a few more pictures

Pictures!

La Dolce Vita

Ciao!

I know it’s been a very long time since I’ve updated my blog. So much has happened that I don’t even know where to begin!

After Lucca, that week was full of exploring Florence and taking pictures. I went to museums like the Academia (to see the Michelangelo’s David again), the Uffizi to see the Carvaggio exhibit and the Birth of Venus, the Galileo museum, Dante’s house, the Santa Croce Church, and the Santa Maria Novella Church. Florence is the hub of both art and architecture in Italy-and I’m so incredibly lucky to be able to just walk in to all of these places and see them so easily.

Other than exploring the museums and churches of Florence, I spent that week after Rome eating at all sorts of amazing places in Florence. The food here is so absolutely delicious I can’t describe it. The fruits and vegetables at the Central Market are so fresh, sweet and crisp that fruit at home will not be the same. The restaurants here are all amazing because the pasta is so soft that it melts in your mouth-and the pizza is so light and amazing that its normal to eat an entire pizza by yourself. Some of my favorite restaurants (in case any of you ever come to Florence) are: Ac qua il Due (they have San Diego and Washington DC locations!), il Gato e la Volpe, GustaPizza, Salumeria Verdi, and Antica Trattoria Angiolini.

My favorite gelaterrias are: La Carraia, Perque No, Rivareno and Vivoli. There’s a Vivoli in Los Angeles apparently!

Moving on, Friday the 9^th was the last day of classes for the first summer session. All of the girls who I lived with that session left the next day, so we all went out to a nice dinner that night and celebrated. It was sad to see many of them go, but it’s been really fun meeting new people too.

Last weekend was spent in Florence reading in gardens and enjoying the wonderful views.

This week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I went down to Naples on Tuesday with the school, and it was so gorgeous that I want to move there. Southern Italy is a like a completely different place from Northern Italy. Southern Italy is a dirtier and still has a strong presence of a Communist Party. It is home to a lot of organized crime as well. (Interesting Fact: a large part of Southern Italy is still clamoring to be its own country, separate from Northern Italy.) However, we were lucky and went to the safer and more beautiful parts of Naples. A friend of mine here has a cousin who lives in a suburb of Naples called Pozzuoli and we spent a day there. That city is beautiful and sits right on the water. The water is gorgeous-it’s a really deep clear blue. I was able see all of the Bay of Naples. That view was simply breathtaking. On Wednesday I went to Pompeii! Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried city near Naples. It was destroyed and completely buried during a long eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius (which I saw from the distance!) Pompei was amazing. I was able to see the ruins, plaster casts of victims that were still intact, the amphitheater and the Forum. I was able to walk through history that I’ve heard about since 5^th grade. It was really incredible.

Thursday was one of the best days of the trip. I went on all forms of travel except for a plane that day. I went on a bus, a train, a ferry, a cable-car and sat in the back of a jeep while sightseeing. I went to the island of Capri, which is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula. After we took a train and bus to the get to the Naples harbor, we took an hour ferry over to the island. When we got to the island, we took a cable car up to the city on the island and began to explore. The views from the city were mind-boggling. The water was as gorgeous as the water in Pozzuoli and Cinque Terre. It was so clear and blue that in the distance, I wasn’t able to tell where the water ended and the sky began. This island is known for its lemons and perfumes. I had some lemon granite (granite is an Italian form of sorbet) and it was the best I’ve ever had. I saw the view from August’s Garden, the Marina Piccola, the Faraglione, and a panoramic view from Capri. We left the island around 5, and went on a sightseeing tour of the Bay of Naples. We literally drove through cities on cliffs overlooking the water, and drove around the entire Bay. It was a little bumpy sitting in the back of a jeep that was going on a little bit of rough terrain, but it was so so beautiful. My friend’s cousin has an amazing life in Naples.

We went to a small restaurant in Naples for dinner on Thursday, and no one in the restaurant spoke English. Despite that, we were able to communicate with the people relatively well, and it was so much fun. We spent two hours just eating, talking and laughing-trying to understand each other. It was the best way to learn the Italian language and immerse myself in Italian culture.

