Um schoolwork..? I don't understand.

So I realized that I haven’t blogged very much about school lately.

For the past few weeks in photopgraphy, we have been learning about pinhole photography and making our pinhole cameras. It has taken a while to make our cameras, since we need to make them completely light safe. We do this by painting and taping our boxes with black paint and tape.

This week we started shooting with our pinhole cameras. It’s a pretty complicated procedure because we have to take all these measurements of our individual boxes since they are different shapes and sizes. Each time we position our camera to take a picture, we have to calculate the exposure time. This means the time between when we open & close the shutter. It differs each time you take a picture because there are differing amounts of light getting into the camera each time. The less light, the longer the exposure time and vice versa. We did a test shot earlier this week, and my picture actually turned out quite well. We learned how to develop and print our pictures today. I took my second picture of a statue on the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) that had love locks on it (just like on the Cinque Terre paths) with the Arno River in the background. I’m excited to see how it will turn out!

In my Michelangelo art history class, we haven’t been in the classroom for a single day. We go to a different museum each day, see the works we read about while he lectures. I love it! So far, we have gone to the Piazza di Signoria, Casa Buonarotti (a museum with all different things Michelangelo), Bargello Museum, Accademia Gallery (which houses Michelangelo’s David), and the Uffizi Gallery. We have our first exam tomorrow, which I am kind of nervous for. I don’t think it will be hard, but I have never taken an art history class before so I don’t know what to expect. Wish me luck!

I absolutely cannot wait for this weekend. We are going to Interlaken in the Swiss Alps! We leave on Thursday night and come back on Sunday. We are going with a company called Florence For Fun that organizes trips for students at a discounted price. While there, we have the option to skydive, canyon swing, go canyoning, bungee jump, paraglide, and much more. I’m not exactly sure what activities I’m going to do yet, except for canyoning. I’m DEFINITELY going canyoning. In case you don’t know what that is, check out this youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7jDxUk1g

7kIt’s a video of the company that we are going with, so I’m hoping we’ll do the same kind of stuff!

The following weekend, two friends and I are going to book a trip to the Amalfi coast, during which we’ll get to visit Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii and Vesuvius. So pumped for it!!

The final weekend we’re here, there are 14 of us going to Malta! We got a really cheap flight and hostel, and we’re going to get tickets to a jazz festival that will be going on while we’re there.

As for the last week we are here, we have finals early in the week, so we might have time to take a day trip somewhere. I really want to go to Bologna & Piza, but I would love to go back to Rome or the Cinque Terre during that week as well. As it gets closer, I’ll try to make one of those plans happen! This trip is going by so fast and I’m kind of freaking out. I’m just trying my best to make the most of it!

XOX

Hilly

Best. Weekend. Ever.

This past weekend we went to ROME! Unfortunately, we only had two days there, but we tried to see as much as we could.

We left bright and early on Friday to catch the bus to Rome. We saw the Vatican Museum including the Sistene Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. This is the outside of the Vatican Museum. The second picture is of the black and goldaltar in St. Peter's Basilica.

They were all as incredible as I expected them to be. Then we met for dinner with Tina, who words for Accademia Italiana and took us out during orientation. Sweetest lady, and so knowledgeable about all of Italy. She always has an answer to any question you ask her. We ate at this amazing restaurant and had a mixture of antipasti (appetizers) and each got our own pizza. I got pizza verdure, which is vegetable pizza. For dessert, I got this baked cream thing with chocolate sauce which tasted like chocolate mousse. I shared with other people who got crème brulee, limoncello crème & fruit tortes.

Yum.

After dinner, Tina took us on an impromptu tour of Rome that most people don’t see when they come to Rome. She took us up some hills, taught us about Roman culture & history, showed us some parks and took us to Trevi fountain.

The next day, we went to the Colosseum, which was my favorite part of the entire trip. It was so cool to actually touch and be in something that has so much history behind it. We also went to the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps, Villa Medici (which had an incredible view of Rome) and to some parks in the city. We were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was totally worth it. I can’t wait to get back to Rome and see all that I couldn’t during this trip!

