Florence, Italy

April 5, 2012

Well it’s 8:22, and I’m sitting on the train on the way from Florence to Milan, after three nights in Florence, with Madison, Rachel, Mindy, Bella, and Stephen.  We had a pretty great time!  We got into Florence Monday afternoon, and went to our hostel to drop off our stuff. We got pretty lost trying to get there; Italy is pretty bad about using street signs or marking roads in any way. So we’re wandering through the city carrying all of our luggage, holding maps and looking confused.  Typical tourists.  But sure enough, we found our way eventually. Our hostel was called “New Ostel,” and was pretty nice. There was a sweet little outdoor balcony with free wireless, so that was pretty great. We had our own room with four twin size beds and a teeny tiny miniature bathroom. Yay!

That night, we went and explored a little bit.  We saw the Domo, and walked to the top of Piazza de Michaelangilo. At the top of this really big beautiful hill, there is a plaza with music and a rose garden and lots of people, and you could see the whole city below. Beautiful! Florence was extremely expensive in comparison with even Venice, so we couldn’t buy much food.  The little cafes and street vendors sold to go food, but even that was expensive for what it was. I ended up buying an apple, an orange, a loaf of bread, and mini nutella to go packs from the supermarket and just snacking on those all day. Later that night, some people were still hungry, so we went to McDonald’s. I was thinking, I can’t tell anyone that we went to Italy and ate McDonald’s, but a group of college students on a budget- McDonald’s it is!  I didn’t want anything, but decided to buy a Diet Coke. I went up to buy it, and there was a tray with a full meal on the counter that looked like it had been there for a while. The worker asked me if it was my food, and I told him no. Then he said, “Well can you take it? Free food?  I’m going to get in trouble if it stays there.” So I took the free meal: Fillet o’ Fish, fries, bottle of water, and a tiramisu dessert cup. Not too shabby baby!  I remember my mom ordering Fillet o’ Fish when we were younger, and I’d never had one before. So I tried it, and even used the tartar sauce to make my momma proud! 

The next morning, I woke up and went running in the rain on a bike path I found.  I went through a bridge and then saw the bike path, so I figured I could just run on it and then find my way back to the bridge to get home. Logical, right?  But then I realized the bike path was a giant circle around a lake, and there were tons of bridges that I passed.  So to get home, which bridge…?  The magical question. So I ran under tons of bridges to see if they would look familiar, trying to figure out where to go. I almost got ran over by a moped, but eventually made it back, soaking wet. We were going to go biking, but decided not to because of the rain. We had to change hostels, so we carried all of our stuff to the other side of the city. During the trek there, we made a pit stop at an adorable café, and ended up sitting in there for a long time, just enjoying ourselves. The second hostel was called “Hostel of the Seven Saints.” It used to be a nun convent, but was turned into a hostel. The room had three sets of bunk beds, and a tiny bathroom with the smallest shower I’ve ever seen in my life. I liked it though. We met a guy from England named Rob, and a guy from Germany named David, and they came and hung out with us. We walked through the city, went to the bridges, enjoyed the view near the river, went inside the Cathedral, and met up with Bella’s friend from Chicago who is studying in Florence this semester. We sat outside on some stairs with statues and monuments everywhere, and everyone besides me drank 1 Euro boxed wine. I don’t know how they down that stuff, but I thoroughly enjoyed my peach juice! 100% juice baby!

We went to dinner at a non-touristy Italian place, and I got some delicious lasagna! So good. But they don’t give you free tap water, and I was too cheap to pay 2.50 for some water- stupid Europe. I had my camelback water bottle in my purse, and snuck a few sips here and there.  Gotta do what ya gotta do! After dinner, we went to some bar, where there were tons of Americans. I couldn’t believe all the English I heard! Not used to that. I guess there are a lot of American tourists and a lot of Americans study abroad in Florence. I didn’t really like it though. If I’m in Italy, I’d rather be in a non-touristy place and hear Italian all around me. Even though I can’t understand things a lot of the time, I like that everyone speaks German in Graz and it’s not a big tourist city. It’s much more authentic.  I’ve really enjoyed Italy so far, but I don’t think I would like living there at all. Even for studying abroad, I much prefer Graz!

Our last full day in Florence, we went and rented bikes. Our original plan was to bike through Tuscany, outside the city, through the beautiful countryside. We were going to bring food, have a picnic and a leisurely bike ride.  Nope nope nope. It takes us forever to find the place to rent the bikes, people kept sending us different directions. Finally we saw people who were all on purple bikes and looked like tourists, and ran up to them asking where they got the bikes! Of course, they got them on the other side of town. So we started the trek that way. When we got there, it looked pretty rainy, and they told us that they couldn’t rent them to us for the day because of the bad weather conditions. So if we wanted them, we could have them for one or two hours. Shizaa.  Two hours it is I guess! Right when we started riding away on our bikes, it started raining. It was a steady, light rain, but it made the streets pretty slippery. There were eight of us, trying to stay together on the streets of Florence filled with crazy drivers.  Tough to do! After I’d crashed on Stina’s bike last week, I was a little nervous biking on slippery streets!

