Ravenna, Rome, life in Italy

we had our painting critique for mid terms. I turned in my 2 “blood” portraits and we spent most of the class talking about our paintings. After we decided to go out to pizza for the rest of class and talk about what we wanted to do with our remaining weeks in painting. I was a nice change from class in the studio to class over pizza J
we decided to miss Italian last wednesday and go to Ravenna for the day. We got up early and got on the train at 6:30 am and were in Ravenna around 10. We walked around and went to about 6 different museums and saw all the mosaics of Ravenna. We were done around 3 pm and had some tea before we were supposed to get on the train home at 5 pm. The 5 pm train never showed so we waited for the 5:45 train. At 5:40 or so we got on a train that we thought was the train to Florence, turns out there are 2 #1 platforms and the train to Florence left without us. We figured out that the next train was at 8 pm so we went and walked around some more and got more tea and then went back to the station at 8. Only to find out that there wasn’t another train to Florence that day and we could take the train to Bologna and then go to Florence but there weren’t any more trains to Florence from there and we would have to stay the night in Bologna or get a taxi the rest of the way home. We decided to stay in Ravenna for the night and paid 60 euro for a room, luckily they didn’t mind that neither of us had our passports with us. And then we laid in bed watching Scrubs in Italian and regretting not asking for help earlier. : /

We went to Rome bright and early on Saturday. The Bus ride was about 4 hours there and we had the same driver that we had on the way to Pompeii. A few of the Swedish students and another American girl who is a senior came with. And also a girl from Nigeria who was late and made us wait 30 minutes for her. We got to Rome and the first thing we did was go to the Vatican. We walked into the square and took pictures and then our teacher told us we didn’t get to go inside because the line was too long so we went to the Sistine Chapel instead. We walked through the Vatican museum and saw all the art, the museum was huge and I just really wanted to get to the Chapel so a few people and I ran ahead. Julie and I ran through out the modern exhibit trying to find the chapel which was very far away, we ended up running all the way to the basement and then back up to the top floor trying to find the Chapel. We finally found it and I was so amazed when we walked in. I stood in there under god and Adam for 30 minutes, sneaking pictures of the ceiling. I went and bought a rosary for someone (not sure for who yet) and waited for Sara and the rest of the group. After we went to the Spanish steps, took pictures of the sunset, and had an 18 euro drink at a bar at the top! My painting teacher told me it would be the best drink that I will ever have in my life so I decided to pay the money for it. It was a pretty good drink but I still don’t think it was 18 euro good! That’s about $25! For dinner went took taxis to a pizzeria and ate with one of the ladies from Arcadia in Rome. We took the subway back to the hotel and had drinks in one of the rooms before going to bed after a long day of walking. The next day we got up and went to the coliseum with the group, we got in for 3 euro instead of the usual 11 and had 30 minutes inside. We went to Imperial Rome next and walked through there. We went to the Trevi fountain and then had lunch with a few people. Then we walked back to the hotel and got on the bus back to Florence. It was a very busy 2 days but I think I managed to see all the major spots in Rome; I will defiantly be going back someday.

This week we mostly just relaxed and tried to get some homework done. In drawing we went to this part of Florence I hadn't been to yet and went into the most beautiful church I have ever been to. The whole church is decorated in gold and marble scultpure and paintings, like most churches in Italy. except with this one every single inch is covered in art. there was a man there that works for the church and quit his job in order to dedicate himself to the church in and the Virgin Mary. Sara and I are trying to get some more christmas shopping done so we made a point out of going to all the big markets this week. Friday a few other arcadia students and I went to the movie theater and saw the new Harry Potter! It was in english with italian subtitles so the whole place was filled with American students. The rest of the week I have been painting and drawing, our trip to Arezzo on saturday got canceled because not enough people wanted to go so they moved it to December 4th. Next weekend Sara and I and a few of the guys are going to Modena and Milan! Modena is where the Ferrari Factory, what better way to spend thanksgiving weekend! The countdown until I come home is in the 20s now. It's going by so quick! Im really not excited to come home, and I have so much I need to do before I leave Florence!

Packages from home, bars, and Halloween in Venice :)

I finally got my package Nick sent me from home. Sara and I had Kraft mac and cheese for dinner and I sipped on some Starbucks via. I started watching season 2 of lost and finally got to see the season 3 finale of True Blood, after waiting 2 months. It was nice to have some things from home again.

