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!