have been slowly strung up around the streets of Florence. Some rebel streets are starting to turn on the lights before Dec. 8, which is Italy’s official start date for Christmas, but hey, we get to enjoy the atmosphere a little longer this way! Speaking of Christmas, let’s hop onto the topic of gift-giving. If you’re anything like me, you love to leave things to the last minute. You might also have a list of names that you wanted to buy souvenirs for, and you perhaps have only actually bought souvenirs for maybe ¼ of that list. If you aren’t like me, and you have all of that covered already, I applaud you! You’re a much more well-prepared individual than me. If you are like me, then good news! I’m getting ready to write down some ideas I’ve had about how to make sure I get good souvenirs for my loved ones back home!
So first, I think it’s important to acknowledge that material wealth is not the only way to show someone that you care. Not all of us have a ton of money saved up, and for some of us, all of our money went into just showing up for the semester and being able to live abroad for four months. Your loved ones will appreciate it more if you find the time to contact them while abroad. It might be kind of late in the game for that reminder, but I know that personally, my mom and dad just want me to call them more than any cool product from Italy. If you are trying to think of a cheap gift though, you can never go wrong with postcards! I know it’s expensive to mail them, so you can just do what I’m doing! Collect a bunch of postcards throughout the semester for other people, and just give it to them when you return. It doesn’t have the same feel as receiving a letter from someone abroad while they’re actually abroad, but it also doesn’t have the same price tag. Anyway, on to the gift ideas! So some classic ideas for gifts are the things that Italy is famous for! You could bring home some fancy wine or nice leather goods or interesting pasta! When you’re trying to think of where to go to get these things, it really does depend on what you’re looking for. For example, if you’re thinking of getting some leather goods for your friends/family at home, there are a few places you could go! You could always go to the San Lorenzo market for any kind of leather. There are tons of stalls, and bartering is the name of the game. It’s a place to find a good deal, but you have to make sure to be careful with your purchases. You might find some low quality stuff that’s marketed as higher quality. If you think you can discern between a good deal and a scam, I’d encourage you to head to that market! It’s a great experience to shop at a market, and you’d be able to find a lot of neat stuff in one place. If you don’t trust the market, or yourself to pick the gems out, then you could always shop from more artisanal places! If you’re looking for some nice Italian made shoes, I’d recommend Sabatini Scarpe. It’s pretty centrally located in downtown Florence, and all of their shoes are really nice quality without breaking the bank. I got some reddish-brown combat boots there for about €105. That may seem like a lot, but for the craftsmanship, the nice leather, and the guarantee of origin, it seemed worth the money to me. My roommate also went there and got two pairs of leather shoes for about €30-€40 each. If you’re looking for a nice leather bag, there’s Via de' Ginori, 23r. Yes, the name of the store is its address. It’s a great shop where you can also find some leather jackets and other items! Scuola del Cuoio is also a fantastic shop that has a rich history in making leather goods. Basically, there are a ton of options for buying leather items in Florence. I’d suggest doing some of your own research and also asking for recommendations from locals. The endless online articles on “How to Buy Leather in Florence” can get overwhelming, so I like to just take suggestions from people I trust. Another thing to take into consideration when shopping for other people is their opinion of leather. I always like to make sure that the gift I’m getting is something that the person would really like, and if they’re against leather products for ethical reasons, whether they be animal or environment related, it’d be really awkward to show up with a leather gift for them. So maybe you’ve already gone to a nice winery and picked out some wine for people back home, or maybe you don’t want to deal with having to carry that back in your luggage! (Tip, I hear you should wrap it in a trash bag, then wrap the wine bottle in some jeans to protect both the bottle and your clothes in case of spillage.) You might be like me: someone on the hunt for nice trinkets to bring back to your friends! Personally, I think the best gifts are the ones you happen upon that remind you of someone. So, my plan is to hit up some antique/flea markets! I think it would be great to find some homemade crafts or vintage items to bring back to people back home. The gifts would be one of a kind and also hand selected for whoever the item reminded you of! I know that the Santo Spirito market happens the second Sunday of the month, but there’s also the Sant’Ambrogio market and Piazza dei Ciompi market that happen more regularly! To circle back to the beginning of this blog post, there will also be Christmas markets in Florence soon! The Santa Croce Christmas markets should be opening this week, and there will be a lot of cute artisanal, Christmas trinkets to pick out for people! That, and the experience of going to the markets will be so much fun! I’m so excited to go!!! And one final, and kind of unrelated tip from me: donate items! This tip is kind of the opposite of the rest of the blog post, but it’s something to think about! To make room in your luggage for all of the new things that you want to take home, you’re probably going to have to get rid of some of the things you brought with you. You can donate items to SAI, but try not to wait until the last minute! I think those were most of the gift-giving tips that I had! I hope everyone enjoys the last two weeks of the abroad experience, and I might just see you at a market sometime soon! 11/20/2018 26 Comments Food for ThoughtOne of the best things to take with you abroad is an open mind. Your world expands like crazy when you spend time here, both physically and mentally. New ways of thinking and doing things are constantly being presented to you, and it’s this wonderful mix of exciting and confusing. One of the new things that I’ve been the most excited about here is the food. I’m not just talking Italian food though. I’ve also had some great food experiences in several other countries! I don’t think I ever actually pictured myself eating bratwurst in Germany or fondue in Switzerland, but I definitely did those things! So, I thought it’d be really cool to just kind of talk through all of my food related thoughts while in Italy. I mean, maybe not all of them. I think about food a lot. I do want to preface this by saying that I’m not some kind of culinary connoisseur, or even really an adventurous eater. For example, poke bowls taste good to me, but I just can’t do the texture of raw fish, so I don’t eat them! I will, however, try most things at least once. (Hence, me knowing that poke bowls are good.) That being said, I haven’t made it my mission to try local or famous dishes every time that I go somewhere new. I might break some food lovers’ hearts when I say this, but sometimes it’s just cheaper and easier to buy a sandwich and fries. I do admire people who