Today in class, one of my professors asked me what “travel” meant to me and how I would explain it. Here is what I said: “To me travel is an adventure to somewhere in which I have never been or exploring somewhere I am seemingly familiar with, finding need places, faces and new cultures. Travel helps us to find ourself; both present and future selves. Travel is uncomfortable, daring, terrifying, and exhilarating all at the same time.”

After reading this aloud in front of the whole class, my teacher told me that the Italian world for travel, comes from the root word meaning “to suffer.” I related to this because although I am enjoying my time here in Italy thus far, I have been struggling to adjust. Everywhere I go, I feel like am suffering, both good and bad, to figure out exactly how to fit in. To travel, we all have to suffer, especially within a foreign country where you are not liked or welcomed. Today I traveled within Florence. I am becoming familiar with how to navigate my way around this city. I am becoming familiar with street names, restaurants, shops, the people, and the language. Taking pictures within this city does not do the beauty justice, however, I am still so in awe with what it has to offer. Starting this weekend I am going to be traveling outside of what I am somewhat comfortable and begin exploring the country of Italy.

Today, I travelled to the Gucci Garden. We had lunch there and then toured through the gallery. I really enjoyed it not because of the ‘Gucci’ name but because of how beautiful the pieces were. The way in which the gallery was set up was breathtaking. Not only was the gallery beautiful, but also the outfits of all of the employees were dressed to perfection. They had on the most elegant dresses with amazing Gucci mules bejeweled to the ‘t.’ It made me appreciate art and the fashion world. I am very eager to travel to Milan, the fashion capital of Italy, because I want to see more of the fashion that Italy has to offer and how it has evolved.

To answer my teachers question, traveling to me is all about the experience and what we take away from it or how we grow as an individual. This museum made me appreciate the art of fashion.

Today was the first day of “Scuola,” or school in Italian. I had only one class but it was 3 hours long and is only once a week so it covers lots of material. This class was Food, Culture and Lifestyle Under the Tuscan Sun. I did not know what to expect going into it, but the course exceeded all of my expectations within the first hour. The professor is an adorable Italian woman, born and raised in Florence, who is so passionate about helping to make us American students custom to the Italian culture and lifestyle. I learned a lot today but what struck me the most was that children here in Italy learn to portion their food starting at the age two. My professor said that they learn to serve themselves at such a young age to learn exactly what portion of food is too much and what amount is too little. This helps to not waste food and to teach the children not to put food on your plate that you cannot eat. I also found it interesting that during elementary school in Italy, the schools provide the children with a freshly cooked lunch, and as my professor put it, the school does not accommodate for picky eaters. This taught the children to 1) like everything, or at least try everything, that is offer to them and 2) how to politely reject what was being served by taking more of something else. Also during this time children are taught to sit at the table and wait until the last student has their meal to begin their lunch and to wait until the last student is done with their meal to leave the table. I found this very interesting that they are teaching this to children at such a young age, but I also loved it. It shows how much Italians love their food and how much they appreciate manners, something I wish the United States focused on more. This gave me an even stronger appreciation for the Italian culture and the Italian school system.

I found my professors stories about her visit to San Francisco to be very unique. I liked hearing what she thought about our culture. She mentioned how we eat and how we always seem to be in a hurry, not having time to sit down at the same restaurant in which we got the food from. She said that it was the first time she has seen someone eat their meal with a fork while walking to their next destination. Italians love to enjoy their meals, something I wish we took more appreciation for. They use their meals as a time to relax and to connect with the people they are enjoying the food with, wether it be a home cooked meal or out at a restaurant. They use restaurants as a place to gather, not as a place to go to if they do not want to cook. It is fascinating that back in the US eating is normally rushed and never is truly enjoyed due to the culture of always being in a hurry. I love being here and sitting down at dinner, having no where to be and simply enjoying the flavors that I am putting into my mouth. Wether it be the different kinds of cheeses on pizza, the variety of sauces on pastas, the red wine, gelato, or the limoncello.

Today i discovered an amazing local wine shop located about a 7 minute walk from my apartment. I like it because they give you a bottle full of wine and once you are done with it, you clean it out, come back and have it refilled. I find this to be an innovative idea (maybe something they already have back in the states?) since it makes the wine more accessible, cheaper, and easier to have ready to drink with every meal. I love that the Italians look at wine as something that is supposed to compliment the meal, instead of as just alcohol. It makes not only the wine taste better, but also the meal. Within this class, we were told that we will be doing many different tastings, both for food and wine, which is something I am most looking forward to within this course. I think this will given me a greater understanding, and give me a greater appreciation for, the culture and food within Italy.

