So after having about a week of hanging out, exploring Firenze, and what we like to call "Transportation Fail Day" we had to start classes. I had no idea what classes would be like going into them.
My first class of the week is Wines of Italy, aka wine tasting. It sounds easy I know. And if you thought that, you were right. I enter the classroom and there are marble topped tables with little packets of crackers and a wine class at every seat. I don't know anyone in my class so I pick a random spot at one of the tables and sit down. Everything is going well until one of the people in the class comes in and tries to squeeze in between my seat and the wall. As I scoot my chair in I accidentally tip my wine glass, which is placed upside down so it can fall easily. You can guess what happens next...The glass falls over and breaks. I would be the one to break the glass before class even really starts. Oh well throughout the first half of the semester about 20 glasses have been broken, and only the first one was me! Our teacher is a little man with a wild beard and sweet tinted glasses. The best part about him is that he gets extremely excited at the thoughts of certain wines and sometimes his mouth even starts to water. This dude loooves his wine! So class goes on and we do a little introduction to the course and then he pulls out 3 wines and apologizes that we only get to drink 3 on that day and not our usual 5 wines. This class rocks!
That night we decided to go out and get some food to celebrate a good first day of classes (even though I was the only one of my roommates that actually had a class). So Jeff, Zack, our friend Dani and I head out to find some grub. Dani stops by the hostel she is staying at this semester to ask for good places to eat. When she comes back outside she tells us about some parade that the guy at the front desk of the hostel told her about. We decide to go check it out and we call Ryan and get him to tag along. Who doesn't love parades, right? Well we are looking for the parade route and we come along to Piazza della SS Annunziata where we see a children's chorus practicing for something. We decide to stay and check it out. Eventually the piazza fills up with children carrying paper lanterns and their parents. It ended up we were at Fiesta delle Rificolone (Festival of Paper Lanterns) which is a celebration of the Virgin Mary's birthday. Well we had no clue what this was but there were a lot of people, we heard that the mayor of Florence was going to speak and there were a ton of kids with lanters. It was really cool. And tehn all of the sudden a little kid with a big spitball pipe thing starts shooting spitballs at the lanterns around us. I thought to myself, "what a little prick, shooting this little kid's lantern." Well I guess this is what they are supposed to do because I look around and all the kids are doing it. I guess the point is to shoot the lanterns until the candle inside falls over and lights the whole thing on fire. I am guessing this because none of the Italians there were pissed and a lantern exploded into flames right above my head. We stick around for a little bit to see the mayor speak (even though we can't understand him) and a couple more lanterns burst into flames and then we head back to get some rest for day 2 of classes.
On Tuesdays I have Italian and Mythology. I was somewhat worried going into Italian because during orientation they told us that the professors are not allowed to speak English in the class. Well I was worried at first but that went away after the first class. The teacher doesn't speak English in class but does a good job explain what everything is in Italian and if she absolutely has to uses some English words. It also helps that I took French for about six years which is somewhat similar, and I am surrounded by people that speak Italian. Hopefully I will be able to hold a conversation by the time I have to head home. After Italian I go straight to Mythology. This is a very interesting class. We are learning a lot about both Greek and Roman/Italian mythology. There isn't too much to say about this class besides that.
On Wednesdays I have my Journalism class. This class is really cool. Our teacher explained to us that she used to work for the BBC for around 17 years if I am not mistaken. How cool is that? So this lady really knows what she is doing. During this first class she explains that we are going to learn about all aspects of Journalism and that we are going to have to write a couple articles, one of which we had to write that class. Then we had to edit the articles by the next class and read them out loud. I actually like reading mine aloud because our teacher knows so much and it really helps to have her helping you out. I have really been enjoying this class so far because I have never really done any type of writing like this before.
