Florence, Day 3

I slept pretty darn well last night and woke up to the best present ever: a free morning. No obligations (except to print out passport photos), no plans (except to print out passport photos), and nowhere to be (except the booth where we could print out passport photos). After a leisurely breakfast, we went over to the Santa Maria Novella train station (SMN), printed out those darn photos, and then split into smaller groups for shopping and sightseeing. Sammy, Gretchen, and I ended up in the market, where I had my first splurge purchase of the trip when Sammy and I bought leather jackets. In my defense, it is both fire and water proof, so it was worth the money. (Edit: I have also worn it pretty much every day since, so it's essentially paying for itself. If only the euros went back into my wallet....)

We grabbed a quick lunch, after which I discovered the greatest cheap-o food item in the world: gelato sticks. Two bites of gelato, covered in chocolate and chopped nuts. Beyond delicious. And from McDonalds. I know, I know, it's weird. 

Back at the hotel, we had another ACM meeting and some more important paperwork before our planned trip to Fiesole (an archeological site just outside the city). The trip ended up being cancelled on account of more rain, so we walked as a group to Palazzo Vecchio instead. We looked around the palace for a while, then climbed the tower and got an amazing view of the city. We also all jumped about three feet in the air when the bells started tolling the hour (and we happened to be blissfully unaware of the fact that we were directly beneath them). A group of us (pictured below) got kicked out of the tower for spending too much time up top (there was a line downstairs that we had no idea existed) and so made our way back to the hotel just in time to drop stuff off and head back to yesterday's restaurant for dinner (penne pasta with zucchini-tomato sauce and roast chicken with the BEST peas ever and more of the house wine). After dinner, Ian, Sammy, Gretchen and I went out to an Irish pub for a little while with a few other students, but ended up heading back to the hotel pretty soon and hanging out in my room (which, yes, is still housing 5 of us girls), watching youtube videos and talking.

(L to R) Gretchen, me, Ian, Sammy, Isa, and Stacy

Successful day? Yeah, I think so.

Florence, Day 2

I am, not surprisingly, still jet-lagged. However dinner last night helped a lot. Breakfast this morning helped even more! The hotel provides a bit of food for us, croissants and freshly baked rolls, with our choice of nutella, jam, or other fruit preserves, plus coffee (or hot chocolate or my new favorite chocolate mocha-chino (which the coffee machine helpfully says is "1/3 chocolate, 1/3 coffee, 1/3 steamed milk" - delicious).

After breakfast, Gretchen, Sammy, Isa, Stacy, (the same girls I went to dinner with earlier) and I went out on the sightseeing tour that I looked up the previous night. We ended up riding the bus up to San Miniato and the Piazza Michelangelo, where we got out to take in the view from a (very crowded) scenic overlook. After some group pictures (you'll see that below), we walked up to the church, saw the end of a wedding, explored a cemetery, and looked around the "farmacia" run by the order of monks that still live and work at this church. Cool.

(L to R) Stacy, Isa, Sammy, Gretchen, and me.

After that, the day got even better. We waited around in the courtyard to see the end of the wedding, and kind of in order to see the church some more, and the moment the bride and groom exited the sanctuary... it started to pour. We're talking buckets and buckets of rain. But we found out that in Italy, a torrential downpour on your wedding isn't a bad thing. "A wet bride is a lucky bride." Take that any way you please.

The five of us (Gretchen, Sammy, Isa, Stacy, and myself) took cover in a smaller, even older church father down the hill where we attempted to wait out the storm, figuring that it would be a relatively short storm and that would be that. Wrong. We finally screwed our courage to the sticking point, hoisted our sopping umbrellas once more, and made it down the hill to the bus stop. Waiting for the bus was an ordeal all its own (where the bus that I was sure would take us on the rest of the tour didn't seem to exist and then the bus we decided to use instead wouldn't let us on because "they were full"), but we made it back to the hotel, checked into our new room (yes, all five of us were put in the same room for the next few days. We're ok with it. Don't judge.), changed out of our wet clothes, and then met up with the ACM people for a first round of paperwork/getting to know each other/orientation followed by dinner at a nice restaurant ristorante. (For those keeping score at home: butterfly pasta with a vegetable sauce and roast pork with sauté spinach and the house wine.) The program director and coordinator (Jodi and Kate, respectively) then took us out for gelato - which I could get used to.

Veni, vidi, vici - except instead of coming, seeing, and conquering, I came, I saw, I ate, I talked, and then I went to bed.

Florence, Day 1

The flight from Zurich to Florence was less smooth than the Chicago-Zurich leg, but thankfully, uneventful. The flight was delayed due to mechanical difficulties, but we made it without a problem. Plus we got to board and deplane on the tarmac — exciting. Other good news: the flight attendants kept giving us real Swiss chocolate. Yum. (Swiss airlines, people. The seats were nice and the chocolate was amazing.