I’ve never been so motivated to learn the language and learn how to cook. My trip to Naples was unforgettable, and I feel so rejuvenated now. I want to do so many things, travel all over the world, meet new people, and learn about new cultures.

I’ve learned so much about culture and differences between places on this trip. I have two friends from Guatemala who generally give a kiss to their friends on each cheek as a normal greeting, but a friend from Hawaii is used to a culture that’s more stoic and not as friendly. In Italian culture, it’s considered rude to cut your pasta before eating it. Also, if other people are eating, you must eat.

The dialects between Southern and Northern Italy are pretty different as well. They said similar words differently. For example, the train terminal in Florence is “Firenze Centrale” pronounced as you see it. In Naples, “Napoli Centrale” is pronounced Napoli CHentrale, with the extra “h” sound. There are little things like that all over the language that were a bit confusing, but really interesting.

I came back to Florence on Friday, and spent the day relaxing a little bit. I had dinner with Melissa, a friend of mine who is a sweetheart, and we walked along the River Arne after dinner. It was really nice to walk the city in the evening. We came across a festival of old European and Italian cars from the 20’s and 30’s which was so awesome.

Saturday was another perfect day. Melissa and I went to the Mercato Centrale (which is still one of my favorite places in Florence), and then took a bus up to a small nearby city called Fiesole. Fiesole is quiet, clean and absolutely beautiful. We hiked up two hiking trails into the camping grounds of the city. It was so much fun and so gorgeous. We came upon a panoramic view of Florence, and it was simply incredible. It was so cool to be able to see all of Florence from a birds-eye perspective. The Piazzale Michelangelo has a similar view, but from the opposite side of Florence and not as high-so it was really fun to see Florence and the Piazza from the other side.

Today should be a nice relaxing day. I’m going to Cascine Park which is on the eastern end of Florence and I’m going to read a book in the shade.

I can’t believe my time in Italy is coming to an end soon! Better make the most of it!

I’d love to hear how everyone is doing-send me emails or comments with updates!

Love and miss you all!

Arrivaderci!

a few pictures!

Melting in Italy...

Buona Notte!

It is ridiculously hot in Italy. Everything I had heard before was not a lie in the least. I've tanned about 10 shades (not an exaggeration) in 3 days. Rome was absolutely amazing, but I felt like I was literally melting there.

We woke up at 6:30 and met the group going to Rome at 7 am. It was a four hour bus ride down to Rome, and we stopped once for coffee (which was much needed). My coffee addiction is up to 3 espressos a day. I keep trying to cut it down, but I end up drinking more. We got to Rome around 11:30, and got to explore the piazza outside of the vatican for about an hour. We then took a 4 hour walking tour through the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. I can't even begin to explain how amazing and surreal it was to be in these places. I've spent years learning about the history of these places-and they are constantly being alluded to in books/movies. I have to say it would have been more amazing if the heat wasn't beating down on us. It was a little over 100 degrees in Rome this weekend. The museum in the Vatican was crazy. We saw the apartments the Pope lives in, all sorts of holy objects, and the catacombs (graves/tombs) of all the previous Popes. We saw the "School of Athens" which I've learned about in history, political science AND art classes. It was incredible. It spanned an entire wall, and the detail was shocking.

We then saw the Sistine Chapel which was stunning. They said not to take pictures, but everyone was. The room was literally packed like fish in a can with tourists, so it was a bit difficult to hear all the history behind the Sistine Chapel, but just looking at it was more than enough.

And then, St. Peter's Basilica. I usually think things are gorgeous, but I'm never moved to stop in my tracks and verbalize the word "wow". I did this and stared for a good 5 minutes before moving closer when I walked into St. Peter's Basilica. There aren't words to describe how beautiful and moving it is. The only other time I've been so stunned by something was when I saw the Taj Mahal with my family in 2004. I can't wait to upload my pictures so everyone can see. (I'm really behind on pictures-I'm sorry!)

