It was my first train ride ever and I was super excited
about it. Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Milan around mid-day. It
took a while to figure out which form of transportation we should take to find
our hostel, but we finally found it. We stayed one night at Hostel Greco; it
was super cheap but a bit far from the city center. I had booked it a few
nights before on Hostel World and was nervous because it didn’t have the best
reviews. It was also my first time staying in a hostel – and this one we shared
with about eight other girls and guys. As usual, my worrying was unnecessary
because everything worked out fine. We had a place to sleep and a city to
explore!
Milan was originally where I wanted to study abroad just
because it is Italy’s fashion capital and I thought I’d somehow figure my way
into fashion week. But after visiting – we had a short time, unfortunately,
just half a day – I’m glad I chose Florence. Milan is very much more of a
modern city with not nearly as much to see as Florence. I think I would have
grown tired of the city.
We visited the beautiful Duomo and the famous shopping
area right next to it – Quadrilatero d’Oro. It was like a fashionista’s heaven!
There were beautiful designer stores everywhere and quaint little cafes. I love
browsing the window displays because they often have cool themes corresponding
to the designer’s fashion line items. It was also funny seeing a McDonald’s
planted in the middle of it all. I’m beginning to think our fast food
restaurants here are of a higher luxury standard to Italians. I’ll admit, I
caved and got a strawberry milkshake and cheeseburger once… so good. After a
short time wandering the streets we found a cute but bit pricey restaurant to
have a delicious dinner before heading back to the hostel.
The next morning we woke up early and headed back to the
train station to visit Verona for the day. I was happily settled on the train
waiting for departure, just thinking about how lucky we were to get such cheap
tickets and make all of our trips on time. I started reading the back of my
ticket and saw it said you must validate your ticket if you don’t have an
assigned seat. I mentioned it to Alyssa and remembered seeing someone stick
their ticket in a machine before boarding the train. By the time I decided
maybe I should run off the train and validate them, it was too late and we
began moving. We were just hoping that no one would come around to check. But
of course, they did. A man checking tickets looked at ours and began telling us
in Italian that we had to pay a fine for no validation. Neither of us fully
understood and he asked if we spoke English. We said yes, but he continued on
in Italian while another passenger on the train began arguing with him and
yelling about how it was unfair. Once the attendant collected our money, he
left our car and didn’t return to check anyone else’s tickets. We had to pay
around 11 euro (the price of our ticket) and a 45 euro fine on top of that. So
much for our cheap tickets! All because we didn’t get a little stamp of the
date on our ticket. Everyone else on the train was a lot more helpful trying to
explain to us (in Italian and Spanish, since Alyssa knows Spanish pretty well)
what we had to do once we got to Verona. Once we arrived there, we were able to
get a bit of a refund towards our return ticket to Florence. The man who was
arguing with the train attendant went out of his way to show us where to go and
he even complained to the station about what happened. Even though this was
such an annoying and unfortunate happening that could have been avoided, it
changed my views on how Italians just keep to themselves. We were obviously in
a dilemma and quite a bit of them went out of their way to help. It was so
nice!
That trouble aside, we began our day’s exploration of
Verona. We stopped for lunch and I had my first Kebab and a beer. It was a
delicious combination – food always seems to make everything better! In total,
we spent about six hours in Verona and saw quite a bit of the city and its
history. It’s very touristy, but reminded me of Florence on a smaller scale. It
was just as beautiful. We visited the Castelvecchio first, which was massive
and now houses museums. It was right along the river so once we climbed to the
top we had a great view of the city. We also saw a bit of a movie being filmed;
someone said it was a new Romeo and Juliet film.
This brings me to the reason I was most excited to visit
Verona. It is, of course, the city in which William Shakespeare based the play “Romeo
and Juliet”. Because of this, there are a ton of tourist sites pertaining to
the story, including Juliet’s house and Juliet’s tomb, both of which my friend
and I visited. I don’t know if the Capulets and Montagues actually existed – I’m
pretty sure it’s all just made up – but nonetheless it was a thrilling feeling
being there and sort of living the story.
I love Shakespeare and am such a hopeless romantic so
that sort of thing is definitely my cup of tea. I even stayed up until 5am
watching “Letters to Juliet” the night before the trip just to be inspired and
excited for when I’d get to write my own letter. If you haven’t seen the movie,
it’s about Juliet’s house in Verona where girls go and write to her letters of their
love or heartbreak, leave them in the wall, and wait for a response. The main
character goes to the wall, finds a letter from years ago, and decides to
respond to it as Juliet. She ends up helping the author of the letter find her
long lost love and, in the process, finds her own love (who happens to be a
cute brit - Totally my kind of movie). Haha
In the film, Juliet’s house is hidden away in a peaceful courtyard of plants, benches, and a statue of herself. It was a bit disappointing that the wall wasn’t like the movie, but I sort of expected that. The courtyard was full of tourists and there were gift shops all around. The walls were covered in signatures and there were no letters. We actually had to go inside and take a tour of the house up to the room where you can either write or email Juliet your letter. SO 2012. I chose to write mine and although I had been contemplating what to say, I still just made it general. I put my address down for a response, but I’m not sure they actually do that. Who knows – it’d be cool if they did! J
Another central site we visited was Verona’s Arena – sort
of like the Colosseum but on a much smaller scale. Lastly, we went to Juliet’s
tomb, which was on the opposite side of the city and consisted of a small
museum that led down to a dark underground tunnel and room that contained an empty
tomb. We did a lot in two days and were completely exhausted by the time we
returned to Florence Saturday night.