spend the time and effort to research, seek out, and spend money on interesting things to eat. Everybody’s different, and honestly, my food curiosity has mostly been settled with the tame foods that I’ve happened upon. So on to the good stuff. During my first week, I took a travel course that served as a quick cultural and historical introduction to Italy. We got to see lots of gardens, monuments, and artwork, but some of my favorite parts of the travel week was the food. We were fed incredibly well. My first moment of culture shock was arriving to Rome at 7am, ready for a heavy breakfast to give me energy to try to stay awake and fight jet leg. However, I soon found out that Italian breakfast is just a cappuccino and some kind of pastry. And that’s it. No hearty breakfast for me. This was a bummer at the time, but now that I can have coffee and fresh chocolate croissants for breakfast all the time, it’s kind of cool with me. Anyway, what really got me were the dinners they had for us. We got bruschetta to open almost every dinner that we had, and we always had dessert. It was really interesting to see how differently a full dinner is served compared to an American one. I’d never had so many different kinds of pasta in one week. And they always made sure to try to add something local based on where we were for the day. Maybe a local sauce for the pasta or a special seasonal dessert or freshly caught seafood from the beach. I personally felt like I was living like a queen, but after arriving in Florence and living life for a while, I realized that Italians just care so much more about the quality of their food. A ton of restaurants or trattorias here in Florence have some of the same caliber food, but just different kinds. It’s crazy to me that I accidentally walked past like 4 Michelin-starred restaurants in my time in Italy. I don’t think I’ve ever done that just being around the places that I live at home. I feel like Italians are so much more particular about their food. Like, our priorities are so different. Americans value convenience over everything else, but Italians really value quality so much more. And I’ll be honest, I still need a lot of help really understanding the specifics of Italian meals, but from what I’ve gathered there’s aperitivo, antipasti, primi, secondi, and other small things like salad and dessert. And I guess if you’re used to eating full course meals, then maybe this seems relatively normal to you. I think the only major differences are the fact that salad is one of the last things instead of first and the fact that they don’t really mix foods. You want steak? Ok, here is a plate of steak. No potatoes or veggies on the side. You asked for meat, here is meat. You want pasta? Here is a plate of noodles and sauce. You get the gist. That, and I feel like there’s a lot more to aperitivo than just “appetizers”. Aperitivo is like a full experience. Like, you go out to aperitivo with your friends somewhere, have a drink, eat some small things, and then you go home to dinner. This is pretty popular for younger people because they can go out and socialize with their friends for aperitivo, and still be home for dinner. I’m sure some of you have parents that always want you home for dinner at a certain time, well Italians are the next level version of that. Going out to aperitivo was actually something that I recently completed on my Short List of Things to Do Before I Leave Florence. I went to Kitsch Deux, which is known for its “apericena”. So like, aperitivo, but the dishes are much bigger/heartier, so it’s basically just eating dinner. They also have classic aperitivo drinks that apparently stimulate appetite. And! They also have drinks you have after your meal called digestivo to, you guessed it, help you digest your dinner. These fun food things that are new to non-Italians are really cool, but you can’t forget that there are also many rules. Yes, rules. I’m pretty sure food mentality is a free for all for Americans. Do we eat breakfast foods at 9am, 1pm, 7pm, and 3am? Yes? Definitely! Are you telling me you haven’t been to Waffle House with your friends at 1:30am eating those delicious hash browns? Do we eat a plate of fries for dinner? Um, you bet. Everything can be delivered and made in 10 minutes in the US. Fast food is a truly thriving industry. Italy? They have things like, cappuccinos are only for breakfast. You eat pastries for breakfast and nothing else. Anything else is advertised as “American breakfast”. You eat dinner at like 8pm and you stay for probably 3 hours, minimum. There are food classifications like IGP and DOP or DOCG to guarantee their origin. There’s just so much to it that’s common knowledge for everyone in Italy! The fact that Italians will sit down for 4 hours to have dinner somewhere and split the bill evenly and have so many rules about food is wild, but also pretty admirable. It’s cool that they care so much, and it really shows in their dishes. Italians are world known for having the best food! I’ve even talked to other Europeans who agree. Airbnb host from the Netherlands? “Oh, Italians have the best food. Easily.” Austrian supervisor at work? “Yes, Italy definitely has the best food. Very good stuff.” I will say, I think one of the most interesting things about going abroad and figuring out what to eat is the fact that we’re forced to try new things. A lot of people’s favorite brands or food items just aren’t available here, and if they are, they’re much more expensive. I’ve heard of several people shelling out $6 for a small jar of peanut butter while here. It took me like a month to find some cilantro and black beans, and I definitely bought like 4 cans of beans at once. But not having easy access to familiar things really forces you out of your shell, which is a good thing! Eating here has definitely been very different. It’s an entire experience on its own! I feel like I have a new appreciation for food after having lived in a country that values it so much. At Clemson, I mostly think of food as a chore. I’m busy, but I have to make time to eat something so I’ll survive. Almost like, “Ugh, I really have to get this work done, but I have to go take out the trash.” That’s kind of how I see meals sometimes. That, or I eat junk food for fun/socially. Now I kind of like taking the time to sit down and cook myself a proper meal, or have a dinner night with my roommates and split the grocery bill, or going out for 4 hours just to eat dinner. It’s a really nice feeling to care so much about something so prevalent in our everyday lives. That, and I’m hoping I can go back to the US and flex on all of my friends with my new pasta skills. 11/12/2018 0 Comments We're Almost There It’s November. You’ve been hit with the realization that your study abroad experience is more than halfway over. You’ve got just about a month left, and you want to make sure that you don’t waste it. After all, when are you ever going to be living in Italy again? I mean, you never know what the future holds, but for right now, we’re going to pretend that this is our last month to enjoy living in Florence ever. There are so many things that you’ve done, but let’s not forget that there are so many things you haven’t done! Time is running out! You’re going to be on the plane before you know it! You’re going to be sitting at home, filled with regret! What are you doing? Get up! Go out! See the city! Don’t spend a moment sitting and relaxing in your room! You can do that at home! Go, go, go, go- Ok. Don’t panic. Let’s stop for a second and just relax. I’m not sure about you, but this is a pretty good snapshot of what my brain has been like for the past few days. As I was looking at the schedule for my internship, I realized that I would only be going to 12 more opera shows at St. Mark’s. And then it really hit me that I’m only going to be in Florence for another 5 weeks. 