On Sunday, a bunch of friends and I signed up for a day trip to the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre is made up of five small towns along the southern part of the Lingurian Coast. The first of the towns is about a 2.5 hour train ride away from Florence. This area is knkown for their pesto, olive oil, local wine, seafood and much more. Between each of these five towns are four different hikes that go through the mountains of the coast and vary in difficulty. The first hike, from Riomaggiore to Manarola, is easy and only takes about 25 minutes to complete. The second, from Manarola to Corniglia, is moderate in difficulty and takes about 45 minutes. The Corniglia-Vernazza hike is also moderate, while the Vernazza-Monterosso al Mare hike is challenging.

The first hike was very easy, but took a while since older people usually can only do that hike, so it was packed with people. Part of this hike is known as the Lover’s Walk because two people that were in love wrote on one of the rocks of the hike a long time ago, so the name just sort of stuck. Now the entire hike is covered with people’s names in hearts and locks hooked onto everything, which I assume symbolizes locking your hearts together, or a love lock or something.

The second was a little bit harder, but quick nonetheless. The hardest part was the 384 steps you had to go up to get to Corniglia, the third town. For the fourth hike, we left our tour group because they were finished with their hiking and took a train to the fourth town. Feeling ambitious, my friends and I wanted to do the third and possibly the fourth hikes (the challenging one). Thinking that the second “moderate” hike would be comparable to the first moderate hike (AKA pretty easy) that we’d do this hike with ease and then maybe have enough energy to do the final challenging hike. Little did we know, we had actually set off on one of the two trails that took you from the 3^rd to 4^th town that was challenging instead of moderate. I have never done such an intense hike in my life. It took us about 1.5 hours, but there would be parts when we would be going uphill for 10 minutes straight, on stairs that were 1.5 feet high. Once we finally got to the 4^th town, we were EXHAUSTED. We were also extremely satisfied and proud of ourselves for doing something that difficult. This is me right when we arrived at Vernazza.

In Vernazza, we had a delicious lunch at this little restaurant. We had their house wine, sangria (best I’ve ever had), pesto pizza and pesto pasta. It was so good I never wanted it to end. Then we got gelato and enjoyed the sun on the beach until our ferry arrived to take us to the final town. We were wayyy too tired to do yet another challenging hike.

At the last town, we swam in the bright blue water and laid on the beach. The physical exercise, feeling of satisfaction from our hikes and relaxation made this the best day I have had in Italy so far. It was absolutely perfect.

In all, this weekend was incredible. Although I wish I had more time in both Rome and the Cinque Terre, I know these are two places that I will definitely visit again. Maybe even during this trip!

XOXO

Hilly

Buonasera ognuno! (Good afternoon everybody!)

This past week went by SO fast. Now that I know how to get around and are comfortable with everything, I feel a lot more like I really live here, as opposed to just being on vacation.

At the beginning of the week, I met up with Diana Haler, a friend of Aunt Barb and mom from high school. She lives in Florence and when Aunt B told her I would be studying here, she wanted to get together. I was so glad to be able to meet someone who had experienced both the states and Firenze. She generously invited me to dinner with some family and friends, my impression being a small gathering of people. Nope!

We went to a restaurant called La Terraza Principe and we literally had the entire terrace overlooking the city and hills outside of it ALL TO OURSELVES. There was about 20 of us total, some of which were visiting, but most who were Florence residents. It was by far the most incredible view I have seen of Florence yet.

