Sono Arrivata!

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

This is going to be a long one since I was internet-less for a while. Since I have been in Firenze I have moved into my apartment, started a class, and gotten to know the city pretty well. It's great to get to know everyone else studying here too since we're all experiencing this together and everyone is really excited to explore and travel around. So when I first got here I started writing, but like I said I couldn't post it. Here it is though, to catch you up:

I was so happy to be on that plane headed to Italy, it was a long wait until that moment. Though no matter how excited I was, as soon as the flight started I was ready for the next 11 hours to be over and to be off the plane, but luckily the endless wine helped time pass a little quicker.

I flew into Zurich, Switzerland and got my first European passport stamp! Alright! Flying into Zurich was absolutely breathtaking because the hillsides were beautiful, green hills all over. It was a great start to my European exposure. I was half expecting to see Heidi to be skipping down them. The rolling hills had little swiss houses scattered about, surrounded by clusters of forests and rivers all over.
My first night in Europe I joined the groups of other 20-somethings sprawled out across the airport chairs and floor. The best part was that none of the seats in the Zurich airport have armrests so I was able to snag a set that made a great bed. We all made our own diverse little community of low budget travelers, some starting their journeys with anticipation and others sharing their favorite they've been to. Some were prepared with mats and pillows (I myself took the blanket from the plane) and we all were willing ourselves to sleep. I had the first flight out to Florence and it was comical to watch the airport wake up. The freshly showered and well rested airport employees began filing in, starting their day at work, tip-toeing around the sleeping travelers.
I arrived in Firenze in mid-morning, so happy to be done with airports! I met some other girls in the program and we hopped in a taxi to the place we're staying for the first week, until everyone finds an apartment or room.

Walking around Firenze is hard to describe, and there is a lot of it (walking that is). Firenze is a pretty small city, but when your feet are the only transportation, it can seem ten times bigger. Before I came I was warned of how much walking I'll do. I thought oh, yeah for sure I'd be fine walking everywhere, but man are my legs tired! It's great though because I've gotten to see a lot of the city.

Over the first few days, I've really only been trying to find a place to live. Looking at apartments and hoping that I'll find one! It's been fun to see a bunch of different ones, though, because there is a great variety in the style, modernity, and furniture (almost all of them are furnished). They each have a lot of their own character too. One that comes to mind had a 20ish foot ceiling with a mural and crown molding all around, it was pretty impressive. All the buildings in the city are 5 stories, and to get into them you have to ring a buzzer. Another cool thing is the doors to most of the buildings, they're all really tall (maybe 15 feet high), with various intricate frames and door knockers.

So with the tall buildings and narrow winding streets, it's really easy to get lost. Over the past few days, though, I've gotten familiar with some of the city, like I said it's pretty small. But it's hard to find a point of reference when walking through the streets since you can't see very far. But that's also pretty awesome because you can take in what's right around you and notice the little details.

One of my favorite legends so far is of the Palazzo Grifoni. The top floor window (On the right) always has the shutters partly open to see the piazza below. The story is that a few centuries ago a young woman in love marries a son of teh Grifoni family, who soon after goes to war with other noble families of Firenze. Her heart aching for him, she sits at her window and awaits his return. Everyday she does this with the shutter cracked to see out, but he never returns. She dies years later in that room and her family says that when the shutters were closed, she haunted the room. To settle her spirit, the shutter on the window she looked out of stays open for her for a view of the piazza below.