Wednesday= sleep. End of story. lol.
Thursday I had Ballet. We watched the beginning of Sleeping Beauty (the ballet, not the Disney movie, haha). Came back to the apartment for lunch and to pick up a bit. After a while, I decided to go for a walk. Strolled down the Arno, the opposite direction that I usually go. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. I wish I had brought my camera, but I'll get pictures another day. After I crossed the last bridge, there was a cute little park on the other side of the river, and a spot where you could go walk down by the river- I'm definitely going to come here to read in the future!
After dinner with the roomies, we decided to go out for a girls' night. We went to a club that a friend of Andrea's had recommended to us- a fancier bar called Colle Bereto. It was really fun sitting at a table outside and enjoying the evening and conversation- this is a REALLY big part of Italian culture. That's why there are so many streetside cafes, bars, restaurants, etc. And another thing we have noticed is that you always have to ask for the check, because most people will stay at a restaurant for much longer than it takes them to eat and they don't want you to feel rushed.
I've been getting a lot of questions about Italian men, so here is your answer:
Although like with any other group of people, you can't lump them all together- everyone is different. But the overall impression we have gotten from Italian men is that they are jerks. Are they handsome? Well, for the most part, yes. VERY handsome. However, when one is whistling at you like a dog, it's kind of hard to care about how cute he is. Italians are very forward and very bold. A guy by himself in America would never talk to four pretty foreign girls without a wingman, especially not the way Italians talk to us. The compliments and comments were funny, and sometimes even flattering- but it gets old REALLY fast. We are all SOOOOO over Italian men. After the intial humor of it has worn off for all of us, we really would just love it if they left us alone. lol. Needless to say, those of you who worried about me falling in love and running away with some Italian man, I think you can rest easy. :)
Ciao!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Yeah, there's sand on the floor- just go with it.
Andrea invited us to a Carnevale party at Borgo Antico on Tuesday night. We all got dressed up, put our masks on, and headed to the restaurant: the four of us and Julia's friend Ari. Although we didn't really know what to expect, I guess we were thinking that it would be a small party- mainly just the restaurant workers and some friends.
NOPE. Apparently, Fat Tuesday is a good excuse to party hardy because the not only was the restaurant packed, but the entire Piazza where the restaurant is located was packed with people in costumes, loud music playing, and just general craziness.
We walked (or rather pushed and shoved our way into) Borgo Antico, and noticed something rather odd- the floor in the entry room was completely covered with 3-4 inches of sand!
What?.....eh, just go with it. (But I don't think my black boots will ever recover from the experience LOL)
There was a live band playing Latin music- it was totally Vicki-Cristina Barcelona (it's an awesome movie, just go with it). The singer is kind of hidden in this picture- she had a GREAT voice. The music, dancing, food and drink- it was VERY European. There just really isn't any other way to describe the whole experience.
And we looked pretty awesome- other tourists kept asking to take our picture. :)
The party was really fun, but VERY exhausting. Luckily, only one class on Wednesday, so plenty of time to catch up on sleep!
Ciao!
NOPE. Apparently, Fat Tuesday is a good excuse to party hardy because the not only was the restaurant packed, but the entire Piazza where the restaurant is located was packed with people in costumes, loud music playing, and just general craziness.
We walked (or rather pushed and shoved our way into) Borgo Antico, and noticed something rather odd- the floor in the entry room was completely covered with 3-4 inches of sand!
What?.....eh, just go with it. (But I don't think my black boots will ever recover from the experience LOL)
There was a live band playing Latin music- it was totally Vicki-Cristina Barcelona (it's an awesome movie, just go with it). The singer is kind of hidden in this picture- she had a GREAT voice. The music, dancing, food and drink- it was VERY European. There just really isn't any other way to describe the whole experience.
And we looked pretty awesome- other tourists kept asking to take our picture. :)
The party was really fun, but VERY exhausting. Luckily, only one class on Wednesday, so plenty of time to catch up on sleep!
Ciao!
Evening Serenade
I forgot to post this on here. I don't remember what day this came from, but one evening, I was sitting in my room relaxing when I heard some music coming from down the street. It was quite lovely, just sitting there enjoying the music while doing my homework. :) Here's a little sound clip for you, granted there is a considerable amount of background noise, and a car really ruins it at the ending, but it's still fun! :) Ciao!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Winning some battles, but losing the war
Pretty typical Monday. First up was Italian. We learned some food vocabulary and went to the market. I hadn't been to the market before, so it was quite an interesting experience. It's a HUGE building with vendors selling everything from fruit to wine, fish, cheese. EVERYTHING. The downstairs, which was mostly meat, cheese, etc. admittedly smelled pretty bad, but the upstairs, mostly produce, was an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, though, I found another enemy in the war against my figure: this delicious dried, candied fruit from the market. YUM. (I mean, I've already called it quits on Nutella, and cut back to an occasional gelato, and then this comes along! UGH.)
Back to the apartment for awhile for lunch and a little internet, then I had to head back to school for Religion and Mafia. Nothing much exciting to report from either of those, except for the group assignment for Mafia. I formed a group with a couple of girls I've been sitting next to and we picked Women in the Mafia for our topic for presentation. Pretty cool. :)
I got back from class, and Julia had some supper waiting for me! She's the best! :) After I ate, we changed and headed to a club called Bebop, which has open mic night on Mondays, to listen to her friend Mitch play guitar and sing.
Tuesday started with a trip to the Bargello sculpture museum (a palace turned meeting place, turned prison/torture chamber/execution hall, turned exhibition venue, turned sculpture museum) with my Renaissance Art class. I would love to show you pictures, but again, they frown upon that. I didn't think my teacher would appreciate my attempts at sneak attacks during class. :) Some of the highlights of the trip included Donatello's bronze David & marble St. George, Brunelleschi & Ghiberti's original competition panels (from the competition for the Baptistery Doors), and Michaelangelo's Bacchus.
Then, we went to the Orsan Michele (a marketplace turned granary, turned church/museum) to check out the sculptures in the niches on the outside of the building.
When the building was turned into a church, each niche was sponsored by a guild (workers' organization) from Florence. The guilds commissioned an artist to sculpt their parton saint or other figure for their niche.
This one is the Wool Merchants' guild's, which has a statue of St. John the Baptist (sculpted by Ghiberti, the same guy that did the Baptistery Doors). This was a very wealthy guild, which also sponsored the San Miniato church and the Baptistery. (The woman in the bottom of the picture is my teacher! She's really cool!)
This one is a statue of St. Mark the Evangelist, sculpted by Donatello for the Linen Weaver's guild. This one has an interesting story (sorry if I'm boring you all with all this art history, but I think it's cool!)- when Donatello finished the statue, the head of the guild (while looking at the sculpture on the ground) told him the proportions were off, and it would have to be fixed before it could be placed in the niche. Donatello promised the guild to fix it, but proceeded to place it in the niche without alteration, knowing perfectly well that once it was placed in the niche, about 8 feet off the ground, the proportions would look correct. And he was right- they thanked him for fixing it.
This last one is St. George, sculpted by Donatello for the Armorers' Guild. The bottom panel tells the story of St. George, a knight who killed a dragon and saved the princess (a little cliche, but we'll go with it, lol). And just to make a note of this, all of these sculptures are copies. The originals are in museums, as I noted earlier that I saw this sculpture of St. George at the Bargello.
After Art, I had Ballet. We got into some really tricky combos today. I would also like to note that my teacher definitely thinks I am more flexible that I actually am, because when we were working on arabesque positions, she kept pulling my leg farther and farther. And she mostly does this to me! I don't know why! lol. But I'm a little worried that one of these days she's going to break me! :) But she's a sweet lady, and I have a lot of fun in her class. :)
I met Brian on my way back from Ballet, so we ran and got a quick panini from a shop near his and Brent's apartment and then hung out for awhile. Julia and I are thinking of going to Sienna this weekend, and Brent and Brian might join us! Fun! :)
When I got back to the apartment, Shannon, Marla and I all finally sat down and booked our flights to Sardinia, a sunny island off the coast of Italy, for our trip in April. All this traveling! Exciting!
The weather is BEAUTIFUL today, but I think I might need to take a nap. Didn't sleep too well last night, and I need to rest up for tonight. Andrea invited us to a party at Borgo Antico for Mardi Gras.
Ciao!
Back to the apartment for awhile for lunch and a little internet, then I had to head back to school for Religion and Mafia. Nothing much exciting to report from either of those, except for the group assignment for Mafia. I formed a group with a couple of girls I've been sitting next to and we picked Women in the Mafia for our topic for presentation. Pretty cool. :)
I got back from class, and Julia had some supper waiting for me! She's the best! :) After I ate, we changed and headed to a club called Bebop, which has open mic night on Mondays, to listen to her friend Mitch play guitar and sing.
Tuesday started with a trip to the Bargello sculpture museum (a palace turned meeting place, turned prison/torture chamber/execution hall, turned exhibition venue, turned sculpture museum) with my Renaissance Art class. I would love to show you pictures, but again, they frown upon that. I didn't think my teacher would appreciate my attempts at sneak attacks during class. :) Some of the highlights of the trip included Donatello's bronze David & marble St. George, Brunelleschi & Ghiberti's original competition panels (from the competition for the Baptistery Doors), and Michaelangelo's Bacchus.
Then, we went to the Orsan Michele (a marketplace turned granary, turned church/museum) to check out the sculptures in the niches on the outside of the building.
When the building was turned into a church, each niche was sponsored by a guild (workers' organization) from Florence. The guilds commissioned an artist to sculpt their parton saint or other figure for their niche.
This one is the Wool Merchants' guild's, which has a statue of St. John the Baptist (sculpted by Ghiberti, the same guy that did the Baptistery Doors). This was a very wealthy guild, which also sponsored the San Miniato church and the Baptistery. (The woman in the bottom of the picture is my teacher! She's really cool!)
