Orsanmichele

Today my Art of Florence class took and impromptu trip to The church of San Michele- this building is super close to school and I just haven't walked in that direction I guess because I had never noticed it! 

Inside of the church is Orcagna's Gothic Tabernacle which has a painting of "Madonna and Child" inside.

 It is beautiful and does not look like it is real life! 

Orcagna worked under Pisano, who we have been learning about in class. The tabernacle he made is considered: "the most perfect work of its kind in Italian Gothic"

The church itself as niche's that have sculptures in them however, they are not the originals. The originals are inside on the second level because the city of Florence didn't want weather or Della Quints (thats delinquents to everyone else not on 142 Dublin) ruining the works. 

Sadly I was unable to take photographic evidence of these originals, so I am going back to draw some. 

We were about to leave and someone told us we should go upstairs for a panoramic view-

PROS AND CONS OF WALKING UP THOSE 57, yes 57 STEPS:

Pros:

hello duomo!

Piazza della Repubblica

Cons:

1. Jillian Michael's workout video kicked my butt and my calves really hurt.

...they still really hurt

waaaah!

After that it was back to class for Ancient Rome and Italian. 

Mom was asking to see some of the inside of school, so here it is:

To the left of the red couch and straight through is where I have Art of Florence. 

If you take the door on the right and go left, you will find me in Italian from the hours of 12:30 to 1:30 pm (Monday through Thursday)

After class Marlene, Devon and I went to "I Fratellini", a gooooood (and affordable) panini place that Devon's friend took us to!

Right now it is 9:40 and I am finishing up some homework! (Mom and Dad, be proud!)

On the books this week: 

Cooking class!

Pictures!

Today was pretty relaxed.
Braved the rain to meet Mandy at the diner and discuss more travel plans :) then came home, fell asleep on Devon's bed and did laundry etc.

On the way home from brunch Santa Croce and the Arno both looked beautiful so naturally I had to snap some shots

Santa Croce

The bridge I cross to get home!

Rainy Day

Woke up and it was raining, womp womp. 

Devon, Marlene and I did Jillian Michael's work-out video in the living room. 

She's a tough one that Jillian.

Goals of the Day:

Do laundry
Clean room
Grocery shop
Homework

Siena & San Gimignano

Went to Siena and San Gimignano yesterday!

6:45 am: ...Do I regret signing up for a trip that leaves at 8? Slightly.

(3 of my roommates decided that they would NOT be joining on the trip, so I trekked to the train station to meet the rest of the group to make our way to Siena and San Gimignano!)

First stop- SIENA! 

Lucky for everyone it is about an hour away, which meant a little bit of a nap on the bus :) We got to Siena and made our way to Piazza del Campo (Il Campo). We learned that there is a horse race there every year that has been going on for about 700 years. The race is three laps around the piazza, and it is not a happy race. 

(It is dangerous and some of the poor horses die, and I hated the sounds of it and would never want to see it.)

The piazza was beautiful, we walked around, went to the fountain and inside some of the shops while we were there. 

Alexi and I at the fountain in the Piazza

From there, we walked to the Duomo which had an interesting story to it! 

BEAUTIFUL

 Siena and Florence often competed to make buildings bigger and better than each other- the original plan was to make it this Duomo HUGE HUGE HUGE, but after the plague in 1348, it never was completed. You can see parts where columns were supposed to be built and where there was supposed to be buildings. 

See, this was supposed not be out in the open, it was supposed to be covered and a part of the church. (huge huge huge)

And you may be thinking, "Brig, why are you putting up a picture of the ground?"

WELL YOU SEE... that was supposed to be a column for the big huge extravagant church that didn't get to be finished.

Even though it was not built up to be a huge extravagent thing, it was absolutely stunning inside!

Panorama!

The Libreria Piccolomini was amazing. I wanted to sit in there all day or lie on the floor and just soak it all up! Sadly this is not socially acceptable anywhere sooooooo I just had to take a lot of pictures instead!

These are old versions of sheet music!

After that we went into the museo and walked up a lot of spiral stairs so we could get the panoramic view of Siena! 

After going to the Baptistry, we got lunch and then it was back to the bus and off to San Gimignano!

