Everyone said that three months would go by fast…everyone was right!  As I write this, I’m about 6 hours away from leaving school.  Words cannot describe how weird this all is.  Trying to recap everything is really hard.  I really don’t know how to feel actually…I feel torn down the middle in a way, torn between the excitement of going home and the sadness of leaving.  It truly seems like we were just at Ontario Airport saying, “I can’t believe we’re doing this!” and just like that, we’re done.  I’m not that good at all this reflection type stuff, but I do know for sure that these past three months have been amazing and I’ve enjoyed every minute I’ve spent here.  I’ve learned so much during my time here…about myself, my future, others and of course, a little about landscape architecture!  I told myself that I would make the most of my time here because I’ll never have this opportunity or experience again in my life…I feel like I did make the most of my time and more!  This has been such a life changing experience...one that I will cherish and never forget for the rest of my life. 

I’ve been able to spend three months with some of the coolest people I’ve ever known.  I’ve appreciated all the times that I’ve been able to spend with everyone, all the talks we’ve had, all the laughs we’ve shared.  I’m going to miss this experience and going to miss everyone so much.  You can’t really describe in words what this experience has been like.  It’s really like a culmination of four years of being together.  We’ve been through so much at school during the past three years…classes, projects, field trips, plant walks, all nighters etc.  It is such a different college experience being in a cohort of people through all your major classes…you really get to know people better.  So here’s my shout out to Adam, Krystie, Shaun, Patty, Camille, Jenn Rivo, Matt R, Lance, Ricardo, Veronica, Kevin, Josh, Lesli…you guys are really some of the best friends I’ve ever had.  I’m never going to forget all the times we’ve had and all the memories that we’ll have for a lifetime.  You guys are real, true friends and I'm so glad that we got to share this experience together.  I know that we only have a few more months together at school, but I know that we will make the most of our short time left.  Wow, time really just flies by, doesn’t it?  Pretty soon, we’ll all be off working out in the “real world” as adults.  Back to reality, I guess.  Well, enough of the doomsday talk.  Thanks to everyone for the memories…thanks to everyone for your support and prayers while I was gone.  I can’t describe how much I appreciate all my family and friends that I have.  I feel truly blessed that I’ve been able to have this experience and I can’t wait to share it with you all.

Ciao for the last time,

Matt

I've written a blog on facebook explaining in general how much this trip meant to me.  I got many positive responses from friends who were never even that close to me, but found a need to give me a hug after reading my blog just because they found that they could relate to it in their own way. 

This trip was definitely something that I will never forget.  EVER!  I waited and waited for this trip to be life-changing ever since I left.  I couldn't really understand my co-workers who praised this trip so much (since they had gone on this study abroad program years before also).  All I knew was that it would be so much fun!  And it surely was.  Fun in so many ways.  Traveling and seeing Europe (and Egypt)!  So amazing, so speechless I became site after site.  Still unbelievable.  And I kept saying to myself, gosh I really need to GO BACK to all these places that I've been to since I will surely forget what the place looks like or what it FEELS like to stand beside the Pyramids of Giza or the Eiffel Tower or the statue of David!  I have to plan a trip back sometime in the future to see the amazing Italian Villas and Valleys!  So beautiful!  Such an experience!  This is what I have to say about the places I've been to.  The life-changing part of this is that I now have a broader perspective of the world... In comparing the places I've been to my all too familiar home in West Covina, I now feel the difference and see the difference between being an American to being an Italian or European.  Such different life-styles... in some ways similar of course, yet the differences are all too apparent, and now I'm aware of it all...

But it wasn't until my last week here when I realized the other part of this trip that really changed my life.  I realized that the friends I had travelled with weren't just friends anymore.  They had become more than that.  So close that  I would consider some part of my family.  This last week here has been so hard yet so significantly GOOD for me.  Mixed emotions all day long, and all night at times.  I have discovered the deeper side of friendship and the importance of having these people in my life (in anyone's life).  We have all went through so many good times but some hard times as well, because that's how life is -- unpredictable, unforgiving at times, amazing and all worth it, full of happiness, sadness.  Either way, everyone who went on this trip has gained more experience in life and has grown to be stronger people.  One thing I learned well is that communication is so important to solving or working out any problem, no matter how hard it is to communicate, and believe me, sometimes it's the hardest thing to do, I really know this.  If I haven't opened up to you yet, I do want to, but I'm either scared or still trying.  Everyone needs some help at some point in their lives and it's those people who either listened, understood, or had a life-changing experience as well that I'm writing this to.  I'm also writing this to myself, as if speaking to myself to help remind me of how I feel as I write this in my dorm room in Italy for the last time... but I want to thank my friends, my true friends, for being there at some point during this trip, even near it's end, I'm so thankful you were there.

