Sunday, October 28:
While, technically, I did cover October 28 in my photo-journal of fall break, there were a few other things I wanted to cover.
1. Daylight Savings Time. DSL happens a week earlier in Italy than it does in the US. That being said, even though we had advanced notice, Sarah and I were still quite confused when we woke up this morning. Did our technology know to change? Had it? What time was it?! These were the important questions we were asking ourselves. We finally figured it out though. Thank God for technology that's smarter than we are.
2. Italy gets cold. Remember that I mentioned I wanted warm hands. This still holds true. The confusing part is that THE MOSQUITOES REFUSE TO DIE. I'm sitting here, freezing my butt off, and am still waking up in the morning with fresh mosquito bites. My frustration knows no bounds.
3. Maggio cards. Students thinking about doing this trip, you will get a Maggio card. USE IT. It will change your life. The Maggio card is the student card provided by the city's art/music/theater company. The Maggio card allows you to go to fancy concerts, ballets, and operas and sit in really nice seats for the low, low price of €10. Please take advantage of this. Please. You won't regret it.
Megan and I went, despite the cold, to grab gelato before hitting up a concert this afternoon, which was awesome, as usual. Quality stuff, these concerts. We saw the second to last the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's Guest Director series, which meant Juraj Valcuha directing the Fiorentino orchestra for Debussy, Rachmaninov, Bartok, and Ravel. Awesome. The Debussy was divine. Seriously, the concerts here are amazing and so worth it.
I then spent the last few hours of my fall break skyping my family, sending off an internship application, and reading a crappy romance novel just because I could.
Monday, October 29:
It was officially Norwegian Sweater Day. I had been waiting for NSD for a while, but it was finally cold enough that I felt confident I would need the extra layering power of the magical Norwegian Sweater. After looking at the weather I felt like a bit of a baby, but man, 59 degrees (F) has never felt so cold. Sarah, Gretchen, and I walked to Orsanmichele for class with Gail. Most of the day is spent talking about everyone's fall break activities. We have a confusing Italian lesson where we are told we'll be learning about gerunds.... and then don't. Dinner was late tonight, which meant being cold and not really doing anything for longer than usual. However, it was worth the wait. We had pasta (AND I GOT SECONDS), frittatas, stewed cabbage, salad, and bread. No fruit though, which was strange. It didn't matter though, because Frittata Night is the best of nights. I ended up spending my evening going between homework and fantasizing about Norwegian Socks, since I couldn't feel my toes from about 3pm onwards.
Tuesday, October 30:
Today was about learning valuable lessons. Lesson 1, coffee without milk is not something I enjoy. Lesson 2, the Medici went all out when it came to weddings. Lesson 3, no one in Italy is allowed to turn their heat on before November 1, so we've got a few really cold days still ahead of us. Lesson 4, Ian and I are good shopping buddies. We both needed shoes and, by George, we got two fine pairs of shoes. We also got gelato and made a cat friend. Lesson 4, I do not like liver. Dinner was chicken, liver, salad, stewed onions, really good bread, and a pear. I then finished a take home midterm and had lesson number 5: layering of blankets is a good thing. We're on blanket number 3.
Wednesday, October 31:
Happy Halloween! Since it's a Wednesday, I had time to carefully put together my costume for the day, which was... *drumroll*.... Jodie. Yes, I was Jodie for Halloween. The best part was when Jodie saw me and complimented me on my outfit. She said I looked really stylish. Perfect opportunity for me to say "well actually...." The people that realized who I was supposed to be thought it was pretty entertaining. Winning costume, if you ask me. Italian class was pretty low-key, it started to rain, and I went to Santissima Annunziata for class with Gail. We've just started a unit on Miraculous Madonnas, so we're tromping all over the city to see said miracle-working Madonnas. Exciting stuff. Then, in a case of "it's a small world after all," I end up saying hi to Gail for one of my professors back at home who used to work on the Florence program. All my professors know each other and now they're all talking about me. Simultaneously wonderful and terrifying. Back at the apartment, I did some reading and other work until dinner (pesto pasta, chicken burgers, vegetable stew, and apples), after which THE HEAT COMES ON!!!! But it doesn't really touch our bedroom. If you stand quite close to the heater, you're good. Unfortunately, our beds are not quite close to the heater. Hurray for blankets.
Thursday, November 1:
It's a national holiday in Italy today (All Saints' Day), so my host mom doesn't have to go to school. We at the ACM however, do have to go to school. I start my day at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi with my gender class, where, since it's rainy and we can't go see the gardens, we read aloud from a play that would have been performed at one of the Medici weddings. It's called The Deceived, was published in 1538, and is considered the prototype for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Needless to say, it's hilarious. Seriously, one of the raunchiest, funniest things I've ever read. I loved it. Because it's a holiday, hardly any shops were open. This meant that no gelaterias were open. I had a moment of panic before Megan and I headed to the Conad to introduce ourselves to store bought gelato, which comes in pints. (Cue Pippin's voice from Fellowship of the Ring: "it comes in pints?" Yes. Yes it does.) I ate an entire pint entirely too fast. Dinner back at the apartment is soup, a salad consisting of eggs, hotdogs, and potatoes, and stewed cabbage. My host mom talked a lot about feminism in Italy, which would have been much cooler if I had been able to understand more of it. As it was, I felt kind of lost the whole time.
