#floweekend

Imagine you were all packed and got up early in time to make your 7 am flight to Istanbul, Turkey just to be told that your flight wasn’t until next weekend. Unfortunately, this imagining that you did was a reality for me this past weekend. A minor speed bump in my travel plans for my final weekend in Florence so I quickly had to deviate from what was originally planned. Florence or Istanbul?? Clearly, Istanbul is the obvious choice but a weekend in Florence was much needed and at last I got one.

The weekend started out like any other getting up ready to go jet set and then everything changed when I went back to my apartment and wallowed in my sorrow (not really), more like slept. I had no idea what I would do for an entire weekend, because I literally had nothing planned; which in a way that was a godsend because the best kind of weekends are sometimes the unplanned, which for this weekend it couldn’t be truer.  Even though the hours felt like years, it was a good weekend regardless.

Being the last weekend in Florence, it was about time to knock some of the touristy things out of the way now that I’ve lived in Italy for the past four months. Touristy things like visiting the Uffizi, the biggest museum in Florence and the Boboli Gardens at the Palazzo Pitti, kind of similar to the Gardens of Versailles except for in Italy. As well as a trip to the local Christmas market in Piazza Santa Croce. The biggest worry that I had was who would I hang out with for the weekend however this crisis was solved quickly as I met people here and there and we went on planning. My Friday night consisted of me buying 5 euro worth of Haribo candies and watching America’s Next Top Model the entire night. Not the ideal Italian night but sometimes marathons of one of your favorite shows is necessary in a foreign country.

Finals were also upon us which meant that it was time to get down to business and start studying. In retrospect, it meant procrastinate even more and wait until the last minute as I’m sure most students did the exact same thing as me. Thankfully, my finals were a breeze so I had nothing to stress about except for my upcoming days to squeeze everything in and pack accordingly for my long excursion home; which seems like an impossible task.  

Staying in Florence for the weekend gave me the opportunity to be with people that I haven’t hung out with or see Florence at its finest: the nightlife and during the day for the matter. Walking the streets listening to the street performers or people watching is one the best pastimes when there is nothing to do for the day. I feel overwhelmed for all I’ve missed; I am a believer of things happening for a reason so not having the chance to go to Turkey was probably one of the best things simply because I knew I needed a weekend in Florence (or Flo as Alissa says) but didn’t know if I would. So unfortunately, I have no cool stories or any cool pictures to post, which could potentially make it cool!