We then had dinner in Rome at a famous restaurant called "La Gallina Bianca". It was delicious, as per usual for Italy. We then saw the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps are built on a slope between the Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Trinita dei Monti. It's known as the longest and widest staircase in Europe. It linked the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to to Trinita dei Monti (the church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France).

It was really fun to see the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain in the evening. There were lots os tourists from Spain who screamed with Spain won their soccer game on Saturday evening. It was a really fun and infectious atmosphere.

My roommates and I were pretty exhausted (it was midnight by this time) and decided to walk back to our hotel. The rest of the people in the group were going to explore Rome, but we wanted to get some sleep.

On Sunday, we had breakfast at 7:30 and were off once again to tour Rome. We saw the Colosseum, Palazzo Hill, Roman Forum, Capitol Hill and Pantheon. It was ridiculously hot, but it was surreal to be seeing all these places.

We took a train back to Florence in the evening, and were back within 4 hours.

It was quite a whirlwind of a weekend, but definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

As if my days couldn't get any better, Monday was fabulous. I was pretty exhausted when I woke up from walking so much in Rome this past weekend, but my roommates wanted to go to Lucca after class. Lucca is a small city about an hour and a half from Rome. Lucca is a beautiful city, and its unique because it still has Renaissance-era walls around the city. It's one of very few cities in Italy that still has the old walls around the city. One of my roommates had a friend living in Lucca who is on the women's U.S. Cycling Team. We met her and rented bikes and rode around the city. It was really relaxing and the atmosphere there was really calm. The city wasn't touristy like Rome or Florence and it was a big enough size to be called a city and not a small town. It was a wonderful way to spend a day relaxing without just sitting inside an apartment all day. I loved Lucca so much that I could see myself living there.

In other news, my photography class is going well. I think I'm slowly getting better at matching shutter speed and aperture to the object of my photo. It's really hard to measure these numbers and make sure there's enough light for a good photo-all within a few seconds.

The end of this week will be the end of the current session of classes. Next week I'll be taking Foundation Painting! I'm so excited to get back to an art form that I know something about (not a lot, but a little).

Learning the Italian language is going slowly, as almost everyone in Florence speaks English-especially when they know you can't speak Italian. I spend as much time as possible on the south side of the river, where more Italians live and where it would be easier to learn the language, but its a bit difficult sometimes. Its a good 35-40 minute walk to the other side of the river. I have learned the days of the week and numbers up to 10 and a few other numbers.

I think that's all for now. I love and miss you all!

A presto (see you soon!)

:-)

Weather's Heatin' Up!

Saluti!

It's been a busy couple of days! It's getting a lot hotter here and the heat is definitely draining. Monday was a fairly relaxing day. My photography class is going well. We spent all of monday developing pictures. It's getting easier and quicker the more I practice. I don't know why film photography is a dying art-there are so many things you can do to change how a picture looks and comes out. I know its a pretty expensive and time consuming process (especially for a hobby) but it's really wonderful and I'm glad I'm learning how to do it.

After that, I went to the Academia and saw the real David. This is actually the second time I've seen the real David! It's spectactular in person-pictures and descriptions don't do it justice.

I spent the afternoon relaxing from the heat, and then had dinner with a friend in front of the Palazzi Pitti. I say that so casually "oh I had dinner in front of the palace". :-) It was really wonderful.

Tuesday was a great day! I went to Pisa with a friend, and we ran into two other people from our program. We walked through the city for a while, and then saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Pisa is a lot smaller than I thought, and the tower is definitely a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It was still really amazing to see. It costs 15 euros to climb to the top-and we all didn't think it was worth it because we already had a great view of the city, so we just took some pictures and took a train back to Florence.

Speaking of trains, the train system here in Italy is so easy to navigate. People have told me that before about Europe in general, but I can't believe how easy it is. It's really great and exciting. I really wish Los Angeles/California had better public transportation. I love being able to walk everywhere and get around easily. I really started hating driving by the time I left SD, and I still do. I don't miss driving at all.

