Abroad in Florence, Italy!: Culture Shock! :)

1. People are crazy drivers in Italy. The streets are really tiny here and cars still go through them. A lot of people drive mopeds here because they can park them better in the city. I think it would be awesome to ride on a moped but I would be really scared. There are also no speed limit signs posted around Florence at all. People drive at their own pace and they usually speed throughout the roads. I would imagine that there would be a lot of accident every year, but I have not seen an accident yet. I have almost gotten hit a couple of times because people stop their vehicles at the very last minute when they let people pass the street.

I'm getting to know the street around Florence :)

There is no air conditioning anywhere. Many of the buildings in Florence are very old and they cannot support air conditioning. People usually open their windows to get fresh air in and use fans. I have a fan in my room and if I didn’t have that, I think I would die trying to go to bed at night. I feel like I sweat every day because it is 80-90 degrees here and there is no air conditioning in buildings. I have gotten used to it so far, but I have just been taking a lot of cold showers and taking a lot of showers.

There is a window in showers. Every time you take a shower, you have to open the window so the bathroom gets air. There is no fan in the bathroom and that is why there needs to be a window in the shower. It’s kind of weird haha

Window in Shower??

Walking everywhere is normal. I have walked everywhere since I have been here! My feet are dying and my legs hurt. Well of course I have been walking in flats and sandals (because I don’t like wearing tennis shoes) around Florence. Locals in Florence do not wear tennis shoes, they wear fashionable sandals, high heals, flats or wedge sandals. I kind of like walking everywhere because I get more exercise. I was thinking about how much exercise I get every day and I must at least get 5-10 miles a day so far.

A painter was using chalk to draw a picture on the street!

Plaza

Zara

People are very fashionable. I have not seen any locals wear t-shirts or sweatpants. They all look very cute and adorable in this hot weather. One of the ways that locals can tell that people are tourists is if they wear tennis shoes, t-shirt or sweatpants/shorts. Today I got go to a church and I wanted to go inside but I wasn’t allowed because I was wearing a tank top and shorts. I was not able to go into the church because my shoulders and legs were not covered up.

Nothing starts on time. I am a very organized person and I get to places on time, well not in Italy. Events, meetings, and tours start late like 15-20 minutes. Nothing is on time.

Breakfast gets eaten around 8-9ish, Lunch gets eaten around 1-4ish and dinner gets eaten around 8-9ish! My whole eating schedule is messed up. I feel like I am hungry all of the time because Italy has smaller portions of food everywhere. Also me, Brittany and Alexis don’t know how to make Italian food, we need some help in the cooking department haha. Gelato is also very good here. I have had gelato twice and I had strawberry, chocolate chip cookie dough, and chocolate and it was amazing. Right around the corner from my apartment, I have a really cheap gelato place and it’s ‘real gelato’ and not fake gelato.

We made noodles and pasta!

I can hear everything from my apartment. Since there is no air conditioning, the windows are kept open most of the time. I can hear people conversations outside, and also if someone is listening to music. Walls in my apartment building are also really thin. If people come home at 4am, I can hear them coming up the stairs and I can hear them also talking. We also have to be careful to be quiet in our apartment because people can hear us. Our landlady told us that we have ‘senior citizens’ living right by us and we need to be quiet or they will complain and call the police.

I walk about 30 minutes to get to my classes and they are in different locations around Florence.

Like I said earlier, I walk EVERYWHERE. I leave a good 30-45 minutes before each class because I never know how the walking traffic is going to be in the city. There are a lot of tourists that come to Florence everyday and sometimes I get stuck behind a tour group or some thing else happens (like people walk to slow). At least I get exercise everyday by walking every. I should have brought my pedometer so I could figure out how many miles I am walking everyday.

I feel like I am starving everyday because we don’t know how to cook Italian food. Italians have very small fridges because they buy fresh food a couple times a week. There is no mac and cheese in a box or microwaveable lunches/dinners. I need to learn how to make food and find food that I want to eat. I have been eating a lot of Fruit (it is so good here). The other day I also made scrabbled eggs to give me some protein because I feel like I am not getting all of my nutrients (I should have brought some vitamins along to take everyday). I just need to experience with different foods and see what foods I like and what I don’t like. Today I went to the biggest market in Florence and it is called Piazza San Lorenzo and it is big. Everything is fresh and everything is inexpensive there compared to the food stores. I am planning to go to that market every week to get some food. I am also taking a cooking class and in my book there are some recipes so hopefully I will learn how to cook.

Scrambled Eggs!

No peanut butter :( but there is nutella :) I LOVE peanut butter but Italians do not eat peanut butter. I might have my parents bring some peanut butter when they come visit me because I am missing it. Instead of peanut butter, nutella is everywhere. I had a nutella muffin today and it was good. I have also seen nutella pies, pancakes and even gelato (ice cream) yummm.

Florence is a hopping place at night. Especially on weekends, everyone is up really late (even kids). On Friday we were walking around at around 1 am and I saw families in plaza's with kids wide awake. This past weekend I also went to a club called 'Space'. Space was really fun and it is the biggest night club in Florence. We paid a cover charge and then we got a free drink. We got there around 11:30 pm and stayed there till 3 am. Let me tell you, the Italian guys are very touchy (that is their culture). Some of the guys are really creepy while some are really nice. You just have to be aware of everything that is going on around you. Space was crazy, it was so packed and I was sweating the whole time because it was so hot. They played all American music and the Italians knew most American music. I met a lot of cool people that night haha

Space Night Club

We pasted by a pub and this was outside of it.

Gelato is Italy’s ice cream. In Italy there are gelato shops, NOT ICE CREAM SHOPS. I have had gelato 3 times now and I just found where I can get the cheapest gelato for 1.20 euro. Gelato places are open year round because it is so popular in Italy. There are a variety of flavors that people can choose from; I want to try everything!! I have tasted strawberry, chocolate chip, berry, chocolate mousse, and nutella. It is delicious and I deserve it because I walk everywhere hahaha.

Cheap Gelato Place (right around the corner from my apartment! ) Alexis (right) Ashley (second to the left) Brittany (second to the right) Me (right)

I go on a lot of field trips in my classes. I really like going out into the city during class. In my Mediterranean diet class, we went to the open-air market and my professor showed us how to order food in kilograms (food is not measures in ounces and pounds in Italy). She also showed me where to get good food. She also translated some words for us. In my Environmental Conservation class we went to one of plazza’s and she talked about how the river that goes along Florence was once flooded and ruined the church that was in that plaza. We also saw a strike that was happening in the city (Tuesday, September 6). Italians were striking because of taxes and how they would have to pay for taxes because Italy is almost in bankruptcy. It was really cool to see the strike happening because people were chanting, singing, and yelling. I could here is from my classroom. They also had red flags that they were holding while they were on the strike. It was AWESOME! Look at the picture below.