Boboli Gardens

See them all here:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5128984&l=813063b705&id=723772976

I Swear My Shower is Trying To Kill Me

First day. i got burned.

the water is literally scolding hot at times.

then it got blocked.

we got aifs to come and draino our place, but that took forver. we had to take 30 second showers, because it was as if the shower wasnt draining at all.

then the hose wasnt working right, apparently it had gotten twisted, so it would spray on and off...

but tongiht beats them all. i took a good long shower (like 5 min) for the first time yet. it was a very frightening expierence, but i made it through all right. i was happy, because for the first time it seemed that i had made it through a shower without something horrible happening. then, through a complex mangeri of door bell rings, nocknig, ect, a guy ended up outside our door in a panic: "did you just take a shower?" yes......"well all the water just came into my shoe shop"...ohh....well thats not good.

so, during orientation we were told not to mess with any of the plumbing, because some girls had a couple of years before and drowned a shoe shop beneath them. well, turns out that was my apartment. and something broke, and the same thing happened.

we will see what happens; the good news is that im not responsible. the bad news is that i cant shower until we figure this out....sponge bath anyone?

Futball (NOT SOCCER!)

Italian culture is fantastic. First of all, as it turns out, Italians are really into their cities. I mean, they live by them. They don't call themselves Italian. They are from Florence, or Siena, or Tuscany, or Rome, or Naples, or Venice, and each one of these places hates every other one except for when the other city beats a city they hate more. Fiorentina (the futball team of Florence) is incredible passionate and hates all other teams around. The agreed upon most hated team in Italy is Florence, because they are so stuck up. The number two team is Venice. Watching the game was truly expressive of what it means to be Italian. The players would sulk for minutes if they missed an open shot. I mean,  the whole stadium and game would stop to watch this one guy sulk. And then one of his team mates would have to help him back up and encourage him, and then the game would go on like it never happened. It almost looks like i'm watching a corny soccer movie, where everything is over dramatized. On T.V., a couple of nights ago, Florentina played a German team, and it was like watching robots play against professional actors. The Germans won (because of a horribly miss called score that should of been off sides, the head ref was even temporarily suspended because of it) and i couldn't help but watch the Italians afterwards. It was more entertaining to watch the Italians loose than the Germans win. In football back home, the losers just put their head down and walk of the field. But the Italians were crying, and hugging each other, and kicking everything in site. It even looked like one of them was going to charge the Germans. The Germans on the other hand looked like our loosing teams back home, heads down and walked up the field. Dakota has a Juventus jacket (a futball team somewhere near by, that is probably the best team in italy right now) and at dinner one night the waiter pulled him aside and half threatned to kill him and half tried to save his life by saying "you cant wear that jacket around here, if i dont kill you someone else will. It would be like wearing a red socks jacket in New York..." (this was priceless, and i think Dakota actually enjoyed it). I mean, the rivalry here is so strong, that the Florentines actually root for other national teams when they play Italy. Because most of italy's national team is Juventus players. The romans, when they came to play here, were allready in the stadium when we showed up. They were literally walled off in their own section of the bleachers with purposefully left empty bleachers on both sides. When they scored on us (those sons of bitches) the romans through red and gold flares out of their section into near by ones. I flare literally hit the guy