Picture an area the size of Ames. Now cut the width of the streets in half and make the buildings that line these streets at least four stories tall. Pack this area with at least 10 times the population of Ames during the school year and fill it with block after block of buildings that have cultural significance equivalent to that of the Statue of Liberty in the United States. If you can do this, you can imagine Florence on any given day.

It’s noisy, crowded and overrun with camera-toting tourists eager to check off each and every point in their Barnes and Noble style guidebook. Even after living here a month, sometimes the overwhelming quality of a city like Florence is enough to make me long for a snazzy pair of ruby red slippers with heels that I can tap three times.

That’s right Toto, it’s drastically evident that I’m not in Iowa anymore.

So what makes it worth staying when I find myself longing for home? Well, it’s a complicated question with a simple answer.

As I make my way to classes each morning, I walk on some of the same streets that the poet Dante Alighieri must have walked on when he was taking a coffee break from writing “The Divine Comedy.” And if I veer off my normal path by a block or so, I can see the church that his inspiration Beatrice attended.

And the pride with which Italians regard their heritage is apparent by the way they preserve these hallmarks of the Renaissance. Relics, many built before the discovery of America, are still standing. Even though they are weathered and sometimes in the middle of renovation, the character that their stoic exteriors exude is unmistakable. And to the untrained eye, it seems the emphasis that the western world has placed on technology over history has somehow left Florence virtually unscathed.

Even the vendors, who crowd the streets peddling souvenirs and trinkets, hold within their cries of “For you, bella, 30% off,” a passion for life. And as they set up their stands in the main piazzas and tiny alleys, the precision with which they display their products is indicative of how much pride they hold in their work.

Often times, after a day of learning about the culture that has influenced so many of our views toward art, science and music, I can stop at a caf‚ near my home to enjoy a sandwich or cup of coffee. And even though I can only understand a handful of the Italian that the man behind the counter throws my way, I can tell by his smile that he recognizes me and probably knows what I am going to order before I do.

And as I cross the square that is mere blocks from my house, I don’t have to worry about the homeless man that calls the bench to the west of the statue commemorating St. Mark his home.

Because I know his name is Marco and if you give him a handful of Pringles and offer him a few minutes of your time, he can teach you more about Florence than any guidebook. And the stick he carries and uses to bash garbage bins is more to relieve stress than to inflict harm on anyone.

Well, I guess in a way that turned out to be a complicated answer to a simple question. But my main point in sharing this today is that no guidebook can give you a good idea of what someplace is really like.

You can follow their itineraries and see Florence, or anywhere in the world for that matter, as just some obligatory stop every tourist must make in order to fill the quota of must-sees before they die.

And maybe if I only had two weeks to see the city I, too, would have been quicker to adopt that mentality and rush through the chapels, museums, palaces and gardens, proud of the fact that at the end of my trip I could check Florence off my list.

But somewhere along the line the subtlety and tiny intricate beauties of everyday life in Florence had their way with me.

And so, despite the hustle and bustle of this place I am beginning to call home, I’ve found that I am pretty comfortable with the idea that when I wake up tomorrow morning, those ruby red shoes I sometimes long for still won’t have found their way into my closet.

Christy Steffen is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Ruthven. She is studying abroad in Florence, Italy for the semester.