October 13, 2011

October 13, 2011

This morning Franzi and I caught the bus to school around 8:15, dropped off our backpacks at school and then headed to the Bargello Museum. We met our Medici class there at 9:00 and it’s in an old palazzo that is really quite beautiful. We spoke for a bit in the courtyard about Donatello and then went up to the Donatello room, filled with statues from different points in his career as well as other art by himself and other very famous Italian (mostly Florentine) artists. We started by comparing the panels for the competition for the Baptistery Doors by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti. The two panels by the two artists both depicted the scene surrounding the sacrifice of Isaac. It was so interesting to see the two panels side by side because it made it fairly evident why Ghiberti was chosen as the winner over Brunelleschi to make the Doors of the Baptistery (the Gates of Paradise). I won’t go into it but Ghiberti was definitely the clear winner. After that, we looked at Donatello’s first, marble David, his bronze statue of Mercury, his statue of Saint George for Orsanmichele and then, finally, his bronze (and most famous) David. I had the honor of presenting on this incredible piece of art and there, in front of the original sculpture, gave my oral presentation. I was a little worried about it at first but I felt very good about it and even Jodie told me that I had done a wonderful job :) It was so exciting to see it in person, as well, after reading so much about it. It really is an incredible statue. After my presentation, our time at the Bargello was over for the day and we headed back to the classroom where we had a short, in-class session for Medici.

After class, I had lunch with my Dante discussion group and we discussed the cantos we read this week and our thoughts on them. At 1:00, we had a quick meeting with the whole group just to find out where everyone was going over break, and then we headed to our Italian classes. In Italian, we took our quiz (which was very easy) and then learned more “commands.” Then, for the last ten minutes, we spoke (in Italian) about what our plans were for fall break. It was probably a good idea because people were having a hard time sitting still and focusing at that point. At 2:30, my classes for the day were over and my fall break officially started! I used the Internet at school for a while and then headed home, stopping at Gelateria de’ Medici for a gelato in honor of fall break starting :) When I got home, I sang for a bit (since no one was home), relaxed, and did some stretching. It was so nice to be able to relax and not have to rush right to homework and such.

For dinner this evening, we started with Risotto Milanese, which was absolutely delicious, although I could not tell you exactly what was in it. For our main dish, we had homemade quiche and cooked artichoke, which were also very good. For dessert, one of Andrea’s colleagues had given him homegrown walnuts, so Andrea cracked them for us and we had quite a lot, which were so yummy!

I am pretty exhausted for some reason so I will probably get to bed pretty early tonight. AND I finally get to sleep in tomorrow morning, which will be nice. I don’t even have to set an alarm! I don’t have much I have to do tomorrow so that will be nice to spend my first day of break really being able to relax. London is getting closer and closer, which is very exciting. A lot of my fellow students either have already left for break or are leaving tomorrow but I’m starting to realize that it is nice to have a few days before we leave. I’m definitely ready for it to be here though! It will be soon enough :)

Love to all,

Kari