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