Getting lost in the streets of Lucca…and more adventures

It’s been a few days since I have updated, but things have been busy with my first two weeks of classes.  So far, everything has gone well, and all of my professors are really cool.  I am taking Intermediate Italian, European Architecture of the Renaissance, The Etruscans, and Marketing.  While it may seem that I am taking an easy courseload, do not be fooled…it’s intense.  But, I love it.  My Italian professor is a native Florentine, so we get to learn all of the cool little phrases used by locals, such as, “Bo!” (“I don’t know”), “Roba pesa” (“That’s what she said”; literally: “Heavy stuff”), among others.  They’re very emotional, colorful people, so you can imagine the stuff you might hear.  My other professors are all Americans who moved here because they married locals or loved the area.  My marketing professor is really young, and has had a ton of experience with marketing for large corporations, so we’re learning a ton from her experiences.  My Etruscans professor is a lot like Dr. Henry Jones (Indiana Jones’ dad for those who aren’t familiar with the movies…which you all should be!).  He has done huge digs all over the world, including Egypt, and all over ancient Italian sites.  He even offered my class jobs at a new dig he’s doing in Lucca for May and June if we’re interested in staying in Italy a bit longer…wish I could do it, but I can’t miss my sister’s graduation…that’s out of the question.  My European architecture professor is fairly cool too.  She’s actually a finance person who went back to get her PhD in architecture and design since she liked it more.  I’ll tell you some of what we’ve done later. Last weekend, NYU took us to the ancient Etruscan city of Lucca, about an hour from Firenze by bus.  It is the only city in Italy with it’s original protective walls still in place.  They’re so wide that a park area has been built on top of them where you can ride bikes on a path or lay out in the sun for a picnic.  It is a confusing little city, however, as the roads twist and turn to dead ends all the time (which is fairly typical of European streets). After our tour ended, we decided to find a restaurant for lunch, which took us around 45 minutes to do because we couldn’t find our way into the piazza from the other side of this row of buildings.  We had lunch there which wasn’t the greatest…food was alright and the service was deplorable.  There wasn’t a coperto or servizio (cover charge or service charge) included, but we couldn’t justify tipping…it was that bad.  We explored around the city walls a bit more before we got back on the bus to return home.   Sunday, a few of us decided to go to Mass at the Duomo, which is the most amazing Church I’ve been in with the exception of St. Peter’s in Vatican City.  The ushers had us move up to the front set of seats to fill in because we thought they were reserved for some big celebration.  The entire thing was in Italian, but I was able to pick up on a lot of what was said.  Italian masses are so much more fun than in America.  Although, I felt as if I were in a scene from the Godfather where a bunch of guys were going to show up with guns the way the music was playing and all of the Italian talking/singing.  I would like to clarify that I am NOT stereotyping in any way…the Italian people are way too nice for that.   A lot of my classes include site visits to places around Firenze, and occasionally outside the city.  My architecture class took me to the Cathedral of Florence (aka The Duomo) this week.  We were able to climb to the top of the cupola which offers the best views of the city.  This is several hundred feet up, but I figured that since the walkway around the top is wide that I wouldn’t have a problem with my fear of heights.  What I didn’t know was that part of the walk up takes you to the inside part of the dome which overlooks the altar.  It’s a drop of well over 100 feet, and there is only a narrow walkway…chest pain much?  The walkway was barely wide enough to fit me and my backpack through without brushing the wall or railing.  I don’t think I have ever walked so fast in my life.  Once we got to the top of the cupola, though, I was fine because I was able to look out to the mountains in the distance and the height didn’t seem so bad.  Anyone who goes to Firenze NEEDS to do this, even if they’re afraid of heights.   My friends and I went to Mass Wednesday night and met Fr. Alexander, who is kind of in charge of day to day things at the Duomo.  He came up to us after Mass to greet us and ask, “Di dove siete?” (Where are you from?)  When we told him New York, he got so excited.  He had been a priest in upstate New York for a few years in the late ’60s, so he was thrilled to hear that we’d be here for the next four months.  He was extremely welcoming, unlike some of the priests you might find at home…not mentioning anyone specific ; ) I would continue to write more, but I think I’ve caught up to where I should be with the blog.  Sorry I haven’t written in a while, but things have been really busy, but fun.  I have to get going to read/study for my Italian quiz tomorrow, but I’ll be sure to update more often.  A presto. Ciao!