I am heart broken to realize how long it has been since I have updated this and with free travel beginning tomorrow I figure that now is the time. (please forgive typos and the lack of contractions since I am on an Italian computer and I cannot find the dart apostrophe key).
I cannot rightly update on everything in the limited amount of time I have to do this but I will say that I am unsure about the upcoming free travel time. I do not really know the people I am going with very well. They do not seem like bad people mind you just not people I know well, but I am sure that is bound to change.
We have just returned from our trip to Rome which was an interesting one. So many sights in such a short time, but I loved it. The highlight of my trip was today (the last day) when a group of us Loftis, Bump, Rumbo, Jacob, Riley, Beck and me climbed the dome of St. Peters Basilica (*stupid* no apostrophy-having keyboard). 551 steps one way. The most intense stair climb I have ever done, and what is truly amazing is that I only stopped once! Less than a month ago I climbed Torre Grosse (literally "big tower") in San Gimignano and I stopped something like 4 times on the way up. I think my lung strength and physical shape are getting somewhat better (one roommate said my snoring is getting better). And the view at the top was simply amazing all of these enormous monuments were so small! It made the choice not to cut out 150 steps with an elevator so sweet.
On a similar note I have not done so much walking since our Florence walk, and I cannot believe how good I feel lately I cannot really explain it except to say that I am feeling better physically and it is overflowing into the other aspects of my life.
It all relates to something John Riley told me after that Florence walk when I mentioned the awful blister on my foot. He said, "You have got to let your blisters become calluses." I thought he sounded silly at the time, but that blister has become a callus and all of the things that were once so difficult for me to do physically, mentally, behaviorally, spiritually and really all over the place have become...easier. That is todays word by the way "facile" means "easy." Now I am by no means done, but I am now more excited for the journey of growth I have set before me.
A presto,
-matt
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Facade
We've done some different things in the past few days but the big deal was today we went out into Florence to go to a few more places. Including San Marco church, San Lorenzo church, and The Acadamia (though not in that order).
Honestly I didn't have much to say about the San Marco church it was nice but not necessarily mind blowing, that contained a bunch of works dedicated to an Artist named Fra Angelico. What was mind-blowing was that he was a monk (Fra=brother), and unlike most artists of the time he didn't take any money for himself. In fact he was unique in that he never corrected a "mis-stroke" or any perceived defect in his paintings, because he believed that the beauty he was making came from God and was as He intended it to be.
When we went to San Lorenzo it was a portion of Florence I was at least familiar with, but I was also familiar with the exterior of the church. A brown unattractive exterior, which is almost grotesque when compared to Santa Maria del Fiore or many other churches we've seen, and the tour guide did say that looks are deceiving, but wow. The inside is mind blowing. I really couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. I've learned my lesson.
The word for today "facade" comes from this all of the buildings are made of that brown stone but most are covered in a fake, a facade, of marble. I think there is something beautiful about the lake of that in this case it makes you appreciate the inside more.
We also went to the Academia (which is a big deal art museum world renowned). What it is best known for is that it was built for and holds, Michelangelo's David. Yes, the David statue. And it is a piece of work. Beautiful to behold and enormous (5 tons and 17 feet tall). I took a picture of it (which is incredibly against the rules). I think it's really interesting that Michelangelo believed that the Sculptures he was creating, were contained inside the blocks of marble already just waiting for him to free them. He was quoted as saying that all he does is chip away at the extra.
I wonder if that is how God sees us sometimes. As something beautiful and amazing that and all he needs to do is chip away the extra. Think of it this way. When God issues to us instructions on how to conduct our lives, it isn't that he takes from us what is a part of us. Rather he takes away what is not a part of us to allow the masterpiece within to show. Unfortunately most of us aren't like David, at least I know I'm not. No, I think I'm much more like one of the Prisoners.
Attached to things of which I'm not a part, or rather that aren't a part of me. Holding on tightly until the sculptor's chisel helps me to remove them. Yeah, maybe someday I'll be a David.
Honestly I didn't have much to say about the San Marco church it was nice but not necessarily mind blowing, that contained a bunch of works dedicated to an Artist named Fra Angelico. What was mind-blowing was that he was a monk (Fra=brother), and unlike most artists of the time he didn't take any money for himself. In fact he was unique in that he never corrected a "mis-stroke" or any perceived defect in his paintings, because he believed that the beauty he was making came from God and was as He intended it to be.