5 weeks? In about two months I’ll be in Clemson again, getting ready for my Spring semester back in South Carolina. See, I was initially filled with panic. I thought that I was wasting my time by taking naps or watching Netflix in my room. I was beating myself up in my mind for not living every moment to the fullest. But I really just needed to step back for a second. I feel like something that I have a tendency to forget is that I’m not on vacation here. I’m living here. We’re all living here for months, so in order to be sane and live normal lives, you gotta have lazy days, you gotta have naps, you gotta relax. I think it’s a good point in the semester for the reminder that everybody’s study abroad experience is different and everybody has a different definition of “fun”. Some people enjoy traveling and seeing a ton of different countries when they study abroad, some people want to stay in their host city the whole time. Both are fine, and you don’t need to feel bad for “squandering” your time in Europe. After all, everyone at home is still going to think it’s super cool if all you did was hang out in Florence and go to cafes to do homework or something. Let’s be honest, the life of the most boring Florentine is still so cool and interesting. That being said, we do have a lot of time on our hands here, and Florence does have some staple experiences for the tourist. So personally, I thought it would be cool to write down a short bucket list of “Things I Want to Do Before I Leave Florence”. Here’s the short list:
And that’s it! Honestly! I genuinely feel like I’d be more than satisfied with all of my experiences in Florence if I did those things before I left. And that’s more than ok! Recently I’ve been trying to work on letting myself just live my own life the way that I want to. It’s honestly ok to just live a simple life and be happy with that. In fact, the other day, my roommate asked me if I’d noticed myself changing since coming abroad. And as cliché as it might be, the answer is yes! The main difference that I’ve noticed is that I’m becoming more ok with just being who I am and not apologizing for not being something else. And I think that’s the most important thing to remember about going and studying abroad. The whole point is to experience it in the way that makes you happy. The best thing about studying abroad is that you get to see all these new things, meet all these new people, and just soak it all in and just let it change your view of your world and yourself in whatever way it does. We’re all just here to experience and grow and learn and change and just be happy! I know that I’ll be bringing that mindset back home with me, of just trying to live my life for me. Of just trying to do what makes me happy without living for someone else. I know that I still have a decent amount of time left here, but I already want to say “thank you” to Florence for helping me grow. This post may have seemed like a lot of rambling, but it was really just my roundabout way of saying “Hey, let’s all just chill and use the last month of being here to just experience this place and be happy doing it.” I remember when I first got here and I was so blown away by every little thing that happened. Just walking down the street was wild to me. Seeing the cobblestone and the Italian signs and the clotheslines and The Duomo were all so overwhelming, but fantastic at the same time. Now I just kinda put earbuds in and briskly walk past The Duomo trying to avoid tourist groups and get to class on time. It’s almost sad how easily this place has become normalized to us, or at least, to me. So to go out with a bang, I already decided how I’ll be living for my last 1.5-2 weeks in Florence. I’m gonna go back to the beginning. I’m going to live like a tourist so I can leave remembering how incredible this city is. And I’m talking go big or go home. I’m gonna have my fancy camera around my neck and buy any last minute souvenirs and go out to eat at new places and just take the time to walk slowly and stare at everything around me. I hope I’m not obnoxious, but at that point, who cares? I spent so much of this semester trying to blend in with Italians to fly under the radar so people will stop trying to sell me flowers or something. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll definitely still be doing that for the next few weeks, but at least for my last few days, I will be a true tourist. I’m just gonna give up on trying to convince people that I’m not an American tourist because, guess what, that’s exactly what I am. I’ll let you know how it goes, but I have a feeling it’ll be awesome. 11/5/2018 0 Comments The "Study" Part of "Study Abroad"As you may have noticed, I’m a fan of lists. Not only is it a good way to organize all of the thoughts that I constantly have going through my brain, but it’s a good way to write some blog posts! Last month I spent a lot of time travelling to different places in Europe. It was incredible, and I’m so happy that I got the opportunity to do and see so many amazing things. As a result, I’m currently low on money and energy. Travelling so much is exhausting, so I’ve recently been spending my time just relaxing in Florence. It’s so nice to just hang out and take things really slowly. I know this isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to think about, but it’s also given me the time I needed to catch up on some schoolwork that I was pretty behind on. Working on things definitely got me thinking about what it’s like to be going to school in Florence. After all, half of our study abroad experience is going to classes! So here are some things to appreciate and take advantage of while being a student in Florence. 1. Museums This one’s gotta be the most obvious one. I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, but we just so happen to be in the birthplace of the Renaissance, one of the most significant eras for art and architecture of world history. As a result, there are a ton of museums in Florence that hold significant works of art of all kinds. The Galleria dell'Accademia, Galleria degli Uffizi, Palazzo Vecchio, just to name a few. It’s such a fantastic experience to see these works of art in person instead of just in a textbook. It’s surreal to be so close to some pieces that I’ve learned about in classes before. And for those science-lovers, there are some gems in Florence like the Galileo Museum and the La Specola Museum of Natural History. Not only is it accessible to us, but there are sometimes student discounts! The best discount I can think of is getting into the Gucci Garden for free with a student id. And don’t forget about free museum day! There’s free admission for everyone for certain state-run museums on the first Sunday of every month! Fantastic! These are all such fantastic resources, not just because they’re interesting, but because they’re essential for a well-rounded education. And as an art student, I’m particularly stoked about being surrounded by all of these masterpieces. 