next to me. Now of course, every italian in the arena wanted to charge the section, for about 5 min, then they acted like it had never happened. I think they just want to get outraged. I took a picture of a "gold man" when he was first putting the stuff onto his face, and he started yelling at me. I trully dont undertand why, i guess he didnt feel he was ready for pictures yet. It would be like taking pictures of an actor when he was first getting dressed...one thing is for sure though, everything here is entertaining, or it is once you get off the main streets. All of the shops on the main tourists streets are very "american" in that they want you to come in, buy something, and get out. But the shops every where else are just the opposite. For example, i was waiting in line for my panino yesterday when the lady at the register started to help this other guy put his sandwiches into a plastic bag. It was a nice gesture, im sure he could of maniged on his own, but she was going to help him. In the mean time, the line in the place was out of the door. Everything is about the idea of something, its about making the best damn paninis in the world, or the nicest leather jackets, the money is just an after thought. My first thought was, "wow this is way better than back home, where its "in-and-out" as fast as possible" but once i thought about it i realized that in some ways its as if they are more interested in the popularity than the money. Back home people want money first, fame second. Here, people just want fame, because they know if they get it they will get the money with it. But i like it more, there is a courtisy that exists, not soo much towards me because i dont speak italian and just look akward no matter where i go, but it definitely can be seen towards others. Even my friends Andrea and Jennifer, who speak and look very spanish/mexican get treated alot differently (i think better) because they always ask if the italian speakes espanol before they ask if he speaks english (hanging out with them is a kick too, i dont understand just about everything that is going on around me in italian during the day, and then i go to their house and i dont understand just about everything that is going on around me in spanish, but im getting used to it. I just sit their and wait for them to come back to english, they almost always do). There is a political movement starting in the north that wants italy to start moving back towards states and away from a unified country. Its an intersting idea, which is really picking up speed, but essentially it is actually BACKWARDS progress in relation to most of the world. Maybe its a better movement, but its an odd one. Everyone is talking about and wanting globalization. Easier trade, easier communication, better jobs, but italy wants to move back to being independed sub states. Why? I think a big part of it is the pride Italians have in their own culture, which varies greatly every mile almost. I mean, before Italy unified as a country, the dilects from region to region were so unique that Florentines could not communicate with Venetians. Thats an incredible concept, isnt it? It would be like San franciscans not being able to communicate with people from Organ (oraganians??). But with that dialect people feel united, or maybe unique. And its more than just the language thts different. Each city has its famous invention. Its food that its famous for. And you cant find it any where else in Italy. Thats just wrong in their mind, and it would be acknowleding that its good if you started making it. So the menus even are completely different from town to town. There are really no big chains either. I mean, literally, the only big chain in florence is McDonalds. There are three, all in the most touristy/ghetto areas. AIFS said that if they ever hear about us eating at McDonalds why we are here, they will personally make us pay. And to remember that they know where we live. Thank God, becuase i feel the same way. I have not looked inside one yet, and i hope it will never accure to me to go inside to eat something. I understand that wanting something from home, but there are other places to go.

