Sunday, September 23:
A lazy Sunday... finally! I slept in, did homework, uploaded pictures, blogged, had a dinner of pasta with lentils, chicken and potatoes, and apples, skyped my parents, read, and watched far too many videos on YouTube. I thought it was a pretty successful day. I was also apparently the go-to girl for plans and information on homework, since I fielded four separate phone calls this afternoon. A few of us wanted to go to a jazz club we'd walked past on our way back from the group outing to San Miniato but we discovered through a Google search that it was, sadly, closed on Sundays. Oh well. That's the thing about Florence: a lot of places are closed on Sundays. It takes some getting used to, but I kind of like it. Other than that, there's not much to report. Sunday was pretty chill!
Monday, September 24:
In Italian today, much of our class time was spent drilling past tense irregular verbs, since we're being quizzed on that tomorrow (yes, a quiz on Tuesday) and no one really understands it yet. This week will be intense, Italian-wise: our weekly quiz has been moved to Tuesday since we have our final on Friday! Then next Monday we start up the second half of our Italian class (and the rest of our elective courses). We'll drop down to 1.5 hours a day, three days a week instead of 3.5 hours a day, five days a week, so that'll be nice. However I'm a little worried that the pace will pick up a little too much. I hope I can keep up! After class and a quick lunch, a group of us meet with Sarah (the professor, not my roommate) for a short choir rehearsal. We've been given the opportunity to sing a short piece in San Marco during our trip to Venice (!!!), so we rehearsed a short chant that she thought would be appropriate. Apparently the group last year was also given the opportunity to sing something, but they didn't know ahead of time and so someone started singing some Broadway song. *facepalm* This year, we're playing it safe with Gregorian chant. I'm excited though. It should sound fantastic when we get into the church. After rehearsal, a smaller group of us attempted to go to the box office to purchase tickets to an orchestra concert in October. However the box office was closed, so we carefully recorded the hours so that we could come back some other time. Ian and I ended up hanging out and watching Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" while studying this afternoon (because he had never seen it - I was shocked). We're all a little worried about tomorrow's quiz. Dinner consisted of pan-pizzas, German beer, prosciutto and cheese, kale and cauliflower, and apricots (of which I ate 10... no shame!). Yes, that's right. My host mom served beer and pizza for dinner. Afterwards, Sarah and I studied together and ended up talking quite a bit. It's a good time.
Tuesday, September 25:
I pretty much rocked my quiz today. No big deal. I did make one stupid mistake though, which Luigi attributed to my astrological sign (I might try using that as an excuse at home...). After class, a bunch of people headed to the grocery store to pick up food for lunch, but Sarah and I were set as Anna made us sandwiches this morning from last night's leftover prosciutto. It was so sweet of her! After lunch, I zipped through my Italian homework and then began getting a head-start on some of my readings for Gail's class. She gave us a heads-up on the four readings we'd be using for our first reading response, so I decided to work ahead. Why not, right? It'll save me time later. Later that afternoon, the whole group took a walk to the Cecil Studios (the art studio where the drawing class is being taught). I'm not in the class, but Jodi said anyone could come along, so I figured I'd join in. It was a really nice walk and the studio was really cool. I'm excited for the people taking the drawing class! The teachers seem amazing and I'm sure they'll all learn a ton. Afterwards, Megan, Merissa, Isa, and I checked out one of the gelaterias that Luigi recommended - La Carraia - which was relatively close to Cecil Studios. It was so good! I can definitely see why it made his top 6 list. Back at the apartment later, Sarah and I had a mini-rant session about the fact that a few people on the trip don't seem to understand what an amazing opportunity this semester is for us. People are complaining about the silliest things, hating on the city, each other, and some of the schoolwork we've been given and I just don't get it. Yes, there are tourists, that's what happens in a city. Also, we've been told tourist season will be ending soon. Yes, you're with a group of people that isn't your normal group. We're all a little out of our element here, so go easy on people. And yes, there is schoolwork. What did you expect? You're STUDYING abroad. Seriously. We're young adults. Deal with yourself. (end rant) Dinner was some very vegetable-y soup (literally bright green), homemade pan-fried chicken (SO AMAZING), salad, bread, and grapes. It's a good thing Anna likes to serve me so much food because I couldn't get enough of dinner tonight. Everything was delicious. She kept asking if we liked the food and if we thought it was good and finally I just started saying "everything's delicious. It's always delicious." (Yep, I'm rocking these Italian language skills.) We told Anna about our quiz today and the final on Friday during dinner. She seemed really proud of us for doing well on today's quiz. We also talked about the Pope. Anna's mom is very Catholic and we got the impression that Anna isn't too impressed with the current Pope (however, because Nonna was at the table, she couldn't really say anything about it). Sarah and I talked a little about religion and what we knew of the Pope afterwards. I also started reading "Brunelleschi's Dome" (by Ross King), which Jodi listed as recommended (though not required) reading. It's good so far! [Note to students who are looking into the Florence program: check this book out of the library, it's a good read and it'll give you a nice overview of one of the city's larger monuments - the Duomo.]
