School's started up again, and I'm back into the swing of classes, reading, and a rather busy lifestyle. Things aren't the same as before though. I've made so many changes in my life since returning from Italy, and so many since being back at TCU.

I dropped my sorority. I'm living in a new place with new people. I decided to quit my marketing major and instead continue pursuing an advertising degree with a minor in writing and/or general business. I'm focusing on being honest with myself and focusing my time and studies on things that I am passionate about. I'm through with trying to convince myself that I want or like something because its what seems "right".

My priorities and interests seem so much more clear now. I owe that to Italy.

Running along the Arno and through the winding streets of Florence is one of the most liberating experiences I've ever felt. As I sprint through the crowds, dodging pedestrians left and right, I feel like I'm flying through the air, rebelling against every feeling of confinement. It doesn't matter anymore that people are staring at me for being American, tall, blonde, etc. It doesn't matter anymore that I'm an athletic outcast in Italian culture. None of it matters. All I can think about and all I can feel is the cold wind on my cheeks and the pavement beneath me, and the hypnotic repetition of my steps as I discover more of this beautiful city.

Today I realized that I still have 2 months and 1 week here. Over 2 months until I go home and see my family again. Oyyy, that's a LONG time.

Today Was a Good Day.

Lately, I've been feeling pretty frustrated with a lot of things... the Italian men, the Italian language, and being away from home. The attention I get from men everywhere I go is sometimes overwhelming, and borderline harassment. I get followed by multiple men every time I go out, without fail. Today alone while I was shopping, a total of about 5 or 6 men attempted conversation while following me, and 2 asked me to coffee within about 30 minutes of each other. One man and his friend actually guessed my name on the first try... which was a bit strange. Going to stores and walking around a bunch of dark-haired Italian who are speaking a language you don't understand is intimidating, and frustrating for someone who already feels like an outsider. Then the anxiety from being away from family and friends and missing out on so much at home, where everyone speaks English, has been adding to my growing grudge toward the Italian culture.

But today, after thinking about all these things, I've come to a sort of epiphany. Now I'm in no way saying that I've figured out all my frustrations or that I won't feel any more, I guess "culture shock", while living abroad, but I do feel much more confident in myself after having taken the time to sort things out.

So my realization is this: I am who I am, an American, a blonde, tall, English-speaking, goofy, smart, and fun-loving. I can not and will not change who I am merely because of where I am. I am going to be proud of myself, and stand proud in the crowds where I so obviously stand out. I am going to have to accept that I am different, but that's okay. All I can do while I'm here is be myself, and try my best to learn about Italian culture and understand the difference from here and America. I'm going to make a conscious effort to keep up my American habits (running, listening to the U.S. news, studying, etc.). Maintaining these consistencies help me feel better, and more myself, which is good!

After coming to these conclusions, I feel so much better about everything! But the solution really is simple, you know (Alloraaaaa...), to just be myself! That's all I can do!


So enough with that! Today really was a good day :) Actually, this weekend has been pretty relaxing and fun, overall. I have the apartment to myself, so the privacy has been nice. Also, I've cooked 2 times already... I made amazing pasta and pretty yummy hamburgers (I think it was beef that I cooked...? The labels are in Italian.) But today I went shopping for a few hours around Florence. I had made a list of lots of things I needed, and was actually able to find everything I needed in one outing!! That's a first! I ventured down one of my favorite streets, Via dei Corso, and onto a smaller side street, and found this awesome Anglo-American bookstore that sells and buys used books! I went inside and looked around a bit. I stumbled upon a booked entitled "The Lovely Bones" which a few friends had recommended I read before I left, and its now a major movie as well. So I grabbed that one and checked out with the British cashier. That's another thing about Florence, there's an abundance of nationalities and languages being spoken everywhere you go. Next, I went to this Italian soap shop where they sell awesome soaps made in-store from organic materials. I bought this cool Jello-style hand soap that's lemony scented and a sky blue color, both my favorites!! Then I got a body wash bar soap that smells like cookies! YUM! Then I wandered around an found some cute sunglasses and makeup at a Sephora (yes, that actually have those here!!). Then on the walk home, I stopped in at a gelateria right by my apartment and got a cherry gelato, my favorite!! I ordered the smallest one, but the guy was really nice and piled it on! :)))

Now I'm meeting up with my friend Nikki to check out more of Florence's nightlife! :)

The Internet is BACK!

Wooo! The internet in my apartment is back up again!!! FINALLY!

Just got back from a little grocery store by our apartment.
Conversation at checkout, combined with creepy stares and inappropriate looks:

Random Italian Dude: Mmm... California?
Me: No.
Dude: Dove?
Me: Texas.
Dude: Ahhh, siii!
Me: Nods head.
Dude: Bush.
Me: Si.
Dude: Casablanca?!
Me: uhhh, no.

Interesting ??


