So I’ve realized that I’ve mostly been talking about the most exciting parts of my weeks…special trips and museum visits. Though those have made up most of my trip thus far, I have developed a routine and I figure I should let you know what I do day to day. Keep in mind, two weeks from now that routine will be completely changed (because classes will start) but for now, here is a normal day for me (in excruciating detail!).
At 7:30 my alarm goes off and I am generally awoken from a surprisingly vivid dream (usually wonderful, sometimes terrifying. Last night I dreamt that Joseph and I were trying to help the Beast—accused of murdering Gaston—escape from the Disney castle and get back to Belle but Scar was guarding the door and the mermaids were being evil and we couldn’t wake up the seven dwarves!). A normal morning routine ensues (I’m not going to be that excruciating…) and for breakfast I have coffee and toast. Now, I am a breakfast person. I will wake up five hours before my first class so that I can get my eggs and hash browns every morning so getting used to having no breakfast is not an easy task…ahh, the pangs of being in Italy. After “breakfast” we (my roommate, Kari, and I) walk around the corner to the bus stop. There is no shade at this bus stop and by 8:20 the sun has always already been beating down hot and heavy on these two pale-skinned redheads. The regulars at our bus stop have finally stopped giving us strange looks as we wait with them (Italians are, in general, not redheaded or pale skinned).
We ride the bus to the Santa Maria Novella train station in centro Firenze, walk across the street, around the corner, then climb one hundred and ten stairs to the top floor of the building where our classrooms are located. Our Italian classes (the students in the ACM program are split into three different beginner Italian courses) begin at 9:00 and last until 12:30 with a half hour break starting at 10:30. I generally spend that half hour trying to post this blog (I don’t get internet at home and it takes about a half-hour to post any pictures that I might want to share with you). Other students use this as a snack break or cigarette break. After the second half of class we have lunchtime. I break out my newly-purchased Tupperware container with my homemade sandwich (Nutella and peach jam), plus an apple and juice box. Once lunch is finished we will usually have some free time, if not an entirely free afternoon. I have spent these afternoons searching for various items around Florence (cell phone, francobolli e busta at the post office [stamps and envelopes], etc.), shopping for pleasure or groceries or simply exploring the city. Sometimes at 2 we will have a meeting or museum visit. Yesterday we went to Orsanmichele church and museum* and the week will continue with introductory meetings for our elective classes.
*A note on Orsanmichele: the building was built over an ancient vegetable garden and was originally used as grain storage. It turned into a more spiritual area around the 13th century where each guild (like a union; the butchers, the money-lenders, the tailors, etc.) was given a niche in the building to place a statue to pay homage to. The plague prevented the poorer guilds from filling their niche right away, though this misfortune ended up to be in their favor. The richer guilds immediately hired old, experienced sculptors to build statues of their various patron saints while the poorer guilds were forced to look for less experienced, younger (and inexpensive) sculptors. Little did they know that sculptors like Raphael would be the first in a new and monumental movement of artists (this movement includes Donatello, Michelangelo and the like). These more revolutionary statues are certainly my favorite. The most noticeable details about these new sculptures are the movement (contraposta poses, fabric textures) and the disproportionate bodies. These newer and more beautiful statues have hands and feet that are larger than the rest of their body suggest they should be. I find this proportion to be incredibly interesting and beautiful, though it’s true that those proportions are rare in the real world.
But I have gotten distracted…ah! Right, so after these visits or free afternoons we return home on bus number 4 to relax and study until dinner at 8. Dinner is three or four courses starting with a pasta or risotto dish, then a main dish of meat or vegetables followed by “salad fruit”. Sometimes we also have a sweeter dessert added on to the fruit. It is always delicious and prepared by our wonderful host-parents. As soon as I purchase a new camera (I broke mine the first weekend and have been using my roommate’s photos since then) I will begin photographing my meals and trying to describe them in more detail than I have been (as requested by Joseph and Allegra). Dopo la cena (after dinner) we return to our room to study and write blogs and are generally asleep (or getting my NPR fix through podcasts of “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” and “This American Life” on my iPod) by 10:30.
So there you are! Now that I’ve answered your questions, here are some questions that I have been asked often since I’ve been in Italy:
-How many piercings do you have? Fourteen (and you can see them all if you’re looking at my head).
-Tattoos? Yes, I have two which you can see if I want you to (not always).
Are you in a band? Umm…no…???
-But…your hair? Oh, I got upset one day and literally pulled my hair out (not true, though it’s fun to play with Italians who don’t understand sarcasm).
-Do you have a twin? Yes! But she doesn’t look like me and no, it’s not Kari. She’s my roommate who happens to have the same color hair as me.
-Are you single? Nope! Nice try…and I still am not going to buy what you’re trying to sell me.
I want to end this post with a brief apology: I understand that the dates that I title my posts with do not match up with the dates that they are actually posted on. I need to go out of my way to find internet and therefore I write my blog posts when I have time and then post them when I have internet (never are the two times simultaneous). But alas, I work with what I am given.
Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, the titles of my posts are all song titles. Today’s song (a favorite of mine by Shpongle) was stuck in my head because we actually learned the Italian way to say “hooray!” in class today: Evviva!
Now I am off to study for the penultimate quiz before our Italian final exam! Ciao!
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