First day of classes!

Vino anyone?

Today we had our first day of PLP (preparatory language program) and my professore taught totally in Italian--it was awesome! We got our list of art supplies and it only cost me 60 euros--I thought it was going to be much more! You know what's unfortunate? The vicious circle of starving art student-->expensive art supplies. But I'm willing to do what I gotta do! We also had our first art advising meeting, where we talked about preparing for the entrance exam for the accademia and then had two nakey models come in and we did some figure drawings. I'm super excited this year and going to school where Michelangelo was the first teacher and his statue of David currently resides. A-MA-ZING.

PJ, I had my first kebab, and that big ol' 3.50 euro's worth of deliciousness has changed my life.

Swedish meatballs, anyone?

For all of you wondering, Ikea IS in Florence, and it's pronounced eekayah. It is just as large and in charge as in America, except for my ability to understand the signs is at a staggering 20%, but I am working on it! AND it has a gelato machine=fantastic! We spent our Sunday afternoon mindlessly walking around, eating our gelato, and weaving through families with crying bambini (babies). We felt like old/crazy people.
Tonight we went to a friend's apartment, bought some vino, limoncello, and grappa and hung out, relaxed and had a great time getting to know eachother.  

Side note: walking 15 trillion miles so far has created blisters on parts of my feet I didn't even know could get blisters. splendid!

SUP FIRENZE!

Oh, just a typical morning stroll past the Duomo, no biggie

the Arno river & the Ponte Vecchio bridge behind me

So at the end of our 2nd day searching, we finally found our home for the year! It is down the street from the Duomo, not to mention two gelaterias 50 steps to the left of our front door. More pictures to follow of the inside :)

5 days left ladies and gents...

PJ and I finally finished our collabo painting :) it's about 4'x5'

"Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not that one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk- and to act"

- Andre Malraux

peace be da journey brudda

did you expect anything different?

oooh man.

Only 11 days left in Amurrica and I don't think it's fully set in that I'm leaving. I guess the reality doesn't set in until you step off the plane, so I am told. But man! What an adventure I have ahead of me! I am so incredibly blessed for this opportunity.
Oh and hey, In case you were wondering...YES Craigslist reaches all the way to Italia (who knew?), so I decided to look at the apartment listings in Florence and am officially excited for what's in store. 

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
-Marilyn Monroe