Monday, February 8, 2010

Our First Excursion!

The first two weeks in Florence have been wonderfully chaotic. My classes are absolutely amazing, my favorite probably being the one dedicated to Michelangelo. On the other hand, I have a chemistry class where I sometimes find my mind wondering, doing things such as admiring the color scheme of the orbital density sphere diagram, instead of pondering its actual meaning. In reality, such a class serves as a good diversion from all of the art history and Italian that consumes the rest of my hours.

On Wednesday, I interviewed for a museum internship and was assigned to the Church of Santa Maria Novella, a beautiful Medieval and Renaissance building filled to the roof with treasures of Italian art. I can’t even express my excitement over the opportunity to work and study in the same space as some of the best-known Renaissance masters.

Speaking of excitement, Becca and I went to Switzerland this weekend to actually go through with our canyon jump adventure. We stayed in Interlaken, a town settled in the heart of the Swiss Alps and surrounded by some of the steepest northern facing peaks in the world. To get to our jump spot, we trekked for over 45 minutes up the steep, winding, and snow covered mountain path to a platform suspended high above what I would hesitantly call “the ground”. The space below us probably fit more comfortably into the category of “rocky frozen river of death”, but who cares. Needless to say, the 200 ft freefall, between two sheets of solid snow covered rock, was one of the most exhilarating (and scariest… by far) experiences of my life. The crazy bearded Swiss man, who reeled me in with a rope after my jump, told me that people always reacted in one of two ways: the Hollywood scream (obviously my reaction) and the semi- silent combination of choking and gasping, which in his opinion, was the true sound of fear. Anyways, we got some good video out of it… look down.

Ciao,

Lindsey

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