That brings us to Thursday and another session of Italian. After Italian I have a little bit of a break and then I head to my Public Relations class. Well the first day wasn't the best day to judge the class by. The teacher comes in and tells us that if we don't have to take this class then we should probably drop it because PR is a very boring subject and that he doesn't really like teaching it. He was right about PR being kind of boring, but he makes the class enjoyable by making jokes and informing us about some random parts of Italian life and culture in Florence.
All of my classes are really interesting and enjoyable. None of them are too hard, which is good for a semester abroad, but I am still learning a lot.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Moving In
On September 2, 2009 I moved into my apartment in Florence Italy. I was extremely excited to meet my three roommates and get to know them. When I arrived at the appartment, Zach (next to me in the picture) was already moving in. Zach is a Junior at Illinois State and is a Marketing major, just like me. Later that night Ryan (in the blue) and Jeff (far right) moved in. They are both 5th years at Iowa State. Basically we all became good friends. All of us enjoy music, and Zach, Jeff, and I all play guitar. At the moment we are putting together a street performing group to make money while we are here in Florence. Ryan plays piano, but unfortunately that is a tough instrument to bring on a plane. Along with our interest in music we all have a weird fascination with HeMan. Ryan discovered the most glorious Youtube video of all time in HeMan sings. Because of this odd coincidence we have decided to name our apartment Castle Greyskull, after HeMan's fortress.
Our apartment is great. It is a little two bedroom flat with a good sized living/dining room, bathroom, kitchen, and a small balcony to dry our clothes. Here are pictures of my room and the living room. Our apartment also came with a sweet cactus named Giovanni (pictured at the bottom of this post).
Along with Giovanni, our apartment came with a small TV that is hooked up with only Italian channels. At first this seemed like it would be horrible, but it has turned out amazing. They like to watch a lot of old movies that are dubbed over
in Italian, game shows, and MTV. And their MTV is the way it was made to be. All music all the time which I like a lot because I'm sick of all the reality shows they show on American MTV. Most of the music they play is in English, but there are some good Italian songs as well. The music isn't all rap and hip hop either, it is a whole variety of music. Here is a sample of the songs that we listen to almost daily:
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Did that just happen?
I was going to begin my blog by backtracking to when I landed in Italy last week, but today was such an odd day that I had to write about it first. Today was supposed to be a nice relaxing day. A group of us were going to take a train from Florence to Viareggio and hang out at the beach, maybe get a little surfing in if Jeff could teach us how. Well...that never happened. We got to the train station and all of us bought our train tickets. Approximately 30 seconds after the last person bought their ticket they canceled our train and the train that was scheduled to leave a half hour later. Bummer. I know.
We decided that it wouldn't be worth waiting for the 1 PM train because we wouldn't get to the beach until around 3. So we had a group pow wow and decided to find a pool and spend the day there. Because we had no idea where one was, Kelley reached into her Mary Poppins bag and pulled out the guide our school gave us that has things to do in it, and we thought it might suggest a pool. We were right. It had a couple different pools, so Ryan went into a store and asked the woman working there about the pools. She told us which one was her favorite and told us to take the number 10 bus to get there. As we were walking to the bus stop we read about the pool in the guide and it said that the pool would be open on Saturdays and Sundays. Score! The pool is a go. And that's when we found out that we walked the opposite way of the bus stop. Oops.
Anyways, we find the bus and get going. We weren't sure exactly which stop to get off at, so we got off where one of the men on the bus told us to get off. He was wrong. Luckily for us there was a park right by the bus stop and someone there told us how to get there. Finally, we find the pool. Guess what? It was closed. The pool is a not a go.
After a couple group pictures of everyone looking sad, we decide to take the bus back to where we live and we would go swimming in the pool at Dani, Isabell, and Emily's Hostel. We literally run down the street to catch the bus and we get on. We are riding the bus and realize we are going the wrong way. But it all worked out because it drove us just outside of the main city and we saw the beautiful buildings and views that Italy has to offer, and eventually the bus turned around and took us back to where we needed to go.
