Ciao! My name is Brianna Paterniani and I am studying in Florence, Italy for the summer. After just finishing my sophomore year as a Neuropsychology major, and Biology minor, at University Park, I quickly became nervous about my trip this summer. Now, I am currently sitting in my apartment on Via Ricasoli in Florence getting nervous about starting my classes tomorrow. As I sit here and realize that this is only the fourth day of my stay in Italy, it has not hit me that I’ll be here for six whole weeks. During these six weeks, I hope to gain greater cultural understanding, learn Italian a little better, become more outgoing, travel, make new friends, and get more credits to my undergraduate degree. One of the biggest parts of this trip will be new experiences.
It may not seem like much but I’ll give you a recap of my first few days here in Florence. It started off a little rough but then quickly turned into the most amazing few days of my life. On Tuesday, two of my roommates and I left for Italy. The flight from Philadelphia to London was surprisingly good taking into account my dislike for flying. The only thing that was terrible was that I literally only slept for about 15 minutes. In London Heathrow, we were meeting another one of our roommates and we had an airport switch. When we got to the airport our other roommate was nowhere to be found and one of the girls luggage never got on the plane from Philadelphia. So while we looked for our roommate, and solved the luggage problem, we were stressing about getting to the bus station in time for our shuttle to the other airport. Once we got to London Gatwick airport, we had a very long layover and ran into a lot of trouble with luggage limits because this plane was smaller. We arrived in Florence around 11 pm and got into a very sketchy taxi who dropped us off at our hotel. When we went to open the door to the hotel it was locked. Since none of us had phones, we had to walk a few blocks to another hotel (remember we have all of our luggage) and ask for help. We found a man who was nice enough to call the emergency number listed. We didn’t get settled in to our hotel until around 3 am. In the morning we left as early as we could, eager to see our new apartment!
When we walked into our apartment it all seemed worth it. At the time I had been somewhat bitter about the trip and this bitterness quickly disappeared. Our apartment is fantastic
After settling into our apartment, we all went out to eat with some other students that we met earlier that day. If you ever make it to Florence, I highly suggest you go to Il Gatto e Il Vulpe. It is all you can eat, all you can drink for only 15 euros! 
Since Thursday, I have had Gelato at least once a day! Things to notice at Florence 1) sometimes cafes and restaurants charge you for sitting down and/or have a service fee 2) apparently you aren’t supposed to tip anyone 3) men are usually way to friendly and the best thing for you to do is not even acknowledge their existence 4) Italians are very aware of electicity and wasting things 5) Theyre absolutely crazy drivers and 6) they NEVER wear shorts! Even in 90 degree weather like today, it was hard for me to even find them in capris! I’m sure I’ll have many more of these tips to post throughout this trip!
On friday morning we had a very long and extensive orientation about Florence and the program. On Saturday we picked up our schedules and books. Palazzo Rucellai is absolutely gorgeous. Apparently students have never been able to use the front entrance until this year. We are the first group of students allowed to enter through the front door.
Throughout the days we have been wandering the streets trying to figure out the layout of Florence but I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand it!
The Duomo:
Ponte Vecchio:
I’ll update soon about classes and travel plans with hopefully more pictures! I’m sure this week is going to be extremely busy though.
Location: Via Ricasoli, Florence, Italy
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