Author talk & University of Florence

Today we left the villa around 9 to get to the Piazza Strozzi. They gave us a 3 euro allowance to get a coffee or drink before going so I got a coke :). Then my stomach wasn't feeling too hot so I only drank about half of it, but the half I drank was good lol. The author has written about 8 books and is 35 years old! The book he talked the most about is called Tolkein and Bach comparing fantasy (mainly The Lord of the Rings trilogy) with classical literature and showing the similarities and common lessons to be learned, etc. He also translates books into many different languages! I think he's fluent in like 10 languages or something insane like that... He also went on a little rant about hollistic medicine and how flowers can cure anxiety but different ones work for different people and they test it by hovering your right hand over the piles and then watching the muscles respond in your left arm...I was a little skeptical about all of that, but if it works for you go for it. Still CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) + meds = best results according to all the empirical research, but whatev. I was really tired and he was pretty boring.

Then we had to rush to get over to the train station to meet up with Ermenita who works at the Bible school and goes to church with us in Florence. She went to school at the University of Florence so she took us to one of their campuses and we ate in their cafeteria and then peaked in on a student taking his final oral exams and then talked about how their schooling is different than ours. You pay 2000 euro per year (2 semesters) and can take as many classes as you want. You don't have to go to classes, just read the 3 or so books and then show up for the oral examinations at the end. Then to graduate you write a 250+ page thesis paper thing. A bachelor's is 180 credits (most classes are 6 credits) and a master's is 120 credits.

Then she took us to an artisan's workshop and it was amazing! He told us about how he does what he does and smushed a 1 euro coin into a giglio (Florentine fleur-de-lis) for me! I got a pic of him smushing it and then one with him afterwards. There were some really cool souvenier type things and some really gotty jewelry. I got a couple things for some people there, but you won't know til Xmas! Also he works for Sax 5th Avenue and other ritzy American places who really jack up his prices. They sought him out because he's been doing in for 50-something years now. They've been his clients for probably 20ish years now. For the smaller stuff he has to make a wax impression of each one he makes. For the pressed stuff he hand carves out the design and then makes it. He is crazy-talented!

Then there wasn't enough time left to reserve the Eurail stuff for free travel so we'll have to do that tomorrow (hopefully)! Tomorrow we go to Siena and San Giminiano for the day. It should be fun. I need to figure out when my stuff's due and when my tests are and what they're over, so I should probably check that stuff out LOL!