Brigid Connolly, a sophomore pre-teaching major at UConn, is studying abroad in Florence, Italy for the semester. She’ll be giving us details on her experience and sharing her photos, while simultaneously making us all incredibly jealous. Are you interested in studying abroad through UConn? Visit studyabroad.uconn.edu for more information!
It’s Day 15 of my semester in Florence, Italy, and time here has been nothing less than amazing. Today I woke up and had classes, which meant a site visit to the Baptistry. While we were there a parade passed through, and I have no idea what it was for, but there was some great outfits/tights going on! We also went to the Museo dell’ Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore for my “Art of Florence class.” We saw Michelangelo’s “Pieta.”
It was really cool because apparently Michelangelo got really frustrated when he was making it and attempted to destroy it—and his helpers put it back together. However, Jesus is missing a leg, and when you get up close you can see how some parts are finished and shiny and others still needed more work. Kind of hard to tell from this angle, but believe me, I saw it.
We also saw Donatello’s “Mary Magdalene.” She was both freaky, and beautiful. This sculpture is made out of stucco and wood. We learned that many of the sculptures of that material got destroyed and aren’t around anymore, so she is a pretty big deal.
After that class I had “The History of Ancient Rome.” Very interesting day where we learned that the constitution of the United States is VERY similar to that of Ancient Rome. Got to love them Romans! In a couple of weeks we are going on a weekend field trip to Rome. I CAN’T WAIT!
After that I had Italian. Today we learned names for foods and drinks! This is very important because clearly one of my favorite things to do here is eat. Tomorrow we are play-acting a restaurant scene…that won’t be too embarrassing! (Sarcasm.) We also learned the days of the week and some verbs.
1:30 p.m., CLASS DISMISSED!
I met up with a few friends, and we went to “The Diner.” It was SO good! We were mixing it up a bit today and not getting the usual panini, pasta, pizza or cappucino. Instead I had a good ole American style cheeseburger.
Because I lead my little ducklings all around Florence, I am often called names including “the map” or “mother duck” and sometimes “tour guide barbie.” Today I got us from school to the diner without using my map, and then from the diner to the Duomo! I am clearly very proud of this clearly. The one problem is that I walk a little bit faster than most, today I heard “quacks!” from behind me so I had to stop and wait for everyone to catch up.
Fun Fact: things are much slower paced here. At orientation they told us to “go with the slow.” So basically if I ever want to look like I am not American, I have to NOT walk as fast as my short legs will carry me. This is going to be one of my biggest challenges.
The goals of the day were: 1. Get food 2. Get the “carto-gio” a student card for discounts, and 3. Use said card to get ballet tickets. As we were gallivanting around the city to complete the above tasks, we stumbled upon a shop filled with beautiful masks!
We also passed by the Duomo (it’s hard not to) and my camera and I are very proud of this picture (the sky helped us out a little).
After we successfully bought tickets for the ballet tomorrow (can’t say I’m not excited!) we meandered on home.