Brava

Ponte vecchio - seen from my bridge....just down the road from where i live...

dome of duomo....

Via Maggio- the street where I live.

My Bridge! :-D

street artists.

Brunelleschi's dome.

Vivo la Vita

my first photo of the ponte vecchio- ain't it beautiful? I'm a tourguide here....Duomo.........definitely moving up in the world.

Buon Compleanno Guinness!

Arezzo

Florence Wine Frestival!

we're cultured....

modern day monets....kind of...

i'm painting this....(what's behind me...not me...)

hmmm..what's new? let me think. I'm a tourguide at the Duomo. :-D that's pretty awesome. i give my first tours this week (say a little prayer for me...i'm nervous).....

Last week i went to class as usual. in my painting class we traveled to the boboli gardens in the pitti palace. its quite a climb up to the top, but it has quite a rewarding view.

Monday night i went to a concert at the SanMichelle Church put on by the Florence strings orchestra. such a great experience. my butt hurt after sitting on the wooden pews for so long, but it was worth it. :-D

Tuesday night my roommate's family was here, so i got to meet them. Her brother and cousin came too, so we went out with them to a pub called the Fish Bowl next to the San Lorenzo church. we also went to a bar call bebop- it has live performers doing covers of different bands, and tuesday night was Beatles night. we're thinking of going back for Elvis soon. :-D

Just in case you weren't aware- Thursday was Guinness' 250th birthday...thought i'd share...

That night 2 of my roommates and a bunch of my other friends headed out for oktoberfest which just had its last weekend. So my friend Michelle (whose roommates were all gone) and I (who also was lacking in the roommate/friend department) went to a pub next to the duomo called the Old Stove. They were giving out free t-shirts and glasses. we toasted to Guinness' birthday. then went for some gelato. and we made a friend there named Josh. he was visiting Florence for the weekend.

Friday i had a field trip to Arezzo and Sansepolcro with my Early Renaissance Art class. It was so much more fun that the last one since the group was smaller (half of the class was missing- cough***oktoberfest***cough). our professor is such a wealth of information. i wish i could bring him home and let you all experience him, but thus- i cannot.

Arezzo is this amazing town set back into a hill. we got amazing pizza from this little bakery that our professor (Peter) knows and they had wine for 75 cents! unheard of! and yes- Peter insisted we get it! i sure am not at grove city anymore! they would have shook their heads.

we got to see amazing paintings by piero de francesca. absolutely beautiful! there's nothing like experiencing that type of artwork in person (slides just don't show the half of it!)

Sansepolcro is where Francesca was from and buried- so we saw more painting, got gelato and headed on our merry little ways.

Saturday Michelle and I went back to the boboli gardens to finish our paintings. it was such a beautiful day. sunny (hot). the weather has been so gorgeous!

there is also a wine festival going on right now in florence (right behind my apartment- convenient right?) I guess they have it every year- "Florence wine event". you get a cool wine glass and get to go around tasting different wines. i'm pretending i know the difference. it's quite the experience- tons of locals coming out of the woodwork, and lots of funky tourists too.

that night we went out with our new friend Josh who was spending his last night in the area. it was a sad goodbye, but i'm sure we made his time here enjoyable.

Today- continued on with the wine festival. sat on the grounds of the pitti palace doing homework sipping wine in the sunshine. it was quite an enjoyable day.

and that leads me to now.

oh yeah- i also took my first pictures of the ponte vecchio and the duomo this week. i've put it off because i wanted to get my bearings here before i spent all my time behind a camera. but now i've documented some of what i see everyday. (you're welcome....) haha

con affetto

ciao

Address in Firenze

Kelsie Jane Gerber
Via Maggio 45
Florence, Italy 50125

I'm going skydiving.

italian students we ate dinner with. and attempted to speak italian to....

This is where St. Francis of Assisi is buried.