The meal was amazing, starting with bread and Proseco (my new favorite white wine), followed by two kinds f pasta (which I’ve found to be pretty typical in most restaurants, the first one with vegetable or fruit flavor [ours had a hint of orange flavor] and the other with meat), two kinds of salad (garden and steak), chicken, & fried vegetables. Dessert was a lemon sorbet with fruit.. delicious. Then we got caffe (espresso) and ended the meal with the best limoncello I have ever tasted. For those of you who don’t know, limoncello is a lemon vodka that Italy is famous for. You typically get it in a shot glass at the end of the meal. It’s a traditional way to end a meal by sipping on your limoncello. And yet another way to prolong the meal to enjoy time with your family and friends. This meal lasted 4 hours, which is pretty typical for Italians. They do not eat fast. Every time my roommates and I get caffe “to go” (a phrase that they don’t really have an equivalent for in Italian, which shows how foreign the concept of eating while on the go or eating quickly is to them), it is not unusual for a particularly grumpy tabaccheria (place that sells croissants, foccacia, sandwhiches, gelato) worker to roll his eyes and mutter “Americans” under his breath. All in all, the meal was incredible, the view was breathtaking, and the people friendly and engaging. I even made out with some of that limoncello, for free! I tried to ask if I could buy a few bottles, and instead she got the bottle from our table, filled it up and handed it to me. They didn’t sell their limoncello (which they made in-house), so she just gave it to me! So sweet. Great night & I’m so glad Diana invited me along!

Later that night, friends and I went to a bar close to our apartment called Bacco, which is suppose to be great on Monday nights. It was a great time; met some Italians, got some free drinks, sat outside. But none of that compared to the wonder of.. THE SECRET BAKERY.

We had heard about the secret bakery every since we got to Florence. I’ll give you some details. There are a few secret bakeries in Florence dispersed throughout the city, but they are not related or anything like that. These bakeries are open from 1-6am and are located in the shadiest, most concealed places. The one we went to had a door that you knock on and someone opens the door a crack and asks you what you want. You have three choices: a chocolate croissant, a slice of pizza or a donut. They do not tell you this, you just have to know. Then they close the door, come back in a few minutes with your goods and then you pay one euro for each. A great deal for the most delicious munchie food ever. We literally were going heel clicks (or attempting, anyways) on our way home because they were so good. You also have to be completely silent while there, or else they will tell you to leave and sadly, no chocolate croissant for you. After a few nights of trying to find it, we finally found it. Incredible. This foreshadows the 10 pounds I will pack on while in Italy. Oh, well.. when in Florence.. Here’s a picture that I took of the secret bakery door, after which I ran away as fast as I could. Hey, I didn’t want them to see my face and then never get another chocolate piece of heaven ever again! And the second is a picture of my roommate Jamie getting fed a chocolate croissant and Megan in the background enjoying hers.. hahahaha. Love this picture.

On Tuesday we finally went to Lucca! This is the town we were going to go to on Sunday but didn’t because it was raining. We took the train down and spent the day there. There is a village wall surrounding Lucca because they wanted to completely separate themselves from the big cities of Rome and Florence.

We had a nice lunch there and then explored on our own. By exploring, I mean getting lost but enjoying it nonetheless.

Wednesday night we made pasta alla carbonara & salad at our apartment while enjoying a cheap bottle of wine from our extensive collection. In other words, they made a nice dinner and I sat and watched. But don’t worry, karma bit me in the butt when a bird pooped on me during dinner on our balcony.

Later that night we went out to what is known as the best club in Florence called Central Park. It was HUGE and we had yet another great night. I sound like a broken record but whatever, deal with it.

Thursday was a holiday here in honor of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence. Many people had the day off, so Florence was extra crazy. We watched the Italy vs Slovakia game (tear tear) outside on the river again. At night, we got gelato and watched the fireworks by the river. Florentine fireworks completely dominate American fireworks, just FYI. We went home early because the next day we were heading to ROMAAAAA!!

I shall blog about Rome another time. My roommates just cracked open a bottle of wine and were about to watch Gladiator. Life is good.

