I’ll skip the plane parts (honestly nothing exciting happened, other than the fact that I am now 98% comfortable flying compared to the 40% comfort level I had before the trip) and go right to the arriving in Florence part.
Pause while I sway in bed. My head still thinks I’m on a plane apparently.
Anyways, I arrive in Florence with a girl on my same program named Kayla. I cannot begin to explain how thankful I am that I got to travel with her from that point on! It’s so nice having another person’s opinion and eyes to watch out for you. She was in charge of finding us a hostel/hotel for the night and she did an amazing job! The hostel itself is in a random building on the third floor. I thought we had the wrong place, but after a scary one-person-manually-close-the-door elevator ride up, we realized it was definitely where we needed to be! “Franz House” is the name and it is a very small, one-floor hotel type of thing with maybe 4 rooms total. We got the triple room which has a double bed, a single bed and it’s own bathroom! It is SO nice and did I forget to mention the view?! There is a large window that has shutters that open out to the Arno River, with the Ponte Vecchio in the background. People are constantly hustling and bustling around beneath us with the constant sound of car horns honking, people yelling, bike bells ringing, and Italian’s chatting. I could stand in this window for days.
After oo-ing and aw-ing at our room, we finally decided to freshen up and explore! It was about 3:30am U.S. time and 1:30pm (13:10 to be more accurate) our time. No sleeping until that night, I promised myself! So out we went onto the cobblestone roads and crazy drivers and gelato and pizza places lining the streets.
Italy is amazing. End of story.
I felt like I stepped into the scene of a movie. I tried my hardest to soak up every single thing around me. I loved hearing the swirling of Italian words all around me and wished so badly I knew what they meant. I will soon, I will soon. What I found most amazing was that by just walking and wondering around we stumbled upon such famous sights as the duomo, countless statues, and Michelangelo’s house. They are all so incredibly old and it is just amazing to stand before them and imagine what once used to be. It really is something.
After stumbling upon such great treasures, we picked up some pizza (a little too tamato-y for my taste) and then got a quick espresso at a bar. I found my perfect combination of nearly all milk, tons of sugar, and a tiny bit of coffee and I was set to go! As we were heading back to our hotel, some Italain guys stopped us and started talking mostly to Kayla (she knows Italain, they knew no English, so I was sort of out of that equation) and then told us they would lead us to the best gelato place in the city. Unfortunately, it was closed, so they took us to the next-best one close by. Can you say YUMMY?! I got half lemon and half strawberry gelato and just thinking about it makes my mouth water all over again. The two guys that took us there were very funny and nice, though I couldn’t really communicate with them (other than using large hand gestures, making noises, or resorting to Spanish as a last ditch attempt). They then lead Kayla and I to Michelangelo’s house, which just happens to overlook all of Florence and it was breathtaking. The lighting was perfect and the sun was making the cold and nippy air loosen up. Right around this time my espresso kick started to wear off and I desperately wanted to be back in the hotel. Unfortunately, Michelangelo decided to live quite a walk from our hotel so I had to drag my feet back. After a very, very, very long day of sight seeing and plane rides and crazy emotions, I was finally back in the hotel looking at the new view now filled with lights and the same sounds.
It is now past bedtime and I am beyond exhausted. Is there a better word for that? Whatever it is, that’s me! Tomorrow I will get my apartment keys and then who knows what!
Ciao for now!
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