Author: haileybuggtravels

8.26.19:

Although we’re less than two weeks away from leaving, I genuinely have no clue what to expect. I’ve talked to various people who have been to Florence before and they’ve all mainly said it was beautiful. I’ve never truly experienced another culture before so I’m not sure how I will respond. What excites me the most about living in Florence is the food and coffee. I love coffee and have worked as a barista so when we do the assignment on studying Italian behaviour, I would love to speak to an Italian barista to compare and contrast how we treat coffee in our cultures. I’m most nervous about the language barrier- not just in Florence but in other countries I am planning to visit as well. I know I’m going to miss my friends the most. I have very, very strong friendships with people that began 10 years ago, so leaving them sucks. I haven’t really prepared for my trip yet because I’ve been trying to spend time with my friends as much as possible but now that we have school I will get started on packing. In this moment it surprisingly still hasn’t hit me that I’ll be in Florence in under 2 weeks. 

9.09.19:

My journey from Los Angeles to Florence was as expected. I usually really enjoy going to the airport and it was even more fun with friends, but the plane ride was pretty bad. I took two sleeping pills and was still unable to sleep for more than 30 minutes. I was also super sore by the time we were in Florence.

Once we arrived, we got in a taxi to get to our flat. I was pretty exhausted and the driver was going so fast that I thought we were going to crash so many times. I didn’t realize this was just how people have to drive in Florence. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the apartments but I really like mine. It’s small but a good enough space for all of us. I was a little confused because I had a different roommate than what I requested and there were groups of 6 girls that didn’t request to be together when I was in a group of 6 that were hoping for a 3 bedroom. But, it isn’t bad so far. The only thing is that I didn’t speak to my roommate at all before leaving for Florence and we seemed to have very different personalities. Also, my bed is super uncomfortable so my back has not stopped hurting since I got here. I’m going to try and get a mattress topper. On the first night a big group of us went out for my birthday which was super fun and I ended up talking to a lot of people I didn’t get to talk to before we left. The walking tour yesterday was very interesting and we got gelato after which was amazing. Getting around hasn’t been too bad but none of us are very good at remembering directions so we got a little lost today walking to class. There were other American students who let us know where the study center is. Plus, the town is so small that it’s hard to get super lost. In this very moment I feel tired but very happy to be here. There’s a cute cafe by our flat that we’re planning on going to for lunch so I’m excited about that. 

9.16.19

My first week has been great. I haven’t spoken to a single Italian that doesn’t speak English which is extremely helpful. So far I’ve felt very welcomed and already made friends with one of our waiters and one of the baristas at a cafe I go to almost every day. We also got to know our downstairs neighbors who are also Americans from Cal Poly and one of them even came over for dinner one evening. Getting around hasn’t been hard but I’ve also never walked alone so it has been a group effort. One highlight from my first week was finding a cafe with alternative milks because I try to stay away from straight dairy milk and thought I wouldn’t be able to do it. Another is the gelato. We found a spot a block away from our apartment that serves scoops of straight nutella which is horrible for you but I’ve had 3 already. One challenge I faced was not having WiFi for the first 5 days we were here. I was trying to Facetime with my family and friends to give them a tour of the apartment and let them know how I was doing and it wouldn’t work which was very frustrating. We also are having a hard time with splitting our trash into four bags because it’s confusing and we don’t have 4 trash cans so we just have trash bags hanging on our door knobs. In this moment I feel great. I’m getting close to my flatmates which is really comforting and I’m excited for this upcoming week. 

9.23.19

I’m feeling much more confident after this second week. We’ve completely settled into our apartment and have gotten into the groove of going to school, studying at cafes, getting groceries and going to dinner. I’m glad I have such great roommates because they’ve made the process of adjusting fun. We went to the American restaurant a few days ago which was funny to see. It was “beer pong and tacos night” and Megan, Helene and I sang karaoke. Another fun highlight from these past couple weeks was meeting our favorite waiter Ledio. We met him during the first few days here when we were at dinner. Megan loves to joke with every waiter we have to see if they will joke back and at that point no waiter understood her jokes or cared enough to join in. But, Ledio immediately started teasing us so we all teased each other the whole night and it was super refreshing to find an Italian employee who was so funny and open to joking with us since you see that a lot more in America. I did have a challenge initially because I was having some miscommunication issues with a flat mate but that was cleared up which makes me confident that if we ever have a problem we will all be able to talk it out and fix it quickly. I couldn’t imagine getting in a big fight with these girls. In this moment I feel good. Helene, Megana and I are planning for Oktoberfest right now and I’m going to find an outfit after class. A lot of my dads friends from when he lived in Germany are going to be there and really want to meet me which is going to be really cool. 

9.30.19

Packing and preparing for my experience was pretty easy, but I left a few things behind that I wish I had right now. I recommend packing reusable bags for grocery shopping because plastic bags cost money. Also, bring a reusable water bottle. I didn’t mean to not bring mine I just accidentally left it out but there are quite a few public fountains in Florence- one of them even dispenses sparkling water. Bring multiple adapters and a portable charger. My phone is constantly dying. Also, the grocery stores I have seen have not had very good shampoo and conditioner so if that’s important to you bring a big bottle of the ones you use at home. Same with face wash but there’s a sephora and Lush here. If you’re going in the fall, don’t underestimate how warm it will be. We are a month through and it’s still hot and humid outside. I made the mistake of packing tons of warm clothes and only a few light clothes and doing laundry is an awful 3 hour process that leaves your clothes feeling literally crispy. 

