Have a seat, let's play catch up

I’m sorry it has taken us so long to put up a new post, but hopefully Tiff and I can catch you guys up on what’s been going on in our lives…. Spring Break was great, and you will have to scroll down to read what all we did because Tiff wrote about that week and I don’t want to take away from her post…
But in order to tell you what all is going on, I’m going to tell you guys about what everything before and after SB. My friend Mallory from PCA/Baylor came to visit us and we all went down to Roma to pick her up. I’m pretty sure Mal set a world record for the shortest amount of time passed between landing in Italy and getting kissed by an Italian. I’m being totally serious here. We picked up Mal earlier in the morning and at dinner—she had our waiter drooling over her. I wish I could give more details but Mal would kill me… Anyways here are some pics from after we picked her up and then after dinner.

Since Tiff and I had been to Roma before, we spent the next day relaxing in the local parks and visiting a few places we haven’t been yet. One of the places we went to was the San Clemente Basilica across the road from the Coliseum. I had been there before, but it was so cool that I made Tiff come see it again with me. This Church has two levels underneath it that date back to the first century… To give you a little insight on Rome—there was no room to build sideways so they built upwards… this led to the many ruins in Rome and recent excavations of even newer ruins. San Clemente is one of those places.
Quick History: On the ground level, there is a Basilica built to remember Pope Clement XI. You follow the dark stairways down to the “first basilica” which was built in the 3rd century. Below the first basilica level was a Pagan Monastery which has vaulted ceilings and cave-like structures.
In one of these rooms cave-like, there was about a waits high, flat, cement bulge from the wall that had a hole in it. It stretched from one corner to the other and you could hear water flowing. The first time I came here, I had a tour and the guy told us it was tradition to reach down the hole and touch the fresh water from the rock before it hits the river below. I know I’m describing this badly, but just bear with me. Well, I tried to show Tiff how to do it by leaning into the hole and reaching to touch the flow, and my sunglasses fell off into the river bed. I stand up, told Tiff what happened and then decided to go get them. My first try was rough—remember, this hole was waist high already and to even tough the water, you had to bend into the hole… trying to stretch to touch the river bed was going to require my feet to be off the ground. After one failed attempt, another tour group comes in and we (me with soaking hair on one side because of the river flow and Tiff laughing uncontrollably from the sight of my lower body flailing around) sit in the corner of the room until the group leaves. Then we get a plan… I was going to hold Tiff’s legs while she reached as far down as she could. She was basically doing a hand stand, except that Tiff’s arms are about half as long as mine so she only got as far down as I did the first try… She then tells me that I have to go down again. I get kind-of a running start and Tiff holds my legs stable in the air---I wish we got a pick of this, but with people coming in and out of the room, we had to be quick to avoid trouble. But anyways, I dove in, legs straight up in the air, Tiff holding onto them and finally I grabbed a pair of sunglasses. But guess what—they weren’t mine. I had felt an umbrella while I was felling around in the water so I knew I wasn’t the only stupid tourist in Roma… Tiff decided to try again and she ended up grabbing the umbrella because it was all she could grab. Another group came in and when they left I dove in again. Finally I grabbed another pair of sunglasses and they were mine!! I think this whole adventure in the 1st century monastery room took about 15 minutes total, but with our adrenaline pumping it felt like an ETERNITY! Here is a pick of Tiff’s new pair of sunglasses and my rescued pair :)

Here are some pics from our afternoon at the famous Gianicolo Park (this is where a friend of mine proposed). Tiff made a crown of florwers for me and said that she's never before seen me in such a "perfect atmosphere" haha.

During the week of Mal’s visit, we took her to Piazza Michelangelo to participate in a Florentine tradition of eating cheese and crackers on the hill while watching the sunset. This is one of the many things my roommates and I participate in to help us orientate ourselves with Italian culture.
Here's Mal, Tiff, Meg and Mary Beth and the beautiful sunset!

Anytime during our week, or weekend—really whenever we get a chance, we will go sit by the Arno River and relax, read, and study in the sun. It is probably my favorite way to spend our free-time. Below you can see Tiff reading and Mal taking a nap.

The next weekend, my culture class went to Montalcino, Montepulcino, and Pienza. These three cities are located in the Tuscany Valley and are famous for their vineyards, historic guard towers and castles. Here are a few pictures from that trip. Isn’t Italy such a beautiful place?

