Journal Entry #2 1/25/09
So, it’s the end of our first full week of classes, and I can’t decide if I’m completely exhausted or a little bored. Its so hard to find things to do around here after 6pm when classes get out. Weekends are fun, but Sunday’s almost everything is closed. Just something I’m going to have to get used to. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love being here, but there’s definitely a little bit of culture shock. I know some people are going to have a hard time cutting back on electronic usage. They told us the houses would be colder, but then again maybe I’m just used to Mom’s type of heating (never over 65 degrees…haha).
Classes are ok. Drawing, the teacher seems like he will be a good one, giving us advice, but not too much; Painting…she’s a little odd, but hopefully the assignments will go well; Photography…she seems laid back too; History of Renassiance art seems like it will be amazing (I feel like I learned tons from the first class along); Italian is whole other story. For Italain, we have it 4 days a week for 2 hours each, not including homework of course. First of all, I think that’s a little too much. Second, it drives me nuts because the teacher can barely speak English, nor can she understand it. Its little frustrating when you ask a question and her answer is always in Italian. How am I supposed to learn anything if I can’t understand her? So we shall see how that exam goes. For the other classes, I feel like I haven’t taken an exam in so long. I’m so used to studio classes where our exams are critiques. Nope, not here. They actually have written exams…for art classes. I don’t know how that’s supposed to work out, especially since I’m a really really bad test taker, but lets just say my grades will be very interesting this quarter.
As far as everything else goes, I’ve been having a pretty good time. Roommates are still pretty cool; no fights so far. We do make dinner together every once in a while, which is really nice. We’ve been experimenting with making our own sauces. They have all come out great so far, but none have been good enough to be called a favorite.
I went out with a few of the girls on Thursday night. It was fun. There are a lot of amercan-type bars around here. There is a mix of Italians and Americans, but its hard to find one that’s all Italian. When we went to Yab, we were told it was an Italian hang-out place, but we realized it was also a gay bar. Its kind of a VIP place too, so it was kind of cool we got an invitation. Bar 21 was a good place to go on Thursday. I couldn’t do it every weekend, but it was fun. Plus, we got a lot of free drinks because a few of the girls were flirting with the bartenders, and embarrassingly enough, we were the first ones at the bar. I think they might have felt a little bad for us. It was awesome though having the place to ourselves for a while. We didn’t even go out until about 10:45/11pm, but most people around her are out from midnight-4am. I can’t handle that. Not enough sleep. I don’t know how they do it.
Friday, we stayed in. We were invited by a few people we have met here to go to a disco, but I wasn’t feeling too well, and nobody else was really into it, so we stayed in, read, watched a movie, etc.
Saturday was amazing! We went to Sienna and San Gimignano….for free. Sienna was beautiful. We went to the Basilica of St Catherine, which has her skull and finger in it. We saw those, which was cool, and yet a little creepy, but the church was absolutely gorgeous. I only have pictures of the doors outside because we were not allowed to take them inside, but the stained glass windows were probably my favorite. They were so intricate. Each window was extremely detailed and had such small pieces. I couldn’t imagine doing something so tedious. They paintings were beautiful too. Many of them told stories of St. Catherine. I learned she devoted herself to God at the age of 6, wrote letters to the Pope convincing him to take the chair back to Rome (which is why she was invited to be a leader of the church), had a dream Jesus put a ring on her finger, therefore making her a wife of Christ, and she died at the age of 36 from pnemonia, although I wouldn’t be surprised if starvation had something to do with it. She struggled through out her life because until she turned 18 and was able to leave the house, he parents did everything in their power to keep her from the church. What an amazing woman. We also saw the house/room she grew up in, which was very large since her father was a very wealthy merchant. We also had their famous noodle/pasta dish at lunch. Its called I Pici al Cinghiale which is a very thick noodle with wild boar sauce. And we couldn’t go without having some of their famous chianti. We were told they were famous for their chocolate as well, so we found some Panforte, which is homemade and they come in many flavors (chocolate, cinnamon, etc.) We also learned about Palio, which is a very famous/dangerous horse race in Piazze del Campo. Everyone stands in the middle of the town square while watching the horses race around them. It is so dangerous because of the sharp turns and hills. Apparently they lose a horse or two every year. It only lasts about three minutes, but there is a big festival leading up to it, which everyone takes part in. Whoever wins the race receives a special flag made by a local artist who is chosen by a committee each year. All of it was so amazing. Sienna is just a beautiful town in the first place. I just wish it hadn’t been raining the whole time.