I loved this trip so much.  Who knew I'd write something like this?  It's been really great. 

Ahh, an interesting question I´ve put to myself...Do all good things really have to end?  We have less days here than I can count on one hand and yet I feel prepared for going home.  I started getting ready about two weeks ago when going home seemed unavoidable though I would try and convince myself that we had a lot of time left.  It was ¨therapeutic¨in a way to do a recap of my trip and kind of summarize exactly what these three months contained.  Please read and enjoy!  

Countries I've travelled to: Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy

Cities I've been to: Alexandria, Arezzo, Assisi, Athens, Burano, Cairo, Castiglion Fiorentino, Cortona, Florence, Giza, London, Memphis (not Tennessee...Egypt!), Montepulciano, Munich, Murano, New York, Paris, Pienza, Pisa, Perugia, Rome, San Gigminano, Santorini, Siena, Tivoli, Venice, Viterbo

What I've seen: (warning, this is really long!!) The Birth of Venus, Hyde Park, The Rosetta Stone, Torre del Mangia, Obelisk of Luxor, Eiffel Tower, The Statue of Liberty, Library of Alexandria, The British Museum, The Duomo, The Sphinx, Venus de Milo, The Uffizi Museum, Trajan's Column, Boboli Gardens, Trevi Fountain, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, The Colosseum, Ponte Vecchio, Villa D'Este, St. Mark's Square, The Pieta, Harrod's, The Acropolis, St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, The Mona Lisa, Villa Lante, London Eye, Winged Victory, Trafalgar Square, Arc de Triomphe, The Pyramids at Giza, Time Square, The Tower of London, Hadrian's Villa, Tower Bridge, The Forum, The Gates of Paradise, The Egyptian Museum, The Sistine Chapel, Westminster Abbey, Versailles, The Thames, Sante Croce, The Last Judgement, The Parthenon, The Grand Canal, The Agora, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, The Temple of Zeus, St. Peter's, Rockefeller Center, The Spanish Steps, Buckingham Palace, Marienplatz, Houses of Parliament, Piazza Navona, Columbus Circle, Empire State Building, The Louvre, Oktoberfest, Rialto Bridge, The Nile River, Champs Elysees, Vatican Museum, The Seine, Tate Modern, Notre Dame, King Tut's Death Mask, Picadilly Circus, The Pantheon 

What I would like to see more of: The Louvre (you could spend days here); The interiors of the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Colosseum; The Palace of Versailles (we only saw the gardens)

What I missed seeing (out of the places I went to) : The Acropolis Museum (it was closed), The National Archaelogical Museum in Athens; Amalfi Coast, Milan, Ravenna in Italy; Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte in Paris; National Gallery in London; Stonehenge

Places I would like to visit on my next trip to Europe: Salzburg/Vienna, Austria; Berlin, Germany; Barcelona/Madrid, Spain; Prague, Czech Republic; Copenhagen, Denmark

Things I'll miss about my trip (besides travelling and being with friends, of course): Not having to pay sales tax (its already included, so you know what the final amount will be), good public transportation (as in plentiful, not always good quality), not having any responsibilities (it's really been a vacation from life!) authentic food, not having to drive everywhere, no commercials (no tv=no commercials), the handiness of the 1 and 2 euro coins, being able to talk about people because they don't understand english, the pizza, pasta and gelato!, being able to walk everywhere, seeing the same people working at the stores and restaurants around school 

Things I won't miss about my trip: People smoking everywhere and anywhere!, hardly ever hearing a word you understand, the lack of Mexican food, having to mentally convert to US dollars, European drivers and streets, "uncut" pizza (do they not have pizza cutters!?), having to walk everywhere! (it's a love/hate relationship with the walking bit), the lack of public restrooms/having to pay for public restrooms, the inability to do anything between the hours of 1 and 4 pm (they take the siesta really seriously here) 

