At about three in the afternoon one week ago, I stepped out of a cab onto Via Sant Agostino for the first time. The driver unloaded my bags and pulled away, and in that moment it finally hit me that this was it: For the next three and a half months this would be my new home in Florence, Italy.
It took a minute or two for me to grasp that and move onto the next task of figuring out how to get through the giant (crane-your-neck-to-look-at giant) wooden doors that now stood before me. But soon enough I was swept up by my new Italian host-mom, Marina, and roommate/fellow study-abroader, Sam.
That first night we were served lasagna with seasoned potatoes and carrots, salad, bread (of course! there's always bread), and apple cake... which was more of an apple frittata really. Molto bene.
This is my host-mom, Marina! and my roomate, Sammi :)
Wednesday we began orientation for the program and classes. Looks like I'll be taking:
Florentine Architecture and Urban Planning
Masterpieces of Renaissance Art
Italy and the Anglo-Amrican Imagination (an English credit)
Painting at the Santa Reparata International School of Art
and Italiano at the British Institute
One of our program advisors Dr. Scherpereel took us on our first walking tour of Florence. It is absolutely, breathtakingly gorgeous. I keep saying that one of the best parts is that there aren't just a few sights to see and the rest of the city is "blah" but the entire city is utterly magnificent! The duomo and ponte vecchio and the churches and piazzas and palaces are all simply part of daily activity. I will interact with these timeless icons every day while living here; which is still, a week later, blowing my mind.
The weekend was filled with fun nights exploring Italian night-life, shopping, and of course great eating. There are markets everywhere! Piazza di San Lorenzo has an incredible market that lines the streets for blocks upon blocks filled with leather goods, pashmina scarves, shoes, ceramics, anything you can think of. Leather goods of course are especially abundant. Most shops are run by family members where the leather is sold and in the back is where the leather is actually made (usually by an older man from the family)... so cool. We stopped along the way later in the afternoon at a place called Coronas Cafe where some of us had our first Italian gelato. White chocolate was my flavor of choice. So now my list of favorite foods must go 1. cheese (still, of course) 2. gelato (hellooo!) 3. broccoli (sorry dude, but I do still love you)
After discovering that we had arrived in Italy during fashion week and expressing my interest to Marina, she invited Sam and me to come with her to a FW event, celebrating her friend the architect's accomplishments. The studio was so posh, as was the event. There were hor d'oeurves of colored marshmallow kebabs, cashews, green olives, fizzy blue, green, and orange drinks, live performers singing down to us from a loft, Italian murmuring, laughing, and mingling, and of course art and fashion everywhere. I felt very privileged to have been a guest.
Domenica I had been planning to attend church, but overslept. Instead I took my time waking up and getting the day started. I love how much time there seems to be in a day here, because of the abandon of worry and scheduling and obligation. I took this day to myself and set out with my camera for the first time to capture Florence. Five hours I spent exploring the city and only wandered through a very small portion of it... mostly on one winding street up a hill. Florence is actually a small place, nearly everything in walking distance, but it is so full of life and history everywhere that well... I could spend five hours exploring one street!
I followed this winding street for about three hours... So many beautiful surprises along the way
One of my favorite things about Florence so far is honestly the people. Maybe it's the beautiful language or their olive skin, but I think I'm in love with them all. There's something of a kindness and real joy that exudes from them as a people that just makes me smile. They always seem to be happy! Even when they're angry they're happy! It makes sense to me because their lives are so much simpler than our lives in America. Our on-sight professor has traveled all around the world and visited and revisited many places; this is his 7th time to Florence and says it is the only place in the world he's seen that has not changed a bit. It is truly a special place.
Gotcha! ...Am I creepy?
Amazed. Blessed. Inspired. These words describe this past week for me in an extremely undersized nutshell. I can see already that I've begun the experience of a lifetime.
Masterpieces of Renaissance Art
Italy and the Anglo-Amrican Imagination (an English credit)
Painting at the Santa Reparata International School of Art
and Italiano at the British Institute
One of our program advisors Dr. Scherpereel took us on our first walking tour of Florence. It is absolutely, breathtakingly gorgeous. I keep saying that one of the best parts is that there aren't just a few sights to see and the rest of the city is "blah" but the entire city is utterly magnificent! The duomo and ponte vecchio and the churches and piazzas and palaces are all simply part of daily activity. I will interact with these timeless icons every day while living here; which is still, a week later, blowing my mind.
The weekend was filled with fun nights exploring Italian night-life, shopping, and of course great eating. There are markets everywhere! Piazza di San Lorenzo has an incredible market that lines the streets for blocks upon blocks filled with leather goods, pashmina scarves, shoes, ceramics, anything you can think of. Leather goods of course are especially abundant. Most shops are run by family members where the leather is sold and in the back is where the leather is actually made (usually by an older man from the family)... so cool. We stopped along the way later in the afternoon at a place called Coronas Cafe where some of us had our first Italian gelato. White chocolate was my flavor of choice. So now my list of favorite foods must go 1. cheese (still, of course) 2. gelato (hellooo!) 3. broccoli (sorry dude, but I do still love you)
After discovering that we had arrived in Italy during fashion week and expressing my interest to Marina, she invited Sam and me to come with her to a FW event, celebrating her friend the architect's accomplishments. The studio was so posh, as was the event. There were hor d'oeurves of colored marshmallow kebabs, cashews, green olives, fizzy blue, green, and orange drinks, live performers singing down to us from a loft, Italian murmuring, laughing, and mingling, and of course art and fashion everywhere. I felt very privileged to have been a guest.
Domenica I had been planning to attend church, but overslept. Instead I took my time waking up and getting the day started. I love how much time there seems to be in a day here, because of the abandon of worry and scheduling and obligation. I took this day to myself and set out with my camera for the first time to capture Florence. Five hours I spent exploring the city and only wandered through a very small portion of it... mostly on one winding street up a hill. Florence is actually a small place, nearly everything in walking distance, but it is so full of life and history everywhere that well... I could spend five hours exploring one street!
I followed this winding street for about three hours... So many beautiful surprises along the way
One of my favorite things about Florence so far is honestly the people. Maybe it's the beautiful language or their olive skin, but I think I'm in love with them all. There's something of a kindness and real joy that exudes from them as a people that just makes me smile. They always seem to be happy! Even when they're angry they're happy! It makes sense to me because their lives are so much simpler than our lives in America. Our on-sight professor has traveled all around the world and visited and revisited many places; this is his 7th time to Florence and says it is the only place in the world he's seen that has not changed a bit. It is truly a special place.
Amazed. Blessed. Inspired. These words describe this past week for me in an extremely undersized nutshell. I can see already that I've begun the experience of a lifetime.
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