Day two of classes started out just as any other school day would begin. I woke up my typical hour and a half before I had to leave and spent about 30 min laying in bed trying to stay warm. Here is the thing about Florence, they don't produce energy, they buy it from elsewhere. And as a consequence of this particular situation the Florentine law states that households can only have the heater on for 8 hours a day. They split it up between morning afternoon and night. So as you can imagine in late January in a top floor apartment where the heater is only on for a few hours a night, the nights can get pretty freaking cold. Hence my morning delema of not wanting to get out of bed. Literally every night I have slept in my super warm Wabash sweatshirt. And every morning I have a little race with myself seeing how fast I can put my clothes on.
My first class on Tuesdays isn't until noon which I am proud to report that I made it on time to this class, and it was all the way across the city. I did however forget to eat this morning but to my delight in my cooking class we talked for a while about Italian meat and cheese and then we got to sample some. Which, if I do say so myself was delicious!
This next part is for my mother because I know she would love this little bit of information. We talked for a while about a certain type of Salami called Finocchiona or Tuscan Fennel Salami. The Italian word for Fennel comes from a phrase meaning to tell something that isn't true. And the salami came about when butchers used to stuff bad meat with Fennel to make it taste better and to pass it off as better meat. Interesting right? Well that was pretty much my cooking class. I think I am really going to enjoy it. Next I had a European literature class which after being in for 5 minutes I decided to drop. Our first assignment was to read and write a detailed analysis of Animal Farm. NO thank you!
And now I am sitting in my apartment typing this blog before I have to go to my Italian class, which I am pretty excited for.
Love from Italia,
Natalie
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
First Day of Class
Yesterday and today have been my relaxing days. Since I have been running on pretty much pure excitement since arriving it caught up with me in less than a week and I am now fighting off a cold. This morning I read my schedule wrong and I thought I had class at 12 and around 11:30 I realized that my class had actually started at 9. If I were in the states I know exactly what I would have done. I would have panicked, got really emotional and ran to class. Something about Italy has made me reevaluate the time in my life I spend worrying about things. There is no need to worry, my life is so amazing I have absolutely no reason to feel sad. So anyways this class is literally 5 hours long....so I had the time. So I set off across the river to my class which it turns out was on the other side of the city. It was about a 20 min walk. Once I got there the professor was extremely understanding and he just gave me a chunk of clay and told me to experiment with it for the next two hours. Which is what I did.
As I sat sculpting I thought about the irony of what I was doing and where I was doing it. Not two blocks down the street is the Piazza De San Marco where a massive bronze statue expertly crafted was staring into the back of my head through the buildings. Here I was putzing around with a little clay heart in the city where some of greatest sculptures to ever live did some of their greatest work. Well everyone has to start somewhere I guess. I just hope my works don't ever see the light of day, they would be considered an embarrassment to this city:)
I will write more tomorrow about my next day of class.
Caio for now
Natalie
As I sat sculpting I thought about the irony of what I was doing and where I was doing it. Not two blocks down the street is the Piazza De San Marco where a massive bronze statue expertly crafted was staring into the back of my head through the buildings. Here I was putzing around with a little clay heart in the city where some of greatest sculptures to ever live did some of their greatest work. Well everyone has to start somewhere I guess. I just hope my works don't ever see the light of day, they would be considered an embarrassment to this city:)
I will write more tomorrow about my next day of class.
Caio for now
Natalie
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Hike Gone Right
This morning I was so excited to go on an afternoon trip to the Boboli Gardens that are right around the corner from where I live. My roommates an I made sandwiches for a picnic and set off for a relaxing day that ended up turning into something unexpected. Once we got to the gardens we found out that it was 10 euro to get in, we decided against spending money and agreed to keep walking and find another free place to eat. On our way we came across a part of the ancient wall that used to protect Florence. We then enjoyed our sandwiches in a park up the road.
With another amazing day under my belt I am about to have dinner with my rommmates and I can't wait for more.
Love from Italy,
Natalie
Friday, January 27, 2012
The Days Go By
Every day here seems like a dream, a crazy dream where I have suddenly started to live in a post card. If I ever become disenchanted with this city it may be time to just put me down, I am clearly out of my mind. My feet have never been this sore from walking but at the same time I have never been this happy about my feet being sore!
We went to a reception tonight with all of the students from my school. It was a huge gathering of students from everywhere and some really good food. There were some beautiful gardens out back that we did some exploring in and a small little hedge that formed a little maze and I felt like I was five years old again (always a good sign). After my roommates and I left we stopped into a place that we were told was the best gelato in Italy and it was absolutely AMAZING! My father would hate this but I got coconut and pineapple :)
After the amazing gelato we went out to some bars and I was thrilled to have the chance to have some full conversations in Italian! I was amazed how easily it came to me. Any time I didn't know a word I would just ask if they knew it and they would teach it to me. Another sign I am clearly meant to live here.
