Fiesole!

Today several girls from our program decided to go to a town called Fiesole right outside of Florence for the day. It is a town on a mountain and it has a few museums and ancient ruins of the Etruscan civilization. We took the public bus to get there and it took only 20 min! Once we got there, we didn't really know where to walk so we just started heading up hill and it we got the most amazing view of Florence. It was the only view where the Duomo looks absolutely tiny! We sat on the ledge and just enjoyed the beautiful view for a while. Then we decided to get some lunch around the area. Casey brought delicious kiwis. We just sat in an open area and had kiwis and beer. It was such a relaxing time and it was so warm and sunny. We weren't running around from museum to museum to church for once. It was great just to sit around and do absolutely nothing. We walked around some more and then I suggested that we stay and watch the sunset in the mountains. A few girls went home but Casey, Jenah, Gina, Sarah, and Lauren stayed for the sunset. We were sitting on the ledge for about two hours drinking wine (wow, that really does'nt sound very safe, but we were very careful don't worry!) and waiting for the sun to go down. We had such an incredible, relaxing time there.

We took the bus back, and all paid for our ride. As we were riding we saw some of the Italians on the bus starting to panic and take out their bus passes. At first I didn't know what was going on but then I realized that there was an undercover cop checking people's tickets randomly. Then he came up to me and Jenah and asked her for her ticket. She showed it to him and he started yelling at her in Italian. She paid for the bus so there shouldn't have been a problem. But he continued yelling, and she kept telling him that she doesn't speak Italian. We had no clue what was going on. THen he took out his notepad and started writing something down so Jenah freaked out and started yelling that she didn't do anything wrong. I wish there was someone on the bus who could translate what that cop was yelling about...he probably just hates Americans and was just yelling for no reason. Then he just took Jenah's bus ticket and ripped it in half. We were all shocked and on the next stop we just all got off the bus. We had no clue where we were. It was all the way on the other side of Florence, but we were too scared to take another bus so we decided to walk. It took us like 45 min to walk to our street and we went to a really good pizza place right next to us.

Assisi

This weekend I went on a school trip to Assisi, which is a beautiful medieval town that has the church of St. Francis. Our group got a tour of the Church and I learned so much about St. Francis and his followers - the Franciscans. The church was very colorful and had beautiful frescoes of his life. After our tour of the church, we had free time so Kathleen, Elena, and I decided to get some lunch and walk around the town. The weather was perfect for that. (a little info on Elena...I met her on the trip. She goes to school in Syracuse and she lived in Alaska for several years but now lives in Connecticut. She has a boyfriend in Alaska who's a fisherman, and she wants to move back to Alaska after college). After lunch we decided to hike all the way up to a fortress where we heard we get the best views of the mountains. The streets in Assisi are ancient and all the houses are made out of stone...just like they were in the 1100s. It kind of reminded my of Jerusalem. Some streets are made up entirely of steps and they lead in all sorts of directions. We didn't really know where the fortress was, but all we knew is that we had to keep going up. So every time we saw two different alleys, we took the one that led us up higher. The views on the way up were beautiful and it was a great way to work off our lunch. The air was soooooo fresh. Once we got up, we realized that we only had 20 min to go all the way down and catch the bus. So we didn't get a chance to walk into the fortress, but we did manage to take some great pictures on the way up. We speed walked all the way down and made it for the bus.
Kathleen invited Jenah and Elena for dinner Friday night at our apartment. It was the first time I cooked for guests!! We went out and got some wine. We cooked fish, pasta, green beans, and I made a salad. Our dinner turned out to be a great success! It was nice having people over and we're thinking of doing that every Friday. It's as close to Shabbat dinner as I'll ever get here. Elena heard on the news that a volcano is supposed to erupt in Alaska really soon and that's close to where her boyfriend lives. She called him on the phone in a panic but he was away fishing in the seas haha. Before we went out that night, Kathleen, Elena, and Jenah did the dance to Beyonce's "Put a Ring on it" and it was hilarious...and I caught it on camera so I'll post it soon.

