Thursday, October 20, 2011

Oggi in Italia...


Oggi Piove...
Today it is raining here in Firenze..reminds me of home. While I miss my family and my friends a lot, I definitely do not miss Ohio's not so lovely weather!
This morning I went to Italian as usual, when I got there I was surprised to see that more then half of the class was missing. Gloria, my professor (who is the cutest & funniest little Italian lady who likes to laugh at things that Americans do that does not make sense to her, she really is funny) felt the same way and she sat down and sighed and asked out loud what are we supposed to do now. A girl spoke up and said we should go to a bar to get expresso somewhat joking but not really...Gloria smiled and she said hm that is not a bad idea. Then she started to pack her stuff up & said vado (to go, let's go) Ha! I'd like to see a professor at KSU do that. Once Gloria was done writing a note on the board (in case any students showed up so they would know where we would be) and drew her little pictures she is known for we left for al bar per un caffè. We enjoyed latte's and cappuccino's as Gloria showed up pictures of her family and told us funny stories. She is such a little sassy sweety pie I want everyone to meet her haha. Anyways, so that was not a bad way to start this rainy day. 
Gloria & the note she left on the board
un bar


I just got back from touring the costume gallery at Palazzo Pitti....
Front of Pitti
Sidenote: a little background on Palazzo Pitti for those who might not know anything about it, thanks to Wikipedia...The Palazzo Pitti (Italian pronunciation: [pa ' lattso ' pitti]), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast mainly Renaissance Palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.
The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling families of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions.

We visited the gardens here when I got to Florence...it is pretty amazing. The Medici family had a huge impact on Florence and I hear that name constantly here. Anyways, the gallery contains a collection of theatrical costumes dating from the 16th century until the present. It is also the only museum in Italy detailing the history of Italian fashions. In addition to theatrical costumes, the gallery displays garments worn between the 18th century and the present day as well as garments worn by Cosimo Medici & his wife Eleonora of Toledo. The pieces where awesome to see and I will definitely be using them as inspiration as I continue to work on a project for my Product Development class. My group is designing a collection for Valentino for the Fall/Winter 2012 season. We have to basically do everything product developers do in the industry today then we present our final project to our class and the class decides who has the best and so on...I love it so far. We have the best inspiration right at our fingertips here in Florence as well as when we where in Paris. Love it.

View of the back of Pitti Palace from the Boboli Gardens

After the visit there I stopped in a few stores then ventured home to escape the rain. I figure it is the perfect night to snuggle up, journal, sketch some designs, and relax with some tea and music. Perfecto!

Well there ya go, another day in Italia

I got some mail from my Grandpa the other day & I love hearing from people back home so I was really excited to get it and had to give him a shout out =] Since I'm not traveling this weekend my goal is to post at least two more times before I leave for London....here's to the weekend!
Florence-from Medici's backyard. Nbd.

Gardens
Taking in the beautiful gardens-I miss the warm weather!!

1st Peter 5:7

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Only 2 months left....


 Ciao!
Today marks the halfway point of this semester abroad...only 60 more days left! =[ This trip has been pretty amazing so far and I have learned and seen so much it's crazy to think that 2 months have already gone by...
I can't think about leaving yet and it's good that I don't because there is so much going on in these last two months that I CAN wait to go home right now! Fall has officially hit Florence however right this second it feels like a frigid winter in Kent while I sit in my apartment!...The heat doesn't kick in until November here and sometimes it is colder inside then out. I think it is just a cold front that we have had the last few days...(I hope) My last post was all about the beach and now I can no longer wear shorts and summer dresses =/ No complaints though (unless my toes, hands, and nose fall off! =])..everyday is so beautiful....
Today, Brit & mo switched rooms with Jen & I in our apartment. Mo & Brit's bedroom is bigger & attached to our balcony while Jen & I had the smaller room with the larger bathroom. So to be even we decided that half way through the semester we would switch rooms that way we get the best of both. So far I am loving this room and all of the space in it. The view from my window isn't that bad either....
I feel like I have done a good job so far on this trip to live in the moment and really soak in life here...one of my many goals while I'm living in Italy is to take advantage of everyday. To stay content in the moment not worrying about the future and getting my mind off of what comes next. That was hard to do some days but i'm starting to get the hang of it. Now that I have moved rooms and am getting comfortable with life here I want to explore more of the city of Florence. I've taken random walks when I start to get stressed or miss home....it is nice to get a reminder of how awesome it is to be here and it's fun to find new places and things to see.
Studying on the balcony this afternoon...

