Ho fame. Sempre.

January 11

Adjusting to life in our new homes has been interesting. Katie and I each had to battle with the shower breaking, then walked passed our bus stop, only to have the bus show up late. Fifteen minutes late to class, we ran up to the fifth floor of Linguaviva for Italian. Usually we have a half an hour break in the middle of the lesson, but instead our professors took us on a tour of places to study (including a beautiful library that has a wonderful view of the Duomo) and an Italian bookstore (three stories!). Our afternoon orientation included buying phones (which have very entertaining games and even a flashlight!) before Jodie gave a quick introductory lecture about the city. Concluded the day by getting lost for almost an hour—apparently, our street is located in two different places and there are train tracks and it’s all very confusing because street signs either don’t exist or are hidden. Dinner consisted of some kind of bread pudding with Tuscany vegetables, the best cheese EVER, and banana marshmallows covered in chocolate.

January 12

Italian with Umberto is always hilarious. He loves to play music in the background and there’s this one catchy Italian pop song (it’s on his CD at least twice) that he’ll place while we conjugate verbs from the workbook. Whenever someone sneezes, he stops the entire class and conducts us to chant “SALUTE!” You need a good sense of humor to be able to teach a language, just because people (me) get frustrated so easily. During lunch, I realized that I need to learn more ways to talk about food so I can do more than point and say, “Grazie.” The food is just so fresh here, I feel like I’m hungry ALL THE TIME.

Our afternoon orientation was a tour of Florence with Jodie. We took the bus to San Miniato al Monte, climbed some stairs and then there it was. Florence. Words cannot describe how beautiful the view is and pictures cannot do it justice. It had been cloudy all morning, but the sun was finally breaking through in the afternoon when we arrived, which made the scene even better. The Duomo and its bell tower dominate the city, but there are other towers and domes that poke out from all of the buildings clustered together along the river and into the distance. The city ends almost abruptly river and some of the original city walls can still be seen. It was clear enough that we could see all of the little cities nestled in the hills around Florence—at the risk of sounding cliché, it looks like a fairy tale.

Florence from San Miniato al Monte

And then: my first basilica. San Miniato al Monte is named for Saint Minias, who was decapitated but still managed to pick up his head and climb up the mountain. The church was built around his relics. I didn’t realize that most of the basilicas were brick until Florence became the capital city for five years. The white and green designs that you seen on most of the landmarks would not exist and the layout of the city would be quite different. Walking inside San Miniato, the temperature dropped several degrees. The floors are lined with tombstones commemorating who is buried in the crypts below (until they decided that it was unhealthy to bury people in such a public space and created the cemetery outside). Some of the columns were actually taken from Roman buildings. Other columns try to mimic them, but the difference is obvious, especially in the Corinthian capital. I also learned that frescoes can be removed from the walls in order to save them from damage (such as flooding). I would love to see that process. And I would love to go back during the monks’ Gregorian chants. On a sunnier day so I can take more pictures.

The facade of San Miniato

Jodie could have talked about San Miniato all day, but instead she took us past a replica of Michelangelo’s David, down the hill, and back into the city. And across the River Arno, which is absolutely beautiful at sunset, when the water is calm (and the cars are speeding by, spitting fumes in your face…unfortunately a lot of the statues have to be removed from their original place in order to preserve them from all of the pollution). We didn’t spend as much time at any of the basilicas or museums once we got back, Jodie just wanted us to know our way around for future reference. But we followed the streets that curve along where the Roman amphitheatre used to be and emerged at the Palazzo Vecchio, which might be my new favorite place in Florence. Another replica of David stands in the piazza—it’s an exact copy, yes, he really is that tall. Seventeen feet! And the Uffizi is right there! And then there’s Loggia dei Lanzi! And it’s just a wonderful place (!).

Palazzo Vecchio

On the way back to Linguaviva, Jodie took us to Grom, which supposedly has the best gelato in Florence (my host mom disagrees). I tried stracciatella (chocolate chip) and creama de grom (egg cream, meliga biscuits, and dark chocolate). I wish I could bring gelato back from everyone in the States and I know I’m going to have to resist the temptation to eat it for lunch every day. But I have to go back and get hazelnut because apparently it tastes like Nutella. Speaking of food, after getting not as lost as we had before, Katie and I arrived home to a dinner of spaghetti, some kind of tuna/vegetable casserole, and fruit salad. Usually I don’t like tuna or bananas (they smell funny), but I’m trying everything that’s put in front of me and being pleasantly surprised.

Gelato...om nom nom

January 13

I passed my first Italian quiz, successfully used an ATM, and got a library card at the awesome library that used to be a monastery. We had a free afternoon and really, all I wanted to do was get lost. Up until this point, I usually picked homework over exploring. But one of the reasons I’m here is to experience a new culture and see as much as possible, so I needed to get out there. After saying goodbye to classmates outside of the library, I took a turn that I hoped was going to lead me to the river. Well, I got my wish. I was lost. And just as I was about to turn around and retrace my steps, I happened upon the Basilica of Santa Croce, which we had walked by the night before.

It was about mid-afternoon and the piazza was fairly deserted, save for a couple of children chasing pigeons around. So I walked up to a bench, smack dab front and center of the façade, and just sat and stared at it. I need to do this more often. I know that I don’t always stop as long as I should to examine my surroundings and it felt wonderful just to be able to sit and not worry and just take in the beautiful architecture. Then tourists started to emerge and a lady asked me to take her picture in the middle of the piazza and I failed at communicating with her in Italian so I decided it was time to move on.

And back to Palazzo Vecchio. I had planned on going to examine the frescos in the courtyard during the daylight, but I ended up making a beeline for the Loggia dei Lanzi and plopping down next to what I *thought* was a replica of “The Rape of the Sabine Women” by Giambologna but turns out IS THE REAL THING (in this case, rape means abduction). I sat next to this mannerist statue and caught up on my journal and felt a little homesick. But then I sat back and just watched the Italians hurry by and got in the way of several tourists taking pictures and felt like I belonged here, among the statues.

And *this* is my life.

I could tell you all about how I went to the supermarket, walked home without getting lost, and had pumpkin soup, mozzarella omelets, and lemon yogurt for dinner, but we’re taking a field trip to Siena tomorrow so I need to get some sleep.