we will see if i can live without it....the only thing i really miss is chips and salsa...funny huh?

Quick Update 2/24/10

i bought some purple sweaters, 15 euro each, i got two. one is dressy, and warm. really nice. and the other has a little bit of elastic in it, so its more sporty/every day. its a really nice dark purple, almost like a navy blue, which is fiorentina's colors. (its a good excuse to wear purple).

dakota has been cooking dinner (mostly pasta) and ive been eating whatever is left. i pay him a couple of euro, and clean up. and sometimes we will put a movie on afterwards and do homework. didnt really expect to get along with my room mate this well.

in philosophy, i finally kinda learned something today. we talked about media, and all the "filters" news has to go through in order to get to the public, and how it would probably make more sense to make media a public organization (kinda like the CA university system). it was a really fantastic discussion. people in class really got into it.

ive now been to the uffizi 5 times, to the bargello, acadamia, santa maria novella, santa maria fiora (duomo), santa spirito, big toy store, plazzo vecchio, ponte vecchio, 5 other people's apartments, 6 diferent restraunts, the oil shoppe (where they know me by name now), kadeer's kababs, 4 different internet trains, countless leather stores, and pisa, lucca, and vereggio.

so, where should i go next?

Shoes

Everything here is on sale. So much of everything that i assume its just a marketing scheme that is always in effect. Americans love their sales, and if they walk into florence and see the unbelievable prices of some of the most amazing leather in the world AND its on sale, whats going to stop them from buying it? There is even one store here that says, in english "real sales! Up to 50% off". Which is, ironically, acknowledging the fact that most of the sales here are not real, and then trying to hook you into buying from THEIR not real sale. Its laughable to me, especially since a couple of days ago i would not of even picked up on it. However, there are a couple of real sales around. In fact, quite a few of them. Once i got a feel for the prices of jackets, gloves, shoes, scarfs, ect. the real sales immidietly became visible, and there are some incredible sales here. I was talking to the guy from the place i bought my jacket (its called Poesia, and his name is German (with a H, said the same as Herman)) and he says that the economy is so bad right now that there are just no tourist compared to normal, that their prices are down because of it, and because winter is passing right now, into spring, all the stores are trying to sell their winter clothing to make room for the "new collection" (which is what stores call the summer/spring collection). This is why i got my jacket so cheap, and also why i have found beautiful sweaters, scarfs, and gloves for unusually cheap as well. The prices show it, things like jeans, shoes, hats, and other clothing are not marked down. They are somewhat "universal", meaning that it does not matter how hot it is, Italians always where pants, nice shoes, and fancy hats. The fashion here is both different than i was expecting and less than what i was expecting. Everyone has heard of or seen that one italian man or woman who is so beautiful, and so well dressed, that your draw literally drops. Coming here i had thought i would see more, and i have seen some. The money that these people spend on their clothes is incredible. But tons of people here dont dress like that, really most don't. There are two main differences between here and America, and they are pretty obvious differences. 1: All Italians were nothing but dark clothing. When they were something light or white, its PERFECTLY white, and it is definitely a fashion statement. This is only seen in Italian guys wearing white jeans, or white shoes, or an Italian girl wearing a white white dress, but this is rare to see. 2: All italians wear leather shoes. Ive been looking, trying to figure out what's "in style" and frankly, everything leather is. It is so...individual. Its like every person has a very distinct different look, but at the same time looks exactly the same. Ill be in a restaurant looking around at the shoes of the people sitting near me and will see that every person their has very different leather shoes. Except they are all the same exact basic shape and the exact same color. So, when i finally bought my shoes (i bought two pairs now, because they were such good deals that i could afford two different kinds...one lace up fancy, and the other that leather slipper kind. you know, with no laces.) I figured i had to get what looked good for my style, and more importantly looked good to my wallet. So this place, Poesia, has cut prices dramatically on their winter wear, and is trying to get lighter jackets in for the spring. German is a truly unique character. I'm about 80% sure hes gay at this point, but it doesn't really matter. He is from Sicily, and moved up here for the work. hes probably 40-45 years old, bald, kinda pudgy, and wears all colored leather stuff. Hes a crack up, but very intelligent at the same time. I guess i dont feel like i can describe him very well, you just really have to meet him. He was telling me about all the things i should do, and we talked about Obama, and we talked about how closed minded people are, especially the Italians here in Florence ("they are living in the past" German says, and i said "yeah, thats exactly why i wanted to come here, to see the old italy") and then we talked about leather, and Opera, and school, and art. Hes great to talk to, and he said that he has never met an American like me. I was asking him where all the good food spots are around town, and he was describing places i didn't know off, so he said "give me your number, i will call you after work, and i can sit down and write them down on a map for you". So as i wright this, i'm sitting here waiting to see if he is going to call, which does seem a little weird, like, i'm going to go get a drink with this guy, but thats a good thing...right? Im in florence, ive got to meet the locals. Turns out that he did the same thing i am doing right now when he was 20, but in reverse. He lived in Marin for two years when he was 20 (random). But i'm hoping that he can tell me where all the good joints are around town, and where i need to travel. Maybe he will even give me some connections in Sicily, places i could stay for cheap. Meet some real italians, or Sicilians, or whatever. We will see what happens. Either way i had a fantastic day shoping. Ohh, and i also got this beautiful dark blue sweater for 20 euro, half cashmiere. Marked down from 50 euro. Ive got to stop spending money...

Pictures! The sky really was blue and pink!