2. Architecture So this kind of goes hand in hand with the first item on the list. Architecture is a form of art after all, and a lot of the museums in Florence are impressive works of architecture on their own. But what I’m specifically talking about here are cool things like churches and public spaces in Florence. If you want to find a place to do some sketching or painting, a church or other public square is actually a pretty great place to go. Many public buildings in Florence have fantastic frescoes, sculptures, or other ornamentation that are the perfect things to study and learn from. One of the best ways to grow as an artist is to examine how the masters did it, and being a student in Florence, we’re surrounded by beauty and masterpieces. Like oh yeah, don’t mind me, my homework was just to go out and sketch this beautiful medieval building that’s a 5-minute walk from my apartment, no big deal. And even if you aren’t an art student looking for the perfect landscape, the architecture is just great to take in. Why do you think the Biblioteca delle Oblate is such a popular place to study? It’s so cool to get to sit at a patio and do homework with the Duomo right there as the view. Not only that, but Florence is full of cool cafes with other students working in them. I don’t know about you, but when I’m at work in Le Murate or Libri Liberi, laptop out and coffee in hand, I feel at least 20% cooler than I normally do. It’s the perfect atmosphere and you almost don’t even mind having to do your homework. Almost. 3. Professors Ok, so I happen to love most of my professors at my home school, but I know that normally we wouldn’t think of our professors as something really cool to take advantage of. However comma, my professors in Florence are also actually pretty cool. At Florence University of the Arts, our classes are in English, but not all of our faculty/staff are native English speakers. In fact, two of my professors are Italian professionals in the field. My apparel design and hat/bag professor are both professional designers for the Italian fashion world. That’s crazy that I get to learn from them when they’ve had so much cool experience in the international field of fashion. I would highly suggest talking to your professors and maybe asking them about their experiences. And if you’re a student looking to specialize in an area from one of our specific schools, like fashion or culinary arts for example, you have some great contacts for the future! How cool would that be to go back to the US with a recommendation from an Italian professional? Even if you aren’t looking to go specifically in an art field, it’s still so cool to get to meet these people and hear about their lives working internationally. 4. School Resources Alright, so this one depends more on how your home school is, but to me, FUA has some amazing resources. I don’t go to a fine arts university, I got to a big state school with so many different majors. My theatre department is pretty small, and my fine arts department isn’t the biggest either. I didn’t have to pay for half of the materials for my foundation oil-painting class, which can get expensive in case you didn’t know. A lot of things are provided for us as FUA students, like facilities like Ganzo or photography equipment, or I don’t even know, so many things. Just as an example, my apparel design class is a fashion design course where we make our own collection based on Emilio Pucci designs. And get this, when we make our collection we get to use actual vintage Pucci printed fabrics. That’s crazy. I love Florence. So those are just a few of the things that I think about when I have those imposter-syndrome moments relating to being a student. You know, the moments where you sit down and go “Oh my god, what even is my life, I can’t believe that I’m actually here, this isn’t me, somebody else deserves to be here, how did I even get here”. Well, we’re here. We made it to Florence after all of the hurdles of visas and plane tickets and forms to fill out. Not everyone gets the chance to be a university student in Florence, Italy, so we might as well take advantage of it! 10/30/2018 0 Comments Midway Point and Getting Out ThereSo, things have been this mix of awesome and not so awesome. The homesickness and culture shock was so real for the first 3 or so weeks of this semester for me, but after that, I was truly thriving. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be in Florence, to be waking up every morning with the chance to walk around and travel and see all of the beautiful things I was seeing, meet all of the interesting people I was meeting, do all of the amazing things that I was doing. It was incredible. I was having a great time traveling, learning, and experiencing everything. But then one night, I took a phone call and caught up with a friend from home. I knew that homesickness was a thing. I’d already experienced that intense desire to just hop on a plane and quit the whole semester. It still comes and goes sometimes, but for the most part, it’s so much easier to handle. At this midpoint of the semester I was hit with a realization that hadn’t fully gotten through to me until now. Not only was I changing while abroad, but my home was changing too. Catching up with my friend from Clemson made me realize that things at my home school were changing, my friends’ relationships with each other were developing, new people were being introduced to my social circle, and things were just overall becoming different. I wasn’t there for any of it, and when I get back, my home will be different. This idea of feeling like an outsider looking in to my home and my Clemson social circle was honestly really sad. The next few days were a little rough, what with midterms and thinking about missing out on what was happening. So, I decided that now would be a good time to reflect on the semester so far and write a list of all of the great things that are possible to achieve while abroad. 1. Travel I’ve already talked about this a decent amount, but getting the chance to travel to so many new places because of their vicinity and the cheaper transportation available in Europe is something that I’ll never stop being thankful for. Do you know how expensive it is to get to another country from the United States? Sure, road trips across state lines are cool, but it’s not an entirely new culture that you’re experiencing. It’s not new traditions, language, fashion, food, etc. etc. that you’re experiencing. Before studying abroad, I had been to one other country before. I went to Guatemala to visit some family, and those were some pretty expensive plane tickets, so I only went twice in my lifetime. Since coming abroad, I’ve been to four different countries in Europe, and I have plans to visit at least three more before the end of the semester. That’s crazy. That’s so wild that I get to say that I did that. And on a student budget too! 2. Meeting People Study abroad is the most “choose your own adventure game” that you can play. Depending on how you do things, you could meet a lot of interesting people from all over. Don’t forget to stay safe and be smart while abroad, but remember to not be afraid to talk to new people. Try to get involved in activities that aren’t just for study abroad students who speak English. One thing that I signed up for was an external internship as a class. As a student of the performing arts, I got placed as a front of house assistant for Opera at St. Mark’s, an opera company that stages shortened operas and concerts at St Mark’s Anglican Church. Most of the people who come to see the opera are native English speakers, but there are also plenty who aren’t. The people who run the