La Vita Spiaggia

Buona sera! Just returned from a little escapade to Viareggio after a crazy first week in Italia. Viareggio is about an hour and a half outside of Firenze by train, so we went out and stayed for the night, ate some seriously good fish as instructed by Hannah (yes, I have begun to reform my diet to include fish, since I can't eat anything normal anymore), drank lots of vino, soaked up some rays AND bought a GUITAR for 28 euro (and began my "lessons" with Branson on the beach. We'll see how this goes).

The whole gluten-free thing hasn't been too terrible (they made me gluten-free penne at the cafeteria for dinner tonight!), but it's a pain sometimes - like when all Italians eat for breakfast are pastries and I have to eat a peach as a meal. Or when all that's around for lunch is pizza so I have to eat a gelato and call it a day (ok, that's not SO terrible). No bene. That's alright though, I'm making it work. And hey, things could be worse right? What's a little bit of starvation when you're spending the summer in Italy? Anyways, here are some pictures from Viareggio:

Likely off to Lucca for the day tomorrow, so more pictures on the way! A domani.

Ciao Amori!

Laura

Buon Compleanno Julia!!

Ah yes, what an absurdly mature individual. As you begin your teenage years, Julius, I wish you, well...luck, patience, and a lot of ice cream. Happy, happy birthday, I'm keeping my eye out for the perfect Italian gift for you. I miss you, and even though you're a ridiculous barnacle, I love you and your thirteen year old self.

As for today, I successfully asked for directions in Italian, kind of understood, and got us un-lost! :

Me: Scusi, dove la Piazza Indipendenza?

Cab driver: a sinistra....blah blah blah something about another piazza...sinistra....blah blah...sinistra...

Me: Va bene! Grazie! Ok, we go...left!

Then it was off to three hours of George and lots of talk about politics (oye vey), then to write a paper for art history, have some gluten-free pasta made especially for me by one of the cafeteria ladies, and finally book my flight for Barcelona next weekend. This week has been quite overwhelming - in a good way of course - but I needed some serious unwinding time. So, as prescribed by my wonderful boyfriend, I had some Laura time walking around the grounds taking pictures and listening to good old Peter Bradley Adams. The results:

That's all for today. Off to the beach tomorrow. A domani.

Ciao Amori!

Laura

"I love my city more than my soul." -Machiavelli

This morning, George casually saved our lives by deciding that having us read hundreds of pages of reading a night was simply not reasonable (we love Gallatin professors with earrings who encourage students to drink wine). That being said, hopefully we will have some more time to, you know, breathe. Today was class in the morning with George (during which we discussed art as the "ought" and politics as the "is," among many, many other things) then down to Firenze to observe the ridiculous work of art that is the city of Florence. Jane (our art history teacher who literally knows everything about everything) took us to many of the piazzas, which are designed by artists and architects to be public spaces in which to bring people together. Of course, being Florence, there were some stops at churches, but the focus today was public space and the articulate artistic detail through the design of the city.

(The Duomo)

(Piazza della Signoria and the Abundance Column)

After class Hannah, Branson and I walked around a bit (making EXCELLENT leather jacket purchases), then it was up to Piazza Michelangelo, for some vino, dinner, and sunset watching.

(Piazza Michelangelo)

(Branson. Hannah. Mio. photoshoot after dinner overlooking the Tuscan sunset)

LONG day. This many pictures will not be happening tomorrow, there's lots to be done before Viareggio this weekend!

Ciao Amori!

Laura

"By Jove, everything here is striking and decorated with outstanding beauty." -Leonardo Bruni

Every once in awhile, one of us looks around and sighs with a "ridiculous" or "unbelievable" or "this is absolutely insane." It's quite beautiful. And ridiculous/unbelievable/absolutely insane.

Today, after sitting in the unbelievable gardens of Villa La Pietra reading up for art history and taking a break for lunch (one of the cooks came up to me, concerned: "va bene? va bene?" to which I smiled and laughed: "Si si! Va bene!") we had our first art history class. We have loads and loads of reading to do, but I can tell this class is going to be great. Today, after a brief introduction (during which Jane - our professor - mentioned Boticelli's The Decameron, which I got really excited about and summarized to the class, like a nerd), we went over to Villa La Pietra, the main villa of the five-villa estate that is the NYU campus. La Pietra is now a functioning museum, so we were shown the ridiculous abundance of art inside the Renaissance-building villa, and then, of course, we received the tour of the gardens, complete with fountains, endless statues, meadows galore, a butterfly garden and a natural stage complete with perfectly trimmed hedges as "wings." Might need to jump up there and whip out some shuffles and pirouettes.  Pictures from the garden! :

Un cane!

reading in the garden

one of the 30-something designed views from the garden at La Pietra

That's all for now! A group of us officially booked ourselves a hotel at Viareggio (the BEACH) this weekend, and three of us are shooting for Barcelona next weekend. We'll see!  Off to read Machiavelli for George's class tomorrow. A domani!

Ciao Amori!

Laura

Day one under the Tuscan Sun

Day one of class with Gallatin's wonderful George Shulman, which was, of course, great. Woke up and did a little ballet barre, then frolicked around campus and headed across the way to Villa Ullivi to have class. It's unbelievably beautiful here, and I know that once we start to see some art it will only become more beautiful. The quote of the day, from George, regarding the Florentine philosophy:

"The creation of beauty is what makes life meaningful."

I'm all about this city. After class it was off to orientation (during which I met the cafeteria staff, who are making me feel very special for being my newly-discovered celiac self), then planning some weekend trips with some cool kids, then to our welcome dinner at Acqua Due downtown with ample wine followed by gelato and a walk across the Ponte Vecchio. Life could be worse. Anyways, pictures! That is, after all, what this blog is for, right?

 

the walk to Villa Ullivi (workout!)

view of  Villa Colletta (our "dorm") from Villa Ullivi

A domani! Ciao Amori!

Laura