I spent Tuesday evening with my roommates. They're all really nice girls and it was fun to explore Florence in the evening with them. We had a good time.

Wednesday was a good day-although even hotter than the previous days. Class was really great today. We went to the San Ambrogio market which is similar to the Mercato Centrale, except it also has a lot of clothing vendors. Our next project focuses on people-candids, portraits, and anything. We talked to the vendors and asked them to take their pictures. "Sono un studiante di fotografia. Permisso, posso farre un foto?" (I'm a photography student, may I please take your picture?) It was a little hard at the beginning, but it was really really fun to actually talk to some Italians in their language. I plan on going back to the market so I can talk to more people.

I spent the rest of wednesday taking photos around Florence and made dinner with some friends.

Thursday was really fun. We're learning a lot of new techniques in photography. We learned how to dodge and burn pictures. Those two techniques play with light and dark contrasts in pictures. I was able to improve one of my photos by highlighting the top corner of it to brighten that area, while keeping the rest of my photo the same. It's the same type of work that Photoshop does on a computer, just manually. I had lunch with my roommates and friends at a place across the river called Gusta Pizza. This pizza was by far the best pizza I've had in Florence-and really affordable. We then went to a place called Mama's Bakery that had amazing desserts. I had a cookie and bought a peach muffin for later. (This muffin was quite excellent. :-) )

I went running around Florence after that. I have to say, I'm in awful shape these days. I was huffing and puffing after 15 minutes. I really need to start working out more to work off all these carbs. I'm getting rounder by the day. I went out with some friends later that night to a place called Central Park which was really really fun. It's in a non-touristy area of Florence and it was great to see what Italians do for fun.

Today was a nice relaxing day. I spent almost 5 hours in the darkroom working on pictures and developing them. My pictures are turning out nicely now. It's definitely a lot more time-consuming than I thought it would be. I then went to the Galileo Museum! I love having the museum pass-I don't have to pay at any museum and I can bypass all lines. (Much to the annoyance of everyone in line...)

I just went for a run, and now I'm relaxing in the apartment for the evening. I'm going to Rome tomorrow! I'm really excited to see the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Vatican. I'll definitely put up some nice pictures soon.

Things I want to do before I leave Florence: ride a bike around Florence, learn more of the language, take pictures of the Mercato Centrale, and go to surrounding cities: Lucca and Parma.

It would be really fun to make a good Italian friend who I can keep in touch with when I leave, so I can continue practicing the language through email. We shall see.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Arrivaderci!

What a wonderful weekend :-)

Ciao!

It was quite an amazing weekend in Florence. On Friday I developed my very first picture! It's not of anything special, just the handlebars of a bicycle, but my teacher said "Brava!" which is a good sign. It took 2.5 hours to develop it! I'm sure I won't remember the process on Monday, but it'll be really great to do it again. I have a lot more admiration for those who develop their own pictures-it takes a lot of precision, effort and attention to every detail.

After class on Friday morning, I went to the Uffizi Museum to pick up my pass. 40 Euros for a "Friends of the Uffizi" pass, and I can get in to any museum in Florence with it, and bypass lines! What a deal! I explored the museum for a while, and then explored the Boboli Gardens. It was so nice to stroll through the gardens and take pictures. It's a very soothing place, and very well kept. It's an escape from the bustle that goes on in the center of Florence. It reminded me of gardens I've seen in London. I spent Friday evening with some friends. One of them has a friend who is training to become a chef and will be in Florence for two years! (!) He made eggplant parmesan, which was absolutely amazing. All the ingredients in Florence are so fresh and delicious. I have a feeling even if someone didn't follow directions from a recipe, the food would still be delicious because the ingredients are so natural.

Saturday was a great day. I woke up and went to the Santa Maria Novella church. It's stunning, just like everything else I've seen in Florence. I then hopped on a train to Siena to meet a friend for lunch. Stephanie and I wandered the city, which is gorgeous. It's not quite as touristy as Florence, and is a lot smaller. It's cleaner and has a calmer atmosphere. It's known for its horse races, and it has a grand stadium for them. I actually think I prefer Siena to Florence. They have a medieval festival this weekend complete with dancing, magic and a horse race! I may go with Angela and Stephanie on Friday!