I can tell that there are some things pulling at me to ruin my time here but I refuse to let the petty little things get in the way of a once and a life time opportunity. I love it here and I don't want to spend all of my time dwelling on things and people that really don't matter.
Love from Italia!
Natalie
We went to a reception tonight with all of the students from my school. It was a huge gathering of students from everywhere and some really good food. There were some beautiful gardens out back that we did some exploring in and a small little hedge that formed a little maze and I felt like I was five years old again (always a good sign). After my roommates and I left we stopped into a place that we were told was the best gelato in Italy and it was absolutely AMAZING! My father would hate this but I got coconut and pineapple :)
After the amazing gelato we went out to some bars and I was thrilled to have the chance to have some full conversations in Italian! I was amazed how easily it came to me. Any time I didn't know a word I would just ask if they knew it and they would teach it to me. Another sign I am clearly meant to live here.
I can tell that there are some things pulling at me to ruin my time here but I refuse to let the petty little things get in the way of a once and a life time opportunity. I love it here and I don't want to spend all of my time dwelling on things and people that really don't matter.
Love from Italia!
Natalie
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Upon Arrival
This city is beautiful. I love everything about it and I am already sure that leaving will be harder than I imagined. My flight here was smooth and came with a pleasant surprise. On my flight from Chicago to Frankfurt my Uncle Rob was sitting four seats in front of me on his way to a business trip in Germany. We discovered each other about an hour into the flight and he kept me company for most of the fight:) If I do say so myself that seems to be an awesome start to my semester.
The weather when we landed was nothing but beautiful. I stood outside in the Tuscan sun waiting for the taxi to come bring me to school in short sleeves with my jacket draped over my backpack. The taxi hurtled through the small streets at speeds fast enough to make the girl sitting next to me almost burst into tears. I however was perched on the edge of my seat grinning from ear to ear like an idiot absorbing as much as I could.
After picking up our keys and some maps I was dropped off at the end of a street by myself and told from what I could understand that my apartment was somewhere down this ally. I hitched up my backpack and two suitcases and set down the narrow ally peering at the numbers trying to find number 8. About halfway down the ally I met up with my door and after a brief struggle with the keys I was standing in a small entry way with a small steep staircase to my left and a little desk to the right. I called up the stairs and after hearing nothing but my 'buongiorno' echo back I glanced once more at the packet of keys. "Top Floor Number 7" was printed in big letters across the front and with another readjustment of my bags I set off on the climb. Seven flights later I slumped up against wall panting for my breath, but I had finally made it.
Four of my roommates had already arrived and they greeted me with welcoming smiles filling me with even more excitement about things to come. I unpacked for a bit when our fifth roommate arrived. Her luggage had been lost and she needed to get some clothes for tomorrow so we set off with her in search of the H&M. Later that day all of the roommates and I went in search of a grocery store and to all of our relief we found one. I bought my first bottle of wine, it was 2 Euro and delicious! After eating an amazing artichoke pasta dinner and a glass of wine I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Despite ample warnings from a friend that I should try and stay awake until 10 I passed out around 8. And now it is 6:30 and I am wide awake. I showered, ate breakfast, and now I am typing my blog. I guess waking up this early wasn't that bad. I'll get used to it.
In a few hours I need to make my way back to school for orientation and then I think later tonight we are going out. I will report back later with more of my adventure!
Love from Italy,
Natalie
The weather when we landed was nothing but beautiful. I stood outside in the Tuscan sun waiting for the taxi to come bring me to school in short sleeves with my jacket draped over my backpack. The taxi hurtled through the small streets at speeds fast enough to make the girl sitting next to me almost burst into tears. I however was perched on the edge of my seat grinning from ear to ear like an idiot absorbing as much as I could.
After picking up our keys and some maps I was dropped off at the end of a street by myself and told from what I could understand that my apartment was somewhere down this ally. I hitched up my backpack and two suitcases and set down the narrow ally peering at the numbers trying to find number 8. About halfway down the ally I met up with my door and after a brief struggle with the keys I was standing in a small entry way with a small steep staircase to my left and a little desk to the right. I called up the stairs and after hearing nothing but my 'buongiorno' echo back I glanced once more at the packet of keys. "Top Floor Number 7" was printed in big letters across the front and with another readjustment of my bags I set off on the climb. Seven flights later I slumped up against wall panting for my breath, but I had finally made it.
