On Tuesday in art history, we traveled across the Ponte Vecchio a bridge in Florence and visited a modern art exhibit. Our teacher taught us the timeline of the different stages of art starting at the medieval time up to today with contemporary art. In addition, he taught us different art movements in-between. After history, for a few hours, I had lunch back at the apartment and then went to the pool with a group of other students.
This week another heat wave is hitting us so it is crucial to cool down, and this one is stronger than the one from our first week. After the pool which was optional, we had a catered dinner in for the evening. We all gathered in our morning meeting place in the courtyard outside of the counselor’s apartment and had an assortment of dishes. After dinner, some people went to the opera while another group went out in Florence. I and a few others decided to go to a part of the water on the river that has a concert slab in it where people gather with friends at night or bring picnics. The view from this less touristy spot was spectacular, I watched the best sunset I had seen here.
Wednesday was hotter than before with extreme temperatures than I was used to. For morning classes studio art and art history combined and visited a monastery outside of the original walls of Florence. We learned that it held a fresco, which is a painting straight on to a wall, depicting the last summer. The fresco additionally was the only one left in Florence outside the original wall, because all the others had been destroyed in wars and weren’t protected, but this one, in particular, was so beautiful it wasn’t to be destroyed.
The painting was also very special because of the vibrant colors used which was hard for a fresco at the time because the wall absorbs the paint. After seeing some oil paintings as well, we all went home for lunch and had a free afternoon due to the hot weather. I did a bit of grocery shopping for my apartment and some cleaning, as well all have to chip in. For dinner tonight we went to Mercato Centrale a fancy food court, we met up with one of our counselor’s friend who is leading the Abbey Road Western Civilization Program. It was fun meeting some other kids on a program in some ways similar to our own. Additionally, they were from many parts of the world so they were very interesting to talk to.