Florence's journals

Dam you Italians - something interesting that happened

Sept 15, 2022

I love to play beerpong. Due to my competitive Virgo nature, I just can’t help to step right in in the bar and ask if I can join the game next. Even with complete strangers. And if one is cute, the I’m definitely more drawn to it. That is how I met Matteo, a cute, tall, dark hair, big nose, childish big smile, Italian guy. He turned actually to work for this travel company for Erasmus students. Just what I was looking for.

I showed off a bit my Italian, and like everyone he asked: ma come mai parli Italiano così bene?. We had a nice, simple conversation, and eventually exchanged Instagram handles, obviously just because of his work at this trip and party company, right?

He eventually texted me, and over the weekend I didn’t payed a lot of attention to it, because I had a crazy, mixed-feeling, kinda romantic small getaway with Edoardo, the Italian that stole my heart in Prague last semester…

Long story short, after I got a bit over that and as my birthday was coming, I wanted more details about the travels, so Matteo was the one to propose we meet for coffee and go over them. I accepted and ended up having a glass of wine in the beautiful Piazza della Republic with this again, really cute, but also interesting, funny and outgoing Italian guy. Talk went smoothly for about an hour until he had to leave.

I left the caffe with a big ass smile, one I don’t recall of having in a long time, and that I didn’t had as I expected in my past weekend. Funny…

And funnier is the part where I tell you that I met Matteo again that same day. Just hours later when I was walking with my friends after dinner and someone shouted Ciao, buonasera from a window from a top floor. It was Italian, so I could resist to answer back. Could barely hear and exchange words and as I was about to continue the walk back home, I hear: Daniela! Ti è piaciuto il vino a Piazza della Repubblica oggi?

Oh my God. I froze. And for once, couldn’t answer back. Paralyzed, I asked a stupid question and was later unable to follow up a conversation, and left.

Dam you Italians, you make a mess out of me.

A new friend - someone you met lately

Sept 21, 2022

Yesterday I met Hailey, she is in my literature class. She seem like she didn’t care much about it though. I thought maybe she had not even read what we had assigned for that day. But as it often turns out, people end up surprising me.

She had not only read but she actually had understood it really well. She was easygoing and easier to approach than what I first thought. Small talk made us be more comfortable with each other, and by the end of the class we even waited on each other so we could continue with our talk. She was super nice, and genuinely seemed interested about me and my life, the travels I’ve done and those I was about to make. It was refreshing meeting someone new, and even made my day by being the first one to wish me an early happy birthday.

Monte Solaro - on the sublime

Sept 29, 2022

Hadn’t Googled much about Capri, less alone about Monte Solaro. I just knew that Matteo told me it was great, but great don’t even begin to describe the place. This place that I was looking for so badly. This feeling I was craving for so long, ever since the my anxiety-plagued summer, slowly appeared in front of me, floating on a chairlift in the form of a beautiful scenery of green, tiny white houses, no clouds, and the sun sparkling over the ocean made of multiple shades of blue. Top of Monte Solaro felt otherworldly. To be able to stand right before that 589 meter deep cliff was a humbling experience. As I stared into the infinite sea extending right in front of me, I felt so tiny, and all of my problems seemed insignificant and the negative-charged thoughts that I had been carrying just dissolved into the ocean breeze. How could I had been stuck for so long in gloom when the world was this big and beautiful?

I needed this. I so needed this. Oh what a way to start of my 22nd year of life. Humble, grateful and able to accept and cherish what stands right in front of my eyes.

Dove l’università? - people watching

Oct 13, 2022

Dov’è l’università? This woman in her 50’s, dressed in red, with short gray hair, carrying a couple of heavy shopping bags and an umbrella suddenly approached me. I had been sitting on the bench for a while now, and I had actually noticed her before, standing by herself in the middle of Piazza San Marco, tuning around as looking for something or someone, but I hadn’t expected her to come over to me, let alone, to ask me straight for directions in Italian. Dov’è l’università? She asked again. Quale università? I answered. L’università! Ok. She was clearly more lost than I initially thought. And desperate. She moved her feet and impatiently turned around, while I pulled out my phone and searched the nearest university for her on Maps. I pointed out that in front, thee was building form the Florence’s University. But tha wasn’t enough for her. She begged not only with her voice but with her eyes, asking me to help her to get there, since there was a construction obstructing what would be the simple straight path towards, hopefully, the university she was desperately searching for. I don’t recall her saying graze to me, just her walking away, puzzled, towards the place, and it definitely let me wondering, what was she in such a rush to get there? And why, form all the people in the Piazza did she decided to ask directly - and in Italian - to me?

Perfect day in Venice - a draft

Nov 10, 2022

I got so excited when I saw that the reading assignment for my next Literature class was going to be on Venice, because I was already planning to go soon with Paula, my best friend who was visiting me in Florence that week. So when the class came, I texted her all throughout it because I could not wait to see Venice, the Venice as described by Byron, with the palace and a prison on each hand, the Venice of the lion and the buildings that rise form the waters, and the one with that nostalgic atmosphere that comes from the epic republic it once was…

So Satuday finally came, and we were off. We woke up super early to take a Flixbus, since it is the cheapest way to get there. We slept almost through the 4 hour drive and I woke up just in time to see us crossing the lagoon, straight into the floating city. We got off at Tronchetto, and a 2 minute walk got us right in front of the Ponte della Constitution, where the Grand Canal with all the buzz of the Gondolas and boats revealed itself to us. We walked towards Dorsoduro, stopped for a quick coffee and then got attacked by a seagull as soon as I pulled my cornetto al cioccolato outside of the bag. We arrived into a cut little corner, with a typical arched-window Venetian Palace in the back, reflecting into the emerald water and a bridge that stood right in front. So we set the self-timer, took lots of picture, saved the Ponte dell’Amore in my Google Maps pins and kept on walking. We passed through Campo Santa Margherita, which was full of people, locals I could tell, buying off fish, flowers, fruits and vegetables form the little market stands. Venice is still pretty much alive. We slip through the tiny alleys and got lost a couple of times before ewe got to the Basilica di Sonata Maria della Salute, only to test out a Tik Tok recommendation. Luckily, the advise turned out to be true! We got on a gondola for 2 euros each, that took us across the Grand Canal right into Piazza San Marco. In between the hundred pigeons, and with I’ve music, we got the most expensive Aperol of our lives and enjoy hours just staring into the majestic Cathedral. We obviously swing by the Bridge of Sights, and turned around to see the sun shinning into the

magical waters. We rushed over into the packed Ponte di Rialto and grabbed a delicious pasta al sugo di calamari in a box, just in time to see the sunset pink skies and sit in the watching the lights dance over the busy canal.

Magical, romantic, mystical, historical. Venezia io ti amo.