This one is a statue of St. Mark the Evangelist, sculpted by Donatello for the Linen Weaver's guild. This one has an interesting story (sorry if I'm boring you all with all this art history, but I think it's cool!)- when Donatello finished the statue, the head of the guild (while looking at the sculpture on the ground) told him the proportions were off, and it would have to be fixed before it could be placed in the niche. Donatello promised the guild to fix it, but proceeded to place it in the niche without alteration, knowing perfectly well that once it was placed in the niche, about 8 feet off the ground, the proportions would look correct. And he was right- they thanked him for fixing it.
This last one is St. George, sculpted by Donatello for the Armorers' Guild. The bottom panel tells the story of St. George, a knight who killed a dragon and saved the princess (a little cliche, but we'll go with it, lol). And just to make a note of this, all of these sculptures are copies. The originals are in museums, as I noted earlier that I saw this sculpture of St. George at the Bargello.
After Art, I had Ballet. We got into some really tricky combos today. I would also like to note that my teacher definitely thinks I am more flexible that I actually am, because when we were working on arabesque positions, she kept pulling my leg farther and farther. And she mostly does this to me! I don't know why! lol. But I'm a little worried that one of these days she's going to break me! :) But she's a sweet lady, and I have a lot of fun in her class. :)
I met Brian on my way back from Ballet, so we ran and got a quick panini from a shop near his and Brent's apartment and then hung out for awhile. Julia and I are thinking of going to Sienna this weekend, and Brent and Brian might join us! Fun! :)
When I got back to the apartment, Shannon, Marla and I all finally sat down and booked our flights to Sardinia, a sunny island off the coast of Italy, for our trip in April. All this traveling! Exciting!
The weather is BEAUTIFUL today, but I think I might need to take a nap. Didn't sleep too well last night, and I need to rest up for tonight. Andrea invited us to a party at Borgo Antico for Mardi Gras.
Ciao!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Carnevale? Or Oakland Homecoming Parade?
Since I missed Carnevale at Viareggio, we stayed in Florence to check out the Carnevale celebration here. I had checked out the Piazza where the festivities were going to be held a few days before. After seeing Shannon and Marla's pictures, I was really excited to see Florence's version.
Julia and I got to the Piazza Ognissanti a little later than we intended to, and there wasn't much going on. To be perfectly honest, the portion of the parade that we were watching at the Piazza could have fit into the Homecoming parade in Oakland- some people, in really random attire (not matching at all- some in t-shirts, some in what appeared to be bad Halloween costumes, etc.) dancing behind a truck with a cd player. Not exactly the grand floats and elaborate costumes from the Viareggio pictures.
Unimpressed, we decided to leave, but on our way back, we met up with the beginning of the parade, which was WAY better than then ending we caught at Ognissanti. It still wasn't the grandiose parade that we could have seen in Viareggio or Venice, but it still pretty cool. How the parade worked was there were groups of people representing different countries, dressed in customary attire and dancing. And apparently the beginning groups were the best.
These guys started the parade, representing the city of Florence, I guess. (see the red Fleur de Lis- that's the official symbol of Florence).
Then there were some people dressed in costumes from....well, I have no idea what time period this would be from.....Old....we'll go with that. :) (and none of them looked very happy, lol)
And then here are some of the highlights from the other groups:
This guy was a little scary to be honest...
Colombia went all out- they had like 5 different groups!
Don't remember where these guys were from, but they were doing a really cool dance.
As were these folks...
Mariachi! :)
The Carnevale Fiorentina was admittedly disappointing, but it was still kind of cool, and we had a good time.
Ciao!
Julia and I got to the Piazza Ognissanti a little later than we intended to, and there wasn't much going on. To be perfectly honest, the portion of the parade that we were watching at the Piazza could have fit into the Homecoming parade in Oakland- some people, in really random attire (not matching at all- some in t-shirts, some in what appeared to be bad Halloween costumes, etc.) dancing behind a truck with a cd player. Not exactly the grand floats and elaborate costumes from the Viareggio pictures.
Unimpressed, we decided to leave, but on our way back, we met up with the beginning of the parade, which was WAY better than then ending we caught at Ognissanti. It still wasn't the grandiose parade that we could have seen in Viareggio or Venice, but it still pretty cool. How the parade worked was there were groups of people representing different countries, dressed in customary attire and dancing. And apparently the beginning groups were the best.
These guys started the parade, representing the city of Florence, I guess. (see the red Fleur de Lis- that's the official symbol of Florence).
Then there were some people dressed in costumes from....well, I have no idea what time period this would be from.....Old....we'll go with that. :) (and none of them looked very happy, lol)
And then here are some of the highlights from the other groups:
This guy was a little scary to be honest...
Colombia went all out- they had like 5 different groups!
Don't remember where these guys were from, but they were doing a really cool dance.
As were these folks...
Mariachi! :)
The Carnevale Fiorentina was admittedly disappointing, but it was still kind of cool, and we had a good time.
Ciao!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Lucca: "the sky is bluer, the mountains are taller, even the pigeons are more beautiful!"
My roomies and I took a day trip to Lucca, which is a really nice city about an hour and a half (by train) northwest of Florence. We got going fairly early, and made it to the train station by about 9. Though we admittedly did have to run to catch the train, the beginning of the journey already felt less stressful that my previous excursion to Pisa.
When we arrived in Lucca, we hopped off the train and headed toward the center of the city, which is completely encircled by a tall brick wall.
Through the shady tunnel and into Lucca!
For the sake of keeping this short and sweet, I'll just hit the highlights of our trip:
Piazza Napoleone (there were a bunch of little kids dressed up for Carnevale throwing confetti everywhere- cute!)
Piazza San Michele & Church
Lunch near the San Frediano Church
Torre dei Guinigi- A medieval tower with trees growing on the top. The stairs to the top of the tower are admittedly a little sketchy, but lined with some cool Medieval story cartoon things (which we probably would have appreciated more if we could have understood what they said, lol).
San Martino Cathedral (which is a Romanesque style church in case anyone was wondering lol). Pictures weren't allowed inside, and being out of my comfort zone, I wasn't quite as bold with the sneak attacks. :)
The great thing about the walls around Lucca, is that it keeps traffic to a minimum. Bikes are the most popular form of transportation, and so we decided to take a bike ride! The bike ride was a great way to take in all the scenery, but Julia got a little hopped up on Lucca. "I swear the sky is just bluer here," "Those mountains are awesome! They seem taller than the mountains at home," "Seriously guys, Lucca is awesome- I think even the pigeons are more beautiful!" LOL. Oh silly honeymooner. I think she might have gotten too much fresh air. :)
We got home from Lucca around 8:00pm, and we were all exhausted! We had a great time in Lucca, but between the fresh air, bike ride, stairs, and walking, we just called it a day!
Ciao!
When we arrived in Lucca, we hopped off the train and headed toward the center of the city, which is completely encircled by a tall brick wall.
Through the shady tunnel and into Lucca!
For the sake of keeping this short and sweet, I'll just hit the highlights of our trip:
Piazza Napoleone (there were a bunch of little kids dressed up for Carnevale throwing confetti everywhere- cute!)
Piazza San Michele & Church
Lunch near the San Frediano Church
Torre dei Guinigi- A medieval tower with trees growing on the top. The stairs to the top of the tower are admittedly a little sketchy, but lined with some cool Medieval story cartoon things (which we probably would have appreciated more if we could have understood what they said, lol).
San Martino Cathedral (which is a Romanesque style church in case anyone was wondering lol). Pictures weren't allowed inside, and being out of my comfort zone, I wasn't quite as bold with the sneak attacks. :)
The great thing about the walls around Lucca, is that it keeps traffic to a minimum. Bikes are the most popular form of transportation, and so we decided to take a bike ride! The bike ride was a great way to take in all the scenery, but Julia got a little hopped up on Lucca. "I swear the sky is just bluer here," "Those mountains are awesome! They seem taller than the mountains at home," "Seriously guys, Lucca is awesome- I think even the pigeons are more beautiful!" LOL. Oh silly honeymooner. I think she might have gotten too much fresh air. :)
We got home from Lucca around 8:00pm, and we were all exhausted! We had a great time in Lucca, but between the fresh air, bike ride, stairs, and walking, we just called it a day!
Ciao!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Slow News Day
Not much in the way of news for today.
We had the first major problem in our apartment this morning. By problem, I mean that I went to go take a shower before heading over to Brent & Brian's to make travel plans, and the water didn't turn on! In fact, we had no water in the whole apartment. Uh oh. We tried to call the landlord, but couldn't reach him for some reason. That's probably not good. (But, luckily by the time I got back, it was back on. Phew!)
Julia went to the Uffizi with Ari; Shannon and Marla hung out around Ponte Vecchio. I went to Brent and Brian's to work on Easter weekend plans. We finally decided on Barcelona, and after a long and very tedious search through just about every hostel in Barcelona, we finally found one up to their standards and within price range (seriously, they were like impossible to please! ugh!) So the big story for the day is I'm spending Easter weekend in Barcelona! YAY!! :)
Tomorrow we're going to Siena & Lucca. Hopefully there will be more excitement to write about. :)
Ciao!
We had the first major problem in our apartment this morning. By problem, I mean that I went to go take a shower before heading over to Brent & Brian's to make travel plans, and the water didn't turn on! In fact, we had no water in the whole apartment. Uh oh. We tried to call the landlord, but couldn't reach him for some reason. That's probably not good. (But, luckily by the time I got back, it was back on. Phew!)
Julia went to the Uffizi with Ari; Shannon and Marla hung out around Ponte Vecchio. I went to Brent and Brian's to work on Easter weekend plans. We finally decided on Barcelona, and after a long and very tedious search through just about every hostel in Barcelona, we finally found one up to their standards and within price range (seriously, they were like impossible to please! ugh!) So the big story for the day is I'm spending Easter weekend in Barcelona! YAY!! :)
Tomorrow we're going to Siena & Lucca. Hopefully there will be more excitement to write about. :)
Ciao!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Failed fried ice cream= Delicious fun
I enjoyed my late start on Thursday, woke up a little after 10 to do some internet before heading to Ballet. Class was fun, we are starting to do some turn work, or at least the start of turns, anywho. Fun stuff.:)
I came home wondering what I should do with the rest of the afternoon, when I noticed the flyer sitting on my bedside table- Oh yeah! I have dance club today! :)
LdM has 10 clubs that students can join, Cinema Club, Music Club, Sports Clubs, Slow-Drink Club, etc. The Dance Club meets once a month, and the school brings in local dance instructors to teach ethnic dances. FUN!
