Semester Abroad, Spring 2009
1/13/09
Day 1: Paris, France and Florence, Italy
One long flight from JFK to paris…passed out for part of it…watched Nick and Norah’s infinite Playlist, fell asleep during Batman Begins and then landed during the first half hour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Plane food wasn’t amazing, but when is it ever?
Charles DeGaulle airport definitely does suck…the runway was super long, and then to get to our flight to Florence, we took the bus ride for hell that definitely lasted at least 20 minutes
The flight to Florence wasn’t horrible..but it was weird that the sun did not rise in Paris until about 8 am…
Got to Florence, got on the busses and went to the hotel…right now we are staying in the rooms with other people. My room is Bari, this girl who I sat next to from JFK to Paris named Lindsay, and myself. The rooms are the tiniest things I’ve never seen in my life, and I’m pretty sure that these beds are smaller than twin beds...also, we thought that our bathroom lights were out, but then learned that to get them to turn on, you have to slide your key into this slot...which also got our bedside lights working and the lights for the rest of the room.
We decided to take a basic walking tour of the city that our staff members were giving…found out where to get food, wine, and other basic necessities…the city is so different from anywhere that I have been before..it looks almost archaic, but in a very beautiful way…the three of us had out first meal in Italy from a Panini shop…I accidentally ate prosciutto (woops)…so much for not eating pork, but prosciutto isn’t that bad, so I will forgive myself
After that, we walked back to the hotel and I started to write more of one of my stories….I got about three sentences in when the three of us decided that we needed to take a nap…so we set the phone alarm to 4:15 and turned off all the lights…I passed out and woke up to the alarm and kept going in and out of passing out until about 6 pm...not part of the plan, but whatever.
We went down for dinner at 7…the food was pretty good…the bread wasn’t HORRIBLE, but it was definitely not like the bread that we have in Italian restaurants at home...we just got back to the room for dinner and now we are just sitting around in the room…we aren’t going out tonight but we will probably be going out tomorrow night…We’re so exhausted and are ready to sleep this jetlag away so that we will be awake and not delirious tomorrow…Right before we went to bed, Lindsay’s hair dryer blew our whole room out…it was completely pitch black and the most hilarious thing ever…if it wasn’t here, it definitely would have been Bari or myself.
1/14/09
Day 2-Florence
We had an orientation meeting this morning…it was in this theatre called Teatro Odeon…it used to be a theater for live shows, but now it shows American Movies…it was so gorgeous…it had a beautiful stained glass dome on roof, and golden velvet chairs…much more comfortable than any movie theater at home…we met the head faculty members and got an overview of orientation..we were in the center of the city and we finally saw the Duomo…It was when we drove past the Duomo for the first time that it hit me that I was actually here…I never thought that I’d really be here..and I am…The Duomo is a huge, gorgeous church with amazing artwork all over the outside.
The orientation meeting also told us about the different field studies (field trips) that we can go on…I can only go on the ones for all school, but we get to go to Rome and some other places that I can’t remember right now…after the meeting we finally went to the SU-Florence campus…it’s very small, but gorgeous all the same…I’m sure it is even more gorgeous when it’s not cold and rainy…we ate lunch there and then had a long break since we do everything by last name…We met some people who go to Colorado-Boulder and hung out with them for most of the day…We explored the places around campus…I used an ATM for the first time because no stores here take American or credit, so I was in desperate need of Euros…after that, we went with a friend so she could get a SIM card for her cell phone, and then went to a Tobacchi shop (basically a nicer convenience store) to buy stamps.
Later, we had a meeting for “non-speakers” to prepare us for what to expect in our Italian classes…after that, we walked back to the hotel from campus..it took us about half an hour, but it was cold, wet, and rainy, and I kept tripping (darn blackberry!)…we heard that a lot of people got lost on the way back…When we got back, I tried to write again, but then fell asleep for a bit…we went to dinner and then to a housing meeting which was thoroughly boring and I passed out during that…we ended up being too tired to go out, so now we are in the room and ready to go to sleep.
1/15/09
Day 3-Florence
We got up early and checked out of the hotel today. We went back to the Villa Rosa (red building aka main building of our campus)…we met the professors and picked up syllabi so that we could decide which classes we would be interested in taking. We all have to take an Italian Class, as well as a ‘language and culture’ class…Other than that, I have to take an economics class and a management class for credit towards my degree. I am trying to get into a class called ‘the history of witch craft’, but my registration time is the last timeslot, so I’m not sure if I will get into that class or not.
Bari and I took another walk today and found a super market where we bought flowers for our host family. Later, we activated our laptops for the school wireless network and picked up our bus stipend so that we could purchase our bus passes for each month.
Later, we were picked up by our host mother, Roberta Craighead. Her husband, Daniel, is American, but has lived in Italy for so long, that by the way that he speaks Italian, you would never guess that he had lived in America. They have two daughters, Maria who is 18,and Elena who is 14. After we went over the food list with Roberta, Bari and I had time to unpack and relax. Maria took us to get our bus tickets and show us the bus stop that we need to be at to get to campus every morning. It’s only about a ten minute bus ride, so it’s not that bad at all. We then got our wireless internet working and were able to answer emails, etc. We ate dinner around 8:30. It was delicious; she made a salad, zucchini, rice (might have been risotto) with cheese and vegetables in it, and hamburgers.
Bari and I share a room right at the front of the house; we have our own bathroom as well. We pretty much have our own space which is great for us and the family. The family is extremely warm and inviting. So far, everything is working out just fine.
1/16/09
Day 4-Florence
I kept walking into Bari’s bed last night, but apparently she was so tired that she didn’t even notice or wake up, but both of my legs hurt so bad from that! I think I got a Charlie horse in the middle of the night; I don’t fully remember waking up from it, but my leg still hurts. We got up and got ready, then ate breakfast. Roberta put out an assortment of food, fruits, and drinks for us to choose from. After breakfast, we walked to the bus stop. The bus ride was only about ten or fifteen minutes long, so it is really not that bad at all. Figuring out the Florence bus stops was kind of difficult as they do not announce which stops they are coming up to, so Bari and I missed our stop for the campus. Fortunately, there were two more stops right after that one that we could take. We also found where we will go to catch the bus when we need to go home. I feel like once we get used to the bus and its schedule, it really should not be very difficult to find out way around the city by bus. Once we got to campus, we attended a safety meeting help by the state police, and by the American ambassador, John Mirella, who had just gotten transferred three months ago from being the ambassador in Gaza. The meeting basically warned us about the dangers in Florence, whether it be pick pocketing, thieves, alcohol, drugs, etc. Since we are American students we tend to stick out more because of our habits, so we were warned about this several times
Registration was so much easier than it is at Syracuse. Basically all we had to do was write down all of our courses that we wanted to take, and then go to the professors, have them add us to a list and then check it off on our paper. The only issue is that we will probably have to take Italian at 8:45 am Monday through Thursday, instead of having the class at 10:50 am. The worst though, is that we won’t even know which class time we have it at until Monday morning, so regardless of what time our class ends up being, every student taking beginning Italian must come to school before the 8:45 class to see which class time we end up in. I did end up getting into the classes that I needed to take, and the one class that I wanted to take. I will be taking a global management course on Mondays from 3:10-6:10, the history of witchcraft on Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:15, and Economics of European integration on Thursdays from 3:10-6:10. I’m not too excited for the long three hour classes, but only having each f the classes once a week kind of makes up for it.
After registration, we went down and bought lunch. I had my first slice if Italian pizza today. It was really good…pretty thin, and very tasty. We then tried to figure out how to get to the bus station so that we could get our bus passes. Then, we had to go back to the supermercado to buy shampoo and conditioner. Of course I have already lost my brush, and of course there were none at the supermercado so I still do not have a brush. We walked back to campus after that to attend our Permesso Di Soggiorno meeting (permit to stay meeting) where we had to fill out a bunch of forms. It was pretty much a waste of time though, becase it probably won’t go through until August. I did find out that my visa has me here until June 30, so who knows, I might just not come back until then.
