Second Week Abroad

Hello again from Florence! This past week has been very busy; I had my first full week of classes and a school trip to the cities of Pisa and Lucca yesterday!

On Mondays and Wednesdays, my first class is High Renaissance Art History, which is the class that I have out of class field trips for. In class this week, our professor gave a few presentations on the life of Leonardo Da Vinci and a few select works of his. Luckily we’re allowed to take our laptops to class and take notes, because I cannot write as fast as she can talk!

After art history on Mondays and Wednesdays, I have a few hours before my next class to relax and have lunch. I’ve been making my lunches and most of my dinners in the apartment to save money for traveling, so my meals have consisted of a lot of different types of delicious homemade sandwiches and pastas. 🙂

After lunch, I have my Intermediate Painting class. On Monday, we got our materials list and project assignment. The first project involves creating both a drawing and painting at the same time of the same subject. Instead of working on one piece and finishing it and then doing the other piece, we have to work on both pieces a little bit at a time in each sitting. Also, the two pieces have to be of the same subject but not the exact same part of that subject. For example, it could be a drawing of a whole building and a painting of one of the windows on the building. I’m planning on using photos that I took of my best friend as reference, and doing my drawing of her face and my painting of her hands. In class on Wednesday, we brought all of our supplies to start work on our project. I printed out my photo references and started sketching!

I have a little under an hour break before my next class, Advanced drawing. I have the same professor for both my painting and drawing class. On Monday in class, we went over his expectations for the semester as well as a small presentation on gesture drawing. After a cappuccino break, our class had some time to do a few gesture drawings of a nude model before the end of class so that our professor could get a feel for how we draw. On Wednesday, we had another nude model to draw from. We started out doing some more gesture drawings and worked on a longer pose for the second half of class.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I just have one class- Color Photography. This is quickly becoming my favorite class. On Tuesday we did a review of the functions of the camera in general, and on Thursday our T.A. explained the basics of some computer settings and software that we’ll be using throughout the semester. For homework, we should have a few pictures for next class for an open project.

On Friday, my High Renaissance class met at the famous Uffizi Gallery to view some Early and High Renaissance Art throughout the museum, including the beautiful Birth of Venus. Afterwards, since two of my apartment mates’ birthdays were this weekend, a big group of us went out for a delicious pasta dinner.

Yesterday, my roommates and I went along with the Early Renaissance class on their field trip to the cities of Pisa and Lucca! The day was long and freezing, and it poured rain all day, but everywhere we went was so beautiful, it was hard to complain. We went to the city center of Pisa, which includes the Pisa Cathedral and Baptistery and of course the Leaning Bell Tower. We had a detailed history of all three and a few people in the group even climbed the tower! After going to the museum behind the Leaning Tower, we had lunch in a nearby pizzeria and headed on our bus to the city of Lucca. Lucca was very small and beautiful, with a 16th century wall around the city with a walkway on top! I would love to go back there once it gets a little warmer outside and take a bike ride around the perimeter of the city. We toured a few cathedrals and museums in Lucca, and our reward for bearing through the chilly rain was a cake tasting at the end of the day!

After my second full week in Italy, I still can’t get over that I’m really here. I’m excited for my classes to really get rolling this week, and I’m so happy about the amount that I’ve been traveling. This coming weekend, I have a three day trip to Paris planned, so when I get back on Sunday, I will have a lot to share!