At today's meeting, the schedule said we were learning European dance. Rather broad topic, I thought. The instructor's name was claudio, and he taught us 5 dances from different parts of Europe. (which I will fix when he e-mails us the names and music, but this list is the best I can do from memory haha)
The first three were all chained or circle dances, with basic steps that were repeated over and over with a few variations. The last two were partnered dances, so some had to play boys (because no boys joined dance club surprisingly lol)
1. Trata- Greek islands
The Trata was a dance that is supposed to resemble fishermen pulling in the nets, so suffice it to say that the arm movements involved in it were slightly ridiculous. :)
2. ? - Bulgaria
I can't remember the name of the Bulgarian dance, but there was fancier footwork involved and a few jumps and kicks involved.
3. Ronde de ??- French Riviera
This one was admittedly a little boring. It was basically a side step and two heel digs repeated over and over, but with a jump thrown in here and there. And the music was really long. YAWN.
4. ??- England
Also can't remember the name of the English dance, but it reminded me of the dancing in Pride & Prejudice. So, I thought it was really fun. :) and it was cool because the way the dance worked, the couples rotated so that every "boy" danced with every girl.
5. Scottish- France
This one was a little confusing: It was originally a Scottish dance that the French also liked to dance, but then teh Scottish stopped dancing it and it turned into a French dance called the Scottish. Get all of that?
Dance club was really fun overall. Next month's meeting will be Italian dance, and the last one will be Arabic (I've heard rumors that this involved belly dancing, so that may be the end of gelato and nutella for me lol)
After dance club, I went back to the apartment to chill for a little, but instead was invited over to Brent and Brian's apartment! yay!
Little did I know, that I was being invited over to keep Brian company while we went to the laundromat to do Brent's laundry. WHAT?! I did not sign up for laundry. But then again, those two are so crazy, they make anything fun.
After laundry, we went back to the apartment for internet access for two reasons:
One, we wanted to make dessert and needed a recipe.
Two, we also wanted to take a trip together Easter weekend. yay!
Finally, we all settled on making fried ice cream. Brent promised it was really easy (famous last words, haha!). So we went to the grocery store to get the ingredients. Back at the apartment, we started making our dessert while Brian searched for flights and hostels, not finding much. I scooped the gelato and put the scoops in the freezer to harden. Brent crushed up cornflakes and mixed then with cinnamon and sugar. We took turns beating the egg whites, then Brent put it all together. All seemed to be going according to the plan, until we put them in the pan to fry them. I don't think anything actually fried, so much as got melty and gooey- needless to say, it didn't quite turn out as we expected. However, as misshapen and unappetizing as it looked, it was actually quite delicious! :) And we had a lot of fun in the process. Brian ended up really frustrated with trip-planning, so we decided to put our vacation on hold.
A little later than we all expected, the boys walked me back to my apartment. When I got back, Andrea and his friend Orlo had come to visit! So, Shannon, Marla, and I hung out with them for awhile before turning in for the night.
Tomorrow's plans are uncertain. Possible the Ferregamo Museum of shoes, but who knows? :)
Ciao!
I came home wondering what I should do with the rest of the afternoon, when I noticed the flyer sitting on my bedside table- Oh yeah! I have dance club today! :)
LdM has 10 clubs that students can join, Cinema Club, Music Club, Sports Clubs, Slow-Drink Club, etc. The Dance Club meets once a month, and the school brings in local dance instructors to teach ethnic dances. FUN!
At today's meeting, the schedule said we were learning European dance. Rather broad topic, I thought. The instructor's name was claudio, and he taught us 5 dances from different parts of Europe. (which I will fix when he e-mails us the names and music, but this list is the best I can do from memory haha)
The first three were all chained or circle dances, with basic steps that were repeated over and over with a few variations. The last two were partnered dances, so some had to play boys (because no boys joined dance club surprisingly lol)
1. Trata- Greek islands
The Trata was a dance that is supposed to resemble fishermen pulling in the nets, so suffice it to say that the arm movements involved in it were slightly ridiculous. :)
2. ? - Bulgaria
I can't remember the name of the Bulgarian dance, but there was fancier footwork involved and a few jumps and kicks involved.
3. Ronde de ??- French Riviera
This one was admittedly a little boring. It was basically a side step and two heel digs repeated over and over, but with a jump thrown in here and there. And the music was really long. YAWN.
4. ??- England
Also can't remember the name of the English dance, but it reminded me of the dancing in Pride & Prejudice. So, I thought it was really fun. :) and it was cool because the way the dance worked, the couples rotated so that every "boy" danced with every girl.
5. Scottish- France
This one was a little confusing: It was originally a Scottish dance that the French also liked to dance, but then teh Scottish stopped dancing it and it turned into a French dance called the Scottish. Get all of that?
Dance club was really fun overall. Next month's meeting will be Italian dance, and the last one will be Arabic (I've heard rumors that this involved belly dancing, so that may be the end of gelato and nutella for me lol)
After dance club, I went back to the apartment to chill for a little, but instead was invited over to Brent and Brian's apartment! yay!
Little did I know, that I was being invited over to keep Brian company while we went to the laundromat to do Brent's laundry. WHAT?! I did not sign up for laundry. But then again, those two are so crazy, they make anything fun.
After laundry, we went back to the apartment for internet access for two reasons:
One, we wanted to make dessert and needed a recipe.
Two, we also wanted to take a trip together Easter weekend. yay!
Finally, we all settled on making fried ice cream. Brent promised it was really easy (famous last words, haha!). So we went to the grocery store to get the ingredients. Back at the apartment, we started making our dessert while Brian searched for flights and hostels, not finding much. I scooped the gelato and put the scoops in the freezer to harden. Brent crushed up cornflakes and mixed then with cinnamon and sugar. We took turns beating the egg whites, then Brent put it all together. All seemed to be going according to the plan, until we put them in the pan to fry them. I don't think anything actually fried, so much as got melty and gooey- needless to say, it didn't quite turn out as we expected. However, as misshapen and unappetizing as it looked, it was actually quite delicious! :) And we had a lot of fun in the process. Brian ended up really frustrated with trip-planning, so we decided to put our vacation on hold.
A little later than we all expected, the boys walked me back to my apartment. When I got back, Andrea and his friend Orlo had come to visit! So, Shannon, Marla, and I hung out with them for awhile before turning in for the night.
Tomorrow's plans are uncertain. Possible the Ferregamo Museum of shoes, but who knows? :)
Ciao!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Ummm, do you have an appointment?
Wednesday, I started the day with a quiz in Italian. Italian isn't the best way to start a day, but oh well. Quiz went well, all is good...except for the threat of emily and i murdering our teacher, but no worries! haha!
After class, I went home and killed a little time (because it's better than killing my Italian teacher haha!) before my 1:00 Skype "appointment" with Mom. I talked with her for a good half hour, and then headed out to enjoy the sunshine.
Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as warm as the beautiful sunny day implied, but determined to spend as much of the day out of doors as possible, I threw on gloves and a scarf and headed out anyway.
First stop was to the Baptistery to take pictures of the doors, a promised.
The South Doors, created by Andrea Pisano (1336).
The North Doors, created by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1424) after winning the competition.
The Gates of Paradise, created by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1452) because he did such a good job on the North Doors. :)
After pictures, I had to make a quick trip to get a packet for my art class. Then, I wandered for awhile. I found the Hotel Monna Lisa, where my parents will be staying during their visit to Florence- it looks really nice and I think they're going to love it, but no pictures! I don't want to ruin the surprise for them! :)
I still had a few hours to kill before my next Skype "appointment" with Jackie, so I headed back to the apartment to consult my guidebook to see what I should do with the rest of my afternoon. I considered a trip to the Ufizzi or the Bargello museums, but decided instead to go check out the area where the Carnevale Festivities will be on Sunday. I checked the map and headed toward the Piazza de Ognissanti. Which turned out to be a cute little square between the Ognissanti church and the Arno. I hope this Carnevale thing is fun!
Unfortunately, this little field trip didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, so after strolling down the Arno back towards my apartment, I decided to go back and change for a run. Which was lovely. :)
Ciao!
After class, I went home and killed a little time (because it's better than killing my Italian teacher haha!) before my 1:00 Skype "appointment" with Mom. I talked with her for a good half hour, and then headed out to enjoy the sunshine.
Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as warm as the beautiful sunny day implied, but determined to spend as much of the day out of doors as possible, I threw on gloves and a scarf and headed out anyway.
First stop was to the Baptistery to take pictures of the doors, a promised.
The South Doors, created by Andrea Pisano (1336).
The North Doors, created by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1424) after winning the competition.
The Gates of Paradise, created by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1452) because he did such a good job on the North Doors. :)
After pictures, I had to make a quick trip to get a packet for my art class. Then, I wandered for awhile. I found the Hotel Monna Lisa, where my parents will be staying during their visit to Florence- it looks really nice and I think they're going to love it, but no pictures! I don't want to ruin the surprise for them! :)
I still had a few hours to kill before my next Skype "appointment" with Jackie, so I headed back to the apartment to consult my guidebook to see what I should do with the rest of my afternoon. I considered a trip to the Ufizzi or the Bargello museums, but decided instead to go check out the area where the Carnevale Festivities will be on Sunday. I checked the map and headed toward the Piazza de Ognissanti. Which turned out to be a cute little square between the Ognissanti church and the Arno. I hope this Carnevale thing is fun!
Unfortunately, this little field trip didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, so after strolling down the Arno back towards my apartment, I decided to go back and change for a run. Which was lovely. :)
Ciao!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Why can't I take keys?
Back to school on Monday. And after a bit of perspective a la Nikki, :) I was thrilled to be going to class! haha! (thanks, Nikki)
First class of the day was Italian (ugh, I mean yay!) And once again, my teacher continued to slowly and painfully strangle any enthusiasm anyone in the class had for learning Italian. PAINFUL. But I will not bore you with further rantings on my Italian teacher.