When we went to San Lorenzo it was a portion of Florence I was at least familiar with, but I was also familiar with the exterior of the church. A brown unattractive exterior, which is almost grotesque when compared to Santa Maria del Fiore or many other churches we've seen, and the tour guide did say that looks are deceiving, but wow. The inside is mind blowing. I really couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. I've learned my lesson.
The word for today "facade" comes from this all of the buildings are made of that brown stone but most are covered in a fake, a facade, of marble. I think there is something beautiful about the lake of that in this case it makes you appreciate the inside more.
We also went to the Academia (which is a big deal art museum world renowned). What it is best known for is that it was built for and holds, Michelangelo's David. Yes, the David statue. And it is a piece of work. Beautiful to behold and enormous (5 tons and 17 feet tall). I took a picture of it (which is incredibly against the rules). I think it's really interesting that Michelangelo believed that the Sculptures he was creating, were contained inside the blocks of marble already just waiting for him to free them. He was quoted as saying that all he does is chip away at the extra.
I wonder if that is how God sees us sometimes. As something beautiful and amazing that and all he needs to do is chip away the extra. Think of it this way. When God issues to us instructions on how to conduct our lives, it isn't that he takes from us what is a part of us. Rather he takes away what is not a part of us to allow the masterpiece within to show. Unfortunately most of us aren't like David, at least I know I'm not. No, I think I'm much more like one of the Prisoners.
Attached to things of which I'm not a part, or rather that aren't a part of me. Holding on tightly until the sculptor's chisel helps me to remove them. Yeah, maybe someday I'll be a David.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Opera
"Opera" literally means "work" as in "work of art." I say this because among many things I have experienced today was the most beautiful and haunting sculpture I've ever seen in my life. Tortured and beautiful, pained and joyous, ladies and gentleman, Donatello's Mary Magdalene:
It struck me to my core. It is supposed to depict her at the end of her life, after years of fasting prayer and service. It was such a profound thing to see, and he used wood which is rarely used for sculptures.
I feel like I'm finally starting to click in ever since dinner two nights ago where about 4-5 of us guys sat at one end of a table at a nice restaurant and shared about out lives. Not necessarily all of the deep and profound but stuff that means something to us. I'm loving Firenze.
-matt
It struck me to my core. It is supposed to depict her at the end of her life, after years of fasting prayer and service. It was such a profound thing to see, and he used wood which is rarely used for sculptures.
I feel like I'm finally starting to click in ever since dinner two nights ago where about 4-5 of us guys sat at one end of a table at a nice restaurant and shared about out lives. Not necessarily all of the deep and profound but stuff that means something to us. I'm loving Firenze.
-matt
Monday, January 25, 2010
Chiocciola
"Chiocciola," means snail. I'll explain the significance of this one a bit later.
So since my last post we have done a lot of traveling. We went on a walking tour of Scandicci, which is the suburb of Florence in which we are located. It's a nice area, so many things to see it's hard to just mention one. It is also where the Avante Italia school is located, and that's worth noting because I've considered that program as a possible future for my life.
The next day we did an all day walking tour of Florence, there are so many amazing sights to be seen The Duomo (Brunelleschi's dome built without scaffolding). Several amazing churches including Santa Maria del Fiore (Saint Mary of the Flower), which is massive and beautiful white marble building topped with the aforementioned Duomo. After moving through the central part of the city and seeing several grand statues (even some by Donatello my first official Ninja Turtle sighting was during this time)we went outside of the main city up to a mountain-top church called San Miniato al Monte which was down right incredible to be able to go inside. We even sang a few songs in a chapel area inside.
After that we walked down back into the city and as we came back in we crossed over the Arno River (which Mark Twain once called a ditch) on the Ponte Vecchio (literally "Old Bridge") and saw a place where the fencing around a particular bust was covered in key locks. Apparently according to tradition (of which there are many in Italy) if you and your loved one put a lock on this grate (Which is highly illegal) and then toss the key into the waters of the Arno (also very illegal), then you will be together forever we even witnessed a couple doing that. After that we toured to what Kyle (the Assistant Director here) called the Piggy Market, because of a bronze statue of a Boar, again if tradition is true then if you rub it's nose it means you will one day return to Florence.
