Not Enough Hours in a Day

We're so busy. Every time I sit down to blog I don't even know where to start, what to talk about and what to leave out. There's just so much to talk about: my experience, the group dynamic, and what I'm learning (academically, culturally, and spiritually).

Valentine's Day: We had classes all morning but then for lunch Mona and Kyle put some things together. They completely decked out the dinning room, complete with candles, confetti, valentines, neat little bread sticks, banners, and themed napkins. Once all the ladies were sitting down the gentlemen of the group all came in holding roses. They sang "My Girl" to us except replaced "my girl" with "HUF girls." I don't think there was a girl in the room not smiling. After we each received a rose we ate spaghetti and enjoyed each others company. We had the afternoon and night free. There were quite a few couples going out for dinner and some groups of all girls. I decided to take the time to head out in the nice weather with my hammock and have some alone time. Which I know sounds lame for Valentine's Day but alone time here is few and far between! Living in a villa with 30 some peers (more than half being female) and a family of 4... let's just say things are pretty chaotic. The villa dinner group was small but fun and afterwords we all watched a movie together. To top of my wonderful day, I had an interview with Climb Nashville for a job this summer over skype. I found out yesterday that I got the job!!! I'm so thrilled, this falls under the dream summer job category.

Since that night I haven't even had time to write in my journal. On the 15th we went to Sante Croce, a Gothic style church here in Florence. It's known as the Italian Westminster Abbey. It holds many important works of art and has over 300 tombs, two of which being Michelangelo and Galileo! Michelangelo's tomb is to the left. It was sooooo cold. I was excited and interested in what we were learning but the cold made it so hard to take notes and pay attention. The day before had been so pretty so I hadn't dressed as warmly as I should've.

We also went to the Bargello that day which is now a museum but was the first public place in Florence. We saw works by Michelangelo, Donatello, and Brunelleschi. I would love to go back and spend more time there. I saw art students sketching statues by Michelangelo and wanted so badly to join them. For dinner we went to this little place were it said that an artist lived who was friends with Michelangelo and they probably had a few meals in the very room we ate in. The food was amazing (pasta of course).

Well, I'm out of time for now. Hopefully tomorrow I can set aside some time to catch up some more!

Abetone, Language Lessons, and Gelato

The past week has been jam packed with either classes and studying or our ski trip to Abetone in the Apennines. The bus ride to and from Abetone was gorgeous. Both times I listened to worship music on my iPod and was left in awe at the grandeur of the mountains and ultimately the Lord of all who created them.

Skiing for the first time was lots of fun, of course not at first because I was falling more than skiing. Lynn and I spent the first two days on the bunny slopes and then on day three headed up the mountain to try and easy slope. It was nice to have a break from school and to get out of Scandicci/Florence and see a bit more of Italy. Although at the end of day three I think we were all ready to be back at the Villa.

Italian class hit us hard when we got back. I studied for a about 3 hours for our Italian "quiz" and still did horrible. Class has little structure to it and I'm finding it hard to make sense of things and keep up. I was in the villa all day Friday and got a bit restless studying all day so after classes on Saturday a group of us went shopping in Florence. Funny moments of the trip would include almost being knocked over by a man running/galloping across the street while screaming and twirling a hat. I also sprinted after a bus that all of us but Paige London failed to get on. Her face at the realization that she was on it alone was priceless!

Today for Italian class we went to the Scandicci high school to give/receive English/Italian lessons. I absolutely loved it. First off, it was interesting to see the culture differences and what things will probably always be the same about high school despite the culture. Secondly, I probably learned more with my new friend Silvia today than I have in any of our Italian classes here at the villa.

I've heard this is the coldest winter Florence has experienced in 50 some years! Today, though, it was much better so Lynn, Jordan, and I decided to take advantage of it and go walk around Florence. We found a cool toy shop and got some gelato (ice cream... except better!).

The high school students we worked with earlier today came to the villa for dinner! It was wonderful! We were able to talk more with them and learn language and culture. The girl table that I was at had conversation that went everywhere from boys to shopping to hobbies to Lady Gaga to pronouncing "gli" (it's so hard for English speakers and they get a kick out of listening to us try). 

