This afternoon I took a walk around Firenze. After being around a ton of people in the apartment, I was happy to just get out alone and take a way along the Arno River and see what that area has to offer.
About a half a block up from my apartment is a rotary and then Ponte Vittoria (or Ponte della Vittoria, I’m not sure yet). After crossing that bridge, I’m already on the road that is called Lungarno or “along the Arno.” This particular avenue runs along the river and every few blocks changes names. The part that I was most excited about was seeing Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci which is home to the American Consulate!
I took a bunch of pictures along my walk, and was really intrigued by the amount of security around the Consulate. Already at the top of the street, car traffic is limited to residents of the really expensive looking apartments that face the river. The block that houses the Consulate is blocked off to all cars, and even pedestrians can only walk past a certain point before getting yelled at by the carabinieri (police). After months of anticipation I was finally there, so I had to get up close. I was taking a picture of the name plate on the door when a cop from about 30 feet away yelled SCUSI!! NO!! Chill yo, just takin’ a pic.
Can’t. Wait. For. Monday.
I kept walking along and looking at all the different people who were along the river. There were people of all ages and speaking all different languages. I passed a few groups of American girls, some with shopping bags and some with maps. I got the Ponte Vecchio and took in all of it’s ballin-ness, crossed the bridge, and then headed back towards the apartment.
I decided to go to the supermarket to get some groceries before going back home. It was really intense to say the least, but at the same time really fun. When buying fruit, you need to wear a plastic glove, put it in a bag, then put it on a scale that weighs it, press the button with the corresponding label, and tag the barcode that it prints out so then the cashier can ring it up. Pretty innovative.
I got some good stuff and even ran into some Americans. One girl looked at me and said “Oh scusi” to get by – maybe she thought I was Italian? Or maybe she was just really focused on getting by. Who knows?
My biggest obstacle was buying milk. They sell milk room temperature and cold here. I bought the cold one, but couldn’t figure out the difference between all the colored labels. I bought the one that looked the most normal, a blue one that said “interro” which when I got back one of my roommates told me is “whole milk.” Kinda gross, but I guess I’ll deal with it for a few days.
Sorry that I hadn’t updated for a long time but the internet connection in this apartment is terrible and New Lloyd said he’d fix it after he got back from his ski trip – next week. Psh. Don’t be offended if it’s a while before I post pictures or more blog stuff, but I’m using a “very low” signal. Oh, and if there are any spelling mistakes in all my posts...deal with it. (Brad).
Miss you all and hope to talk to you soon!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Parma!
The first night in the new apt. was…loud. I’m not at all used to living in a city, so hearing cars and people yelling outside my window is kind of new. Before going to sleep though I got a chance to talk to 2 of my new roommates, Nicoletta and Giusy. They’re pretty cool and Nicoletta especially is eager to help me better my Italian which I’m really happy about.
The following afternoon (Wednesday) Federico and I took TrenItalia to Parma to spend 2 days with his uncle who lives there. I couldn’t turn down the offer to go because I’m hoping to see as many cities in Italy as I can while I’m here. Before leaving for Italy, I constantly thought about all the cities in Europe I want to go see. But now I realize that Florence is in such a great location that I can spend my weekends travelling to see all the awesome places Italy has to offer before going anywhere else.
Anyway, Parma was amazing. Home to the Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese and famous Prosciutto di Parma, I ate so much great food it was insane. Zio Antonio (Federico’s uncle) lives in an apt. with a Napolitano (guy from Naples) named Gaetano. He’s really crude, but absolutely hilarious. He operates (doesn’t own) a pizzeria in Parma, and on the last day we were there made us this grand feast for lunch that was out of this world – pictures on facebook.
Also: I bought a cell phone! The Italian cell phone system is better because it's contract free. You just pay for a phone and a basic plan. Mine is 120 free minutes a month to call within Italy. If I go over the 120 minutes, you just "fa una ricarica" which is basically recharging the phone with more purchased minutes. I can't make international calls with my phone, but people from the U.S. can call me so as soon as the phone is activated (Monday) I'll post the number and you guys can call me! :) In order for me to call home, I had to buy a calling card and talk from a phone booth near my apt.
