4th week recap

So what have I been doing since Bologna? Lots actually. To start, we got up Sunday morning and went to the American diner for brunch! We got the "All American..." 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, hashbrowns, bacon/sausage and American coffee. So how was it you ask? The eggs weren't so yolk-y, the bacon was probably more like the intestines of a gopher, the sausage was slightly burnt, the pancakes were very thin and the coffee was incredibly weak. Basically, the BEST thing I've eaten since I got here. I miss ihop, but I won't complain... the pizza, gelato, prosciutto and fresh produce here are to die for. So after our leisurely brunch we stopped by the store to pick up some cleaning supplies and we cleaned the apartment. It was well needed with 10+ people romping around all the time. I'm still not really sure where Sunday went but after cleaning, we did homework, looked at our Bologna pictures, made a family dinner and then it was bedtime.

Monday with Francesca's class we went to the Florentine American Cemetery. It was an incredible experience, when we first walked in it was a very quiet and solemn looking out at the 4,000+ crosses in the field. Then this older tourguide came out and gave us the history of not only the cemetery, but also America's involvement in WWII in Italy. The graves were all fallen American soldiers fighting on the Allies side specifically in Italy. It was amazing how this guy knew some of the specific stories of certain soldiers and how he made the whole place literally come alive. The average age of the guys in there (there were 4 women) was something like 19 or 20 which was really awful to think about, that's younger than me. It was emotional to think about that, all of the lost young lives, families affected, a war over trying to "take over the world." It was also interesting to hear Francesca's take on the Americans coming in and helping the ill-prepared Italians fight off the Germans. She's always telling us how grateful we should feel to be an American and I think I didn't truly appreciate this until I came here. She was talking about how if we didn't intercede, Italy would not at all be what it is today and who knows what else the Germans would have done. I've had a few other moments where I've really appreciated being an American, especially when it comes to freedom of speech, specifically of speaking out against the government. People here they are REALLY anti- Berlusconi (prime minister, who really really is awful from what i've been learning) and there isn't much they can do about it. There are quite a few laws and ways of life here that I don't think I'd enjoy having to get used to. So for that reason, I will see you all in the end of May, I promise.

Tuesday the weather was gorgeous and we actually got to enjoy our walks to and from school. We learned about The Great Flood in Florence in 1966 which literally destroyed the city of Florence. Luckily it was on November 4th which is a national holiday here so not too many people were out or at work which they say probably saved hundreds of lives. The water rose up to the second floor of most of the buildings (over 20ft) and almost destroyed the Ponte Vecchio (man that thing has withstood lots). After it finally stopped raining, the city was under mass amounts of mud and the stench was said to be awful, Francesca says she still remembers the smell. After class it was so beautiful so Jen and I decided to go for a run. We ran down along the Arno (river) and it made me almost forget that I don't really like to run. We were glad we went though, our bodies have been rather stationary other than the walking we do, I think I found a chair sore yesterday morning. So Tuesday was fat tuesday and here in Italy they eat a special cake called Schiacciata alla Florentine. I think we did it wrong, Francesca made it sound like they're supposed to cut it in half and fill it with whatever you pick. Us non-Italian speaking Americans couldn't quite convey that to the Pastereccia owner, so we got plain. While we ate we tried to come up with things to give up for lent, Jen's was the best... try to talk to 3 native Italians per day in Italian.

Wednesday we talked about the Mafia in Francescas class, it almost pained her to admit that the Mafia began in her home country. It was interesting, the theory about the Mafia begin as a "good" entity is in fact false, which I did not know. It began around the time when Italy started becoming a unified state, which is how the bosses became so deep rooted. The people were against uniting with their hated neighbors (remember the regionalism?) so they were against the one government which helped the fedual lords (bosses) rise to power. People began going to them because they could get "stuff" done faster than the new, inexperienced government. On a lighter note, it was Ash Wednesday so we decided since we live so close to the Duomo which happens to be Florence's most famous church we should take full advantage. We went around 6 and the mass was, yep, in Italian. I caught words here and there and could figure out where they were in mass thanks to CCD. The church was gorgeous between the frescos and all of the candles, it was however freezing in there thanks to the huge ceilings. The ashes they gave out were powder and they put it on top of your head instead of your forehead. They also gave out communion which I dont' think they do at home on Ash Wednesday, and it tasted like real bread. Overall, we were happy we went, it was very peaceful and beautiful even if we didn't totally understand.