And today was absolutely leisurely and perfect. I woke up, responded to some emails from home, and spent 3 hours walking/hiking around the Piazzale Michelangelo, Palazzo Pitti, and Boboli Gardens. It was beautiful and definitely a good way to work off all the pasta I've been eating.

A few of my thoughts! I'm making some headway on learning the language. I talked to an Italian today and got as far as: Buon Giorno! (Good morning/day) How are you? (Come sta?) I am fine (Sto bene). I know, a very short and small conversation, but it's something!

I've also learned: Sono vegetariano (I'm vegetarian), Che significa? (What does it mean?) and Come si dice in Italiano? (How do you say this in Italian?)

These are all basics, but hopefully I'll learn more and more. Italian is really similar to Spanish, so I can understand the general meanings of things-but its confusing to differentiate the two. I accidentally said "por favor" instead of "per favore/permesso", and I got an angry look from the person I said it to. I take it they do not like being confused with the Spanish, which is understandable, and I'm going to be a lot more careful about that from now on.

A few random things I've learned: "trattorias" and "osterias" generally have better quality food than other places and places that have large amounts of gelato piled are not quality gelato places. The best gelato places I've found (from exploring and advice from locals) are: La Carraia, Rivareno, and Grom.

Moving on, an Italian custom is to eat appetizers and drink wine between 7-9 pm, and it's called "aperitivo". It's similar to tapas. It's a great way to sample Italian foods, try wines and meet Italian locals who always go to get aperitivos without fail. I've gone a few times, and I love this tradtion. The only thing is that you're supposed to get dinner afterwards, but aperitivos is always more than enough food for me and I'm too full to eat dinner.

The only few unfortunate things that have happened lately are that my roommate had bed bugs and our apartment was fumigated yesterday. I've been lucky so far (let's hope it stays that way) and my room has been okay. Also, I continually have smoke blown into my face when I'm wandering the streets, and it's not very enjoyable. I know smoking is prevalent everywhere, but Europeans seem to smoke quite a lot more. Or at least I notice is a lot more. It's a truly disgusting habit, and the one thing I won't miss about Italy.

These few unfortunate things are insignificant in comparison to the wonderful experience I'm having here. I know I'm really lucky to be here, meet Italian people, and learn about the culture here. (Thank you mom and dad! I love you!)

I think that's enough rambling for now. :-)

Buona notte! (Good night!)

p.s. I finally figured out how to post pictures! That's a picture of me overlooking Vernazza, one of the cities along Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre + San Giovanni!

Ciao a Tutti!

Wow, I don't even know where to begin. I went to Cinque Terre yesterday, and it was by far one of the most absolutely gorgeous places I've ever seen in my life. Cinque Terre is on the coast of Italy, and its about a 5-7 mile hike that goes through 5 coastal cities. It's a pretty tough hike, going up and down cliffs, but its simply amazing. The five cities are: Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso, and Riomaggiore. We got to the train station around 7: 10 yesterday, and spent the whole day Cinque Terre. From the train station, we took a 2 hour bus to Manarola, which is where the day began. (We went on a tour because Cinque Terre is pretty large, and we figured it'd be nice to have someone to help us navigate.) Our tour guide's name was Douglas, and he was really wonderful. We ate breakfast on the bus, and stopped for coffee along the way. (Now we had no excuses for not having energy during the hike!)

