Soo what exciting things have been happening lately?
This past weekend on Friday, I (along with Haley and 5 other art students & a teacher) went to an event the art department does every Friday called "Arty Fridays". I have to go to 3 of them for my Florence Sketchbook class; they are different artsy events like going to artists' studios, contemporary galleries and museums, etc. Anyways we went to Prato, about 30 minutes outside of Firenze (Florence) and went to a contemporary museum and gallery. I'm sad I didn't bring my camera, the museum had a kinda interactive exhibit by Asian artist Michael Lin in which you are supposed to take your shoes off and step on his rugs, turn on music, sit on furniture, etc. Everything was very brightly colored and printed with beautiful floral Asian patterns. The whole concept was the idea of the museum as a home. Alot of the things such as the rugs, music, bookshelves were from Lin's own house. It was the most joyful, least offensive/shocking contemporary art exhibit I have probably ever seen; I liked it alot, but for that reason it also didn't have a huge effect on me. We then went to a smaller gallery with some sculptures and works by Mexican architect/artist Jose Davila. It was okay, a bit too minimal for my taste. Prato is a really cool old town, randomly with alot of Contemporary art and a large Asian population. Very unique. I would like to go back, it's just a bus ride away!
On Saturday I went with 4 friends to Pisa! It was only about 6 euros one way, one hour away by train. We actually missed our first train but the ticket is good for 4 hours so we hopped on the next one 30 minutes later. It was a rather gloomy, misty day but we had a good time. We got there late morning and explored a bit, there were some cool random old buildings and stuff, and we got random, but good, Indian food for lunch. After that we headed to the main Piazza with the leaning tower!
After a few run-ins with the grumpy guard at the entrance to the tower, we figured out that we had to buy our 15 euro ticket to go up it and had to kill some time till we could go up it. So we went to the church/duomo right by it which was thankfully free. I LOVED it, it was really beautiful inside. Kinda dark which didn't help for pictures though.
After exploring in the chiesa, we climbed to the top of the freaking leaning tower of Pisa! Can cross that off my bucket list! It was alottt of stairs, definitely a good workout, and you can really feel it leaning! It was worth it though, the cloudiness wasn't so nice for the view, but it was still really cool.
After we were at the top for a while it started raining so we decided to head back to Florence. Pisa is cool but there really isn't much there besides the tower. Oh and we took those cheesy "holding up the tower" pictures but they are on Haley's camera and she takes forever to upload her pictures. Love you Haley :)
The train ride back was hilarious though. We were all planning on taking a nap because we were exhausted from all the walking but this random guy, our age, pinned his student ID to his jacket to look official and was "checking everybody's ticket" (we thought he really was checking out tickets at first!) His jacket looked really official haha he really just wanted to talk to some American girls but it was really funny. Somehow everyone else in our traincar was in on it, it was so random!
On Sunday went to church and there were like twice as many people there which was awesome! There were randomly like 10 people from Texas! Helloo bible belt haha. And there was a whole family from Dallas! They were really sweet and just opened up their home to us students. They just felt like living in Florence for a few months, I really admire their freedom and stepping out in faith to do that!
Monday was Valentines' day. For it my roomies cooked some amazing food and then we ate wayy too much chocolate. It was awesome.
Tuesday after L&A Photography, Haley, Haley, and I went to a pizza place our teacher recommended called Spera Pizzeria. It took us about an hour to find because we took a wrong turn, plus it was really far north, past the train station, but we finally found it and it was so worth it. It was super legit and local and amazing tasting. I got a white pizza with pesto, yum. We then had to walk back in the rain, and at least 5 people tried to sell me umbrellas because I didnt have one, or a hood, and was pretty drenched haha. I have alot of fun with the Haleys, it was a good night.
Tuesday after L&A Photography, Haley, Haley, and I went to a pizza place our teacher recommended called Spera Pizzeria. It took us about an hour to find because we took a wrong turn, plus it was really far north, past the train station, but we finally found it and it was so worth it. It was super legit and local and amazing tasting. I got a white pizza with pesto, yum. We then had to walk back in the rain, and at least 5 people tried to sell me umbrellas because I didnt have one, or a hood, and was pretty drenched haha. I have alot of fun with the Haleys, it was a good night.
This week of class has been really good. I really like all of my art classes and art professors! I do not, however, like Italian. I don't think anyone likes that class. And for some reason our teacher does not like me, and I have no idea why. I really am liking my internship though. Everyone I've met with the company is really cool. I think I am going to Morocco with them for spring break!! We will be riding camels in the Sahara and stuff, whatever no big deal. Just kiddingg I can't wait! I am probably going to Istanbul with them for a weekend too! Looking at my calendar, I am traveling almost every weekend this semester! Howw did that happen? haha I need more weekends!
Oh and last night I went to Ganzo for appertivo! Met my Brazilian friends Alcigius and Giselle there, along with my roommate Haley, and our friend Haley and her roommate. Only 5 euros for any drink and all-you-can eat buffet. It was soo good, it was Brazilian night actually. We had a swell time, I think it's going to become a weekly thing!
Well overall, as you can see, I am still having a molto bene time here! Trying to use my Italian, discovering new places, meeting new people, taking lots of pictures, getting so sick of Italian men whistling at me, eating great food all the time (alot of which is all of my sweet roommates' cooking, I lucked out with them!), and staying healthy. Having an unforgettable experience. So thankful and blessed! Going to Chianti tomorrow and Viareggio for Carnivale on Sunday, both with my program for really cheap! That's all for now, a presto!
Oh and here is my art website, just throwing it out there: www.wix.com/elisafisher/photography
No comments:
Post a Comment