enjoy!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Flickr works!
I have had problems with getting my pictures off my ipod, and ended up getting my friend Allison to upload my pics to my flickr account. Here is the link:
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Siena, San Gimingano and the Boboli gardens
Sorry for the late update, but here is last weekend:
Friday I went to meet up with a girlfriend of mine because we were bored and had nothing better to do than draw sculptures in Piazza della Signoria. She really wanted someone with her because she has made some Italian friends, but didn't want to go alone to meet with them. We had gelato with some of her friends and we bought a deck of cards and played some games back at the apartment with my roommates.
Saturday we got out of bed extremely early (5:30am) to get to the bus on time to go to Siena and San Gimignano.
Both had amazing Duomos (cathedrals) and the one in Siena was supposed to rival Florence's Duomo, but because of the plauge, it was never finished. The view from the top was amazing, and I have lots of pictures, and bought some famous 'panforte' to bring home. It's sort of like fruitcake, so I think it will last until I get home.
San Gimignano is a pretty well preserved medieval town because it was hit by the plague so badly, they made no progress for many years and therefore still have a lot of the "tower houses" in place. We saw some churches and got to do some wine tasting at the end provided by our professor and the school! Also, we got to taste some cheese and wild boar sausage with pistachios in it. I bought a bottle of wine on the way out, but I think that mine is a little cheaper than that which we tasted, but it should be wonderful, none the less.
Sunday my roommates went to Venice, and some of my other buddies and I went to the Boboli gardens for the day. Beautiful, huge, and I got a bit of a tan. I found a patch of grass and immediatly was overwhelmed with joy, throwing myself onto it and rolling around in what my art history teacher would most likely describe as a holy ecstasy, maybe something like that of Saint Fina who was the anorexic saint from San Gimignano that slowly went paralyzed and allowed rats to nibble on her toes so she could experience suffering like Christ. (I guess like her, I will have to perform miracles after my death... I'll get on that right away.) Then we walked across the lawn to read the sign that said "stay off the grass."
After the gardens we went for some food, and I ate the most delicious creamy sauce in the entire world: tartufli made with truffels... yes, mushrooms! Amazing creamy sauce, and I must go get some more soon.
My batik class is going pretty well, and I have finished only one project, so I have to get busy! I am in the middle of my second, and have two more to go. I think I am getting the hang of it though, and really enjoy working 2-D again for a change of pace from the usual ceramic routine. Also, the studio is only open for those 8 hours on Monday and Wednesday, forcing me to go out and be social, which is also a nice change from the usual late nights in the studio at home.
Friday I went to meet up with a girlfriend of mine because we were bored and had nothing better to do than draw sculptures in Piazza della Signoria. She really wanted someone with her because she has made some Italian friends, but didn't want to go alone to meet with them. We had gelato with some of her friends and we bought a deck of cards and played some games back at the apartment with my roommates.
Saturday we got out of bed extremely early (5:30am) to get to the bus on time to go to Siena and San Gimignano.
Both had amazing Duomos (cathedrals) and the one in Siena was supposed to rival Florence's Duomo, but because of the plauge, it was never finished. The view from the top was amazing, and I have lots of pictures, and bought some famous 'panforte' to bring home. It's sort of like fruitcake, so I think it will last until I get home.
San Gimignano is a pretty well preserved medieval town because it was hit by the plague so badly, they made no progress for many years and therefore still have a lot of the "tower houses" in place. We saw some churches and got to do some wine tasting at the end provided by our professor and the school! Also, we got to taste some cheese and wild boar sausage with pistachios in it. I bought a bottle of wine on the way out, but I think that mine is a little cheaper than that which we tasted, but it should be wonderful, none the less.
Sunday my roommates went to Venice, and some of my other buddies and I went to the Boboli gardens for the day. Beautiful, huge, and I got a bit of a tan. I found a patch of grass and immediatly was overwhelmed with joy, throwing myself onto it and rolling around in what my art history teacher would most likely describe as a holy ecstasy, maybe something like that of Saint Fina who was the anorexic saint from San Gimignano that slowly went paralyzed and allowed rats to nibble on her toes so she could experience suffering like Christ. (I guess like her, I will have to perform miracles after my death... I'll get on that right away.) Then we walked across the lawn to read the sign that said "stay off the grass."
After the gardens we went for some food, and I ate the most delicious creamy sauce in the entire world: tartufli made with truffels... yes, mushrooms! Amazing creamy sauce, and I must go get some more soon.