2 weeks ago I was late to photo because we had to go to the immigration office to finalize our permit to stay. The office was on the other side town and I got really lost trying to get back to the workshops after. I spent all my time in the dark room again trying to get ready for mid terms next week. That Friday one of the guys, Alex, came to the dark room with me so I could teach him how to develop. It was my last chance to finish everything for my mid term so I went a few hours before him to make sure I could get everything done. I managed to finish everything in time and then got home and painting for a bit. I decided after a few drinks to go out with the group, Sara stayed behind and painted. Alex bought me a drink for helping him in the dark room and I made a little face out of wax at the bar and then went dancing with Eliana and Britney. They played YMCA and songs from Greece and well all sang along loudly, it was so fun! That Saturday Sara and I took the bus to Fiesole, a little town 20 minutes from Florence. We couldn’t figure out how to take the bus so we just got on and pretended to have a pass. We took pictures of the view of Florence and then wandered into an empty church and then had lunch and went back to Florence, again for free on the bus, yay for free bus rides! That night Sara painted and I went out with the group to a couple bars. We went to one club and they tried to charge us 50 euro each as we were leaving, which is absolutely ridiculous. We refused to pay of course. That Sunday Tommy came over and we watched Top Gear in my room for hours, I forgot how funny that show is.

We had mid terms last week. I felt pretty good about them and I think I got ok grades, i got a B+ on my Italian mid term and then 97.5% on my art history final. After finals were over we spent the weekend in Venice for Halloween! We left Saturday morning at 4:30 am from Florence, stopped in Bologna at 6:30 am, and then got to Venice at 9:30. We figured out the ferry system and got to the Island of Lido where our hotel was. They let us leave our bags in the room early even though it was only 10 am. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Venice, went to the palace and stared at the amazing artwork, especially the ceilings. We wandered some more around Venice, bought masks for Halloween. We decided we wanted to “find the sun” meaning watch the sunset by the water. Walked though ALL of Venice for an hour looking for the water. We finally found “the sun” on a cruise ship dock in the middle of no where, no clue where we actually were. We watched the sunset from the curb, the Sky was dirty with pollution and the sun was behind the boats but it was still a pretty awesome sunset. Found dinner at a little restaurant and had some very good gnocchi with a gorgonzola sause.We went back to the hotel about 8 pm and went to bed early since we had been up all day and were tired from walking. We watched some cartoons first though, Balto and Shrek in Italian. In the morning we got up, had breakfast, and watched some Italian news. We left the hotel by 11, leaving our bags in the lobby conveniently. Went to Venice on the ferry, which was free, since we only had tickets for 24 hours and they had already expire. We went shopping and  Sara bought a couple little things and I didn’t buy anything. Went on a gondola ride in the rain! Spent 90 euro on the ride but it was still amazing! Took the ferry again (snuck on again) to the gardens between Venice and Lido, had lunch outside the gardens which was some PB & J and Pringles. Found a café at the gardens and had tea and coffee there for 2 hours trying to warm up, stay out of the rain and kill time. Went back to the hotel to get our bags and change in the bathroom into our Halloween costumes. Took the ferry to the train station and checked our bags for the rest of the day. Took the ferry back to the main part of Venice and ran to the theater for a play about Venice's history. On the ferry I put on my masquerade mask and had people take pictures of me becasue appearenty nobody wears masks in Venice on Halloween. I was the only one at the play for awhile with a mask on. we had no clue where to find a masquerade ball that night and we decided to figure things out as we went. The play was good, after we found dinner at a different little resturant. Went for another walk and took pictures. we found kids in masks trying to scare people and free drinks at a restaurant. Made our way back to the train station at 11:30 to get our bags before they closed. Found out that we had to go to a different train station outside of Venice to catch our 3:11 am train. We got on the next train out of Venice in order to get there. Got to the proper train station by midnight and we waited for 3 hours in the cold for our train. We managed to sleep a bit and it wasnt too bad, minus some homeless people and the fact that the bathroom was closed. Finally made it safely on the train only to find out it was a “Harry Potter train” with sleeping cabins and there was no room for us. Sat in the hallway until the conductor made us go into a room with an older man and a guy our age, we managed to get some sleep still during the 3 hour ride home Finally got to Florence at about 6:30 am on Monday. Walked back to our apartment and fell asleep until 2 pm, thank god it was all Saints day and there wasnt class. overall it was a very good Halloween weekend in Venice, minus a few traveling errors and some rain!

