That said
Florence is the most incredible amazing place ever!
I arrived last week and from the first day on i have done nothing but walk around and get lost in this beautiful city. I have two room-mates and a gorgeous apartment in the heart of the city. To give you a sense of where that is it is two blocks from the Arno (the city's river) three blocks from the Ponte Vechio (a famous bridge that crosses the Arno that is wonderfully gorgeous), most literally across the street from the Ufitzi AS WELL AS 4 blocks from the Duomo. Also right near my house are countless other sites like Dante's house and a grainery that has the most elaborate architecture i could imagine. I am surrounded, engulfed and i have to say, almost drowned by history, sculpture and art. You don't even know your next to one of the most beautiful buildings or piatza's until you turn a corner. its EVERYWHERE . Sometimes even looking up is even more interesting than looking forward because it appears that the buildings all connect. I've had two most memorable visual experiences SO FAR
1. When driving from the airport to my apartment for the first time.-Obviously i didn't know what to expect! I was put into a cab with an address and three keys. From the airport the city just kept growing older and older until before me was a huge gorgeous building with many different colored marbles and geometric shapes all over it. I could only assume that i was driving next to the Duomo! I had only seen pictures of the Dome part, which don't nearly describe the gorgeous architecture of the different colored marbles. It is so far my favorite building in this city. Not to say others haven't come close.
2. Seeing the city from the Biboli garden up on a hillside across the river- again, breathtaking!
I've been enjoying the city both night and day, and i have to say there are a lot of American's doing the exact same thing. Being a foreigner is normal here and mostly expected. While i am amongst the most historical parts of the city i also see the most touristed parts of the city as well. While exploring the streets at night you see large groups of travelers running around from bar to bar. The clubs in the city seem to cater to this american tourism and put together "bump and grind" clubs that american are used to complete with bad american pop from two years ago. This allow greasy Italians to get in on the drunk american "grind" action. American students are notorious for slutty drunken hook-ups with non-english speaking Italian men. Factoid provided by our school that stuck with me: 80% of all rapes reported here are by american girls who got drunk...
That said, i have been witness and partook in some nights out with the gals. However we have had tons of fun trying to find the Italian bars and speaking, maybe briefly kissing some Italians. I find the language barrier the most frustrating. Men will come up to you on the street spouting how gorgeous you are, however, thats where their english vocabulary ends. I spent one evening with my room-mate and two Italians who met us at a bar, they spoke little English but were charming enough to keep us interested. We walked along the Arno and they showed us a place void of american tourists and full of young Italian natives. Along the Arno all the real Florintines hang out and enjoy drinks to reggae and house music almost every night! Then you can walk up the side of a mountain and get a view of the entire city... yes it was cheesy and romantic but every girl who goes to florence has to do something like that right? and no we are not continuing to hang out with these boys, but they did show us a beautiful night and some great places to hang out in Firenze (Florence)
I bet your dying to know about my classes right?
well i have 4
Sculpture advanced- also known as my stone carving class. Being in the advanced class gives you the freedom to do practically what ever you want. I'm getting right in on stone. I've picked a beautiful piece of pink marble that was hanging out in the SACI gardens, I'm working on sketches and macketts at the moment and will start carving next week. im very excited to get back into that zone.
Restoration Painting- the teacher is very very experienced, she is called to work on project all of Italy , as that is her specialty and they are always pretty high profile works. however i'm having some trouble understanding her. She speaks with a very heavy accent, and very fast. it almost sounds like she is speaking in Italian when she is speaking in english. i think this might be my most challenging class because i am truly a beginner. Restoration is what i have always thought i would end up doing and now i see that it is a very demanding profession. I am up for the challenge but it is going to be a really big challenge. In our first lecture she explained how restoration is very similar to being a surgeon. in its completion is takes about the same amount of time as medical school.
Fresco- My Most Favorite Class
I just had it today and its going to be amazing, our class is held in a separate Fresco workshop in another part of Firenze. it is very small, there are only four of us and the teachers are amazing! they don't even consider themselves our teachers. they are artists and so are we. but we are learning a technique. from one artist to another. Here is the BEST part, there names are Mario and Luigi!!!!! -no lie! and they are these cute old men with huge mustaches! this ha nothing to do with the video game- they are real! i can't get over it !
SACI independent studio
This is My school's way of making sure we are still doing the enormous amount of work they would require if we were on campus. Not to diss. SACI, but it is sort of like a summer camp for college students. A lot of the students are rich kids from large universities with general fine art studio majors. This is there chance to romantically-"be and artist in florence." MICA understands that SACI provides a wonderful space( it is located in a palace) and has some genius instructors, but it doesn't offer a competitive atmosphere of peers the way MICA (apparently) does. so i have 6 credits of independent studio which means 12+ hours week working on something i get to dream up. I will be studying Color and im very excited. ill leave it there until i am more concrete about where i am going but it will involve. The light and the surrounding antiquity, the human body, and possibly some inspiration from the artist Susan Seddon Boulet. Not for her use of color but her subject matter. - just wait and see. I'm excited!
Other awesome things
- I rented a bike! i don't live suuuppperrr close to my school so this will make running around a bit easier, as well as making grocery shopping much easier. Im also excited because i've been getting lost in this city on foot, and it been wonderful! So getting lost on a bike will take my wanderings even further! Its a great city for a bike! everyone here has one.
- i might be going on a day trip to Ravenna tomorrow.
- you can buy birria (beer) at the 99 cents store!
- you drink with every meal here
- my Fresco teachers gave us Wine with lunch
- i love Tuscan food! we have a little cooking class and i have learned how to make some great cheap fresh salads and foods, very exciting! the class is taught by the cutest Italian woman ever! i love the Mama- like figures I'm encountering
-You can't get coffee the way you would in the US. We like to get out extra large coffees and drink them on the way to something else. Not here! you want coffee in the morning? great! but be prepared to stop for 5 minutes and slug it down at one of the many little snack bars, cafe's, or Gelateria's
- Gelato and wine are more available than water- and the gelato guys are very friendly ;)
- i live right across from the Ufitzi and every night there are musicians who set the mood taking advantage of the wonderful acoustics of the old buildings. Its lovely to walk by, everyone sits around with their friends and lovers and listens while surrounded by the history of the Renaissance.
- walking along the Ponte Vecchio at night is so incredibly lovely pictures coming soon if you don't know what that is
Factoid: there used to be many bridges crossing the Arno full of architectural beauty. However, that asshole Hitler bombed them all down to prevent the American's from crossing the river during the war. But he left the Ponte Vecchio because as a painter himself, he always enjoyed painting those buildings so he left it as His gift to the arts! ugh , JERK.
for all those who haven't already seen on facebook the first of many batches of photos are up- more coming soon!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149945&id=505318377&l=57dfe97746
ok, i think we are more-or-less caught up. i will keep posting more regularly soon, i get internet hooked up in my apartment sometime this month- its italy, everything runs on its own time ;)
