All I have to say is that school was awful today. Language classes from 9-12, lunch from 12-12:45, university class from 1-3 (I fell asleep in that one), language class from 5-7. I am EXHAUSTED and angry that this is how we'll be spending every day. We told our teacher in the 5-7 slot that it's not going to work much longer since we are so over-tired at that point. I think they're going to try to change something.
Anyway, I won't be writing again until Sunday or Monday as I'm leaving for Oktoberfest tomorrow at midnight! We're sleeping on the 8 hour bus ride and then arriving in the morning and heading straight for the festivities! It's going to be a long, but fun weekend. I'm so excited!
Updates soon!
Ciao :)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Duomo day!
So, today started off rather interestingly. We had class at 9 and the teacher stopped it early again, so we were pretty psyched. We walked around the Mercato Centrale for a little while and Maggie bought a really nice leather bag. On our walk, we decided to run to the bathroom (because I had to go) in CLIDA and then tour the inside of the Duomo and the cupola.
We were halfway up the stairs when we ran into one of the instructors who said "aren't you all supposed to be in class?" Of course, the girls blamed it all on me, since I always have to go to the bathroom. I felt really badly. So, after I went to the bathroom, we headed to class instead of the Duomo. I was fuming for about the first 30 minutes, then I sucked it up. Turns out we are supposed to be going to language classes, which run from 9-1 every weekday, whenever we don't have university class. We also have a lesson from 5:15 to 6:45. We were all pretty upset considering the fact that it means about 6-8 hour days for us. Once our Independent Cultural Immersion Projects and tutors begin, there's no way that we are going to be able to do everything. I don't think they get it. It's ridiculous! I shouldn't get into it or I'll go on forever...
Anyway, class was over at 1, so we got some lunch and then decided to still take care of our original plan. We first viewed the inside of the Duomo, which was enormous, but strangely simple and empty! It was still very cool though. The tiling was so intricate and the designs on the walls and of the sculptures and statues were beautiful! After the inside, we paid the 8 euro to climb to the top of the dome. If memory serves me correctly, that was 453 or 456 stairs. The trek up was very steep and windy. I saw a lot of old people taking breathers along the way. Before making it to the top, the stairs brought us to the inside of the dome, right alongside the frescoes. They were so intricate and cool. The scenes of Hell were VERY graphic. The entire climb itself took about 20 minutes and it certainly built up some anticipation. We reached the top and discovered that the view was most certainly worth the 8 euro we had paid. We took lots of pictures, found the Maggies' houses, our schools, etc. We spent about 15 minutes up there and then headed back down. I'm so glad that we were able to do that! What a wonderful experience.
After that, we walked around for a little, and then had class at 5:15. It was fine. We had some new students in our class, one of whom was only in his second day of Italian. So, it was a little frustrating for us to learn colors all over again. I think our instructor knew there were issues, so she's probably going to separate us from the newbies.
After class, I met with Michelle (a girl I went to Salve with). She is still studying there, but is spending this semester in Florence. We had dinner together at a trattoria called ZaZa. It was sooooo nice to catch up with her. We spent about 2 hours talking. I can't wait to do it again! I really missed her.
Anyway, I left my computer on all day so that I could download One Tree Hill while in class. So, that means it's time to watch it!
Until tomorrow.. or Thursday!
Ciao!
We were halfway up the stairs when we ran into one of the instructors who said "aren't you all supposed to be in class?" Of course, the girls blamed it all on me, since I always have to go to the bathroom. I felt really badly. So, after I went to the bathroom, we headed to class instead of the Duomo. I was fuming for about the first 30 minutes, then I sucked it up. Turns out we are supposed to be going to language classes, which run from 9-1 every weekday, whenever we don't have university class. We also have a lesson from 5:15 to 6:45. We were all pretty upset considering the fact that it means about 6-8 hour days for us. Once our Independent Cultural Immersion Projects and tutors begin, there's no way that we are going to be able to do everything. I don't think they get it. It's ridiculous! I shouldn't get into it or I'll go on forever...
