Roughing It.

Not actually roughing it, just a big culture shock.

Yesterday, Lauren and I went to pick up our European sim cards for our cellphones, for when we travel outside of Italy. Located on a little side street off the main busy street, Via Nazionale, we finally found it.

Laundry.

After shopping and walking around, I get back to my apartment and realize it's not in my purse where I put it. Tore my whole room apart...could not find it. It's 3:15pm, I have to meet with the student travel company I'm interning for at 4pm, and I cannot remember how to get to the cellphone place that closes at 6pm. Extremely flustered at this point.

Meanwhile, I had to wait for my laundry to be done before I can leave, and realize that I have been doing it the wrong way. Apparently when using a front loader washer you put the detergent in the pull out little drawer...I've been just throwing the detergent in with my clothes.
To add to my frustration- I now have to hang dry my clothes on our clothesline outside the apartment, where there is construction workers doing work to our building. Not trying to hang my underwear and bras outside in front of all of them...

To end that scenario; I come back later after it had rained a little, so my clothes ended up still soaking wet and dirty again. About to get to a laundromat next time I do laundry. It was worth a try, I guess.

So after meeting with the travel company, I make my way to find the cellphone store. I have a little over an hour to get there. Of course I get lost. No joke, it felt like I walked from one end of Florence to the other, four times. The amount of walking I did to find this small cellphone shop was insane. And I found it 15 minutes before it was about to close.
It's not like I am extremely out of shape. I have been working out here and I work out every day at home. But when I got home after walking around, I have never been in so much pain. I woke up this morning and almost started to cry that's how bad my calves are hurting... Something is seriously wrong.

The workout gym is super small. Only a couple treadmills, one bike and other equipment. I went for a short run around the center of Florence and ran to the gym to run a little more on the treadmill. The windows were open behind me, so I had to cut my run short due to the amount of smoke coming through from two people having a conversation, smoking cigarettes right outside. Only in Italy.

On a lighter note.

I stopped at the Mercato Centrale and got some dried fruit.... I think I'm addicted. It's so good and so much better than stuff at home. Actually, besides the little stuff like laundry and heat.....I think everything here is better than back home.

Dried fruit!

Like I mentioned, I met with the Euroadventures travel group just to talk about my internship and what it entails. Very laid back. We met at an Irish pub, had cappucino, and they explained some trips to us, gave us flyers to pass out to students and talked a little more about themselves and the company. Looks like I may be traveling for free to some places, which is a big plus!

There was free coffee at an American coffee/bagel shop yesterday morning, so me and Heidi took a walk. All the way across the Ponte Vecchio, down some little alley...yes, we got lost.

I guess we looked a little lost, so a guy happened to be standing by us and asked if we needed help. He actually lives across the hall from Tara and Heidi, real coincidence. He brought us to the coffee place and invited us all out to a dinner later at night; 15 euro for bottomless wine, 3 appetizers and 3 different types of pasta at Il Gatto e la Volpe. It was amazing. I love that everyone eats dinner around 9-9.30, takes their time and enjoys every second of it. Everything is so rushed in America.

I totally lucked out with my classes. So far, I have only had to buy one book for 16euro. We got an Italian book for free and my Intercultural Communication book is online for free use! It's so nice not having to worry about finding books and having to spend so much money...Nothing at all like Iowa. 
I've met soooo many new people. Our program seems to be mostly Southern and East Coast students. I met a select few of Midwest kids today, from Wisconsin, Kansas City, St. Louis and a couple from the Chicago area. Real cool, can't wait to hang out with everyone.

We are going to Carnavale this weekend in Venice! We will spend the day there Saturday, and then me and Tara have planned to visit our family in Viareggio for the day on Sunday. Extremely excited!

Primo giorno della scuola...

First day of classes was today!

Corso Tintori, 21 building

Yesterday, a few of us walked to each of our buildings, just to get an idea of how far they were from our apartments.

courtyard at school

All of my classes are in two buildings; one right by the Duomo and one right down a side street from my apartment, right passed the Piazza Santa Croce. I lucked out being so close to both buildings and having class in the same building as La Palestra..(the gym). Both the buildings have little patios and courtyards in the center of them. The classrooms are soooo small. Nothing like University of Iowa. 

classroom

mercato

We made our first home cooked meal the other night- sausage with peppers and onions...SO good. The food here is awesome, just like everyone says it is. I got a slice of pizza from a little pizzeria and gelato in one of the places near our apartment. There is pizza and gelato on every corner...this could get deadly.


