As most of you know, it is Monday January 12th which for me is the first day of classes here in Italy. It's been about 5 days now since I got here and I'm gaining a better understanding of the layout of Florence, but not much of one. The buildings here are so tall and the streets so narrow that it's really hard to see any landmarks to help orient yourself. But I've figured out most of what's necessary right now, like my appartment, the school, the market, and places where there's internet (conveniently right in front of my appartment).

Speaking of my appartment, to any one who cares, I live 2 blocks from the Duomo, one block from the Arno River, I can see the Palazzo Vecchio from my kitchen window, and the best gelato place in Florence is a second away. However! I live on the 4th floor (4th floor of appartments but 5th floor of stairs) with no elevator which was a peach to get my luggage up, and the school is about a 20 minute walk away. Things are definately more old fashioned here than in America but it's really nice, once you do get 2475018 pounds of luggage up 5 flights of stairs. There are so many stores on every street and the sales are all happening now which is unfortunate because I have no money left after paying the Itallian government many many fees for existing in their country ><.

I'm planning on volunteering for two things that could potentially make money or just look awesome on a resume. Firstly, being a tour guide for the many famous churches around to all the english speakers vacationing here. And secondly, helping this little old adorable nun on her project of conserving the English Cemetary since all the marble headstones have been eroded from centuries of the elements and careless weed killers.

Everything here is between slightly and extremely more delicious than back home, particularly the oranges. It's like the difference between colors that are dull and ones that are super saturated, but apply that logic to your tounge. Milk is delicious, and nutella is sold in jars the size of my torso!

I'm on break from my first class, Conservation of Archeological Objects, and so far we've practiced by putting smashed generic terra cotta flower pots back together. I'm proud of myself for having the most complete one yet of my class but I cheat because my pieces were all slightly more red than the other ones ^^. No work to show for myself yet, but I have some really good ideas for what I want to work on for my independent studio.

Ciao

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this is a sample post so that i can see what the hell i'm doing when messing with the colors and the fonts.

IGNORE ME!