Anyway, class was over at 1, so we got some lunch and then decided to still take care of our original plan. We first viewed the inside of the Duomo, which was enormous, but strangely simple and empty! It was still very cool though. The tiling was so intricate and the designs on the walls and of the sculptures and statues were beautiful! After the inside, we paid the 8 euro to climb to the top of the dome. If memory serves me correctly, that was 453 or 456 stairs. The trek up was very steep and windy. I saw a lot of old people taking breathers along the way. Before making it to the top, the stairs brought us to the inside of the dome, right alongside the frescoes. They were so intricate and cool. The scenes of Hell were VERY graphic. The entire climb itself took about 20 minutes and it certainly built up some anticipation. We reached the top and discovered that the view was most certainly worth the 8 euro we had paid. We took lots of pictures, found the Maggies' houses, our schools, etc. We spent about 15 minutes up there and then headed back down. I'm so glad that we were able to do that! What a wonderful experience.
After that, we walked around for a little, and then had class at 5:15. It was fine. We had some new students in our class, one of whom was only in his second day of Italian. So, it was a little frustrating for us to learn colors all over again. I think our instructor knew there were issues, so she's probably going to separate us from the newbies.
After class, I met with Michelle (a girl I went to Salve with). She is still studying there, but is spending this semester in Florence. We had dinner together at a trattoria called ZaZa. It was sooooo nice to catch up with her. We spent about 2 hours talking. I can't wait to do it again! I really missed her.
Anyway, I left my computer on all day so that I could download One Tree Hill while in class. So, that means it's time to watch it!
Until tomorrow.. or Thursday!
Ciao!
Monday, September 28, 2009
First day as a student at the Universita degli Studi di Firenze
So, I got up really early today and put on my first day of school outfit. :) Andrea and I arrived a half hour early to our Museologia class and just stood around sticking out like sore thumbs until we were able to go in. The lecture hall felt like a dungeon. It was poorly lit, the windows were barred and covered by black curtains, and the walls were a dirty off-white. Not very conducive to learning in my opinion, but whatever. I'll keep an open mind.
Class started a little late, as is normal for Italians, but it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Of course, I only understood bits and pieces of what the professor was saying, but she spoke at a decent pace, so I wasn't completely lost- I knew she was talking about museology and museography! I thought we were doing a good job blending in as Italians until the professor asked, in Italian, "how many foreign students do we have today?" So, I had to raise my hand. Well, that gave it away. It was nice while it lasted.
I proceeded to take notes on what I understood and of course, 15 minutes in, my pen ran out. I decided that it was probably better to just listen anyway, considering the fact that I have tutors to go over the material with. She decided to end the class at 10 instead of 11, and handed out some papers. Apparently, there was a pile of papers for foreigners and a pile for Italians, but I couldn't tell the differences between them because nothing was labelled. So, I took two different pieces of paper, but some other ones were already gone. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Dobby asked us to go back and clarify with the professor the things we should have taken.
After class, we took our exam at CLIDA to see if we passed the level. It was a nightmare. After the 1.5 hours it took me to finish, my head was spinning. I certainly wasn't alone though. We spoke with the secretary when we were leaving (she is Italian), and she told us that the only way a person can do really well on that exam is by being able to speak fluidly and understand cultural phrases, etc. So, that's proof that we are nowhere close to understanding everything, but it also shows that they have some sympathy for us.
We got some lunch and gelato, and then I ran a few errands. I booked the Trenitalia train for Rome (for Paul's visit) so that's all squared away. Now, I'm just sitting here in CLIDA waiting for 5:15 to roll around. This break is too ridiculously long. 5 hours?! I only wished we lived a little closer so it wasn't so inconvenient to run home for a nap or something. I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll see a museum to kill time.
I don't anticipate much happening later today. After class, we're going home for dinner. I am most definitely staying in for the night. I need sleep before Oktoberfest!
Ciao!
Class started a little late, as is normal for Italians, but it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Of course, I only understood bits and pieces of what the professor was saying, but she spoke at a decent pace, so I wasn't completely lost- I knew she was talking about museology and museography! I thought we were doing a good job blending in as Italians until the professor asked, in Italian, "how many foreign students do we have today?" So, I had to raise my hand. Well, that gave it away. It was nice while it lasted.
I proceeded to take notes on what I understood and of course, 15 minutes in, my pen ran out. I decided that it was probably better to just listen anyway, considering the fact that I have tutors to go over the material with. She decided to end the class at 10 instead of 11, and handed out some papers. Apparently, there was a pile of papers for foreigners and a pile for Italians, but I couldn't tell the differences between them because nothing was labelled. So, I took two different pieces of paper, but some other ones were already gone. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Dobby asked us to go back and clarify with the professor the things we should have taken.
