Eine Amerikanerin in Italien: Teil Eins

  At first I was excited when I heard a street musician playing this in Italy, then I realized it's the only song all of them know...

 So I tried to write this blog entry last night, but around midnight I basically conked out and didn't wake up until noon today. That never happens to me. I woke up totally confused, but totally rested! I had fun today reuniting with everyone at AJY, and now I am home and ready to finally write about my trip to Italy.

As you can imagine, this is going to be a pretty long story. I think for this post I'll only discuss the aspect of traveling and then the first half of my trip, otherwise your eyes might fall out...and so will mine. And since this is going to be so long I'm going to quickly explain acronyms I'll use. RSS will mean Rick Steves Says, because my Europe Through the Back Door book is pretty much my travel bible and he gives great advice. BIBB will mean "but I'll be back!" as my optimistic way of saying that this will not be my only trip to Italy. TL;DR is a common internet acronym that will mean "too long, didn't read" and it will precede a small summary of each place I visited if you don't want to read it all.

Okay. Well. The reason I was being so weird in my previous blog entry was because I wasn't ready to admit that I would be traveling through Italy...alone. Not to say that I thought I'd be stalked, but I figure that it's just not the best thing to broadcast. Anyway, yes, I went alone because my other AJY friends wanted to go to places I wasn't too interested in. Some people went to London/Paris/Amsterdam and some went to London/Dublin and another had family friends in Sweden. Those places are all cool, but Italy was #1 on my list of places to visit, and I knew it can't be conquered in a weekend. Some other people from AJY were in Italy, but despite meeting up with them for dinner a couple of times, I was traveling all alone. As I posted on Facebook, I was extremely nervous and almost dreading it because of, well, a zillion reasons.

First of all, being alone in a foreign country poses many dangers that are vastly intensified for young women, and all women, really. I'm lucky, though. I'm white and I have dark eyes and hair, so I could easily blend in, which made me less of a target. A target of what, you might ask? Well, I have heard all kinds of stories about thieves and pickpockets that lurk all over Europe. You can easily Google pickpocketing and read all kinds of urban legends about the stunts that pickpockets pull. Then, of course, a woman walking alone at night must always worry about the possibility of being assaulted. Thankfully, there are not many violent crimes in Europe, but as all women know, walking alone at night is not fun.

Because of the fact that I am vulnerable to these things, my brain couldn't help but ask a series of "what if" questions, including: What if all of my hostel-mates are strange men? What if a language miscommunication gets me into trouble? What if I am followed by drunk strangers? What if someone throws a fake baby at me...will I try to catch it and become the victim of pickpocketing? (Yeah, that last one's actually legit.) Just the possible crime aspect was enough to have me feeling uneasy. Then there's the whole idea that I'd be in a foreign country and not know where anything is or how to say anything in the native language. And what if I lost my phone, passport, or money? What would I do? Where would I go? And what if I missed my train to Venice? I'd be stuck! What if my hostel ends up being really dirty? Thennnnnn there's the whole loneliness aspect that comes with traveling alone.What if I get sick and have no one to ask for help? What if I need a second opinion on a restaurant or shopping choice? What if I have no one to talk to except my teddy bear? What if I get super lost? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?

Obviously I am a worrywart, which was making the whole thing worse, so I finally made myself accept it. I was going to be alone for the most part, yes, but I was also going to have an amazing time. I was going to go all over Italy and do whatever I wanted. I was going to be smart and not let myself be vulnerable, no matter what. So, that's exactly what I did. I researched plane tickets and monuments and tours and train tickets and bus trips and I ended up choosing a whole bunch of amazing things and slapping them on an itinerary...all by myself. Yes, I planned a trip to: Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, and Rome all on my own. And despite the fear that everything would go wrong, I did feel pretty proud of myself for being able to set such an extensive plan.

And that's the thing about traveling alone. You know the dangers, but you have to make it work. You just have to. You have to rely on yourself instead of others and you have to learn to make the right decisions. That's why RSS it's an enlightening experience to travel on your own. You get to know yourself better and grow as a person because everything that happens is up to you. Of course there are things you have no control over, but you have to take control and make responsible decisions if you want to survive. And you know what? I did survive. And I'm not going to lie and pretend I'm totally modest, because I want people to be proud of me. I put a ton of effort into all of this and I had an amazing time and everything worked out. My ego has inflated a little. But at the same time, I told myself that I shouldn't think I'm better than others because of this. I should just encourage them to be independent as well, because if there's one thing I've learned, an experience like this is truly invaluable. I wanted to go places and I made it happen. So, lovely readers, do not let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game! Seriously! It's scary, but you will feel so great in the end.

As much as I dislike Chris McCandless, I have to say that his sentiment of "happiness is only real when shared" is certainly interesting. At times did I wish I had someone there with me every step of the way? Of course. It would've been easier to plan things with some help and yes, I would've been able to share awesome moments with them. I'd have someone to tell stories with. So, don't think I am unable to admit that being with others would've been amazing too. But, I was certainly able to be happy, and on the bright side, I did not eat poisonous berries and die in a bus, so that's one point for me!

