December 7, 2011

December 7, 2011

This morning I slept in until 10:00, which was absolutely wonderful and just what I needed after being out so late at the opera. The rest of my day until 5:30 was not super exciting but I’ll tell you the little there is to tell, nonetheless. After breakfast I showered and straightened my hair, watched last night’s episode of Glee, studied for the Medici final, went to the grocery store, took a walk, and started getting a few things together in order to pack in these next few days. At 4:45, Franzi and I caught the bus into town to head to the art show. The art show featured a work by each student who had taken drawing over the semester and it was really cool to see because every single one of them was just incredible. Even those who had never drawn before had done a stunning job—I was very impressed. There were a lot of people milling about between us students, our professors, the art and Italian teachers, and our host families. They also had wine, snacks, and music and we had fun mingling and meeting each other’s host parents. After a couple of hours there we headed to the restaurant we ate at our first night in Florence—such nostalgia!

Jodie had rented out the entire back room, as there were 104 of us in total. Everyone at the art show was invited to dinner as well so that was a lot of fun. Andrea and Daniela came and it was a lot of fun to have them there and introduce them to everyone. All my friends loved Andrea, especially, who kept dropping by our table :) For dinner we started out with lasagna, followed by caprese salad for the vegetarians and some sort of meat for everyone else, and we finished off with flan and a couple other little cakes for dessert. Plus there was, of course, bread, olive oil, and wine as well. It was a lovely dinner and so much fun to have everyone from our Florentine lives together in one place! And Jodie gave a beautiful speech/toast in Italian that, of course, made us all cry. After dinner, Franzi and I headed home because we were just exhausted.

Now that I am home, I am writing this blog, uploading a few photos and then going straight to bed. My Weaving the Tale final was moved to noon tomorrow instead of nine so it will be nice to be able to sleep in and get a few things done before class. Or, if it’s a nice day, maybe I’ll take a little walk before class because it looks like it might rain the rest of the weekend. Anyway, I can barely keep my eyes open so I’d best go.

All my love,

Kari

 Willi and me at the Art Show

 Me, Becca, and Katie at dinner

 FAMILY!

Me, Jodie, and Becca!

December 6, 2011

December 6, 2011

This morning I woke up at 7:30 so I could be into school for Dante final presentations by 9:00. All we had to do was present on what we had written about for our papers so it certainly wasn’t difficult. It did take three hours to get through all of us, however, because we discussed each presentation in quite some depth. Thankfully it was not very nice out most of the day, though, so we probably wouldn’t have wanted to be outside instead. Once we were through with our Dante presentations I had about an hour and a half break for lunch and then we finished up our final presentations for Medici. Those lasted another two and a half hours so I listened to presentations for five and a half hours today, which was not super exciting. However my presentations did go well so I cannot complain. When all of the presentations were finally done at 4:30, I caught the bus home.

When I got home Massimo was over and he and Andrea were finishing up The Wizard of Oz because they never finished watching it when he was over last week.  They invited me to join them so I watched the second half with them, which was a lot of fun because Massimo really loved it. Once the movie was over I studied for a little bit and then it was time for my early dinner. For dinner this evening I started with penne pasta with a creamy cheese sauce that was very delicious. I followed that with bread, cheese, salad, apples, and more Christmas cake, which were all very yummy! When I was done with dinner I got dressed for the opera and caught the bus.

The Barber of Seville was a lot of fun, although very long. I remember seeing it on choir tour in high school and I remembered it being long then too and it definitely was—three and a half hours. However it was absolutely delightful and I just loved it. The sets were not quite as spectacular but I thought the cast was just brilliant and I love the story much better than that of La Boheme. I would choose a comedic opera over a tragic one any day (well, most days at least). This opera was an optional event but I was surprised at the number of people who did come anyway. Even though we were all pretty exhausted by the end, we really did enjoy it! After the opera, thankfully, the buses were still running so we caught the last bus home.

Now that I am home I am quick finishing this up and then I will be off to bed. Thankfully I don’t have anything in my schedule until the art show and “farewell” dinner tomorrow evening at 5:30 so I can really sleep in as late as I want. I’ll probably spend the rest of the day doing some studying and some last exploring of Florence in some way or another. It is supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny tomorrow so I definitely should be out and about…Minnesota winter is going to be quite a difference for me :P Well, I should be off to bed because I can barely keep my eyes open!