When we got to San Gimignano, much to our surprise it was raining harder. They gave us only an hour to spend there, but then again, the town consists of about one or two streets. We learned that merchants used to build towers depending on how much wealth they had. There used to be about 84 towers in the town, each of a different height. Whenever someone’s business went under, people of the town would come and knock it down. Now, there are only 13 towers in the town. The tallest one is still there and is now an art museum as well. Some of us chose to climb it, including myself, Keyana, Melissa, Andy, and Jose. It was only 4 Euro for students, so we did it…and it was fun! We have many pictures at the top. It was raining, but oh well. It was still a good time and definitely worth. Of course, now I’m sick, and kind of just want to lay in bed all day. Such is life! Tomorrow we start our second full week of classes. I’m not too excited, but I’m sure it will get better as I go.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
My first few days in Italy!
January 14, 2009
January 14, 2009…two days after I have arrived in Florence, Italy. For the first time, I am starting to realize I’M IN ITALY! We have been situated into our apartments. They are all wonderful living spaces with beautiful blue cabinets and a homey wood kitchen table. They whole place is covered in color and I am absolutely in love with the terracotta floors. Besides all of that, I was very happy to meet my roommates: Jennifer Kessler (OSU), Keyana Parks (Baltimore, MD), and Melissa Pikul (Florida). They are all such wonderful girls. So far, we are getting along great.
When we had first arrived in Italy, we were taken directly to our apartments to settle in, then we were off to a fabulous Pizza Party where we had our first few glasses of Italian wine. Afterwards, we took our first taxi back to our apartment so as not to wear ourselves out from carrying Melissa’s luggage. I’m pretty sure we annoyed the hell out of the taxi driver, but he was tolerant and humored Jenn’s attempt at Italian conversation. We decided everything had “potentch” that night.
The next day: Orientation. It was fun, but I will say it was extremely exhausting. We met so many fellow students as well as running around Florence seeing as much as we could as fast as we could. We were able to take a glance at The Duomo, Via Santa Novella, cathedrals, statues of saints, and many other famous pieces of art I would have never thought I would ever be able to see…ever. Not to mention the many fashionable (and crazy expensive) stores I never thought I would ever want to buy anything from, and now I’m finding myself stopping at every window with Jenn, to at least take a peak at the endless possibilities.
In the evening, for our first few nights at least, it is always necessary in a city such as Florence to have nights out on the town. We went to a cute restaurant tucked away in the center of Florence called Bibo. The restaurant owner’s, we’re pretty sure were a part of the mafia..haha.., but were absolutely wonderful to us. They gave us a free drink that was fermented lime, lemon, and a type of liquer, which I am pretty sure was vodka: lemoncello. I think I need to learn how to make that. Either way, we got a “family picture” with them and it turned out to be a wonderful night.
