Arezzo & Uffizi

Monday, we had a group assignment called 'Mission Impossible.' They essentially gave us a list of 50 pictures we had to take in our given city and a train ticket to get there and back. Our town was Arezzo, which is another city in Tuscany. We divided and conquered the picture taking really quickly and finished in about a quarter of the time we were expected to, which gave us more time to explore the city on our own. In our free time, some of us went to a museum that is in and of Giorgio Vasari's house, which was really cool. Apparently he painted some cool frescos on the ceiling of his own house, which were amazing. Its always really humbling to walk in the rooms where a world renowned artist once lived, thrived, and painted.

We were also able to go in several churches, some of which had absolutely nobody in there. These churches had beautiful architecture, art, and sculptures in them just like all the others, but for some reason they were off the beaten path and off the main tourist radar. Those were some of my favorite moments on the trip, going into a huge, deserted church and just resting and meditating for a while.

Also in Arezzo is the Piazza Grande, where a few scenes from 'Life is Beautiful' were shot. So evidently it is pretty famous, and regardless of its fame, it was beautiful.


On Tuesday, I got to go to the Uffizi Museum, one of the most prestigious art museums in the world. We had an assigment, so we only had enough time to look at certain pieces, but I have a pass where I can go back anytime for free, which I plan on utilizing. There were some pretty famous pieces there, and art by tons of famous artists. The really cool thing about it is that the art is arranged in chronological order, so you can see how art styles and focus changes throughout different stylistic periods and time periods.

After going through the museum, we went with Ermenita (an Albanian girl who is a student at University of Florence working with Avanti Italia that we've been hanging out with some) to see the University of Florence. We ate lunch in the cafeteria, which blows away any in the states that I've been to, toured a small part of campus, hung out in a park outside, and went to the student center. It was interesting to learn how different the schooling system in Italy is from the US.

Ciao!
Taylor