Friday, November 2:
It was a weird Friday in that we had class today. Ew. How ever will I go back to class five days a week? The day started at the Bargello, where we got to go upstairs to the super secret closed off rooms which hold Donatello's David. After class was finished, Jodie invited anyone who was interested to join her next class at Palazzo Pitti, where the Michelangelo class would be visiting the Palatine Gallery. Four of us tagged along, and since we weren't actually in class, we were free to bounce between the class and whatever artwork that caught our eyes. We found what I am convinced is the most beautiful portrait bust ever. The picture does not exist on the internet, which is one of the most unfortunate things to ever happen to the world. However, if anyone ever shows you the portrait bust of Leopold II Hapsburg-Lorraine by Ottaviano Giovannozzi know that it is beautiful. Afterwards a few of us went to a place called Gusta Pizza, which was delicious. I won the "eating pizza the fastest" contest and then we talked about eating contests. I'm a winner. We also had gelato, where I had chocolate orange and cream. We then walked to Sant'Ambrogio for class with Gail to talk about Eucharistic miracles. After dinner (pasta with oil, meatballs, stewed cabbage, and a special treat of this chestnut cake/fudge/thing, I'm not sure what it was), Sarah and I headed out to the movie theater with some friends to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. SO AWESOME.
Saturday, November 3:
I slept in a little bit and then met up with Ian for a day trip to San Gimignano (affectionately known as San Jimmy because we are incapable of saying San Gimignano half the time). We took the SITA bus to San Jimmy or so we thought -- we ended up in Siena and then had to catch the bus to Poggibonsi, where we changed buses (like no one had told us we needed to) to get to San Jimmy. Thankfully an Italian couple was experiencing the same problems that we were and were able to actually communicate with the bus driver (and us). We finally got to San Gimignano, had lunch, and walked around the town. We climbed towers (which is what San Jimmy is known for), walked through museums, and looked through some churches. Normal things, really. We also snuck into a wine museum, which was technically closed, but the last group was going through, so we snuck in the exit and joined in. We then stopped in at a World Cup winning gelateria, which had the best gelato I've ever tasted. After that, we took the bus back to Florence, where my host mom's daughter and her boyfriend were over for dinner. That meant even more delicious food than normal. Eat all the food!
And there you have it. One more week of my crazy existence in Florence, where I travel all over the place and eat everything I can get my hands on. Such is life.
While, technically, I did cover October 28 in my photo-journal of fall break, there were a few other things I wanted to cover.
1. Daylight Savings Time. DSL happens a week earlier in Italy than it does in the US. That being said, even though we had advanced notice, Sarah and I were still quite confused when we woke up this morning. Did our technology know to change? Had it? What time was it?! These were the important questions we were asking ourselves. We finally figured it out though. Thank God for technology that's smarter than we are.
2. Italy gets cold. Remember that I mentioned I wanted warm hands. This still holds true. The confusing part is that THE MOSQUITOES REFUSE TO DIE. I'm sitting here, freezing my butt off, and am still waking up in the morning with fresh mosquito bites. My frustration knows no bounds.
3. Maggio cards. Students thinking about doing this trip, you will get a Maggio card. USE IT. It will change your life. The Maggio card is the student card provided by the city's art/music/theater company. The Maggio card allows you to go to fancy concerts, ballets, and operas and sit in really nice seats for the low, low price of €10. Please take advantage of this. Please. You won't regret it.
Megan and I went, despite the cold, to grab gelato before hitting up a concert this afternoon, which was awesome, as usual. Quality stuff, these concerts. We saw the second to last the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's Guest Director series, which meant Juraj Valcuha directing the Fiorentino orchestra for Debussy, Rachmaninov, Bartok, and Ravel. Awesome. The Debussy was divine. Seriously, the concerts here are amazing and so worth it.
I then spent the last few hours of my fall break skyping my family, sending off an internship application, and reading a crappy romance novel just because I could.
Monday, October 29:
It was officially Norwegian Sweater Day. I had been waiting for NSD for a while, but it was finally cold enough that I felt confident I would need the extra layering power of the magical Norwegian Sweater. After looking at the weather I felt like a bit of a baby, but man, 59 degrees (F) has never felt so cold. Sarah, Gretchen, and I walked to Orsanmichele for class with Gail. Most of the day is spent talking about everyone's fall break activities. We have a confusing Italian lesson where we are told we'll be learning about gerunds.... and then don't. Dinner was late tonight, which meant being cold and not really doing anything for longer than usual. However, it was worth the wait. We had pasta (AND I GOT SECONDS), frittatas, stewed cabbage, salad, and bread. No fruit though, which was strange. It didn't matter though, because Frittata Night is the best of nights. I ended up spending my evening going between homework and fantasizing about Norwegian Socks, since I couldn't feel my toes from about 3pm onwards.
