The Arrival

As many of you know, I'm a talker. I love to ramble on and go into excruciating details about almost everything, even q-tips. So I took the liberty of putting titles above each paragraph in case anyone wants to just skip to my actual jaunt of Florence, or wants to hear about my riveting encounter with international airlines. Cheers my dear friends on what I hope is a heartwarming tale of a descendant of the Lozito clan's journey of the motherland!

Plane Ride!
When I debated what the last title should be, I did not anticipate my "journey" to actually become a full fledged journey. Perhaps it was because I was not wearing my lucky airplane shirt (creds go to sarah for pointing this out) from threadless.com (check it out!), but my luck with airline travel is absolutely atrocious. The amount of times I have been stranded or delayed on my way to Florida isn't overly devastating as I'm able to get a flight out that night or first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, when you fly international and your plane from Hartford-Bradley is delayed a few hours due to mechanical issues and you roll the dice and fly to D.C in hope of making your Dulles to Frankfurt flight, the misfortune arises when the flight you missed is the last flight until 5pm the following day. United was kind enough to put me up in a very nice resort and provide me with a $15 meal voucher (obviously spent on wings at 12am), but was very unkind to me when they decided to cancel my 5pm flight due to the snow storm that came barreling through. My tribulations finally concluded when I lost my beloved Redsox hat, which also marks the turning point in my miseries. An airline attendant had found the hat and successfully returned it to me, shortly after a United employee booked me on the 10pm flight to Frankfurt. The storm finally commenced and we were able to depart at midnight.

After hours upon hours I crossed the pond, landed in Frankfurt, which was a very peaceful plane ride, met a nice lady from Switzerland who was quite the chatterbox, oh but minus the fact that I was in a seat that was even to small for a leprechaun (terrible analogy I know right?). My obsession with German history got the best of me and the entire time I basked in the fact I just crossed the Rhine, the battlefields where thousands of lives have been taken, and the simple fact that the arrivals/departures board read Nuremberg/Berlin/Dresden/etc. Eventually, I was able to pull myself away and board my final flight.

Chaos Erupts!
My arrival to Florence was a tad chaotic. Somehow my bags found their way to me, but also somehow my bag with my toiletries kinda exploded. Of course using an old LLBean backpack would have a zipper that would break (thanks father for this superb recommendation of moving my toiletries into that bag) Of course my contact solutions, shampoo, and airborne (a type of tablet/pill for the common cold) would also break open. And of course after the liquids broke open it would get all my bars of soap soaking wet and completely dissolve all my airborne tablets and make my entire bag soaked. I must have looked like a buffoon to all the Italians/Germans waiting for their bags, and was slightly nervous that the two Italian policemen standing nearby would come over and start questioning me. I quickly rushed to the bathroom and washed everything off and threw away the soap and miraculously I didn't lose anything except I believe a pair of my tweezers (actually these were Sarah's tweezers that I stole and got scolded for loosing, sorry!!!) and a bottle of contact solution (mom....send some more!).

My Flat!
After taking a 20min taxi ride to my apartment I met my housemates (all of whom go to Marist) and I must say, coming into this place I was quite nervous since I knew they were all friends so I felt I'd be the outcast and so I had the expectation that I would probably be on my own for the most part. But they are incredibly nice, chill, classy, funny, etc. and really reach out to include me an hang out, so I'm very fortunate I was able to land a spot in their house. Speaking of the house, well apartment, its only a block away from the trainstation so I get to see my fair share of gypsies everyday, and about a 10min walk away from the duomo. Not entirely sure how old this place is, but have to say at least 50years, maybe even a hundred or more? Its not crumbling as of yet, but in one of the bedrooms there is a fantastic mural on the ceiling (pictures to come, hype it up!!!). My room is pretty snazzy, I have a single and its the only room upstairs, almost like a loft, so I have my own space, essentially my own wing to the apartment (coined "the chamber of secrets" by my housemates), cept it does get slightly warm/musty up there and I don't have a door so if people are talking downstairs it is slightly loud. In addition to the nickname of my room, I have also been given the nickname of "Doc" by my housemates; my full title is "Doc Lovelace." I do not exactly recall where that comes from, but my housemates were wondering where I was the first night and recalled that my last name was "love something" so they started calling me "lovelace," which later evolved into "Doc Lovelace," which I believe is a character in a movie or TV show? This was eventually shortened to simply "Doc." Although I do miss being called "Lovey" by my Marist comrades, "Loveland" by my highschool compatriots, and simply "Andrew" by my closest friends from elementary school, and of course my family, "Doc" is rapidly growing on me and I do approve of this name. I have also come to the realization that I'm not entirely welcome in europe as everything is so small for me. Constantly hit my head whenever I enter my closet, have to duck sometimes when I walk through doors, and the shower is remarkably tiny, you would think it'd be sensible to make the shower bigger and get rid of the random urinal? thing they have in all the bathrooms. Aside from that, the house is absolutely marvelous, I imagine it would go for quite a hefty penny considering its only a few minutes from the duomo and its a 4bed and 2 full bath apt.