Once we stopped in Manarola, we began the day by hiking to Corniglia, which took about an hour and a half. We spent some time in Corniglia, ate lunch there, and then hiked for 2 hours to Vernazza. The hike from Manarola to Corniglia wasn't too tough, and it was a pretty comfortable temperature, which was perfect. During the last part of this leg of the hike was a staircase built into the cliffs that was 382 stairs. It definitely worked up an appetite. We ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant on a cliff, overlooking the water. How much better could this day get? We then did the hardest part of the hike to Vernazza. It was pretty hot, and we were walking on pretty narrow pathways up and down the cliffs. When we got to Vernazza, the first thing we did was eat gelato, and it was by far the best gelato I've had yet. (Good thing I went hiking yesterday!) We explored the city of Vernazza for a while, which had a beautiful clock tower that's been there since 1318! How incredible is that? We then took a 5 minute train ride to Monteroose and spent some time at the beach there. This beach was apparently rated the sexist beach in the world in 2009. After that, we took a 40 minute boat ride to Riomaggiore. Not only was this whole day wonderful with the hike, beach, amazing food and train ride-but we also went on a boat ride!! It was beautiful because we went back past all the cities we hiked through, and it was amazing to be able to see them from the opposite perspective. Once we docked in Riomaggiore, we walked back to Manarola.

The pathway from Riomaggiore to Manarola is called "Lovers Lane". On lovers lane, its a custom to hang a lock along the fence and throw the key in the ocean. It's supposed to signify that couples will stay together forever. Our tour guide joked that these days people have combination locks in case they want to break up. :-) I happened to have a lock in my backpack, so I hung it on the fence and threw my key in the ocean, just for my own good luck! Hopefully my lock will still be there one day when I come back!

Two hours later, we arrived back in Florence. After hiking in the sun all day, you would think we were done for the day-but we weren't! Yesterday was a Florentine holiday in honor of the Patron Saint of Florence, San Giovanni. There was a festival throughout the city all day, mock medieval fighting matches, and fireworks over the river at night. We missed most of the festival, but we showered quickly and made it to one of the bridges to see the fireworks. The fireworks lasted for about 40 minutes, and were absolutely beautiful. The city shoots them from the Piazzale Michealangelo, which is one of the highest points in the city.

What a day right? The only way to describe it is perfect. A gorgeous hike at one of the most beautiful places on earth, amazing fireworks, and all of it with really wonderful people. I'll never forget it. (Hopefully I'll be able to post a link to pictures soon!)

Arrivaderci!

random ramblings on a wednesday afternoon

Saluti!

Just within a few hours or so, I have so many thoughts about the life and culture of Italy that I don't want to forget. Today was the first day that I've had a lot of alone time, which was really wonderful. Of course I love meeting new people, but it's really wonderful to be able to escape on my own and soak in the culture.

Coffee! The coffee culture here is so different from in the united states. Along all the streets and roads here are several cafes, mostly called bars. But they aren't bars for alcoholic drinks, they're bars for coffee and a pastry, sometimes a small panini. The majority of these bars do not give coffee to go, and people stand at the bar and drink their coffee quickly. It doesn't seem to be a usual thing to go to a coffee shop and get something to go, or spend a long time drinking the coffee. Coffee cups are also a great deal smaller here. My coffee habit from the states of drinking 2 or 3 large cups of coffee a day is slowly being defeated here.

The quality of the coffee here is really rich and amazing. The majority of the coffees I've had here are sweeter and stronger. I have yet to navigate different coffee beans and asking for different roasts, but I haven't seen many people do that here.

I'm officially friends with the morning barista at a place called "Italian Bar" across the street from the building where I have class. He's been teaching me a few words every time I go in to get an espresso. (Who knew I'd start drinking espresso!) Today he taught me spoon, "cucchiaio". I'm slowly on my way to speaking with the locals! My goal is to have a basic conversation with a local by the time I leave. :-)

Moving on to the Mercato Centrale! I finally went today, and it was the best place I've ever been to. I'm officially in love with it. I love grocery shopping, and all of the grocery stores here have been really great to go to. Grocery stores work a lot more efficiently here than they do in the U.S. When you grab vegetables or fruits, you're supposed to weigh them and price them yourself before you go to the register. Also, you're supposed to bag your own groceries yourself, and its common knowledge to go quickly. I didn't know this the other day, and went a little bit slowly as I was juggling my purchases and wallet. A lady came up to help me move out of the way, and I thought she was being really kind-but apparently she was irritated with me haha. Anyways, the Mercato Centrale is the best place I've ever been to. There are fresh vegetables and fruits from several local farmers, fresh meat for those who want that, and all sorts of cheese and wine shops. I got an apple, some grapes, some dried fruit and some tomatoes. I can't even begin to describe how delicious ALL of it is. Everything here is sweeter, fresher, crisper and just overall delicious. It's clearly obvious that there are no preservatives or anything added to make the food last longer. The only downside for someone who likes to shop only once a week is that all of these fruits and vegetables last for only a day or two.

