First time... in my classes!

Had both of my classes for the first time yesterday- 3 hours of Contemporary Italian Society and 2 of Art History. CIS is a lot more work than I expected- I have a 4-6 page paper due Monday (but just over expectations of Italy and what’s different and such), a mid-term, and a final presentation (5-8 minutes about our…) and paper (10-15 pages that includes interviews of Italians). In class we just basically defined anthropology then talked about how you can define Italy (geographically, politically, and culturally) and how can you tell how old it is. I was shocked to learn that the Italian Republic is a baby! 1946! The whole peninsula was only unified in the 1860s too! Before that, it all hasn’t been unified since the Byzantine Empire in the 600s!! So here, the people think of themselves much more as Florentine than Italian. Anyway, I'll talk more on that another time (which you can skip if you don't find that interesting...).

Anyway, Art History- found out we’ll be taking a lot of field trips which was expected. We even toured the city and he pointed out the oldest buildings and parts of the original city of Florence. Before that he talked about the history of Florence too but focusing only on Florence and not at all on the whole. Fun fact: Florence was founded in 59 BC by Julius Caesar. Of course, my teacher focused on artistically significant events- bombing of the bridges during WWII (only Ponte Vecchio survived) and the Arno flooding the city and many collections (leading Florence to become a leader in restoration after the mud damage)- besides also a few famous artists and pieces (Michelangelo’s David and the Duomo and Baptistry foremost). Apparently the Baptistry of St. John (the Baptist... duh, haha) is older than the Duomo and is the actual reason why the Duomo was built there. It had been widely accepted that the Baptistry was built on an ancient Roman temple of Mars and so that upped its importance level a lot and the Duomo was built right next to it. However, modern excavations have shown that it's just not true- an original Roman temple, that is. Anyway, John the Baptist is Florence's patron saint and there is a holiday (St. John's Day) on June 24th that I am super pumped for because there are fireworks and a special soccer game in one of the piazza's (central squares).