My Journey Begins

Ciao from Italy!

I have been living in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy for 2 weeks now and have been inspired by my villa neighbor Danielle to start a blog: Real Time with Hayley Blum. Yes..like Bill Maher...but BETTER. Within these past 2 weeks, I've done a lot, and for those of you who I haven't caught up with yet, I'm going to give the abridged version of major events and updates:
1. made it here alive
2. eating ridiculously delicious food everyday
3. yes that includes gelato
4. survived my first pub crawl and cat calls by drunken italian men
5. had my first week of classes: 1. comparative fascist cultures 2. italian 204 3. italian cinema 4. origins and birth of renaissance
6. starting a community service/social work internship with Sesto citizens that don't know an ounce of English -- wish me luck!
7. meeting my conversation partner Laura on Wednesday
8. explored downtown Florence including the famous Uffizi, Duomo, Baptistery, Santa Croce and Ponte Vecchio
9. day trips to Siena, Pisa, and Lucca (check on pics on facebook..sorry to the adults that refuse to make a facebook...get creative with how to look at my pics)
10. did i mention gelato?
11. roommates are great; other kids from Wisconsin and Michigan are great. Good group harmony and loving everyone
12. I have not been an insomniac for 2 weeks now!!!!!!

Now that you are all caught up...let's get real. Living here in this 16th century Villa owned and constructed by the famous Corsi-Salviati family is a blessing and a gift. I never take it for granted. We have every meal cooked for us by Bruno, head chef and coolest Italian man alive. Then there is Bruno the gardener and Villa landscaper extrordinaire who is about as old as this place. There is Fabio the breakfast buffet organizer and maintenance man. Yes I live in a villa with a man named Fabio, jealous? And the angelic Eugienia. She cleans the bathrooms, the bed's sheets, sweeps our floors, and most importantly says Buon giorno to me every morning when I stumble into the bathroom with my eyes half opened. She alone is a blessing to this establishment. We live the life here at the villa, and I even forgot to mention how we are celebrities while living here. You tell local Italians or Italians in downtown Florence that you are a "Villan" they know exactly who you are and what you're about. E' la dolce vita i miei amici (It is the sweet life my friends).

I am loving living in this community style. I have 2 very sweet roommates who bring me canoli and grande bottled waters. Our rooms are set up in one big square. There are always people to hang with, random doors open, people in the libraries, the Egyptian room, the computer rooms, the Flying Ladies room (aka skyping center), and if all else fails, I have the famous Enoch Brater, director of the program as my next door neighbor. I could always expect Brater's famous Michigan state senator wife to wave a hello to me as I made my way to breakfast at 7:45am every morning. Like I said, this place is full of celebs. But in all seriousness, I have thoroughly enjoyed eating every meal at a table of 6 and having people around each corner to interact with at all times. Each class even has its own little community. For example, in my cinema class, we have to watch a film every Monday to discuss for the week, so we make it an event bringing wine to share and analyzing it afterwards. Or for my art history class, a group of us takes the train to downtown Florence every Thursday morning and takes the bus back after Mariotti finishes her overloading of information lesson. With all of these cohesive experiences, I've noticed a genuine interest in making connections coming from a multitude of people on my program. In my opinion, this is rare..and I wonder if it has to do with the new relaxed environment, the mind set of a fresh start, the actual individuals, or a mixture of all 3. Either way, I'm incredibly happy being here. There will be so many more experiences to come, friendships to form, and realizations to analyze. I'll keep you updated as my life journey continues....

Keepin' it real,
Hayley