Michael
C. Bucher
Professor of Biology
| Courses | Instructor Information | Resources | Diversions |
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Michael Bucher will be teaching in the Study Abroad Program for the Spring 2009 Semester in Florence, Italy (a Firenze, Italia). Besides biology courses will be offered in Art, Humanities, Italian, Music, Philosophy and Political Science. There is limited space in the program. Check it out today.
Resources and support materials for the courses in Italy (BIOL 100 and BIOL 130) will have links on the Courses page as they are developed. For now enjoy a peek at some of the places visited last time as part of the cultural program or independently during a weekend or the mid-semester break: Virtual Tour of the Bel Paese.
Now available online is the AIFS Student Handbook for Spring 2009. Download it and be sure to copy it to any computer you'll be taking to Florence. Much of what it has to say should be read and used now as you prepare to travel.
Time Differences. Florence is 9 hours ahead of California, so finding an agreeable time to call home or receive a call from home can be challenging.
The inner circle of the GIF at the left shows times on the west coast; the outer circle shows the corresponding time in Italy. At noon in California it's 9:00 P.M. in Florence: not a bad time to call. At noon in Florence (mediodia a Firenze) it is 3:00 A.M. in California: ouch.
The hours from midnight to 5:00 A.M. have been removed from both clocks as “times unlikely to support cordial communication.”
You might download the GIF and leave copies with family and friends.
Travel tips
A place to get a jump on getting smart about affordable travel during your free time is Rick Steves’ website. Although he operates tours, writes and sells travel books, he has provided a lot of free information. Click “Plan Your Trip” then “Travel Tips” for a wealth of advice. One of his other pages has tools for estimating the cost of rail travel within Italy on a point-to-point basis to determine whether it would be worthwhile getting a Eurail pass before you leave home (probably not).
If you plan to do a lot of train travel, consider getting a Carta Verde (green if you're under 26) or Carta Argenta (silver if you're over 60) for discounted tickets in Italy and beyond. They can be purchased in Italian train stations. TrenItalia has a website where you can begin to figure out how the system works before you leave.
For getting around Florence and its environs ATAF is the go-to place. As you can see below many bus lines serve Florence, including a shuttle-like tram within the largely vehicle-free historic center. Click the map for a larger zoomable version.
