Settling In

Let me get you updated on my life IN Florence. I know it seems like I don't really live here, I have travel plans every weekend for the next few weeks! And well into the semester.

My weekend plans for February

But, contrary to popular belief, I do in fact live in Florence. And I do a lot of awesome stuff here too!

Orientation.

Ya. Not that awesome. But I still had a lot of fun getting to know my roommates.

To everyone who ever prayed for my roommates this semester, thank you.

My roommate Katie, and another one of my flatmates, Jenn, are both Christians!! What are the odds? Our God is so so good!

The three of us stayed in the same hotel room during orientation. Which was so fun! We have a lot of fun together. Its just fun! Fun.. (Duck Dynasty anyone?)

We sat through numerous boring lectures together, and went on many a walking tour through Florence.

And at some point during it all we moved into our apartment!

ITS HUGE!

3 bedrooms. 3 bathrooms. The kitchen is ginormous! And we have plenty of storage space!

That's right, all of my luggage is unpacked and fits in my room! Praise Him!

The first day in our apartment we decided to go to the biggest market chain in Italy, called Coop.

So, we followed the directions and took bus 23.

Katie creeping from the back of the bus

Caitlin riding up front. Giving up her seat to precious old Italian ladies

We rode and rode and rode and rode on that bus. Until we got back to the main bus station.

oops.

So we got on bus 14.

Try again. God gives us all second chances, right?

Finally we found our stop, after asking our bus driver and a couple of locals how to get to the market we found it!

And everything was in Italian.

Yay.

I still dont know what some of the stuff I bought is. But I am slowing finding out as I eat.

I found my cheese section. And I'm obviously a little overwhelmed and out of my element

Did I mention there are 6 of us living in my apartment? I'm sure the market hated us when all 6 of us Americans rolled in. Having no clue what we were doing.

Katie and Caitlin. Pro status. 

Celia and me, and the coolest carts ever. You can hold them or roll them. Thanks Europe.

As you may have noticed. We are holding quite a few bags. Celia even brought a duffel! We had two full carts plus two of those basket buggies full of stuff. True American style.

Check out was insane. and I've never loaded groceries into a backpack before, but there is a first for everything.

Taking a huge load back to the apartment we all found ourselves holding the toilet paper that wouldn't fit into our bags. I even had a kitty litter tub (you don't want to know).

We caught the correct bus back home. Which was really exciting since we hadn't eaten anything all day and it took us all afternoon to go to the market.

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One thing I have learned during my whole 2ish weeks in Italy, is that I know quite a bit of Spanish! It's really exciting and makes me more comfortable with the little I know. It also has occurred to me that I know absolutely zero Italian.

Great.

But, I started classes this week and I'm in Italian I! And I'm trying to pick up words here and there. Its fun trying to pronounce store names while meandering through Florence.

Going to France this past weekend allowed me to appreciate italian even more! I can at least pick out a few things here and there that resemble some form of Spanish.

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First week of classes. My classes rock.

Aside from having 6 hour studio art classes that take up the WHOLE ENTIRE day, I am enjoying school.

Who knew I would ever actually enjoy school? I think I finally found my place. 5 Universities and 6 transcripts later, I am finally enjoying college.

My Palaces of Florence class is taking a field trip next class to a Palazzo! I can hardly wait. Second class and we are already taking tours!

In my Historical Painting class we are making a copy of a master from the Renaissance. We are starting from scratch making our own wood panels and egg tempura paints. We also get to guild with gold and make our own pigments!!! The master I picked is Botticelli. I will be attempting to copy this image.

She will also have a gilded halo around her head. Im really pumped!

I went to my sculpture class. I'm dropping it.

Ancient Rome will be an interesting class. I can hardly understand the professor due to his thick accent. And his lecturing style is all over the place. But, I'm interested in the material! So hopefully it'll be awesome! I have no doubts.

Instead of sculpture, I am taking Museology. I've toyed around with idea of museum curation and hopefully this class will give me some idea of whether or not I want to pursue that. Yay for more school!

