Updates from Florence

I want to apologize for my lack of blogging as of late; I don’t think I’ve provided any updates since I’ve been here in Florence, so I’ll do my best to let you know what I’ve been up to in the past week and half.

First off, thank goodness for Star Internet Café…all of us students found this place that’s only €25 for unlimited internet access for a month, so we definitely gave that place some hefty business for this month.

So, our first day in Florence was last Sunday, and we were all a little intimidated at first. Our hotel, Hotel Patrizia, is right next to the Arno (we’re very close to the Amerigo Vespucci Bridge, if you’re interested), and exploring the city the first day was a little difficult since we hadn’t quite gotten our bearings yet.

Florence is a very distinctive and unique place. The first thing I noticed when I stepped off of the bus was the smell of honeysuckle. There are a lot of other “smells” in Florence, but that is one of the most pleasant and permeating. The streets, too, are unique. The cobblestone has taken some getting used to, and my Florence map has become a close companion. Some of my favorite places around the city have included the Santa Maria Novella Piazza and walking along the Arno, passing the various bridges.

Classes in Florence have been really great. I’ve drawn in the Signoria, inside the Duomo, and on various streets of Florence. Coming to Italy, I thought a lot of my time would be spent working with live models, but all of our drawings have been based on paintings or sculptures; I’ve really enjoyed that because it’s been a great way to really get to know a piece of artwork. You can take a million pictures of places you’ve been, but when you sit down with something and draw it for a couple of hours, you really get to know it.

Last week, I drew Hercules and the Centaur in the Signoria. I’ve never seen such a kinetic statue, and drawing it really made it come alive for me. This week, our sketchbook assignment was a trio of drawings of faces: one from the Byzantine Period, one from the Early Renaissance, and one from the Late Renaissance. One of these drawings had to be cross-hatched; although I’ve done a bit of cross-hatching, it was still a challenge for me. It was great to experiment stylistically in a place like this, though; inspiration is everywhere. Once I’m back home, I’ll work on posting pictures of my drawings from here.

We also visited the Uffizi Gallery last week. We only got about an hour and half to spend there, and the amount of priceless paintings there was overwhelming. From there, a couple of friends and I began the search for dinner, and I had my first taste of real Italian spaghetti…and oh my goodness, it was nothing short of amazing. From there, the three of us took a walk along the Arno, and I had my first taste of cheesecake gelato. Friends, let me tell you that there’s nothing in the world quite like that. Cheesecake is one thing, but cheesecake gelato…divine.

On Friday, Alyssa, Joe, and I went to Pisa for the day. The thing about Pisa is, it’s actually a pretty small town; from the train station to the other end of the town is only about a 30 minute walk. So…we started walking. We stopped at a little place near the Arno for lunch, and for just €1, I had the best croissant of my life. Those who know me know that I’m a lover of all things bread, so for me, this was a heavenly experience. (I have a feeling that upon my return to the States, I’ll be in need of Italy detox…no bread or Nutella for a while!). After that, we just kept walking for a while, hoping to find some sort of something that directed us toward THE Tower. After about 20 minutes of walking, we came around one not-so-important corner, and we were greeted by architecture’s most famous blunder. The tower isn’t too tall, but it’s definitely still impressive. What I didn’t realize is that it’s surrounded by other Pisan architecture. We ended up paying €6 to go into the Baptistry and the Duomo of Pisa; going inside the Tower alone cost €15, so we opted out for that. After wandering around for a couple of hours, we grabbed some gelato and headed back toward the train station.

Instead of heading straight back to Florence, we decided to be adventurous and stop off at San Miniato on our way back. This place is known for its castle on top of a hill as well as some restaurants. “Why not?” we thought. Oh, how sadly mistaken we were! This place was a ghost town besides for the castle, which was a hike from the train station. We were all exhausted, so after walking around this place for about 30 minutes, we headed right back to the station to head back to the comfort of Florence.

