Wine, Cheese, and Gelato... I Think I Can Handle This!

Disclaimer:  I woke up at 7am this morning, with no one to talk to, this blog thing might not happen again, but I will try!!

I just woke up in Florence for the first time and it is weird because it took me a minute to realize that I am far from home.  Two days ago I traveled by car to Charlotte, NC and then by plane to Philadelphia, PA and then on to Europe! 

Traveling went pretty well until Brussels.  The long flight over wasn’t as bad as I had expected.  I took a sleeping pill and an hour later when dinner was served and I was still awake I had a glass of wine and was out in a jiffy!  Don’t judge me because there was a woman who was falling asleep with a full glass of wine in her hand who couldn’t speak but did not want to give up her wine and wanted to go to sleep as well, you should have seen the flight attendant.  I would assume they see this all the time on long flights but she was puzzled as to what to do so every 10 minutes she tried to come take the wine from the lady, who was snoring by the way, however she had a tight grip on the wine.  When I finally fell asleep, the flight attendant had tried 4 times to get the wine with no luck.  I slept on and off for pretty much the entire 8 hour flight. I was also lucky because my seatmate was a cute 24-year-old guy who was super nice. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Shout out to Lauren and Lexie!!

I arrived in Brussels groggy and ready to shower…  German or Swedish? are the first things I hear and for a girl who knows some Spanish, a tiny bit of French and an even smaller amount of Italian, this language might as well have been Chinese.  I headed straight for the bathrooms to change and freshen up, there are long lines and only 4 stalls which are completely enclosed! When I finally got into a stall and was trying to hurry I realize there is no AC reaching the stall and I immediately start sweating… not helping trying to get fresh!  I regroup and go to look for breakfast and Internet, both of which were much harder than they should have been.  There were desk stalls for internet, it is sad but I couldn’t figure out if I was suppose to pay or not and there was no wireless so I ditched that effort and looked for breakfast and a good Belgium beer (hey, American time it was 2am so I thought it only appropriate.  I find a café with the menu completely in German and all I could make out was a croissant, must be the same in every language.  Like a good old American, I head to Starbucks, get my usual and a banana, find a seat and watched one of the American TV shows I downloaded for the trip until I board my flight 4 hours later.  Not all was bad however, I had amazing views of Belgium as we were landing and would love to return if I could learn a little German!

I arrived in Florence yesterday afternoon and it was as amazing as I had imagined.  I shared a taxi from the airport with a nice girl who was also studying but in a town about an hour outside of Florence.  The hotel is a lot like what I expected, old with high ceilings.  It isn’t the nicest hotel ever but definitely very charming.  I immediately took a nap and then ventured out onto the streets of Florence looking for shampoo and conditioner but exploring as well.  I walked through some amazing leather markets, took note on what to go back and buy and then stumbled onto the Duomo, an old cathedral and a central point in Florence.  I didn’t go inside or to the top yet but the sight alone was breathtaking. 

I kept wandering and after the 100 gelato shop I saw, I realized I had only had a banana all day and decided gelato was a must!  I got a mix of chocolate and hazelnut, OMG!  I am only eating gelato while I am here!  It was the best thing I had ever tasted!  I continued down the streets of Florence with gelato dripping down my hands and looked for a market.

I found a grocery store, got some shampoo and conditioner and then for dinner I got some bread, cheese, a tomato, an apple, nutella, water, and of course wine. I then headed back to my hotel, (I am still alone so I didn’t want to be back after dark) and enjoy a little picnic on my bed, showered and went to bed. 

One of my roommates arrives at 9pm tonight so today I plan on exploring, getting homework done and then one of my professors is hosting a meet and greet at 7pm that I will definitely be attending.  I have learned a lot traveling alone but I am ready to talk to other people!