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I attended an opera this week! Don Giovani. It was great!! Except it was really long and I had no idea what was going on. During intermission we asked someone to explain it to us. The second half was more enjoyable once we knew what was going on!

the roommates at the opera! 

No complaints. I went to an opera in Florence and got to dress up all fancy for it!

We also might have gone to McDonalds at 1am after the opera. It was kind of sketchy. Don't worry mom. I'm still alive and still have my wallet!

Salt. IS SO GOOD!!!

Other cultural experiences from this week include finding some art stores!

I died in here.

Getting lost to and from picking up a new set of keys. YAY! New keys! And just to make sure I don't lose them again I bought a key chain from a street vendor! And maybe picked up some other things. They are really nice if you don't go to the scary ones.

I also bought my school books today. Got really really really lost. I couldn't find where I was on the blow up city center map so I had to look at the entire city view. I was way north. Praise the Lord for protecting me. I have no idea if I was in a good or bad part of town.

Duomo.

But, when in doubt, if I can find this guy. I can get home. He's great, and such a creeper. I think I will devote an entire post to him someday soon!

I GOT MAIL THIS WEEK! 

Thank mom for sending me mail! It was the highlight of my week. 

For those of you that don't know. I absolutely LOVE mail!

Mail. Happy Heart.

There is my address ^^^^ (in the picture) ^^^^ so now you have no excuse not to write me! It costs $1.10 to mail an international letter. In case anyone wants to know! Just throwing out some random facts!

Biggest news of the week. I made it to class today without a map. Although I got super turned around I ended up finding it! I'm getting there, slowly but surely I'll know my way around Firenze!

hoping to not look like an American tourist soon... and just an American. I feel like its a little higher status... then again, maybe not

We have a self defense class tomorrow and I am on a quest for a new pair of boots first thing in the morning!

And with the promise of Venice on the horizon, it has been an incredible week!

Masks I picked up at a street vendor today for the carnivale in Venice. Shhh!! Don't tell Will. He said I had to get him a mask, so I got us matching ones. Sorry I'm not sorry. His is the kitty cat!

The City of Romance

That's right. I went to Paris. My namesake (kind of).

And look who brought me!!

 at the Eiffel Tower!

I was a last minute addition to the travel plans. Will literally bought my plane tickets 2 days before we left.

No one knew getting to Paris would be such an adventure. This is how the journey unfolded:


FRIDAY:

Train: Florence to Pisa

Lunch in Pisa

Train: Pisa Centrale to Pisa Airport

20 min to boarding Will realizes he lost his wallet

The flight starts boarding and Will comes back with wallet (everything still in it). In the meantime an Asian from England (with a proper british accent) has made small talk with me

Land in Paris

Realize we didn't land in Paris. We landed in a rando small town and hour outside of Paris.

British Asian guy tells us to walk 45 min to another town and take a 6e train into Paris instead of the 16e bus from the airport.

We take his advice.

Singing his praises all the way to the city we get there 2 hours later (with a stop at McDonalds)

At the train station we can not buy tickets due to the machines only taking cards with chips in them. Who knew.

Cursing the British Asian we start to walk the long uphill trek back to the airport when we find a taxi driver.

He is paid 20e to drive us a 10min drive to the airport. a reasonable amount when split between 5 frustrated freezing Americans.

Pay the 16e and ride the bus into Paris

Saved at the metro by a friend studying in Paris who shows us the way to our hotel. She was the real angel of the day, not the British Asian.

We were so exhausted, but were greeted by a beautiful sight when we finally made it to our hotel room.

no words. beautiful.

SATURDAY:

Went straight to the Eiffel Tower. Obviously. 

But first we stopped at the most amazing bakery ever! I wanted to try one of everything!

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

This guy. Eiffel Tower. I win.

Here comes the snow!

View of Paris from the Eiffel

It. Is. Snowing.

As we climbed the steps of the Eiffel Tower we could see the storm moving in across the city. We thought it was rain! And none of us wore our rain jackets. It only had a 30% chance of rain. Why would there be rain. Am I right?

We were wrong. It was snow pellets! The coolest thing ever! Snow. On the Eiffel Tower. In Paris. 

