Florence, Italy

Warning: Studying abroad isn’t always fun and games. Accidents and bad things do happen, but you learn how to deal with it on your own and in a foreign country. The trains from Venice to Florence require a seat reservation, meaning we had to pay extra money on top of our Eurail passes to be able to legally take that train. Unfortunately, we missed the train that we had reservations for, but thought it would be okay if we took the next train that was an hour later and still try to use our reservation. That didn’t work at all. We were able to find unused seats, but got fined by the conductor for not having reservations for that train. The fine ended up being more than a new reservation would have been, which was a bummer. Anyways, I took out my wallet to pay the fine to the conductor. Later into the train ride, people kicked us out of our seats because they actually had reservations. So, we had to get up and move to stand by the door of the train, which wasn’t a big deal. We made it to Florence and went to go walk to our hostel.

On the way, we were talking about how Florence was a big city for pick pocketing and how we had to be extra careful with our stuff. At that point, I noticed that my purse felt sort of empty, so I started to rummage through it and couldn’t feel my wallet. I started freaking out a little bit, but tried to keep my cool. I asked my group of Carolyn, Anna, Lachlan, Mike and Keval to wait one second so I could take a better look through my purse. Unfortunately, the wallet was no where to be found. I didn’t really know what to do, so I told my group that it was fine and we should just keep heading to our hostel and I would deal with it once I got there. Thankfully, I had paid for the deposit of this hostel, so I already covered my portion of the cost. I immediately called my dad (ok, so I didn’t figure it all out on my own…) and told him what happened and asked him not to be mad. Thankfully, my dad and I are the logical type, so we reasoned through how I was going to get myself out of this situation. I had lost my wallet which included my credit card, my debit card, my health insurance card, my driver’s license and some cash. I was so unbelievably grateful that I didn’t keep my passport in my wallet and that I had less than 20 euros of cash on me. I was originally planning on withdrawing around 200 euros before this week-long trip. This situation could have been infinitely worse.

My dad advised me that I should go back to the train station and talk to the police there to report my missing or stolen wallet. The only possible situations for what happened were that I didn’t put my wallet back into my purse after paying the fine on the train or someone stole my wallet on the train while I was sleeping (although my purse was in my lap the whole time). Unfortunately, the police at the train station weren’t able to help that much, and weren’t very easy to get to talk to! One of them did speak English, but Mike and I spent a long time trying to get them to open up the doors and let us in. The train I was on went all the way to Rome and the wallet wasn’t found once it got there. I did file a police report though. I also called Chase Sapphire to report the missing card and see if they could send me a new one. They were so nice and said they could get the card to me within two days. Unfortunately, I wasn’t staying in one place for more than two days at a time, so they had to ship the card back to Metz instead. This left me without cash or cards for the rest of seven days we were on break. Thankfully, other people in the group had Venmo, a banking app where you can transfer money to other people’s accounts, and I was able to pay people back instantly.

Back to the hostel, this was probably one of my favorite places that I stayed in Europe. We had a room for all 6 of us together set up almost like a flat. All the beds were in that room but then there was also a nice couch and sitting area. It was really fun to be able to hang out with everyone. We also went out to a club that night, which helped me take my mind off of everything. Although, the club was annoying and you paid the cover fee on the way out the door instead of on the way in, so you had no idea how much it was going to be. Additionally, you paid the cover fee at the bar and they gave you the receipt to get out. By that point, people are drunk and don’t realize that the receipt is actually their ticket out the door and throw it away. Then, they have to pay for the cover all over again. It was nightmare. The club itself was very fun, though!! Mike and Keval managed to find a way into the VIP section. I got snapchats of it the next morning.

The next morning, we got up and went to the Pizzale Michaelangelo for the most amazing view of Florence. It was so beautiful up there. Then we headed to one of the nearby bars for lunch. Our hostel owner told us that the best places to eat lunch in Florence are at the bars because they usually have special deals. Boy was he right! We had a two-course meal for so cheap! We also met this wonderful American couple who gave the boys their leftover pizza. Next, we headed more into downtown Florence and saw the Ponte Vecchio bridge on the way. We headed towards Santa Maria del Fiora, aka the Duomo. It was so beautiful and so massive. I couldn’t fit the entire cathedral in one picture! Unfortunately, because it was a Sunday, we couldn’t go to the top of the dome. We did, however, get to go inside. It is so spacious inside, with high ceilings and grand marble floors. The interior of the dome is stunningly painted various scenes from the Bible. Next, we had more gelato (what else is new…) and explored more of Florence. We tried to see Michaelangelo’s David, but the museum was already closed by the time we got there. We did get to see many similar statues in the square outside of the museum.

Florence wasn’t at all what I expected. Yes, yes, I didn’t expect to lost my wallet, but the city itself was also a surprise. From pictures I had seen, I expected it to be more rustic and surrounded by wine-country. However, Florence is a very bustling, urban city. The size of the city was also perfect; not too big, not too small. We were able to walk everywhere and not have to rely on any sort of public transportation. I really enjoyed my time in Florence and wish we had been able to spend more time relaxing and hanging.