There is now wireless internet at the apartment. Which is really nice, considering the computer labs at the school are packed to the brim with people checking up on Facebook and MySpace. Not that staring at a computer screen is something I WANT to do the entire time I'm here, it just makes posting and checking e-mails much more convenient.
Still no Museum Card and I'm starting to get a little antsy, I want to go into the Uffizi, NOW! And apparently the line outside is apparently famous for being a ridiculously loooong wait without the card. Then again, Italians never seem to be in any particular rush, maybe they just now something Americans don't. But they aren't going to be here for just a month, so they had better hop to it.
History of Florence class is still proving amusing, it's pretty funny to see the professor get so worked up over the subject, especially when its about things like guilds and city walls. But her enthusiasm is infectious, especially when you can walk right up to something you learned about in class.
Painting class is fun too, except for to things that really can't be changed. Number one is the Sun, sitting outside for four hours loses it's glamour once the skin on the back of your neck starts to sizzle; And Number two is the people, mostly the tourists.
At our safety orientation, the police officer giving the talk explained something called "Disneyland Syndrome". In a nutshell, people come here and act as if this is some sort of theme park, with no regards toward safety, or what is and isn't an attraction. Apparently a group of people sitting and painting counts as an attraction to these people. Working with someone looking over your shoulder is difficult, when it's a group of them, and they're taking pictures, it's nearly impossible. I start to get paranoid and keep fighting the urge to look back, and always get the feeling someone is standing behind me now. I bet this is how animals at the zoo feel all the time.
Not to mention that today, in the Piazza de Santa Croce we had to deal with some sort of presentation to do with drag racing. With a gigantic videoscreen, autoshow girls in short shorts, blaring music, and last but not least, an Italian radio station deejay. Who really do sound EACTLY like the American ones, so it was nice to get that little taste of home, even when I'm an entire Atlantic Ocean away.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Peace of mind. All for the low, low price of 39.95
I figured that I wouldn't need the cell phone, I didn't want the trouble, or spend the money. Then I tried to spend two days without one. I forget how even if I can live without a cell phone for a few weeks, almost everyone else I know can't, not to mention how much easier they make life in generl, especially when I'm here in Italy. A number of conversations that I have had the last week have gone omething like this:
Person: "Hey Kristin, you want to get together and do something?"
Me: "Sure, when do you want to meet?"
Person: "Well, why don't I just give you a call on your cell after class."
Me: "I don't have a phone."
Person: "Oh."
Generally we worked something out, but it is so much easier to coordinate plans when you can contact someone at a moment's notice, and when you want to talk to someone back home, or when someone back home needs to talk to you immediately. Then you can finally stop mooching by constantly borrowing your roommate's phone.
So I gave in, I have one and now I don't have to give an akward instruction for a person to call my roommates cell, instead of calling me.
Person: "Hey Kristin, you want to get together and do something?"
Me: "Sure, when do you want to meet?"
Person: "Well, why don't I just give you a call on your cell after class."
Me: "I don't have a phone."
Person: "Oh."
Generally we worked something out, but it is so much easier to coordinate plans when you can contact someone at a moment's notice, and when you want to talk to someone back home, or when someone back home needs to talk to you immediately. Then you can finally stop mooching by constantly borrowing your roommate's phone.
So I gave in, I have one and now I don't have to give an akward instruction for a person to call my roommates cell, instead of calling me.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Eveyone warned me about hot it would be here, and the pickpockets, scammers and otherwise unsavory elements, the crazy drivers; I just wished somebody had mentioned the damned mosquitoes. Everyone here is covered in mosquito bites that get enormous and red whether or not you scratch at them, and Italian mosquitos seem to be able to fly without making a sound because I have yet to actually notice one of them. It's crazy, if they're such a problem why is it nobody or no guide book mentioned it until I got here?!
The rest of classes went fine yesterday, I ended up walking around WAY to much, though I did end up getting a full night's sleep for the first time since I've been here, and discovering a lot of neat little shops that are close to the apartment, including an English language bookstore and an art supply store. There was also a mix-up in my painting class, and as it turned out, so instead of the class being about painting in acrylics and in watercolor, so I am now the only person in the class to be using watercolor. Mom, I think you're right when you say I enjoy making things more difficult than they need to be, but after all the trouble I went through just to get here, I feel entitled.
Still trying to find out where the cell phone place is, and I am REALLY regretting not just getting on the the day I arrived instead.
The rest of classes went fine yesterday, I ended up walking around WAY to much, though I did end up getting a full night's sleep for the first time since I've been here, and discovering a lot of neat little shops that are close to the apartment, including an English language bookstore and an art supply store. There was also a mix-up in my painting class, and as it turned out, so instead of the class being about painting in acrylics and in watercolor, so I am now the only person in the class to be using watercolor. Mom, I think you're right when you say I enjoy making things more difficult than they need to be, but after all the trouble I went through just to get here, I feel entitled.
