I am waaaaaay behind.

So much has happened, and everything triggers so many different things in my mind that today, there will be multiple posts.

First. Let's talk about the Uffizi.

For those of you who don't know what it is, it is one of the main art museums here in Firenze (Florence). It houses works by Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and several other artistic geniuses.

Now, I've always been into physical arts...dancing, acting, singing. I dig those. I understand them and they are aesthetically and spiritually beautiful to me. I mean, I acknowledged that statues and paintings were beautiful too, but I don't think I ever really cared too much to pay attention to them.

Going into the museum I made myself promise to not be pretentious. But at the same time, I wanted to be able to find some beauty in it. I mean, I was going to be stuck there for at least two hours.

So it began. We walked through some very old medieval artwork. I was not a fan. Very Constantinople-esque. Gold everywhere, ornateness, big pictures. Too much boom.

Then moving into the renaissance...I began to feel myself tingle. The blurred eyes of the Madonna. The way they painted womens' hands so delicately. It all started getting to me.

When we reached Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" I could have cried. Instead, I shook as I was surrounded by strangers of various ethnicities who would've all laughed at me/mocked me in their various languages.

It was so beautiful. How do you do that? How do you come up with something you've never seen and put it in a way that still shakes people 500, 600 years after you came up with it? It blows my mind. I talked about that later with Horacio, who is an Art student here in Florence and is also a big fan of Botticelli. I don't have an answer yet though. So we'll just say that genius falls a little short.

Now, I want to talk about the human body. For a second, lets put aside all of our societal preconceptions and just talk honestly. The human body is absolutely beautiful. Michelangelo and all those crazy-curious Greeks and Romans had this whole thing right. Our bodies are beautiful things. Our muscles. I don't think I'd ever felt that way about the human anatomy before. But as I stood there looking at these statues and looking at the perfection that was thought so beautiful (and is thought so indecent nowadays), I couldn't help but admire.
We were wonderfully and beautifully crafted for a reason. I mean, I'm not saying we should be naked all the time. That would be chaotic. But God's plan for our bodies...genius.

Needless to say, I came out of the Uffizi with a different prespective. And I can't wait to learn to look for more in what I'm seeing and going to as I begin my History of Italian Art class.

I'll let you know how that goes.

If you have a minute, look up "The Birth of Venus," "Spring" (Botticelli), and "the Annunciation" (Michelangelo). Definitely my favorites.

More to come later.

Love you, miss you, bless you!