I’m in Italy??

Good morning everybody. You are currently listening to a Tall Girls podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone here is having a fantastic day, night, week, month, year so far. Before I get into this episode, I do want to remind you to check out my socials on a Tall Girls podcast, on Instagram, TikTok and pictures so that you can stay up today all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my everyday life. I'm just gonna get straight into it today as you get all by the title of the episode, I'm in Italy, Like, what is even going on right now? I'm physically like my body is in Italy right now. It's insane to me, dude. Not for vacation, though I am here for study abroad, so I will be schooling. It's actually one of my requirements for my school that I'm at, So now I'm not here to partey or whatever, even though you know there will be a little bit of that responsibly of course. But I am taking a global brand management course which is super fun. But the credit does transfer back to my school, meaning that it will affect my GPA. So we actually got to work our butts off here. I flew in on last Wednesday. My flight was actually last Tuesday, and boy did it suck. I kind of forgot how bad airplanes teach were. I mean, I had a window seat, so it wasn't super super bad. But there was this guy who was indeed much taller than I am. He was at least six five, and once I saw him, I automatically knew this man is not going to have a good ride because his knees were touching the back of the seat that was in front of him. And on top of that, the lady that was sitting in front of him kept recline name her seat. He looked so uncomfortable. I felt so bad for him. Well, not too bad, you want to know why, because he kept man spreading, And when I tell you, he was man spreading like he was man spreading times two, not even times three. I genuinely hate it when people man spread. And on top of that, we were in economy seats, so there's virtually no room in the first place. So that, in combination with the fact that this man's legs were all up on mine, made that six hour flight horrendous. But nonetheless, I had a connecting flight. So we landed in Paris. Oh my gosh, I'm telling you. When we were on the ground, I was so glad because number one, I actually didn't even get up the entire flight. I sat down for a six hour straight, which I think is unhealthy. I took this fitness whatever class when I was a senior in a high school at a college, and there's something called sitting disease where if you sit down for more than one hour and don't get up to walk around, like that's dangerous. So they were taking years off your life. So how many years of my life did I take off by just sitting there for those six hours? But there was no way I was trying to because I was on a window seat, you know, so I had to go through everybody, and I was just not that was not gonna be okay. So I tried my best to sleep, but I just couldn't sleep that well. I got a total of three hours to sleep that entire night, but I watched a lot of movies. I had to watch some scary movies to keep me going. Nonetheless, we landed in Paris. Almost missed that flight by the way, which was nice, but that was because number one. That flight to Paris actually left like forty minutes late, so I was supposed to have about an hour issue in between those two flights to get to my gate, sit down, you know, breathe and stuff and kind of process what's going on. But the flight left forty minutes late and I had to go through We had to go through border control, so like that's where you kind of have to go through this process of like you get your passport scan and they gotta take a photo of you and stuff, and that line was all everybody in the flight had to go through that, and it was just so congested and half the time people didn't know how to use the machines, so they're just standing there just looking around like what's going on. There was only one person I was helping people have five different machines, so it just took a minute to get through that. And then on top of that, I really had to use the bathroom. So after the whole border control thing, which took eighty years to get through, the gate was already open and it was getting ready to close. So I'm here, using my long legs to my advantage, just sprint to the other side of the airport, and I'm like, bro, I really need to find a bathroom because I don't think I can hold it much longer because keeping my head did not get up on that six our flight, so I was sprinting over to where my gate is. I see where my gate is, but then the bathroom was on the floor beneath where my gate was. So I had to fly, not even run, fly down the stairs to use the bathroom. Playing goodness, there was no line use the bathroom. That had to fly back upstairs. But nonetheless I made the flight and that's just a good thing. And on that flight, actually that is it was from Paris to Florence, and I saw a lot of people around my age, so I figured that some of those people might be going to school with me. And whenever I would like talk to my parents or whatever on the phone, they were always they were not even telling me. They were yelling at me. We were screaming at me. Like talk to people, talk to them, ask them if they're going to your school. They're like, I guess. So on that flight to Florence, I actually met someone that was studying at the same school that I was, so that was nice and a lot of people on that flight were actually studying at the same school as me, which is so cool. I met more of them when I was at Baggage Claim, but none of them have the same class as me. So like a lot of them were taking Italian or like wine marketing something like that. But once I told them Global Brand manage Er, They're like what, They're like, what even is that? I mean, I get it. My class is very specific and very unique. And I also did see on the website that the class isn't even