David was so incredibly huge! I know they say visitors are not allowed to snag pictures of the statue inside of the museum, but who really listens! The rest of the Accademia was beautiful, especially the Mapplethorpe exhibit. He, like Michelangelo, took photos of the body to show the sheer beauty of both the perfections and imperfections of humans. It was amazing to see how exquisite our bodies are artistically portrayed! After marveling at the incredible artwork, night fell and it was time for the Wine Tasting event with our group. I had gone food shopping earlier though, so I had already eaten my soy yogurt meal really Italian eh?;) The Wine Tasting event taught me so much about how alive and delicate wine really is. The wine conusor took us through a step by step process of how to properly keep, pour, smell and taste the wine. It was fantastic! We were swirling, swishing, smelling and more…Now when I am having a glass of wine I can fully enjoy it. A little factoid about how long you should leave the bottle of wine opened before drinking is: however many years old the wine is, you have to leave it uncorked for that many hours before drinking it. Cool right? I thought so…
The night ended early and before I knew it, I was up ready to learn some more grammar and stereotipi (stereotypes) about Americans and Italians. Very entertaining to see how Italians view Americans and definitely entertaining to learn what Italians think of themselves. Futbol…Food…Family. The three F’s is what I got from our class discussion. Big cars…junk food…love beer…for Americans...I’ll leave it up to you to decide how accurate that is.
I have been lucky enough to be in a program where a fellow student friend is yoga certified. I know pretty awesome right? Well for me it is because she has been holding yoga sessions every other day to help get me limber. I have to make sure to stay balanced and work on my meditation, mind cleansing techniques. Counterbalancing that with running is not always the best, but at least I get to practice two of my favorite things in another country. I have been pretty relaxed and keeping my cool, even though I do have sporadic moments where I miss home. I just tell myself to get back in the groove and keep this experience going because the time is now. That is why I’m writing and taking so many pictures. I’m trying to preserve these precious days of my life so I can look back and remember la mia bella vita in Italia...
The tourists in the area are becoming a bit much! Even though I’m pretty much considered a tourist too, I feel I’m a bit more residential- I am living here so…I know it still doesn’t matter, but every minute of every day there are crowds of people outside my door and around la piazza making noise. The sounds of cars, people, ambulances, etc echo throughout the street and come straight into my window making it hard to concentrate sometimes! The soundtrack of a big city eh? Every morning the violinist outside my window wakes me up with some tune he plays over and over and over and over again…He plays for about three hours…the same thing. In the exact same spot, at around 2pm every day the accordion player takes the violinist’s place on the corner and plays…the same thing…for about two hours. It’s just a constant cycle of musical entertainment I tell you…or sheer madness- whichever you’d prefer to call it. It has definitely made this location a unique spot to live.
414 steps. I climbed 414 narrow, ancient stone steps in Giotto’s Tower. The Tower sits adjacent to Il Duomo and every day since I’ve arrived I’ve marveled at how grand it is, so a few of us made the journey up the stairs to get an incredible view of the city. The workout of going up the stairs was awesome, but I got to tell you the view topped it (obviously!) I was on top of the city! There was a caged in area that allowed us to walk 360 degrees around the tower to see all parts of the city. The 6 Euro to get up there was definitely worth it.
We headed to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner- Ristorante Pennello. They serve us family style with about three course meals and bread, dessert, wine, etc all included. The food is fantastic and very authentic! With a lot of food and quick service, it’s not wonder why we love it so much!
The night ended with a visit to a local club, Central Park. It is quite the hot spot in the city, but definitely not so easy on the pocket. They have there ways of getting money from everyone unless you know how to beat the system. Spending money there is so easy, so you have to watch out when they trick you into paying more than you’re supposed to. I had one incident at the grocery store the other day when the cashier shorted me 3 euro (here every euro counts) and I had to explain the problem to her for about 10 minutes before I was given the proper change. You have to be very mindful of everything…
The rest of the week was spent visiting the Uffizi Gallery and seeing famous paintings and statues. I got to see the Birth of Venus and La Primavera- both of which I have learned about since I was in elementary school, so I took the time to appreciate the moment. I got lost in the maze of rooms, but no matter where I went there were beautiful paintings around me, so I just toured without a map and saw the rooms. The museum was quite expensive to get into but well worth the visit, especially because I am living in basically the Renaissance and art capital of the world.
The first full week of classes came to an end and I was entirely exhausted! So many things have been thrown at me since I arrived. I have yet to wrap my brain around it! I am still trying to comprehend what I’m doing and that I am actually here- in Italy- in Florence- studying abroad- living the life. Maybe I need to stop thinking so much about it and just let it be…
P.S. though they have been slow to bite, the mosquitoes are still out for me-
me= 2 mosquitoes= 24
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