See the rest here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=203584&id=723772976&l=b284a3763f

Leather, leather, and more leather.

i finally found a jacket. i have been looking and i found this little hole in the wall leather place that was  really nice. Normally i avoid these kinda places because they put alot of pressure on you to buy, they push hard. Italians can be incredibly aggressive, almost like if you dont buy something from them your personally insulting them. But this place wasn't like that. It was totally genuine, in the most random location of the main street, close enough to be nice, but not so close that it stays in business just because of where it is. But the jackets here were incredible, 300-600 euro jackets, all handmade in italy. But the staff there was incredible as well, the main salesman is this little balding guy who im pretty sure is gay. this made for a really fun accent. i dont know how to describe it, just really fun. he is the nicest guy too. he helped me out, and showed me some of the jackets they had in the back. They were all a combination of jackets with minor damages, last sizes, too big of a sizes, ect. but i found one that right when i put it on it felt perfect! It is gorgeous, a dark dark brown with a fair amount of...whats the word he used? not damaged, but like, textured...in other words its not shiny. but not too "bikerish" either. almost like it had gold specs in it. He even liked it on me so much he kept on wanting me to try it on. 95 euro, and i love it. but obviously i couldnt buy it right then. it had been marked down that day, so he didnt really think it would stick around too long, he was going to try to hide it on one of the racks. so i stood around, wearing this jacket, talking to this gay italian. he was really interesting, born and raised in florence. Never wants to leave, he loves it here so much, we even talked to his parakeets that he has in the store, he did recommend i come back soon if i wanted it because it wouldnt last long, and he said he would try to save it for me. he also said that if i paid cash he would sell it for 90, so i walked out all excited about maybe buying this jacket in the next couple of days....


well i went into the shop next to it, and the people there were just so typical. boring. not nice. and the jackets werent as nice either. They kept on pushing me to pick one out, like their time was so valuable that i was just taking advantage of them. it was right then that i thought "why wouldnt i buy that jacket next door, its perfect, cheap enough, high quality, and the place is so amazing." i looked in my wallet and i had exactly 90 euro in cash, and that was it. the final sign that said "your stupid if you dont buy it" so i did. i went back, and he was surprised and delighted to see me, and i gave him the money and he gave me the jacket. he didnt even count the money, just put it in the register. Is this some kinda trick to make me think he trusts me? i kept on thinking i must be getting ripped off, but you could tell this jacket was nicer than the other ones. So i bought it, and i love it. ive been wearing it non stop for the past week, because its been sooo cold here. (i miss the sun).


Ohh, and the next day dakota (my roomate) wanted to go look at them, so i took him and he found another really nice one. a darker brown with more of a grey\silver undertone rather than gold. it looks better on him than mine would, but wouldnt look as good on me as mine does. Ive been stopping by there every now and then, and they have been giving me the heads up on when the sales come. the first day the shoes went on sale i bought so really fancy, very italian, leather dress shoes with leather soul. 40 euro. and then i also bought a belt there, that they measured for me and everything for 10 euro. i love this place, now when ever i walk by i wave, they wave, and its trully fantastic. ive never had that at home...


my shoes are going on sale tomorrow, should i buy some more casual dress shoes???

Oh heaven, i dont know where to start...

Well, i have finally fully excepted the idea of living in florence. Ive been finding the little places that give the good deals, the "local" places that is. I have my favorite lunch spot, called the "Oil Shoppe" which makes probably the best Paninis in the world (a Panino is a sandwhich basically) for only three euro. They are so big that i usually can barely get through half of one, which means that im almost eating lunch and dinner for three euro. Each bite makes me feel like the world is going to end, and it doesnt even matter what kind you get. My favorite is the salami with peppers, a little spicy, which is really nice considering nothing else is spicy here. I swear, if the italians went to India, they wouldnt be able to eat anything but rice. They usually warn be about the peppers at this place, which seems so ironic considering it is less spicy than the hot sauce at taco bell. But each bite is incredible, which is plain wrong considering how little i spent on it. I would of discovered this place earlier, except its closed like every other day for no reason, and when it is open the line is out the door. I have finally figured out how to negiote the place: arrive early, really early, and wait, wait really long. But its soo worth it. The only other thing i can find here that is spicy is the Kebab. Now, when i first heard about this things i was picture a sish kabab (im sure i butchered that spelling), so i was picturing a long wooden toothpick with meat on it. But i was wrong, it is basically the Italian/Greek version of a burrito. Chicken or beef thrown into a tortilla with some of the strangest spices ive seen in it. Now, again, the guy warned be the first time that it was spicy, and it was a little more spicy than the Panini, but barely. The next time i went i asked him to make it really spicy, and he defintiely did so. I probably drank two liters of pepsi just to get the thing down, which was really incredible. I dont know how to describe the over all taste of the thing, its something you have to try. All the rest of the food here is incredible, i go to this place called Billa. Its the largest chain around, and has the cheapest stuff. My normal checkout usually includes nutella, bread (30 cents for about a three foot long bagget), milk, salami, bree cheese, coke, water, and other random stuff. basically everything cheap i can find that still tastes great.

