Lost in Florence: Getting a Tattoo

Since I’ve last posted, so many things have happened, I’m almost overwhelmed with what to write about, but I’ll try to keep on track.

I’ll go back to right before my midterms, things were going slow then, it was raining everyday and I looked like a hobo every morning from how cold it was. Not to mention, we had final projects to present, not that it was a big deal, but it was still a bummer. We were all just looking forward to spring break, we wanted to travel somewhere nice to celebrate our last few months together. (By the end of the year, everyone will apply to other universities in different countries.) 

So as we spent those weeks killing time until spring break, I have been giving serious thought to getting a tattoo..maybe it was my boredom acting out, but my friends were supporting the idea a lot, they even got me the address of the best tattoo artist in Florence, and I told my mom the idea over skype, and to my surprise, she didn’t mind the idea.

I was psyched, I started immediately working on the design and everything.

And there I was, taking my friend and going to the tattoo studio.

The place was pretty badass in my opinion, with Harley Davidson models and some sick pieces of art, with pictures of different tattoo designs all over the wall and great lighting.

I sat on the couch until the lady (receptionist?) came and spoke to me, I told her I wanted to get a tattoo done, she disappeared for a while and came back to me with the price and the appointment date.

She gave me the appointment paper which was a ridiculous dollar paper with the artist’s face in the middle, it made me laugh for a good 5 minutes, then I realized “oh crap, this guy is going to draw permanently on my back.”

However, I showed up a few days later with 2 of my friends, then the lady told me I can’t have anyone come in with me, so my friends went to get something to eat as I went in, only to realize they forgot their phones with me, so it will be a little more difficult finding them now.

Oh well,..I got in, confused with all the equipment, gave him my back, and heard the needle work.

Now I know I can take a lot of pain, but I never really knew in which particular way does getting a tattoo hurt exactly, and the uncertainty kept me uncomfortable, until the needle touched my skin and the guy started working on the tattoo, it was more of a tingly feeling, didn’t bother me at all.

A while after, he stopped, and showed me my back, and there it was! I finally did it. He covered it and gave me baby butt-cream to put over my tattoo every day, and gave me a high five.

I walked out of the place and found my friends, and everything went better than expected.

It made the following days a bit more tolerable, since I got excited every time I remembered I just got a tattoo.