Un Pensiero... (a Thought...)

5/28/08

Quick note, just woke up….(815ish 130am your time) and had a thought,  yesterday was our last day at Santa Chiara as the peaceful, quite, serene place we have all come to love. There will be no more sitting in the courtyard just reading and enjoy the noiseless air.... Today the worst thing any UT person can imagine happens…ATM shows up…and not just that but once they all arrive there will be 60 of them…the school will be full of a total of 86 students too they say, between the 3 schools, UT, CSU and ATM. It was bas enough when CSU showed up there are only 8 of them and they are louder than our 18. Ugh…anyway off to find something to eat for breakfast…having a hard time eating here actually with the lactose thing- its been very difficult enough at times…looks like Im on the reverse Italian diet…little food and a bunch of walking…we’ll see how that turns out, hopefully that will change for the better…

 

Ciao

Quattro

( FYI- I posted days 3 and 4, two post today)

5/27/08

WOW WEE!!! What a day…we woke up at 510am…meet down stairs (yes the school has 3 stories, the top is the room the middle floor is street level with some classes and the lower is the lounge, dinning hall and our studio and classroom) Back on topic… we met down stairs at 620….walked all the way down the hill to the train station to catch our 642 train to Florence…after we arrived and made it out of the train station we had a 30 coffee break in which we all spilt into 2 and 3’s and grabbed water, food and drinks to start the day off right. We then hopped onto a bus which took us up the hill to a spot were we could see a great view of the layout of the city, from there we walked up the hill to the San Miniato church. This is the last free church you can enter in Florence all the others you have to pay for.. Boo. Here Ann gave us a talk about the history of the church and Dan talked about the paintings and types/ techniques. Because we were here so early there was almost no one in the church but us, which was a really fun feeling. We stayed at the church and drew for I don’t know how long…when we left its was lunch time so I’m guessing at least 2hours (I have no concept of time here…and no need to really.) We walked through the streets to the main Piazza de Signoria the center of all that is tourism, ha. And split for lunch, I went with 4girls Erica, Sam, Julia, Megan and Mark. As we were trying to decide were to go, they all kind of looked at me and where like “which way” totally caught me off guard… anyway I looked at the map and began to walk and they followed…crazy, ha. After lunch and not so god spot (they picked…they were dieing for food…it was awful!) We walked to the Duomo and had photo opt and admired the structure. After that we walked through the street to a market and shopped a bit…no buying to today but it was fun to look. After that my group ran into Dan and Ann (hahaha) going into the Saint Lorenzo Church, This was great timing for Ann couldn’t help but tell us everything and Dan too…Its so nice that they are really on this trip with us, not just our teachers but our friends. We all make jokes all the time and pick on each other, it helps that all the studio art majors know Dan really well too. After these 3 hours of freedom in the City, we all met us, when to a local art store, picked up fun and needed items and then headed for the bus station…after an hour ride home, (its an hour to Florence from CF and 2 ½ hours to Rome) we all trenched and sweat and exhausted from walking like mad men, trekked our way up the hill to Santa Chiara. At dinner 30mins after we arrived we all express the thought that Florence was ok but it was so good to be home. Now don’t get me wrong, Florence is an incredible city, but it’s a city…we live in a quant close nit, amazing place…not a crazy, huge city, thankfully! Also the weather in Florence is hotter and today it was intense! Supposedly we are having a heat wave that should be gone by Thursday, please! Today was also interesting to be so free in a foreign city and be completely relaying on only myself. No one else will know, do or take care of the things that need to be done for me…its me only! I remember feeling that on the Texas4000 trip but I’ve seem to forgot that in the states its so easy to allow or want mom or dad to do things for me…but here its just me!! Whew, what a really check and a shove into adulthood. Ha. Tomorrows another day full of class and studying we have a quiz on Thursday…yikes, don’t think I’ve ever procrastinated this long…oh well im in Italy, who cares…(kind of)

-Ciao

Giorni Tre (days 3)

