Returning to the Motherland: La Bella Vista

Ciao tutti!!!!

Well today was just a wonderful day!

I woke up this morning (very tired) and I got ready for school. (Those 3 spoonfulls of sugar really do help with the yogurt!)

Today I had my consumerism class and my Italian class. For my consumerism class we were talking about fashion and how patterns of consumerism have changed, in respect to clothing, over the years and what that communicated about the time. (Moral values, economic situation, etc.)

After the first half of the class was over (that was the lecture portion) we left school and walked down the block to Palazzo Pitti. (This was the large palace that the Pitti family built, but the Medici bought.) Well they have many museums within the palace (because its very large!). One of the museums is the musei di costume. (Costume gallery) Every two years they have a new theme that they show with the dresses that they put out. (most of the clothes that survived and were preserved are women's clothing) They have many many things, so they have to rotate them.

The theme for this cycle (which is coming to an end this spring) is showing themes/styles/values in clothing and how they were were recycled. (How trends became popular again.)

We saw dresses from the 19th century as well as the 20th century and they had dresses from these different times presented next to each other, showing the similar styles and patterns. As we progressed throughout the museum our professor would explain what the material, patterns, style said about the person who wore it as well as society as a whole. It was very interesting, particularly seeing how the different shapes of women (fuller dresses versus slim, straight dresses) fluctuated, and what was happening at that time in history. For example when women stopped using corsets and how the current events at the time caused this change. Unforunately, you could not take pictures, (recently the collection went private) so I don't have any to show you, but the clothes were (mostly) beautiful.

After my consumerism class I headed out to grab lunch before Italian later in the afternoon.

I pass a panini place everyday on my way to school that looks good, so today I decided to try it out.

I walked in and was able to order and converse with the worker completely in Italian! She asked me what I wanted on my panini, which bread, if I wanted anything to drink, etc, etc. Then, she asked if I would like to take the panini to go. While I was trying to decide, she pointed to the back of the store and asked if I'd like to eat it outside. (The shop has a balcony spot.) Today was absolutely sunny and beautiful, so I instantly said si!!! She told me to go outside and she would bring me my sandwich. It was beautiful. End of story! The shop is just around the corner from the Ponte Vecchio, so the balcony directly sits over the Arno River and has a great view of the bridge!

My salame and asiago panini. The Panini wasn't very expensive, so I decided to buy a coke as well. (This can was in Italian!)

Are you ready for la bella vista? (The beautiful view)

Are you sure???

Ok, here you go!

This was my view of the Ponte Vecchio.

This was my view just to the left of the Ponte Vecchio.

And THIS. This was the most beautiful view. Clear skies, a light breeze, the river, and the sun. La bella vista, e la bella vita. (The beautiful view and the beautiful life.)

I figured some people might not believe that the last picture was mine, because it was so beautiful. So I took a picture of myself in front of the view for proof! :)

I took this picture from the middle of the Ponte Vecchio so you could see where I was sitting for lunch. If you look in the water you see a green boat in the water along the wall in the middle. Follow the right end of the boat straight up to where the open porch/balcony is, and that is where I was sitting! I got a delicious panini, a coke, and great view for only 5 euro! I definitely will be going back there!

After lunch I went back to the school to work on homework. I ended up helping some of my classmates with their Italian, rather then getting much of mine done, but that's ok. After Italian class it was time to head home!

Tonight we had our first homestay dinner. In order for everyone to be able to get to see what an Italian family is like, and what a typical Italian home and dinner is, everyone in the program that is living in an apartment gets to go to one dinner with a homestay family. There is one each month (Jan-Apr) at each of the homestays. There are 5 of us doing a homestay. Tonight I had Amy and Jessica come over for their dinner. They absolutely loved it. I think they were a bit nervous at first, but my family is very funny and outgoing that soon we were all laughing and having fun. They could not believe how good the food was and left with full stomachs. Seeing as we finally had another person present, we were able to take a family photo!

So here I present you with the long awaited photo!