Not much to say for today; we had a free day, so it was nice to sleep in. I almost forgot what a Saturday was like; sitting around in pajamas and eating breakfast at 10am? Getting on Facebook and reading in bed? Even when we have free time it feels like you need to take up as much time as you can and just soak up the traveling. But today, I decided I would chill out, and that's what I did. I finished The Fault in our Stars a few days ago, and now I'm onto The Lucky One- I'm not sure why, but I'm in a nick sparks kind of mood, and I need a good junk food book. On the way to Germany on Monday I'll be moving onto the Virgin Suicides. Always looking for more suggestions from the peanut gallery- even though I'm enjoying all the sites, I'm also taking the opportunity to do more reading and having me time. This is one of the last times I will ever have a complete lack of obligations, so I need to take advantage of that, too.
After I got up I went shopping on my own, which is a liberating experience in itself. I used to hate it, but now I'm seriously loving the me time. I look at what I want, skip what I have no interest in, and just enjoy some Paige. I bought myself some leather boots for 75 euros- I got a deal for being a student, and then for buying shoes for my last day in Italy (I exaggerated) and then I bartered down some more for the final price. Originally it was 145, so I was pretty pleased. My father taught me well. Also, I used all the Italian I knew, which got me some bonus points. Parla englese?
I bought some presents for people back home, and got myself a really nice leather journal- Florence is to leather as Venice is to glasswork. I was feeling satisfied with my purchases, and I think I have everything I need before leaving Italy, but I got another gelato just to be certain. Then on my way back to the hostel, I stopped at my pastry shop, where the man asked me if I wanted a white eclair like yesterday. In less than a week I've managed to make myself a regular :) The man at the counter rang me up for 4.50, but then the guy I usually talk to said something to him in Italian, and he brought it down to 3. I love Florence.
After more lounging (I love free days, seriously) Meghan and I went out and about for an errand for her,and then stopped at a restaurant we liked, but it was closed. Everything here opens for lunch, and then closes usually between 2-6, and then reopens for dinner. Most retail stores close during lunch, then come back in about an hour. On our way back, we saw a very drunk man pushing around a woman. It was kind of scary, but other people got involved and we didn't feel like it was our place to do anything.
After we went back for pizza when it was open, we came back and had some journal time out on the patio. Now we're inside, drinking wine a high school math teacher brought with him. He's a little eager to hang out with the coeds, but he brought red wine and interesting stories. It makes for an interesting end of the Italy trip.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Growing pains
I am really struggling to keep up with my blog while I'm in Florence. I think some of it might just be the repetition; I'm still in Italy, so there are still a lot of similarities, and I'm not going to keep describing the churches and art galleries because I need to leave you with some mystery or no one will want to look at my pictures when I go home. So I'll try and stay interesting, but brief.
We started our day at the monastery of San Marco, which I thought was really cool. The bottom floor showed how the monks used dyes to write the manuscripts. The top floor showed all the monk rooms. Each one had a painting on it, usually pretty graphic, that sometimes monks would faint from meditating on the violence. Most of them are some type of crucifixtion scene, but I saw one that looked like cartoon Jesus throwing open a door and stomping on devils who were flattened by it. Silly monks.
We wanted to go to the academia to see David, but the man working there was super salty and didn't speak much English. We have the fancy card that's lets us through all the gates, but he didn't understand that, or something was lost in translation, and we ended up just leaving and being angry. Now we are supposed to just go by ourselves, which I hope to do on Sunday. Marc and Ted did take us to a gelato place and bought us all gelato, which was so nice. They're the best.
We went to Santa Croce and saw the Pazzi chapel. We were also there in time to hear the bells chime, which I managed to catch some video of. The bells here are so pretty- I can't wait to get to Notre Dame and hear them. We ended up sitting out in the sun for almost an hour and just enjoying the really nice scenery; almost all of the buildings open up in the middle to a small outdoor area with a fountain.
Since we spent all our free lunch time in the sun, we skipped right on to Santa Maria del Carmine to see Masaccio frescoes (specifically, tribute money and expulsion from the garden). Everything here seems peach and orange and beige; the buildings, the paintings, the ground. Everything. It will be interesting to see the color schemes of other cities. It's not something I'd ever thought of before.