During this trip, we were able to tour Basilica in Pienza, learn about wine at a vineyard situated in the Valley, eat at a world renowned restaurant in Montalcino, and tour a guard castle in Montepulcino.
I also was able to catch up with my friend Janie (from Ole Miss) who is also studying abroad in Firenze… here is a picture of us in Pienza overlooking the Valley.

Two weekends ago, I was able to go visit my friend from K-2 named Stacy. She is studying in Perugia, Italy, through the same program that I will hopefully be doing next semester. It was such a peaceful and blessed trip because I was able to fall in love with the small city of Perugia and meet a few people who will be there in the fall. Perugia is the capital of the Umbra region, tucked away in the heart of Italy. It is across the valley from Assisi, and unique for the chocolate it produces. One interesting fact about the chocolate factories is that they stop producing chocolate after Easter because of the heat. They produce all of the chocolate before Easter that they think will last purchases until late fall. So—if you want good chocolate, get it ASAP!
Here is a pic of Stacy and then a glimpse of Perugia.

These past three weeks have been a little hectic—we’ve had LOTS of visitors and of course… school work. Our first visitor (Cole, Meg’s BF) came about four weeks ago, traveled with us on our Spring Break trip, and then stayed with us in Firenze for the rest of his time off from work. He left earlier this past week—but before he left, we had two guys from Baylor stay with us while they toured Firenze. Their names are Trevis and Rus and their program in the Netherlands just ended and they are touring southern Europe before heading back home. Also that weekend, my friend Stacy, Adam and Jim from Perugia had a train layover in Firenze before their trip to the Isle of Elba.. That night was probably the most packed our apartment has ever been, but it was a blast to have a large sleepover. I think there was someone sleeping in and on anything that was available. Since then, we’ve only had one visitor who slept on our couch for two nights. Her name was Jill from the University of Tulsa who was studying in Barcelona… Other than visitors staying with us, Meg’s, Mary Beths’s, and Tiff’s parents have all come to visit us. Playing tour guide for all of these people has really kept us busy—but still, it’s always nice to see a familiar face.
With all of our friends now gone, we have been given a chance to catch up on things that have been up aside for another day (like blogging) but also homework and projects.. Easter weekend was the first weekend we have been actually been able to take a breath and get situated since Spring Break.
The night before Easter, Tiff wanted to work on her project of perspectives where she had to paint three pictures at different times, but of the same thing. She decided to do the river, so Mary Beth, Tiff and I got our stuff together and went out to the river after sunset. Tiff was painting fast with many dark colors and it was almost starting to look like Van Gogh’s Starry night… we played some worship music and Tiff started to get a little audience. One guy about our age says something in Italian and then calls her Monet. He hops over the wall and joins us on the cement block below. Mary Beth and I are caught in our own world of worship when he does this and hands Tiff a coke—they quickly become friends and continues to call her Monet. This guy, whoever he was, just became Tiff’s little admirer as she painted and he would shoo any other men who wanted to come and watch… Don’t you love protectors! Anyways, Tiff painting turned out beautifully and she gained a new nickname.
For Easter, Tiff and Mary Beth went to the Florentine tradition of “Lo Scoppio del carro,” but returned sad because they couldn’t see any of the ceremony due to the turnout. We later went to an Easter dinner hosted by a few Apicius students, but it still wasn’t the same as home.
This past weekend, Meg, Tiff and our friend Kyle Bonney ran in a half marathon.. I’m sure she’s going to want to tell you guys about it, so I’m going to save that for her…
I love you guys and I hope that we haven’t let everyone down because it’s taken us so long to put up a new post
Much love,
Elizabeth
P.S. Here are just some fun shots that we’ve captured.

Spring Break

For spring break Lizard, Mary Beth, Meg, Cole and I went to London, Liverpool, Dublin, and Paris. It was a trip of a lifetime. Our trip began as my roommates and I tried fit everything we needed for the ten days into a bag small enough to carry on to our flights. One of the coolest things about Europe is if you play your cards right you can find really cheap flights. The only thing is that sometimes to check your luggage it might cost more than the flight itself, so the process of packing our bags was very critical, as my roommates and I try to do almost anything to save a Euro or two. The bags had to be a certain weight and dimension. All of our bags were borderline on whether they were going to be approved with the strict carry on policies. Each of us let out a huge sigh of relief when we boarded our first plane with our carry on.

Our first plane left from Pisa, so we had to catch a train to from Florence to the Pisa airport. From there we boarded a plane to London. It was strange getting off the plane in London because London is very different than Italy. I feel like London is more like the United States. I was good to understand the signs and billboards and it is funny how at home I felt seeing Burger Kings and McDonalds and Starbucks. I was never in charge of directions, so it always amazes me that we find places through the mess of subways and metros but we found our hostel without much difficulty. At the hostel we met up Colleen, a cool girl from Baylor who is living in England for the semester. AKA the infamous Colleen from the Bologna trip.