Eventually we get to the Hostel and go swimming. The pool is really cool. It has lights inside of it that change color, so one second it is blue then the next it is orange or purple. Plus there is a Turkish bath, a sauna, and a shower that automatically dispenses soap into the water. How sweet is that?
After we finished swimming we were going to go up to the terrace on the 5th floor. We almost made it. You know when an elevator says how many people can fit? Well ours said 8, but there were 12 of us. Dilemma. Being the bright young college students we are we decided to go for the 12. Bad idea. We get 99% of the way up; we are seriously a foot away from being where we needed to be. We can see the hallway outside of the elevator doors, and you can guess what happened. The elevator broke. At first we weren't sure weather it was just an old, slow elevator or that we were stuck. So we waited a little bit, and nothing. We start to press buttons in the elevator. Nothing. We ring the HELP bell. It rings, but no one comes to save us. This blows. Let me remind you that there are 12 college students, who had just finished swimming, stuck in an elevator that is about the size of the box a refrigerator comes in. It's really hot and really moist in the elevator. Fun right? Then people start to panic. We are stuck in an elevator, no one is coming to save us, and our phones have no service. Kelley looks like she could pass out, Dani threatened to kill anyone that farted and use their body as a battering ram to get out, and everyone is yelling at anyone that says anything about claustrophobia, running out of air, etc. I kinda thought it was funny. We would get stuck in an elevator today. 2 trains canceled, walked the wrong way to the bus, pool was closed. Why not get stuck in an elevator? Eventually some idiots come trying to figure out what the awful ringing (the HELP button) was coming from. And when I say idiot I mean idiot. Here's the conversation.
Us: HELP!!!!
Idiots: Do you need help?
Us: YES!
Idiots: Are you stuck?
Us: YES!
Idiots: You want us to get someone?
Us: YES! HELP!
and so on. Not the brightest crayons in the box. Well anyway, they must have figured out we needed help and so they went to the front desk and got us help.
Eventually we get out after being stuck in this elevator for 20 minutes. After the elevator fiasco we decided to take a walk and get some fresh air. We walked and then decided to go relax at our respective homes an
d then meet up later for a group dinner at our place and after dinner we would walk up to Piazza de Michelangelo. That was the best idea we have ever had. This place is a piazza that sits high above the city and you can look out at the whole city. By the time we got there it was sunset and I don't think I have ever seen anything as beautiful.
We leave and head back towards the main part of the city where we live and people keep leaving as we pass their apartments. So Ryan, Zach, Jeff (my roommates), and I get to our apartment. We get to the door of our building just as an older Italian lady and a younger man are leaving. She doesn't speak a word of English, and she asks us if we live on the 3rd floor, which we do. As soon as we tell her that we do, she unleashes on us. None of us know what she is saying, but she is mad, that much we do know. She yells at us for about 10 minutes and we are all staring at her with blank looks on our faces. All the while the guy she was with is just standing there as though we were all having a nice conversation and not getting chewed out. After all was said and done, we think she didn't like the fact that we were hanging out with friends and playing guitar late at night. We apologized and she yelled some more. We apologized again followed by more yelling and eventually she left.
There you have it. A very strange day. It had it's ups and downs, but I wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way.
We decided that it wouldn't be worth waiting for the 1 PM train because we wouldn't get to the beach until around 3. So we had a group pow wow and decided to find a pool and spend the day there. Because we had no idea where one was, Kelley reached into her Mary Poppins bag and pulled out the guide our school gave us that has things to do in it, and we thought it might suggest a pool. We were right. It had a couple different pools, so Ryan went into a store and asked the woman working there about the pools. She told us which one was her favorite and told us to take the number 10 bus to get there. As we were walking to the bus stop we read about the pool in the guide and it said that the pool would be open on Saturdays and Sundays. Score! The pool is a go. And that's when we found out that we walked the opposite way of the bus stop. Oops.