1/31/09

I haven't updated in a while, but a lot happened this past week. Last weekend Kathleen and I went to the chocolate festival at Santa Croce. It was very bad weather so we decided to experiment with the bus system. We live pretty far from the center of Florence (40 min walk) but the bus takes us there in like 10 min. We got 20 bus passes from the Tabacci store (kind of like a grocery store in the states). Once we got on the bus, we noticed that everyone else who stepped onto the bus wasn't paying. The driver didn't even look twice. Apparently no one checks if you actually pay for the bus or not. However, sometimes undercover cops would ride on the buses randomly and ask people to show their ticket. If you're caught without one, or if you haven't used yours, you get a big fine. So we decided we'll maybe pay every third time we ride the bus.
THe chocolate fair was incredible. THere were many many booths with the finest chocolate. They had all kinds of chocolate sculptures, funny chocolate animals,and even chocolate penises! They also had a bunch of chocolate in the shape of kalbasa. They had free samples of a lot of the chocolate and it was delicious!! I tried this really thick rich chocolate liquor and it was fabulous. After going over to every single booth, we met up with our friend Elena and went into Santa Croce. Santa Croce is a beautiful gothic church with the tomb of Michelangelo and a bunch of frescos by Giotto. Oh on our way to the chocolate fair Kathleen and I found a Russian restaurant called Marina!! It had Borsht, pelmeshki, salyanka, and a bunch of other Russian food. We wanted to go back there and have lunch but when we passed by it on the way back it was closed. It's so weird how most places in Florence and Italy in general close for lunch for like 3 hrs in the middle of the day. Even most restaurants close from like 1-3pm...just when you want to have lunch!

That weekend Kathleen, Katelin, and I also went to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David! I was surprised that the museum was so tiny. It only had like three rooms and the focus was Michelangelo's pieces of course. No words can describe looking at David and no picture does any justice to the sculpture. It's just absolutely incredible...especially all the little details in his hands and legs. We must have looked at David for at least forty-five min. It was so hard to take our eyes off him. Kathleen and I decided that we're definitely coming back to Accademia to sketch him.

Also that weekend my roommates and I went out to a discoteque with a bunch of people from our school. We went to this place called Twice and it was unfortunately packed with tourists and a bunch of Americans. The drinks were extremely expensive too. We had a great time but Elena, Jenah and I decided that we'd much rather go to more authentic Italian hangouts and try to make some Italian friends rather than hang out with a bunch of Americans.

Trip to Pietrasanta and Carrara

Today I went on a really amazing trip with the Michelangelo and Sculpture classes (even though I'm not in those classes) to Pietrasanta and Carrara. Pietrasanta is a very artsy, beautiful town right in the mountains, where there are several really well-known marble studios. In these studios, artisans are commissioned by artists to carve sculptures out of marble. Most artists rarely carve their own sculptures because it is a very time-consuming process and it'll prevent them from producing many sculptures in a short amount of time. Michelangelo was an exception...he carved most of his own sculptures out of marble himself; that's why many of them were never finished. It takes many years to master this really difficult trade.

When we got to the town, we met a British artist/sculptor who is seriously a genius. He spoke to us about marble, and it was so intriguing and I learned so much from him. Among many other things, I learned that marble is made up of sea animals' bones and only 4% of the world's marble is used for art; most of it goes to the production of floors, bathtubs, and other luxury things like that. Marble is made up of calcium carbonate...which is also found in our bodies. The man said that marble is proof that the world is living because of the ongoing cycle of organisms dying and their bodies forming into marble over millions of years. After his speech, we went to a real marble studio and it was amazing. There were marble sculptures everywhere and we got to see artisans chipping away the marble from huge blocks. Marble sculptures always intrigued me and I was never able to comprehend how someone takes a block of marble and just chips away pieces to make something so beautiful. A slight push of the tool at the wrong angle can completely destroy a sculpture. The precision of the artisan has to be perfect and it takes years and years of experience. I actually got to see the process for my self and even got to try carving a piece of discarded marble with a drill. I could barely hold that tool in my hand because it was vibrating so much. We also went to a mosaic studio and met an Italian artist who did not speak a word of English. He does commissioned work and on his free time does mosaics for himself. He had beautiful mosaics of "The Kiss" by Klimt and another one by Monet. They were just as beautiful as the paintings except the colors were even more vibrant.

It was incredible to see and meet all these people who had such unique jobs. The artisans were all working since they were in their early teens or younger. They obviously don't get paid much, and many of them are not very well educated because they start learning their trade from such a young age. But they are the best in the world in working with marble.

We then took the bus to the quarries in Carrara. These quarries have one of the best marble in the world. It is also the marble that Michelangelo collected himself for his sculptures. The Romans and Greeks used to build entire buildings completely in marble but in Michelangelo's time they built buildings using bricks and then covered only the outside layer with marble. We drove higher and higher into the mountains on winding, narrow roads. It looked like the mountains were all covered in snow, but it was really the white marble. Once we got to the quarry, an Italian man was telling about the process of collecting marble during the Roman times. The Romans used slaves. It took the slaves days to cut through one piece of marble because of the lack of tools. The view from the quarry was incredible! Unfortunately, the weather was pretty crappy.

