Leah Nixon-- It was love at first sight

When Miles (the Italian Greyhound) and I first locked eyes, it was love at first sight.

And that's exactly how I felt again as I hiked the hills between Settignano and Fiesole.

And that's how I felt when I tasted Maria's cooking for the first time.

Such a rush of gratitude to be here in Florence--after having a rough start to my trip with having to stay in North Carolina over night and not knowing where to go after I got to Piazza Stozzi--I was amazingly grateful to see familiar faces, as well as unfamiliar sights, tastes and customs.

Because I've been here for two weeks now, what I think now of Florence is much different than how I first felt about it. I was confused for the first week and a half about the layout of the city, and how to tell the difference between streets. I'm not from a big city, and where I come from, I can tell where North is because of the sun. Where I'm from the sky is HUGE. Here I can only see cracks of its grey between the buildings--thus not being able to tell directions by the sun, but rather having to go by memory and landmarks.

That's why I was so in love when we went hiking. It put me at total peace to see the hills and the olive trees and the big beautiful sky and sun that i've so dearly missed.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my experience here has been filled with contradictions. It's different from home, but I'm super thankful to be here. The city is confusing, but that's part of what makes it fun. Things are expensive, but generally better quality. I can't decide if I like the graffiti because it makes me realize that this city is home to young hooligans, or if I hate the graffiti because it's mostly not artistic and it's desecrating the beautiful, old buildings. My tongue and brain get tried of trying to speak Italian, but when I hear English on the streets it annoys me.

I'm figuring things out right now. I don't have answers to what interests me most, I don't have answers to whether I am cut out for being a "real" artist. I'm just observing and absorbing right now.

Links to two things:
my flikr photos for this week

and a quote I stumbledupon that reminded me of what we've been talking about in class