Lizard and I really like hostels. It is such a bizarre experience. We walked in and there are all these random people in the lobby speaking different languages, drinking, and playing pool. Then we checked in and they gave us clean sheets, a code to our room and asked us if would like to put a down-payment on a towel. We got three towels to share between the six of us and headed upstairs to make our bunks. We were in a ten person room, in which none of our roommates were there when we arrived but it is fun to guess if they are a boy or girl depending on the luggage they leave by their bed.

By this time it was getting late and we were so hungry, so we exchanged our Euros for Pounds and we set out on our search for the nearest McDonalds. It was a lot colder in London than it had been in Italy and walking around in the bitter cold after a long day of traveling was just wonderful. We got stopped on the street on our way by these two black guys who had been drinking. They were really funny because they were actors for this American History play from the 1920’s up to the time of Obama. They talked to us about our political views and asked for help with their pronunciations with certain phrases. It was funny to hear these guys with beautiful English accents try to speak like they from the American ghetto. They were so funny and kept the conversation going without much feedback from us. I felt like I was watching a show because they were so outgoing and expressive. Not soon enough we ended the random encounter because we needed to find food and everything was closing down because it was nearing midnight. All I can say is that I have never loved McDonalds until I arrived in Europe. Eating a hamburger with the big yellow M on the wrapper is in some way comforting. The McDonalds we found was in the train station and the station did not have any walls and we were shivering while eating our fries. Random side story: This forty year old man wanted to get Lizard attention so he through a French fry, which they call chips, at her head. Just a tip for all the boys wanting to date Lizard reading our blog, throwing food at her head is not the way to do it.

When we got back to our hostel all our roommates were already sleeping so the six of us tried to get ready for bed in the dark as quietly as possible. Lizard and I were took the night shower shift. The showers…you know how sometimes in public facilities you turn on the sinks by pressing in the button and it is always a little frustrating because there never have enough time to wash off all the soup before the water turns off. Well that is the way the showers were. I think I had to press the button thee times to wash my shampoo out. But it is the little things like this that make hostels an adventure.

So the next morning I woke up to random people getting dressed in the room. I pretended I was asleep until they left because it is such strange time to meet someone. O yes, one more thing I really liked about the hostel was breakfast. You could eat breakfast at the hostel for free. There were dishes and cereal left on the cabinet. I think we all felt a little weary about eating there. I felt like I was in a hippy house. I had to pick off a little piece of leftover food that had crusted to my bowl before I poured my cereal. Then after eating you wash your own dishes with a moldy sponge and leave it for the next person. So much fun.

Lizard and I met a friend in our hostel that was from the United States who was also studying somewhere in Italy. His name was Andrew. The three of us did not want to go on the city tour so we broke off from the rest of the group and did our own sight seeing. We saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, ran through fields of daffodils, and took pictures at Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. We also saw London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, Shakespeare’s theater, and the London eye. I felt so sick this day. My eyes were watering uncontrollably, I was sneezing every two seconds, and had constant snot hanging from my nose. So I let Andrew and Lizard hang out for a bit while I drew pictures in my sketchbook, which was really fun.







The next day in London we went to the Tate Modern Art museum, which was out of this world cool. Then that evening me, Lizard, Mary Beth and Colleen went to Hillsong United’s church. It was so refreshing to go to church where people were passionate about God and where we could understand the message. Side note: A very good looking boy was sitting next to me and at the ending prayer I got to hold his hand. That night we went and ate dinner at the Texas Embassy which had Mexican food and Barbeque. It was wonderful to have a little bit of home.

Then we hopped on a train and were off to Liverpool, the home of the Beatles. I am going to be completely honest and say that I did not like the Beatles before I went to Liverpool. Meg set up a Beatles Magical Mystery Tour for us all to go on. The rainbow colored bus full of Beatles fans went to different sights around Liverpool that the Beatles played music at and wrote their songs about. We went to Penny Lane and saw the Strawberry fields. There was one point I really embarrassed myself. We stopped in front of a house and the guide said it was the house of Paul McCartney, I leaned over to Lizard and asked, “Who is Paul McCartney” and the guy behind me overheard and freaked out. Opps. We stayed at this really nice hotel because there are no hostels in Liverpool. We found this website where you can get hotels for really cheap if you book them two days before you arrive. The beds were like Heaven. Best part of Liverpool! Meg, Cole and I went to this bar called the Cavern. This was a bar the Beatles would play at. There was some guy in their singing Beatles songs. It was such a happy place with people singing along to all the songs and there was some really drunk woman dancing around the room by herself. I think it was this bar that converted me into a Beatles fan.