For dinner we went to a place down the street that did pizza to go, and so Meghan and I split the four cheese. Then we all just bonded outside on the patio and had quiet time, which is so valuable here. A few hours later we had some sloppy sallys, so I went to help take care of that and tried to find Doug before ASIg initiation.
It just reminds me of little things I'm missing; if I were at school, I would have gone overboard with cupcakes and cookies all showering my favorite men on campus with baked goods. But then again, if I weren't in Europe I would be in Franklin, cheering on my brother and Alec and Tyler and everyone else at broadcast. This is the first one ive missed since elementary school, and it seems even worse that it's harry's senior year and he's half the show, from what I've heard. I know everyone will do so great, and I'm so proud of all of them, but I am a little homesick and sad that I can't be there.
Karimah says every time things get hard while we're here, it's just a growing pain. She couldn't be more right.
We started our day at the monastery of San Marco, which I thought was really cool. The bottom floor showed how the monks used dyes to write the manuscripts. The top floor showed all the monk rooms. Each one had a painting on it, usually pretty graphic, that sometimes monks would faint from meditating on the violence. Most of them are some type of crucifixtion scene, but I saw one that looked like cartoon Jesus throwing open a door and stomping on devils who were flattened by it. Silly monks.
We wanted to go to the academia to see David, but the man working there was super salty and didn't speak much English. We have the fancy card that's lets us through all the gates, but he didn't understand that, or something was lost in translation, and we ended up just leaving and being angry. Now we are supposed to just go by ourselves, which I hope to do on Sunday. Marc and Ted did take us to a gelato place and bought us all gelato, which was so nice. They're the best.
We went to Santa Croce and saw the Pazzi chapel. We were also there in time to hear the bells chime, which I managed to catch some video of. The bells here are so pretty- I can't wait to get to Notre Dame and hear them. We ended up sitting out in the sun for almost an hour and just enjoying the really nice scenery; almost all of the buildings open up in the middle to a small outdoor area with a fountain.
Since we spent all our free lunch time in the sun, we skipped right on to Santa Maria del Carmine to see Masaccio frescoes (specifically, tribute money and expulsion from the garden). Everything here seems peach and orange and beige; the buildings, the paintings, the ground. Everything. It will be interesting to see the color schemes of other cities. It's not something I'd ever thought of before.
For dinner we went to a place down the street that did pizza to go, and so Meghan and I split the four cheese. Then we all just bonded outside on the patio and had quiet time, which is so valuable here. A few hours later we had some sloppy sallys, so I went to help take care of that and tried to find Doug before ASIg initiation.
It just reminds me of little things I'm missing; if I were at school, I would have gone overboard with cupcakes and cookies all showering my favorite men on campus with baked goods. But then again, if I weren't in Europe I would be in Franklin, cheering on my brother and Alec and Tyler and everyone else at broadcast. This is the first one ive missed since elementary school, and it seems even worse that it's harry's senior year and he's half the show, from what I've heard. I know everyone will do so great, and I'm so proud of all of them, but I am a little homesick and sad that I can't be there.
Karimah says every time things get hard while we're here, it's just a growing pain. She couldn't be more right.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Pisa
Day trip to Pisa
We were up and ready to go by ten of 8 (which took us a week to figure out meant 7:50) to walk to the train station to hop a ride to Pisa. It's about an hour ride, which isn't bad at all. I have a picture from us during the ride, but I'm not sure if it posted. The Internet is pretty sketchy here.
We walked about 30 minutes from the train station to get to everything we would see; it's amazing how long walks seem so much shorter when 1.theres a lot to look at 2. Youre in good company and 3. You're at this point completed used to this kind of walk. Seriously, after having to walk back and forth from the hostel all the time, it seems like nothing. Especially when you just don't have any other means.
The leaning tower of Pisa...leans. Really. It's only like a 3 degree tilt or something small, but it seems crazy. You have to see it though, because I'm sure my pictures look like all the other ones I saw before the trip. It's always different in real life.