OYE! OYE! OYE! FIRENZE! FIRENZE! FIRENZE!
Now time for the part is of perhaps most interest to yall: my actual ventures in Firenze! Alas, I have only been here for really one full day (as today I mostly stayed inside as it was quite nippy, windy, and cloudy outside), but yesterday a couple of my housemates and myself just walked around the city during the day driven by curiosity of all the side streets, vendors, old buildings, etc. The only real landmark I have actually seen, well knowingly seen is the duomo, and I believe I saw where the original location of the Statue of David (now a replica stands in its place). Somehow our mission of getting lost in the city turned us right back to our apartment, I'm not entirely sure how that occurred, but it does show how small the city actually is. Oh! and side note, I saw a single sculler on the river yesterday, awwwe nostalgia is once again victorious. Another remarkable thing is how inexpensive most things are. Pasta, groceries, wine, cleaning supplies, and especially sandwiches (which are sooooo big! and delicious!) can all be bought for around 1-3euros. I have found though that drinks/pubs are slightly expensive, it hurt a little inside having spent quite a bit as we did a pub-crawl last night, I refuse to ever spend 3euros again for a silly coat check! Hmmm, oh and I must say, the gelato really lives up to all the hype, very delicious, kinda pricey, but every mouthful is another push in convincing you how worth those 3euros were. Also, although I have not found any Starbucks to utilize my wicked awesome "gold card" (ha thats right, Starbucks recognizes my snazziness) I am in love with the superbness of the famed espresso. It's also an added bonus that my housemates make it all the time so I just bum a cup off them whenever they whip it out. I mentioned my sadness before, the fact that I would be separated a few thousand miles from my beloved Arnold Palmer (a concoction of half lemonade and half iced tea), the espresso and wine that really does flow like waterfalls (perhaps another terrible analogy???) is absolutely delicious. Alas, upon my return I will have five days of being an illegal consumer of alcohol back in the states, I'm sure I will manage, but the luxury of these delectable sandwiches (ok I know this has nothing to do with the wine, but I'm already starting to tear up a bit that I will eventually have to say my goodbyes to my daily sandwiches), and the cheap but oh so delicious vino will no longer be at my side. I'm just going to throw a wild guess out there, but if these 1euro bottles of vino are so delicious, I can only imagine what a 20euro bottle of vino will taste like? Christmas in every drop? Ohhhhhhh I do believe so.

My day today has mainly consisted of sleeping until 3pm (I believe my jetlag is finally coming to a halt), spending a few hours finding a place to eat for lunch (my housemates are incredibly indecisive, its slightly absurd), and planning out all my weekends of where I plan to travel throughout Italy and Europe (nothing is really set in stone, so suggestions are more then welcome!!!). Although I really do enjoy walking around aimlessly or just relaxing in my flat with my housemates, I am pretty excited for the start of classes, which begin this Monday. Although they are a bit longer then Marist classes I believe, all of them appear to be very interesting (for those of you who don't know, I'm taking 1. Introduction to Art (now I can finally understand what all these buildings are that I pass on a daily basis) 2. Current Trends in Italian Cuisine (absolutely love cooking, perhaps the most epic class ever) 3. Elementary Italian (finally I will be able to communicate without having to point at everything) 4. History of Politics in the Middle East (ehhh, gets my history credit out of the way, I'm more of a European history guy, but I do suppose being more cultured on other countries is a bonus) and 5. Europe after 1965 (yay Europe!).

