All I need in this life is a little Italian

Wow. The only way to describe this place is "unreal". Firenze is the Italian for Florence in case you were wondering why I titled my blog Firenze. This city is so incredible. It has so much history to it and the culture and ways of the Italians is so remarkable to watch. They are so different from us. They take such pride in their family, culture, and religion. Here are some of the things I have noticed.

1. They are the BEST drivers, yet the CRAZIEST ones. There are no lanes and no stop signs... rarely lights. It's all roundabouts. What would take an hour to get up in the hills across town in LA takes them 15 minutes because they never have to stop. They change non-existant lanes without blinkers and get within inches of hitting each other.
2. Pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. ...yeah that's pretty self-explanatory... I learned very fast.
3. Everything shuts down from 2-6pm for lunch. Even the schools. They do this so that everyone can go home for lunch and spend it with their families.
4. When walking into any store or little cafe you say "Buongiorno" (bon-jor-no, which means hello) even if there's no one there. That way you have acknowledges your presence somewhere.
5. The Italians either LOVE or HATE that your American. Some people will scream "Americanos! Americanos!" at us and are so excited to see us. Other stare at us weird and give us dirty looks. Some occasionally yell bad stuff at us. Depends.
6. Even if I speak Italian to them, if they know English, they ALWAYS respond in English. I know I stand out as american, but please.... I'm trying...
7. Italians dress like it's snowing even when its 80 DEGREES. It's beeen 80 degrees here everyday except one (when it poured rain) and they still dress in shoes, pants, a parka jacket and scarves. so strange... sorry but I'll stick to my flippy floppies.
8. The men are VERY friendly and the woman are NEVER friendly (unless they want to sell you something).
9. Moped riders are CRAZY.  They are everywhere. They are ferocious. They will run you over.

These very different and unusual things are all normal to them. Just as stopping for pedestrians, wearing sandals, and going out to eat is normal to us. I have grown to love the Italians and learned how to be a part of their culture in the last week and a half. I have not been here very long and Firenze has already captured a part of my heart. I feel as if I have acquired another home where a piece of my heart always stays, just like I have pieces of my heart in Paso Robles and Malibu.

Well kiddos, I'm sure you might be wondering what I've been doing since I've bee here. Here's a very small recap.

Day 1: extremely brutal. up for 36 hours straight. 12 hour flight from LAX to ROme. 5 hour layover in Rome. Flight from Rome to Florence. Get to the Florence house. Assigned room (with great view) with roommates (mine are the amazing and lovely Lisa Leweke, Kenzie Todd, and Gianna Esposito). Unpack. Taken to Piazzale Michelangelo and a bus tour around Firenze. Sleep at 1 am.

Day 2: Lots of Orientation. A walking tour around Firenze. First gelato and Italian meal at Alfredos. Apparently Italians have multiple course meals. SO when they brought out pasta I ate all of it and then when they brought out a huge meat dish. I thought I was going to explode. Then they brought out fruit after that! Later, we went to an Irish pub called Finnagan's where I enjoyed and Irish car bomb.

Day 3: Day trip to Piazzale Michelangelo and Fiesole. Fiesole was such a picturesque Italian small town. I loved it.

Day 4: First day of class. I had each class for an hour. Italian. Humanities. Religion. and Culture class. I only have class on monday and wednesday so I lucked out!

Day 5: Day trip to Siena and San Gimignano. These place were so incredible. go stalk my fb pics. Siena has annual horse races. It's a big deal.

Day 6: Day of Rest! Finally! Went to explore Firenze a little bit and walked around.

Day 7: Italian Soccer game! Firenze vs. Bologna! Ended in a tie. one yellow card. two red cards. (one pushed the ref.) It poured down rain. I got sick.

Day 8: First Legit Day of classes. Went on a historical walking tour with my humanities/italian teacher Carrabino.

Day 9-10: More class. more sickiness.

Day 11: TODAY! still sick. feeling a lot better. Going to the train station to buy eurails and get dinner. The second program is coming to the house today (the SACI art program aka LO FORMAZ!) And packing for Rome this weekend!

I'll be off to Rome for the weekend to explore and see the coliseum, the vatican, the pantheon and much more! stay tuned folks....!