Introvert Abroad
Pushing Myself to Experience the World
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.
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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. They say that Culture Shock will really hit you when you study abroad, and boy were they right. Among the many things to adjust to, I’ve found walking out the front door to be one of the most challenging. If you’re anything like me, you A.) are not used to living in a city and B.) can’t navigate to save your life. Oh, and the C.) overthinking everything and D.) being nervous to talk to people. Those sure don’t help either. Even going out to do the simplest things that you don’t even have to think about at home are entire events in themselves here in Florence. There are so many things that I put off doing just because I had no idea where to go. Going grocery shopping, buying school supplies, and even taking out the trash was hard to do! I haven’t even been living in Florence for an entire week, but I think I’ve already figured out a few tips for surviving the world outside of my apartment building. 1. Don’t be afraid to use Google Maps or a paper map. Maybe it’s the pride in me, or maybe the urge to blend in and not look like the most lost tourist you’ve ever seen, but I did try to navigate the city without having my phone out for a while. My plan was to look up the directions beforehand and memorize the route by taking notes on the street names and such. Bad results included getting lost and being late to things. After swallowing my pride, I started walking around with my phone out and unabashedly turning around on the street when I went the wrong way. Good results included actually finding places and being on time. This might seem like common sense to some, but I definitely am the kind of person to be too embarrassed to turn around after realizing that I went the wrong way. I would just keep walking to try to find a block to turn around at, and I would end up even more lost than I was in the first place. Good life tip to remember: don’t worry what the people around you are thinking. Chances are, they’re more concerned with their own lives than yours. 2. Look around you. And I mean, really look around you. On the opposite spectrum, here’s the tip to look around and find familiar landmarks. Remember to look up and find that gelato store or that trattoria that you saw before. That neon sign, that fruit stand, that statue are all so useful in figuring out the way. Again, you might think this is common sense, but the Aries in me likes to work in extremes (special s/o to my astrology folks out there). I either wanted to stare at everything around me and get lost or keep my nose in my phone and only look up to make sure I was on the right street. Balance is key, and you’ll find your way so much more quickly in the end. 3. ASK SOMEONE FOR HELP. You may have noticed that this tip is in all caps. That’s because this was the thing I was the most afraid to do, but the thing that turned out the best for me in the end. The language barrier is so incredibly hard to cross, but as long as you study up on some basic Italian, use hand gestures, and really try, then everything will be alright. I promise, just the fact that you made an effort to try to speak any Italian will score you some major points with the locals. And better yet, you get to meet new people! For instance, I needed to buy art supplies for my painting class, and it was a struggle on my own. After finding the place, I spent about 20 minutes walking in circles around the tiny store trying to find all of the supplies. I finally got the courage to ask the man at the counter for some help. After asking the phrase I know best, “Parli Inglese?” (tr: “Do you speak English?”) he responded with, “Sí y también puedo hablar Español!” (tr: “Yes, and I can speak Spanish too!”) This made my little Latina heart sing, and from that point on we conversed around the store in this wonderful mixture of Spanish, English, and the occasional Italian word thrown in there. It was a great experience, and I’ll be sure to go back to that store for any future art supply needs! 4. Just take a walk! The final and most important tip is to find some time to just take a walk around the city. Not only are there beautiful things to see on every corner, but it’s a relaxing time to really absorb the life that the city breathes. Cultural and architectural beauty fill the streets, and it’s easy to find something beautiful in the smallest things. The colorful flowers on terraces, the loud signs for stores, the eclectic assortment of laundry hanging out of windows, the amazing mixture of languages spoken on the streets, oh and the myriad of famous monuments and architectural structures are pretty nice too. Sometimes when I sit in my room, I get overwhelmed by how different this world is from my home. I want to curl up in a ball, go to sleep, and wake up at my home university where I’m comfortable, everything is familiar, and my friends are there for me. But how can we grow at all if we don’t push ourselves to get a little uncomfortable? Or a lotta uncomfortable, you know? There are new friends to make, new places to see, and new things to experience when you go out into the world. So take it from somebody who was afraid to even go outside to throw away her trash, it’s going to be ok. Note: I found some trash bins on Via Medici, in case you were wondering. S/o to the guy on the street who helped me see that I had been standing right next to them for about 3 minutes. |
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