Visiting Marco Zeno's Home and Studio

Buona sera! Good evening! (Or still buon giorno to all of you in the States.)

Okay, before I start I have to say that there's a little old Italian woman who helps run the hotel and she is the most adorable thing ever. She only talks to us in Italian but she is so cute (molto carina!) and one of the girls on our trip just brought her a bouquet of roses. That was great.

Today we visited an Italian contemporary sculptor named Marco Zeno (and I really hope I'm spelling his name right). He lives in Grotto, about half an hour outside of Massa Marittima at his home/studio literally on the side of a hill. He makes sculptures out of wood from the olive trees on his land, and he has a fascination with the contortion of the wood and the designs created within the wood once it is carved. His work is displayed all around his home, and it is spectacular.

Marco talking to us about his sculptures

He makes the most interesting heads!

Before we had lunch, we all went into Marco's studio and he gave us each a slab of clay. He taught us how to sculpt heads and faces out of the clay like he does, and we all tried our hardest to follow his lead. A lot of our heads ended up looking alien-like... but watching him create a face out of the clay was so mesmerizing. In the end, drawing on my memories from my 8th grade sculpture and ceramics class, I came up with a sort of self portrait that I think truly captures how tired I am and how knotted my hair was from the wind on the side of the hill. (See below.)

After we made our sculptures, we had a delicious lunch prepared by Marco's wife. There was pasta, bread, sliced meats, delicious cake, pastries, coffee and homemade sweet tea (yessss) and lemonade. After lunch Marco brought us on a tour of the land next to his house and showed us all of the olive trees from which he drew his inspiration. He told us that he often goes up the hill on his land and sketches the olive trees, and some are better to sketch than others.

We had a wonderful time visiting this very talented artist, and it was fun to see the contrast between Marco's art and the classic Renaissance art that we were exposed to in Florence. Marco was fabulous, as were his wife and his son Akhenaton (like the pharaoh), and I am so glad we were able to meet them today! Also, there were two dogs, a cat, goats, chickens and roosters on their land so I was able to get my animal fix for the day. :)

One of the dogs chilling on the property!

I'm super excited because tomorrow I'll be able to sleep in! We won't be leaving until 2 pm to go see another contemporary artist's sculpture gardens. I'm excited! More to come after that!

Arrivederci!
Dani

We're in Massa Marittima!

Salve!

We made it to Massa Marittima this afternoon! We had possibly the most terrifying bus ride ever getting here from Florence, between the traffic, our savage bus driver passing every vehicle on the highway, and the skinny winding uphill roads getting up to Massa. The ride was beautiful though once we got into the more remote areas, and we were able to see the sea from the highway.

The view of the sea from the bus window!

We're staying in a restored monastery called the Domus Bernardiniana, and it is so quiet and beautiful! We're on the side of a hill, and the view is incredible. It's definitely a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle of Florence and the constant noise, and that was the point of coming here. I actually like it a lot better. I find that I am more aware of sounds and our presence in the city, and I am trying hard to hide my American-ness. It's a quaint little town, almost like a village, and we get to stay here for five nights. The only issue is I hardly get any wifi or even cell signal in my room, so I either have to stand at the open window holding my phone up like Simba, or come down to the small lobby where there are a few couches, which is what I'm doing now along with about seven other people.

We arrived around 2:00, and we walked around a bit and got ourselves oriented, and now we are waiting until dinner at 8:00. Two important couples will be joining us for dinner at the hotel, I forget who they are... haha. Massa is so different from Florence, but both are fantastic in their own way. Tomorrow we are going to meet a contemporary artist for a workshop, and I am super excited. I'll take plenty of pictures, and I am excited to be in a new place. I'll probably feel the same way by the time it's time to travel to Rome.

Massa is still important enough to have its own cathedral...

However, none of this changes the fact that I really miss iced coffee, Firehouse subs, and driving my car. #fiveweeks #icedcoffeecountdown (I'm making that a thing.)

Ciao!
Dani

Last Day in Florence

Ciao! Hello!

Today is our last day in Firenze! We spent our morning at the Museo di San Marco (which reminded me of Jacksonville's San Marco :c) where we saw a bunch of paintings and frescoes, and then we toured the monastery where the monks stayed at the church. Then we went to the Florence Cathedral (the giant building we've been admiring the whole time we've been here) and saw the interior of the Duomo. After a break that was too short, we went to the Bargello museum and we saw some more of Michelangelo's sculptures. This has been the majority of our days here in Florence, museum after museum, church after church, fresco after fresco. Hours of standing and taking pictures and writing notes. But it has been fantastic.

