A week has gone by since I last posted … and what a week it has been! I’m back in Florence studying, but not what I had planned. 

After a dinner with my study group on Saturday night and an introductory session at the school on Sunday evening, I was eager to get started. On Monday morning I went to the language school and after a short test, was placed in the beginners’ class. All good so far! I sat down and very soon realised that this was not the first lesson for the rest of the group. A quick chat to the people sitting next to me revealed that they’d already been going for a week. Even worse, the entire class was conducted in Italian and there was a very strong focus on grammar, rather than conversational Italian. At the end of the class, I went back to my apartment to study some more and try to catch up. It then hit me … if I was going to learn to speak Italian, I would have to spend most of my free time at home studying Italian verbs, conjugations and prepositions. Was that really how I wanted to spend four weeks in beautiful Florence? The next morning, I messaged our host to ask if I could switch to an art subject.  Most of the group are taking art classes … there were only two of us that opted for Italian language.  After a chat with the school, it was all organised and I elected to do Sculpture. My new timetable was set up … ten hours of sculpture and four hours of art history each week.  The rest of the time I was free to enjoy Florence.

At my first session of sculpture, I was introduced to my instructor. Greg is from Belgium and speaks five languages, which is a good thing because he is teaching people from all over the world. I’m amazed at how easily he switches from one language to another as he wanders about the studio helping his students. My first task was to copy a replica of David’s nose. This would teach me many of the techniques I’d need to create something of my own. I completed this task and am very happy with the result. More importantly, I’m loving both art classes and am so happy I switched.

My version of the nose on the statue of David

When I’m not studying, I roam the streets of Florence, visit markets and museums, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. My apartment is very close to the bustling Piazza Santa Croce so there is always something to entertain me when I step outside my door. I love observing people and try to capture interesting scenes as I walk around, particularly at night when the bars and restaurants are abuzz.

Today is Sunday and a small group of us are taking a bus to some wineries in the Chianti region. I’ll tell you all about this and more in my next post.  Arrivederci mia amici.