All my love,

Kari

A quick sketch of me by Cleo

December 5, 2011

December 5, 2011

This morning I slept in until about 9:45, which I was so happy to be able to do. Last night I decided to listen to the live streaming of Christmas Fest at St. Olaf on MPR, which was absolutely beautiful but it was from 10:00-12:00 at night my time. I decided that I might as well because I knew I could sleep in this morning and I didn’t have anything going on until 3:00. It was absolutely beautiful :) Anyway, that’s why I slept in so late this morning. Once I was up I had breakfast and got ready before heading to school. Unfortunately there was a bus strike today and it was pouring rain so I had to walk to school in the rain—thank goodness for a good rain jacket, good boots, and an umbrella. Once I got to school I printed out my final Medici paper, finished preparing my presentation for today, studied for the Medici final on Friday, and had some lunch.

At 2:30 we had a belated birthday celebration for Jessica whose birthday was last Friday and we had delicious Italian cake. At 3:00 we began our Medici final presentations on our paper topics. We did not choose the order to go in but I definitely got lucky and got to go second and get it over with. We continued with presentations until 4:30 and then were let out until finishing them tomorrow afternoon. At that point, I decided to start the walk home, hoping it wouldn’t pour rain on me. Thankfully it only sprinkled on me and it didn’t take me too long to get home. When I got home I studied for a while, stretched, did some laundry, and then read some of my book for fun.

For dinner this evening we started with some sort of pasta dish that was very yummy, followed by beans, homemade French fries (so good), and some sort of potatoes things with cheese that was very good as well. We finished off with Panettone, a traditional Italian Christmas cake, and apples. This evening Andrea decided to pull out his I Love Country CD that was absolutely awful but we definitely had fun listening to it :)

Tomorrow I have my Dante “final” in the morning, which is actually just presentations on what we wrote our papers on (just like for my Medici class) followed by finishing up our presentations for Medici. Then tomorrow evening we are going to the opera again—to Barber of Seville­—so I am very excited for that! So tonight I will probably go to bed fairly early so I am plenty rested to enjoy the opera. I am done studying for the evening as I studied a lot already today so will probably just watch an episode of a TV show, stretch a little more, and then head to bed. I hope all of your weeks are off to a good start!

All my love,

Kari

December 4, 2011

December 4, 2011

This morning I woke up at 9:30, got half ready, and had some breakfast. Unfortunately I woke up with a really awful headache so, after breakfast, I decided that I’d better lay low for the rest of the day and, in case it was the precursor to some sickness or something, try to nip it in the bud. Luckily for me it poured rain all day and was pretty cold out so I wasn’t missing out on a beautiful day or anything. So I spent most of my day at home with the exception of a short walk I took when the rain let up a little. It was still sprinkling but I had to get out of the house for a little while so I walked through the park with my umbrella. But other than that I spent my day making a review PowerPoint for my Medici final, studying for that final, and watching a movie. It was actually just the kind of day I needed. Also, I had the house to myself for a couple of hours this afternoon so I got to do some more singing, which was just lovely.

For dinner this evening we started out with spaghetti carbonara, which was absolutely delicious, warm, and just perfect for a day like today. For our main dish we had “pizza pockets” with spinach and mozzerella, salad, and fried cauliflower. We finished off with apples and chocolate. It was a lovely dinner :) Oh and we listened to jazz music this evening!

Well I think I am done studying for the day having done so much of it earlier so my plans are to do a little bit of Skyping and then to go to bed early so I can be well rested right off the bat for my last week. Sorry this was the shortest blog ever but I really didn’t do a whole lot today. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the beautiful new snow (some of you anyway). I can’t believe I’ll be back in just a week…crazy!

All my love,

Kari

December 3, 2011

December 3, 2011

This morning I slept in until 9:30, which was wonderful, had a leisurely breakfast, got ready and headed out of the house around 11:00. Even though they had predicted it would rain all day it was an absolutely beautiful morning—sixties and sunny on December 3? I guess I’m all right with that :) I walked into the center of town, watching them decorate the big Christmas Tree in Piazza del Duomo, enjoyed the new Christmas lights they put up since I was out last night and then headed to Piazza della Republica. There I looked around the Saturday market that has wine, olive oil, honey, jams, soaps…homemade food and goods. They have free samples of so many different things so I really love going. After that I walked around some more, just enjoying the beautiful day. I met Tyler and Franzi at 1:00 at the Christmas Market for some lunch. It was crazy busy but thankfully they were really good at dealing with crowds so it wasn’t too big of a deal. Tyler and I had bratwursts that were absolutely delicious! It was such a fun atmosphere and everyone around us was so happy to be in the Christmas spirit. As we were eating we got sprinkled on a little bit but we never got the rain they predicted. It was cloudy and cooler after that, though. We hung out there for a while then walked around town a little while longer before they headed back to school to study and I headed home.

