Siena Tomorrow

I think I forgot the beauty in doing nothing. When you go to a place you've never been you feel like you always need to be doing something. In Florence there's always a museum to see, a church to go to, an area to explore and a gelato flavor to try. But when I stop to think for a minute, I realize that I'm going to be here until December and that it's OK to have a day where I don't spend every minute of the day doing something. I woke up this morning to the lovely sound of two Italian men yelling back and forth from our kitchen to our bathroom, around 10am. Last night was a late night so I wasn't asleep until 4am. Our hot water was being fixed from 9-11:40 and the guys literally did not stop yelling. I stayed hidden in my room until they finally left at 11:40 and went from lying in bed on my computer to sitting at the kitchen table on my computer. Great progress.
Around 1pm two of my roommates emerged from their rooms, finally awake. Shelly and I decided that it was panino time so we threw some clothes on and went across the street. It turns out that this panino place we've been going to, Antico Noe, is considered one of the best panino places in Florence! It has rave reviews online. Now that my friends and I have befriended the people who work there, maybe we'll get a disconto?? We even hung out with Andrea last night and I think it's safe to say that we're not just being his friend for the panino. We carried our hot paninis back to our apartamento to do some work and about 30 minutes of 'doing work' we got bored and decided to go to Piazza Santa Croce to sketch/read. It was so relaxing to just sit and draw (even if it was done badly). It's definitely going to be a favorite pastime of mine. Maybe I'll go and try to sketch the duomo one day...ha.
That basically sums up my day. My beautifully simple day. I cooked dinner for myself again and despite not getting anything academic done today, I feel like it was a productive day. Tomorrow we're off to Siena for the day! Photos and stories are soon to follow...

Bringing out the Artist in Me...

This intro to painting class is going to be an awesome experience. I love art and I wish I were good, but I'm pretty sure I'm not...However, having a roommate who's good at drawing and taking a course in painting will hopefully improve any potential talent or mere ability that I have lying deep inside. The course seems very relaxed and our only homework is to sketch or paint as much as we can. So far, I have 'sketched' a lamp, an orange, a bobby pin and a still life that Nami set up for me. I tried the still life today (a bottle of wine, a mug and a peach) and Nami taught me how to do shadding. It was so much fun! I felt like a true artist. I even had pencil all over my hand when I was done. I'm going to keep practicing...Here's my first sketch that I'm not too terrified to post...

Amo Italia

It goes without saying that I love this country. Firenze is incredible and it seems that everyday I have something new and exciting happen to me and I fall more and more in love with it. This morning I got up at 7 15, took a shower and walked to class. I stopped for un espresso but it took me 40 minutes to get up to school. I walked way too fast because I was afraid I would be late but ended up being 20 minutes early and super hot from walking. It was well worth it because I love my 9am class. I'm taking Early Masters of Italian Renaissance Painting and it's so interesting. The professor is really good and he seems to know a whole lot about Firenze. I found out in class that the street we live on is one of the oldest streets in the city! For the class we're going to have a lot of site visits in the centro and in early October we're going to take a overnight to Padua, Mantua and Verona. It's going to be really fun to see different places with a Professor there to talk to us about what we're looking at. After class I had a break where I ate lunch and read for a course. Italian was right after and that went well again. My last class of the day was Introduction to Painting. I thought it was suppose to be from 3-7 but it turns out that the schedule was wrong and it's only suppose to be a 3 hour course! I was so relieved when I heard this. Plus, for today's class we didn't have any art supplies so the Professoressa got taxis for us to go downtown and buy our art supplies. I was out of class at 3:45 instead of 6. It was bellilssimo!
After class I met up with my roommate Nami and we wandered around the mercato centrale, she was looking for a purse, I was looking for shoes. Because we're in Italy and we're allowed, we bought mini bottles of vino rosso to accompany us on our shopping excursion. We were both successful! I bought a pair of handmade leather shoes from a shop near our house. The guy who worked there was so nice (like all Florentines, it seems) and he was helping us with our Italian. Everyone keeps saying that we'll be fluent by the end of the semester and I hope they're right! I love going out in the city speaking Italian to all the locals. It's really challenging but for some reason I'm not all that intimdated. Everyone is so friendly and willing to teach.
For dinner I just ate another panino from the same place as last night (another guy who works there was there tonight and his name is also Andrea...we thought he was pulling our leg but apparently there are two Andreas at this tiny panino store).Both Andreas a good panini makers....it must be an Andrea thing.
Tomorrow I only have Italian at 1:30 which will be so nice. Saturday we're going to Siena! NYU is having a day trip there for only 10 euros so my friends and I bounced on the opportunity! I can't wait to start travelling around Italy...I need to make a list of places I want to go! So many places, so little time...

