Rain, Gelato and Klingon!

Well, its been almost another full week here in Italy, and filled with lots of drizzle and rain. Not the ideal weather, but not so bad that you can't go outside either. When it stops raining it is so nice and warm here, around 55 degrees. (I keep thinking about the weather in Wisconsin right now!)

Valentine's Day in Florence is celebrated pretty much the same way that we celebrate in the states, lots of flowers and candy vendors advertising for the day. I went with my roommates that night to a bar for drinks and aperitivos, and then we got some gelato late that night. It was fun, but not much else to say about that.

My classes are going well. In Renaissance Art we went to Santa Croce (which has a museum with Cimabue's Crucifix and a beautiful Fresco of the Last Supper, and also has the graves of people such as Galileo and Michelangelo). For Women and Religion we went on a walking tour of the city, and ended up at the Baptistery by Santa Maria del Fiore. The interior has the most beautiful gold mosaic that I have ever seen! It depicts a scene of the last judgment, portraits of the prophets, and scenes from the Bible. I still can't believe that these are my classes here - although I have been getting a lot of homework which isn't as much fun. For any fellow trekkies, I did find out that my Italian professor (who is a linguist and speaks about 10 languages fluently) speaks Klingon! That pretty much made my day when he mentioned that!

Someone pointed out a gelato shop to me that is right around the corner a little while ago, and I have been back a couple of times since. One of the workers recognized me when I went in yesterday - I'm not sure if that is a good thing, or if it means that I need to stop eating so much gelato...

I also found a beautiful little park up in the hills by San Miniato! It has enough trees and grass to really remind me of my many walks through the woods in Memorial Park at home, but the view of the outskirts of Florence is unbelievable. I also met some tourists from Hungary, who asked me how they could get to San Miniato. They were so nice, and seemed genuinely interested in just talking for a few minutes. They told me that they came to Italy for a long weekend to see the art, and that they were really enjoying the warm weather (it was snowing back at their home). They wanted to know where I was from, and seemed really interested to learn that I was in Italy as an art student. It was so nice talking to them, and as a plus, I was able to point them in the right direction!

I think that's about everything for now. I'm hoping to spend tomorrow in Siena (an easy day trip from Florence), so I will tell you about that soon!