Buongiorno! This past week has been so amazing. I am finally starting to get settled into Florence and I'm feeling incredibly thankful and blessed beyond words for this city. Every day has been jam-packed, I'm not typically use to this busy of a lifestyle, but there's no other way to go about this experience other than completely taking in each moment and making the most of every day given here. Upon our arrival in Florence my roommates and I were welcomed into our apartment, which just happens to be a 5-star Airbnb. How lucky are we? There are decorations in every room, fully stocked appliances, and a charming antique aesthetic making it feel very homey. It most definitely has surpassed all our prior expectations. We jumped right into classes this past Monday, just a day and a half after our arrival in Florence. I'm attending Richmond of London in Florence which is a University for solely AIFS students. The classes I'm enrolled in are Fashion Marketing & Retail, Psychology of Fashion and Luxury Goods, Fashion and Media, Food and Culture, and an Italian Language introductory course. As you can tell, a lot of these classes are about Fashion but it goes hand in hand with Marketing in which two of these classes are focused on anyways. Another note to add is that Florence is a city that is very fashion-oriented since a lot of these high-end stores started here in Italy, so it is a perfect opportunity to learn about this industry. There are also several class trips we get to partake on including visiting the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, a Textile Museum in Prato, a trip to FICO Eataly World in Bologna, and a visit to the Gucci Museum here in Florence. How school works in Italy/Europe is very different than back home. Grades are completely based on exams (a Midterm and Final) and a research paper. We are not given busy work or any graded homework assignments. This could be a curse or a blessing depending on how you look at it! When I'm not in class I typically explore the city, wander into stores, and try to find something new every day. Florence is an amazing place to be and has to much to offer. It is a small, quaint city known for it's Renaissance, architecture, bright colored buildings, and narrow wandering streets. Florence does happen to be a much more touristy area than I expected. One of my teachers said 20-25 million people visit Florence every year yet the population is approximately only 350,000. Florentines have migrated to the out-skirts of the city because the downtown area is much more tourist oriented. Despite there being many Americans here, I still feel like I'm in an Italian city. Once the weekend hit some of my friends here and I heard about the opening of Carnevale in Venice taking place and wanted to take a day trip to check it out because why not?! We woke up at the crack of dawn, hopped on a bus, and were on our way to explore another amazing city in Italy! Unfortunately the weather was a lot colder than we had anticipated with slight rain, but of course it was still amazing. I found the vibe to be semi-similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans with all of the masks and costumes. While being there we experienced more delicious cuisine, went to a glass blowing class, bought our own masks, and walked around the astounding islands of Venice. One of our tour guides told us that every first Sunday of the month all State museums are free of entry. We took this opportunity and walked across the Arno River to explore the Boboli Gardens which are absolutely breathtaking. The 6 of us girls entered from the southern side and roamed around taking in all of the views. We walked past countless statues, the Fontana dell'sola, so much beautiful greenery, and finally made our way up to the top of the Gardens. It felt very calming to be somewhere quiet and peaceful as a short getaway from the heart of the city. As we reached the top where the lookout was, my roommate Hayleigh and I turn our heads to see the view, and we both dropped our jaw in utter shock left completely speechless by the beauty of our city. I will keep saying this, but I feel so blessed to be here. I only saw the gardens yesterday which makes me a feel a little guilty but due to a lack of a sleep I'm starting to feel sick and needed some time to just relax and regroup before starting a new week. It's hard to manage my time because I don't want to waste any minute being here. I am still walking anywhere from 4-8 miles every day. Mix that in with going to class in a foreign area with completely new faces, finding my way around the city, a day trip to Venice, exploring Florence's night life, along with planning weekend trips and having to figure out the logistics of everything taking exam schedules, class field trips, and events through our program into consideration. Every night when I get home to my apartment I then want to catch up with friends, family, and things going on back home but there's only so much time in each day! Needless to say my body needed some rejuvenating. As of now my plans for February are to take a weekend trip back to Venice, and head up to Interlaken, Switzerland which I am SO excited for.
Every day I find myself loving this city more and more. I'm already thinking about how sad I am going to be when I leave. Thanks for reading and keeping up with my travels, Jen
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