last tuesday we embarked on our second fieldtrip to milan and venice. we left rome around 8am and got there around noon and that afternoon we went to a graphic design studio and watched two presentations from two different studios which was pretty neat.. then we went to one museum that seemed kind of dingy and it had the painting we’re doing for painting studio in it.. it’s called frutivendola (if you want to google it) but we’re actually doing it a lot larger than how big it is. also in this museum was an art school on the main floor so a couple of us sat down there for awhile and people watched.. it was sweet. we also went to this interior designers studio.. he has since passed away but they kept his studio exactly how it was and it was really cool- he’s actually pretty famous but i can’t remember his name right now (castiglione? idk) i was expecting milan to be a big city with skyscrapers and a lot of high fashion.. and actually its a really nice city- it reminds me of london.. no skyscrapers.. lots of fashion but it seemed cheaper than rome!

we went to venice on thursday which was a couple hours from milan and as soon as we arrived at the train station we had an hour break or so and we went sitting on the steps (apparently you’re not allowed to sit on the ground in venice.. it’s against the law.. as well as picnicing!) so some of us got our passports called in… we survived though. then we had to take a vapparetto (spelling?) basically the public transportation (boats). it’s an interesting system.. you cram onto the boat and either take a seat or just stand along the edges.. when they get to a dock/station a guy throws a rope out and pulls the boat into the dock so people can jump on. the only downfall to this is that its really slow.. especially when there is a lot of stops. im also not quite sure how the traffic works, it seems like its anything goes! after we arrived we went to a palace which was pretty cool… lots of armor and that sort of stuff (nothing related to graphic design of course!) and then we had the rest of the night to explore so we wandered around forever to find a restaurant.. the alleys are CRAZY there, nothing is organized, almost like a maze. so we probably looked for almost an hour and we gave up and went to this cheap looking restaurant and as soon as we ordered our food we realized it wasn’t like 7 euro, it was 14-22 euro! blah! so the joke is that ashton kutcher punk’d us because it was so ridiculous! oh venice… so expensive. the next morning we went to the museum correr which is in the piazza across the way from Saint Mark’s Cathedral.. it was pretty sweet too, lots of old maps and things.. at this point it was raining pretty bad and the sirens were going off for high water so they got all the planks out.. so when we got out of the museum it was FLOODED.. it was madness.. you could buy these ridiculous looking rain boots for 10 euro because you either had to walk through a foot and a half of water (no joke.. in a huge piazza) or fight the crowds on the planks. after the museum it was the goal to go check out the interior of saint marks.. well when you start walking on the planks you think you’re going in the right direction til it spits you out somewhere you don’t want to be, but you can’t go straight there because of the flood.. so by the time we actually were on the right plank it had been a half hour or so and we were at a standstill with all the people trying to get in.. so we skipped it and went to the modern art museum which was awesome. venice was really really pretty and im so glad we went but a day/day and a half was perfect.. you pretty much see everything there is to see.. and there are so many tourists there and PIGEONS!! ghha so many pigeons.

after this point we were done with the school part of the fieldtrip so kym, meghan, kaylene and i took the train to florence.. we got there and didn’t know where our hostel was so we starting walking and got lost and everyone we asked directions for said they’d never heard of the street.. but eventually we found it. we had reserved ahead of time but when we showed up marco (the desk guy) said he gave someone our beds.. so two of us could sleep across the street in an extension of the hostel, and one person would sleep at the main hostel and one person would sleep in a hotel… so instead kaylene and meghan slept together and didn’t have to pay.. it worked out. after we got settled we went to a pub with the australian boys in our hostel as well as marco and a woman from colorado.. it was really fun.. i talked to this italian for awhile and he’s a stain glass artist (i’m pretty sure.. he was hard to understand) but he gets flown all over the world to do his art.. so he’s done stuff in washington dc and london.. and then his friend came who is a girl from chicago and she had done graphic design for ten years and moved to florence to do art restoration! the australians were pretty interesting too.. they were from perth.. and of course we were comparing our countries.. apparently australia is on the verge of war (i had no idea..) interesting times.. so that night i slept in a room with three strangers (top bunk) and i fell out of my bed.. first time ive ever done that.. i think i tried to step off and fell like 6 feet and when i hit the ground i slept walk… i thought i was in venice.. it was weird.. i don’t really know how that worked out. the next day i ventured on my own and went on this 8am-8pm tour of tuscany with a bus group.. i was with a couple from argentina, a family from australian (the parents grew up in italy), a couple from brasil (grew up in italy too), a couple from budapest.. and a couple others. we started in siena.