Off to Dublin, home of Guinness beer! I love Ireland and plan on moving there for a couple of years. Walking down the streets I could not help but think about the movie Once. I keep looking for guitar players on the streets in hope of finding myself writing music with a stranger in a piano store. No such luck. Marybeth and I think that Ireland has very good looking men and it is unfortunate that I did not meet one. During one of our days in Ireland, we went to a fishing city called Howth, where we had some amazing food for lunch and then hiked these trails along the shoreline. It was beautiful. The landscapes reminded me of PS I Love You and Tristan and Isold.







That evening we went to an Irish Pub that had live Irish music. This Pub literally changed my life. We walked into the pub and there was this circle of musicians with small drums, violins, and guitars. They were not playing to perform music but they were playing because they loved to create it. It was a free for all sort of thing, if you had a song you could start playing it and everyone else would add on. A random woman at the bar asked if she could sing a song, and she stood up and with eyes closed began to sing acapella an old Irish tune. A hush went through the crowd so the girl’s sweet voice could be heard. The men in the circle kept beat by tapping the feet on the wooden floor, and the woman, not caring about the people in the room, sang like she was for that brief moment doing exactly what she was created to do--share her simple beauty and voice with the world.

Then we were off to our final destination—Paris. We arrived in Paris late at night and we had to catch a bus that took us from the airport into town. When we got off the bus we had a couple minutes of confusion because we had no idea where we were and did not know how to find the metro, but once again somehow we made it to where we were suppose to go without any major problems. When we arrived at our hotel we were past check in time and we did not know what to do. Lizard broke into the hotel somehow and found a phone number to call. She can be so sneaky sometimes.

Day 1 in Paris I think Lizard and I walked 5 million miles trying to save money and not use the metro a lot. We ate the best baguette of our lives, saw the Eiffel Tower, the church of Norte Dame, and went to the Orsay Museum. Lizard and I both loved the Orsay. It was an impressionist museum with a lot of Monet, Van Gough, and Degas. We meet up with Mary Beth, Meg and Cole and had a good dinner that night. French food is so good.






Day 2 in Paris, I wanted to go to the Louve so I had my first real experience with navigation the metro by myself. I did well. The Louve was overwhelming because it was so big, but I saw the Mona Lisa. I have mixed feeling about the Mona Lisa. Then Lizard and I met up. At our hostel in London Lizard and I gave our phone number to this French guy name Stefane and he called us and wanted to meet up. He showed us some of his favorite spots in Paris. He took us to get French pastries and then took us to this place that overlooked the city of Paris. Then we met up with some of his friends and got hot chocolate. They wanted us to go to some discotechas with them but we said no because we had to catch an early morning flight.



Our trip ends with a slumber party at the airport, a bus ride from Pisa and then we arrived back in Florence barely able to walk home from the train station. I know this was the longest blog of all times but it still does not capture all that Lizard and I saw and did. It was the trip of a lifetime. I constantly wonder how I became so blessed to be able to see the world like this.

I hate school!

Just Kidding… I just said that bc Tiff titled her's "I love school" and I'd have to agree with that statement. I love my classes, not the work, but I love what I’m doing.
I really didn’t want to write a whole Blog about my classes, but I think I’m going to have to… I’m taking 15 hours this semester, but I’m only enrolled in four classes on Mon, Tues, and Wed: Italian Language & Culture, Writing about Florence, Women in Religion, and Fashion in Film. The last three classes became options after my anthropology classes were canceled. Funny enough, those three classes have been the source of all my time-consuming homework. For example, I wrote a 12-pg research paper this past weekend on Fashion which I never thought was going to be possible. Oddly enough I really enjoyed the research until it became crunch time.
My writing class has probably been the most frustrating because I’ve had a new story due every week. I think it’s going to be the most emotionally drowning class for me….
My Women in Religion class took us on a one-day, intensive field trip to Rome. We saw only three places that I’ve already seen, everything else was new (which was a relief) but now I can say that I have fully toured everything you can see in Roma. My teacher for this class is also my teacher for the culture part of my ILC class and she’s my favorite!
My Italian Language and Culture class has been the most interesting for me. I always feel like the 2.5 hr class flies by. As part of the class work in our culture class, we spend more time outside of the classroom then inside—then we write a newspaper article about our experience for the school newspaper. Last week I wrote an article on the history of The Kaffeehaus at the Boboli Gardens-- here is an excerpt:

