My favourite thing about this semester is that monotony is impossible. There are so many new experiences to consider every week it seems a different world from the repetitive lectures of LabSci or Brown. Whispers? I remember that...but I prefer the frothy cappuccinos and freshly-toasted pizzas from here. I think I might voluntarily starve when I return to St. Louis, or at least return to my usual dislike for pizza. While on the topic of food, I'd like to mention the Secret Bakery that several of us visited at 3am—hesitantly following four guys intent on divulging the finer secrets of the city. A diverse bunch (each from Miami, California, Baltimore, and Cambridge), they revealed a sketchy back door into a bakery, where the freshest wares of the days were ours for a couple coins. There was certainly a sense of satisfaction at being privy to a "secret" in a city accustomed to keeping them from its visitors.
Then, just this afternoon, we went to our first "partita di calcio." The energy was infectious, the sounds and colours almost overwhelming—while providing great content for my theme sequence video. Enormous, violet flags were waved over peoples' heads, while hundreds of people burst into song (often peppered with obscenities and directed at the Lazio fans). As Soo observed, local soccer matches are a great way of learning Italian expletives. There's also a greater sense of acceptance among the Florentines, even if you're from that country, as long as you're wearing purple. We had all dug into our wardrobe for purple accessories: me with my umbrella and scarf, Soo with a newly-purchased sweater, and Meghan with her earrings and purple-tinted glasses frames. Even though we'll walk around in coats reeking of cigarette smoke from now on, it was well worth the experience.
Artwise, I've become alot more attracted to the graffiti here. Initially, I viewed it as degrading the surface it was on, undoubtedly centuries-old walls that now had to bear dignified statements like "I love you Jackie" and "Mo' fire, Mo' player!" However, I came to see graffiti as another side of the city, an underexpressed personality trait forcefully repressed in more public spaces, like around the Duomo. I've been especially drawn to the more colourful ones, that appeared to have taken some time. There are a couple in my Flickr album from our trip to the Chiesa dell'Autostrada that caught my fancy.
I have also fallen even more in love with the classical sculpture here. Over the weekend, I returned to Palazzo Pitti to look at their enormous sculpture collection, and practice my anatomy and shading (which, unfortunately, appear to be composed entirely of lines, contrary to Regan's past lesson...).
This week's album here.
