First Official Post

Hi Everyone!!

I am setting up this blog because I have attempted to send an email to my fantastic extended group of family/friends twice and my computer always losses my drafts so I figure if I can do this it would be easier and this way I can attach a ton of pictures!! Hope all is well with all of you! You can not know how much I miss everyone. Although I am having an incredible time, there really is no place like home and the people there!!

Florence is absolutely incredible, and everything is soooo different here but in such an extraordinary way that challenges and amazes me. School has been going really well, and I am loving my host family. My host mom is Daniela, and she lives with her husband/boyfriend... the language barrier on the first day keeps me from knowing their actual relationship but whatever it is they are both very sweet. Daniela speaks fluent English and Noni (her partner) is currently learning English and uses any opportunity to practice, so while I ask very stilted questions in Italian, he answers in English making for some hilarious moments of confusion. My roommate is named Courtney and she is from New Orleans, and don't worry her family was not harmed in the last storm!!

I have met some awesome people here! The one I have become closest with is the girl I actually sat next to on the flight over from California! Her name is Michelle (quick stats: from Oregon, goes to USC) and if you look at any of my travel pictures you can tell we are slightly attached at the hip. Last weekend we went to Lucca, which was the most beautiful picturesque Italian town that is still completely surrounded by the medieval fortress walls. The trip was incredible, and I even braved my fear of heights and climbed a tall tower with very insubstantial stairs 10 stories up! We are planning on heading to Bologna this weekend, so I am suitably excited about that!

This is getting a bit long, but.... well its been over a month since any of you had to listen to me rabble so maybe you are due ;) I am taking four classes, including beginning Italian. My two art history classes are so interesting. One is an advanced seminar solely on Leonardo with Rab Hatfield who is one of the foremost opinions on the artist, and the other class is a lecture on the High Renaissance and Mannerist Periods with an emphasis on the creation of artistic identities and the way that art shaped the political propaganda of the time in Florence and beyond. Obviously I am in heaven!! My last class is one I picked on a whim when I decided that I needed to laugh just a little bit more. It's called Comedy in Italy Through the Ages from Renaissance on. So far we have read plays by Plautus, Boccaccio, Machiavelli (yes he was also a playwright, something I didn't know!!) and Dario Fo. I never knew much about Italian comedy but so far I just can't believe how much I am enjoying it.

Phew!! If you are still reading I applaud you and promise the next installations will be far less exhaustive! I hope you are all doing really well and just in case you happen to be in Europe soon or just want to talk to me my Italian number is +39 320 8008958 and I can actually still be reached by my US number too.

Please let me know how you are and I hope to hear from everyone soon!!

From Florence With Love,
That Girl in Europe