full, so I'm hoping it's a small class. I prefer small classes, but we'll see in due time. But yeah, nobody had the same class as me, which kind of made me sack. It was like, dang, like I really was trying to link up with somebody who has the same class as me. But after that, after trying to like, you know, talk to these people, I'm trying to figure out where these people are staying because this school it's not like a college campus type situation where everything is just in one central area on the campus, like you know, you have your buildings for the school and then like the dorms and the cafeteria and what I might call it, even the bars or like all in like one central campus area. Like there's like different buildings on different streets, and where we were staying is like in different areas, So everything was a little bit all over the place in terms of where everything is in terms of the school. So what happened was that I had to check in at a completely different place from where everybody was. Yeah, they changed my housing situation last minute because they're like, yeah, due to a search and the needed housing, Like we had to movie over here, YadA, YadA. Yeah. I was like, oh, okay, I guess, but I was asking around to the people that I was talking to you, I was like, yo, like where are you guys going? Everybody was going They had this one email that they had to go to this one place, and everybody that I spoke to got that email. And I'm like, I did not get this email. And you know, I was on the verge of actually going to the same place as where they were going. But something was telling me like that makes absolutely no sense. That would be a waste of time because if they all had to check in there, if they all got that email and I didn't get that email, I'm not supposed to be there. So I just ended up going to a different place. I actually met with a girl who goes to my school back home in New York, and she ended up getting an email too. But you know, when she helped me out, she called me down, she showed me where the taxis where. She's just like, yeah, text me to get there. I was like, oh my god, thank you for like actually supporting me or whatever, because I was having a crisis and I was like, oh my gosh, it would be a lola. But it wasn't that bad. You know. She told me where the taxis where, YadA YadA yah, showed me get set up, and the taxi driver was super nice. He told me the places to go, places to check out, asking me questions, telling me, you know, watch my stuff because pickpocketing is crazy out here. I was like, oh goodness, gotta watch out for my stuff. But yeah, eventually I got over to the quote unquote dorms. It wasn't a dorm. They called it a student hotel, which I don't believe it is a student hotel because you know, I hear babies crying, I see grown folks with children here, so I think it's just a hotel. But they placed a lot of students in there. Yeah. My taxi driver dropped me off, put my suitcase riding for the door and said buy it. And I was like, I don't even know how to get into this building, but I eventually figured out. I got there at like ten am and my check in time was three pm. We love that, don't we a whole five hours early? But there were actually a couple of people there who had to check in at three pm and they were going to the same school. So I was like, yeah, are you trying to are you trying to vibe for five hours? So we just banded together and walked around for a while. It was five of us including me. We saw the Duomo, we saw a couple of cathedrals, so we walked across the ponte Vecchio. I think it's called it's like a bridge type of situation, breath taking, breathtaking. The bridge had the best view. And I'm not gonna lie to y'all, these people here are not tall, Like I just had to bring that up, Like these people who are not the tallest. And I was walking around because you know, when you walk around, you trying to get a vibe, but like, who's there like who's like who are the hood ons? Like who are who are the nice looking people? Like what are one of these people? Like are they nice? And they mean? Etcetera, etcetera. But they are not tall? No, because why is everyone here actually kind of short? Okay, I'm maybe exaggerating, well am I am I? But anyways, three pm eventually came around and we went back to the student hotel and checked in, and once I put my bags in my room, the room was like really cute, though, I mean it's literally like a hotel room. There's no fridge. Well, there is a fridge, is a tiny fridge, it's not like a big fridge. Is no kitchen in here, there's no place while there is, there is a place to actually cook food. And I had the intention of using that kitchen, but when I asked me, like, no, the kitchen is closed for the summer, I was like, why would you do that? But whatever, that's besides the point. Once I came in, I dropped off all my bags and went right back out because I was like, immediately, I need to find water because like I said, it's a hotel, Like, I'm not drinking any tap water from the bathroom. But there's like, I don't know, there's just nothing here besides a little desk, a bed in a bathroom. So I just had to go back out, make a U turn, get some water and a few other things because, like I said, tiny firds can't really put much of anything in there, I guess, so pack of large waters, a little bit of fruit, so many breads to snack on. And then after that, I took a tour of the place and I'm staying there's a whole cinema room, a gym, a lounge area of vibe with this place, and somehow and all of that, I missed my housing orientation. Yeah, I got a email from the lady was like, hey, India, you know, I tried knocking on your door for the housing orientation, but you aren't there, so I'm gonna need you to come by the office the next day. And I'm like, first of all, if there was a housing orientation, why did you tell me there was gonna be a housing orientation? And the email I have like a