Well, I just got back from my fall break in France and I had an amazing time! I went to Aix-en-Provence, where my friend Sarah lives. She’s American, and her family moved to France when she was in 7th grade and we’ve stayed friends all of these years. Getting there was a little rough: I got on the wrong train to the Rome airport and almost missed my flight, but I made it there safely!
Because I had visited her before a few years ago, I had already done most of the touristy things in Aix, so we didn’t really find the need to do a lot. It was actually really nice taking a break from site-seeing for a while. I think it was what I needed. The first few days we didn’t do a lot–mainly just relaxed and spent time with her family catching up since we only get to see each other every few years. On Sunday I got to go with them to French church, which was nice, even if I didn’t understand everything. On Tuesday I went out to eat with Sarah for one of her friends’ birthday. It was really fun, even with the language barrier. Her friends were really nice and tried to talk to me in English. Wednesday to Thursday I went to Avignon, where I met up with my roommate and two other friends from Richmond:) We went to the Pope’s Palace, the Avignon cathedral, the Pont d’Avignon (the bridge), and a museum with ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. The city is SO beautiful and it was so good to see some of my friends from Richmond. It definitely made me excited to go back to Richmond and see everyone again:) On Friday, Sarah had classes so I spent the morning and afternoon with her parents. We hiked part of Saint Victoire, which is the famous mountain that the artist Paul Cezanne painted all the time. It was the perfect weather for a hike–not too cold and sunny:) Friday night, Sarah and I went out for sushi and then hung out with her boyfriend and watched a few movies.
I flew back to Rome on Saturday and spent the night there with my friends Lindsay and Alexandra. In general, my break was so much fun. It was great to get away and spend some time with family friends. It was almost like a “home away from home,” which was perfect for halfway through the semester. Now back to school…
Sarah and I at the airport
Saint Victoire, where I hiked
Me and my Richmond roommate, Martha, at the Port of Marseille
The past few weeks have been stressful, but good. Last week midterms started, so I spent a lot of time preparing and studying. Last Thursday was my Italian midterm, which I think went pretty well. This past Tuesday, my first fresco was due, so I was in the studio all day on Monday. It’s crazy that so much time has to be put into a fresco painting, and all in one sitting. Since you have to paint on the plaster when it’s wet, you only have a certain window of time to complete the project. It’s pretty nerve-wracking because you only have one shot to get it right. In general, I wasn’t too happy with the outcome of my fresco, but I think it was a good first try. Now I know what to improve upon next time. Today, I had both my Leonardo da Vinci and my Roman Empire midterms, which i think went pretty well. I’m just glad to have them done:)
I didn’t go away this past weekend because of midterms, and it was perfect timing because the Eurochocolate Festival in Perugia started:) Every year Perugia hosts a famous chocolate festival in the city center. Tons of tents are set up with different kinds of European chocolate. You can walk around and sample different kinds of chocolate, drink hot chocolate (which is good because it’s FREEZING here now), eat Nutella crepes, and even go on different rides. Julia (my Richmond friend studying abroad in Rome that I went to Turkey with) came to visit for the festival, so I got to hang out with her Saturday. It was strange having so many people in Perugia! It’s a really small city and people come from all over Europe for this festival, so it was a little overwhelming!
Now that midterms are over, we have our fall break for 10 days, which I’m super excited about!! I’m going to visit my friend that lives in southern France:) I think it’s going to be a great time to relax halfway through the semester.
Here are some pictures from the Eurochocolate Festival:
Julia and I at the chocolate festival:)
This past week was just an average school week. My classes are still going well as we’re starting to think about midterms, which are coming up in a few weeks. In my Leonardo da Vinci class we took a brief break from studying da Vinci’s paintings and studied his notebooks, which illustrate his scientific and mathematical side. In my Roman Empire class we started studying Augustus’ rule over the Roman Empire. I didn’t have my art class this week since we went to Rome on Friday, but I had to come up with some ideas and sketches for my first official fresco, which we’re starting next class. On Tuesday, the Umbra Institute organized another free pizza night, which was fun. I’m learning to take advantage of everything free that’s offered because it’s definitely not cheap to travel and buy your own groceries!
Right now I’m on my way back from my first weekend in Florence! My friends and I planned the trip with the goal of seeing as many art-related sites as possible. We arrived Friday afternoon, ate lunch at a great seafood restaurant, and then headed straight to the Uffizi Gallery, where we waited in line for about an hour. I think my two favorite paintings I got to see were Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” and Fra Fillippo Lippi’s “Madonna and Child with Two Angels.” I also got to see some of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings that I studied in my art history class, but I didn’t want to spend too much time in that room since my class is taking a special trip there to see them. After the Uffizi, we went to the Duomo Museum, where they have several of the original panels from Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise.”
On Saturday, we got an early start and headed straight to the Accademia to see Michelangelo’s “David.” This was probably one of my favorite parts of the weekend. I had studied the statue so many times in class, but nothing compares to actually seeing it in real life! Afterwards, we went to the Brancacci Chapel and saw Masaccio’s famous fresco, “Tribute Money,” and then we went to see Galileo and Michelangelo’s tombs in the Santa Croce Church. Saturday night, a friend of Lindsay’s had us over for a home-cooked meal. He’s in Florence studying jewelry-making and offered to cook for us when he heard we going to be in the area. It was a lot of fun and we were so grateful that he invited us over when he didn’t even know us that well.
Today we got another early start and went to the Bargello, where both Donatello and Verrocchio’s bronze “David” statues are housed. After that we went to the Duomo to see Brunelleschi’s famous dome, the baptistery, and Giotto’s Tower (we climbed 414 steps to the top!). We ended our trip with seeing the frescoes in the Museum of San Marco, and then hopped on the train. It was such a great weekend, and I have to say that Florence is probably one of my favorite places I’ve been so far since I’ve been here. It rained all of Friday and Saturday, but we were still able to enjoy being outside in the beautiful city. I think it was a great idea to go this weekend, because now we’re going to be in Perugia for the next few weeks because of midterms and the Euro Chocolate festival!
The Duomo
Masaccio’s “Tribute Money”
Santa Croce Church
