KT Says

In the wake of my internet catastrophe, I am now grasping at straws in terms of finding a way to post on this blog.  The internet here is not very good…and there is no tech support here at CAPA because they just sort of set up a wireless network and that’s it.  Anyway, aside from the internet crisis, I’m doing very well!  This past weekend was nice because it got me out of my homesick funk.  Friday we had to go to the Immigration Office to give our names to the Italian Government; I suppose they want to keep track of all the crazy American students let loose in the city during the school year.  Afterwards, Kelly, Taylor, Amber, and I walked around the neighborhood up by Santa Maria Novella, which is diagonally opposite in the city from our home stay.  They had a lot of shoe stores around, so I was looking for a nice pair of boots or walking shoes for when the weather gets cold (I only brought a pair of sneakers and flats with me for colder weather–and the flats give me bad blisters.  Poor planning on my part.).  I found a great pair of boots for a really cheap price, but I didn’t buy them; I sort of regret that but there’s plenty of time and plenty of places to look!
   On Saturday, Kelly, Jasmine, Mary and I went to Fiesole, this town the Etruscans built high on a mountain above Florence hundreds of years ago.  Rome conquered them and Etruscan and Roman ruins are still there today, so you can imagine how old this town is.  We (or at least Kelly and I) didn’t go for the ruins so much as the view.  And all of us came for this wine, cheese, and olive oil tasting festival that was supposed to be there that afternoon (however, no one in the town itself knew when or where it was supposed to be).
People come here just to see the crystal clear (or not, as was the case the day we went) view from the top of the mountain.  Unfortunately, it was so hot and humid that there was a haze that hung over the valley, so Kelly and I said that we’d come back in October or November again for better pictures.
   After we were done that, we had lunch in a small café and had the best pizza we’ve had so far in Italy!!  The crust was thin and perfectly crispy (Mom Mom Sullivan would appreciate this) and individual pizzas were big, so we all split two.  Finally we went to where the festival was being held (which turned out to be inside the outdoor museum with the ruins—if that makes any sense) and walked around taking pictures of some really old rocks.  They were neat, but there wasn’t really that many of them.  It was still fascinating to think that something so incredibly old was sitting right in front of me.

   Sunday I finally got to use my free Uffizi pass, and went right to the front of a long line (at least a 2 hour wait) of hot, angry tourists.  The museum is HUGE, and you have to walk up at least 4 flights of stairs to get to the galleries.  They built it that way because the Arno tends to flood and they don’t want a repeat of the Flood of 1966, where a lot of important artwork, manuscripts, and sculptures were lost.  Anyway, we went to the Renaissance Gallery because I wanted to see Sandro Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus for a paper I had to write for my Lit. class.  To be honest, the painting moved me more than I thought it would—even though I’ve seen it many times in books, that was nothing compared to seeing the giant canvas in person (behind a thick pane of glass).  I actually read something interesting about the painting: Venus’s neck is oddly long and her left arm is shaped funny in the painting.  Botticelli did this in order to make the perfect silhouette, but people rarely notice these things because she is so beautiful.  And she really is—it’s something that everyone should see, I think.
   This week has been fairly uneventful with classes and everything, but this weekend we’re going to the San Lorenzo market, which is supposed to be REALLY big to look around and maybe shop a little.  I really want to buy some Murano glass jewelry while I’m here.  Saturday Kelly and I and a couple other people from our group are taking a bus to the Chianti region for a wine festival (hopefully this one will be better than the one in Fiesole), and to see the rest of Tuscany.  Then, next weekend, we’re taking a trip to Capri until Sunday.  We get a bus ride there and back, a place to stay for 2 nights, breakfast, and a tour of the blue grotto and Pompeii.  I’m really excited!  Capri is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous.  We have other trips planned too, so I’ll report on them once they’re finalized—things sometimes have a habit of not working out!
  Hopefully I’ll write again soon.

Ciao!
~Katie