Life is weird here in Florence, and I’m not sure what to make of it, but oh well I’ll just keep doing stuff.
Also, it’s mid terms right now, and mid terms in another language is topping my list of things I don’t like to do. Right below that is having to talk to someone who knows less English than I do Italian for more than an hour. It is very exhausting, and they will laugh at you, but not be able to explain why.
14th century guild wars in Italy are not really my cup of tea.
edit: also, so far I’ve been to London, Chianti, Ravenna, Lucca, Siena, and San Gimignano, and this weekend I will go to Mantua with my program just to let you know.
I know it has been two weeks since I last updated my blog, but there were reasons for that beyond just being myself and forgetting. I got to Florence safely with my friends. We checked into the hotel for the night and then the next day we all took taxis to meet out host families. I was excited until I learned that my host family lived a 20-minute bus ride and 20-minute walk away from the Sede (the building where I take my classes). In our housing interviews I had expressed that I wanted to live as close to the center as possible for personal and practical reasons. The buses stop running at around 1am so if I ever found myself out past that with my friends I would have to take a cab home. Granted the program did allow for 4 taxi vouchers each month, but it wasn’t just a matter of wanting to go out late, it also meant I was at minimum around and hour away from my friends at all times.
The family did provide two bicycles for my use and the other student’s use so I thought maybe the distance wouldn’t be a problem. I told the directors of my concerns and also decided to see if it would work at the current house. One because it would be a hassle for everyone to move me, and two because the husband and wife who were hosting me and the other girl are perhaps the sweetest people I have ever met. They were so friendly and welcoming, and the food was so good it was almost enough to make me change my mind.
But, as the first week passed it became clear that if I did stay I would have to choose between the experience I wanted and the one this host family would provide. I wouldn’t go out as much, the first week taught me that it definitely wasn’t safe taking the bus alone at 1 am and that it would be normal to be out past then, and I would spend less time with my friends. The same friends who I had been planning this year with for two years.
But by the time a new host situation was found I was already more attached to my current one so when I met the Signora who would be the new host family I was conflicted. I wished I could go the Signora’s and stay at my first host family’s house. I still hadn’t unpacked for two weeks and every night at dinner I decided to stay and every morning on the bus to school I decided to leave. Finally I made a decision.
So now I’ve unpacked at my new host family, and despite the cold I currently have I think I made a good decision. The room is beautiful, and even has a balcony that overlooks a nice garden area. The Signora was in the process of redoing the room when my directors called so when I saw the room it was empty, but she saw how tall I was and bought a full-sized bed for me to sleep on which is a lot better than the twin sized one I had before. I have my own, albeit small, bathroom. And best of all it is only a 5-minute walk from one of my good friend’s house, and a 20 minute walk from my other good friend.
For the past two weeks everyone else on the program has been settling in and falling into tentative routines, but I felt like I hadn’t been able to do that. With my uncertain housing situation everything felt temporary and I didn’t want to get too attached to anything if it should change. Now I feel like I can finally begin my year.
A presto,
Grazia
P.S: Now that you know the reason for my lack of posts I will try and catch you up on what I have done these past two weeks. In the meantime here are some pictures of my room.
Sept 12
I’ve left Northampton and Smith College, and now I’m sitting on the Peter Pan bus to Boston. My morning started out at 7:45am for one last breakfast with my friends at Smith. After, my friend Kayla and I went into town hoping to get goberry (frozen yoghurt), but were foiled when we realized nothing opened until noon. Instead I got more band aids.
Then we both went to back to Talbot House (cause she doesn’t have classes today), and I took a shower and did some last minute packing before lunch. At lunch I made my final goodbyes to so many people, some who I won’t even see once I get back cause they will have graduated. But I held it together, and my friend Kayla and I grabbed my bags and headed to the library to print my second boarding pass. The walk to the Peter Pan bus station was rough. My bag was so heavy and we accidentally took the long way.
My bus arrived shortly after and I said goodbye to my friend (still holding it together), but once I looked at the window at my friend I couldn’t help it. I started to cry. We waved until the bus drove out of sight and I let myself have the bus ride to Springfield to let it out (though to be honest I will most likely cry at least five more times before I actually get to Florence).
It’s not because I am sad to be going to Florence or that I wish I was staying, but I’m sad for the year I’m not going to get to live at Smith, and I’m sad for the people I won’t get to see everyday like I normally would. And change is never easy. When I get back everyone I knew when I was a first year besides my fellow class of 2014’s will be gone. Half the campus will be new, and I will be a senior. It’s a scary overwhelming thought.
But I am still very excited for the year I do get to live in Florence, and I can’t wait to see my friends who are going with me. I also happened to be at the Springfield bus station the same time as Mamma V, as she is affectionately known in Talbot, which was a pleasant and reassuring surprise as she has already been on the Smith jya Italy program. We chatted before our buses left, and she told me she felt the same urge to cry when she left for Florence. Mamma V will even be returning to Italy this year so I will get to see another Talboteer while abroad, and my excitement increased a little.
Good luck to the Talbot House class of 2013, I’ll see you soon Talbot House class of 2015 (unless you go abroad), and to the Talbot House class of 2014 I’ll miss you, but we’ll be back for senior year before we even know it.
