Sorry for not writing.... I don't know why I haven't been bothered but I just haven't gotten the urge. I owe it to myself to write as much as I can. I am actually writing this from my friend's kitchen in Bordeaux, but I'm going to talk about my weekend in Florence.
I didn't leave Paris until 7PM. I had choir all day so I was a little stressed on getting to the airport on time, but with the RER B going straight to Charles de Gualle I knew I only needed thirty five minutes to get there. That was assuming the train was working. Which it wasn't. So naturally I had a panic attack and pretty much figured I was going to miss my flight. I took my roommates advice and just took a cab. Fifty-five euros later, I arrived at the Lufthansa terminal and checked in for my flight. I had about thirty minutes before takeoff. Whew!
When I landed in Frankfort I got a text from Katie, my friend from LCHS that I was going to visit in Florence. She said that something happened and she was going to miss her connection getting her back to Florence around 11PM. Now she wasn't arriving until 3AM. Great... So I am going to a foreign country where I speak not one word of the language and my only friend isn't there. Awesome!
Luckily for me, Katie had it under control. She texted some of her friends and they met me at the train station. I was able to put my suitcase at their apartment, and we kind of walked around the city at night. A few things struck me as insanely cool about that night. The first was the fact that three strangers were taking me around the city. They had no idea who I was or what I was like but they let me put my suitcase in their apartment and stayed up with me until Katie arrived. That night I promised myself that if anyone needs my help/hospitality they will get it. The second thing that struck me about that night is how amazing European cities can be and how desensitized we can be to it. I walked by the Duomo and I was shocked, but everyone I was with was just like, "Oh yeah... there it is..." I guess I do the same thing with the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame though...
So finally Katie gets there and we go to her apartment and we go to sleep.
The next morning (and by morning I really mean afternoon) we were going to meet Katie's brother who is in Chamber back at LCHS. He was there on choir tour with the rest of Chamber and Concert Choir. We picked him up and then headed back to Katie's where her friends made us an amazing lunch with pasta. After that lunch, we walked around the town a lot. It was nice seeing Katie and her brother. I remember how much fun I had when Nick came and visited so it was cool seeing her brother and her having a good time. We had to drop her brother off with the rest of the choir so they could get ready for their concert that we were going to that evening.
I cannot accurately describe what it was like to hear that choir sing. It was the first time that I heard them since I was in the choir. They sang some songs that I had sung when I was in it. But the combined choirs sang Esto Les Digo, which was the first song that I ever sang in Chamber. Maybe it was the fact that I had such fond memories of that song, or the fact that I was visiting a friend from LCHS or that I have seen more people from La Cañada in France than I have in the last two years, but it got me thinking about a lot of things and people that I hadn't in a while. I got a little teary eyed thinking about how far removed I was from what I thought was my whole life back in high school. It wasn't sadness though. It was nostalgia.
Anyway, that evening we met up with some of Katie's friends and had one of the best pizzas I'd ever eaten. Plus it was only four euros! We ate our pizza on the steps of a church and had a lot of fun just kind of walking around and talking. Everyone I met in Florence was incredibly nice to me. It made it one of the most enjoyable trips I've had.
The next day was the day was Monday and Katie had class. She said that I should come up to the villa and see her campus, so naturally I did. She took me to one of her favorite Pannino places. Ham, Tomatoes, Cheese and Pesto on fresh tuscan bread. Wow. Anyway, the only thing that was more impressive than that sandwich was her campus. It was a villa that was donated to NYU back in the 1980's by some rich family. It stretched across this valley and had gardens complete with statues of Roman gods. I cannot believe they get to call that school for their time in Florence. I fell asleep for an hour while Katie was in class. There was this perfect bench next to a bubbling fountain for me to nap on. It was pretty funny. Katie's two roommates asked me that night if they saw me napping there.
That night we went out to a café where a lot of the people I had met were performing. Katie is in the music business class and she told me that NYU Florence is one of two places that offer music courses. So a lot of music students study abroad there. Jordana, one of the two people who hung out with me when Katie was on her way back was performing, so we watched her. Then Katie and I had a great dinner at a restaurant she had been to before and really liked. Then we capped the night off by watching 500 Days of Summer and splitting a bottle of sparkling wine and some chips and chocolate at her apartment.
The next morning, Katie had more class and my plane left around 2PM. I still hadn't seen any of the museums (except for going up the dome of the Duomo) so I needed to go see the David. Oh my god. I never thought of a statue as being attractive before, but there is something about the David that is just handsome. I killed about two hours in the Academia seeing all there was to see there and then headed off to the airport.