Things I'm looking forward to: Being with my family, listening to music in the car or my room, being able to find anything I need almost anywhere (ie Target), eating every good food that I missed, Christmas, not having to use plug adaptors  

Favorite sites: The Eiffel Tower, The Pyramids at Giza, St. Peter's/The Sistine Chapel, everything along the Thames River in London,

Best meals (I can't limit myself to one): Sushi in New York, cheesy pasta at school, ramen at Wagamama in London, pizza or spaghetti at Hermes Restaurant by school

Worst meals: Pasta carbonara in Rome, pea soup at school, raw meat for dinner at school (literally, barely dead),

Biggest rip-off: Paying €8 for a hot dog and soda at the Eiffel Tower.  There were three "hot dogs" inside the chewiest, toughest baguette I've ever had.  The taste was actually ok, but the whole time I was thinking, "Couldin't I get a really delicious version of this combination at Costco for $1.50?!?"

Funnest experiences (this is really hard to narrow down): Riding camels at the Pyramids, eating a really good McDonald's at the Athen's airport, laughing with friends at meals, running down from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower to catch it all lit up, the rides at Oktoberfest, just hanging out in people's rooms, playing crazy games of Cranium, playing ping pong doubles with Shaun, Adam and Lance, seeing the view out of my room for the first time (first impressions are everything), eating gelato, riding a golf cart around Versailles, walking around the streets of Santorini, doing "jumping" pictures in front of famous monuments   

One more blog after this and I´ll see YOU at home! 

Hey everyone...Sorry I haven't written in a while but there's a lot going on here!  Actually, nothing really interesting, but there is a lot of work to be done during our final days here...

One thing I'm excited about is our ping pong tournament tomorrow!  We have 24 players who have to give a euro each to enter the tournament...hopefully I win! :)  Not much going on this weekend...I think everyone is gonna start getting things packed and so forth as people are leaving at various times during the next week and 1/2 or so.  It is very surreal being here right now as we only have a few days left.  Everyone keeps saying "Can you believe we're almost done?!?"  I can't believe it myself...three months seems like such a long time and initially it felt like we had forever until we left...Now with a few days left, I'm trying to soak it all in and have a really awesome time (which I am).  I think that after traveling with everyone and going to all these amazing places, some of the best memories are going to be of laughing at school, eating meals together and just hanging out.  Lacey from last year's class told me that one of the things she missed the most was having everyone just down the hall and being able to talk or hang out pretty much anytime.  I think she was right...Once we're back at home, everyone will be spread out again..but I do think that this experience has brought our class so close that we'll for sure keep the good times going...

By the way, I'm planning a large summary blog of my trip for sometime early next week...It's going to be unintentionally extensive and intentionally amazing so stay tuned.  Hopefully it will answer all those questions you've been dying to ask me!  Until then...Ciao

Exactly.  Where did the time go???  We've got a little over two weeks left here and I really can't believe it.  Time has been going by so fast these past few weeks, especially since we got back from our week long trip.  This week has been fairly routine, although we do have a lot more school work on our minds than usual.  We've got two papers due by the end of the quarter as well as a fairly involved group project that is moving along ok.  I just got out of oil painting class, which is very low key and relaxed.  I'm not very experienced in painting, so it's all still a learning process for me.  Yesterday, our class went to Florence again for a field trip.  We went to the Uffizi museum, which is the biggest art museum in Europe besides the Louvre in Paris.  They have a huge collection of Italian Renaissance art...maybe too huge.  I think if you are really interested in that period, you would enjoy the museum.  I like art and museums, but it got a little repetitive for me, actually.  We saw a few well known pieces such as the Birth of Venus, The Duke and Duchess of Urbino, Primavera and an unfinished drawing by Leonardo di Vinci.  I wasn't really familiar with too many other pieces besides these.  After the Uffizi, we were supposed to go to the Villa Gamberaia in the afternoon.  I walked with the group almost to the bus station and then decided to head out on my own.  Both times that we've been in Florence, we've really rushed and I didn't feel like I got a good appreciation or perspective of the city.  So, I decided to do some present shopping and just soak up the city on my own.  It was actually really refreshing to be on my own.  I am pretty independent in that way I guess.  I don't mind being on my own and doing my own thing every once in a while.  I found some cool gifts (hopefully for you!) and then grabbed some pizza and a coke.  I sat underneath the statues of the Piazza della Signoria and enjoyed the scenery and people watching.  I walked around for a bit after that and then headed toward the train station.  It was around 3:30, so I missed the train back home by about 20 minutes.  The next one wasn't until 5:10, so I just hung out in the McDonald's at the station.  About 40 minutes later, a bunch of my classmates showed up too, so we all took the train back to Castiglion Fiorentino. 