My batik class is going pretty well, and I have finished only one project, so I have to get busy! I am in the middle of my second, and have two more to go. I think I am getting the hang of it though, and really enjoy working 2-D again for a change of pace from the usual ceramic routine. Also, the studio is only open for those 8 hours on Monday and Wednesday, forcing me to go out and be social, which is also a nice change from the usual late nights in the studio at home.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Cinque Terre, Lucca, and Pisa
I have given up on the pictures for now... maybe sometime next week? (sorry Momeee)
Follow the links to find pictures and other extensive unnecessary details to the things I have seen. I won't bore you with details that I enjoy unless you want to know them!
Working backward from today, we went to Cinque Terre , more specifically Monterosso al Mare vand got some relaxing sun. I can't say that we were the most peppy group today (my roommates Alison, Alyson, and Sari) but we did have a lovely day! It was a sorry outlook when I woke up with a sore throat, and then we couldn't find our terminal at the train station. Thankfully Alison speaks enough Italian to help us out at the information desk, and I slept most of the way. I got some Ibuprophin in me and when we arrived at Cinque Terre (after changing trains in Pisa) it started to rain. We were ok with it though when we found a restaurant with five euro margaritas. After our lunch and refreshment, things started looking better... and the sun literally came out for us! We walked around a bit, enjoyed the mountainous view and the rocky beach. It had some kitty litter type sand and the water was salty and cold. We basked in the sun and just relaxed.
Yesterday we went to Pisa and Lucca for our art history class. We are always a whirlwind when we go with Helen Waterson, our professor! She is amazingly smart, she got her doctorate at Yale and expects a lot out of us (15 page research paper is looming at the end of the semester!) We trod around Italy with her sprinting ahead, talking nonstop the whole way! She is like a textbook, pointing out all the details of the art work covering each facade, altarpiece, and pulpit, telling (unnecessary?) details about saints and their slightly creepy reliquaries. At the Duomo in Lucca we got to see a complete saint, petrified, and without the usual wax face covering! Her name is Saint Zita, saint of maids and domestic servants, and she is represented by flowers.
The weekend was in short... packed! I was super lazy on Friday, sleeping until 11am and piddling around the apartment until noon. My roommates came home from school then and we had lunch together, homemade concoction of eggplant, basil, rosemary, pasta, asparagus, tomatoes. I was proud, and thought it was tasty, but I don't know how much they liked it, really!
Friday we ended up hanging out with our other SACI buddy, J, and he wanted to get dinner across the river so we wandered over there and found a really great place. They have this great cured ham, sliced so thin, served with cantelope called proscuitto a Tuscan tradition. I would have never put ham and melon together, but it was great! (I had soup, but we all tried everyone else's food)
I guess that a good update for now, without the help of pictures, there is not much else to say! Hope to get them up soon... ;)
Follow the links to find pictures and other extensive unnecessary details to the things I have seen. I won't bore you with details that I enjoy unless you want to know them!
Working backward from today, we went to Cinque Terre , more specifically Monterosso al Mare vand got some relaxing sun. I can't say that we were the most peppy group today (my roommates Alison, Alyson, and Sari) but we did have a lovely day! It was a sorry outlook when I woke up with a sore throat, and then we couldn't find our terminal at the train station. Thankfully Alison speaks enough Italian to help us out at the information desk, and I slept most of the way. I got some Ibuprophin in me and when we arrived at Cinque Terre (after changing trains in Pisa) it started to rain. We were ok with it though when we found a restaurant with five euro margaritas. After our lunch and refreshment, things started looking better... and the sun literally came out for us! We walked around a bit, enjoyed the mountainous view and the rocky beach. It had some kitty litter type sand and the water was salty and cold. We basked in the sun and just relaxed.
Yesterday we went to Pisa and Lucca for our art history class. We are always a whirlwind when we go with Helen Waterson, our professor! She is amazingly smart, she got her doctorate at Yale and expects a lot out of us (15 page research paper is looming at the end of the semester!) We trod around Italy with her sprinting ahead, talking nonstop the whole way! She is like a textbook, pointing out all the details of the art work covering each facade, altarpiece, and pulpit, telling (unnecessary?) details about saints and their slightly creepy reliquaries. At the Duomo in Lucca we got to see a complete saint, petrified, and without the usual wax face covering! Her name is Saint Zita, saint of maids and domestic servants, and she is represented by flowers.
The weekend was in short... packed! I was super lazy on Friday, sleeping until 11am and piddling around the apartment until noon. My roommates came home from school then and we had lunch together, homemade concoction of eggplant, basil, rosemary, pasta, asparagus, tomatoes. I was proud, and thought it was tasty, but I don't know how much they liked it, really!