That was all one day. The next day, we went to San Gimignano, a small town still very medieval in its feel, with many towers making up its skyline, relics of family feuds between the rich and noble of the town throughout the centuries. At one time there were 72 of these spires, but today, only 14 remain. We had a chance to visit a church there called The Collegiata (literally a "college church" which is a classification from the catholic church). It had many beautiful Frescos inside all very moving.
Once we had finished Darby, Chase, Joanna, and I, climbed up the highest of the towers (Chase counted 219 steps though I was too out of breath to be able to verify). The view was incredible you could see the entire town and many miles of Tuscan farms in the valley. We went down from there through and into a castle courtyard that was like something out of the Secret Garden and as we explored it a woman began to play "Canon" on the Harp, definitely a moment that will stick with me.
We soon left there and head to Monteriggioni a small walled-in village that was all but dead, but a nice place to have lunch.
After that we moved on to Siena. Unfortunately I can't simply repeat the entirety of everything I learned in that city, but I'll hit the highlights of what we saw.
Let me set a scene, if you'll allow it. We went into a big church beautiful from the inside and huge, but not very ornate on the outside we come out and listen to some more talk from the guide. Then it happens we turn a corner and suddenly we see this:
Simply the most incredible thing I've seen, before this all I had seen were the inside of St. Dominic's Basilica, and some cramped alleyways. I loved every bit of it. We also got a chance to imitate the Palio race that Siena is known for (if you've seen the opening to Quantum of Solace you'll know what that race looks like). Every participant in our mock race had a flag representing one of the districts. It was a really fun time, my flag was the snail but after running a fourth of the race and then canceling the rest because we were going the wrong way, I passed the flag to beck to let him finish it.
Then Sunday (the next day) we rode an hour on the city buses to get to the local church. Now the Service did irritate me because it was in Italian, well not because it was in Italian but because Robbie seemed almost neglectful of those of us that didn't understand Italian. Anyway we got back and classes began, I only had to go to Bible with Randy McLeod. then there was a devo and dinner, and somewhere in the midst of it I began to experience a combination of homesickness and an anxiety attack. I'm not sure why exactly I guess we've been moving so much the first few days that I hadn't noticed it, but I have no close friends here. I mean I knew that but I hadn't felt their absence until I wanted to have a deep discussion with Mitchell Carter, or watch Even Stevens with Hammitt and Blake, get in a silly argument with Harrison over whether or not I drink a soda, or watch Jeopardy in Chandler and Barker's room. I longed for a chance to hear Easton use his crazy high pitched voice or to see Baur using that shake weight. Being here, as amazing as it is has required me sacrificing everyone of my touchstones, no inside jokes, no movie references, no floors coated such that you can barely walk on them, none of it, and that feeling is still hanging on me.
I'm not that social a person on my own I rely heavily on my friends to help make new connections with people, but I don't have that here. It's me as I am, which quite frankly is me as an introvert. I don't know what to do, but aside from classes and meals I've been in front of this computer most of the time. That's why I named this Chiocciola, because like the snail, I've pulled into my shell. I'll be honest thinking about spending so much time without those people I cherish back home really rocked me, the honeymoon of my time here is at an end. I pray that God will help me to build relationships but I guess I just rue leaving behind all of those really deep connections I had made at school. I mean today "Save Me" by Remy Zero came on and I was hit by the fullness of spending time with the guys in the dorm, and then the hollowness of not having that until April, I rejoiced in the memory as I finished my cardio for the day with an exasperated sprint to the Gate of the Villa, but then I mourned. I don't know that I fear losing those friendships, merely that I can't act on them for sometime.
I love my friends and I know that the people here are, "a good people Kal-El" (to make a quote I know several of those JLA will love) I have no doubt of that. I hope that I can get passed this quickly and begin to really develop lasting friendships with them. If they'll have me.
ti amo tanto (I love you so much)
-matt
So since my last post we have done a lot of traveling. We went on a walking tour of Scandicci, which is the suburb of Florence in which we are located. It's a nice area, so many things to see it's hard to just mention one. It is also where the Avante Italia school is located, and that's worth noting because I've considered that program as a possible future for my life.