After the Bargello, we were free to roam and do whatever for the rest of the day because the majority of our days here have been pretty full. Another girl and I were going to go to the Museo Galileo (the science museum), but Tuesdays are the only days that the museum closed at 1. So, deciding we were exhausted, we schlepped back to the hotel and I immediately fell asleep. I feel a little bit like I'm not taking advantage of the city around me, but honestly, we have seen so much over the past five days that just chilling and sleeping seemed like a great option. Right now I'm lying in my bed eating Pringles like they're going out of style, but maybe I'll get up and do some shopping in a bit.

I didn't post yesterday, but after a full day of museums I went to go see a chamber orchestra concert at the Orsanmichele last night! It was awesome. The concert featured two oboists that sounded great, and the acoustics were amazing. Check out my Facebook for pictures, because once again the pictures won't load. It was awesome hearing the small orchestra play, and I didn't even need to understand any Italian to appreciate the music. Because, you know, music does that. :)

Tomorrow at 9:30 am we will depart for Massa Marittima, and I am excited to finally be in a small hill town without all these tourists and annoying street vendors. We will take a bus there and it is about a two-and-a-half hour trip. You know what that means? SLEEP.

So far this trip has been amazing, and I still have 5 more weeks to go. (And 5 more weeks before I can get iced coffee again.) And I think I'm getting a single room when we get to Rome next week, so that's like a dream come true for me! I'll let you know how Massa is when we get there.

Adios! (Ha.)
Dani

Amo Firenze!

Buon giorno! (I've been getting a little better at these basic greetings, but not really)

It feels like an entire week has passed since my last blog post. This is only Day 3 in Florence and we have already done so much!! I've already taken so many pictures. I'm sorry that the pictures didn't show up in the last post, I was trying to post them on the Blogger app that I had to pay $4.99 for and then it derped with the crappy wifi on the way to Florence. And it looks like the same thing is happening now just on my laptop, so I'm sorry you're going to have to look through the pictures on Facebook :/ boo.

Yesterday we went to the San Lorenzo complex, which was commissioned by the Medici family, as was a lot of the art here in Florence. Among all of the things we saw were the beautiful Biblioteca in the complex, the Basilica of St. Laurence, the Chapel of the Princes, the Academia (we saw the David!) and the Florence Baptistery. You can see all of these pictures on my Facebook page or even on my Instagram (*cough cough* follow me @dani_zentz). Our hotel is literally two blocks away from the Duomo and the Florence Baptistery, Cathedral and Bell Tower complex. We can hear the bells from the bell tower in our hotel room!

Yesterday we also had a bit of free time after we visited the Academia and made friends with the statue of David, so we went and got pizza for dinner with my three roommates at a little place near our hotel and wandered a bit. We are staying at the Hotel Maxim, which is very centrally located and not a far walk from anything, really. We found a bookstore called RED, which stands for Read, Eat, Dream, and it was a cafe/bookstore that reminded me of a more modern Barnes and Noble that was three stories high. I got some really cool pens and a little journal! My suitcase will definitely be overweight on my way home... haha!

This morning we went to the Uffizi Gallery, where there are a LOT of famous works. We saw works by Michelangelo, Botticelli, Rafael, Caravaggio, and Leonardo da Vinci. We saw the Birth of Venus and the Primavera, as well as the Portrait of the Dukes of Urbino and multiple Enunciation paintings. At the top of the Uffizi there is a cute cafe out on a terrace with an awesome view of the Duomo complex. As we walk through the museums, I've been taking notes on my iPhone because I can write notes and insert pictures into the note for reference. It's so much information with so many works and artists to recognize and remember! I remember a lot of things from my AP Art History class, but that was three years ago now. 

After the Uffizi, we got in line to climb the Duomo! We waited in the line for an hour or an hour and a half, and then we climbed what seemed like a million small, steep, spiral stairs to the top. It was tiring, and my roommate had a couple asthma attacks on the way up, but when we finally made it, the view was incredible and the pictures speak for themselves. Unfortunately, the pictures are not loading for some reason... so look through my Italia 2016 album on Facebook! :) Ah, technology has been trying here in IT.

