I'll Race You to The Top of the Duomo!

What a fast week this has been...time is continuing to fly by here in Italy and I am doing my best to make the most of it! This week has been quite a productive one in terms of school work and getting things done around Florence and I just can not wait to share it with you all. In my last post, I talked about running a 12k with Societa Cannotierri Firenze on Sunday and doing fairly well to end it. This week, I have some pretty cool stuff in store as well.

Let me take you all back to Monday. So, on Monday, I woke up for my Italian class at 7:45AM and laid in bed until I absolutely had to get up...(my legs were feelin' the pain from the previous day for sure).  Once I got out of bed, I grabbed some breakfast and headed to my Italian class where I had a verbal speaking exercise. Here, I had a show and tell of sorts where I had to speak for 3 minutes about an item of my choosing entirely in Italian. I chose my Societa Canotierri Firenze rowing uni for my object and I was actually able to do quite well! (I can even somewhat understand peoples' conversations in passing on the street). After class was over, I went back home and did some homework that needed to get done, ran to the grocery store, watched some netflix, hungout outside for a while and then did some drawing homework for about three hours that night. Afterwards, I headed to bed because my body was still pretty worn out from the previous day's race.

Early stages of one of my oil paintings

On Tuesday, I got up for Oil Painting class and arrived right on time. Presently, we are working on a still-life painting of cacti, vases, and a few other assorted objects. Additionally, as well as simultaneously, we are expected to paint a portion of a famous painting from the museum of our choosing in Florence...(talk about pressure). Right now, my painting is looking good so I'm really excited about it! Since my Oil Painting class is five and a half hours long, we get a 30 min. break for lunch. On my lunch break, Belinda, who is a friend of mine, and I went to the advisers' offices in order to sign up for some of the free activities being offered to students. For me, this included Italian Folk Dancing...yeah you read that correctly...and also the Ballet in Florence. (How awesome is it that I will be able to go to the Italian Ballet for free?! They had a limited number of spots and I was actually able to get in!). After Oil Painting was over, I headed to the Mercado Centrale for my cooking class with Michelle. When I arrived, Michelle taught us about the newest region of Italy that we would be cooking from which was Napoli, or as we know it, "Naples".

Bernardo (Left), Michelle (Right)

Instead of the traditional Napoli cuisine of Pizza, Michelle taught us how to make eggplant parmesan which was thebomb.com and then some. After class was over, I headed back to my apartment and got changed to go to the boathouse. When I arrived, I put my stuff in my locker, as per usual, and got ready for a tough workout. Since the trainers were working with the kids teams on the ergs, I went to the treadmill and got in a run. Then I erged for a while and then I did some pieces afterwards. The gym was very full on Tuesday so getting everything done was my main goal. After the boathouse, I got home and got showered and then studied for my Italian quiz the next day before going to bed.

Eggplant Parm...yum!

On Wednesday morning, I woke up at 7:00AM just so that I could review some of the material for my exam in Italian. The exam went wayyyyy faster than expected and I was happy to leave class early. When I got back, I still wasn't feeling all too well so I decided to take a nap between that and my second class. After waking up, I still wasn't feeling very well but it was off to Andrea's class for Drawing 101. I'm not quite sure if you remember or not, but the last time I spoke of Andrea, my cliche Italian drawing professor, was much earlier on in the semester. Andrea is quite a particular man of sorts and I am not quite sure that I could call myself his biggest fan. We have been drawing still life drawings for the entire semester and then last week we drew a human model in order to get poses down. He is very specific to his techniques and what he requires of us for class and homework, which can make class difficult at times. I would consider myself a pretty decent drawer, however Andrea does not necessarily agree. This week we drew a naked woman. There certainly is a time for everything. Andrea didn't like it. I don't prefer Andrea. After class, I got back to my apartment and had to get some homework done before the next day and so I stayed home and made some dinner and then finished my homework and went to bed.

The pic I am using for my project

On Thursday morning, I had design class. So, I got to design class, which is another five and a half hour course, we had a work day for our final projects. I am currently working on my self-portrait which I have decided will be a typeface image of myself much like a project that I did my sophomore year in design...only that image was of Audrey Hepburn, I can understand how one might get the two of us confused though. *hair flip* Anywho, following design class, I went to the boathouse and got in an endurance workout of running, two endurance pieces on the erg, and then some biking. Massimo was also at the boathouse while I was there and he had me hangout with him while he was training another guy there. After he finished with the training, we had a mini Foosball tournament in the back room by the ergs. The Italians are very intense when it comes to Foosball. Not to brag or anything but uhhh, I shocked them with my skills. Afterwards, I got a shower and then my roommates and I headed to the Odeon for appertivos. This week I got a Mojito and that was much better when compared to last week. The food was good and afterwards, we went to get gelato across the bridge, for only 10 euros total! When we got back, we were all kind of tired so we headed to bed.

I got to sleep in on Friday and it was certainly just what I needed. When I woke up, I did some chores around the house for a while and got a lot done. Then, I took my husband journal with me by the Arno and did some journaling as well as some reading. (Many people do not know this, but my husband journal is a journal of love letters, wishes, prayers, verses, dreams and just things about me, that I have for my husband-to-be. I have been writing to him since the summer after my senior year of high school and I plan on giving it to him once we are engaged.) After my journaling, I got in a quick workout and then headed home and got cleaned up. Then, Natalie and I went shopping. Natalie found a great pair of black leather boots, and so did I (for a steal of only 39 euro)! We finished shopping and then ran to Conad (the grocery store) for some wine. We finished off the week with some wine and watching "Wish Upon a Star" on Netflix. (Its a throwback Disney Channel movie we both remembered from 1996...so it was awesome). Then we headed to bed.

Today, Natalie, Krista and I woke up early in order to get to the Duomo by 8:15AM. We wanted to be able to go to the top without all of the people that are normally there, especially during tourist season. So, at 8:30AM, after paying our 10 euro entrance fee, we got into the Duomo and scaled the 463 stair steps in order to get to the top of the Dome. It was absolutely breathtaking. There is no better way to explain the Duomo than exquisite. From the top, we could see all of Florence. After staying there for about 45 minutes, we went down and attended an Italian Catholic Mass, which was really awesome to see...regardless if you are Catholic or not. The rest of today, we kind of just walked around Florence and I helped a few of my friends haggle for some leather bags and such and it was really fun! All in all, a great week!

Highs and Lows of the Week:

Highs:

I won the #TweetforaSeat contest being run by Bus2alps so I saved enough money that I will be able to go on one more trip this semester! I will be going to Prague on Thanksgiving and then also Thanksgiving weekend so I am super pumped about that...and Zach will be there some of the time I am there so I am very excited to see him. Also, I got leather boots. I mean come on, they are leather boots.

 Lows:

This week marked the one month period until I will be going home and I don't want that to happen haha. At the same time, I miss my team and family and friends and everything but I am working more on living where my feet are planted.  Still have time for some adventures :).