I'm still sick, but I'm getting better. Since I've been sick all week, I don't have much to report on right now.
I told you I was sick all day Monday and stayed in after my classes were over. Tuesday I went to Italian class only to find that it was cancelled AGAIN. Gloria was sick (so am I, Gloria... a head's up would have been nice so I didn't have to drag my sick self all the way across town) and class was cancelled with no warning Monday and Tuesday. I made some loud, angry remark about being sick and Gloria not having the decency to send an email, and Simone, the secretary, heard me and started apologizing like I thought it was his fault or something, so I felt bad.
Erika and I didn't have time either Monday or Tuesday to go back home before our second class, so we hung out and did homework Monday, then Tuesday I used Petra's computer to write my article for Flo'n the Go, an online newsletter for American students in Italy.
Since Tuesday was Fat Tuesday, we saw a bunch of little kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking around town all day. It was pretty cute, although there were no bear kids that I saw. Most of our group went out Tuesday night to celebrate, but I stayed in to rest up some more. Erika and I watched "Under the Tuscan Sun," which I had never seen before. I really enjoyed it, but I think the best part was seeing how many places in the movie I have been to and comparing the portrayal of Italian life in the movie to our experiences with it (the movie was actually very accurate, you'll be happy to know).
Yesterday, Erika and I gave up on Gloria and decided to skip class, figuring it would probably be cancelled again anyhow. Wouldn't you know it, it wasn't, but we found out today that nearly everyone skipped, so we're not getting in trouble for it. That's good. Gloria didn't apologize, but she did try to explain the whole thing away by telling us that she has never used email. Really? Sometimes I wonder how she's a teacher...
I did go to my second class yesterday, which was Genius of Florence with Fabrizio. We visited the Basilica of San Lorenzo, about five minutes down the street from my apartment and learned more about the Medici family and the Protestant Reformation.
Last night I actually had a considerable amount of homework (journal entries for Fabio and Fabrizio, reading for Rocky, a packet for Gloria, and an analysis of Fahrenheit 451 for Francesca), so I spent most of the evening working on that.
Today, I'm feeling much better although I have a cough now and my nose is still running. But the weather is GORGEOUS, so I feel like that is going to have me on the mend more than anything else. It was in the mid 60's today in Firenze and the sun was shining brighter than I've seen it all semester. Rocky took our class to the Uffizi this afternoon (part two of our lesson; the first part was Tuesday) and that was fun. Among all the Michelangelos and Raphaels, we got to see Botticelli's famous The Birth of Venus painting, which I have to say really is quite lovely. Sometimes I see these famous paintings and wonder how they got so famous, but this one really is very beautiful. Rocky pointed out how Venus is rather oddly proportioned, with a super long neck, sloping shoulders, long arms, and a flat stomach (not considered beautiful at the time this was painted). The reason for this was not that Botticelli didn't know what women looked like nor that he was a bad painter, but rather he gave Venus strange proportions and exaggerated features to emphasize that she is not human. Kind of an interesting observation.
After seeing that, we spent a long time looking at a painting Leonardo da Vinci did when he was just 20 or 22 years old. It's truly mind-boggling to realize just how ahead of his time da Vinci was. Rocky compared da Vinci's The Annunciation to some of the other paintings in the gallery and it's unbelievable. The paintings surrounding this one are incredible in their own right, but they look kind of pitiful next to The Annunciation. The attention to detail is out of this world. You could honestly look at parts of this painting and believe it was a photograph. And the most amazing part is, da Vinci painted this one in 1481, long before other painters had figured out impressionist style and perspective. It's incredible.
After class, Erika and I opened the windows in our apartment after class in order to air the place out, but that didn't last long since we have no screens and leaves and bugs started blowing in. I took my book outside to the park at the end of our street and read on a bench until after sunset. It was wonderful.
I don't have any big plans for this evening (although I believe we will be going out later) or the rest of this weekend, other than a day trip to Sienna on Saturday. The weather looks great though and my whole apartment will be in Florence, so I'm sure it will be a fantastic few days.
So, that's it. Sorry this post is a little bland, but I didn't get out much this week. Up next on the agenda is our Sienna trip and a tour of the Gucci museum, so I should have more to report on next week.
Fino ad allora...
No comments:
Post a Comment