My Family is here!!

My family is here and I could not be happier. I had a field trip to the Fendi Factory today , which was awesome. 

 However, I was not able to see my family directly upon arrival because of the mandatory field trip. I am not complaining though, the fieldtrip was amazing, but it was even more amazing seeing my mothers beautiful face for the first time in months. 

I ran off of that bus so quickly and ran to the café where my family was waiting for me. I could not wait to run into my mothers arms. It did not feel real. From the way my crazy family packed, you would have thought they were staying here for five months. Anyway, enough writing, my family is here. I have so much catching up to do. Knowing us, I will be back with some exciting/ interesting stories. We are one dynamic crew. Florence is in for a surprise! 

More updates to come. Stay tuned. 

My visit to Ferragmo

My big meeting with the Director of  the Ferragmo Museum was today. I forgot tell you it was rescheduled from the 12^th to the 14^th. I left my classes at 1:15pm so that I could head home, leaving me plenty of time to get dressed. I did a lot of research on Mrs. Ricci, so that I was prepared to ask her questions if the time permitted.

I walked out of the house with my best attire on. A bit flustered, I walked in the wrong direction and had to turn around. My appointment scheduled for 3:00pm, at that point was 7 minutes away. I’m breaking a sweat to Ferrgamo as quickly as I can.

Finally after 5 minutes I arrive. “ Mrs. Ricci please?” I kindly ask.

“Hello mad’am. You must go up to the left to the first floor.”

I arrive and two very nice individuals greet me.

“Hello, I have a meeting with Mrs. Ricci.” I said in my most polite voice.

“ I am sorry but Mrs. Ricci had to take an unexpected trip to London today, but her assistant will be right with you.”

Surprisingly, I did not get angry or sad at all. It was an honor to even have the opportunity to step foot on the First floor of the Ferragamo headquarters.

Off I went with Ms. Paola. She works in the Marketing department at the Ferragamo Museum. Ms. Paola has been working at Ferragamo since 1992. She absolutely loves her job, and is happy to be a part of such an establishment. Mira is the other young lady who also came alongside Ms. Paola to give me a tour of the office.

The office was unbelievable. If you don’t already know this about me, I have a weird obsession with shoes.  As I walk into the office, on the table sat the real shoes hand made by Mr. Ferrogamo himself. They were slightly covered, but I was able to sneak a peak under the transparent sheet. I was told that those were the shoes that would be showcased in the next exhibition. Mrs. Ricci is in charge of selecting which shoes/collections will be presented in the exhibitions, however Mrs. Ferragamo has much of the final say on everything.

I stayed a while and conversed with Mrs. Paola about my future goals. She had espresso and aqua sent up to us, as we spoke. I felt like a queen. She let me look out at the beautiful view from her office.

After already missing two classes, I decided it was time for us to part ways. Mrs. Paola and I exchanged contact information and she assured that she would reschedule my meeting with Mrs. Ricci.

Ciao,

Victoria 

TIME FLIES

I just looked up at the date I wrote down and my gosh does time fly. A month from now I will be heading back to the US. It literally feels like I just got here.

Before I left a few family friends warned me of this feeling. “ Victoria as soon as you get comfortable, it will be time to come back home.” If that’s not the truth, my name isn’t Victoria Fortune!

At any rate, I am so excited to see my mother, aunt, and cousin in ten days. I can’t wait. We are going to have an absolute blast. My mother deserves this trip more then anyone. She means the world to me, and I can’t thank her and my wonderful dad enough for making this happen.  I do have a surprise waiting for her when she gets here though, I just found out that my laptop crashed for good. There is no way the technicians are going to be able to recover it. I was sad for a moment, but then I realized whenever unfortunate things like this happen it serves as a reminder that something bigger is in store. 

I am thankful to still have my pad, pen and journal.

My old computer that was working at the time, but currently dead.

I am off to bed now.

Ciao Bella’s,

Victoria 

The Amalfi Coast.. story to come. Enjoy the photos

The Blue Gratto. One of the seven wonders of the world

Spring Break Edition: Paris, France

Continuing my self-reflecting spring break journey next stop: Paris France

8:00pm It is dark outside. The only thing I can see are the lights of the building across from me, and even those are a bit blurry through the glass window of this bus. I have just arrived in Paris, France. After taking a plane from Granada, and an hour bus ride from the airport, I am a bit exhausted. Honestly, all I can think of right now is sitting down and eating a chocolate crepe. I guess I should quit wishful thinking and find my way to the hotel.

10:00pm Two hours have gone by and I am completely lost. A nice gentlemen from Còte d’Ivoire  Africa gave me directions to the train station.  I know no French other than oui and bonjour, but I've never been one to let a language barrier get in my way of getting where I need to go. Here goes nothing, I say to myself.  

He pulls out his handy dandy iPhone 4, finds the train app, and proceeds to give me directions to my hotel. “ My dear, you are on the wrong side of Paris,” he says.  I began freaking out a bit. I have used all of the credit on my Italian phone. So if I wanted to call the friends I am meeting here to confirm that he is giving me the correct directions, I can’t.  On top of that, it is dark outside.  Jesus, be with me, is all  could think at this point.

Still maintaining some of my composure, I walk to the train station and proceed to get off at the stop the gentlemen instructed me to get off at. Something tells me to ask the train station worker if I was headed in the right direction.     

 " Bonsoir Madame, which way to Des Arquebusier? I am looking for Villa Beaumarchais Hotel,”  I ask.

“ Madame  you are headed in the wrong direction. You must take the M8 train in order to arrive to your destination."

I took a deep breath, said  “mercy beaucoup” in my most pleasant voice and continued my journey.

After 20 minutes of searching,  I finally found the M8 train.

10:45: Great! I took the train in the wrong direction. Now I must find my way to the other side of the track, and hope that this train is going in the direction of the hotel.

11:25 Finally, after asking four random people on the street how to get to the hotel, I arrive. My friends leave me a note at the front desk reading " Victoria, we tried calling you so many times but you're phone is off. We went out to eat, call us when you get here."  Was not exactly the news I wanted to hear after being lost for such a long time, however in life sometimes you just have to roll with the flow.

1:00am I am finally in the hotel room with my friends. I went on a mini tour by myself of the street the hotel was on and grabbed a delicious French meal. I could not get into the room until my friends returned, so I said “what the heck, I minds well get out of this funk I am in and get a bite to eat.”  I ordered this savory 1/4 of chicken with cut potatoes with rosemary. It was by far one of the tastiest meals I have eaten abroad.  After I ate, my mood went from not so good to great. Fed me after a long day, and I am good to go.To put the icing on the crepe, I got to watch a live French jazz show. If you know me, you know I love jazz music. My dad’s love for jazz has rubbed off on me. I wish he was there to enjoy the live music with me.  For a second (just a second) I forgot about what a hectic day I’d had.

Though it was a rough day, I would not trade it in for the world. This was truly a life changing experience. I have never in my life experienced being lost in a country that I am not familiar with. I was forced to use both my journalism and communication skills today. Although I'll only be here for less than a full day before boarding my flight to Nice France, I can honestly say the hectic day was all worth it. Now off to Nice, France in the morning. This time I’ll be traveling with two of my friends. My solo escapade has ended.