The Most Perfect Week

Well hello there!

This week was the most perfect week thus far!

School was just school… the only notable part was that my Italian teacher treated my class to whatever we wanted at a café down the street from our school after our first quiz and we got ourselves some pretty fancy looking drinks. That was about it though.

Outside of the studying part of being abroad, I saw some pretty places, ate some wonderful food, and made some incredible memories.

On Wednesday, one of my friends who has already been here for a semester took me and a few friends on a little walking tour around Florence.  It is absolutely incredible how much this kid knows about a place he has lived for just a few months.  I can only hope to be able to absorb as much information as he has and find my bearings as well as he has by the time I am done here.  On our tour, we took a little hike up to one of the most beautiful lookouts in the city - Piazzale Michelangelo.  The view was breathtaking.  We made it up to the lookout right as the sun was setting and even had someone serenading us as we took in the view.  Every part of this setting was so beautifully romantic - minus the fact that I was lacking the love of my life… Oh well… Whenever (or if) I find that person, I will eventually be back with them to complete the perfect setting.

After our walk around the city, instead of going to bed like normal people would, my roommate and I found ourselves getting ready for her to go on a blind date - well kind of.  There is no smooth way to transition into this topic so I'm just going to start from the beginning… So, my roommate, Sam, is probably one of the greatest people I've ever met.  I really do thank God everyday for placing her in my life.  With that being said, she is also one of the most hilarious people I've ever met - part of the reason being that she does some of the weirdest things… For instance, one of the first things that she did when we got to Florence was turn on her Tinder and reset her location to Italy.

Now, for those of you who don't know what Tinder is, it is this app where you basically are given pictures of people in your general vicinity, you decide whether they are hot or not, and if you mutually agree that you are hot, then you are matched up and can chat over the app.

Anyways, she has been using Tinder as a joke here, but one day, this guy from England messaged her and told her he was going to be in Florence for a few nights and wanted to meet up with her.  After a few days of messaging him, she decided that he seemed pretty legit, so she decided to take her chances and meet up with the kid at the bar downstairs.  Now, I know that everyone reading this probably has their mouth wide open out of disbelief, but let me assure you, it really wasn't that strange.  Well - I take that back - it kind of was, but it was not unsafe.  Three friends and I went down to the bar to watch out for Sam as she tested the waters with this mysterious chap.  Turns out this kid was for real and actually pretty cool - cool enough that Sam ended up spending five hours with him.  So, moral of the story: maybe online dating isn't all that bad? … Just kidding.  I still do not condone online dating for any serious relationships, but if you find yourself in need of a good story, it might be worth a shot.

On Thursday, I adventured with my History and Culture of Food in Italy class to an old little restaurant for a classic four course Tuscan dinner - see last blog post "The Florence 50" for details on that excursion.  Along with that dinner, I also finally made it to the most popular pizza restaurant in Florence - Gusta Pizza.  After one bite of that pizza, I realized why everyone loves it so much and questioned why it has taken me over two weeks to make it over there.  Even my simple margarita pizza was delectable - and it was in the shape of a heart.  What more could you want from a pizza?

Saturday was simply incredible.  First of all, God blessed us with some sunshine and blue skies for the first time since we have been here.  We were able to walk around the city with just one layer of clothing and no fear of rain dampening our spirits.  A few girls and I hopped on a train to the tiny town of Lucca, Italy.

The train ride itself was eventful enough to deserve its own paragraph in this post.  Let's just say that we had no idea what was coming for us when we sat down on that train.  What started off as a peaceful ride turned into the most eventful commute I've ever experienced.  About ten minutes into our two hour train ride, my roommate, Sam, looked up and made eye contact with this psychotic Italian man.  Right after she locked eyes with this thirty-something year-old man, she started muttering, "oh no guys, oh no, he's coming over here!  I kid you not, this man is coming towards -".  Before she could properly warn us, this man pops out of nowhere and pushes my friend's legs off the seat and sits down on the seat across from us without hesitation.  Our new friend, Tony, spent half an hour making himself comfortable on our seats and trying to communicate with us through a ten-year old Italian child that he recruited from another part of the train to be his translator.  Let me just say that I have never laughed so hard in my life.  I literally could not breathe until his phone finally rang and he left us for good.

Once we finally got off the train, we ventured inside the walls of Lucca.  Now, I was kind of pessimistic about how well this day would go because so many people warned us and kept saying, "Lucca is dead - there is no one there and nothing to do."  However, they could not have been more wrong.  Lucca was amazing.  Yes, it took us a while to find the center of the city, but once we did, there was no escaping the flow of people.

After getting some food, we decided to rent some bikes and ride around the perimeter of the city.  Except, instead of renting single bikes like normal people, Sam and I decided to rent a tandem bike.  In hindsight, that probably wasn't our smartest idea considering neither of us had ever ridden a tandem bike, let alone ridden a single bike in years.  Oh well - sometimes the worst decisions make for the best of stories, right?  Riding around on cobblestone by yourself is a pain in the butt - literally and figuratively speaking - but trying to navigate it on a tandem bike with steering problems and unreliable breaks is a whole different issue.  Anyways, once we finally got onto the paved road that circles the city, we were able to figure out the bike and enjoy ourselves.  Riding around the city and taking in the beautiful landscape was one of the most blissful experiences I've ever had.

After riding around the city, we decided to get some gelato because I mean, what day would be complete without gelato, right?  And let me tell you, that was a wonderful decision.  After spending half an hour walking around trying to find a gelato shop, we finally found this organic gelato place that had probably some of the best gelato I've ever had - which is something to be said, considering I'm a gelato connoisseur and everything.

Anyways, besides getting some of the best gelato I've ever had, we also ran into this group of crazy Italian teenage girls storming through the city filming a birthday video for One Direction's, Harry Styles.  I've heard that One Direction fans are crazy (and witnessed it too, thanks to my wonderful sister), but this was just something else.  I thought Jonas Brothers fans were insane, but these girls made them look just pathetic.  I'm not a huge fan of 1D by any means, but this little parade did brighten my day.

At the end of the day, I was extremely glad that I didn't listen to people's discouraging comments about Lucca.  The sunshine, green grass, bike ride, gelato, and One Direction was just what the doctor ordered for my lazy Saturday in Italy.  If you ever find yourself in Europe, make sure you check out one of the most underrated cities Italy has to offer.

The next day was just as good as the last.  I spent the morning roaming around Florence in the sunshine.  We made our way over to the Boboli Gardens.  Now, this garden wasn't exactly what you would picture when someone says gardens - there were no flowers blooming or anything like that, but that is not to say that it wasn't still magical.  These gardens had the most green grass that I have ever seen in Florence and one of the most beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside.  'Twas a wonderful morning.

Later that night, it was time to immerse ourselves in true Florentine culture by cheering on our home team at the FC Fiorentina soccer game.  I've never really been to a professional soccer game, let alone a soccer game where people had as much spirit as these fans do.  The entire arena was flooded with royal purple, all congregated to watch everyone's favorite team take on Genoa.  It was so cool to feel apart of a group that had such passion and love for their city.  Even though I couldn't understand a word being chanted, my toes debatably got frost-bite, and we tied, it was still an incredible night.  Needless to say, it was an experience that won't be forgotten anytime soon.

All in all, this week was definitely one for the books.  I can only hope that each week is as good as this one was.  Cheers to pretty people and pretty places, bad decisions and good memories, and the adventure of a lifetime.

Ciao for now!

Sincerely yours,
Just Another Original