siena = my favorite place in the world to date. it was so cool.. tuscany is just like the pictures.. vineyards, trees, rolling hills.. so beautiful. siena was this city kinda up on a hill and it was all the old architecture, the cute alleways, beautiful views, it was clean.. and they have this big main piazza where they have this huge horse race every year- it’s like the most important thing to the siena culture.. our tour guide showed us a video of it and people bawl if they win.. they run through the streets parading..oh yea i should explain.. siena is divided into districts.. twelve different areas, and each area is identified by an animal.. so there is an elephant, turtle, snail, wolf, eagle.. etc.. and so when you are in that district you will see sculptures and plaques of that animal. each district has it’s own official, church, etc.. and each one has a fountain with a sculpture of that animal.. like there was one of a little boy riding a snail- so if you were born in the snail district you’d be baptised in that fountain.. it’s SO COOL!!!!! our guide said that it’s the richest city in italy and i can see why.. they keep their money really quiet so you’d never know but it’s such a great place i can’t see why someone wouldn’t want to live there.. there was even a wedding going on when we were there.. and they were a group from scotland.. and also one of italy’s famous politicians was getting married there that night too. after siena we went to this little farmhouse in the countryside with it’s own vineyard and we had pasta, different kinds of meat and cheese, bread, and tried some different wines.. we also had this almond biscotti with a desert wine (it was so strong!! you dip the biscotti in it..) and they also had their own bees so we got to try the honey.. it was sweet. after lunch we got back on the bus and went to san gimignano.. it’s also on a hill, it’s a city with a couple large towers.. i got so lost in there, they had really bad signage and the alleys were basically like a maze.. i felt like i was in a confusing castle the whole time.. that was neat though too.. they were known for this certain type of white wine and some of the shops would let you sample them so i tried a couple different kinds and ended up getting a red bottle called botticello.. bringin’ it home for christmas san gimignano also won the award for the world’s best gellato 2006-2007 so know i can say i did it hahah.. after san. we went to pisa! it was an hour or so drive between the two so we got to see a lot of countryside again..

pisa was kinda weird.. im not sure what the whole city is like because the tower is in an enclosed piazza with a basilica.. the grass was so green it actually looked really nice.. and ive heard so many people say pisa was dumb and small and it’s actually pretty cool.. completely different than i thought.. but that’s all we saw in pisa so we weren’t there that long..

then that night we decided to go check out this festival di creativa! inside a big fortress (in florence) and it was SO FREAKING COOL. this fortress was huge and as soon as you enter you’re surrounded by the coolest/most diverse/artistic people ever.. the first building we went into had a bunch of graphic design posters, a bar, a rock band.. another building was in underground caves and was modern art.. another building had a hippie band from the USA.. another was outside and it was punk/metal.. another building had paintings and skateboard designs etc.. it was basically really artistic people showing off their portfolios.. another underground room had a rave going on with cool light fixtures.. it’s so hard to describe but it was by far one of the neatest things ive seen.

…so one day left to describe (and i gotta run to painting studio..) so i’ll update the rest later with some pictures.

ciao!

Michael and I in the Piazza in Venice

High water in Venice.. it was so high we had to walk everywhere on these planks

The view in Siena

One of the district signs in Siena

Tuscan countryside

San Gimignano