Sept 11
This part of my journey is almost over and tomorrow I have to say good bye to Smith College and get on a flight. Have I mentioned before that I hate goodbyes, cause I do. When I said goodbye to my mom I cried like she was dropping me off at school for the first time again, but I am finally starting to feel the excitement that everyone keeps asking me about. Anyway, today I got pretty much all the errands left to do done. After breakfast I walked all the way back to Shu-Fix in Northampton to pick up my boots. Then I went to an Apple Certified Computer store in town called Yes Computers hoping to get a new charger for my MacBook, which is still covered under the applecare warranty. The casing over the wires has split open and is kind of iffy sometimes. The very rude people at Yes Computers were completely unhelpful and dismissive of me so I said fuck it and walked all the way to the other computer store in town, Left Click in Thornes Market Place. The two guys working there were so nice and helpful and they gave me a new charger no problem without the diagnostics test the other place said it needed. So if anyone needs their computer fixed and are in Northampton go to Left Click. After that I stopped at Sam’s Pizzeria to have lunch and did online check in for my flight and bought my bus ticket. All that is left is to print the tickets and repack. I think for the rest of the day I might just hang out and relax in the living room of Talbot House and just spend the rest of the day saying goodbye to people.
Sept 10
Day three of my journey to Florence is over and I only have one more day before I have to go to Boston for my flight and to meet up with my friends. I got a lot done today. Just little errands that needed to be finished up before leaving. I bought last minute toiletries, and band aids because my feet are covered in blisters from all the walking around campus and town I have been doing. I’m dreading how they will feel after a week of walking around Florence. Then I went with my friend to a cobbler (cause Noho still has one) to get my boots I broke the previous day fixed. My hair was cut producing mixed feelings about it but there isn’t a lot I can do now so whatevs. I got quart sized plastic bags for the plane and spent 1.89 on what amounts to one plastic bag. I got to see so many people I know and hang out with more of my friends. Then for dinner I ordered take out from one of my favorite places in town, Taipei and Tokyo. I got my usual order of steamed dumpling and chow fun. Tomorrow is going to be even busier, but I will have to start saying good bye to people which is something I have never been great at. I didn’t think I would miss Smith so much, but I’m leaving behind so many great people and a lot of them I won’t see again because they’ll graduate. Hopefully the excitement will finally kick in to drown out the inevitable homesickness I will feel for my college once I get on the bus for Boston.
Sept 9
My friend who lives in Vermont from the previous post drove me down to my college today. I spent the afternoon showing her around and taking her to eat at my favorite Pizza place, Sam’s Pizzeria and Cafe. Then we went to the Smith College Art Museum and looked around (I hobbled due to a very large and nasty blister). She left soon after that and I went to dinner with some of my friends who then helped me carry my bags up three flights of stairs. I got to see even more of my friends and went to the cafe with one of them. I’ve worked at the school cafe for two years now and it was weird not being a worker there. I had a surreal moment while sipping my milkshake when a first year asked me what kinds there were and how to get one. She was very nice and then asked me what year I was and I realized that, holy crap, I’m a junior. After that I saw some more people I haven’t seen all summer and then made plans with people for breakfast. All in all it was a good day. It made me realize how much I am going to miss my school while I’m gone, and it still hasn’t really hit me that I’m leaving for Italy in two days. I still feel like a first year telling people I’m planning to study abroad.
Just two more days until the flight.
Day 1 started this morning at around 8:30am from Salem Township, Maine. My mom and I drove for roughly three hours to Lyndonville, Vermont where one of my best friends from High School goes to college (pictured above). Tomorrow we’ll drive to Northampton to Smith College where I’ll spend the next few days until I go to Boston for my flight. I have three days and so much to do, but I’m excited.
ps: A big thanks to my mom for giving me a ride and I’ll miss you a ton. Love you and see you next year.
less than a week. This is happening people. I’ll be in Florence soon.
…and it was awful. In my dream my friend and I had made it to the hotel that all the girls in the program meet at. We went to bed and were supposed to get up the next day for the big meeting with all the host families. I think we had overslept and then I couldn’t decide what to wear, and I went though outfit after outfit. My friend was getting mad and finally I just threw any thing on and we went to find the meeting place, but we couldn’t find it. Finally we did find it, but our program director was so mad she put us both in a house with a creepy computer obsessed guy with greasy hair who just yelled at us in Italian.
I’m not nervous for JYA at all
I’m finally tackling all the laundry I have to do from last semester and my trip to India.
Balls.
If I switch my bank account to student checking I can keep free ATMs worldwide. This makes my life exponentially easier next year. Although, I’m not sure why I didn’t have a student checking account in the first place.
Lucky for me I don’t have to travel to a foreign country by myself. I get to go with two of my friends who also happen to live in my house at college. I’m on the left and they are the two on the right, but in the interests of their privacy I’ll leave their names out of it.
Also my hair is substantially longer now.
I’ve had the horrible realization that I have a little over a month before I will be flying out of Boston to Florence for my junior year abroad and I have barely done any preparation for it. I still have a massive pile of laundry from the end of the school year. I have to set up a new bank account somewhere because my local bank decided now was the right time to get rid of free ATMs anywhere, but I loath Bank of America and would prefer not to do business with them. I still have to straighten out my financial aid situation, which is currently a catastrophic mess. My internship is taking up way more time than I thought it would. Then there is the astronomical task of deciding what to pack which doesn’t sound like it would be but I have about six tubs of clothing to sort through. Also I really haven’t been practicing my Italian and can barely remember anything.
Real Gelato
