Bianca's blog

the city from way up highI am writing this blog entry in my completely packed up bedroom. It is officially time to say goodbye, the experience is over. Soo surreal. Florence has become my home, a city that has become almost as familiar as the one I grew up in. The realization that it will be years before I return probably won’t set in until I am back in my bedroom at home. Even when I do return, I will never see my apartment again. There will no longer be familiar faces when I walk down the street. This makes me sadder then I can even explain.

At the same time, I am ready to go home. I need to be out of the fantasy world of study abroad where no one has a job, travels every weekend and goes out every Wednesday night. I need a reality check, and some home cooking, and an apartment where 12 other girls don’t reside. I have tried to not allow any of these annoyances get in the way of the time I have had hear, and I didn’t. I had fun until the end, but now I am ready to go home.

This class has been a very good opportunity, and it is a very interesting concept. When I told my friends abroad about the course, they were all jealous, a class without a classroom requirement is very appealing. It also made my course load a lot more manageable because I did not have to take 18 credits like some of my friends.

I wish I had been a little bit better about keeping up with the blogs. I had a really hard time getting them done because of computer problems, and truthfully it is really easy to forget. I really appreciated the friendly nudges Steve gave me to keep on going.

I really would have liked it if people put up more pictures from their trip. The formatting looks funny with more then one picture, so no one really took the extra step to post more pictures. The pictures were my favorite part. I really wanted to visit a lot of the places people are studying, so it was a really interesting experience.

On a side note, I had a lot of trouble with the formatting. I wasn't always able to get paragraph breaks and I had trouble with the pictures a few times.

My biggest piece of advice about going abroad is to go abroad. Go abroad as many times as you can. Travel, a lot. I really loved my program. I feel that the NYU in Florence Campus was amazing, and I suggest it to anyone.

Now for some real advice. When packing, get a bathroom scale, and as you put stuff in your bags, weigh them. Be as realistic as possible. If there is a food, a hair product, a certain blanket that will make you a lot more comfortable in your home away from home, just bring it. I would also suggest bringing notebooks and hair-care products if you are studying abroad in Italy. I had a really hard time finding both of these items, and they ended up being a lot more expensive.

For weekend travel… Save a lot of money before you go. You will be really disappointed if all of your friends are jetting around every weekend and you have to stay home. Make sure to book flights in advance because they will cheaper, but not too far in advance. I know several people who booked a ton of flights there first week with their new friends, and soon realized those people are not good travel buddies. Make sure to bring a good small carry on bag with you, and it is good to have small bottles to fill with shampoo and soap. Also, hostels can be a great and affordable way to travel, but you can often get great deals on hotels. In several places we found that to share a hotel room was cheaper or similar in price to a hostel, plus you get towels and sheets for free. Also, check of the hostel has a curfew, some will lock you out of the building at a certain time.

Don’t save a million things for the last month. The whole semester we put off going to museums and seeing stuff in our city, and just assumed we would do it later in the trip. This lead to us missing out on a bunch of amazing experiences in and around Florence. NYU gives museum passes, so it is easy to run in and out of museums. In retrospect I should have done some research about the museums, and then split my trips up based on the art I wanted to see.

Food can be a big issue for people while abroad. I am not a very picky eater, and quickly adapted to the Italian diet. If you are less adaptable, learn how to cook some food from home before you go. Also, do some research. Florence has several stores that sell international food. We also found a place that sells iced coffee and bagels. While I do suggest taking advantage of the fabulous Italian cuisine, sometimes a taste of home can be really important. Finding markets and cooking at home can be a lot of fun, and can also save a lot of money. I tried to make going out to dinner a special occasion, and usually cooked my meals at home. Villa Natalia has a cafeteria with really amazing and cheap food. I would really suggest that for afternoons stuck on campus.

My final piece of advice is to make sure and do some stuff you never though you would do. Get out of character for a little while, enjoy yourself. It is this amazing experience you only get to do once (unless you try and do it twice, my personal philosophy). The experience is only what you make of it.

Ataf busWhen you go to a new place for the first time, it is easy to be in awe of the unfamiliar architecture, the new language or the cultural differences of the residents. You cannot help but watch and listen, make judgments, be curious. This is a major part of travel, trying to experience what is unknown to you. Habit will soon kick in. The first few weeks in Florence were scary, exciting and unfamiliar. New York is a very modern city in comparison to Florence, and just walking around the ancient structures was quite the experience. Adjusting to a new language and customs was also very difficult. I enjoyed the struggle, fighting through the first weeks to eventually become comfortable. It did not end up being that difficult. I figured out my bus route, the directions to the grocery store and my favorite restaurants, and the words for excuse me, thanks you, and the ever popular I only speak a little bit of Italian. At this point, this has all become habit. It is true that the walk to my favorite gelateria goes straight through the Duomo, but after the first few weeks I did not stop to look up in stare. It had just become another fixture in my neighborhood. I really enjoy the concept of bedroom travel. Since it is so easy for things to become habit, it is often necessary to pull yourself back and make the familiar unfamiliar for a little while. I know that the minute I leave Florence I will miss the walk to the grocery store, so I should try harder to enjoy every step. I am also curious how the habits I have formed here will affect the way I will return home. Maybe months spent in an ancient city will help me re-evaluate living in a modern city. I mean New York has a lot to look at, a lot to explore, hopefully I will be able to see it in another light. Will the use of dollar bills and English phrases seem foreign? Possibly, but I bet it will become habit once again.

