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". . .life is short and the world is wide"
Life is Beautiful
Since I am EXHAUSTED, and sitting in my bed at the villa and enjoying a quiet night in Sesto, I will take some time to tell you about my wonderful past couple of days!
Yesterday, thursday, was our bottega visit day for my masters and workshops class. We had to be in Florence at 8:30, which means we had to be out of here by 7:45 am, cause the buses get really packed at that hour! We went to a workshop of a master who creates marble tables using precious stones. He showed us the entire intricate process of creating these 20,000 dollar masterpieces, which take many months to complete. It is absolutely incredible, these tables they make, they look like they are paintings because the marble is cut so precisely. After observing the workshop, we walked around Florence a bit, going into some stores of course, because its virtually impossible not to shop here. The window displays are incredible, and it seems like no matter what time of day, people are ALWAYS window shopping. We went to the Pitti Palace because I needed to take a picture of a painting that I need to draw for my modern art class. We made it back to the villa in time for lunch.
Right after lunch I have my carnivale class which is really hard to get through. It is the most beautiful time of day and all I do is stare out the window, wishing I was outside sitting in the gardens. After carnivale I quickly "crammed" for my italian quiz, which I hopefully aced. Gosh, italian is just so much easier here, maybe its because I am motivated to learn it! I went for a run before dinner in the park across the street from the villa, it was wonderful. There are people walking their dogs everywhere, its kinda obsessive. You can bring dogs everywhere here, into cafes and resturants, and into stores. I have seen they everywhere, they are like people. Except, they are allowed to poop on the streets and no one cleans it up! That is something that really surprises me... still to this day and I have been here almost a month!
Last night I went into Florence, and we walked across the river waaaaay down out of town because we got really lost. There came to a point where my feet were killing and I had the worst blisters in the world, it was starting to get cold (nothing like michigan cold, but cold for florence!) and we were lost, we were frusterated ebacuse we just wanted to find our friends. My italian friend kept calling and I was getting so confused. We walked to the egde of the river and it was in that moment that I realized that no matter how bad of a time I think I'm having, its still the best feeling in the world, because I was looking across the river, seeing il ponte vecchio in the distance, with the shop and little lights shining into the water. The river was so calm, but you could hear the rushing water from the dam up ahead. Looking up into the tuscan hillside from a mile away you could see San Miniato church lit up overlooking this amazing city. I thought, wow, I can't believe that I am here. I can't beleive I get a chance to live here, and experience the most incredible city in the world. I was perfectly content, in fact... more than content, because it didn't matter what we were doing, all I had to do was stop and look around me... and I could NEVER complain:)
We went to Looney's, and on the way some american students stopped and tried speaking italian to us... well obviously they are new here! We told them were to go, and they ended up following us around for a while. Met up with some villa kids, saw a sweet band play, and got beer spilled on my coat. What an amazing night!
Today I woke up early and caught the train to Arezzo. It is about an hour train ride from here, and quite possible my favorite city I ahve been to yet. It is where a lot of the movie, Life is beautiful, was filmed. It was gorgeous. Arezzo is the wealthiest town in tuscany, but tucked away in the hills, a quaint and quiet town, with beautiful parks, and buildings, and an amazing grand piazza. The church we went into today was one of my favorite churches I have been in here in Italy, which is saying a lot beacuse we have been in a TON of churches! This place was just so beautiful. The sun was shining and we just wandered around this little town all day, ate lunch in the sun, had gelato, and shopped and acted like tourists! I am exhaused! I was so hungry I ate a HUGE dinner and then we watched Life is Beautiful, because HELLOOOO we were just THERE! Now I am sitting in bed, debating whether or not I should start my homework. I think I need to but I am so exhaused. I will update my photos from today, check them out it was soooo beautiful! I love you all so much!
sare
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