Anyways, we find the bus and get going. We weren't sure exactly which stop to get off at, so we got off where one of the men on the bus told us to get off. He was wrong. Luckily for us there was a park right by the bus stop and someone there told us how to get there. Finally, we find the pool. Guess what? It was closed. The pool is a not a go.
After a couple group pictures of everyone looking sad, we decide to take the bus back to where we live and we would go swimming in the pool at Dani, Isabell, and Emily's Hostel. We literally run down the street to catch the bus and we get on. We are riding the bus and realize we are going the wrong way. But it all worked out because it drove us just outside of the main city and we saw the beautiful buildings and views that Italy has to offer, and eventually the bus turned around and took us back to where we needed to go.
Eventually we get to the Hostel and go swimming. The pool is really cool. It has lights inside of it that change color, so one second it is blue then the next it is orange or purple. Plus there is a Turkish bath, a sauna, and a shower that automatically dispenses soap into the water. How sweet is that?
After we finished swimming we were going to go up to the terrace on the 5th floor. We almost made it. You know when an elevator says how many people can fit? Well ours said 8, but there were 12 of us. Dilemma. Being the bright young college students we are we decided to go for the 12. Bad idea. We get 99% of the way up; we are seriously a foot away from being where we needed to be. We can see the hallway outside of the elevator doors, and you can guess what happened. The elevator broke. At first we weren't sure weather it was just an old, slow elevator or that we were stuck. So we waited a little bit, and nothing. We start to press buttons in the elevator. Nothing. We ring the HELP bell. It rings, but no one comes to save us. This blows. Let me remind you that there are 12 college students, who had just finished swimming, stuck in an elevator that is about the size of the box a refrigerator comes in. It's really hot and really moist in the elevator. Fun right? Then people start to panic. We are stuck in an elevator, no one is coming to save us, and our phones have no service. Kelley looks like she could pass out, Dani threatened to kill anyone that farted and use their body as a battering ram to get out, and everyone is yelling at anyone that says anything about claustrophobia, running out of air, etc. I kinda thought it was funny. We would get stuck in an elevator today. 2 trains canceled, walked the wrong way to the bus, pool was closed. Why not get stuck in an elevator? Eventually some idiots come trying to figure out what the awful ringing (the HELP button) was coming from. And when I say idiot I mean idiot. Here's the conversation.
Us: HELP!!!!
Idiots: Do you need help?
Us: YES!
Idiots: Are you stuck?
Us: YES!
Idiots: You want us to get someone?
Us: YES! HELP!
and so on. Not the brightest crayons in the box. Well anyway, they must have figured out we needed help and so they went to the front desk and got us help.
Eventually we get out after being stuck in this elevator for 20 minutes. After the elevator fiasco we decided to take a walk and get some fresh air. We walked and then decided to go relax at our respective homes an
d then meet up later for a group dinner at our place and after dinner we would walk up to Piazza de Michelangelo. That was the best idea we have ever had. This place is a piazza that sits high above the city and you can look out at the whole city. By the time we got there it was sunset and I don't think I have ever seen anything as beautiful.We leave and head back towards the main part of the city where we live and people keep leaving as we pass their apartments. So Ryan, Zach, Jeff (my roommates), and I get to our apartment. We get to the door of our building just as an older Italian lady and a younger man are leaving. She doesn't speak a word of English, and she asks us if we live on the 3rd floor, which we do. As soon as we tell her that we do, she unleashes on us. None of us know what she is saying, but she is mad, that much we do know. She yells at us for about 10 minutes and we are all staring at her with blank looks on our faces. All the while the guy she was with is just standing there as though we were all having a nice conversation and not getting chewed out. After all was said and done, we think she didn't like the fact that we were hanging out with friends and playing guitar late at night. We apologized and she yelled some more. We apologized again followed by more yelling and eventually she left.
There you have it. A very strange day. It had it's ups and downs, but I wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)