Florence is awesome and I love it (Amo Firenze!), but I'm starting to find that there are too many people here. It is a very touristy city, with street vendors selling bags and shirts that look like the same ones they sell in New York City except they say "Florence." The art and architecture of the city is beautiful, and the culture is awesome, but there are too many people here for me. There are tourists from all over the world. That's what was cool about climbing the dome; we were expressing our struggles climbing as well as our awe and amazement at the top with random strangers who did not even speak English. That kind of stuff is universal, as is music. I've heard "Time to Say Goodbye" played on the streets multiple times already... it's a beautiful Italian song that I sang in chorus at Bolles so it is special to me, and I'm sure it is special to everyone else in the city too. These common experiences across cultures are what is so cool about being over here in Italy. I'm sure I'll have more experiences as we continue our adventure. However, the introvert in me is really looking forward to Massa Marittima, a quiet hill town that will not have millions of tourists sharing the streets with us. We'll depart for Massa on Wednesday, so we still have 4 more days in Florence.

Tomorrow we have another packed day in store for us, and I'm sure Dr. Murphy has lots more amazing things to show us. Right now we're going to find food and cold/fever medicine for my roommate, who coming down with something. I just hope I don't catch it...

Ciao a tutti!
Dani

Thoughts as we head to Florence

Buon giornio a tutti! (I hope that means good morning everyone!)

I'm not really sure when I'll be able to post this, considering we've only been able to get wifi in the lobby of our hotel and now we're on the road again... But it will get posted eventually!

We got to the Ostia Antica Park Hotel without a hitch! Besides, you know, having to plow through the streets of Ostia in a bus. What everyone says is true: driving is ridiculous in Italy. It's a free-for-all and everyone drives their tiny Smart cars and goes wherever they want and parks wherever they can. I think the biggest car I've seen so far was a GMC SUV, and it even looked out of place. It's kind of funny because all the street signs say "fermata" to mean "stop" and the musician in me is geeking out. But anyway, we spent last night in the Ostia hotel after visiting the ancient Roman ruins at the Ostia archaeological park. I got some beautiful pictures, and we met a couple of cute cats there. 

 

 

 

Our hotel was very cute; I was in a triple and it was pretty small but it was good for one night. My two roommates were fascinated by the bidet but I haven't tried it yet... Haha! Oh, side note: European toilets are weird. The beds were small and not too fluffy but really, I was so tired I think I would have slept on a slab of concrete if I had to. I wasn't really able to sleep on the plane; I maybe got an hour of half-sleep collectively. So after being awake for basically 24 hours, last night's sleep was amazing and I took one of the top five best showers of my life in the tiny European shower.

 

We're currently on a really nice Mercedes Benz charter bus heading to Florence, where we'll check in to the Hotel Maxim. It's a three hour bus ride to get there, but that beats the crap out of that 9 hour flight we took over here. We're driving on a freeway and we're passing by these beautiful rolling hills. Cypress pines are abundant here, and they're beautiful. Everything is just BEAUTIFUL. It's a bit overcast today and it's probably in the 60's outside. Everything is in Celsius and kilometers and grams and I'm over here like "Help me, I'm American." I brought my rain jacket to wear today, so of course, it probably won't rain. Once we check in we'll get our orientation and walking tour, then we'll go to a grocery store, and then we're having a nice dinner tonight at 7:30.

It's really hard to believe that I'm in Italy right now... It's all kind of surreal, and the sleep deprivation and jet lag hasn't been helping. Everyone's using their fancy DSLR cameras but I've been taking pictures with my iPhone 6 and they're turning out really well, nice job Apple! Maybe I didn't need to buy a digital camera after all. But we shall see.

Update: Dr. Murphy just told us that we have been driving though Lazio (the region where Rome is) and now we're driving through Umbria. These views are breathtaking and my camera is not doing them justice, but here are a few of the pictures I've taken.

 

 

 

Ciao for now! See you in Florence!

Dani

Greetings from Atlanta!

Hello from the Atlanta airport! I'm in the middle of the three-hour layover before our international flight that departs at 6:27 pm. The flight from JAX to ATL was not bad at all, and it was over before we even knew it! It even looks like there are some good movies to watch on the plane... for $6 a movie... but that should keep me entertained on this upcoming 10-hour flight. I'm sitting at concourse F charging various electronics with the three UNF professors and about seven other UNF students. Everyone got some food and we're all happily taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi (or as they say in Italy, Wee-Fee).