Thursday was not very eventful, it was our final in Francesca's class. 2 essays which I'm sure I did fine on. Back home to study for the harder final which was the next day, language.

Friday morning got up nice and early, ate a hearty breakfast and set off for our intensive language final. Took it during the first half of class and then they shoved us all in a room and we had a "party." AKA everyone brought food which we ate while they graded our tests. They called us in one by one to show us how we did, I got an A =) Friday afternoon we stopped at the market on our way home, made a nice lunch and then went out to do a little shopping/window browsing/drooling. Friday night Nick (program director) had us all over for a little party which was fun. His apartment was huge with a sweet terrace on the roof. About an hour or so in a bunch left for the clubs but 10 or so of us stayed behind. I'm not a fan of the clubs here, I find it weird that at least half of the people there are in their 40's bumpin and grindin up on the 16 year olds in there. So the group that stayed had some quality bonding time with Nick. We found out that after he studied here he stayed for 2.5 more years and was a bike tour guide around Tuscany. (He just finds all the coolest jobs!) While doing his masters at Indiana he wrote a book when McGraw-Hill called personally and asked him, it's called "Streetwise Italian." When he asked me why I wasn't taking his Italian Literature class (that's what he's working on his PhD in) I told him I was a science major and my brain doesn't think that way. Then he told me his undergrad was in math.... now he's Italian Literature? So I'm thinking about taking it instead of History here, because I'm also taking Italian Politics and I feel like they will be similar. Plus I feel like I'm in Italy and I should broaden my academic horizons, we'll see how this goes...

So that was my week, next up: Pisa trip!
Here are some pictures from the American Cemetery:

09-02-23 American cemetery

Bologna

Ciao ciao!

So, woke up early again on a Saturday for the Rutgers planned excursion to Bologna.  A little background for you, Bolonga is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region and is a little over an hour north of Florence.  It is supposed to be one of the best cities to live in, in Italy due to it's location (between the Po River and the Apennines mountains, and at the intersection of many main highways and trains) as well as it's strong industry.  

Our first stop was this little school, nobody is quite sure what the name was.  Samuelo (tour guide) talked about how the architecture of most of the buildings in Bologna are all brick.  This is how Bologna became known as "the red city," and this happened because brick was significantly cheaper and more accessible than marble during the time when the city was being built.  So at this school were many tombs, which are apparently found all over the city near schools, of esteemed professors.  It's what they do there, they save the dead bodies of great professors.  To each his own.

Next stop was the Basilica of San Petronio which is the 5th largest church in the world.  When this church was being built in the 1300's the original plans for it would make it larger than the Vatican.  The Pope wouldn't have any of that so he had it truncated (cut the top off) and halted any future construction.  Anyway, inside the church was gorgeous, and it had about 10 or so mini side chapels.  Each one was decorated very different than the next, one was bright with stain glass windows, the next was dark and dreary.  There was also the world's largest sun clock in there which was really neat but complex, and no I couldn't tell what time it read.

The next stop was my favorite, The University of Bologna built in 1088 and is the oldest existing university in all of Europe.  It was beautifully decorated and I had to keep reminding myself that people actually went to school here!  They specialize in Law, Medicine and Humanities... I could totally go hereeee.  My favorite room was the Anatomical theater which there are only 2 others remaining in the world (Netherlands and Sweeden).  This one was actually reconstructed after it was destroyed in WWII but with all of the same pieces.   It was a huge all wooden room with benches facing the middle where there was a marble table on a raised platform.  The professor would sit at the head and instruct the TA's what to dissect in teaching the class Anatomy.  So cool, and it's still used today.  Famous graduates that I recognized: Dante and Copernicus.

After the university we broke for lunch.  We were told to try the torellini because that as well as Bolganese sauce is what Bologna is famous for.  We pick this cute little trattoria and of course I decided that since Jill was getting the toretllini I would just taste hers and get the Dill marinated Salmon because I have been dying for seafood.  Bad move Gulutz.  It comes out and at first I thought it was raw.  Apparently it was smoked, oh and cold, like lox, but I didn't have a bagel, oh, and I don't like lox.  It was served over a bed of julienned veges.  Boo.  I tried it, I ate a little bit, but Jill was nice and shared her exquisitely delicious homemade tortellini with me.  

After lunch we climbed one of the two towers of Bologna, yes all 480 steps.  By the way, the tower is leaning and a lightening rod had to be installed as it was frequently struck by lightening and caught on fire.  It was well worth it though!  The sight from the top was gorgeous, overlooking all of Bologna.  