Now, I’m back in Firenze and eager to start the internship on Monday. It’s so soon, I can’t believe it’s really about to happen!
The following afternoon (Wednesday) Federico and I took TrenItalia to Parma to spend 2 days with his uncle who lives there. I couldn’t turn down the offer to go because I’m hoping to see as many cities in Italy as I can while I’m here. Before leaving for Italy, I constantly thought about all the cities in Europe I want to go see. But now I realize that Florence is in such a great location that I can spend my weekends travelling to see all the awesome places Italy has to offer before going anywhere else.
Anyway, Parma was amazing. Home to the Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese and famous Prosciutto di Parma, I ate so much great food it was insane. Zio Antonio (Federico’s uncle) lives in an apt. with a Napolitano (guy from Naples) named Gaetano. He’s really crude, but absolutely hilarious. He operates (doesn’t own) a pizzeria in Parma, and on the last day we were there made us this grand feast for lunch that was out of this world – pictures on facebook.
Also: I bought a cell phone! The Italian cell phone system is better because it's contract free. You just pay for a phone and a basic plan. Mine is 120 free minutes a month to call within Italy. If I go over the 120 minutes, you just "fa una ricarica" which is basically recharging the phone with more purchased minutes. I can't make international calls with my phone, but people from the U.S. can call me so as soon as the phone is activated (Monday) I'll post the number and you guys can call me! :) In order for me to call home, I had to buy a calling card and talk from a phone booth near my apt.
Now, I’m back in Firenze and eager to start the internship on Monday. It’s so soon, I can’t believe it’s really about to happen!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Italian Kids are Intense
After getting dropped back off at Federico’s, we were greeted by an apartment full of 20-something year old Italians, all either co-workers or friends of the guys who lived there.
We ordered some pizzas (delicious) and just hung out which was awesome. For about 4 hours people were coming in and out. Although it got kind of tiresome having to keep introducing myself and them asking me a thousand and one questions about what America’s like and telling me how much they want to go, I realized that in order to make new friends I’m going to have to keep an open mind.
Some of them were really interested and eager to talk to me, but I could tell that a few were apprehensive because either they didn’t know if I could speak Italian or just didn’t know what to say. I may have aided their apprehensiveness by letting a sort of bewildered look come across my face, but hearing about 5 different conversations in 5 different Italian dialects can really play with your heard.
Luckily, Monday night’s are “Grande Fratello” aka Big Brother nights in Firenze, so that provided a good hour of just watching, laughing, eating, drinking, and smoking (not me) with new friends.
We ordered some pizzas (delicious) and just hung out which was awesome. For about 4 hours people were coming in and out. Although it got kind of tiresome having to keep introducing myself and them asking me a thousand and one questions about what America’s like and telling me how much they want to go, I realized that in order to make new friends I’m going to have to keep an open mind.
Some of them were really interested and eager to talk to me, but I could tell that a few were apprehensive because either they didn’t know if I could speak Italian or just didn’t know what to say. I may have aided their apprehensiveness by letting a sort of bewildered look come across my face, but hearing about 5 different conversations in 5 different Italian dialects can really play with your heard.
Luckily, Monday night’s are “Grande Fratello” aka Big Brother nights in Firenze, so that provided a good hour of just watching, laughing, eating, drinking, and smoking (not me) with new friends.
New Lloyd
I spent my first night in Firenze at Federico's, but I needed to figure out a permanent living situation.
I was in email contact with a guy named Enrico who owns an apartment in about 10 minutes by foot from the Consulate. That night I gave him a call and he picked me and Federico up and brought us to see his place. Long story short, I accepted, and here I am. Whether or not it was a good or bad decision I’m not really sure because it’s only been a few days, but we’ll see.
The apartment is pretty nice. I’ll be putting pictures up soon. The best part is that I have my own room so if at any point I feel like I don’t want to have to speak Italian I can just go hang out there.
That night New Lloyd (Fredericksburg landlord) brought me and Federico to a pub called Moyo. It was pretty classy. I wasn’t really feeling well from Lufthansa’s chicken dinner so I settled for a red wine spritzer (listen.) and had some of the appetizers that they were serving. It was cool getting to know New Lloyd, so hopefully everything works out.
