Author: Stephanie Larkin

This past weekend, my professor took my sustainability class to “Milan”. It took a train, two subways, and a bus to get to where we were going… which wasn’t actually Milan. It was a park outside the city. There we went on another bike tour through the woods and planted some plants. This time I didn’t see any flamingos but I did see a few peacocks (they got away before I could snap a pic)!

Later in the afternoon, my Italian class went to a perfume atelier in Santa Croce. There they showed us the process for creating artisansal perfumes from the finest of ingredients. One bottle of extract – a raw ingredient – we held cost $3,000. 

Buonasera amici!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel with Syracuse University to Assisi, Italy. The ride took about two hours via bus. As we were arriving, we had to look up to see the town, as it sits on high ground with a wall surrounding it. Although the town is relatively small, with narrow winding streets and views of the countryside, Assisi is the birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of Italy.

During my visit, I spent hours inside the Basilica di San Francesco learning about all of the beautiful frescos depicting the life of Francis and I was even able to go see his tomb. It was a moving experience, especially seeing how important it was for so many people to be there. In my art history class we are learning about frescos and techniques used to create them, so it was neat to be able to connect what I learned in class to what I had just seen in person. I look forward to more site visits like this one.

On Sunday, my Urban Sustainability professor took the class on a bike ride outside of Florence. I didn’t know what to expect when he first told us about it. Turns out we ended up biking from 9am to 5:30pm, and when we weren’t biking we were taking a short break for lunch or walking around. It was definitely a good workout. One of the places we biked to was a WWF Oasis, a conservation site where animals (mostly birds and amphibians) can rest away from civilization. As I looked out at one of the ponds from the observatory, I saw some cool looking birds and a flamingo!

This Saturday, my Sustainability class will be going to Milan and I think we are biking again. Hopefully no one gets lost or breaks a bike this time. I’ll let you know how that goes in next weeks post!

Ciao Ciao,

Stephanie

Buonasera!

I have officially completed my first week of classes here in Florence. Instead of taking four classes like at Bucknell, I am taking five. They include Art History, Italian, Mediterranean Food & Culture, Economics of European Integration, and Sustainable Urbanism in Europe. On Mondays and Wednesdays I have class from 9-6pm and 9-3pm, respectively. However, I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which allows me to get work done and explore the city. I also don’t have classes on Fridays!

My art history class has already gone on a site visit! This means that instead of sitting in a classroom, we get to go into the city center and learn about the art/architecture as we are standing right in front of it. Yesterday we walked around the Piazza di Signoria and learned about how/why it was formed. In the 12th and 13th centuries, there was a struggle for power between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. The two factions that emerged in Florence were the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. The Guelphs destroyed homes of the Ghibellines and left it as open space to remind people of what would happen if they rebelled against the Papacy. This is the piazza where the Palazzo Vecchio is, which is basically Florence’s town hall and has been a symbol of power for hundreds of years. Today it is a museum (I haven’t been inside yet).

I have some fun and interesting trips coming up so stay tuned.

-Steph Larkin