The last stop was the Santo Stefano church.  I'm not really sure why this one is so famous.  It does contain a sepulcher which has the exact replica of the exterior of Jesus's in Jerusalem.  It was the least fancy of all the churches we've been to, and very dark.     

Samuelo, the same guy who gave us the tour of Rome was our tour guide again.  We weren't thrilled because he speaks mostly in Italian and you really have to focus on what he's saying to get it.  He studied history and architecture in school and knows a ridiculous amount about both, and so he told us all of that...every....detail.  He lost a lot of us because he just kept going not realizing that we weren't all as intensely interested in the gothic pillars as was he.

So that was our day in Bologna, I really enjoyed seeing the city but it was definitely not as much of a tourist city as Rome.  Maria (our coordination assistant) said she lived in Bologna for a little while and thought it was a much better city to live in than Florence.  Florence tends to be a heavily toured city (which is great since I'm only here for 4 months) but she said she'd prefer to live in Bologna.  Guess what they say about the city is true!

Pictures from Bologna (click, it's an album): 

09-02-21 Bologna

week recap

Ciao a tutti!

I could say I had a fairly uneventful week, but... I'm in Italy so nothing is truly "uneventful" because just walking past the Duomo on my way to school is an event in anyone's eyes.

Monday with Francesca's class we went to the Salvatore Ferragamo museum, deep breaths Auntie!  It was really cool, I must admit I didn't know much about him, in fact I didn't even know he was a shoe designer (go ahead, laugh).  Anyway, I'd always admired these shoes in the window on the Arno (river) and figured because of the way they were arranged they were probably pricey.  Well, after visiting this museum I'm going to go with pricey being a gross understatement, shoes were in the thousands.  In his defense, he was an incredibly creative and innovative designer, but still that's just ridiculous.  We saw shoes designed specifically for, and worn by Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Sofia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Eva Gardner, Greta Gertagarbo, etc.  He became well known during WWII when specific materials were in low supply and he created things like the cork wedge and fishing line straps, revolutionary.  I picked out a few great pairs if anyone needs a birthday present for me...(April 19th).  Afterwords we ventured out to the grocery store again, and let me tell you we are now pros at Italian grocery shopping. 

Tuesday we talked about Neorealism in Italian films (using real people instead of actors, on location shooting and no scripts to give the viewer a feel of what social and political issues are currently affecting the population) and watched a few experts these movies.  I don't know how one person (Francesca) can know SO much about EVERYTHING, but she is a plethora of useful and interesting information.  

Wednesday we were in class again, this time discussing the period of Italian history that Francesca and most Italians are not so proud of, Fascism and WWII.  Learned all about Mussolini, how he was a journalist who came from nothing and used his personality and journalism contacts to succeed.  By the end of his regime he had almost full control of the media and used that to his advantage.  What I didn't know was that Italy's current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is doing the same thing and people are worried that history is literally going to repeat itself.  Berlusconi founded one of the country's ten largest privately owned companies which operates in media and finance, 3 out of the 9 national analogue tv channels, various digital channels, and a few large newsmagazines.  When you group all of this together it accounts for nearly half the Italian media market!  Forbes says he is Italy's third richest person (Michele Ferrero and Leonardo del Vecchio are numbers 1 and 2).  So the Prime Minister here is strongly disliked, and is currently faced with no opposition in any of the recent elections.  Uh-oh.

So back to Fascism, there are still paintings on some local walls of propaganda-type sayings from Mussolini's era promoting him and the idea.  In Mussolini's defense he went about things very effectively, it's just his intentions were not so pure.  He targeted (easily persuadable) kids by creating many sport/entertainment outings thinking the more he kept them busy they less time they'd have to think, and began teaching them his history in school so they'd grow up to like him; college professors by giving them the idea that within fascism they would have the freedom to do and teach whatever they want; and provided a sense of economic hope to those families in need, hmm...sound familiar?  What was really funny is that during one meeting between Hitler and Mussolini, where Mussolini insisted he didn't need any translators present because he knew "enough" German, it is thought that Hitler told Mussolini of his plans to invade Poland and Mussolini accidently agreed... completely unaware of what Hitler really said.  The thing was that under the Pact of Steel Italy was militarily committed to Germany, so that meant they too had to invade Poland.  