Still trying to find out where the cell phone place is, and I am REALLY regretting not just getting on the the day I arrived instead.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Finally an update
It took a while to get on a computer I didn't have to pay to use, sorry I haven't been posting sooner. Italy is beautiful, and especially gorgeous when you have all of your luggage and a full nights rest. The apartment I'm in is in the heart of the old city, just south of the Duomo and just north of the Piazza della Signora and Uffizi Museum. Also, apparently I live right by the house that Dante Aligheri was born in, and now it's a museum as well. I really can't wait to get the museum card so I can go inside these places. Eva and I walked all over the place seeing this stuff when we got lost on my first day here, but it was still fun.
And surprisingly, the apartment is enormous, for what ever reason I was expecting something much smaller, but it's really lovely. I do wish I had brought my perscription sunglasses though, there are no clouds in the sky...EVER, on the plane over from Amsterdam there was clouds stretching out in every direction like the plane was flying over the Artic, then all of a sudden all we could see all of the land was covered by fields and houses and no trees except for on the mountains, and all of the clouds had just stopped, right over the Dolomite mountains which is basically the northern border for Italy.
Saturday was orientation, safety talks, and adding and dropping classes, nothing exciting but all the necessary crap. I was still pretty jet-lagged so I dozed off during some of it, but I didn't really miss anything. After orientation we found out our luggage was finally at the airport so most of us rushed back out there to pick it up and then some back. Later on the school had everyone meet back up at 7 o'clock and we got a free 5 course dinner at some fancy resturant, the waitstaff was very accomadating to me which was really nice, and I got to meet some new people who weren't from Milwaukee, as well.
The first day of classes is half over now, my History of Florence class promises to be really entertaining, its obvious that the professor is really enthusiastic about the subject, we get to go to a lot of the sites for the classes and learn about how the political history of Florence relates so strongly with the art. Although i wasn't to happy about having to buy a textbook and notebook, I'll probably just take both back home with me I was really happy to hear we won't have to write some 5 page long paper for class either. I just hope I enjoy the painting class as much.
That's all I'm going to write for now, hopefully I'll be able to make more posts later on. PICTURES OF STUFF POSTED SOON I SWEAR.
And surprisingly, the apartment is enormous, for what ever reason I was expecting something much smaller, but it's really lovely. I do wish I had brought my perscription sunglasses though, there are no clouds in the sky...EVER, on the plane over from Amsterdam there was clouds stretching out in every direction like the plane was flying over the Artic, then all of a sudden all we could see all of the land was covered by fields and houses and no trees except for on the mountains, and all of the clouds had just stopped, right over the Dolomite mountains which is basically the northern border for Italy.
Saturday was orientation, safety talks, and adding and dropping classes, nothing exciting but all the necessary crap. I was still pretty jet-lagged so I dozed off during some of it, but I didn't really miss anything. After orientation we found out our luggage was finally at the airport so most of us rushed back out there to pick it up and then some back. Later on the school had everyone meet back up at 7 o'clock and we got a free 5 course dinner at some fancy resturant, the waitstaff was very accomadating to me which was really nice, and I got to meet some new people who weren't from Milwaukee, as well.
The first day of classes is half over now, my History of Florence class promises to be really entertaining, its obvious that the professor is really enthusiastic about the subject, we get to go to a lot of the sites for the classes and learn about how the political history of Florence relates so strongly with the art. Although i wasn't to happy about having to buy a textbook and notebook, I'll probably just take both back home with me I was really happy to hear we won't have to write some 5 page long paper for class either. I just hope I enjoy the painting class as much.
That's all I'm going to write for now, hopefully I'll be able to make more posts later on. PICTURES OF STUFF POSTED SOON I SWEAR.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
T-Minus 3
3 days to go, still no passport, all plans on hold until Thursday when it's going to be a mad dash towards getting me a new passport and then onto the plane at 4. AND now my cell phone is refusing to work properly, so I can call the Passport Office again, and I'm rapidly devolving into an emotional train wreck.
So much for the power of positive thinking.
So much for the power of positive thinking.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Okay, that's the reason there are test posts...
Gooblededook below is nothing important, just trying to work out any kinks in the blog before I go over to Italy.
T-minus 4 days to go and I still haven't got my passport.
T-minus 4 days to go and I still haven't got my passport.
नॉट इन इटली येत बुत...
थौघ्त ई वुड पुट उप अ टेस्ट पोस्ट बेफोरे ई लावे, जुस्त तो मके सुर थे ब्लोग वोर्क्स, ई'वे गोट अल्मोस्त एवेर्य्थिंग ई नीद ब्य मय दम्नेद पासपोर्ट.
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