I was in email contact with a guy named Enrico who owns an apartment in about 10 minutes by foot from the Consulate. That night I gave him a call and he picked me and Federico up and brought us to see his place. Long story short, I accepted, and here I am. Whether or not it was a good or bad decision I’m not really sure because it’s only been a few days, but we’ll see.
The apartment is pretty nice. I’ll be putting pictures up soon. The best part is that I have my own room so if at any point I feel like I don’t want to have to speak Italian I can just go hang out there.
That night New Lloyd (Fredericksburg landlord) brought me and Federico to a pub called Moyo. It was pretty classy. I wasn’t really feeling well from Lufthansa’s chicken dinner so I settled for a red wine spritzer (listen.) and had some of the appetizers that they were serving. It was cool getting to know New Lloyd, so hopefully everything works out.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Arrival in Firenze!
At 12:30pm, my Air Dolomiti flight landed in the beautiful city of FIRENZE! From the runway you could see the Duomo in the distance, which besides the Ponte Vecchio is my one true point of demarcation in this city. Me and the rest of the group all got our bags together, left the airport, and said our goodbyes.
I took a cab from the airport to my cousin Federico’s apartment. This is the part where I ran into a little bit of trouble. After paying the cab driver 23 euro and telling him “yo homes, smell you later” I looked at my kingdom and I was finally there….at a 7 story apartment building, alone, with 3 bags. If you’ve ever seen an Italian apartment building, there is one plaque type thing with doorbells for each of the however many apts. there are in the place. Well, Federico’s has about 20. Because there’s a constant flow of people moving in and out of the apt, there is no specific name on the doorbell…
I followed an old man into the building, but then was stuck in the lobby with no one around. I was just livin’ life in the lobby for about 10 minutes until one of Federico’s roommates, a British kid named Nathan (who looks like Ron Weasley) came down and greeted me. He Helped me carry my bags into the elevator, which I realized is about half the size of a normal American elevator. After settling in, I took a nap and waited for Federico to come home from work.
I took a cab from the airport to my cousin Federico’s apartment. This is the part where I ran into a little bit of trouble. After paying the cab driver 23 euro and telling him “yo homes, smell you later” I looked at my kingdom and I was finally there….at a 7 story apartment building, alone, with 3 bags. If you’ve ever seen an Italian apartment building, there is one plaque type thing with doorbells for each of the however many apts. there are in the place. Well, Federico’s has about 20. Because there’s a constant flow of people moving in and out of the apt, there is no specific name on the doorbell…
I followed an old man into the building, but then was stuck in the lobby with no one around. I was just livin’ life in the lobby for about 10 minutes until one of Federico’s roommates, a British kid named Nathan (who looks like Ron Weasley) came down and greeted me. He Helped me carry my bags into the elevator, which I realized is about half the size of a normal American elevator. After settling in, I took a nap and waited for Federico to come home from work.
First “Day” Craziness – JFK to Munich
I got a camera for Christmas this year so I could document every part of my trip. I wanted to take a picture of the plane I’d be flying on, so I walked inside an airport café to get the best view. As I was taking the picture a man (looking like he’d be best friends/brothers with Federico Schneider) said “Oh, the plane is too big to fit in the picture.” After a little bit I realized he was Italian and we spoke for about 10 minutes in Italian! I was off to a pretty solid start.
The flight to Munich wasn’t bad, 6 hours and 50 minutes. I sat in 25A which was in a cool section 2 rows behind the First Class curtain, and about 6 rows in front of the main Economy Class section. Each row had 2 seats near the windows and 3 seats in the middle.
The jury’s still out about my feelings on the woman sitting next to me. I consider myself a pretty personable guy, but for some reason when I travel I’m not really a big fan of speaking to a lot of people. I don’t really know how to describe this lady - she was Asian, lived in the United States for a while so she spoke English very well, but has lived in Germany now for the past 14 years.
Note to self: Don’t tell people that you’re major has anything to do with Political Science/International Affairs. This lady started talking my ear off about all sorts of stuff. In roughly 7 hours she asked me my feelings on Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin (ha), the future of American Foreign Policy, the American’s view on Europe, the strength of the Euro in comparison to the dollar, Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, Diane Feinstein (how the f doe she know her?), the new NY senator, and more. JUST LET ME EAT MA’ AIRLINE CHICKEN AND WATCH SWING VOTE (which was terrible) IN PEACE, LADY.