XOX
Hill

Siena & San Gigamnano

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, this past week has been very chaotic! I’ll try my best to remember everything I’ve been doing…

Two Fridays ago we took a day trip to Siena and San Gigamnano which were both beautiful! They were about 1.5-2 hours away by bus. In Siena, our tour guide took us around and showed us some pretty views from the city, churches and the main piazza (square) where they have a medieval horse race called Palio di Siena twice a year.

We ate traditional Tuscan almond cookies (Siena is known for them) called ricciarelli. These were the melt-in-your-mouth, eat-tiny-bites-so-it-lasts-as-long-as-possible cookies. Delicious!

We had lunch at this cute little restaurant and had local cuisine, which included local wine and pate spread, which was surprisingly good (before I knew what it was). Here's a picture of my roommate Kelly and I enjoying our lunch.

Then we headed to San Gigamnano, which is smaller town than Siena.

I liked it better since there were not as many people there. We saw Kelly Ripa there. We walked around & learned about the town and walked in a church. Some of my friends and I walked up a huge hill to find a gorgeous view, where we then had a wine tasting of some local wines. Yum. Perfect way to end the day (and endure the bus ride back home). Here is the aftermath of our wine tasting.

The rest of the weekend was kind of a letdown, but we made the best of it. We were planning to go to Grave (grah-veh) on Saturday, a town about an hour train ride outside of Florence. On Saturdays they have this open air market that is suppose to have some great local goods. They also boast Italy’s most entertaining butcher, so my friends and I were going to buy some entertaining meat from this guy. Then on Sunday we were going to go to another town called Lucca, which is about a 2 hour train ride outside the city. It’s not a tourist spot, which is great since there are very few people around. I really want to get to know all different parts of Italy while I’m here, not just the places that everyone in the world knows about. But just our luck, we woke up on Saturday morning to pounding rain for the ENTIRE day. Bad news bears. The only upside was that I got to sleep in for the first time here, so I caught up on my long-overdue jet lag sleep.

We made up for our lame day by going to an electronic discoteque called Space (cue neon strobe lights & techno music). It was insanely fun. Almost everyone from our program went out and had a great time. The cover was 10 euro, but that included a drink so you basically paid for one expensive drink, but it was worth it. There were two huge floors that played different music, one floor was pop/hip hop and the other was techno. Florentines definitely know how to party. My roommate Kelly and I found these tall platforms and danced on them all night. It was a great night, we’re definitely going there again. Here is the view from our killer platform!

On Sunday, instead of our Lucca trip, we woke up to pounding rain AGAIN for the entire day. I guess it was okay, since the rest of the weekends from there on out would be nonstop traveling.

More to come on my wonderful chaos later,

XOX

Hill

Buongiorno!

Ciao!

So this week was a busy one, but in a good way. Monday started out with getting a cafe latte (a very small espresso with steamed milk) and a croissant to go. Italians don't really do the eat-on-the-go thing, but hey, we can't drop all of our American habits. Then came my 9:30 photography class. There's 8 people from my program in that class, so it's really nice and small. Our professor is this young Italian woman that can speak english but not very well. She talked about the usual syllabus/course info and then she showed us a powerpoint on different styles of photography. The course consists of 2 parts: constructing and using a pinhole camera and then doing projects on our own digital cameras. The pinhole camera is pretty basic for an intro photography class, but we have to go to different places in the city (la cartoleria, the art shop, a photography store, etc) to get all of the supplies. It's kind of difficult since most of the shop owners don't speak very good english, but we're trying our best to use our limited Italian skills and various hand gestures. One of my roommates is a photojournalism major, so she can definitely help us with making the camera and taking pictures with it. We also get Photoshop FREE with the class since we'll need it for our digital portfolios:) Our professor then went to each person and taught us about the different settings of our cameras and put it to the best ones for the kind of photos we'll be taking. We got out an hour early too, which was nice since I hadn't really explored much of the city yet. Overall, photography seems like it will be really laid back but also allow us to learn a few things about the city and

what the art is all about.

