I am officially starting my second week as a resident of Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. There are so many things that are meeting my expectations and some things that have truly taken me by surprise. I can say with certainty, by the end of this trip I am not going to want to leave. I love this place and I love these people. In less than two weeks I have friends and memories that I will keep forever.
I have been able to travel with the group as well as on my own. When traveling is not on the agenda, I spend my time in class. Between my communication, art history and art class, I have taken different bits of knowledge and been able to apply them to situations I have been faced with. Specifically, I have been able to apply the different modes of persuasion (ethos, pathos, and logos) from my Rhetoric and Humor course to my daily experiences.
One thing that repeatedly catches my eye is when we leave the train station in Florence. The past four times that I have been through the train station, there has been a homely looking man sitting at the exit ramp to the station. I have seen homeless people all my life so usually I am not shocked and know the appropriate ways to interact with them. But, this man has differences from the people I've seen before. The man sits against the wall, not talking or begging for money, just sitting with his cup for change. However, his foot is wrapped in gauze with a few toes sticking out. That's right- he only has a few toes!! Not only is his foot wrapped, but there is usually blood seeping out everywhere. I can't even explain the amount of people that look and just shriek. However, people still put their coins into his cup. The man clearly uses people's emotions to get them to feel sorry for him and give to his cause. Although he is being persuasive, he is extremely manipulative by pulling at people's heartstrings. This situation has taken me by surprise and I am hoping that he moves from this location soon so I don't get sucked into giving him money. Please don't think I'm heartless, I'm just an extremely emotional person so the chances of me giving him money are definitely possible.
This week in Florence we had the INCREDIBLE opportunity to climb to the top of the Duomo and the Bell Tower. I'll be honest, I was not prepared to climb 51 flights of stairs that day, but I sucked it up and did it anyway. Our TA, Hayley did have to do a little convincing on a few of us to go to the top of the Bell Tower after the Duomo because it wasn't required. Considering that it is 463 steps to the top of the Duomo, I was absolutely not mentally prepared to walk the 414 steps to the top of the Bell Tower. But, because Hayley had done the hike before when she studied abroad in Italy, she told us how amazing it was and that we likely wouldn't have the chance to do it again. Hayley used her character and experience (ethos) to persuade us to make the second hike. If you are ever in the same situation, make the freaking hike, it's amazing!!
During my 3 month stay in Italy, Jose and I have been trying to plan a trip to go skydiving. Going skydiving is something that I have always wanted to do and how awesome would it be to have my first experience in Italy!? We've found a few places for skydiving, including a nearby town called Arezzo. Being the excited and dramatic people that we are, Jose and I started telling everyone about our plans to skydive. We were so excited until Clara tried to speak some sense into us. Clara told us a story about a family friend of hers that actually died from a skydiving accident when his parachute would not expel. After hearing a few horror stories from people, Jose and I decided that it would probably be a good idea for us to look up reviews on the company. Unfortunately there were not very many reviews and the reviews that we did find were not the best. Logically, through the reviews and advice from Clara, Jose and I were persuaded to look into other companies or even wait until we get home to the States. Regardless, this is an adventure that is on the horizon.