The next day I had been particularly anticipating because
it was the day of the Pitti Immagine Taste Festival! Since I’ve been abroad, my
affection for food has been growing immensely. I am always hungry and can
always eat more. I’m also more open than ever to trying new things. The food
festival was fantastic. We paid 15 euro and basically got to eat all kinds of
foods from every region of Italy. There were olive oils, breads, pestos, meats,
cheeses, wines, cookies, cakes – everything! They were all bite and taste sizes
so you really had to make your way around to all the booths to get your money’s
worth. I definitely did and I got pretty full and a bit tipsy! haha At the end
there was a small market where you could purchase your favorite foods you
tried.
The rest of my friend’s stay was spent in Florence doing
everything I could think of that would give her a clear picture of what my life
had been like there so far. I FINALLY went shopping and we also went to a
classical music concert held in the British Library. We also both developed a
cannoli addiction that I have yet to rid myself of. I have a feeling it will
just be replaced with the next dessert I try!
Alyssa left early Thursday morning before I woke up for
class, but she left behind a reminder of how sweet a friend she is. There were
fresh flowers on the table and kitchen counter with a note saying they were a “thank
you” for letting her stay the week! It was so sweet of her and it’s also
inspired me to have fresh flowers in my apartment more often. The wonderful
thing about Europe is the open air markets that sell those sorts of things – I’m
really going to miss it when I return home. Alyssa had also brought me a
present from home when she arrived – American Vogue! She knows me too well. J
I also had another trip on my horizon. The next day I
packed and left early, along with other students in my program, for a weekend
stay in Venice! We headed towards northeast Italy, where I had just been only a
week prior. But this time we’d be on the water and I’d get to see yet another
ocean. I’ve been exposed to so many different types of transportation this
semester and Venice definitely was quite a new experience. Our bus stopped at a
vacant lot near the city and we all had to transfer onto boats to get to our
hotels. I snagged a seat on the top deck so I had a great view as we sailed
into the city.
Venice didn’t look too different than Florence –
colorful, ancient buildings, piazzas, statues… except, of course, it is
completely on the water and your only way to get around is by boat or on foot.
But it did feel a lot more like a fairytale. One of the school faculty said you
haven’t experienced Venice unless you get lost in the city. It’s very easy to.
The streets are narrow and curving, many dead end to water and there are
bridges everywhere. A friend and I wandered one night to see what being lost in
the city felt like. I think the city was meant to be seen that way, not by
following a map from point to point.
There were a few things, though, that killed the magic
for me. As you can imagine the city is an extremely popular tourist site and
that’s pretty much completely what it thrives and survives on. It’s expensive
and you pay for everything – public restrooms and even to sit at an outside
table to have gelato. Everywhere you turn there are street performers or gondoliers
trying to get you to purchase their goods or go for an overpriced ride in a
gondola. I remember watching a video in my Italian class back home about the
tradition and expertise it takes to become a gondolier and how respected it is.
I got a completely different impression, though, because I thought it was the
main transportation for all Venetians. Gondolas now are decorated in such a
gaudy manner and seem to be for the retired tourists willing to pay the overpriced
amount. But I guess I can’t blame a city that’s struggling to survive. It was
also sad to learn that many people don’t live there anymore and looking around,
most of the buildings did look vacant. I imagine life would be a bit difficult
there and it’d also be weird knowing that the city is constantly sinking! It
was built atop tree trunks that were driven into the ocean bed and I suppose
over the years they’ve begun to give way and shift around.
Through tours with our school, we saw a ton of historic
sites and famous churches, including the Basilica di San Marco that had the
entire ceiling and walls in mosaic. But I was more excited for our free time on
Saturday that I used to visit the islands of Murano and Burano. I took a boat
from the main land to Murano, which is the island where most of Venice’s
glassblowing takes place. I was able to see a bit of this in action and wandered
through shops of gorgeous Venetian glass products, including some of the most
amazing chandeliers I’ve ever seen. Afterwards, I island hopped to Burano,
which was probably the closest real life experience I’d ever have to the Wizard
of Oz. It was a cute island with not much more than residences, all of which
were painted in bright colors of the rainbow with contrasting flower pots
outside and trim on the houses. Hopefully my friends and I didn’t freak out too
many residents with our picture taking and running around their front and back
yards!
It was sad leaving Venice because I felt like the city
was a whole new experience and a breath of fresh air from the routine I was
falling into with school. I also had tons of homework to face back home – but I
could only hide from it for so long!
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