Italian brotherhoods and firemen ...

Yesterday was another day I will never forget. Nicole and I (we go on a walk every morning) went into Scandicci to our favorite cafe Mario's for a cappucino. It was our first time to go alone!! I felt very adultish..haha what a feeling.. Then we took the bus into Florence by ourselves to meet the rest of the group at the gates of Paradise...just reread that...we met at the gates of paradise...haha wow...sometimes I cant believe the words that come out of my mouth..ha. We went with the group to get ANOTHER cappucino..haha it was free..who would say no? We then made our way to a very special building. Only twenty of us out of the 39 got to experience this tour of a building belonging to an ancient brotherhood of Italian men (and as of twenty years ago women) that have taken care of the sick and elderly for free. They used to wear tunics and hats that actually look exactly like black kkk suits...ha ironic. It was very exciting to hear about these men that do random acts of kindness and make sure they are not seen so that noone can pay them or give them gifts.... God is alive.

After this we climbed the DUOMO!!!! it cost us 8 euro....but I would have paid so much more..it was breathtaking. We went to the very top and ate our sack lunches looking out over all of Florence and the Tuscan hills. I cant explain how wonderful it is...you will just have to go yourself. :)

We then met up with the rest of the group at the Santa Maria del Fiore Baptistry ( the Duomo's baptistry). The baptistry has three sets of doors...including the gates of paradise. Ghiberti is the artist that sculpted the doors. He entered a contest with Brunelleschi ( the genious that designed the impossible dome of the Duomo) and won. He was commisioned to sculpt the doors while Brunelleschi left to go to Rome and studied up so that he could one day blow the world away with the largest self supporting dome in the world. After the baptisry we went into the Duomo. Spectacular. It is amazing to see the frescoed dome from the ground and remeber that the small objects you see are actually three times bigger than yourself when you get up next to them...

Everything is so beautiful ...not just the art, but the history and stories that go along with the art.

The facade of the cathedral looks just like a dream. A french man actually designed it...and the Florentines say it is too much icing on the cake...but it is still the best tasting eye candy.

Today we had classes all day...lets just say the highlight of the day is going to be going to get gelato after dinner with Brett..its our 6th month anniversary :) haha anyways...

I'm super tired...and about to go take a little nap ...my first one of the trip ha

Buono notte

the Jewish Synagogue :) beautiful, but we didnt get to go in....sabbath..

The amazing David. His hands, feet, and head are larger than anything else..you might think..come on Michelangelo...I thought you were the best why is David misproportioned? Actually, David was meant to be up high and for sake of perspective, Michelangelo made these bigger so that you could see them better when looking up...genious...

haah at lunch..thats our friend Allen...

San Marco

The ugly outside of the San Lorenzo Church...the inside blew my mind

WOW!...DAVID

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ok soooo yesterday was our first onsite class! I was so excited the night before I could hardly speak. It is so much different knowing the history (say of the Medici family) and then seeing where they lived, where they worshipped, what they commisioned to be painted, sculpted, and built. We started in the Medici Chapel crypt. It was breathtaking- all of it was. This family was a rock solid piece of pure intellect, creativity, and oh they all had eyes and passion for the arts and books. I cannot express to you how interesting their history is. It is so amazing to see and find out that every little decoration, every single piece of art has symbolism. These people didn't just paint; they told stories with their creations. Brunelleschi was PURE GENIOUS. not just an architect... but one of the smartest engineers on Earth. Did you know that? I sure didnt,... not a clue. Did you know that Michelangelo hated painting? he was a sculpture.. and thought painting was cheating..and one of his best known projects is the frescoe in the Cistine chapel...I feel like I can not begin to tell you close to anything of what I have learned...maybe i will publish my moleskin..ha. next we went to the San Lorenzo Church. BREATHTAKING. HEAVENLY. ahhhhh Lapis Lazulie...onix..mother of pearl ...not just on some decorations on the wall. BUT ALL OVER. it is called the Florentine mosaic. This huge church is purely mosiac with precious stones. It amazes me the talents that God has blessed man with..... After this we went to San Marco. It used to be a monastary. home of Fra Angelico and Savanorolla ( the dominican monk that went crazy on the florentines when the Medici was temporarily absent from the city- they were thrown out..) His story is unbelievable..look it up. After this we ate sack lunches in a Piazza next to San Marco. Then we went to the Academia!!! This is where a massive collection of Michelangelo's sculptures are INCLUDING the giant David (how ironic ha) He is beautiful. Did you know that Michelangelo is the only sculptor known to be able to skip the steps of measuring the stone and making sure the proportions are correct for the sculpture? he dove right in and created masterpieces ...ha wow. Im still a bit overwhelmed.


I love this Country

I love this history


This morning we got up to go to the Saturday market in Scandici. We were given a piece of paper with something we had to buy in italian. We had to ask and emerce ourselves into the marketplace to find our object. Number one... I love the market..number two... i love this language. I am not nervous at all talking to the italians. They are so helpful, and I just love hearing the beautiful words coming from their mouths and trying to come out of mine hah. After the market we went into Florence to start our scavenger hunt for our humanities class. We are in groups of nine and we have a list of things to find, learn about, visit, and take pictures of. They gave us an allowance and made reservations for us to eat at various ristorantes :) It was awesome. My favorite place so far is the Piazza della Signora...right beside the Ponte Vecchio. We went on top of a huge building to the roof and all got cappucinos. this was one of our assignments ...haha The view was gorgeous...and the Duomo....right beside us!! We also got gelatto haha and then came back to the villa for another amazing three course meal. I loveeeee our italian cooks :)


Gotta go study

Arrivederci :)
A Presto


PS...the lily ( one of my favorite flowers) is the symbol of florence..and of purity. Look for it in various frescoes of the Annunciation

Classes Classes Classes

Salve!! so Tuesday we had class in the morning, and then headed to Florence after lunch. I love being in a small group and exploring :) we went to the san lorenzo market which is leather and scarf central! I found a jacket called the suzanna (gorgeous) I lingered too long and they immediately started selling..haha I stayed strong though and said not today... yesterday and today have been long...we have had alot of classes and homework. Today Brett and I went into Scandicci to explore. We went to an art supply store and met some friends at our favorite coffee shop Marios :) Dinner was at 6:30 wonderful again..of course..and I am about to hit the sack. Tomorrow is our first On site class!!! I am so excited! We are going to the Medici chapel, San Lorenzo church, and San Marco church. We were given mole skins and part of our grade for our humanities is to take detailed notes. Which I am excited about. Now I will have a good journal to look back on! well I have to go fix tea for everyone... A presto!

Gesu all around :)

Today we went into Florence for church. It was in Italian and English. The church was in chapel that belonged to a family and it was beautiful!! The congregation was about thirty strong. It was quite an experience. We sang beautiful italian hymns..I love this language. :) After church we all ate Italian pot luck, and I must say it was much better than good ole madison pot luck. After this only a few of us stayed in Florence. Kelsey and I went with about five boys and went to the piggy market. We got our first postcards and Scarves!! I got mine for 4.50 euro :) it is gorgeous. We went to the Piazza della signoria with statues of Perseus (spelling?) holding Medusa's head, the rape of the Sabine women, Hercules and the Centaur, Menaleus holding Perculas dead body...they all took my breath away. We had to leave early to make it to the villa for our devo. We are about to start it so I gotta go..

Looking across the Arno ..we saw river rats that I mistook as Otters....

We ate lunch with this view..

Michelangelo's apartment

The market :)