Two weeks in Florence has flown by! I arrived in Florence on Monday, May 13th and it’s now May 28th! Living in Florence has been such a great experience so far. The main school building for CEA CAPA is in the Piazza della Repubblica, which is located in the city center. The Piazza della Repubblica is home to many shops, local and mainstream, as well as many restaurants. Also – the famous Florence carousel is located there as well! Here, I have my Renaissance Art History Course. This course focuses on art from the Romanesque period all the way to the Renaissance period. In this course, we usually spend half of the class by attending lecture. In the other half of the class, we visit museums, churches, and other main landmarks in Florence. It’s super interesting to actually see the art we discuss in class, in person! Two main attractions we visited so far are the Uffizi Gallery as well as the Church of Santa Maria Novella. We also got to examine the exterior details of the Duomo and Bell tower. The other class that I am taking is Introduction to Oil Painting. So far, we have learned how to sketch and work with oil paint. We learned how to mix colors and painted a color wheel with those mixed colors.

Outside of school, I am enjoying my new neighborhood greatly! The thing I enjoy most about my new neighborhood is the lively culture surrounding it. There is always something going on. There are always people out with friends, enjoying each others presence. In a way, I am witnessing a lot more of a dis-connected nature, pertaining to technology. Technology plays a huge role in the US. In Florence, I have witnessed a significant decrease in the use of technology when doing day-to-day tasks. Speaking on that, I believe that strong personal and relationship building skills will be needed to be successful in this environment.

I am currently living in a two bedroom, four person, apartment with other Pitt students. Adapting to the living situation is tough, as many common amenities (such as a dryer, dishwasher, air conditioner, screens, etc) are not used in Florentine life. It hasn’t gotten too hot as of right now, but it does get quite warm in our apartment, which I’m not used to. The other main issue we are having right now is with the mosquitos. Florence is well known for their mosquitos, and it has not lived down to its hype. We try to leave the doors open at night to cool the apartment down, but mosquitos always enter! We purchased anti-mosquito aroma plugs, but those don’t seem to be fixing the problem entirely. Through the coming weeks in Florence, we are going to have to look into other options to adapt to life in this new city. I look forward to learning more and more each day, and to adjust to life here in Florence!