My World Religions class has been studying Judaeism, so Monday, we had a field trip to the Synagogue in Florence. We were meeting outside of classtime, so we had to find the place ourselves. Luckily, with internet in my apartment, I was able to Google map the location and get turn by turn directions. Ahhh....internet...it really is a beautiful thing. :)
So, I found my way to the synagogue and met up with some of my classmates. Our teacher met us out in front around 2, and we headed inside. This is where things start to get a little bizarre:
First of all, I am still a little thrown off by the idea of having to pay to see a church (but in all fairness, this is typical of most churches in Florence.) But then, the lady at the desk told us no cameras, no phones, and no keys or any other metal. Ok- phones, I understand; cameras, a little annoying, but I still can see where they're coming from; but keys? What??! Ugh...anyway, so we all had to check our bags into one locker (surprisingly, they all fit!) and then buy our ticket, and go through the most bizarre metal detector I had ever seen. It was like a little glass tube that had a sliding door on both sides: press the button to get in, and then it checks for metal and the door opens. It would really suck to be claustrophobic because that thing was tiny!
Anyway, so then we met up with our tour guide, who took us into the Synagogue. The temple was really beautiful, and I would have loved to take pictures, but remember- no cameras. Oh well. The Synagogue, and the Jews of Florence in general, has a very interesting history. The Synagogue was built in the 16th century, and most of the furnishings are original. During WWII, the Synagogue was occupied by the Nazis; they didn't destroy any part of the temple, but they tried to destroy the Torah scrolls. Luckily, the Jewish community in Florence had hidden the scrolls in the countryside before the Nazis arrived. The most damage the temple has endured was in the 1966 flood. The water mark is still visible on the walls. (and on a side note, markers of how high the water reached during the flood are all over the buildings here, you just have to know what to look for; they're little white plaques, which look deceivingly like the street signs here). After our tour in the temple, we got to go through part of the Jewish history museum. We got to see wedding and new baby heirlooms, and some of the Torah scrolls and dressings. It was pretty cool.
Then we went back for class. Ugh. The visit had been cool, but adding another hour on to an already 2.5 hour class did not make me happy. Oh well.
Last class of the day was Mafia. Today we were talking about the influence of cinema on the image and stereotypes of the mafia. We watched parts of Scarface (the original one), The Godfather (Part I), and Mean Streets. Again, Mr. Stefano is a really cool teacher, and he makes the class really interesting!
Back to the apartment for dinner and internet- spent the evening Skyping with Mom & on AIM with Jackie, and doing a little homework. Just chilling out after a long day. Finally talked to Jared on AIM for a little while before I went to bed. Let me just say one more time how awesome it is to have internet in the apartment!
Today, I had Renaissance Art, which I thought was going to be really boring, but is actually turning out to be one of my favorite classes! We learned about Renaissance sculptures today, which was really cool. My teacher told us about the different mediums they used, and then the actual process. Then she told us about some of the most famous sculptors and their work, showed us some slides and discussed the elements. I don't know how she does it, but she simplifies the material so that even someone like me (who knows nothing about art or art critique) can even feel like they have something intelligent to say about art.
The main focus of today was on the Baptistery Doors. They have a really cool story behind them: The first door was commissioned to a sculptor in 1336, but then a competition was held in the 15th century to decide who would create the bronze sculpture work on the next door. Seven artists entered, and each was given one panel on which to create a scene of the sacrifice of Isaac. Two finalists were chosen: Brunelleschi (yes, of Brunelleschi's Dome) & Ghiberti. The judges actually called it a tie, but Brunelleschi refused to collaborate, so the doors were commissioned to Ghiberti, who did the North Doors, and then later was commissioned to do the Gates of Paradise.
It was awesome because after learning about the doors, and seeing slides and specific elements of the doors, we put our coats on and went to go see them! Which would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been cold and rainy. I will post pictures of the doors on here later, but I didn't really feel like taking pictures today.
After Art, I had ballet, which was fun. We continued our usual barre work, and did a few more advanced combinations. We moved on to a little center work today as well. Fun, fun!
As today was cold and rainy, I spent most of the afternoon indoors. After class, I went to the supermarket for groceries and picked up some more postcards. Then, I spent the rest of my day doing laundry, picking up the apartment, working on the blog, chatting with Mom. Pretty lazy day. But, I'd rather take care of this stuff on a rainy day like today. There will be plenty of nice, sunny days for exploring and adventures!
Ciao!
First class of the day was Italian (ugh, I mean yay!) And once again, my teacher continued to slowly and painfully strangle any enthusiasm anyone in the class had for learning Italian. PAINFUL. But I will not bore you with further rantings on my Italian teacher.
My World Religions class has been studying Judaeism, so Monday, we had a field trip to the Synagogue in Florence. We were meeting outside of classtime, so we had to find the place ourselves. Luckily, with internet in my apartment, I was able to Google map the location and get turn by turn directions. Ahhh....internet...it really is a beautiful thing. :)
So, I found my way to the synagogue and met up with some of my classmates. Our teacher met us out in front around 2, and we headed inside. This is where things start to get a little bizarre:
First of all, I am still a little thrown off by the idea of having to pay to see a church (but in all fairness, this is typical of most churches in Florence.) But then, the lady at the desk told us no cameras, no phones, and no keys or any other metal. Ok- phones, I understand; cameras, a little annoying, but I still can see where they're coming from; but keys? What??! Ugh...anyway, so we all had to check our bags into one locker (surprisingly, they all fit!) and then buy our ticket, and go through the most bizarre metal detector I had ever seen. It was like a little glass tube that had a sliding door on both sides: press the button to get in, and then it checks for metal and the door opens. It would really suck to be claustrophobic because that thing was tiny!
Anyway, so then we met up with our tour guide, who took us into the Synagogue. The temple was really beautiful, and I would have loved to take pictures, but remember- no cameras. Oh well. The Synagogue, and the Jews of Florence in general, has a very interesting history. The Synagogue was built in the 16th century, and most of the furnishings are original. During WWII, the Synagogue was occupied by the Nazis; they didn't destroy any part of the temple, but they tried to destroy the Torah scrolls. Luckily, the Jewish community in Florence had hidden the scrolls in the countryside before the Nazis arrived. The most damage the temple has endured was in the 1966 flood. The water mark is still visible on the walls. (and on a side note, markers of how high the water reached during the flood are all over the buildings here, you just have to know what to look for; they're little white plaques, which look deceivingly like the street signs here). After our tour in the temple, we got to go through part of the Jewish history museum. We got to see wedding and new baby heirlooms, and some of the Torah scrolls and dressings. It was pretty cool.
Then we went back for class. Ugh. The visit had been cool, but adding another hour on to an already 2.5 hour class did not make me happy. Oh well.
Last class of the day was Mafia. Today we were talking about the influence of cinema on the image and stereotypes of the mafia. We watched parts of Scarface (the original one), The Godfather (Part I), and Mean Streets. Again, Mr. Stefano is a really cool teacher, and he makes the class really interesting!
Back to the apartment for dinner and internet- spent the evening Skyping with Mom & on AIM with Jackie, and doing a little homework. Just chilling out after a long day. Finally talked to Jared on AIM for a little while before I went to bed. Let me just say one more time how awesome it is to have internet in the apartment!
Today, I had Renaissance Art, which I thought was going to be really boring, but is actually turning out to be one of my favorite classes! We learned about Renaissance sculptures today, which was really cool. My teacher told us about the different mediums they used, and then the actual process. Then she told us about some of the most famous sculptors and their work, showed us some slides and discussed the elements. I don't know how she does it, but she simplifies the material so that even someone like me (who knows nothing about art or art critique) can even feel like they have something intelligent to say about art.
The main focus of today was on the Baptistery Doors. They have a really cool story behind them: The first door was commissioned to a sculptor in 1336, but then a competition was held in the 15th century to decide who would create the bronze sculpture work on the next door. Seven artists entered, and each was given one panel on which to create a scene of the sacrifice of Isaac. Two finalists were chosen: Brunelleschi (yes, of Brunelleschi's Dome) & Ghiberti. The judges actually called it a tie, but Brunelleschi refused to collaborate, so the doors were commissioned to Ghiberti, who did the North Doors, and then later was commissioned to do the Gates of Paradise.
It was awesome because after learning about the doors, and seeing slides and specific elements of the doors, we put our coats on and went to go see them! Which would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been cold and rainy. I will post pictures of the doors on here later, but I didn't really feel like taking pictures today.
After Art, I had ballet, which was fun. We continued our usual barre work, and did a few more advanced combinations. We moved on to a little center work today as well. Fun, fun!
As today was cold and rainy, I spent most of the afternoon indoors. After class, I went to the supermarket for groceries and picked up some more postcards. Then, I spent the rest of my day doing laundry, picking up the apartment, working on the blog, chatting with Mom. Pretty lazy day. But, I'd rather take care of this stuff on a rainy day like today. There will be plenty of nice, sunny days for exploring and adventures!
Ciao!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hurry! Before the Tower falls over!!
Today, we had plans to go to Pisa with Ari & Co. (& Co.= Allie, SJ, Brent, Brian, & Momo, just in case that was confusing anyone haha.) The plan was to meet at the train station around 12 because we were going to take the 12:30 train, and some of us didn't have tickets yet, so we wanted to get there early.
So, I woke up around 10:30, lazily sauntered to the kitchen for my usual bowl of Rice Krispies, and ate them while checking my e-mail. After a while I got in the shower, taking my time, as I had gotten up plenty early to leave by noon.
Unfortunately, I did not take into account that Ari's roommates would change their minds at the last minute...and by last minute, I mean at about 11:00 when I was in a towel with dripping wet hair and no makeup on- they called to say that they wanted to catch the 11:30 train instead. Ari was very apologetic, it wasn't her idea, but she was still sorry for the trouble. A little annoyed, but not enough to ruin the day over, I hurriedly got dressed, dried my hair, and threw my makeup in my bag without (too much) complaint. haha.