Tuesday, October 30:
Today was about learning valuable lessons. Lesson 1, coffee without milk is not something I enjoy. Lesson 2, the Medici went all out when it came to weddings. Lesson 3, no one in Italy is allowed to turn their heat on before November 1, so we've got a few really cold days still ahead of us. Lesson 4, Ian and I are good shopping buddies. We both needed shoes and, by George, we got two fine pairs of shoes. We also got gelato and made a cat friend. Lesson 4, I do not like liver. Dinner was chicken, liver, salad, stewed onions, really good bread, and a pear. I then finished a take home midterm and had lesson number 5: layering of blankets is a good thing. We're on blanket number 3.
Wednesday, October 31:
Happy Halloween! Since it's a Wednesday, I had time to carefully put together my costume for the day, which was... *drumroll*.... Jodie. Yes, I was Jodie for Halloween. The best part was when Jodie saw me and complimented me on my outfit. She said I looked really stylish. Perfect opportunity for me to say "well actually...." The people that realized who I was supposed to be thought it was pretty entertaining. Winning costume, if you ask me. Italian class was pretty low-key, it started to rain, and I went to Santissima Annunziata for class with Gail. We've just started a unit on Miraculous Madonnas, so we're tromping all over the city to see said miracle-working Madonnas. Exciting stuff. Then, in a case of "it's a small world after all," I end up saying hi to Gail for one of my professors back at home who used to work on the Florence program. All my professors know each other and now they're all talking about me. Simultaneously wonderful and terrifying. Back at the apartment, I did some reading and other work until dinner (pesto pasta, chicken burgers, vegetable stew, and apples), after which THE HEAT COMES ON!!!! But it doesn't really touch our bedroom. If you stand quite close to the heater, you're good. Unfortunately, our beds are not quite close to the heater. Hurray for blankets.
Thursday, November 1:
It's a national holiday in Italy today (All Saints' Day), so my host mom doesn't have to go to school. We at the ACM however, do have to go to school. I start my day at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi with my gender class, where, since it's rainy and we can't go see the gardens, we read aloud from a play that would have been performed at one of the Medici weddings. It's called The Deceived, was published in 1538, and is considered the prototype for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Needless to say, it's hilarious. Seriously, one of the raunchiest, funniest things I've ever read. I loved it. Because it's a holiday, hardly any shops were open. This meant that no gelaterias were open. I had a moment of panic before Megan and I headed to the Conad to introduce ourselves to store bought gelato, which comes in pints. (Cue Pippin's voice from Fellowship of the Ring: "it comes in pints?" Yes. Yes it does.) I ate an entire pint entirely too fast. Dinner back at the apartment is soup, a salad consisting of eggs, hotdogs, and potatoes, and stewed cabbage. My host mom talked a lot about feminism in Italy, which would have been much cooler if I had been able to understand more of it. As it was, I felt kind of lost the whole time.
Friday, November 2:
It was a weird Friday in that we had class today. Ew. How ever will I go back to class five days a week? The day started at the Bargello, where we got to go upstairs to the super secret closed off rooms which hold Donatello's David. After class was finished, Jodie invited anyone who was interested to join her next class at Palazzo Pitti, where the Michelangelo class would be visiting the Palatine Gallery. Four of us tagged along, and since we weren't actually in class, we were free to bounce between the class and whatever artwork that caught our eyes. We found what I am convinced is the most beautiful portrait bust ever. The picture does not exist on the internet, which is one of the most unfortunate things to ever happen to the world. However, if anyone ever shows you the portrait bust of Leopold II Hapsburg-Lorraine by Ottaviano Giovannozzi know that it is beautiful. Afterwards a few of us went to a place called Gusta Pizza, which was delicious. I won the "eating pizza the fastest" contest and then we talked about eating contests. I'm a winner. We also had gelato, where I had chocolate orange and cream. We then walked to Sant'Ambrogio for class with Gail to talk about Eucharistic miracles. After dinner (pasta with oil, meatballs, stewed cabbage, and a special treat of this chestnut cake/fudge/thing, I'm not sure what it was), Sarah and I headed out to the movie theater with some friends to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. SO AWESOME.
Saturday, November 3:
I slept in a little bit and then met up with Ian for a day trip to San Gimignano (affectionately known as San Jimmy because we are incapable of saying San Gimignano half the time). We took the SITA bus to San Jimmy or so we thought -- we ended up in Siena and then had to catch the bus to Poggibonsi, where we changed buses (like no one had told us we needed to) to get to San Jimmy. Thankfully an Italian couple was experiencing the same problems that we were and were able to actually communicate with the bus driver (and us). We finally got to San Gimignano, had lunch, and walked around the town. We climbed towers (which is what San Jimmy is known for), walked through museums, and looked through some churches. Normal things, really. We also snuck into a wine museum, which was technically closed, but the last group was going through, so we snuck in the exit and joined in. We then stopped in at a World Cup winning gelateria, which had the best gelato I've ever tasted. After that, we took the bus back to Florence, where my host mom's daughter and her boyfriend were over for dinner. That meant even more delicious food than normal. Eat all the food!
And there you have it. One more week of my crazy existence in Florence, where I travel all over the place and eat everything I can get my hands on. Such is life.
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