The issue here is that no matter how much you eat you still want more, not because your hungry but because it just tastes so unbelievably great!

Busy Little Bumble Bee. Day 14

It has been a crazy couple of days, everything has been flying by so fast, yet it feels like ive been living here for forever. We had school on friday to make up for the monday we lost on the first week here (we had orientation on that day), which has been keeping me really busy. Ive also been trying to figure out the sylibus' of all my classes, and filling out paperwork to drop one and add another. Im dropping human 7 (called into to humanities, which covered all kinds of little italian quirks such as mythology, italian culture, ect) to add art 2.2 (a class that has an emphasis on breaking down and analyzing art, starting in the gothic moving all the way to impressionism). My two other classes, art 5 (basically a conceptual "what is the meaning of art" class) and phil 244 (contemoary moral issues) are both fantastic. The phillosophy class feels a bit...introductory, which would make sense considering most of the people int he class have never taken a philospohy class before. But everything he has covered so far ive mostly known (Metaphors of the Wizard of Ozz, Plato's "the cave", liberalism vs conservatism, ect). Ive been doing virtually nothing but museum hoping and going to diner/bars. Been meeting tons of people, which of course is a good thing, and all of the art is incredible. The David (to be cliche) is probably my favorite next to Lippi's "Moddonna and Child With Two Angles". But there is so much great art here that it is nearly impossible to pick past those two. Today, however, was a great adventure. We as a group went down to Viaraggio for Carnivalle and vilentines day. It was epic. Huge. Unbelievable. There were, i dont know how many, giagantic floats, and since there was no fence/boundaries i could walk infront of and around each float as it moved (pictures coming, alot of them). We spent all day there and then took a train back. School tomorrow, so i am going to cut it short.

Philosophy here i come...

Chocolate Festival

They all can be seen here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199860&id=723772976&l=ba82988848

Pictures!

Pictures From Florence

Pictures From Florence

All Can Be Seen here:

 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199847&id=723772976&l=bf4095d669

It feels like its been a month. Day 7

Finally, i feel that ive fully assimilated into the wheather, time change, and food. And the wonders of the food,
i have yet to have a meal that didnt blow me away. Ive been relativly safe, not eating anything to scary;ive
been so hungry that the idea of screwing up a meal scares me. The pasta, pizza, paninis, and pastres are out
of this world. Most of the places seem to have similar quality food, unlike back home, the key as it turns out is
to find the cheap places and there are some cheap places. 3 Euro for a panini that i cant even finish? You
cant beat that.

Its "carnivalle" this weekend, some kind of celebration. Im not entirely sure what its about (ill find more deatails later) but there were people all dressed up costumes with masks all around town. I went out again, and found so many incredible things. There was an olive oil and wine carnival in the Piazza Republica (where my school is) with all kinds of stands that were giving out samples to everyone. There was oil oil and wine of course, but there was also jam, and honey, and cheese. It felt like heaven. Afterwards we kept walking, and we actually did find heaven. Across the Calazouli, in another plaza, there was a chocolate carnival! Stalls so stacked with chocolate that we did not know where to start. Needless to say the smell, the view, it all was nearly intoxicating. Chocolate wrenches, balls, candies. Liquid chocolate to drink, and samples EVERYWHERE. THe entire place was exploding with energy and beauty. After walking around town for  a couple of hours we went to a restraunt located right next to the Arno and Ponte Vecchio called the "Golden View". It was much fancier that i was used to, it even had live jazz. The food was good, not as good as others (it seems that the more sketchy the places, the better the food tends to be), but the atmosphere made it worth while. I went home aftwerwards and started messing with my pictures to get them ready to upload.

