The Week I fell in Love

They say that studying abroad has many different stages, at first it is total bliss and a sort of honeymoon phase. That is followed by culture shock and impending homesickness. Soon after, you recover and start to feel a sense of calm about where you are and what you are doing. I think I have finally reached the last stage. Not to say that I don't miss home, and dryers, and sushi and starbucks, and tostitos, and turbo and all the comforts of being in somewhere familiar, but today was good.

On Wednesday this week I went on an afternoon walk and discovered some new parts of Siena. Gorgeous, as expected.

I also attended a local modern dance performance in a beautiful theater, inside the main building of the Campo.

Besides being St. Patricks Day, Thursday was the 150th anniversary of Italian Unification so there were many celebrations going on. During the day all the contrada museums were open and free to the public so I was fortunate to see a couple of them. That night, we enjoyed some wine and margaritas. It was a great day.

On Friday, a small group of us made a day trip up to Pisa. The weather was so beautiful, and it finally started to feel like Spring. We took cheesy pictures, of course. Ate some gelato and enjoyed the sunshine. It was such a great trip, totally stress free and fun.

Today I went on a Photography field trip, and came home in love with Italy. It was so nice to be in a car, and see things off the main path. We made many stops along the way, and ended our trip at the photo teachers house/studio/showroom. Our teacher does amazing metal work, has been featured in home decorating magazines and lives in such a magnificent place. The entire day was spent shooting gorgeous photos, I had such a blast, especially with the characters from Clue.

Tomorrow will be spent catching up on my Italian articles and attempting to edit some more of the million photos I took. This is our last full week of class before midterms( AND PARIS!!!) :)  and Friday we are making a trip to Florence with the Art History Class.

Sorry my blog entries lack any sort of creativity at the moment, my brain is fried and I should get rest. I hope all of you are well.
Enjoy your dyers.
Miss you tons.


Love from Italia,

Liz

WhatAWeek

Ciao tutti!


So what has happened since my last entry...

We went to the Cemetery for photography class, and it was so awesome. It was interesting to see the different ways in which countries organize the headstones and rows. Italian cemeteries are full! to the brim, even as much as seeing a mans headstone on the side of the steps. It was a very cool experience and I captured a few images that I really liked...

This past weekend we went to Carnevale in Viareggio. Holy Moly. That is all I can really say. The floats that these people make are unbelievable. It is like nothing I have ever seen. They are huge, and completely bizarre. Most of them are political and are hard to understand from an American viewpoint.
Viareggio is on the coast, so we got to experience the beach for the first time, it was beautiful.

Here are some pictures. . .

Yes. That is Obama. Yes, that is a terrorist in his hat.

This past week was full of a lot of emotions and trials. All of the students had been feeling rather stressed out over the school schedule and on Thursday we had a meeting with the school. It felt good to really have our voices heard, on Monday we are going to have another meeting to try and sort through it.

Classes are still progressing fast. Art History is usually not in the classroom, instead we are on field trips throughout the town. Midterms will be here in a mere two weeks!

Yesterday, we were given the opportunity to travel to Rapolano Terme. We took a hike, met a local sculptor and got to see the studio space.

Today was a day of relaxing. I had an amazing sandwich, some gelato and enjoyed the girls of the program. It is nice to have some relaxation before April. Next weekend we are going on a Photography trip and to a local Siena Basketball game.

Hope all is well in the States :)

Liz