San Gimignano was so pretty! It  is very small and medieval looking still! They originally had 75 towers in the village, now they have 14. The town was very small and cute and I was fun to look around and shop around! We were all pretty tired at this point but we only spent about an hour or so there!

At the top of Via San Giovanni is the center of town, formed by two interlocking triangular "piazze"-- Piazza della Cisterna and Piazza del Duomo which are  the city's main church and civic palace.

It was a really great day and I was so happy that I went! 

Protestors, Leather- and Michael Jackson!

Currently in Italy there is some scandal going on. The prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is being investigated for paying for sex with minors. 

(Apparently paying for sex is not illegal here, but paying for sex with minors is)

Now in America, if the president did something like that, BAM impeached.

 However here it is different, the prime minister has a monopoly on the media and is one of the richest men and it will be hard to get him outta there!

There is a lot more too it than that, so here is a link to stories in case anyone's interest is peaked:

READ ME

anywayyyy 

The reason for this little tidbit of information is because we have been hearing about it in classes and because there were Italians protesting in the street today.

 I asked a shop keeper what they were protesting about ( I had a feeling it was the prime minister!) AND IT WAS! Thank goodness- that man needs to be protested- I wanted to join in.

"That the crisis pays for the masters" = what google translate says

After wandering around/watching the protesters chant etc. we hit the ground running! 

GOALS OF THE DAY: 

1. get a rain jacket

2. go to the leather market

3. wander around the city

(Sadly goal #1 did not come true- but the other two did!)

Leather Market!

The leather market is crazy! 

There is so much to see and buy and do! I got a pair of purple gloves today- and 2 pashminas 

*KIKS AND LIZ YOU WILL LOVE THEM... they were bought with you in mind!*

Mandy scored some really great earrings today- it would be wrong if I did not post a picture of the FABULOUS 2 euro M.J earrings! (She had to hardcore bargain to get them down to that price)

ALSO-  this morning in H&M- Michael Jackson was playing! I just remembered this!

( Mandy if you are reading this, talk about foreshadowing!)

Tonight I am not sure what we are doing but it's going to have to be relaxed because tomorrow morning at 8 am - we're off to SIENA!

Art Bar and Ballet!

[DISCLAIMER: Drinking is legal here for someone at the age of 20. If this were America, I would not be at Art Bar.]

Tonight I went to two pretty cool places- Art Bar and the Ballet! 

Art Bar is a bar (duh) where they make you drinks but they are really cool/pretty and filled with fruit! I had a banana daiquiri that was delicious! It was really cool because you sit at your table and have a table full of little bowls of popcorn and chips, and they serve the drinks like it is your meal. With all the fruit in them it kind of did feel like I was eating something not drinking it!

Here is a picture of our waiter/bartender and his supplies!

And here is Sara, Mandy and myself enjoying our fruity concoctions! 

After Art Bar, we headed to the ballet! We saw "A Midsummers Night Dream" and it was amazing!

 All of the dancers were phenomenal and it was very well done- once I figure out how I am going to upload the videos I took so you can see for yourselves! But for now here is this picture of the king and queen fairy- thank you 10x zoom camera! These two were UNREAL, in one of their dances I literally got the chills they were so good!

Here is a panorama of the theater:

And all the ladies after the show:

Me, Mandy, Sara, Jessie & Megan!

Top night! 

Tomorrow we are going to go to the markets, and possible a museum or two! Wooooo! 

Editors Note

Michelangelo's "Pietas" is in St. Peter's in Rome, the one we saw was: The Deposition (also called the Florence Pietà, the Pietà del Duomo or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ)! Sorry about the confusion!

Going to the ballet tonight! So excited :)

Is This Real Life?

Woke up and had classes - We had a site visit to the Baptistry today and while we were there a parade passed through. I have no idea what it was for, but there was some great outfits/tights going on.

...wonder where I can get those pants

We also went to the  Museo dell' Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore for my Art of Florence class. We saw Michelangelo's "Pieta":

It was really cool because apparently Michelangelo got really frustrated when he was making it and attempted to destroy it- and his helpers put it back together HOWEVER Jesus is missing a leg, and when you get up close you can see how some parts are finished and shiny and others still needed more work. Kind of hard to tell from this angle but believe me, I saw it.