Some of the girls wanted to go clubbing, and a lady from AIFS recomended that we go to a place called Glameor. I thought ide check it out, so went with them. It was very differnt than American clubs. Apparently, nothing really starts until around one in the morning, and the italians then party until five or six. Different from back home. Alot of the Italian men there were real creepers (kinda like back home). I stayed for a  while but left early because i was so tired and im not exactly a big dancer (if thats even dancing). The funny thing is that in the Club, and everywhere else too, all of the music is American. I have yet to hear a song that isnt in English (scratch that, i just heard an Italian Rap song), but at the same time there is definitly a small bias against Americans. I think i understand why though, every night i get woken up at one point or another by yelling, drunk, Americans walking down the Cazouli (my street).

Its been one heck of a journey so far, and tonight ive got two foot ball games to go to, one italian, and one very american.

The leaning tower of pisa. Day 6

Last night my friends and i got lost. And nothing has been more fun so far. Wondering around we found a Latin American market with all kinds of fun jewelry, beautiful views of the Arno with light reflecting of the water, a park fully equipped with swings, and the most spectacular view of the city. I dont think i got to bed until near two in the morning (again). My poor roomate must think im doing all kinds of crazy stuff, but it does not really matter. Ive mostly mastered the art of sneaking into bed without lights. We have tried to sleep without the heater on for the first couple of nights, but we have both aggreed thats just stupid. Its almost the same feeling as jumping into a frozen lake. You throw off the four layers that youve been fully consumed in all night and the cold...its taken some getting used to. Unfortunetly, again this morning we woke up in the cold, the fist night i was hoping to not have to go threw that again. Except this time, it was also dark. The power had gone out. Dakota wasnt sure what to do, so i jumped up and checked the brakers. All of them were on, so i then checked outside, and they were all on aswell. The odd thing was that the lights in the hall were on, but we were running out of time to get to the bus to go to Pisa.

The bus ride over was beautiful, the views of the country changed soo drastically and so quickly it seemed that this was some kind of made up world that i accidently stepped into. Forests, mountains, fog, wineries, olive trees, everything italian could be seen from the window. It was about a two hour bus ride there, i got on the bus that went to Luca first (a small city famous for their walls). Luca was adorable, much smaller than i thought. There were two cathedrals that really had that old feeling to them. Two things really stuck out to me: the Lippi painting, with its incredibly vibrant colors, and a painting that dates back to 5 A.D. supposedly painted by a man that had actually seen Jesus. Theoretically, it is the only portrait that exsists of Jesus. But you never know how true that is. We got lunch there, and gelato (of course) and then got back on the bus to go to Pisa. Now, it was raining the entire time, so i could only take pictures when i had some kind of cover, or the rain stopped. But once i got to pisa, it was almost like "screw this, i need to take pictures of this". The four monuments, all centered around the cathedral, were the cathedral itself, the bell tower (better known as the leaning tower of pisa), a beautiful marble cemetary and the Baptisry. In all honestly, the Leaning tower itself was rather unspectacular in comaprison to everything else. My first thought was, "wow, its not very tall". I
guess it just looks taller in pictures. But the Catherdral was spectacular. At the time that it was built it was the largest in the world. It was the first one to be built to resemble a cross, and it was the first one to incorperate a full scale dome. All other famous cathedrals, such as the Duomo or snt Peters, were all based on this original design. The ceiling, however, was the most beautiful thing. All gold, the pictures do not do it justice. Yet, my favorite thing of the day was the Baptistry. It was specfically designed to create an echo, and a women there gave an example, chanting for a couple of minutes. It was absouletly phenominal. The trip concluded at that point, and we all got on the bus to head home.