This week has been pretty great so far. We visited the Academia yesterday which houses Michelangelo’s David and a plethora of altarpieces. The David is just as majestic and beautiful as everyone says it is. Thankfully, we caught it at a non-busy time, so we weren’t herded in and out like cattle. What I found particularly interesting, though, was the four unfinished statues of Michelangelo’s called the Slaves. I loved standing as close to them as I could and knowing that Michelangelo stood in that same spot. Because they’re unfinished, you’re given a real glimpse of Michelangelo’s process, an experience that really humanizes the genius we’ve all heard of.

One of the most fun experiences I’ve had in Italy has been watching the World Cup with the locals. Last week, we watched the US play, and a couple of nights ago, a group of us went to an Irish pub (yes, haha) to watch Italy play Paraguay. Watching the World Cup surrounded by a bunch of Italians is just priceless. There was such enthusiasm and passion in that room…you couldn’t help but root for Italy. J

Last night, I had the best Mexican food experience of my life! We’d all been craving some Mexican food, and one of the girls on our trip had been raving about this restaurant called Tijuana. After wandering the streets of Florence for a good 30 minutes, we finally found it, and oh goodness, it was all you could ever ask for in a Mexican restaurant. I got a chicken burrito, and it was fantastic. We also got chips and salsa (you have to order them here) and just feasted for a good hour, haha. The prices were fantastic, and we definitely plan on visiting it again before we leave.

After eating, we started walking back, and it came the most torrential downpour of rain I’ve seen in a while. I brought my little mini-umbrella (thankfully), but it didn’t do much good against the wind and rain. There’s this one piazza that we always pass through on our way around the city, and at that point, Alyssa and I were just soaked. We ended up running around in the rain, acting a fools (haha). It was fantastic fun, and Florence is gorgeous in the rain…at night. The lights just make everything come alive, and the rain really brings that into focus.

The rain in the day, however, is not as magical and fun. Today, we went to the Borgelo, which is basically Florence’s crowning jewel of sculptural collections. Our walk over to this place was marked by yet another downpour, and this time, it wasn’t as fun. We were all soaked by the time we reached the museum, so we all had to take a breather moment to get back into the art appreciation mode.

As Teresa my drawing teacher said, just the first room of the museum was worth the €4 entrance fee. I saw a few pieces by Michelangelo, my favorite being the Bacchus. I sat and drew for the majority of my time there, working on the amazing sculpture Mercury. Alyssa and I walked around a bit more after that, and then we headed back to the room.

This week has been cooler than last week because of the rain, but we think that the rain has made the mosquitoes seek shelter. We’ve all been getting extra-bitten in our rooms, so that’s a downside…but I’ve been loving the cooler weather.

I’ve been admittedly getting a little homesick. Kayla Beth tells me that the first three weeks in a new place are the hardest, and I believe that. I miss Seymour and the comfort of home, but I’m starting to really enjoy the growing familiarity of Florence. I’ve begun to frequent certain restaurants and gelato shops rather than just peruse random ones, and faces have become more familiar. I have a little less than 2 weeks left here, and even though homesickness takes hold every now and again, I take comfort in knowing that the people and places I cherish most are not going anywhere. Tennessee will still be Tennessee on June 30, and until then, I plan on soaking in every last bit of Florence that I can.

I turn 20 on Friday, and we’ll be spending the day in Venice. I can’t imagine a more exciting birthday, and it should be great fun.

If you’ve read this entire thing, you’re amazing, and I truly appreciate it. I’m going to do my best to continue to update this as my time in Italy comes to a close, so stay tuned. J

Last day in Rome, and other such adventures...

Our last day in Ostia, Alyssa and I decided to venture to Rome (by ourselves!!) one last time. So, the night before and the morning of, I organized our metro plan of action for the day (it was a very Megan McSwain thing of me to do...I was proud ;) ). Our first stop was the Coliseum. We waited in the line for about 25 minutes, and it cost us €12 to get in. It was really neat to see everything, and it's a lot smaller than you think it would be (thanks a lot, Gladiator!).

After that, we rode the metro a couple more stops to Santa Maria Maggiore, but before we actually went inside the church, we stopped at a little cafe on a side street headed toward the church. It was the best meal I've had in Italy thus far! We sat on a little table on the sidewalk under a big umbrella while listening to accordion music. It was a beautiful day, we were surrounded by gorgeous Roman buildings with Santa Maria Maggiore right behind us, and we were eating glorious Italian food...it was perfect. The church itself was really gorgeous, and I'll do my best to post some pictures on Facebook later.