Once I got home I sang for a little bit because no one was home! I haven’t had much of a chance to sing on this trip so it’s so much fun to be able to do it every once in a while. After that I started cutting out pictures for my art project for Weaving the Tale until 4:00 when I got to Skype with my Grandparents. It was lovely to see them and so crazy that the next time I see them will be in person in just over a week! After talking to them for a while, I went back to my art project. There was still no one around—Franzi stayed at school until they closed it around 6:30 and Andrea and Daniela were out of town for the afternoon—so I decided to watch a movie while I worked. The other day, Mom and I were talking about how I had never seen all of the old Christmas movies, which is why I had the urge to watch White Christmas. Because I loved it so much I decided to watch Miracle on 34^th Street, which I loved as well! I cannot believe I had never seen either of them and they will definitely become traditional ones to watch! Before I knew it, everyone was home and it was time for dinner.

For dinner this evening we started with spinach and cheese tortellini, which was so delicious. We followed that with cheese, sausage, bread, olive oil, caprese salad, cauliflower, and, of course, clementines. It was absolutely delicious and now I am absolutely stuffed :) Andrea also decided that we needed a little music during dinner this evening and turned on his favorite blues CD, which was very fun and we were all kind of singing and humming along. We had a lovely dinner as usual :) I can’t believe we only have four dinners left just as a family. Because Tuesday I have to eat early because of the opera, we have our big farewell dinner on Wednesday (which our host families will be attending, however), and they will be out with friends from Spain on Saturday…how can there only be four dinners left with them :( Okay I can’t even think about this.

ANYWAY, after dinner I finished up my Weaving the Tale project (!) and finished Miracle on 34^th Street. I cannot believe that I have finished up everything I have to do for finals except studying for my Medici final on Friday. So now I won’t have to be stressed out the rest of the weekend and next week and I can focus on taking in Italy in my last few days here and, of course, studying here and there ;) Tonight I am looking forward to 11:30 when my family along with Kelsey and her family are going to stand in front of the Hi Mom webcam at school (they are there for Christmas Fest) and they are going to wave :) I am actually BEYOND excited heehe. Until then I will probably make a review PowerPoint for my Medici final…woohoo! Well, I’d best get going on that. I hope you are all having wonderful weekends!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. Remembering a certain angel, Leslie, today <3 Live Fiercely!  

 My new favorite Christmas lights/decorations

 Beautiful day on the Arno

My brat! 

December 2, 2011

December 2, 2011

This morning I woke up a little after 7:00 and met my Medici class at the Medici Chapel at 9:00. Connected to the church of San Lorenzo, it is made up of the Chapel of the Princes and the new sacristy, which holds the tombs of Lorenzo il Magnifico and his brother Giuliano. It was very cool because we had never been there before and we didn’t even know it was there. The tombs of the two brothers were made my Michelangelo so it was fun to make comparisons with his other works we have seen over the course of the semester. After that, we went to Lorenzo’s library, which is one of the most well endowed libraries and the world. It has been beautifully reserved and it is just so grandiose! It was a very cool place to see and experience.

After Medici, I headed back to school because I had two hours before my Weaving the Tale class at 1:00. I finished up my preparations for my presentation on my paper topic for Medici on Monday, ate lunch, and did a little more work on my art project for Weaving the Tale. Then we had our Weaving the Tale class/workshop at 1:00, which was helpful in fleshing out our ideas and getting a little bit of feedback. We finished up around 2:30 and I headed home. Once I got home I worked on a little bit of homework and then Franzi and I decided to go to the Christmas Market because it wasn’t raining and it is supposed to rain all weekend.