opera are Ilse and Franz Moser, an Austrian couple who can speak German, English, Italian, and French. The opera singers who work with the company are also from all over. Many of them speak English, so they’ve had some pretty pleasant conversations with me before, and they’re happy to help me practice my Italian on them. Not only that, but I’ve met so many South American opera singers who I can speak Spanish with. I’ll be honest, I’ve never spoken as much Spanish in the US as I have here in Italy. All of these people that I’ve met have had such different life experiences based on their variety of cultures and also just because they’re cool people. I would highly suggest joining a club or starting to volunteer in the local community just for the chance to meet people that you’d never meet if you just went to class and only interacted with other American students. The random people that you meet while traveling are also super cool. At Oktoberfest, I met way more people who were traveling from all over than study abroad students, which is so great! It’s so cool to talk to a nomad from New Zealand who trains sled dogs in the winters, or a group of friends from Sweden who’ve been traveling for months, or a Turkish guy who finished his Erasmus and is trying to find meaning in life through backpacking the world, or a Scottish lord who’s a freelance journalist. These are all people that I’ve actually met! And it’s so! cool!!!! 3. New friendships. Another thing that I joined was a program with FUA called ChatPal, and I’m honestly so glad that I did. I have a new, Italian friend named Carlotta who is so nice and fun. We text, hang out, and most importantly, we help each other with our English and Italian. Studying Italian in school is one thing, but actually talking to a native speaker who’s there to say “Uh, yeah that’s technically correct, but you’ll probably never hear someone say that. You should try saying it like this” or just fun things like Italian sayings that you’d never get from a textbook. Plus, she shows me things around Florence that I’d probably never find or learn on my own. And the whole “new friendships” thing isn’t exclusive to Europeans. The other study abroad students that I’ve met here are the best! I feel like I’ve already gotten close to my new friends, and we’ve shared some awesome experiences while abroad that I would have been too afraid to do alone. Going on hikes in Switzerland with my new friends were some of the coolest experiences ever. I don’t even go on hikes at home, but I somehow hiked up a mountain in Switzerland for four hours and got to see incredible views with incredible people by my side. I’m honestly not the adventurous type at home, but I somehow got the courage to go hang gliding over Interlaken with two other friends. And it’s not just travel that brings people together. My roommates are actually the best ever. They’re both studio arts majors from different schools, and I love getting to share a home with these girls. I love coming home to them and telling them about my day and hearing about theirs and making plans for dinner or just hanging out at the kitchen table and drinking wine together. I’ve only been in Italy for not even two months, but I can confidently say that I love the people that I’ve met here, and I’m so glad they’re my friends. 4. A break The college experience is different for everyone. I’m personally thankful that the theatre department at Clemson is a tight knit group of people who I consider a second family to me. I know everyone in the theatre dept. They’re all people that I’m proud of and artists that I’m excited to work with one day when we’re all out in the field together. It was so hard to leave them, but now that I’m removed from that environment, I can see that a break from it was one of the healthiest things that I could have done for myself. I love love love, Clemson and my friends there, but I didn’t realize that I literally only associated with people who were just like me. I had maybe four friends who weren’t theatre majors. And even then, they were all artists in different fields. I don’t really hang out with people who enjoy accounting, business, agriculture, or I don’t know, literally anything that isn’t art. I’d always thought of myself as a pretty open-minded person, but I didn’t realize how closed off I’d been living my life so far. It’s so good to get out there, so see new things, and to just live life to be happy for once. I know so many people who spend their lives in college not eating or sleeping just to make time for getting work done or studying. We have the rest of our lives to work. Why kill yourself overworking when you could be doing things that make you really really happy? We don’t have to prove ourselves to anyone. We’re all good enough, and we all deserve to live happy, healthy lives. I’m so glad that I got to meet people here who truly live by that mentality and that I got to experience a semester where your professors expect you to go out, travel, and have fun. This blog post might have been a weird mixture of homesickness and reflection, but I feel like I really needed to write these kinds of thoughts down. Talking through things like this with one of my roommates also helped, and she even said “Even though our situations are pretty different, you’re saying so many things that I’m also feeling.” So maybe you aren’t a costume design major at Clemson University who misses her friends, but you might be a study abroad student who’s seeing things that they never imagined they would. You might be a young adult who still feels like an unsure kid, afraid to go out and live in the real world. You might just be a person who’s scared of change or putting themselves out there. I just want to say, so am I. But I’m changing, my friends are changing, my home is changing, and that’s ok. It’s more than ok, actually. It’s fantastic. So maybe if you’re feeling a bit down, you can write your own list to remind yourself that it’s more than ok. These are my things. These are the people that I’m glad I got to meet. These are the reasons that I don’t regret coming abroad. These are the memories that I’ll remember forever. 10/9/2018 0 Comments The Beauty of the DaytripStudying abroad can be overwhelming. I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll probably say it a million more. There are a ton of things to worry about. There’s paperwork, language barriers, new classes, and tip planning. As someone who doesn’t regularly plan trips in the US, I have to say, trip planning is actually the most stressful thing ever. You have to figure out who wants to go, when it works with everyone’s schedule, what everyone’s price range is, which things everyone wants to do/see, transportation, accommodation, food, etc. etc. It can take hours to do good research, planning, and price comparisons. In the end, it’s almost always worth it for bigger trips. Personally, I think that one of the most stressful parts of this already stressful experience is deciding where to go. There are a million things to see in the world, and it’s so much easier when you’re already in Europe. Everyone works on limited time and money though. Your calendar starts to fill up, your bank account starts to empty, and you start running out of time for things like, y’know, homework. It’s so hard to prioritize when you want to see and do EVERYTHING. In the face of all of these decisions to make, I’ve found comfort in the daytrip. Daytrips are a quick and easy way to experience Italy without so much commitment. Not