The next day we did an all day walking tour of Florence, there are so many amazing sights to be seen The Duomo (Brunelleschi's dome built without scaffolding). Several amazing churches including Santa Maria del Fiore (Saint Mary of the Flower), which is massive and beautiful white marble building topped with the aforementioned Duomo. After moving through the central part of the city and seeing several grand statues (even some by Donatello my first official Ninja Turtle sighting was during this time)we went outside of the main city up to a mountain-top church called San Miniato al Monte which was down right incredible to be able to go inside. We even sang a few songs in a chapel area inside.
After that we walked down back into the city and as we came back in we crossed over the Arno River (which Mark Twain once called a ditch) on the Ponte Vecchio (literally "Old Bridge") and saw a place where the fencing around a particular bust was covered in key locks. Apparently according to tradition (of which there are many in Italy) if you and your loved one put a lock on this grate (Which is highly illegal) and then toss the key into the waters of the Arno (also very illegal), then you will be together forever we even witnessed a couple doing that. After that we toured to what Kyle (the Assistant Director here) called the Piggy Market, because of a bronze statue of a Boar, again if tradition is true then if you rub it's nose it means you will one day return to Florence.
That was all one day. The next day, we went to San Gimignano, a small town still very medieval in its feel, with many towers making up its skyline, relics of family feuds between the rich and noble of the town throughout the centuries. At one time there were 72 of these spires, but today, only 14 remain. We had a chance to visit a church there called The Collegiata (literally a "college church" which is a classification from the catholic church). It had many beautiful Frescos inside all very moving.
Once we had finished Darby, Chase, Joanna, and I, climbed up the highest of the towers (Chase counted 219 steps though I was too out of breath to be able to verify). The view was incredible you could see the entire town and many miles of Tuscan farms in the valley. We went down from there through and into a castle courtyard that was like something out of the Secret Garden and as we explored it a woman began to play "Canon" on the Harp, definitely a moment that will stick with me.
We soon left there and head to Monteriggioni a small walled-in village that was all but dead, but a nice place to have lunch.
After that we moved on to Siena. Unfortunately I can't simply repeat the entirety of everything I learned in that city, but I'll hit the highlights of what we saw.
Let me set a scene, if you'll allow it. We went into a big church beautiful from the inside and huge, but not very ornate on the outside we come out and listen to some more talk from the guide. Then it happens we turn a corner and suddenly we see this:
Simply the most incredible thing I've seen, before this all I had seen were the inside of St. Dominic's Basilica, and some cramped alleyways. I loved every bit of it. We also got a chance to imitate the Palio race that Siena is known for (if you've seen the opening to Quantum of Solace you'll know what that race looks like). Every participant in our mock race had a flag representing one of the districts. It was a really fun time, my flag was the snail but after running a fourth of the race and then canceling the rest because we were going the wrong way, I passed the flag to beck to let him finish it.
Then Sunday (the next day) we rode an hour on the city buses to get to the local church. Now the Service did irritate me because it was in Italian, well not because it was in Italian but because Robbie seemed almost neglectful of those of us that didn't understand Italian. Anyway we got back and classes began, I only had to go to Bible with Randy McLeod. then there was a devo and dinner, and somewhere in the midst of it I began to experience a combination of homesickness and an anxiety attack. I'm not sure why exactly I guess we've been moving so much the first few days that I hadn't noticed it, but I have no close friends here. I mean I knew that but I hadn't felt their absence until I wanted to have a deep discussion with Mitchell Carter, or watch Even Stevens with Hammitt and Blake, get in a silly argument with Harrison over whether or not I drink a soda, or watch Jeopardy in Chandler and Barker's room. I longed for a chance to hear Easton use his crazy high pitched voice or to see Baur using that shake weight. Being here, as amazing as it is has required me sacrificing everyone of my touchstones, no inside jokes, no movie references, no floors coated such that you can barely walk on them, none of it, and that feeling is still hanging on me.
