A Rested Weekend

This weekend so far has been pretty relaxing. I have caught some sinus thing or a cold. Either way I needed to take it easy this weekend. On Friday I went to Accademia to see the David. Just walking into the museum, let alone seeing David was an experience in itself.  I was moved walking in and seeing the paintings all over the wall and the sculptures we had talked about in our History of Interiors class. The David was CRAZY. How the heck does someone sculpt something like that? I cannot even begin to imagine. I was sitting there and it literally looked like he could move. It was a fantastic sight. Then I shopped around a little to stay out of the apartment since that was what I really wanted to do. After shopping I came back to relax a bit. I met up with some friends that I met here that go to George Washington University. We went to a place in english called the Cat and the Fox. I had some amazing tortellini with some cream sauce and I snacked on some bread that they had. I also ate some of my friends meals because they could not finish all of theirs.

I just got back from a ballet. I went to see a MidSummer Nights Dream. It was beautiful! The last time I did anything with that play was watching it in Junior High. I saw it as a play version. It is completely different as a ballet. So gorgeous. We took some pictures before we went out and inside the theater. Best part... we paid 11euro for our seats... well the top mezzanine layer was closed, so we got to pick any spot we wanted in the more expensive seats and sat there. I believe we sat in 40-50euro seats. It was the lower mezzanine, not the floor, but it was a great view. Center stage :). I will post some pictures as soon as I get them from Hannah's camera sometime this weekend. Best part (not in the photos, sorry Mom)was I got to wear my rain coat that I bought two years ago. FINALLY!

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy/snowy. So it might be a day of more museums. I tried to go to some today but everything closes at 1pm on weekends. We have an assignment thats due in a couple of weeks so we might try and get some of that done. Along with some other smaller assignments for different classes.

So look forward to reading about more further in the week.

The Last Few Days...

Not too much excitement going on now that school has really picked up and projects have begun. I think the last time I blogged was Sunday after our Pisa trip. Monday was just two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon- both lectures so nothing too exciting. Then tuesday was just one class. We got our building site for our project which happens to be right across the street from where mom and dads hotel is for when they visit. Then last night me and some of the girls decided to book a trip for next weekend (February 4th-6th) we decided on Palermo, Italy. It is located at the tip of the boot sort of where the toes are. It is on the coastline and should be amazing. We are flying there from Pisa airport and staying for three full days at a bed and breakfast in the central area of Palermo. All for under $200.00. This is fantastic. Today my history of interiors class went to Palazzo Pitti. It is quite an incredible building. Here are a few pictures from our tour. We started in the Grotto.

There were no pictures allowed in the interior- unfortunately but this is part of the exterior since the structure is huge!

This is a picture of the grotto. It is really strange. The inside has somewhat of sculptures in mud that are drooping. I do not know how to even explain it. It is just weird. If I can get better internet tomorrow then I will post more pictures but it just took me 45 minutes to post two. Annoying.

Thats all for now, hopefully this weekend I have more information to share with everyone. We are trying to go to Siena and we are also going to a ballet so I will have something to post even if its small. Goodnight Ciao!

Day Trip to Pisa

Today we decided to get out of Florence for a bit and take an adventure in a new city. We decided to go to Pisa. The train ride was only 1 hour which felt very short. As soon as we got there we shopped around for a bit and walked through the city looking at every building and store. I took a total of 325 pictures so you can only imagine how pretty this city is. We made it to the Cathedral, right outside of the Cathedral is the Leaning Tower of Pisa which when you see it, hits you really quick at how real it is and really, how tiny it is compared to what you in visioned it to look like.

This is one of the first views that we got of the Cathedral and the Tower.

This is the train station in Pisa, its really pretty nice.

Hannah and I front of the Arno in Pisa. We could have swam there from our apartment :).

(MOM) I'm hugging a palm tree just for you!

My fantastic meal of Tortellini with cream sauce. It was by far one of the best meals I have had here!

This Cathedral is huge. And the inside is even prettier. We sat through mass so that we could go into the Cathedral and see more of it.

This is the inside of the Cathedral with the side aisles and the altar in front.

A great view of the Tower. Too bad we did not climb it. It was really expensive and I was too afraid of being claustrophobic and I did not want to get up to the top and freak out!

Oh you know, just trying to hold up the tower with my own two hands.

It was a great trip overall and well worth it to escape from Florence for a bit. Hope you enjoy all of the pictures, I can post more if anyone wants to see more. Back to the school week- wish it wasn't time yet!

