Studenti seri!

Hello again parents and relatives of these thirty-four extraordinary young people!

Happy Birthday Eden Moscone!  This morning we all sang Happy Birthday in Italian to Eden ("Buon Compleanno a te") and this evening at our catered dinner we will enjoy a birthday treat together to celebrate!  This is our third birthday on this trip (we also celebrated Laura and Alex's big days)--and what better place to celebrate the beginning of a new year than la bella Firenze?

Yesterday, after both morning and afternoon classes, the group had a chance to chill out at the residence and the art studio.  Lindsay and William offered a tie-dying workshop on the terrace, which was quite a success--today there was a rainbow of shirts and socks out drying on the terrace. Sage showed me her creation, a purple dyed shirt with perfectly round circles of white where the rubber bands bunched--perfetto!  Antonio opened up the art studio to anyone who wanted to continue working on drawings or paintings, and a few students filled the space with serene concentration until curfew.

The group is in the thick of their studies!  Today was the deadline for Stefano's Art History class's midterm, which was a Tableau Vivant assignment.  The students photographed themselves and their friends imitating great works of art.  We will be having an exhibition for the whole group to enjoy the prints of these creative interpretations in the coming weeks.  I will put them on the blog as soon as Stefano gives me the ok!

Tonight, the students have the option to attend a classical concert at Palazzo Strozzi, one of the oldest and most well-preserved Renaissance palaces in Florence--I can't wait!  The students that are not going to the concert may join me afterwards to explore a new neighborhood, Piazza Ghiberti, on the other side of town--there are fewer tourists in this particular piazza and it's a popular Florentine hangout.  There is often live music and dancing there--woohooo!  And as always, there is the option for free time. The staff also learned that Carmina Burana is being presented in the Boboli Gardens--and so some students chose to attend this during their free time.

So much to do!  I hope you are all enjoying your summers wherever you find yourselves, and I'll be back with more tomorrow!

A presto,

Janet