This weekend, my roomates and I are going back to Rome to see the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum.  I've seen the Sistine Chapel already, but none of them have, so I decided to go back again for fun.  I didn't get the chance to see a lot of the pieces in the museum, so I'll be able to see those too.  Not much else going on besides that actually.  It's a little quieter this weekend because Texas A&M is on a field trip to Rome, so about 1/3 of the school is gone.  The weather is really cold for California standards.  I've heard its nice at home, so I'm jealous.  We've actually had really good weather here...I think it's only rained a couple days at school so we're lucky.  Ok, I'm talking about weather so I must be running out of things to write about... 

Well that about sums things up for me this past weekend.  Everything's just kinda blah right now...I got sick yesterday and had a very weird and horribly drowsy night until about 11 am this morning.  It's getting so dark earlier in the day so the days feel really long and drawn out.  We've got quite a bit of work to do in the next few weeks but I'm unmotivated to do it!  And it's been hard being away from family and home, especially when there are things going on at home that I can't be a part of or involved in...Well, I feel like I'm just ranting now..I can't believe that we only have 2 1/2 weeks left...This past weekend was just a bump in the road because I know that I'll have a great rest of the trip.

Anyway, I should go do some sketches right now before dinner at 7:30...Ciao for now

So I don't usually dress up for Halloween.  In fact, I think my last costume was a fireman in fourth grade.  Anyway, my roomates and I devised a group plan of attack for this year's costume contest.  We decided to dress up as the fruit of the loom characters.  So, Lance was an apple, Ricardo was a leaf and Shaun and I were grapes.  Ricardo and Shaun went to Arezzo on Monday and bought all sorts of stuff for our costumes.  The plan was to wear a shirt, shorts, socks and headbands that corresponded to your color.  I was the purple grape, so they had a little difficulty in finding men's clothes in that color, especially the pants.  What I ended up with were ladies XL purple exercising pants which fit ok, but were a little tighter than I'm used to.  I also got some lovely purple stocking things...We cut off part of the pants and made the headband.  Now, I have to give some credit to my mom for the inspiration of the grape costumes.  I think I was around 8 or 9 when my mom dressed up as a grape for halloween using balloons.  I remember her trying to get through this maze and her balloons kept popping and getting stuck on everything!  It was really funny...So that's what we decided to do for the grape costumes.  Ricardo's "leaf" was basically a toga-like thing that he spray painted a gold color and then hot glued real leaves on it and his headband.  Lance's costume was a little more involved.  We used metal hangers to make the skeleton of the apple and then used this plastic material to wrap around and make the shape.  Then we drapped a red sheet over the whole thing and voila! we had an apple. 

