Firenze Friday

June 12

Made the 8:30 train for Florence, pretty good for me! I did set my alarm for the 6:50 train! Kind of a joke but I thought it might be nice to make it back in time for a nap. Oh well. It’s a little over an hour, just listened to my Ipod and watched out the window! Made it there by ten and commenced to just wonder! There are more tourist than I was use to when I was here but really not too bad. I'm sure it will get much worse. What I love about Florence is how walkable it is. Over the next few hours I just wondered around without a map but happened upon everything I would have wanted to pass by if I had been going around tediously following a map of all the major sites.

I did the tourist thing of course… Took photos with the masses of aisian tourist in their big hats following the tourguides holding up their tour guide batons. I still really just enjoy wondering through the city more. Most cities you get away from all the tourist but Florence is pretty well flocked all over.

I am just a tourist too but my favorite experiences of places is not the major tourist spots but just experiencing the city itself. Florence never feels like that but I still enjoyed it. I had a list of things I wanted to do while I was there…I’ll have to go back again without a list…I DON’T LIKE LISTS! Though this was actually a productive list covering day.

That’s kind of nice after this last semester of grad school. I quit making list…got sick of never getting enough done and it was just depressing to see how behind I was! My favorite list was the one Ellen made one night with one thing everyone up at studio had to get done for that one night. Everyones read with things like…sections, site plan, rendering…Brooke: sleep. I had pulled an all nighter the night before and it was still not quite to the crucial time where sleep was just not possible. That was the one night I actually got my list done! Random tangent

So Florence…
My list of things to do (not exactly all that extraneous)…Gelato (of course Vanessa was able to direct me to the best place), a kebap (also per V’s rec), more sandals (the ones I brought are pretty worn out), the paperback exchange, a journal, and some Clinique for V. Of course she was able to direct me to the paperback exchange and another bookstore like Barnes and Noble that carried moleskins.

Sidenote: now moleskin makes a soft cover. Picked one up. I'm a BIG FAN. Never liked carrying the hardcovers in my purse.

I wanted another pair of Birkenstocks and they are a little cheaper over here so I figured I'd look for another pair. I remembered there being a shop right by the duomo…guess it was meant to be. It was on the same street as the kebap and gelato.



So I ordered a kebap with everything (im working on being a better eater) then up the street for gelato and finished by picking up two pairs of sandals.

me getting gelato

My standard Madrid style I'm so fond of and a pair with more straps that might be better for longer walks.

I was going to get something with ankle straps but they just didn’t feel right. I think the pair I got will work good…besides I'm use to walking a lot in just the one strap too. I got one in a purple (haha almost maroon color). I would not call it maroon but I bet a lot of people would! I really don’t care much for the color but I guess it can be my little part of College Station in Italy!

The double straps are a black background with floral print. Like them both!

Made it to the paperback exchange and picked up two books. Asked the girl if she recommended anything…she asked what I had read last. Named a few, including twilight but said that wasn’t necessarily what I was looking for. Though I do like series. She recommended another vampire series that was more adult…I was hesitant but it had quite a few books in the series. Ill give it a shot. The book is now a show on HBO called True Blood. I started in on the way back. It held my interest and is in pretty sharp contrast to the other one I have going “The Birth of Venus.” I like a little contrast!

I picked up a regular journal, a watercolor journal…being pretty ambitious! I wish I didn’t love to read so much. I need to be studying Italian and maybe sketching but I just get sucked into books. I was pretty into this new one on the train because I had to jump up when I heard them announce Castiglion Fiorentino. Normally I would have noticed the stop at Arezzo and been ready…guess the book is pretty decent.

It was a pretty hot day but I enjoyed getting it. Is it bad how much I enjoy doing things by myself? I do like going places with others too so I guess it would be bad if I only liked doing things alone. But my enjoyment of being alone rather than getting depressed works out pretty well for my living situation. It nice! Alfonzo was concerned. The other day at lunch we had to get out the dictionary because Alfonzo was asking if I was “something” and Alice didn’t know the word. He was asking if I was lonely! Told him no worries. He has no idea how nice it is to actually be ALONE. Told him it was good for me and part of why coming here sounded so perfect! Boys just cause complications and I want a complication free life for a change! Alice said she was glad because it works out great for them too! She constantly asks if I am happy and if I need ANYTHING! I really do just adore her!