Before coming to Italy, I hadn't comprehended what it would be like to emerge myself in a different culture for 4 months. There is a large difference between visiting and staying for an extended period of time. I've visited so many other countries that I could see myself living in longterm, but after staying in Italy for so long, I'm starting to question my first impression of new countries. There are so many factors you don't consider about a location when you are just stopping by for a week or two, such as laundry, groceries, communicating, transportation, and travel. And when students go abroad you really only see the glamorous instagram worthy side of it all. I'm going to summarize my reality of living in Italy for future students.
I'll start with the good because positive first. Italy has introduced me to a love for gelato, leather products, historic art, and wandering aimlessly. It's hard not to take a picture of everything you see, because between the cobble stone roads, colorful buildings, and monuments there's something interesting everywhere you look. Florence is such a gem in Italy. It isn't a super large city, which has made getting around super easy, but there's so much tucked away in hidden alleys, you don't get bored. Not to mention the beautiful views from the river on the Ponte Vecchio and sunset from the Piazzale Michaelangelo. I’m very grateful for my time here, and it has taught me a lot about the Italian culture. Some I’m a fan of and some I could do without.
After the sexual assault case with two girls from our school, we knew this wasn’t as safe of a city as we thought. We couldn’t trust the police and walking around at night alone felt out of the question. Italian men have verbally harassed my roommates and I for 3 months now, even taking it as far as grabbing two of them. The lack of respect has gotten old, and it irritates me that the only advice my school gives is, “use common sense”. This is something I knew we’d deal with while here, but I didn’t expect it to be to this extent. This and several other things such as, language barrier, stores and selections(no target here and grocery stores are the size of gas station convenient stores), and the tourists, were frustrating when living in a small European city.
Like I said, the pros outway the cons for most of my experience in Florence. But I wish I would’ve been better prepared for the reality of living abroad for 3 months in a smaller European city. Living and learning to get by is the behind the scenes stuff students don’t post on social media, and I think that’s some of the most important lessons you learn while over here. My advice to future students is to research as much as possible the city you’re moving to. Look up grocery stores, pharmacies, concise entry stores before going, it helps prepare you for your future reality.
