Florence, Italy: Eventful Day

I just finished one of the most enjoyable and eventful days of my life. Imagine every class you take is incredibly interesting and none of it seems like a waste of time. Imagine every break in between classes naturally flowing with every errand you need to make on a stop directly between your location and your final destination. Imagine not having to worry about scheduling and just relaxing on the river of time that is flowing at exactly the right speed. I don’t know what I did, but for some reason, today was awesome.

It started with my Political Science class. Actually, it started when I went to the Accent Center before class. I did my reading on Machiavelli and then went and helped the staff with their computers. I finished one minute before our Political Science class began; but, the prof. knew I was helping and he didn’t mind me stepping in at the last second (at least he didn’t seem to). We spent the first half of the class going over the reading we’d done and he showed us clips from a movie based on a novel by Graham Greene (“The Third Man”) that related the atmosphere of Machiavelli in the Renaissance with the sections we were studying on Italian political parties in the beginning of the Cold War. I was anticipating every step of the way and it flowed wonderfully.

Then, he took us to a museum, that is the best I’ve ever seen. The Opificio delle Pietre Dure is this little museum off of a side street (I know, kind of funny to say in Florence) that has its artwork made out of semi-precious stones. It’s AMAZING!!! There was one room where every work was a recreation of an oil painting. They were all made in the 1700s and 1800s. Some of them looked so good they seemed to be 3D computer models. Before I came over to Florence I thought my Uncle Ron’s stone creations were the best things I’d seen. His creativity with the natural rocks he finds is amazing. I only wish he could see this museum. Every piece I saw reminded me of him.

Then Davide, our Poli Sci professor, took us to the State University in Florence. The classes are not meeting this week but that’s because the students are doing a sit-in and the professors are refusing to show up. Apparently the Italian Education Minister is trying to reform the school system so that once you pick a career path (I think around when you are 12), you can never change which track you’re in for school. How crazy is that? Let’s ask the 6th graders to pick what they’re going to do for the rest of their lives and hold them to it. This is a protest by both the faculty and the students that makes sense!

Then was a break and then my Italian class. Yesterday I wrote about some of my frustrations with how my class was going. It’s as if the professor read my blog (even though I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t know it’s here — but who knows these days). We came to class with write-ups of what we’d done this weekend. When we write and he has us read it, it makes sense. Even while listening to my classmates — and all of our mispronunciations — I was able to follow what each one was saying and predict some of the mistakes beforehand. The pace we took challenged us by making us work creatively outside of class and when he corrects the small things, but still teaches new stuff, it results in the perfect pace.

After class, I stopped by the travel agent I’m using for my Fall Break and he told me everything is a go. He’s booked my airline tickets to Greece and my hotels and when I come in Thursday I’ll pay for all of it and get my train ticket setup. Originally I was going to spend a couple of days in Athens and a couple in Mykonos. After a while I did some reading and Mykonos in November loses its appeal. It’s one of the sun capitals of the world. With cold winds, though, it’s not the hottest place — literally! Now I’ll get to soak in Athens at my own pace.

The only part of the day that wasn’t perfect is that I haven’t been able to find baking powder. Last Thursday our landlady brought over a cake for Brett and I. She said that she was making some and thought we’d like one. So, I’ve been trying to scrounge up the ingredients to make her sugar cookies for when I give the plate back! I’ve now got to search the internet for a recipe for sugar cookies without baking powder. I even went to a market that specializes in imports from the US. They have Snickers. They have They have Campbells Soup. They have Pop-Secret Popcorn. They don’t have baking powder though; it takes them three weeks to get it over here. Oh well, I’ll prevail in this cookie dilemma.

I topped off the night with a Fellini film: La Strada. Starring Anthony Quinn, this piece made very little sense to me in overall plot structure, but I really liked it. There are so many little details in there that stuck out. One of the characters spent the movie demonstrating the human instinct (or at least predominantly Western instinct) for seeking purpose. I suppose if I read some reviews and commentaries even more of the pieces would fit back together. One Tuesday every month, the Accent Staff put on the movie night. Last time there were only two students there and Sarah and one of her friends. This time it was just Jeremy and I. There are so many people missing out on great movies. I haven’t seen one that I felt was a waste of time yet.

I also just finished one of the most daunting tasks of the week: shaving my head. While I had the pattern for head shaving down so well before (to the point where I don’t think I needed a mirror), my stitches are an obstacle. I have to keep them dry, which meant that after I removed my bandage (for the first time since Saturday), I had to do a dry shave on the back of my head. While it’s not the easiest way to shave — it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Also, if I hadn’t been particular on how much of the hair I wanted off, I think I could have done it alone. Brett did need to help me with the section really close to the stitches though. It’s done, I feel fresh, and now it’s time to make dinner. Good night!