Firenze is FULL of history, stories, legends, myths, culture, music, ideas...a long list of information and knowledge, so much so that you get lost in the sea of information. Yet some things really stick with you, for me it is the surprising pieces of knowledge, or the facts that are being told to me a second or third time, a refresher.
Yesterday we had a local Police officer talk to us about being safe in Florence, he was funny, smart and really nice to talk to such a group. His facts made sense on refusing to be a victim by making smart decisions when travelling. I appreciated his candor, and his joke that "The number one Italian sport is...SEX". Which isn't really a joke, but I found it amusing. Sometimes stereotypes are actually true, and exist for a very good reason, and in this case it is "hey ladies don't get too wrapped up in the romance and lose your head". Maybe I can see this as more amusing since I am taken, while others I know are YEARNING for an Italian romance. How can you blame them? Three years ago I wanted a European romance too...turned out poorly in the end, but I remember that feeling, that emotion, that longing to be adored and gushed over by a foreigner. If I were single who is to say I wouldn't be looking again? Regardless, I think it is important to remember how to be safe, and it's important to have fun, but don't be stupid.
Today I had proper classes, that even though I was still feeling rundown from being sick I actually really enjoyed, and got very "awake" while attending. I started the day with my Italian Fashion Industry course at 12:30 with this lovely woman originally from the south of Italy. She has studied in New York and Florence, was very welcoming and sweet and I really enjoyed her mini-lecture and walk through Florence to show us designer shops and displays and give us a beginning look at what would be covered in the course. Of course this is the day my shoes decided to give me a blister so I spent the next two hours after class on my butt drinking coffee and eating gelato instead of my photography I originally planned on.
Regardless five came around soon enough and it was time for my next class, History of Modern Italy. Yesterday at the orientation I knew immediately I would like the professor that was teaching this course, and in fact in class he was even better than I imagined. Though we are studying WWII on for the most part, we also have to know what the hell Italy was BEFORE WWII. Today we spent the class learning a brief overview of Italy, which proved to be a really great way to brush up on my Medieval History knowledge of the region. Then we finished at the renaissance, and just what that meant for the world. Which are a few things I never realized. The renaissance meant that NUDE painting/sculpture art was okay again, and that meant the the human form could be embraced and loved. Which meant that played in with humanism and the individual that was influenced by the rediscovery of Plato...which leads to a bunch of other rabbit trails.
However, in all of this wonderful and enthralling lecture I learned that ITALIAN the language was originally the FLORENTINE dialect, and that DANTE when writing La Divine Comedie used the dialect for the first time in writing. Everything had been written in Latin until then, and him using the people's language was a huge step. Not only that but he used his regional dialect, with some words and variations from around Italia, but ultimately he penned the first version of what would become the ITALIAN language of the entire country. Dante also referenced the idea of "Italia" or unified country like in the days of Rome, an idea not really explored before. Anyway, I sound like a really big nerd and really nutty about weird things...but hey that's what you get with us history majors.
Anyway, going to bed dreaming of the geniuses of old...
CIAO!
Yesterday we had a local Police officer talk to us about being safe in Florence, he was funny, smart and really nice to talk to such a group. His facts made sense on refusing to be a victim by making smart decisions when travelling. I appreciated his candor, and his joke that "The number one Italian sport is...SEX". Which isn't really a joke, but I found it amusing. Sometimes stereotypes are actually true, and exist for a very good reason, and in this case it is "hey ladies don't get too wrapped up in the romance and lose your head". Maybe I can see this as more amusing since I am taken, while others I know are YEARNING for an Italian romance. How can you blame them? Three years ago I wanted a European romance too...turned out poorly in the end, but I remember that feeling, that emotion, that longing to be adored and gushed over by a foreigner. If I were single who is to say I wouldn't be looking again? Regardless, I think it is important to remember how to be safe, and it's important to have fun, but don't be stupid.
Today I had proper classes, that even though I was still feeling rundown from being sick I actually really enjoyed, and got very "awake" while attending. I started the day with my Italian Fashion Industry course at 12:30 with this lovely woman originally from the south of Italy. She has studied in New York and Florence, was very welcoming and sweet and I really enjoyed her mini-lecture and walk through Florence to show us designer shops and displays and give us a beginning look at what would be covered in the course. Of course this is the day my shoes decided to give me a blister so I spent the next two hours after class on my butt drinking coffee and eating gelato instead of my photography I originally planned on.
Regardless five came around soon enough and it was time for my next class, History of Modern Italy. Yesterday at the orientation I knew immediately I would like the professor that was teaching this course, and in fact in class he was even better than I imagined. Though we are studying WWII on for the most part, we also have to know what the hell Italy was BEFORE WWII. Today we spent the class learning a brief overview of Italy, which proved to be a really great way to brush up on my Medieval History knowledge of the region. Then we finished at the renaissance, and just what that meant for the world. Which are a few things I never realized. The renaissance meant that NUDE painting/sculpture art was okay again, and that meant the the human form could be embraced and loved. Which meant that played in with humanism and the individual that was influenced by the rediscovery of Plato...which leads to a bunch of other rabbit trails.
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| Florentine-Literary Genius-Dante |
However, in all of this wonderful and enthralling lecture I learned that ITALIAN the language was originally the FLORENTINE dialect, and that DANTE when writing La Divine Comedie used the dialect for the first time in writing. Everything had been written in Latin until then, and him using the people's language was a huge step. Not only that but he used his regional dialect, with some words and variations from around Italia, but ultimately he penned the first version of what would become the ITALIAN language of the entire country. Dante also referenced the idea of "Italia" or unified country like in the days of Rome, an idea not really explored before. Anyway, I sound like a really big nerd and really nutty about weird things...but hey that's what you get with us history majors.
Anyway, going to bed dreaming of the geniuses of old...
CIAO!
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