1/23/09

Ok so yesterday we had a power outage in our apartment because Kathleen was blow drying her hair while we had a bunch of things plugged in. This happened at like 11:50pm and we were all up and still needed to do a few things before bed. We couldn't call our landlord because it was too late, so we played around with the fuse box in our apartment. Kathleen pulled some switches and there was a huge spark, but no luck. It was pitch black in our apartment. I started freaking out because I need to come out at 8:15am for class and need to wake up at 7 15 to get ready. When I wake up in the morning it's still pitch black outside until at least 8am. So I just went to sleep yesterday knowing that I would have to get up in the morning and get ready in the dark. I also had plans to take a shower and wash my hair in the morning. When I woke up today, of course it was completely dark in our house. There was also no hot water because apparently when the power is out so is our hot water. So much for my shower! Somehow I managed to get ready. I even managed to put on my contacts when it was still really dark out haha. I also called up our landlord...well, lady, before I left for class. Our landlady doesn't know a word of English. So I was sitting at my computer and looking up words in Italian on the online dictionary while I was talking to her. She was able to understand me, which was very exciting! Her husband came to our room to take a look right as I was leaving to class.

1/22/09

First week of classes was intense! There were so many textbooks and art supplies that needed to be purchased and so many errands to run. I spent almost $200 just on painting supplies alone ugh. But at least now I have new, clean brushes, which makes me very happy. One of my classes, Batik, is all the way in the center of Florence, around the Duomo, and it takes me like 25 min to walk there from the Villa Rossa (the main school building). I have been using a map to get myself around the city and I have been very impressed with my navigation skills! I didn't get too lost anywhere and I was able to find my way to and from the center without a problem. Florence is crazy to get used to because of all the winding narrow streets and all the long street names.


It's impossible to memorize. And on top of that it has so many different piazzas. I'm pretty much getting the hang of it because I have been walking around so much this whole week. On average, I walk about 2 to 3 hrs per day and I enjoy every minute of it because the streets are so beautiful. It's impossible to walk with another person beside you on many of the streets because they are way too narrow. Most of the time when you're walking and another person is walking towards you, you have to get off the sidewalk and step into the street to let them pass.

My Batik class is my favorite class so far. I have an old British woman for a professor. She is so sweet and she has one of those old, rich British lady accents. For those of you who don't know what Batik is...I'm honestly not sure either. It has something to do with painting beautiful images on silk material by using wax and dipping techniques. I don't know exactly how it works but all I know that it's very time consuming but the silk scarves come out beautiful in the end. We are going to do four silk scarves throughout the semester.

My Masterpieces of Art class (art history class) had a site visit today to the Piazza Signorina. It's one of the most famous piazzas in Italy and it is decorated all around with incredible sculptures. The original David was placed in that Piazza before, and now they are currently putting a replica of David in the same spot. I've walked by the piazza several times before but never looked twice at the sculptures. I just thought that they were there for decoration. But all these sculptures are actually very very significant pieces and most of them are placed there for some symbolic reason. There are a few by Donatello, and one that struck me as the most beautiful was Perseus and Medusa (by Cellini). It was considered to be even more beautiful than the David at the time and it was appropriately placed facing David in the Piazza Signorina. It looks like David is staring at Medusa...and that is why he has turned into stone. Genius!

After learning about several of the sculptures I decided to go to the Uffizi galeries right next to the Piazza because I had 2 hours left before my next class. I never went to a museum by myself before. It was truly an incredible experience because for the first time I was not rushed by anyone and I was able to take all the time I wanted looking at the artwork. I sneaked a few photos, and got yelled at by one of the guards in Italian. I started out with the religious art from the Middle Ages and worked my way up to the beginning of the Renaissance. I never liked religious art before, but after taking a closer look I now appreciate it much more. I began to realize how powerful all these artworks were because they were the only way to communicate the stories of the Bible for the general public to understand. I saw the original Birth of Venus by Botticelli and a bunch of other paintings by him. I also saw several paintings by Leonardo di Vinci, which were very inspiring. I probably saw like a tenth of the entire museum so I'll definitely come back there soon.