Thursday was one of those lessons where I just smile because I can't believe that what I'm doing at the moment is getting me college credit.  Don't get me wrong, I do my fair share of work here, but Thursday's class was a cooking lesson at Mario's, the oldest trattoria in Florence.  Well, it would have been a cooking lesson had there not been 48 people on this program.  They had to alter it a little, so we all piled into the basement of this trattoria where they served us our first course, Ribollita which was of course delicious.  It's an ancient traditional Florentine first dish where I think they basically cook, and then keep cooking vegetable soup with going-stale bread until it becomes thicker.  It was absolutely delicious.  The second course was ziti with ragu, but not the typical ragu as it had no red sauce.  It sounded like they just cook ground beef with some top secret spices and then put it on the macaroni (the oils from it made it good too).  Very simple, yet again, very delicious.  Normally with smaller groups this is a hands on lesson, so they had to modify it by just telling us verbally how they made this and we can email them for a written explanation.  Of course I did mom.

Friday I woke up sick AGAIN, sweet.  Haven't had one in 4 years and I get 2 in 3 weeks.  We stopped at the San Lorenzo market to stock up on produce for the week on the way home from school.  Went to the doctor that afternoon because I used up all the Sudafed I brought on my last cold.  He was a really neat guy from England (with an accent!) who Rutgers uses so everything was free.  He gave me a prescription for some super decongestant and I've been feeling a little better.  Attempting to buy cold medicine all in Italian was too intimidating so since it was free I went to him, apparently that was a great idea because he said most of the stuff you find in the local farmacias (farm-a-chee-a, like CVS) are homeopathic type things...and written solely in Italian.  Friday night we took it easy, the girls went over to the guy's apartment for a little and tucked me in early so I'd make it through our Bologna trip the next day.

Week 3 zoomed by, I can't believe how fast time here is going!  I'm enjoying ever second of it though, and when I type up these blog entries it's fun because I get to relive my adventurous days.   Stay tuned for the Bologna writeup, it's almost dinner time.

It's true, people do get pickpocketed in Rome. Then they punch me in the chest.

I bet you're incredibly interested in the title of this entry, and for that reason I'm going to give you the play by play of the day in the order that it happened and not start with the fact that I did in fact get punched in the chest by a pickpocket.  

So, the day began around 6am on a SATURDAY morning (oye, what a life having to get up early to go see Rome) when we had to pack up and meet the 20 or so of us from our school at the train station.  We set off for the 1.5 hour train ride (generally a 3 hour car ride) on a very comfortable train with nice big windows for the trip.  The ride was gorgeous, it was hard to keep my eyes open to see the scenery as I was so tired, but I fought the sleep urge for the first half of the trip.  I got to see the sun rising over the countryside inbetween Florence and Rome.  Off in the mountains there were perfect villas perfectly spread apart where you still have neighbors, but plenty of land and privacy to yourself.  Early in the morning there was smoke coming from the chimneys of many of them and needless to say I have since began researching renting the cozy villas for when i hit the lottery.  

We arrived around 9am and set off on the walking tour with 2 professors from Linguaviva who were impressively knowledgeable about the history of Rome and it's sights for being an Italian language teacher native to Florence.  The first stop was the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore which is the only of the basilicas from ancient Rome to hold it's original structure, even after the great earthquake which ruined most of the others.  After the papacy moved back to Rome from the Avignon period and the first vatican began to deteriorate, it served as the temporary headquarters until the new one was finished.  This church was definitely gorgeous, but you know, it's just another one of the hundreds of churches I've seen in Italy.  I did get to see a beautiful wedding in one of the side chapels inside (there were a few mini-chapels inside the actual church) though, imagine getting married in one of the most famous churches in the country? World? Religion?

So next we're walking and seeing some hills, old stairs, cool buildings, through a part that had an almost San Francisco feel.  Walking and walking... then we walk down this big hill and overlook this truly breathtaking scene of older remains on a cliffed area.  I just thought it was a pretty sight, I mean, there were apartments to the right and streets cutting through.  I kept walking. BAM, Colosseum!  I wouldn't at all be exaggerating if I told you I gasped for air.  I was so not expecting it to be RIGHT THERE and it was unbelievably huge, next to a palm tree?, gorgeous, ancient...huge.  I can't explain this to you in words, but I swear it felt like everything went silent and I just stared at this massive structure thinking about all of the history in it and wondered what it looked like when it was in use.  the entire thing, which held over 80,000 people was built in under 11 years and was used for gladiators, horse races, animal "hunts," some type of sea battles which i didn't quite understand, executions and shows for entertainment.  i believe it was ruined in an earthquake, but don't quote me on that. 

