Ah, it's been a while! I have been super occupied with life here, but I will briefly try and update everyone. I can't say school has been hectic b/c it's practically a joke. Although, next week will be particularly busy due to midterms. My midterms for my classes go along the lines of "design your own fashion line", "have 6 digital photo prints ready", and "pick an artist you like and know something about their background". So preparing for them has been anything but tedious.
In terms of traveling, I went to San Gimignano one day. It's a small medieval town in Siena. It's walled in like a medieval town would be and has some incredible views of Tuscany. I bought a few watercolor paintings there. Also, last weekend I went to Pisa & then Cinque terre (translated- 5 lands). It's these 5 towns embedded in the rocky hills off the coast of the Italian riviera. It's incredibly beautiful. We napped on the rocky beach during the late afternoon, indulged in pesto pizza (pesto is a specialty of this area), and the next day we hiked through 4 out of the 5 towns (Starting at Riomaggiore, going through via dell'amore ["lover's lane"], and arriving several hours later with jelly for legs in Vernazza). Vernazza is the biggest of the towns, and after more pesto with pasta for lunch, we hung out on the sea wall facing towards the town, overlooking a lagoon where people were swimming. Generally just soaked in the atmosphere before heading on a train back home to Florence.
Also, I went out to a music club last Tuesday night that had a Beatles tribute band playing. The band was cute- British boys dressed in early Beatles style playing all the early Beatles music. They have several gigs at this particular club. I enjoyed their performance so I'm hoping to catch them again one of these nights. I'm curious to see if at other gigs they dress up/play differently (lonely hearts club Beatles anyone?). Oh, also found another awesome coffee shop around the corner from me. It's actually more like a library/coffee shop/bar that plays lives music in the evenings. Plenty of interesting books, free internet, and fun atmosphere. So glad it's so close. I am always baffled out the new things I find in our neighborhood.
Okay well I had a few more things to update about, but I need a nap now. Ciiaaooo