After class, we took our exam at CLIDA to see if we passed the level. It was a nightmare. After the 1.5 hours it took me to finish, my head was spinning. I certainly wasn't alone though. We spoke with the secretary when we were leaving (she is Italian), and she told us that the only way a person can do really well on that exam is by being able to speak fluidly and understand cultural phrases, etc. So, that's proof that we are nowhere close to understanding everything, but it also shows that they have some sympathy for us.
We got some lunch and gelato, and then I ran a few errands. I booked the Trenitalia train for Rome (for Paul's visit) so that's all squared away. Now, I'm just sitting here in CLIDA waiting for 5:15 to roll around. This break is too ridiculously long. 5 hours?! I only wished we lived a little closer so it wasn't so inconvenient to run home for a nap or something. I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll see a museum to kill time.
I don't anticipate much happening later today. After class, we're going home for dinner. I am most definitely staying in for the night. I need sleep before Oktoberfest!
Ciao!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
La festa dell'uva
Today, Andrea and I woke up around 11 and took the bus into the center to try to catch the 12:30 shuttle to Impruneta. Of course, we couldn't find it and missed it, but there was another one coming at 2:40. To kill time, we toured inside the church of Santa Maria Novella which was beautiful and absolutely enormous! After that, we found the famous Santa Maria Novella farmacia. It was awesome! Not like any of the other farmacie. We walked through a long, marble, dimly lit hallway lined with statues and arrived in the first room. That room sold chemicals to mix for perfumes and types of elixirs. It smelled amazing. The second room sold natural herbs. The third room sold potpourri and looked out to the private piazza of the monastery to which the farmacia is attached. The whole place had beautiful frescoed ceilings and dim, old-fashioned lighting. Of course everything was ridiculously expensive. We even saw some soap dishes and pill boxes that we watched the metal smith make a few weeks ago on our artisan tour. He had told us how he sells to Santa Maria Novella farmacia. Of course, they were marked so much higher than it costs him to make them. 70 euro! Ridiculous.
Once 2:40 rolled around, we made it back to the bus and hopped on. I of course passed out the second I sat down and, within a half hour, we arrived at Impruneta for La Festa dell'uva. This festival was the 83rd annual, where Italians honor the importance of the grape to their wine culture. There was a ton of food and so many meats and cheeses that I had never seen before. There was also an awesome parade that lasted about 2 hours. I had never seen such intricate floats or costumes. The large floats had grapes hanging from them and also arranged as images of grape vines, stars, etc. One of the coolests floats was 2 stories. On the top deck was a woman wearing this crazy blue dress and headpiece. She was surrounded by grapes. The bottom deck had a bunch of men dressed as Italian farmers. They were clearly having a blast because there was a little table set up with a grill next to it. On the table, they had cheeses, breads and dried meats. One man stood by the grill and smoked raw meats, etc. There was also a garden hose with an unlimited supply of red wine that they pumped into water bottles of people in the crowd. I was a little far, so I couldn't get any. So yea, they were getting drunk and eating great food while moving along in the parade. There were lots of other floats, but that was definitely the most memorable. I have lots of pictures to come.
Being at that festival was such an amazing experience for me. While I was watching, I had one of those cultural rushes of euphoria. I felt immersed and so privileged to be able to see such a unique parade that was so important to the lifestyle and culture of the Tuscan region. The music and dancing was great, and even though we were able to spend only 2.5 hours there, we had a great time.
Now, I'm back at home waiting for Maria Pia to finish making pizza. I have a lot to study tonight because we have our level test tomorrow to find out if we pass to the next level or not. We also start university! AhhHh! I'm so intimidated. Good thing a lot of us are in the same class.
Ok, off to study!
Buona notte!
Once 2:40 rolled around, we made it back to the bus and hopped on. I of course passed out the second I sat down and, within a half hour, we arrived at Impruneta for La Festa dell'uva. This festival was the 83rd annual, where Italians honor the importance of the grape to their wine culture. There was a ton of food and so many meats and cheeses that I had never seen before. There was also an awesome parade that lasted about 2 hours. I had never seen such intricate floats or costumes. The large floats had grapes hanging from them and also arranged as images of grape vines, stars, etc. One of the coolests floats was 2 stories. On the top deck was a woman wearing this crazy blue dress and headpiece. She was surrounded by grapes. The bottom deck had a bunch of men dressed as Italian farmers. They were clearly having a blast because there was a little table set up with a grill next to it. On the table, they had cheeses, breads and dried meats. One man stood by the grill and smoked raw meats, etc. There was also a garden hose with an unlimited supply of red wine that they pumped into water bottles of people in the crowd. I was a little far, so I couldn't get any. So yea, they were getting drunk and eating great food while moving along in the parade. There were lots of other floats, but that was definitely the most memorable. I have lots of pictures to come.