We also saw Donatello's "Mary Magdalene"- she was freaky/beautiful. This sculpture is made out of stucco and wood. We learned that many of the sculptures of that material got destroyed and aren't around anymore, so she is a pretty big deal.

After that class I had The History of Ancient Rome. Very interesting day where we learned that the constitution of the United States is VERY similar to that of Ancient Rome. Gotta love them Romans! In a couple of weeks we are going on a weekend field trip TO Rome, CANT WAIT! 

The picture below is of the classroom! So pretty everywhere :)

After that I had Italian. Today we learned names of foods and drinks! Very important because clearly one of my favorite things to do here is eat. Tomorrow we are play-acting a restaurant scene... that won't be too embarrassing! (sarcasm) We also learned the days of the week and some verbs. 

1:30 pm- CLASS DISMISSED! 

I met up with Mandy, Jessie, Sara and Jamie and we went to "The Diner"...it was sooooooo good! We were mixing it up a little today and not getting panini or pasta or pizza or cappucino. For instance, I had a cheeseburger.

"The Diner's Rule: everyone love everyone"

 I would like everyone to know that I am at times called  "the map" or "mother duck" and sometimes "tour guide barbie"....BECAUSE.... I lead my little ducklings all around Florence. Today I got us from school to the diner without using my map, and then from the diner to the Duomo! I am very proud of this (clearly). The one problem is that I walk a little bit faster than most, today I heard "quacks!" from behind me so I had to stop and wait for everyone to catch up.

Fun Fact: Things are much slower paced here. At orientation they told us to "go with the slow". So basically if I ever want to look like I am not American, I have to NOT walk as fast as my short legs will carry me. (This is going to be one of my biggest challenges).

anyways...

The goal of the day was: 1. get food 2. get  the "carto-gio"- student card for discounts and 3. Use said card to get ballet tickets. 

As we were galavanting around the city to do said tasks, we stumbled upon a shop filled with beautiful masks!

Me and Mandy :)

pretty purple mask

We also passed by the Duomo (It's hard not to) and my camera and I are very proud of this picture (the sky helped us out a little):

After we successfully bought tickets for the ballet tomorrow (sooooo excited) we meandered on home. On the way back the sun was setting and the sky was so pretty. The water reflected everything...I don't know why I am describing this, look below and you will see what I mean!!

and...

Gorgey!

As I was saying, all in all it was a really good day! Now it's time to shower and make some dinner- Ciao!

Eggplant Parm Dinner ( I Promise Not Every Post Is Going To Be Food)

While I could post about my great classes I had today, or walking around the city with Devon and Marlene in the rain, instead I am going to tell you all about dinner. I know I know i JUST did a post about food, but we MADE this dinner which is kinda a big deal- so sit back and enjoy the show! And if you read all the way to the bottom and pass a quiz than maybe one day I will make this delicious meal for you!

anyways...

Tonight we thought that instead of going out to eat somewhere, we'd try our hand at eggplant parm! Going to the Mercato Centrale, we were able to get a ton of veggies etc. for only 7 euro, which was much cheaper than EACH of us getting dinner somewhere. Now my cooking skills have never truly been tested, seeing as cookies = baking, and anything else I've attempted is...cookies. So I was really excited to learn/help out! (Some of the girls here have been living in apartments at school for a while and are really good at cooking)

Let the games begin:

Bread crumbs, eggs and some eggplants!

Steph cut the cheese (no pun intended bahahah)- or I should say, she cut the formaggio, which means cheese. Haven't learned how to say no pun intended yet though so you can laugh at that one.

Eggplants cooking...soooo hungry, cant wait to eat them

smells good who is excited?!

Olive oil and balsamic = essentials for bread, salad and pasta.

Devon and I cut up all those veggies and made a delicious salad! I may or may not have gotten yelled at for snacking on the peppers while making the salad (they were just so tasty!)

 Drum Roll Please. . . . . .


  DINNER IS SERVED!

I promise that next post will be all about classes and sites and trips etc. but I just couldn't resist!

The Apartment- 43 Via Di San Niccolo

my room

chandelier in our common room

view of the kitchen/common room

kitchen

my bedroom window

my bedroom (unmade bed oops)

another view of the room!

hallway/door to get in and out

kitchen

bathroom in my room 

common room