balconies and tomatoes

Hey all -- So this is the view from our balcony.  Right to Left (minus the HUGE tree blocking half of our view... hah)

Enjoy!

kinda cool huh?  I think so at least.. It's really nice to sit out there in the afternoon and sketch while listening to music when all my roommates are gone (no offense roommates...)

v this is the most amazing pasta I have ever cooked.  Even beats what we make at home mom! you'd be so proud! v

Probably looks kinda odd if u don't know what it is so i will explain.  I had just gone to the central market (pretty much an amazing farmers market on steroids)  They have ANYTHING you can imagine (cept apparently they don't have avacados here... not like that affects me much but random and who would have guessed...) anyways... back to my pasta.  I got homemade noodles (i think at least) Amazing olive oil, garlic, sundried tomatoes (soooo gooood here!) baby tomatoes, regular tomatoes, spinach, pecorino cheese, and a little basil with parmasean on top.  AMAZING!  had the same thing but on a flat bread last night so it was like a gormet pizza and had mac and cheese with everything cept the tomatoes the other day... SOOOO good!  but now i have no food left so it's back to basic mac and cheese and caprese salad for a night or two till i feel like embarrassing myself at the market with only italian numbers and thank you memorized.  

Anyways... That was serious ramble that I don't feel like going back and editing but summary I'm finally learning to cook, still frustrating getting around here, but i love it, especially those moments of peace and quiet I occasionally come by!

Miss you all and thanks for reading this and thinking of me!  About 100 days till i'm back in the good 'ol USofA.

Ciao!!

My Apartment! The official tour...

ok, so here is the official tour of my apartment! door #15 on ventisette aprile... second floor and here it is! (it has changed a lot since the first week when these photos were taken though.) Our beds now have comforters on them and are arranged slightly different (tables in different places, beds closer together...) Our sofa has been seriously pinned so it looks like a real couch cover thing. And our balcony is fixed so we can go out on it now... havent' taken a photo of that view yet though it is by far the best one of the house. So ya... enjoy!

My Front Door

our living room!

sofia's and my room!

our roommates room/ our balcony!

our kitchen

the view straight out of our kitchen window.

our kitchen table just after being cleaned (no table cloth or place mats...) and our "pantry" on the shelves in the back. Also both bathrooms are off of this room as is our roommates room and our living room. we use this room a lot.

in my room.. our closets!

looking out my bedroom window to the left towards piazza de independencia!

looking out my room window to the right up via ventisette aprile! Noisy, but great people watching!

Hope that helps! Computer is about to die but I have more to upload from my weekend of renaissance wine festivals, pisa, and roommate pics!

CIAO!

michael schwartz

mr. schwartz.  i miss you!  keep it real at the "mont"!  :-P  and when am i getting a letter from you??/ hearing from you in general!??

cinque terre and florentina soccer game!

First of all -- i am probably butchering the spellings of some of these words that are in here... I'm sorry. My computer does not auto correct italian words and I am far too lazy too waste time looking them up. hah.

Anyways. This weekend I went exploring cinque terre (five towns on the coast) with Ellie, a new friend, and it was amazing! There is an intense hiking trail connecting them all and we hiked about half of it and took a train between the others! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day!

In order to get to cinque terre we had to brave the italian train systems for the first time by ourselves. Quite the experience! Ellie luckily knows some italian so that came in very handy! Surprisingly we had no problems with our travels other than basic delays in train schedules. We did however have our first major encounter with gypsies! A gypsy woman and her two children plopped down next to us when we were half asleep on the train. Then about 7 other women and like 50 other children (yes, i'm slightly exaggerating) came on the train and were just causing chaos with all their children running around. They were apparently talking about how fortunate we were and then held out a coin and implied that they were asking for money. Lucky for us we had none on us, it was all in our backpacks above our heads. The next stop of the train and they were all gone from our car. Definitely a new experience! One to laugh about now though since nothing happened!

Also, If you ever go to cinque terre... The gelato there is seriously AMAZING! It puts florence gelato to shame! I got macaroon, dark chocolate, and toffee... seriously awesome!

The other thing I did this weekend was go to a florentina soccer match! Here are a few photos from the game! We went for my friend Ashley's birthday and all got florentine shirts and jerseys (their color is purple) to wear! Was pretty fun! I would definitely go back!!!

well.. unfortunately i've been sick for the last couple days so I've got to go to the doctor now. that should be another exciting adventure! hopefully this time the antibiotics work!!!

CIAO!!!

So I've officially decided that Florence is the nosiest city pretty much EVER!  Between the mass amounts of people around alllll the time and the constant noise of mopeds and buses charging past my window it is hard to get some peace and quiet.  I'm looking forward to this weekend and hopefully getting away from all of that for a day or at least an afternoon!!!  This morning I was out on my broken balcony (the quietest part of the apartment since it backs up to all the other backyards on our block) and for the first time could hear the church bells ringing in the distance and watched as the sun came up over the block of buildings closest to me.  All this while eating a banana and some bread with the best strawberry jam ever!!  

