Snow in Florence

It’s unbelievable, but my five months spent in Florence are over, and I feel like I have been here for just a few weeks. I have completed a “marathon” of handing in projects, designs and products, which made me oblivious to the passage of time, but now the first semester is over, happily, and I can take a breath and embark on the next one.

It has been a very nice period, as I spent it with a bunch of people who got on incredibly well and made up an excellent team. I should not forget our teachers who are always helpful, nice and willing to lend a helping hand, and I am very grateful for that.

Fig.: With schoolmates in front of our school

But let me go back a few weeks. The Christmas holidays flew by, and I set out for Florence once again. Nobody was waiting for me on arrival this time, since I had chosen to get back to the apartment by myself. Italians celebrate a holiday called La Befana after New Year’s Day; it’s quite like our St. Nicolas holiday, except that a witch hands out sweets or coals. Hence, I did not want to disturb anyone during their holiday. When the bus driver unloaded my suitcase, I walked towards St. Mark Square where the bus station is. I only had to wait for a moment before my bus arrived. Some forty-five minutes later, I got off at my destination, walked a few meters, and there I was in front of our Florence dwelling.

Having arrived after Christmas, I felt slightly melancholic for a few days, as I missed my family, but that didn’t last long. I dropped back into the whirlwind of lectures on Monday and, most importantly, reunited with my schoolmates, so there was no time to be sad. In addition, I learned a very pleasant piece of news, which was that the entire week from February 20 will be holidays for us first year students, because it is an exam week, but the exams only apply to higher years; our first exam period will be in June, and the February date is the third and will only apply to us next year.

The free time comes in handy; I can prepare for my tests and assignments from my teachers. I will go to the library and galleries to collect resources and material. My friends and I also agreed to go observe the exams to find out what we would be asked to do and what to prepare for.

Finally, I have to share a funny story. When severe frost gripped all of Europe, Florence was not spared either. There were 3 cm of snow, and the temperature dropped to -5 degrees Celsius, which triggered holidays on Wednesday (my parents later told me that such measures are known as ‘coal holidays’ in my country) and we didn’t go to school until Monday. By the way, the temperature was -20 in the Czech Republic, but there were no holidays there.

Anyway, I am enjoying my stay here and don’t regret a single day spent here. The environment has been very inspiring, and the people I got to know here are very close to me, and I really love them.

Fig.: A design lesson: workshop-creating