It was magnificent.

We spent a lot of time at the Eiffel Tower. We then walked to the Louvre and stopped for Asian food along the way.

Dont judge. It was yummy!

Finally. The Louvre.

yes yes yes

If you think you're about to get an Art History Lesson with Paris. You. Are. Wrong.

We arrived at the Louvre at 4:45. It closes at 5:30. I had to wait another day to tour the Louvre. I was more than disappointed. 

So instead we went to see the Arc de Triumph. 

Crepes on our way to the Arc

View of the sunset from the Louvre.

Arc de Triumph

When planning our evening with the rest of our group. Will turns to me.

"Do you want to go on a date with me tonight?"

....uummmmm.................. Hang on. Let me think about that for a second.

"YESS!!"

So. Taking advantage of Paris and all of its romance, we made a few stops during our date. 

Eiffel Tower. Notre Dame. Candlelight Dinner.

This guy took me on a date in Paris! Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

What a great date night!

Besides not being able to see the Louvre. Saturday was a fantastic day. 

SUNDAY:

Will and I ditched the rest of the group and woke up early to go to the Louvre. It was free admission today since it is the first Monday of the month.

We went with the rest of Paris to see amazing art. But first we stopped yet again at the yummy little bakery.

Eating Macaroons outside of the Louvre

And we finally made it into the Louvre! The museum of numerous puns Will made this weekend! and yes, I louvred each and every one of them!

My favorite sculpture of ALL TIME is in the Louvre. We were on a mission to find her! And were able to see some amazing things along the way.

And now. What you have all been waiting for with great anticipation. Art History time with Paris!

We found the Venus de Milo. The Greek goddess Aphrodite, but Venus to the Romans.

There are no words.

So, if you have payed attention during my previous blogs you will know what such a HUGE DEAL this guy is!  He was found at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea in 1996 because of a ship wreck. Basically all bronze statues were destroyed and melted down to use for money and every day objects. Especially during raids and wars. So the ones that survive are so amazing! I love him! He is thought to be an athlete removing oil and sand from his body by using a strigil. Thus the name given the him: The Croatian Apoxyomenos. He is also thought to be a Roman replica of a Greek original. BUT HE IS BRONZE!!

The Code of Hammurabi. Learned about this awesome thing my freshman year. Can't believe I got to see it! These are the laws of the 6th Babylonian king. It contains over 282 laws which range from matters of contract, how to pay a surgeon, property damage to your house if it is in another's care, and divorce. So crazy!! 

 Finally.. What I have waited to see again for 8 years. "Nike of Samothrace" or, the "Winged Victory of Samothrace". Whichever you prefer.

Let's take a moment and look at how beautiful she is. Isn't she stunning? Background. The commanding naval officer of the time commissioned this sculpture after winning a huge naval battle! From the island Samothrace she was placed where she could be seen by ships on the ocean. Her clothes look like they are blowing in the breeze from the ocean and it displays such an image of triumph. SHE IS SO AMAZING! They date her back to as late at 250 BC. There is so much more about her. But. There is so much more!

I mightv'e become a little depressed when I left her.

So, after dragging Will through the Louvre, I know he was bored out of his mind, but I think he enjoyed the fact that I was so giddy about everything, we ate at, yes, another chinese restaurant!

Not being able to contact anyone all day we went back to the hotel to get our bags we left in storage there.

They weren't there.

Finally got a text from the rest of the group, they picked up our bags on the way out. 

High tailed it to the bus stop because we didn't want to have a huge awful crisis getting to the airport again.

While we were waiting for our friends, our bags, and the bus, we had another round of crepes!

Men and their crepes.

yummmmm!!!

Finally, we got our bags, the rest of our group, and it was off to the airport.

We were all relieved to be back in Italy where we could understand some of the language, instead of the French vomit of letters that they call a way to communicate. 

But, there's more.

Will lost his passport at the airport. It was recovered. Will had his guardian angel working over time this weekend! 

And when all of us got back to Florence I realized I had no idea where my keys were or when the last time was I had them...... uh-oh.

