I'm Back Home... | My Last Few Days in Italy, Post-Study Abroad Depression, Getting Back Into Routine

Good morning everybody. You are currently listening to a Tall Girls podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who's listening today is doing super fantastic. Before I get into this episode, I do want to say make sure you're following me all my socials at a Tall Girls podcast on Instagram, TikTok, and pinches so that you can stay updated on all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my every day life. Also, feel free to leave me review and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious. Everything is going to be linked in the description. So I'm back home. Yay, Okay, I'm excited, but I'm not excited, hear me out. I'm excited because I missed all of my friends back home, and I'm also excited to get back into an actual routine. And also I don't have a class for the rest of the summer, so I can actually enjoy my summer and be outside without having to think about homework and exams stuff like that. So that's super good. But then I'm just gonna miss that Italy weather and I'm gonna miss the fact that I can do something every single walk. I mean, I could do something at home every single week, but I'm doing something and seeing different things in a different country every single week. So I'm gonna miss doing that, and I'm gonna miss the Gelata as well. The Jelatta was pretty fire, so I'm definitely gonna miss her. But you know, you got you gotta give and take at some point. So if you didn't know, I was standing abroad in Italy and Florence, Italy for the past few weeks, for the month of June specifically, and I was taking a global brand management course. I absolutely loved her. That was classes for that was four days a week, Monday through Thursday, and on the weekends I would just take time to explore the city, explore Italy, explore different countries. You should definitely check out all of those episodes. But today, now that I'm officially over all the jet lag and getting back into the swing of things, I figured that I would recap my last few days in Florence. Honestly the saddest four days of my life, because I was dreading coming back home. But honestly, I'm down to take a trip down memory lane because I did have a lot of fun on those last four days did not get a lot of sleep, and rightfully so, because I was trying to get as much as possible. But I did have a lot of fun. So let's just get into it, all right. So we're gonna start with Monday. So on Monday, I decided to go to the beach because you know, as Queen Nicki once said, let's go to the beach, and you know, I had to listen to her or whatever. But I've been craving going to the beach for the entirety of the trip, mainly because the weather in Italy it was hidden, well not in the first week. The first week it was harborcaining, but for much of the trip, for a remainder of the trip, it was pretty sunny and very hot. So I was trying to, you know, my tannel, I was trying to get my little swim on, and that's exactly what we did. So in my class, I just bought a ticket in the middle class. By the way, don't do that, actually pay attention to your class. But I was because I was craving going to the beach. I was just scrolling through the internet trying to see what beaches were out there, and The problem with Florence is there's no beaches there, so you gotta take a train ride somewhere just to get to a beach. And that's exactly what I did. I bought train tickets actually to get to the beach. And the thing was, the train ride was three hours long, a little over three hours long, and I don't think I processed that in my mind at the time. I was just like, I'm trying to go to the beach. So I got the earliest ticket possible after my class. My class ended at eleven thirty, so I got a twelve thirty ticket because I had to go back to my room, I had to eat lunch, had to change pack, etc et cetera. You know the vibe. Right after class, bolted back to my room so that I can eat lunch, change and then leave. I headed to the train station about twelve ish, twelve fifteen. Yeah, so I just I didn't have a lot of time for anything, which is boom boom pal and that's it. So the beach that I went to it was Incestry Lavanti. I'm hoping I pronounced it properly. But I took the train out to Seestry Lavanti, over three hours, but going there it wasn't really that bad. I only had to transfer to one train, which was not confusing at all. I had enough time in between trains to be able to find my second train, so I didn't get lost, thank goodness. But I spent much of the train ride out there just editing videos for TikTok, so it kind of passed the time quickly. But when I got to Seestry Lavanti that stop or whatever, it was just a ten minute walk from the train station, not that bad. And I went to my first beach in Italy. Oh gosh. It was such a small beach, but it was so cute. There was sand everywhere. It was no rocks. Oh my gosh. I was scared that there were going to be rocks there, but there was not that many rocks there was. It was just mostly sand, so it was really nice. There were so many cute buildings there. There were of different colors. It was blue, it was yellow, it was pink. It was just vibing. And a lot of people were there too, And that makes sense because that day, I think it was hitting a hundred degrees. So I found my little spot in a corner somewhere right in the sun, because you knew exactly what I was going to do. I was on a tan, but first I had to go in the water. I was really hot at that point. I took a ten minute walk, but in that ten minute walk, I was not thriving and super sweaty, just not having it. So I put my stuff down. I had to put my stuff down where I would be able to see it because they say, yeah, at