In trying to get our bus passes, Bari and I were told that we needed passport pictures to get our bus, so we walked from campus (in Piazza Savonarola) down a main street to Piazza Liberta (very pretty though we did not really have time to enjoy it, yet), to find a coin operated photobooth so that she could get her pictures done. Funny story, there were Camp Rock posters inside the photo booth. I was happy of course! Anyway, she got her pictures done and then we walked back to Piazza Savonarola to catch a bus to the main bus station. So we get on the bus, which is already pretty full as it is already 5 pm. We ride the bus to our stop, but cannot get off because the people will not move. We are able to get off at the next stop and attempt to walk to the bus station, which we have no real idea of its location. First, we walk into a bus station, which is like the Greyhounds at home. Then we walk to what we think is an underground mall. By this time, we are freaking out and lost. We go in and ask a man who works in a shop where the bus station is. He says it is upstairs. We now decide that we are not lost, just stupid. We go upstairs, but all we see is trains, and no where to buy a monthly bus pass. Freaking out ensues again. We go to a Tabacchi shop and try to ask them where the bus station is. HE says he does not know, and then we end up buying eight bus tickets (just to have them since we could not find where to buy the actual passes). We are frustrated and walk outside and try to find where the bus let us off and basically walked right into the bus station. I saw the words “Sala Clienti”, which from what I had googled earlier was where we needed to be to buy the bus pass, so we go there and buy a bus pass for January. We did not even need those damn passport pictures! What a waste of time! Then, we get on the 14 line because that was one of the busses listed on the family description paper that we received as one that could take us to the stop near our house. We ride the bus all the way to the end and back to the station. The main area that we recognized was the Duomo. I can honestly say that I have never been happier to see a huge church in my whole life until those moments. The 14 actually ended up taking us all the way near the hotel that we stayed at during the first few days of our trip. This whole time, we are flipping out lost in Florence, unable to really communicate with anyone, not understanding the language, and not knowing our host family’s address. This bus obviously does not take us back to our stop. We called Daniel who told us that we needed to get off at Piazza San Marco and switch to either the 6 or the 20, and that we were completely on the other side of town. We could not see the sign, so we ended up going back to the station. We then decided to take the next bus that would take us to Piazza San Marco, which ended up being the 14. Again. We got off the bus as soon as we saw a 6 bus out the window. We followed the 6 bus to its stop, but it ended up leaving before we got there, so we had to wait about twenty minutes for the next one to come. We finally get on the bus, but realize that we don’t know how far we need to go because we only recognize the stop by the cinema across the street from it, as well as the nearby gelateria. We did find out which stop the synagogue was near though When we finally saw that blue sign for Cinema Fiorella, we were so excited and finally got off of the bus in a semi familiar area. We then began to walk home, and got lost on our walk because we walked too far down the street. We ended up calling Daniel again to get directions to the house. We were so close that it was ridiculous. We finally made it home, 3 hours after we got on the first bus.
Dinner was great; Roberta made pizzetini (mini pizzas), a quiche with zucchini on it, a soup made out of either broccoli, zucchini, or both, chicken with garlic (an omelette with spinach in it for Bari since the meat was not kosher), and an eggplant dish. We had fruit salad for dessert, with walnuts, it was great! We are definitely ready to work on our Italian so that we can speak to the family more. Maria was not at dinner tonight because she was at Capoeira class, but Elena was there to eat with us. After diner, Bari showed Elena pictures of her dogs, and now Elena is begging her parents for a pug like Bari’s. Roberta and Daniel decided to turn on the tv so that we could try to pick up things in Italian from the programs that were on. After the long day of getting lost, we were too exhausted to even think about going out.
1/17/09
Day 6-Florence
Today has been a wonderful day so far [minus that I have already caught a cold]. We got to wake up a little later today as we did not have school or orientation or any of that crap going on. After breakfast, we situated ourselves with our plans for the day, using google maps to figure out which bus to take to where we wanted to go. While waiting for the 6, I downloaded google maps to my phone, which has proven to be amazing so far! We were able to put in the address of where we were going so that we could see the streets and get to where we wanted to go very easily. We first went to Ponte Vecchio (literally the old bridge) which had beautiful views of the River Arno (which Meagan has just informed me, is rat infested). There were so many freakin pigeons on that bridge, and men feeding them…one definitely flew in my hair and it was so scary and nasty, but I tried not to scream so that I would not sound like a dumb American tourist. On top of the Ponte Vecchio were so many gold jewelry stores; it was crazy, just one after another lined up over the whole bridge. After this, we walked all the way down the River Arno to this thing, I’m not quite sure what it was; maybe an old fort or something, by piazza Michelangelo. We climbed all the way up it and got the most amazing views of the whole city of Florence. It was gorgeous, but we were definitely sweating like a certain guitar player in this band when we finally reached the top. After walking back down, we crossed the Arno again and went to San Croce, which is a beautiful church. We then walked and bought lunch; I had a pomodoro e mozzarella paninni (tomato and mozzarella Panini…quickly becoming a favorite of mine), Bari had a mini margherita pizza, and we shared a feta salad. We sat on a bench outside the restaurant to eat and then walked to the Duomo. We wanted to go in, but were not sure how to do it, and were also unsure if there was mass being held or anything like that. The Duomo is gorgeous; it is very hard for me to fathom how someone can come up with the architecture and the design of places like this. We then walked to Piazza San Marco and relaxed there for a bit until we both decided that we had to go the bathroom. In Europe, you cannot go to the bathroom for free in restaurants if you just walk in, so we decided to catch the bus and go home. We walked up and down the streets near our bus stop by the house before going home though, just to see what was around. I needed to go to the Farmacia to see if I could find a hairbrush there, but it was closed; so was the gelateria that is supposed to be amazing, according to Roberta.
I’ve also noticed that most men here wear pants that are just like this band at home. You don’t see a lot of baggy pants and everyone always looks put together…this is definitely something I need to work at, but so far so good haha!
Dinner, again was great. We watched more Italian tv so we could get used to hearing the language. After dinner, Bari and I decided to go to Piazza del Duomo to a bar called “Astor Caffe”. We were trying to catch the 6 bus to take us there and the bus driver saw us and didn’t stop at all; just completely kept driving. We ended up taking the 67 there and got out and started to try to find the place. WE had no idea which side of the Duomo it was on, and since the Duomo was huge, that was a bit of a problem. We actually ended up finding another pub that we were thinking about going to, but did not go there. When we found that pub, we also ran into four other girls from our program. We invited them along with us to find Astor Caffe, but two of them already had plans. The other two came with us and were very relieved that we were not planning on staying out too late since we also had to catch a bus. We finally ended up finding the place and each ordered a drink. I had a bellini; I love them. We sat and talked for a bit; they’re really cool sweet girls and it was nice to make friends and meet them. After that, we walked to our bus stops. It turned out that the times on the bus website were not the same times that the bus actually came, so we missed the last 67 bus. We almost paniced but then noticed that the 6 bus also stopped there. We checked the posted schedule and found out that the next 6 bus would come five minutes later, so we caught that and went home. We ended up missing our stop and got off at the next one, which was just a little ways down the street; not really a huge issue. We did make it home without getting lost and are now ready to get some rest.
1/18/09
Day 7-Florence
Woke up this morning incredibly stuffy. We slept very late, which Daniel and Roberta did not mind. Elena had orchestra, so we ended up eating lunch after she got back. Roberta prepared tortelloni and some type of pesto lasagna-ish thing, as well as artichokes. Wonderful as always.
A little bit after we finished lunch, we took the bus to a stop so that we could walk to the Museo Alinari della Fotografia, or the Alinari Museum of Photography. The Alinari were three brothers who started to make photography popular in Italy. Normally, we would not be spending time with the family on Saturday or Sunday, but since this was the first weekend, the program urged us to spend time with our families and get to know them. Daniel, Robert, Elena, Bari, and I went out today (Maria had other plans). We walked from the bus station to Piazza Santa Maria Novelli. Roberta was very interested in seeing a particular photography exhibit called I Macchiaiolli e la fotografia, or The Maccaiaolli and Photography. The Macchaiaolli were a group a painters and photographers in the artistic movement called the Macchia. The Macchia movement studied and expressed reality through enhancements of light. The photographs were beautiful and very interesting.
After we saw that exhibit, we went through the rest of the museum. There were a lot of interesting photographs of different places in Italy; there were also some from other countries such as Israel, India, and the United States. It was a very nice way to spend a rainy day, even though we did have to walk outside to take the bus. After the museum, we walked to a gelatoria where Bari and I finally had our first gelato. We both ordered coffee crunch on a cone. It was absolutely delicioius; we cannot wait for more. We also found out that the gelateria by our house has taken a short holiday, but will be open again on the 24th; we cannot wait! Once we got our gelato, Roberta came with me to the Farmacia so that she could help me ask for the appropriate cold medicine. I also, finally got a brush there, so I am all set with getting better, and brushing my hair. We then took the bus back home because Elena had an intense amount of homework to do, and Bari and I wanted to rest. We were thinking about going back to Astor Caffe later to watch the Eagles v. Cardinals game, but we are both pretty tired and have to be at school earlier tomorrow to find out what time our Italian class starts.
Dinner tonight was chicken nuggets (I think) and spinach pie? It had a flaky crust and it was delicious. Salad and bread as well, but we have that every night. We always drink this delicious white wine during dessert, but I keep forgetting to check what it is called.
