Long and Winding Florentine Roads.
We were lost.
The sun sizzled too hot on my skin for a September afternoon as I peered at the map of the city that the school had provided for us. It's main purpose, besides the obvious, was to ensure we weren't late to orientation.
It was 15 minutes past the time we were supposed to be at orientation.
We were lost and late.
Frustrated, Harry pulled up Google maps. "We can't be that far," he said as we tried to navigate the via's and the piazza's without detouring anymore than we already had.
The thing about Florence's streets is that they're all so narrow, they don't look like they could lead anywhere. So we would walk halfway down a street, assume it led nowhere, and turn around only to come back full circle or better yet venture on to that very street...but from the other side.
The streets always lead somewhere. By some miracle, they always did.
Then there were the piazzas that burst into view just as you'd turn a seemingly narrow ordinary corner. Some of the more famous public squares vaunt the vibrant unification of colors and music, always crowded and always humming with a touristic buzz. Sometimes you could catch it from a distance, sometimes it would catch you.
And boy did it catch us.
In our quest to find the orientation building, we happened upon the Duomo , Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria as well as Piazza della Repubblica- all of which are famous Florentine landmarks.
30 minutes later, we were finally in front of the orientation building, but we learned two things that day that easily foreshadowed our stay in Italy.
One, that these narrow, winding roads could be easily navigated because of the close proximity everything had to everything...or that they could be the death of you because of how closely huddled together they were; I nearly got run over by a horse and carriage.
Yep, read that again.
And two, that I was 90% of the reason why we were always late, because everything was so gorgeous to look at, I kept stopping to gawk at the streets and the piazzas and take pictures.
This was also the reason why I almost got run over by a horse.
Here's another fellow study abroad student's take on the infamous Florentine roads. She's not kidding about those Italian drivers!
http://dailytrojan.com/2015/02/23/surviving-in-florence-101-narrow-streets-and-angry-italian-taxi-drivers/
The sun sizzled too hot on my skin for a September afternoon as I peered at the map of the city that the school had provided for us. It's main purpose, besides the obvious, was to ensure we weren't late to orientation.
It was 15 minutes past the time we were supposed to be at orientation.
We were lost and late.
Frustrated, Harry pulled up Google maps. "We can't be that far," he said as we tried to navigate the via's and the piazza's without detouring anymore than we already had.
The streets always lead somewhere. By some miracle, they always did.
Then there were the piazzas that burst into view just as you'd turn a seemingly narrow ordinary corner. Some of the more famous public squares vaunt the vibrant unification of colors and music, always crowded and always humming with a touristic buzz. Sometimes you could catch it from a distance, sometimes it would catch you.
And boy did it catch us.
30 minutes later, we were finally in front of the orientation building, but we learned two things that day that easily foreshadowed our stay in Italy.
One, that these narrow, winding roads could be easily navigated because of the close proximity everything had to everything...or that they could be the death of you because of how closely huddled together they were; I nearly got run over by a horse and carriage.
Yep, read that again.
And two, that I was 90% of the reason why we were always late, because everything was so gorgeous to look at, I kept stopping to gawk at the streets and the piazzas and take pictures.
This was also the reason why I almost got run over by a horse.
Here's another fellow study abroad student's take on the infamous Florentine roads. She's not kidding about those Italian drivers!
http://dailytrojan.com/2015/02/23/surviving-in-florence-101-narrow-streets-and-angry-italian-taxi-drivers/
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