the beach, it's safe and people are not going to take your stuff, and YadA YadA ya. But I'm sorry, I'm from New York City. I just don't trust people like that. So I had to make sure that my stuff was in my leni view because my wallet was in there, copying, my passport was in there, my phone was going to be in there. No, I was not trying to lose them. So I put in my leniview and I went into the water. Oh my gosh, the water was such a nice blue color. You're not getting that in New York City. I'm sorry you're not. But it was super cool. It was a nice way to cool off from the super hot weather. And I was just vibing. I was literally floating, That's what I was doing. I was floating in the water so peaceful. I definitely deserved that after that class on Monday, that's for sure. So I was floating around, a lot of people were looking at me, super strange because I was by myself. Sometimes it's just nice to do things by yourself, especially floating water at a beach in Italy. Come on, what is it next time? You're ever going to be able to do that? But people were looking at me weird, doesn't matter. I didn't care. I was just vibing and thriving or whatever. And then after a couple of minutes of being in the water, you know, I had to get back to my stuff, take a couple of pictures or whatever. You're gonna see that on the ground, and I just hanned and just took everything in. It was so nice. But in the process of actually of trying to find a place to eat, I saw that there were a couple other beaches and walking distance it was like a three minute walk, six minute walk, a minute walk. I was like, wait, are we going to multiple beaches today? That's exactly what I did. I went to multiple beaches that day. I was beach hopping. I went to about three other beaches. Oh my gosh, best decision ever that day, because I had about six hours before I had to catch my train, and I figured, why not just explore all the beaches that I can so I could say, yeah, I went to the multiple beaches over the summer. So I went to a couple other beaches. I tanned. I did not go back in the water because I was scared of losing myself. I'm sorry I was paranoid. I'm not sorry that I was paranoid because you never know what's going to happen in a foreign country. There were so many nice views of the mountains of different buildings, this scenery. The scenery was hitting that day. I absolutely loved it. So after I got tired of going to all these beaches and tanning and stuff, I found this viewpoint actually on Google Maps. In the process again, I'm trying to find something to eat and I had to make one more stop. It was this viewpoint that was actually by the first beach that I went to, and it was like a little hill type of situation. I don't know. It was a road that was going uphill and then there was some brick structure type of thing. It was almost like a wall where you can lean on it and stuff like that. It was pretty cool. But I went up that road, that winding road, and the view there was so much better than the actual beach. Oh my goodness. You can see the beach, you could see the mountains, you can see the buildings, you can see the people, you can see almost everything from up there. Honestly, the view was so breathtaking. I also took a couple nice pictures. Of course you already know the vibe. But the problem is I was acting a little too touristy that day because I neglected to realize that the road was for cars. So in the middle of me looking at mad touristy taking my self reas or whatever, a car was coming up full speed up this hill and almost tried to run me over. Honestly, I'm not even embarrassed at this point. I think that it was pretty evident that I was American. American am American. It's pretty evident that I am American. People can sniff out that I'm American. So I'm not even embarrassed at this point that I almost got hit by a car trying to take selfies. But as I should, because the view was just so nice. I really just wanted a couple pictures, but they were worth it. It was worth almost getting hit by a car. But after that point I was kind of scared. So I went back down the road and I found a place to eat, got some salmon, penny type of situation going on. She was pretty fire. I really liked her, super fresh. I think that was the first time that I had salmon while I was in Italy. And then on top of that, that was probably the second time I had pasta while I was in Italy. Yeah, I did not eat a lot of pasta while I was in Italy. Shockingly, I had a lot of potatoes, so because their potatoes are really good. But anyways, after I ate, I caught my train back to Florence. And see, that's when I realized that the train ride was three hours long, because it was it wasn't broad daylight. It was like eight pm, but the sun was still blaring, it was out, it was the sky was blue, et cetera, et cetera. Bafter at some point in time it got pitch black dark, and that's when the train ride back to Florence felt even longer. See they say that the train ride or plane ride or whatever. Ride to your destination that you're excited to go to is supposed to feel longer than going back, but it was the opposite. When I was going there, it didn't feel like three hours, but when I was coming back it felt like three hours. I think also because I didn't have much of anything to do, so I was just looking outside of my window. The ride was so long. There were some crazy people making weird sounds on the trains. All you could see is the mountains outlined, the silhouettes of the mountains, and just a couple of lights from a couple of builds. It got a little bit scabbery after a while, but nonetheless, I made it back to my room at twelve am, yes at midnight, and did my homework and then proceeded to go to sleep. But I considered that day