Four of my roommates had already arrived and they greeted me with welcoming smiles filling me with even more excitement about things to come. I unpacked for a bit when our fifth roommate arrived. Her luggage had been lost and she needed to get some clothes for tomorrow so we set off with her in search of the H&M. Later that day all of the roommates and I went in search of a grocery store and to all of our relief we found one. I bought my first bottle of wine, it was 2 Euro and delicious! After eating an amazing artichoke pasta dinner and a glass of wine I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Despite ample warnings from a friend that I should try and stay awake until 10 I passed out around 8. And now it is 6:30 and I am wide awake. I showered, ate breakfast, and now I am typing my blog. I guess waking up this early wasn't that bad. I'll get used to it.
In a few hours I need to make my way back to school for orientation and then I think later tonight we are going out. I will report back later with more of my adventure!
Love from Italy,
Natalie
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Search
"If you travel far enough you will eventually meet yourself" -Captain Jean-Luc Picard
This year I decided that my word for the year was going to be 'discover' for several reasons, the greatest of which is what I hope to discover in Italy. I want to discover who I am outside of everything that I have ever known as far as a cultural comfort zone. It's amazing how much of ones identity is formed by ones surroundings and culture. I want to get the most out of this adventure and I plan do do as much discovering as possible.
On a separate note I started packing today and I am so very pleased with my luggage and I actually feel extremely prepared which is a first for me. :)
This year I decided that my word for the year was going to be 'discover' for several reasons, the greatest of which is what I hope to discover in Italy. I want to discover who I am outside of everything that I have ever known as far as a cultural comfort zone. It's amazing how much of ones identity is formed by ones surroundings and culture. I want to get the most out of this adventure and I plan do do as much discovering as possible.
On a separate note I started packing today and I am so very pleased with my luggage and I actually feel extremely prepared which is a first for me. :)
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Italian Bear Dreams
Whenever I am about to start a new chapter in my life I always have the most bizarre dreams for about two weeks before hand. They started early this time but I had another Italy dream last night and I was smart enough to write it down right when I woke up:) I know I might be on to something here. Ok so here it is:
The dream began in the lobby of the apartment building I was to be living in, my roommate and I were waiting to use the elevator to go up to the fifth floor where our apartment was. For some reason my roommate was my good friend Jade and she had a British accent. So anyways we finally got tired of waiting and took the stairs five flights up. When we reached the door the land lady was there she let us into a gigantic apartment that was three stories and had a lake right outside of the kitchen. Apparently this particular apartment defied all laws of reality and despite the front door being on the fifth floor of a building the rest of the place was on ground level.
I feel the need to remind you that this is a dream... I am allowed to have odd goings on.
There was also a family of black bears swimming in the lake, who upon seeing us in the window waved cheerily. Jade and I left the bears to their business and went about exploring the apartment which turned out to be more of a giant house. There were 8 bedrooms all different colors and decorated for children of varying ages. We later found out that the house belonged to some famous musician and his family who had decided they wanted to go to America for a while. After claiming our bedrooms Jade and I went downstairs and discovered the family of black bears were laying waste to the kitchen! We fought them off back out onto the porch where I made a deal with Poppa Bear that if he left us alone I would make him a peanut butter sandwich every week for the duration of our stay. Poppa Bear agreed with the exception that sometimes I would put raspberry jam on the sandwich. And then I woke up.
I don't know or really care what my dream meant but it certainly made me even more excited for Italy! I will have to remember to pack peanut butter in case of bears.
That's all I have for now but I will report back in the coming weeks as departure day draws closer:)
Arrivederci!
-Natalie
The dream began in the lobby of the apartment building I was to be living in, my roommate and I were waiting to use the elevator to go up to the fifth floor where our apartment was. For some reason my roommate was my good friend Jade and she had a British accent. So anyways we finally got tired of waiting and took the stairs five flights up. When we reached the door the land lady was there she let us into a gigantic apartment that was three stories and had a lake right outside of the kitchen. Apparently this particular apartment defied all laws of reality and despite the front door being on the fifth floor of a building the rest of the place was on ground level.
I feel the need to remind you that this is a dream... I am allowed to have odd goings on.
There was also a family of black bears swimming in the lake, who upon seeing us in the window waved cheerily. Jade and I left the bears to their business and went about exploring the apartment which turned out to be more of a giant house. There were 8 bedrooms all different colors and decorated for children of varying ages. We later found out that the house belonged to some famous musician and his family who had decided they wanted to go to America for a while. After claiming our bedrooms Jade and I went downstairs and discovered the family of black bears were laying waste to the kitchen! We fought them off back out onto the porch where I made a deal with Poppa Bear that if he left us alone I would make him a peanut butter sandwich every week for the duration of our stay. Poppa Bear agreed with the exception that sometimes I would put raspberry jam on the sandwich. And then I woke up.
I don't know or really care what my dream meant but it certainly made me even more excited for Italy! I will have to remember to pack peanut butter in case of bears.
That's all I have for now but I will report back in the coming weeks as departure day draws closer:)
Arrivederci!
-Natalie
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