While I am here in Florence, I am living in an apartment right in the city center! I have three other roommates who are all Pitt students in the Food Studies in Italy program. There are two bedrooms, each with two roommates, a bathroom, and a kitchen and living area. We live on the third level of an apartment building and have a beautiful view of Florence from huge windows.

Food Studies in Italy is co-run with an organization called CAPA, the Global Education Network. CAPA helps make sure everything runs smoothly for international students here in Florence, and one part of their job was to find housing for us! When I arrived at the airport exactly one week ago, two members of the CAPA staff were there waiting for us. They organized taxis for each student to their apartments in the city center of Florence.

There are some differences between a Pittsburgh apartment and a Florence apartment. Luckily, we have a washing machine in our apartment, but no dryer! This is very customary in Italy (and I think throughout Europe), but it was an adjustment for us to have to air dry our clothes after washing them. We have a drying rack that we set up right in front of an open window to dry our laundry.

Overall, I absolutely love our Florence apartment! It exceeded all of our expectations. When we first arrived, we met our landlord, who although didn’t speak much English, was amazing and so nice and really made us feel welcome here. Our apartment is amazingly located; we are close to anywhere you would ever want to go! We are only about a 5 minute walk from the CAPA center, where we have class, and there are restaurants and cafes around every corner! We pass probably 5 different coffee shops on the way to class, and a Florentine cappuccino is hard to resist! There is a grocery store, called Conad, just down the street as well, where we are able to stop and grab anything we forgot to pack or we want to have along the way. I also love my roommates! <3

To be honest, our apartment is the least interesting thing about my time in Florence! We have been kept so busy, between going to class, traveling on day trips, and exploring the city, that we don’t spend much time here at all, and that’s how it should be! But it is a great space to be able to call home while I’m in Florence!