Towering Toward

I'm so happy. I have been fighting withdrawal from Jayhawk football, but last night I went to a Florence Football match.  I know now how people feel when they attend Allen Fieldhouse for the first time.  From now on, I will be nicer to those who just do not understand. The locals know exactly what cheer to say when and the only lines we dumb tourists could pick  up was  "Oh Firenze! Oh Firenze!"  My friends tried to question my knowledge on soccer- they felt dumb when I was right.  We were going to the Liverpool game, but they have banned all Americans from that game.  There is too much anger towards Liverpool right now and the people in charge were afraid Italians wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the British and American accents.  These rivalries make the KU v. MU American football game look tame (so I've heard). Our housing person, Daniella, told us that she was happy we went to the game we did because riots occur quite frequently.  I bought a scarf and put on a purple shirt so that I would blend in.  We had a TON of fun and Florence beat the undefeated Genoa team 2-0!  Go Firenze!

I find it very coincidental that I am writing this now and my roommate has just informed that the KU football and basketball team are in a feud that is on ESPN. Come on boys, we'll probably need Tyshawn's thumb in a month here. Way to represent the Jayhawks! If I were in Lawrence, I'd smack them all.

I'm going to call my family's hotel in Rome in a few minutes. They'll be here tomorrow!! I'm making it a rule now, that if you come visit me, you are bringing me chocolate or anti-itch cream. Whichever.

Alma Mater

The Owls won! Hoot Hoot! I had a required Excursion to Sienna on Friday (I love that I have to travel for class). First off, it was absolutely gorgeous. It is up on top of the Tuscan hills and reminds me of KU's campus with its steep inclines.  But what I like most about Sienna, is its rivaling neighborhoods.  There are 17 distinct neighborhoods each with its own symbol.  Sienna is smaller than Florence and Florence in comparison to Rome is tiny! How there can be 17 neighborhoods is beyond me.  None of these neighborhoods matter until July and August when 2 horse races take place in honor of the Virgin Mary (they dedicated their city to her in the 1200s (?) after they prayed to her to save them from the upcoming Florentine attack and Sienna beat the Florentines). This race is purely for the citizens of Sienna, not for tourism. The Owls won this year! I bought a scarf and took tons of pictures of their flags that they were allowed to keep up since they are the champs. I also went to San Gimignano where I ate the World's Best Gelato. I had date gelato and was actually extremely tasty. I'm working on getting pictures up right now!

One more tip: Bring anti-itch cream. There are mosquitos here, but these mosquitos are evil!

Our Noble

A minor vent:

I am in Florence. A beautiful city known to be the capital of the Renaissance and all the art and culture that includes. An art history teacher would kill to teach a semester here. Maybe not. Tuesday was our first art history class where we visited the Baptistery of Florence and a museum dedicated to the art that once stood on the Florentine Basilica (AKA the Dome or Duomo) and we had to waste 20 minutes of the 90 minutes so our teacher could get tickets and the receipt so she could be reimbursed. Then today, we were supposed to go inside the Town Hall where all the Renaissance history was allowed to happen.  Once again, no tickets purchased, only this time, ticket sales had stopped since the museum closed in an hour.  However, pre-purchased tickets were still allowed in. Are you kidding me????? I have never taken an art history class and I could do a better job.

And now, for a few tips on protecting yourself against pick-pocketing: (1) when at a restaurant, do not put your purse on the back of your chair or on the table; keep it in your lap (much harder to swipe). (2) If using a small backpack, place it on your front. It's quite the fashion in Florence. (3) If there is anyone suspicious around, grab the zipper so that no one sneaky unzips it to steal whatever they can get their hands on. (4) In Florence, if  you see anyone with a painted white face, hold on to that purse and get away is fast as possible- gypsies!

Fact of the Day: The Noble Medici family pretty much funded the Renaissance. A rivaling family tried to stab to death 2 Medicis during Easter services inside the Duomo.

