For anyone who doesn't know, I studied abroad in Florence for 6 weeks this summer. It was by far the best experience of my entire life. Florence is the best place to study abroad because it is filled with young people and it's bustling with life. You can find crowds of people out and about until 4 or 5 in the morning! I did a home stay, so I lived in a house with my host mom, my host dad, and my roommate. The host dad spoke English, but the host mom did not so it was always fun trying to communicate with her. I've mastered talking with hand gestures. I'm really happy that I did a home stay because it was fun to see how Italians actually lived their day to day lives and they cooked amazing dinners!
I took Photography and Italian conversation. With class only 2 days a week, I had tons of time to explore Florence and travel. Each weekend I traveled to another place in Italy with a group of friends from school. The first weekend, 22 of us went to the Almafi coast to an island called Ischia. After the 5 hour train ride, the hour ferry, and a windy taxi ride, we finally arived to our hotel which ended up being a cute little villa. We even made dinner ourselves one night like a big happy family. The beaches were beautiful and the water was so salty! We went to Rome the next weekend and I was absolutely blown away by the ancient buildings and architecture. Obviously my camera died within 5 minutes of being there so I didn't get a lot of pictures. I made sure to charge everything before I went to Venice the following weekend. I had no idea how big Venice was, but it was as picturesque as they make it seem. My friends and I went on a gondola ride which was one of my favorite experiences.
Life in Italy is so relaxed and enjoyable. For instance, one day I woke up and walked with one of my girl friends to a jewelry maker's workspace. He had a tiny little shop with rings, necklaces, bracelets, compact mirrors, picture frames, etc. In the other room was his workshop where you could watch him craft jewelry. It was amazing to see his big hands handle the small jewelry and craft something so beautiful. While we were there he explained to us that he sells all of his products to stores such as Channel, Gucci, and Bloomingdales. He even showed us his work in their magazines. It was so crazy to think that everything you buy at home is made at a little shop just like his. It was such a cool experience to meet the maker of the jewelry and see him craft it himself. I'm sure I'll be showing it off all next year.
This has been the most amazing experience of my entire life (besides LAX at W&L of course). I am so happy that I got to go abroad. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to because of field hockey and lacrosse, but I am so thankful that this worked out. For everyone wondering whether they should go abroad or not, I highly recommend it. I have seen some amazing artwork, beautiful places, and have learned so much about a different culture. I have truly realized how lucky I am and have learned a lot about myself in the short time that I've been here. Everyone should go abroad, and Florence is a perfect place to do so!
As I'm sure everyone is wondering, yes I did see the Jersey Shore... a lot. They were filming in Florence during the time I was there and trust me, it's going to be a good season. The first time I saw them, my friend Maria and I went to the pizza shop that they worked at. In order to go in to the shop you had to sign about 45 papers granting MTV permission to put you on TV, so since my friend Maria was a fanatic fan, we signed the papers and went in. Pauly D, Snookie, and J Wow were working that day. Snookie was wearing her furry boots and screaming at people through a bull horn to come inside and drink beer with her while Pauly literally repeated 4 different Italian phrases. If I do happen to be on the show, you will see me shoving my face with the pizza because it was absolutely delicious. I ended up seeing the crew several other times and had a lengthy convo with Dina in the bathroom once. And let me tell you, Ron and Sam are going to fight at almost every club... shocker.
Anyways, I hope everyone is having a great summer and enjoying it as much as I am. Miss you guys and can't wait to see everyone soon!
Ciao,
Bene
Check back next week when another General heads a little further South!