only do they take way less time to plan, but they also just last so much shorter. I know it’s the best when you get to take a long trip and really explore a cool, new place. But sometimes, you just want to take a 1-3 hour train ride to a nearby town and go home to your apartment by the end of the night. It’s less exhausting, and you get the chance to explore smaller towns that maybe aren’t huge tourist hubs. So this weekend, I went on some daytrips. I don’t have class on Thursday, so I planned a last minute trip to Verona with my friend, Danika. Planning was pretty easy. I just stopped by her apartment for maybe 30 minutes on the day before we wanted to go. We looked at some trains together, bought a ticket, and decided on a time to meet at the station the next morning. Easy. Verona was described to me as a small, romantic town. After spending about 6 hours there, I have to agree. It was so picturesque in the cutest way. There were many small parks and fountains around. The only tourist-y part of the whole town was Juliet’s balcony. Everything else was pretty mellow. A good amount of people around on a Thursday afternoon, not too crazy, not too empty. The color scheme of the buildings was a nice pastel, coral-y wash with some yellows and greens speckled in there. There were a few bridges crossing this beautiful river. The weather was nice, the town was cute, how could it get better? Danika and I must have complimented the city at least 50 times that day. We would just walk down the street, look up at the buildings and go “Oh my god, I love Verona.” This may not be the best way to see a city, but we actually did zero research beforehand. We had just heard good things about Verona, and I’d decided that I wanted to see Juliet’s balcony while I was in Italy. Once we got there, Danika found a map of a tour of Verona that you could purchase. Although we didn’t go on the official tour, we took a picture of the map and just walked to all of the spots on our own. Sure, we didn’t get all of the historical information or fun stories from a professional tour guide, but getting to see things on your own and appreciating how they look was worth it to us. We just barely had about 6 hours to spend in Verona, and we wanted to do it on our own terms. One of the best parts of the trip was finding the Castel San Pietro after walking across one of the bridges. We hiked all the way up and saw a beautiful view of the whole city. We probably spent a good 30 minutes just sitting at the top and staring at the city below us. Definitely romantic. Got some good marriage proposal vibes there. Might go back and try that someday. The other daytrip I went on this past weekend was actually a two-parter. I went with my friend Madison to Pisa and Lucca on Saturday. There are some things you gotta do when you’re studying abroad in Florence. One of those is to go see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I knew I was going to do this at some point, it was really just a matter of when. The train ride is just an hour, and it was like 10 bucks. Such low commitment for a nice trip! A lot of things that I know about other towns in Europe are purely from word of mouth. I heard from a couple of people that there really wasn’t anything else to see in Pisa except the area around the tower. Keeping that in mind, we decided to book a second train and spend the majority of our Saturday in the nearby town of Lucca. I heard even better things about Lucca than I did about Verona. Everyone said it was such a cute and nice town. Someone even told me that Lucca was their favorite town in Italy. So we carved out about 3 hours in Pisa and 5 hours in Lucca for the day. Even with that full day, our train ticket to Florence would get us back to our apartments by 8:30 pm. Amazing. So to Pisa it was! It’s true, there really isn’t much except the area around the tower. It was truly surreal to see the tower in real life. It’s such a pop culture icon that you see parodied or mentioned everywhere. I even remember some cartoons using it was a joke when I was a kid. I never imagined that I would actually be there. In Italy. Next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Like, it was right there. It really reminded me of how lucky I was to be able to study abroad and see the things that I’m seeing. The outside is a little less ornate than I imagined it would be, but it looks very nice with its simple and clean exterior. The Piazza del Duomo or otherwise known as the Square of Miracles in Pisa was really beautiful. The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta was large and intricately decorated on its exterior. The same, but on a smaller and more simple scale could be said about the baptistery. After staring at these miraculous pieces of architecture, we got some lunch at a cute osteria and hopped on our train to Lucca. Although it was a pretty rainy day, Lucca was still, indeed, adorable. The town of so many churches, Lucca was really great to walk through. It was hard to see the whole town in 5 hours and really appreciate it, but we took our time to really soak everything in and I feel like we did a nice job. The churches were beautiful, even the simpler ones. I feel like I should say more about Lucca, but it was such a mellow and nice time walking through and appreciating the way that everything looked. I feel like I can really only give the description that was given to me before: Lucca is such a cute and nice town. I already have my big, international trips planned for the semester, so I can definitely see some spontaneous daytrips on the horizon for me. There are more towns to see in Italy, and even some that I wouldn’t mind returning to. I want to keep taking advantage of the train prices and convenience while I’m still in Italy. It really is a more relaxing way of life to just take some time to see something new and take it all in. Maybe I’ll take this spontaneity and appreciation of small towns with me to the US. 10/2/2018 38 Comments A Weekend in FlorenceThis has been said over and over again, but I’ll say it again: one of the best parts of studying abroad is the opportunity to travel. Getting together with new friends and planning a trip to a different country or a different part of Italy for every weekend of the semester is definitely a regular occurrence. My calendar is quickly filling up, and my bank account is quickly emptying. Planning some stay at home weekends is not only a good way to save money, but a great way to carve out time to explore the city of Florence more fully. So here we are, about three weeks into the semester, and I spent my first full weekend in Florence! To be honest, this was more of a rest weekend for me. I recently got sick, so I wanted to take a chill weekend to fully recover. Since I knew that I was spending some time in the city, I wanted to look for really local things to do. Protip: there are ALWAYS events going on in Florence. You can definitely find things going on through the free newsletters that they have around FUA and the SAI office. I look through The Florentine, Florence is You!, and Florence News all the time to find things that are happening that week to see if I might be able to fit it into my schedule. The best part about these newsletters is that they all have websites too. There’s always a variety of bigger events and smaller, more local things going on, so there’s something for everybody! One of the things that really sounded interesting to me was a vintage clothes and beer festival nearby. Always a sucker for vintage