If you are not on facebook and would like to see my pictures, here are public links to the first two albums
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2561503&l=6ae90&id=6850246
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2561523&l=e4651&id=6850246
1/19/09
Day 8-Florence
So we got up around 7 this morning because we had to be at school early to check what time our Italian class was. We ate breakfast and then rushed out the door to the bus. We missed the 8:17 and ended up taking the 8:24. We got to school early enough though, especially because when we looked at the posted Italian classes, we found out that ours is not until 10:50. We went to the supermercado (Esse Lunga) to buy notebooks and pens. After that, we walked back to school and signed up for two trips this weekend; One on Friday to Ravenna, and one on Saturday to Assissi. We’re definitely looking forward to seeing these places. I’m still sick, but hopefully I will start feeling better. My voice is kind of scratchy, so its weird for me to talk, even though we all know I can’t stop talking sometimes.
So its around 50 here, but we’re still wearing coats..so I feel really disgusting and I have been sweating like that guitar player again..it needs to stop!
Our first Italian class gave me intense flashbacks of high school. It was definitely a good refresher and I’m glad that I’m taking that level again. They are some really obnoxious boys in our class who also remind me of high school; not so great at all. Our professoressa seems very nice and has been very helpful so far. She does speak mostly in Italian during our class, but always makes sure that we know what she is saying.
After Italian, we had a short break, and then our History of Witchcraft class. Our professor was pretty boring, which is kind of unfortunate since the content of the class is pretty interesting. I was supposed to have my three hour economics class after that, but it ended up being cancelled. The class did not know this though, so we sat in there for about 40 minutes waiting for our professor to show. I found out that those same boys from our Italian class are part of a bigger group, all of whom are in my economics class. They wanted to “turtle” their friend’s backpack. For those of you who don’t know, turtling a backpack is when you take someone’s backpack, empty everything out of the main pocket, turn the whole backpack inside out, put everything back in, and zip the bag from the inside. Basically, extremely high school and too immature for even my liking.
It was raining by the time Bari and I left school. We each bought a snack to bring home and eat in between then and dinner. We caught our bus and got home without any major problems, aside from me sliding across the bus as it pulled away. Definitely a joement. When we got back, we practiced our Italian and then I finally got to watch the live chat that previously did not exist for me, like many other things from now until May.
Dinner was carne e fagioli (pesce for Bari)…meaning meat and green beans, or fish for Bari. It was delicious. She made the fruit salad again. I am obsessed with it; it is amazing!! They asked us how our first day went, so we told them about the phrases and words in Italian that we had learned, and we began to answer them in Italian when we knew the words that we needed. We spoke about tomorrow’ inauguration, things relating to that. One of the Italian channels was showing Oliver Stone’s W, and they were very interested in seeing that. Italians are very pro Obama and are very fascinated with everything that is going on. After dinner, Roberta had to go to the emergency room because she had hurt her foot while putting on boots earlier today. They just came back, but I’m not sure if her foot is broken or just sprained.
After they left, Bari and I sat and spoke with Maria for about an hour. We talked about American MTV and what kind of shows that they show on that channel in Italy, movies that we like, books that we liked, and music that we like. She does not thinkt hat her English is any good, but both Bari and I can understand her very well. She told is about her school, and how her English teacher sucks. She tells us that her English teacher cannot pronounce words correctly (for instance, she says beJinning instead of beginning). Maria is incredibly frustrated with this because she gets bad marks for “not being imaginative enough”, also that the teacher does not speak English well, and she does not understand how she is supposed to learn from someone that unqualified. She’s such a funny, sweet girl, and Bari and I had a great time talking to her. This was really the first time that we got to sit down, relax, and have a good conversation with her, and we were really glad to have that time with her this evening.
1/20/09
Day 9-Florence
Still sick when I woke up, but we got to sleep later since our first class every day is not until 10:50. We took the bus and got to school a little early. We learned more simple phrases in our Italian classes and are constantly asked to speak and answer questions. It hasn’t been too difficult yet, but we will see how that goes. We also have a little bit of homework, but it’s extremely simple and nothing to worry about. I only have one class on Tuesdays, so basically I get to sit around and do nothing/write/do homework/play on youtube until 6:10, when Bari is done. Today though is different. The school is screening the inauguration, which is at 5:30 here, and I will definitely be watching the entire thing.
The last time I remember feeling close to like I did watching the inauguration was when John Glenn went to the moon for the second time. Obviously, this was much more significant, but at the time, John Glenn’s trip was huge for me. The staff set up a screen in one of the biggest rooms, which still did not have nearly enough seats for all of us. A lot of us stood around the back and the sides, leaning in to get a better view of the screen. The whole event was very moving, and definitely something that I don’t think I will ever forget.
After the inauguration, Bari and I took the bus back home and relaxed before dinner. They made this thing that was fried ham with cheese in the middle, but for Bari and I, just cheese. We also had Brussels sprouts, which I love, and green beans. We watched the local Italian news which talked about Obama and the inauguration, etc. She made the amazing fruit salad again. I don’t think I will ever get sick of it.
Aside from the bus driver not letting us off of the bus, nothing really happened today. We did end up getting off, but he only opened one set of doors, which apparently was the wrong set of doors to use to exit the bus. The front and back doors are for entering, and the middle doors are for exiting, but those did not open. A woman was getting on the bus as we were getting off, and right when Bari and I were about to go out that door, the bus driver closed the doors and almost drove off. We knocked on the doors and he let us off. Bari and I obviously do not have the best luck with the busses in this city.
1/21/09
Day 10-Florence
Still a bit sick when I got up this morning, but much better than the other mornings. We got to school and had Italian. This was our first session of “Language Across Culture” which every beginning Italian student has to take. Sometimes, we will get to go out during class, but other times, we get to learn what phrases and words to use in those public situations, while in the classroom. Our professoressa realized that I had taken Italian before; I was trying not to let that happen. I just happen to know a lot more words that most of the other students in the class, so I’ll answer her when no one else can, which tipped her off that I had some previous instruction. After Italian, we grabbed a small lunch and went to history of witchcraft. HE was still pretty boring, but the content is interesting; we just have to start getting into it. We are learning about the relationship between religion and magic, and what makes them different. We started by discussing the different places that the devil is mentioned in the Bible and the New Testament. Bari and I do not know much at all about the new testament, so it was interesting to hear about things from there.
After that, we walked down to the Florence Copy center to buy our course reader for our history of witchcraft class. Of course, the copy center was closed, as a lot of stores close around 1 for about two hours during the day; they just happen to always close during the most convenient times for us to get to them. We walked back to our bus stop, but stopped in a Tabacchi on the way so that I could buy more bus tickets to last me until I buy my February monthly pass. We took the bus to the Duomo so that we could go to the Paperback Exchange to purchase our text books. Thankfully, the Paperback Exchange was an Angloamerican bookstore, and the people who were working there spoke very good English. After buying our books, we bought some gelato. Life lesson: NEVER EVER EVER buy gelato in a main piazza in Italy. We paid 9 damn euros EACH for our cones. Then, we looked like major tourists because we were sitting there, eating our massive gelato cones on the steps of the Duomo. Not that eating on the steps of the Duomo is touristy, but eating those large cones in public shows that we got ripped off and were tourists. No Italian in their right mind would pay that much for gelato. Even we would not have, had we known the price before we ordered.
We finally did our laundry today. They only have a small laundry machine, and no dryer, and since the weather’s been rainy, we have everything hanging on drying racks in our room. It took us a couple hours, and caused a few power outages, as sometimes, when too many appliances or hair dryers are being used at once, the power will go out because it can’t be supported. It is momentary and we can turn everything back on.
For dinner, Roberta prepared “Panadino” which is a sandwich quesadilla type thing from Ravenna, where she grew up. She also prepared pumpkin soup with leeks, which was delicious. Roberta’s foot is just wrapped right now. They took an xray, but did not determine that it was broken, but she still can’t put any weight on it without it hurting, and she hurt it again while putting things on the table. No matter how many times Bari and I ask, she and Daniel will not let us help them out in the kitchen, etc. We feel bad that she still does so much even though she is injured, but there is nothing that we can do to help her.
1/22/09
Day 11-Florence
Woke up, feeling much better again. Bari and I took an earlier bus so that we could get to the copy center to pick up our course pack for our witchcraft class, and she needed to pick up a few other course packs. We decided that we would share our materials for that class since books are expensive and we don’t need double copies in one room since we do our work for that class together anyway. We learned adjectives in our Italian class, as well as answered questions, in Italian, about our siblings. I have a unique situation, and therefore had many names and ages to state, as well as other questions about where they go to school, or what they do.
