1st Days!

Greetings again!

Things have gotten pretty interesting so far! I'm surprisingly not homesick like I thought I would be, just missing my family and Faith a lot. Anyway, I finally unpacked, my luggage was taking up way too much space in my dorm room. My classmates/new friends have gotten drunk pretty much every night so far. Seeing how I don't drink, I still tag along with everyone, people watch, and have some laughs. My ability to adapt with my surroundings is pretty darn good, I'll say. Being the only African-American man in Florence, Italy thus far is a task I don't think many dudes could handle, at least without getting in much trouble. The way most people
(including some family but I won't name names) look at my situation is I'm a black man on the other side of the world, I'm poor while most of my classmates have fairly wealthy parents, I don't know anybody here, and I have a gf so I can't even mess around with anyone (or I could just don't tell Faith). I'm not that kind of guy though. I was raised to not let anybody or any situation intimidate me, to be confident with humility, and seek the strength of God while pursuing my goals. All that extra stuff- ohh you don't drink or smoke, whaaaat you got a girlfriend, you're black what are you doing here- is absurd! Most of the guys have gf's so we're sticking together lol, I'm very money-savvy now so I can budget pretty well and not look broke, and not only have I not had an issue with being black (yet), everyone seems really interested in the only black kid from Detroit! God brought me here for a reason, and it's not to look foolish!!

Sorry, random tangent. I just don't like people making assumptions or generalizations about things and have no idea what they're talking about. Back to Florence!

The 1st night, after some pre-gaming, a few of us decided to explore Sesto Fiorentino, the town we're staying in a few kilometers from Florence. Turns out it was their independence day, so there was a big concert and people were just hanging out and having a good time. Met some locals, but my Italian sucks so communication was minimal. I passed with a little Spanish though lol. We all gathered at this pizza joint, but the guys ended up leaving and I didn't wanna leave these 2 girls by themselves so I stayed with them and had my 1st Italian pizza! It was delicious! Thin, but doughy is the best way to describe it.

The next day we had orientation so we met all the staff and signed more forms, got a tour of the Villa, and had more free time. I took a lot of beautiful pics, but they really don't do this place justice. that night after more pre-gaming, we went back into Sesto, chilled with more locals, and had more laughs and more pizza!

Yesterday was cool too! After waking up late, had to hurry a shower and get dressed because we had a bus going into Florence for a tour. This place is crazy beautiful! Detroit has old history and monuments and crap, but Florence was built in the frickin Jesus era and it's still sweet! I took so many pics my camera died, then we walked so much I almost died lol. Delicious gelato (Italian ice cream) revived me, and I was able to make it back safely with my new partners in crime. I must work out like every day because at this rate I'm GOING to gain some weight and I really don't want to lol. I should be fine though, with my retarded metabolism. (Sidenote: I was on the toilet and I heard some random noises. Everybody was pre-gaming so I was by myself. I looked on the wall because I thought I saw a tail, and it was frickin lizard, slithering camouflaged on the wall!! I ran with my pants down back to my room after screaming! Do NOT judge me, not used to that stuff!!)

Last night we went into Florence and found this disco/electronica club called Space. Naps. I've never been to a club like that, and didn't wanna be in this ancient Villa by myself, so I went. 6 Euros to get in for students, with a free drink. I gave the drink to my roommate, and we went upstairs. The 1st part of the night was cool, everybody stayed together, we had some laughs, took some pics, and were having a good time. One of the guys is a hip-hop dancer so we had comedy together doing dance moves and stuff. As the night wore on, they didn't seem to get tired! And worst of all, every time I turned around there was a dude! SAUSAGE FEST!! There was like 7 guys for every 2 girls I swear! I do not like that gay junk! I found myself kind of looking out for everyone, mostly the girls, because the Italian local guys were pulling up their dresses and trying to feel them up and stuff. After a long night, got in around 3:30am our time. Skyped with the wife til about 5am, hit the sack, slept like 9 hours lol.

More adventures coming soon!