From there, we went hunting for Santa Maria della Vittoria, the chapel that houses The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. We found it pretty quickly, and it's a surprisingly small church. It is my favorite church that we've visited in Italy thus far, though, just because it was so beautiful and intimate. We spent a few minutes there, and then boarded the metro for our last stop.

We came upon the Spanish Steps pretty easily, and it's one of those things that isn't necessarily known for its artistic value (although they certainly are a work of art) so much as its historic merit. There were tonnnnns of people everywhere, all over the steps. Alyssa and I made it about halfway up, and then decided to descend the stairs in search of gelato, haha. I tried Nutella, and oh my word, it was absolutely heavenly! I was a sight to see at that moment...I'm a slow eater as some of you know ;) , and so even though I was doing my best to devour this gelato, it was dripping all over me and making a huge mess! haha.

We headed back to the hostel after that, and we were pretty exhausted. Since it was our last night in Ostia, Alyssa, Julie, Nikki, and myself decided to head out for one last dinner. We walked around for a few minutes and didn't really see anything that perked our interest until we came upon this hole-in-the-wall pizza place. We were ushered in by an old Italian man in a bright red sweater, so we felt compelled to enter, haha. It ended up being the worst meal any of us have had thus far! But...what an experience. To begin with, there was no one there, so that was a little discomforting. Then, he didn't really know what we were ordering, so when I asked him if we could go ahead and order, he just brought us all HUUUGE spoons, haha. After a few minutes, we ordered, and after about 45 minutes, we received our food. Alyssa's alfredo was drenched, I mean, DRENCHED, in olive oil. It was gross! And my spaghetti was absolutely saturated with butter. I ended up just dipping my bread it in like a dipping sauce because that's what it tasted like! By the end of it, we were all just ready to escape that place! haha.

So now I am in Florence, and all of us have discovered the wonderful Star Internet Cafe. You don't really realize how interconnected your world is until you're forced to be away from it, and so the internet, as sad as it sounds, has become an even more important part of our lives while we've been over here (in terms of staying connected with those back home). Tomorrow we're headed to the Uffizi Museum, which I'm super pumped to visit, and then beyond that, I'm not sure what this week holds. A group is considering taking a day trip to Pisa on either Friday or Saturday, and I definitely want to take part in that!

So thanks for all your prayers and thoughts and for taking the time to read all of my ramblings. I'll do my best to post some pictures on Facebook, so stay tuned!

- h

Day 2 in Rome

Today was pretty busy! We left the hostel at around 10:00 for Rome, and when we got there, we started our walking tour. From there, though, my Michelangelo class split off from the rest of the group so that we could visit some sites pertinent to our class. We went to the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli where his Moses statue is, and that was really incredible.

After that, we met the rest of our group at the Trevi Fountain...which is just beautiful. Alyssa and I threw coins over our backs in to the fountain because that's what everyone else was doing, haha. Then, a few of us had lunch in this pizza place close by, and I had some amazing pizza with fresh tomatoes and basil on it. Simple but so good! We had some time left after that so we ended up perusing through some shops and stuff. We had more time than we thought we would to wander around, so about 7 of us went farther into Rome, and we ended up getting lost! We made it back to the Trevi Fountain about 20 minutes later than we were supposed to meet our group, but it was kind of fun just wandering around the streets and stuff (even though it really stressed me out for a couple minutes, per usual, haha).

From there, we went to the Pantheon. We didn't stay there long, but I was able to see Raphael's tomb , and that was really incredible. After that, we took a walking tour around the rest of Rome. I was able to take a lot of great pictures from different places, including the (supposed) site of Julius Caesar's murder and various ruins. From there, we finished up at the Coliseum, which is as beautiful as you'd expect it to be. All of us were super tired though, so we decided to come back on Saturday to go inside (it costs 11 euro to go inside of it). At that point, the group was allowed to do whatever they wanted, so myself and 3 of my roommates decided to take the metro back to our hostel...that was an adventure. It took us about an hour and a half, and we kept getting confused about which metro we needed to get on. We eventually made it to the right one, though!