Friday we ended up hanging out with our other SACI buddy, J, and he wanted to get dinner across the river so we wandered over there and found a really great place. They have this great cured ham, sliced so thin, served with cantelope called proscuitto a Tuscan tradition. I would have never put ham and melon together, but it was great! (I had soup, but we all tried everyone else's food)
I guess that a good update for now, without the help of pictures, there is not much else to say! Hope to get them up soon... ;)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Pictures, try again
So, I found a Mac computer!! That means I am loading photos and trying to catch up with blogging...
This is the view from my apartment, on the top of a five story building, right downtown Florence. I am kitty-corner from the center of town, where the statue David (actually a remake in it's original location) is. I can see the dome of the Duomo from my kitchen window/balcony.
These pictures are all from 5-18-08, when my roommates and I went out to explore yet again the city of Florence.
There are some bad pictures of the town square and a wild hog sculpture that you put a coin in it's mouth (it is a dripping fountain, so he drools on your hand) and make a wish and rub it's nose.
This is a video my roommates on the only original Medieval bridge in Florence, the Ponte Veccio. There is a guy playing guitar, then you hear an ambulance in the background. There are shops all along the bridge.
It was really late for dinner when we finally decided to eat out that night, and couldn't find anywhere except somewhere really schmancy called "Golden View Open Bar." They had amazing food, I had tortellini with wild boar in the sauce. OH!! and my friend Allison had something with truffle sauce, and I loved it! Amazing, a mushroom I actually liked.
This is the view from my apartment, on the top of a five story building, right downtown Florence. I am kitty-corner from the center of town, where the statue David (actually a remake in it's original location) is. I can see the dome of the Duomo from my kitchen window/balcony.
These pictures are all from 5-18-08, when my roommates and I went out to explore yet again the city of Florence.
There are some bad pictures of the town square and a wild hog sculpture that you put a coin in it's mouth (it is a dripping fountain, so he drools on your hand) and make a wish and rub it's nose.
This is a video my roommates on the only original Medieval bridge in Florence, the Ponte Veccio. There is a guy playing guitar, then you hear an ambulance in the background. There are shops all along the bridge.
It was really late for dinner when we finally decided to eat out that night, and couldn't find anywhere except somewhere really schmancy called "Golden View Open Bar." They had amazing food, I had tortellini with wild boar in the sauce. OH!! and my friend Allison had something with truffle sauce, and I loved it! Amazing, a mushroom I actually liked.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Pictures!! (FAILED)
OK... so there are no pictures because these PCs only have INTERNET EXPLORER on them. In other words, IE is too lame to allow me to upload pictures to my blog. I will have to go to the pay per minute place downtown and upload them there.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Internet and phone
I now have a phone (finally) and it makes me feel a lot safer. We went to some bars last night, again, and it was great. Although the Italian men get kinda pushy even at random times, we were a group and watched out for each other. Trying to speak with someone who knows as much English as you do Italian is really fun! We are getting the hang of just ignoring most of the pushy guys, and having fun getting to know all the restaurants and house wines. The wine of the region is Chianti (kee-aan-tea), and the house wine is always local and wonderful (and cheap), but not big-name.
My roommates are great, Allison is from New York state and getting her masters in Drawing at Kendall. She was studying in Florence with another school in 2005 and lived here for four months, so she is the official tour guide. That makes us all feel a lot safer and gets us going pretty quick. We don"t waste a lot of time picking our noses... except when we are around the Duomo, but that is an inside story you have to ask about!!
There are two Allisons, and the other is a Kendall student who is studying graphic design. She is a great roommate and really outgoing. Sari is also from Kendall and studying graphic design, and through her we added a guy friend, Jeremy (J) who is also Kendall graphic design!
We now have our last roommate, Nebihe, who is from Turkey, but is getting her masters in interior design in New York. She just flew in this morning, and seems like she is here to have fun also.
Pictures are yet to be uploaded... but coming in the next few days for sure!
My roommates are great, Allison is from New York state and getting her masters in Drawing at Kendall. She was studying in Florence with another school in 2005 and lived here for four months, so she is the official tour guide. That makes us all feel a lot safer and gets us going pretty quick. We don"t waste a lot of time picking our noses... except when we are around the Duomo, but that is an inside story you have to ask about!!
There are two Allisons, and the other is a Kendall student who is studying graphic design. She is a great roommate and really outgoing. Sari is also from Kendall and studying graphic design, and through her we added a guy friend, Jeremy (J) who is also Kendall graphic design!
We now have our last roommate, Nebihe, who is from Turkey, but is getting her masters in interior design in New York. She just flew in this morning, and seems like she is here to have fun also.
