April 1, 2009

had a scavenger hunt in Italian class. We started out in Piazza della Repubblica and were given different missions (written in Italian) in which we had to interact with Italians. One activity was to interview an Italian and get the answers to a set of questions we were given. Another was to buy a postcard and a stamp (which required us to use our Italian at two different stores), write out the postcard, and send it to our teacher. Not only did the activities require the use of the Italian language but they also made us use our knowledge of Florence. For instance, knowing what mailboxes look like or what kind of store sells stamps. One activity also gave us step by step directions to a market, but if you were familiar with the market, you could get there much faster. Of course my team won. The prizes were chocolate eggs with bracelets inside. When the teacher handed the first one to one of my teammates, I said "Oh yay chocolate!" and the teacher turned to me and said, "You don't get one." She knew I had an allergy to nuts because of the dinner at the restaurant, and so she didn't want to give me a chocolate egg on the off chance that it might contain almonds (even though the ingredients only listed chocolate). We all think she really just didn't buy enough and used that as an excuse. Even the losing teams got some form of chocolate, but I got two dopey styrofoam eggs on sticks and a pencil instead.

went to Piazza Alberti for studio. We had a tour of a new residential building led by none other than the architect of the building. The building was very contemporary unlike the part of Florence we usually see. Visiting a building and hearing about it from its architect was definitely a very different experience than visiting on your own. He could tell us all of the intentions behind every move he made in the design and made us notice things that maybe we wouldn't otherwise.