I have done a lot since the last post about Amalfi...
Went to Paris (and fell in love. with the city of course), Como & Milan, and yesterday I saw some of the Tuscan countryside as we visited San Gimignano!.... Gone on some sweet site visits (museum, factory, store tours & etc...) for school.... Almost got hit by a car, twice... Added a new fave mexican restaurant (no judging, I miss mexican food okay) to the list of weekly stops as well as a gelato shop located on our street that has the best and cheapest gelato...... Relocated our Nutella collection because we ran out of shelf space......... Met another DJ who invited me to DJ with him, so I do, so fun.....Done some homework and projects....... Learned more about Italy in general, as well as Italy in the past, Italian fashion, Italian designers, and much more.... Chopped my bangs again.... And the list goes on...

I'll have to update with more about those trips and everything else later this week. This weekend I think I'm going to Venice then next Tuesday I leave for London! So I'll be sure to update before then that way family will stop emailing me to update hehe...I miss you all a lot and wish you where here. <3
Paris-Louvre
New Haircut
Milan-Duomo
San Gimignano-Tuscany
 Romans 8:31

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Positano & Pompeii...

 Finally updating and here goes the rest of my trip to Amalfi....

Positano
We spent our second day in the town Positano...The drive there was cool, we where on a highway (same one they used when filming the sweet scenes in the Fast & Furious movies of the cars zooming around hah) that wrapped the side of the mountains and as we drove I looked down and we where so close to the edge..any wrong move and we would be tumbling down into the ocean. Lovely=] The sun rising was gorgeous and once we arrived we walked down a few hundred stairs to the city. It was  a gorgeous town with postcard worthy views everywhere you looked. We spent the day at a private beach rotating between soaking up the sun and swimming in the clear water ocean. Has the best homemade slushies and gelato & nutella for lunch of course. Can you say best relaxing day ever!



That night we relaxed then explored the town..The view from our room wasn't bad....
Our Room

=]


What we do best

Uhm, 3 weirdos

<3

Brittany & Chris

Katie & Jen

Mo & I








Pompeii
Our last day we visited the city of Pompeii then climbed Mt. Vesuvius. I was really excited for this day because I remembered studying about Mt. Vesuvius and the destruction of the city and people of Pompeii and it was crazy to think that I was actually going to be able to see the city and the volcano that was responsible for such destruction & I've also always been fascinated with archaeology and discovering things from the past. It is amazing not only how much a single volcano destroyed but also the amount of remains that have been found.



Mount Vesuvius
Climbing this volcano was one of the best experiences and views I have ever seen. How cool is it that we are able to climb a volcano and see the crater & an amazing view......it was pretty sweet, I mean besides the fact that the volcano is still active..quite thrilling. No more words need to be said about it...Pictures will have to suffice (I took several hundred so i'll post a few..)...going there of course is the best way to experience it though so I encourage you to go =]



Brit & I where a little hyper on the way to Mt. Vesuvius & as a result we started recording several videos and since then have continued to try to capture some moments here in Italy...I'll start posting some of those soon =]

And that is the conclusion of my Amalfi adventure! Next up is Pariiiiii!


Since getting home from Paris I am now finally caught up on sleep and have had some fun times here in Florence. I've made it a point to explore as much of this city as possible when I'm not busy studying or traveling...I went on a random walk the other day and discovered some cool shops and watched the sun start to set over Ponte Vecchio..so pretty. I went on a run with Mo & Brit and we ran down to the river and ran the length of it and it was so cool to be running in such a beautiful place, dodging the people everywhere was not so fun but It made for some entertainment.

The fashion group here went to Como and Milan this past week on Thursday & Friday and we got to see some amazing art galleries and exhibits as well as tour a silk factory and museum. We learned a lot about the production of luxury products and saw some very creative art exhibits. More on those later.
When we got home Friday night it was really cold out & since then it seems the weather has changed all of the sudden and I'm thinking wearing shorts & summer dresses won't be happening anymore. I love fall though, it is my favorite so I don't mind the change.

School has been busy lately and I am still catching up on things but I like the pace of things here. My roommates Mo & Jen are Broadcast Journalism majors at KSU and while they are living here they are doing a project on life here in Florence and make episodes on various topics. They featured apartments in the second episode that just got finished & I was interviewed for it...Below is the link, some of our apartment is in the video as well as our balcony view here so be sure to check it out!
Flashes in Florence

That is all for now. Paris post will be up soon. Miss you all lots <3


Matthew 7:1-11