Friday, September 7, 2012

friends, food, firenze (oh, and classes)

I have officially been here a week now! I feel like I've been here for so much longer though because my days have been very, very long. so what have I been up to?

classes began on monday. I am taking Introduction to the Art of Rome, Michelangelo, European Union, Drawing from Masterpieces, and Italian 101. all my classes are so good!! the professors are very knowledgeable about Rome and Italy, and I'm definitely going to learn a lot. art of rome is exactly what it sounds like. the class surveys the periods of art and architecture in the city from ancient/classic to baroque. Michelangelo is a course that looks at just the one artist, but of course his work is so varied and covers such a long span of history (and is so critical to understanding the High Renaissance and its development into Italian Mannerism and eventually Maniera) that I doubt I'll ever feel like I've had too much Michelangelo! this class also has field trips to Florence, which I will discuss in a bit. EU is a political science/history class all about the development and current role of the EU. it's definitely really far from my area of academic interest and I'm feeling a little insecure about how little I know, but I'm excited to learn a lot about European politics and history. drawing is going to be the best ever, I love drawing but have no talent or time for it so I'm really excited to have class time to hopefully improve and have a lot of fun. Italian 101 is of course very straightforward, but I'm learning quickly and my biggest problem is confusing it with Spanish and French. just wait, when I come home I plan to have the most authentic Italian accent.

aside from classes and sightseeing/travel, we've been going out on the town a lot. the nightlife scene is, like I said earlier, crazy. especially on random nights like tuesdays. thursdays are also poppin'. bars pop up along the Tiber river on weekends, and partying on the bank of the river is super fun, though it is terrifying to walk down the slippery steps. suffice to say I am keeping an active social life and not holing up in my room to watch Game of Thrones alone like the hermit I really am. speaking of friends, my dear friend of 15 years is in Italy this week and I got to eat lunch with her and her mom today. it was pretty hard to get my mind around the idea that we met on a tiny island in the middle of Lake Washington and 15 years later ended up in Rome at the same time. 

all of the classes have class trips, some are weekend trips and others are day trips. for example, my EU class goes to Brussels with the Public Finance class for a weekend. my Michelangelo class goes to Florence three times for day trips, the first three Thursdays of the term. to get to Florence, we take an express train at 6:45ish in the morning and then get back around 3:30. totally exhausting and so worth it. yesterday was my first time in Florence, and I just fell in love with the city. it's smaller, more intimate, and more medieval than Rome. of course, it's also the site of some of my favorite art in the world. I wish I lived in Florence. Hey Mom, how would you feel about moving there?? if you go to Florence, go to Gilli Caffe for a coffee and pastry. I've heard less than stellar things about their restaurant service, but their pastries are to die for and while their beverage pricing is a bit high, they are delicious. stand up at the bar and eat breakfast Italian style!

this is the front window of the Gilli Caffe in Florence


here are some more photos of my trip. it's been easy to upload them to Facebook, so if we are real life friends you can creep my pics online. 

the Colosseum on a really rainy day

Florence at around 8 in the morning

the beautiful Duomo 

the Trevi fountain. must go back and toss a hundred coins in

the food here is the best. I'm a little afraid of coming back and being 50 pounds heavier, all thanks to Italians eating pasta every day for every meal, but according to one of my friends everyone will forgive me if I let myself go since this semester is the trip of a lifetime so I guess it's fine. we've been eating a lot of prosciutto, gelato, pasta, pizza, bruschetta, etc etc. I can already tell I am going to miss the food when I come home. even the average, nothing-special food to me is SO GOOD! how am I supposed to return to the Marketplace after this? the solution is obviously to marry an Italian chef and live here in Italy forever. 

I think that's all I have to say for now. I miss my friends and family a ton! please please send me Facebook messages and e-mails and tell me what's going on in your lives. I want to hear that stuff more than anything. I am really getting settled in here and know my way around my immediate area pretty well. 13 weeks to go!

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