The First Couple Weeks

Right now, I am two weeks into my study abroad program in Florence Italy. It simultaneously feels like I have been here for my entire life, as well as like I have only been here a couple of days. Here’s what I have been up to the last couple of weeks

I have classes Monday, Wednesday and Thursday with very little homework. Monday and Wednesday, I have a fair amount of class and don’t get out of class until 6:30. But Tuesday I have no classes, and Thursday only two. I have a lot of free time for activities.

A typical day for me finds my roommates and I wake up around 8:30 for our 9:25 class. I grab a croissant from Caffe Cavour downstairs from Francesca and walk the two blocks to campus with my roommates. The campus is only one building and one staircase, so you get to see all the homies on the way to class. I have Italian Civilization and Culture for an hour, and then Ethics for another hour before getting off at 11:30. After class, me and a couple of buddies will almost always walk down to our favorite panino place for a sandwich and then grab gelato just down the street for the walk back. I am now best buds with the owners Andrea and Antonio. Back to our pensione around 1 for lunch, a quick nap, and then back to campus for Italian 301.

I am an Italian minor, so I have been using this opportunity to finish up my remaining classes. However, this means half of my classes are taught solely in Italian, and while beneficial, I always leave with a headache. After an hour and a half of that class, I have an hour break where I usually go down to the library to read or catch up on some homework.

I end the day with Small Business in Europe, which I don’t need to take but I had to transfer into because of how interesting it is. The teacher is awesome, and every other class we take a trip into the city to visit one of her favorite small businesses and talk to the owners. Last week we visited a Vinaio, which is a place in which you’re able to get really good wine for cheap because it sells it on tap. Italian winemakers are only allowed to bottle a certain number of branded bottles, so it ends up selling its excess wine to small establishments that can sell it at it a cheaper price because it is not branded. Which is great for college students.

After Small Business it is pretty much dinner time, so back to the pensione around 7. After dinner, most of us will go upstairs and play some poker, everyone is addicted now, and if we are feeling up for it, wander down to a local pub that has become the meeting spot for Gonzaga students. Not a bad day.

One of the things I love so much about this experience is that they are trying to get the students out into the city. This happens in the classes, like mentioned above and also with my Italian civ class that shows us around the city every once in a while, but also with really cool opportunities that one can sign up with offered by the school. Last week, I was able to go see an Opera and a local soccer match for almost nothing. Next week I am starting a program called English for Pasta, where me and a friend eat dinner with a family every week. In exchange for spending half the meal talking in English, they teach us how to cook and also help us with our Italian skills. Tomorrow I start training for becoming a tour guide in the duomo, one of Florence’s most recognized landmarks. It is surreal to think that I live in this city.

It has taken some adjusting, but I am really enjoying my time here. Stay tuned for some upcoming posts, where I talk about my weekend trip to Riomaggiore and Lake Como, as well as some cool trips we have done here in Florence.

My morning walk to class.