This Weekend in Firenze

This weekend I am taking a bike tour in the Tuscan country side. We will ride through olive groves, vineyards, medieval towns and the rolling hills of Chianti! The company provides wine tasting, olive oil tasting, and a traditional Tuscan lunch. I'm signing up with a few girls from school to do it this weekend. It's 18 miles total and I think it takes pretty much all day. I'm really excited!

In my English literature class, Italy: the journey and the self, we just finished reading and discussing the Odyssey. I have studied Homer in previous classes in high school, but never to this extent. My teacher, who is from Transylvania, has such a passion for teaching this kind of literature and she makes it so interesting to study (she's the lady who took us to the San Marco Monastery). Anyway, today in class we were wrapping up our Odyssey discussion and talking about the places that Odysseus supposedly traveled to. I found it so interesting that either have already visited or am planning on visiting certain islands and coasts that appear in Homer's work. For example, last weekend I went to the island of Capri off the Amafi Coast in Southern Italy, only to find out today that the chapter of the Odyssey we read a few weeks ago took place entirely on the island! I wish I would have known before I visited Capri, but it is still so cool to think about. Many parts of the description of Capri in the Odyssey are totally head on to what I saw and experienced when I was there. I feel like I am more and more amazed every day that I am in such a historic place as Florence; that I am visiting many places that I have heard and dreamed about all my life.. and now I'm actually here! Our next piece of literature for my english class is Dante's Divine Comedy. My professor is going to take us on a "Dante Tour" through Florence and show us the piazza's and buildings that make up the setting of the literature we are studying. I can't wait! It's so nice to actually be excited about my school work..

On another note, I have been trying to keep myself informed of most things going on the states, and my main area of focus has been the suspected terrorist plots against Americans in Europe. It's definitely freaking out me and the rest of the students, but I'm trying not to get too worked up or anything. Most of the articles from the American news sites I have been reading are urging Americans to keep any travel plans they have for visiting Europe in the fall, and simply warning those Americans already in Europe to be completely aware of their surroundings. I guess all I can do is be extra, extra careful. My school is hosting a trip to Paris this weekend that I am not signed up for, but they are still planning on doing the trip so I don't think things can be too bad. Although, I know the Eiffel Tower was evacuated twice already in the past week, so maybe the school will opt out of taking all the students to such a touristy area. All I can really do is pray that everything is going to be fine over here and that me and all my fellow students aren't in too much danger. I'm not really too worried about the situation, but I'm definitely keeping myself informed and being extra careful while traveling and roaming around Florence.

I'm off to do some homework for my Medieval European History class, but I'll be sure to post many pictures from this weekend and hopefully have a great time exploring Firenze and more of Tuscany this weekend! Lastly, my dad mentioned not being able to comment on any of my posts. To be able to make comments, you have to have a blogger account, which is really easy to do, just click sign in at the top of the scree and then create a username and password. Otherwise, I would love to get emails and updates about everyone in the states! Please email me anytime: jfratt@zagmail.gonzaga.edu.