Wednesday, September 26:
Today we started reviewing for our final. This consisted of "let's go through everything we've learned this past month and do worksheets." It was pretty helpful, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow when all we're doing is asking Luigi to clarify anything we don't understand (I may or may not have started a list of things to ask about, just to double check that I've got the right idea...). Luigi also shared the "story of the final," which meant giving us some info on the format and what kinds of things we should expect to see. After lunch, I read another of Gail's articles. Two down, two to go! At 4pm (or 16:00) Gail's class went up to San Miniato for a field trip. Guess what? San Miniato's still beautiful. Gail gave us a short lecture on the sacristy (the stories behind the frescoes are pretty cool!) and then we were free to go. Gretchen and I stayed behind though; Professor Sarah's music class was there to hear Mass and Vespers in the crypt and she invited anyone who was interested to stay behind with them. I couldn't pass that up and Gretchen thought it'd be interesting too, so we joined in! Why not. (That's become my motto for the optional trips that are open for anyone to attend: why not. I want to do everything!) Long story short, both Mass and Vespers were pretty awesome. I was able to follow along with most of the liturgy because of my knowledge of Latin, plus we were in the crypt. Doesn't get much better than that. After bus-ing back to the apartment, we had a dinner of rice and parmesean, salmon, zucchini, turnip greens, bread, and apples. Yum :) Dinner was followed by the most epic of dance breaks (courtesy of Beyonce), which was mostly just to get me amped up for studying. Sarah and I then shared our favorite moments of Italian class thus far. Tons of quotes were shared, exaggerated imitations followed, much laughter was had.
Thursday, September 27:
Today was the day when it finally hit me: I hadn't realized until today just how much Italian we'd learned in the past month. But now, prepping for the final tomorrow, it's a little intimidating. But anyway, after class, Megan and I walked to the box office (yet again - but it was open this time!) to buy tickets to that orchestra concert in October. On the way back, we stopped for gelato at this place called B. Ice, which was all natural and real tasty. Back at Linguaviva, we had lunch and hung out for a while before heading to the library for a change of scene and to study. Ian, Kara, Isa, Gretchen, Sarah, and I grabbed some comfy couches in the children's section and quizzed each other on vocabulary and crammed as much grammar as possible into our brains. I proved once more that I navigate by gelaterias: once I've been to a gelateria, I can invariably find it again. Plus, I remember what other landmarks are near the gelaterias and get then get back to those too! It's a talent. Sarah and I walked back to the apartment and got back just in time for a dinner of pasta, potato and egg frittata, salad, beans, olive bread, and apples. I then did a ton of email writing and reading. Whew. I didn't stay up to late because this week has been physically and emotionally exhausting.
Friday, September 28:
Today's the day. Italian final, you're going down. Before Sarah and I left this morning, Anna wished us "In bocca al lupo," which is an Italian good luck phrase. Literally translated, "in bocca al lupo" means "into the wolf's mouth you go." We replied with the traditional response: "crepi il lupo," meaning "wish that the wolf dies!" The exam was both easier than I thought and not at all what I had been preparing for. Before the coffee break, we did the written portion of the exam; afterwards, the oral portion (which was merely a short conversation with our teachers). Isa and I bought ourselves a celebration lunch, consisting of bread, cheese, and salami for sandwiches, peach tea and raspberries for me, and chocolate truffles for both of us. We need to take a moment to talk about peach tea. This stuff is amazing. So amazing that I am including a picture to illustrate how much I love it.
This stuff is actually tea - there have been those who have tried to convince me that it's flavored water but that is NOT TRUE. It's tea brewed with tea leaves from Sri Lanka, infused with peach and lemon juice. It is my new favorite drink (so much so that I bought and drank an entire litre and a half of the stuff. No shame.). This is a big deal for me because, try as I might, I hardly ever like tea.