Time flies when you live in Italy

Time is flying by. Mid Terms are next week and I can’t believe they are already here! I’m not as stress out about completing my projects like I usually am at Cornish so that’s good. My painting teacher was nice enough to give an extra week to finish our paintings so I don’t have to rush to finish those this weekend. All of my other classes are going pretty well. My Italian teacher is nice and I feel like i'm learning a lot more. She has decided that we aren’t allowed to talk to each other in English is class anymore though which is hard because we don’t know enough words yet to have a normal conversation. I have to turn in my photo project next week which means I have to spend as much time in the dark room as I can before that. I’m going all day tomorrow but I think i’m going to have one of the guys in the group with me. He’s never used a dark room before and he really wants to learn and have me teach him. I don’t really have a problem with this I just hope he doesn’t get in my way and that I can still get some work done.

Things in our apartment are going ok. Sara and I seem to me the neatest in the group. It’s hard to keep the place clean with 7 girls living together. A few of the girls don’t seem to know how to clean up after themselves. The kitchen is usually a mess because of them. I wouldn’t usually mind that much but we only have so many bowls and pots which means if you want to cook something a lot of the time you have to clean up after people first. Sara and I spent part of last weekend cleaning the entire kitchen and bathroom and that didn’t last long. But we put up a note and talked to some of the girls and they seem to be cleaning up more now…hopefully it will last. I finally found some nice boots today and I have been looking around for good Christmas presents for people at home.

We have been going on a lot of trips lately! Sorrento and Pompeii were amazing! We had a chance to walk around both cities on our own and see everything and we got to go to the ruins in Pompeii. There was a big protest at the gates to the ruins and a bunch of the guys got stuck on the outside. The Italians were protesting the damage being done to the ruins by tourists and they wouldn’t let the guys through. It was pretty interesting to see a group of short Italian women physically block off 4 talk American boys. We had a great time in the ruins though. I really wanted to climb Mount Vesuvius but there wasn’t enough time. Last weekend we went to Pisa with a couple of the guys. Pisa is about an hour from Florence so it was just a quick day trip. There isn’t a lot to see in Pisa, just the tower mostly. We all paid 15 euro to climb the tower which was by far the highlight of the day. We called the stairs the drunk stairs because when you walk up them you feel like your are drunk as the tower leans to the side haha. I spent the rest of the day taking pictures of people taking pictures of themselves holding up the tower. It was funny to show them without the tower behind them because it made then look completely ridiculous, I think I could do a whole project just with those photos. This weekend I don’t think we are planning on going anywhere big but next weekend, Halloween weekend, we are going to Venice for a few days J

I love Italy but its amazing how the little things from home can totally make my day. Courtney sent me some Starbucks Via from home and I couldn’t believe how excited I was to make myself a drip. And when it rains and everyone pulls out their umbrellas Sara and I puddle jumping to remind us of home. I’m waiting on another package from home and hopefully it will get here soon, I can’t believe how much I miss Mac and cheese! Little things make me miss home but I’m still so glad I came here; I really hope time starts to slow down a bit!

My first month....

I have been here for almost a month now. And the time is going by pretty fast. The weeks go by really fast because of school which is good but the weekends seem to drag on. Normally I would love this except most of my weekends I am constantly painting and drawing. This weekend though I am going to Pompeii and Sorrento with the school, which will be awesome…minus the 8 hour bus rides there and back! Sara and I have decided that Saturday is “adventure day.” We are going to try to go somewhere every Saturday, probably only in Italy for now. Last weekend we were supposed to take the train to Pisa but that didn’t happen because we both had too much painting to do. This seems to be the theme of our life here.

My Painting teacher and drawing teacher gives us a ton of homework. So far it has been a painting every week and when we get to class she rips them apart and basically makes us start over. Im not very fond of her yet…but I think she’s starting to grow on me as I get to know her better. One of my roommates dropped the class and then after that she seemed to be nicer and gave us less work to do.  I don’t have any new paintings due for next week but I do have to finish all 3 that I have already started…and watch two 2 hour long videos. So it’s a lot of work but im learning how to make time for everything. In my photography class im the only art student. The rest of the people are from design which means all their work is digital and all they do is still on there Mac books all day. I’m the only person who wanted to use the dark room and do film photography so I had to go around the school and get permission to use the dark room by myself, when there’s no class in there. I finally got everyone to let me do it and my teacher told me that she doesn’t think that I will be able to complete the project in time. She wants me to go to a photography store and have them develop my film and print all my photos for me. I would much rather print my own photos since that’s the best part of film so I’m going to attempt to do it myself, and I think I have plenty of time to complete the project on my own. I’m used to Cornish where every photo has to be perfect before it can be turned in so I don’t think this project will be too hard. I haven’t had Italian in over a week because my teacher was sick. But on Monday I got to class and I had a new teacher. I like the new teacher I think I will learn a lot more from her then the teacher before her.

