Quick Update

I've safely returned from a whirlwind spring break. I was not near the earthquake in Italy and did not feel any tremors-deep sleeper.

Hope that everyone else is well and I return home in less than a month :-/

SPRING BREAK!!

Ciao,

I'm very sorry that I've gotten so behind with updating my blog. My time has been spent attempting to get ready for spring break and as I type, I'm sitting in the Athens, Greece airport about to depart for my second leg of the journey.

After a very eventful flight out of Florence, we arrived in Athens yesterday March 28th and spent the better part of the afternoon walking around. We are on our way out this morning to Santorini-a small island off of the coast of Greece and will be there until April 2. From Santorini I will be flying back into Rome and then out to Vienna, where I will meet up with my sister and spend a few days.

It's a whirlwind break, but I'm very excited to be able to relax in Santorini-minus the fact that I have a paper due on the 2nd...

Hope everyone is doing well!

More of an update to come soon!

PICTURES

I know that a lot of you are able to view my photo's that I have placed on facebook, but for those of you who aren't and those of you who want to see more than what I have included on facebook-this is your link:

http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb81/becca6806/Study%20Abroad%20in%20Florence/



I will attempt to go in tomorrow and add information about what everything is

WAY TOO LONG

Ciao Tutti!

I'm so sorry that I have been slacking in the blog update department, however, I rest assured that you'll forgive me because this means that I've been out and about!

Lets start where I most recently left off...Around Valentine's Day- wow, I'm so behind!

Valentine's Weekend: a fun and relaxing weekend, half of our group went to Venice for Carnevale. This means that only two people were staying in my apartment and three in the other apartment-plus one guy stayed. It was so nice to have the apartment(s) to ourselves and to get away from some of the drama that a ten girl apartment ensues.

On Saturday-since it was Valentine's Day- the girls and I decided that we were going to cook dinner for everyone who had stayed in Florence, including our professor. Three of us ventured around to the market and made friends with the infamous guy who gives me amazing deals on tomatoes-which are quite tasty. He even wrote a sign in half Italian – half English about how he needed a valentine. Pictures are available on facebook.

After gathering all of the ingredients we began the cooking process, using both kitchens we made bruchetta, salad, asparagus, and shrimp linguini for seven people; quite an undertaking. It was well worth it and a very fun way to spend valentines day in Florence. On Sunday those of us who hadn't gone to Venice for the entire weekend went with the Accademia for the day. It was amazing to go and see this beautiful city-words can hardly describe, pictures do the best justice. The only downfall was that it was Carnevale and there were tons of people everywhere! We mainly walked around outside and skipped out on going into buildings-so I have more of a reason to go back.

This past week of classes (Feb. 16-20) has been hard. I think it's once again an adjustment thing-but I felt as if I was worse this past week than I had been during the first week of classes. Luckily I have a very understanding professor and he and I chatted about various things while taking a break from the mundane politics of Britain. He told me of two vegetarian restaurants to try and seemed to be worried that I hadn't been going out to dinner a lot and experiencing Florence. So I've now decided that I need to stop being so frugal and I need to live a little while I'm here.

This weekend was a very relaxing one-which is what I needed after this past week, but at the same time I've still not gotten caught up on my work-so tomorrow is going to be a hellacious day.

On Friday I went with the Art History trip to Lucca & Pisa. I think I've officially fallen in love with Italy. It was so so beautiful and very nice to get out of the hectic city life that has begun in Florence and will just worsen as the weather gets warmer and people start to take vacations here. I almost wish that I was studying abroad in Lucca. It was a very fun but long day of traveling around and seeing all there was to see, but for a free trip it was more than worth it. I climbed to the top of the leaning tower of Pisa, took almost 200 pictures, and came away with a desire to get in a car and drive aimlessly around the Tuscany area. If I have my choice-I think I would retire around that area, heck, I may even brush up on my Italian enough to move here one day-It's that amazing and beautiful.

For the rest of the weekend I took it easy. I went out for lunch and a bit of shopping yesterday- bought my first two pairs of skinny jeans… Then today some of the girls and I went to an American diner for brunch-so good! And then we wandered around for a bit…I bought a very cute little shirt for going out-and then came home and took a two hour nap-yikes.