Julia and I had to literally push and shove our way through the mob of leftover Valentine's day visitors and run to the train station. Somehow, we managed to make it there by 11:25. That gave us just enough time to get our tickets at the automated machine and get to the track.
There was just one little glitch in the plan: we were there, and Momo and her roommate Dana were there, but everyone else had not shown yet. Julia called- they had tried to take a shortcut or something and ended up getting lost. Slightly more annoyed at this point, we shrugged it off, and all went to find some means of entertaining ourselves in the station until the 12:30 train came.
So Julia and I are chilling out in the sunshine on the street on the side of the station, when Ari calls. They're on the platform getting ready to get on the train that apparently is still here! WHAT?! ugh...so we book it over to the complete opposite side of the train station, climb onto the train and sit down only seconds before it gets moving. ugh. Annoyed much? What do you think? But still, trying to keep it in check as I don't want the completely unnecessary stress of the whole situation to ruin the trip.
The train ride goes smoothly, all except for a little short-lived panic between Momo and myself when some confusion with our tickets led us to believe that we were supposed to change trains at some point. But overall, it was an enjoyable journey- the countryside on the way to Pisa was lovely!
We pulled into Pisa and found a map to get our bearings. After getting oriented, we started walking in the direction of the Tower. We saw some really cool buildings and artwork on the way, but were in such a hurry for some unknown reason, that I really can't tell you much about them. Oh well.
We finally got to the Tower!....and I'm not going to lie, it wasn't quite as impressive as I had expected. Mostly, it was not nearly as tall as I expected it to be.....there must be a LOT of tricky camera work going into the PR for the Leaning Tower.
Anyway, so we made our way through the piazza. There were some more interesting buildings, and a beautiful church that I would have liked to explore, but again, we seemed to be in a REAL hurry!
On one side of the tower, there is a big lawn (that the signs tell you to stay off of, by the way haha) where people walk around and take the oh-so-famous "holding up the tower" pictures. If nothing else, I think everyone should go to Pisa just to have the fun of laughing at the lawn full of people standing in the strangest positions (because you can't tell from the other angles that they are posing with the tower, so they just look like idiots). and then once you're done laughing, of course, you have to be one of the idiots, because who comes to Pisa without taking the holding up the Tower picture?! There were a bunch of Italians hanging out on the steps of the church watching the tourists- honestly, I can understand how that would be a good source of entertainment. :)
After much experimentation with camera angles and much side-splitting laughter, we finally got the hang of it. We got some really good pictures, and had a great time doing it!
front row L->R: Allie, Me, & Momo,
back row l->r: Brian, Dana, SJ, Ari, Julia, & Brent
We had just wrapped up our photo shoot when two policemen walked onto the lawn blowing whistles and telling everyone to get off the grass. I'm not gonna lie- it was pretty funny. And I guarantee that every single one of those tourists were back on the lawn taking awkward pictures minutes, maybe seconds after the cops had left.
But, I wouldn't know anything about that, because suddenly we were in a big hurry to get back to catch the 3:00 train! WHAT?!?! We just got here!! (Keep in mind, we had taken the 11:30 train, which didn't end up leaving until closer to 11:45- and it takes about an hour and 20 minutes, putting us there a little after 1, and furthermore, that the tower is about a 10-15 minute walk away from the train station...yeah. you do the math. ugh).
So, we rushed back to the train station. I mean we didn't like run, but it certainly wasn't a saunter! Got to the train station, got tickets, checked the board to see what track we were on, and went to the platform. We stood on the platform for a few minutes until someone realized that the sign on the platform did NOT say Florence. Momo ran back to check the schedule again, and sure enough, we had missed the 3:00 train!.......I told Julia, "Just don't allow me to speak for a little while."
SO, with an hour to kill at the station, not enough time to try and go see anything, my irritation quota for the day had definitely been filled. Just in the nick of time, someone mentioned gelato, and that literally saved my travelling companions' lives. Julia, Brent, Ari, and I all went and got gelato and cooled off a bit (haha- see, I made a joke, which means the threat of a massacre was over at that point.) :)
An hour later (an hour of my life that I will never get back, by the way), we got back on the train and headed back to Florence. We parted ways with everyone else at teh train station, and I silently vowed to myself that I would never allow so much unnecessary stress to plague my travels ever again.
Julia and I went home and made dinner, nothing fancy, just spaghetti with ricotta red sauce, and watched a movie while we caught up on some homework. A little while later, Shannon and Marla got home- they had gone to Viareggio for the opening of Carnivale. They had a great time, and their pictures looked like sooooo much fun... I would be lying if I said I wasn't mad at myself for not choosing to stay back and go with them when the plans for Pisa had changed abruptly that morning, which I had considered. Oh well, that's life!
Aside from all the unnecessary stress of travel and the extremely rushed manner with which we went through Pisa, we still managed to have fun!
Ciao!
So, I woke up around 10:30, lazily sauntered to the kitchen for my usual bowl of Rice Krispies, and ate them while checking my e-mail. After a while I got in the shower, taking my time, as I had gotten up plenty early to leave by noon.
Unfortunately, I did not take into account that Ari's roommates would change their minds at the last minute...and by last minute, I mean at about 11:00 when I was in a towel with dripping wet hair and no makeup on- they called to say that they wanted to catch the 11:30 train instead. Ari was very apologetic, it wasn't her idea, but she was still sorry for the trouble. A little annoyed, but not enough to ruin the day over, I hurriedly got dressed, dried my hair, and threw my makeup in my bag without (too much) complaint. haha.
Julia and I had to literally push and shove our way through the mob of leftover Valentine's day visitors and run to the train station. Somehow, we managed to make it there by 11:25. That gave us just enough time to get our tickets at the automated machine and get to the track.
There was just one little glitch in the plan: we were there, and Momo and her roommate Dana were there, but everyone else had not shown yet. Julia called- they had tried to take a shortcut or something and ended up getting lost. Slightly more annoyed at this point, we shrugged it off, and all went to find some means of entertaining ourselves in the station until the 12:30 train came.
So Julia and I are chilling out in the sunshine on the street on the side of the station, when Ari calls. They're on the platform getting ready to get on the train that apparently is still here! WHAT?! ugh...so we book it over to the complete opposite side of the train station, climb onto the train and sit down only seconds before it gets moving. ugh. Annoyed much? What do you think? But still, trying to keep it in check as I don't want the completely unnecessary stress of the whole situation to ruin the trip.
The train ride goes smoothly, all except for a little short-lived panic between Momo and myself when some confusion with our tickets led us to believe that we were supposed to change trains at some point. But overall, it was an enjoyable journey- the countryside on the way to Pisa was lovely!
We pulled into Pisa and found a map to get our bearings. After getting oriented, we started walking in the direction of the Tower. We saw some really cool buildings and artwork on the way, but were in such a hurry for some unknown reason, that I really can't tell you much about them. Oh well.
We finally got to the Tower!....and I'm not going to lie, it wasn't quite as impressive as I had expected. Mostly, it was not nearly as tall as I expected it to be.....there must be a LOT of tricky camera work going into the PR for the Leaning Tower.
Anyway, so we made our way through the piazza. There were some more interesting buildings, and a beautiful church that I would have liked to explore, but again, we seemed to be in a REAL hurry!
On one side of the tower, there is a big lawn (that the signs tell you to stay off of, by the way haha) where people walk around and take the oh-so-famous "holding up the tower" pictures. If nothing else, I think everyone should go to Pisa just to have the fun of laughing at the lawn full of people standing in the strangest positions (because you can't tell from the other angles that they are posing with the tower, so they just look like idiots). and then once you're done laughing, of course, you have to be one of the idiots, because who comes to Pisa without taking the holding up the Tower picture?! There were a bunch of Italians hanging out on the steps of the church watching the tourists- honestly, I can understand how that would be a good source of entertainment. :)
After much experimentation with camera angles and much side-splitting laughter, we finally got the hang of it. We got some really good pictures, and had a great time doing it!
front row L->R: Allie, Me, & Momo,
back row l->r: Brian, Dana, SJ, Ari, Julia, & Brent
We had just wrapped up our photo shoot when two policemen walked onto the lawn blowing whistles and telling everyone to get off the grass. I'm not gonna lie- it was pretty funny. And I guarantee that every single one of those tourists were back on the lawn taking awkward pictures minutes, maybe seconds after the cops had left.
But, I wouldn't know anything about that, because suddenly we were in a big hurry to get back to catch the 3:00 train! WHAT?!?! We just got here!! (Keep in mind, we had taken the 11:30 train, which didn't end up leaving until closer to 11:45- and it takes about an hour and 20 minutes, putting us there a little after 1, and furthermore, that the tower is about a 10-15 minute walk away from the train station...yeah. you do the math. ugh).
So, we rushed back to the train station. I mean we didn't like run, but it certainly wasn't a saunter! Got to the train station, got tickets, checked the board to see what track we were on, and went to the platform. We stood on the platform for a few minutes until someone realized that the sign on the platform did NOT say Florence. Momo ran back to check the schedule again, and sure enough, we had missed the 3:00 train!.......I told Julia, "Just don't allow me to speak for a little while."
SO, with an hour to kill at the station, not enough time to try and go see anything, my irritation quota for the day had definitely been filled. Just in the nick of time, someone mentioned gelato, and that literally saved my travelling companions' lives. Julia, Brent, Ari, and I all went and got gelato and cooled off a bit (haha- see, I made a joke, which means the threat of a massacre was over at that point.) :)
An hour later (an hour of my life that I will never get back, by the way), we got back on the train and headed back to Florence. We parted ways with everyone else at teh train station, and I silently vowed to myself that I would never allow so much unnecessary stress to plague my travels ever again.
Julia and I went home and made dinner, nothing fancy, just spaghetti with ricotta red sauce, and watched a movie while we caught up on some homework. A little while later, Shannon and Marla got home- they had gone to Viareggio for the opening of Carnivale. They had a great time, and their pictures looked like sooooo much fun... I would be lying if I said I wasn't mad at myself for not choosing to stay back and go with them when the plans for Pisa had changed abruptly that morning, which I had considered. Oh well, that's life!
Aside from all the unnecessary stress of travel and the extremely rushed manner with which we went through Pisa, we still managed to have fun!
