One Week Down

Ashley is no longer with us.  She wanted to live closer to the river so she moved out.  We have a new girl though, Sam.  It's ironic because she was the only girl we met at orientation and got to talk to so needless to say we were happy to see that she was our new roommate.  

I am officially through with one week of class.  Last night we had a dinner for all the LdM Austin kids.  We met at 8:30 and walked through town to the most amazing place ever.  It was a restaurant/bar by the Arno but they had tables set up for us right by the Arno.  It was beautiful with the bridges lit up in the background and the lights along the river with the green grass and white lawn tables and chairs.  It was wonderful.  

This pictures does not do justice to the scene of last night

They served up some meat.  It was just salami slices but Luisa said they have some type of seed or something in them and it was THE best I've ever had.  They also had cheese, bread, and pate on bread.  I was all about embracing the culture so I tried some pate even though I wasn't sure what it was.  It actually tasted semi decent until one of the girls said it was chicken liver.  Yeah that ruined it.  I tried to finish it but I couldn't.  Something about eating all the bad toxins in the body from the liver I can't handle.  But everything was good.  We even had small pastry desserts.  They were like mini cupcake/muffins with filling.  One of mine had chocolate in the middle and the other like brown sugar and cinnamon or something.  We ended up staying until about 11:30 sitting around talking and taking in the scenery.

(Samantha, Jordan, Me, Megan, Luisa)

Tonight, Luisa is making a typical Italian dish.  I'm not sure if I mentioned she's half Italian and spends every summer over here and can speak Italian so she's been a great help in teaching us customs and traditions and stuff.  But anyway, it's some type of sauce, bread and egg dish.

This weekend, I will be busy shooting for class (I have to shoot 4 rolls by Monday).  But I think tomorrow we are going to take a bus ride to get out of downtown for a bit.  I think it's starting to get to us.

--Ciao

Festival of Lanterns and First Day of School

So here's the rest of my apartment if you would like to see.

Last night I went to the Festa della Rificolona (Festival of Lanterns).  Basically, farmers used to come in from the country to the market in the Piazza to sell their produce for the Annual Fall Market.  In order to get the best spots, they would leave the night before and carry paper lanterns on sticks.  They also wore their best suits as they marched into the city.  The city folk would make fun of their attempts to dress nice like them (poorly dressed people are referred to as rificolona) and the kids would make their own lanterns of colored paper and run around the farmers as they marched into the city.  They would also throw rocks at the lanterns to try and make the candle fall.  Apparently, the farmers made a good amount of money at the annual market to put up with this.  

Last night, Ashley and I got there early.  We didn't exactly know what time it was supposed to start but they had booths set up to sell balloons and candy.  They had a chip we tried that tasted normal but had the aftertaste of black licorice.  It tasted good but I think it's because I am craving sugar (that's the first thing to go when you're on a budget!)  Finally, the processional came.

The bright lights are the food vendors...they even had the red and white stripes...

Please also note the Sponge Bob balloon in the left part of the picture...Good ol America

They had marched through the streets with two marching bands in front except the ages ranged from 30s to 50s so it wasn't your typical marching band.  They were led around the square as they played.  Even though it was like 10 at night all the little kids were there and families.  I would have been asleep if I was that little!

This was my favorite lantern but they had all kinds...chickens, ducks, circles, triangles...

The funniest thing I have to admit is after the band marched around the square.  Hilarious isn't it??  Ok that's not the funny part.  This is.  They are on stage but you can't see them because I'm standing off the stage but listen to the chorus as you watch this video!

So at a TRADITIONAL Italian Festival...they play I Feel Good?!?!  

We definitely didn't see that one coming...

I had my first classes today.  First, I had fashion photography from 9-2:30 with Michele Pero who is aMAZing.  He is hilarious.  First of all, he has a thick Italian accent which is cool except you really have to pay attention but that's besides the point.  He really knows like the background and history of photography which is really cool cause when I took Art History it was as a gen ed class meaning the teacher taught as little as possible because no one really cared.  He has quite a resume too working with different magazines and doing weddings as well as other personal business photography.  Here's a link to his website if you would like to see some of his pictures.   http://www.michelepero.it

Oh and I also had travel photojournalism today.  This guy was pretty funny too.  His English wasn't as good but still it was really good.  He kept saying I don't know if I'll be able to teach the class because I don't know enough English but we were all like we can understand everything you say.  So hopefully he will get to teach it.  Plus he let us out 3 hours early!  But class usually goes from 3-8:30. 

So far, classes have gone really well and I am really excited to start them and the two professors I had today are like full-time photographers and teach on the side and are like way over qualified so I feel like if I can take advantage of their expertise I can catch up to other photographers my age.  If the rest of my classes go as well as today, which I'm sure they will because I have Michele for my other two photography classes, I will be I don't even know how to describe it.  All I know is that I know this is where I'm supposed to be at this point in my life and if I didn't come I would definitely have regretted this.  The only class that could be excruciatingly hard is my Italian class which is taught in all Italian and the book (including explanations and directions) is in Italian.  But I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.  

Oh and can I add that I only got lost once going to school and once coming back?  I'm improving!!

The Bedroom

The Living Room

Great News

First let me share with you a bit of proof that accordions are not as nerdy as Urkel made them out to be...

Soooo this is what we listen to every night at dinner (this was taken from our window).  I will be spoiled when I get back to school.  Not only will I have to eat caf food but I won't have an accordion accompaniment while dining. 

So the great news....my internet is finally working thanks to Kyle who figured out that when typing in the password I was supposed to be putting a $ in front of it.  Go figure... So as a result I will be posting more regularly putting up more pictures and keeping in touch more. 

More great news...I am taking a group to Honduras next summer from church sooo if you are interested see mom or email me.  I am super excited.  As beautiful as it is here, I'm still in love with Honduras.  I find myself comparing Italy to Honduras.  They are different kinds of beautiful but I think I would still pick Honduras over Florence anytime.  

I had my first Gelato today.  Limone (limon go figure) It was delicious.  But any rate if you want to see more pictures and you aren't friends with me on facebook check these out!  (to make them bigger, click on the thumbnails)

Well it's after midnight here so I'll put more up later!!

And so it begins...

As you can see, it's beautiful here. Just to catch you up, not everyone's luggage got to Florence and none of mine made it. But I got it yesterday and finally got unpacked. We had orientation today and I am super excited to start classes...travel photography, fashion photography, digital photography, and landscape and architecture photography. And of course italian.

My apartment is about a 3 minute walk from school which is good except the first day. It took me 45 minutes to find the apartment (some man felt sorry for me and walked me over to it). But now I still get lost every day but luckily the other girls know where they are going most of the time.

It is overwhelmingly georgous here - so much so I have a hard time taking pictures because there is just so much so I haven't been. I've just been trying to absorb it all but Sunday I'm going to take some pictures. Well this is all the time I have for now. Hopefully, I'll be able to fill everyone in on the details next week.

--Ciao

Buongiorno!

Just so everyone knows...I survived the time change and found the school, got lost several times, lost both pieces of luggage (from the plane not pickpockets), had my first italian meal and can't understand a word! But I love it here. I'll have more details later when my internet starts working.

-Ciao

hellooooo friends

or should i say ciao! Tomorrow I leave for Italy. I'm basically packed and ready to go! I'll leave tomorrow at 5:30pm and arrive in Florence at 10:30am on Wednesday. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and my next blog will be from Florence!