Hello finally from Florence, Italy!
I arrived here safely on the 18th and have been spending the past few days adjusting and getting used to living here! Thankfully all of my flights and such went wonderful with no issues. I drove to Kent, then took a bus to Detriot, flew to Paris, and then flew right into Florence.
It's very, erm, hot here? I cannot believe just how sunny and beautiful! In the evenings it can be stuffy because obviously there's no air but we cannot open our windows while we sleep. The staff here informed us someone might scale the building and break in! The mosquitoes are also worse than I thought and I found out that it's actually a different type of mosquito than in the States and they cause you to get big, swollen welts. Ouch! I'm bitten all over, but my roommates and I plan on getting this vape liquid that keeps them away that's used a lot here.
The apartment is super dreamy! It is further away than most of my other classmates and takes about 20 minutes to walk to the school in the middle of town. It's a pretty residential area and very nice! We live on the 'second floor' which apparently in Europe is not actually the second; it's actually the third because they don't count the ground level! The apartment is very characteristic, old, and has a lot of charm. There's book shelves lining the hallways and we even have a little loft bedroom which is pretty cool!
Florence itself is simply magical. The most beautiful city. Italy is everything you could imagine or think about in your mind. Stereotypical, but not a bad stereotypical at all. I just mean that there really are 100's of vespas everywhere, the gelato really is that good, and at restaurants they actually get kind of offended and surprised if you do not want wine with your meal. I've seen a lot of the major parts of the city in the past few days like the Duomo and other historical marks, which is impressive because the city looks so big...but once you wander up and down the streets a lot and around, you realize that it actually isn't that big at all. Not to say I won't get lost (I do every day!), but I think it'll be easy to get the hang of navigating.
I haven't started classes yet but have been doing orientation/survival classes this week. I start on Monday so that should be nice to get back into studying and learning. For now, I'm enjoying wandering the streets looking at all the shops (seems like that's all Florence is!), eating Mozzarella and Tomato sandwiches, and falling asleep to the passionate banter of Italians. I am so blessed and thankful to be here!
I hope to start doing outfit photos soon again, or at least update. Thank you all for being here on the journey with me. x
With much love, Lauren.
