Culture...and shock.

Just when I thought our little Italian apartment was perfect, I am proven wrong by some of God's most wonderful little creatures: cockroaches. Thankfully, there was just one of these little beauties in our room. After spotting it's presence on the wall in the living room, a fit of fearful shrieks broke out. It took several agonizing minutes to decide who would have the honors of putting the thing to its death. Being the only man in the room, Meaghan, Christina and I convinced (forced?) John to kill the little monster. Several hits of a rolled up magazine only brought cockroachzilla to the floor. It's final end came from the smash of a rather large and heavy book--smush! May we all rest in peace tonight.

For obvious reasons, the lifestyle in Italy is very different from the life we live in the United States. Still living in Florence, a city bustling with life and tourism, makes living here an even more challenging and new. One must get used to the constant noise--sirens, cars, music, people and there is an overwhelming amount of street stands, stores, restaurants and cafes. And although living next to the Duomo is  definitely something to brag about, it can also make day to day life quite difficult and overwhelming. Every morning, there is a long line of tourists visible from our bedroom window, all waiting to go inside the cathedral. Just outside our front door is a bus stop, which means that getting out our front door requires several "scusa, scusi..." just to get through to where you are going. Being a tourist hotspot, this also means that all of the shops and restaurants are way over priced and not all that great or authentic.

 

Even though most of the Italians that live here travel by cars, Vespas, or bicycles, navigating around Florence requires a lot of traveling by foot. In just the few short days of living here, I have only walked to where I have absolutely needed to go and I am already exhausted. Part of the reason for this is because every little thing must be bought from a different store. There  is a store for electrical appliances, a store for the internet, a store to buy meats, a store to buy wine, a store to stationary and nothing else! There is no one "stop and shop" place to buy everything you need at once. Needless to say, I have had to learn my way around the city quickly.