If you have ever been abroad, I’m sure you have noticed some of the drastically different experiences from other countries compared to the United States. After spending over a month in Europe, I’ve started to love and embrace so much that simply doesn’t exist where I’m from in Pennsylvania.
To start, public transportation is an absolute miracle, and I cannot believe that there aren’t more options for Americans. It’s simply unreal to me that the first time I took a public transportation bus (besides a school bus) was at 20 years old, to the point that I didn’t even know how they worked until I figured it out at my ripe age.
In Florence, there’s a tram system that takes you around the city, and it is such a benefit compared to walking up to an hour across the city with big grocery bags. The cost is only 1 euro and 70 euro cents ($1.93 in USD), and the tram ticket is valid for up to 90 minutes, including transfers, so it’s a great time-saver (and muscle saver, especially when you’re walking so much every day).
In addition to the tram, it’s so easy to train around different parts of Italy and even to different countries, which will save you a lot of money on plane and Uber costs. I’ve already traveled to countless small towns near Florence, but I did get stuck twice in random towns during train strikes – something to be wary of if you’re ever in Europe, and especially Italy (workers love their strikes over here)!
Now, onto the food: in Italy, it is not common to buy a lot of groceries in one trip to the store, as is the situation in a lot of European countries. Instead, people often buy one day’s worth of food, especially since there are nowhere near as many preservatives in their food as there are in America (this means the food goes bad much faster).
European grocery stores also tend to be much smaller and within walking distance, so they are much more convenient to stop by every day, compared to my hometown of Dingmans Ferry, where the closest grocery store to me was a 30-minute drive until I was 15 years old.
Here, the food is so much healthier than what you find in America – I’ve had so many Italians tell me that the food they tried when they visited America tasted like plastic to them, and they can almost feel how unhealthy it is.
Most places in Florence serve traditional food: pasta, pizza, and steak, with a few exceptions. If you try to order a well-done steak, they will refuse to serve it to you, and many fancy restaurants will not allow any substitutions due to how seriously they take their craft of cooking, and as an extremely picky eater, I’ve been eating a lot of pasta and Margherita pizza (but no complaints here, I love it!)
Portions are also much smaller than in America, making takeaway boxes less likely, and meals are a more appropriate size (and better for your health)!
There’s also kebab, a late-night junk food you can find all over Florence, but it originates from Istanbul – my favorite is a burrito with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and lamb (never thought that I would say I could enjoy lamb, but here I am)!
Meals are considered social rituals here and are not rushed; in most places, a check will not be delivered to the table unless specifically asked for, since waiters do not want to make the diners feel rushed. Fresh, high-quality ingredients are a must, and local dishes have a strong regional pride; you can taste the difference in the food here compared to back home. Fast-paced service is not as standard here as in the U.S., but the food tastes much better.
Italian culture is also so much different from the U.S. – there are many kind people, the type of “Southern hospitality” that simply does not exist in the same manner in Pennsylvania: compliments, free drinks and dessert, and most store owners call me “bella,” the Italian word for beautiful.
And shopping here is so fun! There are a lot of leather and other markets in Florence that I love going to and haggling with the owners; they’ll give you a much better deal if you put in some effort in trying to get a sale, and often, they mark up the prices expecting that you’ll haggle the prices down.
Segue, but dressing nicely is a necessity here; you will get strange looks if you leave your apartment wearing sweatpants or athletic shorts without going to the gym. The cities are much more densely built and populated, and every city I’ve been in is extremely old (and very walkable).
My classes are about two and a half hours long, but I do get a 15-minute break in every class. Also, Italian people speak a lot more expressively – even if I don’t speak great Italian, I usually interpret what they are trying to say via hand gestures.
For example, “prego” means ‘you’re welcome,’ ‘you can sit here,’ ‘come here,’ ‘here you go,’ ‘of course,’ ‘how can I help?’ or it can be used just as a sign of agreement, so picking up on tones and hand movements is especially important.