Stands

It has been a crazy few days! My entire class plus our professor and another teacher went to Fiesole (pronounced FEE-uh-SOLE-lay) which is the edge of Florence on top of a hill. It gives a beautiful view of Florence and I got to ride the city bus! Very full. There is also a Franciscan monastery that we visited. There was a place that you give a few cents and light a candle for someone. I thought about lighting one for Grandpa; however, I remembered that it was a Catholic church and thought he would like it better if I didn't. Yesterday was the first day of class and we were assigned a TON of reading, but I like the teachers.  It also rained for the first time yesterday, but it was ok because we had so much reading to do.  I went to the grocery store also and the cashier asked me something in Italian! She legitimately thought I knew Italian! Normally, cashiers and such can spot tourists (especially Americans) from a mile away and either speak to you in English or if, they don't know English, not at all. She thought I was all smart until she saw the completely blank look on my face and just shook her head. I'm pretty sure she was asking me if I wanted a bag.

My neighbors do like to talk a lot. I really wish I could speak Italian so I could now what they were saying!

To View

My roommates and I went exploring yesterday. It's pretty amazing that I can randomly come across works of art. We found the "fake" David and the other statues that surround it.  The real David has been moved inside into a room that was made just to shelter the statue. (I read that in a travel book).  We also walked across the Pointe Vecchio bridge and checked out some markets.  We met up with the other people in our group and had dinner (at a Mexican restaurant- I thought it was weird too).  But the waiter gave us free drinks which was so nice to find something free! However, I have found through my adventures some tips for future travelers.

1.) Actively avoid puddles! I stepped in one while wearing sandals and then looked left and saw a horse drawn carriage 5 ft away. I was not happy.

2.) That brings me to #2.  Get the sanitizer spray. You will come across many strange things and swine flu is in Italy. Always sanitize to keep from getting sick with so many other tourists around.

3.) Assume everything (building, statue, person) is Catholic.  You feel like an idiot when you ask.

4.) Carry water! There are NO water fountains anywhere! And water can be about 3 euros if you try to buy it around tourist attractions.

5.) That brings me to #5 Everything is cheaper away from tourist attractions.  Walk 5 minutes in another direction and I guarantee you'll save 2 euros on just about anything.

6.) If anyone tries to hug you immediately shove them off and know that a gypsy may have just robbed you.  One of our leaders saw it happen to a tourist.

Love you all and I'm uploading pictures now!

Glorious

We had a 3 hour orientation yesterday.  Everything we learned was very important,  but one item stood out.  Mostly, because it meant already my roommates and I had messed up.  The first day we got here, the five of us were determined not to take a nap, but just chug on through the day until it was a reasonable bed time.  By 2:30, we were drastically losing energy so we decided to sit down at a little pizzeria by our apartment. We came in and asked the waiter, Max, if we could sit down. He showed us a table and we asked how he was and made small talk.  Then he kept coming back and talking to us.  His English wasn't very good and only 1 person had ever taken an Italian class. We never could follow what he was saying.  Well, according to our orientation, when entering any kind of store you keep conversation with the sales person or waiter to a minimum. That means only saying "ciao" and that's it. And no Italian smiles unless they are flirting with that person. We believe Max may have the wrong idea.  We need to find a new pizzeria.

New Tab

The Golden Valleys

Hello everyone! I'm all settled into my apartment (which the building it is in is 400 years old!) and am now educated on how to use the Italian appliances.  I have 4 other roommates.  We have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths which is very nice. I'm sharing my room, but I get along very well with my roommate. I'll upload pictures as soon as I can. We found the Duomo yesterday and also had a very traditional Italian meal nearby that our program paid for.  After getting a good nights sleep last night and eating our left over pizza this morning, I'm ready to take on Florence!

Far Above

I believe at this point I have been up for 24 hours with 2 half hour naps. I made to Chicago sitting next to a woman from the International House of Prayer [yes IHOP and bare with me, I haven't quite figured out this keyboard yet] who is in charge of praying for the pregnant women, women becoming pregnant and those adopting. I would have taken her over the mail order bride I sat next to for 8 hours to Frankfurt with her medical 'viles' in the overhead compartment. Made it to Frankfurt and finally to Florence. Love my apartment. Can't really function right now so that's it! All very surreal right now.

KU Undergrad

This is my first posting and I'm hoping that it works! I packed up everything yesterday. Unfortunately my suitcase weighs about 70 lbs- I guess I'm going to have to pay extra to get on the air plane. It would weigh 20 lbs less if I didn't have so many textbooks  to bring, but that's an other tangent that I won't bore anyone with again. 26 hours until take off!

KU Undergrad