More Adventures!
Okay, so since I bought my bike, what have I done...?
Biking around Florence was an interesting experience, since the roads were built WAY before machinery was ever thought of, so riding in between the cars and the sidewalk or between driving cars and parked cars is a little iffy. It's not actually that scary though, since the drivers are used to avoiding the motorini and the bikes and the crazy pedestrians around here. Some of the sidewalks have bike lanes, which I appreciate. I only got to ride my bike a couple of days last week because it rained and was cold and gross for a couple of days, and now I've worn all my pants at least twice, thrice for some, and don't feel like riding a bike in a skirt while I wait to do laundry, but I really like having it.
Last week we had to walk up to San Miniato (the church I went and saw my second day here) twice because of Art History and again for Drawing. It rained on the drawing day, so we were inside the Romantic style church, which means there was no light and much symmetry. Our Orientation classes are going fine...I don't think I've been this relaxed about classes since I was about 14, which is a nice change from the completely horrific stress coaster O'DOOM I've been enduring for the last several years. I especially liked the cooking class last week because we learned how to make several Italian dishes and there were 8 of us plus the French lady who taught us just eating and chattering in Italian and having a great time for several hours. We had a presentation of what classes they're offering here this semester after Orientation period, and I'm hoping they'll accept the history of costume and dress as an Art History class at Smith so I can take it for my major. They're offering 7 classes, and we can take 3 or 4 I think... We have to take the Italian lit class, and then there's a Stylistics class that looks really interesting, an Art History class that I don't want to take because I can't handle the teacher, the History of Costume class, Studio Art (in which we'll be working up from drawing to frescoes!) and I hope they'll accept that as Painting 1, a History class which I'd like to take because of the teacher, but I probably won't because it has no function for my major or other interests, and a History of Opera class, which I don't plan on taking because a) the teacher is incomprehensible because of the velocity of her speech, and b) Opera's cool and all, but I'd rather just watch them. We'll see what I can take later when they give us the schedules.
I've still failed at getting around to contacting the swim team, but perhaps I'll succeed this week. Friday night I went out with a few other girls and we bought a bottle of wine at the Irish Pub and sat around listening to them blast American music and drank our wine, all of us becoming rather giggly by the end. Saturday I went to Pisa with Kathryn and Hannah, which was excellent. Of course, we saw the Tower, but didn't go up in it because that would have cost 15 euro, and going into the Cathedral, the Baptistry, the cemetery, and both museums only cost 10. We went into the Cathedral first, which was absolutely beautiful. My mouth hung open for most of the time I was in there because of all the gorgeous artwork. The ceiling was covered in ornate gold flowers and there was a fresco in the dome that looked like people and clouds spiraling up to heaven. There were mosaics gilt with gold, marble sculptures, huge 10x10 paintings, and all sorts of little things...it seemed kind of excessive, but then I had to remember that the church has been there for hundreds of years. The cemetery was fascinating because we'd had a lesson about it in Italian last year, about how it was bombed in WWII and they had to reconstruct the frescoes, but because the frescoes had come off the wall, they also were able to salvage the bits of wall with the sketches on them. The sketches were in a museum, but they had the frescoes in a separate room in the cemetery. Inside the baptistry was Niccola Pisano's Baptistry Pulpit which I'd studied in Art History last year, and when I saw it I got light headed and had to sit down for a minute. It was so awesome. The Museums were awesome too because they had things like the old chairs from the choir in the Cathedral, and full color sketches for the frescoes in the cemetery, and antique Bibles and things that which were used in the church way back when. Overall, it was a beautiful day in Pisa and we had a great time.
Sunday I went with a big group of us to the Barbarino Outlet, but I'd never been to a designer outlet before, so I didn't know what to expect. Basically, so many people that I nearly became violent being in the crowds and I could hardly go into the stores because of my claustrophobia, plus the prices were insane, and we were there for way too long. All in all, it wasn't a great day, but a good learning experience. I did find a book store in the outlet and was able to release some of the stress on a few books for only 11 euro.
I've started missing people from home quite a bit lately, and I think the reality of a year away from home has struck, but I'm sure the slump will let up a bit soon and I'll continue having fun. Not having close friends nearby for the breakup was hard, but I think I'm stable now. I think it helped that we both saw it as inevitable. C'est la vie.
Well, now I have class in an hour and I wanted to try and find an electronics/possibly Mac store to find an adapter for the stupid plugs so I can charge my own computer, so I'm going to go. Perhaps I'll get the chance later today or tomorrow to post pictures to Facebook. (I'll send some to family when I do so, and that way no one has to miss them.) I hope everyone's doing well!!
