Florence, while it doesn’t hold the major amount of history still holds quite a bit. Unlike Rome, with all it’s historical monuments, Florence holds it’s history mostly in art aside from the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio. I didn’t realize how much art was collected there. It holds from both the Medieval and Renaissance eras. The Uffizi Gallery holds some of the most impressive paintings. The Birth of Venus, Springtime, Leonardo DaVince’s very first painting. The one that took my birth completely away was on going to to the Galleria de’ Academia and setting my eyes on the beautiful and handsome David. David was sculpted by the famous Michelangelo at the age of 26. Two people before him tried on creating David but were unable to do so. For 26 years the unfinished and rough statue remained in storage untouched by no one. Wanting the statue of David to be finished, multiple artists were considered. Michelangelo came up and argued on why he should be commissioned to sculpt David and he won. It took him about two years or so to do. Good thing that they chose Michelangelo, good thing he was a good persuasive speaker because I can’t imagine anyone being able to create a better David. I couldn’t stop looking at David for as long as we were at the museum. I found him to be completely and utterly breathtaking. The amount of detail in David is incredible, from the veins in his hands, and in his thighs as he stands, in his chest where you can outlines of the ribs, his curly hair. Michelangelo took much advantage in knowing the human anatomy and body structure. Never have I seen a more handsome man than that of David. I wonder if David is a representation of an actual person that Michelangelo knew. Copies of David can be seen throughout Florence, one in the Piazza Signori where it originally was placed, a one day copy was placed at the Florence Cathedral. David, to me looked like if I touched would turn and look down at me. I expected David to move and walk around as if the magic in the movie The Night at the Museum was real. I thought that maybe it wasn’t a statue at all, maybe it was a just a guy standing there and would come down from its pedestal any minute. David, to me is greatest piece of art there is, none can ever top it. Michelangelo continues to be my favorite Renaissance artist there is.

                 Traveling from Rome to Florence felt like traveling from New York City to Pittsburgh.      I enjoyed my time in Rome. Of course, I did. The architecture there is so far beyond amazing that it was incomprehensible for me and I certainly recommend that anyone visiting Italy make a point to visit there. For that exact reason, though, there are a ton of people in Rome.  This doesn’t necessarily make the experience less memorable, it just makes it a little uncomfortable from time to time.      When we arrived in Florence, I was  blown away by the different atmosphere. Although of course it was raining, I felt a certain sense of comfort when I saw the pedestrian-friendly streets and beautiful architecture.      My favorite attraction in Florence (which I would recommend to anyone who is coming to visit) was definitely seeing Michelangelo’s David. I, first of all, was surprised by the deep emotion behind this statue. I had no idea that the moment which Michelangelo wanted to capture in this spectacular work of marble was the moment of uncertainty between having seen Goliath for the first time and making the realization that he had the potential to emerge victorious. On top of this deep symbolism of the work of art, I was truly blown away by the physical sculpture. It’s colosal! The details are also simply incredible. From the top of the head to the very toes of David, the detail is simply impeccable. I didn’t even realize when I came to Florence that this would be one of the most incredible things here and I’d never forget it.      Secondly, to me, there’s always been a certain art in experiencing the people that make up a city or culture. One of my other favorite experiences in Italy has been getting the opportunity to take a cooking class regarding the cuisine of Bologna. First of all, it was very interesting to learn about Italian cooking as being somewhat secular and certainly a lot less cohesive than the way I’ve viewed it before. On top of this, though, I was able to interact with an Italian woman who didn’t speak any English. I don’t speak any Italian either. The most interesting aspect of this, for me, was that she was able to coherently teach me how to roll out the pasta noodles entirely through charades and by taking my hands into hers to teach me how to do it. It really was an incredible experience. I recommend making an effort to communicate with as many people as possible when traveling. 

  Once we arrived in Florence, home to Michelangelo’s David, Scudieri, and Brunelleschi’s dome, I realized that this was a city I was going to fall in love with exploring. The feel of this city is much more calming and laid back, which is one reason I have enjoyed my time here so far, so much, until yesterday. Yesterday, I woke up, late of course which is a great to start to any day, and was eager to see Michelangelo’s David. But first, we had to go to the Uffizi. While waiting in line, I realized I had lost my Firenze card and panic set in, because anyone who knows me knows I do not lose things. After embarrassingly telling my professors of my irresponsibility, I had to find a way to get a new Firenze card. In high school I took five years of French, not Italian, so you could imagine my confusion when multiple employees of the museum were giving me directions (different ones may I add) to get a new card. And then the tears came, while asking the impatient (mean!!) ticket lady on how to get a new card. She was very unhappy with me, and began to kinda yell, because 1) I did not understand her and 2) she was frustrated with the information her fellow employees told me. But 89 euros later, I had a new Firenze card and life was good again, so I thought. I returned to the group and was waiting to go through security, when Dr. Permenter and I realized when I got my Firenze card I did not get my entrance ticket. We decided to remain calm and see how far I could get without one. Fortunately, I made it into the build and through security, and even through the first entrance with just my Firenze card, which printed me a ticket receipt. I thought I was in the clear. So I threw everything into my wallet and popped in a piece of gum, deciding to relax and enjoy what was about to come. Once we reached the top of four flights of stairs, we had a second entrance to pass through to get into the actual museum. A second panic began to set in, once the ticket man demanded a ticket I didn’t have. While holding up a the ENTIRE museum entrance, I heard one of my classmates shout “just give him your receipt.” So I reached into my bag for my wallet, when I discovered my ticket receipt for this museum was crumpled and stuck together by the gum I spit into it about three seconds before getting into this line. Major face palm. I frantically yell “help me” to Dr. Permenter. After watching the Italian conversation happening in front of me, which I could not understand, I realized nothing was going to work. Then, Dr. Permenter walked over with another students receipt, handing it to me to use right in front of the ticket man. It worked,...