an eleven out of ten because I got to go to like four different beaches and I got to tan so that was nice. Now next day, Tuesday, woke up bright and early to go back to class, and I was like, no more three hour train rides. I do not need that in my life. So after class I decided to go souvenir shopping, get some of my people's back home some cool things that they would like. Some of them already got their stuff, others didn't yet, but in due time. And I wanted to watch the sunset. So there was this viewpoint type of thing by the Basilica de Sanminiato. I think that's what it's called. It's not super crowded around sunset time, and it just you could see the whole city of Florins, including the Duomo right in the center of it, and go watch the sky turned pink. I saw all over TikTok. I was like, I had to do it. I have to do it. It's my last few days there. I have to do it. And that's exactly what I did. So after my souvenir shopping, which took longer than expected. I thought it was only going to take an hour or two max, it took me four and a half hours. Four and a half hours. But you know what, I'm not mad about it. I had to find the perfect stuff for my people's back home, but I was rushing. I had to rush back drop all the stuff off. I couldn't even find everything that I wanted to find. I had to go back the next day to do more souvenir shopping, but I got most of it out the way, went back to my room, try to find a place to eat, and ended up going to the Central Market because I already knew what I wanted to eat from there, so that was going to take a lot of time to actually decide what I was going to eat. Went over there, vacuum to the food, and then try to find a bus ticket. Now I have not taken the bus in the entirety of my trips, so this was my first time taking the bus, and it was it was an interesting experience actually trying to figure out how these bus tickets work. So I remember seeing on TikTok that there if you see a Tobacci sign it was like a big tea on a building. Then that means if they sell bus tickets. So I found one that was not too far from the Central Market, went there, went to buy a bus ticket, and I asked the lady because there's an app and I didn't I just didn't know how buying the bus ticket work. Like I thought, if he bought the bus ticket there, like you can only use it at that time and that's it. I wasn't know where that you can actually buy multiple for your round trip, but I didn't do that. I just thought that you can only buy one ticket and that was it. So I asked her, Yeah, like, how does the app work? Because the app is called app bus, that's what the bus tickets are out there or whatever. So I was asking, yeah, how do you use app bus and she was like, oh, I don't know. So at this point, I'm like, dang, am I gonna get home? But I'm looking at the clock. I'm like, yo, this sunset is really about to start in an hour, and I need to figure out how to get there. But the process of figuring that out wasn't even that bad. Figure out the train system is much worse. So I walked over to the bus stop, got on the bus. It only took twenty minutes to get there, which was buyer if you ask me. And the bus stop to get off at to go to the viewpoint was right by the piat Salet Michelangelo. Everybody feeds over that place in Florence, everybody, and I understand because the view is just so nice there. But I was just planning to go to the Basilica destand oh my gosh, the Basilica d stand Miniato place so that I can just you know, have a quiet time and whatever whatever. But the Michelangelo one Hella crowded. But since I was there, I was like, screw it, it's a two for one. Everybody was telling me to go here. I can say that I'm here. I took a couple of pictures there, but there was a lot of people there and I just didn't like that. So I went on Google Maps and made my way to the viewpoint at the Basilica that I was originally going to go to. So I knew that it was going to be a trek up there because a lot of people that were staying in the same place that I was staying at for the time being was saying, yeah, I gotta go up this hill and you gotta get a yah. It's basically a hike, it's a journey, and it was definitely a journey. I took a lot of lefts, rights, ups, downs, etc. And I did, in fact go up a very very steep hill. However, I wasn't too scared about where I was going because there was a lot of people actually going to that viewpoint, so I just followed them. But I had quite a workout trying to find the place. But I'm not been mad about it, because when I eventually got to the top and of the viewpoint and just looked, I was like, oh my gosh, I can see all of Florence. It was so breathtaking, and at that point the sun was starting to set. It was like a light pink color. So I tried my best to make my way around the area try to see where the best places were to take photos. But I'm not gonna lie. At first, I just thought that it was underwhelming. I mean, I was excited to be there. I was like, yes, I got there. I said I was gonna get there. But it was a little bit underwhelming at first because there were trees in the way and the sky just wasn't hitting the sunset wasn't sunsetting, if you know what I mean. But nonetheless, I was like, I'm tired. I'm just gonna stay here for a little bit. I sat by the stairs and just I watched the sky, people watched to listen to interesting conversations. I stayed about After about an hour, the sun unset was sun setting officially. The sky turned this bright pink color, and I was like, oh my gosh, I have to I have to get like a clear picture of this. So there were a couple of stairs, so I made my way down the stairs, and there was just like the little pathway that I found that led to the Piazzale Michelangelo. So I didn't even have to go up all