"To end the month of February, my roommates and I visited the Boboli Gardens. We entered the gate by Via Romana and walked through the beautiful paths and openings throughout the left side of the garden. It wasn’t until we reached the opposite side before my interest was caught. We happened upon a small half-circled house facing a spectacular view of Florence. We all thought it was a guest house until I researched and discovered we were wrong.
In the late 1700s, it became fashionable to take coffee in a place other than one’s residence. This small half-circled hall is named the Kaffehaus, for that exact reason. It was built in 1776 by the order of Peter Leopold. The house is covered by a pale green dome, with three levels below. The bottom floor is surrounded by a platform with double-staircases that lead to the cave below. Extended from the cave is a series of grassy levels called Prato dell’ Ucello. Historically, the Kaffehaus provided Leopold and the members of his court with a scenic cafe, but now, it gives tourists with a marvelous view of Florence."

Mom, you'd absolutely love the Boboli Gardens.... here is one of my favorite pictures from there.

My number one dissatisfaction about my classes is that I am only in my Italian Language class 2.5 hrs a week. I really wish I was in it every day.
But, thank you Mom and Dad for sending me over here to learn from this place. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience so far. I just hope I board that plane home in may :)
Love and miss you guys!
Elizabeth

I Love School!

Today was very cold in Florence. As I was walking to and from my classes today, bundled up in my black coat that I wear everyday, I was looking around wondering how I was so blessed to be given a semester to live in Florence. Although my fingers were numb from carrying my sketchpad, I could not have imagined a place that I would rather be at that moment than exactly where I was. I think I could live here. Being in Florence has fulfilled so many of my dreams as well as revive other ambitions that I have laid aside over the past few years.

One of my favorite things to do here is go running. It is one of my favorite things to do almost anywhere but running in Florence has been one of the little joys in my life. It is such a neat way to see the city. My roommate Meg and I found that Florence has a half marathon in April, and so we decided to try to train for it. I always say I am going to train for one and then never actually do, so we will see if I actually follow through. It is funny running in a city though. First of all I do not think many Italians work out, so when I come out in my Nike shorts and Newbalace shoes I get so many looks. Meg and I have found some really cool running trails along the river and up the side of this mountain but to get to those places I have to run through the city area. I am positive I look so stupid. Meg and I laugh because many times we have to pass tour groups. It is so awkward because they take up the whole sidewalk. They are all foreign people, taking pictures and we run strait through their group. It is such a weird experience for me because I am so use to just running the Bear Trail at Baylor or trails at Cameron Park.

I have turned part vegetarian in my time here in Italy. First of all their food is so good, but it is mostly breads and pastas. If I eat at out, I will not order anything with meat because their vegetables are so fresh and low priced and their bread and cheese is absolutely divine. I love Balsamic Vinegar! I saturate my bread in it, um… so good! Another reason, I have had trouble eating meat is because I had a bad meat experience. During my first week here I thought it would be fun to eat a Panini from a street vendor. The only people eating at this stand were men. I should have taken that as my first warning sign. I just ordered what everyone else was getting. It was this orange meat. It was so gross but I did not want to waste money so I ate it. It was so gross, please let me repeat it was not good. Recently I found out that I had eaten the inside of a cow stomach. I was eating a cow’s stomach lining! O this is funny too. The other day for my shoe design class we went to observe this woman who makes her own shoes and she had made this designer high heel shoe. It was obviously not made out of leather because it had an interesting orange color and an unusual texture. Then she said it was made out of the same thing I had eaten! I wanted to throw up looking at the shoe.

I love my classes. I am taking an Advanced Painting class, a Beginning Italian course, a Art History course, an Advanced Printmaking, and a Shoe Design course. At first I felt extremely intimidated in my advance studio courses because on the first day of class there was a placement test and then I had to present my portfolio. First of all, I have never needed a portfolio and never taken photos of my work, so when all my classmates whipped out their flash drives with their portfolios I felt completely out of place. For my painting class there was a drawing, painting, and art history test. I have not drawn a picture or painted in six months and my knowledge of art history is very limited, so it is easy to imagine how intimidated I felt. Then in my printmaking course I had to do a dry etch test, except for I had no idea what a dry etch was. So I had to talk with my teachers and they had to speak with the dean of the art department, but I am still in the classes. I am really enjoying them now. I have learned so much already. I love my homework because it is usually to write a paper about art, to paint a picture, to sketch ideas, to prepare printing plates, or design shoes. I love school.

