Sunday, January 3, 2010

Life Before Italy

I know this blog is called "Adventures in Italy" but I'm not actually there yet. Right now I'm experiencing life right before I go abroad for the longest period I will have ever been out of the U.S. in one go. I'm driving all over Florida trying to see family and friends before I go in ... 11 days. Then I will be a temporary resident of Firenze (Florence) Italy for 100 days. My student visa declares that I have the Permit to Stay.
I've learned a decent bit of Florence's history at college because of my Renaissance and Reformation class and through the study of art history, I knew it had to be Florence. I've been laughed at because I don't speak ANY Italian, other than what I've picked up in the movies. But I thoroughly believe that this will be the best way for me to learn.
This whole process has just been so... time consuming, and yet I managed to do it in very little time. I decided sometime last spring that I wanted to study in Florence.Because of school, however, I was very delayed in finishing my applications! I was accepted into Syracuse University's program, but you must be a homestay student, which just does not appeal to me in any way. So now I am going through CAPA. Getting a student visa was really very easy - it was way easier than renewing my passport, which I did last May.

I'm excited but a little nervous! I want to get to know Italian people, but when everyone in my family (including myself) thinks about sex slavery and the movie Taken, it makes me apprehensive. Plus that American girl just got arrested for murder while in Italy. I found out the girls I am living with and names of other kids in the program, plus I am very excited for my classes - Art from Antiquity to the Baroque, Renaissance Art, 20th Century Italian Literature, and Italian. I am signed up for a psych class, but I am probably going to drop it - who wants to take five classes in a totally different culture? I don't want to be overloaded, I want to explore!

I'm just trying to get ready now. I've bought an Italian-English dictionary, a new carry on, a new back pack... I have to figure out what to pack! AHHHH It's so close!

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