In today’s class we practiced short conversations, especially the nuances between formality and familiarity in language, for example, when to use buongiorno or ciao. We wrote paragraphs about ourselves using all the vocabulary so far, including new verbs. After a slideshow on renaissance art, we did a walking tour of architecture in Florence.
I was tired today, partly because we stayed out late to see the World Cup last night and to hike the Piazza di Michaelangelo, and partly because I woke up at 6am to have a video chat with my husband Kevin. It felt so good to see him, and our dog, on the computer. This trip is the longest that we have ever been apart in our five years of marriage and six years together. After my usual breakfast of fruit and yogurt at home, I bought an espresso before class and needed another one before the walking tour of Il Battistero di San Giovanni (the baptistery of St. John, the patron saint of Florence), the Duomo/Santa Maria Fiore Cathedral, and the Piazza del Signore. Piazza del Duomo represents the power of religion in Italy, and the Piazza del Signore represents political power.
During my trip I have been reading daily meditations on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, a man who was born into riches and chose to live as a beggar, relying on the kindness of others to fully experience the divinity of his humanity. When walking through the piazzas today, there were beggars who were posing for pictures and harassing people and perhaps due to my situatedness, I found this really vulgar. I have not visited these structures on the inside yet, but from the outside, they are more of a statement about patriarchal power than the spirituality or humility in the outer artwork depicting the historical lives of the saints.
Before the walk, our teacher asked us to consider the emotion that we felt looking at the statues and architecture along the tour. I have taken some art history classes and seen many of the statues on paper but it was a whole new experience looking at them in person. As a woman, I reacted strongly to the statue of the kidnapping of Persephone and some of the other more violent statues. I related that to how I have been feeling personally, walking through the streets alongside very thin models and young students who are so thin—that I’m somehow unacceptable or unwelcome because I don’t look like everyone else. I also felt this when shopping at one of the boutiques, where the largest size is about an American size 6.
This afternoon I decided to visit the student services office and ask about stores that carry a range of sizes. Lucciana was there and told me about not one, but three stores nearby! We learned how to pronounce the Italian alphabet today, which came in handy when she sent me to OVS and called it “Oviesse”. I don’t think I would have found it without that lesson earlier today. I found a bathing suit and some other Italian clothes that are beautiful and fit great. I am starting to feel like I can fit in in Florence, just as I am.
An early stop on our walking tour was Grom, the shop with the best gelato. I had a perfectly sweetened and wonderfully icy lemon granita which is “Slow Food certified”. Slow Food, a sustainable agriculture and gastronomy organization, started here in Italy. Grom has a strong environmental ethic and had multiple trash bins for organic and non-organic waste. Since we compost at home, this made me really happy to see. I will definitely go back for the gelato!
Another interesting feature of the tour was the lions in the Piazza del Signore. They looked so friendly. The lion, and also the lily, have symbolic ties to Florence. Compared to the New York Public Library lions, who are enormous and very protective looking, these lions were downright cuddly. They were surrounded by smaller lions circling a column, who humorously had pigeons standing on their heads.
Later for lunch we had pizza in my neighborhood of Oltrano, half vegetable/prisciuotto and half capers/anchovies. The pizza was much more crispy than New York pizza and was served in personal size, which was still very generous and delicious. Pizza is accompanied by wine here, not soda as in the US.
Since this reflection is already somewhat personal, I’d also like to mention that as an adult student living and studying with people who are ten years or more my senior is really challenging sometimes. I have the outer impression that my fellow students are all somewhat privileged to be living with their parents back in New York and attending college at all, much less on a great study abroad trip. I did not have any of that sort of opportunity when I was their age. To listen to them complain about this or that minutia regarding class schedules not fitting in with their travel plans just seems so outrageous to me. We are here to study! I know that on this trip I will grow a lot personally through the interactions with my fellow students and with the culture and society. Italy seems to be a land of dichotomies in many ways—perhaps the lesson is the observance of how it all fits together anyway.
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