Livin’ La Vida Local

I’m approaching my fourth week in Florence and after spending the weekend without my roommates and on my  own, I feel a little more at home here. I’ve cleaned my apartment, done the laundry, bought groceries, found a general idea of my bearings, and I’ve started getting into the routine of going to classes and unfortunately doing my homework.

Now I’m at the point where I feel like I’ve done the touristy Florentine things to do and I’ve ready to start seeing what Florence is truly about. There are thousands of study abroad students in Florence and most of them will stick to the normal agenda for study abroad students. Pregaming at Lions Fountain (an English type bar with Greek letters scrawled on the walls), then going out to Red Garder (the American Karaoke bar equipped with beer pong tables) and ending the night at the club Twice. I’ve been to all these places and while fun, they are also littered with study abroad students and the skeevy Italians who are trying to sleep with the pretty blonde American girls.

As I’ve already said, I came to Florence to get away from the typical TCU scene and in itself the typical college lifestyle of partying. This Friday I drank a little too much vino and ended up spending my entire Saturday afternoon hungover in my apartment instead of exploring the city. Now maybe that sounds like an excellent Friday night at TCU but here I just felt embarrassed and upset that I missed out on a wonderful day in Florence.

On my Friday afternoon though I went to my new favorite coffee shop on the other side of the river and then took a different way back to my apartment exploring the side streets and all the different and unique shops.

On my way back I went to the Pitti Palace which is one of the Medici’s homes that has been converted into not one, not two, but TEN museums. If you could see the inside of it, you would understand how it’s possible. It was room after room after room of hundreds of paintings and statues. The decor of the palace itself was sometimes more interesting than the portraits of aristocratic families! My favorite part was the costume museum…or course.

I guess I’m ready to find more things to do in Florence besides the typical things. Don’t get me wrong, the Uffizi gallery was incredible it almost brought my to tears. Going to the Academia and seeing the David was an experience I will never forget because the sheer magnitude of the statue is literally breath-taking. I just want to see more of Florence and experience everything it has to offer.

Some things I would like to do:

-Go see the Duffy Photographic Genius Exhibit*

-Go bars outside of Santa Croce

-Go to the Leather School

-Visit the Antique Market

*Addendum: The Duffy exhibit was incredible. Very inspiring portraits of the 1960s and 70s that included models, actors, and celebrities. Below are a few photos I grabbed from the web.