set time for that. Do you think that would be smart? And then on top of that, it wasn't even an orientation orientation, it was a personal orientation. They were pulling people one by one, now, like, that makes absolutely no sense. You should have just called everybody downstairs together so we all know, like who is going to the same school as us and also staying in the same place, and had the orientation of everybody there. Duh. But anyways, the next day, which was last Thursday, keep up with me here, I had to go to the office. I got my food vouchers because your girl gotta eat, and also some important documents, and then from there I went straight to my school's orientation, where my main takeaway was to stay out of jail because the Usmbassy can't get us out. Yeah. There was a literal slide dedicated to that point. It said stay out of jail, exclamation point, exclamation went, exclamation point yeah. I. The lady was like, yeah, I mean, we can visit you a jail, we could say hid you a jail, we could try to get you like an American lawyer, but we can't get you out of jail. I was like, whoa, that's cray. But apparently people do crazy stuff out here, like s There was this one picture there were two guys completely naked on the bridge and they took pictures. So I was like, what, First of all, why would you think to do that? Like, being naked in public in general is already illegal. I think I don't know the laws out here. I really should figure that out. But why would Whatever it was for their plot, they did it, but I don't think I have any attention of doing that or going to jail. But we also received some more important documents out there, you know, the boring stuff. So after that, I got I came back to the student hotel and got ready for this little pizza and wine night, you know. Oh, and then you know, now I'm officially illegal wherever I go. But the first sip of that wine reminded me why I don't even drink alcohol in the first place. So I just had pizza where I had to take off the cheese and I ate some stale chips with that. So that was great. But yeah, I met some more cool people, so that was a vibe. And then something interesting to know, by the way, for contacts, I'm lactoset and taller. That's why I took the cheese off. But a few other people are lactos and taller here, and they're saying that they're eating dairy pizza. Or they eat the ice cream well gelato, and it doesn't upset their stomach as much as long as they like limit how much they eat it. And I'm like, WHOA, Like, I'm gonna take a risk one day and try to eat something that has dairy in it, But I'm like that is insane. Like over here the dairy doesn't mess with their stomach as much as it does back in America. That kind of says a lot about the American cheese. Well, the cheese in America amount American cheese. But I'm gonna try it, and I'll let you guys know. But on the way back from the pizza and wine that me and two other girls are walking, I witnessed a lady almost get robbed right in front of me. And keep in mind, this is my second good night in Italy, so uh, we're off to a great start. Like I literally walked past the man who was aggressively eyeing this lady. Oh goodness, it was so scary, Like I saw the lady coming now we're coming down from opposite directions. She was a sla She was chilling vibe and walking wherever, and then off the corner of my eye, like I see this guy whose head was turning as she was walking past, and like, oh, I was like, Oh, he's into the yeada YadA. Yeah. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. But then when she walked past and he put his hood on and started walking like towards her, I was like, whoa, he's on a mission. But it wasn't a good mission because eye contact with him and he had those eyes, I was kind of like telling me like back off or something like that. I was like, what the heck is going on? That shouldn't be laughing because that is so scary. That is so scary. So I something in me was like I just have to stop and watch because it's like if something happens to her, at least there was a witness. I don't know if I wanted to go up to the man and just be like yo, or just go up to the lady and be like yo, because I didn't want to interfere because I don't know what he was gonna do because he kind of he looked really sketched, and when you're in a foreign country, you don't know who knows who, So I didn't want to get like super involved. But you know, if I had to record or I don't know, like try to call for help or something like I would have, but like I said, I don't know how it is out here, so I just stopped and stood there, like a few feet away to watch. And luckily, I guess, the girl kind of got a weird vibe and turned around, and they looked like they were arguing a little bit, like she was just not feeling it, and he was trying his best to just, I don't know, get her to go somewhere with him. I don't know, but a few other people saw it too and stopped and watched. I'm like, thank goodness, people out here actually are willing to help us Americans or whatever. But she was trying to walk across to the mini market that was across the street. I guess to you know, like there's people in there, so that kind of like more witnesses, if you know what I mean. So something happens, like she's not like a load in an alley in the darkness or something, And all I remember was the guy saying, it's cheaper right here. Oh disgusting. He said that was such confidence. Just look at you know, it's cheaper right here. What the heck, you are not picking up anybody with that line. I'm sorry that was that was gross. But it was by this park because the student hotel is right across the street from this park area. I'm sorry. This park is so get oh it is so getta whatever. So I was like, oh my gosh, it's so nice. It has a benches, it has some flowers, it has cool statues, is right by a bus stop of the most perfect trying to sit in this area a couple of times, you