Day 18

         Today I walked into class only to learn that about 20 minutes prior to class there was another earthquake. At the time I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast with Regina and did not notice ANYTHING shaking. Supposedly, the earthquake was a 5.0 and killed 15 people in northern Italy. Hopefully, I will still be able to make it to Venice and Milan in two weeks. I did hear that the train system got a little messed up due to the earthquake. Anyway, the day began with Italian class as usual and then I went to the Oil Shoppe again for lunch. However, today I got a jumbo veggie sandwich. There was just about every vegetable you could think of inside with a feta and cheese and a pesto sauce. You seriously cannot go wrong with any sandwich on the menu. In the afternoon, we had another site visit. Our visit today was at the Red Cross in Florence. We were surprised they held their appointment with us, after the earthquake that occurred in the morning and the rush they made to be of assistance in Northern Italy. We sat in on a presentation about the Red Cross organization and its specific presences in Italy. Previously, I thought I had a broad idea of what the Red Cross does, but hearing a clear explanation and specifics about the components of the Red Cross was very informative and interesting.

         After our visit at the Red Cross, we had a few hours to kill before we had to be back at our homestays for dinner, so a few of us went to the Academia Museum where Michael Angelo’s statue of David is. The museum itself was very interesting; they mixed a lot of old pieces of art with modern art. Personally, for me I enjoyed that aspect, because staring at old paintings and statues of naked people is of no interest to me. I appreciated the dynamic of artwork they had, combining “the old school, with the new school”. Let me take a moment to comment on the statue of David itself. The statue was huge; people are really not lying when they say that seeing it up close is amazing! It truly was! I was fortunate enough to snipe a picture before a security guard caught me J I almost forgot, the weirdest part about the modern aspect of the museum, is that they spontaneously had runners, running around the museum to show the modern art of the body. I thought it was weird too, but it was different and interesting. The Academia Museum was definitely a fun experience.

         Tonight, dinner was joined by our host mom’s friends. It’s cute to see three little Italian ladies prepare dinner together. They are always giving us more food and not eating themselves. I don’t think I will even understand why Italian mothers just don’t eat, but want to make sure everyone else is completely full. Most of dinner was spent talking about the earthquake from this morning and ended with us all sitting around the TV watching the news coverage on the earthquake. 

The one Statue of David we were actually allowed to take a picture of @ the Academia Museum!