Well, once i got home the power was still out. This sucks, and it was friday night too, which meant that AIFS wasnt even in the office. This meant there was a good chance we may have to live without power for the weekend (not a horrible idea, considering i had been used to comeing home in the cold and dark anyways) but still not something i was excited about. So i went to see what i could do. I was walking the streets, trying to figure out where i could go to find AIFS when i walked into one of the AIFS leaders: Phillipa. She came over to look at it, and then called around and got the landlord to show up. He very quickly flipped a braker located six feet of the groun downstairs that gave my apartment power (italian electricty...) and i had power back. He was very nice, and very young, so i expect that he was likely the son of the actual owner.

That night, to cap it off, i went out with friends to diner, and then walked the streets at night talking. It was a fantastic day.

Day 3? 4?

wow, so much has happened so fast. I allready feel like ive lived here for at least a couple of weeks. Time here seems to move so slowly, maybe because there is very limited internet and no tv (i unplugged it).

Yesterday i got my musuem pass, which is good for all of the big musuems here unlimited times. All 26 of them! So, of course, i had to go visit the Uffizi. Since i will be able to go there every day if i wish, i wanted to take a different appoach to viewing that art: i wanted to look at the art while ignoring who the artist is. So, i walked through every room of the entire place (took about 2 hours) just stopping to look at the art that caught my eye. And to be honest, there was really only one piece that struck me (turns out it was a Lippi that is among the most famous there). This is the one:

So i was a little bummed, but right before i left i grabbed a map to see who painted this one. Too my shock there were names like Da Vinci, michelangelo, and Bachicheli on the map.  So, i had to go look at them again to see why they didnt strike me. Well, turns out, out of the entire Uffizi i missed one room, the room with all to the most famous art of the Uffizi, which were these:

This was my favorite part of the day. Afterwards a whole bunch of us went to whats called the "frat house" which is the largest apartment that has 11 guys living in it. i guess its going to be the meeting place and center point of the trip. We had alot of fun there, and i met a bunch of people. some really cool, some not so cool, but no one horrible.

Today, however, was a very different day. I woke and had to be at class by 8 in the morning. Me and my roomate (his name is Dakota, for the record) tried not using the heater at night...that was a mistake. We woke up this morning and the whole place was actually COLDER than it was outside. And it was 34 degrees F outside. This was followed by an attempted shower, which didnt go so well. We have this really dinky shower than doesnt drain fast enough, so we cant take longer than a 9 min shower. Like showers back home, it likes to change temperature randomly, except UNLIKE back home, instead of changing a little bit for a little while every once in a while, this one flucuates constantly and too huge degrees. Cold, hot, warm, burning... Its safe to say im not going to get any peace in my shower. After the shower i rushed of to my first class, Philosophy 244 (moral delimas) and it was an entire class that was directed towards non-philosophers minds. Explaining really basic stuff that i learned in highschool, yet they were great questions raised. However, i didnt really want to dive into the deeper levels of "freedom from vs freedom of" and the symbolism in the Wizard of Oz, and im pretty sure he didnt want to go there either. Needless to say, it was really boring. The good news is that it should be pretty easy.

This weekend is going to be absolutely crazy. There is a trip to Pisa friday for 8 euro, and a soccer game sunday that i want to go to. Then there is the superbowl (its going to be a big party). Along with this some girls i met asked if i was interested in going to Venice for the weekend (apparently they want a guy to go with them). So any thoughts? is it worth not sleeping at all? i was thinking it might be.

Love you guys, thanks for reading :)

Day 2.