THE NEXT WEEK Feb 23-March 1

Not much happened this week... Italian was extremely hard because we started learning the past participle and l'imperfetto- it's as hard as it sounds. We also had our first Italian test on Thursday, which was not fun, but at least that was all we did in Italian that day. The test was bad because for my Renaissance class I have a reading and a paper due each class day and my class days are Monday & Thursday-joyous. On Thursday we also went as a school to hear some of the voice students preform various songs, and then the Elon crowd went out for a large group dinner afterwards-I splurged and tried their lobster-YUM.

On Friday, Feb 27, I went with the art history class to Siena and San Gimignano. BEAUTIFUL. I am thinking and hoping to put my pictures on an online site that everyone can access.

Since I had a large paper, as well as my reading response paper, due for my Renaissance class on Monday, I didn't go anywhere for the weekend. I did however, get up on Saturday morning and go for a run along L'arno and through Parco Delle Cascine, which is about five bridges up from my apartment. It was a wonderful start to my day-I couldn't have asked for better weather or a better place to venture through. The park runs along the Arno and on one side has a larger grassy area with paths for running, biking, skating, then a small road-with a canopy of trees, and a small running path on the other side-which runs along a horse track! Very exciting to discover this. I actually ventured down to see the track, which I probably wasn't supposed to do, but there were people taking lessons/training on jumps-really neat. I turned my run around and headed for home when I reached the public soccer field, where a large group of males were playing soccer-fun to watch.

That pretty much completes my weekend-but it was a lot of fun!

This past week was even more of an adventure.

MARCH 2-8
After having taken our Italian test, we were placed into different Italian classes, but for Monday only Elon students were at school for class-so we discussed our test and then went for breakfast with the other classes-thank goodness! My class never went anywhere, while the others were always taking small field trips.

I now have a different teacher for my conversation, which is sad because I will miss Giuseppe and being called principessa in class haha. However Fede, my new teacher is really nice, and she makes the funniest hand motions during class.

The rest of the week continued pretty normally, my political science professor and I discussed what my 20+ paper topic will be and I won't have class with him for two weeks because he is going to Lebanon.

I also went to dinner with a small group of Elon students and the professor who came with us, on Elon's tab-thank goodness...We went to ZaZa's, which was such a fun atmosphere and very amazing food, plus a cute waiter. haha I ordered a type of calamari bruschetta and Salmon- so so so amazing, however it made me very very full.

On Friday, I went with the Art History class to Arezzo. It was nice- a free trip why not, but not somewhere that I loved entirely... THEN Grant, a guy who's here from Elon & I ventured to Milan. It was a really neat place to go. Very different from the fast paced Florence lifestyle. It was good to get away from the rest of the group, who went to rome, where Ive been before, and to also have a weekend where there was nothing to worry about.

I'm not sure what else to write about-PLEASE continue to keep me updated on your lives and don't hesitate to ask any questions if you want more information. I hope that you're all doing well & know that I miss you all!

The Past Week

Tuesday, Feb 3 - Tuesday, Feb 10

So it has been a week since I’ve talked about my adventures, which unfortunately there weren't many of in recent days.

My first class with my POL professor was very interesting; he can’t be older than 25 and I’m the only student, so it’s hard to take him seriously when he stands up and lectures me- but to make up for all of that, my class today was pushed back until 4:30 and when I finally got out, at 6:20, I felt like it was just 5:30. I like my professor, but I feel as if he is overly concerned about whether I’m lying to him when I tell him I understand the material-maybe last semester’s class wasn’t very intuitive. Either Monday or Tuesday, I went to the fresh food market and bought four tomatoes and an onion for 1 euro- I can’t wait to make friends there so I can get good deals again.

My other classes are fine, I don’t have an afternoon class Wednesday, which is very nice to have a reprieve. I also don’t have afternoon classes on Friday, which will hopefully afford for an extra day on trips.

My Friday class was cancelled last week, so I met up with a friend from the states who’s studying through NYU and we went out Thursday night. I met a lot of fun and interesting people and had a blast going out on the town..ha The only bad thing is that one of the girl’s who had gone out with me had her purse stolen-not to worry the events leading up to it won’t occur again.

Not too much occurred on Friday. I did some laundry and just had a chill day in the apartment. On Saturday, some of the girls and I hiked up to the Piazza di Michaelangelo again, this time we took a different route and it was sunny out-which was nice. We also went to San Miniato al Monte. No one did anything on Saturday night because we were traveling to Ravenna Sunday morning, at 7am.

