President Obama - Cambina Le Mondo!

As a student of history and politics I could not be more shocked and ecstatic. Although I would have liked to be in DC and watch personally, the man whose life and actions I have avidly studied this past 2 years take the oath of office and become our 44th President. It was an entirely different perspective to be overseas and in a foreign countries. Many Italians, like us, are also in dismay. While they are infatuated with American music, film, and other cultural aspects they have despised our government for 8 years and can truly not believe that we have elected an African American to be our next leader. Italy, for the most part, still has embedded racism and immigration remains a main problem in the country. It will be interesting to see how the Italian electorate will change in response to America’s own evolution.

I awoke on January 20, threw on my Obama t-shirt and strolled the streets of Florence. For the first time in 8 years, I was proud to wear red, white, and blue and say that I am American. Several young Italians congratulated me and thanked me on behalf of our country.

Following President Obama’s speech (it feels so good to be able to replace President-elect with President), some friends and I went to a grocery store and bought some champagne. A police officer gestured to let us know it was okay to celebrate in the streets. Then, while we were celebrating, I woman came up to me and asked what Obama is going to do. Unable to discuss healthcare, energy independence, and other policy issues in my minimal Italian, all I managed to say was “cambina le mondo.” He will change to world. Although the woman responded with the world cannot be changed in 8 years, I could not disagree more.

In addition to the Inaugural celebrations classes started this week. I absolutely love my art history course, as it has been awesome to view such masterpieces in person instead of a textbook. The field trips included in the course will also be amazing, including a four day trip to Paris, and a two day one to Rome, including a private viewing of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Gardens, which will be a real treat considering that they hurry thousands of tourists through those landmarks.

This weekend we are going to Assissi and Siena. Should have more pictures after that. Until then arriverderci.

Duomo and Chianti

The past couple days I have been adjusting to jet lag and walking around the city. The pubs and discotecs are awesome and I have been meeting more Italians. The other day we went to the top of the Duomo. Then today I went to the Chiani region with my mama and roommate and some other people from our school. It was amazing the prosciutto, cheese, and wine was so good. We then went to a castle and finally a church where my mama was married. It also had great views from the city. Here are some of the pictures I have taken so far. Tomorrow is the first day of classes I am pretty excited, I start my internship soon and am also looking forward to that. Blogger doesn't make it easy to upload photos so I made an account on photobucket. Here is the link, let me know if it doesn't work

http://s604.photobucket.com/albums/tt127/aaronschwindt/

Enjoy le fotograficas.

Ciao