She did get nicer throughout the flight, giving me her dinner roll, offering me her pillow, asking if I wanted anything hot to drink…this all sounds really awkward now that I read it over but you had to be there. Once we arrived in Munich she walked with me to the connecting gates area, gave me a hug goodbye, wished me luck, and left.
The Munich airport was really nice. For 7am it was also really busy. Almost immediately I spotted more American students, but after a 7 hour flight and a 6 hour time change I was not about to go introduce myself to a group of girls without looking like a big time creeper. I had my first experience of the trip buying a bottle of “red orange” juice. The layover was 3 hours and 45 minutes, so I did a lot of walking around and took some cool pictures.
Once at Gate G65 for Florence, a group of American students started forming, and growing fast. Within an hour, the group of 6 girls had turned into about 20 girls, and 3 guys including me after I decided that it’d be in my best interest to actually try and make friends at some point on the trip. Andd it worked! Everyone in the group was really great. It was funny/kind of awkward because they were all part of the IPA Study Abroad Program, and I was doing my own thing. But whatever. The 2 other guys were friends from Minnesota. It was cool to meet so many kids who are all my age and all setting out on this same type of experience together. The 2 guys wrote their names down for me so I could find them on Facebook and then we could all meet up sometime.
All in all, things were going great.
The flight to Munich wasn’t bad, 6 hours and 50 minutes. I sat in 25A which was in a cool section 2 rows behind the First Class curtain, and about 6 rows in front of the main Economy Class section. Each row had 2 seats near the windows and 3 seats in the middle.
The jury’s still out about my feelings on the woman sitting next to me. I consider myself a pretty personable guy, but for some reason when I travel I’m not really a big fan of speaking to a lot of people. I don’t really know how to describe this lady - she was Asian, lived in the United States for a while so she spoke English very well, but has lived in Germany now for the past 14 years.
Note to self: Don’t tell people that you’re major has anything to do with Political Science/International Affairs. This lady started talking my ear off about all sorts of stuff. In roughly 7 hours she asked me my feelings on Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin (ha), the future of American Foreign Policy, the American’s view on Europe, the strength of the Euro in comparison to the dollar, Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, Diane Feinstein (how the f doe she know her?), the new NY senator, and more. JUST LET ME EAT MA’ AIRLINE CHICKEN AND WATCH SWING VOTE (which was terrible) IN PEACE, LADY.
She did get nicer throughout the flight, giving me her dinner roll, offering me her pillow, asking if I wanted anything hot to drink…this all sounds really awkward now that I read it over but you had to be there. Once we arrived in Munich she walked with me to the connecting gates area, gave me a hug goodbye, wished me luck, and left.
The Munich airport was really nice. For 7am it was also really busy. Almost immediately I spotted more American students, but after a 7 hour flight and a 6 hour time change I was not about to go introduce myself to a group of girls without looking like a big time creeper. I had my first experience of the trip buying a bottle of “red orange” juice. The layover was 3 hours and 45 minutes, so I did a lot of walking around and took some cool pictures.
Once at Gate G65 for Florence, a group of American students started forming, and growing fast. Within an hour, the group of 6 girls had turned into about 20 girls, and 3 guys including me after I decided that it’d be in my best interest to actually try and make friends at some point on the trip. Andd it worked! Everyone in the group was really great. It was funny/kind of awkward because they were all part of the IPA Study Abroad Program, and I was doing my own thing. But whatever. The 2 other guys were friends from Minnesota. It was cool to meet so many kids who are all my age and all setting out on this same type of experience together. The 2 guys wrote their names down for me so I could find them on Facebook and then we could all meet up sometime.
All in all, things were going great.
First “Day” Craziness – Rocky Hill to JFK
Alright, so I don’t even know how many hours I have been awake. My mental clock is all sorts of screwed up with jet lag, but I don’t care because I am FINALLY IN FLORENCE.
To back track for a second, everything went well on the trip down to JFK. Because the internship requires that I wear button down shirts and dress pants everyday (no tie or suit required but still necessary for specific events), my bags filled up quick. Like other international airlines, Lufthansa allows 2 bags that cannot exceed 50 lbs. Fitting 4 months worth of clothes and other stuff into 2 bags is easier said than done, so I ended up bringing another small luggage with the hopes of passing it as a carry-on.
