What's going on?
It's been awhile since I've opened my blog. I'm basically on vacation now but you know who that goes- the more free time you have the lazier you get. Well, I have to tell you with some sadness and some joy we are leaving Florence. Now, the title of my blog is not true anymore. It's an incredible city and we have loved it for many reasons but when you have a chance like we do to live and study where we want, it's hard to stay in one place. Why do I feel sadness and joy at the same time. Let's see...
What makes me sad about leaving? Well...
1. We can walk everywhere. To school, it was ten minutes. To the gym it's ten minutes. To visit friends, it's five minutes. To the station it's fifteen minutes.
2. Our front yard. Santa Croce. I do love the piazza out our door. I love the light on the church in the evening and the Italians sitting in the steps until wee hours in the morning.
3.Hong Kong, my favorite Chinese restaurant here. I will miss all the Chinese servers I got to practice my Italian with.
5. The Russian/Italian/Kebob restaurant around the corner. I love the man running it. I miss his smiling face. He is always happy. Thank you for putting up with my bad Italian. He could always understand me.
6. I will miss Karla, Antoinella and Vittoria who taught me so well and enthusiastically at my school.
7. I will miss my classmates but they are leaving Florence too so...
8. I will miss the cheap trains to almost anywhere in Italy.
9. Being able to take out the garbage anytime 24-7.
10. Limone gelato.
11. The beautiful yellow of some of the buildings-especially in the sunlight.
12. MARTA
13. The servers at the restaurant outside our door. I talked to them at least once a day if not five times.
Things I won't necessarily miss:
1. The millions of tourists. Florence gets 8 million tourists a year.
2. The narrow streets where you have to dodge the other people, scooters, cars and buses that just barely fit. I don't know how many times the side mirror of the bus brushed my hair.
3. The grafitti that's everywhere.
4. The lack of trees anywhere in the historic center.
5. The fact that most of the people in our neighborhood going out at night were American young women. We heard more English than Italian.
6. The expensive restaurants.
7. Long lines in the supermarket.
8. The fact no one says thank you or sorry on the streets. How many times did I step out of the way so someone could get through. Never once was there a thank you. Oh, well, it's a cultural thing I guess.
Enough. I want my positive list to be longer than the negative one. All in all, I don't regret coming here. I've made good friends, learned a little language and have seen more than most people see in a life time. Now, off to more adventures in other countries. Where are we off to next. AMSTERDAM. Jonathan just found an apartment so we will be Dutch for a little while. I'm not so motivated to study Dutch as everyone speaks better English than the average American but I am excited to explore the country my grandfather started his life in. One of my goals is to visit his childhood home. We hope to visit some friends we met in Taize, France last April and I will start my Spanish study. What fun!!
See you all in Amsterdam.
