My good friend Emma from Elon visited me last weekend. That was great, because I saw the city (once again) through someone else's eyes. On Wednesday we went to another Florence soccer game. I did my best to cheer in Italian like everyone else in the stands. We were sectioned off with some of our American classmates anyway. I tried to talk to a guy sitting near me in Italian, but it didn't get me far. He didn't know much English, surprisingly, so we both just watched the game.
After Italian class Thursday morning I met up with Emma and her friends to take them to my new favourite place, the Boboli gardens. For someone who wants to learn how to appreciate Florence - go here. It's the perfect combination of city and nature. You have a beautiful landscaped green park with big areas of grass to sit and pathways lined with trees, but there's also a view of the city in front of you. We walked around for a little while but then we had to leave so that we'd have time for lunch before my Art History class. I took them to Gusta pizza and they were as impressed with the pizza as I've always been.
In Art History we visited the San Lorenzo church, which was beautiful and fascinating. I will never tire of visiting churches the way I might a museum. There's something particularly special about such beautiful artwork being chosen to be shown in such a sacred space. And it's so peacefully quiet and the natural light coming in through stain-glassed windows creates this alternate-universe atmosphere.
That night we went to a fun bar, Uncle Jimmy's, and did Karaoke. We ended the night at a new club, Full Up, which was fun - neon lights, loud music, a downstairs room, pretty typical - but the Italian men (and I do mean men... at least 30) were creeping us all out because they wanted to dance with us and we wanted to be left alone.
The next day, Friday, I had the day to spend with Emma. We had breakfast and brainstormed about what to do. Finally we decided climb the Duomo (which was great but exactly the same as the first time) and then we'd rent some bikes and bike to this spot, Piazzale Michaelangelo, where you have a view of the whole city.
I didn't have incredibly high expectations, but it turned out to be one of my favourite things I've done abroad.
First off, biking was incredible. There were leaves on the ground, it was finally cold (it's been August-weather until literally last week), and it struck me as the first Suburban-looking area I've seen: people out walking their dogs, small modest houses with wire fences, cars that drive down curving roads. Emma and I got a great chance to talk leisurely as we pressed on, upward on a curving bike trail. Finally, we reached the spot.
Part of it was the timing of it all. The sun was setting and the sky was bright pink. And slowly, one by one across the city, we watched as lights turned on. It felt as if I was able to see two different cities in two minutes. First, Florence with tan buildings and red roofs and brown cobblestone streets. Then, like a light switch had flicked on, a city that was immersed in light. It was truly glowing. The lights shone on the water of the Arno. It was magical.
^For the record, this picture doesn't capture it in the same way you feel it.
After Emma left, we had a few pretty stressful but uneventful school days (Except once... I went to buy this beautiful journal that is handmade, and no two are the same... anyways, so I'm in the middle of picking out my journal when this old man approaches and begins trying to help, suggesting different colours, etc. All of a sudden he asks me to follow him into the back room. I do, and it looks like he's going to show me how he paints the journals - but then he starts handing ME tools and asking me to do it. All of a sudden he says, "everyone, come here!" Next thing I know, I am demonstrating something I've never done to a room full of strangers. But I got a discount on my journal, so that was good). Anyways, then this weekend we had a field trip to Volterra (where Twilight was filmed) and Siena. Siena is one of the prettiest places I've seen. It has this center of town that is circular. The shops sit atop this circle, and then it goes downhill like a drain to the center point in the middle. The city is built on a hill so I guess they decided when they built it that the center of town should be where everything meets at the bottom of the hills. It also has a fascinating history. It was supposed to be like another Rome or Florence, but the Black Plague wiped out 60% of their population and they never fully recovered. Florence took over, which is why they now have some Florence-styled architecture. They also attempted to build the largest cathedral in Italy, but again, when the black plague happened their plans were abandoned.
After, we went to Volterra. This was a beautiful and very tiny and quaint town. It was on top of a hill, and as the sun was setting we had the most magnificent view - endless green fields reaching back and disappearing into the mountains. I could see a few houses but not many, and not many roads, so when it got dark the entire landscape fell black - there weren't any streetlights to light it up. We were there for a truffle festival, but seeing as I didn't have 1,000 for a truffle (they are so valued because they are so rare and hard to find... they are underground and you have to hunt them with trained dogs), I basically just tested the cheese and bought some chocolate. The drive home was one of my favourite parts. It was dark but the lights from the bus lit up the road in front of us. I saw flashes of plain open fields and then these beautiful trees and things being harvested and growing.
This week we visited Santa Croce, which I'm surprised I haven't seen sooner. It's three minutes from my apartment building, and it houses the "remains" (our teacher was skeptical) of Michaelangelo, Dante, Galileo. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I loved the story we heard about Saint Francis.
That's all that's really been happening - other than how immensely fast our time is flying by. Next weekend we have a field trip to an area near the Austrian border and which I've heard has Austrian influence, so I'm excited for that. The following weekend is my last weekend in Florence (terrifying), and the following weekend I'm spending Thanksgiving in Paris (no complaints here).
Then finals and then I am home.
Part of me is excited to be home, but another part of me is terrified to leave this place - I'm saddest about leaving the little things: the woman who owns the shop beside our apartment and has been here her whole life, over 70 years. The sandwich shop man who always says buongiorno in the morning, starting my day off right. The guy at the coffee place who knows my name. Such a strange thought that these people, these places, these things won't always be right beside me.
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