Sadly :'( my conclusion!
To conclude this rather lengthy post that has taken me over two days to create, I'm very content and glad I chose Florence as my study abroad destination. Going into this I was a bit unsure if this would be a good fit for me as I didn't know anyone and as this is the hot spot for Marist folk, I assumed that basically everyone would have their cliques and I would perhaps be alone. But fortunately, my housemates are really great and even just walking today down a street to a little wine shop, iPod in hand, street noise as background music, light rain drops falling, and classy european messenger bag at my side, I actually feel almost at home here. I believe I'm already starting to become accustomed to the european culture, perhaps sounds silly to some, but even though I have been here for only a couple days, not having a strict schedule or being constantly rushed feels extremely warming and almost like my home. I could seriously get used to all this.

CIAO!

p.s I assure you all that pictures will be coming soon, I took a few but the sun bleached a lot of them out unfortunately.

The Journey Begins...

Hello all, ****spoiler alert*** this post lacks any sort of humor, wit, or style as I have yet to arrive in Florence, but I'm flying out of Bradley at 7:20pm tonight and landing in Florence at 2:00pm (italy's time). So I wish everyone the best for the upcoming semester and months and will be consistently updating my blog on my travels. My cell phone number for Italy is provided below, as well as my skype, so don't be afraid to give me a ring (well on skype, the phone might get slightly expensive). Sorry for the lack of brilliance in this post, I will attempt to not disappoint in the upcoming posts. Arrivederci!

Italy- (+39) 3771684047
Skype- Orangeman77

The Protagonist of this Tale

Hello there! I am happy to say that this is my first blog post so get excited yall! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Andrew, although you may hear others call me Loveland or Lovey, and the reason for the creation of this blog is I am studying abroad in the pulchritudinous land of Firenze, Italia. 

Picture of Florence ^

Absolutely breathtaking, is it not? 


The creation of this blog would typically suggest to others that I have either A) Am already in Firenze, B) Am about to depart, C) Still have a few weeks left and am just writing this because I have nothing else to do while my girlfriend is in class. Alas, if you answered C. then you are correct my dear friend. Luckily for all you Conneticutians, I do not depart for another 2 weeks, as I fly out of Bradly on January 25, layover in Dulles, another layover in Frankfurt, and finally I land in Florence on the 26th. Fortunately for me, because I'm using my father's mileage points to fly me for free, I get the added bonus of seeing more airports then your typical study abroader. 


As quite a few of you already knew, this was an entirely difficult decision making process for where I should study abroad as I was darn near close to studying in New Zealand. But sadly, my trip to NZ is postponed indefinitely :(. The reason for choosing Firenze one might ask? Well as the title hints at, my heritage is Italian (Lozito is my grandmother's maiden italian name), and as I have already explored parts of my British roots, the Italian side of me was pleading to unearth my heritage. Also, the other obvious reason is that I can see a wicked amount of lands with minimal time and expenses. 


The primary purpose of this blog is to keep all of ya informed that I am still of solid health and to ensure my father that his money is well worth spent. But furthermore, as you all know, I absolutely love food and cooking as it is one of my deepest passions in life. So I will be documenting the restaurants and other areas I try in hopes that some of you will be able to use this as a future guide if you ever decide to travel through Florence and other parts of Italy. 

Rupert= My masculine journal <3

Just because the last picture was exhilarating to post, I felt this was the perfect opportunity to post my second photo ever, this is my lovely journal, his name is Rupert and he will be never leave my side for the next fiveish months. Also, I will be posting photos on facebook and/or flickr (this blog conveniently places a link at the bottom of this page -\/- where you can view a few of them at once from my flickr) and I'll probably post a picture here and there within every post, from Sheldon, my gorgeous Canon Rebel T2i (28-135mm) that my wonderful girlfriend Sarah gave me for this past Christmas. 


I sincerely hope each and every one of you enjoys taking part in my little quest across Florence, Italy, Europe, and the beyond. I anticipate updating this several times a week so I truly hope I do not bore you my dear friend. If anyone, or anyone you know is passing through Florence, I will more then gladly offer my floor for a place to crash and would enjoy very much grabbing a glass of vino and dinner. So I bid yall good day, and there are ample amounts of methods to contact me. Facebook, AIM (sammylight7), Skype (orangeman77), Gmail (andrewloveland7@gmail.com), and I will have a cellular phone that I will be getting in the next few weeks that you may reach me by as it doesn't cost me anything to receive calls, but be warned you will incur quite the fee for international calls. 




Love you all,




Andrew