ASSISI

most beautiful church ever in Orvieto.

vineyard (tuscan farm)

(I love my friends here)

this week went sooo fast. i hope things slow down soon. i don't even know what i accomplished this week. probably nothing.

Monday- class

Tuesday- class and dinner with Italian students

**our school set up a dinner that we could sign up for to eat with italian students. it was supposed to be for us to practice our italian. but we sat with a guy who spoke really good english- so he basically practiced his english. and we asked him loads and loads of questions. he was really nerdy. but nice.

afterwards, we went out for gelato with our new friends. i didn't have any money on me, but this one italian got some and let me have a few bites of his because he felt bad for me. it was the cutest thing ever. i loved them.

then we hung out on the ponte vecchio for awhile.

wednesday- painting. it rained so we were stuck inside.

thursday- class and then i went out with my friends. we got all dressed up and went to this new club that had its opening night. it was crazy packed, and hot. so we left. and i went to bed.

friday- ASSISI AND ORVIETO

For one of my classes we had to go on a field trip to assisi and orvieto. i absolutely love my professor for this class. he speaks 6 different languages, wears plaid pajama looking pants, has crazy einstein hair, and talks about one thing for an hour. we had to leave at 8 because assisi is 3 hours away from school, and we didn't get back until 8 at night. it was a long day.

we started by seeing the church where St. Francis died.

then we traveled into the actual city. it's set back into the hill, and it's absolutely gorgeous! probably one of my favorite places so far (besides cinque terre). there were several cathedrals within assisi that we visited here. First, the one where St. Francis' girlfriend is buried (we saw her body- she's a saint apparantely), and second, the church where St. Francis is buried (we saw him too...really cool).

then we ate pizza. i got some postcards. and we were on our way to Orvieto

Orvieto= most beautiful church EVER

my photos probably won't do it justice, but it's aboslutely gorgeous. i wish i could've spent all day staring at it. the details are astounding. and the frescoes on the inside are fantastic.

that was basically it for orvieto.

then we headed back to firenze.

and i got pizza from gustapizza for dinner. (pizza for two meals in a day, i know. but i didn't care. i was hungry and tired).

Saturday- cutest vineyard ever

our school arranged for us to tour a vineyard, have a wine tasting, and eat an amazing meal. the view was amazing, and we learned about the process of growing each different type of grape, and how to make wine. very interesting.

lunch was so yummy. penne, beef stew, potatoes, and some kind of chocolate pudding dessert. and lots of wine. made me tired. made everyone tired.

then we headed back to firenze.

that night my friends and i went out to celebrate my friend sage's birthday. loads of fun. i have such great friends here. <3 <3 <3

today- boring. nothing to report. i did homework. haha and showered. :-D

ciao

p.s. my friend and i just booked a trip to Switzerland. soooo excited. she wants to go skydiving. i'm thinking not. she's crazy.

oct. 1st i'm going to the amalfi coast. i'll be sure to take loads of photos. :-D

Fiorentina- soccer game

crazy fans....

Sunday was a soccer day....(or football if we must be technical)

a bunch of people from my program got tickets and we went to the game. it was really really hot and then it started downpouring. and since it hasn't rained yet since we've been in italy none of us were prepared. we got really wet. and were really cold.

the florence team was playing cagliari. and of course- we were their lucky charms so they won 1-0.

then we went to mcdonald's to celebrate as any good americans would. and i got my first big mac ever. it wasn't that good. but i was quite a fan of the french fries. and coca-cola. and yes, they have a euro menu. and free bathrooms.

Va Bene

This is where I live.....

