Che cosa fai quando il fa molto caldo e humido? Che cosa fai quando l’apartamento e troppo piccolo e sporco? Che cosa fai quando il letto è troppo piccolo e firma? Che cosa fai quando c’è tanto rumoroso e non posso dormire??? Tu cambiare la casa!!

Pat yourselves on the back when you work out what I have just said cos you will, when I explain the week I’ve had!

Some earlier facebook posts hinted at the less than ideal conditions I found myself in when I  arrived in Florence last Sunday. In my usual positive and enthusiastic manner I accepted the apartment the Michaelangelo school had booked me into for a fairly reasonable price, in the hope that I could make the best of it. After all, they had done a great job of finding me a place literally around the corner  from the school and one with an elevator. Both very positive and helpful for an old chook with dodgy knees! However, the assumption that I might be a size 8 like every Italian woman I’ve  seen and therefore comfortable on a single bed was a big mistake! As was the assumption, that like younger students who use these apartments, I  would have no need for a functional kitchen or shower and  be more than happy to eat take out pizza every night wearing the same clothes and undies! This apartment is perfect for a 20 something young thing who would hang out in one of the 3 bars around the corner, skip classes for shopping and be happy to fall asleep on any horizontal surface in a drunken state!

For me however, and despite having a delightful french flat mate (more about her in a moment), the constant late night noise, squishy bed, broken shower, heat and humidity, got the better of me. Traipsing (or is that tripping, as I  did do once) along the uneven, unruly flagstone paths and roads has taken all my strength and concentration, as has 4 hours of Italian studies every day. All I wanted at the end of these intense and hot days was a decent shower and a comfy bed to sleep in. I  know I  sound like a whinger when I am here overseas having a wonderful adventure but I am too old to put up with shit accommodation. Call me a woose but in the end it was doing my head and body in….

So after some considerable Googling, I found and I moved into a different apartment yesterday.  It is some way outside the city centre (which is where the other one is) and I will have to catch a bus to school now. Mind you, the bus stop is right outside the apartment door and drops me right outside the school door so no problem really! It is on the 3rd floor but the building has an elevator. It has 2 bedrooms both with queen size COMFY new beds. The living room has a couch and tv! The kitchen is tiny but it has a dishwater and a fry pan with a handle! There is matching crockery housed in a beautiful old antique cabinet and a coffee machine. The bathroom is big and the shower works but unfortunately  the shower door is broken (guess I can’t have everything) but best of all, it has air-conditioning in every room, a most delightful view across to the Duomo and it is QUIET! Oh and a washing machine! I  have done all my washing today, yay! For the first time in a week, I slept with the sheets and cover on me and only woke up once, phew!

I  was supposed to go on a school organised tour of Assisi today but I skipped it in favour of a sleep in and a catch up with myself and my washing! Some might think this was mad but it was the better choice of self care for me after the big week I’ve had.

It’s been interesting to feel such culture shock when I arrived here but that’s what it has been. It is also interesting to have become aware that I was nursing all sorts of expectations, both of myself and the situation.

I have been to Italy before, several times, but when I  was here 5 years ago, I had avoided too much time in the bigger, more touristy cities. Florence is certainly  one of those. This place literally crawls with tourists. Every 5 minutes you will see the caterpillar of a tour group trundling along the narrow footpaths, tour leader out front holding aloft a sign, umbrella, flag or some such thing.  They then spill out into the Piazzas and congregate at the steps of the church like a hoard of ants on a discarded sandwich. They then scatter, selfie sticks in hand to take a hundred photos of themselves and then they go and buy souvenirs by the handfuls. I have sat in a few different squares this week and observed this. These groups always seem to be in such a hurry and it seems a shame that they don’t get to really absorb what they are looking at. This was expectation number 1 – I’m here after the summer holidays and it will be quieter – wrong!

Expectation number 2 – I’m older, wiser, more capable and confident than I have ever been. I will be able to handle anything! YES? Until you put me in a class full of intelligent, pretty, young girls who speak several languages, including flirting! Talk about old self image demons rearing their ugly head….! That first day in that class I was transported back to my high school days where I often felt stupid, fat, ugly and inadequate. Determined not to feel that way I tried desperately to prove I could understand everything and was a willing student and asked lots of stupid questions!

