Florence Orientation Course
For those of you not in the 06/07 group, we are reqired to complete an orientation class this semester to help us get over culture shock before we experience it. Basically, it is living overseas for dummies and a chance to get to know the other people in the group a bit.
Our textbook, Culture Shock: Italy. Wow. My travel guide was like sparknotes for this book, but specifically for college students. The only thing that the book has that I haven't given yet is Italian swear words, convienetly found in the section vocabulary for everyday use. Well, I'm gonna listen to the text book and use those words everyday to see the results. I can't wait to call someone a dirty old man, or better yet to say a plague on your ancestors. How great is that? And those aren't even the good ones.
Ya, so basically the course is good for one thing (at least for me, and I realize I have a unique perspective and that this course may be very helpful to some people)- to get to know everyone in the group a bit before we are sent to a foreign country with them.
Life in Florence as a Student
All across Florence, there are historical landmarks, museums, and other places of interest that are all worth a visit. Problem is that there are almost too many places to see in the short year that we will be spending over there. There are some things that you will come to know well, like the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio (pictured below), and various other landmarks. While all of these things are worth seeing, there is so much more, and given the amount of time that we have over there, we can afford to do some things off the beaten path.
The Ponte Vecchio is pretty much at the tourist center of Florence, and you will get to know it very quickly.
This picture was taken from the top of the Campanille (bell tower). You can see the Dome of the cathedral in the immediate background. There is a little bit of an admission price and climb to get up to the top of the campanille or duomo, but it is worth it for the views. (In the above picture from left to right: Me, Peter, Eryn, and Josh).
Things that most tourists would never do in Florence are more ordinary activities that are special, and very different in Italy. The above picture of the baseball field is an example. Because I had the opportunity to live in the city for a long time, I was able to find an Italian team to practice with. Apart from learning all the swear words a sixteen year old Italian kid would say, I got to play baseball, which was awesome. Find something you love to do over there and experience it in a different culture, and see what happens. That is probably the greatest thing one could do overseas. Do what you love and gain a new perspective on it.
I had to put this picture in because, well Italy... Soccer... they go together. This picture is taken at an AC Fiorentina (the Florence pro team) game. These are the fans, and, well, you can see what is going on... those are some of the gestures made by the home fans directed at the away fans. Italian soccer (or calcio as they call it) is an amazing experience. Going to a game is a must for everyone in the group. Ticket prices are reasonable, and games are usually on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday nights.
This is a very basic telling of some things to do in Florence that you might not think abot right away. There is so much more to do in the city for people with any kind of interest. You just have to find something you love to do and just do it.
Pictures from Florence
Because I have very little to post at the moment, and I feel that I should do it at some point, I'm going to take a minute and talk about my visit in 03-04. I went to Florence for my second time in the fall of 2003 and spent about five months there, living in the villa, taking classes, and living the life of a college student as a junior in high school. My view on Florence and villa life in general is not exactly that of a student, but it is pretty close. I know about what goes on in the villa, I know about life there, I know the city- not like some of the students, but I have a little bit of a start. The picture below is the whole group from 03-04. It was an amazing year- the best Elizabeth has seen as a program director, and the year that we are going to try and top in 06-07. It won't be easy, but it'll be fun.
This picture was taken in the villa courtyard, everyone is there. The 54 students, staff, everybody- even the chef.
I said I know a little bit about villa life- well, here are some pictures that don't really prove it, but are kinda fun anyway and give a basic idea of the villa atmosphere.
This picture here is from Halloween in the villa. Pretty much everyone dressed up in very creative costumes and we had a party!
This picture is just everyday villa life. Eryn, Lauren and I, well, we decided to have some fun and pull a prank on David Brooks and Jon Patty, so we got about 300 dixie cups, filled them with water, and put them all over the place in the room. Best of all, we put goldfish in some of the cups for an added effect. This picture is just us standing back and admiring our work... Oh, the good times.
So, that is basically an intro into some parts of everyday villa life. My travel guide covered most of the other, not so much fun stuff. Maybe next I'll talk about life in Florence with pictures to help out.
Any ideas?
Well, I'm almost out of ideas for the travel guide and other stuff to post until I actually get to Italy, so I was hoping someone out there might have an idea for me. I'd be willing to write on almost anything European and how stuff works over there, or I can try to remember some more stuff about Pepperdine life in Florence. Just let me know what y'all want to see and I'll try to dig up something to post.