The trip to Ravenna was fun, but the Art History teacher who took us around spoke a mile a minute and was a bit hard to pay attention to. We went into every church there-I’m positive. The churches were full of beautiful mosaics, many of which had been re-done during another era by other rulers. The history and stories behind the works was fasinating.

School has pretty much been the same the past two days, however, everyone’s Italian classes have been switched up, so there are a few new people in my class, but mainly the ones who were already in it. I had one of the girl’s on the trip cut my bangs and update my layers today- yay free hair cuts! I also am planning a trip to the market tomorrow for more tomatoes and perhaps some different veggies, I really want to find cucumbers.

That’s pretty much all for now, not too much to tell. Please send me updates on your lives and send e-mails if you’re curious about anything. Ciao!

First Few Days

Hello all,

I wanted to update everyone on my first few days in Italia, but this also helps me to recount everything that has happened for my blog and my journal.

There have been a whirlwind of events…It seems as if I’ve hardly had a minute to myself, but it is currently 5:15pm on Monday, and I’ve got my 3-person room all to myself, so I’m taking advantage of it. Listening to music, writing this e-mail, and letting it sink in that I’m really here for three months, which is making me a little sad, but more giddy. (I’m still not fully grasping the fact that I will be here for so long, it’s very surreal, to the point that I feel as if I haven’t really acknowledged it.)

I guess I’ll start off with my first day- Friday, Jan. 30:
My flight from Atlanta took off late due to someone’s medical emergency, they were taken from the plane to the hospital, so Friday night we took off an hour after schedule. We (and I say we because there was another girl from Elon on the same flight), arrived in Frankfurt a little after 9am, went through security and met up with other students from Elon at our gate. Our flight to Florence went off without a hitch, however we were on a tiny plane- 6 people per row. We collected our baggage and were taken to our apartments. Both of the girl’s apartments are in the same building and share the same hall; after you make it through the massive front door and up two large flights of stairs, you come to a landing with doors leading off, our door leads to a hallway with two other doors, one being to each of the girl’s apartments.
My apartment is nice, a bit unconventional by American standards, but I’m in Italy, not too much to complain about. There is a tiny staircase that leads to a two-bedroom room, which has a bathroom off of it. Downstairs is a very large kitchen with a dining table and a bathroom off of it. The next room is a living room, with a couch, a dining table, a closet that is divided into three sections, and a television. The last room in the apartment is my bedroom, which contains three beds and little else…haha We have a small shelving unit with three shelves, two drawers, and then everyone has a night stand/table.
After being shown how our keys worked and how to turn on the heat, gas for the stove, washing machine, etc… We were allowed to do whatever until 8pm when we had a group dinner. In the interim I unpacked all of my clothing and attempted to get settled in the apartment. I showered in our nice little rotunda of a shower, which is not separated from the rest of the bathroom, and in no time we left for dinner. Dinner was good, not the best Italian food I have experienced, but seeing as how I had skipped lunch, it was satisfying. After dinner, it was around 10:30, I headed back to the apartment and went to bed.

Saturday, Jan. 31
We had another “orientation” at 11am, so a few of the girls and I decided to get up early and explore a little, grab breakfast, and then head to the school (Accademia Europea di Firenze). My school is about a block away from the Duomo, very close, and from some of the classrooms and offices- you have a direct view of the Duomo, welcome to Italy. We stopped at a bar-which in Italy is not like an American bar, it’s more of a café, but you don’t necessarily have to sit down…and got pastries, cappuccino, and water- all for 2.60 euros. We then made our way to the accademia, where we met with the professor from Elon who came to Italy with us and the main person from our school. We were given a walking tour around Florence and shown places to eat for cheap, gelato shops, libraries, etc… We had a break between our tour and meeting our professors, so a few of us went to the Ponte Vecchio to take pictures and explore. After meeting some of our professors, I wont meet my political science professor until tomorrow; we had the afternoon to do what we liked. Some of us walked to a grocery store that the boys had found across the bridge, which is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. I then came back to the apartment and rested until we all decided to meet up with the boys for dinner. My dinner experience wasn’t so great since I didn’t and don’t fully know all things that can be included on an Italian menu. I accidentally ordered some type of beef with porcini mushrooms-hey at least I got the mushrooms part right. However, one of the guys was nice enough to switch with me- I think my meal looked more appetizing to him, so I ended up with a tri-meal; I had a chick pea soup with porcini mushrooms, a tomato risotto, and something with zucchini, all very delectable. While the plan had been to venture out on the town afterwards, I decided that sleep would be much more beneficial.