clothes, I decided it’d be cool to try to go to a smaller, more local deal. And this wasn’t going to be in the city center either. It was located at a courtyard by a nearby arena called the Visarno Arena. The arena was about 2-3 kilometers from the city center. My options were walking for a really long time, or taking public transportation. So Saturday was the day that I had to figure out how to use the city bus for the first time. First of all, the bus was super easy to figure out. You just go to your local tobacco shop (you’ll see the signs that say tabacchi) and ask for a ticket on the ataf (the name of the bus/tram company). A ticket lasts you for a 90-minute trip, and it’s only € 1.50. All of the bus lines are easily available online, and there are usually signs on every bus stop with the routes printed on them. So I grabbed a friend, hopped on the C3 line towards the nearest stop to the Visarno Arena: Stazione Leopolda. As a girl who grew up in the suburbs of Southeastern United States, I’m not the most familiar with public transportation. I’m really just used to being able to drive everywhere on long roads with lots of trees everywhere. So the cobblestone alley ways and tunnels of buildings in Florence are not too familiar. When I got off the bus, I had some déjà vu going on. This area outside the city felt so much more like the areas of the United States that I’m used to. I had to walk another 10-15 minutes to get to the actual festival, and along the way I saw so many familiar residential elements. There were trees and decent sized sidewalks. I saw parks, people playing basketball, apartment complexes, etc. I had honestly forgotten that fall was starting until I was surrounded by trees beginning to show spots of orange. It was so nice to get some time outside of the city. And to be honest, I probably could have taken a different bus line to get closer to the courtyard, but I really did enjoy the walk through the park. When we got there, we saw a few small tents with plenty of pop up shop style stands and some beer stands towards the back. If you’ve ever been to an art festival in the United States, this small festival had a very similar feel. It was nice to experience something familiar, but with a different cultural twist. The styles felt very similar and had similar colors to popular American vintage styles, but with different fabrics and patterns than I’m used to. Like, if you’ve ever been to an art festival with vintage stands, you’ll definitely recognize the brightly colored windbreakers and 80s blazers on display. There were plenty of those here, but also some interesting shirts and skirts with odd patterns and fabrics that I wasn’t used to in the US. There were also a ton of vintage bags of all kinds of styles, and an unlimited supply of boots. So many boots. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring cash with me, so I couldn’t actually buy anything. Getting to see all of the clothes and experience the atmosphere was honestly enough for me though. Do you ever see anyone with the way they’re dressed and their general disposition and you think: Wow, they are so much cooler than me? Yeah, that was like every Italian there. A cool, artsy person with tattoos who was into vintage clothes and craft beer. I’m hoping I got at least 1% cooler just by being there. All in all, it was a good experience getting to visit this small festival. It was super cute, and the experience getting there made me feel more comfortable with the idea of venturing to the edges of the city of Florence. I wasn’t brave enough to try to strike up conversation with anyone, but I think venturing out into the local scene was already something that I’m proud to have done. This arena has local markets every so often, so I’m sure I could probably visit another one and try again. This time with cash and more bravery. 9/21/2018 23 Comments For the Vintage Clothes LoverThis week I’ve been trying to spend some time exploring Florence. Although I’m studying abroad here for a semester, it’s easy to get caught up in all of the travelling opportunities and forget to spend time in the city itself. There are plenty of events happening in the city, as well as things that will always be here, like stores, parks, museums, etc. As a lover of costumes and fashion, my heart lights up at the chance to look at vintage clothes. And let me tell you, there are plenty of places to look through, and even buy amazing vintage pieces from. One of the first places you should visit if you’re really into clothes is the Gucci Garden. It’s a museum dedicated to Gucci fashion over the years. It’s a relatively small museum, so it’s not a huge time commitment to visit. I think I spent about an hour walking through the whole thing, and that includes the time walking through the store on the ground floor. Not only are there really cool vintage clothes on display, but there are accessories galore. Gucci scarves, shoes, hats, luggage cases, even shaving kits and poker chips can be found from all decades of the 20th century in the Gucci Garden. Getting a close look at the eclectic styles in this museum was pretty awesome. There are information plaques in many languages, including English, so you can learn some of the cool history related to the Gucci brand. I must say though, my favorite part of this museum experience was the free entrance with my student id. In terms of events, I visited an FUA event revolving around vintage fashion this week. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, FLY Fashion Loves You held an event called The Vintage Choice. FLY is the school of fashion at FUA, as well as a store that sells vintage and student created pieces. FLY hosts several events over the semester that are free to the public, each with different themes. Not only could you enjoy some drinks and apperitivo, but you could shop for vintage pieces. At this event, students styled mannequins for different events using vintage pieces. There were also student representatives helping shoppers look through the vintage selection of apparel at the store front. And as an added bonus, FLY helps promote designs from emerging designers. There was a room filled with unique pieces from the current emerging designer, New Kid. It was pretty cool getting to see what outfits the student stylists came up with for the event. It definitely gave me ideas on how to style some pieces, or even ideas for what vintage pieces I would be on the lookout for in future shopping trips. This was just one event, but the store in FLY is open all the time for those fashionistas hunting for their next unique piece. And of course, I couldn’t enjoy a week full of vintage clothes without visiting some actual vintage stores. Of course FLY is a vintage store, but there are some other great ones around the city to check out as well. I only got to visit a couple this week, but bet that I’m gonna find others while I’m in Florence. The first store I got to see was Street Doing. This was a small vintage shop with a lot on display. The employees were very kind and helpful, and the selection featured a ton of vintage brands. This particular store was a little on the pricey end, but it was still of reasonable cost for unique vintage pieces in good condition. The second store I visited was Melrose Vintage. There are actually two Melrose Vintage Stores in Florence, but the one I visited was on Via de’Ginori, near the Basilica di San Lorenzo. I’m definitely going back to Melrose at some point. When you walk into the store, you think it’s not that