Sorry- I will post tomorrow

There has not been much excitement the last few days so I will post more tomorrow (saturday) and then sunday or monday about our weekend trip to Pisa. xox

The Fake David Threw Me Off...

Yesterday was just an ordinary day, which is why I did not blog. Nothing important happened. Today was a little more exciting.

This morning I got up and went to International Business. Nothing exciting there. But after my class is when my day picked up. We had to chose another building to analyze for our studio class. Mine was a clothing shop that I had already bought some stuff from, go figure. It is called Promod.

This is the entrance into the shop, it is beautiful with very good prices. I bought a few long sleeve shirts from here.

After I went there to do my analysis I found a great shop and bought some jeans. YESS! I love jeans. And I also bought some new nailpolish since I did not bring any with me. I am super excited about my purchases. After that I came back and did m analysis homework and went shopping with my friend Emily. She wanted boots so I tagged along to help her look for them. I ended up purchasing leather gloves. (CHECK THAT OFF THE LIST). We went to the Palazzo Veccio today. Outside of this building looks like the David statue, which at first tricked me when I first got to Italy. We were allowed to take pictures inside so I have many to show you.

This is the interior courtyard when you initially walk into the space.

This is the inside of the Great Hall. In the center is the Pope of Florence, I guess there is a really long history behind these statues and the Medici family being part of the Republic and politics. It was hard to follow the entire story.

This is the great hall from above. It looks a lot more breathtaking from this vantage point.

While we were up on the balcony, our tour guide decided to take us to the very top of the building which is over the paintings that encompass this entire room. So this is the mechanism that holds up all of the paintings in order to stabalize the roof and not have it collapse in. What a great technology. So below all of these pieces of wood are the paintings and you can see the framework around the paintings from up here. Our tour guide let us do some pretty cool things!

Speaking of which, she took us into this room that has hand painted maps on the walls. Well there is a secret door that takes us up to a secret room that was made for one of the important women living in the palace. Well nobody really gets to go up there except for few people. Once we got up there, we learned that there was a peep hole into the great room that this woman used to spy on her husband or lover. I can't remember the entire story it is just so confusing. The Medici family is just so well known and there were so many of them.

This is just an example of some of the artwork on the ceilings that are in the entire place. The other ones are smaller paintings framed and placed together with many other framed pieces.

This is just a wall mural in one of the rooms in the Palace. It is over the doorway.

This was a smaller room within the Palace that was completely covered in frescos. From ceiling to wall it just filled the entire room. This is part of the ceiling and the rounded arch is right above a doorway.

This is more of the courtyard on the way out. This looks into the city.

Overall it was a great field trip. I am learning so much more when I actually get to see the building and pieces of furniture. I hope that we get to see a lot more exciting things in the future. Hope everything is going good with everyone back home and I look forward to seeing comments on here and have people following me.

Love you xox



Sunset and Visit to San Lorenzo/Palazzo Medici

Today for History of Interiors we went to San Lorenzo and Palazzo Medici to study some of the interior spaces. The pictures below are from the sunset from Sunday night at the top of the platform over looking the city. We made it there just for the sun to set and to see the city lights. It was beautiful. After class we just wandered around the rest of the Palazzo and came home to have Hannah make me dinner, what a fantastic roomate.

The sun setting over the Duomo.

The little village beside the platform, the sun is just beautiful as it is setting.

San Lorenzo which is not particularly pretty from the exterior, it is beautiful inside. No pictures allowed inside.

Interior of the Palazzo Medici, which is not completely accurate because it is not all original work on the ceilings and on the walls but have been re-done in much of the 17th century.

Palazzo Medici; interior courtyard. The architecture is incredible.

The garden outside of the Palazzo Medici.

That is all for now, the pictures are taking a lot of time to load because our internet is not very good. So we will see if I get a chance later to post more. xox

Photos from Villa Petraia

We passed the villa where Pinocchio was written! It was too hard to get a picture of the villa itself because the sun was too bright.

This is the Medici Summer Villa (Villa Petraia). It is quite gorgeous with many gardens.

This is just a view of what the garden looks like from the top of the house and looking out to see the view of the city.

In front of the city of Florence

Just some pretty pictures of the gardens and land around the villa.

More beautiful gardens!

I will put more pictures up later but this is just a few from yesterdays adventures.          

