Al Dente Diary 🇮🇹

July 6th – 9th 2026!

This week was super hectic and crazy busy but oh my god it was soo much fun!

Monday, July 6th — I had my F&C class bright and early in the morning—it was a rough wake up since I got back from Venice at like midnight the night before, but I got there! Mom, thank you for your motivational “you made it!” text because yes, I was late, and yes, I was just relieved to have gotten there at all (and it was barely even 10 minutes which basically doesn’t even count in Italy).

I also think I’m finally getting the hang of the navigation/public transportation here. The busses give me so much anxiety because they’re always late and if you don’t wave them down they won’t stop for you (learned that one the hard way) but I am getting used to it. I also finally don’t need my map to walk to school. That being said, I need everyone to understand how serious the skinny mini epidemic is here, oh my god you cannot be fat in Europe. Everything from the elevators to the sidewalks are so god damn narrow and uneven I am so stressed walking here literally all of the time.

After getting home from class I had to move pretty fast to get my laundry in one of the (three, yes only three for the whole building) washing machines to have an outfit ready for a concert!

It was so cool and so fun and I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience it.

After the concert, Sophia and I grabbed some dinner and went straight home because we were so so tired.

Tuesday, July 7th I was able to sleep in a bit before my Shakespeare class. Instead of having our class on campus, we met up at Piazza Duomo where there is a beautiful garden and a Dante statue (he’s the Italian poet and writer that wrote the Divine Comedy).

I’m spending a lot of time outside here, the “European glow” everyone talks about here is just sweat.

Yes, I was late to the first class in the piazza because I couldn’t find it however it’s worth noting that it could be worse.

The study abroad program is called USAC, our university is IUSVE… so I don’t want to hear any judgment from anyone about me getting lost!

We also had a beautiful sunset so I made a caprese salad with the freshest tomatoes and mozzarella ever and ate dinner outside.

Wednesday, July 8th and Thursday, July 9th were a little less busy so I took the opportunity to go to another market and stock up on some more food and a few essentials like nail polish remover to do my nails. I was also able to knock out most of my homework and get some reading done. And I finalized my weekend plans to get to a beach!

Overall it was a great week! More updates coming soon!

Ciao! 💚🤍❤️