News & Blog

Ciao, Firenze!

Our last week in Firenze has been a relaxing one, but it has also come around and left much too quickly! I have settled right into the Florentine lifestyle to the point that I feel right at home. I don’t even break a sweat anymore while walking around in mid-ninety degree weather; it just feels comfortable. Although I am reminded that I’m not truly an Italian when I haven’t worn one short-sleeved shirt but only tank tops for this entire trip, while they wear long pants in this weather!

I’m keeping this blog quick since it’s 3am and I have been up finishing my “old master” drawing that’s due tomorrow of the three dancer’s from Botacelli’s Primavera, because it’s sadly our last day of classes. I couldn’t have begun to have drawn my final project as well as I did coming into this! I’m gonna miss my super arts class terribly when I get back home, and I will even in Rome, because I have grown so much as an artist and have learned a lot from my instructors, Lindsay and Winnie.

Tuesday night I got to night sketch on the Arno River! Seeing a picture back in March on the Abbey Road website of a girl sketching at night on a river is what got me hooked onto this program. So I had been looking forward to this night for months, yet it was more inspiring than I ever had imagined! I swung my legs over the edge of the bridge, and I sat for long time just soaking up the reflections, the full moon, and the lighted buildings. As I started to form the scene with my golden pencil, a magical moment took place… Three men in a candle-lit gondola with one man playing a instrument paddled by, the music wafting up and reaching my ears. But then, all too soon, the music faded away. But then about ten minutes later, the gondola returned along with two other gondolas filled with people. They all stopped right below me, and a man played his instrument while the other man sang in Italian. It was a couple of minutes that I will never forget in my life. I was in pure bliss.

-Phoebe