Florence

Hey everyone!

So first, I must add this fact to my Rome blog… Catherine and I saw the POPE! I think I forgot to mention it because it definitely did not seem real, haha. We saw him from a distance as evidently he gives public audiences every Wednesday morning, which was when Catherine and I went to the Vatican. We also saw the “pope-mobile”, as the Pope’s car is fondly referred to. It was definitely a surreal experience, and so cool!

After a delightful and short train ride from Rome, Catherine and I arrived in Florence! We met Siena at the train station (she was kind enough to come to Florence from Bologna!), and then headed to our hostel, Archi Rossi. If you EVER go to Florence you must do the following things: 1. Stay at Archi Rossi. It is the nicest hostel I have heard of, stayed in, or even seen falsely advertised for. It was spacious, the staff were great, free wireless internet, free breakfast (and we’re talking scrambled eggs and bacon here, not nasty cornflakes and stale toast), and free tours of the city. Oh, and it was beautiful – the architecture of the building was perfect for a visit in Florence. 2. Eat at Grom. It is a gelateria and is absolutely out of this world phenomenal. Thank you Katie Kuppens for the suggestion! 3. Bike around Tuscany. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.

Anyways, we got to our hostel, checked in, reveled in the space and wonder, and then headed out for a delicious dinner. Seeing Siena was a delight as always, and she joined us for a little exploration of the city and some gelato (at Grom of course). Then Siena caught her train back and Catherine and I headed back to the hostel, where we met two of our 7 other roommates, Colleen and Caitlin. They both go to USF, and not only do they know several people I went to high school with, but Colleen even lives in Portola Valley and went to Menlo-Atherton. We figured out that we probably swam against each other in swim meets, and crazily enough, she swam for PASA as well, just at a different site. It’s such a small world!

The next morning the four of us took the free hostel tour of the historic city center. We saw all the big sites, like the Duomo, San Lorenzo’s market, Santa Cruce, and many others. After lunch with our newfound friends, Catherine and I went to check out David. As the line was quite long we decided to scrap David for that day and go for a bike ride instead! We rented bikes and headed out of the city, along a quite hilly road, to enjoy the beautiful Tuscan countryside. It was absolutely breathtaking – just like in the movies. We also saw the Piazza Michelangelo, which has an amazing panoramic view of the entire city. We biked around the city a little bit as well before returning our bikes.

We then bartered in the market and got cut matching sandals and got me a “grown-up” person wallet (such a terrifying thought to think that I’ll need to look like a grown-up for job interviews next year… what happened to my college bubble?!). Thanks to our bartering talent and bumbling Italian, we got some pretty decent prices!

Afterwards we headed back to the hostel to regroup, then grabbed some cheap dinner and, of course, more gelato.

The next morning we got up early and got into David after only about 10 minutes of waiting in line, which was great. David was absolutely amazing – it’s quite clear why it’s such a famous statue. The detail is stunning – I didn’t even know the human body has so many muscles! We then had coffee at Chiarscuro, another definitely recommendation for anyone visiting Florence. It’s REALLY good quality coffee from all over the world and clearly is the place the actual Florentines go for coffee in the morning. It was really cute inside, too!

Then we strolled around city, and had an early lunch before, very sadly, I had to watch Catherine get on her train to Rome to head back to Spain. Since I had to wait until Monday (this was Saturday) for the train I needed to Barcelona from Milan, I stayed on in Florence until Monday. I spent a lot of time relaxing and did some reading and running. I also had dinner with my friends from USF Saturday night, though they left for Rome Sunday morning.

Easter in Florence was absolutely incredible. They had beautiful flag performances in the squares and fireworks in front of the Duomo! I went to Easter Mass in the Duomo itself, which was an incredible experience. They actually had a (fake) pigeon powered by fireworks that flew through the church on a wire – it was quite the performance! Certainly an Easter Mass I will never forget! I also took the hostel’s other free tour of the southern section of the city and saw some less well-known Florentine sites, which I really enjoyed. Then I headed back to the hostel to register for classes at Trinity for next semester, which went very well, and then got on my train to Milan to catch my train to Barcelona!

My classes for next semester, if anyone was wondering are: Writing Theory and Practice (in order to become a tutor in the Writing Center), The Coming of the Civil War (with Dean Spencer, my former advisor!), American Literature Part II, my Senior Fiction Creative Writing Workshop, and I’m mentoring freshmen again for the program I was in my freshman year, Guided Studies.

I just spent the past two and a half hours talking to my seat neighbors, which was great! AND we only spoke Spanish and while I definitely couldn’t communicate the ideas I wanted to, I absolutely understood the conversation. It was very gratifying. I think it helped that one of the girls I was talking to is from Mexico and her accent was SO much easier to understand than the Andalucían accent. I also met a cute little family with a 3-year-old little girl who I play hide and seek with for a while. She could count in English so we practiced counting to ten – absolutely adorable. The parents were really neat to talk to as well. I also met two boys from Mexico who are only 15 and 17 (brothers) and are traveling for 3 weeks – I told them that even as a 21-year-olld I often wished I had my parents to just take care of all the stressful parts of traveling for me and that I was VERY impressed that they were doing this so young. They spoke really good English as well, so we talked in a little bit of Spanglish for a while. I explored the train as well, which has sleeper cars (though I’m cheap and got a reclining seat, which actually isn’t that bad). The bunks look really cute though. But then if I had gotten one of those, I wouldn’t have met my new friends!

I’ve loved meeting people on this trip, whether I talk to them for 3 hours or 5 minutes. The little glimpses I get into their lives remind me constantly that at the end of the day, we may have different cultures and customs, different languages and foods, but we all live our lives based on the people who surround us. If you ask someone what’s important to them, it’s always their friends and families and the experiences they’ve shared with them. In the midst of the economic problems our world is suffering through, I am so grateful that I have what really matters – the most kind, caring, and extraordinary family and friends. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again very soon! I hope you’re happy, healthy, and enjoying life wherever you are!