After that, I had a break for about 2 hours. Bari and I did our Italian homework before she had to go to class. Then, I watched some old tv show on youtube and did some writing. I got lunch right before my next class, which was my three hour global management class. Of course, our desks are in a circle, so there is no way to bbm or msn during that class, but our professor is hilarious. He is very emotional, and pounds on things, moves chairs, yells, but not in a scary way. He is very entertaining to listen to, and it is very obvious that he is very passionate about the class. He also said the f-word 6 or 7 times and BS about 8 times. We learned that Italy is the number one market for Viagra, and that the prime minister, Sconi, is not shy about his…extra curricular habits. Keep in mind, he is 72 and frequents night clubs, and is a big user of said medication.
This class is made up mostly of students who are actually from Syracuse, which apparently is uncommon, even though the program is a Syracuse Abroad program. After class, it was bus time again. Bari and I boarded a ridiculously crowded bus. Literally, we were smushed against each other, and I got stuck in the door. Then we finally made it away from the door and into the body of the bus, where I got my ticket stamped by the machine. Then we helped two women put their tickets in to get stamped. We got a grazie each time, and each time, we answered back, prego! My hair also got stuck in the ticket machine thing. Then we moved more towards the middle of the bus (as you remember, you can only exit from the middle doors of the bus, not from the front or back sets of doors). I was getting slammed into things, and was in everyone’s way. In trying to let people out of the bus, the doors closed on me again and I got stuck in them again. We finally made it off of the bus, in one piece each, and walked home with no other dangers.
Dinner was great; we had chicken, this rice like thing that starts with an f. It was harder than rice and shaped more flat and ovular. We also had sheep’s cheese, spinach, and chick peas. Roberta made Elena’s favorite cake for dinner, which was great. I’ve definitely had this cake before, but I can’t remember what it was, and when I had it before, it was homemade.
1/23/09
Day 12-Florence/Assissi
Bari and I woke up around 6 this morning so that we could catch the bus for the day trip to Assissi. We never received the itinerary associated with the trip from the Student Life Office, so we were not sure what time the bus left school. We got there by 7:20, thinking that the bus would leave at 7:30. It ended up leaving at 8, so it was not too bad.
The Assissi was absolutely gorgeous. It is basically a city built on a hill, though the ancient Roman level was much lower than the 16th century level that it sits on today. First, we visited the Basilica di San Francesco (Saint Frances’ Basilica). We learned the history of the order of the Franciscan Monks, and the Poor Claires, who were women in the order of monks; the first being San Chiara (Saint Claire). San Francesco had the quickest canonization period (period after his death before becoming a saint), which only took two years. Generally, a quick canonization period is 50 years, and normally, it takes centuries for it to be done. His did not take as long because right after the time of his death, the pope resided in that basilica in Assissi.
While in the basilica, I had the chance to actually visit the tomb of San Francesco. It was kind of interesting to see where he was buried. His tomb is directly beneath the altar of the church. There are two basilicas in the church; an upper on and a lower one. The frescos in the upper basilica have a certain debate going on about them. Many think that they are Giotto’s work, but it is said that if you compare those frescos to the ones in Santa Croce (in Florence), the ones in Santa Croce are more sophisticated and are for sure Giotto, and that the ones in San Francesco are done by someone who was only Giotto-esque. No one knows for sure though, but Giotto’s teacher definitely did the frescos in another part of the church. This church is laid out in a “tau cross” formation; it looks like T. His teacher’s work is in the upper horizontal part, while the supposed Giottos are in the long part. The lower basilica’s frescos are done by Simone Martini, who was a painter from Sienna. The top level of the basilica was done in Gothic style architecture which was the style of everything in thte 13th and 14th century; no, Hayley, that does not mean that the whole thing was black and depressing.
The basilica was built right after San Francesce’s death in 1226. Before the basilica stood there, the area was known as the hell because it was the place where all the executions took place. No one really went there because of that. After the basilica was built, it was known as paradise. Many of the shops near the basilica, and on Via San Francesce have images of San Francese around them on the outside. Also, you see a lot of things that say “pax and bonum” which means peace and good in Latin. The lawn outside the church also has the word PAX on it in a plant.
Italian cities are typically made of what is naturally found in and around that city. For instance, Assissi buildings are built with pink limestone, and Florence buildings are built of brownstone, because it is naturally found in those areas. Assissi has at least 80 outdoor fresco paintings on buildings and walls throughout the city. It is also a very seismic area; the last earthquake was in September of 1997.
One particular thing that I was really interested to hear about was the city of Assissi’s relationship with the Jewish people in the holocaust. The people of Assissi, including the priest, hid over 200 Jewish people during the holocaust. We actually got to visit the print shop, which was at that time owned by Luigi and Trento Bruzi (now owned by Trento’s nephew), and got to see the original printing press that falsified the documents that helped keep those Jews in hiding safe throughout the war. The owners actually won a prize in the United States in the 80’s, for their Humanitarian efforts during the war. Tomorrow (January 24) is a national holiday in Italy. It is the anniversary of the deliverance from Auschwitz, also known as the day of memories here.
Cities used to have their standards of measure (how long a brick was supposed to be, and other specifications for building things) set into the main building of the town. Assissi’s is still visible, and all the buildings are still built to these standards. It was put in the main building so that the whole population would be able to see it.
After the tour of the church, and the walking tour,we were able to split up on our own and explore the city. First, we bought pizza for lunch and sat on some steps to eat it. Then, we walked part way up to the Rocca and got some amazing views of the city and the country side. We walked back and bought gelato so that we could use the bathroom in the restaurant. On the bus ride back from Assissi, which took about two and a half hours, we watched Shrek. I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. We got dropped back off at the school, and finally were able to get inside. We went in to use the computers to find a restaurant to eat dinner at. We ended up finding one, whose name I forgot, and went there with the girls who we hung out in Assissi with. When we got off of the city bus that took us to the Duomo (if you haven’t realized by now, most things we go to are near the Duomo, so we are around there a lot), I got stabbed in the head with someone’s umbrella. Dinner was great. I had gnocchi and caprese salad. Gnocchi is potato dumplings, and caprese salad is tomato, mozerella, and basil. Three of us shared a large thing of house white wine. I don’t know what kind we had, but we liked it.
I finally remembered what the cake tasted like. Last night, Roberta made almond cake. So great!
1/24/09
Day 13-Ravenna/Florence
Today, we got up at 6 again, had a quick breakfast and were on our way back to school. The busses left at 7:30 to Ravenna. We slept on the bus and awoke to a rainy day in Classe/Ravenna. Classe is the port city that is about 10 kilometers from Ravenna. This was a very strategic port during the Roman, Barbaric, and Byzantine occupations of Italy. It was also a very major naval base into the Adriatic for the Roman Empire
We visited San Apolenari en Classe (Church named for Saint Apolenari, in the city of Classe). This was the first resting place of San Apolenari, but later he was moved to another church in Ravenna which was renamed San Apolenari Nuovi. The churches that we visited today were all mosaiced in the Byzantine style of artwork. Byzantine artwork began as a very realist view of the world, but in later years of the empire, towards its downfall, the artwork translated a more idealist view of the world. The Byzantine Empire came after the fall of Rome by the Barbaric empire (which we learned about in our History of Witchcraft class). This era is known as both the Byzantine era, or the Early Christian era. The Barbaric empire adopted the customs of the Christian empire, including all of its beliefs except for the belief that Jesus was divine. They viewed him as an extraordinary human being, and that G-d was a separate entity. This is known as Aryan Christianity. As the Roman empire fell, the capital was moved from Rome to Ravenna because Ravenna was easier to defend as it was near a port city (Classe).
King Justinian of the Byzantines came in and took over Ravenna and conquered all the way down to Rome. This was a relatively peaceful transition that led to a very stable time in Italic history. The Byzantine empire also recognized the pope as its main symbol and accepted Christianity. They also built the first safe road all the way from Rome to Constantinople (present day Istanbul). They were also determined to make Ravenna just like Constantinople as far as trends and cultural things.
Each Italian city has its own set of saints that are most important to it, and the churches will reflect that.
The Mosaics in the churches date back from the early 500’s. They have been restored since then, but this was the first time that Mosaics were on domed ceilings (conch) instead of flat surfaces and floors. In San Apolenari’s conch, Jesus’s transfiguration is depicted, where Jesus reveals his divine body, between Moses and Elijah, to three apostles, which we also learned about in our witchcraft class.
