Month: November 2019

Venice Photo Diary

Travel
From the Ponte dell’Accademia, a view of the Canal Grande, a highway of boats and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in the background

Venice, despite being quite completely consumed by tourism, is one of the most magical places in Italy. I’ve always loved the pairing of city and sea, and Venice is just that, with none of the beach in between. Some narrow streets lead you directly onto the water, the shadow of the buildings cut by a sudden bright openness. Gondolas drift lazily, but the gondolier is anything but lazy, perched on the stern, skillfully cutting and dragging the water with his oar. What I savored most was not my own visit to Venice, but instead how it lured my imagination towards Venice-past, a time when the city was untouched by hoards of foreigners and Venetians simply went about their lives, sailing to and fro with family, friends, and lovers.

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Florence: Week 4

Travel

Sept 16
late night thoughts

will globalization affect Italy in the same way that it’s affected the United States? with products being produced all over the world becoming taken for granted? here everything is so rooted in Italianness, it’s such a young country, the development of Italy as a nation only really starting with the end of WWII

facetiming my friends really has been such a game changer, i can’t believe i never really thought to do it until now. it makes me so elated to just spend an hour or two catching up with them and hearing about what’s going on in their lives. 

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Florence: Week 2

Uncategorized

Sept 2

Today was my first day of class, as well as the first day I actually had a little bit of time to myself. All of my housemates had 9am classes while my first class started at 11am today, so I stayed in the apartment a little while longer in the morning. It was nice to have the place to myself, but I also felt restless, and as soon as I left for class, I realized why. Strolling through the city alone, I realized how much I missed just walking by myself, window-shopping, observing, taking in the streets of the city, which is something I do often at home. My Google Map of Florence is speckled with saved locations that I want to try, shops and restaurants that I hope will turn out to be gems of establishments. I hope to be wandering around more often, on my own especially ⁠— it’s a personal space that I’ve been missing

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Florence: Week 1

Travel

Aug 24
Pre-departure

I’m not usually a fan of the hours before a flight, especially since I’m the kind of person who doesn’t usually feel much excitement about the upcoming trip until I have literally landed at the destination. Sitting on my bed at home, going through my mental packing list over and over even though I’ve packed for trips so many times, always feeling like I’m missing something. I suppose that’s the anxiety of being in between. Even though this time around, I’m leaving for a trip that I know will change my life, in a city that I’ve only heard wonderful things about, I still feel apprehensive, not quite sure what do with myself … so I hope that my mood starting off this trip isn’t indicative of how my study abroad experience will turn out. I hope that the beauty of Florence will shoo away my sadness over leaving home and entering into a long distance relationship

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