The rest of the day we spent grocery shopping, getting our cell phones, and pretty much getting settled in. For me, it consisted of a lot of getting lost and then finding my way after some time. The good thing is, Florence is not that big of a city so you'll almost always find your way if you get lost.

I found this great path along the Arno River where I can run. It's so beautiful that I'm hoping it will encourage me to run everyday. I also had my first gelato, which was to die for. There's about a million gelaterias on every corner, but we found this one on our street that is super cheap and delicious. I've decided that if all I ate for the rest of my life was gelato, I would be completely fine with that. I'd be 500 pounds, but totally content. We didn't go out Monday night since most of us were exhausted/jetlagged(me)/hungover(them).

Tuesday started out the same way except for I went to my 9:30 Michelangelo art history class instead. My professor speaks perfect english since he grew up in the states and went to Syracuse, then moved to Italy and has been here ever since. He's awesome. His teaching style (which he told us outright) is that he just wants us to learn from him, as well as gain an appreciation for the art and the city of Florence. He said he's not one of those teachers that is going to test us on the miniscule details, just the big picture of what we have learned. Our book is this well-known history of Michelangelo book, in which we are responsible for very short readings. Nearly every class day is at a different museum, which I absolutely

love. There is nothing more boring than sitting in a classroom when you can see the actual works. We get a free museum pass, which is usually 20 euros. After he went over the course info, we went to Piazza della Signoria and he explained the history of many of the sculptures. He's a great lecturer because he speaks in a way that is easy to follow and funny. This is a godsend for me, since history is DEFINITELY not my favorite aka is incredibly boring to me. He also let us out early, and I spent the day exploring, taking a run and attempting to make travel plans for the weekends. This has proved to be pretty overwhelming since there's so many places I want to go and limited time to do it.

We went to watch the Italian vs Paraguay soccer match at this place on the river that had this outdoor big screen tv. It was PACKED with pumped Italians. I actually saw a couple people I knew from UT there! Who runs into people they know half way around the world?? It was weird but apparently they were on a senior graduation trip that goes all around Europe. Anyways, Italy and Paraguay ended up tying but it was a great game. Afterwards, we came across this Billabong party that you had to be on a list to get into, but somehow all of us got into it. It was sooo much fun! We danced and drank wine all night. A perfect first night out for me. We went out at night, unfortunately to this Irish pub that's down the street from our apartments. It was literally filled with Americans, probably only a handful of Italians. It was super crowded, but outside was the perfect temperature. Afterwards, we attempted to go to this Italian club, but ended up following a few new Italian friends that had no idea where they were going. Once we found our way there, it had a huge cover so we ended up going home and drinking more wine. This was completely fine with us, since there are 19 of us and anywhere we are is pretty much a party anyways. :)

This weekend has been super busy, but great. I really feel like I am getting to know the city and loving every bit of it.

Much Florentine love,

Hilly Jo

Finally in Florence!

I am finally here! Long story short, my flight departed JFK at 3:50 pm on Saturday and arrived in Rome at 6:30 am Sunday, local time. I then took a 9:45 am flight to Florence and cabbed it straight to Accademia Italiana (the school) because their schedule for orientation had already started for the day. Turns out, all I missed on Saturday was a bit of introductions, a welcome dinner and everyone going out the first night:( I missed part of the info we got this morning since I arrived at the school around 11 am. We learned all about the basics of living in Italy and being a true Florentine. I also got my class schedule, which consists of "Photographing Florence" Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30-12:30, and "Michelangelo and His Works" Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-12:30. No class on Fridays (woot woot!), which is especially good for taking trips outside of the city. We also have a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano next friday, and a weekend trip to Rome in a few weeks, which I am incredibly excited for! Then we ate a (delicious) lunch and while everyone else went on a walking tour, I had to take my luggage back to my apartment with one of my roommates since I hadn't been there yet. This picture is of the front entrance to our apartments.