I’m regretting not bringing enough shoes for Italy. I thought I would have too much when I was packing but now I’m starting to see that I was wrong. Both pairs of flats that I brought have holes in them from walking around on the coble stone streets. And my flip flops are dying fast too. I won’t need either of those soon though but for the time being I’m trying to find more flats and it looks like I’m out of luck. Italians have small, narrow feet and small, narrow calves and I have neither of those. I need probably a size 42 wide here and the biggest I can find is a 41 and that’s if I’m lucky. I also want to buy some boots while im here and since I have big calves they don’t fit either! The best part is that the salesmen act like you are inconveniencing them when you as for a size 41, like it bothers them that I have big feet or something. Sara has big feet too but she can wear a size 41 comfortably. She bought a pair of boots and they are already falling apart on her, I guess that’s what we get for trying to buy cheap shoes! Italy is also very fashionable and my shoes and clothes just aren’t cutting it. If I walk to school in flip flops and jeans I get stares sometimes, especially if it has rained recently. When it rains here people act like they will melt if the get one drop on them and they all pull out their umbrellas instantly, I don’t even own an umbrella.

But I really do love Italy! Minus the fact that it ruins my shoes and I’m swamped with homework all the time! I will try to write more sometime next week J

Painting, Beaches and Vino

I’m finally getting used to being here now. I feel like I will never want to leave when its time too. Italy is beautiful but the Italians aren’t. They are very rude to us because I am obviously not an Italian with my bright red hair and pale skin. Last week I got in trouble for dumping a “bucket” of water out my window. I’m not even really sure I was the one who did it but apparently at 10:30 on Monday morning someone dumped a bucket of water out my window and it almost hit this shop owner and his customer under us. One of the coordinators for the Arcadia school sent us all an e mail saying that whoever did it needed to come forward and admit it and that she couldn’t believe we would do such a disrespectful thing. Later on we found out that it came from our apartment and only 3 of us were home at the time, Sara, another girl and me of course. Sara was in the shower at the time and the other girl was making food so I was the only one in our bedroom when the “bucket” was poured. We had been keeping out window open and I’m thinking I put someone on the window sill and it fell over but I didn’t purposely do it like the shop owner said I did. So I had to come forward and confess to something I’m not sure I did. But I figured someone had to come forward before the incident was exaggerated even more and someone else was accused or even evicted because the landlord was not happy. So I had to apologize to everyone but it ended up being not that big of deal. But things seem to be exaggerated a lot more once people find out we are American students. Which makes sense I guess since most Europeans do not like Americans, so I have started telling people I’m a Canadian when they ask!

Yesterday we went to Cinque Terre, A beach city on the west coast of Italy. It’s about 3 hours from Florence when you take 2 trains and it’s beautiful! We woke up at 5 am and walked to the train station to get on the 6 am train to La Spezia and then from there we hung out for an hour and got on another train to Cinque Terre. We all swam in the Ocean all day and then laid on the beach and watched a bunch of old people publicly change into their swim suits right on the beach. Then we went to dinner and went for a hike up the hill to take pictures before getting back on the Train home. I got into Florence at 10 pm so I was a long day, but totally worth it. Next weekend we are planning on taking the train to Pisa. We have decided that every Friday (since we don’t have class on Fridays) we will try to go somewhere or just go somewhere in Florence for the day. I also went to the Uffizi Museum and saw a bunch of famous artwork. I saw Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith beheading Holofernes which is my favorite painting from Art History and then I saw the Laocoon, my favorite marble sculpture too. It’s so amazing to walk up and look at the REAL thing and not a slide of something. All of my classes are good so far. I have the same drawing and painting teacher and she liked to make us do a lot of work. I have to do a painting a week and then 5 drawings a week, Along with Italian, Art History, and photography homework as well. My photo class is interesting. I found out that most of the students are design students so they all use digital cameras. Which would be just fine except I have to use film since that’s what I use at Cornish and I won’t be able to get into photography 3 at home if I don’t use film. We have a dark room but I can only use it in class whenever we have free time which won’t be very often. So instead of developing and printing my own photos I have to go to this photography shop and have them do it all for me. That will be interesting when I go because I doubt they speak English. But I am open to trying it and seeing if I like having someone else develop my photos or not. At least they are professionals and there’s a less likely chance that they will mess my stuff up.

