Discovering Florence

I'm getting settled into a routine in school. Classes have been going now for four days and I feel like I'm starting to get a grasp on the language a little bit more. We've started at the very beginning (my name is...., I'm 20 years old....I am American, etc.), but I've been doing some studying on my own and trying to learn as many new words as I can.

So that's the boring stuff. However, we have an amazing schedule. Class starts at 9 and I'm almost always out by 12:30. Mondays are electives. I'm taking ceramics; fine arts and monuments, which prepares us for the tours that we will be taking around the country; and a literature class which examines how Italy is viewed in English and US literature.

Otherwise, I'm still loving Florence. (Almost) everything about it! We've started finding places that we can make our own: cafes, gelato shops, piazzas. One of my favorite places is the Piazza della Signoria, where there are many famous statues, including the Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna, and the Neptune Fountain, as well as a copy of Michelangelo's David. The Ponte Vecchio is interesting (and expensive). The Duomo is the most important building in the city and is so beautiful, made with the characteristic green, white, and pink marble of Tuscany. Orsanmichele is a small, but beautiful, church that used to be a grain market in the late 1200s. I love how the streets of the city are paved with cobblestones in the historic area. I just love everything!

We went to see the real David at the Museo 'dell Accademia on Wednesday night. It's in a very small museum, where there was also a display of musical instruments owned by one of the Medici! So many things in this city have been affected by the Medici family.
But back to the David. It amazed me, standing in front of it, that a man could chip away at a huge chunk of stone and make it into what it is. You can see the definition of the muscles and the curls of the hair. So realistic.
I can't wait to the see the Uffizi Museum. There is the art that makes Florence the famous center of culture and art that it is!