E*X*P*L*O*R*E

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After what felt like an eternal of traveling, I made it to Florence (finally!). The city is definitely not what I expected–in a good way. The streets are extremely narrow with little to no sidewalks and cars that do not have a care in the world regarding pedestrians. The streets are extremely compact, spreading out every once in a while when you reach a Piazza or Plaza. The weird thing about it though is that it is an extremely quiet city. Apart from the cars and motorcycles there are barely any people on the street and almost no one when you go into restaurants and shops. From what I learned in orientation today, Florence is a very quiet city–even with a noise curfew (11PM-7AM) due to the fact that the stone buildings and streets echo noise so much. I live in an apartment on Via Ricasoli 38, which honestly doesn’t mean anything to me because I have no idea where I am at all times. I may be able to navigate myself around New York in the dark, blindfolded, but Italy is an entirely different story. First of all their maps look more like a diagram for how to tie shoelaces than the grid system I’m used to, and second of all they don’t feel the need to put street signs in a visible place. Like ever. Getting to campus early in the mornings will definitely be a struggle for me. I live about a 30 minute walk from La Pietra, more like 40 if you can’t handle the last leg that involves a grueling hill. On days you don’t walk I’ve been told a lot of kids take the bus. I have no idea where the bus stop is or how to buy tickets so that will be an adventure in itself. I am still freakishly jet lagged so i’ll leave you with some pictures I took walking around the city for the first time.

Tanti Baci!