Let’s start with a moment of honesty. As I prepared for my Italian Study Abroad experience, Milan was NOT my top choice. In fact, it wasn’t in my list of top choices. I had fantasized of living among the beautiful Tuscan landscape and architecture as I studied abroad in Florence, or “Firenze.” When the business department at Providence College eliminated Florence as a possibility, I was given two options in Italy and rather blindly chose Milan but was so disheartened every time I read descriptions of the city that almost always included words like, polluted, smog, expensive, and industrial. So as we chose Florence to be our first long-weekend backpacking destination, I was secretly worried that I’d get there, love the city, and spend the rest of the semester disappointed thinking about what could have been. Although a WONDERFUL city (if you can call it that), this was not the case.
I’m going to give a general overview of the trip, but before I get started, I’d like you fine readers to bear in mind that we spent approximately 8 hours a day walking around outside without the proper dress in 35 degree weather. We thought we were going South for the weekend, but Mother Nature decided to stick it to us instead. Thursday afternoon:
Becca, Mark and I all had our daily 3 hour Italian class, except today was exam day for the entire program. Because we’d been studying all week, we sort of forgot about the whole “planning” aspect of this trip. After our exams, we took the metro and sprinted back to Via Alberto Mario and hastily packed because 1. Our train left in an hour and 2. We really didn’t plan this weekend so we had no clue what to pack for.
We throw stuff in a bag, meet an hour later, run to the metro, hop on the red line then need to switch to the green line to get to the station as the clock ticks: t- 35 minutes and we still had no tickets. Not used to the green line. Whoops- metro was going the wrong way. Get off 2 stops later. Catch the correct metro. While waiting:
Sarah: So what time is the train?
Mark: I thought you said it was at 2:05?
Becca: What? We thought YOU checked the train times!
Mark: I thought you guys checked the train times!
Conclusion: Mark’s roommate Matt checked the train times 4 days ago. We think. And we think it was at 2:05. Maybe. Was that to Florence or was that to Rome? Uh oh. And so the adventure begins.After sprinting in leather boots with 3 heavy heavy bags and 3 heavy heavy fancy Cannon cameras, we ended up on a train that was 4 hours later and arrived to the Hostile at about 10:00 PM after getting lost and finally surrendering to exhaustion, called a cab.Friday:
Wandered around Florence. Spent a solid amount of time shopping at the market on Via San Lorenzo. Exercised my haggling skills. Evidently, I’m a good haggler. (I’m 100% Irish aka 100% cheap… it’s in my blood. Plus, I’m related to Mary Pat McConnell: the Queen of bargain shopping.) Bought jewelry, gifts, postcards, and a cute poncho I haggled from 25 euro to 10 euro. Got a free bracelet. Didn’t get to use my Italian once. Bummer. 
Accidently stumbled upon the Duomo. HUGE. Gorgeous. Extremely opposite from Il Duomo in Milan. (My friend Molly later reminded me that Florence’s models Roman architecture whereas Milan’s Il Duomo is Gothic.) I was kind of surprised about how much the other buildings were crowding it, though. In Milan, Il Duomo gets a whole piazza and several hundred yards separate it from other buildings to its front, whereas I still don’t know where the front of the Duomo in Florence is! I wish they had given it more room to breathe and be awe-inspiring. I was also very surprised to see that the details were all PAINTED on rather than sculpted! That must have taken one hell of a long time!
Made our way over to Ponte Vecchio (which literally means: Old Bridge. Quite the creative title, if you ask me.) It was BEAUTIFUL – almost surreal, like a movie set. Red shingles, yellow painted stone buildings, narrow stone roads, wooden doors and shutters on the vast number of jewelry shops sitting on the bridge over the water, looking out onto the city and other bridges with the mountains in the background. THIS is why you come to Florence. 
Decided that opportunities like this only come around once, so we splurged on a fancy restaurant for lunch that sits on the water and looks out onto Ponte Vecchio. Che BELLO! We also ate the most delicious pizza! It was so good that the only thing we talked about the entire meal (which was made twice as long because we were eating so slowly, not wanting it to end) was how good the meal was. Becca and I shared – get ready to be starving – a pizza with fresh homemade tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella cheese, cherry tomatoes, whole FRESH basil leaves, and a ricotta stuffed crust. Yup. And it was even more delicious than it sounds, if that’s possible. This was obviously followed by a Tiramisu Gelato. New mathematical formula:
Amazing Pizza + Gelato + Ponte Vecchio + Italian mountains = La Vita Bella
Saturday:
Went to Accademia Gallery to see David. Now, I’m not a museum person. I was that kid on fieldtrips that just wanted to get to the gift shop already. But the statue of David. WOW. How once can CHISEL detail like that and do it that smoothly, well, Michelangelo is famous for a reason. From the curly hair and etched sideburns, to the veined hands and wrinkles on his knuckles and toes, THAT is art. It makes you feel like you’ve seen real art. It was definitely worth it.
Met a childhood friend Molly and her boyfriend Claudio for lunch. Molly and Claudio live in Florence full-time now and it was GREAT to catch up with her. She was as beautiful and charming as ever and as happy as can be, and Claudio was such a sweetheart and a gentleman. It was wonderful yet so strange to see such a familiar face so out of context!
More market shopping, more Ponte Vecchio, more photos. Then went to Gusta Pizza for dinner which is a local favorite, and for good reason. I got an open calzone with ricotta cheese, mozzerrella, basil, cherry tomatoes, and pancetta. It’s the kind of place that you won’t find in Zagat but only through a local or by stumbling upon it. It was truly Italian: the owner walked around giving double kisses to the regular customers, and you shared tables with strangers where ever seats were free because it was so tiny. Now THAT is a family style dinner.
Sunday:
Woke up at 7:00 AM. Walked to the train station for an 8:35 AM train. Rough for three 20-year-olds on a weekend, but worth saving the 30 euro…
In sum:
Awesome thing about Florence: Beautiful architecture, beautiful landscape, manageable city, very fun markets, you can walk everywhere.
Reasons that make me glad I’m spending 5 months in Milan: Florence would be an incredible place to vacation, raise a family, or retire, but from a student’s perspective, I don’t think I’d like studying abroad there because it’s VERY small, not a very convenient jumping off point for other travels, if it’s not in walking distance then you’re kind of at a loss because there are no metros, and the entire city caters to tourism. It was FAR too American for my liking. I didn’t have to use my language once, which I like that I’m forced to do in Milan. And everywhere I turned, there were more American students traveling in packs!
All in all: Florence was a lot of fun and a good first trip, but I was ready to get back to Milan!
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