I love it so much I want to quickly describe each of my classes. First of all, I would like to talk about my shoe design course. It is incredible. In one of my art education classes at Baylor, I was suppose to come up with an unit of lesson plans that I could teach in a high school level classroom. I choose to do a unit on wearable art. I ended up becoming so interested in shoes that I tried to make my own shoes. If you where my friend during this point in my life, you would know how hard I tried to make shoes. I went to talk to cobblers, researched online, cut up basketballs, and dug tires out of the rivers all in effort to make shoes. I was completely unsuccessful. Being in this class has opened a door to opportunities. In the class we do not actually make shoes but I have learned so much about the components of the shoes and about their designs. My mind is going crazy with the ideas of shoes I want to design. This week my class went to observe this lady who makes homemade shoes. Creating shoes is such a complicated and intricate art. The United States has completely lost this art. The shoes in the United States are manufactured and the funniest part is that they are manufactured to look handmade. This lady would make a pair of shoes that would last a person a lifetime if the owners took proper care of them. She sizes each shoes to fit her costumer. I asked her if I could come back while she was working to watch and learn from her. I took her business card and I need to work up the courage to call her and stop by her shop. Next week my class is visiting a leather factory and leather market, which should be interesting. A few blocks away from our school is a shoe museum and our homework this week is to go to the museum and sketch some shoe designs. I am really enjoying learning about shoes and I love the hands on learning experience. Why is school not normally like this?



This is a picture of a last that we put masking tape around to create a pattern for a shoe. The last is what a shoe is made around to give it the correct shape.

Then I want to tell you about my Printmaking course. First of all, the Baylor art department would only approve an advanced printmaking course to count for my major. So when I show up for this class with no previous knowledge about printmaking I looked so foolish being in advanced. Baylor’s art department constantly frustrates me with their inflexibility but my teacher here has been kind enough to change the advance course curriculum so I can still get credit. Pretty much I just have to do twice the amount of assignments as the peers in my class. But I have really enjoyed have extra assignments and I enjoy being on my own schedule. I also enjoy being different than everyone else in my class. The printmaking studio where the class is taught is across the River from where I live. I love everything across the river because it has more locals and less tourist attractions. The studio is made out of an old barn. The barn use to be owned by a rich family but was turned into a printing studio right soon after the war here. It is still very obvious that it is a barn, with the wooden stalls with the horses’ names still on them. We share the studio with another school. The students that attend the other school go there everyday for a year to learn the skills and talents of printmaking. I love walking by their area because their work is so neat. They also seem so cool smoking in the courtyards with their artsy Italian style. This studio was opened by the first printmaker in Italy. I love just being there because everything is old and dirty. After class my hands are black with ink for a couple of days. O and one of my favorite parts about this place is the door. It has this huge door with a smaller hobbit door in it. We usually use the hobbit door, which makes me feel like I am in Lord of the Rings. Really great.

Here are a few pictures from the printing studio:








In my Painting class, we are working on paintings with a circle theme. An upscale restaurant, that is associated with the school, wants us to paint circle themed pictures to be hung in their gallery. The art director for the restaurant chooses pieces from all the art classes to display. I am trying to come up with a good idea for a circle themed painting but I am struggling to come up with one good enough. It would be such a neat opportunity to have my art displayed in a restaurant in Italy, but I do not know if my work will be good enough to be chosen. I guess I will just have to wait see.

My Italian class is even enjoyable. My teacher is crazy. He dresses like an Italian with funky shoes and glasses. He always plays music in the classroom and runs around the room. He makes learning a language a fun experience where it is okay to pronounce things wrong and it is okay to mess up. I am not very good and I have been practicing Rosetta Stone on Lizard’s computer. I was also given the name of this Italian woman who wants to practice her English and we are going to start meeting on Monday’s to work on speaking to each other. I hope it works out.

Then I am also in an Art History class. This week we toured Santa Croce, which is the beautiful church next to our apartment. During the tour I realized that Michelangelo and Galileo are buried there. Who would have known that I lived next to their graves? Art History is so much more interesting when you are in the midst of it.

I love living here!

I need a new umbrella...

This past weekend, we got to visit a town called Bologna. It was such a relaxing, eventful, and different experience. I still don’t know my exact feelings on this topic, but we had a great time! We stayed at a new, reasonably priced hotel just outside the city limits. Besides the long bus rides to the city, I’d say our accommodation was perfect. Speaking of bus rides, I think our group of five (Mary Beth, Meg, Tiffany, Coleen and I) made a rather large impression on the Bologna Bus drivers. We probably should send them a thank-you card.