know, while I'm here, but as I'm walking by, especially at night, but even in the daytime, it's some weird people are around there, like they don't look mentally okay, a lot of them are look like they're gambling or maybe dealing drugs. And when they see us Americanas. So we're calling these we're calling ourselves that because I feel like that's exactly how the Italians are looking at us, like all these Americanas. But when we were in this park, would we just it's just like a group of Americanas sitting in one area, they're all like looking over at us. So like, okay, I get it, we're forarders, but please, like we're uncomfortable here. So the park just gives off a very bad vibe. So I'm gonna try to stay away from there as much as possible. So the next day, on a Friday, me and a few people were trying to figure out what to do for like half a day. But it was actually a holiday the Republic or something like that in Rome, I don't know. It was a holiday. So some of the places were like music hims and other places were free to enter, like we didn't have to pay to get a ticket. So we went to the bo Bo Golie. I'm just budgering these names. I'm so sorry, but it was like a garden area, like if you live in New York, think like New York Botanical Garden, but on steroids. That's exactly what that place was. It was huge and had study I had to walk up like twenty hills twenty flights of stairs just to get to the top, but it was so worth it because the view of Florence was breath taking. I was just I'm speechless. There was less flowers and fada, I guess you could say, and more statues and naked men and fountains and this one girl who I was with. She somehow knows all of the names of these statues, so she was telling me all the names, but you know me, I don't remember any of them. So that's fun. And it was raining for much of that day, like storming, actually storming, to be if, now that I think about it, every day that I've been here, it's been pouring rain, like actually storming, and that is so annoying because my wardrobe in my suitcase. Like, don't get me wrong, I came prepared for like cooler weather like rain and stuff like that, but much of the stuff that I took with me was more so for you know, hot weather, sunny, eighty degrees, We're gonna go to the beach and get a tan type of situation, not seventy degrees, stormy, cloudy type weather. So that's also great. So after we did the whole Bobo Goalie I guess guarded, I actually had to stop at because outside there was like little street vendor people there, little street vendor people can night that were selling umbrellas. So I just got a five year old umbrella from a street vendor. Hashtag support local businesses because I forgot my umbrella at home because I didn't think I was gonna need it. Actually, you know, I was staying here from it was inevitable that it was going to rain, but I don't know what I was thinking. So I just gotta five year o umbrella. That's all that matters at this point. But I'm gonna needed to stop hurricaning because I actually want to have a day where I could be outside and not worry about whether or not it's going to rain. So yeah, And then the next day, on Saturday, it was pretty chill. We just walked around a little bit, took some more photos, and then went back to the Ponte va Quio for a sunset and well, at that point the sun had already set, but she was still cute that night, and then we grabbed it bike. I tried pascuto for the first time, so how you say it? Presciutto anyways, but it was persciutto and melan, which is an interesting combination. I did not like it at all, but hey, at least I tried it. And that pretty much wraps up my first few days in Florence. And the funniest thing, apparently, how do you say thank you in Italian is gratzia, But I've been saying grazzi. I've been saying gratzi for the past five days, and nobody corrected me till last night, so I just looked stupid the entire time. I would tell these people Grazzi gratzi. Grassio was like a comment like yeah, like I'm out here and stuff like that, fluent in Italian or whatever, and I'm pretty sure that to me, like this stupid girl, it's gratzier. So there's that as well. But you live and you learn. At least I learned early enough. Before you know, it was halfway through the month, and I just look even more done at that point. But you know, I know this was the SparkNotes version of the first few days, but you could see all the picks and videos and stuff on my social media, which is going to be linked below. And honestly, I can't even believe that I'm here, Like, have you told me at this time last year, a year ago, that I would be studying in Florence right now? I would not believe you. This is unreal and I still haven't processed it. But I am glad to be here. I'm excited to be here, and I can't wait to see how this month goes and I tell you, guys, I was gonna be here from us. I'm gonna be here for a month, so we have some time here and I can't wait to visit some cities, like new cities and new countries that are around and stuff like that. It's gonna be a good time. It's for our plot, so we have to make it a good time. Thank you so so much for tunning into this episode. I really appreciate it. I appreciate you as I always feel free to hit me up on my socials at a Tall Girls podcast, on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. It just feel free to ask questions about what it's like here. You know, I can give you some details. I can give you the good spots and well, not right now, because there's only been what a week, I don't know much of anything, but down the line, I could practically give you a tour of Italy. I actually doubt it, but I will try my best. What else? What else? What else? Oh? Yes, leave me a review. Let me know how to tell you are links for everything is going to be in the description. And I can't wait to share my experience with you guys. So I will catch it on the next one. Good Night and goodbye,