Next we walked some ways, saw the Olympic track where "Ben-Hurr type events took place" and some more random ruins.  I don't know where we were, but we walked up (tons) of stairs and were at this great overlooking sight where we could see most of Rome via rooftop.  It was gorgeous, there were gardens up there but I have no idea where it was.  I wish I could scan my pictures into google and find out the name.  Maybe I'll invent that to make tons of money so I can get one of those country villas I saw on the way.  

The climb down dumped us in front of Campidoglio (Capitoline hill- yep, it's where we got the name Capital Hill from) which was designed by Michaelangelo and used to house the archives of ancient Rome.  Today it's a museum and Rome's city hall.  It was pretty, there were great statues and everything around it, but I think I would have taken much more from it had I went into some of the museums.  We were on a tight schedule though, so maybe next time.

Up some more hills until we were overlooking Foro Romano (the Roman Forum) which used to house the royal family, the senate, and was basically the economic hub located right in the center of Rome.  I guess it began to fall apart at the collapse of the Roman Empire and has since been deteriorating.  I know it was ruins, but it was just a gorgeous sight and so weird to think that 25 feet away there was a main street with cars and traffic lights and electric things...

After the Forum, where everyone seemed to linger around because it felt like there was so much to look at, we gathered around Trevi's fountain and broke for lunch.  We found this cute little trattoria where we all got Roman pizza and it was pretty good.  I asked the woman if she had grated cheese to put on top of my vege piece...and she just looked at me and smiled, "we don't do that here ragazza."  hrmph.

After lunch it started getting really cold, like, really cold.  We took pictures and threw a penny into Trevi Fountain for good luck and met back up with the group.  While we were standing around we were near a Burger King where a man was pulling out his wallet on his way in.  (suspenseful music, commence) A stocky little older man dressed all in dark colors snags the wallet out of the buisnessman's hand and jets.  Just so happens I was standing perfectly in the  line of fire, probably 5 feet from the incident, and the thief runs directly into my chest and pushes me back.  Did I mention he was stocky? Ouch!  At first I thought he was going for my bag too, but he was just trying to run away from the now-starving victim (that's what he gets for choosing Burger King in Italy!).  We kept our eyes peeled and cheered when the guy caught the thief and grabbed his wallet back.  Mr. Pickpocket got away...  No bruises to report, but you can send me flowers for the emotional damage.

After the eventful Burger King incident we arrived at the Spanish stairs, quite uneventful after the last sight.  I'm not quite sure why they're so famous, all I gathered was that they divided the Spanish and French quarters of Rome.  They're about 200 years old and beautiful, but I'm not sure why they're such a landmark to see.  Perhaps I'm missing some of the history, any Spanish stair buffs in the audience?  I do know that one guy tried to drive a Celica down them and broke a few while doubling the legal BAC, cool?

Next was the Pantheon which translates to "all of the Gods" as that is who it was dedicated to.  This 5,000 ton dome was built out of just ONE concrete piece.  There's a "great eye" which opens to they sky at the top and is the only source of light and ventilation.  There are holes in the floor which allow for drainage in rain, I'm guessing that means the hole at the top is glass-less (I couldn't quite understand him, he kept saying all the things we were supposed to know in Italian...in Italian).  

That was the end of the tour on one side of town, next was to the Vatican.  The walk was pretty and we saw many minor sights of fountains, piazzas and castles on the way over.  The biggest castle was Sant'Angelo which was built in about 135 AD and it as well as the original bridge leading to it still stand.  It was used for an array of things, originally for a Roman Emperor, then as a fortress during a war, something with the Pope (I'm noticing a trend that the Pope was forced to move around a lot) and finally now it's a museum.  I would have loved to tour it, but again, tight schedule!

The tour ended at the Vatican.  This was another truly breathtaking sight, we also got there around sunset which I'm sure added to the mystique.  The piazza in front was gorgeous with all of the statues of the saints, the fountains, and just the building itself.  We went inside and again, I was left speechless.  Gorgeous is an understatement, all of the detail in the doors, floors, banisters, ceilings, altars, everything was so unbelievable.  I can't find any more adjectives to explain it, so I'll just have to tell you all to go visit because my pictures don't do it justice.  There was a mass going on inside and even though it was not in English I just stood there in awe at how beautiful and peaceful it all was.  There was a choir as well, which of course sounded beyond angelic, the pope wouldn't have anything but.  