Our apartment is AMAZING!! It is a five person apartment, but there are only four of us. We are on the second (but actually the third since the floor one is considered one floor up from the ground) floor, and on the first floor there is an apartment of 8 girls, an apartment of 2 guys and another apartment of 4 girls. It's awesome that we all live in the same apartment because we can all go out together and go to class together. Right when you walk in, we have these huge wooden doors and a hallway leading into the apartment. Our kitchen is first on the right, then our two bathrooms (which is amazing, since we only have 4 people with 2 bathrooms, while the apartment with 8 girls only has 2 bathrooms as well.. hehe). The kitchen is nice, we have 2 fridges and all the kitchen stuff we could ever need. We also have a kitchen table and a mini laundry room with a washer in it (we dry clothes on a clothesline like REAL Italians!!) Then comes my bedroom on the left, which I have all to myself. There is a bed, an armoire, drawers, a desk and a bedside table. I also have a window that lets the breeze cool off the room, since we don't have air conditioning (most apartments in Italy don't) Our living room is huuuge with bookshelves with books from previous tenants, a tv, a glass kitchen table and a bunch of comfy chairs. Then is my roommate Kelly's room, who has the other single. From the living room, you can get out to our balcony that has a view of a courtyard. My other two roommates, Catherine and Jaime, share a huge room that is actually meant to be a triple. We have marble or wood floors everywhere, and in a nutshell this place has gone above and beyond my expectations. I expected a tiny box of an apartment with no room for anything, so I'm not complaining! My roommates seem really fun and nice, and I think were going to get along really well.

Today after I settled into the apartment, Catherine and I took a little walking tour of our own and wandered down the streets around our apartment. Fortunately, there is pretty much everything we could possibly need within a few blocks of the apartment--grocery store, coffee shops, bars, restaurants, stores. I thought I was going to faint from the sight of all the shoes and adorable purses in the windows. After that, I freshened up and we went to meet everyone for a little walking around Florence. We then took a bus about twenty minutes to have a wonderful dinner in Tuscany in a village called Settignano. We sat outside at a restaurant called La Capponcina di Set

tignano that overlooked Florence--it was beautiful. We then had a delicious 6 course dinner--yes, 6-- for the next three hours. Italians take their time while they eat, and our leaders told us that they wanted to give us as true of a Florentine experience as possible. The first course was an assortment of breads, the second a selection of meats and fried dough balls w

ith cheese spread, the third consisted of a meat pasta dish and a fresh mozzarella and tomato pasta,the fourth consisted of (way too many) pizzas, the fifth was some cabbage salad called rudicullo(?), and the sixth was dessert, which was a passionfruit mousse. Each of the dishes (with exception of the cabbage salad) was incredibly good. We went home feeling full and exhausted.

Despite my traveling chaos, my first day here was great. I can't wait to see what else Florence has in store for me!

Until next time,
Hilly Jo

Greetings from New York!

Didn't know that one of my destinations was New York? Neither did I. I thought I was going from Chicago to Rome, then from Rome to Florence. After departing from O'Hare about an hour and a half late yesterday, we find out (somewhere over the Atlantic) that our "ray-dah ees broh-keen" (radar is broken) and there is nothing we can do to fix it. Soo we turn around and emergency land at JFK. Fast forward a day, and I am currently sitting in the lobby of the hotel that they put us up in for the night, full of the generous complimentary breakfast we got a voucher for (mm free food). Instead of being in beautiful Florence right now, I am sitting on the cold marble floor of the lobby with all the other pissed off passengers. Last night I got shockingly close to having to break up a fight between an Italian flight attendant and the VERY angry lady that I was so lucky to be sitting next to on the flight.

So far, all we know is that our flight is rescheduled for 3 pm today. We're suppose to be picked up in about an hour for the airport, so there is a bit too much sitting around for my liking. So, I should be arriving in Rome at 5 am tomorrow, then getting rebooked for a connecting flight to Florence.

I'll post soon, hopefully from Italia!!

XOX
Hilly Jo