Midterms, and soon break!

On Sunday, Giorgio and Stefania took Allie and I to Lucca. It’s a fairly small town near theirs and has a tall, thick wall surrounding the whole city along with a moat outside of it. The wall enclosing Lucca is flanked on both sides by grassy hills leading down into the town, and on top is a boardwalk for visitors to walk along. Inside its walls, Lucca is pretty similar to Florence – narrow streets, lots of mopeds, cafes and souvenir shops. And of course, most prevalent of all, churches! Stefania took us into probably five different churches – by the end of the day, every pew and pulpit and altar looked the same to me, but it was still nice. One church had really interesting angel statues on its peak and another had a gold and bright-colored painting on the exterior – something I haven’t seen anywhere else (and I’ve seen my share of churches in Italy already…) We stopped at a café for bruschetta lunch and Stefania bought me a t-shirt commemorating Puccini, since he was born in Lucca and the town was celebrating his musical genius for a weekend festival. I tried to buy her flowers for their home, but she truly and absolutely wouldn’t let me, asking instead for a personalized postcard from Florence when I see them next. I think I can handle that.

So it was a fun and relaxing weekend, though Lucca was a lot of walking, and I came home exhausted by Sunday night. Luckily, Stefania left me with two bags full of goodies – cheese, cakes, cookies, fruit and juices – to get through this week of midterms! Actually, they haven’t been bad at all so far. Photography was predictably easy, with a few simple multiple choice questions. I studied hard for Renaissance Art History and think I did well on that exam this morning. It’s been a really great day – sun shining, finally, and my Italian class has been cancelled for two days in a row. So, after Art History, my roommates and I sat down for cappuccinos and paninis at a café and studied for our Italian midterm. While, of course, regaling each other with stories of home and the confusingly phrased questions our Italian teachers had written on exams. It felt wonderful to bathe in the sun and feel so very Italian. After, Allie and I spent the afternoon wandering the city and hanging out with our new Italian buddies. They are students at a Florence university for math and sciences, and one has taken a certain liking to my roommate, so we’ve been spending a lot of time with him and friends speaking in a mesh of English and Italian. It’s fun to speak the language with native Florentines and learn from each other. Today I taught them “yo” (as in “hi”) and “be right back.” I’m not sure they really understood. But either way, we get to practice Italian and help them learn English and it’s so interesting to understand both languages in a new way. For example, “I’m busy” doesn’t really have a direct translation in Italian. Instead, they have about a million other ways to express this meaning without an actual word for “busy.” I learn something new everyday with Andrea, Mattia and Niccolo, and they learn something from us! It was such a nice afternoon, sitting in Piazza Pitti playing cards and forgetting our formal grammar rules. Even if I miss a pronoun or verb conjugation here and there, we all know what we’re talking about…most of the time.

Another random thought:

My Italian class is a hodge-podge of girls with different backgrounds, ages, hometowns, first languages and hair colors. One is 29, from Australia and has been living in Europe for three years in different places. Another is 18, Canadian, and in Florence on a voice scholarship. Another is originally from Turkey and comes to class with pink hair and doll make-up; she’s a fashion design major. The rest are from as far as Hawaii and as close as England. And then there is me and Allie, the all-American early-20s girls in our jeans and t-shirts. I love going to class each day and not only learning Italian language, but hearing about their Italian boyfriends, where to eat good sushi in this city, and how to cook dishes native to their own home cities. Since my class is intermediate Italian, many students have been in Florence longer than me, up to a few years for some. We spend part of class learning grammar and the rest learning from one another in a way I couldn’t have encountered even at GW. Diversity has a whole new meaning here. And even better, despite our differences, we’re all getting to know one another so well that we study for quizzes in groups and share dinners out. Some of the older girls are great for Florentine tips, telling us the best gelato, Chinese food and cheeseburger places. We met for wine and cookies at one student’s apartment last week to study for an exam, and last Friday for lunch at a sushi place they recommended. It’s so nice to get to know people from class, and I feel like I am really getting to know the inner-workings of this city.