I'm not that social a person on my own I rely heavily on my friends to help make new connections with people, but I don't have that here. It's me as I am, which quite frankly is me as an introvert. I don't know what to do, but aside from classes and meals I've been in front of this computer most of the time. That's why I named this Chiocciola, because like the snail, I've pulled into my shell. I'll be honest thinking about spending so much time without those people I cherish back home really rocked me, the honeymoon of my time here is at an end. I pray that God will help me to build relationships but I guess I just rue leaving behind all of those really deep connections I had made at school. I mean today "Save Me" by Remy Zero came on and I was hit by the fullness of spending time with the guys in the dorm, and then the hollowness of not having that until April, I rejoiced in the memory as I finished my cardio for the day with an exasperated sprint to the Gate of the Villa, but then I mourned. I don't know that I fear losing those friendships, merely that I can't act on them for sometime.
I love my friends and I know that the people here are, "a good people Kal-El" (to make a quote I know several of those JLA will love) I have no doubt of that. I hope that I can get passed this quickly and begin to really develop lasting friendships with them. If they'll have me.
ti amo tanto (I love you so much)
-matt
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Vorrei...
I'll try to use Italian in my titles. Vorrei (pronounced "vor-ray") means, "I would like." They taught us a song titled "Vorrei," which is a sappy love song (those apparently are universal). "Vorrei" is an important word because it is how we order food or express interest in an item when shopping.
That being said let me speak a little about the trip over here. We loaded up on a little puddle-jumper from Little Rock to Atlanta, and then got on a Boeing 747 (the biggest plane in the delta fleet) to fly to Rome. Because of the nature of flying against the rotation of the Earth. Night went from being a 12+ hour activity to a 7 hour one which was severely disorienting. Couple with this that I had only screwed 2 hours of sleep since Monday and the result was a ridiculous level of exhaustion going into an entire day in Italy, beginning with a 4 hour bus ride.
The pains of travel aside I have loved it here. Today I went into Scandicci (a suburb of Florence near the village) and we got to walk around and explore for a few hours, then we went to this pizza place that was incredible. I loved it. Though there was a... well let's call it a "technical difficulty" at one point.
To be honest though I'm not sure about fitting in with the other people here. No offense to any of them that read this (this is a me issue), but as usually happens a few small groups have formed and I don't really belong to any of them. Some of them are people from the periphery of my friend groups from back home and others are entirely strangers. In big group settings it's never a problem to find a few people I can talk to or walk with but even then I feel kind of like a new fish in a tank. In defense of those here I don't think that this is at all their doing; truthfully I think the problem is
That concern actually seems like a mole hill compared to the other hill I have to climb. This isn't some cliche metaphor...it's an actual hill. It's a long uphill walk that in my last two attempts has kicked my butt. I'm hoping that will get better over time, but right now I can't say the outlook is optimistic.
Well to all of you reading this thank you and I hope you will continue to read as this semester continues.
With the Love of the Father
-matt
That being said let me speak a little about the trip over here. We loaded up on a little puddle-jumper from Little Rock to Atlanta, and then got on a Boeing 747 (the biggest plane in the delta fleet) to fly to Rome. Because of the nature of flying against the rotation of the Earth. Night went from being a 12+ hour activity to a 7 hour one which was severely disorienting. Couple with this that I had only screwed 2 hours of sleep since Monday and the result was a ridiculous level of exhaustion going into an entire day in Italy, beginning with a 4 hour bus ride.
The pains of travel aside I have loved it here. Today I went into Scandicci (a suburb of Florence near the village) and we got to walk around and explore for a few hours, then we went to this pizza place that was incredible. I loved it. Though there was a... well let's call it a "technical difficulty" at one point.
To be honest though I'm not sure about fitting in with the other people here. No offense to any of them that read this (this is a me issue), but as usually happens a few small groups have formed and I don't really belong to any of them. Some of them are people from the periphery of my friend groups from back home and others are entirely strangers. In big group settings it's never a problem to find a few people I can talk to or walk with but even then I feel kind of like a new fish in a tank. In defense of those here I don't think that this is at all their doing; truthfully I think the problem is
That concern actually seems like a mole hill compared to the other hill I have to climb. This isn't some cliche metaphor...it's an actual hill. It's a long uphill walk that in my last two attempts has kicked my butt. I'm hoping that will get better over time, but right now I can't say the outlook is optimistic.
Well to all of you reading this thank you and I hope you will continue to read as this semester continues.
With the Love of the Father
-matt
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