We kept all of this VERY secret.  In fact, we locked our room door religiously, even if one person just went to the bathroom.  This created a lot of suspicion amongst our friends and we had many times when people would try and break into our room!  Anyway, we for sure had the best costumes after checking out the competition.  We were a little nervous about Adam's "Richard Simmons", but besides that, we had the prize in the bag.  So around 6 pm, we went down to the dining hall to set up our table with nametages that said "Reserved for Mr Gee" etc and Halloween decorations.  We switched out the chairs for stools because we were too wide to sit in regular chairs.  We got our costumes all ready at 7:30 for dinner and made our grand entrance into the hall.  I have to say that we were an instant hit!  Everyone wanted to take pictures with us as a group and there were a couple times when I felt like I was surrounded by paparazzi.  Dinner was so fun with everyone all dressed up.  Patty, Camille and Jenn dressed up as international adaptors and frizzed up their hair all crazy.  Krystie and Veronica switched clothes and were each other.  Some people just wore masks, but I think we were the only ones who went all out.  Anyways, after dinner we all lined up to show our costumes to the judges.  We were the last ones (purposefully...best for last :) and posed the same as the logo for the judges.  We anxiously awaited the judges announcement.  3rd place went to Courtney as Andy Warhol.  Ok, fine.  Second place went to a guy dressed as a scarecrow from Texas A&M.  Boring.  They announced that first place was a tie.  The first winner was Laura who dressed up as a dancing robot.  She put on a good show, but the costume was a little cliche.  The second first place winner ended up being Adam as Richard Simmons....He deserved to win because he put on a good act and was dressed in the whole aerobic thing, complete with a wife beater that read "Never Say Diet".  Our group was a little mad...ok really mad...especially when we found out that they didn't want to give it to a group.  I really think we deserved to win, but we were happy when pretty much everyone told us afterwards that they loved our costumes and thought we should have won at least something....Thus, we dubbed our award as "The People's Choice"....Oh well, we all had a good time and I enjoyed eating pasta as a grape. 

Well, just a quick update because I need to sleep soon...My class is leaving for a three day field trip to Venice tomorrow.  Then my friends and I are flying to Athens, Greece on Friday and staying for a few days before flying to the island of Santorini.  Next Tuesday, we're flying to Cairo, Egypt!  I'm really excited to be going to some new places and I will try my hardest to keep this updated while I am gone...lots of excitement to come...Ciao!

I really needed a haircut.  So I had my roommates Lance and Shaun give me a mohawk that turned a little more fauxhawk I guess.  It was kinda fun except when Lance messed up a part of my hair on the side around my hair whirl.  My "bald spot" looks a lot worse in the pictures than in reality.  Check out the pictures for the sequence of events...

oh yeah, shout out to Krystie for the sideburns!

Living in Castiglion Fiorentino for about a month has taught me the many differences from the United States.  Not every difference is necessarily bad per se, but there are quite a few "luxuries" that I think we take for granted at home.  The first thing that comes to mind is the availability of any type of consumer goods.  Going to a grocery store here compared to a Vons or Albertsons is pretty different.  The stores here have a decent amount of groceries, but there's definitely not a whole ailse devoted to chips or sodas or shampoos.  Soda choices here, for example, are Coke, Sprite or Fanta.  I guess it is true that we are a consumer nation with seemingly unlimited choices of almost anything.  Its kind of sickening in a weird way, but I think its made me even more grateful for living in the US.  Another thing that amazes me are the driving rules (if you can even call them that).  We've been on buses a few times and it just baffles me how close all the vehicles, including buses, cars and mopeds, get to each other.  A good number of streets don't even have lanes!  Cars zoom past each other and mopeds squeeze in between the cars and tour buses.  Its like a huge rat race with no rules and a "dog eat dog" mentality.  Another pretty crazy thing about this country are the store hours.  In general, stores are closed for a "siesta" sometime between 1-4.  This could be a problem if you need something during that time because literally everything is closed!  Now even though there is that set time for siesta, sometimes the stores are closed just because.  There's also a lack of public restrooms here.  In the touristy areas, you might find a couple and you'll likely have to pay.  In San Gigminano this past week, I found a public restroom and had to pay 50 cents.  Turns out it wasn't even a toilet. (see title)  So I'm looking forward to the days when every store you're in has a FREE restroom! 

Now these differences so far seem negative...they're just cultural differences I guess..but there are a few things about being here that are actually kind of refreshing.  I'm glad that there aren't so many choices of what to do in town.  It's nice not having to decide because there isn't anything to decide on basically.  I'm also glad in a way that we don't really have an active TV-lifestyle here at school.  We can rent movies from the school or watch a few channels (I actually don't even know because I've never watched), but that's about it.  It's also fun being in such a small town because everything is family owned which means you are always interactive with the same people at the stores.  It creates a familiarity I guess.  I'm also enjoying not having to drive anywhere! Its gonna be so weird when I'm back home and driving again...hope I remember how to do it!

