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Published: March 15th 2008
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Alley Valley View
Gorgeous. You can't help but be at peace with the world in such a beautiful place. After going through a tough breakup with Paris, I've lately had a wonderful time rediscovering my obsession with Italy. I did love France, but Italy simply has the best of everything. The best March weather, the best food, the best coffee (Starbucks is based off Italian coffee shops after all). Then there's the exquisite churches and museums, the alluring street markets and the most exquisitely beautiful countryside I've ever seen. I'm still completely happy with my decision to study here, and classes are also going very well. Since my grades from this semester transfer back to Drake as credits only and don't count towards my GPA, it's extremely liberating to be in school without the
pressure of school. I'm still striving to do well of course, but my work isn't stressing me out or overtaking my life. And it's a good thing its not, because what a shame it would be to be stuck inside studying with all of Italy at my fingertips. I experience more here in a week than I do in months at home.
Last week I went to my very first opera, "Elektra," offered to LdM students for free. We were instructed to dress up, to
Franciscan Monk
I bet this scene could have been taken 900 years ago and looked just about the same. Minus the van in the background. :) arrive at the theatre promptly at 8:15 and to read the synopsis carefully before attending. I didn't read it until right before the curtain went up: "And she cried for help, but there was no one left to hear her voice," read the last line, and I knew immediately I was in for an interesting show. The opera was in German and the subtitles in Italian, but I was happy to discover I could read enough Italian to follow the general plot. And what a plot it was: no costume or scene changes and no intermission, just a dark stage full of dirt with a grave in the middle. I was always afraid someone was going to trip into the hole. All the performers were wearing black, and they walked around like zombies most of the time. The play was very dark and full of assassinations (at one point, 50 people were running around on stage with axes), but strangely enough I enjoyed the overall experience. They had beautiful voices, and I was never bored -- I wouldn't say I enjoyed the play itself, but I definitely enjoy opera and hope to see more of it.
Sarah and I
Town on the Mountain
Look at the snowcaps! went to the Uffizi Gallery on Friday, Florence's biggest museum and one of the most famous collections of art in the world. Our "Amici degli Uffizi" museum passes gave us VIP treatment at the front entrance--we flashed our cards and were ushered immediately to the front of a three-hour line. The museum is huge and we didn't get more than halfway through that afternoon, but highlights included the Birth of Venus by Botticelli, the Annunciation by Da Vinci and some pristine views of the Ponte Vecchio and the Arno from the hallway windows. One of my favorites was a large painting by Da Vinci called the Adoration of the Magi. He never finished it and left just monochromatic sketches on a plain canvas. I love seeing an artist's thought process in progress, especially someone as monumental as Da Vinci. Funny how we consider it such a magnificent work of art today when it isn't anywhere near what he would have wanted it to look like. But that's why it's so unique. Since it's free for me to get in, I plan on going back again, and again. And then another time after that. 😊
It's actually been a week
The Girls
Here we are at the top of the San Francesco balcony. Sarah is on the left, Ashley on the right. FULL of Florentine art. I visited the church of Santa Maria Novella where I saw Masaccio's Holy Trinity and crucifixions by Brunelleschi and Giotto, as well as the Duomo's Museum that houses Ghiberti's original gold baptistry doors, Donatello's Mary Magdalene and one of Michelangelo's unfinished pietas. I couldn't help laughing when my art history teacher told us about some of the "new art" in the museum, which turned out to be pieces that dated from the early 1800s. In America, anything from the 1800s is considered OLD, but here it's given no special treatment. I've been painting a lot as well in preparation for midterms next week. We had an Italian substitute teacher who set up a still life of flowers, bottles, shoes, baskets and a cool old mask. As I was painting my composition, he told me, "I love the flowers with the shoeses, is very beautiful." That phrase made my day and is still making me smile.
On Saturday, two of my friends and I spontaneously decided to go to Assisi for the day. It seems like every Italian city I visit trumps the last, and Assisi is currently winning by a long shot. Set in the
Umbria and Olive Trees
It was the most breathtaking view... the camera can't really do it justice. foothills of the Apennines, it's a quiet hill town surrounded by the most beautiful valleys, snowcapped peaks and olive groves you can imagine. With such natural beauty on all sides, it's no wonder Francis and Clare loved creation and simplicity. The pace of life is slow in Assisi; it's very quiet and serene, everything radiating a supreme sense of peace. I heard birds singing for the first time since I arrived in Europe, and I couldn't imagine a more appropriate place to hear their voices.
We got off the bus at the top of the city and made our way down the winding roads, stopping every few paces to take pictures of doorways, alleys, window boxes, blooming trees. Everything was just so beautiful. We saw the church of San Damiano that Francis rebuilt himself when he heard the call to "rebuild the church." We saw the crucifix that spoke to him; his robes, shoes, handwritten notes and other relics in the basilica of San Francesco; and his tomb, where a procession of chanting monks walked by. We visited Saint Clare's cathedral and visited her tomb as well. But I have to say my favorite part of the trip was
Basilica of San Francesco
His tomb and a lot of his relics are inside this beautiful church. We climbed the stairs on the right up to the overlook... the valley view is just over the wall on the left. the view overlooking Umbria from the city walls. We could see for endless miles over sprawling green fields, stone villas and white roads, surrounded of course groves of olives and the mountains in the distance. My photos simply don't do it justice. To cap off a perfect day, we rode through Cortona on the train home, which is the setting for "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes. I've read it so many times, both here and at home in preparation for this trip, and it was amazing to see for myself what I always pictured so clearly. She's always said her idea of heaven was driving through the countryside of Tuscany and Umbria, very pleasantly lost, and now I perfectly agree.
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