Sunday, Feb. 1
Ten hours of sleep was all I thought I needed, but jet lagged proved me otherwise later in the day. I awoke to a rainy and gray sky, but I still decided to venture out in order to time the walk to the school, since our first day of class was Monday. We walked to and from the school, timing our travel each way. After such a big adventure-ha, I took a three-hour nap, so I’m presuming that’s when the jet lag decided to really kick in. I didn’t do much the rest of the day, found a grocery store one street down from our apartment and that was about it. I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner-I think my family will be the only people who get why this is significant.

Monday, Feb. 2
Today was the first day of class! Unfortunately it was still rainy and nasty, like it has been predicted for the entire week, at least until Thursday. I woke up, poured a bowl of cereal, made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to take to school so I wouldn’t have to buy my lunch, and then preceded to get ready for class. When I arrived at the school I took a placement test to determine what level of Italian I would be placed into. The test was an absolute joke- I knew the first of six pages and just sat there for a few minutes wondering if I should even attempt the rest-don’t get me wrong, it was very hard. So I handed in my test and was placed into an “advanced beginners level” course of Italian. What the two other Elon students and I who were placed into this class think it means is that we are moving at a faster pace, which is true when we compared what we had discussed with that of our other Elon peers, and that our class involves more Italian spoken- which we were told would begin tomorrow with the professor only speaking Italian. Woo!
The Italian class that I’m in has three American students, including myself, who are all from Elon, two people from South Africa, three people from Australia, and one from Brazil. One of the girls from South Africa is actually related to Dave Matthews from DMB. She was introducing herself and said- have you heard of DMB, my dad is his cousin. No biggie. We have Italian class every day of the week, with an hour and a half of grammar and an hour and a half of conversation; the two sections are split up by a thirty-minute break. The classes start at 9am.
My other Monday class is my upper level GST (general studies), which is based on sexuality and women in the Renaissance. It seems like it will be a really interesting class but the teacher has already informed us that she rarely gives A’s and that it’s going to be extremely intense; which I dislike for two reasons- 1. Being the fact that I hate teachers who go into a course telling people that they’re not going to make an A, it discourages people from trying hard and 2. Because we’re abroad, if I wanted to stay in my room all the time and study then I would have stayed at Elon and taken her class. I guess I’ll just have to see how it pans out. The GST is Monday and Thursday from two until 3:45.
Tonight was the first night that I cooked my own food, I made pasta. I haven’t found any sauce other than tomato and pesto, but as I had been forewarned about, the tomato sauce is nothing to brag about-it’s very bland. It was nice to be able to make my own dinner and not have to spend more money and two hours going out to eat, but I think I’ll buy pesto after I have finished my tomato sauce, hopefully it will taste better.
Tomorrow I have Italian in the morning and then a meeting with my political science professor in the afternoon to figure out when we will be meeting etc… I am the only one taking the POL class, but since it’s my minor they luckily didn’t cancel it.

More adventure updates to come as they occur. Hope everyone is well.

Firenze

I have arrived!  After a long plane ride with many new experiences-I got to ride around on one of those golf cart-ish things in the Frankfurt airport, I made it to Florence.  No luggage problems, no missed flights, no security guards hunting me down...woo

I must say that if you ever have to fly to Europe, you should fly Lufthansa, best care one could get on a flight, plus free alcohol-which I didn't take advantage of.

Since there is a six hour time difference, I'm very jet lagged, but have settled into my apartment and have everything unpacked.  We have our first real day of orientation tomorrow and class starts on Monday.  

I hope that you will keep me updated on your doings.

More soon!

Leaving for Florence

I leave for Florence on Thursday, Jan. 29.  I'm very excited, extremely nervous, and I have yet to start packing.

For those of you who I was unable to say goodbye to-I'm sorry that we missed that opportunity, but I will return in a few short months and we will hopefully be able to stay in touch in the meantime.  

Please feel free to send me e-mails...actually I expect updates on your lives.

I will try to post on here as much as possible and I'm thinking I will do bi-weekly e-mails.  While all of this sounds promising, things are subject to change as I become immersed in the  Italian society and a new lifestyle.

Can't wait to hear about your adventures and share mine!