Tonight, Alyssa and I went to restaurant about 2 minutes from our hostel called "Restaurante Cinese," haha. It was decent food for the price (no Sezchuan Garden though!), and we sat on clear glass that overlooked a coy pond...interesting, haha. I'm pretty exhausted now, so I think I'm gonna head to bed in a few minutes after finishing up some different stuff. We don't have classes on Fridays, so some of us are planning on sleeping in, perhaps heading to the beach, shopping, and eating all in Ostia tomorrow. We leave for Florence on Sunday, but Saturday a few of us are heading to Rome again! So, tomorrow will be our last "chill" day for a while, and I plan on enjoying it!

For now,

Hannah

A Day in Rome

Yesterday (Tuesday), we left the hostel at around 9:30 to take the subway/train into Rome. We're actually staying in Ostia right now, a beach town right on the coast and about 45 minutes from Rome. Riding the train and everything went smoothly, except for when we were making one of our stops. We were going to get on another one of the trains, and this one was super packed because we were getting closer and closer to Rome. All of the group was able to fit on before the doors closed except for Alyssa, Ashley, and myself. It was a sad sight to see...haha. Thankfully, we heard Paolo (one of our director) say "sixth stop," so we knew where to go. We got there, and the whole group was waiting on us; there was no more confusion after that.

From there, we walked about 10 minutes to the Vatican, which from the street looks like some huge fortress. We were able to skip the huge line that wrapped around the block to get in because I think we had pre-booked tickets or something. First walking in, you have to go through customs since the Vatican is its own country, and after that, we were given our headsets for the tour. We had a really great guide who knew a lot about the artwork and its history (on a side note, she pronounced "the Pope" as "the poop"). We first walked to the gardens, and from there I could see the dome of St. Peter's, which was a surreal experience in itself. After that, we toured the Vatican, and from the beginning there were signs everywhere pointing toward "Cappella Sistina."

The Vatican museums have too much art to take in in a lifetime, let alone a day trip. Of course the Sistine Chapel was an experience; it was so strange to be standing in the this world-famous place that so many other people before me and after me will admire. All you want to do is lie on the ground and just stare up for hours and hours. You aren't allowed to take pictures, and there are guards walking around everywhere, warning people that they aren't allowed to take any pictures of any kind. They also do their best to keep the noise to a minimum since it is a chapel. It's more beautiful and overwhelming than I thought it would be; being there was an amazing, amazing thing.

Throughout the museums, I also saw The School of Athens and La Pietà in St. Peter's. St. Peter's, by the way, is a gorgeous, gorgeous place! La Pietà is the first thing you see on the right when you walk in, and it has a sheet of glass in front of it. That was kind of disappointing because I wanted to walk all the way around it to take it in, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. Alyssa and I both got a little teary-eyed looking at it; it was just such a surreal thing to have the opportunity to look at a statue that you've admired for so long.

After that, we broke for a quick lunch (at 3:00...haha), and from there, we went to Castillo de St. Angelo and looked around the outside for a bit. After that, Paolo took us down some really small side streets filled with shops and restaurants. It was a beautiful, beautiful walk, and I think a few of us plan on going back there on Saturday. From there, we went to the Piazza Navona, a renovated square that functioned as a place for chariot races back in the day. In the center was a fountain by Bernini called Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. There were artists everywhere selling their work, and Alyssa and I got some gelato to walk around with. I got pistachio, which I was a little nervous about; it ended up being absolutely amazing!

By that point, it was about 6:30, and all of us were absolutely beat...so we headed home! Sleep was so wonderful last night.

Today was a really relaxed day. It's the Italian independence day, so we weren't allowed to go into Rome since it's going to be so wild. Alyssa, Ariel, and I headed to the beach for a couple hours, and I finally got my hands on some aviators (a staple of Italian fashion...haha). Classes were really great. My drawing class headed to a local square to do some sketches of people for a while, and after that, we went to church and did some drawings inside there.

Tonight, I plan on relaxing and Skyping. :) Tomorrow is going to a busy day--we're headed back to Rome for the day to do a day-long walking tour, so sleep tonight is a definite necessity!

All for now. Ciao!