A Good Old Day in Florence

Today was incredible. It started with a door to Villa Petraia- it is in the countryside of Florence. It was beautiful. We could not take any pictures inside but I did take tons outside that I will put up tomorrow. After that I went shopping and bought LEATHER BOOTS. OH MY GOODNESS- I will take a picture and put those up tomorrow. GORGEOUS. I also bought a few sweaters that I will be wearing in the next few days so there will be pictures. Tonight the girls and I are going out for a bit to a pub for some drinks. I will blog more tomorrow about this evening and then tomorrows events!

LOVE YOU xox

January 14, 2011

Today was pretty uneventful but I figured I should share with everyone what I did. This morning was female orientation based on information on how women should get around this city and with the drinking and the Italian men. It was pretty obvious the things that we were told but thats okay. Then we had an academic orientation that was introducing some of the professors and important people we should know. After that a couple girls went to the market to get some fresh fruits and vegetables and meats. There were seriously animals hanging and heads in the counters. It was so disgusting but I guess thats the way of life around here. (Mom close your eyes and skip to the next line) There was a counter that was just horse, any kind, GROSS! It was very interesting to see who had the best prices and what kinds of meats each butcher sold. The place was ginormous. After we came home, I could not move. The walking around and carrying of the groceries was beyond heavy. Although I was so sore and tired, me and Hannah decided to roam the city. So that was a 2.5 hour adventure. Now I officially am not moving from my bed. I was looking for leather gloves, boots, or a jacket. No luck in that category. Guess I will have to continue searching. Hannah made us all dinner tonight- she made homemade alfredo sauce with chicken and spaghetti. YUMMM. Now I am going to bed early because we have a trip to a Villa outside of Florence tomorrow at 8:30am. Goodnight to those that it is nighttime for and good afternoon to everyone else enjoying the snow at home :) Love you all!

What an Exhausting Week!

This week has been so tiring. Sorry I did not post yesterday.

1/13/11:

For class we climbed to the top of the platform to see the entire city from the top. It was the longest hike but it was so worth.

This is part of the wall that used to surround all of Florence it no longer surrounds the entire city due to expansion.

This picture if you can see  has a building with green domes, that is the Jewish Synagogue in Florence. I hope to travel there sometime soon.

This is me in front of the entire city. It is quite the site.

We worked out way up to the top to one of the Medici families churches. It was hard to get pictures so most of the inside ones are very dark.

Adventures for Today

Today was quite adventurous. It started off with going to school in the morning for orientation. We went to the train station so that our teacher could show us how to read signs and be able to figure out which train is the one we want. We also went to the post office and a book store to do the same sort of thing. After that we went back to grab our passports so that we could register with the post office our address. I got the most delicious gelato in between lunch and going back to the school.

Apparently this is a famous gelato place around Italy. It is called Grom.

Then we met with a doctor to go over some medical things so that we know where to find a doctor. Once orientation was over with, Hannah and I headed to the grocery store to get some dinner and then to a church to look at a painting for our History of Interiors class. I came home and laid in bed. I am just exhausted from this week. I am ready for a vacation already!

Just a beautiful archway in the middle of Florence.

This weekend is supposed to be gorgeous so I am hoping to have some time outside and relax for a bit before the semester really starts to get intense. It is time for bed for me :)

The Days Are Beginning to Get Busier!

Good Evening to me, Good Afternoon to everyone in the states!

Today was the second day of classes. We had a getting to know Florence session early this morning that covered some basic things about Florence along with some important Italian words to help you get through the city. We then went on a field trip with our teacher to the market, except that half of my group went the other direction which was not the direction the teacher wanted because they wanted to leave and I followed them not knowing what I was doing. So unfortunately I did not get to see the market. Another day I will go there and see it for myself. After that we had a break and relaxed as it started to downpour. Thankfully it has not rained here until today. I think it got it out of its system since it was raining so hard! After lunch we headed back to the school to have studio. Met with our studio instructor and went over guidelines. The focus is mainly on retail spaces so I think it should be a fantastic experience. Afterwards we ran to the store to find a hair straightner. Which I am going to return because Hannah's straightner from home actually works and I should get back 40euro for that bad boy. So excited. We went to the phone store looking for Hannah's sim card but there system was down for the evening. For dinner we ate with two friends we met traveling over. Funny that Hannah met Sarah on the plane and I met Jacqui (not sure on spelling). They are both roomates and from George Washington but neither knew each other previous to this experience. We ate at a restaurant down by the Duomo and tried some new exciting food. Hannah and I shared a cannelini and ragu (meat sauce) that had ground meat inside sort of like lasgna without the cheese. It was amazing, and of course shared a bottle of wine. The red wine around here is soooo strong. We came back to the apartment and are going to relax and go to sleep shortly. Tomorrow should be an easier day with only orientation sessions to attend.

