Autunno

So it's been a while since the last update - a good sign, we like to think, as we're all too busy doing things to have time to write about them! But as there's a spare moment, here's a short rundown of the last couple of weeks...

As the last blog noted, Pasadena City College got here safely, and settled into the city very quickly. 5 weeks on and they're all pretty much locals - they know where to get the best gelato, the nicest coffee, the tastiest panino...

A week later, our contingent from Colby-Sawyer arrived; 8 students, accompanied by the professor, Tom, stepped out from the New Hampshire fall into a still-sweltering Florentine summer. Undaunted by the heat, they made themselves at home very quickly; in fact, they felt so comfortable that in only their second week they brought the long-standing Colby-Sawyer tradition of Mountain Day to Florence! Accompanied by our own AIFS sherpa, Marta Crabbia, they all went up to Fiesole, a small town to the north-east of Florence, where they had a look around the Roman amphitheatre and the Civic Museum before trying some of the local, artisan gelato.

And a week after that, we had two arrivals a day apart; first to get here was the group from Southwestern College in San Diego (with a couple of representatives from Mesa and MiraCosta Colleges as well), quickly followed by the students from the Oregon Consortium the next day.

There were, of course, the various workshops and orientation meetings that weekend, mixed in with a city tour here and there; these helped the students acclimatize themselves to their new home, but it was really during the following week, after classes had started, that people really got into the swing of things.

The first Friday that came along after all groups had arrived saw us beating a trail out of Florence, towards the beautiful city of Siena, home to Il Palio, an annual horse race in the central Piazza del Campo, and one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Italy. Split up into four groups, the students were first taken on a tour of the old city, seeing the various neighbourhood churches, the stables where the horses are kept for the annual race, before passing the breathtaking facade of the cathedral and continuing down to the Piazza del Campo. Here, they were left to find some lunch and, should they choose, to visit the stunning interior of the duomo.

After lunch, it was back on the buses and heading back to Florence, with a detour to San Gimignano. This is a very picturesque hilltop town renowned for its amazing views and looming medieval towers, and the students appreciated an hour or so wandering its twisting streets and, of course, testing its gelato against that of Florence, Fiesole, Siena....

Upon our return to Florence, everyone had just enough time to make themselves presentable before the AIFS Florence Fall Social kicked off, right in the middle of the city's historic Piazza della Signoria. Eric Buckley of Colby-Sawyer jammed with a guitar before the music really started with a karaoke mic and an eclectic mix of song choices: Poker Face, Loco, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Every Breath You Take - the whole musical gamut was here, and it was a great chance for students from (nearly) all four corners of the United States to meet and mingle.

The following week, the atmosphere in the Study Centre was palpably more relaxed; now everyone knew each other, and were helping each other out with questions, travel plans, directions, suggestions...

Philippa has also organized a program of volunteering for those students who wanted to help out in Florence; here’s her report on what’s been going on:

This week, students from Pasadena City College, Southwestern Community College and Oregon Communities have been dedicating a few hours of their free time to helping out in a local thrift store which raises money for the homeless.  Working together with other volunteers from the local community, the students have been busy sorting through piles of donated clothes and shoes to decide what can be sold and what can be given to those in need.  Thanks to their enthusiasm and artistic flair, they have been arranging displays of clothes, books, shoes and bric-a-brac to make the items on sale and the shop itself more attractive to customers.  Of course, they have also found the time to do a little bit of shopping themselves!


And, for the moment, that’s all, but rest assured that more updates will be along shortly, and so alla prossima!