SETTE!

The sink in our apartment flooded Thursday night. Two of my lovely roomies cleaned up half an inch of standing water from the kitchen & bathroom.

That being said, it was neccessary for Luisa & I to head to the beach Friday morning.

Off we went to Viareggio. It's a small town about an hour away from Florence. We stayed at Hotel London--right on the beach and our hotel had a balcony. Maybe the balcony was a little excessive but we reasoned that we deserved VIP treatment considering we hadn't even been able to shower at our apartment due to fear of another flooded kitchen.

We walked on the beach and napped in beach chairs the entire day. The wheather was perfect and the beach wasn't crowded at all. We were probably the only Americans on the beach. I've been making flash cards with Italian words on them, so I got to study Italian for a little while.

We went to dinner and then took a taxi to a disco about 4 miles out of town. Of course we were the ONLY Americans in the entire disco. I was pretty uncomfortable the entire time because I seriously couldn't carry on a conversation longer than 5 minutes with anyone. But it's part of the learning process... I do enjoy listening to Luisa speak to other people in Italian because it helps me learn how to construct sentences. I usually understand the majority of what she's saying but if I stop paying attention for more than a second I'm lost.

I met an Italian named Jordan! That was exciting! Italians love Miami so I'll usually tell people I'm from there just to be amused by their reactions. I told someone I was from Miami and they bowed down to me. That was awkward but cool, I guess. This one guy came up to Luisa and I and started yelling at us and accusing us for stealing his dog ... he felt really guilty once he realized we were American and had no idea what he was talking about.

(Luisa and I at Viareggio. I haven't done the squirrel pose in awhile & thought it needed a comeback)

All in all though the people at Viareggio were SO sweet. In the center everyone is so fed up with tourist, but since there aren't as many tourists at Viareggio the Italians are more patient. They actually encouraged me to practice my Italian with them.

The next morning we woke up to a knock on the door... we had missed our checkout time which meant that we had missed our train. We decided to have a picnic in the park and then caught the later train home.

It was so weird coming back into Florence. I didn't realize how much slower the pace of things are outside of the center. It's funny though because the pace of things in the center is already so much slower than the pace of things in America.

I have midterms next week so I'm sure I'll be studying alot. I hope everyone is doing good! Thanks so much for all the e-mails!

Multi Baci!

SEI!

I've officially been in Florence for a month! =D

This past week has been so much fun & busy! Tuesday I went with one of my teacher's art history classes to Prato. We went to study street art. The first thing we saw was work by the artist Blu. He was comissioned by Prato to paint a wall in the city and he chose to focus on the evolution of man. The beginning and end is the same thing - a molecule. He painted it about two years ago and no one has ever spray painted over it which is cool--it shows how much the city respects Blu as an artist. Here are pictures on the wall; they're actually in reverse order.

After the wall we saw another work by Blu. Him and Eric "the dog" collaborated together and painted an abandoned building. This work was done in the middle of the night ... illegally.

Then we went to an elementary school in Prato. The school commissioned street artists Eric "the dog" and David to paint a mural on one of their new buildings. We met the couple who are responsible for approaching the school about the mural and we also got to meet the two artists. They're painting a donkey, representing what's inside the bulding ... That of course was initially controversial so now they claim it's a horse. :)

(Eric & David at work)

Wednesday I went to Siena with my Contemporary art class to see the Gordon Matta-Clark exhibit. He's famous for cutting holes in houses and splitting houses. I LOVE Siena and can't wait to go back ASAP! We only got to walk around for about 20 minutes but it was gorgeous.

Thursday I FINALLY got to go to the Uffizi Gallery. I went with my Leonardo class which was convenient because my teacher knows so much about all the works in the gallery. It was like our own mini private tour. My favorite piece was Botticelli's Primavera. It was larger than life and so breathtaking. We had discussed Primavera in my Hidden Meanings class that week so I had a new found appreciation for it.

Luisa and I wanted to start to venture out of the center a bit more so we hopped a bus to Setignano. It was so pretty! (& refreshing to get away from crowds & cig smoke .. yuckyy!)

We walked around forever. At one point we were so lost and found ourselves hiking/slipping up and sliding/falling down hills in heels. By the time we found our way back to the main road we looked like we had been caught in a twister ... dirt was practically falling off my jeans and I found a few leaves in my hair. Real classy.

(Luisa conquering the hills in her 4 inch heels)

(I was obviously pouting .. no surprise there)

Anyways, we eventually made it back to the main part of town and had the most AMAZING dinner. The restaurant overlooked a view of the city!! :)

HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK!

Ciao! Multi Baci!<33