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!