Day 2
It's interesting- now that the dust is starting to settle, people are starting to make up their friend groups. The social circles are starting to set but we haven't even had classes yet and that might shake things up. It's still a lot like freshman year of college when everyone talks to everyone and wants to make new friends. It's really cool to have that chance all over again- to be plunged into a group of people your own age and in similar circumstances and at a similar point in their lives who need to start all over again with constructing their network of friends. Who you present yourself as is not nearly as interesting as who you gravitate toward because who you choose to be your friends reflects a lot about what you value. And throughout most of our adults lives, we gather friends one by one from various circumstances. But the opportunity to start from a blank slate and to know that everyone else is too, is special. And liberating.
Anyway, enough analysis. Day 2 was pretty eventful. It started off with me not getting ready fast enough for a walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo. Late to begin with, my roommate and I stuck our key in the inside lock to unlock the deadbolt (our door is kind of confusing and needs a key to lock the deadbolt from both the inside and outside) and it just kept turning. It never unlocked the deadbolt either. We were effectively locked IN our apartment. Of course, the only way to get in touch with our program was by phone and our service had not started yet (although it was supposed to have). Panicking, I used our wifi to Facebook message my ex-roommate and tell him to tell someone to rescue us! Meanwhile I started to make a frozen pizza for breakfast in the weird microwave thing that works like a toaster oven. Thankfully his service had started and his data was working. We were soon saved (before I had time to eat my pizza) and taken up a huge hill at a brisk pace. I kind of died a little bit but it was worth it because have you seen the view:
Also there was a church there called San Miniato I think but don't quote me on that spelling. And there might have been a few selfies that I'm embarrassed to admit happened. This view is Florence's version of Pittsburgh's Mount Washington. Or maybe it's the other way around. This whole time we'd been taking pictures, my friends and I were kind of unaware that the tour had left us up there. We figured the best way home was down and so we walked back across the river towards the Duomo, knowing that it was just like the Cathedral- as long as we could see it, we could get home.
Something really exciting happened on our walk: my phone service activated!! I now have the security of knowing no matter what, I can always ask google to get me home :) Also, this will be really useful when trying to meet up with friends. Without a working phone, it's the stupid little details that trip you up. Biggest example: one of my other roommates wanted to meet us across town at a friends house and of course we told her to join us and gave her the address. Because it was late, she took a cab, so she didn't even have to worry about finding her way there. When she got the address, she didn't know which doorbell to ring to be let into the building and even once she was in she didn't know which door to knock on. All three of these challenges disappear with a functional phone. Google maps. Texting to ask which doorbell and which door.
My one friend and I branched off from the group after the walk because I wanted to see her apartment and what kind of laundry detergent she'd bought (I didn't know what the word for laundry detergent was when I'd gone grocery shopping). Update: if it says "bucato" on it anywhere, you're good. So far I'd only seen my ex-roommate's apartment and it was pretty nice compared to mine. So was my friend's. Then she came to see mine and we talked for a little before i decided to meet up with my other friends for aperitivo.
I met them at their apartment and it too was a lotttt nicer than mine. Before I was pretty satisfied with my cold, yellow, and Jesus-themed housing but now I was a little jealous. When I get out of bed, my feet land on freezing tile floors. That is not reinforcing. Anyway, before I had a chance to cry too much about life being unfair, we ventured out. We were a little early for aperitivo and I realized I hadn't eaten all day (it was like 5:45) so I got bread and olive oil. I realize that sounds like a waste of money. And I totally agreed with you before I tasted it. Worth the shocking 5€ price tag, although I wouldn't do it again because I'm cheap. Across the street there was this tiny shop that had a bajillion people in it and it was brightly lit and the things inside were shiny and colorful and so we were attracted to it like bugs to a light. It was called tiger and it had really strange/cool things. I'm still kind of confused. But before I had time to ponder, it was time for aperitivo!
Aperitivo is this thing where Italians drink and eat appetizers before dinner, from what I've gathered. We got a teeeny tiny bit lost because I was navigating (LOL no one is surprised) but it wasn't enough to deter us on our quest for 8€ drinks and free food at Soul Kitchen.
I got a piña colada bc it looked like the sugariest choice and I'm addicted to sugar and then dove into the all you can eat buffet. I could not tell you what I ate but it was good. Well, let me qualify. It was really good quality food but since I'm more about the sugar and less about the food, it wasn't my idea of the greatest meal ever, although I could appreciate how great it was. Did that make any sense at all??
Side note: it feels really weird being an American in a predominantly locals only atmosphere (since we find out where to go from my ex-roommate's italian friends) because I can see people's reactions to our "American-ness". We're loud and we take pictures of everything: ourselves, our food, ... But we're loud because we're excited to be here and we take pictures so we don't forget how much fun it was. We do the wrong things for the right reasons and so, while I feel a little bad for disturbing the atmosphere, I also don't see any reason to change our behavior. It's kind of a weird situation and for now I just want to observe it.
We did aperitivo wrong and just went back for seconds at the buffet instead of having dinner oops. Then we all went back to my apartment and my roommate shared her 3/5€ wine with us. We finished it. We had way too much fun just sitting and talking and being stupid from the alcohol and I'm hoping our wifi doesn't have a gigabyte limit bc we gave the password to everyone.
Another cultural difference between Americans and Italians which is pretty obvious: we do things big. Our cars are bigger, our houses are bigger, and because of this, we use more of everything. Apparently the girls living here before us were awful tenants and got kicked out and one of the main complaints was that they made too much trash. Also the heat can only stay on for a max of 8 hours a day. And electricity and water are much more expensive here so we were reminded like 10000x to turn off the lights when we're not in the room and to try to avoid using too much water because we'll be billed extra if we go over. Some of that is either the same as in the US or just common sense but there is much more of an emphasis on them here. Similarly, recycling is a pretty big deal. People take it pretty seriously that you should put glass and plastic together and keep that separate from organic waste and everything else. I'm not really sure how it works yet so I'm scared to make any trash.
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