With a 45 min layover Will and I rushed to my apartment and buzzed in thanks to my awesome roommates and I tore apart my room and backpack looking for my keys. 

I still can't find them. 

So. Prayers for me as I start my first week of classes. That I can find my keys, and if not, that the process of requiring replacement keys will not be awfully painful.

A HUGE shout out to Will this weekend for him and his friends including me in a great trip to Paris! I had a blast and it was the perfect weekend after not seeing Will for a month! He's so good to me! And his friends were awesome to take care of me all weekend and keep me feelings safe! 

And, with that, I leave you until next time. Don't worry. Next weekend is Venice!!

Firenze!

At last! I made it to Florence! Although, I will have you know that while I was in Rome I discovered that I have an Italian pop-star look alike and her co-singer begged me to sing with him at the colosseum! But really! (Lizzie McGuire Movie reference for all you Disney Channel 90's kids!)

But, even so, I left Roma on Monday by train. Yes, my dad and I made it successfully through the train station and onto the train with ALL of our luggage! Although we did get some crazy looks from the locals.

Riding the train here is literally my favorite thing to do in the entire world! I can't wait to ride another one! I think if I'm ever bored (highly unlikely) I will buy a last minute train ticket to some rando Italian town and ride there and back for the day! Its so soothing and peaceful and beautiful.

View from the morning train ride

Florence is beautiful, in case you had your doubts. 

Yesterday I met my roommates. 

In front of the Duomo. Left to right: Jenn, me, and Katie (who I will be sharing my room with)

There are 6 of us in a 3 bedroom apartment. Its located in the Mercato Centrale. that's the CENTRAL MARKET of the city people! We decided we won the best apartment location. It's only a couple blocks from the Duomo, train station, and our classes! The market is so awesome! It has fresh anything you want (even somethings you dont want, like unidentifiable animals). We also have a gelato shop right below our apartment. Yes. We win! 

We move into our apartments in the morning, so we will see how the place looks from the inside! 

The past two days have been filled with walking and beautiful sites, and boring orientation sessions. We also have a cooking class tomorrow, which I am so pumped about! Although, let's be honest, I'm already getting tired of having pasta for every single meal. 

Highlight of the day... I got a haircut!! I know, living life on the edge. It was so much fun! The lady that cut my hair did not speak any English. She had to get another lady to come translate for her before she started cutting. And after that, there was no turning back. I could not find any rhyme or reason to how she was cutting my hair. She would just take random chunks and snip away. 

Cutting, cutting, cutting!

I now look super European and will soon have the shoes to complete the look! I can't wait to get my next haircut!

So, like I mentioned before, a lot of walking has happened since my arrival to Europe. Which, came as no surprise to me. But, apparently my feet have yet to receive the memo. I also realized the boots I've worn all week are about 4 years old or more! and they do not have the best arch support, or really any support. I'm still keeping my eyes out for those perfect pair of boots! Which is great because right now is saldi, a sale that happens twice a year in Italy. It ends at the end of this month. I literally have two days to find shoes on super sale! But do not fret, there are shoe stores on every corner here! 

Did I mention my roommate Katie is an Art Major?! STOP IT GOD!! Why are you so good to me? And she isn't one of those weird, hairy, pot smoking, hippie art majors either! The whole 24 hours I've known her she seems to be SUPER awesome! So, I know so many of you prayed for my roommates and, so far, Katie is any answer to every prayer! During our tour of Florence today both of us were just in awe of the beauty and art and... everything. We've already been to one museum and plan on going to every single one in Florence. Thanks API for giving us a card that gets us in free to basically every museum in the city.

On our tour of the city, Katie and I realized we were the only 2 out of the 17 in our group that actually cared about what our tour guide was saying. She was so nice and toward the end of the short two hour tour she would mainly just talk in the direction of Katie and me when addressing the group. It was so great! I can't wait to explore the city more. Especially with my new art appreciating friend Katie! (But seriously, Praise the Lord for his provision!)