Well, things have gone really well since last night. This morning again i felt a little off (possibly because of being homescick, or just generically sick, or from the jet lag, or even from eating nothing but airplane food for two days) but as soon as breakfast was over we as a group went to our first orientation. It was long and mostly uneventful, all basic stuff like: dont do anything stupid, dont block your drains, ect. But right after we were dispersed to our apartments via taxi. This was the most exciting part of the day, and by far the best part. My apartment, believe it or not, is located directly in between the Uffizi Museum and the Duomo. I literally can see the Duomo from my window. We are the only ones this centrally located, and also the closest to the school. My three room mates i was expecting turned out to be only one (because its a very small apartment) of a really quiet akward type. Apparently he is mormon and looking to get out for one semester because Berkley (where he was accepted) asked him to wait a year before he went there. So he doesnt drink, doesnt really party, and wont wake me up at 4 in the morning bringing a girl home. This is very good news. My apartment is up these old ancient stairs (you have to either know the code, or be bussed in...thats right, i have a busser now! Just like in sienfeld.) And then threw two huge pad locks that use antique keys. Its as small as it possibly can be, but thats ok. It has the two things i wanted, a shower stall and a washing machine.

The people here at quite as cool as i was hoping. It seems that there are already two groups: the good looking popular crowd (led by this 24 old guy who went to the jc just for one semester so he could come with his girlfriend) and everyone else. But that might not last too long once classes start.

Ill update tomorrow and let you know how everything else went, im low on time because i am meeting some people for dinner...in italy. How cool is that?

Ohh, and this is exactly where my apartment is! Second floor:



Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

1/31/10 First Night In Florence

1/31/10

So here I am, sitting in a hotel room, in Florence Italy. I don’t have internet access right now, so im writing this up to post later. My last 24 hours was hectic to say the least. A 10 hour flight from SFO to Amsterdam, followed by a 2 hour flight from Amsterdam to Paris, and then another 2 hour flight from Paris to Florence obviously has drained me. Technically things went really well, the only hitch being that my suitcases wheel broke. It still works enough, but makes a horrible “thunk thunk” sound that started getting on my nervous real quick; and also coming out of Florence and trying to find my way to the train station from which I was going to find my way to the hotel was really bad. There wasn’t a person around, ive never seen an empty airport before, and the one person I was able to talk to didn’t speak English. Eventually I found the shuttle that would take me, but instead of being 8 Euros like I was told it would be, it was 23. Real bummer, but I had no choice. And then the Taxi driver wasn’t very happy with me, I think because I wanted to make sure I was at the right train station and was asking too many questions (like, 3…).

                Anyways, I’m here now which is all that matters. There is this overwhelming sense of being completely alone, I guess because I am. I mean, its not like there is a soul around that can come help me right now, the only fall back I have is my ATM card. So obviously this feeling, coupled with the fact that I haven’t spoken to my family for what feels like an eternity led me to want to call home real bad. But then, of course, it costs a euro a minute to call home. Sorry Dad, but this was a moment when I really needed whatever it is moms have that you don’t. Here’s the best part though, after talking to my mom I started feeling that all too familiar feeling of anxiety and dread start to whelm up inside of me, the same beast that has been haunting me my entire life. So you know what I did? I went out on the town. I walked back to the train station, and then through the mall, all the way to the Duomo. To put it nicely, this part of Florence that the hotel is in feels no better than any other slummy city ive been too. Its not bad, a nice hotel, but everything feels dirty and modern. But, as I got closer and closer to the Duomo everything started changing. The shops got older, the streets changed from asphalt to cobble stone, the energy increased. It almost felt as if I was walking back in time. And then after staying there for fifteen minutes or so (a long time considering it was 34 degrees out, and ten o’clock at night) and started to head back, but for some reason I started the wrong direction. Next thing I knew I was standing outside of the Uffizi. And then after that I walked the Ponte Vechio. Needless to say, by then I wasn’t thinking about home. It was all exactly how I remember it. Closer than I thought it would be honestly, I guess I doubted my memory. The good news is that the guy that im sharing this room with isn’t hear. The bad news is he isn’t hear and im going to bed, which means he will be waking me up soon. So it goes.

                Tomorrow I have to get up early for breakfast and then orientation. After which we are all going to be given our apartments, so here’s trusting God that that will all work out.