Gli Miei Amici Nuovi

This morning I went for another run with my roommate Shelly. It was nice again to get out and run around the area, although it was a tad hotter today this morning than when we went in the evening, but still a nice run. After we ran we stopped at a fruit stand right outside our apartment (we live in the best location) and I bought fruit from the nicest fruttavendola (fruit vendor). She was so patient with my italian and she said she would remember us. She's going to be there all semester so I'm going to continue to buy fruit/veggies from her. I got two peaches and an orange for only 1.45 euros. I think that's cheap...who knows. My conception of prices has become so distorted being here.
I got up to school early so I could have a cheap lunch with my friends before Italian class. It was 3.00 euros for salad, bread and fruit. not too shabby. My Italian class went well again. I'm feeling very comfortable and it definitely helps that we have huge windows look out at the beautiful Tuscan landscape to distract me. It's an hour 15 min class which is nothing. My next class was my Sociology of Culture course. 2 hours and 45 min long. It's pretty brutal but the professor is this adorable italian women who completely understands that the length of the class is crazy. It seems like it will be a fun time. Hopefully I enjoy the sociology...
After class we walked back into the centro, bought some books and then grabbed dinner. Last night on our way home from gelato we decided to look at this ristorante across the street from our apartamento. This little alley, suprisingly enough, is really sketchy during the day but at night time it seems that all the crazies disappear and two cute ristorante pop up. One of those ristorante has a sandwich place with THE cutest italian boy, named Andrea, all of us have laid eyes on. He has fallen from a painting. He was very nice and, again, patient of our minimal italian knowledge. So tonight for dinner we all stopped by to get panini! They were SO good. We can make our own and I got mine with pesto, pecorino cheese, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and onions. SO good. Later my roommate Nami and I went right across the street to grab a glass of wine and talk...this little wine store has two benches outside and some snacky food if you want. We just got a small bottle of wine and sat on the benches and talked. Of course we met the guy who worked there, Fabio (yes, like the long haired large 'model'). He was so friendly, gave us un disconto on our vino and talked to us about school. It was a very relaxing end to the evening.
Today was such a great day because I feel like I'm really getting to know the Italian locals. Between the fruit vendor, the panini maker and the wine man, speaking Italian is becoming more and more comfortable. I have to get up at 7 15 for a 9am class tomorrow. I'm in class from 9-11:45 (Early Masters of Renaissance Painting), 1:30-2:45 (Italian) and 3:00-7:15 (yes, four hours, of intro to painting).
Buone notte!

First Day of Classes and Discovering the Gelato Gem

Classes started today. I was nervous for Italian and excited for History of the Italian Jews. By the end of the day I love Italian and dropped Italian Jews. I was under the impression that the class would be a bit more about religion (I'm not sure why exactly) but it's too much history and I won't be able to have it count towards my major. Plus it was a 3 hour class that was painful to get through. It seems interesting but being bored in the first class is never a good sign. When I got back to mio apartamento I looked at the available courses and found one I thought I would like. It's called Sociology and Culture and basically studies the way cultures view food in different ways. Why some like one type of food and others don't, the way people react to food...I'll get a better idea of what it's about when I start but two of my roommates are in the class so I'm so excited. Plus the focus is on food, particuarly Italian food so what's not to like???
Intermediate Italian went better than expected. I remembered more than I thought and I really like the professor. I already feel more comfortable with speaking.
To end of a pretty crappy day (with the whole lock-out thing)my roommates and I decided to get gelato. My Italian professor told us to go to this one place across the Arno called La Carraia and my friend Joci's homestay 'sister' also recommended it. We walked to try it out after dinner and it was so good!! Best AND cheapest yet. 1.30 euros! It was a very nice end to a frustrating day...tomorrow I have Italian and the culture course and my roommate shelly and I are going for a run in the morning! must balance out all the gelato! ciao!

Here's to Horrible Nights...

So last night was pretty crummy. I wanted to get to sleep early because we have classes today, but I wasn't really that tired. At about 1:10 my friend called me because she was across the street and I decided to go down and say hi so I wouldn't have to yell from the window. I was outside for about 5 minutes and when I came back up, my key wouldn't work in the apartment door. I called my roommate because she was still awake and she came to open it and her key wouldn't unlock the door from the inside! Neither key was working so I was locked out and my other three roommates were locked in! Basically to make a long story short, I called the emergency # and they sent one person over to get the door open and nothing happened, then they sent another person over and nothing happened and finally at about 3:10 or so they decided to take me to campus to sleep for the 'night' and they would deal with it in the morning. Two of my roommates missed their first class and we all got so little sleep. Let's just say I was not a happy camper through the whole experience.
So...moral of the story is, don't get locked out of your house in Italy because no one will help you. It's 10:30am now and I have 3 hours till class. I wanted to wake up early and get some stuff done and now i'm exhausted. I guess I'll try and stay awake for the rest of the day. I hope I don't fall asleep in class...

