We survived Rome

   Last weekend in Rome was quite an interesting experience! I don't think there was a dull moment the whole weekend. For starters, after getting off the train in Rome we quickly realized that no one wrote down the address of the hostel we would be staying in. For any of my family members reading this I am sure you are not surprised to hear that I would forget about such an important detail like writing down the address of the hostel. Anyways, after making a few phone calls we managed to find the address and locate the street on a map.  However, as it turns out, our map reading skills were not exactly up to par on this particular night.  So after walking around for what felt like centuries with my dramatically over packed bag, we finally made it to the hostel.  Hostels are an interesting concept of Europe.  I guess I didn't do any preliminary google searches on what exactly hostels are before arriving so I was shocked to find out that I would be sleeping on a cot in a room full of strangers.  I also was not hugely enthused by the idea of sharing a bathroom with about thirty random foreigners.  But although I initially was uncertain about this whole hostel idea, I eventually warmed up and ended up having a great time. The best part of staying in a hostel is the opportunity you have to meet tons of people from all over the world. I ended up making good friends with a couple of people from Poland; we had a long conversation about their infamous polish vodka. We also met a New Zealand chick named Jane who we had a great time getting to know (it was so comforting to finally meet a native English speaking person in that hostel). As a part of the hostels daily routine, around 9pm every night they would turn the common area into a club like setting, playing loud music and turning on strobe lights.  We started out most of our nights having a huge dance party with an eclectic group of foreigners speaking broken English to us American girls.  Staying in the hostel ended up being a very cultruious experience!
   As for the sight seeing in Rome we were blown away! I guess I never realized how much history the city had to offer (I basically slept through all my history classes in high school). It was breathtaking to see famous buildings like the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Wedding Cake and the Spanish Steps. My favorite attraction we saw was the Trevi Fountain.  It was a huge fountain surrounded by amazing sculptures and filled with bright blue water.  We were told that if you throw a coin in the water you will come back to Rome. Of course each of us threw in a coin, making us obligated to come back and visit (like any part of my life can be considered an obligation right now). We were also all very excited at the prospect of seeing the Vatican in Vatican city. Apparently Vatican City is considered its own country, separate from Italy, so in order to enter you have to have your passport. Guess who left their passport in Florence? This girl. After realizing this I was thankful for throwing that penny into the Trevi Fountain to make sure I come back to see the Vatican.

 
   The weather in Rome was perfect while we were there, except of course on Sunday.  We woke up early on Sunday feeling exhausted and ready to head back home. After waiting way too long at a bus stop it starting pouring down rain. Confused as to where the heck we were in Rome, we tried waiting it out in the rain.  The rain didn't stop. Finally we threw in the towel on this bus and began running around in the rain, luggage and all, in search of a taxi.  We eventually found a cab and made it back to the train station where we caught a train back to Florence. It was a long day of travel and we were happier than ever to be in our apartment. Its hard to believe I've already been in Europe for a month .... time seems to be moving way faster here in Italy!

Another week in Italy

   Last Thursday while roaming the streets of Florence with a few friends, we discovered something so amazing it cannot be perfectly described in words: the world chocolate festival, right here in Florence Italy!!! Although it was a particularly cold day in Florence, I felt a surge of excitement and life in my body that I forgot existed when we realized what was before us.  We immediately indulged ourselves in the festival, starting off with a strawberry and banana chocolate kabob that tasted like heaven on a stick.  I was so overwhelmed with the rich chocolate flavor that I forced myself to resist having any more treats until later on in the day.  So after a few hours we made our way back to the chocolate grazing area and treated ourselves to the most delicious cup of hot chocolate I've ever had in my life! I mean seriously, the stuff I drink at home is practically water compared to what I tasted.  Although I did overreact a bit when I took the first sip and am now still suffering from a burnt tongue, it was completely worth it!  And here comes the best part, the festival will be in Florence until February 19th-- my dream come true!!!  