On to community service. I think it would be really wonderful to try and do some community service while I'm here. It would be both something that I'd love to do, and help immerse me in the culture here and speak with more locals. My apartment is on the north side of the river, which is more touristy, so its hard to engage people because they start speaking English as soon as they realize you don't speak Italian. The south side is a lot better for trying to learn the language, however I need some practice before I jump in.

And finally, my photography class. My teacher, Cossimo Bargilone, is quite amusing and really helpful. We took a roll of film yesterday, and we began the process of developing our pictures today! I'm not a great photographer in the least and this is an art form that I have absolutely no experience in, so I'm a bit wary. We took the caps off our film, and loaded the reel into a black canister that we would wash with all sorts of chemicals that would help the pictures show up onto the reel. Note: we did all of this in the dark so as not to expose the film. This was pretty difficult for me, as its a delicate process and you have to be careful not to touch the film. I needed some help with it, and at one point I dropped my film on the ground today, so I'm not expecting any masterpieces for my first roll. After I finally finished this, I went to the sink to wash the reel. We washed it for about 20-25 minutes with 4 different chemicals. Its a very precise process, and I had to time every step. I would list out the steps here, but they were so confusing that I can't quite remember them yet. Hopefully soon.

After all the washing, we were able to take the film out of the canister, and place them on a heated drying rack. After 20 minutes of drying, they were ready to cut and place onto negative sliders. On Friday, we will look at them on lighted tables to see which pictures we want to blow up and develop. Our first assignment is to have at least 4 shots that have demonstrated a good balance of aperture with shutter speed, something that is "curious and unique", and something that has a nice contrast of light and dark. I think I'll be lucky if all my pictures aren't blurry.

I think that's all for now!

Arrivaderci signores e signoras!

hoping the rain will go away!

Saluti!

So Alyssa came to Florence to visit on Saturday night. She flew into Pisa, and then took a train into Florence. The train station is 5 minutes from my apartment which is convenient. We just chatted and caught up on life for a while.

Sunday was fun. She and I wandered about Florence for about 2 and a half hours. We went to the Piazza della Liberta, and then walked through the eastern side of Florence which is a lot more residential. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe by the river, and then ventured to the Ponte Vecchio and through the shopping district. It was raining on and off all day.

Today I had my first class! I'm taking Classical Photography. This class is a bit out of my league as I've never taken a Film Photography class before and I've never developed pictures myself before. My professor seems really nice and helpful, although a bit eccentric. He is very flamboyant, loud and uses a lot of hand gestures, but very friendly. The darkroom facilities are really nice here and seem to be completely up to date. Class meets everyday from 9 to 11:30. After class, Alyssa and I went to lunch at a place called Pino's Sandwiches. It was a tiny little place, but it was really cheap and amazing. I can't get over how amazing the mozzarella is here. After that we went to the Duomo, and walked up one of the towers. It has 414 stairs, and it was a bit tiring during the hike up-but the view from the top was well worth it. I could see all of Florence from there.

We then went to the Leather Market in the Piazza de San Lorenzo which has all sorts of Italian goods, including cart after cart full of genuine leather goods. It was really difficult not to whip out my wallet and buy everything I liked. I resisted and didn't buy anything! I figure if I'm going to be here for a while, I will have time to look around and find the really rare and beautiful things I really like.

I'm getting a little more situated about the city now and get to all the class buildings without a map (which is a feat for me). The people on the other side of the river are really nice and helpful with tourists trying to learn Italian. I'm really hoping I can learn a few more words and have basic conversations with people, instead of constantly asking "Parla Inglese?" which means "Do you speak English?"