Being at that festival was such an amazing experience for me. While I was watching, I had one of those cultural rushes of euphoria. I felt immersed and so privileged to be able to see such a unique parade that was so important to the lifestyle and culture of the Tuscan region. The music and dancing was great, and even though we were able to spend only 2.5 hours there, we had a great time.
Now, I'm back at home waiting for Maria Pia to finish making pizza. I have a lot to study tonight because we have our level test tomorrow to find out if we pass to the next level or not. We also start university! AhhHh! I'm so intimidated. Good thing a lot of us are in the same class.
Ok, off to study!
Buona notte!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Shopping!
Ciao a tutti!
Today we had a leisurely stroll through downtown and I finally settled on a good pair of black, leather boots. It took me a while to find some that I was willing to pay good money for, but these are just perfect, and beautiful leather! So, now I have my first (and most likely last) Italian leather item from Florence!
We walked around some more, got some gelato and then headed home. Tonight, we're probably going out dancing so Andrea and I are resting up! I'm pretty excited! We were hoping to participate in a breast cancer walk tomorrow, but they are full (I didn't think that kind of thing happened with charity events). So, I'm not really sure where tomorrow will take us. I'd like to explore something new. We'll see what happens. I'm going to squeeze in a nap before dinner.
Ciao!
Today we had a leisurely stroll through downtown and I finally settled on a good pair of black, leather boots. It took me a while to find some that I was willing to pay good money for, but these are just perfect, and beautiful leather! So, now I have my first (and most likely last) Italian leather item from Florence!
We walked around some more, got some gelato and then headed home. Tonight, we're probably going out dancing so Andrea and I are resting up! I'm pretty excited! We were hoping to participate in a breast cancer walk tomorrow, but they are full (I didn't think that kind of thing happened with charity events). So, I'm not really sure where tomorrow will take us. I'd like to explore something new. We'll see what happens. I'm going to squeeze in a nap before dinner.
Ciao!
Le fotografie
These pictures are from last weekend's outings. It just takes a while to get them all up on the internet!
Inside il duomo di Prato
Sacred altar inside the duomo
View from the Piazzale Michaelangelo
Friday, September 25, 2009
L'universita, l'aperitivo e le canzoni
Ciao! Yesterday morning was absolutely BRUTAL in our grammar class. Because we have our exam to pass/fail the level on Monday, Maria was hammering "grammatica" into our heads for 4 hours straight. I was ready to punch someone after that session.
After our tour, we headed back for our 4 o'clock class. We enjoyed this one because we had a chance to vent (in Italian, of course) to our teacher about our grueling morning.
Around 6:30, we met with Elia (our 22 year old cultural advisor) in the Piazza della Reppublica. He brought along 2 Italian friends, Luca and Chiara. They too, are just as awesome as Elia is. We all went for aperitivo which was amazing! I had never done something like this before, so I had to learn the process. Basically, you enter during a certain time frame and order any alcoholic beverage (usually wine or a cocktail). Then, you help yourself to the buffet of aperitivi--- for free! This place had pasta with meat sauce, risotto, rice salads, potatoes, cheese souffles, bread, grilled veggies, veal, pork, fruit, and a bunch of other amazing foods. It was all you can eat, but I could barely finish what I had chosen! Everything was very rich. Our group spent about 2 hours talking and then once we left, we met up with Elia, Luca and Chiara's other Italian friends. One girl, Margherita, was absolutely adorable! Once she found out that we were American, she got sooooo excited and started jumping up and down and telling us about how badly she wants to learn English and visit the States. It was really nice to hear what she had to say. Once everyone arrived and gathered together (there were about 20 Italians and 5 of us Americans), we all headed for gelato at the BEST PLACE EVER!!!! Grom. We had been there many times already, but it never gets old.
