Sometimes it's the little things

When you go abroad, more often than not you get caught up in how big an experience this is and you focus on all of these big things you have to do. For me, in Florence, Italy, I had to go to the Uffizi, see the David, climb to the top of the Duomo, go to the San Lorenzo Market, visit the Boboli Gardens, and so many other big events that I kept focusing on until one day, early in my semester abroad I decided to just sit for a little. I found a spot along the Arno river that splits Florence in half, jumped up on the cement wall that runs along the river and pulled out my little sketchbook. With my back propped up against one of Florence's elegant lampposts (yes, even the cities lampposts are beautiful), I gazed down the river at the Ponte Vecchio and began to sketch. People passed on the sidewalk next to me, tourists, residents of Florence, visitors from all over the world. Some tourists even paused behind me, watching the strange girl sitting on the wall sketching. I even had a few ask if they could take a picture of my drawing with the bridge in the background. They would stand over my shoulder for a few seconds before continuing on to their busy day. For once, I was the slow one. I was the one taking her time to really see every detail of what I was seeing, how almost every window on it was different, how little rooms jutted out over the river, held up by only a few supporting beams beneath it, how the sun created shadows on the river beneath the bridge. I watched little people walk over the historic sight, take selfies with it, take pictures of it but not really see it. This was the moment I realized that going abroad wasn't just about seeing the big sights, it was about these small moments. The small moments where you can take your time to appreciate something you might not have noticed if you were just a tourist because you're not a tourist. For four months, you're a resident, a Florentine.