 All of it is amazing. My first experience at the San Ambrogio Mercato was today. Fruits and veggies everywhere! Then, when you walk inside.. there's so much meat, fish, cheese... and it's all much cheaper and more fresh than in the stores.

I LOVED my first day of classes today! My first class at 9am on Mondays is Interpersonal Communication with Dr. Francesco Sommariva.
Once a CEO of a company owned by Fiat and Volkswagen and living in several different countries, he is back in Florence teaching at Florence University of the Arts on Monday mornings. On Monday nights, he flies out to London to teach class Tuesday/Thursday and then comes back to Florence for class on Mondays. Such a cool older man and is really just concerned that we get the best experience here as we can. He showed us two videos that were so funny, explaining Italian cultures vs. other cultures;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAJNFoHuLno
Italy VS. Europe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFVNTa1FNSo
Italian Man goes to Malta

He also is setting up a dinner for us at a local restaurant owned by one of his good friends, getting us a big discount so we can all have dinner together as a class. He made me feel a lot better about taking classes and being here, because it has been overwhelming. He also wants to plan a trip to Vienna, by the university where he studied as an undergrad. He wants to show us that city, because he says it's the best in Europe. He's awesome, I like Dr. Sommariva.

I was nervous for my Italian class because I thought I wouldn't be able to keep up with it. I was wrong. I am the most advanced in the class. Tiziana Landra is my teacher- younger woman who lives in Florence.
We are learning the total basics of conversing in Italian. I am in the Service Learning section of the Italian classes, which means I will be meeting with a group of organizations located throughout Florence, picking one or two, and volunteering a certain number of hours this semester. Very excited to do this!
Some examples where we can volunteer is the Italian Leukemia foundation; going to their center and being with the patients/children, conversing and just spending time with them. Being paired with Italian kids my age and meeting with them once a week; conversing in Italian for 30 minutes, then helping them speak in English for 30 minutes.  There is a choice of assisting an English teacher at a grade school, helping her teach her students and also helping out at an elderly center. My teacher said that participating in any of the organizations helps pick up the language even more than normal, which is what I can't wait for!

I'm excited that classes started and I can actually get to some places without using a map. I can't stop telling myself how lucky I am to be here..... It's unbelievable. So so so so lucky.

Nightlife

Nightlife here is unreal.
We have been going out to the bars and clubs and have met so many people; Italians, other Americans, and others from all over the world. They play pretty much all American music and the streets are so crowded with people and taxis everywhere until like 5am!

The first night, we started at a bar called Naima and then went to the club, Full Up. The clubs are huge and always packed!

Karina, Austin, Tara

Last night, Gianna, Lauren and I went to the club called Twice. Somehow we got let into the VIP section and were hanging in the DJ booth for most of our time there. We had so, so much fun.

These Italian men have no shame coming right up to you asking to dance. The first night out we were all caught off guard. It's so funny because people in the U.S. are not nearly as straight forward as people here.
One thing I do know how to say in Italian is, "che cazzo fai." Something you probably should not say often, but not according to my roommates last night. That is all they kept saying to men who would not leave them alone. We were laughing so hard at the shocked look on the guy's faces after hearing the girls respond that way. I don't think they expected them to speak any Italian, let alone swearing. So funny...

Gianna, Lauren, Karina

I can't believe how late people stay out at night.... The routine for going out seems to be; going to a bar/pub until midnight or a little later, and then going to a club for a few hours. Everywhere is always crowded, it's crazy!

Italians

The tram...

Yesterday we took the Tram to an Italian Walmart type of store, like a big supermarket, and bought a bunch of stuff for our apartment. It was so easy once we found our way there and figured out how to use the transportation.

School starts Monday, so tomorrow we are going to walk to campus and find all our school building so we have an idea of where we are going. I love everything about being here. It's the best.

Mi puoi come arrivare a......

"Can you tell me how to get to ____?"

The most used Italian phrase I've said in the past 24 hours... Everyone says Florence is so small and so easy to get around. I cannot wait to see that side of it, because in the last day we have been here, I think we have gotten lost a more than five times.

