Ciao Mieli! Week two and already time is flying by. This week was a normal one, full of classes Monday through Friday with the exception of Wednesday’s day trip to Florence. Though we have only traveled to Florence twice with the whole student group, this was my favorite experience so far. With our comical and very opiniated tour guide, Giovanni, we focused our day on the Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore. Inside the Duomo was an endless amount of details among the art and history. Down underneath, we went into the crypt and saw the original church remnants that obviously now have been expanded into the grand cathedral it is today. Along the border of the Duomo’s piazza, we went through the Duomo’s new museum. It was full of a multitude of sculptures, art, and my favorite part, the original Gates of Paradise. We also visited the Baptistry which was a first for me although having already visited Florence before. I developed a slight crick in my neck from constantly looking up to the intricate ceilings in awe. With lunch free to go where we please, Lainey, Sydney and I treated ourselves to one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Trattoria Sostanza. I usually struggle to put exciting things into justifying words but describing the quality and flavor of this Italian restaurant is simply impossible. For anyone reading this unique account of my Italian adventures and may frequent this establishment, for the love of anything and everything, order the butter chicken, egg soufflé, and meringue cake with wild berries. Anyways, we all met up afterwards to climb the monstrous Duomo. It was quite the workout, but the view in the end made it all worth the 463 steps. If I were to describe what I believe being on top of the world would feel like, I would expect something very similar what it felt like being on top of the Duomo. Thrilling. Afterwards, we were set free to adventure and find our way home. We made our way window shopping along the Ponte Vecchio and strolling along the Arno river. A wonderful and eventful day.
The following weekend was our Verona trip and with perfect timing as Valentine’s Day was that Thursday before. The weekend began with a slow Friday morning before we caught our afternoon connecting trains. Probably one of the most stressful weekends I have experienced in the sense of traveling. For the first time, we were traveling on our own and you will soon see that not everything went smoothly.
To get to and from Verona on a budget we had purchased connecting train tickets, meaning we changed between three different trains along our journey. Despite the long day of traveling, there was a large group of our friends who joined us on our weekend adventure. This trip started quite poorly, but in all honestly, it just made everything that followed that much better. To specify I have to start at the beginning. Because our group was so large, we had to separate into two Airbnb’s of different locations causing us to also split up at the second train station. My group, now alone and consisting of six white, American young women, arrived in Verona Porta Vescovo just after sunset. This station, one of two in Verona, was most evidently the less popular stop. When we got off the train, there was no one there but a creepy old homeless man. After exiting the small station into an empty and dark parking lot, we found no signs of taxis or buses unlike we were previously told that we would see. With growing anxiety, we made our way towards the closest place that seemed safe, a small bar. Somehow amidst random luck, there was a very friendly Italian woman who went out of her way and called us a cab to our Airbnb. Relived to finally arrive at our new temporary home, we discovered that we had spoken too soon. After several minutes of knocking and ringing the doorbell with no response, we decided to call our host despite the cost it might charge. The host answered with some confusion as we explained our situation. He told us to wait and some ten minutes later rolled up on his bike with the words, “we have a little problem.” I still hate to admit it, but I would like to add that it was in fact me who booked the Airbnb for all six of us. He began to explain that our reservation was booked for March 15th through the 17th, when today it was February the 15th. My heart dropped. I was completely speechless. A long day of stressful travel to a faraway Italian city and we had nowhere to stay the night. However, our host soon saved the day as there was a cancellation for the weekend and he had another nearby flat available. The ten-minute walk to our new Airbnb seemed more like 30 minutes as my mind raced attempting to process what I had done. Anxiety levels were still rising when we arrived at the new flat. In the end, we only had to pay a minor €5 city tax and we were set to go. This will forever be a moment that proves that there really is someone looking out for us. Even now, describing this drama is somewhat stress inducing, but I have learned a valuable lesson, that in the future, I will always triple check my dates. The rest of our trip in Verona was fantastic and reasonably stress free. We visited almost all the tourist hotspots including Juliet’s balcony and house museum, Castlevecchio, and Torre dei Lamberti. Among my favorite things was writing a letter to Juliet and delivering it to the mailbox in her house. It is very fascinating to me that it is so popular to write to Juliet, a fictional character with a terrible history of romantic experience for relationship advice. I am merely excited to just receive a letter from a random and foreign stranger that I know I will never actually meet. Amongst our big group, we all were able do a lot of what we each wanted. Lainey, Sydney and I split off at one point and skipped rocks along the bank of the Adige River under the bridge of Castlevecchio, a simple moment I hope to never forget. All in all, a lovely trip teaching me a lot about the culture of Romeo and Juliet, the importance of double-checking dates, and the unexpected and extraordinary beauty of Verona.