I will right again probably after Pisa! Miss you all! Bouno Sera!

First week here...

We finished our first week of school today! It was a lot more stressful and tiring then I thought it would be. I already have to do a painting by Monday, 5 complete drawings by Tuesday, and a bunch of reading and studying for Art History and Italian. The cool thing about taking classes in Florence is that you can go walk 5 minutes from home and see the art you are studying about in art history. You can learn something in Italian and then use what you learned at the store. And you can go outside and draw the Doumo in real life instead of getting a picture off the internet. All this makes going to class more fun. I like all of my teachers. The majority of them are Americans who moved to Italy in their 20s. In my photo class I am the ONLY American, and the only one who doesn’t speak Italian. Which is kind of nerve racking but my teacher speaks English and she translates for me and most of the other students understand and speak a little English too.  

On our first day in Italian we were all put in 3 different classes based on how much Italian we knew. I was in the easiest class which really wasn’t that easy. Our teacher only spoke to us in Italian and threw us into learning verbs right away, apparently the hardest thing we will learn in the class. Then at the end of class she told us that she did that to see who should and shouldn’t be in the class and how much Italian we really did know. I am starting to understand more and more every day though. It’s hard to use it in Florence though because all the people here speak some English and they almost prefer you to speak to them in English, not Italian. I will buy something and then when I say “grazie” the man says “your welcome” back instead of “prego.” They also don’t like it when you hand them money directly they want you to put it in a tray in front of the register. And they get really irritated if you don’t pay them in exact change too because Italians are always afraid they will run out of change.

The only thing that I don’t like about Italy though is the bugs. They are everywhere. I have at least 40 bug bites on my arms only. They are red little bumps and they take forever to go away! But compared to other people I know mine are nothing. Sara has huge bites on her arm that look like blisters but they are only on the left side. A lot of us have had to go to the doctor for bites.

We are going to Sienna and Pompeii this weekend with the school. And it looks like maybe Paris and Croatia some time too!

Finally have internet in Italy!

So I have been here about a week so far and tonight we finally got internet! I don’t think I have ever been so excited for internet in my entire life. We also started school today. My Italian class was ridiculously hard, she only spoke to us in Italian and started teaching us verbs right away when most of us don’t even know more then 5 words Italian as is. But I’m picking it up pretty quick so hopefully it won’t be too awful. I also started Painting today which is a class with Sara, one of our roommates and me in it…and that’s it haha.


Still can’t believe I’m in Europe, Let alone Italy. It’s too hot here and our fan is broken so we have to keep the windows open and there are people always outside. Florence is a pedestrian city so everyone walks and there are only a few cars, mostly taxis. There are always people outside and the streets are crowded with tourists. Everything is within walking distance here. There are so many museums and old art everywhere. The streets are narrow and the buildings are crammed together but the apartments are still very roomy. Everything is miniature in Italy, tiny tic tac containers, tiny buses, and tiny UPS trucks! We are all trying to plan a couple of trips while we are here, we are going to Rome with the group and a few other places but we all want to go places on our own. Everyone is talking about going to Oktoberfest in Munich but it’s too expensive and most hotels were sold out months ago. Sara and I want to go to London or Paris, I really want to go to Ireland and Scotland but I think it’s too far. We have 3 day weekends but we don’t have any more time off from school. We are all talking about going to Venice and maybe Milan and Rome a few times, and there are also big trips to Morocco and Greece. So hopefully we can at least go a few places while we are here!

We went to a winery over the weekend in the Tuscan hills and stayed at a villa. The place was amazing and so was the food. The whole winery is owned by a 4th generation heiress and her family and she made us a home cooked meal. Then we went for a midnight swim in the freezing cold pool. At sunset we got up to take pictures of the sunrise which was amazing and in the morning we had breakfast and then went on a tour of the winery. And then at lunch we learned how to properly pour and taste wine, I think I am an expert now.