1/18/09

Yesterday both of my roommates slept in and woke up really late. I was very excited to go sightseeing that day, but because my roommates woke up that late, we didn't get to do as much as I hoped. Kathleeni and I decided to go get some groceries before our sightseeing adventure. It turned out that the grocery and all the other stores were closed for a three hr lunch break. So then we took a 45 min walk through town to get to the Duomo, the very beautiful cathedral. It is right in the center of town and you could see it from practically anywhere because it is so grand. It is so intricate on the outside, but on the inside it is dark, spacious, and very intimidating. It was beautifully designed by Brunelleschi in the thirteenth century. The dome on the very top had a huge fresco of Judgement Day. Jesus was sitting in a throne on top with all the good people in heaven and the rest of the people were either being thrown into fire or tortured by really scary wild animals/monsters. That kind of image would definitely get people to come to Church back then! The foreshortening on the very top of the dome was incredible! Kathleen and I climbed all the way to the top of the dome (about 500 winding steps). The view from the top was breathtaking. We were able to see the entire city and the mountains in the back. We also walked around the dome from the inside and were able to take a closer look at the fresco.
Then we had to climb all the way back down and by the time we got to the bottom our legs were shaking. All that hard work made us hungry and we decided to go for some real Italian pizza. Then on our walk back to the house we passed by that really drunk kid from the other night.
I think I got a little sick so I had a chill night in the apartment. My room is so cold...I walk around wearing at least 3 layers and 2 blankets wrapped around and I'm still cold.

1/16/09

My apartment is so much more than i expected! i got my own room partially because the other room had Jesus paintings everywhere and a Jesus shrine there. That freaked me out a little bit, but we ended up choosing fair and square by picking the highest card from a deck. My room is really big and it has a great view of the mountains. We also have two balconies with really beautiful views! It's like living in an unreal city...everything is so small and cute.

Yesterday we had more of orientation...i picked my classes. I'm taking 2 art history classes - one is Masterpieces of Art. The other is Ancient Rome: Etruscans to the Romans. Both classes have really cool trips. They include trips to Rome, Pompeii, Naples, and several more. I'm also taking an intermediate painting class and Batik. And Italian I, which is 4 times a week.

Tonight my roommates, Jenah, and I went to a live music bar called Bip Bop. It was similar to cafe Wha but there was no dancing in the isles. The crowd was mostly tourists. I got a drink called Intense Orgasm and it was soooo goood. We were then approached by these two American guys who were able to tell right away that we were American. One of them was extremely drunk and high and kind of an asshole. He told us that he was able to tell we were American by our posture (whatever that means).

1/15/09

I am still at orientation and we have been living at a hotel for the last few days. And this is the first time i got to use a computer. I'm going to be settling into my apartment today and i dont know how small its gonna be and how many rooms there are.
my flight was horrendous! from nyc to germany was alright, i was sitting with a girl, Jenna, from syracuse and she's pretty cool. we have been hanging out for the past few days. Then from germany to italy was traumatizing. i was sitting with a girl from our abroad program who i dont know. when we were landing, there was so much turbulence, i freaked out. we were landing so fast, and when we almost touched the ground the plane went all the way up again and i didnt know what was going on. i started panicking and almost crying because i thought the plane was gonna crash and the girl next to me had to hold my hand and calm me down. apparently it wasn't safe for us to land at the moment so we had to go back up again. a bunch of people got sick from all the turbulence and started throwing up (including the girl who was sitting next to me). ugh. but when we landed it was such a relief.
Despite the fact that most of the buildings in Florence are very rundown and there is so much graffiti everywhere, it is still a very beautiful city. every other person rides a vespa or just bikes on the narrow streets.
At the hotel, I roomed with a random girl from St. Louis because my apartment roommates (kathleen and Katelyn) did not arrive yet. orientation was very nice, i met a lot of people...all of them are so american with their uggs, north face jackets, and spandex. there are mostly girls on the trip for some strange reason...we probably have less than 10 boys.
Even though everyone was jetlagged we decided to go out the first night. a few of us went to get gelatos and just walked around the old city of florence. the people that i was with dont even try to speak italian when they ask for directions or simply say thank you, hello, and bye. nor do they try pronouncing the language correctly. when we walk around all the italians know we are american tourists and its really embarrassing. haha.
I went with Sam from the Villa Rosa to find a bank. We did not know which direction to go. We were walking on the street and a group of Italian men were standing there talking. Sam thought it would be a good idea to ask them for directions. She had a really bad American accent and the men were able to tell right away that we were american. We asked them for directions in Italian but they answered us in English.
second night, we decided to go out again and explore more of florence. there was a big group of us (about 10 people) so of course we couldn't decide on a place to go. then half of the group decided to go back to the hotel, but me and 3 other girls decided to stay (because we're that cool). we just walked in random directions and then we were approached by this really really hot italian promoter for some bar. he barely spoke any English but i was able to communicate with him by speaking spanish. (we all know that when there is some promoter standing outside trying to get people to come to a bar, it's probably not a very good bar.) but we were dazzled by his good looks and decided to check it out haha. ok...the bar was exactly like a frat party at our school except not as many people. there were mostly tourists and drunk, slutty, american girls trying to dance to american hip hop. it was a very good place for people-watching and making fun of everyone. that's all that happened so far.