Other random tidbits of info:

Two nights ago, after an extremely frustrating and failed attempt at studying in a cafe where no one spoke English, an Italian man named Giovanni decided to follow me home. I cut through crowds, walked super fast (my running is like your walking, since I have long legs), and tried to lose him by making a quick right turn onto the main street by my house, and this guy still managed to catch up to me! After repeatedly urging, "NO capisco," with absolutely no success in ditching him, I finally had to jump into a bakery just before my street, Via dei Rustici, to get him to leave me alone.
I bought myself a chocolate mousse-filled pastry as a reward. :)



Also random, yesterday on my walk back to the bookstore, I saw a boy fall off a bike he was trying to ride with a friend, and break his wrist/arm and possibly a leg. The whole thing happened right in front of me! On my way back from the store, an ambulance was arriving and a crowd of onlookers had formed. Just kinda strange to see...


Another somewhat interesting fact: All the rich women in Italy wear Mink coats. Huge, bulging, unavoidable displays of their wealth. Also, there are cute little dogs (and even some big ones) everywhere!! And most of them wear little doggy sweaters. They're even allowed in some shops and grocery stores... haha! Seeing little poodles makes me miss my dog, Rascal..

Alright, well I'm eating lunch now...frozen pizza! Haha, its actually pretty good! So I'll write more later or tomorrow! Ciao Ragazzi!

I'm writing to you tonight from a sketchy internet cafe a few blocks from my apartment. Our internet has been down for the past 4 or 5 days, so I either have to pay to use it, find a coupon, or go to apertivo at a bar. Apertivo is where you buy a drink, have buffet-style appetizers, and can get online for only the price of your drink. Tonight, I'm using a coupon for one hour free wi-fi.

I was hoping I'd be able to catch some of my family or friends on Skype, but no one is online... :( Things lately have been kinda rough. After trying so hard to avoid getting sick from my roommate, I guess I just couldn't hold out any more. Now I've got the sniffles and feel absolutely horrible. Walking around in the cold all day long for classes and errands doesn't help the situation.


Today was a busy day. I had to run to the bookstore to buy my Greek and Roman Mythology book that I forgot about, go to my Italian class, then head to my Mythology class right after. When I finished with school, I signed up for a jogging club at Lorenzo de Medici. This way, hopefully I can stay in shape, while avoiding being that out-of-place American running the cobblestone streets in shorts and a sweatshirt (Italians only exercise in gyms). After that, I went to this little joint called The Diner, and got a huge, greasy, amazingly delicious cheeseburger and fries, with, get this-- KETCHUP!! One of the best hamburgers I've had in my life! After that, I went to the Uffizi Gallery, which is right behind our apartment, and bought my museum pass for 40 Euro. This gets me into like 20 or so museums and gardens for free... pretty awesome deal! After buying it, I decided to check out the Gallery for a while, since I was already there. I spent an hour gazing at all the marble statues and paintings displayed on the walls. It was amazing. I am thinking I'll be going back several times each week, since its on my way home and its free!

Ok, well hopefully I'll have working internet soon so I can update more and keep in touch with everyone... :( Email me at m.altenberg@tcu.edu I'd love to hear from everyone and anyone!!


Goodnight!

Welcome to the Human Experience.

(Written on 2/6/10- Internet has been hard to come by, so I'm just now posting this.)

Today I went to a chocolate fair in front of Santa Croce Chiesa. There were meticulously crafted sweets galore! The crowd, surprising made out of mostly Italians, was in a frenzied search to satisfy their sweet-tooth with the most delicious cioccalato in the piazza. I indulged a bit too much, and bought a round carmello chocolate ball, along with a piece of some layered creation, sliced strawberries drizzled with chocolate, and had a few bites of a shared piece of gourmet chocolate cake, surrounded with a fresh chocolate sauce, and topped off with a bit of whip cream. Haha, wow! I can’t help but to laugh after reading over the desserts I had tonight! They were all pretty yummy… But nothing has yet to top the lasagna-style chocolate creamy pastry I discovered on my way to the train station! Softy, gooey goodness, only comparable to the Nutella and chocolate cream filled croissant I purchased at the secret bakery a couple nights ago. Americans could learn a thing or two from Italians when it comes to baking desserts! Everything is so appetizing!!

Joshua-Dallas-London-Milan-Florence

I’ve been a Florentine for about a week and a half now, and still haven’t described the journey here! The 24 hours of travel time it took to journey over 5,500 miles from home is far too memorable not to document… So here goes!!

My trip started out in the International terminal of DFW, where I said goodbye to my mom and Ron after a somewhat rough car trip to Dallas. After meeting up with my roommate Morgan, we headed through security and down to our terminal. I think it finally hit me that I was actually leaving as we were waiting in line to board the plane. Everyone around me seemed so calm and collected, as if flying overseas was routine, you know, “another day at the office” type of thing. I couldn’t and wouldn’t manage to play it as cool... : )

On the plane, the stewards greeted all the passengers with an enthusiastic "Ello!," and used words such as "cheerio" and "smidge." I quickly learned to love British Airways, as the attendants passed out little wine bottles to all the passengers ;) hehe! The woman in front of me didn't hesitate to indulge, as she guzzled down about 4 bottles in a period of 2 hours or so! Although the plane trip to London was 9 hours total, I really didn't mind the ride at all. Each seat had a TV monitor where you could watch movies, listen to music, and track the location and progress of the plane on an animated map!

