My final blog post is being written as I am waiting to board my flight back home. It’s been 73 days since I last was in the US, and saying many goodbyes this week was more difficult than I had expected it to be. The question “How will I survive here?” quickly became “How will I leave?” and a piece of my heart will be in Florence forever. Living in Florence has been an intense culture shock, overstimulating at times, but I have become in sync with the city, and grown to love the busy. My ears have been trained to hear the click of a bicycle chain approaching behind me, and my body instinctively moves to the sidewalk wall. I no longer need google maps to find my favorite vintage shops, or restaurants. I am accustomed to the summer heat, and the sparkle of sweat across my forehead. My daily step count no longer impresses me when I reach over 20,000. The unwritten rules of Florence I have learned to follow by observing the pace of those around me. As for myself, I leave with so much more than I came with. In the physical, my favorite Italian snacks, the clothing I thrifted, film pictures, souvenirs for my family and friends, the projects I made in class. Outside of the physical, new friendships, deeper knowledge about my craft through the classes that I took (fashion sustainability, and garment construction), insight about Italian culture and language, and lastly, what I would most important; A completely new version of the future I see myself living in. This trip has made me realize how big the world is, how exciting it is to learn about cultures outside of my own, and how rewarding it is to dream big, and take risks. Post returning home, my goals are to stay connected to the culture by continuing to listen and learn through language, to research more in depth about all the beautiful things and places I got to see, and to apply all the new knowledge learned in my summer classes back at home in my university classes.