We went to the Baptistry, which Is the largest one in Italy. It also is known for having great acoustics; while we were there, everyone got quiet so a woman could go out in the middle and just sing one note, and let it resonate, and then belt out another; it was so pretty, and as always, I wish I had gotten video. I'm starting to get better about that.
Next was the cathedral. It seems awful, but they're all starting to run together; honestly, this trip is like cramming for a test. You remember some really significant stuff,but a lot of it you forget a few days later. 4 churches a day for two weeks is a lot of remembering altars and frescoes. This one had the christ in majesty mosaic though, I can tell you that, and at some point during the 1600s there was a fire in it, but it's been restored.
Everything is all within this area called the "field of miracles ", which you aren't allowed to walk on. It was so nice to just see grass though; at one point there was a lawn mower going and you could smell the freshly cut grass, and everything was peace.
People were tromping through to take their tourist pictures, though. It was so funny, how many people were standing there pretending to be holding up the tower. I actually snapped a picture of a bunch of people doing it; the huge groups of people you find is comical. Meghan took hers, but I restrained myself. I'll probably regret it later.
Our last sight was the composanto cemetery. The whole thing was bombed during world war 2, and they never point any fingers, but it is weird to think that it would have been the allies doing the bombing on Italy. Actually, it was specifically the Americans on July 27 (my brothers birthday, that's how I remembered).
Anyway, its this huge monument with marble halls; but it all opens to the outside, where there's a stretch of grass that holds the dome for the background. It's hard to explain, but again, I'm sure you could look it up. The whole thing had these really great frescoes, but they're all gone now and in the process of being restored. The graves are there though; they just look like plaques, but they're on the ground. Some were as recent as 2009. When they built the monument, they shipped in a bunch of dirt from the middle east so that it could be built on holy ground, since many of the people buried there are Important church figures.
We broke for free time, and checked out the shopping. I ended up finally getting a blazer that was on sale. It's always flattering when a person working at a store comes up to you and starts speaking Italian, especially in touristy areas, because a lot of the time they can pick out Americans from miles away. When they don't immediately start with English (which happens a lot) it can be terrifying, but it also means you're starting to blend in, which just feels like a huge accomplishment.
When we came home we sat next to a British couple, and it was fun listening to the same language with different semantics (instead of "where did you put it?" the statement is "where have you put it?"...its probably just the accent, but it still sounds cool). It made me wonder what it would be like, to come to a country as an English speaker but without the stigma of being an American. I wanted to ask them about it, but I could always just talk to the obnoxious high school kids from London in our hostel. More like hostile... We have not been getting along.
We found this restaurant called Astor, which apparently the cast of jersey shore went to, but all I really cared about was the Americanized cheeseburger. It was like a nice night club, but all the food was very American. They knew who they were marketing to. It was so delicious though; and even in Italy, they use Heinz ketchup. It was nice comfort food to end the day with.
We walked around at night, which was really pretty. We hung out on the bridge over the river for a while, and it amazes me that even a year later and a continent away, I still can't really enjoy the beauty of a river since Molly. It's not that I can't stand being on one, but it just leaves me kind of sour and bitter. I know I can't go around being salty at every waterway I walk across, but for now I'm not going to deal with it.
Tomorrow is our last full day of scheduled activities; Florence is going by so fast! It's hard to believe that this is the 2nd week- each day goes by so slow, but the weeks go so fast. This time next week I'll be leaving Germany for Paris. Crazy.
We were up and ready to go by ten of 8 (which took us a week to figure out meant 7:50) to walk to the train station to hop a ride to Pisa. It's about an hour ride, which isn't bad at all. I have a picture from us during the ride, but I'm not sure if it posted. The Internet is pretty sketchy here.
We walked about 30 minutes from the train station to get to everything we would see; it's amazing how long walks seem so much shorter when 1.theres a lot to look at 2. Youre in good company and 3. You're at this point completed used to this kind of walk. Seriously, after having to walk back and forth from the hostel all the time, it seems like nothing. Especially when you just don't have any other means.
The leaning tower of Pisa...leans. Really. It's only like a 3 degree tilt or something small, but it seems crazy. You have to see it though, because I'm sure my pictures look like all the other ones I saw before the trip. It's always different in real life.