Oh yea, I forgot to mention that all of these foods and drinks were paid for by Holy Cross. :) So, after gelato, we went to a piazza and all sat down. The Italians handed out little packets to everyone there and just randomly started singing along to the songs that were pre-selected in this packet! A boy played the guitar, and a girl played the flute. A lot of tourists came up and took videos and pictures. It was such a crazy, awesome experience for us because it was just so spontaneous! A bunch of Italian friends just decide to sing in a piazza! What?! They were so welcoming to us and sang a hilarious song in honor of our presence. It kind of made fun of Americans, but we loved it! It was very accurate, after all.
After about an hour of that, we decided to call it a night. It was about 11:30 and we hadn't been home since 8:00 that morning. I am so happy with how the night turned out. We still felt like Americans, but blended in much better. On the way back, we joked about how each of our families has, thus far, paid $150,000 to Holy Cross so that we could have just a few Italian friends. Way to go HC for paying Elia and his friends to hang out with us! Even though this is true, I think they actually like us.. thank goodness.
Anyway, I'm on break right now in between classes and after class at 4, it will finally officially be the weekend! Yay! We're not sure what we are doing yet, but we know that we want to go out tonight. Potentially some shopping and/or musems tomorrow. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.
Ciao ciao!
During our lunch break, Elisa's assistant (who we call Dobby *from Harry Potter*--- she really looks like him!), took us for a little tour of the Universita degli Studi di Firenze. Classes start Monday, so we all wanted to know where we were going. Walking into the first building was quite a shocker for us "spoiled Americans." Graffiti covered the buildings inside and out, there was trash all over the ground and even a homeless man sleeping along the wall. I tried my best to be optimistic and open-minded about the surroundings, but they were certainly different then what we are all used to. I guess the sight suprised us as much as it did because even the public, city universities in the states look better than this. Thankfully, the library was beautiful. It's in a convent, so I would have been appalled if that too was a disaster. Anyway, school is school and I'm going to be just as confused with the language regardless of the appearance of my surroundings!
After our tour, we headed back for our 4 o'clock class. We enjoyed this one because we had a chance to vent (in Italian, of course) to our teacher about our grueling morning.
Around 6:30, we met with Elia (our 22 year old cultural advisor) in the Piazza della Reppublica. He brought along 2 Italian friends, Luca and Chiara. They too, are just as awesome as Elia is. We all went for aperitivo which was amazing! I had never done something like this before, so I had to learn the process. Basically, you enter during a certain time frame and order any alcoholic beverage (usually wine or a cocktail). Then, you help yourself to the buffet of aperitivi--- for free! This place had pasta with meat sauce, risotto, rice salads, potatoes, cheese souffles, bread, grilled veggies, veal, pork, fruit, and a bunch of other amazing foods. It was all you can eat, but I could barely finish what I had chosen! Everything was very rich. Our group spent about 2 hours talking and then once we left, we met up with Elia, Luca and Chiara's other Italian friends. One girl, Margherita, was absolutely adorable! Once she found out that we were American, she got sooooo excited and started jumping up and down and telling us about how badly she wants to learn English and visit the States. It was really nice to hear what she had to say. Once everyone arrived and gathered together (there were about 20 Italians and 5 of us Americans), we all headed for gelato at the BEST PLACE EVER!!!! Grom. We had been there many times already, but it never gets old.
Oh yea, I forgot to mention that all of these foods and drinks were paid for by Holy Cross. :) So, after gelato, we went to a piazza and all sat down. The Italians handed out little packets to everyone there and just randomly started singing along to the songs that were pre-selected in this packet! A boy played the guitar, and a girl played the flute. A lot of tourists came up and took videos and pictures. It was such a crazy, awesome experience for us because it was just so spontaneous! A bunch of Italian friends just decide to sing in a piazza! What?! They were so welcoming to us and sang a hilarious song in honor of our presence. It kind of made fun of Americans, but we loved it! It was very accurate, after all.
After about an hour of that, we decided to call it a night. It was about 11:30 and we hadn't been home since 8:00 that morning. I am so happy with how the night turned out. We still felt like Americans, but blended in much better. On the way back, we joked about how each of our families has, thus far, paid $150,000 to Holy Cross so that we could have just a few Italian friends. Way to go HC for paying Elia and his friends to hang out with us! Even though this is true, I think they actually like us.. thank goodness.
Anyway, I'm on break right now in between classes and after class at 4, it will finally officially be the weekend! Yay! We're not sure what we are doing yet, but we know that we want to go out tonight. Potentially some shopping and/or musems tomorrow. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.
Ciao ciao!
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