My First Hostel Experience
Last weekend, I decided to go visit Florence and Pisa for my weekend excursion. Traveling to these two cities seemed cheaper than doing one since they were both near to each other. Therefore, to complete the itinerary for my trip, I booked a hostel online for one night. Hostelworld, a website that comprises a full directory of hostels all over the world, is the website I used to find a place to stay in Florence. As I perused the website I made sure to set the filters to the preference of my choice. For instance, in terms of price, I didn’t want to spend more than 20 euros a night, so I categorized the hostel from the lowest to the highest price. In terms of the room, I wanted to live in an all-female dorm since I wouldn’t be as comfortable sharing a dormitory with other members of the opposite sex. In addition, facilities fell under another significant necessity for a hostel, since without free Wi-Fi, one would not be able to complete important tasks during the evening such as homework, surfing the web or replying to loved ones via email. Lastly, in terms of rating, I believe anything above an 8.0 is quite acceptable in my opinion. Therefore, all my preferences lead me to Hostel Santa Monaca as my final choice which was located two bridges away from the Ponte Vecchio, had Free Wi-Fi, and a low price of 13 euros a night for one bed!
When I first arrived in Florence, getting to the hostel was a facile task since it was a 15-minute walk away from the Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the main railway station in Florence. Walking there, I found it quite easy to cross over the Arno river to follow the signs that led to the hostel. Forgetting that the check-in time was at 3pm, I completely forgot so I arrived 30 minutes early to the hostel. In the meantime, I stayed in the lobby and waited to check in so that my room would be clean once I entered.
As the check-in time passed, I walked up to the front desk to show the receptionist my reservation. In addition to that, she also needed my U.S. Passport, as a valid ID, as well as the remaining euros I owed for the room. After checking me in, the receptionist gave me the sheets for my bed, the key to my dorm, as well as the Wi-Fi username and password. I was placed in the room “Pazzi” which in Italian can also mean “crazy or wild”, so I sort of found that confusing for a bit. When I walked into the room, I saw three bunk beds, an outlet, as well as some storage lockers. I placed my weekender on my bed and started to unpack. Since the receptionist gave me some free linens and a storage lock, I was able to put my belongings away in a swift manner. Exploring the hostel, I realized that with my reservation, I had unlimited access to the gym, terrace as well as the communal kitchen. The bathrooms were spotless, equipped with two showers, a toilet, and a long sink. After perusing my place of residence, I noticed that one of my roommates had checked in shortly after me.
Her name was Stef, from Australia, she’s been living out of hostels for the past two years because she loves traveling. As a 25-year-old, she quit her last job in sales and marketing to pursue her travel bucket list. She’s been all over Europe, and some day she hopes to visit Africa and Asia as well. I remember asking her if she ever misses her home country since she’s been abroad for so long. She told me she was quite satisfied with where she was at this current chapter of her life since having her current residence in London makes her feel more assimilated to European culture.
After meeting her, I explored Florence for a bit longer, coming back, I met my two other additional roommates, Zuzanna and Zofia. Both from Krakow, Poland, they decided to travel to Italy as a little weekend excursion away from home. With pleasure, they were so eager to get to know me since they’re not around a lot of Americans in their hometown. I shared some likes and dislikes about my home country and so did they. In fact, they were quite annoyed at how some Americans believe Poland is a country where minimal English is spoken. Many of them in their generation speak fluent English, so they expressed that sometimes the older generations are not as bilingual. Overall, I thought discussing the differences between our two cultures was quite amazing but also informational!
Furthermore, taking a shower at a hostel wasn’t as bad as I assumed. I’ve heard rumors from other study abroad students that the showers tend to be not as spotless as you think. However, since I’m using a communal shower the maintenance crew would come in and clean the stalls from 11:30am to 1:00pm. Unfortunately, though since the showers were outside my room I had to walk through the hallways in my towel as members of the opposite sex looked and stared. Other than that, I would say that if you are scared to shower in a hostel… don’t be! The rumors and horror stories are more likely based on someone else’s experience. Lastly, the only other thing I could possibly think to complain about during my entire stay was the mattress. Compared to my bed in Trastevere, the mattress I slept on at the hostel was rigid and stiff. Making it uncomfortable to fall asleep, therefore, I forced myself to listen to some classical music to put me in a drowsy state of mind.
Overall, I gave the hostel a rating of an 8.8, since the atmosphere was clean, and the prices were clearly reasonable. In general, if you’re ever traveling around Italy while you’re abroad, I hope you’re able to have a delightful hostel experience like did.
Ci vediamo al mio prossino post! (See you at my next blog post!)
Jade