We went to the Baptistry, which Is the largest one in Italy. It also is known for having great acoustics; while we were there, everyone got quiet so a woman could go out in the middle and just sing one note, and let it resonate, and then belt out another; it was so pretty, and as always, I wish I had gotten video. I'm starting to get better about that.
Next was the cathedral. It seems awful, but they're all starting to run together; honestly, this trip is like cramming for a test. You remember some really significant stuff,but a lot of it you forget a few days later. 4 churches a day for two weeks is a lot of remembering altars and frescoes. This one had the christ in majesty mosaic though, I can tell you that, and at some point during the 1600s there was a fire in it, but it's been restored.
Everything is all within this area called the "field of miracles ", which you aren't allowed to walk on. It was so nice to just see grass though; at one point there was a lawn mower going and you could smell the freshly cut grass, and everything was peace.
People were tromping through to take their tourist pictures, though. It was so funny, how many people were standing there pretending to be holding up the tower. I actually snapped a picture of a bunch of people doing it; the huge groups of people you find is comical. Meghan took hers, but I restrained myself. I'll probably regret it later.
Our last sight was the composanto cemetery. The whole thing was bombed during world war 2, and they never point any fingers, but it is weird to think that it would have been the allies doing the bombing on Italy. Actually, it was specifically the Americans on July 27 (my brothers birthday, that's how I remembered).
Anyway, its this huge monument with marble halls; but it all opens to the outside, where there's a stretch of grass that holds the dome for the background. It's hard to explain, but again, I'm sure you could look it up. The whole thing had these really great frescoes, but they're all gone now and in the process of being restored. The graves are there though; they just look like plaques, but they're on the ground. Some were as recent as 2009. When they built the monument, they shipped in a bunch of dirt from the middle east so that it could be built on holy ground, since many of the people buried there are Important church figures.
We broke for free time, and checked out the shopping. I ended up finally getting a blazer that was on sale. It's always flattering when a person working at a store comes up to you and starts speaking Italian, especially in touristy areas, because a lot of the time they can pick out Americans from miles away. When they don't immediately start with English (which happens a lot) it can be terrifying, but it also means you're starting to blend in, which just feels like a huge accomplishment.
When we came home we sat next to a British couple, and it was fun listening to the same language with different semantics (instead of "where did you put it?" the statement is "where have you put it?"...its probably just the accent, but it still sounds cool). It made me wonder what it would be like, to come to a country as an English speaker but without the stigma of being an American. I wanted to ask them about it, but I could always just talk to the obnoxious high school kids from London in our hostel. More like hostile... We have not been getting along.
We found this restaurant called Astor, which apparently the cast of jersey shore went to, but all I really cared about was the Americanized cheeseburger. It was like a nice night club, but all the food was very American. They knew who they were marketing to. It was so delicious though; and even in Italy, they use Heinz ketchup. It was nice comfort food to end the day with.
We walked around at night, which was really pretty. We hung out on the bridge over the river for a while, and it amazes me that even a year later and a continent away, I still can't really enjoy the beauty of a river since Molly. It's not that I can't stand being on one, but it just leaves me kind of sour and bitter. I know I can't go around being salty at every waterway I walk across, but for now I'm not going to deal with it.
Tomorrow is our last full day of scheduled activities; Florence is going by so fast! It's hard to believe that this is the 2nd week- each day goes by so slow, but the weeks go so fast. This time next week I'll be leaving Germany for Paris. Crazy.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
"Uffizi" makes auto correct unhappy
Today we started at he borgello museum, since we weren't able to go the day before. We saw Donatello's David, which is my favorite of all the Davids (except for David Greene, of course). We also have a fancy "friends of the uffizi" pass, so we don't have to wait in any lines.
Security here is weird. You have to go through a metal detector,but if it goes off no one really cares and you just keep going. Your stuff goes through the X-ray machine like at the airport, but even if the little red bulb goes on, they still don't stop you. Doug gave me this little Swiss army knife set that has been really useful, but I forgot I had taken it out of the room the night before, and it was still in my purse. No one stopped me,and I just waltzed right in. Granted, I wasn't going to be doing much damage with it, but still.
