Today I got together with a few other girls who are studying abroad here, and we watched Italian movies and ate panettone. And it was sitting on a couch cushion watching La Vita é Bella and eating cake that I realized I no longer feel like a fish out of water.
I spend so much time frustrated with my incredibly basic Italian and feeling like an outsider to this culture that I've completely missed the fact that I've learned how to live here.
I can navigate this city like a pro. Put me anywhere in Florence and I can find my way home. I understand the trenitalia website, and no longer stress about getting anywhere by train. I know that the café in San Lorenzo has a waiter everyone is in love with, but the food isn't actually all that great. I know where to find cheap pomegranates, and after a semester of testing different places I know which kebab stand has the best kebab.
It's so easy to get frustrated when proud Florentine women breeze by you, never giving you the time of day, not even to move a little to the left on the sidewalk. And I will never be Italian, I will never completely understand what's going on in this culture and country. But I've come a long ways from the girl that got off the plane in August.
I spend so much time frustrated with my incredibly basic Italian and feeling like an outsider to this culture that I've completely missed the fact that I've learned how to live here.
I can navigate this city like a pro. Put me anywhere in Florence and I can find my way home. I understand the trenitalia website, and no longer stress about getting anywhere by train. I know that the café in San Lorenzo has a waiter everyone is in love with, but the food isn't actually all that great. I know where to find cheap pomegranates, and after a semester of testing different places I know which kebab stand has the best kebab.
It's so easy to get frustrated when proud Florentine women breeze by you, never giving you the time of day, not even to move a little to the left on the sidewalk. And I will never be Italian, I will never completely understand what's going on in this culture and country. But I've come a long ways from the girl that got off the plane in August.
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| View of Florence from Piazzale Michaelangelo |
I'm proud of you! You might not want to advertise on the internet that you're re-using bus tickets, though :)
ReplyDeleteWill you want to come back and live with us again? Sounds like you are having far too much fun!!! :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds fun...but does it involve banana suits? I MISS YOU.
ReplyDelete