I want to share a few stories with you guys. I’ll start off with our first bus ride to the hotel. Mistake #1: After arriving in Bologna, we boarded Bus 25 headed in the wrong direction and road for almost an hour. Mistake #2: After getting off the wrong Bus 25, boarding the right Bus 25, we quickly grew impatient and got off the bus at a stop by the fountain. It was obviously not the right one, and the bus driver honked for us to get back on so he could continue his route. Mistake #3: After riding for another half-hour, we all were in deep discussion (about men or something) and one of the passengers started yelling in jumbled English, “you need that bus!” Mistake #4: After we changed buses, we got off one stop too early and walked to where the bus was parked—the last stop on the bus route; the stop for our hotel. Yes, we were pretty far out there, but, it shouldn’t have taken us 2.5 hours to get there.

For our second bus adventure, I’d like to quote a few passages written in one of our roommates travel journals.

“Scary Ticket Police” recorded by Tiffany Crowl
“My biggest fear became a reality tonight as we got caught riding the Bologna buses without a ticket. We had been riding the buses all day without purchasing a ticket because the cost of a bus ticket is similar to the price of a gelato—which a gelato seemed more important than a bus ticket and we are all a little tight on money anyhow. But, each time we got on the bus I almost wanted to go without my gelato because I feared getting caught. Since Colleen, Mary Beth, Meg, and Lizard never seemed to worry, so why should I? Then as we were interring the bus headed into town for a crazy night of pizza and gelato, Lizard suggested we get a ticket. Everyone ignored the request because, hey, we got around free all day today. Then it happened, two men in blue coats stepped on our bus. My heart began to race and I couldn’t see straight. I tried to hide the terror that I was feeling inside. The bus police got out his pad and began writing a ticket to two guys behind us. I turned to Lizard; she was the only one who noticed the trouble we were in at this point. My armpits began to sweat intensely. He was coming to us next. The bus had to stop soon. We had to get off! Then, everyone was aware of the situation and we made plans in mumbled English to calmly get off the bus at the next stop. The time between stops felt like an eternity. Then, it finally stopped. The doors opened and I could smell the freedom of the cool nights air. As Lizard made strides toward the exit, she was stopped by the bus polices’ arm and a gruff voice. We tried to play the dumb American card. I even gave him the ticket we had bought yesterday and I acted like I thought it was good. He did not fall for it. We were trapped. The bus doors closed and I felt that I was being held captive. We calmly walked to the front of the bus, bought a bus ticket, and strategized our escape. Moving to the front bought us a little time but we had to get off. I felt so trapped. We begged the bus driver to open the front door and we got out and walked away as fast as possible. We had successfully escaped the ticket police. Although this situation was scary, it will not prevent us from riding the buses free."

Another excerpt is by our new friend Colleen from London who was visiting us for the week. This is our last and final bus adventure.
“…the last bus ride home. We were parading down the road, owning it as American girls do—after our final dinner in Bologna and all of a sudden (as most of us are probably dreaming of when our next bite of Nutella will sweetly visit our lips), we hear Meg yell “Bus 25!” cuing our bus. We know this bus well—as it was one of the main places we spent our time in Bologna. Anyway, back to the story—at this burst of information—Mary and I stop our boisterous singing and in single-file-unison, our bodies full or pizza, panne, nutella, crepes and cromboline—start sprinting in ridiculously SLOW-motion to catch this bus as if our lives depended on it. I don’t know what the streets full of Bologna locals thought of us, but all I could hear was uncontrollable American laughter as our feet slowly pounded to the bus, in fear we might have to walk any further with our bellies. Needless to say, we caught it, and I don’t think Bologna has had a show like that in a long while.”

Although we had a rather peculiar trip, I would still recommend Bologna to anyone. They might just need to get a bus route map before boarding a Bolognian bus :)


Yesterday, my umbrella officially broke. It had been hanging on for the past week, but now it’s completely lacking three stems. It has been raining almost every day, but on Monday we were able to see the big blue. One of my classes took a tour of the fresh food markets. It’s probably my new favorite places! There are street vendors everywhere from 7am-2pm selling their fresh produce straight from their farms. My teacher Martina said they drive for miles every morning just to sell their produce in Firenze. I can’t tell you how much I have grown to admire the Italian lifestyle and culture.