After 2 days of stuggling in this class and a third day where I  skipped the class completely, in favour of sleep, I  asked to be moved to another class on the Thursday  morning. I  was transferred into a class full of mostly older women than me and one young german boy (who must’ve felt like I did in the other class!). The teacher Katya was delightful, enthusiastic and very patient unlike the old guy who taught the other class. I  quickly realised that I  was probably  now the best student in this class and perhaps it was going to be too easy. Despite my level of Italian  being somewhere in between these 2 classes, I felt infinitely better amongst this lot. It probably helped that all of these women were from Australia! After the lesson on Friday I knew I had definitely done the right thing. We were learning phrases that were useful, relevant to us and there was lots of banter and laughter in the class.

Expectation number 3 – I can make the best of anything. This is an interesting  one… yes I can make the best of anything, I  have proved that many times in my life, but the question is, do I have to?? Nowhere is it written that suffering/struggling is noble. Well maybe in the bible it is written. .. I  have learnt in these last couple of years that it is not a particular situation that causes you angst, it is your attitude that does, and that you do have a choice how to feel. This may be true and certainly now, I am entirely capable of choosing my feelings and reaching for a better feeling thought when something threatens to upset my equilibrium. However, this doesn’t mean I have to put up with things that don’t serve me well. I am here to learn, the italian language I thought, but maybe life lessons as well!

Look maybe I am being a hedonist about all of this, but I feel infinitely  better about everything now that I am in more comfortable  accommodation and a more comfortable class. I know one thing at least, I am no hero determined to slay any difficult dragons!

So what of the more positive experiences I have had… As always, for me, it is the people I meet, who make travelling the wonderful experience it can be. Take for instance my flat mate Irene. What an inspiration she is! A 60 something widow from country France, she has been delightfully friendly and chatty if not a bit quirky as well. For someone who cares about her appearance so much, she must take 20 minutes to apply her makeup every morning but she was quite happy to wear the same dress 4 days in a row! It is always fascinating to observe the different habits and rituals we have that make us feel safe in a new situation….

Irene is also so set on mastering the Italian language, that she insisted we talk only in Italian. A great idea in theory, and believe me I tried but when I  was tired, hot and sore at the end of the day it was a bit of stretch for my poor tired brain! Still she has been good for me and I miss her already. She is not particularly comfortable in that apartment either and I have offered for her to share this new one but she likes being so close to the school, and she has made many friends that she goes out with between classes as she is enrolled in the over 50 program, so she doesn’t seem as bothered by the apartment.

I  also connected with a woman in the new class, Rhonda, closer to my age, I sat next to her and after class on Thursday she invited me to have lunch with her. We chatted all afternoon whilst walking around the city. She showed me some of her discoveries, my favourite being a huge, modern, bronze sculpture of a turtle in one of the Piazzas. The turtle was a symbol of the Medici family and embodies the saying “Hurry slowly” I have put a link here if you want to read more, its very interesting. ..

Giant Turtle Sculpture Comes to Florence with Jan Fabre Exhibit

I in turn showed Rhonda a little jewellery  shop I discovered one night. Everything in it is made in Italy if not in Florence. The jewellery is lovely but what I enjoyed more was talking with the shop owner that night. Donato, had an Australian girlfriend for 15 years and had been to Australia  many times. He was keen for a chat, pulled up a chair for me and we talked for an hour or more. He was a really interesting  guy and we chatted on all sorts of subjects. Initially I tried to talk in Italian but his English was good and we eventually slipped into that. It was great to hear that here in Italy too, there is a move towards more environmentally responsible behaviour in their agriculture and consumerism and a real shift in consciousness too.

Yesterday  I had organised to catch up with one of our exchnage students. We hosted Edo in 2012. He comes from Milan. When he lived with us we discovered that he was a quirky, highly intelligent boy who sometimes drove us up the wall with his incessant chatter about soccer! He has grown up into a fine young man and it was delightful  to spend the day with him. We had a wander around the famous Santa di Maria Novella church near the station where he arrived. It was like having my own private tour guide as he knew so much about the history of the church and its artworks! And this is a kid who has majored in sciences and is studying chemistry at Uni!

He was very excited to see me again and so proud of the fact that I  was learning Italian and could speak to him in his own language (well try to!) We rang his mum over lunch cos she wanted to chat with me and I am pleased to say that almost the entire conversation was in Italian! Both she and Edo said how well I was doing! Edo was a real sweetie and helped me move my stuff over to the new apartment in the afternoon too.

So enough written for now, I  will cook myself some dinner now (with vegetables, have had too much pasta and not enough veggies) and head to bed in my new quiet room and comfy bed!

Fino a tardi!