We headed out around 4:30 so we could see all of the Christmas lights on our way to the market and see the market itself all lit up. We took quite a few detours on our way to Piazza Santa Croce because we followed all of the beautiful lights that are now all turned on because it’s December! We even got to see the Christmas Tree all lit up in Piazza del Duomo (although I did not get a photo, sorry!) It was little a Christmas wonderland with all of the beautiful lights up and down every street :) The market itself was another Christmas wonderland and we decided we want to come back like every night because it is such a fun place to be. It smells absolutely delicious with all of the German food, strudel, and mulled wine…yum. We wandered around, looking at all of the crafts and such for sale, which were all beautiful and, of course, we wanted to buy everything we saw. We did give in and buy a pastry that looked and tasted kind of like mini donuts but wasn’t exactly that…whatever it was, it was absolutely delicious! After spending about an hour at the market, we headed back in the direction of home but walked along the river, coming to Ponte Vecchio, which was decorated with Christmas lights as well. Plus, on top of everything, it was the most beautiful night—it was in the upper 50s even after the sun had gone down and it was clear so you could see the moon and the stars!

We got home a little after 7:00 and soon after it was time for dinner. Tonight was pizza night! We started out with my favorite little doughy rolls with salami and cheese, which I finally remembered the name of! BOMBOLINI! We followed that with salad and the most delicious pizza we have had so far :) We finished off with clementines even though we didn’t think we could eat anything else because we were all so full! We spent about an hour and a half together at dinner tonight, which was absolutely wonderful! I don’t even remember everything we talked about but we certainly had a good time :)

Now that dinner is over I am really quite tired so I will probably lie in bed and finish up White Christmas because I did not have a chance to do that last night. Then I’ll probably go to bed fairly early (at least for a Friday night) although I have nothing to do tomorrow morning so I get to sleep in as well! OH and I just realized that today was my last day of classes because next week is finals…that’s crazy. I hope all of you have a wonderful start to your weekends! Happy Opening to the cast of White Christmas, Happy Birthday to Ben, and Happy Christmas Fest (still) to everyone at St. Olaf!

All my love,

Kari

Christmastime in Florence!

More lights!

And more!

Christmas Market in Piazza Santa Croce

Beautiful 

With my cinnamon "sweet chimney" 

Lights on Ponte Vecchio

Lights everywhere!

December 1, 2011- HAPPY FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER!

December 1, 2011

HAPPY DECEMBER! Wow, I still cannot even believe it is already December! I woke up this morning around 7:15, which wasn’t a lot of fun having been out so late at the opera last night. However, once I was up it wasn’t too bad. We met our Medici class at the Uffizi at 9:00 where we looked at Botticelli’s Primavera and The Birth of Venus in addition to many other things. The original plan was to stay at the Uffizi for an hour and a half, have a half an hour break, and then segue back at school for another hour. However, Jodie realized that we had far too many works of art to look at to be able to do it in an hour and a half so we studied the art for about two hours and then Jodie treated us all to hot chocolate before we spent the last forty-five minutes in the Leonardo da Vinci room. We finished up around 12:00 and then I went back to the school to meet up with my Dante group for our last meeting as our small group. After our meeting, I headed home.

When I got home I got a sudden surge of motivation, which was so nice as I have had so little of it. Because of this motivation I was able to finish up my Dante final project and finish up half of my final project for Weaving the Tale. After that I finished up my Medici paper, making some final edits to it and preparing my presentation for Monday. In other words, I got so much done with that motivation, which is exactly what I needed to happen. OH and I remembered during all of this that today was the first day I got to open my Advent Calendar so I did that! After getting all that done, I Skyped for a while and then decided to work on the art project part of my Weaving the Tale final while I watched the movie White Christmas on my computer :)

I didn’t get too far into the movie before it was time for dinner but I’m not complaining because I was quite hungry. For dinner this evening we started with pasta with broccoli sauce, followed by cooked vegetables (red peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant) and a soy burger for me, chicken for Daniela and Franzi. We finished off with clementines to keep our immune systems up because a lot of sickness is going around Florence.

Now that dinner is over I am going to do some stretching while continuing to watch White Christmas. Then I think I am going to go to bed pretty early because I am really pretty tired and we have class tomorrow even though it’s a Friday. I’m not upset about it but I do wish I could sleep in a little bit more. Oh well, that’s what the weekend is for. I hope you are all having a wonderful first day of December! Happy first day of Christmas Fest to all of you at St. Olaf!

All my love,

Kari 

Opening my Advent Calendar! It was a mouse eating a gumdrop :)