After our program and school orientations, a group of us took a walk down the river, to the Ponte Vecchio, and throughout Florence. Still has not hit me that we will be here for the next four months..feels like a vacation.

Ponte Vecchio

Tara stuffing her face...

All you can eat dinner

We are all excited for school to start. Shocking.
It's going to be nice to have a schedule, be on campus with other students all day, and be able to access all the school buildings meeting other people.  Actually, I'm really excited that we have access to a workout facility and that there's free yoga classes on the day I don't have class.

We had an all you can eat reception at a hotel tonight for our SAI study abroad program.. Unreal food, such a great first dinner of our semester.
My roommates are awesome and fun... I lucked out!


Karina

Arrivato!

After anxiously weighing our checked suitcases, getting body scanned and patted down by TSA, running through the Frankfurt airport just to find out there was no Starbucks, and drinking wine with breakfast on the plane... We have finally arrived in Firenze!


These are some pictures of our four bedroom apartment. So funny how much smaller the kitchen appliances are compared to the U.S.  The washing machine holds a maximum of 12lbs, I think? Maybe less....

Regardless, this is all amazing. The window out of my bedroom faces the main street and it's so cool.

Bedroom

Kitchen

After unpacking some of our stuff, my three roommates, Tara, her roommate and I went for a walk around the area and stopped to get some groceries.  I don't think I have ever felt so overwhelmed...

grocery shopping.

Getting yelled at for standing in a line where the register was closed, then forgetting to weigh my fruit and put the price sticker on the bags wasn't a good start.

I now feel so much more sympathy for those in America who do not speak English.

On a lighter note, I took a short walk and stopped at a panini place called The Oil Shoppe... GREAT panini.. Owned by a man named Andrea.  I even got my first sandwich for free :) I later brought Tara and her roommate in and they loved it as well. Looks like we'll be regulars...

Veggie, Mozzarella, Pesto

Tara, her roommate Heidi, and I also took a walk to Austin Hennessy's apartment, but really ended up walking around Florence for 45 minutes. Finally finding our way, we enter into their 6-bedroom apartment with six guys from St. Norbert's.... Mom, you should know how much fun we will be having this semester :)

Xo,
Karina

Packing...

Has been annoying, to say the least. Wish I could just snap my fingers and every thing will be done, fitting into my one suitcase and be 50lbs or lighter.

But I guess I can keep dreaming with all the stuff I'm bringing....

Everything from adapters, clothes pins, a laundry bag and other items, have been bought and I think I am good to go....thank God for the pepper spray from Nonno :)

It's been a little challenge finding a cassette player so I can freshen up on my Italian. Not sure why I'm waiting until the week before I leave... But better late than never, right?

I also booked a flight today to Madrid in mid-February to visit one of my good friends. It took me the past two days to finalize the booking due to website errors, wrong airline numbers, etc... So thankful that I'm still home and had my mom to help.

If planning trips is going to be as stressful as getting this flight to Madrid was, then we're going to have a problem.

Five days until I leave, and A LOT to do. SO EXCITED.

First post! Getting ready.

Currently enrolled at the University of Iowa and majoring in Communication Studies, I will be studying abroad at Florence University of the Arts this upcoming Spring 2013 semester.

I was advised to keep a blog during my time overseas and not really sure if I am much of a writer, but guess we'll just have to see.

16 days from now my flight takes off for a short layover in Frankfurt, then proceeding to Florence.

It still has not hit me that I will be finally returning back to Italy, and this time, way longer than two weeks... 4 months to be exact.

After receiving my VISA, registering for classes, filing for a credit card and figuring out a cell phone plan, I am steps closer to being completely ready to leave the country.  All I have left is to mentally prepare myself for a big culture change, and be able to fit my life into one suitcase........ or two. :) 

As if taking classes and having an apartment out there wasn't exciting enough, I just landed a marketing and events internship with Euroadventures! Euroadventures is a travel company offering day/weekend/break trips from Florence, Rome, Barcelona, Prague, Greece, London and many other places throughout Europe.  I will be doing a bit of everything involved from social media, to creating/assisting on the ground events, and marketing this company to other students.

To not only be living and studying in Italy, but now receiving this internship experience is truly a dream come true.  With all this excitement I am feeling extremely motivated and determined.  I am so blessed to be able to have this amazing opportunity and cannot wait to see what is in store.

Xo,

Karina