You mean I just paid 6 euro for supplemental music??

Internet's been sucking out my will to live these past couple days (see depressing post below). It's pretty in and out, but I've reached the point where I'm kinda meh about homework so i'll do my best to cover as much ground as I can in this post.

friday, sept 17th

that day was a lot of fun, but i was also sad because it was kyle's birthday and people were doing fun things at duke for him and ted and i wanted to be there. that being said, i decided that what i was doing (which was way fun) was in celebration of his birthday, and overall friday was great.

We went to Uffizi, which is this massive art museum next to palazzo strozzi. cool things about this museum

-it's really two huge buildings connected by a bridge on the second floor, i have no idea how we covered it all but we did

-Uffizi was originally a governmental building built int he 16th century, which is why it's named Uffizi (offices)

-there's a whole lot of artwork commissioned by Palla di Noferi Strozzi. I've been learning about the Strozzi family a lot in my fam and gender class because they were like one of the noble families of the renaissance (i read a pretty cool article about trying to marry off the strozzi sons to appropriate, honorable women), and it's interesting to learned that a lot of famous works of art, beautification of buildings, high altars of churches, were commissioned by rich families as a sign of nobility, honorability, wealth, power, awesomeness, etc. i love learning things in class and then seeing them around the city... that's probably the best thing about study abroad that you can't get anywhere else...maybe i'll blog hardcore about that later

-other cool stuff in the uffizi: lots of annunciations (mary gettin told she's gonna have a pretty legit baby), adoration of the magi (mary wearing blue and pink and holding a fat, legit baby), etc

-pretty important so read this: Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera (Allegory of Spring) are here. This is legit. The Birth of Venus was a lot bigger than I realized, it's so funny how you have perceptions of famous paintings/works of art that you didn't know you had. Allegory of Spring I realized I was only really familiar with the center of it (a bit with the birth of venus too), so it was interesting to focus on what's going on on the sides and read what they had to say. At the end of the day, i sometimes think art historians are BS-ing because they have no idea what theyre talking about (sorry nina! and other art history majors!), but it's interesting to read speculations, but like they didnt even mention the figure on the far left of Primavera. Maybe i'll google it, meh. Anyway, they were beautiful and intriguing. I'd never learning about the idea the birth of venus being a "mingling of the physical world and the spiritual" so that was interesting to think about, i guess. Mostly i like the history of the birth of venus and how people thought it was so sinful to look at, etc. :)

-there was some other cool stuff by michelangelo and titian. and I saw the Madonna with the Long Neck, which ive seen before somewhere...online i guess.

-Finally the last part of the gallery was interesting because it showed some paintings that were gorgeous but got damaged by a Mafia Car Bomb that went off in May 1993 just outside gallery. I was surprisingly really angry by this. These paintings are so beautiful, and it was weird seeing them so damaged beyond repair. Mostly they were damaged by the broken glass cases they were in shattering and scratching their surface. I don't know what the mafia was trying to get across that day (other than killing five people i guess), but artwork should go on living in museums forever. I guess that's just me, though. I want to die know the Mona Lisa is in its place at the Louvre, the David is right next to my apartment when I lived on Via Ricasoli for four months, and the Birth of Venus and Primavera are all safely inside the uffizi.

After that, Catherine and I went to 'Ino, another recommendation by my Time-out book. I love my time-out book. it got Pint Mama and the Gallon Boys all over London and it's getting me and Catherine everywhere in Florence and Italy. They're great books, if anyone is travelling anywhere, i definitely recommend them.

Anywho, 'Ino was fabulous and if I ever come back with my family I'll take them there. all the tables are wooden barrels with wooden bar stools to sit on and every panini is like 6 euros and comes with a glass of house white or house red wine. It was delicious. And the sandwiches were toasted, and I couldn't be happier than with a toasted sandwich. I got gorgonzola and mostarda, which is apparently mustard in Italian, but didn't taste like French's mustard at all...more like a spicy sauce. anyway, deeeelish.

After that Catherine and I tried another Gelateria from my Book called Gold/la Carrozza (which actually means carriage, not gold), which is right on the Arno and then we came back toget some hw done. that night we cooked dinner: Lemon, basil chicken with pasta and salad which was splendid (we're great cooks, i think i have a bit of my mom's natural skillzzz in me), then we booked some hostels, talked to kyle for a few minutes (it was his birthday after all), and then went to bed.

