January 17, 2009

went out to do some sketching for studio. After several hours of sketching in the cold, my fingers were too cold to draw anymore, so I found my way to a 99 cent store to buy some gloves. On my way, I saw all these vendors set up in front of Santa Croatia. They were all set up under tents, and all their wares looked homemade. One tent had leather products, including the tiniest pairs of shoes I've ever seen. Each shoe was probably about the size of my thumbnail. There was also a woman with a loom set up weaving.



January 18, 2009

went running along the river Arno. I went pretty far down and I'm pretty sure I wasn't in Florence anymore. All of Florence is really nice looking, and even though there are some beggars, you really don't see much poverty at all. Further down the river, though, it gets so poor looking. I saw little camps of people living in crates and makeshift shelters. I also passed this little tent market, but the people and the wares looked almost Native American.
went to church at San Miniato al Monte. The mass was in all Italian and Latin and much of it was Gregorian chanting. The chanting was really cool, but it definitely made it harder to follow the mass. No one really seemed to know when to sit or stand, either. It was a neat experience, but I definitely wouldn't want to go there regularly.



January 19, 2009

went running again. This time I thought it would be cool to run up the hill to San Miniato al Monte. That was not the brightest idea I've ever had. The hill feels like a mile long straight up. And every time you think you reach the top, there are 3 more flights of stairs. It was definitely a good workout.



January 20, 2009

got out of studio a little bit early to go watch the inauguration. We all traipsed over to the Red Garter to watch. There were so many people there, a lot of them from our school. Even though I didn't vote for Obama, it was still really cool to be in a foreign country, uniting with so many other Americans to watch the swearing in of a new president.
left the Red Garter and went to get dinner with Alex, Nikul, Kelly, and Izzy. We went to this little Mediterranean place that serves Mediterranean food and Italian food. I got ravioli which was sooooo good.
went out in search of dessert with Nadia. We found a waffle place that was still open (because I had been wanting a waffle allll day), but all the gelato places were closed. Waffles are pretty popular here as a dessert. I got mine with chocolate and it was delicious. Since it was still really early and our Wednesday classes don't start til 1:30, we decided to go visit the other boys (the one apartment of archies who don't live in our building) for a little while. Their room is really cool in a modern European, all-IKEA kind of way. It's also wayyyyy quieter than our apartment, so Nadia and I decided to take a nap there while the boys went out for a little while. I was so glad to finally get some quiet sleep.