Ciao!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
San Valentino in Italia!
Happy Valentine's Day!....ugh....
After a late start to the day, I talked to Mom and Dad on Skype for about an hour before Julia and I headed out....yup shopping again. But today, was a little different: the city was PACKED....I mean, it was CRAZY. We kept trying to figure out where all these people were coming from- seriously, there was like no room on the street to walk- then we remembered it was Valentine's Day, so everyone had probably come to the city for the day. Ugh...
We started out at H&M, which as we should have guessed was ridiculously crowded. As if there weren't enough ladies out shopping, almost all of them had their boyfriends/husbands/dogs (yes, dogs) with them.
So let me take a moment to comment on Italian couples, especially in the shopping scene. As my friends and I have observed, Italian couples are really obviously, genuinely, and at the same time sickeningly in love. The couples out shopping were all touchy, holding hands, arms around each other, little kisses and hugs. SOOOO romantic...in the most disgusting sense. And even more ridiculous- the Italian men are almost as into shopping FOR THE GIRL as the girls are!! Ridiculous...And they were so cute holding the girls' purses, the dogs' leash, etc. while the girls were in the dressing room, helping them pick out clothes, holding up things that they thought the girl would look good in- UGH...seriously?! And the couples walking around the city were just as cute, sauntering along, holding hands and just enjoying the city and each other.....I think I just threw up in my mouth a little....(and on top of being so romantic, of course, they are all beautiful and stylishly chic! I mean, seriously?!?)
So, after H&M, Julia and I went to Guido's jewelry shop. I immediately went for the bracelet I had seen in the window, which I don't want to say too much about, because I got two more as presents for friends who may or may not read this blog! haha! But it was really interesting to hear Guido talk about how he made each piece that we looked at. I had liked the bracelets before, but then hearing how his friend in the Tuscan countryside made the glass stones, and how each bead on the necklace Julia bought was unique because he had painted each one by hand, and he even showed us how he made the earrings Marla bought, because he was making a similar pair when we walked in. SOOOOO cool.
We headed back to the apartment to get ready to go out for dinner. The four of us had decided to go to Andrea's for our Valentine's Day dinner. We headed out a little later than we had planned- we didn't get to the restaurant until almost 9! Oops. Because we were kind of late, the reastaurant was really busy! I guess people eat a lot later in Italy because it was like peak dining hours when we arrived. We had to wait for a few minutes for a table to clear, so Andrea's uncle (his actual uncle) gave us each a glass of wine (the good stuff!) while we waited. We had a really fun, laid back dinner; I got risotto with artichokes, and the others got pizza again. And once again, we spent almost 3 hours at the restaurant.
We got back to the apartment around midnight, and I cooked up the Valentine's Day surprise I had planned for my roommates: Nutella fondue....oh yes- it was amazing. I cut up some pineapple, bananas, apples, and cookies and we had fun dipping them in the melted fondue. It was DELICIOUS, but after finishing off a whole jar between the four of us in one sitting, I don't think I'll be eating any more Nutella for a while. haha!
We turned in a little early (around 1 haha) because Julia and I had made plans to go to Pisa with Ari & Co the next morning, but overall, Valentine's Day in Italy was molto buono!
After a late start to the day, I talked to Mom and Dad on Skype for about an hour before Julia and I headed out....yup shopping again. But today, was a little different: the city was PACKED....I mean, it was CRAZY. We kept trying to figure out where all these people were coming from- seriously, there was like no room on the street to walk- then we remembered it was Valentine's Day, so everyone had probably come to the city for the day. Ugh...
We started out at H&M, which as we should have guessed was ridiculously crowded. As if there weren't enough ladies out shopping, almost all of them had their boyfriends/husbands/dogs (yes, dogs) with them.
So let me take a moment to comment on Italian couples, especially in the shopping scene. As my friends and I have observed, Italian couples are really obviously, genuinely, and at the same time sickeningly in love. The couples out shopping were all touchy, holding hands, arms around each other, little kisses and hugs. SOOOO romantic...in the most disgusting sense. And even more ridiculous- the Italian men are almost as into shopping FOR THE GIRL as the girls are!! Ridiculous...And they were so cute holding the girls' purses, the dogs' leash, etc. while the girls were in the dressing room, helping them pick out clothes, holding up things that they thought the girl would look good in- UGH...seriously?! And the couples walking around the city were just as cute, sauntering along, holding hands and just enjoying the city and each other.....I think I just threw up in my mouth a little....(and on top of being so romantic, of course, they are all beautiful and stylishly chic! I mean, seriously?!?)
So, after H&M, Julia and I went to Guido's jewelry shop. I immediately went for the bracelet I had seen in the window, which I don't want to say too much about, because I got two more as presents for friends who may or may not read this blog! haha! But it was really interesting to hear Guido talk about how he made each piece that we looked at. I had liked the bracelets before, but then hearing how his friend in the Tuscan countryside made the glass stones, and how each bead on the necklace Julia bought was unique because he had painted each one by hand, and he even showed us how he made the earrings Marla bought, because he was making a similar pair when we walked in. SOOOOO cool.
We headed back to the apartment to get ready to go out for dinner. The four of us had decided to go to Andrea's for our Valentine's Day dinner. We headed out a little later than we had planned- we didn't get to the restaurant until almost 9! Oops. Because we were kind of late, the reastaurant was really busy! I guess people eat a lot later in Italy because it was like peak dining hours when we arrived. We had to wait for a few minutes for a table to clear, so Andrea's uncle (his actual uncle) gave us each a glass of wine (the good stuff!) while we waited. We had a really fun, laid back dinner; I got risotto with artichokes, and the others got pizza again. And once again, we spent almost 3 hours at the restaurant.
We got back to the apartment around midnight, and I cooked up the Valentine's Day surprise I had planned for my roommates: Nutella fondue....oh yes- it was amazing. I cut up some pineapple, bananas, apples, and cookies and we had fun dipping them in the melted fondue. It was DELICIOUS, but after finishing off a whole jar between the four of us in one sitting, I don't think I'll be eating any more Nutella for a while. haha!
We turned in a little early (around 1 haha) because Julia and I had made plans to go to Pisa with Ari & Co the next morning, but overall, Valentine's Day in Italy was molto buono!
Friday, February 13, 2009
I love Italy....but I hate Italian....grr..
My only class on Wednesday was Italian. I was looking forward to learning Italian before I got here. See, I'm not really that into foreign language, but Italian seemed like it would be fun, that an just the fact that I would be learning Italian for fun, rather than because I had to, made it much more appealing. Unfortunately, my teacher is slowly but surely crushing any previous enthusiasm I had for learning the language. She's a pretty terrible teacher: if we don't understand something she says in Italian, she tries to explain it with....more Italian, and she doesn't get why we don't understand her....grrr...Emily and I are pretty sure she hates us because we kept trying to come up with the Spanish equivalents of what she was talking about so that it would make more sense to us...I don't think she likes that very much, but oh well, she'll get over it.
After class, I headed back the apartment for a quick lunch of scrambled eggs (with pepper and basil, yum!) and then headed out to enjoy the afternoon off. I decided to go wandering around the Uffizi to look for some paintings. A lot of local artists hang out here on nice days and just paint all day long, and they have some really beautiful work! I wandered around looking for something I liked. It's really hard to decide because there are just so many! But I ended up buying three really pretty watercolor prints from a lady we had talked to before who worked near the Boboli Gardens. After buying my paintings, I wandered around the shopping area on the other side of the Arno, which turned out to be a pretty ritzy area. There were a lot of upscale antique shops and art galleries. There was something interesting to see around every corner. I am seriously starting to feel like one could spend years in Florence and never see it all! It was fun, and I got a little lost, but somehow I made it back to Andrea's restaurant, so I found my way back from there. haha.
After exploring the other side of the river, I decided to go for a walk along the Arno to check out another running spot. I walked down to the next bridge crossing in the opposite direction that I had gone running a few days earlier, and decided that this was a way better spot. After about an hour, (about 4 hours after I had left the apartment), I decided to go back. I took a short nap and then joined my roomies for dinner and a movie.
Thursday I slept in a little bit, and then went to Ballet, my only class for the day. We're starting to get into some more complicated barre combinations and some center work. Fun as usual. Me and my neighbor (we talk during class all the time, but I still don't know her name!) did really well in all the exercises. Gold stars for us! lol! At the end of class, our teacher collected the rental money for our costumes for the final exam/performance. I'm not going to lie, I just really don't even want to think about what that's going to entail....ugh...
After ballet, I went home and ate a quick lunch before heading out to do some shopping with Shannon and Marla. We started out at Zara. I got a couple of realy cute shirtdresses, and Marla found an awesome belt- it kind of looks like chain-mail, but she totally rocks it. haha!
While in Zara, Andrea texted Shannon and invited us to go get coffee with him and a friend. We met him in the Piazza della Republica and walked to a nearby coffee shop. He stepped out for a minute, to go get his friend, who worked at the store "next door" he said. The three of us waited in the coffee shop for a few minutes before Marla remembered that the shop next door was a really trashy lingerie store. Awkward!
We went to the counter to try and order, which was a really chaotic and confusing process. The coffee shop was just an unnecessarily stressful place. I didn't like it very much. Every minute we stood in the mob trying to get coffee, I kept wishing we could just leave and go to Giovanni's. haha.
Andrea finally came back with his friend Gio, who turned out to be kind of a jerkface, but whatever. After we finished our coffee, Andrea walked us down and showed us his friend's store- which was actually the leather store two doors down from the coffee shop. Andrea got really embarrassed when we told him where we thought he was all that time! haha!
Then, we all took a walk across the river so Andrea could show us a club that he thought we might like before he went to work at the restaurant. On our way home, we stopped into a really cool handmade jewelry shop. The owner's name was Guido, he was very gay, and his work was beautiful! Marla bought an awesome pair of gold and moonstone earrings, and I had my eye on a gorgeous bracelet in the window. We will definitely be back!