The Florence airport is maybe as big as Green Bay's "international" airport (and less pleasant-looking), but I managed to collect all my baggage and go through customs (a hallway marked "nothing to declare" and NO ITALY STAMP IN MY PASSPORT! *upset face*). I hailed a taxi (in very broken Italian, but Italian nonetheless!), rode into town and go to Hotel Duca D'Aosta. After figuring out the elevator (which is like those really old fashioned elevators in the movies, with two sets of doors to close), I finally got my stuff to my room on the 4th floor and proceeded to nap for 2 hours. Hurray for jet-lag. 

After my nap, I hunted down the other 5 ACM students in the hotel and the 6 of us hung out for the rest of the night. We went to dinner at a "Grillo Ristorante Pizzeria" and had margherita pizza and split a bottle of wine, toasting Italy and the semester. 

After dinner, we walked to the Duomo and took pictures, walked around the square and back to the hotel, drooling over gelato all the way.

Now to bed! But here's a stock picture of the Duomo, until such a time when I can add my own.

Q & A Session!

You asked, I answered. Well, tried to answer.

So what exactly are you doing?

In about twelve days, I’ll be flying to Italy for three months for a study abroad program called “Florence: Arts, Humanities, & Culture.” Study abroad has been a dream of mine for a quite a while (just ask my parents, who patiently sat through many meetings with college admissions counselors where I grilled said counselors on study abroad options).

Is this a Coe program?

Nope! The semester I’m doing is through the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, a consortium of liberal arts colleges that collaborate mostly for study abroad programs, like the one I’m attending in Florence.

Are you the only one going?

No I am not! There are plenty of other people who have also signed up for the ACM Florence program — I believe it’s about 29 people total, including one other girl from Coe.

Where are the other people coming from?

Other ACM schools! I’m not sure of the breakdown yet (mostly because I haven’t met anyone face to face), but the majority of the students I’ll be with this semester are from other smaller, liberal arts colleges located in the Midwest. 

What exactly are you doing there?

Well, studying. And eating. And traveling. I’m there to learn and to soak up the culture. I plan on traveling as much as I can, so that I can see as much as I can, but I will have classes and a full semester’s workload. Also, I plan to eat my weight in pasta.

Do you know what classes you’ll be taking?

Right off the bat, I’ll be taking an Italian language class. That class will continue for the whole semester (at which point I hope to be able to stumble through a conversation with random people on the street). In October, I’ll start three other classes (so I’ll have four classes total). I’m taking “The Early Medici as Patrons of the Arts,” “Power, Protection, and Commerce: Divine Figures in Early Renaissance Florence,” and “Patronage, Gender, and Power in Early Modern Florence.” Yes, I’m a little too excited.

Are you only studying with those people or is this through a larger university in Florence?

I’m sure I’ll run into other students studying abroad in Florence, but the only people in my classes will be the other ACM students (those other 28 people I talked about before). Our school is an ACM site, not a larger college or university in Florence, and we’ll be spending our class time there and “in the field” — getting the full Florence experience.

How did you decide on Florence?

For as long as I can remember I have loved classical civilizations; in college, my “specialty” has become ancient Rome. Where better to study the Romans than in Italy? Plus, let’s be honest, think about all that food… why wouldn’t I choose Florence? Kidding, of course (but not completely). I am excited to go though; the artwork, the architecture, the history, the culture, and, yes, the food — what’s not to like?

What was the process of actually getting into the Florence program?

First I had to discuss things with the study abroad coordinator at Coe. Then I had to apply at Coe for approval to study abroad (with a December deadline). After being approved to study abroad, I then had to apply to the actual ACM program. After I was accepted to that, I began the paperwork for both Coe and the ACM — logistical work, mostly — and now here I am! Twelve days away from living the dream. (If you’d like to hear more about this process, please contact me and I’d be happy to share more details with you.)

Are you going to be staying just in Florence?

I’ll be staying with a host family in Florence, so, yes I’ll be living there and spending most of my time there. However, we’re taking some groups trips (to Rome and places like that) and a number of us students are talking about traveling around Italy together. It promises to be an adventure-filled semester!

Are your parents coming to visit you?

No. They don’t love me that much.

But seriously, I’ve asked them not to visit — this is still school for me. While it’d be really cool to share some of this experience with them, this is 100% for me. Thankfully, I have great parents who respect me and (most of) my wishes, and they’ve told me that they’re happy to let me have this adventure all to myself.

Do you plan on snagging an Italian guy while you’re there?

For the sake of my dad, I’ll say ‘no’ to this one. You’re welcome, Dad. Honestly though, I’m more excited about the food than I am the men. This should come as no surprise to those of you who have met me.

What Italian phrases are you going to learn to keep Italian men away from you?