I got a pass to get into all the Firenze museums today so I'm hoping to start exploring those next week between classes when I have that large chunk of time in the afternoons!  

I have officially been to all my classes now too - - -

Italian = REALLY INTENSE!!!  she just jumped right into conjugations etc... sooo glad i have a basis in spanish cus otherwise i would be 150% lost.  hah  Tomorrow I have a one-on-one with a TA where I am just going to go walking around or to a coffee shop with him and only speak italian so I can learn... yeahh... not good.  Though it isn't required or graded so I guess it's good practice.  I'm already tired of being a stupid American tourist around here.  I need to learn some Italian and quickly!

Advanced Drawing = Very challenging but my teacher seems cool.  He likes to talk a lot but I think he will help me a lot in my growth as an artist.  We started class off with some basic lectures and the syllabus then jumped right into figure drawing!  It felt good to get back in the practice of that!  Looking forward to that again today now that I actually have my supplies!

Ceramics = Three other westmont girls are in that class with me which is cool.  On our first day we made pinch pots and learned the basics.  Still have to get my supplies for that class which is kinda a pain in the butt.  Not only is it really expensive I can't speak italian yet and can't find the stinking places without making it a two hour process!  Today coming back from the drawing and painting store was pretty entertaining trying to maneuver the tiny crowded streets with a big old portfolio and heavy bag of paper and supplies!

Painting Conservation = probably the most intense of my studio classes!  I took an intership in conservation this past semester in Santa Barbara at FACL.... this type of conservation seems totally different.  American restoration was more to fix the piece so it looks new and thus it's value increases and can be sold for more... Italian restoration is simply to do as little as possible and keep the piece in tact.  Italian art apparently can't be sold to anyone so it is of "no value" so the value of it is keeping it historical, not redone to the best of some restorers abilities... should be a very interesting class.  I'm excited to get some hands on work on friday!

Well my computer time is up! Ciao!  

And more pictures to come next time i take my laptop to SACI!

I started Classes today! Italian 101 seems like it could be challenging which i suppose is good.... My housemate is in it and is really good with languages so that will be nice! I realized my apartment is probably in the most convenient location ever today! My italian classes are in a building on the other side of the park from my apartment, i am like two blocks away from marcado centrale and the main campus of the school is right by that! Seriously everything in florence is within walking distance though which is crazy but awesome since walking is really the only form of transportation I have!

I hope to go to a soccer game and the beach (possible cinque terre) this weekend!

I am finally able to upload photos so here is a sampling of some stuff i've been up to!

off to drawing class now! ciao for now! :-)

Here is a sample of photos from a friend till i get to a place where my computer can get internet!!  

These photos are of my roommate Sofia, Me, and Hillary (another Student from Westmont randomly enough)  We went on a walking tour of florence with our school the other day and afterward decided to do a little more exploring over by the river area!  

The first picture is from the famous bridge in Florence that is in all the postcards.  (Historical Fact: This is the one bridge in Florence Hitler decided to not blow up.  It was his contribution to the art world.  The bridge on the other side is also an orriginal though it did get blown up but then was pieced back together!) 

The Second Photo is from the Boboli Gardens on the other side of the river!  Quite the walk but sooo worth it!  It was gorgeous and had such an amazing view of Florence from the top!  I don't know much about it other than it has a bunch of really old sculptures and was the property of the Medici family back in the day.  They're coat of arms logo thing is all over..

So basically i have been having an amazing time!  Almost wishing I didn't have to go to school here in a coupe days!! But my classes look amazing!  I'm taking Advance Drawing, Painting Conservation, Italian, and Ceramics!!  

O!  And for those of you who requested my address for mailing it is just SACI's address.  Apparently the mail system here for short term apartments isn't too reliable.  It's super easy for me to pick up letters at the SACI office though!  Also, if you want a postcard you need to email me your address (unless you are immediate family.. those i've already got!)

Mailing Address:  SACI - Studio Arts Centers International

Jacquelyn Purvis

Palazzo dei Cartelloni

Via Sant'Antonio, 11

50123 Firenze, Italy

And if you want to look me up on google maps or something this is my actual address:

XXVII Aprile, 15

Firenze, Italy

Miss you all and i'll try and update again soon!

CIAO!!

Just got internet! Pictures coming soon!!
ciao!

Not much time left on the computer but wanted to let you all know that I am here and safe! My apartment is pretty nice and Florence is awesome! I am rooming with Sofia and have to other apartment mates... Jackie (random) and Emily! Easy names to remember at least! I've been going by jacquelyn over here which is kinda hard to get used to! We also have three other SACI students living across the hall from us which is way nice! one of them from westmont too! (reed)
More orrientation and stuff tomorrow! And hopefully getting a cellphone and internet so I can be in better contact soon! As far as mail goes... just send it to SACI (website to the side of this note) and write my name on it!
Miss you all and hope all is well in your lives!
ciao!
jacqueyn