Once we arrived at the Heathrow airport in London, I really started to notice the change in culture. One of the most obvious differences was the fashionable manner in which men dress. They're all so attractive and proper! Once we got through a long security line, and past the rude British girl- "Excuse me, watch what you're doing, please!!", we made our way through the hustle and bustle to our deserted terminal with our 150 pounds of luggage- trust me, not an easy task!!

Since we had some time to kill, we decided we'd try to keep our energy up and grab a quick bite to eat at a cafe. After spending about 11 pounds (or $22) on two sparkling waters and a croissant, we realized we were running a bit short on time. After finally managing to pay for our food, we rushed back to our gate where another unfriendly teen Brit informed me in a rude tone that I had missed my flight, and that I should have looked at my ticket to see the boarding time. All I could think was, “Oh my GOSH! What are we going to DO?!” Then as we continued walking to our gate, a different Brit assured me, "No worries. We'll get ya on board!" So we were the last ones on the plane and all the snooty British passengers stared us down as we trudged through the isle. I was SO ready to get the heck out of London after all that drama!

The best part of our flight to Milan was flying over the Swiss Alps. Absolutely stunning. Probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The size and stretch of the mountains makes you feel so small.

After all the mayhem with nearly missing our flight in London, I was hopeful that it'd be smooth sailing from Milan to Florence. I couldn't have been more wrong. As we were hauling our luggage out of the Milan airport to go find a taxi to the train station, this man in uniform suggested we take the taxi of a man who was waiting just inside the entrance. I reluctantly agreed, as they couldn't speak English well so there was a communication barrier. We followed him out of the airport and across the street, only to realize he was taking us to his Mercedes! Sketchy, sketchy, sketchy! As he started to put my bag in his trunk, Morgan and I were growing a bit suspicious. Then we realized the cheap taxis were in a different part of the airport, and this was some sort of luxury/scary transportation service. We politely declined and took our bags back. By this point, every person outside the airport was aware of the two American girls (blonde with bright clothes- SO not the Italian norm) trying to get to the train station. Then an airport employee yelled to us to hop on a bus that was about to depart for the Milan station. So we hauled our luggage all the way to the bus-stop, paid our 5 Euros, and climbed aboard.

I was in such a daze from everything and astonished that more people didn't speak English. I thought it would be a cinch to get from A to B. I honestly didn't even know if we were going to the right train station. I just wanted to sit and rest for a few minutes.

Luckily, we ended up in the right place. After finally finding the entrance, we hauled our luggage through the train station. We still needed to validate our train passes and get our tickets to Firenze. Once again, NO ONE spoke english!!! And the train station was 3 floors of chaos!! I had NO CLUE what I was doing; I just knew that I had to find some way to make this work. Then we decided that it'd be best to leave the luggage in one place, have Morgan stay and watch it, and then I'd go figure out what needed to be done. Overall, to get our train tickets, it took THREE hours. THREE HOURS!!!! I felt like a fish out of water! So much more actually happened here, but I'll spare you the details. Once we finally did have tickets in hand, it was another struggle to find the right train and get on board. A super nice Italian woman overheard our problem, and in fumbled English explained she was on our train and we could just follow her. I was SO SO SO thankful!!

On the train, I sat across from this older Italian man, who wasn't very friendly. He proved true the statement I had previously heard, about Italian friendship being hard to earn. During the 2 hour ride, we passed through the beautiful city of Bologna. There was about 8-10 inches of snow on the ground, and lots of rolling hills crowned with castles and churches. This was my favorite part of the trip. Even the man across from me awoke from his slumber to gaze out the window at the powdery white landscape speeding by. I can’t wait to go back to Bologna and be able to really see the town!

Once we arrived in Florence, we were able to quickly roll our luggage out of the train station, past the Gypsy, grab a taxi, and instruct the driver to "Albergo Medici,” where we spent our first night in the city!!

Beci.

I'm sitting in bed in our lovely 14th century apartment, listening to the rain fall on the cobblestone streets of Firenze. A distant mumble of Italian echoes throughout our street, Via de Rustici, and up through our shuttered windows. Stasera era bella notte.

Il Viaggio

It's so surreal. I've been packing all day long, with quite a ways to go still, yet I can't seem to believe that I'm actually going somewhere! "I am moving to Florence. I am moving to Florence. I am moving to Florence?!" I've been trying to convince myself of this for a few months now, and it has yet to sink in. So here I sit, almost midnight on the eve of my departure, and I still don't believe it.

It will be such a relief when I am finally on that plane, awaiting take-off! I had know idea when I decided to study abroad just how much preparation and planning goes into four months of travel. Finances and paperwork must be in order, everyday American items must be stocked up on, and a seemingly endless list of errands must finally be completed. Whew! It's been a crazy and somewhat stressful past few weeks!

It's 12:01 US time, and I am officially leaving today. This is so crazy! Well, I'm off to square away the rest of my baggage... Cross your fingers I don't forget anything! : )

Arrivederci Ragazzi! Maybe I'll post again during my journey overseas!

And So it Begins.

I've got a "To Do" list a mile long, 2 open suitcases, and a plane ticket to the city of my dreams!