Saturday sept 18

we got up at 5:30 am and caught a train to Venice. yeah. it was pretty intense. but I slept the whole train ride (i dont think catherine was as successful as i was). it was only 2.5 hours to venice, but by the time we got there it was already raining. Sleepy and annoyed by the rain, but not willing ot let it affect us, we trudged ten minutes from the train station until we found our hostel. Our hostel, Casa ai due leoni (house of the two lions) wasn't far from the bus boat station or train station but was kinda not in the center of town, which was good in my opinion. the lady at the reception was very sweet upon entering and gave us a map and told us that the best way to do venice is to take the ferry down to piazza san marco and work our way back up to the hostel walking. we waiting 15 min while they finished preparing the room and planned what we wanted to do and then went to our room. okay the hostel was in a tiny little piazza, but you went through a gate to another little piazza, then you went through our hallway door, then to our door which was our room. we got a double private, which i think is the only hostel we've booked that was just us, so it was nice for a starter hostel, we didnt have to worry about storage lockers or anything. it was more of a bed and breakfast hostel, without breakfast, so i guess just like a motel/hostel? anyway, it smelled funny but fortunately we just left.

we had been talking on friday about how we hadn't seen cookies anywhere in florence and suddenly were craving cookies like whoa (cant wait for bens cookies when we go to london!), then we saw some in venice!!! we bought one each immediately. turns out cookies are more like biscottis or scones to italians. megh.

we made our way to the bus boat station, got a one way ticket and enjoyed the boat ride all the way down the Grand Canal. it was freeeeeezing, crowded, and rainy. mostly the wind was what was killer. and the fact that these 8 feet tall italian dudes had the railing and i wanted to take pcitures and be able to see and they could still see everything if they stood behind me. eventually i nudged my way through.

we got to piazza san marco and were really just freezing and wanted hot chocolate. we went to cafe florian (a time out recommendation...). it was adorable. very ornate, the walls were all gilded and lined with mirrors. the people we were sitting around were very sweet, but mostly we were just happy to be out of the cold for a minute. our waiter was very nice and brought us the menu and pointed at something but both catherine and i ignored it. we ordered a vegetarian panino and a quiche and two hot chocolates con panna (with whipped cream). a band of an accordion, cello, violin, and piano played music for the people at the cafe. they played Somewhere Over the Rainbow and I sang along, finding it ironic against the awful Venetian weather of the day. then we got the bill....let's just say it's the most expensive lunch i've ever had. that being said we realized the waiter had been pointing at a part of the menu that said "musica supplementale sei euro" ....basically i paid 6 euro for that Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Thanks Cafe florian! Regardless, how could i complain? I had a lovely time and was warm for a minute.

Then we went to Basilica San Marco, which is one of the prettiest basilica's ive ever been in. that being said, im afraid all my churches are going to blend together over the semester. between england and france and italy, i feel like i've been in a gazillion. Anyway, this one was completely covered in Mosaics. it was craaaazy. Buttloads of gothic-ness and byzantine-ness. other cool stuff included the Pala D'oro, which is considered to be one of the best works of Byzantine art... it was pretty much this entire thing of gold and jewels. then upstairs there was a whole museum of original moasics they had to take down, the original four horses outside, some artwork, model histories of the basilica over time, etc, it was very neat. I downed an espresso out of the machine (fun fact about italy: There aren't really coffee places like Starbucks, but sometimes they have in public places machines for coffee, like soda machines, you give it 70 cents and it makes you a little cup of whatever you chose. and there are lots of options from macchiatos, espressos con ciocolatta, to hot chocolate, cappuccinos, and just plain milk. so i inhaled one to get over the lack of sleep)

after the basilica we kinda walked around a bit, got uber lost, it rained hardcore, got wet, but we ended up at the Teatro La Fenice and found out that there was a concert violinist that night and there were student rates, so we got tickets. then we headed to the Gallerie dell'Accademia, not to be confused with teh one right next to my apartment with the David. There were mostly Venetian works in there, which was intersting because i could actually tell a difference between teh artwork i saw there and the artwork id seen in firenze. lots of Titian's stuff, and Carpaccio's Life of St. Ursula cycle of Frescoes was interesting. I heard they had been doing some restoration, but it was the first museum id been to in italy that looked like the ceilings were falling apart. I didnt let it bother me though, art is always great. I got the hiccups really bad and some lady gave me a really evil glare. When I get hiccups they always last too long, are too long, and hurt me. but what can i do???

