Ciao Tutti!!!

It has been about a month and a half now and I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I am in Europe, Italy or Florence for that matter. What have I done right in my life to have fully realized one of my dreams? Anyways enough with rhetoric.

Florence is beautiful and annoying all at the same time. Some of the most pivotal, important and magnificent pieces of art in history can be seen by walking on the streets. Santa Maria Novella is around the corner with Giotto's crucifix and Masaccio's Trinity are inside the cathedral. The Duomo and the baptistery are a few blocks down and Michelangelo's David is in the Academia just a little further away. Oh and Michelangelo, he's buried here too, his tomb is pretty awesome by the way. That being said, the side walks are too small especially when Italian drivers don't give much regard to the lives of pedestrians. The vendors are relentless, everywhere and all sell the same thing. And like most cities, Florence is pretty dirty, when you look down. When you look up and there isn't a beautiful Cathedral in the way, there's the most breathtaking countryside, hills mountains and olive trees I have ever seen (the bus ride to Munich was likewise as awesome) and any annoyance I may have had with this place completely goes away.

The food here is wonderful but I can't eat out everyday. Unlike at home, though, its easy to find inexpensive fresh healthy ingredients to make food on par with the food you get at restaurants and on the street. Also with access to good ingredients and foreign ones as well I have been able to experiment with recipes I've never tried before and have shared them with my fellow students and roommates and thus become more in touch with the culture I suppose.

In regards to the people here, they are mostly nice or at least tolerant of us. I have made some Italian friends and we have exchanged language lessons while we convere. Interesting enough, or obviously maybe, Italian misconceptions of Americans are right in line with American misconceptions of Italians.

Art wise, I'm a sculpture major so painting acrylics and taking photos is not my forte. Yet I see the David, Hercules and Neptune in Piazza Signoria and I want to just crack into some rocks with a hammer but all I have is a brush. So I got some clay and I'm gonna play with that. In the mean time I push on with the painting and the photography and get better each time. The way I look at things is developing and my appreciation for what I am seeing increases. So its ok.

Well I think thats all I have to say for now.

Ciao Regazzi

A Presto!