Why are you here?

I had a very interesting evening out with my roommate Haley (she's wonderful - she cooks) and a few friends from Marist College in NY. We met them today on our way to buy our "Amici Degli Uffizi" cards (for €40 we have unlimited access to many of the museums/gardens in Florence) and decided it would be a great idea to try a club called "Twenty-One". First red flag - in Florence, any establishment proudly displaying a blatantly English title should be avoided at all costs. Why? When walking around the city, it is clear that a large portion of the population is American students. Students who, one would think, chose Florence as their study abroad destination of choice because they had a desire to engage in the experiences a different culture might offer. For some, this is absolutely the case. Not so for the 150+ nineteen and twenty year old American students in "Twenty-One". I am not interested in the actions of my peers while in Italy (except for the way their behavior reflects upon the study abroad students as a whole - welcome to the stereotyped minority), I have much more exciting things to think about.

After I finally pushed my way out of Twenty-One, I immediately text messaged my friend Cecilia from Lorenzo de'Medici (who is Swedish but speaks fluent Italian and English and has lived in Florence for a year) and told her of my experience. She is very aware of the issue and promised me a dinner with some of her local Florentine friends next week. (Also, "Caffé tomorrow?") So after all that ranting about not embracing the culture I have to get to bed -

big IKEA trip tomorrow.

Okay, so I'm a hypocrite (I also bought gloves and a scarf from H & M). But they gave us about five hangers, what do you expect me to do with that? I also see it as a way to limit the culture shock they keep saying will hit us at any moment and, I don't know, we'll start having seizures in the middle of Piazza della Repubblica or something terrible. Anyway, my next post will be only positive things. (Unless I am somehow disappointed by the Italian IKEA cafeteria. It's highly unlikely.) Buonanotte!