We called Julia and told her we would be back in a little bit, so she decided to start dinner. However, on the way home, we ran into an H&M. I found a really cute dress, and my roomies found some cool stuff as well. We stopped at a Calzedonia closer to the apartment to get me a pair of bright purple tights to wear with one of the dresses I'd bought. (Crazy colored tights are really big here. It's kind of awesome. haha).
We finally got back to the apartment (probably about 45 minutes later than we had intended to), and found dinner waiting for us on the table getting cold. It was a little sad- kind of reminded us of tv or movies when the wife makes a special dinner and the husband comes home late to find everything still laying out, the wine already broken into, food getting cold. We felt really bad, but Julia didn't really care! She had made us tortellini with red sauce and some shrimp tossed in, and bread with tomatoes and mozzarella on the side. Which was delicious, but did have to be popped in the microwave for a few....we're bad roomies....:(
That evening we went out with Ari, Allie, and SJ to a music club called BeBop to listen to an Oasis cover band. The club was slightly shady, and the band might have been ok, but we were a little creeped out by the old black man who hopped on the stage and may or may not have been molesting a nearby microphone stand.......awkward...
So, we went to Astor for a little bit. It wasn't quite as much fun as the first time we went there. Apparently, Italians don't really buy into Thursday nights out. Weird....
We got home and I called Jackie- and talked for an hour and a half....uh oh...that's probably not going to be pretty....
Friday (the 13th! uhoh!) Julia and I met Ari for...you guessed it! More shopping! We were out for most of the afternoon. My big find of the day was a pair of really cute FLAT black suede boots for 15 euro! Oh yeah! We tried to go to the travel agent close to Ari's apartment to get train tickets, because we planned to go to Pisa on Sunday, and apparently they're more expensive at the station. Unfortunately they were closed. Oh well.
When we got back to the apartment, Shannon and Marla invited us to go meet Andrea and his cousin for coffee. Julia was tired, but I tagged along. We met Andrea and his cousin (didn't catch his name, but to be honest, he looked more like Andrea's uncle...anyway...) and went to an Irish pub near the Republica for espresso. Andrea's uncle...I mean cousin...haha...was really friendly, but a little full of it. He worked at some kind of store in the area, and he kept mentioning famous people he apparently knew. When I mentioned that I liked football, he went on about how he had met both of the Manning brothers and that Eli was much nicer than Peyton (which didn't get him any brownie points with me!....grr...stupid Eli Manning) and how he and his friends hung out with Eli a lot while he was in Florence, and blah blah blah. Then we mentioned how much fun we had at the soccer game, so he told us that he knows the Fiorentina coach. Then Marla just happened to say that she really likes tennis- let me guess, you and John McEnroe run in the same poker circle?!....oh, no?....oh it's Serena Williams' bodyguard....of course. lol But he was very nice, and talkative, which was a nice change of pace from Jerkface Gio. :)
We were supposed to meet our landlord at the apartment at 5, so we headed back. He never showed up, so Marla gave him a call. He said that he was out of town and would be there Monday. We were really disappointed because we had been looking forward to having internet in the apartment. But, we had seen some workers setting it up in the last few days, and there appeared to be a functioning wireless router hanging outside our door, so on a hunch, I got my computer out, and sure enough, we had internet!!! YAY! Finally! So, then we spent the next few hours enjoying the internet which we had been missing so badly! :) So, the good news is, hopefully I'll be able to update my blog a little more often instead of updating a week's worth of blogging all in one day!
Ciao!
After class, I headed back the apartment for a quick lunch of scrambled eggs (with pepper and basil, yum!) and then headed out to enjoy the afternoon off. I decided to go wandering around the Uffizi to look for some paintings. A lot of local artists hang out here on nice days and just paint all day long, and they have some really beautiful work! I wandered around looking for something I liked. It's really hard to decide because there are just so many! But I ended up buying three really pretty watercolor prints from a lady we had talked to before who worked near the Boboli Gardens. After buying my paintings, I wandered around the shopping area on the other side of the Arno, which turned out to be a pretty ritzy area. There were a lot of upscale antique shops and art galleries. There was something interesting to see around every corner. I am seriously starting to feel like one could spend years in Florence and never see it all! It was fun, and I got a little lost, but somehow I made it back to Andrea's restaurant, so I found my way back from there. haha.
After exploring the other side of the river, I decided to go for a walk along the Arno to check out another running spot. I walked down to the next bridge crossing in the opposite direction that I had gone running a few days earlier, and decided that this was a way better spot. After about an hour, (about 4 hours after I had left the apartment), I decided to go back. I took a short nap and then joined my roomies for dinner and a movie.
Thursday I slept in a little bit, and then went to Ballet, my only class for the day. We're starting to get into some more complicated barre combinations and some center work. Fun as usual. Me and my neighbor (we talk during class all the time, but I still don't know her name!) did really well in all the exercises. Gold stars for us! lol! At the end of class, our teacher collected the rental money for our costumes for the final exam/performance. I'm not going to lie, I just really don't even want to think about what that's going to entail....ugh...
After ballet, I went home and ate a quick lunch before heading out to do some shopping with Shannon and Marla. We started out at Zara. I got a couple of realy cute shirtdresses, and Marla found an awesome belt- it kind of looks like chain-mail, but she totally rocks it. haha!
While in Zara, Andrea texted Shannon and invited us to go get coffee with him and a friend. We met him in the Piazza della Republica and walked to a nearby coffee shop. He stepped out for a minute, to go get his friend, who worked at the store "next door" he said. The three of us waited in the coffee shop for a few minutes before Marla remembered that the shop next door was a really trashy lingerie store. Awkward!
We went to the counter to try and order, which was a really chaotic and confusing process. The coffee shop was just an unnecessarily stressful place. I didn't like it very much. Every minute we stood in the mob trying to get coffee, I kept wishing we could just leave and go to Giovanni's. haha.
Andrea finally came back with his friend Gio, who turned out to be kind of a jerkface, but whatever. After we finished our coffee, Andrea walked us down and showed us his friend's store- which was actually the leather store two doors down from the coffee shop. Andrea got really embarrassed when we told him where we thought he was all that time! haha!
Then, we all took a walk across the river so Andrea could show us a club that he thought we might like before he went to work at the restaurant. On our way home, we stopped into a really cool handmade jewelry shop. The owner's name was Guido, he was very gay, and his work was beautiful! Marla bought an awesome pair of gold and moonstone earrings, and I had my eye on a gorgeous bracelet in the window. We will definitely be back!
We called Julia and told her we would be back in a little bit, so she decided to start dinner. However, on the way home, we ran into an H&M. I found a really cute dress, and my roomies found some cool stuff as well. We stopped at a Calzedonia closer to the apartment to get me a pair of bright purple tights to wear with one of the dresses I'd bought. (Crazy colored tights are really big here. It's kind of awesome. haha).
We finally got back to the apartment (probably about 45 minutes later than we had intended to), and found dinner waiting for us on the table getting cold. It was a little sad- kind of reminded us of tv or movies when the wife makes a special dinner and the husband comes home late to find everything still laying out, the wine already broken into, food getting cold. We felt really bad, but Julia didn't really care! She had made us tortellini with red sauce and some shrimp tossed in, and bread with tomatoes and mozzarella on the side. Which was delicious, but did have to be popped in the microwave for a few....we're bad roomies....:(
That evening we went out with Ari, Allie, and SJ to a music club called BeBop to listen to an Oasis cover band. The club was slightly shady, and the band might have been ok, but we were a little creeped out by the old black man who hopped on the stage and may or may not have been molesting a nearby microphone stand.......awkward...
So, we went to Astor for a little bit. It wasn't quite as much fun as the first time we went there. Apparently, Italians don't really buy into Thursday nights out. Weird....
We got home and I called Jackie- and talked for an hour and a half....uh oh...that's probably not going to be pretty....
Friday (the 13th! uhoh!) Julia and I met Ari for...you guessed it! More shopping! We were out for most of the afternoon. My big find of the day was a pair of really cute FLAT black suede boots for 15 euro! Oh yeah! We tried to go to the travel agent close to Ari's apartment to get train tickets, because we planned to go to Pisa on Sunday, and apparently they're more expensive at the station. Unfortunately they were closed. Oh well.
When we got back to the apartment, Shannon and Marla invited us to go meet Andrea and his cousin for coffee. Julia was tired, but I tagged along. We met Andrea and his cousin (didn't catch his name, but to be honest, he looked more like Andrea's uncle...anyway...) and went to an Irish pub near the Republica for espresso. Andrea's uncle...I mean cousin...haha...was really friendly, but a little full of it. He worked at some kind of store in the area, and he kept mentioning famous people he apparently knew. When I mentioned that I liked football, he went on about how he had met both of the Manning brothers and that Eli was much nicer than Peyton (which didn't get him any brownie points with me!....grr...stupid Eli Manning) and how he and his friends hung out with Eli a lot while he was in Florence, and blah blah blah. Then we mentioned how much fun we had at the soccer game, so he told us that he knows the Fiorentina coach. Then Marla just happened to say that she really likes tennis- let me guess, you and John McEnroe run in the same poker circle?!....oh, no?....oh it's Serena Williams' bodyguard....of course. lol But he was very nice, and talkative, which was a nice change of pace from Jerkface Gio. :)
We were supposed to meet our landlord at the apartment at 5, so we headed back. He never showed up, so Marla gave him a call. He said that he was out of town and would be there Monday. We were really disappointed because we had been looking forward to having internet in the apartment. But, we had seen some workers setting it up in the last few days, and there appeared to be a functioning wireless router hanging outside our door, so on a hunch, I got my computer out, and sure enough, we had internet!!! YAY! Finally! So, then we spent the next few hours enjoying the internet which we had been missing so badly! :) So, the good news is, hopefully I'll be able to update my blog a little more often instead of updating a week's worth of blogging all in one day!
Ciao!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Back to school
A fairly uneventful Monday followed a crazy fun weekend! It's a little hard to come down off an amazing weekend and kick back into school mode, but that's life!
