My life in Florence (Part 2)
A blog by Gregory Wittouck, doing his internship at the tour operator ‘We Like Tuscany’
Hello there!
It’s me again! I hope you enjoyed my first blog post a few weeks ago and I thought that I should post an update. Now I am here in Florence for 10 weeks and meanwhile, there has happened a lot.
Right after I had written my first blog post I participated in a student organization in Florence, called ISF, which means ‘International Students in Firenze’. This was probably one of the best things I have done here because thanks to this organization I did meet some people here. There are 4 student organizations in Florence and it is pretty important to participate with at least one of them. These organizations organize a lot of events which makes it easier to meet new people. I have also visited several cities with this organization.
The first visit that I did with this organization was a visit to San Gimignano, Volterra, and Monteriggioni. The trip started at Santa Maria Novella train station where we took the bus to our first stop, namely San Gimignano. When I got off the bus I noticed that it was really warm outside. It was like one of the first days of the year that it really felt like summer for me, but we were only March.
When we entered the town, our guides gave us some explanation about the multiple towers in the town. Every rich family in the town had a tower and how bigger the tower was, the more power the family had. After the explanation, we were wandering around looking to eat something for lunch. The pizza looked great but one of the guides recommended us to eat a panino. I didn’t really like it and I regretted that I didn’t eat the pizza.
After lunch, we got on the bus and drove to our next stop, namely Volterra. Volterra wasn’t really a nice town. It’s known for its rich history but there really is nothing to do or to see, so some other students and I decided to just sit down in a bar and drink a coffee. We didn’t really know each other so we started talking to get to know each other. It was really interesting because everyone had another nationality. There was someone from Nicaragua, England, France, Spain and Oman there and myself from Belgium.
After the coffee, it was time to go to Monteriggioni. Once we arrived there it started raining a little bit so half of the participants stayed on the bus. I got out and visited the town. Well, there wasn’t a lot to visit, but it had a certain atmosphere that I really liked. Apart from that, the views are amazing. We drunk a glass of local wine in the wine bar and enjoyed the last moments of the trip. Unfortunately, the time had come to leave so we got on the bus and drove back to Florence. This was right away at the end of the trip.
After this trip, I participated in a few other events that ISF organized. Every Wednesday evening I join an aperitivo at the bar ‘Moyo’. An aperitivo is like eating at a bar as much as you want at a low price. Mostly it is somewhere between 7 and 10 euros. I really like this event because it is a nice bar to sit with friends and they forecast soccer matches from the European Champions League. A downside is that it is a really expensive bar if you are not a member of ISF. For those who like sports, like me, ISF organizes a soccer match every Thursday evening.
The tour operator where I work, called ‘We Like Tuscany’, also offers a tour to San Gimignano and Monteriggioni. This is the Vernaccia wine tour. San Gimignano is known for the Vernaccia wine because the grapes that they use for the white wine grow around the village of San Gimignano. I haven’t attended this tour yet, but I think it is a really interesting tour. On this tour, you visit San Gimignano, have a multi-course Tuscan lunch and learn about winemaking techniques. Of course, is there also a tasting of the local organic wines included.
This is the end of my second blog post. I hope that you enjoyed and I will get back to you with another update as soon as possible!
Gregory Wittouck
Intern at the tour operator ‘We Like Tuscany’
Via Romana 41/43 RED Florence