We went to the uffizi gallery next, which had a lot of the stuff we had studied. Megan enjoys herself and tells me all about the paintings I forgot we had learned; but when we get to London, I'm going to be the pro at Shakespeare. I'm pretty excited, even if it makes me a big nerd. There are 6 English majors and around 10 art history people, so we're a bit out numbered.
We had 4 hours of free time before going to the Piazzale Michelangelo, so I perused the clothing stores. I really want to get a cute blazer before we go home, but I also realize I could save my money and buy 5 european cute outfits at home, or 2 pieces of European clothing here. Plus, it was so hot today that it's just no fun shopping for jackets. I did get a nice leather journal though; it's tiny enough to fit in my purse, just so I can jot things down to remember to put them back in here.
When we finally reconvened, we walked up this super large steep hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo, which gives a great view of Florence. I might go back another day to see the sun set, if my feet will allow it. Seriously, this should be offered with hpe credits as well, but Marc and Ted said they tried and it was shut down, because there isn't enough structure. Either way, I'm going to get way more fit than I would in "art of relaxation" class. The other nice thing about being up there was that we finally got rid of the pigeons, which I now know are a universal problem. I just see puppy loving pigeons, but Megan is terrified of birds, and one brushed my face today (like, literally pushed my bangs with its wings during takeoff) so I was ready to get some time away as well.
Now I'm back at the hostel, after a nice peanut butter and jelly sandwhich :) I wish the milk here were satisfying, but it's more like drinking straight cream. Blah. Maybe I can find some and just water it down, but for now I'm sticking to orange juice and water. Everyone else is sipping wine- Ted asked us to be classy and stop drinking wine straight from the bottle in the lounge, so his wife bought us all orange plastic cups. They are too cute. Now the cups are hot commodities, but I've just got a juice box. I've always been the cool kid.
I have a hard time thinking of clever titles
On the itinerary, for our first day incflorence:
Visit Duomo, the Baptistery, Opera del Duomo, and Bargello Museum (closes at 2 p.m.) Afternoon visit of San Lorenzo (Medici tombs and Laurentian Library). Santa Maria Novella for Masaccio’s Holy Trinity fresco.
So we knew we had a lot cut out for us (especially since our hostel is a 20 minute walk away from everything, so there's a 40 minute walking time guaranteed every day).
The duomo was huge, and impressive, but there's an awful painting on the inside that makes the scale seem weird. Hopefully I'll get to climb up to the top on our free day, so then I can see how huge it is. We saw the baptistery, where every florentine is baptized up until a few years ago. I was able to take pictures in there, but I didn't do many- I think Florence is my favorite city, but I just haven't been doing too many pictures. Blogging, either. I'm just experiencing.
We didn't do Bargello museum because we started the day with Santa Maria novella, which took a while. Side note: we don't get continental breakfast in our hostel, so everyone went to the grocery store. I ended up getting these fiber bars that taste like churros. So delicious, and so lucky. Moral of the story, it packs easily, and that's pretty awesome. We had some free time to get lunch, and we ended up at this nice little diner on the top floor, so we could see everything from the patio. My lunch was expensive and awful, but the service was great. She was super friendly, and asked us where we were from, and even told us how to do things so we didn't have to be the dumb Americans- where to pay, if we should leave tip, etc. she even gave me a doggy bag, which they don't really do over here. Another thing I don't think I've mentioned; everytime you go out to eat, you pay a table charge for bread and silverware. You also can't get separate checks, so we're all getting really good at math.
I'll take this time just to talk about money, I guess. A euro is worth 1.3 American dollars, so when you buy a 5 euro sandwhich, it's 6.50 dollars. Stuff you need to remember. Also, they hate big bills here; they would much rather you spend a bunch of extra time looking for exact change rather than giving them a 10 or 20 (this is very inconvenient when the ATM gives you 50s. At the same time, you want to get as much out as you can at once to avoid mas many bank fees as you can.) euros come in cents, in a one euro coin, a two euro coin, and then bills- 5,10,20, etc. so you end up carrying a lot of change, which is pretty heavy and jangly. Also, it's just kind of an awkward dance when you're trying to fish out 2 euro and two twenty cent pieces to pay for your gelato,and then try to get the receipt back in and any extra change and get your gelato out of the way. Weird skills you learn to do as a team.