Well, so much for my "reflections" on my trip so far.  I guess the overall point is that I'm living in a completely different environment that has its own identity...I do love it, but I'm still thinking that there's no place like home...     

As many of you know...I love food!  My friend Adam jokes that I have a tapeworm because I eat so much...we've dubbed it "eating for two"!  Since food consumes much of our time here in Italy, either thinking about what we're eating or what we miss eating...I'd thought I would write a little about it.  Our meals here in Italy generally consist of various pastas and pizzas.  At school for lunch, we usually have soup, various Italian meats, vegetables and sometimes risotto with a mushroom cream sauce.  The lunches at school aren't always great, but I've enjoyed trying some new and authentic Italian dishes.  On weekends, we don't get lunch at school so it gives us the chance to go eat at some of the local restaurants and cafes.  I usually get pizza when we eat out just because its around 3-5 euros and you get a whole pizza so its more filling.  If I'm not super hungry (which is rare, I guess) I get pasta which is almost always delicious!  The only bad pasta I've had so far has been a pasta carbonara in Rome which was bleh. (The one at school was way better)  For dinner, we always have pasta, a meat dish, vegetables/potatoes, and fruit for dessert.  The pasta is my favorite part but the meat's usually very good.  We have chicken, roast beef, pork and more chicken.  Now, being gone this long makes most of us here homesick for food that we can't get here.  I've got my own personal list of foods that I miss...here's what pops into mind right now...

Foods I Miss

Salmon, McDonald's cokes (!), chips and salsa, Slurpees, sushi, tacos, Del Taco, clam chowder, Bob's Big Boy blue cheese dressing, burritos, skittles, In-n-out, fried rice, rice and beans, scallops, butter on hot bread, terriyaki chicken, anything Mexican, anything from Costco, especially the $1.50 hot dog/coke (I paid 5 euro for a hot dog in Paris!), !!!! etc etc...

Now, I had McDonald's twice so far: Once in Paris and once in Rome.  It wasn't necessarily because I love it, but I did have a craving for really salty fries those two times.  We have a Chinese restaurant about 5-10 minutes away that some people have tried.  They said it was pretty good, but I really haven't had a craving for Chinese food.  I did have some "chips and salsa" last night at a local place in town.  The chips were kind of like tostidos and the salsa was definitely Pace, but it was delicious!!!  I do miss the real stuff back home though...I guess I eat a lot of Mexican food. (Casa Sanchez!)  There might be a chance to have some different food once I'm on break in about a month (we'll be in different countries)  Well anyways, enough of my food ramblings.  Long story short...I love Italian food and am enjoying 95% of what I'm eating here..but I do miss foods from home...

*Note to parents...chips and salsa at the airport wouldn't be a bad idea :) 

Well, we started school this week...it was a pretty long first part of the week.  We had school on Monday and Tuesday from 8-10pm.  During the day, we have design class, urban and regional landscape history, italian class and drawing/graphics.  The days feel so long cause there really aren't any breaks!  We usually get a couple hours before dinner to run errands in the city of whatever.  On Monday, we took a nice long walk around the city to see our project site.  Now, for those of you who don't know, this area is VERY hilly and steep.  I think all of us are getting in excellent shape because of all the walking that we do.  It's kind of nice not to have to rely on a car at all.  If you ever need anything in town, you have to walk a fair distance to get there.  School is pretty laid back though once we're not in class.  During our breaks, I play ping pong a lot or go get gelato.  On Wednesday, we went on a field trip to Florence.  It was a short day trip, but we got to see some of the main sights.  We had a delicious meal for lunch and got to see the Boboli Gardens in the afternoon.  Yesterday was our last day of school for the week and now we're free for the weekend!  Veronica, Krystie and I did laundry yesterday at the "local" laundry mat.  I say "local" because it's a about a 20-25 minute walk! That took up most of the afternoon I guess...Next week we're going to Rome for a three day field trip.  Right now, though, I have a nice three-day weekend here in Castiglion.  Probably will go to Arezzo tomorrow for a day trip....Ciao!    