This airport is so BIG! I've been in here a few times before from our Bolles chorus trips, but I guess I was never on the international side. Riding the train over to our concourse, I remembered running through this airport to catch our flight with the rest of the Bolles chorus, and then a kid got left behind when the train doors closed! I have made sure that I am not that kid, and I basically stayed glued to Professor Malcolm until we got to our gate.

Sorry, whoa, a midget couple just walked by me. That was interesting. Oh, and there was a guy on our earlier flight with a FANTASTIC mustache! I tried to get a picture, but it was a little too creepy even for me. But I appreciated that.

Landing in Atlanta!

So anyway, it's been pretty smooth so far, besides a bit of "rough air" on the landing in Atlanta. I was worried about major delays or inclement weather, but that's looking good. I got some iced coffee from Starbucks in the Jacksonville airport since there won't be iced coffee for six weeks, but I might get some more here in the Atlanta airport. Life is good, and it's about to get better!

Stay tuned for more scattered and random blog posts from me from ITALIA!

~Dani~

Ostia in One Week!! (Plus Packing Tips)

Lol, I just figured out that these posts can have titles. You're talking to a professional blogger over here. #nailedit

We're one week away from our departure!! I think I should be nervous, but I'm not yet. After seeing all the flight delays that the music students had to deal with on their trip to France a few days ago, I just hope everything goes smoothly with the planes. And I hope I won't get lost in Atlanta. And I have yet to start my pre-departure assignment... but I still have time between work and hanging out with friends I won't see for a while! And Mother's Day is Sunday too, so we'll have some family fun time before I leave.

My professor has posted some things about Ostia Antica on our Blackboard site. Here is a map of the city, and I'm kind of squealing just looking at it. It's so ancient and stuff! I'm not really sure what we are seeing in Ostia, I just know it's an "archeological site." My professor also gave us a weather update; the weather for next Wednesday in Ostia is supposed to be highs in the low-70's and lows in the mid-50's. Perfect! Considering it was 90 today in Jacksonville, I'm so ready for that.

I feel like I need to start packing. All of the adorable travel-sized items I have gathered for the trip have made their way into a pile on my bedroom floor. Once I get everything organized and packed I think I'll feel a whole lot better. I've also been asking about tips for the international flight, and so far I've gotten:

• SLEEP! The flight will be super boring, and it's overnight, so duh.
• Don't freak out about flying over the ocean. You won't be able to see it. But it will be able to see you.
• They'll have movies to watch on the plane! Watch those.
• If you don't have much faith in Delta's movie choices, download all of the music you want to listen to and movies you want to watch BEFORE the flight, because the in-flight WiFi is more expensive than you think.
• You will end up having to use the bathroom on the plane. With this in mind, do not go for the extra sriracha extra hot toppings on your extra not-stomach-friendly enchilada. Do yourself and everyone else a favor. Actually, just don't eat at all, you'll be fine.
• Ask for an extra blanket. That way you can burrito your legs and your torso and not be sad that you're lacking one or the other.
• Do not make conversation with the person next to you. It will be fine and friendly at first, but after a few hours if they keep talking to you, you will regret it. Don't feel bad that you don't know the person you're sitting next to... it's actually a huge plus.

Also, some equally amusing general tips:

• Assume your luggage will be lost. Pack two changes of clothes in your carry on, and some kind of sleepwear that is pretty normal, in case you end up standing outside your hotel in the middle of the night wondering how that caught on fire so fast.
• Wear your heaviest things on the plane so your bags weigh a little less. Even if it means holding up the line in security when you have to take your shoes off... it's a small price to pay.
• You must eat gelato every day. I will have multiple people expecting daily gelato selfies and a list of all the different types I tried.
• The jury is still out on this one, but I've been told I don't need a sun hat, but definitely sunscreen. I don't know... I think I need a fancy European sun hat.
• Pack things that are hand-washable and won't take long to dry. You don't want that one thing that you couldn't dry to get packed back in your suitcase and make everything else wet and gross by the time you get it back in Jacksonville.

So yeah. Maybe this advice will help you or other random blog browsers in the future. And if you have any other tips, let me know! I'm super stoked!!

Ciao for now!
Dani