Hope you are all enjoying this :)

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. We had to be there around 9am for orientation. The first few sessions were very boring and repetitive but it was important information to take in, just so much. Then we had a break from 12-2 and me and Hannah went around looking for lunch. There are only about 15 different delis and gelato places that have the most delicious lunch selection. One major disappointment... they do not have turkey ANYWHERE. What will I ever do without eating turkey. So we decided on a place on the street which ended up being the best decision ever. We tried the beef sandwich. OH MY GOODNESS, delicious!!! We ate it outside on a park bench in a plaza near some large statues. I could not finish my sandwich it was so large! Then me and Hannah walked around and shopped, by shopped I mean looked around and picked out places that we want to come back to on Friday. We had class starting at 2 and then we had another two orientation sessions on housing and police security in Florence. After, they had a nice little reception with sandwich bites and some fruit. I came home after and skyped with my family. It made me so happy :) Now, I am relaxing and going to do some homework and hopefully go to bed early. Look for another tomorrow!

Photographs!

My bedroom, the bed is actually two seperate beds that are pushed together with one headboard. We each have our own sheets though :)

This is our marble bathroom with bathtub and shower. It is actually a lovely space.

Santa Maria Novella which is pretty much my backyard. Looks so fake it is unbelievable.

Bits and pieces of the Duomo. HUGE building.

Not sure what this building is but its so pretty!

Beautiful sunset from across the river. Dad loves this picture a lot!

The street behind us at night, isn't it so beautiful?

My roomate and I on the first night, exhausted obviously and eating the most delicious Italian cuisine.

Me and Hannah beautifully placed in front of the Santa Maria Novella on the first day touring the city.

The pontevecchio. Where an Italian man grabbed my hand and kissed me on both cheeks. I was mortified. American men are not like this! HAHA. Went looking for moms jewlery store but I failed. Hopefully when they are here we can find it. 



Day 2

I can officially say that I can no longer feel my feet. We walked SOOO much today. I have not slept in forever so hopefully this jet lag leaves my body soon because I cannot handle another sleepless night. This morning we started by walking straight to the school so that we could see the route that we would be traveling. It is about 15 minutes from the apartment. Everything looks pretty much the same to me so I am still not 100% sure how to get there. Good thing I have a week to practice before I have to do it on my own. We met up with one of the American/Italian professors and we followed him to a Catholic mass in the Duomo. What an experience! The place is outrageously beautiful and it was such a learning opportunity. Unfortunately it was all in Italian so I did not understand anything that was being said. Hannah (my roomate that I share a room with) and I got chosen to walk around with baskets to collect money. I felt pretty special! We left the Duomo and headed back to the apartment for a quick lunch and straight back out to shop. We walked around the entire city looking for good deals and fun stuff to buy. I ended up with a pair of black boots (fabulous) and a scarf that goes with all of my coats that I brought and a quartz ring (light pink). I am completely satisfied and spent only about 40 euro, actually 37 euro. On the way home I bought a white wine made in Tusacana (The region I am living in) so that hopefully I can fall asleep tonight. Tomorrow we start school. Orientation starts at 9am my time and goes until about 6pm. We also have a History of Interiors class, the first one of the semester. Hopefully I can make it to class since I have no feeling in either foot. Another post tomorrow after my first day of school- look for it!

First Two Days

It has been exciting start to the next four months. The apartment is GORGEOUS! There are two bedrooms, one is a double and one is a single. Two bathrooms with showers and a small kitchen that includes the smallest sofa you have ever seen. Yesterday was a hectic day to travel. It took about 12 hours to get from JFK to Florence with a stop in Paris for three hours. All of the Interior Design girls went out for dinner last night at a little restaurant. I had pizza and bruschetta with my roomate Hannah. Last night was a long night and contained little sleep. This morning, I woke up to 57 degree weather. What is better than knowing it is 30 something at home :). Walked around FOREVER trying to find a grocery store. Which was a fantastic find but difficult to carry everything back to the apartment that was oh you know, two miles away. My feet are blistered but the walk was amazing. I found tons of famous buildings like San Lorenzo and San Marco and all of the palazzos that surround these incredible buildings. Came back to rest for an hour or two and then went back out to the Pontevechio for some more shopping. I bought an incredible cashmere scarf. It will look great in my wardrobe! Tonight is a staying in kind of night, my body is aching and I am extremely exhausted. Pasta it is! Tomorrow- on to do damage... SHOPPING! Hopefully I can learn to attach photos onto here so that everyone can see.