5/26/2008

Today was a packed day…after a night of little sleep, I took a nap yesterday and was unable to fall asleep till about 3 this morning and even then I tossed and turned, ugh…no more naps I guess. Anyway we had our first day of classes. We started with Art history at 930, which consisted of a lot of background info and slides of were we are going and what will be seeing, oh and the stuff on our test. Yeah that’s right a test, on Thursday…ugh!!  This class was really interesting, knowing little about why, how and when all this stuff was built I was really into the info Ann was telling us. The class flew by and then we had our first lunch here as Santa Charia…a veggie soup, it was great the second course was boiled eggs and tomatoes... i had another bowl of soup instead, ha. Following lunch was our first Art class. I was really excited and nervous when this came around…there’s quite a few other non-art majors so we went in one group and the others sat a different spot. We did gesture drawings of the street spot Dan (our teacher) took us too. This was quite a challenge for me…its been forever since I’ve drawn, I tend to like to draw people more than landscape and I wanted to be perfect…imagine that, ha.  I really had to take some deep breaths and remember it's my first day in a while and this is suppose to be fun!! We also had to work with watercolors today…just test the water he said…I actually enjoyed this more and thought my pictures came out more to my liking...happy me. By this time it was 530pm…drawing is a 4hour class…and time for 1^st Italian lesson with Rosa. She was great, she is from CF and spoke in such a way that was easy to understand and hear the difference in the words sounds. One person described her as sounding like a speaker from a “learn Italian” CD. Dinner was next on the agenda were Stacey and I another UT student sat among the CSU students (there here for 3weeks), funny group. I’m now sitting in MY courtyard, where the 9, not 3 turtles, of all sizes are sleeping. We have a our first field trip to Florence in the morning…we have to make a 642am train…that means a very, very early wake up!! Not the interesting of an entry but that was just my day in Italy and it was amazing! 

Due (two in italian)

Day 2, Sunday- May 25, 2008

Buon giorno! Today was another day given to us to get situated in Italy. I awoke around 8am, pulled myself out of bed stumbled to decide what to wear and get into the Tiny bathroom we have in our room…literally the whole bathroom might be 3ft by 3ft with a shower, sink, toilet and a little mirror…this is just another reminder of how lucky we are in the states (or I am at my apartment I have two whole sinks to myself…ha) They don’t serve breakfast here…Italians don’t eat a hearty meal at this hour, as we do but there is a tiny shop located downstairs off of the dinning hall that offers coffee, little breakfast foods like cereal and fruit and drinks for later in the day. After eating a small breakfast of croissant, an orange drink and a banana I wandered around the building/courtyard and town alone until our meeting/orientation time at 1030am. By the time I decided to walk the town I only had 15mins or so, so I didn’t go too far but I did get to walk by the beautiful church located right next to us and watch the Italians walk in for Mass this Sunday morning. Two other people have talked with me about going to a church service while here- they saw the cross in my necklace (thanks mer) and asked if I went/would want to go, excited to have believers around me and attend a catholic church in Italy, I said yes!

Back in Santa Charia at our orientation mtg we were talked to by the two head women of the school, they told us about the train lines, the community and events and the history of the school- all very neat. I will write a more detailed blurb about this and a lot of other things soon…But anyway by the time that was done and a mtg with the RC’s (resident counsels) all pervious students here- neat people, more later here too…we were free for the rest of the day.. Crazy to be completely free in this foreign country…we did however do an impromptu historical mini tour with Ann (art history teacher) through town…after that I ate my first Italian meal, well dinner last night was real Italian food, but this I had to order on my own, ha. I stared at the menu for a bit…um…um…I was thinking…I decide to go with Panzenella…which was described as a moistened bread with onions, cucumbers and veggies…It was FANTASTIC…I ate it soo fast…I must say I was so proud my entire table ordered different food while the whole table next to us, even the teachers ordered pizza…blah…step out of the box people, come on, ha…ok ok just kidding. I also had my first glass of wine with this meal…the white house wine, it was great!! After lunch we wondered the town a bit more…I must say for only being here less than 24hours I feel like I know the town really well. I’m not afraid to go out alone and wonder, I know I can get back to Santa Chiara. In town this weekend there is so much going on…there’s a medieval festival going on this weekend and next, today there was a local market and also this car show. It was so funny we walked through this car show and saw all tiny cars but they had these huge speakers they kept blasting American music. I couldn’t help but giggle and dance a bit J. After walking I returned to the school to sit out in the courtyard and read a bit…that didn’t last long for I quickly was joined by more student and talked to them. We eventually decide to return to the town for some afternoon gelato. And I ordered it all on my own, in ITALIAN!! I was so proud. Un piccolo cono…haha “a small cone.” Anyway we then made it down to the church close to us and explored it…it was so amazing inside, the walls, the pews, the confessionals, the alters...just nothing like anything in the US. We then wandered into the museum next door, the guy inside immediately knew we were from Santa Chaira and though he only spoke Italian he was so sweet and kept trying to talk to us J and the paintings were beautiful and old, ha. (Hopefully soon ill learn more about paintings so I can say so much more than that statement…Nap time came soon after this for me and I remember dreaming about speaking Italian, funny. Dinner tonight was traditional spaghetti and then veal and mash potatoes and fruit…I could get used to this. Even though the food sounds like things were used to its soo much better. After dinner we walked the town, which really comes to life at night, and went to then medieval festival and grabbed a beer at the “man bar”/ bar 2000, ha. Its called this cause when you walk by only men are in there but we saw two girls we knew in there and the beer was cheaper than the place we were headed to so that’s were we went. I’m home now laying in bed…about to pass out, our first day of class is tomorrow at 930… its going to be a full day of class and Italian lessons…EXCITING! Ok more updates coming…