That was my trip to Florence!
I didn't leave Paris until 7PM. I had choir all day so I was a little stressed on getting to the airport on time, but with the RER B going straight to Charles de Gualle I knew I only needed thirty five minutes to get there. That was assuming the train was working. Which it wasn't. So naturally I had a panic attack and pretty much figured I was going to miss my flight. I took my roommates advice and just took a cab. Fifty-five euros later, I arrived at the Lufthansa terminal and checked in for my flight. I had about thirty minutes before takeoff. Whew!
When I landed in Frankfort I got a text from Katie, my friend from LCHS that I was going to visit in Florence. She said that something happened and she was going to miss her connection getting her back to Florence around 11PM. Now she wasn't arriving until 3AM. Great... So I am going to a foreign country where I speak not one word of the language and my only friend isn't there. Awesome!
Luckily for me, Katie had it under control. She texted some of her friends and they met me at the train station. I was able to put my suitcase at their apartment, and we kind of walked around the city at night. A few things struck me as insanely cool about that night. The first was the fact that three strangers were taking me around the city. They had no idea who I was or what I was like but they let me put my suitcase in their apartment and stayed up with me until Katie arrived. That night I promised myself that if anyone needs my help/hospitality they will get it. The second thing that struck me about that night is how amazing European cities can be and how desensitized we can be to it. I walked by the Duomo and I was shocked, but everyone I was with was just like, "Oh yeah... there it is..." I guess I do the same thing with the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame though...
So finally Katie gets there and we go to her apartment and we go to sleep.
The next morning (and by morning I really mean afternoon) we were going to meet Katie's brother who is in Chamber back at LCHS. He was there on choir tour with the rest of Chamber and Concert Choir. We picked him up and then headed back to Katie's where her friends made us an amazing lunch with pasta. After that lunch, we walked around the town a lot. It was nice seeing Katie and her brother. I remember how much fun I had when Nick came and visited so it was cool seeing her brother and her having a good time. We had to drop her brother off with the rest of the choir so they could get ready for their concert that we were going to that evening.
I cannot accurately describe what it was like to hear that choir sing. It was the first time that I heard them since I was in the choir. They sang some songs that I had sung when I was in it. But the combined choirs sang Esto Les Digo, which was the first song that I ever sang in Chamber. Maybe it was the fact that I had such fond memories of that song, or the fact that I was visiting a friend from LCHS or that I have seen more people from La Cañada in France than I have in the last two years, but it got me thinking about a lot of things and people that I hadn't in a while. I got a little teary eyed thinking about how far removed I was from what I thought was my whole life back in high school. It wasn't sadness though. It was nostalgia.
Anyway, that evening we met up with some of Katie's friends and had one of the best pizzas I'd ever eaten. Plus it was only four euros! We ate our pizza on the steps of a church and had a lot of fun just kind of walking around and talking. Everyone I met in Florence was incredibly nice to me. It made it one of the most enjoyable trips I've had.
The next day was the day was Monday and Katie had class. She said that I should come up to the villa and see her campus, so naturally I did. She took me to one of her favorite Pannino places. Ham, Tomatoes, Cheese and Pesto on fresh tuscan bread. Wow. Anyway, the only thing that was more impressive than that sandwich was her campus. It was a villa that was donated to NYU back in the 1980's by some rich family. It stretched across this valley and had gardens complete with statues of Roman gods. I cannot believe they get to call that school for their time in Florence. I fell asleep for an hour while Katie was in class. There was this perfect bench next to a bubbling fountain for me to nap on. It was pretty funny. Katie's two roommates asked me that night if they saw me napping there.
That night we went out to a café where a lot of the people I had met were performing. Katie is in the music business class and she told me that NYU Florence is one of two places that offer music courses. So a lot of music students study abroad there. Jordana, one of the two people who hung out with me when Katie was on her way back was performing, so we watched her. Then Katie and I had a great dinner at a restaurant she had been to before and really liked. Then we capped the night off by watching 500 Days of Summer and splitting a bottle of sparkling wine and some chips and chocolate at her apartment.
The next morning, Katie had more class and my plane left around 2PM. I still hadn't seen any of the museums (except for going up the dome of the Duomo) so I needed to go see the David. Oh my god. I never thought of a statue as being attractive before, but there is something about the David that is just handsome. I killed about two hours in the Academia seeing all there was to see there and then headed off to the airport.
That was my trip to Florence!
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