Lindsey (my apartment-mate) broke my roommate's bed...

we got McDonalds. it was a beautiful day. my tummy was very happy

our kitchen

my bedroom!!! :-D

Saturday i moved into my apartment in Florence. finally.

i love love love love love love love my apartment. i share it with 3 other girls. we live right down the street from the arno river and the bridge we cross everyday looks right at the ponte vecchio. we have 2 bathrooms, a small kitchen, a living room, and two bedrooms. everything is furnished (microwave, hairdryers, toaster, etc.). we even have one of those cute little clothes lines that hang out of our window out over the ground below on the little pulley system. i feel like a true italian when i do my laundry. our landlord is super adorable, we have a tv that spats out loads of italian, the walls are full of weird drawings and paintings (one we took down because the creepy lady in the picture scared us too much), and we even have a really cute neighbor who keeps his bike downstairs. we see him once and awhile pumping up his tires. we exchange "ciao's" and then go on our merry little ways.

my classes are closer than going to grove city's. and if anyone knows grove city, that's pretty darn close. i can leave at 5 till and still make it on time. and our school is a beautifully renovated building. i should also mention that i don't have classes on friday. i think that's quite a nice perk. extended weekends are quite amazing.

i'm taking Fashion Marketing, Painting, Italian Early Renaissance Art, and Basic Spoken Italian while i'm here.

already in my painting class we've gone on site to paint a church (tourists took pictures of us. little did they know that we're tourists too...)

in my early renaissance art class we went to the duomo and studied its history of construction. its truly fascinating. however, i was really surprised to find out that the fascade of the cathedral was just recently completed. in the 1920s! that's so new!!! i can't look at it the same.

i'm not fluent in italian yet, but i'm trying. i'll let you know how i'm doing later on. right now i'd say C+ :-D

so now for a day by day update::::

Saturday-
we left Lido di camaiore and moved our things into our new florence apartments. then we had dinner provided for us by our school (Richmond) at a really nice restaurant. i then went out on the town. which ended up being me, one of the 4 guys in our program, and two other girls wandering around for 3 hours trying to find something to do. we were pretty pitiful. i saw the duomo for the first time that night, and also got myself oriented to the city. so the night was not a complete waste.

Sunday-

orientation. the school told us about safety, how to call 9-1-1 (or 113 in Firenze), and also gave us our most valuable possession: our meal vouchers. they give us the abilitiiy to go to restaurants and eat food without having to pay. sooo sooo sooo nice.

that night we went to the most beautiful restaurant. its right on the arno river and the waiter gave us complimentary champagne to toast our first night in florence.

monday-

first day of class. painting class we went on site to paint. i found out how bad of a painter i am. but that's ok. then i had a few hours to kill before italian so i walked to the supermarket. i bought some essentials with my meal vouchers. toilet paper was desperately needed.

that night i cooked dinner for me and a friend (spaghetti...nothing too serious). and we ate in my apartment. it was super chill. we went for some gelato afterwards. i got cookie. it's my favorite so far. and of course we sat on the bridge looking at the ponte vecchio glittering in the night lights while we ate it. then we talked for a bit and she walked home and i went back to the apartment to watch bambi in italian. i had no idea what he was saying. but i still cried when his mom died. stupid man in the forest.

tuesday-

class. used the internet for a bit. gotta love internet. more class. then i went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant in the middle of town with a large group of friends. it was one of the girl's birthday. we ate gnocchi and veal. molto bene. then we went to the birthday girls apartment for some celebratory wine. then went to an American bar. i know, very cliche of us. but they were playing some soccer game that everyone wanted to watch. i wasn't very interested. then i walked home across the ponte vecchio. it was very pretty...

wednesday-

class again. i only have painting until 12 this day. then i'm done. i love wednesdays now. my roommate tiffany and i went to H&M after class to check things out. we were in a shopping mood. then we window shopped. ate some gelato. you know, the good stuff.

that night i went to dinner at an outdoor cafe overlooking the palace that's the next street over from my apartment. the food was good (i had gnocchi and roast beef). after i went over to my friend's apartment while they booked themselves some trips. they're all going to oktoberfest. i'm not sure what i'm doing.

thursday (aka yesterday)-

last day of class before the weekend. internet guy came to our apartment. so now i have internet. and i can update this more often. yay for me. and for you!

