Caution: Don't Step on a Crack

I was going to buy a soccer jersey at a Barcelona souvenir shop, asked the price then decided not to get it. The store employee then started yelling at me asking why are Americans so picky. It was very sudden and made me surprisingly angry to even attempt buying anything ever again.

It all began when a few brightly colored jerseys outside a little store suddenly caught my eye. I stepped in to take a look at the goods. After quickly realizing the prices were well over 45 Euros, I decided not to purchase anything. As I walked away the sales associate came towards me flagging the jersey in my face asking why I have to be so picky like all Americans. My heart was racing as the man was hackling me for about 20 seconds,
“You all just ask, ask, ask and then after no one buys anything,” the man announced. All I could do was apologize. In a nervous and anxious step I walked over to where my friends were browsing some souvenirs. As a proud and independent American I just patiently waited for my friends to finish shopping before walking out of the store. I was upset that the employee had such a strong negative opinion on Americans.

As a little girl I remember sitting on a huge leather loveseat at the Louis Vuitton store for hours waiting for my aunt to decide what she wanted to purchase; a bag, a scarf, some luggage. At times she walked away with nothing, other times with a lot. What if the Louis sales lady were to yell at my aunt, Wendy?

Back in Columbus, Ohio I serve and attend to other peoples needs for hours at a time. It isn’t something I enjoy doing at times but it is my job. I give guests sample after sample of beer and at times people end up not ordering any beer at all. I understand the frustration of putting in work and not receiving anything for your time and effort.

While in Europe I have always wanted to get the perfect jersey. As any other college student bordering the zero dollar amounts in their bank account, I had to shop around. Tourists walk into souvenir shops all day long and at times get pursued into buying items that may be more expensive than the exact same item a block over. Even though the situation doesn’t happen to many people, it happened to me. Walking away and not feeling guilty is the first step. These store employees can spot a tourist and in order to sell items they must be forceful and put in a lot of effort to make profit. People must realize that they might not be on vacation like many of us. It’s a situation where you must either be in to buy it or you should quickly browse and make up your mind.

In the end I bought a neon orange jersey that I had seen in other stores before. I ended up paying 30 Euros less than the other store that taught me a life long lesson.

C'est Paris!

Eiffel Tower: Paris, France

Getting up close: Renata & Caroline

People of all ages visit

Tourists have a green place to relax after a high traffic area like the Eiffel Tower.

A diverse Paris even resorts to cheeseburgers and fries.

Crepes with nutella are commonly found around the area

The daily special for only 10 Euros!

Itty-Bitty cars save on gas!

Tourists save their energy and see parts of the city by boat.

Street performers line the streets.

A typical tourist photo I just had to take myself.

A beautiful view just strolling down the street.

"ATTENTION"

Margaret Greco

It's only been about a decade since Margaret Greco began her five acre olive tree farm in Florence, Italy. Originally from Ames, Iowa, Greco at only the age of six, moved to Florence, Italy after her father was offered a job at an international bank company. Her mother, Lauretta Greco, also received a new job shortly after they moved on an olive oil farm. She was taught to squeeze the oil from olives ripe from the trees. Since Florence has a large reputation in organic olive oil, it wasn't hard for Margaret to fall in love with the process she has grown up to know.

"I grew up around people teaching me how to make olive oil," Margaret explained as she pulled a bottle of oil from her carry-on bag. "I live in Florence because of my farm but I don't do it for the money, it's just something my mother started and I kept it going. I enjoy giving bottles of olive oil to my friends and family."

Unusually, I had met Margaret Greco on a train ride from Florence to Munich, Germany. She now commutes to Berlin every week to take care of her sick parents whom started her love of farming olives. She is not married and has no kids to continue the farming tradition with although she has no plans on getting a new job. Margaret Greco's family tradition will

undoubtedly live on in Florence for years to come.

15 days

I can't believe I've been in europe for 15 days. It feels a bit surreal that I'm living in Florence and traveling to different places every weekend. A group and I just got back from Munich, Germany at six a.m. monday morning. We spent all day Friday and Saturday exploring then took it easy on Sunday and hopped on a sleeper train back to Florence that night. The trip was more than I had expected. I originally planned on going to Cinque Terre with my two friends, Renata and Caroline, but I opted to get away and see the country I've been dying to visit since I was 10 years old. I've taken German classes since I was 14 years old but I was never great at the language. The culture and the people made me stick with it until I was a senior in high school. Ever since then I've wanted to visit so I did what I needed to and made it to Germany.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped off the train was that it was about 30 degrees cooler. I knew from then on I was going to like this place. Even at 6 a.m. the city was packed with tourists and locals meandering the streets. It was only about 10 minutes until we arrived at our hostel, dropped off our bags and hopped on a train to Dachau. This city held the 1st concentration camp ever built in 1933. The group followed Andre as he led us to the various buildings explaining the grotesque history and horrifying details of the camp.

I'll add on to this as soon as I get back from Paris! Hopefully with loads more to tell you, Ciao!

Venice: group trip #1

It was only about a three hour, air conditioned bus ride to Venice from Florence. Nothing looks more touristy than a double decker charter bus full of college students. The group arrived in Venice at the canal where we took a rocky boat ride that dropped us off closer to our hotel. The Hotel Messner wasn't exactly ideal but we were only there for about 7 hours a day to sleep with the mosquitos so it wasn't terrible.

I'm that kind of person who drives everywhere, even when I'm a couple blocks away from work. I'll drive. It startled me when they said it was a car-free part of town where we were staying. The locals use boats to commute. Buy a ticket and a boat will drop you off at docks in various locations around Venice. They had water taxi's that apparently if you call one and cancel, you pay big bucks. The gondala's that are pretty notorious in Venice weren't cheap either. I guess transportation here in "luxury" is mainly geared towards tourists which was practically everyone.

Italia!

We arrived in Florence about a week ago, settled into the Gould with Renata and Caroline, took a trip to venice and now we've started classes. More to come!