New goal for the semester. Run a half marathon. There is one in Florence in April! It is giving me motivation to work out again! Just what I needed. I feel like I need to tell you this so I will have some type of accountability to train and run the half. Thanks for looking out for me!

My dad leaves super early in the morning! Let's hear it for the Best Daddy of the Year!! 

Me and my Daddy all around Europe!

So blessed that he came with me to Europe and took me so many wonderful places! Love you dad you're the best!

On an entirely new subject!!! WILL IS COMING TO FLORENCE ON THURSDAY! I haven't seen that sweet boy in 24 days (but who's counting). I can not wait to see him! YAY YAY YAY!

Also. I'm going to Paris this weekend with him and some of his friends! Be ready for a lot of Art Lessons with Paris when I get back because I'm going to the Louvre! I'm literally dying on the inside! 

And with that phrase basically summing up the past week of my life, I must go to sleep. Moving to my apartment at 8:30 will come very early in the morning! 

Ciao!!!

The Eternal City

After missing our connection in Frankfurt on Friday night and leaving on a 7am flight to Rome yesterday morning, we finally arrived in Italia!!

Adios Amarillo. Buon Giorno Roma!

Seven years ago I fell in love with the city of Rome. Today and yesterday I have rekindled that love and can not wait to come back again in 3 weeks! We walked all over this beautiful city and proved you can see all the big sites in a mere one and a half days. It was a whirlwind.

And now, it is with great pleasure that I picture vomit Rome all over you!


SATURDAY 1.26.2013

First stop: Colosseum
It's right around the corner from our hostel!

Colosseum!

Colosseum!

Arch of Constantine

Roman Forum

Roman Forum. Arch of Trajan.

Column of Marcus Aurelius. 

Pantheon

Pantheon. Fun fact, last time I was in Rome I didn't actually go inside (idk why it's free to get in) and I've regretted it ever since. But, I went in this time! YAY!

Trevi Fountain

Wishing at Trevi

Spanish Steps

SUNDAY 1.27.2013

Went to the Vatican today. It is usually closed on Sundays, except for the last Sunday of every month when it is free to the public. So we went with the rest of Rome to see the museum. It was insane the amount of people there.

Vatican Museum. This guy.
Diskobolos. Vatican Museum.
I saw him 3 times today all in different places! the original doesn't exist anymore. 

Sistine Chapel. oops.. might've accidentally left my camera on.

Sistine Chapel. oops.. might've accidentally left my camera on.

Climbed to the top of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica

on the top of the roof of the Basilica. Previous picture taken from top of the dome behind me

Above the interior of the Basilica. There was also a Mass in session while we were there, since it was Sunday morning

St. Peter's Basilica

Don't freak out... but there's a super dead guy in there!!!

This is one of the reasons I love St. Peter's Basilica. The light that comes through it. I remember this vividly from my last visit and absolutely loved seeing it again today. It is so majestic.

Me. 

Vatican City

Dad.

We also went to the National Museum. A huge difference from the Vatican as there was NO ONE there. It was so great! A Sunday night, just us and wonderful art! Couldn't be more happy.

National Museum. This guy. Another art piece I love. Probably more than the bust of Caracalla.. i know right? I studied this sculpture last semester. This guy is so legit! He's a boxer. an OLD boxer. Greeks were really big on showing men and women in their prime, highly stylized and beautiful. So when this new style of art became popular in Hellenistic Greece it was a huge deal! He is obviously worn out from a match, or practice as seen by the expression on his face. What you cant see is the detail on his body. His face is swollen in places from being hit, he has cuts and scrapes all over his face and body... he even has cauliflower ear. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! Cauliflower ear. For real. I absolutely love this piece and I had no idea I would ever see it! Day. Made. 

National Museum. This sarcophagus speaks for itself. Wow.

Primavera Fresco. I learned about this fresco last semester and oh my. Seeing it today was unreal. It was HUGE and so beautiful and all there! 

Tomorrow morning we head out for Florence! My final destination for the semester. We are traveling by train. With 6 pieces of luggage. Hopefully it will be an experience we can both look back on and laugh at. 

Stay tuned!