It was a long day and I saw so much, but I loved every second of it.  I'm glad I went with a tour because there is no way I could have gotten that much out of the city myself.  We took the metro back to the train station and came home only to go out for Morgan's 21st birthday.  Celebrated at the Mexican restaurant Tijuana across the street and had a great time.  Sunday was recovery day, especially for our feet.  Caught up on some homework and went to bed early.  This weekend is Bologna with Rutgers and a few various other things I'll be sure to update you on throughout the week.  Ciao!

Pictures (click on the first picture to see them all)

2009-02-14 Rome

hello!  i'm so awful at updating this, i've just been so busy in the land of spaghetti.  so here's what we've been doing.  sunday we went over to palazzo pitti which was the palace originally built by the pitti family who were influential bankers in florence during 1400s.   the medici family bought the palace in the mid 1500s and ruled from there until the last bloodline died in the late 1700s.  the austrian lorraines briefly acquired it until napoleon took it over as a headquarters for all of his conquering.  now it's a museum with tons of artwork and modified rooms to show what the rooms would have looked like during the medici times.  i have never seen such extravagant and gorgeous ceilings and chandeliers.  we weren't supposed to take pictures there but i snuck a few to show you all.  

keep in mind i have language class everyday from 9-12:30, so when i refer to what i did in class i'm usually referring to francesca's italian culture class.  she took us to michaelangelo's family house, which, are you ready for this?  is on the SAME street i live on!  i'm famous!  we weren't allowed to take pictures there either :( and i had an even tougher time sneaking some as the curator was an ex-nazi who literally followed us around.  after that she showed us the only temple to be designed by a catholic architect.  (there is also a church around here designed by a jewish architect).  it was a gorgeous afternoon so we did some window shopping and began the great boot hunt.  jen was the only one who proved successful, but we all enjoyed seeing the sights.

tuesday was an in class afternoon where we discussed the "problema del mezzogiorno" which literally means "the problem with noon" but it actually refers to the regionalism in italy.  italy is divided into 20 regions (tuscay, bologna, umbria, calabria, sicily, etc)  and hundreds of years ago they were each ruled by feudal leaders.  a sense of nationality was created within each region, but it soon became so strong and confused with this superiority complex that it caused each region to hate their neighbors.  when roger II started trying to create one unified government he was met with such opposition that it took years to get the rulers and the people to act civilly and so the slow process began.  it's still going on, but there is lots of good associated with this bad.  she talked about how there isn't actually one "italian cuisine" but 20 different ones.  for example, the florentines like to use few and simple ingredients in order to taste each of them; as opposed to those in bologna (the bolognians? bolganese? anyone?)  who use tons of flavorful sauces on everything.   it was raining (only day this week! so we came in and did some homework and relaxed)

wednesday we had a tour of the san lorenzo market, oh my was this life changing.  when you first walk up to it there are alleyways of vendors with leather everything, purses of all kinds, belts, wallets, sunglasses, scarves, jewlery, keychains, souvenirs (put in your orders, my time here is flying by!) and tons of stuff like that.  you can haggle them for lower prices, you just have to be aggressive. (roar)  anyway, inside on the first floor are all the butchers (providing steaks, chopped meat, pork loins, chicken breast, whole chickens, cow intestine, pigs feet, cow brain, pig stomach lining, horse...stuff, are you getting the gist?) and seafood vendors on one side and the homemade pasta, fresh bread and little shops on the other.  i've never seen such an array of pastas and beans and oils and...pig heads?  upstairs are the fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, dried fruit heaven, chocolate, and tons of other things.  so the reason this is all life changing, is because everything in there is SO SO SO cheap!  it's on our way home from school (and only open until 2) so we stop whenever we're running on low.  not only is everything fresh, it's delicious and convenient and um, delicious.  later that day we did some more window shopping and i bought a fantastic purple coat.  i no longer scream TOURIST with my brown northface-too-small-winter-coat-liner.  i'm slowly becoming one of them!

thursday.  ah! midterm day.  had to write an in class essay and... i aced it.  only because we were so confident in our flawless performances did we stop on the way home to reward ourselves with some gelato.  i had chocolate chili and florentine vanilla, mmm.  came back home to study for the language midterm on friday.  as a break we made stuffed peppers and they were so good!  i tend to cook with jill, morgan and jen and they love that i know how.  they call themselves my sous chefs, asking how to do this and that, it's a lot of fun.  

