This weekend I stayed in Florence and it has been soo nice to be able to sleep in, relax a little, and hang out with friends after what felt like a busy week. Friday, after sleeping in, I wandered to a market that is just a couple blocks from where I live. I was talking to my host mom about needing a pair of boots or some warmer things and she recommended checking out the Campo di Marte market first, which is open every morning. It was fun exploring down there and taking in the market scene. I thought some of the shoes and boots were nice, but it was very busy, and there were lots of Italian women asking for sizes and talking with the men selling the shoes, and I wasn't in the most aggressive mood, to be honest, I didn't know my shoe size in Italian standards...I will go back another time, I think size 10 is about a 41.
Many friends of mine were gone Friday, on the Venice trip or traveling somewhere else, but I met up with Catherine and we grabbed some lunch at a cafe nearby, and then hopped on a bus to the center where we went to the San Lorenzo market, a pretty big market in Florence, were should found a grey coat, and even got it down from 35 to 30 euros. We met up with 2 of Catherine's friends who came to Florence for the weekend. One is studying in Rome,and the other in Milan. They were very nice and fun to be around. We showed them Piazza Signoria, and where the Uffizi is, and took them along the Arno and Pontevecchio, and into the Oltraarno area. We got some gelato and chatted on the sloping sidewalk near the Pitti Palace as a fat pigeon dropped down on a woman's head nearby. It was pretty funny. Showing other people around Florence, made me realize how much I do love fLORence now. I'm really appreciating it now, not that i wasn't before, but Im really starting to feel like its becoming my city, and not a foreign city to me.
Later that night after walking forever to find an apparitivo restaurant, we found Kitch or Kitsch. It was amazing! Such a fun and decorative atmosphere. A drink and all you can eat Italian buffet for 8 euro. Very good deal. We went to 2 other bars afterwards, and walked many streets that night which was fun. Mark, who studies in Milan, kept commenting on how much he loved Florence after being there for like the first hour, which made me think about how happy I am about the size of the city I picked. Its not tooo big, but definitely not too small. Florence is a great size for studying abroad. Especially after hearing about Hillie's commutes living and studying in Rome...mine are a piece of cake compared to hers. We ran into our Moraccan friends on the bus ride home, too.
Today, consisted of sleeping in, going to an American diner with Myra, going to Oblate, a public library in Florence to begin the midterm studying, meeting Sierra for mass at the duomo in english, which we had the wrong time for, but at least we got there. I went out to dinner later with Myra, Lauren, Sierra, and Julianna, and Lauren, Myra, and I got some gelato at a place near Lauren's apartment and then I walked home.
Mom and Dad are in Austria now, I heard from them tonight, and they will be in Florence Tuesday night!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
it actually got cold! (freddo)
Today was the first day since I've been here that it actually felt cold. It rained alot in the afternoon and I was very glad that I brought my jacket to school and decided in the morning after seeing the grey clouds that I would wear socks and close toed shoes. I like it that it was cold today, I hope I see a change of seasons. Today's classes were fine. Our teacher was sick in art history this morning so our TA had us watch a movie on Leonardo da Vinci's last supper. In Italian were are learning the past tense now, now that is a little more challenging.
We had a delicious dinner tonight because Kiera's mom and boyfriend are in town. The lasangne with pesto sauce was to die for! And we had lamb, spinach, and potatoes. We also had tiramisu for dessert which I learned how to make last night with Ludovica and Vittoria. It was fun learning how to make it and see how to make it since I'd never done that before.
Midterms are next week and I have another Health and Nutrition test on Thursday... I cant wait for that test to be over.
We had a delicious dinner tonight because Kiera's mom and boyfriend are in town. The lasangne with pesto sauce was to die for! And we had lamb, spinach, and potatoes. We also had tiramisu for dessert which I learned how to make last night with Ludovica and Vittoria. It was fun learning how to make it and see how to make it since I'd never done that before.
Midterms are next week and I have another Health and Nutrition test on Thursday... I cant wait for that test to be over.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
By some miracle my wind internet is working in the apartment again so now I can try to catch up with the lack of updates. I don't feel like my Sicily pictures fully explained what that trip was like, as those were only like 15 of the 80 pictures, but I do know you all have lives, so I won't overblog the experience. I would like to explain a little more though, that you didnt hear about.
