Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Tourists: An Unnecessary Necessity

As much as I like to think of myself as a local now that I've been living here for a total of about one week, I know that I'm not. However, the tourists are already get on my nerves. Each street you walk down, every corner you turn, there's either a group of people covering the entire walkway/street or a person taking a photo (with their flash turned on in clear day light...), completely oblivious to the world around them and the people trying to walk by.

As part of my Renaissance Art History class, we do site visits once a week. We essentially transform the historical sites into our classroom. Admittedly, I did feel a bit like a tourist. However, it wasn't so bad. My professor is incredibly knowledgeable about these works of art. We saw some of Donatello's sculptures (well, copies of them), a copy of Michelangelo's David (we are seeing the real thing at some point during the semester), and a few other sculptures. It was also nice to get the background story behind some of the incredible buildings around Piazza della Signoria.

After class, I ran some errands with a few friends and stopped by the book store. Just like Taaj, Aarti keeps the excitement levels way up, even when we aren't doing the most exciting tasks:


Coincidentally, I turned around and saw this nice photo opportunity just sitting in front of me.


Then, to the right of where I was standing when I took the above photo, I saw this nice little fruit and vegetable stand:


I then split from the group to get back to the dorm so I could catch up on some homework and reading. At some point today (I think it was before we left to go to the site visit in the morning), I also took this photo outside the front of Villa Natalia:


Finished up with classes, ate a big dinner, then went out into town for a little bit. Also, on a complely random note, I wish I would've had a forewarning (in my defense, the sign was much too small) that the washer/dryer shut off at 11pm. I put a load in around 9pm when we went out, and I got back at 11:30pm to a load of wash (all of my clothes with the exception of one outfit)  that was soaked and unable to be dried. No problem though, I'm drying my clothes the Florentine way; all of the clothes are now hanging in various spots throughout the room.

Enough with the nonsense and rambling. Yesterday I mentioned about a visit to the Villa la Pietra archives. I mixed up the days, turns out that visit is actually tomorrow. So, I should have an update on that in my blog entry for tomorrow.

Only two more days of classes for the week, then a fun weekend ahead! Tomorrow night we are going to a little event along the Arno river, then Sunday we are going to visit the little town of Luca. Packed weekend ahead! Now, my next goal is to get to bed before 1am... 12:57am here, goodnight!

-Matt

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like your having a great time. Wish I was there...I don't understand why you have a Japan background on an Italy trip...please explain that to me.

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  2. I know I know... I just haven't been happy enough with any of my shots thus far to replace that epic photo from Japan.

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  3. Matthew, I must tell you how much I enjoy reading your daily blog entries and admiring your wonderful pictures. You are a lucky young man. Your mom and dad can be proud of you. I know they must miss you very much. This is a wonderful opportunity for you. Enjoy yourself!

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