LaMAQA

6 ……SIX

Easter had nothing to do with Jesus in my childhood. It was an honored holiday full of traditions for both of my houses, but Jesus just… never came up. The Easter Bunny reigned supreme, rivaling but never outdoing, Santa or Halloween – neither of which I thought of as religious holidays. I related Easter with baskets ofContinue reading “6 ……SIX”

5 ……FIVE

On March 19th, 2003 the United States invaded Iraq. It was several hours before my 21st birthday when I heard the news in Italy and the people were already in the streets. One of the girls from the house and I met with some Italian friends and we walked together quietly towards the river. IContinue reading “5 ……FIVE”

4 …….FOUR

Slowly the people below me on the platform began to disappear as the train pulled out of the station and into the bright, Florentine sun. We were headed north towards Verona and then further on to Venice. It was February and we had plans to experience a Ventian Carnival. Even a month ahead of time itContinue reading “4 …….FOUR”

3 …….THREE

Instead of attending the mandatory painting exam preceding the start of the semester at Lorenzo de Medici art school, I decided to have a picnic. The sun was glorious that afternoon as I sat sipping a cold Moretti, eating freshly baked rosemary foccacia and stretching my sneakers out in front of me, content to observe the piazza. A group of boysContinue reading “3 …….THREE”

2 ……TWO

Typically when you decide to move into a small apartment with other people you meet them first. This was not the case in Florence. Sharing a three bedroom apartment with four other random American Girls was a pebble in the shoe of my “get out into the world” version of myself. I wasContinue reading “2 ……TWO”

1 ……ONE

Filippo Brunelleschi. A man credited with developing linear perspective, getting thrown out of bars and being the maverick architect of Florence’s “double dome”… Il Duomo. Rounding the street framing the central plaza, enormous rose and ivory colored walls arched skyward and I strained to see through the window. Air rushed inContinue reading “1 ……ONE”