From Lawrence to Florence

So I've decided to create a blog about my experiences overseas for not only myself, but my family and friends. To be anticipating something for so long, and finally get to experience it is beyond words and I feel so blessed and privledged for the opportunity to study around the world with some of the most diverse and amazing people. Saying goodbye to everyone was hard, but we all managed! I mean knowing that I'll be back in 4 months didn't make it as bad!

I'm going to begin with the plane ride and all its layovers. From Kansas City to Chicago, from Chicago to Philly, from Philly to Frankfort Germany which was the longest 7 hours of my life! And then from Frankfort to Florence Italy. Flying into Germany felt surreal, it was beautiful with light snow coming down. Looking over England and Scotland was amazing also, but let me tell you! I could not help but think the worse when flying over the Atlantic! Since the one plane just randomly disappeared over the damn ocean, my stomach was in knots the wholel time, but with prayer I mangaged lol.

Stepping foot into Florence was soooooo beautiful, the mountains overshadowed us and it smelt like fresh rain. Again it just felt surreal..knowing that I just spent all those hours on the plane, waited 3 years for that exact moment and it still felt like a dream. So after reality hit me, lol our coordinator called a cab for us and off we went driving through Florence to our apartment. At first I was a little sketchy because Florence DOES have a ghetto..with grafitti everywhere and just looking straight hood LOL but the further he drove us the nicer the area became. Me and my roommate Shannon had to quickly remove our luggage out the cab because the streets are soo narrow. Our apartment is in the shopping district and its so European lol if that even makes sense. BTW January is the sales month in Italy so most def when that financial aid kicks in, ima be going ALL in and getting some stuff for all my marvelous friends and family! Anyway lol i was a little sketchy about this damn apartment, but when we open the doors, high ceilings, wood floor, huge windows, fully furnished, not brand new but still nice. Our coodinator got us apartments with the people of Florence so we would get the full experience of this country. Im going to post pics very soon of the whole apartment so you guys can see not just hear about it!

So after getting adjusted, the program had a welcome dinner for us at this very fancy restraunt and the first thing we ate? PASTA lol and it was BOMB. Next was chicken and beans..now being a person that is a very experienced chicken eater and lover...not the best I've had but it was ok. Ya'll know I could've hooked it up, me or LeAnn Suber lol. Next on the menu was Flan..now I hate mushy stuff in my mouth ie. twinkies, pie, cream. I told myself I was comign to Europe with an open mind and to be free to try new things. Soon as I touched the plate, my food started jiggling like some selulite lol, but I tried it anyway and as fast as it went into my mouth was as fast as I spit it out LOL. Note to self..I do NOT like flan.

Next day was orientation and before we went to that (zzzz) we got lost in the city, ate at a local sandwhich stop too. Now I will say two things I have experience within the last two days with Florence people. One they are very aggressive with driving and overall personality, and two, they try to jip americans. Now the sandwhich clearly said 3 Euros..and they rung us up for 4 Euros...because they barely spoke English we didn't say anything THAT TIME. but I guarantee that will not be happening EVER again! Now after orientation had the craziest thing happen. We went the wrong way because Florene is very confusing and one of the locals said " Why are you in my country? Go back to America....Fucking Americans" At this moment my insticits kicked in and YES I started acting African LOL no terrorist threat over here for Le! I'll be damned lol and I was soo shocked to see so many Africans in Italy. Selling umbrellas and shit trying to hustle people in their money.

I've also learned that gestures and customs in the United States are not the same in Italy. A casual smile that means hello, it considered flirting over here and they will be...uum lets say aggressive toward you trying to hit on you and everything. In two days, its happened twice. SECOND NOTE TO SELF..don't smile at people!

Last night me and most of my group went out for dinner, we had pizza and wine. Now pepperoni pizza is not the same over here lol I ordered it and got some nasty ass peppers on my pizza, but it was still good. White wine is really dry, did NOT like it at all but I chugged it down like it was a Budweiser and was cool. We were talking to one of the waiters and he suggested a bar to us, walked us overthere and we got free shots all night. Everyone was pretty wasted, I was a little tipsy from the wine I'm not going to lie lol but I had to keep my common sense cause I had to clue how to get home. Even though I didn't drink a lot it was still fun and a bonding experience with all my new founded friends. Only the second day and everyone is so comfortable around one another. It's refreshing at this point, lol we said we felt like the real world:study abroad lol 18 strangers picked to live in a city...this is only the beginning to a life changing experience.