Corleone is the third city we winded through via autobus (yes, for you Godfather buffs - Corleone) where our hotel was. The fields and the views were breathtaking. I felt like I was in an Italian trance. PLus side to bussing is how much of the countryside you are able to see and its really neat driving through the towns. These towns in Sicily are much smaller than Florence and appear poor as well. S staying in a hotel with friends was fun and we had a huge dinner that night with antipasti of salami, cheese, olives, bread with anchovies ( i tried them, but eh they are very salty), we each got a slice of pizza, and some pasta, and then they bring out breaded chicken and fries. Kind of odd. We were all very full. But thats nothing new here.
Saturday morning we were up really early. During breakfast we got a history on the Mafia and a current update from Professor Piombino. We then went to Cinesi to meet the brother of a guy named Peppino Impastoti who resisted the Mafia through public communication. It was intense. From there we went to Monreale where there is this really, really, really old Cathedral and cloister. There were cool mosaics there. Friends reported back that the cannolis were the best in the world, but Im not a big fan of those. I had gelato instead after lunch. I tried a different pizza than margherita! It was called norma and had eggplant on it. So good!
.After that we went to the site of te 1947 Mafia massacre on the farmers of the Albanian village. There were three survivors who recounted their stories. It was really heavy stuff. It was weird to contrast the gorgeous landscapes with that horrible event, and imagine these 80 something year old men as young farmers and little boys, and envisioning and being at the site of the massacre. We heard about the lives of their families and how poor they were, and the impact that the mafia had on their lives. The whole reason we went down to Sicily, well one we of them, was to join the current farmers and resistance movement against the mafia by helping the farmers in the fields. Many Italian students from Tuscany do this as a sign of resistance of the mafia, We met some Italians who were our age that were in Sicily to do this. They were very nice and I tried to speak Italian to them later that night when we saw some of them outside of a bar.
The guys who work on the farming cooperative that we were supposed to farm with offered to take us out for the night in Corleone so we accepted. We were all pretty tired, but wanted to see this aspect of the city since we are usually under an agenda and going from place to place on bus. It was very low key, smaller city, beautiful garden with large trees that we strolled through, and we passed restaurants and a kind of carnival looking area that was small. There was a candy stand and a white awning that looked like a spot where merchants might selll things during the day. The fashion of Corleone boys is even crazier than Florence. They all had those crazy hair cuts in crazy styles. We mostly tried to talk to the Italians from Florence and a few locals outside a bar, and ourselves.
Sunday, We had to be up at 6 to hit the road. We ate breakfast quickly and then went to the grape fields where we were supposed to form. It was gorgeous and the grapes looked so good. From there we headed to Palermo where we arrived to hot weather that I wasnt aware would be the case.We saw a bunch of old churches and building things that really don't have too much significance to talk about. We had a greasy lunch in Palermo at the second oldest restaurant in Italy called Antica Foccaceria San Francesco. They guy who owned it refused to pay the Mafia's protection fee and was therefore, literally, in mortal danger. He now has 5 Carabinieri - the equivalent of Secret Service - with him at all times to protect his life. The Mafia is still a big, big problem around here, and once again learning more about this was one of the coolest aspects of the trip.
Our train left at 4pm. We had sleeper cabins. It was a really cool experience to take a train along the Sicilian coast, I did some Italian homework, and we all hung out. In order to get the train to the mainland the broke the cars apart and put them on a ferry and rejoined them on the other side. I roomed with Emily and Maddie and was on the second bunk, and had a terrible nights sleep, but we made it back to Florence. The next 2 days were a little rough recooperating but then this week really shaped up and was a lot of fun.
I joined a gym that I hope I end up using more. More planning and figuring out of locations to go in November, and with who, and coordinating is coming together more. The trip Im most excited about besides fall break coming up in greece is going to Vienna and Salsburg in November. We are going to do the Sound of Music tour too, and Ive heard amazing things about Salsburg.
Tuesday night I went out to Lions Fountain with my roomate and some other friends. Its an Irish bar in Florence and they had the medals from the soccer tournament we played in 2 weeks ago. Cal. State Univ. were the champions. We went to another bar, and Twice for a little bit, but nothing more than that.
Wed. I got to see one of my mom's best friends and her husband. I met them at their hotel which was luckily only 10 min walk from school, and the three of us went out to dinner to an extremely nice and bonafide Tuscan restaurant called Cibrero. It was great to see them, and it felt extremely comfortable and I'm really glad we made it happen. I got home and studied for lmy Italian quiz, which I think I did well on.