today we had our language midterm and i got a 100% (toot toot!) after the test we had a chocolate party for san valentino's day and they played some great italian dancing music for us.  after class we stopped at the san lorenzo market to pick up some necessities and came back here for lunch.  we wanted to go see michaelangelo's david after, but when we got there it was closed due to a worker's strike!  no biggie, we'll just go to the uffizi, cue walking across town.  oh no, it's closed for the same reason.  those darn temperamental italians!  it was a clear (but very chilly) day so we just walked around and came back once we were thoroughly frozen. 

tomorrow we're off to rome (at 630am) for a cheap, packed trip we signed up for through our school.  i should probably get some sleep.  stay tuned for updates about rome on sunday!  until then enjoy these pictures: (again, click on them, they're albums)

09-02-08 italy 5

09-02-11 italy 6

What's that saying? When in... Florence?

Bongiorno a tutti!

Things here have been doing nothing but improving.  There was a break in the rain on Friday after class and the roomies and I took the long way home stopping to take some pictures and get some gelato.  I had an epiphany just looking around this ancient city, and now I think I'm going to make it/love it/embrace it for the next 4 months.  Confession:  I had quite a few moments last week where I was incredibly homesick and was beginning to brainstorm how to tell everyone I needed to go home.  I wish that was an exaggeration, but it's not.  Having a schedule, lots of friends, and more knowledge of the city/how things work around here has only helped these feelings to go away.  

So what have I been up to?  Well, Friday morning I woke up with a cold, yayyyyy (not).  I imagine it's due to fact that I have been soaked and chilled to the bone all week with the rain.  So Friday night when the guys with the really sweet apartment (unlike our jailcell, which is really not that bad but it is fun to make fun of) had a party, I stayed in and went to bed early.  It was lame I know, but I thought I could sleep it off and be better for the rest of the week.  Wrong, woke up more sick this morning.  Slept til about noon, got up and took a hot shower and then...

(Insert suspenseful music here) Morgan and I got a haircut in Italy.  In retrospect, really really bad idea to get a haircut from someone who's language you do not speak.  I thought we were on the same page, hand motions were the same and everything, he repeated me when I explained my only stipulation was that I wanted to be able to put all of it up in a ponytail.  Duh Jes, parrots can repeat things and not understand what the heck they're saying.  Long story short, I'm bald.  Alright maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but I sure can't put all of it up.  Grr.  I'm angry now but give me a few weeks for it to grow and I'm sure this story will be hilarious.

After that we FINALLY found a legitimate grocery store and are finally pros at ordering deli meats (thanks to a lengthy tangent we got my Italian teacher to go on).  Came back, made a big family style dinner and are recovering from the days events.  The girls went out again tonight to a local pub, clearly I'm still sitting on my bed in sweats, being sick =(  

Tomorrow we're going to check out a local museam, we have cards that get us into most of them for free.  There are student discounts everywhere around here!  Potentially finding the IKEA bus to get some hangers/sweedish meatballs, and perhaps some studying?  Have to schedule that in or you tend to forget you're actually in school around here.

Here's the only picture of my new 'do, it's not so great but I'm sure you're all just dying to see it.  That's my, "crap, what just happened" face:

That's all for now, more (healthy) updates soon!

xo

Pictures!

Here's a link to my first few days of pictures.

Finally saw some sun today and it was almost 60!  Learned about the history of soccer and a few of the carnivales/traditions of Italy.  Walked around in the gorgeous weather, perused some shops we want to go to this weekend, drooled over the jewlery on the Ponte Vecchio, got some gelato, you know the usual things you do in Itay.

Not much new since last night, just wanted to share my pictures! 

(Click on them, they're albums) 

2009-01-29 italy departure

2009-01-31 italy day 2

2009-02-03 italy 3

All here and accounted for.

Ciao ciao ciao!  

Me despiache for the delay, but I made it, torturous 14 hour travel expedition and all.  Arrived incredibly exhausted around 2pm on Friday and took a taxi to the Hotel, dropped our stuff off, zombied back down the 116 winding stairs and out to explore.  Took lots of pictures, see links below, and began learning some many italian lessons, fast.  For example, obey pedestrian walking signals...it's cut throat here.   We were taken out to dinner by our program director, Nicholas, to a little local place where they served us a wonderful 3 course meal with lots of bread and wine.  Lesson #2: Italians don't do butter on bread.   After birthday cake, or should i say chocolate covered creame puffs for one of the girls 21st, they sent us back up to pass out for the next 13 hours.  