Now, enough of tooting my own horn. I'll actually talk about something you might be interested in:

Florence and Cinque Terre!

I've only heard good things from people who study abroad in Florence. It's a really popular place for students to go. I know people there now and my brother was there a couple of years ago. So, I figured I kind of had to go and see what all of the fuss was about!

Unfortunately, I honestly did not think it was as great as everyone said it would be. I'm not trying to be contrary or anything, but it was a bit overrated. I think part of this stems from the fact that I had to pull an all-nighter to get there, which made me kind of cranky. You see, the cheapest airline is RyanAir, and of course it only flies to semi-remote airports. My flight was from the tiny Frankfurt Hahn airport which is actually an hour out of Frankfurt and two hours from Heidelberg. Since my flight was at 6am, I had to take the 2am Hahn Express Shuttle from Heidelberg's train station. I tried to take a nap beforehand, but I was too anxious to sleep, of course. The flight was very crowded and there were absolutely no amenities. They played advertisements every few minutes on the flight too, just in case I wanted to buy a candy bar or a lotto ticket. Talk about a budget airline. But hey, after a shaky landing, I was just glad to be in Italy!

So I landed in Rome around 8:30am and took a Terravision bus to the Termini station in Rome around 9am, getting me there just in time for my train to Florence. The train ride itself was kind of funny. When I got on I thought I was accidentally in first class because it looked pretty fancy, but nope, I was in the right place. I sat across from an Italian woman and her daughter, both of whom were very well dressed. I assumed they were taking the train to Milan, its end destination. I felt slightly uncomfortable because I actually think they were talking about me in Italian. That's when the woman took out her tiny chihuahua from her purse and dressed it in a tutu. This made me feel a little better. Then, finally, I was in Florence. My hostel was about a 10 minute walk from the train station, and I ate at a stuffed focaccia at a recommended restaurant on the way. It was my first experience with the whole "hey, I can't speak Italian" thing. I just want you to know that every time someone spoke Italian to me I just gave them the old Tom Haverford face, meaning I pretended I understood what was happening.

But, in general, most people were fine switching over to English. I spoke slow and used hand gestures, so it wasn't really a big deal. However, I did find myself wanting to respond to things in German, which is a good sign, I think! It was hard to remember "grazie" instead of "danke." Weird!

My food was pretty good, if not a bit simple. When I got to my hostel I had no real time to check in, so I just left my stuff in the luggage room and rushed off to my scheduled admission to the Uffizi Gallery, one of Florence's main arts museums. Despite having a map, I got totally lost along the way, leading to a lot of frustration. So when I finally got there I was not in a great mood. I was tired, thirsty, and hot--it was mid 70s the whole time I was in Italy. I was also being hit with culture shock on all angles because I didn't know the language and people were honestly very pushy. That's the one thing I do have to say: I'm not the biggest fan of Italians. A lot of them were very nice and helpful, but others were also very aggressive and loud and even a bit rude sometimes. Germans are rather soft spoken and reserved, which is something I typically enjoy. And I kept comparing everything in Florence to Heidelberg because I could not help it. I was actually homesick for Heidelberg where I understood how the public transportation worked. Plus, people may say Heidelberg is touristy, but that's nothing compared to Italy! Tourists were swarming everywhere, as were annoying street merchants, so I was constantly afraid of being pickpocketed. Of course, RSS to wear a money belt, so I did. It was a bit awkward to pull my money out of my pants, but not nearly as awkward as it would've been to lose all of my cash without knowing it.

So, back to the Uffizi. After this experience I admit that I am not the most appreciative of art. There, I said it. I am a fan of words. I like poetry and books and writing. I absolutely love music. But I just do not yet have that artistic eye for paintings and things like that. Maybe it was just because I was in a bad mood, but the Uffizi just didn't do it for me. I fully admit that I'm just not that kind of cultured. There were so many rooms, and just so many paintings, and I found it to be really repetitive and it reinforced the fact that I don't enjoy museums. It just wasn't for me, as much as I wish I didn't have to admit it.

However, I did go into the main cathedral with the giant dome, and it was extremely pretty! It was free, thank goodness, and I took pictures. For some reason I appreciated the architecture and design of it a lot more than I appreciated looking at hanging paintings. Go figure.

And so, by this point, I was beyond exhausted. I really wanted to go to the other Gallery to see the statue of David, which I would've enjoyed because it was an honest-to-god iconic work of art. I was pretty sad about this, BIBB, and the nap I took was extremely necessary. This part of the day was the low point of my trip. I was laying in bed, close to tears, wondering why I had decided to travel alone. I was so tired and frustrated and already getting lost all of the time. I felt lonely rather than just alone. But I hugged my teddy bear and pulled myself together. I decided to walk around for a little bit because it was only 8:00pm. The walk made me feel a lot better. I ended up going to a few piazzas and people watching. Then I went to this really cool restaurant and ordered an apple tart for dessert, which was delicious. And of course I got super excited because a lady in the restaurant was sitting a few tables away and holding a Springer Spaniel! That's the same kind of dog I have so I was having one of those Crazy Dog People moments.