I'm running out of steam with this long of post, as you probably are too, but I have to say that my best night in Florence was Thursday. Instead of going to bars, and discotechs, and seeing Americans, we went to this Piazza by school that has a little bar and we hung out there where many Italians usually are. My goal was to speak Italian with some locals and it happened by the end of the night. Before I knew it, I was speaking to 4 Italians/ Moroccans and we all played soccer in the piazza together. They have become our friends now and last night after I got back from the day trip tp Pisa and Lucca, Catherine and I hung out with Salah, Madi, Salah, and the name cant pronounce. They are very nice, and we went to a bar that had a lounge area and just talked. It was challening at times because their English was not the greatest except for one of them who did a lot of translating, but I also was forced to try much more italian. I loved it. It made me realize how much easier it has been for me to communicate with my host family since they speak English, but it was a great change of pace to be around Italians instead of all Syracuse students.
Pisa and Lucca were cool, but not my favorite cities of Italy.
Thanks for reading, if you hung in there with this super long post!!
BIIG hug, I miss ya'll but had a much better week in Florence :-)
Corleone is the third city we winded through via autobus (yes, for you Godfather buffs - Corleone) where our hotel was. The fields and the views were breathtaking. I felt like I was in an Italian trance. PLus side to bussing is how much of the countryside you are able to see and its really neat driving through the towns. These towns in Sicily are much smaller than Florence and appear poor as well. S staying in a hotel with friends was fun and we had a huge dinner that night with antipasti of salami, cheese, olives, bread with anchovies ( i tried them, but eh they are very salty), we each got a slice of pizza, and some pasta, and then they bring out breaded chicken and fries. Kind of odd. We were all very full. But thats nothing new here.
Saturday morning we were up really early. During breakfast we got a history on the Mafia and a current update from Professor Piombino. We then went to Cinesi to meet the brother of a guy named Peppino Impastoti who resisted the Mafia through public communication. It was intense. From there we went to Monreale where there is this really, really, really old Cathedral and cloister. There were cool mosaics there. Friends reported back that the cannolis were the best in the world, but Im not a big fan of those. I had gelato instead after lunch. I tried a different pizza than margherita! It was called norma and had eggplant on it. So good!
.After that we went to the site of te 1947 Mafia massacre on the farmers of the Albanian village. There were three survivors who recounted their stories. It was really heavy stuff. It was weird to contrast the gorgeous landscapes with that horrible event, and imagine these 80 something year old men as young farmers and little boys, and envisioning and being at the site of the massacre. We heard about the lives of their families and how poor they were, and the impact that the mafia had on their lives. The whole reason we went down to Sicily, well one we of them, was to join the current farmers and resistance movement against the mafia by helping the farmers in the fields. Many Italian students from Tuscany do this as a sign of resistance of the mafia, We met some Italians who were our age that were in Sicily to do this. They were very nice and I tried to speak Italian to them later that night when we saw some of them outside of a bar.
The guys who work on the farming cooperative that we were supposed to farm with offered to take us out for the night in Corleone so we accepted. We were all pretty tired, but wanted to see this aspect of the city since we are usually under an agenda and going from place to place on bus. It was very low key, smaller city, beautiful garden with large trees that we strolled through, and we passed restaurants and a kind of carnival looking area that was small. There was a candy stand and a white awning that looked like a spot where merchants might selll things during the day. The fashion of Corleone boys is even crazier than Florence. They all had those crazy hair cuts in crazy styles. We mostly tried to talk to the Italians from Florence and a few locals outside a bar, and ourselves.
Sunday, We had to be up at 6 to hit the road. We ate breakfast quickly and then went to the grape fields where we were supposed to form. It was gorgeous and the grapes looked so good. From there we headed to Palermo where we arrived to hot weather that I wasnt aware would be the case.We saw a bunch of old churches and building things that really don't have too much significance to talk about. We had a greasy lunch in Palermo at the second oldest restaurant in Italy called Antica Foccaceria San Francesco. They guy who owned it refused to pay the Mafia's protection fee and was therefore, literally, in mortal danger. He now has 5 Carabinieri - the equivalent of Secret Service - with him at all times to protect his life. The Mafia is still a big, big problem around here, and once again learning more about this was one of the coolest aspects of the trip.
Our train left at 4pm. We had sleeper cabins. It was a really cool experience to take a train along the Sicilian coast, I did some Italian homework, and we all hung out. In order to get the train to the mainland the broke the cars apart and put them on a ferry and rejoined them on the other side. I roomed with Emily and Maddie and was on the second bunk, and had a terrible nights sleep, but we made it back to Florence. The next 2 days were a little rough recooperating but then this week really shaped up and was a lot of fun.
I joined a gym that I hope I end up using more. More planning and figuring out of locations to go in November, and with who, and coordinating is coming together more. The trip Im most excited about besides fall break coming up in greece is going to Vienna and Salsburg in November. We are going to do the Sound of Music tour too, and Ive heard amazing things about Salsburg.
Tuesday night I went out to Lions Fountain with my roomate and some other friends. Its an Irish bar in Florence and they had the medals from the soccer tournament we played in 2 weeks ago. Cal. State Univ. were the champions. We went to another bar, and Twice for a little bit, but nothing more than that.
Wed. I got to see one of my mom's best friends and her husband. I met them at their hotel which was luckily only 10 min walk from school, and the three of us went out to dinner to an extremely nice and bonafide Tuscan restaurant called Cibrero. It was great to see them, and it felt extremely comfortable and I'm really glad we made it happen. I got home and studied for lmy Italian quiz, which I think I did well on.
I'm running out of steam with this long of post, as you probably are too, but I have to say that my best night in Florence was Thursday. Instead of going to bars, and discotechs, and seeing Americans, we went to this Piazza by school that has a little bar and we hung out there where many Italians usually are. My goal was to speak Italian with some locals and it happened by the end of the night. Before I knew it, I was speaking to 4 Italians/ Moroccans and we all played soccer in the piazza together. They have become our friends now and last night after I got back from the day trip tp Pisa and Lucca, Catherine and I hung out with Salah, Madi, Salah, and the name cant pronounce. They are very nice, and we went to a bar that had a lounge area and just talked. It was challening at times because their English was not the greatest except for one of them who did a lot of translating, but I also was forced to try much more italian. I loved it. It made me realize how much easier it has been for me to communicate with my host family since they speak English, but it was a great change of pace to be around Italians instead of all Syracuse students.
Pisa and Lucca were cool, but not my favorite cities of Italy.
Thanks for reading, if you hung in there with this super long post!!
BIIG hug, I miss ya'll but had a much better week in Florence :-)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
it's about time huh?
Weekend in Sicilia, Italia through pictures
Maggie, Kari, and Alex with some Corleone Italianos
Survivor of the 1947 massacre and Profesor McClean. This man was so interesting to listen to and very expressive!
Site of the 1947 massacre. We talked to 3 survivors as they recounted their experiences and memories and talked about the Mafia in sicily.
A memorial in memory of a man killed by the mafia
Beautiful views and early mornings
Risa standing in the old Theatro spot where plays were performed. If you stand here your voice echoes to the people in the stadium seating
View of Temple of Segesta from the bus
Pasticiera and restaurant where we had lunch and escaped from the rain. Shown here is marzapane--they look like fruit but they are like cookie dough inside and most everything had almond flavoring.
Our first day, looking at the Castle of Eric, we were hit hard by rain
Grapes in the fields we were supposed to work in on Saturday, but due to rain, we had to change our plans.
Maggie, Kari, and Alex with some Corleone Italianos
Survivor of the 1947 massacre and Profesor McClean. This man was so interesting to listen to and very expressive!
Site of the 1947 massacre. We talked to 3 survivors as they recounted their experiences and memories and talked about the Mafia in sicily.
A memorial in memory of a man killed by the mafia
Beautiful views and early mornings
Risa standing in the old Theatro spot where plays were performed. If you stand here your voice echoes to the people in the stadium seating
View of Temple of Segesta from the bus
Pasticiera and restaurant where we had lunch and escaped from the rain. Shown here is marzapane--they look like fruit but they are like cookie dough inside and most everything had almond flavoring.
Our first day, looking at the Castle of Eric, we were hit hard by rain
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
I want to go to a Florentina game
I'm trying to think about what exciting news I have for all of you but it just feels like an average Wedesnesday. I had a site visit today, we went to the church of San Lorenzo and discussed the architecture and how it is deductive and not additive, meaning evyerthing builds off each other and if one thing is changed everything changes because the elements rely on each other. I got back to campus from walking to the center to find that my 1pm Italian class was cancelled today! So, I was able to get some Health and Nutrition reading done outside in the sun. I am feeling better, although I'm not totally cleared up so I saw the doctor this afternoon. The appointment was short and brief. He gave me a prescription for Augmuntion in case my sypmtoms get worse and I can use that anywhere in Italy...thankfully they seem to be getting better.
Big update: I have officially decided what I am doing during my fall break: I am going to Greece! I signed up for a trip through a travel company for students called "Bus2Alps" and we are taking a cruise to Greece and will be in Athens and Corfu. We also can go on a day trip to Aeginia. Picking where to go over fall break was not an easy task, so I am excited that this is finally set in stone. My parents are coming to Florence right before I leave for Greece, so with this departure date I will get to see them for at least a couple days.
We have had a tournament this week for soccer at school. We had two games on Monday and we had a game yesterday but I had a late class so I couldn't go. We have another game tonight though, at 6 so that should be fun! Its fun to play soccer here. I actually scored in Monday night's second game. I also went to pilates again yesterday.
I think one of the most entertaining days in Florence are days when Florentina has soccer games!! We can see the stadium from the apartment so at dinner last night we could hear all the cheering and watch the television as well as view the stadium during dinner. Florentina beat Liverpool last night 2-0 so that was a big deal! When I got out of pilates to take the bus home, the traffic was insane and all the buses were filled with people headed to the stadium. There are plenty of motorcyles and bikes to begin with, but last night I had never seen so many in my life. they were parked in every corner and they zoomed in and out of lanes like bees getting ahead of our bus. I am definitely going to go to a soccer game if not a couple, I just need to buy my titckets. I can't wait for that experience. Ludo, my host sister, gets very excited about the soccer games, so does Vittoria. Alessio, our host father, not as much, but both times Florentina scored last night Vittoria would run into our room jumping up and down with excitement. Soccer is huge in Europe, to say the least.
I'm sure I will have much to update you on after the weekend as I am headed to Sicily this weekend!
Big update: I have officially decided what I am doing during my fall break: I am going to Greece! I signed up for a trip through a travel company for students called "Bus2Alps" and we are taking a cruise to Greece and will be in Athens and Corfu. We also can go on a day trip to Aeginia. Picking where to go over fall break was not an easy task, so I am excited that this is finally set in stone. My parents are coming to Florence right before I leave for Greece, so with this departure date I will get to see them for at least a couple days.
We have had a tournament this week for soccer at school. We had two games on Monday and we had a game yesterday but I had a late class so I couldn't go. We have another game tonight though, at 6 so that should be fun! Its fun to play soccer here. I actually scored in Monday night's second game. I also went to pilates again yesterday.
I think one of the most entertaining days in Florence are days when Florentina has soccer games!! We can see the stadium from the apartment so at dinner last night we could hear all the cheering and watch the television as well as view the stadium during dinner. Florentina beat Liverpool last night 2-0 so that was a big deal! When I got out of pilates to take the bus home, the traffic was insane and all the buses were filled with people headed to the stadium. There are plenty of motorcyles and bikes to begin with, but last night I had never seen so many in my life. they were parked in every corner and they zoomed in and out of lanes like bees getting ahead of our bus. I am definitely going to go to a soccer game if not a couple, I just need to buy my titckets. I can't wait for that experience. Ludo, my host sister, gets very excited about the soccer games, so does Vittoria. Alessio, our host father, not as much, but both times Florentina scored last night Vittoria would run into our room jumping up and down with excitement. Soccer is huge in Europe, to say the least.
I'm sure I will have much to update you on after the weekend as I am headed to Sicily this weekend!
Friday, September 25, 2009
The school weeks go by quickly now, but Thursdays are always pretty long since I have 3 classes that are spaced out through the day from 9am-6pm. But, I was able to get more medicine and have a nice lunch that was something other than pasta and paninos! They had a chicken salad at a bar/restaurant near school that was delicious!
Did I tell you that a bike ran over my foot? I think I did..
This morning I got up early to go on a day trip with my Art History class to Siena and San Giminoigno. They are both beautiful towns! I wish we had more time to spend there and wander around. I'm sure I'll keep discovering new ones but I seriously think I had some of the best gelato Ive had in Siena. They had signs saying they are world famous too.
We got back to Piazza Savonarola around 7ish and Myra, Lauren and I enjoyed a great dinner at "Edi House" right across from school. Also, the waiter is very cute. I know you are all thinking...ohhh noo hear we go. But, quite honestly I have not been very impressed with the Italian men here and its been hard to make friends with locals...but Marco seems like he could lead us into meeting Italians so this could be a gold mine..we shall see. At least better than the creepy ones that say buennnnno sera or hiss at you like cats near the bars.
