After the success of Beatles Night, Nick and Mark invited me and Tik to come check out the NYU Florence campus in the morning while they were in class, and damn was it nice.
Some old guy who owned a villa in the Florence hillsides decided to donate his property to NYU, giving students the opportunity to frolic about lush green grass and hillsides. Now, I need to ask a serious question: why is NYU Florence way nicer than NYU London? Personally, I think this is kind of unfair; the only facility we have in London is a single building that houses our entire student center -- the classrooms and dorms are leased. To top it off, the villa even had fountains and statues as if it were casual to have Roman-esque statues lying around your campus.
I feel like I have been gypped in going to London. We definitely don't have a villa as our campus, and our classes are more or less the same amount of work as back in New York. I've heard stories that other people's study abroad experiences are more like a vacation than anything else, so why can't these Londoners let up on us?
On that note, Tik and I did revel in the experience of seeing grass; Nick and Mark shrugged it off as if it were nothing. "Oh yeah, this is our campus. I guess it's pretty nice. We've just been around beautiful so much we must have gotten used to it." Just rub it in some more why don't you.
After we ate lunch together on campus (the food in the cafeteria was amazing as well!) we went back. Nick and Tik decided to take a siesta, so I went out and decided to explore the city on my own. To be honest, I was excited to roam around by myself. The group I was travelling with amounted to twelve people, and with that many people it's always difficult to get a consensus on what we want to do, where we want to eat, and get accommodations for everyone. Plus, it's hard to keep the whole group together since everyone goes at a different pace.
After being in a group that large for so long, naturally I enjoyed the freedom I had. And here is the thing I loved most about Florence; I could walk around and get lost in the city and its streets, only to find myself turn a corner and by chance discover another historic building or a captivating scene. It only takes about an hour to walk from one side of the city to the other, and its tiny streets and quaint Italian buildings only added to its charm. Add that to the fact I had one of the best meals ever here (strips of steak drenched in an unbelievable balsamic vinaigrette sauce!) and you can see how I came out of Florence loving it.
