Travel stories

My Beginnings in Florence

A few months ago, I never imagined I’d have an opportunity like this — traveling to a foreign country for such a significant period. Once we boarded the plane, I knew we were going to have an amazing time. I clearly remember the first myth I got to confirm the moment we arrived: Italians really do drive like they say. I turned my head to look out the window and saw a man, while driving, open a newspaper and start reading it, steering the wheel with his knees. It was honestly quite shocking.

The Atmosphere in Florence

As soon as we arrived, you could immediately feel the difference — compared to Terrassa, there's a lot more culture on the streets. The first two weeks we didn’t do much, to be honest — mostly just getting used to the new experience. We did the basics: went shopping, wandered around to learn our way, and figured out where everything was. After two weeks, we started going out more and more. Florence is full of culture, as I mentioned earlier. For example, there's a replica of Michelangelo’s David right in a public square. From there, a path begins that, if followed, leads from that plaza all the way to the Ponte Vecchio. (This passageway was built in just five months and spans 1.3 km in length.)

The Job

The company I’m working at is called I.I.S. Agnoletti — it’s a high school. I’m really comfortable there because the staff feel more like a family than just teachers. They laugh, celebrate together, and it’s really fun. My supervisor, Vito Riggi, seems like a key figure at the school — when you walk through the halls with him, everyone from the youngest to the oldest students knows him, greets him, shares achievements, and more. My main tasks have been fixing computers and troubleshooting student-caused issues — audio problems with digital whiteboards, video errors in the middle of exams, and similar issues. My work hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. In the last hour, we usually just check all thirty classrooms to see if any computers or boards have been left on. Thanks to that task, I started meeting people from the school — Italian students who might seem a little shy at first but turn out to be really great people.

Head First into the River...

There’s nothing from this trip that I didn’t enjoy 100%. Everything has been so much fun. The only downside was our living situation — we were placed in an apartment with people who were, frankly, not very clean. That part was a bit frustrating. Everything else has been incredible. Raúl and I signed up to play volleyball after he suggested the idea, and we loved it. We started playing in a gym and eventually ended up playing next to the Arno River because our original group had ended. We formed a pretty large group — sometimes there were so many of us that we had to take turns to play. One day, while playing, I made a bad move and sent the ball flying. Of course, it bounced in the only spot with no grass and ended up in the river. Naturally, I had to jump in to get it and spent the rest of the day soaking wet.

Conclusions

The internship has been really engaging. What surprised me the most was the great atmosphere in the workplace, and honestly, I’ve felt very comfortable. I’ve learned a lot — especially when it comes to repairing laptops, something I had never done before. I also got to experience what it’s like to live on my own — and that completely changes everything.