Anyway, after lunch we went to the Medici chapel and palace and their tombs. The Medici were the rich people of Florence that ran the show- maybe there are lots of good things to be said about them, but from the things I saw, they were mostly big duesches. The tombs were huge and ornate, with big scary statue versions of themselves by Michelangelo staring down from overtop of them. It was insane. There were no photos, or I would have gotten some just to show the ridiculousness of it all, but I'm sure you can find some online. I know they did a lot, but it just seemed way over the top.
We decided to go shopping after all the scheduled activities were over, and theres a cute
Little market where you can barter for nice leather goods and fruit and spices and anything else. We were just looking from afar, because they tend to get a little aggressively eager, which is exactly what happened. Katy ended up getting dragged down an alley so a man could take her to his shop and meet his sister so she could try on leather jackets. I have so many feelings and thoughts about the ordeal that I'll have to wait and share with everyone once I get back. He thought I was Ukrainian (shout out to my big, here!) and Megan was German, which she's been getting a lot. Basically after a lot of touching and hassling and fawning, he realized we weren't going to be getting a jacket, and got really rude about why we wasted his time and why we came to his shop, to which Megan replied that "we didn't, you literally dragged her down here." that was when she and I got thrown out. We had Katy's wallet though, so after some cussing and yelling she came out and he stormed off. His sister came back and apologized, but it was all just very bizarre.
We stopped at h&m for some retail therapy that was closer to home and what we were used to, but didn't find anything good. We decided to go to dinner at this cheap restaurant the profs had told us about. I got spaghetti and the house red wine, which was alright. The wine here knocks me off my ass, so I try to keep pretty light with it, but a quarter of a liter is still a lot. The spaghetti wasn't great either; I know this is probably wrong, but I'm in italy and all I want is my moms perfect spaghetti. Well, and the freedom to put my own cheese on. However, if anyone wanted to learn to make 4 formaggio spaghetti for me when I come back, there would be no complaints.
I forgot, my big news!! I was on the google machine looking up places to by sunscreen, and I came across a site with some important grocery stores noted. One of them was this ethnic cousine store, so that you old buy things that were common in other countries. I tracked it down, and it was a dumpy place in the middle of no where, but it was a dumpy place with PEANUTBUTTER. So I am the happiest of all the little American girls.
We comeback to the hostel for some quiet time, and ended up having a hair braiding party, which was cute. I met some of the new guys that moved into our hall- high schoolers from London that were here with a class to just tour. So cool. They werent particularly interested in us though- I'm learning a lot about style here, but there are still middle school girls that look more put together than most of us do. It's pretty intimidating, but fun.
So that was Florence! Supposedly the toughest day, I guess well see. It seems like this week is going to fly by though, and then well be back in Germany!
Visit Duomo, the Baptistery, Opera del Duomo, and Bargello Museum (closes at 2 p.m.) Afternoon visit of San Lorenzo (Medici tombs and Laurentian Library). Santa Maria Novella for Masaccio’s Holy Trinity fresco.
So we knew we had a lot cut out for us (especially since our hostel is a 20 minute walk away from everything, so there's a 40 minute walking time guaranteed every day).
The duomo was huge, and impressive, but there's an awful painting on the inside that makes the scale seem weird. Hopefully I'll get to climb up to the top on our free day, so then I can see how huge it is. We saw the baptistery, where every florentine is baptized up until a few years ago. I was able to take pictures in there, but I didn't do many- I think Florence is my favorite city, but I just haven't been doing too many pictures. Blogging, either. I'm just experiencing.
We didn't do Bargello museum because we started the day with Santa Maria novella, which took a while. Side note: we don't get continental breakfast in our hostel, so everyone went to the grocery store. I ended up getting these fiber bars that taste like churros. So delicious, and so lucky. Moral of the story, it packs easily, and that's pretty awesome. We had some free time to get lunch, and we ended up at this nice little diner on the top floor, so we could see everything from the patio. My lunch was expensive and awful, but the service was great. She was super friendly, and asked us where we were from, and even told us how to do things so we didn't have to be the dumb Americans- where to pay, if we should leave tip, etc. she even gave me a doggy bag, which they don't really do over here. Another thing I don't think I've mentioned; everytime you go out to eat, you pay a table charge for bread and silverware. You also can't get separate checks, so we're all getting really good at math.