Arrivederci

Where I am..a bit of background

Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy - Students in UT’s Learning Tuscany program

live and work in Santa Chiara, a restored convent situated in the old

medieval city of Castiglion Fiorentino. This picturesque Tuscan town is

located along the main train line between Rome and Florence, and it is

adjacent to the wellknown art cities of Cortona and Arezzo. Castiglion

Fiorentino takes its name from its role during the Renaissance as a

territorial outpost of the Republic of Florence, but the town’s origins far

predate this role. The hilltop location made the site attractive to both

Etruscans and medieval warlords—indeed, art, architecture and antiquities

from both of these periods are well represented in the town’s churches,

museums and streets. The town’s Renaissance role can be seen in the 16th

century loggia in the main square, as well as in the striking octagonal,

Bramantesque Madonna della Consolazione, perched along the south slope of

the town.

 

Santa Chiara - This faculty-led program is based at Santa Chiara, an old

Franciscan convent; it subsequently became a girl’s school and now hosts

students from a number of institutions across the United States. This

facility is located in the heart of the old city, adjacent to the

Collegiata, a Neoclassical collegiate church filled with art and graced by a

striking campanile. From Santa Chiara, it is but a brief stroll up to the

main piazza with its medieval tower, Renaissance loggia, cafés and stores.

Santa Chiara has numerous classrooms, studios, reading and recreational

areas and an old theater. Students reside in the former dormitory rooms, and

they take their meals in the beautiful refectory that opens up to a spacious

central courtyard. From this courtyard, students can read, sketch or take in

views toward the eastern hills that separate Tuscany from the equally

interesting region of Umbria.

Ciao!!

 5/24/08

I’m here…yup, after 23hours of being in transit- whether it be car, plane, shuttle, train or my good ole legs, I have arrived safely to Castilion Fiorentino (CF).

Getting from the train station to Castilion was quite a hassle…I think all 6 of us who luckily found each other deserve a lot of credit. Ok.. let me back up a bit…First off I was lucky enough to have Becky, student on my flight to Rome with me and by chance she was situated in the row right in front of me, this made for a nice transition into the group when we finally met up, she knew a couple of other students. Anyway after we made it off the plane through the LONG line of customs for the guy to literally throw my passport back at me (without even a stamp!!!)  we then some how found our luggage theta was off to the side, walked miles through the airport to the train station and luckily found four other people...yippee! WE then boarded a train form the airport to the main train station in Rome. 30mins later we got off the train walked a good while, again and bought new tickets for a new train to CF. We almost missed this train for we were suppose to meet up with Art history teacher Ann…but we didn’t see her so we made an executive decision, get on the train not wait 2hours for the next one. 2 LONG hours later, hours that I didn’t sleep because I was so worried we would miss the stop cause everyone else was sleeping…we drug our luggage off the train to finally arrive at CF.

After a quick drive up a hill…I would have died at this point if I had had to move my luggage once more…WE walked into our new home. This place is amazing...after seeing our spacious rooms, each with own dresser (yeah no living out of suitcase) we who were the first to arrive...took to the town on our own. We made our way up the narrow streets to a park and ate lunch in a local bar. We all sat in awe of the amazing view we had as we drank our water and beer and ate our lunch. CF sits on top of a huge hill over looking a valley of homes and greenery. Pictures can’t even do it justice! Aweee!! After eating and realizing we had to move or we would all pass out four of us hit the town to explore. The town consists of tons of little roads connection here and there, with amazing colors of yellow, brown and gray. The stone is crumbing here and there but it has such a romantic quality about it…After we made it back to the school Santa Charia we were given an official tour with the rest of the crew that finally showed up, we had basically done this already…haha we’re so smart! J 

Anyway we finally had dinner at 730…we were all dying after a great meal of pasta, meat and fruit for desert we are now all in the court yard (were I hope to spend a lot of my time) talking and here I am typing my thoughts… I can hear Tuscan church bells ringing in the background and Italian being yelled by the local soccer teams from the huge stadium I can see from were I sit on the steps.