We couldn’t really bike on sidewalks because there were way too many people walking, but the streets were terrifying because the cars would speed past about an inch away from us! At one point, we looked over Madison was biking through the roundabout with all the cars and buses, but she made it out ok. We eventually made it to a less busy part of town, and biked uphill on cobblestone sidewalks for forever. The group split into two groups of four: one group who biked to the top, and the other who decided to walk their bikes to the top of the hill. Good times. Down the giant hill was much more fun! My hands were gripping the brakes with all their strength, praying that the bike wheel didn’t get caught between the pieces of cobblestone and fling me over the handlebars. But, made it down the hill. Here comes the good stuff. We were heading back to the main part of the city, toward where we’d return the bikes. All of a sudden we go around a curve, and we’re merging onto the freeway! I’m in the back of the group, number 6 out of 8 purple bikes in a single file line, completely unsure of what we’re doing. I’m just following the bike in front of me, and hoping to get off ok. At one point, we were in the middle of the two lanes, with cars whizzing by us on either side. I was just concentrating on staying in the very center, using the dotted white line as a guide to stay on. Then somehow, the 5 bikes in front of me made it to the street on my left, and the 2 bikes behind me were on the street on my right, and I was the only one caught in the middle. I needed to get onto a sidewalk, but I was stuck in the middle, trying to make a decision of where to go. There were cars flying past me full speed on both sides, and mopeds and motorcycles passing cars and swirving in and out of lanes. I thought I was likely going to die. I was thinking, “Well, Italy’s been fun... It’s been a good life… This is a good way to die, doing something I enjoy… I’m glad I ate that gelato as my goodbye meal…” But somehow, I got across onto a little island in the street, caught my breath, and let my stomach settle back into my body.  Everyone else had watched this whole scene, and when we all made it safely we were cracking up about it!  Good times, biking through Italy. 

That afternoon, we found a grassy knoll by the river, and just sat and basked in the sun and talked and cracked up about our adventures. I was laughing so hard my abs were getting sore. We have such a rag tag group with us, so mix matched. We’re from all different places, and we’re all so different. But it’s worked out so well, and the combination of us seriously cracks me up. We literally sat in the grass and laughed for hours.

I went for a run along the river, and made it to the non-touristy part of town. I always like that. There was a pretty big stretch that was completely covered in dandelion seeds. There were so many that the ground looked like it was covered in snow, completely white! And they were blowing through the air and would get in your eyes and on your clothes, but it looked like it was snowing. It was the strangest thing! I passed some turf soccer fields with people playing pick-up. I love that about Europe, all the soccer fields.

For dinner, I just snacked on leftover food from the supermarket. I pretty much eat apples, oranges, bananas, off brand crackers, 1 Euro peach juice, and 25-cent yogurts with the same plastic spoon that I keep in my purse. I can’t wait for my mom to get here and to eat at restaurants!  I’ve been craving a salad for weeks. I miss side salads coming with your entrée at restaurants.  I can’t afford to buy the salad and the meal, just throw me some lettuce could ya buddy boy?!  Sneak me a tomato in there and I’ll love you forever!

I didn’t pack well for this trip. The sweatshirt that I bough in Venice is now named “Big Blue” and my orange Nike zip-up that my dad gave me for Christmas two years ago is now “Little Orange.” Every morning, the big decision is whether I should wear Big Blue or Little Orange, or wear one and bring the other. I only have one pair of jeans with me, so that helps make choosing my outfit for the day pretty easy. When we take pictures, I try to take “Big Blue” off so that people don’t know I wear the same thing every day. But I guess since I’m giving away my secret right now, it doesn’t really matter much. I swear I change my socks and underwear, and I don’t smell bad!  Pretty funny though. Good old Big Blue, gotta love him!

We got up this morning at the crack of dawn, and made the hour long trek from our hostel to the train station with all of our luggage. We bought 60-cent coffee from the vending machine. It gives you about one gulp in a tiny plastic cup, and I know it’s a rip off, but I find myself desperate enough that I buy it anyway. And breakfast is a delicious meal of one gulp of coffee and the rest of the off- brand crackers from last night. Oh the life of a backpacking college student.

Just now, I thought I was finished writing this blog post, and went to the bathroom, but I came back with another story so I’m updating it real quick. So I’m walking through the aisle to the back of the train wagon to the “WC” and as I walk I put my hands on the top of the seats. Not sure why, but I do. All of a sudden I’m walking past, and realize that my hand wasn’t on top of the seat, it was on the top of an old Muslim woman’s head!  I saw her head and quickly pulled back my hand, and apologized to her! I don’t think she could understand me, and she looked at me with this face of complete confusion.  “Why the heck are you laying hands on the top of my head? Crazy white girl.”  Oopsie daisy.  On the way back to my seat, I decided to just walk with my hands by my side.  Live and learn.

Now we’re headed to the Milan train station, where we’ll catch a bus to Lake Como.  More adventures to come. Here we goooo.