Buon San Valentino!

There are many legends of St. Valentine, but I'm going to tell you my favorite.

Saint Valentine was a priest in Rome during the rule of Emperor Claudius II. Rome was engaged in war on several fronts and Claudius was in the process of building his army, but to little success. He found that soldiers did not want to leave their wives and children, so the Emperor suspended all engagements and marriages in Rome. Valentine, however, was said to be a romantic at heart and continued to wed couples in secret. When the Emperor discovered Valentine’s disobedience, he had him brutally beaten and put to death on 14 February 270 AD. For his martyrdom, Valentine was named a Saint. During the Middle Ages, he became the most popular patron saint for love and lovers in England and France… so popular in fact, Pope Gelasius declaired February 14^th as “Valentine’s Day”. Since then, this day has served as an occasion to celebrate love.

Well, I don’t know how much of this is historically accurate, but I like it all the same!

Valentine’s Day in Florence has been surprisingly fun. The city and its inhabitance seem to embrace the day and the customs are very much the same as ours at home. There is even an abundance of flowers and heart shaped chocolate. Restaurants have created special Valentine’s Day menus and couples were strolling (etc.) hand in hand through the piazza by our apartment.

To celebrate, the five of us cooked dinner and shamelessly took turns singing along with famous duet love songs. I would say the highlight was when we hit the soundtrack from “Moulin Rounge”. Afterwards, Becca and I went out to get gelato and sat in the Piazza Signoria at the feet of the colossal David. There was a small crowd of people gathered around a street performer who was singing and playing the guitar. He did songs in both English and Italian. Much to my amazement, he played “Wild World” by Mr. Big, probably one of my favorite songs from, um… middle school. Needless to say, I still love it to this day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hiqhos1h5M8 The last song he sang was “Shameless” and it was probably the best of the night.

Con amore,

Lindsey

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

Hello from Florence!

I am head over heals (scratch that, heels don't mix well with cobblestone) in love with Florence… and its people… and its art… and its food… and even the strangely green Arno river. However, before I get going, here’s a little background about me. It has been almost one week since I arrived here with my roommate from Merrimack, Rebecca. Both of our majors are Art History, and I have a second major in Finance. I play on the women’s soccer team at Merrimack, where I have AMAZING teammates that I already miss very much. Other than school and soccer, I ride horses professionally and get to work for my mom, who trains horses and teaches riding lessens. She keeps telling me how very jealous she is of my adventure abroad, and I almost feel bad, until I remember she’s spending this winter in Florida. Anyways, there’s a little about me, but now: FIRENZE.

Becca and I are living together with three other girls. Our apartment is about ten big steps away from the Uffizi Gallery and the Bargello Museum! We live on the fourth floor (which really means the fifth in Italy). No need for a Stairmaster these days. In Florence we walk everywhere and the novelty has yet to wear off. The city is old and the streets winding. When you don’t know where you are (which seems to be a lot of the time), just look for Brunelleschi’s dome that covers the great Duomo, the best-known landmark in Florence. If I’m trying to get home, I just look for the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio (outside which the original David once stood) and walk to it. The building that is the Palazzo Vecchio, literally meaning “old palace” in Italian, shares the Piazza della Signoria with the Uffizi Gallery. Our street is directly on the backside of where these two buildings meet.

Today (Monday) is our first day of classes. I just had Italian and it was amazing. The professor is so fun and high energy and there are only eight of us in the class. I think I’ll be able to pick up the language really fast in this type of learning environment. Other than Italian, I’m taking a class on Michelangelo, a class on 19th century art, and a class on the chemistry behind art restoration and conservation. Finally, I’m interviewing for an internship in a Florentine museum, for which I’ll get class credit if I’m accepted.

This weekend Becca and I are going to Interlaken, Switzerland. Last Friday, we did a sort of pub-crawl thing and I won this trip and a canyon-jumping excursion, which apparently is only legal in Interlaken and somewhere in New Zealand. It’s sort of like bungee jumping, but instead of bouncing back up, you jump down and sort of swing across a very deep canyon. Can’t wait!

Well, that’s about all for now!

A doppo!
Lindsey