Well, we finally made it to Italy yesterday...we took the train from Paris to Florence and it was a 12 hour overnight trip.  On paper, that sounds pretty bad...it wasn't too bad in the end though.  There were 11 of us total so we were in two separate rooms.  We were all excited because we could laugh and talk in our own compartment until we had to welcome a strange Frenchman.  He was quiet I guess, but kinda creepy in a way.  Anyways, we all talked for a while, ate some food on the train and then started to pull out the beds so we all could get positioned.  It was amazing that we could fit all of our luggage in their, but we made it work.  I went to sleep earlier than I have since we left and had a pretty goods night's sleep before we arrived in Florence around 7:30 am.  Adam, Krystie, Matt R, Lance and I walked up to the school on the very steep hills, which have been mentioned by almost all former students as an interesting "experience".  It was pretty hard and we started to realize how much exercise our legs were going to get!  We made it to school and got all checked into our rooms.  Now, I'm good friends with one of our RC's, Lacey...we worked and carpooled together this past summer.  She got me and my room mates an awesome room that has a view of the entire valley behind the school.  We have two doors that open up to a balcony-like window and bam! there it is...A group of us got lunch at the Garden Underground.  I had my first Italian food...pizza with arugola and spicy pepperoni! Mmmmmm!!!  We got our very first gelato at Coco Palm.  I tried strawberry yesterday and sampled everyone elses.  I think its going to be a daily routine.  It felt good to unpack everything and finally be at a "home".  This morning, I woke up to the Italian sun beaming through my window and a beautiful view outside.  We had some orientation stuff this morning and we ate lunch.  I had spaghetti and it was deliciouso!!!  A little afternoon nap and some more gelato and then it was time for a delicious dinner of pasta, salad, chicken, potatoes and fruit!  We played Cranium tonight and it was a lot of fun.  Tomorrow is our first day of school :(  I think we're going on a walk for a majority of the day.  Well I'm so happy to be here!  The town is so small and quaint.  Its so much different than home.  The streets are all so narrow and small and you find yourself lost or going down unfamiliar streets, but you get to your destination eventually.  The stores are closed many of the afternoons and the meals are eaten a lot slower...the pace is definitely really laid back and its a nice alternative to our usual busy pace at home.  Well anyway, its getting late and I gotta shower tonight still...more to come later this week!   

Yesterday we took a class field trip to Florence (Firenze) Italy.  Just an hour and a half bus ride from where we are staying for 3 months.  We saw some piazzas and a few churches.  We went inside the Santa Croce which had the resting place of Michelangelo and another famous artist.  We had lunch at a great Italian restaurant which I believe was paid for by the professors or the school.  I have a few pictures which I might post up.  Then we went to the Il Giardino Antico Da Babilonia a Roma which was a large garden with sloping walks.  Very nice place but very tough climbs and somewhat gloomy weather. 

We also had another sketching class when we got back to school.  We did gestural sketches again with student models from different schools.  I've been enjoying the sketching classes because it gives me a chance and a reason to practice my sketching and I'm learning a lot about how to be a better sketch artist which is what I really love doing!  And our professor, Andy, really helps out (in my opinion) because he acts like a coach who keeps on pushing you to do your best and work your hardest even if you're tired or even if you think you cannot do the work.  I feel like I am being pushed to draw better than I draw now. 

Today we just started off with design class again and did some water color paintings.  During our break today after lunch and another design class, Veronica, Matt, and I walked all the way down to the laundry mat to finally get a whole load of laundry done!  The only time we did laundry was the day we arrived at school.  Since we did that by hand I hardly got anything done and the clothes didn't end up smelling as great as they would coming from a machine.  SO, today I was super happy for having nice clean clothes fresh from the washer and dryer.  It took a while to do, but it was done.  AND the best part about our laundry experience was the RIDE we got back to the dorms!  This really nice Italian man realized that we were students from the school and offered us a ride back!!!  He didn't speak any English but we managed to get by with the basic of most basic Italian.  Fulya helped out a lot when she explained that there were "5 amigos" who needed a ride. 

Tomorrow we are heading off to Switzerland.  This trip was suggested by Andy, our professor, and only about 17 of us are going.  We rented vans and a couple of us will drive early tomorrow morning.  I hope this will only be a great experience with no regrets.  I'm expecting it to be.  But I am really tired and sleepy right now.  I hope I get sleep in during the drive there.

Be back later, then!  Ciao!