Sunday, December 13, 2015

Week 4: Florence!

domenica 27/09

     Finally.. the day had come! Even before I came to Italy, Florence was a place that called out to me, a place that has been on my bucket list since kindergarten. In the morning when I woke I sat down with the family and we ate a large breakfast that lasted more than an hour. I remember going through two cups of milk solely from dipping my biscotti in it, and decided that I should probably stop. I know some people may think the another fat student term is just a joke, but it's a serious problem for us exchange students.. especially in Italy. I mean, we have Nutella, pastas, pizzas, and literally some of the most delicious cuisine on the planet. 

     It was around two o'clock when I headed to the station to catch the train. My friends from class were supposed get onto the train and try to find me on the train in Pontedera. They jumped on and eventually found me. Once we were united, I immediately felt bad for the rest of the passengers on our level of the train, as our octave was definitely not the level of keeping to ourselves. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable train ride.



     My friends first took me by the Santa Maria Novella church and soon-after, we headed towards a gelateria near Ponte Vecchio. When we went inside, being the american that I am, and loving ice cream way too much, I ordered the largest size and dumped six euros into the cashiers hand. I swear, the cone must've at least been the size of my forearm. I walk out with guilt streaked across my face and immediately go to town on it so I'm not the last one standing.

     In normal cases, that amount of gelato would have created a trauma, but let's be honest.. I'm american. We just love our unhealthy foods, don't we? I can still recall during last summer when my mother would bring home a pint of ice cream and I'd eat at least three-fourths of it within twenty minutes of it's arrival, twenty of those minutes being time spent to let it thaw.

     After our overdramatic stop at the gelateria, we headed to Ponte Vecchio, one of the most famous landmarks located in Florence, and probably in all of Italy. Looking back at my post with photos of Pisa, I think I used a photo of Ponte Vecchio in there.. oops! While en route, Matteo volunteered to tell me all about the history of the bridge, and why it is what is. If you aren't already aware, there are only jewelry stores on the bridge. This is due to Medici's displeasure in the smell of butcher shops when crossing the bridge. The views from the middle of the bridge were breathtaking. I was looking forward to going there, but in all honesty, I didn't have many expectations, and boy was I wrong. I'm not sure if a picture would be able to capture the entire moment. The way the air is flowing past you in certain places, still in others. The faint smells of gourmet food just a block away, sunlight pouring onto the street and reflecting off any and every piece of jewelry in the display cases. It just felt so.. different. I can't explain in words the entirety of the moment, but regardless, if you're in town, go there.

     From there, we headed down the street and crossed through the Piazzale degli Uffizi and Matteo broke into a philosophical rant about Machiavelli and the other statues that were located there. In class we are studying about Boezio and Machiavelli, so I guess it was a chance moment. Upon exiting, we were thrust into a beautiful square with a bunch of famous sculptures, and the Fountain of Neptune.



     It was beginning to get fairly late since we were essentially wandering around the city, but we happened upon the Piazza della Repubblica where the Apple store is located, among other shops and also a Hard Rock Cafe. We stopped in to get a quick coffee, and headed to see the duomo before leaving the city.

     It was a little bit depressing, having to take a different train then everyone else on the way home, but the silence was a little surreal. I don't know how to explain it, but it was a mellow feeling that could leave me in tears looking back on it, but this was the first day where I could think to myself and say with certainty, "I'm glad that I am an exchange student."


Santa Maria Novella
Duomo di Firenze
Ponte Vecchio

View from the middle of the bridge
Piazzale degli Uffizi
Palazzo Vecchio


lunedì 28/09

     School was the next day, leaving me with almost no time for rest. It felt different. Somehow, school seemed to become a lot more enjoyable, but hadn't changed at all really. I think that I finally began to feel a connection with the people in my class, after weeks of trying. During class, I seemed to be talking more, participating more, and I officially received my first 'nickname'. Matteo is a little absent minded, so when he realized the connection between Giacomo and James, he shouted during the middle of class, "Giacomo!". I turned beat red as everyone in the class stared at me and I had to refrain from laughing out loud, and buried my face in my arms with my hand covering my mouth to attempt to mute myself. It was great.

     Following school, I started my first Italian lesson with Marzia. I really like my tutor, she is incredibly nice, and seems like she will be a great accomplice in the future. I feel like she will be a great teacher. During the first lesson, she was really surprised by the amount of Italian I had learned solely from living in a house with a host family for three weeks. During dinner, while I was telling the family all about my day, Paolo commented on how much my Italian has improved since I arrived in Italy on the fourth of September. I was ecstatic that it wasn't my imagination, and that I was slowly but surely learning.

martedì 29/09

     During school on Thursday, it was pretty normal, except for the trials they put the poor professor through. After the third period, there is a break. During this time, we have the class to ourselves for about ten minutes for talking, eating, and essentially doing whatever we want. The professor of Latin and Italian is notoriously known for being oblivious to everything. Since this is the case, they put on an Italian cartoon show called Gormiti.


     It literally took the professor ninety minutes before she looked over and recognized that there was something playing on the computer, and the look on her face was amazing. After a moment of surprise, she snapped back to her book and continued reading as if she didn't even care that there were little toons attacking each-other during a serious latin lecture.