after that we just stopped into some restaurant i don't even know the name of. We were mostly just frozen and wanted somewhere to sit. but i got a cheese pizza that was the closest to an american pizza that ive had since ive been here, which was actually really nice and catherine got vegetable soup. oh and i got a cup of tea, so overall it was a comfort food dinner after a cold miserable day and we loved it.

then we headed back to the theater for the violinist. we were ushered into a banquet hall, which at first I was disappointed but then the banquet hall was one of the prettiest rooms ive ever been in (see picasa pictures)...do i give superlatives too often??? oh well. We saw/listened to L'arte dell'arco played by Federico Guglielmo. His bio was pretty legit. Anyway he played a Corelli, a Geminiani, a Vivaldi, a locatelli, a tartini, and a veracini, none of which i knew but were all from like the 17th or 18th century. he was INCREDIBLE. and backed up by two dudes playing cello and harpsichord who were also baller. it was amazing. like mindblowing. Catherine and I realized we were the only people not over the age of seventy (minus some pre-teen dragged there by her mom), which was kind of nice, to be the students that weren't out drinking (cough), though Catherine is pretty sure some Italian woman made a comment about her wearing a hoodie. It was freezing, get over it. anyway the show was fabulous. It was interesting because not a single word was spoken the entire time until Federico Guglielmo came back out for an encore and paused before playing, took his violin down stepped forward and looked at us and said "Bach." so we knew what he was playing next. it was hilarious. and awe-inspiring.

Our walk home to the hostel was filled with me re-enacting the violin playing by singing and pantomiming until we saw that venice has a grom and stopped in. we got crazy flavors as usual, and the lady serving us really nicely explained why they sort of whip the gelato before they put it in the cup. pretty much they like to keep no air in the gelato because it keeps the flavors in, but then they whip it before they put it in the bowl to add some air into to bring out flavors and make it softer, think like wine a little. anyway, it was really awesome and made me happy that she was so nice, not to mention fall in love with Grom a little more. such a great place.

we got back to the hostel and without computers and exhasuted from cold, rain, walking, etc. went promptly to sleep, though i laid awake for awhile feeling like there were bed bugs crawling all over me.

sunday

sunday was BEAUTIFUL. since none of the museums opened til late (sunday), we just went poking around in shops, went and took pics from the Rialto bridge, got lost a bunch, went to an incredible cioccolateria, VizioVirtu. UGH So good. fun fact: italian hot chocolate is sooo much thicker than ours. think like hot chocolate syrup. anyway we got five little chocolates each and hot chocoloate con panna and chocolate balls and sat on the steps of a canal and enjoyed them.

then we went shoppping a bit more, sat in a park and watched little italian kids play (adorable) and talked until lunch time ish when we went to Alle Oche (at/to the geese???) which is famous for its 80 different pizzas. it was a definitely a cool place and id def go back (I sound like my rollinglobe site, sorry!)

Then we went to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, which is described as "A gloomy gothic barn" haha but seems to me like a chruch that is mostly now an art and shrine gallery. It has some rare junk, like Bellini's Madonna and Child with Saints Nicholas, Peter, Benedict and Mark (pretty, yet standard) and Titian's Assumption (mary going up)... i wish people wouldve painted more about society (that was bad, but I'm just curious!!!), Titian is buried in there too so we checked that out. There were symbols of St mark everywhere in there (A Lion with wings, generally with his paw on a book/bible), as well as some other stuff regarding the other three (matthew, mark, and luke). it was cool, glad i went and it was only like 1.50 euro for us as students.

then finally we had just enough time to take a boat ride to an island that's a part of venice but a little far away from the main part of Venice. It went by cruise ships which were funny to see, mostly european companies and one Carnival. No Royal Caribbean unfortunately, which was a bummer. then we got to Basilica San Giorgio Maggiore which is an alllll-white church, because the architect wanted to make it white to symbolize purity and closeness to God. famous for Two Tintorettos: the last supper and gathering of manna. both catherine and i liked the Last supper one because it was from a weird perspective. like you were looking at the long table from the side almost, it was cool. then we climbed the belltower and saw some incredible views of Venice.