On our way to Classe/Ravenna, we drove past Bologna, which is nicknamed Bologna la grassa, or bologna the fat because of all the high calorie foods there. Ravenna is in between, so some of the food is the same as in Bologna, but they also have their own food, such as panadina, which Roberta made for us the other night. WE also had it for lunch today; it was delicious. Ravenna and Classe are in the region of Italy called Emiglia Romagna, which is north east of Firenze. This is where Roberta grew up. Assissi was in the region of Umbria. Ravenna is a very modern city now. It was destroyed in World War Two because of its strategic coastal position. It is now one of the most industrialized cities in Italy. Another fun fact is that Ravenna is also the most biked city. It actually has a white strip of bricks down the middle of every street, indicating the biker’s path. You are supposed to walk on either side of it. All stores in Ravenna are built on a loggia, or a raised platform with a cover over it. This is for days like these when it is cold and rainy, to keep people coming to shops, regardless of the weather. One our way through the city, we ran into a stampede/mob of what we think was a worker’s union. IT was pretty hard to get through; we think they were having a parade or something.
The first site that we saw in Ravenna proper was Dante Aligheri’s tomb. Dante Aligheri was an Italian writer from Florence who wrote the Divine Comedy and The Inferno. He was exiled from Florence and traveled to many other places in Italy, including Padua. He has a fake tomb in Santa Croce in Florence, but his real tomb and remains lie in Ravenna. He was first buried in San Francesco in Ravenna for two hundred years (not the same San Francesco that we visited yesterday), but his remains were hidden because those in Ravenna did not want to surrender his remains to Florence though a papal order by Pope Leo (who was a Medici, from Florence), told them to. His remains were later buried in the tomb that we visited today.
In architecture, the word basilica just means a two dimensional building for ceremonies; It was used by the Romans. In Christianity, it means a church that contains a tomb of someone inside it. San Apolenari’s body was moved to San Apolenari Nuovo because the church was afraid that someone would come and steal the body. In ancient times, relics were very treasured, and the bodies of important saints, etc. were considered valued relics. They were afraid that since his body was so close to the coast, it would be easier for people to steal it, so they moved it more inland to the other church which was then rededicated in his honor.
Most cities in Italy are built right on top of the ancient cities that preceded them, so we have no way of seeing what the older cities looked like before being conquered, so we have to take clues through the ancient artwork. San Apolenari Nuovo has the earlier artistic renderings of the stories in the new testament. These date back to the 400s. It shows the last supper in a very Hellenistic/Roman way, instead of the Jewish way. The way that they are eating, and what they are eating (fish instead of lamb) is a very Roman way of showing the last supper (which was a seder). This church has no depiction of the crucifixion because it was still considered a very grotesque thing. Our guide said “it would be like Texas switching out the bear on its flag with an electric chair”…Now I know what yall are thinking; the Texas flag does not have a bear on it. Well, I thought the same thing and said it out loud. The girl next to me did the same thing. IT turns out that she is from Clearlake, goes to USC (University of Southern California), went to Camp Champions, knows my cousin, Ryan, and a lot of other people that I grew up with.
We then visited Basilica San Vitale. San Vitale was the first Christian martyr from Ravenna. This church showed a move towards abstraction in its décor and architecture from the Roman style that had been in the city before the Byzantines took over. Greco-Roman gds were normally depicted with no beards, so even though this was a Byzantine church, Jesus was depicted beardless here. This is peculiar because according to tradition, Jesus was recognized as a Rabbi, and all Rabbis had beards back in his time. We visited a Mausoleum named for a Roman princess (she was not buried there), but we got to see the earliest mosaics of the time there. These were the most true to life depictions in Mosaics that we saw today.
After our tours, we walked around the city to have lunch. It was very cold and very rainy, so I’m a bit sick again, but still good to go. We walked into a self service market for lunch and each had Panadinas. Then we walked to a Café and ordered hot chocolate. We did not want cream or milk, but soon realized that we probably needed it. The hot chocolate was literally a melted chocolate bar. It was pretty thick and rich, and we could not finish the whole cup. We met some girls from Bates College in there. They started talking to us, and one of them said that my umbrella was the cutest one that she’s seen on this trip. They were really nice and we talked to them for a while before we walked to the busses. On the bus, they put in Prince Caspian, but my favorite part of the movie (since I slept through most of it and listened to my ipod during that time) was definitely the Camp Rock promotion before the movie, because it rocks on. We got dropped back off at school and luckily caught our bus just as it pulled up to the stop. Now, we are getting ready to go out with some of our friends for apertivo and drinks.
We went to this place called Kitcsh in Piazza Beccaria. We met Gretchen and her roommate, Megan, as well as some other girls who we became friends with. We ordered some drinks there and then went to the Lion’s Fountain to have a drink there. It was a lot of fun. We met a lot of new people and had great conversation. We caught the 12:35 bus and got home. We are very much looking forward to being able to finally sleep in tomorrow before we do homework.
1/25/09
Day 14-Florence
Woke up around noon, very glad to finally be able to get some sleep and not have to be up early for anything important for once. All we really did today was homework. We had an intense amount of reading and guided question for history of witchcraft. We took a break around five to go and try to find some food. We walked around the neighborhood to see what was open. The three pizza places around were all closed, so we ended up going to the gelateria that has not been open. It has finally reopened, and the gelato is fabulous; this was real gelato, not fluffy tourist gelato. I got chocolate and strawberry and it was seriously the best thing I’ve had. We also bought a thing of cookies, so the gelato and cookies became our lunch for the day. After htat, we did more homework up until dinner, which was great. I’m not sure what type of meat I ate; it’s probably better that way, an amazing zucchini dish, potatoes, and salad again. She also made the wonderful delicious fruit salad again, and I was happy.
Here are the pictures from the weekend. The first link is the same as the last link that I sent last week, but there are more pictures added at the end of the album from Assissi.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2561523&l=e4651&id=6850246
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2565464&l=98fb5&id=6850246
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2565512&l=aaee2&id=6850246
1/26/09
Day 15-Florence
We got to school, and saw a note on our door saying that our Italian class was cancelled, so we had about three hours to kill. We signed up for an overnight Rome trip and then began to look through the trips we can take that would take us out of Italy and to other countries. We started the process of booking some trips before History of Witchcraft. We watched a video and then discussed some of the reading that we had to do since our last class. After that, I had my lovely three hour economics class whereAdvertise our professor told us that we had to have two make up classes since he had to miss last week’s class. Not cool at all! And they’ll have to be on Tuesday or Wednesday nights (on Tuesday, I ONLY have class from 10:50 to 12:50 and all I have to do is wait for Bari to be done by 6:10, but with this, we won’t get out until closer to 8). The class in itself was also pretty boring, but I really have never taken an economics class that was not boring.
After school, we walked to the copy center so that I could pick up my course reader for economics, and then to a Tabacchi so that I could by another set of bus tickets which should keep me with enough rides until February starts and I can use my monthly pass. Speaking of busses, I had a fabulously awesome time today smacking my head into the ticket machine during our ride home. We got to hear Elena play piano today, since she was practicing when we walked in.
I have discovered that I love blood oranges and blood orange juice…it is so good! I also had an amazing sandwich for lunch today. It had spinach, mozzarella cheese, and tomatoes in it. Dinner tonight was this amazing eggplant dish, ravioli stuffed with cheese and something green, and I think chicken nugget ish things again. I learned how to crack walnuts, but I have yet to do it myself.
Bari and I are now on to studying and refreshing our Italian just in case we do end up having our quiz tomorrow.
1/27/09
Day 16-Florence
Okay, so I was mistaken about when the “Day of Memories” (anniversary of the deliverance from Auschwitz) was. It is actually today. As I said before, this is a huge national holiday for Italy. Roberta told us last night that some schools choose certain classes to send to Auschwitz on this day to remember and learn about what happened in the Holocaust. She really would like to bring one of her classes one day. We actually saw something on the news about today, last night. It is definitely something that actually surprised me about Italy, given that Italy was a fascist state during that time. Roberta also told us that her family was a huge supporter of the underground anti fascism and anti nazi movement in Italy at the time.
We did not end up having our quiz in Italian today. Because she was absent yesterday, she decided to move it to tomorrow, without making us have an extra class day. She actually ended up approaching me today about my previous experience in taking Italian. I am pretty sure that she thinks that I should move up a level, but honestly I really do not think that I know that much beyond what we are currently studying, except a lot of verbs and random vocabulary. I think that being in the level that we are in will help me fix whatever problems I had with speaking the language, and will help me speak and understand it better than if I were to have started in the next level up.
I only had that one class today, so afterwards, I bought lunch and then went upstairs to sit and eat. I read my economy reading, which was more boring than the class yesterday was. Seriously, the first two articles were so dull. The third was not as bad, but by that point in time, I was already half asleep. I slept on the couch for an hour before waking up and finding something else to do. So I watched this video on youtube that my friend made for me with the most amazing cover of the song from the Jungle Book on it…made me so happy that I cried a little bit.
After Bari’s class, we waited at the bus stop for legit twenty minutes. The three times that our bus was supposed to come, It didn’t. Very, very frustrating, but some of the girls from the other night have to wait at that bus stop also, so we talked to them for a bit before our bus finally came.
