The semester is almost over! Architecture classes finish early, like they always do; I’m relieved of the stress and worry of getting my final project completed. The library, gallery, cafe, public space for Piazza Ghiberti here in Florence turned out pretty well, and I was pleased with my development of it. We had a photoshoot yesterday where we photographed all of our work from the semester, and I’m going to bring most of my drawings home in a plastic or cardboard tube. I have one final and one graphic project left, and my academic semester will be complete!
My first post in Italia on September the 3rd included a portion of an e-mail from my friend Sean, who was encouraging me to learn the things that I won’t find in a textbook. I looked back at those things this morning, and it was a moment for me where I realized some of my personal growth and development.
I certainly hope that you travel safe and can utilize & hone your street
smarts while in abroad. That’s one of the greatest learnings people can
pick-up while traveling about at your age.
So be sure to dive-in and absorb as much as you can through all aspects of
your daily life…from food to body language, to how americans are
perceived through the eyes of those who aren’t from the U.S. notice the
newspapers, the fashions, the TV news, the food portion sizes, the way
they recycle/ or don’t, the daily routines that form the patterns of
people’s lives. Some of these folks have been doing the things their
great-great-great grandparents did too. think of what you see as a
section, and you’ll begin to find the layers upon layers of history &
tradition. Find where the original city walls were, and notice the shapes
& width of streets. How do the people engage all these aspects of their
environment…as you know there is far more than what meets the eye.
Yes, you are going to learn more of Architecture and see & touch many
things you’ve studies, but to obtain the intangibles of how other cultures
operate. Achieve the worldly-ness that comes with travel which is not from
traveling, but is through truley experiencing these places as both a voyeur and a citizen.
That may be one of the greatest things to learn while there.
You can then apply these things to your designs and suddenly, there is
depth and real meaning to every wall in your designs and every wall that
creates the defining blocks in your life.
The food here is delicious, and it will be one of the things I miss the most; Italians are intensly passionate about many things in their lives, but food seems to rank highest on that scale, if not for family life. Frozen foods and leftovers seem frowned upon, and a lot of their recipes require fresh ingredients, including fresh fruits and veggies from the market.
Body language is highly expressive, and many people talk with their hands on almost every subject. Not only hand motions, but a great deal can be absorbed by eye contact (or lack of it) as well as facial expressions that often give away true emotions.
Many Italians seem to see Americans as a rude individuals who give no thought to cultural or way of life of Italians; although a large percentage of Italian cities thrive on tourism, I’m sure the lack of tourists even trying to learn Italian language or blend in is tiresome after only a short while. Indeed, I have found myself frustrated with large crowds of people jumbled in the Centro of the city, who are plugged into headphones so they can hear speeches from tourguides, and huddle in packs. I prefer the tourist who has his or her guidebook in hand, who is reading something to learn for a more personal basis. These tourists are also less frequently victims of pickpockets.
Fashion is a tricky subject, and I know I’ll never been in an issue of GQ, so I almost find it hard to identify. My attire is simple and plain, and often without a great deal of graphic advertisements or flashly logos. Italians are exactly the opposite - flashy, polished, well dressed, and suave. Shoes, purses, and especially high boots are the identifying items of wealth and personal taste - the more expensive, the better. I almost laugh at those ideas because I’m so different; I want to be warm, comfortable, and modest.
The TV news talks a great deal about both internal and international politics, and I feel very little connection to regional or local news; I was surprised that they often use architectural or computer renderings to illustrate a story or show an idea, instead of a photograph or rolling video feed. The weather is all displayed in diagrams, and you can watch the weather with the television on mute.
The food portions sizes are always smaller than what I expect from the United States, but there is a cultural ceremony of food, and especially at the dinner table. Breakfast is extremely light, or not at all. A common breakfast is a pastry and about 4 or 5 ounces of coffee that is jump-starting kick in the face! It’s so strong, and I prefer cappuccino to it every time (with lots of sugar). Lunch is an extended meal, for a great deal of shops and businesses close down for a two hour break in the day. Hours are from 8:00AM-1:00PM or 9:00AM-1:00PM, and then 3:00PM-8:00PM. Almost everything shuts down at 8:00PM, and dinner is around 8:30PM or 9:00PM, which lasts for more than an hour, and sometimes even two hours. Dinner includes several small servings, which often relate to one another in a theme. There is the antipasta, which is the appetizer, or you jump straight into the first course, the primi. Most of these are a type of flavored pasta with veggies, or a soup. The secondi is the largest portion of the meal, which is the closest to our American main entree. The meal is completed with the dolci, which is often a small sweet dessert, or a combination of fresh fruits. My favorite dessert is Gelato, about 30 minutes or an hour after the final meal. That’s the food I will miss the most when I come home.
Everyone recycles, and that’s because beside the garbage can there are blue bins for plastic, cardboard, and glass. Not only in our apartment, but I have also seen this in restaurants and shops, where the trashcan is adjacent to the recycling unit (which has partitions). Garbage cans are all smaller, not like the huge ones we use in America; you would often identify the main trashcan in the kitchen to be something small enough that you would put in your American bathroom. Grocery bags are ideal for liners, because you just tie them up when finished and take it out the the street front by the plastic handles. Rectangular prism garbage collection units line the street, and they are operated by a metal foot bar that you press down to open the lid. There is a metal eye loop at the top of the units, so they are picked up by a crane device on the trash collection unit to be turned over, where most of American huge trashcans have forklift inserts welded to the frame. In Italia, blue units are for recycling, and yellow units are for garbage. Unfortunately, there are holes in the bottom of the units, and any fluids leak out onto the streets, causing a horrible - awful - stench.
I found the original city walls in Florence - or what are left of them; most of them were converted in the 19th century to be the Viales, the wide streets for automobiles. The remaining walls are on the south hills, on the other side of the Arno, which are really only visible from Piazza Michelangelo.
The streets are narrow in the historical Centro of the city, where the Roman and medieval city thrived; Via dei Calzaioli is my favorite street downtown, not only because it has my favorite gelateria, but it has a wide with of eight meters, and is a pedestrian street. Outside the viales, the 20th century streets are designed to be wider, to allow for parking on one or both sides of the street by modern automobiles. I prefer the narrow streets, which are more proportional to the human body scale.
I already think I’m going to miss this place, even though I’m ready and looking forward to coming home. It’s been a fantastic semester for me!