     In route to the train station, Francesca and Virginia caught up with me and we talked about how Florence was, and also about tennis. I'm really hoping I can play with them in the future, but that will be dependent on how well I fast I can improve. At home there was fried fish that was really hard to eat, because you had to remove the bones manually. It's extremely different than the states, because everything is either boneless or genetically modified to be superior to their organic counterparts.

     I finished up the day with some studying for the science test on Thursday, and then had my tutor appointment.

mercoledì 30/09

     I went to school as normal today, but there ended up not being philosophy during the fifth period, so our class was able to leave at twelve. I went to the library to study for the science test after that, and then went home.

     I went to my lessons with Marzia again, and we were able to finally start actually doing things. The first day was more of a day to understand what my current knowledge was, and how I would like to pace. I find myself a lot more comfortable to talk around Marzia, and it made it really easy for me to improve my Italian without feeling pressured about messing up. When I don't know a word, instead of explaining in English, or letting me use google translate—as I had been using in the past—she would explain in Italian using hand gestures, and motion queues to help me understand it as a Italian word, not a translation.

     I think she wants me to be able to speak in Italian without having to think in English for the translation, as I'm sure many people do when taking a class in high school. When I was taking Spanish in the states, I would read the sentence but translate each word in my head and then rearrange before writing the next thing. I like the way she teaches because it allows me to skip a few of those steps, and hopefully will allow me to learn at a faster pace.

giovedì 01/10

     I went to school today in eight or nine degree weather (this is about 46-50 degrees fahrenheit) and I only had on a t-shirt and a down vest. When I showed up, my friends were appalled. They couldn't believe that someone would be crazy enough to wear what I was in this weather. I was a little confused, because in San Francisco, this is fairly normal weather along the coast and in the city, and I'd wear shorts daily.

     They complained to me and urged to me to buy a jacket right away after school; I'm sure they were worried for my sake. Four weeks in, I've noticed how stubborn Italians can be, but they are the most caring and hospitable people I've ever met. I headed straight to H&M after arriving in Pisa and bought what I thought was a jacket, but apparently they have different standards. In Italy, a hoodie is called a felpa, essentially a thin jacket. What they meant by jacket, was something more along the standards of a parka, called a giacca. It's pretty easy to confuse the two, since I never really needed anything above a light jacket in the states.

     Following school, I had my first day of tennis. The name of the place is Tennis Club Pisa, which I snickered at a little. Unfortunately, people here aren't too good with English, and in result, the places with English names are pretty bland. I showed up, and immediately met Stefano, Virginia, Pietro, and Francesca. The practice was pretty short by my standards (about fifty minutes), but there was a workout after the practice on Thursdays, so I got to start off with a longer practice.

     Tennis was really fulfilling, and I felt an attachment to it, I could tell from that one practice that this is something I will be continuing for a long time. Once I got home, I noticed there was a new bed in the studio that was accompanied by two filled suitcases. There wasn't anyone at home besides my host mom and two of my brothers, which made me even more curious. Leaving it alone while I went to take a shower, I come out and meet Giulia—the niece of Paolo—which was awkward, to say the least. She was only going to be here for dinner and the night, but it was a nice change of pace.

venerdì 02/10

     I woke up at five in the morning on Friday in order to get in a quick run around the city before I had to leave to catch the train. This was one of the first workouts that I'd done since arriving in Italy, and I honestly felt really unhealthy with how hard it was to do. I definitely want to run more, I just hope I have the opportunity to do so. At school there wasn't really anything of note except that we got our permanent class schedules. It looks like this:

4A
lunedì
FILOSOFIA
STORIA
FISICA
MATEMATICA
SCIENZE
martedì
ED. FISICA
ED. FISICA
LATINO
FILOSOFIA
FISICA
mercoledì
RELIGIONE
FILOSOFIA
STORIA
INGLESE
ITALIANO
giovedì
MATEMATICA
MATEMATICA
INGLESE
ITALIANO
SCIENZE
venerdì
ITALIANO
ITALIANO
SCIENZE
LATINO
FISICA
sabato
MATEMATICA
LATINO
ARTE
ARTE
INGLESE

     While on my way to my Italian lessons, it was raining, so I had to walk in the downpour with a flimsy dollar-store-grade umbrella, a thin jacket, and no socks. It sucked, to say the least. From what I've seen so far, the weather here is similar to where I lived in Austin, TX. It's a beautiful day one moment, not a cloud in the sky, and then, out of nowhere, clouds materialize and a thunderstorm is taking place. By the time I got there, I was really wet, and took a few moments to attempt at drying off. About ninety minutes into the lesson, I began to sneeze and get really sick. I ended up having to leave the lesson early.

     Paolo and Giulia went out on a date, or some kind of outing so just us brothers had a meal, which was pretty quick in comparison to the one-to-two hour long dinners that was the usual occurrence here. It was a good day for a short dinner, because I would've passed out at the table had it been any longer. I crashed in my bed with a handful of tissues.

sabato 03/10

     I woke up a little later on Saturday—still feeling sick—but reluctantly still got ready for school. I must've been a pretty depressing sight, face not included, because I was asked by every member of the family if I felt alright. From what Paolo told me later in the day, I was off balance the entire morning. I was all ready, but Paolo and Giulia suggested that I stay home from school, so I crawled back into bed and slept until two in the afternoon, waking to the smell of lunch. Besides studying a little on Rosetta Stone, I resigned myself to my bed and watched some Reign.