LINK FOR PHOTOS: http://picasaweb.google.com/spg261/Florence#

La Bellezza di Firenze (The Beauty of Florence)

I never thought I would eat mexican food in Italy but last night I did! We decided to try out this mexican place last night that was right around the corner and it was actually pretty good! We were the only people there aside from a couple and it was a pretty large restaurant (bigger than any italian one we've been in, interestingly enough). Instead of water, which you can't find anywhere for free, they gave us sangria's for drinks! Then we tried to order some cocktails (mojitos and margherita's) but apparently the place had just reopened and the bartender was at a wedding so they couldn't make some of them. To apologize for that, they gave us more sangria...can't complain. I got chicken quesadillas and they were good! It was a lot of fun. After getting dinner we walked to this random place on the opposite side of the Duomo to try a canoli that our friends claimed was 'the best'. We went back to our apartamento and drank some cheap wine. We decided earlier that we wanted to find the cheapest wine at the grocery and see if was any good...we found one that was 1.80 Euros and I guess it wasn't too bad. Nothing compared to the cheap wine in the U.S. though. My friends and I were planning on going to this club called Central Park that apparently a lot of International students go to. We didn't realize, when we decided to walk, that it would take almost an hour to get there. We kept asking for directions and would continue to get more and more lost. Eventually a few of my friends and I decided to jump in a taxi and get back to the city center. I ended up grabbing a beer with my friend Joci in a Piazza and then I went home. A pretty bust night in the end.

Today, was great! I woke up at 10:15 (BELLISSIMO!) My friends and I signed up for a red bus tour around Firenze and it was really nice to see everything from a different angle. The best part by far was the 5 min stop at Piazzale Michelangelo across the Arno. It was one of the most incredible views I've ever seen. (Refer to the photos to check out the view). Following the bus tour we wandered around for a bit to find a cheap place to grab a panino for lunch, which ended up being a harder feat than we had imagined. Everything in Italy is SO expensive and we keep ending up in touristy areas which doesn't help the situation. We gave into a 4 Euro panino and a 1.50 bottle of water...about 8 dollars...so I guess not too bad.
Following lunch we checked out H&M (not good) and then starting wandering everywhere! We finally walked across the Ponte Vecchio and ventured across the Arno. It seems like it's a bit cheaper over there so we might walk over for meals occaisionally. It was such a nice day today which made wandering around so nice. It was sunny and beautiful but there was such a nice breeze. My roommate Shelly and I decided to finally get our butts running and while it was a bit challenging to get going since we were so tired, I'm so glad we did.
It was amazing. Running in a foreign country is incredible. Not only do you get to explore the area but you notice a lot of stuff you otherwise wouldn't notice by walking. Usually when we've been walking we've also been talking. When I went running I was really able to listen to everyone and everything around me. Plus, the view running on the Arno was breathtaking. Then sun was getting low and beginning to set (we ran around 7) and it seemed like the city was covered in this red glow. It was beautiful. So far, one of my highlights.
Dinner tonight was quite the experimentation. I had no idea what I was doing and just freestyled my way. I decided to try and cook farro (a type of grain native to Italy). The package I got from the supermercato had a picture of farro with vegetables, but when I opened it I realized that there were no vegetables. So I improved and took out a bent out of shape pan, lit the gas stove and cooked the farro. I added garlic salt, oregano and parmesan cheese and it wasn't too bad...until I sat down and realized I was eating a bowl of grains and that was it. It took me about 3 mins to realize that I had bought some frozen vegetables yesterday I could put in the farro! A little olive oil and reheating later and voila! a perfect little meal that actually wasn't that bad. We have a stove in our kitchen but no microwave or oven, so cooking might get a little tricky. We might try and get a toaster oven...
So...tomorrow classes begin! I have to be up at La Pietra at 1:30 for Italian and then at 3:00 I have my History of Italian Jews course. I have all morning to dilly dally and I'm not sure what I'll do...maybe sleep...
Sorry the freakishly long posts. I'm thinking that once classes start I'll have less to talk about. We'll see though. This is basically my travel journal so I'm going to document everything! Until next time...