I feel like we've been here so much longer than just 2 weeks. I think it's because we've learned and experienced so much in that short time period. It will be interesting to see how much we've grown and how different we are in two months!

The streets of Florence speak

If I thought Scandicci was cool... Florence is beyond words. Scandicci is nice because it's not touristy and more of a nice family town. Florence is so much bigger than imagined it and absolutely FILLED with history, culture, and art that is so foreign to me. I feel a million miles away from my last entry a week ago. We've been going, going, going so much. Between classes, onsite classes, tours, studying, and trying to take advantage of any large chuck of free time we have by going into town... by the time I get back to the villa I'm exhausted.

Our first trip into Florence mostly involved just walking around while Robbie gave us an overview of the things we were seeing and the city itself. One particular place we went was the San Miniato al Monte church. It was a pretty place on the hillside overlooking Florence. We went inside and sang a couple of hymns together. The acoustics gave me the chills. I closed my eyes and let our voices wash over me as I thanked the Lord for this amazing adventure he's given me. Later we saw the Ponte Vecchio for the first time. I think that's always been my first thought when it came to Italy because of the ridiculous amount of paintings of it. So it was marvelous to actually see it and then walk across it looking into all the shop windows.

The wind is insanely cold. It rolls across the hills and whips between the architectural wonders in the city. Especially around the Duomo... on the day we toured the Duomo I couldn't even hear the person next to me talk unless they're yelling. While it makes navigating through the city a bit miserable at times I'm still as happy as a clam.

Our first onsite class was the Duomo. It was worked on my a couple architects but the one who gets the most credit is Brunelleschi because of his feat of the largest free standing dome in the world (and still is to this day!). The whole religious center left us in awe. The inside of Duoma was painted by Giorgio Vasari and his company. It's huge and leaves your neck cramping from starring upward for so long. Painting of biblical figures are scattered on the walls of the cathedral. The Baptistry, an interesting octagonal shape, has a mosaic on it's dome of colored glass and gold foil. So much talent, history, and culture. I was completely overwhelmed.

I wish I could go into more detail about each day and it's events. We visited the Piggy Market which is an outdoor market that is really popular among tourists. Yesterday we had a scavenger hunt in smaller groups around the city of Florence. It really helped us get an idea of where things are and how to get around the city. The map is essential! Last Sunday we probably had some of the best pasta I've ever tasted.

Yesterday we had some Italian guest speakers, Costanza and Debora, come talk to us about an organization called OMA. To try and summarize it, they are working at preserving the culture and talents of artisans of the Florentine guilds. One of the guest speakers while talking about how the guild shields are still to this day around the city, hanging on street corners and imprinted in building. After a class on the history of guilds and how they fit into modern day now... especially how they struggle, we met up in Florence to visit some of the artisans. We passed by a shoe maker, paper maker, jewelers (which was actually an old convent where all the artisan jewelers try to stay together to survive). I thought of my Papa a lot during our class and tour. The organization sound like something he would be in support of it. You see, this organization wants to bring awareness to the significance of being able to buy quality items that are handmade in a traditional way. You can own something that is one of kind and made my someone who has artistic ability rather than by a machine in a factory. On our trip through town we got to meet with a mask and wig maker. He was amusing. His looks were unique, a mix of an actor face and pure Italian. He had a big nose, large wrinkles under is eyes, long hair that curled on the end, and wore a tight black turtleneck. He explained that his business had been in his family for 300 yrs! And is son is the 9th generation. We were shown how the wigs are made and what kind of masks he makes. The history of the business goes from making the white wigs like our American forefathers to the masks and wigs of modern day film industry. I haven't uploaded those pictures yet, but I'd like to put a picture of him up for you to see.

 Debora said, "The streets of Florence speak." We just have to pay attention. There is so much culture, history, and beauty... we have to take the time to learn so that we don't just end up passing through like the majority of tourists. The learning we're doing gives us the appreciation of what we have been blessed to see and experience.