Just for funProfessor D’Alimonte has come to be one of my favorite people I have met in Italy. He is the only surviving professor from when the La Pietra campus opened in 1994, and he is loved and admired by the other faculty as well as students. He is also a Professor at the University of Florence. He teaches History, Politics and Economics, and he teaches everyone as though it is the subject he specializes in. He always wears a navy blue sweater and he says that’s the way he likes it, he doesn’t want any flash to distract from what he is saying.

I take a course with him called US and European Relation Since WWII. There is no one better suited to teach a class on this subject. Although he was born and has lived most of his life in Italy, He went to a few years of school in American and ended up marrying an American woman before returning to Italy. He follows American news as carefully as if he lived there, and he is an Obama expert. He recently gave an amazing lecture series on the first 100 days of Obama where he brought up points and facts that I was completely unaware of.

Since the class is very small, he invited us all out to dinner. To make the meal more interesting, he invited a dozen of his Italian students as well. We had dinner at his country club, a members only affair farther across the Arno then I had ever been before. He staggered us so that we wee sandwiched between Italian students, and he welcomed us to switch back and forth between Italian and English.

The meal was a huge success. Although initially uncomfortable, a few bottles of wine helped everyone loosen up and we were soon describing our political views in poor Italian. The students were quit a bit older then us, Italian students graduate high school later and don’t go to college right away as often. It was the first experience I have had in Italy were I got to meet Italian students like me, interested in the same things, even with similar life goals.

I sat next to D’Alimonte during the meal. He looked over the table, so proud of his students struggling to explain their views on NATO in a foreign language. It was an experience I could not have had without him, and I really appreciate it.

GoodiesVilla Ullivi is the main academic building on the NYU in Florence campus. It houses a library, a computer lab, one lecture hall, a few academic offices and a bunch of classrooms. Each classroom is named after a different Tuscan city. The inside of the building is completely modern, but the structure is as an ancient as the three other villas on our campus Ullivi also houses a café, the place were student’s congregate, get some work done and grab a coffee. Since there are only 350 students on the program, it is never hard to find a familiar face to sit with in the café. The best part about the café if the cheap food and drinks served by a super nice man named Fernando. I choose to just buy coffee and bottled water, but you can also purchase other hot drinks, the cheapest soda in Florence, pastries and sandwiches. A favorite on the campus is a brioche filled with nutella. If you show up at just the right time, you can grab one that had come straight out of the oven. The café has about a dozen tables, and is completely jam packed between classes, but often very quite after the crowd has dissipated. Since the classes are 2 hours and 45 minutes long, the teachers leave a 15 minutes break in the middle of class for students to come down to the café and take a break. This is a great idea because it peps up the class, but I have also become friends with a lot of my peers during these 15-minute breaks. Since Ullivi has wireless Internet, it has also become the place I come to get work done. It cannot be anymore different from Bobst, but it has the same effect on me. When I block out a few hours of my day to sit in the café, I get more work done then I possibly could in my busy house. The café is one of the places I am going to miss the most about Italy. NYU is such a big school; you can walk around all day without running into a familiar face. Ullivi has such a great vibe, such a good feel about just hanging around with other students. Since I transferred from Ithaca, this is the thing I have missed the most about going to a small school. Mmmm..

Me and Paola's husband, SandroTwo weeks ago I took a trip to visit some family members in the town of Pistoia. I have several 3rd or 4th cousins living in the Florence area who have kept in touch with my grandparents, and I have visited on my prior trip to Italy. Earlier in the semester I visited a cousin name Piera, and on this past trip and visited her sister Paola. Paola is a high school English teacher, which made communicated with her easy and pleasurable. Pistoia is a city located about 30 km north west of Florence. It is not very well known, and attracts very few tourists although it has famous works of art scattered throughout the city. Some of these sites include The Ospedale del Ceppo, which is covered in Della Robia mosaic, and Cattedrale di San Zeno, a beautiful octagonal baptistery. I took the train to Pistoia, which is a quick 20-minute trip on a commuter rail. Paola picked me up at the train station, and she told me we would meet one of her colleagues and tour the city. It wasn’t until arriving at a building in the center of town that I realized I wasn’t just meeting one of her colleagues, but all of them. She had taken me to one of their weddings. Although we had missed the ceremony, we were just in time to throw rice, and meet several high school teachers ho spoke no English and did not seem to really have any interest in meeting me. After the wedding, we toured the town with one of her colleagues. After attending several tours that were only in Italian, we got back in the car and drove to her apartment. She lives outside of the city center on the top floor of a modern apartment building. Although the apartment was not much to look at, it had a wrap around balcony with amazing views of the mountains and the city, even looking out as far as Florence. We had dinner with her husband Sandro and her 16-year-old daughter. Her daughter was shy at first, but soon warmed up to me and began practicing her English skills, which were truly impressive. We had an amazing dinner, spaghetti with mushrooms and cream sauce, salmon with roasted vegetables, and a green salad. Each course was served with a different traditional alcohol of a Tuscan region. Dessert was fresh strawberries and whip cream accompanied by a bottle of Proseco. The whole day was such a pleasure. I felt so comfortable and welcome. It is amazing how I could live across an ocean from these people for my whole life, yet they were so gracious to welcome me into their home.