then we got all bedazzled and went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. there were cute waiters (they were italian...of course...) and we tried to speak italian to them. it didn't go so well. better luck next time i hope.

then we went out on the town once more. this time with a little more luck.

this brings me to today. Friday-

no class today.

traveled to a little town up on the top of a hill just north of Florence called Fiesole. we visited the ruins and museum there. really cool.

then we hiked up an evil hill and the view of Florence was FANTASTIC! we ate brunch afterwards. i ate way too much food (but free food always seems like a good deal to me.) and then that leads me to now.

in between all that there were walks to the duomo, window shopping on the ponte vecchio and other such adventures, but the whens and the exact wheres have been lost in my brain. so just create your own pictures in your heads and i'm sure the images will be quite colorful and beautiful and close to correct.

i also got a cell phone. i feel so much safer now. even though i live on a major street and have never felt unsafe in the town ever, its nice to know i have to way to call someone if i need.

mom has the number if you feel the need to give me a ring. i'm not charged a cent if you do :-D hehe

well, until next time everyone. i hope the U.S. is treating you all well...enjoy the changing of the leaves for me(Florence doesn't have that many trees).

Ciao!

internet

so i'm still alive. moved into florence. happy and so forth.
but internet is a buzzkill here. expensive, and slow.

so updates soon. but not now.

<3

free internet is like giving a little kid candy...

This is our school- the local public school. it has the coolest graffiti on the outside.

this was the view while we were eating dinner on the beach...

marble quarry...

cinque terre

these are my roommates for the apartment in Florence....(overlooking Lucca)

i finally found a place with free internet. so i don't have to pay for every minute i spend online. so now i can update you all on what i've been up to.

Last Thursday: Marble Quarry and dinner on the beach

our group went up the mountain (if i forgot to mention, there are mountains behind us...yes, that's right- ocean in front, mountains behind...:-D) last thursday to a marble quarry. it was so awesome. we had to wear hard hats and go inside a huge cave where they get all the marble that famous sculptors have used to make their masterpieces. it was quite the experience (i got to put on a sweater for the first time since i've been here).
after that we headed down the mountain to a fancy restaurant on the beach. we ate squid and watched the sun set while we ate. totally fancy. (and free- if you don't count the tuition i've already paid them...)

Last Saturday: Cinque Terre
soooo beautiful! the cinque terre is five villages along the coast that are connected by train and footpaths only (no roads for vehicles). we took a train to the first village, walked to the second and third, and rode to the fourth and fifth, and then sat on the beach for the rest of the day. it was absolutely gorgeous.
all the villages look like Italy as if it hasn't been touched by time. old fashioned, set back in the cliffs, and beautiful clear blue water. it was really packed with tourists, but it was still beautiful and fun (and HOT!)

i ate some gelato, drank a coke (sooo goooooood), and enjoyed the views.

Sunday:

sat on the beach. This is also the day that my computer died and i got sick. fyi: i'm better now and my computer is fixed. so no worries. :-D

This week- class....

This past Tuesday: Lucca

Lucca is a town completely enclosed completely by a wall. it's small and so adorable. we traveled up a tower and got awesome pictures looking down on the rooftops.

Yesterday: PISA!

The leaning tower of Pisa was surprisingly mesmerising. who knew you could take so many pictures of one tower. for some reason i coudln't stop. it was so unusual. of course we all stopped and took the corny touristy pictures trying to hold it up, touching it, leaning on it, etc. but it made it so fun. then we took a tour through the cathedral and baptistry.

Today: studying for final tomorrow and saturday. on the beach of course.

Tomorrow- final.

Saturday- Move into apartment in Florence. sooo excited.

that's all for now. until next time- TI AMO

ciao

p.s. sorry if my blog is confusing and random, but i'm still trying to learn how to use it. so bear with me. :-D thanks.