Bowers Abroad: Week One

Quick blog post before I turn in for the night!

Jetlag is still somewhat bad… I haven't slept through a full night yet, and keep on waking up for several hours. I was up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't fall back asleep before my alarm went off at 7. It's crazy! But hopefully I'll be completely adjusted soon.

Tuesday morning, Andrea drove Carol and I to the bus stop to show us where it was. The roads in Italy are so much busier than anything I've seen with all the vespas, buses, taxis, and cars weaving in and out and racing around corners. It's insane! Glad Andrea was behind the wheel and I wasn't…..

Carol and I didn't have orientation until later in the afternoon so we decided to just explore the city and see what we could find. We don't have our Firenze cards yet, which grant us access to most of the museums and churches in the city, so Carol and I kept outside. Right now, Florence feels like a maze to me. You wind through these little alleyways and streets that are beautiful, filled with apartments and hole in the wall restaurants only to pop out in these enormous piazzas full of the most amazing art and architecture. Last year, I took an art history class on Renaissance art so I recognize a lot of the main attractions but seeing them up close is incomparable.

Il Duomo

Kitty

A replica of Michaelangelo's David

Grapes growing along the path to school

We then made it to the Accent Study Center where all of our classes are being held. It's on the southern side of the Arno, so about a 20 minute walk from the Duomo. Orientation was pretty basic -- we learned about safety in Florence and logistical things like health insurance, schedules, and contact information. I was able to meet other students in different home stays and we all decided to explore some more before we had to meet up with the rest of the group for dinner.

Ponte Vecchio

We went to dinner with the entire school at a restaurant just around the corner from the Piazza della Signoria. The food was awesome and just being able to meet more and more students in the program is always fun. There are 128 students in the program and almost 60 are from UCSB. Most are third-years, but there are significantly more fourth-years (like me!) than I thought there would be when I signed up to study abroad.

First course of dinner

Selfie in front of the Duomo

Carole and I ended up walking home which took almost an hour because our host family is father away than most. So, we decided to try out the bus system this morning to take it to the study center. It worked well! We take two buses to the center and it only takes about 30 minutes. When I was standing at the bus stop with about 10 other people waiting, an older German woman walked up to me and asked me if I knew English "because I looked like I would"…. Glad I am really blending in here! Today at school we took a placement Italian test (for beginners like me it was quite a joke) and then had an academic orientation. I got lunch with some friends after the orientation and then decided to walk home. It was an overcast day with some random drizzling here and there so the walk home was actually pretty nice!

The cutest little ducks in a window

Pesto, mozzarella, tomato on pesto focaccia….YUM

For dinner tonight, Barbara made us gnocchi with shrimp and cherry tomatoes followed by salmonne with baccalà (salmon and salted cod) and it was DELICIOUS. For the third course, we had fresh cantaloupe and watermelon with some vino! (The vino here certainly puts my favorite two-buck chuck from Trader Joe's to absolute shame.) I am so grateful to be staying in a home with a family because this experience is amazing. Barbara is a fantastic cook and Andrea and Tomasso have been so warm, welcoming, and oh so helpful. It's great to really step out of my comfort zone at the dinner table and try to piece together some Italian sentences as I learn the language. Tomasso wants to take Carol and me to his favorite shops and restaurants in Florence this weekend (showing us the hidden gelato and wine stores) and we are going to go running together in a popular garden right behind the house.

Tomorrow we have our first day of class! While I'm here, I am taking Italian levels 1-3 (a year of Italian at the UCs!) and a class on the history and culture of Italian food. Friday we have class in the morning and then a tour of the city in the afternoon and Saturday I am going to Cinque Terre with some friends.

And then because I have to mention them at least once every blog post, here are the animals: