So first day of class was monday. Such a greeeat day compared to our Ikea vomit day. Had my first cappacino on my way to class. It was delicious and I stood at the counter (because that is cheaper). It was delicious and then I was off to my first class, FLORENCE SKETCHBOOK. It will be hard, but awesome. Walked all around to get my art supplies with my new Brazilian friend Alcides aka tide. :) They were over 100 euro! anyway, then I had ITALIAN.. beginning of course. My teacher is soooo great! He is from Pisa and is hilarious! He growled a couple times because he said he had to be mean the first day. He is really energetic, plays music during class, has us all participate, and throws his markers at the board.
Then later I was exploring and taking pictures and this Italian guy started talking to me.. and yes I know, stay away from them and I just kept walking and he kept speeding up and trying to talk.. so I was just like whatever.. we'll see how good I am at my Italian (we had learned all the things you say when you first meet someone in class).. so yea... he got really annoying and creepy.. and i finally got rid of him.. and then ran into him the next day and had to get rid of him again...so next time i got to be mean.
I met with my internship boss for coffee and absolutely love what I am going to do! Hopefully I can get all my travel free and get to take some awesome pictures of people.
On tuesday I had a first day too! My first class was at 12. ART HISTORY. My teacher is so weird, but awesome! I think she is from England. She gave us all these tips.. let me just list them here for you.
1. always have your passport or they will arrest you, even if you were the victim.
2. markets are just cheap imported goods.
3. do NOT buy fur. It is made from puppies that are skinned alive.. which she claims to have seen first hand.
4.Carry your bag with you on the inside of the road because they come by on motorcycles and grab your bag.. and if you hear one coming, just throw your bag against the wall! (there are a lot of motorcycles in firenze so if everyone did this it would be chaous). And if he does grab your bag, he will pull you along with it and if you don't have an umbrella to stick in his wheel, you will have no teeth.
5.pepper spray is illegal in this country, but if you have it keep it with you... and use it.
6. Always cover your hand when getting money from the atm and never go to an atm on a wall. Go to the one in the square where a police is ...even though the police do nothing according to her.
I am sure I will be fine.
My LANDSCAPE and ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY class by far is going to be my favorite! It is totally not just taking pictures of buildings and boring stuff..its about how people fill space and empty space and all that stuff. Alsides is in this class too, so we'll be good buddies. We have an assistant who will help us with editing and is really cool and loves photojournalism and documentary photography. A couple of my classmates and I already nicknamed our teacher George Clooney to ourselves. He looks young but still has gray hair and everything he says is so poetic and profound. He just sat at the table and talked with us and is willing to meet with each of us 4 times a week if we want to. He asked about what we hated and loved about Firenze and accepted and responded to each answer. He wants us to get out of the city center and know the town through our own images and in our own way and we will go hang out with locals and old people and talk to them and get to know the little places.
A couple of favorite things he said were
they invented the camera to allow people to see who are without a camera.
his philosophy of not running, stopping in front, looking, observing, having a reason, being humble.
every picture is a self-portrait.
a picture is our reaction to a place.
he wants to assign a day where we ride the bus to the farthest point and back and observe and take pictures.
the walls are the forehead of a town. (with all the wrinkles and stuff.. you get it)
aging shows that we have lived and experienced.
... He just had a lot of good stuff to say. haha
He always looks at the glass half full.. seriously, he said that a bunch of times.. and he really ENJOYS life. SLOWLY.. I could learn a lot from him.haha
speaking of busy... i am very known as a busy person. Everyone who knows me knows I overcommitt and try to do everything possible.. because I love experiencing everything! I was so looking forward to Italy because I would have nothing.. just classes and Firenze.. and I could just relax. Well, I should have known better. I am interested in at least 5 clubs, have my classes, traveling every weekend, an internship (actually 2 kinda), flute lessons, an Italian language intercambio buddy, 3 extra events with my program, art exhibits with this private club thing, theres about 50 places that people have told me I hAVE to go to, which I want to!, i have to go shopping, which i hate, and lots more that i am forgetting. definitely not going to be the relaxing watercolor atmosphere I imagined...but I am going to try hard to create the utopia!
My roommate alicia is such a great cook!!!! She makes all these great sauces and stuff and taught me a couple things too! ;) she is the best.. well so are my other roommates too. haha
Went to a vintage store called Verabis run by a lady named Vera, who I love! She was so nice, helpful, taught me a ton of Italian, which I forgot immediately after, but she was so nice! and the place was so packed of awesome stuff..i felt like i was in my grandma's closet.
The afternoon was to myself. I found the best gelato in town that Nicole Read told me about and was in heaven! I walked in.. said i don't know what to get.. she got to flavors on a spoon and let me taste.. i immediately said YES!!..SI! I think it was a cinnamon and chocolate? It was soooo goood!!!!!! I licked the bowl after. haha This was REAL gelato. All the rest was awesome and icecreamy and seriously really good, but this was UNreal. haha
I went to the Uffizi, walked around looking at a bunch of different depictions of the naked baby Jesus and his mother, works of art still that I appreciate, and also that one painting that is always at the beginning of desperate housewives, and then i watched the sunset from the window over the arno river and all the bridges. What a moment.
funny manikin story: walking by a store.. see a manikin with pants on… all of a sudden the pants drop to his ankles….
Finally went out dancing with my roommates. There is a club a block from our apartment and we thought we would check it out. It was so fun and a really good atmosphere. It proved to be a bonding experience for us and an introduction for my roommates to my weird, yet awesome idea/style of dancing ;)
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