Summer Abroad

Hey everyone! I know I haven't been great about keeping in touch with people and letting everyone know what I've been up to during my two and half weeks here in Florence. I've been very busy, but I've found myself with a little bit of time so I thought I'd write my first blog post in a while to give a brief update to everyone on what's going on!

Florence 

This city is absolutely amazing. From the cobblestone streets to all of the art and museums, to all of the beautiful cathedrals, to the Arno River and its bridges, there's just something infectious about the atmosphere of Florence. It's easily my favorite city I have ever visited (sorry Boston and San Francisco).

My apartment is in the perfect location; a minute walk from the Arno and just a little further from the Duomo. I'm surrounded by restaurants, shops, and cafes; everything is within walking distance. The best thing about this city is the food. I've been living off of the "Four Ps" which are Pizza, Pasta, Paninis, and Pastries. But mostly pastries. I've probably gained ten pounds here just from eating chocolate croissants. Going back to American food will definitely be one of the most difficult parts of returning home.

 

The view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo. I've climbed up here more than once and I'm sure I will again before I leave. 

 The massive Cathedral of Florence, also known as the Duomo. My apartment is less than a five minute walk from here.

 Seeing Michelangelo's David has been one of the more surreal things I've done here.

 I did a boat tour on the Arno River and passed under many bridges, including the famous Ponte Vecchio which you can see in the distance here.

I've seen at least a dozen churches, baptistries, and cathedrals since I've been here. At some point they all start to blend together. But this one, the Baptistry of Florence, with its intricate painting sprawled across the gold ceiling is one that sticks out in my memory and is easily my favorite religious buildings I've been in so far.

  

Classes

Yes, I am actually taking courses while I'm here. I'm taking six credits worth which is two classes, each meets twice a week for three hours. It sounds like a lot, but only half of each class is spent inside an actual classroom. The really interesting and unique aspect of study abroad courses is that for the rest of class we go somewhere around Florence for a field trip type lesson.

My favorite class, in large part due to my awesome professor, is "Story of the City." We learn about the history of Florence and visit places that are significant in Florentine and Italian history. It's basically the equivalent of learning about the Revolutionary War in Boston and visiting the exact locations of where the Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre occured. Except this is cooler because it's Florence.

The other class I'm taking is called "The Art of Florence." It's not as interesting as my other course, in large part due to the professor, but I couldn't take a class in Florence without learning about its art as it's a central part of the city and its history. Again, it's really interesting because unlike most art students who are only able to analyze art through PowerPoint slides, we can actually go see the original art we're learning about that was created centuries ago. Kind of crazy, actually. 

Travelling

As amazing as Florence is, I haven't stayed in the city the whole time. I'm trying to take advantage of my limited time in Europe to see and do as much as possible.

Me and my two roommates in front of the Colosseum in Rome. Our trip to Rome was kind of a mess, as we woke up and pretty much decided to go randomly so we didn't end up doing a lot, unfortunately. I don't think I'll have time to go back to Rome during this trip, but I definitely need to go back at some point in the future and do it right.

 

I went to Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower...in case you couldn't tell from this picture.

My favorite place I've visited so far is Cinque Terre which is a series of five towns built into the cliffs of the Italian coast along the Mediterranean Sea. You can only get from town to town by hiking, boating, or using their small train system. Here is one of the towns as I approached it from the top of a hiking trail.

The view of the first town we visited in Cinque Terre from down below on the rocks of the Mediterranean Sea.

A look inside one of the towns of Cinque Terre.

The view of the Italian coast along the Mediterranean Sea from one of the hiking trails connecting the towns of Cinque Terre.

Our biggest trip so far has been to Split, Croatia where we arrived after a twelve hour bus ride that started at 9:00 pm and ended at 9:00 am. Above is the view of Diocletian's Palace from the Adriatic Sea as we departed Split for an 8-hour Island Hopping Trip on board a ferry. 

Diocletian's Palace is a weird combination of super touristy shops and restaurants as well as old Roman architecture, as Diocletian was Roman Emperor who built, well, his palace, which was really intended as his retirement home, in Split. Now it's the center of the city. Here is the substructure of the palace which is where a majority of the Roman architecture is apparent. If you saw my Instagram or Facebook post the other day, you also know it's a filming location for one of my favorite television shows, "Game of Thrones."

 

Yes, Croatia is beautiful.

The waterfall system of Croatia's Krka National Park.

So that's pretty much everything so far. I'll try to do a couple more of these, no promises though. Later.

Wake the Force Up!

With a little over a year to go until its release, the title to the highly anticipated seventh Star Wars movie was released today. Speculation has been running rampant on the internet as to what it would be called. A New Dawn? Return of the Sith? Rise of the Jedi? Jar Jar's Revenge?

There have been lots of fan made posters for Episode VII, but this is my favorite that I've come across. 

Alas, it was none of those. Instead, it will be called "The Force Awakens." Meh. It's alright. Could be better. Honestly I have mixed feelings about there even being a seventh Star Wars (but that's for another post). But if they're going to start another whole trilogy couldn't they have at least made the title a little more epic? A little less cheesy? 

However, one could make the argument that ALL of the Star Wars film titles' are a little cheesy and stupid, that it's an inherent part of a franchise about a bunch of aliens battling each other with telekinesis and laser swords. Let's take a look at how "The Force Awakens" stacks up against previous Star Wars movie titles from worst to first. 

