So we were late for the welcome dinner because we got lost. The "school map" is not detailed at all and doesn't list 2/3rds of the streets that are actually there! It definitely makes it a pain to find your way around the city. The dinner was really nice & delicious! It was a 3 course meal with wine. When we walked in, the waiters started handing out glasses of wine... awesome. We didn't stay for dessert, but went out to get gelato instead. After that, a girl who was here last session showed us around and we walked down to the Ponte Vecchio, which is beautiful at night!
The next day a couple of my roommates Elizabeth & Ashley and our friend we met named Anne went to the Uffizi Gallery to get our "Amici degli Uffici" (Friends of the Uffizi) passes. To get the pass, you pay 40 euro and have access to all the Uffizi & State owned museums which is awesome! After getting through half of the first floor, all the walking we have been doing caught up to us and we were dead tired, so we went back to our apartment and cooked lunch and watched the Bachelorette. It was nice to sit around and relax!
The following day I went to mass at the Duomo. It was beautiful! It was all in Italian and they had an organ playing. I really want to go to mass in Latin with the Gregorian Chant choir before I leave!
We went to see the "fake" David. It is the spot where Michelangelo's David statue stood before they moved it to the Academia.
I cover myself in bug spray when I wake up in the morning, before leaving the house, and before I go to bed at night. Speaking of bug bites, I think the mosquitoes out here are out to get me! As of today, I have 16 bug bites! My wrist was super swollen and puffy, and luckily my roommate & I found some hydrocortisone cream at the farmacia. Too bad they don't sell benadryl in Italy!
After we spent time by the Palazzo Vecchio, we walked over to the Ponte Vecchio and looked around at the shops on the bridge.
This is a picture of me with my fake ring so I don't get hit on by creepers! People kept telling me about how the men out here are gorgeous, but I personally think they are all super creepy! I have never been stared at so much in my life! gross!
I also got to video chat with Maurice.... I miss my puppy!
Monday was the first day of classes. Luckily, my classes are all in the same building, but it's about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. My italian class is taught entirely in Italian. There are only 4 other students in the class. It's going to be a lot of work, but I feel like it won't be as hard as my ITAL424 class that I had last semester after I review a little bit more. My art history class is awesome! We are going to go over 10 works of art in detail, take a trip to the Uffizi Gallery, and write a paper on an art piece of our choice from a list the teacher gave to us.
Today in class, we talked about Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait:
(http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jan-van-eyck-the-arnolfini-portrait)
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