Sanguino Viola!

The past few days have been filled with many new experiences and even more beautiful sights than before! Even though I have been in Florence for over half of the semester things are definitely not getting old.

On Sunday afternoon, the day after Halloween, it was our first time at an Italian futbol match!(that's soccer--if you didn't already know) Florence's home team 'Fiorentina' was playing against Catania, a team from Sicily. The stadium was pretty empty when we first arrived, though we were about an hour early. We explored the giant stadium and checked out the locals who were decked out from head to toe in purple Fiorentina gear. This would have shocked us but since we are all so used to seeing this much purple at home football games at JMU this aspect was nowhere near 'new' to us :) The fans began to pack the stadium and a few minutes before the game began sections of the stadium that were recently soulless were filled to the bursting with screaming fans! Throughout the game we heard all sorts of chants, songs, phrases from both teams. It was a home game so the majority were from fans of Fiorentina. We were accompanied by Alessandro's, the Director of the Florence Program, daughters who were more than willing to translate many of the sayings and gestures that the two sets of fans were throwing at each other. Most of the things would require a long washing out of the mouth with soap and a not-so-gentle slap on the hand. These Italians do not take their pride for their team lightly and was defiitely easy to see! In the end Fiorentina was victorious over the Sicilians with a 3-1 victory!!

Monday we had a pretty normal schedule of all of our classes. Italian to begin the day where we were ironically learning about hand gestures and the ways in which Italians use them to communicate. A few of the girls and I were still a little curious about some of the gestures from the futbol match and asked Mossimo, our professor, to translate them...he laughed and laughed and we got yet another lesson about the colorful language/gestures Italians use to defend their team and express their pride.

Today, I only had one class! It was museum work and we learned all about the dangers involved in preserving artwork. Things like fire, water, heat, humidity...crazy people who decide to attack masterpieces with a hammer?! Yes, there are lots of things that go into protecting these works of art and I got to learn all about it today! After Museum Work was over I ran home threw my camera battery into the wall to recharge, made a delicious sandwhich-panino integrale(wheat bread) with mozzarella, tomatoes, and cucumber!! fresh, cheap, and delicious!- then headed out to attend the City as a Classroom course in which I am not enrolled :) Today they were visiting the Boboli Gardens behind the Piti Palace. These gardens are not like American gardens-they're huge!!! There are statues, grottoes, beautiful buildings, and amazing views in every direction! We climbed up and down hills, past fountains, into rose gardens...everything was gorgeous. It would take more than just a few hours to see it all, but in the short time we did have I had a wonderful time and loved everything I saw. I love the fact that I attend classes I am not even enrolled in and have such an amazing time! Florence is awesome. Greatest time ever. Don't forget to leave any questions or comments that you might have. I have really enjoyed all of the feedback I have been recieving and would not mind some more at all!