The Tuscan Countryside"Under the tuscan Sun" is a beautiful book written by Frances Mayes. It is the true story of a women who moves to the Tuscan Countryside and begins restoring a villa. She does any amazing job of exploring every aspect of italian life and customs. She explains the treacherous process of restoring the villa, while still loving every aspect of the experience. Her descriptions of food are magnificent. She gives recipes of traditional tuscan dishes, and the descriptions of food just jump of the page. I also loved the description she gave of finding faded frescoes beneath the whitewash in her dining room. The idea of finding such an ancient history hidden in her home excited me because it begs you to understand the history a structure can hold. It is often difficult with an elevator and newly structured interiors to realize how ancient the buildings in Florence really are. Although I live in the city of Florence, and not in the Tuscan Countryside, her description reminds me of the area surrounding the NYU campus. A few weeks ago I took a tour of Villa La Pietra. The Villa has been residence to several different families, and the miscellaneous crests scattered around the house represent the history the building holds. The olive and Cyprus trees surrounding the building give the impression of being deep into the countryside, even though in actuality it is located less then a mile outside the city limits.

The second floor of the marketMercato Centrale is a two story indoor market. The first floor includes every kind of butcher stall, cheese stands, fresh flower stand, fancy olive oil and pastas of every thinkable shape. The second floor houses about 20 fresh fruit and vegetable stand. There are also several small restaurants where patrons line up to eat extremely inexpensive versions of regional Tuscan cuisine. My first few attempts to visit the market were a failure. The market only remains open for a few hours a day, closing at 14:00 on weekdays; 16:00 on Saturday, and not surprisingly, is completely closed on Sundays. When I arrived at 13:30 on a Monday, I was surprised to find that most of the vendors had already packed up and left. Italians make there own schedule, I should have known. Since I am a vegetarian, I usually stick to the upper level of the market. As you walk through the stands, vendor’s calls out to you and offer small bites of fresh produce. Most of the vendors sell very similar produce; in Italy produce is only consumed when it is in season. A few stands sell imported fruits and veggies. One of my roommates is from Ecuador, and she was thrilled to find that one stand in the market sells Plantains. There is certain etiquette one must used when shopping in the market. There are very strict hygiene laws in Italy, and it is extremely rude to touch the produce. Instead you must ask the vendor for the item, and they will either put it in a bag for you, or give you a bag and allow you to pick it up yourself. If they see you are touching items and then putting them back, or possibly squeezing or smelling their produce, they will shoo you away from their stand. When I visit the market I often stop off at ever stand to find which stand has the best-looking products. The method for payment is often a little bit stodgy; a vendor will load all of your vegetables in a bag, weigh them together and charge you one flat fee. Even with these inaccurate measurements, it always ends up being fresher and less expensive then the food from the grocery store. The market also has larger selection, and it makes for a fun afternoon trip. While I never visit the butcher shops, you will find that they sell ingredients that you will never find in an American supermarket. You can find tripe, brains, rabbits, and lots of other unrecognizable insides and flesh. I prefer to run past these, and head over to one of the small restaurants right next to the front door. For 3 euros you can buy a large and filling bowl of Ribolita, a hearty Tuscan bread and vegetable soup.

Tourist filled Piazza de RepublicaFlorence holds it own issues about authenticity. Florence is a city of tourists, a city catered towards, and inhabited mostly by recent immigrants and students. Florence is the biggest study abroad city in the world, and it is much easier to find another American student in Florence then an actual Italian citizen. It took me a few weeks to realize how few Italian people live inside the city. My assumption was that all of the Italian speaking residents around me were in fact, Italian. I was very wrong. Florence is filled with Serbian, Albanian, Greek and Macedonian immigrants. Most will come to Florence to go to school or to work in tourist industries, and will travel back and forth to home or will only stay for a few years and will return home permanently. I have found that most Italian people live in the suburbs of Florence. Many of these suburbs are very close, with just a short bus ride separating them and the city. The problem is that they will come into the city for work, and then return to the suburbs in the evening, giving us little chance to meet. This also means that it is very difficult to pick out "authentic" things in Florence. Is the thin pizza found at the trattoria down the street authentic, or the doughy pizza people wait in line for across the Arno? When so much of a city is ran by and catered to foreigners, it is easy for the lines of authenticity to get blurred. In this way their is a "strained truthfulness" in many aspects of the florentine lifestyle. I have also found that at some point you have to stop obsessing about authenticity. I have come to Florence to experience what it has to give, that includes the tourist spots of interest, the small Osterias off the beat and track, and making friends with a few Serbians who speak worse Italian then I do.