Well, I have to go now but I love you all!
Happy and congested from Firenze,
Buona notte! Laura
Did I tell you that a bike ran over my foot? I think I did..
This morning I got up early to go on a day trip with my Art History class to Siena and San Giminoigno. They are both beautiful towns! I wish we had more time to spend there and wander around. I'm sure I'll keep discovering new ones but I seriously think I had some of the best gelato Ive had in Siena. They had signs saying they are world famous too.
We got back to Piazza Savonarola around 7ish and Myra, Lauren and I enjoyed a great dinner at "Edi House" right across from school. Also, the waiter is very cute. I know you are all thinking...ohhh noo hear we go. But, quite honestly I have not been very impressed with the Italian men here and its been hard to make friends with locals...but Marco seems like he could lead us into meeting Italians so this could be a gold mine..we shall see. At least better than the creepy ones that say buennnnno sera or hiss at you like cats near the bars.
Well, I have to go now but I love you all!
Happy and congested from Firenze,
Buona notte! Laura
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
ho mal di gola
I'm sorry it's been so long since I last posted! I feel like I never have time I'm at the computer labs at school or its just not as private to do it but I purchased Internet access through the WIND store where I bought my Italian cell phone and therefore I should be able to blog more here in the apartment from my little dell.
Where to start? week Alex Taddeucci's mom and grandma were in town so they took a few of us out to dinner in Florence whcih was very nice of them. It felt surreal stepping into a taxi to go to dinner from their hotel since I am so used to walking everywhere when we are down in the center, or let alone up where I live in Campo di Marti. I would say that walking to and from school from our apartment is one of my favorite activities, even if my backpack weighs me down and people give me the look over for wearing rainbow sand sandals, I love seeing the day in and day out moments of Italian daily lives. In the morning I see lots of parents walking their bambinos to school, I see the cutest older Italian ladies with their shopping bags or groceries, who often don't smile but more than often you will find two ladies holding hands or helping each other stroll the streets. Men really do dress up more here. Its cool to see people all dressed up for work, looking snazzy, but riding a bike or a motorcyle/scooter. Its Something I rarely see in California. Italy is very environment cautious. At least my host family is...leaving lights on is a definite no no. And my family reuses everything. Bottles, water bottles, jelly glasses, etc.
Today I got a nasty sore throat (mal di gola) so I trecked around after classes were out in search of a farmacia. Pharmacies are not located in major grocery stores, they are sporadically around town and cannot be missed by the big green cross thats illuminated. I had bad luck at the first two farmacias that were not open but the third one gave me some sort of nasal spray...It doesnt do a whole lot but I think this cold will just have to run its course.
Today in my Italian class we had an activity where we had to go in groups to a nearby supermercato and il forno (a bar or caffe, place for lunch) and answer questions in italian, compare prices, and talk to people. It was fun to get out of the classroom, but weirdly enough a bike ran over my foot. It wasn't bad at all but bad enough to leave a bruise and some scrapes. I was able to walk fine though and it didnt startle me too much..it could have been a lot worse.
Yesterday I did the pilates class again and I think I am going to give this instructor a chance. It was only myself, the instructor, and one other girl on Tuesday, although typically we should have maybe 4 or 5 people. She speaks English and is from the South of the USa but lives in Florence now. I'm already sore, and although I'd love to do yoga, I think pilates will be just as good if not better for me.
The day trip to Ravenna on Saturday was awesome! It was so cool seeing the mosaics there. I have been in a few churches since Ive been in Italy but these were the first ones where I really was mesmerized. It was neat seeing the Mausoleum stairs and then the famous Justine and theodora mosaic I'd studied previously. Ravenna is a much newer city than Florence because it was rebuilt after WW2 when much of it was damaged. The streets are wider and look more modern. There were alot of neat little markets and people selling jewelry and miscellaneous items.
Syracuse Univ. in Florence is about 250 students, many of them from the east coast and only 26 or 28 boys i believe! I've decided it kind of feels like high school in the sense that the amount of time you see people is just in and around classes and the campus...whereas at SCU you see peple and get to know people more and better because you are in the dorms. It's kind of cliquey, although there are also some very nice people I've met.
I want to type more but I should go to bed because I have a test tomorrow in health and nutrition. More updates soon!
Love, laura
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)