Hitting Half-way

Yesterday (the 8th) was my halfway mark for my adventure across the pond. Hard to believe that I have been here for two weeks already, isn't it? The first week flew by, being my birthday and Jessica being in Florence with me. I realized yesterday how much I actually am learning over here. (Did you hear that Mom and Dad? I am l-e-a-r-n-i-n-g.)

In Photography on Tuesday, we were supposed to make a field trip to Cascina Park to take photos of natural landscapes. However, due to the rain, humidity (and all around pretty gross weather) we stayed close to school and shot film and digital within about a 4 block radius near the Ponte Vecchio. I was slightly bummed not being able to go to the park since I heard it is a really pretty place to go relax, but I shared the film camera lent by the school with two friends in my class, Kelly and Lili. They are both from Iowa State. I got some great shots that I posted on Facebook, but here are a few samples for those of you lacking that connection to the social network ;)

Playing around with the Depth of Field and Aperture

I got soo hungry walking past all of the Cafes while shooting

Ponte Vecchio in the background

The Boar: you rub his snout for good luck and to return to Florence.

Tuesday night I met up with Allie, Caroline, Lizzi, Megan, Madison, Laura Jane and Brooke (the UF girls) at their apartment over in Santa Croce. Katie Meriwether is in town visiting Allie and it was so nice to see another familiar face :)  We headed out to The Lion's Fountain - an Irish Pub that has tons of college paraphernalia stapled to the ceiling from people that visit. We signed the wall and found a UF Gold t-shirt but it was up too high to even think about signing it. I saw Jillian's signature on the Clemson tee and took a picture for her.

After sharing a few (or more) beers with Allie, we all headed over to a club called Twice. Someone over here told me, "Oh, Twice. Once you go, you won't go twice." Boy was that the understatement of the century. Emily and I were standing at one end of the club on a raised floor area and I felt like I was in a high school dance party. So, we dipped and searched for one of Florence's Secret Bakeries for a late night treat on the way back to our apartment. I spent about 6 euro calling Jillian to ask for directions - which she couldn't recall. Found the bakery eventually and ran into Stephanie Calcote - a friend from Lighthouse Elementary that I became friends with in 3rd grade. It is such a small world! She was on my trip to Amalfi this past weekend as well. I had a chocolate creme filled donut and a creme filled croissant... entirely worth the caloric intake.

Wednesday, we developed our film in Photography. It was something that I've always wanted to do, and now I've done it! Voila. We are going to process and print them next week. So exciting!! Wine Tasting class was last night from 7-9 and we focused on the Tuscan wines. They were much more bitter and acidic than the ones from the Veneto and Piemonte regions that we tasted last week. But who can complain about drinking wine in class? I've been keeping notes about the wines that we have and the recommended meal pairings to go along with them as well. I won't quite be pro when I get home but there is so much I know now that I hadn't known before.

Today is Thursday the 9th and my Photography class is taking a trip to the Alinari Museum. I am not quite sure what we are going to see, but I would assume maybe something about natural landscape photography since that is what we are currently focusing on. I'll be sure to let you know next post.

Ciao for now :)