Week 6: 09/30 - 10/6
The Royal Wedding! (and The Beauty of American Drive Thrus)
The purse exhibit at the Gucci Museo!
My break has come to a close! We’re getting back into the swing of things and starting our 11-week courses on Wednesday.
We had thought about taking a day-trip to Pisa on Tuesday, but Brelan had a cold and it was raining, so it didn’t feel worth it. Instead, we spent the morning getting brunch (yum) and then we walked over to the Gucci Museo by the city center. It was a great deal! With our student discount, we only paid 5 euros to get into the exhibit and pore over the history of the fashion house. I had forgotten that the brand was founded right here in Florence by Guccio Gucci — coincidentally, the original store was in Santo Spirito, right by our apartment!
We read all about the different creative directors, and then we snaked through rooms with archives of old runway film, walls of Gucci scarves, and mannequins draped with some of their most groundbreaking pieces. The finale was a mirrored room filled floor to ceiling with one-of-a-kind Gucci purses. On the ground floor, they had a retail store with exclusive merchandise embossed with the Gucci Firenze logo. Aside from the thousand dollar price tags, I have to admit that it was pretty cool to imagine getting one of those pieces that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.
On Tuesday night, I grabbed dinner with one of my friends in the program who also goes to Belmont. She lives on my side of the river too, so we got pizza at a restaurant nearby and spent the night chatting and eating a fair share of gelato. I turned in for bed early to prepare for my (second) first day of class!
I don’t remember which version of myself decided to sign up for TWO 8am classes, but she and I do not agree. I schlepped out of my perfect, cozy bed at 7am and made my way over to the cafe. In a humbling, “I clearly wake up too late,” sort of way, I discovered that she had mountains of croissants in the pastry case. (Typically, when we turn up around 10, Paola’s pastry case has run dry). It turns out the only way to get a good breakfast is to wake up at dawn.
Some of Paola's early-morning treats.
Today’s class was my communications major elective, Human Resource Management. I have to say, after spending my first class this semester drawing in sunny piazzas, it was pretty brutal to squeeze into a classroom. We twiddled our thumbs for 3 and a half hours and learned about the basics of HRM. I will say, the professor is a great guy and he’s set up four or five guest speakers and class trips for us. Ironically, this professor ALSO has Florentine and Scottish parents (with no relation to my drawing professor).
After class, I headed over to Mercato Centrale to hunt through the stalls for a couple of snacks and treats. Who are they for, you might ask? Only my family in the U.S. of A! I’m thrilled to be heading across the pond to celebrate my sister’s wedding this weekend (but also, getting Chick-fil-a, using high-speed-internet, and bringing back a couple of sweaters!). I spent the afternoon working on a watercolor and packing my things for the big trip. Afterwards, Brelan and I grabbed a perfect dinner in Santo Spirito and tucked in early.
This is where things start to take a turn. You’re not able to hail taxis in Florence, so I tried to schedule one the night before by calling them, but they waved me off and told me to call back the next morning. Sounds easy enough, except they hung up on me twice when I tried again at 7:30 the next morning.
A horrible sight.
No need to panic, right?! I’ll just download three different taxi apps, spend the time inputting new login information, and then watch as each one searches for a driver, and ultimately cancels on me. At this point, I need to be out of my apartment in 10 minutes, and my blood pressure is rising. I decide to pull out the big guns: Uber is selectively available in Florence, but at crazy high prices, so I tapped in my credit card info and accepted a 120 euro ride.
THEY CANCELED ON ME! I took a shaky breath, watched the price jump, and tried again, this time for 160 euros. No dice. What to do now? I decided that I needed a local’s help, so I hurried over to the cafe across the street and asked the barista for help. When she shook her head, I burst into tears. Was I going to make it to my flight? Was I going to miss my sister’s wedding? I called my very last option, my academic program’s help desk, and proceeded to devolve into a blubbering mess. She hung up on me, and a man pulled up to my door in 6 minutes! After thanking him profusely and throwing 40 euros at him, I sat in silence at the airport and tried to settle myself down. Both of my flights were easy and unproblematic compared to that mess.
I landed at the Dulles airport at about 7pm on Thursday, so my dad and I beelined for Chipotle. It was the perfect mess of American food that I had been missing! Then, I crashed out early at the house, and woke up to drive with him to my grandparent’s house for the big wedding.
I needed about three cups of coffee to feel alive, but after getting some Chickfila breakfast, the long list of Friday’s tasks was feeling doable. I started by landing at my grandparent’s house and meeting up with my sister and the other bridesmaids to get our nails done. We grabbed some Mexican and margaritas, and then did a quick change to make it to the rehearsal in time. The rehearsal went really well! I’ve never been to one before, but we practiced some basic aspects of the ceremony and then headed back to the club for the family dinner. It was great to spend more time catching up with my family, and to get to know some of Ben’s as well. When we got back to the house, we piled into bed and tried to rest up for the wedding.
The royal wedding! The girls room all woke up at about 7:30 to start prepping for our makeup and hair shifts. The first floor was an early-morning flurry — there were sets of makeup artists and hair stylists setting up, Dad and Thomas were helping to load the car up with wedding decor, and my family was in the kitchen starting breakfast and having coffee. For the next few hours, we were plucked, pinned, and primped until we ran out of time and had to march over to the wedding venue.
The woman of the hour!
My sister seemed to be doing pretty well with all of it. She got her hair and makeup done up beautifully, and once we got into the dressing room at the venue, she seemed ready to get the show on the road. All it took was a quick outfit change, a few happy tears, and some champagne!
We rode golf carts out to the end of the point for the ceremony, and then suddenly everything started happening very quickly. I’ve been to a few weddings, but I’ve never been in one, so it was surreal to walk down the aisle for my sister. I looked out over the guests and spotted close family and friends, and then all of the sudden, I was watching my sister come up over the hill in a golf cart with my father. It was sweet to be able to stand at the altar and watch Ben, back turned, turn pink and cry with anticipation as he waited for her arrival.
All of the sudden, they were married! We celebrated with some snacks and drinks on the point while we took photos, and then we got to rejoin the rest of the wedding up at the club. It was a really nice afternoon full of good food, a whirlwind of faces and laughter, and perhaps the best wedding exit I’ve ever seen!
The next day, we spent the morning ferrying two of the bridesmaids to the airport and enjoying brunch with the family. It was nice to take a breather, spend time together, and reflect on the weekend. I’m obviously thrilled to be getting back to Italy so soon, but it does feel like this weekend has flown by.
What a weekend in America. I’m so thrilled for my sister, and I’m glad that I got to see my family and spend some time with friends. I’ll let you know how the jet lag goes this week!
Bye for now!!
Charlotte