Even though creepy Italian guys tried to hit on me as I finally walked back to my hostel, I kept my cool. I knew it was just a cultural thing, and RSS that they will leave you alone if you firmly say no, and thankfully they did. Anyway, the city really is pretty. The dome of the main cathedral is huge and looks really cool, especially from a distance. I can see why it'd be fun to study there because there are plenty of restaurants and hotels, but I still found myself missing my quaint little Heidelberg.

When I got back to my hostel, I was in the middle of getting ready for bed when my roommates showed up. The hostel was actually very nice, not at all what you'd imagine. It was practically a hotel with five floors and a pool and a computer room and everything. My roommates were all American girls. They were studying abroad in Spain. I was very awkward around them because I was going to bed and I don't know hostel etiquette, but they were nice. They were all going out because it was a Saturday night, and I felt like I should've been more outgoing because you're supposed to be, but I simply didn't have the energy. And then, after a pretty good sleep, I got up to go on my Bus2Alps trip to Cinque Terre!

Bus2Alps is advertised at Stonehill, and after some research I decided to sign up to go to Cinque Terre for a day trip. So I was up early to walk to the train station and meet the tour group, and on the way I actually ended up walking with people from my hostel going on the same trip. I hung out with them basically all day and they were really cool! They were studying abroad in Rome and unfortunately I didn't end up connecting with them later, but they were fun to be with during this trip. Once everyone from the group was ready to go, we took a two hour bus ride to the Spezia train station, and then a train to Cinque Terre.

So, what is Cinque Terre? People keep asking me this. Cinque Terre means five islands, and that pretty much explains it. They are five tiny towns on five mountainous islands on the ocean that are only accessible by riding the train or hiking. The hiking trail sounded really cool, but I guess they had some kind of landslide, so the regular trails were closed and we just island hopped by train instead. It was a bit of a disappointment, BIBB! We only went to three of the five islands because the first was closed due to the landslide and one of them had a weird train schedule. The islands were really similar and there wasn't all that much to do but walk around and explore, but that was fine with me! As you will see in my pictures, it was impossibly beautiful. The last island was the one where we spent the most time. There was a "beach" there but instead of sand it was just little smooth rocks. I waded in the water, which was clear, and the rocks felt totally strange on my feet but in a good way. We also ate at a restaurant (I had pesto pasta with green beans and potatoes and some tasty white wine!) and got gelato (blueberry; the Vernazza special!) to satisfy our need for Italian food. By the time we had to go, we were all very sleepy and did our best to nap on the bus ride back. I said goodbye to my new friends once we got to Florence.

Then I decided to go to the Piazza Michelangelo which was on the other side of the river. It was on a big hill, so I had heard it was an awesome view of the city. I thought it would be cooler at night, so I set off. It took a very long time to get there, though. On the way I explored the main bridge, Ponte Vecchio, and there was a band there and a bunch of little shops. Everything was kind of closing though, so I just stopped there for a little bit. I finally found the piazza and climbed the steps to the top, where there was a copy of the statue of David and an amazing view. Unfortunately it was a very long trek back, and once again I returned to the hostel exhausted and ready to go to bed. It was a really nice hostel and I had really nice roommates, but I was simply too tired to really explore it. And then, before I knew it, I had to wake up and go to the highlight of the trip: Venice.

Florence TL;DR: I can see the appeal, but I personally prefer Heidelberg. If I wasn't so tired I would've probably had more fun. I also noticed that there were sketchy areas of Florence, where as Heidelberg is totally clean and safe. But I don't regret going!

Cinque Terre TL;DR: SO PRETTY! And good food, so a win/win!

And those were just my first two days in Italy. I'm sorry that this is so long! And I feel like I may seem like a Debbie Downer about Florence, but trust me, everything got way better as I got used to being alone. And, as I've stated, I met Americans so it wasn't even like I was totally alone. And, you know what? A girl from the Cinque Terre trip told us all about how she sold her apartment and car and quit her job to backpack around Europe. She and her sister have been doing it for over a year, just on a whim. They actually hitchhike everywhere and have done crazy things like sleep in gas station bathrooms in Eastern Europe. So in reality, my trip isn't really that crazy in comparison. Even so, as I will continue to reiterate in my next entry about Italy, I highly recommend taking some time to travel on your own, at least once in your life!

PS, I have uploaded Florence and Cinque Terre pictures onto my Shutterfly. I will upload Venice and Rome as soon as I blog about them. I meant to add captions to all of these but it's really late and I need to go to sleep!! They will be updated by the time I put up the other pictures. Talk to you soon :)

This is what I personally felt like...even though I was actually much more awkward.