Thanks to my Free Kindle Italian Phrasebook, I’ve already learned to say “leave me alone” (“mi lasci sola”), “don’t touch me” (“non mi tocchi”), and, in case things get really bad, “I’ll call the police” (“chiamo la polizia”). Best free download I’ve gotten yet.

How are you going to pack three months worth of stuff into one suitcase? Is that even possible?

The short answer: I’m not sure. At all. The long answer: my inimitable packing skills will be put to the test. The plan is to pack a suitcase within a suitcase so that I might be free to shop (it’s a rough life I lead). My family keeps pushing for this plan, but I think it may be because I’m coming home right before Christmas…. Jury’s still out.

I’m getting down to the wire. Twelve days! The next post will probably deal with my packing extravaganza, but if you have questions that I haven’t addressed here, put them in a comment and I’ll do my best to fill you in.

Calling All Questions!

It's now only 27 days until I leave for Florence. WOW. I can hardly believe it. In looking through my blog, I realized that I haven't exactly been very clear on what I'll be doing in Florence this coming semester.

So here's what I'm going to do about that. 

Send me your questions. Put them in a comment below or (if you have my contact information), send me an email or shoot me a text. My next post will be a sort of Q&A session, where I'll answer all the questions I've gotten about my upcoming semester. I've already got some but I'm looking for more, so put your thinking caps on!

Until then, check out this picture of Florence. Use it as inspiration. Drool over it. Do your thing.

The Countdown Begins!

In eleven short days, I’ll be leaving for Norway. Then I come back home for my summer internship. Then, in an agonizing 80 days, I head off for a semester abroad in Florence, Italy. Traveling has always been a dream of mine. When I was visiting colleges and talking with admissions counselors, study abroad was a big priority. Now, four years later, I’m finally getting to live that dream.

First up, the unexpected trip: Norway. I had never ever thought I’d go to Norway. Not that I was or am opposed to the idea, it just hadn’t ever crossed my mind. But now that I’m going (with my family, nonetheless), I’m very excited. Norway represents a lot of untapped family history, a whole big section of my heritage with which I am unfamiliar. I’m hoping that this trip will expose me to a wealth of knowledge about my ancestors pre-migration to the fabled Land of Opportunity. I think Norway also represents a chance for me to center myself. A lot has happened in my life in the past two months — good and not so good — so I’m hoping that disappearing into the Norwegian countryside with my family will help get me back on track. I’m feeling the need for some fresh air, sunshine, and the unfamiliar. While there’s comfort in going home and being around the things you’ve always known, it’s also good to go and spend some time in a new place. It makes you think and assess and reassess and appreciate things.

Then it’s back to the familiar, which I also need. I want nothing more right now than to go home and cuddle with my cats. Honestly. That’s the top item on my priority list. I’m also getting excited for my internship. As far as I know, I’ll be interning in the education and programming department at my local public museum. While I’m not sure what exactly I want to do when I graduate in May, I do know that I love museums and that I am passionate about non-classroom education. As someone who was home-schooled up til college, I spent many a field trip in a museum, which shaped me as a student and as a person. But this is bigger than just home-schooling. I believe that children learn A LOT from out of classroom experiences — experiences that museums can give them. Museums allow kids to explore their interests in ways that are both entertaining and easily accessible to all learning types. However, I also think a lot of people ignore the role that museums have the potential to play. Since learning in a museum setting was such a big part of my upbringing, it’s important to me to give kids similar experiences, no matter what their educational background. I’m thankful that, as important as this is to me, I get to spend part of my summer learning more about museum education and actually applying that information in a real-world setting.

Finally, at the end of August, I jet set off to Florence, where I’ll be living and studying until mid-December. I’ll be learning Italian, doing a home-stay with a host family, eating everything I can get my hands on, taking three other elective courses, and traveling as much as I can. More will be posted about the Florence trip once I have more information. At this point, I’ve done just about everything that I can: I’ve submitted all my paperwork, applied for my student visa from the Italian Consulate, sent in my housing form so that I can be matched with a host family… there’s nothing else I can do! So for now, I just have to sit and wait. This is the hardest part about the whole process for me. I have always disliked not knowing what’s going on and being unable to control things, so the waiting game kills me. I like to have everything planned out and know what’s going on, so when I’m completely out of control, I tend to get a little antsy. This summer, I’m trying to get myself used to the fact that I cannot control everything. Obviously. However, this is really difficult for me. So I have to work really hard to not attempt to fix every little perceived problem in my life. If you know me, you’ll know that I’m very driven and pretty darn efficient, so when I set my mind to something, it’ll usually happen. But I’m realizing that I can’t fix everything. Like I said, this is very difficult for me. It’s not a fun process. So in a way, playing the waiting game with all this information on Florence is good for me. It’s a stepping-stone — a small problem that I’m actually totally ok with not being able to fix or rush. This is one small step for mankind, one giant leap for me.