Nothing compares to a bright, sunny day in a foreign country with your friends. It feels almost magical: the fresh air, no clouds in the sky, being surrounded by your favorite people in a beautiful place that you have yet to explore. Florence, Italy, April 2015: The saying “what a time to be alive” doesn’t even compare to the feeling that encompassed me while there. I was about to embark on the greatest week that I had ever experienced.
Somehow traveling brings people together; it forms a bond that may not have been there before and this one week gave me some of my closest friends that I have in my life today. The open fields we saw surrounding the entire city when coming in for the landing were like nothing I had ever seen before. I'm from a small suburban town in New Jersey where we don’t get to see fields and farms or even beautiful architecture every day. In fact, very rarely do we ever see that here. But the second we were in Italy, that was all you saw in every direction.
Florence is known for its cultural vibes that fill the streets. These vibes give you a feeling of overwhelming happiness because you know this is something you’ve never encountered. It’s a city of color; the intricately designed buildings are filled with hand-carved details and splashed with many colors. People were dancing in the streets. No matter where you turned, there was a small cafe just waiting for you to try the traditional cappuccinos that Italy is most famously known for, and people never failed to make you feel welcomed.
For those of you who have never traveled to a foreign country, it’s pretty obvious when you are an American tourist; there is no avoiding it. Don’t worry; it’s not nearly as bad as you think it would be to be someone who looks like a tourist. There are tours all over to cater to anything you may want to see. A very well-known European tourist company is Explorica. It offers many group deals for people to tour around foreign countries. My school used this company seeing as it was the one they had been using for years. The company sets up an entire itinerary for you once you arrive up until the day you leave. My suggestion would be to look into Explorica. It made our trip so much easier having someone who was very familiar with the areas that we were exploring.
Whether you are traveling alone or with a group, be sure to include Florence as part of your escapade through Europe. You’ll be grateful that you did.