Tonight for dinner, I had the amazing opportunity to do a food tour throughout Florence and the local restaurants. We went to 4 restaurants and 2 bars, getting free food, wine, beer and gelato. My favorite place we went was a family ran panini shop called Pino’s. Pino is the owner and is a sweet Italian man. The moment the group walked into his shop, he had his phone out taking pictures of everyone and introducing himself to as many people as possible. The panini’s he made for us had pesto, mozzarella, tomato, and prosciutto–hands down the best panini I’ve ever had! I also really enjoyed the gelato shop. It was all freshly made in the morning, making the options scarce, but making the decision of which flavor to get even harder because they all sounded delicious. I chose the coconut option and was in heaven.  The bars were also fun to see, they offered two different kinds of beers–a light beer and an ale–both were enjoyable! I am excited to see what else this beautiful city has to offer! Stay tuned! 

Ciao!

Or “take 2.”

I am going to Florence, Italy, for real this time. Yesterday was definitely a hiccup in my travel plans but today is a new day and I am more excited than ever. I find it funny that after all that has happened i’m most scared about getting my big suitcases down an escalator, it fact it kept me up at night. (ha!)

Everything seems to be going a lot smoother today–“travel karma” as some may call it. While going through the security line i notice two things. The first thing being that everyone moves as though there is no urgency to get to their destination–slowly removing electronic, stripping off the 5 lays they have on, and remembering the small items they have in their pockets. I later come to realize that their lack of urgency has to do with, what i would call a TSA attendant who checks the contents within the bags, takes about 15 seconds per bin to analyze and give clearance to each and every bag. (Thanks to mom, i got to the airport early, so i’m in no rush). The second thing I notice is that apparently the Germans love gaming. There is a station within the airport in which they call the “Gaming Station.” It is equipped with large TV’s, gaming devices such as Xboxes and Play Stations, and controllers. I find it hysterical that they find it necessary to have that within the terminal.

Now for the fun part. Ciao bella is right! For those of you who aren’t familiar, “Ciao Bella” means “Hello Beautiful” in Italian. And boy let me tell you, Italy is beyond beautiful!

I have never been more excited to be in such a beautiful place. I feel like this is so surreal. It makes me feel as though I am in a dream and will wake up at any moment. I walk around the beautiful city of Florence and try to make myself familiar with its streets, however, this is far from possible since everything street looks the exact same. Even the streets that surround the Duomo ( as pictured in the picture above). It is so breathtaking I do not know how to handle myself.

Upon arrival, I have been to dinner in a cute Italian restaurant, been to a bar, and explored the club scene, loving all of them. I am so excited for what this trip has in store for me.

Ciao!

Today is the big day–I am going to Florence! My journey has begun, the moment I have been waiting for since I applied for college. I expect it to be smooth sailing from here, as I make my way from San Francisco to Frankfurt and then finally to Florence. Something along the lines of enjoying a glass of wine on the long flight before going to sleep, waking up to the sound of “making our final decent” and exiting the plane with excitement.

Except this is nothing like how it goes. Within moments of arrival to the SFO airport, I receive a phone call about the cancellation of my connecting flight to Florence due to an Air Traffic Control strike. Already ready to go and at the airport, I board my 11 and a half hour flight to Germany in hopes of my day turning around. I position myself next to the window and luckily the middle seat does not become occupied. The man in the aisle is very kind and over a glass of wine, he begins to give me tips on what to see in Florence and the things to be careful of. (One of which was to watch out for the gypsy kids that will basically attack you for your belongings). The flight was the easiest part of this whole adventure. My day starts to turn around. Or so I thought–but a rude awakening was about to hit me.

I exit my plane and wait for my baggage. Of course this is where everything begins to go wrong. After waiting 45 minutes for my bags, I come to realize that they are not coming. I try to find someone to talk to to help lead me in the right direction, but I am a woman traveling alone and this is a foreign country, in fact, it is Germany. I finally find someone and they lead me to someone upstairs, who tells me that they have been holding my bags until i can check in for my flight the following day. I continue back downstairs to the baggage holding center and try to make some progress, but do not seem to get anywhere. It is 10 in the morning, I am jet lagged, and all I want to do is crawl into a bed.

But it does not end there. I finally get my luggage after waiting 3 hours, walking back and forth from different ticketing desks, asking for clearance for my precious baggage. I check into my flight and begin to make my way up to my hotel to check in and crawl into bed. Of course the room is not yet ready and I am stuck to explore for another 3 hours. I come to the realization that my flight to Florence is the only flight that has been cancelled and that every one else is able to get in on time and without any problems. This makes me angry but more so envious.

So here I am waiting for my room and waiting for the moment I can be excited about this adventure again, because as of right now I am a little shell shocked and am missing what I am familiar with. This moment alone taught me a lot about myself and that I am more capable than I think. I made the resolution to step out of my comfort zone more and today I really did that. I was very uncomfortable, stressed, exhausted, alone, challenged, but more than anything I was terrified. I know things will turn around and that my adventure can only get better and hopefully run more smoothly.

But until then–

Ciao!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton