As I said before, after our arrival to Florence we had the rest of the evening to meet with our landlords, settle into our apartment flats, and become acquainted with our roommates. You can see a few pictures of my flat when you move through the pictures in the link below. It will be much better for you to look at them than for me to describe it. I hope to get more pictures of my apartment and neighborhood posted soon.The neighborhood that I live in is Via Marconi, and is located approximately twenty five minutes by foot from the center of the city, which is a nice walk during the day. (‘Marconi’ is the name of a scientist who, in the 1800’s, laid the foundations for the modern day radio.) I live amongst many of locals here and for that reason the prices are less and the neighborhood has assumed a personality that more closely reflects Italian city life. There are a variety of shops—a Pizzicheria, snack bar, Pasticheria, Il Centro (our supermarket), and a café just below my apartment. Many of the shop owners are also patient with my limited knowledge in Italian language and speak English when they realize I can’t hold a conversation past “Ciao!”. This is very helpful and allows me to function in the city without having many problems. I would, however, love to speak more Italian and hope that I can have a basic conversation by the time that I leave. I am not sure how over or under ambitious that goal is, but I will soon find out. Also, speaking with others, it seems as though our neighborhood is very unique and a desirable place for 20-somethings to live as it has a low key night life with

aperitivos (wine+all you can eat appetizers for 5 euro), pubs, and the soccer stadium (Campo di Marte) nearby. Although I am not big into night life, with everything around us, I am looking forward to living here!

left to right: Allie, Brittany, Megan, and Me

The first night of our arrival, my roommates and I also met with our landlord… who doesn’t speak English. To say the least, any interaction we have had with her on this night, and on other occasions, have been both confusing and comical. On the first night, I was lucky to have two of my roommates present who had taken intermediate Italian at the University of Minnesota. They acted as the interpreters for the landlord, and did well for the most part, with a few inaccuracies. With one inaccuracy in particular, my roommate had thought that we would have a fifth roommate. Not just any roommate, however, but one that would show up randomly every now and then to sleep; then, the next day, he/she would just pack up and leave…like a hobo, a missing convict, or something… nothing too unusual. That was one of the last conversations she had with the landlord that night and was what we were left pondering for a week. She finally realized that she had confused two similar words and that the landlord had really meant to say that she would be coming back throughout the semester to pick up blankets in the locked bedroom for other flats. The next visit from our landlord was to pick up the passport copies. She decided to do this very early in the morning, in which I woke up to my third roommate (who also speaks no Italian) trying to talk to talk to her, “I’m sorry! I don’t know! I can’t find it, it… is…lost… I …. am… trying… to look for it.” I walked into her bedroom to find the landlord standing there with her arms crossed, watching as my roommate threw items out of her desk drawer trying to find the copies of her passport. Standing there, the landlord takes notice of the fan and blanket on the floor and points to them in question. Allie (my roommate) had used the fan to create a soothing noise at night, making it easier for her to fall asleep; she also had placed the blanket on the floor to do sit-ups that morning. Once we understood what she was asking, we pulled out a phrase book, an Italian dictionary, and our best gestures to try and explain. To keep a long and embarrassing story short, in the end, she didn’t understand. Instead, she wondered why the traffic outside wasn’t enough noise and how the blanket could have possibly gave volume to our hair. I really believe that she needed a glass of wine after that. Within a few minutes after that incident, Allie (my roommate) was able to recover two of her own copies to give to the landlord. This seemed to satisfy the landlord and she wasted no time in leaving. Oh the joy of language barriers:)!


In any case, to quickly describe my apartment situation, I have a single room (thank you to a random drawing) and three roommates. Fortunately, I get along well with each of them and look forward to our little excursions through Florence and the rest of Italy. To give you a quick FYI, their names are Megan (University of Minnesota), Brittany (also U of M, I think that organizers, in general, find it funny to pair people with the same name), and Allie (IU). I will talk about them a lot more I am sure!