qui per un breve periodo

the next-to-last supper

Well, this is it. Yesterday I said a tearful goodbye to my beautiful one-speed bike (with bell and basket), wandered aimlessly around the San Lorenzo market, ate my last pizza quattro formaggio and had my last yogurt-and-cioccolato-fondente gelato, mailed packages home, and cleaned out the refrigerator in the apartment.

This afternoon Katherine and I will be in London, where I will use up the next four days- hopefully not spending money- before heading home.

I have had terribly mixed feelings about living in Florence. I still believe it is a much better place to be for a short time- say, 2 weeks- and would rather have lived in a city like Torino, or Rome, or Bologna. But Florence is magical, and the last few days it has re-cast its spell on me. I will miss it.

So, things I will never forget about Florence:

1. the afternoon sunlight on the façade of Santa Croce.
2. the Simon and Garfunkel impersonator at the Uffizi, who played the “Greatest Hits” CD in its EXACT order every night for a week.
3. gelato from De Neri and GROM
4. Panino numero uno from Antico Noe
5. running along the Arno around sunrise, eve though the Arno stinks.
6. the markets
7. the wine
8. piazza santissima annunziata
9. the homeless woman who mopped the steps of the Ospedale degli Innocenti every morning
10. Elia, the owner of the school café, who always called me “cara” (dear), and always gave me a piece of chocolate with my cappuccino.

And, of course, on the opposite side, things I hope to forget about Florence:
1. dog poo in the streets
2. stepping on dog poo in the streets
3. the smell of urine in every alley
4. the cold, cold rain
5. watching Florentine men eat tripes (stomach lining)
6. not being able to communicate with anyone (which is not really Florence’s fault, it’s mine…)
7. mosquitoes
8. tourists
9. men who say “ciao bella”
10. vendors who try and sell roses or CDs inside a restaurant while you are eating.

The other night Katherine, Sai, Wilson, and I set out into the frigid Italian air to take in Florence's holiday decorations- especially the official city Christmas tree. Here are a few shots from our wanderings. Buon feste!

My studio review was last night, which means I finally have time to spend blogging again! The review went well- I met some fun spanish architects and we all got great feedback... better than can normally be expected, I'd say. So to fill you in briefly on the last two weeks:

3 days in Rome.

in front of St. Peter's

Our last school field trip started the morning after thanksgiving dinner. Needless to say we were all quite full and tired. I spent half of the trip with a group from my history class looking at architecture in Rome built under Fascist rule, so I was glad I had been there before to see the ancient archtiecture. My history professor is a highly knowlegable and fascinating man who reminds us all of our grandfathers. Needless to say, wandering Rome with him was a real treat, and a seriously needed change of pace from the rest of the field trips this semester. We saw the Forum Mussolini had built for the Olympic Games (that never took place because WWII started), as well as his own private gym, a fencing hall (converted into a police headquarters... go figure), several post offices, and the E42 district. This is an area south of Rome that was planned to be the new city center and was to house the International Expo of 1942 (which again never happened). The district was never fully realized- in fact, only 6 out of some 50 buildings were constrcuted, and now it has been filled in with strange housing blocks, losing practically all of its significance. The last day of the field trip I rejoined my studio and visited Hadrian's villa and the Villa d'Este, outside Rome.

10 days of studio, studio, studio.

Immediately upon our return to Florence everyone hit crunch time for finishing studio projects. Nothing too eventful happened in this time, except that Florence suddenly got very, very cold.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

German Christmas market outside Santa Croce

Around the same time we returned from Rome, Florence was transformed into a city of Christmas lights. Much like at home, the shops are all advertising the holiday and people seem to be merry and bright. I hope to get a few good pictures of the city lit at night, to include them in a later post. It is so nice to have a little Christmas cheer over here, although I think it has made a few of us even more homesick.

So, in less than two weeks I will be home. Next Friday we move out of our apartment and fly back to London, where Katherine and I will spend 4 relaxing days decompressing before heading back to the states on the 21st. If you're in Nebraska between then and mid-January, I want to see you!