Anyway. After lunch, Isa, Ian, Gretchen, and I headed out on a walk to go check out the Uffizi - only to discover that there's a strike. Not to be discouraged, we walked to the Accademia (where Michelangelo's David is housed) only to find that this strike extends to all state museums. Well poop. So we walked and we sweated and we went on a lovely afternoon adventure walk. We ate gelato, mused about talking a trip to Paris, bought a corkscrew, and then went our separate ways. I also bought my ticket for Fall Break today! Look out London, I'm coming for you. Later on in the afternoon, Sarah and I went to the grocery store and bought yogurt, fruit, and, in my case, more peach tea (as evidenced by the 1.5L bottle in that last picture...). Dinner tonight was rice and cheese, chicken, potatoes and onions, bread, and grapes. Anna's daughter and her boyfriend were over for dinner, but because of traffic, Sarah and I were essentially done by the time they got in. So we were excused so that Anna could spend time with her family and we spent our time watching videos on YouTube. Then suddenly it was 11:30... I think there was a time warp.
Saturday, September 29:
I slept in and then worked on some art history articles pretty much all day. Art history and I are not starting off on good terms but I am determined to work through it. I was given the opportunity to possibly present on an article this Monday during our first official day of class, but that meant that I had to spend my weekend trying to understand this article. I'm sure I'll get there. Halfway through the afternoon, we got all dressed up and walked to Santa Croce to meet Isa for gelato at Vivoli before meeting everyone else (and by "everyone" I mean six other people) at the ballet. We had decided a few weeks ago to get tickets for this modern ballet that was happening and since we got a student discount, it was another "why not" situation. The ballet, "Les Noces," consisted of three pieces: the first was really fun and entertaining - powder wigs and ball gowns on wheels were involved. The second scared me; it was like District 9 meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Alien meets The Thing, plus strange insect-oid white noise. The third still has me thinking.... I think it was some sort of carnal pleasures piece, but I could be way off. No matter what, it was an experience.
After the ballet, Isa, Gretchen, Ian, and I went out to Ponte Vecchio just to relax, hang out, and listen to music. We ended up at the jazz club that we'd wanted to go to last Sunday (but was closed) and it was a super classy place. I got bruschetta (I was hungry. It was good.) and we split a bottle of wine (the €14 one, not the €15.000 one.... yes that existed.)
On our way back it started to rain a little bit, but I had my umbrella so Gretchen and I stayed relatively dry. It was quite the lovely night, even without the €15.000 bottle of wine.
A lazy Sunday... finally! I slept in, did homework, uploaded pictures, blogged, had a dinner of pasta with lentils, chicken and potatoes, and apples, skyped my parents, read, and watched far too many videos on YouTube. I thought it was a pretty successful day. I was also apparently the go-to girl for plans and information on homework, since I fielded four separate phone calls this afternoon. A few of us wanted to go to a jazz club we'd walked past on our way back from the group outing to San Miniato but we discovered through a Google search that it was, sadly, closed on Sundays. Oh well. That's the thing about Florence: a lot of places are closed on Sundays. It takes some getting used to, but I kind of like it. Other than that, there's not much to report. Sunday was pretty chill!
Monday, September 24:
In Italian today, much of our class time was spent drilling past tense irregular verbs, since we're being quizzed on that tomorrow (yes, a quiz on Tuesday) and no one really understands it yet. This week will be intense, Italian-wise: our weekly quiz has been moved to Tuesday since we have our final on Friday! Then next Monday we start up the second half of our Italian class (and the rest of our elective courses). We'll drop down to 1.5 hours a day, three days a week instead of 3.5 hours a day, five days a week, so that'll be nice. However I'm a little worried that the pace will pick up a little too much. I hope I can keep up! After class and a quick lunch, a group of us meet with Sarah (the professor, not my roommate) for a short choir rehearsal. We've been given the opportunity to sing a short piece in San Marco during our trip to Venice (!!!), so we rehearsed a short chant that she thought would be appropriate. Apparently the group last year was also given the opportunity to sing something, but they didn't know ahead of time and so someone started singing some Broadway song. *facepalm* This year, we're playing it safe with Gregorian chant. I'm excited though. It should sound fantastic when we get into the church. After rehearsal, a smaller group of us attempted to go to the box office to purchase tickets to an orchestra concert in October. However the box office was closed, so we carefully recorded the hours so that we could come back some other time. Ian and I ended up hanging out and watching Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" while studying this afternoon (because he had never seen it - I was shocked). We're all a little worried about tomorrow's quiz. Dinner consisted of pan-pizzas, German beer, prosciutto and cheese, kale and cauliflower, and apricots (of which I ate 10... no shame!). Yes, that's right. My host mom served beer and pizza for dinner. Afterwards, Sarah and I studied together and ended up talking quite a bit. It's a good time.