7) Episode I: The Phantom Menace

This one just made very little sense. I mean I get it. There's some sort of "Menace" or villain out there manipulating all the crap going on and the Jedi have no idea who it is. Hence the "Phantom." But it just sounds so stupid. And the phantom menace, Sidious and/or Maul , was more of a plot device than a focus of the movie. Qui-gon, Anakin, and Padme were the central characters. Also, for the longest time I thought this was a result of product pl, acement and the title was actually The Fanta Menace.

Better Titles: The Great Podrace, The Shadow Threat, or Taken 4

6) Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

So the Jedi returned, huh? That's odd. Because there was definitely a Jedi in Episode IV, Ben Kenobi. And I'm pretty sure Yoda was in Episode V. So what makes Episode VI the return of the Jedi? Yeah, Luke's more of a badass than in the previous films, but still. It's not like all the Jedi who were killed come back to life and the order is reestablished at the end of the film. Well, unless Luke was planning to train the Ewoks in the ways of the force. 

Better Titles: Escape from Jabba's Palace, The Forest People, or Admiral Ackbar and the Forty Rebels

5) Episode II: Attack of the Clones

I have two major problems with this title. First of all, the title gives off a vibe that the clones are evil and attacking the Jedi. Yes, they attack the droids but what they really do is provide reinforcement to the Jedi. So the title could have been far more accurate. Also, the clones were barely in the movie! Most of the film was centered around Anakin and Padme's love story and Obi-Wan's quest to find out...actually I don't really remember what Obi-Wan was doing. Or anything about this movie really.

Better Titles: Reinforcement of the Clones, Boba Fett: Origins, or The Notebook

4) Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Okay, to be fair I decided to rank this in the middle of the pack because I have no idea what the movie is about. But like I said before, the title is just so cheesy and generic. Therefore, I tried to come up with some more specific titles based on what I think the plot will be.

Better Titles: Han Solo and the Broken Foot, Heir to the Empire, or Rise of the Geriatrics

3) Episode IV: A New Hope

I'm being a bit lenient with this one because it was named after the fact; for those of you who don't know this movie was just referred to as Star Wars until the sequel came out. But again, there are some problems with this title besides it's overt cheesiness. Who or what is the new hope? Is it Luke Skywalker? And if it is, isn't he like 20 years old? So what exactly is "new" about him? Or is it the Death Star being blown up? Grand Moff Tarkin's death? Princess Leia's rescue? The rebel alliance winning a critical victory against the Empire? There's just too much ambiguity!

Better Titles: The New Hopes, Kenobi's Last Stand, or The Power Within

2) Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Alright, this one's pretty spot on. It describes exactly what happens in the movie. The Sith get revenge on the Jedi for...well, for a reason that's never really explained. All in all, this title pretty sums up the movie and the dark, foreboding tone that accompanied it.

Alternative Titles: Silence of the Jedi, The Purge or Catching Fire

1) Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

It's fitting that the best movie has the best title. Even suggesting any other title could pretty much be considered blasphemy. However I'm a little surprised they didn't at least consider having Boba Fett's name in the title considering he's in this film more so than any other.

Alternative Titles: Boba Fett: Badass

College Life

I know, I know. I've barely posted anything about my life at UConn. I've been so busy doing stuff and meeting people that I've barely even had time to sleep. At this point you probably know just about as much as my parents do. So I've decided to dedicate this post to give a brief description of everything  I've been up to so far. Well, almost everything. Enjoy. But not too much.

Clubs

I've done my best to get as involved as possible as quickly as I can around campus. I've joined the Honors Council (the governing body of the Honors Program), the UConn Student Television Station, and of course, the Fencing Club.

One other club I joined is the Outing Club, the largest organization on campus. Each weekend they go out on different trips around the New England and New York area to rock climb, mountain bike, white water raft, etc. I actually had the opportunity to go caving in Clarksville, NY this past weekend and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. We spent three hours walking, crawling, wiggling, and wading through the cave. I'd try to explain it more, but words don't do it justice. Plus I'm lazy.

After we got out of the cave.

Classes

I'm taking five classes this semester. Six if you count the "Intro to the University" course, which I don't. Here's how much I enjoy them from least fun to most fun.

#5: Global Change and Natural Disasters

It's kind of a cool topic but I'm just not a science person. I don't get a lot of homework though, and it could be a lot worse.

#4: Anthropology

An intriguing subject makes up for a crazy professor and an insane amount of assigned reading. Kind of.

#3: Animation Lab

One of my two Digital Media classes that I'm taking this semester. It's alright, but the focus on the history of the medium of animation is somewhat boring especially because it's not the area of Digital Media I want to focus on. Also there's a lot of drawing and anyone who knows me knows I can't even draw a straight line.

#2: Intro to Film

This is a lecture heavy class so far, sometimes ridiculously so. It's also similar to Animation Lab in that a lot of the focus thus far has been the history of the medium. However, since I find film as a whole a lot more fascinating than animation, I definitely like this class more.

#1: Digital Foundation

This is what I expected when I decided to major in Digital Media. Not only will I learn the fundamentals of website design, Photoshop, and movie making in this class but we are also learning collaboration skills and problem solving techniques. It's definitely a fun class.

Other Stuff

 

Football pep rally.

 

I attended the opening football game. It was fun even though it was brutal to watch. 

 The Marching Band looked cool.

 

I won $30 worth of gift cards at Family Feud. That's what the cool kids do.

 I've exercised some self control and only gone to the candy shop once...so far.

I'll try to post again soon. Maybe. Probably not.