First Week

I'm finally starting to feel integrated into the city. It's been really fun to be able to start to figure out how different parts of the city feel, and I like beginning to return to my favorite places throughout the week. One of my favorite things here is the Mercado Centrale. The food is good and cheap, and the people that work at each stand are very friendly. I keep going back to one woman that sells delicious dried fruit (I think the mango is the best) and one man that sells fresh produce. A lot of my repeated experiences have to do with food I guess, since there are so many great and necessary options here. I've started to establish routines with my classes and the snack bars. There's one little bakery right by the Italian class I audit where I go to on breaks with my friends from the class. Some of the highlights I've had there are little pizzette and pastries with custard and marmalade. We always buy from the same woman working there who is kind and seems to have a good sense of humor.

With my art history class I've been going to a whirl wind of sites. From Fiesole, Pisa and Lucca on the first two Saturdays to the Duomo, the Baptistry, San Miniato, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Croce, and the Museo dell' Opera del Duomo, I've seen an incredible amount of art. I had a little free time today so I decided to go to the Uffizi on my own before we go with the class. It was a great experience-- I have a student pass so I showed to a man working there to ask where I should go and he lifted the rope and let me through! It was nice being able to wander around and absorb the art based on my own first impressions. I was intrigued by so many of the paintings there and it was very exciting to enter the Botticelli room, where the Birth of Venus and Primavera just seemed to sneak up on me. One of my other favorite works I saw today was Michelangelo's Doni Tondo. I had actually not seen anything of his in person yet and it was wonderful to come across this painting in the Uffizi. It truly did stand out amongst all the other impressive works. I'm excited to return with my art history professor and learn the meanings behind these works.