Tuesday, September 25:
I pretty much rocked my quiz today. No big deal. I did make one stupid mistake though, which Luigi attributed to my astrological sign (I might try using that as an excuse at home...). After class, a bunch of people headed to the grocery store to pick up food for lunch, but Sarah and I were set as Anna made us sandwiches this morning from last night's leftover prosciutto. It was so sweet of her! After lunch, I zipped through my Italian homework and then began getting a head-start on some of my readings for Gail's class. She gave us a heads-up on the four readings we'd be using for our first reading response, so I decided to work ahead. Why not, right? It'll save me time later. Later that afternoon, the whole group took a walk to the Cecil Studios (the art studio where the drawing class is being taught). I'm not in the class, but Jodi said anyone could come along, so I figured I'd join in. It was a really nice walk and the studio was really cool. I'm excited for the people taking the drawing class! The teachers seem amazing and I'm sure they'll all learn a ton. Afterwards, Megan, Merissa, Isa, and I checked out one of the gelaterias that Luigi recommended - La Carraia - which was relatively close to Cecil Studios. It was so good! I can definitely see why it made his top 6 list. Back at the apartment later, Sarah and I had a mini-rant session about the fact that a few people on the trip don't seem to understand what an amazing opportunity this semester is for us. People are complaining about the silliest things, hating on the city, each other, and some of the schoolwork we've been given and I just don't get it. Yes, there are tourists, that's what happens in a city. Also, we've been told tourist season will be ending soon. Yes, you're with a group of people that isn't your normal group. We're all a little out of our element here, so go easy on people. And yes, there is schoolwork. What did you expect? You're STUDYING abroad. Seriously. We're young adults. Deal with yourself. (end rant) Dinner was some very vegetable-y soup (literally bright green), homemade pan-fried chicken (SO AMAZING), salad, bread, and grapes. It's a good thing Anna likes to serve me so much food because I couldn't get enough of dinner tonight. Everything was delicious. She kept asking if we liked the food and if we thought it was good and finally I just started saying "everything's delicious. It's always delicious." (Yep, I'm rocking these Italian language skills.) We told Anna about our quiz today and the final on Friday during dinner. She seemed really proud of us for doing well on today's quiz. We also talked about the Pope. Anna's mom is very Catholic and we got the impression that Anna isn't too impressed with the current Pope (however, because Nonna was at the table, she couldn't really say anything about it). Sarah and I talked a little about religion and what we knew of the Pope afterwards. I also started reading "Brunelleschi's Dome" (by Ross King), which Jodi listed as recommended (though not required) reading. It's good so far! [Note to students who are looking into the Florence program: check this book out of the library, it's a good read and it'll give you a nice overview of one of the city's larger monuments - the Duomo.]
Wednesday, September 26:
Today we started reviewing for our final. This consisted of "let's go through everything we've learned this past month and do worksheets." It was pretty helpful, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow when all we're doing is asking Luigi to clarify anything we don't understand (I may or may not have started a list of things to ask about, just to double check that I've got the right idea...). Luigi also shared the "story of the final," which meant giving us some info on the format and what kinds of things we should expect to see. After lunch, I read another of Gail's articles. Two down, two to go! At 4pm (or 16:00) Gail's class went up to San Miniato for a field trip. Guess what? San Miniato's still beautiful. Gail gave us a short lecture on the sacristy (the stories behind the frescoes are pretty cool!) and then we were free to go. Gretchen and I stayed behind though; Professor Sarah's music class was there to hear Mass and Vespers in the crypt and she invited anyone who was interested to stay behind with them. I couldn't pass that up and Gretchen thought it'd be interesting too, so we joined in! Why not. (That's become my motto for the optional trips that are open for anyone to attend: why not. I want to do everything!) Long story short, both Mass and Vespers were pretty awesome. I was able to follow along with most of the liturgy because of my knowledge of Latin, plus we were in the crypt. Doesn't get much better than that. After bus-ing back to the apartment, we had a dinner of rice and parmesean, salmon, zucchini, turnip greens, bread, and apples. Yum :) Dinner was followed by the most epic of dance breaks (courtesy of Beyonce), which was mostly just to get me amped up for studying. Sarah and I then shared our favorite moments of Italian class thus far. Tons of quotes were shared, exaggerated imitations followed, much laughter was had.