We made our way back to the hostel to pick up our belongings and headed to the train station, sitting along the Grand Canal as we waited. I have to admit that i was glad the weather was soooo much better the second day because it helped remind me that Venice is beautiful. At the same time, there was this weird feeling in me that was excited to get back to Florence. Florence feels like home. I know my way around. It follows a grid and isn't confusing like Venice (even though venice is smaller). To be frank, i'm just glad I study abroad in Florence. Venice is also significantly colder all the time, so it was nice to get off the train to be back in my warm citta. We also were on the nicest train i've ever been on on the way home so that was kinda exciting.

Monday, sept 20th

i slept in a bit, not much, and then read like the wind for my classes, planned a bit more of my paper, and headed off to Italian. the italian dudes who clean our apartment came when i was still here. i felt awful as he cleaned our kitchen. we dont deserve it. the girls here are disgusting. i dont know why its so hard to wash your dishes after youre done using them (Kyle??).

italian was fine. i have a 1.5 min oral this thursday (oh my!) but we started working on it today and im not too worried. we had to write a short essay about this dude's schedule/day. I constructed what Domenico thought was a complex sentence and he said bravo!!! I said "Dopo alle cinque, va in palestra perche si piace la ginnastica. Dopo un'ora e mezza, alle 6:30, fa la spesa per comprare il cibo per la cena e torna a casa."

After five o'clock, he goes to the gym because he likes gymnastics (haha). After an hour and a half, at 6:30, he goes shopping in order to buy food for dinner and returns home." hahahahahahhahahaha... SO COMPLEX!!!! anyway so i gotta get ready for that.

then today i had fam and gender in the morning... she decided to have class outside on this big stone table outside... it was dang freezing. my fingers were purple. i stopped taking notes because i couldnt write. :( im also frustrated because she gave us literally no instructions for this paper due friday, whcih of course i dont like... plus she wears the same clothes every day;..... or at least every tuesday... i'm living out of two suitcases and can do better than that. i know i'm being a butt, but it's just hard to look at her. i love the material so im trying to not let it bug me. and what we talked about today was cool and interesting. .... so oh well.

fascism was baller as usual... except i forgot my computer (after class Prof Travis was like "where was your computer today???" haha). but we just talked about mussolini and he made him such an interesting character. i realize he tells history like its a huge personal story so it's so relatable. like mr. morrison... anyway, still loving that class, despite how much reading it is... starting next week we have to read one novel a week (mein kampf, etc) in addition to our course text book readings.... woooooot. i have a field trip with this class this friday and obviously im stoked. only sad part is he had to cancel our field trip to rome because of a personal issue :( he said he'll reschedule but it might be on a day that we've already planned our own personal trips and he said it'll just have to be okay if we cant do it. ...which makes me sad... i was kinda excited to do rome with a teacher... and im sure whatever weekend he puts it on is a weekend im somewhere else haha.... im probably in florence for 5 solid weekends right now... hahah....

finally internet is still whack (i started this blog post yesterday and am finishing today)... i went by the facilities office and they gave me an ethernet cord... only to find out that via ricasoli 46 (or at least my room) has no ethernet jack... BUT it does have a phone jack! so i can have a phone which i don't need at all, but i can't have internet!!! that's great (that was all sarcasm, by the way). aaaahhhhnnnoying... but im slowly getting over it.... my life is just different now. that's all.

tonight we went and saw a Concertto at the Teatro Comunale. it was called Summertime and was the first show of the season... directed by Wayne Marshall, it was a work involving an orchestra, a chorus, and four operatic singers... they did Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. I had a great time. and it was only 1 Euro for us through NYU, soooo thanks NYU. it was fabulous and beautiful. the audience clapped for like an hour afterwards. it was also funny to me because the show was in English, and there were times when the fourteen of us (That signed up through NYU) laughed out loud and no one else in the entire audience of 2,000 people did because they were Italian.... Maybe they felt for a moment how I feel every day....

Language is so interesting, by the way.

the show tonight got me in a singing and dancing mood and catherine and I spent the rest of the night singing Sweeney Todd or just singing nothing operatically and making up subtitles. Made me think of the night that we saw Madame Butterfly during Duke in London and all were so hyper afterwards. Something about opera....

tomorrow is hardcore paper writing day so i have to go to sleep. ....now.

amore,

becca

p.s. bad type-os, im sorry! i also have more videos to upload... but they take forever! meantime check picasa and RG

pps also, officially have a cold. loading up on sudafed and tylenol though, hopefully ill nip it in the bud.... now.