I'll take this time just to talk about money, I guess. A euro is worth 1.3 American dollars, so when you buy a 5 euro sandwhich, it's 6.50 dollars. Stuff you need to remember. Also, they hate big bills here; they would much rather you spend a bunch of extra time looking for exact change rather than giving them a 10 or 20 (this is very inconvenient when the ATM gives you 50s. At the same time, you want to get as much out as you can at once to avoid mas many bank fees as you can.) euros come in cents, in a one euro coin, a two euro coin, and then bills- 5,10,20, etc. so you end up carrying a lot of change, which is pretty heavy and jangly. Also, it's just kind of an awkward dance when you're trying to fish out 2 euro and two twenty cent pieces to pay for your gelato,and then try to get the receipt back in and any extra change and get your gelato out of the way. Weird skills you learn to do as a team.
Anyway, after lunch we went to the Medici chapel and palace and their tombs. The Medici were the rich people of Florence that ran the show- maybe there are lots of good things to be said about them, but from the things I saw, they were mostly big duesches. The tombs were huge and ornate, with big scary statue versions of themselves by Michelangelo staring down from overtop of them. It was insane. There were no photos, or I would have gotten some just to show the ridiculousness of it all, but I'm sure you can find some online. I know they did a lot, but it just seemed way over the top.
We decided to go shopping after all the scheduled activities were over, and theres a cute
Little market where you can barter for nice leather goods and fruit and spices and anything else. We were just looking from afar, because they tend to get a little aggressively eager, which is exactly what happened. Katy ended up getting dragged down an alley so a man could take her to his shop and meet his sister so she could try on leather jackets. I have so many feelings and thoughts about the ordeal that I'll have to wait and share with everyone once I get back. He thought I was Ukrainian (shout out to my big, here!) and Megan was German, which she's been getting a lot. Basically after a lot of touching and hassling and fawning, he realized we weren't going to be getting a jacket, and got really rude about why we wasted his time and why we came to his shop, to which Megan replied that "we didn't, you literally dragged her down here." that was when she and I got thrown out. We had Katy's wallet though, so after some cussing and yelling she came out and he stormed off. His sister came back and apologized, but it was all just very bizarre.
We stopped at h&m for some retail therapy that was closer to home and what we were used to, but didn't find anything good. We decided to go to dinner at this cheap restaurant the profs had told us about. I got spaghetti and the house red wine, which was alright. The wine here knocks me off my ass, so I try to keep pretty light with it, but a quarter of a liter is still a lot. The spaghetti wasn't great either; I know this is probably wrong, but I'm in italy and all I want is my moms perfect spaghetti. Well, and the freedom to put my own cheese on. However, if anyone wanted to learn to make 4 formaggio spaghetti for me when I come back, there would be no complaints.
I forgot, my big news!! I was on the google machine looking up places to by sunscreen, and I came across a site with some important grocery stores noted. One of them was this ethnic cousine store, so that you old buy things that were common in other countries. I tracked it down, and it was a dumpy place in the middle of no where, but it was a dumpy place with PEANUTBUTTER. So I am the happiest of all the little American girls.
We comeback to the hostel for some quiet time, and ended up having a hair braiding party, which was cute. I met some of the new guys that moved into our hall- high schoolers from London that were here with a class to just tour. So cool. They werent particularly interested in us though- I'm learning a lot about style here, but there are still middle school girls that look more put together than most of us do. It's pretty intimidating, but fun.
So that was Florence! Supposedly the toughest day, I guess well see. It seems like this week is going to fly by though, and then well be back in Germany!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Pictures...
I have another one of me in Florence, but these are me in front of the Tuscany landscape, and my groceries for the week (less exciting, unless you're into italian Cheerios)
Flirting with Florence
So today we packed up at 8 and went on our way to Florence, via private coach. Way less stressful than the bus, and for the first time we were all in an enclosed space with just us; inside the bus, it was America, even if we were driving through Italy. Our bus driver took out a stop light on the way out of Rome, because everyone drives like a crazy person and the roads are tiny. We ended up being a little behind schedule because we had to stop for the ticket we got, but we still made it to sienna on time.