At the airport there wasn’t a long line which was a miracle in itself. The guy at the check in counter was the coolest airline worker I’ve encountered in my life. He told me that these past few days, so many of the flights en route to Florence, Paris, and Rome have been filled with students studying abroad. He gave me great seats in the front of each plane, and even checked my big carry-on as a 3rd luggage for free!
Saying goodbye to my parents and my sister Sarina (who lives in Florida but made a little cameo appearance at JFK – long story) was tough, but I was more excited than anything else to finally get going.
Once inside the terminal, I checked to see where my gate was and then started checking everything out. My flight from NYC to Munich was at gate 6, gate 7 had an Alitalia flight to Rome, 8 to Paris, 9 to Athens, etc etc – it was awesome. There really were students everywhere, especially waiting for the flight to Rome. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself when I saw this one group walk by me as they headed for the Rome flight. There were at least 5 or 6 girls, all brunettes, all spray tanned, all wearing North Faces, all wearing leggings, and all wearing boots. Siete Americane? Ma certo.
To back track for a second, everything went well on the trip down to JFK. Because the internship requires that I wear button down shirts and dress pants everyday (no tie or suit required but still necessary for specific events), my bags filled up quick. Like other international airlines, Lufthansa allows 2 bags that cannot exceed 50 lbs. Fitting 4 months worth of clothes and other stuff into 2 bags is easier said than done, so I ended up bringing another small luggage with the hopes of passing it as a carry-on.
At the airport there wasn’t a long line which was a miracle in itself. The guy at the check in counter was the coolest airline worker I’ve encountered in my life. He told me that these past few days, so many of the flights en route to Florence, Paris, and Rome have been filled with students studying abroad. He gave me great seats in the front of each plane, and even checked my big carry-on as a 3rd luggage for free!
Saying goodbye to my parents and my sister Sarina (who lives in Florida but made a little cameo appearance at JFK – long story) was tough, but I was more excited than anything else to finally get going.
Once inside the terminal, I checked to see where my gate was and then started checking everything out. My flight from NYC to Munich was at gate 6, gate 7 had an Alitalia flight to Rome, 8 to Paris, 9 to Athens, etc etc – it was awesome. There really were students everywhere, especially waiting for the flight to Rome. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself when I saw this one group walk by me as they headed for the Rome flight. There were at least 5 or 6 girls, all brunettes, all spray tanned, all wearing North Faces, all wearing leggings, and all wearing boots. Siete Americane? Ma certo.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Today's the Day!
Welcome to my blog!
Later today, 1/25/09, I'll be flying out of JFK Airport in NYC on a Lufthansa jet to Munich, then over to Florence. As my mom helped me close my last bag tonight I thought, "Wow, I can't believe this day has finally come."
If you don't know what's going on in my life, here's a little catch-up. I'm going to Italy to intern (no pay, but 12 UMW credits!) with the U.S. State Department at the U.S. Consulate General in Florence. This is a full, 40 hour/week, big boy internship - so I'm hoping not to screw it up.
Later today, 1/25/09, I'll be flying out of JFK Airport in NYC on a Lufthansa jet to Munich, then over to Florence. As my mom helped me close my last bag tonight I thought, "Wow, I can't believe this day has finally come."
If you don't know what's going on in my life, here's a little catch-up. I'm going to Italy to intern (no pay, but 12 UMW credits!) with the U.S. State Department at the U.S. Consulate General in Florence. This is a full, 40 hour/week, big boy internship - so I'm hoping not to screw it up.
The plan is: When I arrive in Florence I'm going to take a cab to my cousin Federico's house where I'll be spending at least the first night. He's 20 and works as a chef at the Four Season's Hotel. I'm going to go with him to buy an Italian cell phone, and then meet up with a guy named Enrico who has a room for rent in his apartment. Yeah, that's right - I currently don't have a permanent place to live, but that's part of the adventure. I'll keep everyone updated on my housing situation as it unfolds...
Alright, time to do a triple-check of all my stuff and then head off to JFK. Here we go!
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