'Wow'
That must have been the first thing that crossed my mind as I went through Florence. Not because it was pretty, or because it was historic or anything; it was because of the sheer number of tourists, and those damn tiny streets and sidewalks!
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much when I came to Florence. The only reason why I wanted to go there was because two of my friends, Mark and Nick, were studying abroad there as part of the NYU program. I was excited to see them, not least because I was going to bum sleeping accommodations off them, but also because I hadn't seen them for months and was eager to catch up. However, maybe it was a combination of low expectations, meeting my old friends, or having the freedom to roam around Florence by myself that allowed Florence to grow on me. I would have to say that Florence was one of my favourite destinations; at least in the top three along with Istanbul and another city which I will talk about later.
Tik and I got to Mark and Nick's apartment soaking wet -- there had been a sudden shower on our way there -- but there was lots of reuniting happiness. As soon as we settled down however, they suggested to us, "You guys should go to Beatles Night. I'll go with you."
They only have Beatles Night on Tuesdays, but it was a Tuesday night! People had school the next day! Insanity! In London, my friends and I would have never thought to go out on a weekday, yet here they were encouraging us to go. If anything, this just highlights the difference in the amount of work between the London and Florence study abroad programs. I am sure they would have gone even if we had said no, but it was go big or go home. I certainly wasn't going to buy a plane ticket to go all the way back to London.
Unfortunately, Mark didn't go because he had a lot of work to do that night (somehow they had misread my Facebook message and thought we were coming the next day) but Nick along with some more of Tik's friends came out after taking a couple shots of course.
The club the Beatles cover band performed was filled with American students -- a lot of them from the NYU program -- but it was packed. The Beatles cover band was extremely good. When they sang, their English did not show a hint of an accent, yet while they weren't playing they were just speaking normal Italian. I managed to record some videos but I only uploaded "With A Little Help From My Friends".
Overall, it was a good night.
-Emoinacloset