Saturday we woke up...in the afternoon and ventured out for some breakfast before orientation.  Learned a few important italian lessons here.  We walked into the bar (bar=cafe, snackshop = cafe, pub=bar) and stood there standing out like the sorest of thumbs.  We were hoping to get coffees to go, which is taboo here in itself.  The italians really value their food and like to enjoy the time with each other, hence no take out, ever.  Thanks to Jill's order we learned another lesson, hot chocolate = hot chocolate.  No, like I mean, melted chocolate chunks that would be great if we had strawberries to dip, but not so great to drink.  This was where I had my first espresso, deliciosa.  It came in this interesting little white plastic cup with a clear top which i proceeded to put the sugar on top of instead of inside (it was really clear, okay??).  Next was orientation where we were shown important places, our schools, filled out paperwork, etc.  They took us back to the same restaurant and we were served our first pizzas.  I liked!  Not so different from home, just a smaller crust.  Later on I had my first gelato, melon flavored, I'm hooked!  That night we checked out a local American pub, they had a live band which was cool, heard from Billy Joel all the way to "Build me up Buttercup."  Back to bed to get over the jetlag, which for the record, was actually pretty non-existant.

There's 48 of us on this program and Sunday we were all moved into our apartments.  When the (Mercedes) bus came we had to pack 10 girls, and luggage for ten girls (did I mention they were girls?) on it.  They dropped us off and told us to get settled.  Jill and I got the smallest room in the joint, complimentary broken closet,  random sink, missing lamps and a lack of internet service, hence it being affectionately named, "cellula di prigone" (Italian for jail cell).  No I'm kidding, well, kind of.  It's not so bad, we made it very homey.  This apartment used to be an old bed & breakfast so it's HUGE, and yes we do frequently get people knocking on the door to "book a room."  We think our room used to be the owner's room and had a kitchen in it because behind my bed (a fancy cot, yes, Jill's has already collapsed) there is a random counter with an even more random faucet and oven hood sticking out.  Speaking of ovens, we don't have one.  The kitchen is nice and big with a loft (everyone has a loft in their room actually!) gas burners, 3 fridges, sink, no oven.  However! Nick said that will soon be coming, haven't quite figured out where they'll put it yet.  Oh, and the coffee maker is on it's way as well, phew.  Ventured out to the supermercadi Sunday afternoon.  Ha!  Ha.... no, not so much.  We get in there and, well, everything was in Italian.   Cue Mom and Eric's "I told you so" on the "Oh I'll be fine not knowing a lick of Italian."  Ugh.  Had I not had Jill with me, this adventure would have probably ended in tears.  It was very difficult to even buy laundry detergent, we were literally standing there with our Italian-English dictionaries.  Got home and ate, then went to bed.  Oh wait, had to use my dictionary to translate the directions on dinner, ate, and then went to bed.

Monday! First day of school.  It's a hike, about a 20 minute walk, but I love it.  Beautiful scenery and nice fresh air to wake me up.  From 9-10:30 (break for a half hour, to the local cafe for my cappuccino since the apartment has no coffee maker) then 11-12:30 of intensive Italian language class.  Love the professoressa, she's a 45 (and a half!) year old feisty-yet-motherly woman.  So much fun, she acts all the words out instead of telling us them in English.  Learning a lot, REALLY FAST.  Then off to school #2 for Italian culture class from 2-4:30 with Francesca.  She's a native Florentine, but she too is feisty and incredibly knowledgeable about, um, everything.  We're assigned a reading the night before every class about whatever it's going to be on.   The first day we had a walking tour and a tour of the local library, definitely going to frequent it.  Second day we went to Dante's house which is a museum dedicated to him now.  Really neat.  Today (Wednesday) was in the classroom and all about Davinci.  There is so much about him I never knew.  So cool!  There's a museum near here with many of his hundreds of  inventions still functioning, I'd love to go check it out but apparently it's hard to get to.  

I won't wait so long to update next time, this was a lot!  I'm going to go make me some dinner now and then post the pictures.  Hope everything on the homefront is good, updates please!! (jesgulutz@gmail.com) 

Much love,

Jessie