So Florence'd

Don't get me wrong, Prague, Dublin, and Switzerland were all awesome, but it was for good reason that Florence was the first trip I booked this semester.  The city is more or less Stonehill's study abroad hub: pretty sure when I looked over the list of everyone abroad this semester every other person was in Florence.  When I was making my final decision on where to go abroad, it actually came down to London and Florence.  And after two weekends in a row sitting around London, I was definitely ready to get out of the city.  So I threw my life into a space bag and was off to Stansted Airport.

*Yet another trip that almost ended for one of us before it started.  Halfway through the busride to the airport, my buddy Drew says, "Guys I forgot my camera...and my passport."  We're all in disbelief, and he starts talking about how he's just gonna get off the bus and head home.  But luckily our other roommate Billy was back in the room and sticking around for Thanksgiving.  I told him he should give him a call, and see if there's any way he could run his passport to the airport.  We waited with Drew until about 7:30 for an 8:30 flight, and then me and my two other friends had to go through security.  About 5 minutes before boarding starts we see Drew come sprinting  down the hall, hands raised triumphantly in the air "Rocky" style. 

*Even better is Billy's story of how he made it to the airport when we got back.  The closest 3 underground stations to us were all closed because it was rush hour, so Billy ran about 25 minutes to another one.  Then a bus, train, and some more running later, he made it just in time.  Billy definitely gets MVP of this trip, regardless of the fact that he didn't even go. 

*First impression of Italy: everyone starts clapping and whistling the second the plane touches down in Pisa.  This can only make me think: are you applauding because the planes dont usually land here?

*So Drew and I get into Florence around 1:45 in the morning, but still had to walk to my friend Alex's apartment.  She gave us directions that were completely dependent on us finding this one sign which just so happened to not be lit up that night.  Luckily at 2 in the morning pretty much everyone out in Florence is an American student.  Thank God for North Face, Uggs, and college snapbacks.

*The next day we decided to climb the Duomo, which all my friends in Florence have described as the North Star of the city.  It's by far the tallest building, and if you can find it you can get yourself anywhere.  This became really useful two nights later when I got lost in the city by myself...but that's besides the point.  So climbing the Duomo showed me two things 1) I'm really out of shape, 463 steps should not be that hard, and 2) people in Italy don't build things for people that are over 6 ft. tall.  Cannot tell you the number of times I hit my head.

Worth all 463 steps.

*Later that night we went over to Katie and Jade's, two girls from Stonehill, apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.  Never would I ever have thought that one of the best Thanksgiving meals I've ever had would come in Florence, but I give the girls all the credit in the world.  Then it was off to the Irish pub we passed on the way there because after 3 months of "football," we wanted to actually watch real football. 

*Signed the Stonehill shirt at the Lion's Fountain...I think.  If someone wants to get me a picture of it to confirm it'd be greatly appreciated. 

*Discovery of the trip: Long Island Iced Teas (yeah I'm a little late....I hear you).  I want to meet the genius who invented it and shake his hand.  I'm sure my liver doesn't feel the same way.  Pretty sure the title of this post was the product of a handful of these. 

*I kept hearing people around the city complaining about Albanians, but I didn't really get what the issue was.  So eventually I asked one of my friends, and he asks me if I've ever been to Central Park.  When I say yes, he goes, "Okay now imagine all the pigeons in Central Park.  That's how many Albanians are in Florence."  Best analogy ever.

*So after getting lost Saturday night I almost got pickpocketed/molested/a combo of the two.  I'm not entirely sure because I thought the guy was just reaching for my wallet, but when I told the story to a friend she told me there's a gay club right on that street. Can't help but laugh looking back on it.


Yeah we made these grand plans to go to Rome and see the Leaning Tower, and we ended up just hanging in Florence for 4 days.  I'll tell my Mom it was the train strike.  But it was great actually having some time to spend in a city other than London.  Our trips usually are 36 hours of straight chaos, so actually having time to walk around was awesome.  Good food and good friends, I don't think I could really ever ask for more.  So thanks Italy, you might've ruined all forms of pasta and pizza for me for the rest of my life, but I had an unreal time.