    Moreover, on a more cultured note, last week in Italy my roommates and I decided to venture out of Florence and to the city on water, Venice, to celebrate their famous festival, Carnevale. Carnevale is basically mardi gras on crack and lasts a few weeks (I can't remember exactly how many days).  Before leaving Florence I remember feeling the slightest bit of hope that maybe Venice would offer just the tiniest bit more warmth than what Florence has provided.  I was wrong.  Venice was not left out of this cold bubble Italy is in the midst of, and as a matter of fact, it was even more cold in Venice than has been in Florence (you can imagine my enthusiasm).
     After a four hour ride up north we finally arrived in Venice where we were basically pushed off the bus and told to meet back at 10 pm (how helpful). Actually that's not entirely accurate; before exiting the bus our bus leader informed us that that the city of Venice does not have a sewage system and that all their waste is dumped into the "beautiful" canals we would be seeing that day. I guess that's why everyone warned me to not see Venice when it's hot outside. Anyways, we checked out two islands before heading to the main attraction where the Carnevale takes place. The first island we visited we impulsively bought masks with feathers, paying way more than was truly necessary.  The second island we visited was Burano, and is the island where the majority of the Venice pictures are taken that attract tourists. It did not disappoint! There were beautiful houses decorated with vibrant colors, tons of bridges with boats lining the canals, but most obviously there was the sharp wind and freezing air that made us want to retreat to a warm store or cafe. By the end of our visit to Burano I think I had set a personal record for amount of complaining in such a short period of time.

     Our final stop during the day in Venice was to see the festival in St. Marks Square where a night of music dancing and drinking takes place for everyone in Venice to enjoy.  In the middle of massive cathedrals and magnificent tall buildings there was a concert held on a huge stage with a band singing American music from the 80's and 90's. Everyone was dressed up in flamboyant costumes, much like how we would dress for Halloween but with much more glitter.  We joined in the dancing and singing with the hundreds if people that showed up and had one of the greatest nights in Italy.  But as it grew closer to 9:15pm (the time we needed to take the water bus back to our starting point) we started to make our way back to the water bus that would take us to our land bus.  Right as we were approaching the dock we watched as the boat we were supposed to be on floated away. The next boat wouldn't arrive for another 20 minutes and would take 40 minutes to get us to our bus. So of course we were forced to wait in the cold for an additional hour, and showed up about twenty minutes late to our bus.  Luckily everyone else seemed to be side tracked too, and after running around the parking lot trying to hop on the right bus we were finally seated and ready to head back home (to Florence, of course).

    This week is supposedly going to be in the 50's here which makes me so much more excited about getting out and exploring Florence.  Also, I will be heading to Rome this weekend for a few nights so I am sure I will have plenty of stories to report back by then. Ciao!!

10 Truths About Italy: Culture Freaking Shock

My first two weeks in Italy have yielded many interesting experiences.  From being harassed by a homeless drug addict, exploring the inside of the Duomo, and watching the Super Bowl at midnight, I've come to realize that I certainly am not in American anymore!  Here I have compiled a list of ten notable differences between Italian and American culture from my point of view.

1. It's freezing.  Its absolutely cold everywhere including inside buildings such as my apartment, restaurants, classrooms, etc.  I can confidently say that I have never been consistently so cold ever in my life.  Its apparent that Italians are rather conservative when it comes to using heat.

2. They speak English. Surprisingly the language barrier has not been too difficult to over come. All the restaurants and stores we have visited have English speaking employees. However, their thick Italian accent carries over in their English making me sometimes wonder what language they are actually speaking.

3. I'm not in Clemson anymore. In fact, no one here has ever even heard of Clemson, and the few Americans that have heard of Clemson mistakenly call it ClemZEN (how rude!!!). How these people go through life without knowing about the greatest place on earth is beyond me.

4. Murses.  It is a real thing.  Men here actually carry around rather stylish purses on a regular basis.  It seems so unnatural to me when I see a grown man toting around a purse that is not much different than the purses I own.  This clearly is a European fad that I seriously doubt would ever cross over to our side of the world.

5. The dogs wear clothes.  This is a weird phenomena that I did not prepare myself for.  Almost all the dogs I see out and about with their owners during the day are decked out in winter sweaters, just as fashionable as the sweaters I would wear!  I've actually caught myself feeling jealous at times because I swear some of these dogs strut around in clothes more stylish than most things in my closet.

6. Italian men love to cat call. Apparently yelling sexual remarks at women is totally acceptable here. Ive also come to realize that Italians love to prey on innocent American girls, making it impossible to walk through the streets with my American friends unnoticed (not to mention one of my roommates is a ginger- a huge rarity here).

7. The dumpsters are different.  Instead of having typical looking trashcans or dumpsters around Florence, they instead have little metal boxes that are connected to huge metal containers that stay in the ground.  The boxes are huge and hold all of the city's trash.  I was once lucky enough to witness the emptying of one of the containers and it involved a giant magnet machine pulling the box out of the earth.  Never did I think I would ever be so mystified by trashcans.

