My Classes Are The Bomb.

So I am taking 5 classes.
   Italian: I am taking this because I have to, I'm not exactly sure if I would take it otherwise. But I can say things like "Hi, my name is Shandie. I like to blah blah blah." "Where is the blah?" "I'll have 24 cappuccinos please" and things like that. I think it is helpful. But either way all Italians have to do is look at me and they start speaking English. Also, when I try to speak Italian they can tell and immediately revert to English. I have also picked up valuable things outside of class. Like "Would you like a bag?" Italian stores to not automatically provide you with a plastic bag, you have to bring your own or be charged for one. And when they give it to you it is up to you to bag your own things with them starring at you to move. Its an experience.


  Landscape and Architectural Photography: I originally thought that we would just be walking around the city and my prof would teach me how to see things artistically and stuff like that. Completely opposite. He taught us how to use our cameras..... which I had to buy a nice one... Like this

 Its really nice. So he taught us how to use it and we just go shoot. Our first assignment was our first impression of Florence. I came here thinking Florence was really green and perfect. But it is actually a city and has almost no green unless it is in a park. So... my first impression is the lack of green. So I took pictures of green things around Florence. But I excluded green plants. Here are the pictures.

 Our next assignment is about emptiness..... I have no idea what I am going to do. But anyway. The class is really fun and challenging. We will see how it goes. I'll post my pictures for emptiness in a few weeks when they are due.

Italian Cooking and Culture: Italy is one of the few countries that have completely different food depending on the region that you are in. Italian are known for their "slow food" movement. Meaning they preserve the food from different regions. For example, Parmesan cheese is best from Parma, and balsamic vinegar is best from Modena so when possible Italians get the food from the regions where they are best. So in my class we are learning how to cook the foods from different regions... so far we have cooked......

 Crepes a la Florentine. Made with Ricotta cheese and fresh Spinach. All of it is made from scratch!

Then we made Coccole.. Its basically a fried dough ball. But what makes it delish is when you stuff ham and white cheese inside.... sooooooo goooooood.

Then we made Zuppa (soup). Its a veggie soup that needed a lot of salt. But I was good. It made with spelt and white beans. But to top it off you drizzle olive oil on the top. Wonderful. 

  Then yesterday we made risotto and veal. The first time I had ever had both. The risotto was with asparagus which was really good especially after you ad the butter and cheese. This dish cam from the Lombardy region of Italy. They are in the mountains and have lots of cows and not so many olive trees so they use a lot of butter. 

 Cooking class is fun. 

   Daily Life in Pompeii: In this class I learn about the daily life in Pompeii...the city that Mount Vesuvius covered for a few hundred years until someone dug a hole and found it. We will be taking a trip to Pompeii later in the semester then heading to Naples, Sorrento, and the island of Capri... It is really interesting and I really like my professoressa. When someone gets something correct she goes "Ooooooooooooh brava...." its really funny. Ill try to make a sound clip of her doing it at some point. 

                                    Ill get to see plaster casts of the volcano victims, like this one!

  The Medici Dynasty: This class is beyond interesting. The Medici were a family that ruled Florence for 300 years. They were not nobility or even rich - I mean they were eventually but they worked their way up to the top. The very first Medici chose his actions so carefully as to not bring any unwanted attention to his family. He knew that if people noticed he was becoming rich he would be hated and maybe killed. So he rode a donkey and lived in a little house all his life. The rest of the family was not this way but nonetheless they were interesting. Their palaces and family crest are all over Florence. When you see their crest you know that they somehow paid for something. They paid artists like Michelangelo and Donatello to paint whatever they wanted for them. Its actually really really really interesting. They were like the mob..but didnt really kill anyone. So cool. 

 When you are here look for this... this mean Medici.. Medici is the plural for "medico" meaning doctor. None of them were doctors so...but they call the balls on the crest "pills". They were actually bankers.

   So basically if you want to know anything about baby Italian language, aperture settings, making pasta, pompeii or the medici I'm your woman. The end.