Let the classes begin!

Buona sera! 

Yesterday I took on my first day of classes in the city of Florence and it was much different from having a University all in one place, but it was an adventure! Because there is no room in this ancient city to just plop down a huge university, Florence University of the Arts is located in about 8 different buildings all over the city - and I mean all over. If you have been here before, you know that buildings are very old and only end to make room for streets. Shops, stores and restaurants line the street level while apartments line the 4 or 5 stories above the shops. So how do we enter these apartments? Little tiny wooden doors appear out of no where every so often that require a key, and unless you are looking for the doors you never really notice them. Well, this is not only for apartments, but for our university buildings as well, ha! So this is why finding your class building is such an adventure. Just imagine a student holding a map, staring up at a building saying "There should be a door here!! Where is it??" With this said, I have still never gotten lost! Woo! My classes included "Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Bernini", "Begining Italian" and "History of Photography". It was a long day to say the least, but the classes are fun and will be interesting. I am most excited about the first class because during every class we visit a different museum and works of art done by the artist we are studying, so fun! And one of the classes we visit an artist in his workshop who restores Caravaggio paintings... yeah. We get to study them up close and personal. This is just one of the small advantages of studying art here instead of in Tulsa :) 

So then last night Maddy and I were planning out weekends for Travel (yes!) and at about 11pm decided, hey, lets go get a drink. We found a little pub on our Piazza and had some wonderful Italian drink with crushed strawberries and brown sugar. So good. Then I met a local blonde! (This is rare.) Okay well she was not really local. She was from Turkey but has lived here for 3 years and is a modern dancer in the Florence Dance Company. Obviously we hit it off, and Maddy and I spent the night practicing Italian with the Turkish girl and bartender. It was an unexpected fun night!

Okay so finally, today I had only one class but it lasted from 9am to 2:30pm: Foundation Painting. Now, I may study art history, but I am no Michelangelo. So this was an experience haha, but a fun one! We learned how to paint a still life today (by learned I mean the teacher painted one while we watched, and then he made us do it on our own... talk about being thrown right into it) and I have to say it didn't turn out THAT bad. I was kind of proud :) And then I found out our homework is to do it all over again but in black and white. Awesome. I have no easel. Should be interesting. But I did have fun with the other girls in the class because none of us really knew what we were doing. And bonus, there was a wonderful coffee shop next door to us. 

Now I am about to go out to dinner with Maddy and a friend we made, Lauren (another art history major!), and her roommates to a real tuscan restaurant. I'm hoping it will be delicious! I will let you know! So that's all for now :)

Ciao!