Back to my packing and preparing… leaving my friends was very hard. Spend lots of time with them but also keep in mind that you’ll have so much to do in Florence it’s almost hard to stop what you’re doing to think about and miss your friends and family. One thing that sucks a lot is the time change. When I get up at 8 am here it’s already 10 pm for my friends in LA, so keeping up to date with them is very hard. I left having a plan to have group facetimes with my friends once a week and we still haven’t successfully done it a month into the trip. (thanks, WiFi)

But, your roommates will become your close friends quickly. We’re all entering this new environment together so it’s easy to become close. Definitely talk to people before the trip though because you’ll get an idea of who everyone is and get the chance to request roommates. 

10.28.19

 I went to Greece for fall break. We took a train to bologna, bus to the airport and a ryanair flight to Mykonos. I don’t know why people are scared of Ryanair- I thought it was comparable to any other flight I’ve been on minus entertainment and refreshments. We spent three days in Mykonos and spent a lot of our time at the beach. I was a little worried about language barriers but everyone knew english there. There were cats everywhere which was amazing and I loved the food so much I already miss it. I had tzatziki and greek frozen yogurt every day. After Mykonos, we took a ferry to Santorini. Santorini was very different from Mykonos- there were no beaches nearby but the town was very cute and we spent a lot of time walking around town. We took a bus to the beach one of the days and spent the whole day there, which was fun. But, at the end of the day when we tried to take the bus back home, the bus came and almost let us on but then very randomly told us we could not get on the bus after they let one woman on. They literally left us stranded because it was the last bus and we were so confused- as were the people that were behind us trying to get on the bus as well. We had to call a cab which was 25 extra dollars we didn’t want to have to spend. So, I guess we learned Greek public transportation is not reliable.

10.7.19

I went to Oktoberfest this past weekend in Munich, Germany. This was my favorite experience so far. We stayed with my German flatmate Helene’s cousin and her family. I’m so glad I got to stay with them because I loved her family, especially her cousin Emma. We ate really good cheese and honey on bread every morning for breakfast and I miss it already. Oktoberfest reminded me of the Winter Wonderland christmas festival I went to last year in London, just a lot more beer. I’m not a fan of beer so I searched for a wine tent and eventually succeeded. Getting our dirndl’s was a struggle and I ended up spending way too much on one at a Florence vintage store because I wanted the real thing. But, it was worth it and we all had a great time riding rides and eating yummy food. We had a few mishaps on the trip. First, I booked my bus ticket a while back for the day of my archaeology midterm and realized last minute that I had to change my ticket. It ended up only costing me about 20 euros extra but also meant that I had to ride the bus alone and get myself to Helene’s cousins house on the trains without knowing a single word of German. It was really hard and I had to talk to Helene’s cousin on the phone at the train station because it was so confusing. But, I eventually made it. The train from Helene’s cousins house only left for the main station we needed to get to

I really enjoy going to the airport and it was even more fun with friends, but the plane ride was pretty bad. I took two sleeping pills and was still unable to sleep for more than 30 minutes. I was also super sore by the time we were in Florence. When we were riding in the taxi to our flat the driver was going so fast that I thought we were going to crash so many times. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the apartments but I really like mine. It’s small but a good enough space for all of us. I was a little confused because I had a different roommate than what I requested and there were groups of 6 girls that didn’t request to be together when I was in a group of 6 that were hoping for a 3 bedroom. But, so far it isn’t bad. The only thing is that I didn’t speak to my roommate at all before leaving for Florence and we seem to have very different personalities. Also, my bed is super uncomfortable so my back has not stopped hurting since I got here. I’m going to try and get a mattress topper. On the first night a big group of us went out for my birthday which was super fun and I ended up talking to a lot of people I didn’t get to talk to before we left. The walking tour yesterday was very interesting and we got gelato after which was amazing. Getting around hasn’t been too bad but none of us are very good at remembering directions so we got a little lost today walking to class. There were other American students who let us know where the study center is. Plus, the town is so small that it’s hard to get super lost. In this very moment I feel tired but very happy to be here. There’s a cute cafe by our flat that we’re planning on going to for lunch so I’m excited about that. 

8.26.19

Although I’m less than two weeks away from leaving for Florence, I genuinely have no clue what to expect. I’ve talked to various people who have been to Florence before and they’ve all mainly said it was beautiful. I’ve never truly experienced another culture before so I’m not sure how I will respond. What excites me the most about living in Florence is the food and coffee. I love coffee and have worked as a barista so when we do the assignment on studying Italian behavior, I would love to speak to an Italian barista to compare and contrast how we treat coffee in our cultures. I’m most nervous about the language barrier- not just in Florence but in other countries I am planning to visit as well. I know I’m going to miss my friends the most. I have very, very strong friendships with people that began 10 years ago, so leaving them sucks. I haven’t really prepared for my trip yet because I’ve been trying to spend time with my friends as much as possible but now that we have school I will get started on packing. In this moment it surprisingly still hasn’t hit me that I’ll be in Florence in under 2 weeks.