those hills. I could have just went up that pathway, which was much easier to walk up in the first place. But whatever, it's part of the plot. Anyways, I walked down that little pathway and I got some nice pictures, and I'm so glad that I went in that area too, because there were not a lot of people in the way. So I got some really nice pictures of the sunset too, and I was just vibing. I was just vibing, and I stayed there for quite a while, probably about a half hour, and then I made my way back to the bus stop because I was like, it's about to be pitch black sooner. I really need to get back because I did have a presentation the next day that I should probably try to prepare for. So I made my way back to the Piaztally Michelangelo. When I heard music, so I looked over to see what the music was like, and I saw a bunch of drunk people dancing to the music entertainment, y'all entertainment. So I did have to stay at actually twenty minutes or so just to watch that performance. It was really funny actually because some of them were actually falling over their own feet, but you know what they were vibing. I was vibing. But then after a while it got dark, so I decided to just head back to the bus stop. I got my ticket on the app. I figured out how to use the app, which is great, so now I know how to use it next time I go back to Italy, got my ticket on the app, and then I got back on the bus, went back to my room and then did laundry till two a. M. Absolutely love that. But laundry had to be done because I knew because on Thursday a lot of people were leaving sending that on Wednesday a lot of people we're going to be taking up the machine. So I figured that I would be smart to just do my laundry that day. So I did my laundry till two am and went to sleep. So the next day was Wednesday, I had my presentation that day. I was scared for my life because I was I was. I thought I was going to be judged by the entire class, but it actually was not that bad. A friend of mine while I was out there actually said not to go first, to go second, and I followed that and it was a really good idea, So shout out to you. I went second, and I think that I slayed the entire presentation, so I'm super happy for that. But then after that, I came back to my room, took a fat nap because I only got four hours of sleep, and then there was a reception later that night. The venue for the reception super cute. However, food was trashed. Hear me out so I'm not too intolerant, so I put them on the Google form that i'lactose intolerant. I can't really eat dairy and they like their cheese out there. When I first came in and I checked in, they were like, oh, come with me, and I was like, ooh, I'm getting taken aside somewhere, like what's going on here? So I followed them into the venue, which I was speechless because I was like, why was it so much cuter than the first reception that we went to. But anyways, I went in with them and they gave me a separate box. So I look at the box. I'm like, oh, like I'm getting something new, something fresh, something cool, like something that the other people aren't getting. Yeah, to get a ya, only to find out that it was a lactose free, gluten free meal. It was so disappointed. I was excited at first. I was like, yes, like they made something specifically for me. Yeata get a ya. I took the first bite of some the pasta wasn't even looking like. The pasta was black. I should have taken that as a signed. The pasta was black. The second I took a bite of that pasta, I was like no, immediately, no, immediately No. They had keish, they had sandwich, they had tuna sandwiches, they had a couple of other things. I don't remember, but it was just it was horrendous. I did not get to eat much of anything while I was there, So I was just a vibing to Italian jazz, talking to some people from my class, some people that were in my building, et cetera, et cetera. But we had to leave early because I was starving and they were not vibing with the food either. So we got we had vouchers to this dinner place or whatever where we could get free food. We get twenty three meals. We had a couple of bouchers. Let's were like, screw it, let's just go there. So we went there and that was a blast. I had me a big steak with roasted potatoes. So much better than the bland, crusty pasta that I had back at the venue place. So I had me a big steak, some good roast the potatoes. We had a blast. It was our last night there. We made friends with a couple of the waiters, so we had extra fund that night. I somehow gave everybody there, all the waiters there, my sunglasses to try on. And why did they kind of look better than me? Just a little bit though, But we laughed, we talked super loud. It was our last time to just go crazy, go stupid in that place, and that's exactly what we did. We gave everybody a hug there. And then after that, after we set our final goodbye to the waiters, we went back to the place we were staying at, went to the cinema, room and watched Brooklyn nineine, where I proceeded to fall and then out of sleep. But then again it was one am and we all had pretty early flights the next day, so after watching like two episodes of Brooklyn nine nine, we just went to sleep. Then we woke up on Thursday, bright and early to get to our flights. It was the last morning in Italy, so we had breakfast there and headed to the airport. It was three of us in a taxi, so we all split it three ways headed to the airport. My flight was the first to leave. Mine was at ten thirty five, and others is like about twelve, and another one was like at three. So I headed out first. I said goodbye to the other two. Almost cried a little bit, but I had to. I had to get back home. My first flight was to Zurich, super seamless, super easy, super