Pictures are yet to be uploaded... but coming in the next few days for sure!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Orientation
Orientation was almost all day today! We got a tour of the city (although I have been adopted by the Kendall students and had a tour yesterday night with them and their professor...).
I am getting along with my roommates, and there have been some "house rules" set, but we are waiting for our final roommate to come on Sunday and then we will have a formal meeting to get everything straight. We bought food today at a large market (don't touch the fruit! they will serve you!! and in the self-serve supermercados you have to wear gloves, weight the fruit, and print out a sticker for the bag)... and we all split the bill, and I taught them all how to make "illy" esspresso with the STOVE TOP espresso maker (thanks for the kitchen education, mom!). We even are furnished with a very very very small clotheswasher and we will hang our clothing out to dry over the back balcony with a pulley! I am so excited, and I hate laundry! I feel so European, it's ridiculous.
We are going out tonight to hopefully hear the monks chant at sunset, then to a nightclub!
I do apologize for the spelling errors, the spellcheck thinks I'm Italian and highlights most everything I type anyway!
If anyone is interested in sending me snail mail this is my address:
Nora Hipshear
Studio Art Centers International University
Palazzo dei Cartelloni
Via Sant'Antonino 11
50123 Florence, Italy
please email me your home addresses if you would like a postcard;
hipshean@student.gvsu.edu
I am getting along with my roommates, and there have been some "house rules" set, but we are waiting for our final roommate to come on Sunday and then we will have a formal meeting to get everything straight. We bought food today at a large market (don't touch the fruit! they will serve you!! and in the self-serve supermercados you have to wear gloves, weight the fruit, and print out a sticker for the bag)... and we all split the bill, and I taught them all how to make "illy" esspresso with the STOVE TOP espresso maker (thanks for the kitchen education, mom!). We even are furnished with a very very very small clotheswasher and we will hang our clothing out to dry over the back balcony with a pulley! I am so excited, and I hate laundry! I feel so European, it's ridiculous.
We are going out tonight to hopefully hear the monks chant at sunset, then to a nightclub!
I do apologize for the spelling errors, the spellcheck thinks I'm Italian and highlights most everything I type anyway!
If anyone is interested in sending me snail mail this is my address:
Nora Hipshear
Studio Art Centers International University
Palazzo dei Cartelloni
Via Sant'Antonino 11
50123 Florence, Italy
please email me your home addresses if you would like a postcard;
hipshean@student.gvsu.edu
Thursday, May 15, 2008
SACI Studio Art Centers International
Hello all!
I am here at SACI headquarters, and I don't have much time before a big group dinner outing, so this will be quick. I am so excited to be here in Florence, Italy (Firenze), but this keyboard is tripping me up! My roommates seem really great, they are adventurous and outgoing, all you would hope for international students.
My apartment is right in the heart of Florence and I am on the top floor with a nice view. The weather is fair, and all I need is a skirt with a light sweater. I am rooming with three Kendall students and a few others from various locations, (Kendall is the art college is Grand Rapids), and we are all getting along great. Two bathrooms for the five of us total (rooms are 2, 2, 1) and we have a small kitchen. There are outdoor markets is around and I plan on making a lot of meals, so I can spend my money on the feild trips to come! Hopefully we get around to some adventures this weekend before classes start on Monday.
Official Orientation is tomorrow at 10am (it is 6pm now if the American blog says otherwise). I will then know how to get a cell phone, about the busses, and general important places (drug store, doctor, police, post office).
I wish all of you could see this, so I am posting pictures as soon as I figure out how to upload them here!
I am here at SACI headquarters, and I don't have much time before a big group dinner outing, so this will be quick. I am so excited to be here in Florence, Italy (Firenze), but this keyboard is tripping me up! My roommates seem really great, they are adventurous and outgoing, all you would hope for international students.
My apartment is right in the heart of Florence and I am on the top floor with a nice view. The weather is fair, and all I need is a skirt with a light sweater. I am rooming with three Kendall students and a few others from various locations, (Kendall is the art college is Grand Rapids), and we are all getting along great. Two bathrooms for the five of us total (rooms are 2, 2, 1) and we have a small kitchen. There are outdoor markets is around and I plan on making a lot of meals, so I can spend my money on the feild trips to come! Hopefully we get around to some adventures this weekend before classes start on Monday.
Official Orientation is tomorrow at 10am (it is 6pm now if the American blog says otherwise). I will then know how to get a cell phone, about the busses, and general important places (drug store, doctor, police, post office).
I wish all of you could see this, so I am posting pictures as soon as I figure out how to upload them here!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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