Thursday, September 27:
Today was the day when it finally hit me: I hadn't realized until today just how much Italian we'd learned in the past month. But now, prepping for the final tomorrow, it's a little intimidating. But anyway, after class, Megan and I walked to the box office (yet again - but it was open this time!) to buy tickets to that orchestra concert in October. On the way back, we stopped for gelato at this place called B. Ice, which was all natural and real tasty. Back at Linguaviva, we had lunch and hung out for a while before heading to the library for a change of scene and to study. Ian, Kara, Isa, Gretchen, Sarah, and I grabbed some comfy couches in the children's section and quizzed each other on vocabulary and crammed as much grammar as possible into our brains. I proved once more that I navigate by gelaterias: once I've been to a gelateria, I can invariably find it again. Plus, I remember what other landmarks are near the gelaterias and get then get back to those too! It's a talent. Sarah and I walked back to the apartment and got back just in time for a dinner of pasta, potato and egg frittata, salad, beans, olive bread, and apples. I then did a ton of email writing and reading. Whew. I didn't stay up to late because this week has been physically and emotionally exhausting.
Friday, September 28:
Today's the day. Italian final, you're going down. Before Sarah and I left this morning, Anna wished us "In bocca al lupo," which is an Italian good luck phrase. Literally translated, "in bocca al lupo" means "into the wolf's mouth you go." We replied with the traditional response: "crepi il lupo," meaning "wish that the wolf dies!" The exam was both easier than I thought and not at all what I had been preparing for. Before the coffee break, we did the written portion of the exam; afterwards, the oral portion (which was merely a short conversation with our teachers). Isa and I bought ourselves a celebration lunch, consisting of bread, cheese, and salami for sandwiches, peach tea and raspberries for me, and chocolate truffles for both of us. We need to take a moment to talk about peach tea. This stuff is amazing. So amazing that I am including a picture to illustrate how much I love it.
 |
| This stuff. It is my lifeblood. |
Anyway. After lunch, Isa, Ian, Gretchen, and I headed out on a walk to go check out the Uffizi - only to discover that there's a strike. Not to be discouraged, we walked to the Accademia (where Michelangelo's David is housed) only to find that this strike extends to all state museums. Well poop. So we walked and we sweated and we went on a lovely afternoon adventure walk. We ate gelato, mused about talking a trip to Paris, bought a corkscrew, and then went our separate ways. I also bought my ticket for Fall Break today! Look out London, I'm coming for you. Later on in the afternoon, Sarah and I went to the grocery store and bought yogurt, fruit, and, in my case, more peach tea (as evidenced by the 1.5L bottle in that last picture...). Dinner tonight was rice and cheese, chicken, potatoes and onions, bread, and grapes. Anna's daughter and her boyfriend were over for dinner, but because of traffic, Sarah and I were essentially done by the time they got in. So we were excused so that Anna could spend time with her family and we spent our time watching videos on YouTube. Then suddenly it was 11:30... I think there was a time warp.
Saturday, September 29:
I slept in and then worked on some art history articles pretty much all day. Art history and I are not starting off on good terms but I am determined to work through it. I was given the opportunity to possibly present on an article this Monday during our first official day of class, but that meant that I had to spend my weekend trying to understand this article. I'm sure I'll get there. Halfway through the afternoon, we got all dressed up and walked to Santa Croce to meet Isa for gelato at Vivoli before meeting everyone else (and by "everyone" I mean six other people) at the ballet. We had decided a few weeks ago to get tickets for this modern ballet that was happening and since we got a student discount, it was another "why not" situation. The ballet, "Les Noces," consisted of three pieces: the first was really fun and entertaining - powder wigs and ball gowns on wheels were involved. The second scared me; it was like District 9 meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Alien meets The Thing, plus strange insect-oid white noise. The third still has me thinking.... I think it was some sort of carnal pleasures piece, but I could be way off. No matter what, it was an experience.
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| We all got dressed up! |
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| PROOF! It was expensive. |
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