Piazzas and Mercatos

Hi Everyone! I usually won't be updating this every day, but I have so much to share right now - everything is so new!

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours just wandering around part of the city. I walked over to the Piazza della Signoria, which has all of these amazing sculptures from the Renaissance (although some are just replica's now, with the originals moved indoors, such as Michelangelo's David). The piazza is all cobblestone, and is bordered by high end shops such as Chanel. One of the palaces, Palazzo Vecchio (which is now the town hall of the city) and the Uffizi Gallery, also border the piazza. The sculptures border the piazza, and there is also a small, covered sculpture garden. Some of the famous pieces include the Fountain of Neptune (Ammannati), the Rape of the Sabine Woman (Giambologna), Perseus with the Head of Medusa (Cellinni), and replicas of David and il Marzocco (Donatello). Every time I get in front of works of art that I studied in classes back at St. Norbert or have admired through books, such as the sculptures, I just can't believe it. It's so awe-inspiring to me. I took my sketchbook and spent a few minutes sketching one of the figures on the Fountain of Neptune. It was a bit surreal to be sitting in Florence, ten feet away from a sculpture done in the 16th century with my sketchbook and pen, but that's a huge part of why I wanted to come to Italy.

I then walked through the open center of the Uffizi gallery. There are caricaturists that line up along the gallery, and I found it really funny that about half of the people had examples of an Obama caricature. But set along the pillars were statues of all sorts of famous Italians, and at the end, an Archway that overlooks the Arno River. I then walked back to my apartment along the riverwalk - it was foggy, but still a beautiful view of the bridges over the river, with mountains far in the background, just visible through the fog.

This morning when I woke up, I decided to go to the Mercato Sant'Ambrogio to pick up some fresh fruit and veggies. This is one of the two main food "farmer's markets" in Florence, but it is much less "touristy" than the other one, and closer to my apartment. Of course, that meant that I had make more of an effort to speak Italian. Also, I wasn't sure what the proper way to pick out the food was (in "supermarkets", you are supposed to wear disposable gloves to pick out any fresh fruit). So I ended up walking around the market for a while just exploring taking in the sights, and trying to figure out what I wanted to buy and how to buy it. It was so interesting to me, outside is all the clothes, trinkets, fruits, jams, and vegetables. Inside the building, vendors were selling lunch, meat, and cheese. The meat was so interesting to see, everything from fresh fish, to sausage links hanging from the ceiling, and bacon that they would carve off for the customers right there. Outside, people were chatting, and sellers were trading with each other - I even spotted one vendor throwing oranges to another nearby. I was so nervous to try talking to anyone, but eventually I decided to buy some oranges, tomatoes, and lettuce to have in the apartment for meals.

On my way back to the apartment, I stopped to get my first gelato - cioccolato and cocco - chocolate and coconut! It was so delicious, I will definitely be trying more at some point!

Some random things about the city that I've noticed:
-There are pigeons everywhere! Especially by the river and in the piazzas - but no squirrels.
-There is very little grass or trees, I actually miss grass more than I thought I would.
-On the water faucets, C is hot water and F is cold (which confuses me because in our bathroom you can't really see the "F", so I keep mixing them up!)
-The motorcycles shake the windows as they drive by on the street below.
-A "Bar" is actually a cafe, and "Caffe" is a bar.

Anyways, I'm going to go out for a little bit longer before it gets dark now that it has stopped raining. But I'll update again when I have more to say. Hope everyone is well back home!

Santa Croce

This is a roommate's picture of Santa Croce - the church only about a minute walk from our apartment - their is also a Piazza in front that I have spent some time in.

First few days (with better spelling!)

Wow - I've only been in Florence for a few days, yet I have fallen in love with the city already. Yes, it's true that I'm terrible at communicating and have already made multiple "mistakes" that true Italians find inappropriate (such as not ordering all of the courses when eating lunch at a resturant), but I am having a great time and learning quickly.

The flight over was uneventful. I was flying with three other girls from St. Norbert, and we managed to catch all of our flights and find our baggage. I only really mention the plane ride, because of the completely surreal experience that I had. I had just woken up, so I was still in that sleepy state, when I looked out the window, not really expecting to see anything because it was so cloudy. What I saw was the sun rising over enormous mountain peaks poking up through the cloud bed. We were directly over the Alps! Amazingly beautiful and something that I never thought I would see. It was so white with clouds and snow, yet slightly glowing from the rising sun, and every so often you could see lights down on the mountains from small collections of buildings and a couple that looked to me like they were bonfires. I couldn't believe it.

I got to my apartment, and met all of the other girls. We went out for dinner that night, but spent most of the time relaxing. Yesterday, we went to a couple of orientation meetings and out for lunch. We finally got the internet set up, and then went to the market next door to get food. We were going to make a pasta dinner, but couldn't get our stove working, so ended up just eating brushcetta (the oven works!) and other "snack foods". All of my roommates decided to go out that night. Hannah knew a guy also in Florence, so we met up with his roommates and another full group of girls, and then walked to the Cavalli Club. However, we got lost on the way, and ended up seeing a lot of Florence. For those of you who know me - I was in heaven, I was exploring the city at night, which I normally wouldn't have done, and saw so many amazing buildings, palazzos (palaces) and piazzas (city squares) - it was actually the highlight of the night for me! I can't wait to see them again and spend more time at some of the buildings. I did have fun dancing at the club though - a completely new and interesting experience for me.

Today, I woke up this morning and went to an optional, informal orientation session were we got some helpful tips about pickpockets, markets, restaurant etiquette, etc... So, that's pretty much everything so far!

One thing - I did forget to bring the adapter that transfers photos from my camera to the computer, so no photos yet! I'm going to look for one here, or maybe just start showing you other people's photos - not sure yet.

I can't believe that I am actually here in Italy. I know it is so far away, but right now, it just feels like a new city with a different language, and not all that different from home. Then again, I'm walking the same streets that people like Galileo, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio, and Dante walked - unbelievable.

Ciao!