Running Italy Diary: 6 Days In

I have traveled the Atlantic Ocean, seen Paris (airport at least), traveled the canals in Venice on a gondola, ate spaghetti, ate chocolate spaghetti, wrote a letter in the House of Juliet, met many new people, and I haven’t even hit a week in Italy yet.

As mentioned before, I am on a study abroad trip for a month in Florence. In total, I have class nine times. Yup, that’s it. I mean, there is some work involved, but luckily we [students] have the opportunity to actually soak in the Italian culture a bit. We arrived at the city on Wednesday after an overnight flight and a six hour layover in Paris.

We are staying in apartments while we’re here. The large group of about 100 students is split up throughout the city. Florence is a very easy walking city, and most things are about 15 minutes, at most, away from each other on foot. So even though everyone is apart, it’s pretty easy to see a familiar face again.

I mean, what’s there to say about Italy that people don’t know already? The food is amazing. The art is amazing. The architecture is amazing. The whole city/country takes my breath away.

This past weekend I visited Verona, the setting of Romeo and Juliet, and Venice, which needs no side note. It’s very easy to get sucked into tourist traps in huge cities, but once I broke away from that, I had the chance to embrace this country for what it has to offer.

Bottom line: Italy is bomb. Europe is bomb. I don’t want to go back to the U.S., if I’m being honest. And the exchange rate sucks.

Here are some pictures of Italy so far. Expect much more. I’m leaving for Sienna tomorrow and this weekend we will be traveling to Sorrento and Pompeii.

First slice of pizza in Italy

Airport food is classy in Paris.

First gelato. Nutella flavor, would you expect anything less?

The best drink here.

Bruschetta

Spaghetti al pomodoro

Lasagna

Bolognese

Pesto

Tortellini al ragu

Calm sauce? Mi scusi, my Italian has run dry.

This is a great place right near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice. No cover charge. Building number 654, in between Calle Dei Spechieri and Calle Larga S. Marco.