È finito...

I have a feeling that this will be my last entry before I come home on the evening of May 4th! I will provide a brief (= P) synopsis of my last few weeks.

April 5th-7th
My beautiful cousin Amy Karel came to visit from Toledo, Spain! She was on Spring Break with a handful of her friends, and I got to spend time with them for the brief time they were here in Florence. We went to the Academia, walked around, shopped, and got gelato. They stayed with Amy’s friend Gina from St. Norberts, and Gina made an extraordinary dinner for all of us! She was so sweet –all of those girls were wonderful! I miss my cousin!! = )

The 7th was my roommate Catherine’s 21st Birthday—It was fun to go out for her birthday and enjoy an aperitivo with friends! I was so excited because it was an excuse for me to make a sign—hehe—and so I decorated the apartment and drew a poster-sized Kung Fu Panda (her favorite movie—that she is obsessed with) for her. It was joyous!

April 12th Easter
I stayed in Florence for the majority of the time. The only excursion I made was on Saturday—to Cinque Terra with most of my roommates. It is called “5 Towns” because there are hiking trails that connect these small towns to one another along the coast of Italy. It was a gorgeous day and SO much fun to hike and get a little exercise. The view was breathtaking! I LOVED it! Hiking amidst such beautiful nature really reminded me of Winona. I have realized how much I take for granted the beautiful surroundings of Winona. I certainly have a newfound appreciation for it!

Easter was fantastic! My roommates and I went to Piazza Repubblica and watched the Renaissance-clad men do a flag-throwing performance. This was followed by a colorful parade of ‘Kings and Queens’ dressed in traditional Florentine Renaissance attire. The parade ended at the steps of the Duomo, where the crowd gathered to watch the famous ‘fireworks.’ Well, these weren’t just ordinary fireworks…they were hundreds of small fireworks strapped to this Enormous structure, pulled my two huge white oxen. The bishop and papal officials said a mass inside of the Baptistery, which was played on loudspeaker for the crowd to hear. At the conclusion of the mass, the bishop lit the ‘dove’ from the candle of holy fire, which then, traveled along a wire attached to the fireworks-structure, and lit the first of the fireworks. There is deep tradition and belief behind this ritual, and it was incredibly beautiful. The fireworks display was LOUD! The noise of the fireworks reminded me of the loud, bright fireworks on 4th of July—the ones that are barely visible, but rattle in your chest. I was not a fan of those at all. They reminded me of war. But soft flowing fireworks followed these—those were beautiful! The whole display was incredibly symbolic of Christ’s death and resurrection—a beautiful depiction of this most holy event! I was fortunate to be able to witness it!

April 16th-19th Paris
I went to Paris, France with Sarah, Jackie and Liz. They were so much to travel with, and for the majority of our time there we split up into pairs and Sarah and I saw the sights with her local French friend, Magali. It was so wonderful to have a local Parisian show us around her hometown! Paris is beautiful, and despite the chronically rainy weather, we had a fantastic time! There is so much character to Paris, but it is highly modernized and catered to tourists. We enjoyed the street venders, who sold delicious baguette sandwiches—and the majority of the time, it I simply carried around a baguette with me as we toured the major sights. Starbucks was a very nice treat throughout the weekend—we missed that American commodity.

We saw Notre Dame and the Eiffle Tower by day and night. We didn’t climb it, due to the weather, but we did get a gorgeous panoramic view of the city when we went to Mont mart. We saw Moulin Rouge and the Red Light district by car (thanks to Magali) and I was not impressed at all—it is just ‘something you must see.’ So we checked that off our list, and continued on with our sight seeing. We saw the Arch di Truimph and spent a good chunk of our time walking around and shopping.

Contrary to many of the negative opinions that I have heard about French people, we had very positive interactions with the people of Paris. I really enjoyed our stay in Paris! It was a relxing and enjoyable weekend, but by the end, Sarah and I were excited to return home to Florence.

My last 13 days
I have the last of my classes this week, and finals the following week. Tomorrow, in oil painting we are having a critique of our final series of landscape paintings and the following week we will be having an exhibition of our work. In fresco, I am in the process of removing my final fresco from the wall and transferring it onto canvas. Italian is wrapping up and we will be having our final on Thursday of next week. In Art History, we have finished up our lecture and will be seeing an exhibition on Bernini at the Bargello Museum on Thusday—my final will be on Tuesday of next week. I check out of the apartment on the 2nd of May, after my finals, and will be staying at a nearby bed and breakfast until the 4th, when I fly back to the states.

I am excited to be done with the ‘academics’ of my stay here, but I will greatly miss the experiences of Florence that go along with them. I have learned so much and I am excited to be able to take what I have learned back with me. All in all—I have mixed emotions about the end of the next handful of days. I am SO excited to come home, but I am realizing how much I will miss Florence, the beauty of Italy, and the people that I have come to know. All I can do is make the most of it and absorb all that I can. I love it here and I will miss it—the culture, the people, the friends I have made, the art, the architecture, the history. My eyes have been opened on many different levels through this experience and I look forward to taking what I have seen and experienced and allowing it to further shape me for the future.

I do miss everyone back at home (in the US) and I am excited to see you Soon!!

Much much love and many hugs!

Mollie