8. Everything is smaller. Everything. Smaller trashcans, fridges, sidewalks, cars, streets, coffees, portion sizes ..... The list goes on. The differences in the sizes of their cars and streets is particularly interesting. The cars they drive are not much bigger than the smart cars we are used to in America. I suppose their cars have to be so small considering that their streets are annoyingly narrow, which leads me to my next point-

9. Everyone drives like an idiot. After being here a week I have developed a serious aversion to taxis cars. Considering I've almost been hit numerous times I will now forever be fearful of these little white cars. Also, I've noticed that the Italian government has wasted a bunch of money on stop lights and traffic signs-- I can assure you that no one obeys them.

10. Water isn't free.  Upon ordering water at an Italian restaurant the waiter promptly brings out a large water bottle for your table to share.  It took me a few times eating out to realize this difference, and lately I am wondering if Italians do this because something is wrong with the tap water.  Is it poisionus?  Guess I'll be finding out the hard way.

First Impressions

This week has been a complete whirlwind. Starting in Charlotte I was able to successfully make it to Philadelphia and then to Frankfurt, Germany without any travel hiccups. Although our time was limited in Germany, it was quite an adventure to be surrounded by such a large collection of foreigners all at once.  This was my first experience in a foreign country and I quickly realized that my "accent" was extremely difficult to understand.  An employee in the Frankfurt airport bluntly told me that he could not understand my "American accent".  What American accent? All these years I was certain that they were the ones with the accent, not me. I wasn't sure wether to be insulted by his remark or proud of my American roots.
   Once in Florence I found my three other roommates and the four of us seemed to blindly navigate ourselves to our apartment.  It is apparently in a great location which I am sure I will appreciate more when I better understand the layout of the city.  The first thing I noticed after lugging all our crap up two flights of stairs was how cold it was in the apartment. I thought for sure the heat must not have been cut on yet because there's no way I should be shivering cold at one o'clock in the afternoon inside my new home. I was wrong. All the roumers I heard about Italians using less heat in their homes were exactly accurate. After realizing this delimma my immediate reaction was to crank up my heated electric blanket to ensure I didn't freeze to death before dinner time.  After fumbling with converters and setting up the blanket I was ready to plug that baby in ASAP.  Unfortunately my over excitement cost myself and my roommates electricity for the rest of the day because my blanket blew a fuse.  We also soon realized that we were locked out of all wifi connections making it somewhat difficult to contact our families.  Four girls, no heat, no electricity, no Internet- stranded in Italy. It certainly was an interesting start to the trip.
   Anyways, we managed to get our power back on and my blanket working (thank God), and after a necessary four hour nap I woke up ready to grub on some real Italian cuisine.  We walked around Florence hungry and excited to see the town we will be living in until May. Walking around we saw magnificent buildings decorated with beautiful sculptures.  I attempted to take pictures of the scenery but the images do absolutely no justice to the  beauty of this place.  Also while touring around searching for a place to dine we encountered our first taste of harassment by many Italian men desperate for us to eat in their restaurants. Feeling very out of our element the four of us felt naturally pulled to eat at a bar located close to our apartment. Our first meal consisted of pizza and beer (how American).  Later we were able to purchase three bottles of wine for only ten euro (what a steal!).
   So here I am at 4:29 am (my time) writing this from my iPad on a note because we still have no Internet and I cannot sleep because my body has never been so confused in her life. But what the heck I'm in Italy!!!!

Anticipation!

     Surprisingly, packing for a semester abroad has not exactly been a top priority as I wait for January 24th to roll around.  Instead I have been panicking about what to expect as I am emersed in Italy's culture.  Considering I don't know a single Italian word, the language barrier alone ought to be a laughable struggle to overcome.  Besides learning a new language I am also anticipating I will have to learn an abundance of new social norms.  Through my Google research efforts, I have discovered a variety of differences in social behaviors between our culture and Europe's culture. First off, I found that our country's idea of personal space is much different from that of Europe's.  Where American's tend to exploit the "don't touch me" attitude as they interact with each other, apparently Italians represent the opposite end of the spectrum and are extremely comfortable with a hands on approach as they communicate.  Learning a different culture's socializing norms should allow for plenty of awkward moments and confusion to come.
     Beyond the differences in communication styles, and much more importantly, the biggest challenge I will face over the next four months will be enduring a life without peanut butter.  Despite my constant denial, it's true, there is "no such thing" as peanut butter in Italy.  How these people survive without PB& J's or Reese's peanut butter cups is beyond me, and is a tragedy I am not yet willing to accept.  Anyways, besides leaving behind some of my favorite Jiff enriched snacks, I am eager to start a life in Europe filled with new friends, new places, and lots of studying (that last one is for you, Mom and Dad).