I can’t even believe that I am once again sitting in front of my computer reminiscing on my last month here in Florence. It is amazing that October has already come and gone. We are at the point in our journey where we have past the halfway mark and we are now on our way towards the last month-and-a-half of this adventure. While more time has passed than we have left, it seems like everything is just now kicking into gear! In my fashion photography class I am starting my personal project now that I have a basic understanding of photography and the studio. This project will end up being a portfolio of pictures from photo shoots that I have styled and photographed. Then in my fashion marketing class we just formed teams that will work together to help to establish an emerging Florentine menswear designer within the industry. I love that my classes here offer me real world experience and allow me to be a part of something that I would otherwise not have the opportunity to do.
A great part about October was that it brought fall break. After all the studying that I did for my midterms, this break was much needed. I spent my week traveling to Zermatt, Switzerland and Cinque Terre. In order to get to Zermatt one must take three trains. The last train was a small one that runs through all the little towns situated within the Swiss Alps. Zermatt is an adorable, quaint town that is best known for the picturesque Matterhorn. It’s a good thing Switzerland is beyond adorable, because it was beyond expensive! Here I took a journey on the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise which was a once in a lifetime thing to do regardless of Swizerland’s priciness.
This adventure entailed a ride up the highest altitude tram in all of Europe. After taking three tram rides, each becoming progressively more steep until the cable is essentially vertical, you reach the top. Once your nerves have calmed you get to see a panorama of the Swiss Alps and you get to walk inside one of the glaciers. The sun was shining and I was on top of the world, or so I felt like it.
After Zermatt I went to yet another charming place, this being the one destination I wanted to go to while I was here in Italy. While I have a special place in my heart for Florence, it is the five cities of Cinque Terre that I fell in love with. Riomaggiore, Manarolo, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso are all so delightful that I couldn’t help but smile. All the homes are painted in vibrant colors and are situated against the ocean.
Each town has something special about it and it was so exciting getting to discover what they had to offer. Since I have always advocated the specialness of moments in my blog entries, I will tell you about my favorite moment that came in Vernazza. I had stumbled upon a path towards the back of the town that took me on a decent hike up the mountain. I didn’t know where I was going but I knew once I reached the top I would have an impressive view of the town. I was right about that, but to my surprise I also came across a cemetery. This wasn’t like a typical cemetery we are familiar with. Instead of having tombstones marking the place that a coffin is buried in the ground, this cemetery had massive marble structures above ground that held the coffins. Maybe the people do this because there is a risk of floods since the towns are so close to the ocean, but I felt like this was done out of respect. I felt very moved sitting in this cemetery that overlooked all of Vernazza and thinking how these deceased people were not buried in the ground, but were a little bit closer to heaven.
Even though it was nice to go to these quaint and quiet places, I was so excited to be back home in Florence. I missed Florence and while I am so grateful for my travels, there is nothing better than coming back to this city.
– Hannah, Colorado State University
