il dolce far tutto: January 19th: Life in a Florentine apartment

Jules and I prefer to blog under the influence....just kidding mom and dad!

This past week was not only my first week living in a Florentine apartment, but also my first week living on my own, with out the rules of home, dorm, or sorority life. In other words: total freedom. It has been challenging, though. After splurging on restaurant meals for the first few days, I decided to try grocery shopping. Buying food poses a whole new set of challenges when everything is written in a different language (I’m still not sure if I’ve been washing my face with facewash or lotion). After several attempts, I did manage to stock my fridge and pantry and today I even made lasagna!

This is the kitchen in which I successfully cooked lasagna. It was a real treat.

I don’t have class on Wednesdays, so, today I woke up and went to the Market Centrale, which is basically a huge farmer’s market inside a large warehouse. I bought some fresh spinach, fruit, tomatoes sauce, bread and olive oil from various vendors. It felt great to get away from the touristy part of town and start shopping where the Italians shop.

Teague and Nikki's room. Note the beautiful yet non-functional fireplace.

This is our dining room/living room. This is where I blog.

One of the most striking differences between life in America and life in Florence is the use of energy. In Florence, energy and water are used much more efficiently, where as in America, we take heat, water and electricity for granted. We were advised that, in Italy, heat is only turned on for certain hours of the day, and that rather than jacking up the thermostat, we were to wear more layers. This of course makes sense, but takes some adjusting to, but we have started wearing many many layers to bed. Ironically, the Italians do not pat themselves on the back for this practice, nor do they boast that they are “going green”, rather they accept the practicality of this more conscientious lifestyle.

The baby bathroom. The only way to wash your face in the sink is to do a sort of plie.

After moving into our Florentine apartment, we were also advise NOT to plug too many things in at once, nor to use multiple appliances at once. We learned the importance of this warning the hard way last night, after our power went out due to our simultaneous use of the dishwasher as well as many lights. It took 5 clueless girls and 1 frustrated neighbor a half-hour to get the power running again, but unfortunately we did not learn our lesson. The following day our power went out again after turning the dishwasher on. This time we vowed not to use the dishwasher anymore. This sacrifice, along with constantly being cold and never quite knowing if using certain outlets will result in disaster, are a mere pittance to pay for living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. So far, I’m loving ever minute.