wHERE HAVE I BEEN?

THE LAST FOUR MONTHS OF MY LIFE HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY LIFE CHANGING...says every study abroad student ever. But honestly if you are open and interested, study abroad has the possibility of changing your life in ways you could never envision. My journey started exactly 3 months and a week ago, and will end in exactly 15 days. The only reason i counted so harshly is my determination to make every single one of the days and nights count. Many of the things i expected to do i didnt and that just made it better because my personality demands i redirect my focus often. I moved to Prato Italy a small town about 20 minutes away from the bustling city of Florence. It is a town small enough to walk around in 2 hours but also large enough to be very rich in history. There is a legitimate castle around the corner from where i am writing this right now which would be impossible for many other people to say. It blows my mind everytime i go get my coffee under the school’s dorm building in the Bar Magnolfi which was opened in 1929 and still has that charm. The school’s initiative to choose a smaller city to host their program was a great idea; i think hosting this program here in prato really made all of us students more comfortable with not being home for four months.The big open squares and comfy quiet restaurants are a comforting aspect of the city i will definitely miss. My favorite parts of the city would have to be the narrow winding cobblestone streets; although at first it was frustrating not being able to read street signs or knowing where to go i've grown to like the alleys and streets where cars can’t pass, it gives the city a story book quality. It’s pretty funny to see the clash between old world streets and new world busses; there have been plenty times where a turning bus has threatened my morning commute across the piazza to school but i’ll take it as a lesson and laugh it off when this is all over. The first month flew by and it was for the best because it helped me adjust better than i thought i could have.

Not only Italy but Greece amazed me beyond belief. I visited the island of Santorini during spring break and DAMN did i fall in love, not only with the island but also our journey to get there. From Florence to Rome we took a train that was extremely comfortable for only around 15 euros. In Rome we stayed overnight in an airbnb with a wonderful host who left us breakfast. After that however was when the real test began we arrived at the rome airport and boarded our flight to athens greece at around 8 in the morning, we arrived the athens around 10 in the morning and waited for our flight that was scheduled to leave at 4 pm Greek time. The flight never left that night. We spent the majority of the day in the airport for a flight that had no intention of taking us to our final destination, it was pretty nerve wracking. We were offered a night's stay at a hotel in Athens however and that was the best part in my opinion( thank God for flight insurance) The complementary hotel was amazing it looked like the Tipton “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” hotel. Even dinner and breakfast were included which saved us a lot of time and money that night. The hardest part was communication for sure; making sure our parents knew we were safe was very important to me and with dying iphone batteries it can get pretty hairy pretty quick. I suggest always taking a portable charger that is fully charged with you no matter where you are going. We finally reached Santorini island the next morning a little rattled but absolutely content and ready to explore. I have to say although being an expensive tourist destination it is super accessible to travelers on a budget if you do your research and use a bit of (wo)man power to find deals and cheaper alternatives. The island of santorini sits on an active volcanic plateau that has shaped the landscape of the island into something out of this world. On the first night we arrived to our airbnb which was about 15 mins walk from the capital city of Thira which we walked to in the morning. A bit of a climb and avoiding some donkeys and cars later we saw the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever laid eyes on. (i’ll insert pictures at the bottom of this post) The landscape fell incredibly off the the bluest most sereine sea view you could ever imagine. Once you reach the top of the mountains ridges where the city sits incredibly against the cliffs you can see absolutely everything! Directly in front of the island is an active volcano and if you walk along the edge of the cliffs. The whole island creates a C shape surrounding the volcano. The next morning we took a wonderful boat ride to said volcano. The rocks surrounding the volcano were incredibly cool. Because of the sulfur around the volcano the water was crazy, fake, photoshopped blue, it took my breath away and so did the hour long hike up to the caldera of the volcano. The view towards the main island from the volcano’s caldera was incredible as well, i guess none of the views wanted me to have air in my lungs that day. (I wasn’t mad about that) The Greek food we got to try in Santorini exceeded my expectations as well. We had seafood pasta the first night and traditional Gyros for lunch after the volcano. All the cuisine was mediterranean inspired and is personally my favorite flavor combination other than asian flavors. Overall Santorini is a must go place where everything seems unreal but very very real all in the same thought.

The island takes your breath away and keeps it away, but the wind that that comes from the sea and passes through the amazing allies and streets of the mountainous city make sure you stay alive and very happy.

My time in Italy is coming to a close but i can't help but notice how my mentality has changed about life. For one the US is a great big country and no way i'm going to be able to live in the New York, New Jersey area forever, i simply refuse to hinder myself that way. Second off not all coffee is made equally, and you can for certain make pasta the wrong way. I know that these four months were only a small fraction of the grand life i intend to live but i will be forever grateful that my parents taught me to think and dream outside of the bubble. It has never been the American dream for me, it has always seemed to be the Human dream that i want to achieve, but not only to achieve i want to enjoy doing it as much as possible.

Thank you for reading another of my brain blurbs i really appreciate it.

F. Scott Fitzgerald -----The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. ----