One week.

fabrics from Elena's shop

Tiles from Elena's

samples of wood in Elena's

Ponte Vecchio, my view to school everyday.

Our first cooked meal

Its reached the one week mark in Florence! It seems like it has been much longer than only one week, but I am in no means rushing this time here. Its been a crazy week trying to settle in and getting adjusted, its been a lot of running here and there, back and forth. But I just don’t seem to mind all the running around when I have this city surrounding me.
On Tuesday we had our History of Urban Planning and Theory class with one of the most amazing teachers and authors of all time, Richard Ingersoll. He wrote most of the architecture textbooks that I have read in my three years of college. Pretty amazing that im getting first hand experience and teaching from THE Richard Ingersoll. Thankfully, he is American, so I can understand what he is saying. His class was very, very interesting. He is going to be taking us on a lot of trips this semester, including Venice, which I am very excited about. Then we had our Graphic design class with a younger teacher named Alesandro. One of my favorite teachers by far. It seems like its going to be a very fun class as well. He showed us most of his work and his two homes that he has designed, and they are right up my alley. Should be interesting to see what we produce in his class.
Wednesday we toured our professor’s family business in the artisan Oltrarno district of Florence, where we are all living. They have a huge place where they design interiors of homes from kitchens to living rooms, to cabinetry, all the way to the tile and tile patterns. Her father does everything from custom designing the furniture for the house, hand-crafting the kitchen’s appliances to even hand making the keys for the house. It was amazing what all they could do for a client. They had rooms after rooms of furniture they were refurbishing, all so amazing and beautiful. I will post some pictures, because words cant do the place justice.
After that we took a tour of the old Oltrarno district of Florence, which like I said, is where we live… south of the river. The more touristy part of Florence, where most of the hustle and bustle is, is north of the Arno river. Im glad to be tucked away in the more quiet Italian neighbor area instead of being surrounded by the more touristy area.
Last night my roommates, our other friend Brett and I found a place to eat that was in a part of Florence we had never been, so we decided to venture out and find it. It ended up being tucked away in a discreet corner, filled with all Italians, so we decided it was a good choice….and it ended up being awesome. Once again, it was a home cooked meal. I had roast chicken, and “white beans”, which was my favorite thing, and lots of the vino. Its funny; they first ask you if you would like water or vino, then red or white. No choosing the kind of red wine, they just bring you a liter or a large bottle full of whatever they want. And it wine here is actually cheaper than water. Needing a much needed meal and rest, we stayed until they closed.
Today we went on a tour of the Torrigiani gardens. Its funny because I have walked past this huge house with a massive lawn a couple of times since I have been here, admiring it and admiring the owners, wandering how in the world I could sweet talk my way into letting the security guard to let me in…and it ended up that they were some famous gardens that we were getting to tour today. What a coincidence. One of the owners, a brother of about 6 others… took us around. He was so lively and funny, and showed us an amazing place. Again, pictures cant do my descriptions justice. So I will just have to show you. I could have stayed in there for hours and hours, but the night’s cold came quickly.
Looking forward to this weekend of no meetings or class times. I decided Im going to get myself lost in the city.
Until next time, Ciao!