Dinner was great. We had some type of pie with phyllo dough (I think it was with artichokes and cream, or cheese in the middle), tomatoes stuff with cheese (from the oven), chicken, and pasta with a creamy ish zucchini sauce. She also made us coconut cupcakes for dessert, which we both decided tasted like macaroons, but were really really good.
1/28/09
Day 17-Florence
We had our first Italian quiz today. We both thought it was pretty easy, but I guess we will know for sure when we get it back tomorrow. We learned more names of different things found in a bar. In Italy, bars are the equivalent to Cafés, so if you’re looking for an American style bar, you ask for a pub, or an American bar. So we learned more food, and went over some fruits and vegetables. One of our exercises was this matching thing (I know, kindergarten much?) where we had to match the words to what was in the pictures, and I got all excited because I knew that Italians call fruit salad “Macedonia”…since we have it almost every night after dinner, and it’s my favorite.
I still don’t like that people know that I know a lot of Italian. I get worried that they think I’m trying to show off; I really hate people who do that, so I would never do that. Some of them have started asking me what things mean, but that’s generally when our professoressa hasn’t said the definition. I’d rather help people than hold it over them anyway.
After Italian, we grabbed a quick lunch and did our homework during our break, and then it was on to witchcraft. The biggest thing that I have learned so far is that I cannot stay awake in that class yet. I’ve tried SO hard to stay awake, but I just can’t do it, but I’m working on it because I think that it is really disrespectful to the professors to fall asleep in class. After witchcraft, we took the bus to the station to buy our passes for February. I am determined not to lose mine this time. We walked from there to the Duomo so that I could buy my books for global management and economics. They only had one of my books, so I have to go back next week, which is really annoying. I also managed to get us lost around the Duomo so we walked in about five huge circles for no reason. We took the bus back home, and so many people reeked of cigarette smoke and sweat, which made me very nauseous. We did our laundry once we got home, and worked on our homework.
Dinner was fried mozzarella, meat that I don’t know what it was, zucchini pie (like a quiche), homemade vegetable soup, and then salad and bread as always. It was wonderful. We had Macedonia for dessert, which of course makes me very very happy. We watched part of the Fiorentine v. Napoli soccer game on tv, but when I say watched, I mean we watched the crowd. In Italy, the game is only shown on pay channels, so the public channels only can broadcast the crowd and the commentary or play by play. They can’t show the field. After dinner, we booked our trip to Prague. We had a few other trips that we wanted to take, but the weekends are bad, so we are trying to see if there are other ways for us to do them, or other places to go. We have also made plans to go to Venice with some friends for Carnivale, which is in the third weekend of February.
1/29/09
Day 18-Florence
We got our Italian quizzes back today. We both got A’s, so we are really happy with our progress and our grades in there so far. After that, we grabbed lunch and did some of our Italian homework before Bari had her next class. From there, I basically sat around for a few hours, bored since no one was online and I had nothing to do. I wrote a little bit and that’s really all I did. Then I sat through my three hour global management class, which happens to be in the same room as our witchcraft class. Our professor is really entertaining, so I’m beginning to think that it’s the room that puts me to sleep, not the class.
Again, we ended up talking about Viagra in this class. It’s ridiculous. He also definitely hates the French and seems not to be too keen on Italy’s present prime minister. On the bus home, we were talking to some other girls on our program and one of them has him for her entrepreneurial class, and says that he talks about it in there too. That’s really about all that happened today. We’re very excited for our weekend, and our upcoming trips.
Dinner was a Chinese style chicken, amazing carrots, orecchetti (noodles shaped like little ears) with a broccoli sauce, as well as the usual salad and bread, and of course, the amazing Macedonia.
1/30/09
Day 19-Florence
Today, we finally got to go to the synagogue and the Jewish Museum in Florence. The synagogue was gorgeous, but unfortunately, we could not take our cameras in to the building. It was absolutely gorgeous though. Florence only really has a Jewish community of about 900, so this synagogue is pretty large for that amount. After that, we walked over to Ruth’s Kosher Vegetarian restaurant. The food was great. We also found the kosher market, and Chabad. The owner of Ruth’s gave us the Jewish calendar and also told us that we could get seder meals at the synagogue, so we will probably look into that when the time gets closer.
We then took the bus over near the San Lorenzo market and walked around there for a couple of hours. We bought scarves and each a nice leather jacket. We ran into a couple of friends and walked around with them for a bit as well. We came home and worked on homework for a few hours until dinner, which was another amazing meal by Roberta. After dinner, we met some friends and went out for a couple hours. We had a lot of fun and will meet up with them again tomorrow night.
1/31/09
Day 20-Florence
Today, we got to sleep late, and then did some homework after eating breakfast. Later, we walked around Florence. It was a gorgeous day today, so we went back to the Ponte Vecchio, and to the other side of the river. After lunch, we walked to the Pitti Palace, which was were the royalty and important families of Florence lived for a while. Now, it houses many museums, as well as the Bobolli Gardens. We got to see all the main rooms in the palace, which have amazing paintings on the walls, and frescos on the ceilings. The Bobolli Gardens were closed, but we will be back there soon.
So the thing about Florence is that even though there are laws (actually, I’m sure this is Italy all together), people don’t exactly follow them…it’s very rare to see people letting pedestrians go when they should, the mopeds and motorcycles just zoom around every other car and bus to the front of the line of traffic, and there is dog poop everywhere! Seriously, people do not pick up after their dogs, then the bicyclists ride through them and smear it everywhere or people like me (yes, Kandi, I’m taking this public), step in the dog poop and then look like an idiot trying to get it off of their shoe without touching it.
Anyway, the shoes I wore today actually really hurt (dog poop day was actually when we were trying to find the synagogue). I have had these shoes for a couple years now. They’re a pair of flats, but for some reason, they just don’t want to fit right. Suede should stretch, but now I’m thinking that I don’t wear them enough. I’ve got blisters from wearing them all day, but knowing me, I’m going to keep wearing them, hoping that one day they will be nice to my feet.
We are just now getting ready to meet friends to go out to dinner and go out with for the night. Dinner was great; we went to a ristorante called Yellow. We met some of our friends there and had a great time! After that, we met up with some other people at Astor (the very first bar that we went to a couple of weeks ago). Later, the downstairs turned into a discotech, so we went down to check that out when it happened. We had a great time and were still able to catch our last bus from the duomo (which we have now found out, leaves at 1:15 instead of 12:35).
2/1/09
Day 21-Florence
We let ourselves sleep late today, since we really did not have any huge plans. After breakfast, we decided that we would go out to lunch and then go see the real David at Galleria d’academia. We decided to go back to the Kosher market that we had found the other day while walking to Ruth’s and the synagogue. I had been craving tuna, so I got a tuna sandwich, and Bari has not eaten meat since she left home, so she got a hamburger. We will definitely be going back there, as it has amazing kosher food, and Bari can eat the meat there. We walked back to the bus stop and took the bus to the Duomo to go to the Galleria d’Academia. We realized, after walking all the way around the Duomo and to the Galleria d’Academia, that we could have gotten off the bus in Piazza San Marco, which is two stops before the Duomo, since the museum is actually in Piazza San Marco.
There is some really interesting graffiti on the walls of some of the buildings here. The most common that we’ve seen has been tagged “Yogurt”…Which is obviously the leader of a gang, or a gang marking its territory, but in my opinion, the yogurt gang is not that scary…unless you’re lactose intolerant. That would be like garbo being in the territory marked by the gang “peanut”.
The cars here are also pretty ridiculous. There are a lot of electric cars that are tiny; literally you could flinstone it in these cars. I don’t know how many of yall are familiar with that yellow and red car that a lot of people my age had when they were younger, but some of them really look like that. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
Anyway, so we went to the Galleria d’Academia, which houses the original David by Michelangelo. That statue is so tall; I never realized that until I actually saw it in person. It’s a very impressive work of art, and I’m glad that we went to see it. The museum also had paintings; most of which depicted various moments in the lives of Jesus, and saints.
Later, we went out to dinner for the cheapest meal that we’ve had in Florence yet. We found a Chinese restaurant called Fu Qui and decided to eat there. The portions were decent, the food was great, and we spent for both of us, the amount that we usually have to spend, each. We got a little lost on the way back to the bus stop, since the street that we had to get off at only has bus stops on one side, so we got back on and then went to the next stop, got off, crossed the street and waited for the next bus to come that could take us home.
2/2/09
Day 22-Florence
Mondays are officially the longest days ever. Having three classes in a row, with two small breaks is not ideal. At all. Italian was fine, except I could not remember how to conjugate past tense, and then forgot an easy word, but it was not that embarrassing, so whatever. Bari and I did some homework during our small break and then went to history of witchcraft, where our desks were arranged in a circle. I hate when that happens. So there’s me, sitting next to the professor, fighting to stay awake, and trying to come up with something to say so that I look like I read that material. Which I did.
