From Jared to Jarerardo.....

Chau my fellow Americans! Italy is an amazing place. Its hard to put into words so just take a good look at the photos my fellow art students are posting and try to visualize it in person. Its so old, yet so clean. All the streets are nice brick and the buildings are all stone. We have seen some amazing art, including Michelangelo, Giotto, da Vinci and Massachio. Today I went to a barber to get a hair cut. When I walked in and tried to conversate I realized the barber did not know any English so I pulled out the 'ol phrase book and told him that I needed a trim. He offered me the seat as I told him to make me look Italian. He replied, "I give you good style." After a cut, a wash, and the "good style," I transformed from Jared to Jarerado. Now hopefully the Italian ladies will be a little more friendly to me. :)

Woah!

oh my gosh there is so much to say! For the sake of time, I will just do the bullet point version.
*our hotel room has two bathrooms, one for me and one for tori.
*i bought my first real leather purse made in italy! it is blue/green
*all of the roofs are red
*tori and i made friends with the street vendors
*i climbed to the top of the duomo (a large church with a dome)
*we have seen a lot of old paintings
* we dont have much time to get on the internet!!

i have to go!! im having fun and i miss everyone! more later when i have more time. (im at an internet cafe!)

El Duomo

Scott, Jarrod, and I climb 436 steps to the top of the Duomo while the rest of Florence moves below us. My knees were quivering from all of the excitement when we finally reached the top.

Geoff Smith

Day 4 Thursday morning at 2 am Geoff and I are finishing up some Blog stuff and ready for tomorrow to see Massachio .



New pictures from Florence.

May 8, 2007

We spent our day at the Accademia seeing Michealanglo's David and San Larenzo chapel.

Florence

Duomo I climbed to the top!

This is some local artist trying to make a few euros here in Florence, Italy; my heart is with these individuals as they pursue their passion to create and channel great art. If I new a little more Italian I would have asked to join them in their aesthetic pursuit. I think I might buy some pastels and do a little rendition of my own before leaving Florence.

Florence has been, thus far an amazing spiritual experience for a student of art like myself, from the speeding vespas, to the Galleria degli Uffizi, to the nicknames I have adorned--as being proclaimed: SCOUT. For my running ahead and behind checking out location and gathering all to share in this amazing adventure. We all are very thankful for this trip.

Next stop on Friday--Siene!

Ciao!

the Days are Just Packed

Near the end of the day yesterday we went to St. Croce to see some famous tombs, but I spent most of the time looking up. The ceilings were painted with great detail and the walls were, too. Mostly I was looking at the huge stained glass windows. The entire open space was gigantic.





Yesterday was pretty packed. We also went to see a replica of the David. Today we saw the actual David. Jared, Valerie, and I stopped to do some sketches of it. A group gathered around to watch Jared, an American woman stopped to tell me she liked mine, and Val's had abs like a Ninja Turtle.

The first day here I didn't get a chance to post pictures, but we saw Marilynn's long-lost Italian sister.

Italian Squid

We arrived in Italy and we are now in Florence. I enjoy it very much here, but I'm not so fond of the food. I had my first experience with different foods last night. For dinner, they served us a plate of squid ( and I mean squid bodies and tentacles!- yuck!!), the next plate served was spaghetti with mussels. I did not eat that either. The last plate that was served was salmon and french fries. The fries were a little different and at this point I was starving so I decided to try the salmon. My salmon had bones in it, but I actually like it and it was the first time I had tried salmon. I only ate about half of it though. At this point I wanted to go grab a piece of pizza! I am curious to see what other meals are to come.

We Made it! Barely. We had fun every minute of the journey. Florence is grea,t diner was delicious and we had a great bus driver Gusipie from Milan who sang to us on the bus. Tomorrow the Uffitzi.

SPECIAL THANKS TO DAVID HANNON FOR LAST MINUTE HEROICS WITH A SPECIAL DELIVERY. THANKS DAVID!

Arrival

I'm sitting in the lobby of Hotel Majestic in Florence with Leslie and Geoff after our first full day in the country. We took a bus here as soon as we landed in Milan. Today has been extremely busy--today and yesterday have both been extremely busy. The time change made it all feel like one day, but watching the sun set along the coast of the States from the sky on our way over the Atlantic was worth it.

Welcome to Italy

Unfortunately, I'm not there! I want to be the first to ask you how your journey was. Hope everyone made it there in one piece with all of your luggage and passports! I know it's a beautiful drive from Milan to Florence. Did you see the Ferrari plant? It's about half way in between, best viewed from the train. Have fun, be safe!