Biking around Florence was an interesting experience, since the roads were built WAY before machinery was ever thought of, so riding in between the cars and the sidewalk or between driving cars and parked cars is a little iffy. It's not actually that scary though, since the drivers are used to avoiding the motorini and the bikes and the crazy pedestrians around here. Some of the sidewalks have bike lanes, which I appreciate. I only got to ride my bike a couple of days last week because it rained and was cold and gross for a couple of days, and now I've worn all my pants at least twice, thrice for some, and don't feel like riding a bike in a skirt while I wait to do laundry, but I really like having it.
Last week we had to walk up to San Miniato (the church I went and saw my second day here) twice because of Art History and again for Drawing. It rained on the drawing day, so we were inside the Romantic style church, which means there was no light and much symmetry. Our Orientation classes are going fine...I don't think I've been this relaxed about classes since I was about 14, which is a nice change from the completely horrific stress coaster O'DOOM I've been enduring for the last several years. I especially liked the cooking class last week because we learned how to make several Italian dishes and there were 8 of us plus the French lady who taught us just eating and chattering in Italian and having a great time for several hours. We had a presentation of what classes they're offering here this semester after Orientation period, and I'm hoping they'll accept the history of costume and dress as an Art History class at Smith so I can take it for my major. They're offering 7 classes, and we can take 3 or 4 I think... We have to take the Italian lit class, and then there's a Stylistics class that looks really interesting, an Art History class that I don't want to take because I can't handle the teacher, the History of Costume class, Studio Art (in which we'll be working up from drawing to frescoes!) and I hope they'll accept that as Painting 1, a History class which I'd like to take because of the teacher, but I probably won't because it has no function for my major or other interests, and a History of Opera class, which I don't plan on taking because a) the teacher is incomprehensible because of the velocity of her speech, and b) Opera's cool and all, but I'd rather just watch them. We'll see what I can take later when they give us the schedules.
I've still failed at getting around to contacting the swim team, but perhaps I'll succeed this week. Friday night I went out with a few other girls and we bought a bottle of wine at the Irish Pub and sat around listening to them blast American music and drank our wine, all of us becoming rather giggly by the end. Saturday I went to Pisa with Kathryn and Hannah, which was excellent. Of course, we saw the Tower, but didn't go up in it because that would have cost 15 euro, and going into the Cathedral, the Baptistry, the cemetery, and both museums only cost 10. We went into the Cathedral first, which was absolutely beautiful. My mouth hung open for most of the time I was in there because of all the gorgeous artwork. The ceiling was covered in ornate gold flowers and there was a fresco in the dome that looked like people and clouds spiraling up to heaven. There were mosaics gilt with gold, marble sculptures, huge 10x10 paintings, and all sorts of little things...it seemed kind of excessive, but then I had to remember that the church has been there for hundreds of years. The cemetery was fascinating because we'd had a lesson about it in Italian last year, about how it was bombed in WWII and they had to reconstruct the frescoes, but because the frescoes had come off the wall, they also were able to salvage the bits of wall with the sketches on them. The sketches were in a museum, but they had the frescoes in a separate room in the cemetery. Inside the baptistry was Niccola Pisano's Baptistry Pulpit which I'd studied in Art History last year, and when I saw it I got light headed and had to sit down for a minute. It was so awesome. The Museums were awesome too because they had things like the old chairs from the choir in the Cathedral, and full color sketches for the frescoes in the cemetery, and antique Bibles and things that which were used in the church way back when. Overall, it was a beautiful day in Pisa and we had a great time.
Sunday I went with a big group of us to the Barbarino Outlet, but I'd never been to a designer outlet before, so I didn't know what to expect. Basically, so many people that I nearly became violent being in the crowds and I could hardly go into the stores because of my claustrophobia, plus the prices were insane, and we were there for way too long. All in all, it wasn't a great day, but a good learning experience. I did find a book store in the outlet and was able to release some of the stress on a few books for only 11 euro.
I've started missing people from home quite a bit lately, and I think the reality of a year away from home has struck, but I'm sure the slump will let up a bit soon and I'll continue having fun. Not having close friends nearby for the breakup was hard, but I think I'm stable now. I think it helped that we both saw it as inevitable. C'est la vie.
Well, now I have class in an hour and I wanted to try and find an electronics/possibly Mac store to find an adapter for the stupid plugs so I can charge my own computer, so I'm going to go. Perhaps I'll get the chance later today or tomorrow to post pictures to Facebook. (I'll send some to family when I do so, and that way no one has to miss them.) I hope everyone's doing well!!