After that class, I had another small break where we did the rest of our Italian homework, and then I went to my three hour economics class, which is boring and annoying and not okay, at all. He just talks, and talks, and talks. I take notes on the slides and then it’s just…no more, please!!
So this is what I started. I started thinking about the different things about Italy; whether it was adjustments that I’ve had to make, things I miss, things I’ve learned, or just random things.
1. Umbrellas-there has not been a day on this trip where I have walked out the door without bringing an umbrella. Okay, that’s a lie. I have forgotten it on a few occasions, but there have only been two or three days where I did not need to use it. I don’t think that I’ve ever carried an umbrella his much, ever. Usually walking in the rain does not bother me, but since most of my transportation involves walking, umbrellas have now become a staple in my bag or in my hand.
2. Converses-I really miss my converses. I never thought that my shoe obsession would get to the point where I actually missed a pair of shoes so much that I might end up buying a brand new pair here to fill the void. I was mistaken when I said that Italians don’t wear converses, because they do, but now I’m stuck here with new balance and nike and no converse to speak of.
3. Peanut butter-Although the amazing garbo is allergic, I miss peanut butter so much. Yes, they have nutella here, and yes, it’s awesome, but sometimes having some peanut butter with a banana, or on some crackers, is just the most amazing thing in the world. A world without peanut butter is one that I shudder to have to live in, so let’s fix the peanut recalls in the US so that I can have a party in my mouth when I come home!
2/3/09
Day 23-Florence
Just one class today. She was not too impressed with our class though; I forgot how to conjugate a verb and didn’t look up how to do it before class, a bunch of people left their books at home, and some people did not even try to finish the worksheet. We learned how to conjugate reflexive verbs (we did some past tense yesterday) WOOHOO CONJUGATIONS! Not.
It’s actually been raining all day, except for our short walk to the bus stop, and the short walk from the stop to school. It’s pretty miserable, and hopefully the weather decides to start being nicer. Although we’re in a beautiful, foreign city, it really makes us not want to be outside or see anything. It does give us a chance to see some really cool museums though.
Again, I used my long time of sitting here doing nothing to get a lot of work done. I read this week’s economics reading (I kept seeing the word CME, but kept thinking it was CFM..that’s not good haha, talk about distraction). I also reread my witchcraft chapter so that I won’t be useless during discussion tomorrow, but the discussions are so awkward that basically everything we say is useless; that’s kind of annoying. All that I had to do after that was two Italian worksheets, which really are not too difficult.
Finishing all my work for the week so far has given me a lot of time to write, and watch the Honor Society videos on youtube, which are spectacular. Everyone should listen to Honor Society, because they are awesome and have great preppy maneuvers.
So some more things about Italy that I had discovered:
1. Drying your clothes will take two days-there are NO dryers here. This is not fun. I do not like when my clothes are crispy. Bari and I have to hang our clothing on this drying rack, that before we found another place for it, took up a crucial part of our room. Putting things on a drying rack takes forever and is the least fun activity ever, next to economics class. It’s so tedious, and by the time everything dries, all your clothes have awkward lines on them from the drying rack. Air drying all of your clothing sucks! Never do this unless you absolutely have to!
2. Fabric softener, or the lack of- Downy is the most amazing invention that I have discovered in my life. It makes everything ridiculously soft, and would help so much with my crispy clothing issue. In fact, crispy clothing was the original reason that I had invested in downy for the first time last semester. I would air dry my jeans, and use downy so that they would not be crispy the next time I wore them. If you must air dry your clothing, use a fabric softener. We don’t have any, and wearing crispy clothing is not always fun!
3. Missing Amazing concerts-as most or all of you know by now, I have never ever missed a rodeo in my 20 years. This year, the one, only year that I have to miss a rodeo, is the year that not only my favorite annual performers come, but also such acts as Taylor Swift, and this small band that I happen to love called the Jonas Brothers. In addition to these concerts, I am also missing an Honor Society concert in February, a Billy Joel/Elton John Concert in March, and a Springsteen concert in April. These bands must coordinate their tour schedules around “when Ashley has no way to make it to our concert”. It’s not like I’m just up in New York, this time, I’m actually out of the country, and these tour schedules are just not okay with me, and of course any world tour that is happening, or any 3D movies that will be coming out over here happen after I return to the States. Really, bands, we are not friends at the moment.
2/4/09
Day 24-Florence
Just two classes today, but it was more like only one. In Italian, we watched La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful). This movie was absolutely fantastic. If you have not seen this movie, you NEED TO RENT IT! I don’t care if you don’t understand Italian (it has subtitles and English translation) I don’t care if you don’t like subtitles, I don’t care if you don’t like foreign films, and I don’t care if you don’t like movies that have parts of the Holocaust in it. YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!
After that, we got our quiz review and then we had History of Witchcraft. We had to sit in a circle again, and I fought not to fall asleep, but I actually participated today, so I didn’t feel as bad. Usually on Wednesdays, we are finished after this class and can go home. Today though, I had to stay until 7:40. I had my makeup economics class at 6:10, so I decided to stay at school until then. The problem came when the school’s wireless internet decided not to work for anyone today, so all that I could do was get on a public computer and use facebook chat. Okay, I know I could have used my blackberry, but that’s only for when I really have no access to a computer, plus that screen can get annoying to look at sometimes haha. I ended up doing some of my witchcraft reading and then went to class, which was extremely boring. He even said “Oh no, I’m going to slow, and we’re getting near the end, I can see that you don’t want to be here anymore” Well DUH! You are making us make up a class that you were sick for…that’s just…not okay.
So this was also my first day taking the bus home alone. Bari had gone home at our normal time and I caught the bus after my class. It was fine except the bus driver did not drive well and I can’t even tell you how many times I almost flew backwards. Then, I came home and took a shower and put on my crispy pajama pants. I am not comfortable in my crispy pajama pants.
More things to ponder:
1. Kitchen use- At home, If I haven’t eaten for four hours, it is not awkward for me to go into the kitchen and grab a small snack. Here, Bari and I do not feel comfortable walking in there if its not a meal time, even if its just to grab fruit from the bowl. They had told us at the beginning in orientation that Italian mamas cherish their kitchen and we should not go into there unless its meal time, so we are kind of stuck on that, even though we’re not sure how Roberta and Daniel would react.
2. The rest of the house- Bari and I actually have not been past the kitchen. The house is laid out like this: when you walk in the door, to the left is our room, straight ahead is our bathroom and the kitchen. The stairs are between our room and the kitchen. We have not seen the rest of their house. The most we’ve seen is up to the first landing, and that’s really not much. We do want to see the rest of their house, but since they give us so much privacy, we really want to respect theirs. As long as they’re not harvesting peanuts to go after Garbo with, I’m fine with not knowing about the upstairs.
2/5/09
Day 25-Florence
We had an Italian quiz today on conjugations and prepositions. It was not too difficult; I just hope that I did not make careless mistakes. After that, I had a break for a few hours, so I did my Italian homework and got frustrated at the horrible internet connection that our campus has. It was working perfectly fine up until yesterday. We think that they are trying to install or create more hotspots, but they took some out in the process, causing everyone’s connection to be really crappy and slow and annoying.
Global management was not horrible. I love the teacher; he really is hilarious and extremely entertaining. He likes to write on one of those easel things, and I’m really scared he’s going to break it. He writes with a lot of feeling and the whole board moves every time he writes. We learned that Tuscany is one of the most communist/socialist areas of Italy. After class, Bari and I pleasantly waited for fifteen minutes in the pouring rain for the rude bus to arrive. I did remember my umbrella, fortunately, because I would have been soaking wet if not.
Tomorrow, we are leaving early in the morning to go to Rome. I don’t think that I am bringing my computer, so yall won’t hear from me until Sunday evening for the Rome rundown. We are actually staying an extra day with a couple of our friends so that we can explore Rome for ourselves. We did not think that that just one night in Rome was sufficient.
More of my thoughts:
1. Right now, I am really missing a lot of my clothing. I feel like I’ve been wearing the same things the whole time, but then when I think about it, I brought most of what I usually wear, so I’m thinking that I’m dreaming up clothing that I don’t have, just so that I have something to miss. I think maybe when I get home, that means I need to go shopping…just maybe though.