smooth. When I got to Zurich, my life almost fell apart. And let me tell you why. Because when I got out the plane I went to the airport, I was like, y'all, like I maneuvered, there's airport before, Like it's not going to be a problem whatever, whatever, wrong. I got off of the airplane got into the airport and I saw two very long lines. Didn't think anything of it, went to get my water. Then I went over to look for my gate because I was going to gate eat and I found out that I had to take Escalate and Escalator down to Gaye. And I found out that the two long lines was to go to gay E, and I was like, oh my goodness, my flight is literally gonna start boarding in fifteen minutes. I had to get on this long line. So I got on the back of the long line. I was thinking to myself, I can't stay here. I cannot stay here, like I have to skip the line. And then that's when I heard like a family talking to another girl who was complaining about the same issue, and they were like, yeah, if I were you, I would skip the line. I was like, you know what, that's a sign. So I went to go skip the line. I met like two other girls who were actually part of the study broad program that I was in, and I was like, we need to skip this line together. So we skipped the line. Two families, thank goodness, let us skip the line. But they only let me and another girl skip the line because there was another girl that we somehow got separated from. So eventually we got to the escalator, went down the escalator and saw another long line for a border control role and I was like, why why why why why why why? So we had to jump on that line. At least one family let us skip, but nobody else was letting that skipped, so we were We went to the passport control whatever whatever, saw the group as a third girl skipped with but she wasn't with them, so we were like, oh, where is she? And the group was like I don't know, and I was like, whoa is she about to miss her flight? But we couldn't worry too much about it, so we just did our passport thing and we just got past that. We just stayed together with the group, and then we went down another escalator and lo and behold another long line to the shuttle and I was not having it at that point. The one of the shuttles came, I pushed four old ladies out the way. I had to run over some kids, only to not catch that shuttle because it was too full, so we had to wait for the next one. Waiting for the next one got on that shuttle. The ride wasn't that bad. It was only about five minutes. Eventually got to the other side of the airport, I guess you could say, and then had to go up three sets of escalators. Best believe we were galloping because our flights were boarding at that point. My flight was at one fifteen. Her flight. The other girl's flights was at like one. It was like pushing twelve forty five. We were like, oh, we were galloping up on those escalators. At least I made it to my gate in time. However, the flight was delayed, so I rushed for absolutely nothing, but they had to sprint because their gate was I was at E forty three I think, so mine was like right there. Once I got off the escalator, they had to go to the other side from where I was at because they were at E twenty two, so they had to run. I send my goodbyes with them. Still don't know where the third girl was. Hopefully she made her flight, but at least I made it to my flight. Eventually got on the plane, and I came back home to where my parents picked me up. Super glad. I had a lot of room on that night hour flight because I wasn't having it, but I was in and out of sleep, so nothing much it really happened on that flight, but landed later that day and I was officially back home. So yeah, I've been home for the past few days, just getting back into the swing of things. And I don't think that anybody really talks about the posts that are your broad depression that hits that realization that, wow, I can't go to a new country every single week. I can't go and get gelato by the duomo at midnight. I can't go on random adventures to places I've never seen before. I can't head to the cinema room at three am to watch White Chicks with my friends. Like I just developed this new life in these new habits and I was starting to get used to it. But now I'm just back to the regularly old, sketch old program. But you know what, I don't want to focus on being sad. I am just extremely grateful for this entire experience. I got to meet so many new people and see and do so many things in just a few weeks that many people don't even do in their entire lifetimes. I learned so much about myself. I learned so much about different cultures. I learned so much about the world, and quite frankly, I think that every single moment was priceless. So instead of being sad, I'm just gonna be thankful that I had the experience and just realized that this is not necessarily the end. It's a beginning to new travels and new experiences and new cultures and new people and new ways of life. So thank you so much Italy for that amazing one month that I had, and I can't wait to see you again. So I think I'm gonna I think I'm gonna end a here. Thank you so so much for tuning into this episode. I really appreciate and I appreciate you as always. Feel free to hit me up on my socials at a Tall Girls podcast, on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest, and just let me know what you thought about the Study Abroad series, if you're vibing, if you were with me through the ups, down, diagonal, sideways, and in betweens, and let me know if you have any other plans this summer. Once again, thank you so so much for tuning in all the way to the end of this episode. If you're listening to this right now, and I'll catch you the next one, good night and goodbye.