Since starting my Spring 2015 semester abroad just three days ago, that’s all a lot of us have been saying to each other as we cross the Ponte Vecchio or stare desirously at the Duomo in beautiful Firenze, Italia. It’s not just all of the major site-seeing that has completely taken over my path of travel each day, but also the small, trivial things I’m doing like going to get shampoo at the Conad Supermarket that have become so thrilling. It sounds silly, but as I look around Florence and truly try to grasp what it means to be living here for the next four months, I just can’t.
My name is AnnMarie and I’m currently a junior studying Criminology and minoring in International Studies. The “International Studies” portion is significant, because I’m essentially completing my entire minor while I’m abroad! As the semester gets underway, I will be sure to explain exactly what this minor entails and what it is I’m studying.
Alright, so I would be lying if I said that the thing I wasn’t looking forward to the most once I began the 12-hour journey from Washington, D.C. to Florence (with a quick stop in Germany!) was the food. I am Italian, and I’m going to tell you this: Italian food is some of, if not the absolute best food in the world. I grew up learning to cook from my Grandmother and Mom and eventually took culinary classes when I was ready to take my interest to new heights. That was all it took to spark my love for cooking and now that I’m in Italy, I am beyond excited to shop at the fresh markets and create amazing meals for my friends and I in our apartment downtown. If you keep up with me here, you’re sure to see pictures of almost every single thing I eat. In Italy, however, you don’t just eat to live. You actually live to eat. Anything put on a plate in front of you is art, and appreciating that is extremely important. Since being here, I’ve had the most unreal pizza and pasta, but that should come as no surprise. You will be hearing a lot more about all of the perfect ristorantes I stumble upon during my time here, and in my opinion, talking about food could never get boring.
On an entirely different note, the city itself is gorgeous, but it’s definitely a bit confusing. The layout is almost like a maze, with traffic circles here and there and then small alleys that intersect and lead you out to larger areas known as Piazzas. It’s becoming easier to navigate the area because living with seven other girls allows for eight brains (mine included) to work together and figure it all out. While I’m on that topic, living with seven other girls seemed scary at first. Coming from a small four-person apartment in State College, I obviously had no idea what this might be like. The spacious rooms, bathrooms and full kitchen make it easy though, and we don’t spend much time in the apartment anyway. I actually didn’t expect to have as wonderful of a living situation here in Florence as I do, so I’m extremely thankful and blessed for this setup!
Everything is new and exciting and with classes starting tomorrow, there will be a lot more to talk about. Everybody in the ISI Florence program is required to take an Italian language course and I’m seriously looking forward to this, as I have felt entirely helpless the last few days. Having taken Spanish my entire high school career, a bit of that background knowledge aided in a few of my shopping/dinner endeavors this past weekend, but I’m ready to learn “survival” Italian so I can make it around Firenze! I hope you continue to keep up with all of my adventures here (and in other parts of the world) and I can’t wait to tell you (whoever it is that’s actually reading this) about this semester! Ciao!
Location: Via del Moro