These past three weeks have flown by and I’m not sure where the time went!  I’m going to try to catch up on my blogging, but I thought I’d start off by listing ten surprises that I’ve experienced in Florence already:

1.  You have to pay to use the restroom.  Not only that, but restrooms are few and far between! 

2.  Tipping is not a concept in Florence.  Instead, you are charged a 1 or 2 euro cover charge per person.  It’s definitely a plus!

3.  Florentines don’t seem to understand the concept of lines!  We’ve had numerous occasions (such as waiting for a bathroom or a taxi) where they simply breeze right past you!  Definitely something to get used to!

4.  When you order pizza, you get a whole pizza!  And there pizza is absolutely delicious!  I’m not sure how I’ll ever return to Pizza Hut after this!

5.  People do not move out of the way or let you pass in the streets!  It’s every man for themself here in Florence, and I find msyelf walking on the street instead of the sidewalk to avoid it!

6.  There are sandwich shops and cafes everywhere!  We’ve had such fun trying different sandwich shops everyday!  So far, my favorite sandwich shop is The Oil Shoppe!

7.  Walking is the way to travel!  We walk everywhere, and I love just taking in the city!  I’m definitely not concerned about all the pasta I’ve been eating, because I certainly walk it off.

8.  We’ve had little to no problems with language!  Everyone here seems to speak at least a littel bit of English.  It’s been convenient, but I’m still trying to pick up on Italian.

9.  Italians like there coffee strong.  I’ve become a big fan of espresso, simply because we get little to no sleep here and it’s the only thing that gives me the jolt that I need!

10.  Italians don’t buy there groceries in bulk.  The first time we went grocery shopping, we had so many people staring at us!  Since then, we’ve tried to buy only groceries we will need for a few days!

I’m absolutely loving Firenze and I’ll give a more detailed blog when I find a spare moment!

Ciao!

Jen

Location: The Computer Lab, Palazzo Rucellai, Firenze, Italy