Today, we continued orientation, I am still figuring out my schedule, but we had a wonderful lunch, and were taken to a beautiful Tuscan dinner in Settignano at a restaurant not called Drogheria, but that’s what was above the door. Before that, they dropped us off in Fiesole at a chapel called Saint Francesco. There was a beautiful view on top of the hills and I will definitely be going back. I think we can take the number 10 and 7 up there, but we’ll have to see. We walked up a very steep hill to see the gorgeous chapel. I took a few pictures, and I might have to take mom and dad there just for that reason. When we loaded back on the bus, they took us to “Drogheria”, which had wonderful food. I’m not used to semi-raw meat, so I don’t know how my stomach is going to react tonight, but I’m just going with the flow for now; attempting to learn new things. We had a wonderful potato pasta (Gnocci) with a white cream sauce, red wine, and steak with jalepeno pepper a an onion salad. All of it fit very well together. It is said to be famous for their potato type pasta. I can’t wait to have it again. This will be another place I might have to take mom and dad. The owner is also the inventor of a device that helps oxygenate the wine as well as creating the perfect amount to have with dinner. He was right. I bought one for dad for his birthday. I hope he likes it! Finally we are home and I am exhausted, again. We start school tomorrow. I’m a little nervous, but so excited!
January 14, 2009…two days after I have arrived in Florence, Italy. For the first time, I am starting to realize I’M IN ITALY! We have been situated into our apartments. They are all wonderful living spaces with beautiful blue cabinets and a homey wood kitchen table. They whole place is covered in color and I am absolutely in love with the terracotta floors. Besides all of that, I was very happy to meet my roommates: Jennifer Kessler (OSU), Keyana Parks (Baltimore, MD), and Melissa Pikul (Florida). They are all such wonderful girls. So far, we are getting along great.
When we had first arrived in Italy, we were taken directly to our apartments to settle in, then we were off to a fabulous Pizza Party where we had our first few glasses of Italian wine. Afterwards, we took our first taxi back to our apartment so as not to wear ourselves out from carrying Melissa’s luggage. I’m pretty sure we annoyed the hell out of the taxi driver, but he was tolerant and humored Jenn’s attempt at Italian conversation. We decided everything had “potentch” that night.
The next day: Orientation. It was fun, but I will say it was extremely exhausting. We met so many fellow students as well as running around Florence seeing as much as we could as fast as we could. We were able to take a glance at The Duomo, Via Santa Novella, cathedrals, statues of saints, and many other famous pieces of art I would have never thought I would ever be able to see…ever. Not to mention the many fashionable (and crazy expensive) stores I never thought I would ever want to buy anything from, and now I’m finding myself stopping at every window with Jenn, to at least take a peak at the endless possibilities.
In the evening, for our first few nights at least, it is always necessary in a city such as Florence to have nights out on the town. We went to a cute restaurant tucked away in the center of Florence called Bibo. The restaurant owner’s, we’re pretty sure were a part of the mafia..haha.., but were absolutely wonderful to us. They gave us a free drink that was fermented lime, lemon, and a type of liquer, which I am pretty sure was vodka: lemoncello. I think I need to learn how to make that. Either way, we got a “family picture” with them and it turned out to be a wonderful night.
Today, we continued orientation, I am still figuring out my schedule, but we had a wonderful lunch, and were taken to a beautiful Tuscan dinner in Settignano at a restaurant not called Drogheria, but that’s what was above the door. Before that, they dropped us off in Fiesole at a chapel called Saint Francesco. There was a beautiful view on top of the hills and I will definitely be going back. I think we can take the number 10 and 7 up there, but we’ll have to see. We walked up a very steep hill to see the gorgeous chapel. I took a few pictures, and I might have to take mom and dad there just for that reason. When we loaded back on the bus, they took us to “Drogheria”, which had wonderful food. I’m not used to semi-raw meat, so I don’t know how my stomach is going to react tonight, but I’m just going with the flow for now; attempting to learn new things. We had a wonderful potato pasta (Gnocci) with a white cream sauce, red wine, and steak with jalepeno pepper a an onion salad. All of it fit very well together. It is said to be famous for their potato type pasta. I can’t wait to have it again. This will be another place I might have to take mom and dad. The owner is also the inventor of a device that helps oxygenate the wine as well as creating the perfect amount to have with dinner. He was right. I bought one for dad for his birthday. I hope he likes it! Finally we are home and I am exhausted, again. We start school tomorrow. I’m a little nervous, but so excited!
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