I had gelato at a place called La Carraia today, and it was by far the best gelato I've ever had in my life. Apparently its a well known shop in Florence and everyone thinks its amazing. I've learned that certain gelaterias that have mounds of gelato in their glass cases do not actually have good gelato. Those types of gelaterias just plop new gelato on top of the old gelato without making everything fresh everyday. I'm going to become a gelato snob soon! :-)

Tomorrow I'm going to walk the city during class to practice taking pictures, and later will go to a "Tabbachio" to get stamps to mail out some postcards! A tabbachio is a little shop that is on about every block, and has little things like stamps, a few drinks, snacks, cigarettes etc. The italian post system is apparently very inefficient, so I'll just drop the postcards in a post box instead of going to the post office. Apparently if I go to the post office, I'll be waiting in line for 2-3 hours.

I've officially signed up for the Rome trip and will be visiting on July 3rd and 4th! I'm really excited to see the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Vatican and more. I'm also going on a day trip to Siena with Adriana (one of my roommates) next Monday. On Thursday, I'm going to Cinque Terre. Thursday is an official Florentine (not Italian) holiday. Apparently there is a festival, and fireworks over the river at night. Hopefully we'll be back from Cinque Terre to see the fireworks.

My mom, dad and brother called last night, and it was really really nice to talk to them, even if it was only for a few minutes. I'm happy I got to say Happy Father's Day to my dad! (Love you Dad!) :-)

Anyways, I think that's all for now. Alyssa is leaving Florence tomorrow! A Presto Alyssa (See you soon).

Arrivaderci!

Saturday Afternoon In Florence

Hello!

It's been a fun few days in Florence! I got here on Tuesday night, stayed in a hostel called Plus Florence, and moved into my apartment on Wednesday morning. I live on Via San Zanobi! It's about a 25-30 minute walk to the main school buildings. It's about 10 minutes away from the Duomo, and 5 minutes away from the central train station here. It's a really beautiful apartment. There are 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a little lobby in front of the main door. Italian buildings and streets are gorgeous. The doors are all really large, and the keys are very large as well. All street signs are on the sides of buildings. It gets a little confusing sometimes because two buildings will have two different names for the same street. The other interesting thing about streets in Italy is that each street name only lasts for 2 or 3 blocks, and the street name changes even though the street doesn't turn. It makes it easier to find buildings and new streets. I love that the streets are all cobbled. You can see the history in everything here.

On Wednesday I settled into my apartment, met some of my roommates, and just relaxed. On Thursday, I set up internet in the apartment, went to orientation, and met more of the people in my program. It's a pretty small program, only about 40 of us. That's in the FUA (Florence University of the Arts) program. SAI-Study Abroad Italy, connects several of the universities in Florence together so we can meet each other. I'll be taking Classic Photography the first session. Hopefully my prints will out nicely so they can be my souvenirs!

I've already seen the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio which are both absolutely gorgeous. I'm planning on going to Cinque Terra on Thursday which is about a 5 mile hike between 5 cities on the coast. It's supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. I'm hoping to go on a Rome trip on July 3rd and 4th. It's 250 Euros, but they cover hotel and food, and let us see everything from the Vatican, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Colosseum, Sistine Chapel and S. Peter's Basilica. I'm really excited.

The food has been really amazing so far. Everything is really fresh and natural, and tastes delicious. I've never had such good food in my life. It's not heavy like Italian food at home, which is wonderful. I had a chocolate muffin yesterday, and it was by far the best muffin I've ever eaten in my life. I also had gelato, and everyone who says its amazing has not lied. I can't even describe how good it tastes. I'm definitely going to get fat while I'm here. haha :-)

My apartment is located really close to the Mercato Centrale which is in the Piazza San Lorenzo. It's the biggest market In Florence and has all of the freshest food and produce. Italians generally go grocery shopping everyday and only buy what they need for the day, so that they can always have the freshest food possible. I'm hoping to go see it soon.

I think that's all for now!

Arrivaderci!