Arrivederci Firenze!

As I write this, I am on a train leaving Florence. Leaving Florence for good. It is a difficult notion to accept, that I won’t be coming back to my Italian home again. I had such a wonderful time on this trip and cannot believe that it came to an end so quickly. When we first arrived in Florence I felt like I would have more time than I could possibly need to see everything I wanted to in the city, but I could not have been more wrong. Florence is so jam-packed with beauty and history; I’ve realized that it would take a lifetime to see it all. The first two weeks went by at a regular pace, but these last two weeks were a whirlwind. Between midterms, finals, long weekend trips, and more fun than I can express, I barely had time to catch my breath. And already we are on our way to our next adventure! Today we will be exploring Venice, followed by three days in Munich, Germany. After that, who knows! We are still trying to decide what destinations our budget will allow. This trip ended up being much more expensive than I originally planned on so most likely we will have to cut a country from the roster. Even though I’ll be going home with an empty bank account, this trip has been well worth it. I’m not even sure that I can put into words all the things I have learned about life along the way- and we’re just getting started!

Our last week in Florence consisted of a lot of schoolwork, including our last paper on Florentine monuments, our final exam, and turning in our travel journals. By the way, I got a 99% on the final exam. Wahoo!

This week consisted of a lot of ‘lasts’ and it was really difficult to accept each one. We had our last day of class, our last night out, our last group dinner, our last gelato from our favorite shop, and our last walk up the dreaded stairs to our apartment (I thought I would have gotten used to walking up four flights of stairs every day, but I didn’t. None of us did). On Wednesday night we had a big dinner planned with our class at a restaurant called Il Gatto e la Volpe (the cat and the fox). I was a little weary of the price of the meal since we’re trying to budget well, but once we sat down we were spoiled with mountains of delicious Italian food and wine. Soft, warm bread, piles of salami and prosciutto with grilled vegetables and mozzarella, chianti wines, and three different kinds of the yummiest pasta I’ve ever had. It was well worth it. But the best part about the night was spending it with our classmates and, most of all, our professor Leonardo. I know I’ve mentioned it before but I really cannot stress enough what a wonderful professor he was. After our final exam, he left the room while we all filled out our course evaluation forms for UC Davis, and every single person absolutely gushed about his teaching skills and helpful personality. So when it came time for our final dinner we organized to get him a parting gift. We had a group photo printed and framed for him, and we all signed (more like wrote novels in) a card for him. When we presented them to him at dinner he seemed so grateful, if not a little flustered by the attention, and thanked us in return for being such a mellow class. He said he heard horror stories from the other professors before coming and was terrified of the troubles we might cause.

After dinner he took us all out for gelato and we ate and talked in the street for a while. Then we each got our turn to take pictures with our favorite professor! He was such a trooper.

Leonardo looking 'happy'

Leonardo looking 'scared'

Such a great group!

 Yesterday was our last full day in Florence and I feel like we spent it well. We woke up early and FINALLY visited the duomo. We didn’t get a chance to see the bascillica or climb the bell tower but it was still a great experience. We shopped around the markets a bit before heading home to clean and pack. Then, in the pouring rain, Luke, Kelcey and I headed out to the best sandwich shop in town and ended up sitting on the steps of the Palazzo Vecchio eating our sandwiches in the rain.

Inside the duomo

Later on, we met friends at Gusto Pizza and walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo to eat our dinner and watch the sunset. Unfortunately, the clouds blocked most of the sun but the city lights at night were still incredibly beautiful. Afterward, we walked down to “our place” to get gelato (Raspberry and orange chocolate for me!) and enjoyed the chatter of local Italians. On our walk home we crossed the Ponte Vecchio and were surprised to find a ballet performance occurring. It was definitely a modern interpretation of ballet, and Kelcey pointed out that the ballerinas seemed to be a little inexperienced, but it was still incredibly entertaining. We spent the rest of the night packing our belongings into our little turtle shells (that’s what I like to call our packs, because they’re basically our home that we carry around on our backs).

Thanks so much for making this trip possible mom!!

Ponte Vecchio at night

Last time at our favorite gelato shop <3

This morning, after getting all of our stuff together, we walked down to our favorite caffe and ordered some of the best cappuccinos in all of Florence. The city was so quiet in the early morning, and I was really glad that we got the chance to enjoy all of our favorite things before we left.

The three of us walked to the train station together and said our goodbyes in the lobby. Kelcey is on her way to London for a few days before heading home. I’m glad I got the opportunity to live with a friend for a while; It was definitely a different experience. And I’m certainly going to miss seeing her so much when she goes back to LA!

Now, as much as I enjoyed my time in Florence and am going to miss it, I am extremely excited to embark on our next adventure!