Practicing my T9 typing until December

When I got to Florence I felt like I got the Mean Girls sex talk every day during orientation.

“Don’t have sex, because you will get pregnant and die.”

Except these talks were about getting robbed, drugged and raped. Really good things to hear about right off the bat, right?

I have a big problem with getting “safety advice” before traveling. Not in the sense that I take safety for granted, but I hate being freaked out by being told every bad thing that could happen to you while you’re away. I believe in being aware and taking precautions, but I never want to be scared and therefore not enjoy what I’m doing to its full potential. I also don’t ever want to be that annoying tourist with my backpack against my belly, looking like a complete idiot. 

Unfortunately I learned that I need to be taking those talks a little more seriously this week. 

The first few weeks in Florence I was leaving my iPhone at home when I went out at night. But as I grew more confident with the city, I began to leave it in my bag for those times when us American girls needed our grand photo-ops during a night on the town. We had been warned during Florence Orientation last spring that iPhones were basically equivalent to gold in Europe, somewhere in the 600€ range, and were prime target amongst thieves. 

Well, one quick picture Wednesday night turned into my iPhone getting snatched out of my purse, along with two other girls from Kent. After going to the owners of the club and having them get some information, we realized we were in a no-win situation. 

Caught by “Apple pickers”, there is really nothing else left to do but get over it. 

So, I’m turning this blog into something I thoroughly despise. When you go out, be aware. You don’t need to be that tourist with their passport hanging around their neck, but a cross-body bag with a zipper doesn’t guarantee that something won’t be taken from you. 

If your iPhone is stolen:

• File a police report. Probably won’t amount to anything, but it’s worth a shot.
• Hit up Find My iPhone. Even if it can’t locate it, like mine, you can lock your phone and set it to erase its content once its connected to wifi. 
• Call your service provider and suspend your line. Verizon has an international line and it took five minutes to take care of it. Pay attention to where you can make the call though; even though the call was toll-free I had to use a landline.  

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