2. Alright, so obviously I have major issues with the busses here, whether it’s not getting on the right one, them not stopping for us, or me flying through the bus or getting slammed into things, its just rude. Most days, I start thinking that I would rather drive. Seriously, what I would give to have the hulk here to plow through all the crappy Italian drivers and not have to worry about smelly rude busses. Then, I start really thinking about how crazy these drivers are, and how the people on the mopeds swerve between everyone to get to the front of traffic, and how I never ever ever want to drive in this city, ever. Honestly, I’m scared to cross the street here with the lunatics they have driving. I really don’t think that driving should be allowed here until people can do it the right way. Seriously, those who think that teens in the US drive badly need to come see the driving that goes on here and get a reality check.
2/8/09
Day 26-28-Rome
Our trip to Rome started as we got up at 5 am on Friday morning. We ate breakfast and then took two busses to the train station to meet up with our group. We took a Eurostar train (meaning nicer seats, no stopping in several cities, overall faster train) to Rome. Once we got there, around 10 am, we transferred to chartered busses and were immediately on our way to Vatican City. We had a short break when we got there and then toured the Vatican Museum. This museum is filled with art and sculptures that were significant to the Christian religion, or that the popes had hired the artists to do. They have many Michelangelos, Rafael rooms, tapestries, and a map hallway. Everything was so impressive. We then went into the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling. I had never seen the full ceiling, so I was very surprised to see how many paintings there were, and how big it actually was.
We then went into St. Peter’s Basilica…which was HUGE! The length of it is two football fields long, and the ceilings are extremely high. When you look at the pictures, actually look at the people in comparison to how large the structure is; its stupendous, and gorgeous! After this, we had a break where we got lunch, and then took our busses, stealthily, too the hotel. Bari, Megan, and I stayed together in a triple. This hotel was much better than the last one. There was more room, and the tv worked. We found one movie in English (Hilary and Haylie Duff in Material Girls), and two movies in Italian that we knew (Enchanted, and Freedom Writers).
After relaxing, a group of eight of us went walking around the city to dinner. We first stopped at the Trevi Fountain (this was in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Roman Holiday, etc). It was so pretty at night! Then, we walked some more, we saw the Colloseum from afar, and finally found a non-touristy place to eat dinner, which was delicious. We walked back to our hotel, which took a while. Rome is much bigger than Florence, and we were on foot basically the whole time. At the moment, I feel as if I have been on my feet for three days straight. I am so sore and so exhausted!
The next morning, we got up early, had breakfast and set out with our guide again to the Colloseum. This day was completely on foot; no busses at all. The Colloseum, or Colosseo, is really called the Flavian Amphitheatre. Flavius was the last name of the emporers who commissioned it, and amphitheatre means and elliptical shaped space. It had 80 arches, and 80 numbered entrances where different classes of people would enter to find their seats. The current main entrance to the colloseum was the imperial entrance back when it was in use. The colloseum is where gladiator events and other things like that took place. It basically was the equivalent of us watching professional sports at arenas (which really means sand). Half of it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1300s; most of the north wall survived, the southern wall is the one that has most of it missing.
Outside of the colloseum was a triumval arch, which Roman emporers used to have built for them whenever they had conquered a new place, or had done something good for the empire. The two that we saw were Constantine’s, and Titus’s. Titus’s commemorates when he sacked Jerusalem in 69 CE. This included destroying the third temple, and can be considered the actual beginning to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
We saw the ancient Roman forum, including a purely architectural basilica (meaning it was just a rectangular gathering place), and the place where Caeser’s body was cremated. We then went up to Capitoline hill, where the copy of the only surviving equestrian sculpture from the antiquity is (the real one is in the museum up there). The only reason that this statue was saved was because the people thought that it was of Emporer Constantine riding the horse, and Constantine was the first Roman emporer to declare Christianity as legal, and then as the main religion of the empire. In reality, the man riding the horse was Marcus Orelius, an emporer previous to Constantine.
After this, we walked over to the Pantheon where I proceeded to completely wipe out right in front of it. Walking on wet, uneven cobblestone is not easy. Did I mention it rained basically the whole time, until this morning? Pantheon means all gds, so it was the place, previous to Christianity, where all the gds were worshipped. According to Roman myth, it was actually where all the gds lived, until they saw what Jesus was doing, they swirled around too much inside of it, and popped the top off. There is a hole in the center of the dome in the Pantheon, and when it rains, it looks so cool. Yes, it is open, so when it rains, it rains inside the Pantheon.
We then joined Caitlin’s class on their trip to the Borghese Gallery, which is an art museum, started by a pope. I found my two favorite sculptures of the trip so far. They were both by Bernini. One was his David statue (http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edavid.htm ), which is fantastic, and the other was his statue of Apollo pursuing Daphne as she turned into a Laurel tree (http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edafne.htm ).
Once we finished our visit to the Borghese, we were done with our school trip. Caitlin, Bari, and I moved our bags from the hotel, to our hostel. We relaxed for a bit and then went out for the night. We had a great time, though it kept raining and of course, I forgot my umbrella, so we end up running through Rome, huddling under umbrellas, trying not to get wet. Our shoes were absolutely soaked by the end of the night, but it was so fun!
Sunday morning, we took a cab to the Synagogue. We took a guided tour of it, as well as the Jewish museum. The synagogue was gorgeous! There are 14,000 Jews in Rome today. The Jewish ghetto was built in 1550, when the pope decided that it was inappropriate for Jews to live among everyone else. It was 200 meters, by 250 meters, and below the level of the river, which meant that the ghetto would flood during the winter. One building housed five different synagogues for each of the types of Judaism that were being practiced. 2,000 Jews were deported during World War Two. The synagogue is Orthodox, and is practiced in using Italian tradition, not Sephardic, and not ashkenazic, though we did sit in a Sephardic temple room in the museum. We walked around the Jewish ghetto, and found the kosher street. Then, we walked back to the Trevi fountain, and then to the Spanish steps. Our map by this point (named Marco Polo), is basically ripping everywhere; it was the same map that we had been using since Friday, and had been rained on, folded, and unfolded several times. We ate lunch and then caught our train back to Florence.
2/9/09
Day 29-Florence
Wow, that’s a lot of 9’s. Our bus didn’t come at the right time today, so we caught a bus that got us to school right when class started, but made it to class before our professoressa did. Anyway, we got our quizzes back in Italian today. We both got A’s again. Our quizzes really at not that difficult, as long as you pay attention and practice the language. We also try to speak it at dinner with the family, which helps as well. We went over more prepositional phrases and more question and answer in Italian.
I actually stayed awake through all of witchcraft today. He basically lectured us, but it was getting interesting, and so was brick breaker. We also were not in that stupid circle of desks, which I absolutely hate. We went over parts of the inquisition, and its relationship with heretics, and those who did not believe in Christianity. One of the pope’s began the order that Jewish people had to wear different clothing to distinguish them from Christians so that people would know not to have extraneous contact with them.
Our professor shortened our economics class because he had a meeting in Treno tomorrow morning, and had to travel up the country to get there. We got out about half an hour early, but he told us that he will have an abbreviated class to make up for that half hour, which we should all go to. I mean really?! It is NOT our fault that you work at two schools and might have this scheduling conflict; please do not make us come in and listen to half an hour of your babbling lectures that you could have probably gotten through today if you didn’t lecture so slowly!!! I have an economics presentation by myself next Monday. I would have liked to do it in a group, but since I have no friends in that class, I have to do it by myself, which kind of sucks.
After school, I waited for the bus at the stop and flagged it down, but the stupid driver kept driving! So that left me cold at a bus stop for about 15 more minutes before the next bus came. Then, and this is the first time that this has happened to me, someone started checking people's tickets. He asked to see my ticket, but I thought that he was just asking me if I needed mine stamped and said no. I then immediately realized what he was doing and dug my monthly pass out of my bag before he could kick me off the bus.
2/10/09
Day 30-Florence
So I only had Italian today. We did irregular verbs and more prepositions…wonderful. After class, I went home and had an incredibly productive day. I was home by 1:15 and worked on a lot. I did my economics presentation (Italy’s transition to the euro), my Italian homework (more of the same…boringgg), and did next week’s witchcraft reading. We are leaving for Prague on Thursday, so I am trying to get as ahead as I can with everything so that when we come back late Sunday night, I am not scrambling to finish things. I also did laundry today, so hopefully we will be able to put most of it away before we leave on Thursday.
So the cars here…are absolutely tiny. I don’t even consider most of them cars, and the trucks….not even close. You can barely fit more than one person in a car, and what’s the use of that? Seriously, these cars look more like the cars that I “drove” as a child. You remember, that red and yellow car…the purple squeaky one…even the Barbie car that I drove into the grass more than on the sidewalk.
It’s also really weird for me not to be able to pick up the phone and make a phone call, or even send a simple text message. People keep asking me if I’m homesick, and I can honestly say that I am not; its just an adjustment for me, not to be able pick up the phone to call and ask a simple question without having to wait, or just to say hi.
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