We stopped at a gas station, which was another experience. These are things you just don't think about, but yes- in Italy, they have rest stops. This one was pretty typical;bathrooms, food, magazines. I got some crackers because my stomach was just not feeling it today,but it only helped a little. Past Paige takes care of future Paige though, and I had some apple juice saved for just such an emergency.
We made it to siena, which is SO pretty- ill post a picture of the Tuscany landscape. Lots of hills, but just beautiful countryside and vineyards. The houses are adorable too, and when you get into town you have to park and walk in, so it's a lot slower paced.
We went to a church that I didn't really like, and then to the square for lunch. The weather was perfect,and we just laid out and enjoyed some vitamin d before going into the big city hall type building. Not much to say about that either; it was pretty small, at least the parts we got to see. We did make it out to the patio on the top, and while we were taking pictures a man from the ground (we were like 4 stories up) started singing to us. It was so fun and impressive, and he bowed for us and then did an encore. It's probably not interesting to read about, but it's the most exciting thing that happened during the day trip, and the video is funny.
After we packed back into the bus, we drove for another hour into Florence. Our hostel is nearly hotel standard- we have our own bathroom, the rooms are largeish, and there's cute patios to hang out in. We also have wifi, obviously. The towels are more like sheets, but I hear they still get the job done.
On our walking tour, it took about 20 minutes to get into the city. We have a grocery store nearby and a nice bar that has pastries nearby, but for the most part were in the middle of nowhere. We got into town and over the bridge, where we found the duomo and baptistery. The Medici palace was just down the street from there. It seems like everything is pretty condensed,even if it's a walk to get to, at first. I'm starting to get heel spurs, which just seems ridiculous, but my feet are not happy with me.
I got the worlds most heavenly doughnut, stopped at the grocery store for some breakfast, and now I'm back in my room ready to learn how to master a new shower. We start early tomorrow morning, and I can't wait; it seems like this week is going to go by super fast. There's so much to do, and everyone is so friendly; I'm pretty sure I'm already falling in love with Florence.
We stopped at a gas station, which was another experience. These are things you just don't think about, but yes- in Italy, they have rest stops. This one was pretty typical;bathrooms, food, magazines. I got some crackers because my stomach was just not feeling it today,but it only helped a little. Past Paige takes care of future Paige though, and I had some apple juice saved for just such an emergency.
We made it to siena, which is SO pretty- ill post a picture of the Tuscany landscape. Lots of hills, but just beautiful countryside and vineyards. The houses are adorable too, and when you get into town you have to park and walk in, so it's a lot slower paced.
We went to a church that I didn't really like, and then to the square for lunch. The weather was perfect,and we just laid out and enjoyed some vitamin d before going into the big city hall type building. Not much to say about that either; it was pretty small, at least the parts we got to see. We did make it out to the patio on the top, and while we were taking pictures a man from the ground (we were like 4 stories up) started singing to us. It was so fun and impressive, and he bowed for us and then did an encore. It's probably not interesting to read about, but it's the most exciting thing that happened during the day trip, and the video is funny.
After we packed back into the bus, we drove for another hour into Florence. Our hostel is nearly hotel standard- we have our own bathroom, the rooms are largeish, and there's cute patios to hang out in. We also have wifi, obviously. The towels are more like sheets, but I hear they still get the job done.
On our walking tour, it took about 20 minutes to get into the city. We have a grocery store nearby and a nice bar that has pastries nearby, but for the most part were in the middle of nowhere. We got into town and over the bridge, where we found the duomo and baptistery. The Medici palace was just down the street from there. It seems like everything is pretty condensed,even if it's a walk to get to, at first. I'm starting to get heel spurs, which just seems ridiculous, but my feet are not happy with me.
I got the worlds most heavenly doughnut, stopped at the grocery store for some breakfast, and now I'm back in my room ready to learn how to master a new shower. We start early tomorrow morning, and I can't wait; it seems like this week is going to go by super fast. There's so much to do, and everyone is so friendly; I'm pretty sure I'm already falling in love with Florence.
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