Author: Stephanie Larkin

Buona sera!

Sorry I forgot to post last week. We had midterms and I was trying to memorize 100 flashcards worth of paintings, sculptors, and palaces for my art history exam. It’s pretty challenging since I’ve never taken a class like this before, but it’s really interesting. We talk about the artwork in class and then go see it in person too! I also went to Rome with a few friends. We saw the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, and we went to the Vatican to say hi to Pope Francis. JK we saw him from what seemed to be a mile away in his window for Sunday mass. It was a very touristy weekend, but it was fun to see a bigger Italian city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now it’s time for FALL BREAK!

Tomorrow morning I am leaving Florence to go see the one and only Bix in Amsterdam and Cologne for a few days! I have all of next week off so I’m going to be doing a lot of traveling around (Sorry in advance for the super long snapchat stories). I’ll have lots of pics for next week’s blog post!

Also, here are a few pics from when I climbed the Florence Cathedral and the Bell Tower this morning. I did both within an hour and it was nothing compared to doing stadiums at Bucknell.

 

When climbing to the top of the dome of the cathedral, you are climbing between an inner and outer dome. This picture shows the narrow, steep stairs you have to use.

Ciao Ciao…Ciao..

Steph Larkin

Buona sera!

Hope everyone is enjoying fall at Bucknell! The weather this week in Florence has not been ideal (I’m not really a big fan of it…its currently thunder storming. Ugh.). It got really cold all of a sudden and there is no heat in my home stay. I’ve been bundling up when I sleep and I even broke out the fuzzy socks.

I stayed in Florence this past weekend and got caught up on some homework. For my art history homework, I had to go to San Miniato al Monte, a basilica in Florence, and draw different parts and then describe it in ‘art history’ terms. It’s pretty cool to actually see things in person, and not just in a textbook.

Tomorrow morning I am leaving to go to Padua and Mantua for the weekend with my art history class. I think we will be seeing some of the art that we have talked about in class that will also be on our midterm exam next week.

My Italian professor told us we had to go to the Mercato Centrale to take pictures of the food and learn about it. Here is a picture of a pizza I ate at there. It was delicious!

Ciao Ciao!

I can’t believe I have been here in Florence for over a month already! It’s starting to cool down and there are fewer tourists around the center of the city, which has been really nice. I can finally walk around and not have to push my way past sweaty groups of people.

2 weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to Chianti with my Mediterranean Food and Culture class. It was gorgeous and a lot of fun! The weather ended up being perfect (sunny & 75) and we ate soo much! The winery we went to showed us the process for making their wines and cheeses before we tried them. My professor taught the class about the Wine Classification System in Italy, different pairings of wine and food, and how to read a wine label.

I also went to Ravenna, a city near the east coast of Italy. There I had the opportunity to visit churches that have the most incredible mosaics I have ever seen! It was a little overwhelming thinking about how many little pieces there were and how long it must have taken to create the images. I took a few pictures of the mosaics, but they don’t do it justice. In person you can see the sunlight reflecting off of the gold pieces and how shimmery it is.

Last Sunday, Fiorentina played A.C. Milan in Florence! There was no score, unfortunately, but Fiorentina should have won. The game was super exciting and the energy of the fans was crazy! Hopefully I can get to another game while I am here.

This past weekend I went to Split, Croatia! The bus ride was super long (like going to Georgia long), but it was worth it. I went on a tour of Diocletian’s palace, white water rafting, on an island hopping boat tour, and traveled to Krka National Park. The boat tour was definitely my favorite part and the weather was perfect that day. My souvenirs include lots of pics and 3 euro worth of leftover Croatian currency.