I am very thankful to be studying here, though I do wish there weren’t so many Americans. I feel like everywhere I turn, there is another American student. I didn’t realize that FUA wasn’t the only American University in Firenze. I guess that’s just me being naive. Overall, I do like my classes. I am enjoying my culture and language classes because we have been able to interact with true Florentines. Also, my Fashion and Religion classes seem to be very interesting so far. The only class I constantly complain about is my writing class. I think it’s just because I’m not used to my teachers style of teaching, or rather the type of competitive atmosphere he allows the students to create. I just hope I adjust, so I will improve on my writing skills.


I’m sorry I fell behind on this update. Tiff is writing another one tomorrow to catch up on what I’ve left out. Miss you guys very much & I hope and pray all is well.
Tutta Mia Amore,
Elizabeth

Sometimes Life Reveals Little Surprises

On several occasions, Lizard and I have just looked at each other and laughed because of the little surprises that life has thrown us over the past week. We have found ourselves dining with a boy from Argentina named Gustavo, chasing after trains with broken luggage, and following crazy Australians around Rome.

So we finally arrived in Florence. I had no sleep, no money, and no idea what to expect. Lizard and I caught a taxi to the SAI office, there we received the keys to our apartment and our new cell phones. I am constantly thankful for Lizard’s innate ability to get around cities and find train stations. There are times I feel completely helpless and clueless, I am thankful for my little Italian speaking friend.

The SAI office said that our apartment was just a four minute walk away, so we decided we could just walk there with no problem because we had already carried our luggage all through Rome. But this last walk to our apartment almost did me in. I did not know if I could carry my broken luggage over any more cobble stone roads without dying.

We finally found our apartment. In our excitement to see our new living situation we left our luggage at the bottom and ran up the concrete staircase to our apartment. Before we even entered the apartment I was already in love with it. I loved the stained concrete steps. They seemed to hold so much story to them, like many of the cobble stone roads and other old buildings. Their cracks and crevices revealed their long lifetime.



Our front door does not have a handle and the key is so oddly shaped. The key looks like it should unlock an old treasure chest buried in deep in the ocean and in a way the key did exactly that. This key opened up one of the neatest treasures of my adventures in Italy. Our little apartment is so beautiful, small, and quaint. Our apartment is more than I could have hoped for.



Lizard and I share a lofted room. As long as I can remember I have begged my parents to loft my bed then begged my roommates at Baylor to let me use my wood skills to make a loft in our house. My dreams of living in a tree house are now fulfilled! We have a large window in our room that looks like something from Snow White. It is wooden and made with old glass that latches with a piece of old metal.

There is a song by the Weepies called Simple Life that describes my feelings when I am in the apartment. Our kitchen is maybe three feet by three feet. The other night after dinner, my roommates and I found ourselves all trying to fit into the small area to clean the dishes which resulted in a combustion of laughter. Even for its small size we have done very well with cooking very good meals.





Little things are slightly different here, like flushing the toilet. In our little bathroom we have to flush by pulling this string above our toilet. And to ventilate the bathroom we have to open a small window in our bathroom. The hot water does not last long, and we have to take quick showers! I just did my laundry and it was so weird to hang all my clothes out the window. This morning I had to rush to get them off the line because it was beginning to rain. The little things are so wonderfully different.

I have come to the realization that I flirt in the same manner as an Italian man. At home, when I am driving by myself, I enjoy trying to pick up guys at stoplights. I think it is the same thing here. The guys just like to see if they can get your attention. It is so fun. Oh, and the other day, I saw this guy with dreadlocks carrying a guitar and of course, I decided to follow him. I laughed when I realized that this, too, is an action of an Italian man.

Also, Lizard and I really want to meet an Italian friend so we can get a ride on one of these cool scooters! Everyone drives them! How fun!



I wanted to add this picture to the blog because Lizard looks o so bella!



This beautiful church is right next to our house. We pass it everyday!



Lizard and I went for a walk and ended up here!





My roommates and I have made a recent discovery that has changed our lives…Nutella. We decided to write an ode to it and we wanted to share it with you:

Ode to Nutella

Sweet, o so sweet,
Why not sooner did we meet?
The very presence your scent,
Chocolate-hazelnut, begins my descent.
More and more I desire,
The sweet taste of your attire

When I dip into you,
Parts of me become anew.
Parts of you seem to remain,
In the crevasse of my domain.

On my lip you will stay,
Until, my saliva melts you away.
Why must your stay be short lived?
When there is much more you could have gived.
I need no other to satisfy,
Please be replenished or I will die.