big. But then you just keep going and going and going. There are like four different rooms you can walk into. One of them is even military themed, so if you’re looking for the perfect vintage combat boots or army jacket, Melrose has a great selection. The prices in Melrose are pretty great too. You can get a vintage shirt for about 20-25 euro! One final place that I visited this week was a charity shop. Personally, I absolutely love thrift shopping. I would estimate that at least half to two thirds of my closet is from Goodwill/Salvation Army/miscellaneous local thrift stores. Visiting vintage stores for me is more to look at all of the clothes and draw inspiration from their style (But if there’s a really good deal, I kinda have to buy something). Thrift stores though? My favorite way to shop. There was a tiny charity shop near Piazza della Repubblica called Charity Shop Arcobaleno. Very tiny, but some great hidden gems. I bought two shirts and a pair of jeans for 15 euro! I definitely think that one of the best parts of exploring a new country is seeing the culture. As a lover of all clothes, getting to see new kinds of styles every time that I walk out the door has been incredible. The fashion culture is definitely different in Italy. Everybody walks around with nice bags and conscious outfit choices. There is a palpable pride that people hold in their appearance, which is something harder to find in the states. My style already changes very frequently, but I can’t wait to see what kind of pieces I return home with and what kind of style I’ll adopt next after spending a semester in Florence.
9/17/2018 0 Comments Beach! (and other exciting things)When we make the decision to study abroad, we also make the decision to start saving up for all of the trips we’ll be taking. I mean, it only makes sense to see all of the most famous spots in Europe if you’re going to be there for four months. But, one thing that we often forget to do is look at the local scenery. Sometimes the quiet places that aren’t flooded with tourists are the most beautiful. And let’s be completely honest, everything is better when it’s all included and you don’t have to worry about anything. This past weekend I got the chance to enjoy a trip to some quieter and some more touristy places. I know this could probably come off as some promotion for SAI and their included excursions, especially because I’m the intern at the SAI study abroad office in Florence, but I promise that I’m just writing about this trip because it was a 3-day trip to some really cool places and it’s a lot to talk about. Like, tell me you wouldn’t be excited about a weekend trip that was all inclusive. Meals, accommodations, and transportation: all taken care of. I’m just lit that I get to brag to my friends that I got to go out and travel without having to plan anything. Getting to avoid spending hours on GoEuro and frustrating group chat conversations was fantastic. But like, the people at the SAI office are pretty cool too, so there’s that. Now on to the actual trip. So we began with a trip to Bolgheri. We arrived at this tiny village of sorts and had some free time to explore. We only had about 30 minutes to walk around before lunch, and at first I was a little bummed by the short amount of time. However, just walking around for 30 minutes seemed like enough. It was very small, but also absolutely adorable. The town was the definition of quaint. Not only was it very charming, but it was very picturesque with all of the potted plants, cute restaurants, and interesting little shops. Oh, and the lunch was absolutely delicious, by the way. The pasta was my favorite, and we got to try dipping cookies in wine! Interesting and delicious. Our hotel for the weekend was actually in a different place called Castiglione della Pescaia, an ancient town on the coast of Tuscany. Here we had the option of going to the beach, exploring the town, or exploring the fortification on the hills of the town that used to be a castle. I went to the castle. Not only were the views of the town from the top of the hill fantastic, but the streets of town were so cool to walk through. After exploring the town, we had a great dinner nearby and called it a night. The next day featured the main event: a 6 hour beach day. Personally, I’m not someone who goes the beach very often, so spending 6 hours at a beach was a lot. We went to a beach in Maremma called Marina di Alberese. This beach wasn’t flooded with tourists, huge umbrellas, and tons of seaside restaurants. It was a quieter beach with driftwood shelters from the sun, and it was located in a regional park. The water was great, the sun was warm, the sand was soft, and it was an overall good time. Sure, I did get a little burned from falling asleep while lying in the sun, but the nap was pretty worth it in my opinion. After beaching for hours, we saw a nearby rodeo show of sorts from Maremma cowboys known as Butteri. They were so nice and accommodating that they prepared some local snacks and wine for us, and then showed us how they herd cattle on horseback. Some people even got to feed grass to one of the horses. The butteri were such nice people! It’s kind of amazing that something like a rodeo can be so close to a beach. It was a weird itinerary that I probably wouldn’t have picked for myself, but that’s the best part! Getting to see local things that I would never have even heard about on my own is one of the coolest things to experience. It feels more authentic than visiting every crowded, tourist spot. Not that there’s anything wrong with visiting touristy spots and doing a guided tour, because that’s exactly what we did the next day. Yep, our last stop for the weekend was Siena. We did a guided tour through downtown Siena, which is a medieval town with a lot of gothic architecture. Siena also has a lot of history with Florence. The two towns were rivals for a while, and Siena even tried to make the Siena Cathedral bigger than the Florentine one to show that they were better and wealthier. The project didn’t necessarily pan out for the Sienese, but the cathedral is still stunning with its high blue ceilings and gothic style. For our free time in Siena, we found our own spot for lunch and then visited a local antique fair. The antiques were so fun to look through that we spend maybe an hour and a half there. Personally, I didn’t buy anything, but I’m seriously considering coming back to Siena for a second day trip on my own. There’s a lot to see of the town, and I think it’d be pretty cool to see the underground part of it. Yes, there’s a whole underground part to the city. You may be thinking, wow that was a lot to pack into one weekend. I agree. I was completely exhausted by the end of the trip and took a fat nap on the bus ride home. Everything was so great to experience. Anyway, I’m glad I got to go out and travel this weekend. I know for sure that I’ll be traveling outside of Italy a few times, but I’m also excited for the shorter trips in the country. There’s so much to see here, and I know I’m not going to get to see it all. Regardless, I already know it’s going to be a great time. It was kinda nice to get back to my apartment in Florence and relax on Sunday night. This place is already starting to feel more like a home base of sorts. A place to go back to and chill out because you know that you’re comfortable there. Hopefully it’ll start to feel more like a real home in a few weeks. I can feel that it’s getting there. |
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