My Italian teacher was back in class, but I kind of wish we could have the substitute back. My teacher is nice, but she doesn't explain things well, and overall, just isn't a very good teacher. (I think Emily and I made her mad because we kept having to refer to the Spanish equivalents of everything she was teaching us because she wasn't explaining anything well, oh well...she'll get over it haha)
It was a fairly nice day, so I quickly checked my e-mail and then headed back to the apartment for a quick lunch (scrambled eggs! haha), and then went out to run a few errands with my roommate Julia. We stopped at the school to send an e-mail about our internet setup, then went to a shop to buy postcards, and then to the pst office for stamps (which are kind of expensive (85 eurocents each), and the ones we got were HUGE!). On the way back to the apartment, we stopped at Giovanni's for cappuccinos. We hadn't been to see him in awhile, so he was happy to see us. :)
I had a substitute teacher in World Religions, so once again, it was really boring. I have hope that it will get better, though.
My mafia class is AWESOME. Mr. Stefano is a really interesting teacher, and he's got a good sense of humor. I can't wait until we start really getting into the material!
Mom gave me little bad news on the homefront, which upset me a bit. When you leave for such a long period of time, you just kind of have the mentality that nothing really happens at home while you're away, but this episode just brought me back to reality a bit. It was something unexpected as well, so that just opens you up to the fear of something else unexpected happening. A scary idea, but not nearly enough to ruin the wonderful experience of being here.
Yesterday, my Renaissance Art class took a field trip to the churches of San Miniato and Santa Croce. It was really cool to have a lesson about the different architectural elements, actually see them in person, and have class in such a historic place! It felt so cool to walk around these places, which are works of art in themselves, and take notes on the artwork that surrounds you.
San Miniato
Santa Croce
Ballet was really fun once again. Two new students added the class, and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel slightly vindicated when they showed up in their street clothes. :)
After catching up on some internet time, I headed back to the apartment. The weather which had been rather dreary in the morning, had turned pretty nice, so I decided to go for a walk/jog/whatever I could work up the energy for. (I had already had a pretty intense workout on the walk from San Miniato to Santa Croce and then back to school for ballet!). The hardest part turned out to be finding a place to run. Along the Arno seemed to be the longest stretch of uninterrupted sidewalk, so I checked it out. It was just so strange to go running, to do something so ordinary, in such an extraordinary place. I mean, I went for a jog through the Piazza della Signoria, past the Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchio, and along the Arno River. It was an awesome run. AWESOME.
I got home and fixed a quick dinner for all of us: tortellini filled with spinach and ricotta, with red sauce and diced tomatoes, and we all watched a movie and I wrote some postcards (since the only channel we get that is not completely in Italian is MTV, we've been watching a lot of movies! Because really, how many episodes of Room Raiders can you watch before you start to go a little crazy? haha!)
Ciao! :)
My Italian teacher was back in class, but I kind of wish we could have the substitute back. My teacher is nice, but she doesn't explain things well, and overall, just isn't a very good teacher. (I think Emily and I made her mad because we kept having to refer to the Spanish equivalents of everything she was teaching us because she wasn't explaining anything well, oh well...she'll get over it haha)
It was a fairly nice day, so I quickly checked my e-mail and then headed back to the apartment for a quick lunch (scrambled eggs! haha), and then went out to run a few errands with my roommate Julia. We stopped at the school to send an e-mail about our internet setup, then went to a shop to buy postcards, and then to the pst office for stamps (which are kind of expensive (85 eurocents each), and the ones we got were HUGE!). On the way back to the apartment, we stopped at Giovanni's for cappuccinos. We hadn't been to see him in awhile, so he was happy to see us. :)
I had a substitute teacher in World Religions, so once again, it was really boring. I have hope that it will get better, though.
My mafia class is AWESOME. Mr. Stefano is a really interesting teacher, and he's got a good sense of humor. I can't wait until we start really getting into the material!
Mom gave me little bad news on the homefront, which upset me a bit. When you leave for such a long period of time, you just kind of have the mentality that nothing really happens at home while you're away, but this episode just brought me back to reality a bit. It was something unexpected as well, so that just opens you up to the fear of something else unexpected happening. A scary idea, but not nearly enough to ruin the wonderful experience of being here.
Yesterday, my Renaissance Art class took a field trip to the churches of San Miniato and Santa Croce. It was really cool to have a lesson about the different architectural elements, actually see them in person, and have class in such a historic place! It felt so cool to walk around these places, which are works of art in themselves, and take notes on the artwork that surrounds you.
San Miniato
Santa Croce
Ballet was really fun once again. Two new students added the class, and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel slightly vindicated when they showed up in their street clothes. :)
After catching up on some internet time, I headed back to the apartment. The weather which had been rather dreary in the morning, had turned pretty nice, so I decided to go for a walk/jog/whatever I could work up the energy for. (I had already had a pretty intense workout on the walk from San Miniato to Santa Croce and then back to school for ballet!). The hardest part turned out to be finding a place to run. Along the Arno seemed to be the longest stretch of uninterrupted sidewalk, so I checked it out. It was just so strange to go running, to do something so ordinary, in such an extraordinary place. I mean, I went for a jog through the Piazza della Signoria, past the Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchio, and along the Arno River. It was an awesome run. AWESOME.
I got home and fixed a quick dinner for all of us: tortellini filled with spinach and ricotta, with red sauce and diced tomatoes, and we all watched a movie and I wrote some postcards (since the only channel we get that is not completely in Italian is MTV, we've been watching a lot of movies! Because really, how many episodes of Room Raiders can you watch before you start to go a little crazy? haha!)
Ciao! :)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
No, no. It's not soccer: it's CALCIO/
So, we didn't get going as early as we wanted to, but it turned out ok. Finding our way to the soccer...I mean calcio game, turned out to be really easy. At the internet cafe, Marla and I looked up the bus schedule and found a "Stadium route" that left from the nearby station. We stopped at a shop near the post office and got two bus tickets to get to the stadium and back.
First, let me say that I don't really like soccer, but I just kind of figured it was one of those experiences I had to have while in Italy. When in Rome, ya know. But the excitement around the game was intense! As we walked around town in the morning before the game, people saw our scarves and kept saying "Fiorentina! Forza Fiorentina!" Apparently all you need is a local team scarf to blend in because Julia and I got asked twice for directions and information about the game.
Which, by the way, reminds me that apparently I need to stop looking so Italian, because in the last 3 days, I've been stopped and asked for directions in Italian 5-6 times. Which wouldn't be a big deal, I could easily tell them, in Italian even, that I don't undestand, I don't know, or I'm American, but in the moment, I just get so flustered that I forget how to say anything! Oh well. If I can't learn to deal with it, I'll just have Mom and Dad bring me a bunch of t-shirts and hoodies. Haha.
Because we were unsure of where we were going, when the bus left, etc. we decided to head to the bus station early. The game didn't start until 3, but we got to the bus station around 1:15. As we walked up, the number 52 bus to the stadium pulled in. We were happy that it had been so easy to find the right bus and everything, but unfortunately, this put us at the stadium an hour and a half early.
We learned a few things about Italy from this excursion: First, that Italians don't show up early for things. We got to the stadium and it was like a ghost town except for the stadium workers, security guards, and police officers who were getting everything ready. Second, that Italians don't really believe in sports bars. We walked the entire strip around the stadium and could not find one pub/bar/local hangout where people went to have a drink or hang out before the game. They just don't exist. Oh well. So, we found a little cafe to hang out in before the game, we sat there for about an hour. At some point during that hour, EVERYONE showed up for the game. One minute the street had been empty, the next we looked out, and there was a mob of Fiorentina fans making their way down the street. Apparently we had chosen our Fiorentina gear wisely in buying scarves because that's what EVERYONE was wearing. (Even a group of little old ladies who looked like they were on their way home from church, not going to the game, were wearing a team scarf!)
As it turned out, we were on the completely wrong side of the stadium. We made our way to our gate and were met by some security guards. They looked through our bags. Shannon had to hang her umbrella on a tree outside the stadium. I guess it would make a good weapon in the event that a riot broke out. Haha!
We found our section, but rows and seats weren't really numbered, so we just sat down near the front. Apparently, the seats towards the top are better. Hmmmm...oh well. The stadium was PACKED. The horseshoe was pretty much a big purple and red blur. People were waving flags, scarves, cheering, and singing the team songs or whatever, getting pumped for the game. (Of course, we didn't know the songs or even understand them. I kept wondering if there was a handout or pamphlet or something lol!)
The game was really fun! Although, I had no idea what was going on most of the time. Still, the atmosphere was entertaining: it was intense, chaotic, electric, and most of all LOUD. Everyone gets so into the game! We found that if you just made loud angry noises when everyone else did, you fit in pretty well. (Another group of American students sitting near us just kept yelling the names of various pastas whenever the crowd got worked up. Haha!)
Fiorentina beat Lazio by one goal (scored at the 44 minute mark of the second half, aka practically the end of the game).And when the home team made the only goal of the game, the stadium almost literally exploded. I tried taking video of the moment, but it doesn't even begin to capture the craziness that was going on!
After watching a soccer game, there are a few things I have to admit: one- professional soccer players are HOT. two- there is some crazt athletic ability involved in soccer, the footwork, the endurance, CRAZY. three- soccer players are pretty overdramatic. I mean, they fell down and cried more than most of the girls on my HS bball team. Ridiculous. lol.
I still won't say that I like soccer, but it was definitely a cool experience. And I wouldn't mind attending another game sometime in the next few months. Preferably when it's a little warmer. We were mostly thankful that Fiorentina scored and won the game because that meant the game was over (I think we all might have cried if the game went into overtime!) After the game, we hopped on the bus back towards home. We went back to the apartment and quickly changed into our warm clothes, made dinner and settled in to watch a movie. The game had been fun, but we were all exhausted! We all turned in fairly early for a good night's sleep before going back to classes on Monday!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
A Sunny Day in the Gardens/ "Marla, I swear I'm gonna beat down the Hobbit!!"
Saturday we woke fairly early to the sun pouring in through the window! Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to visit the Boboli Gardens. The gardens are 11 acres of beautiful 16th century gardens with statues and fountains and avenues of trees, near the Pitti Palace put in place by the Medici family. Absolutely beautiful.
The weather was so nice that I spent most of the afternoon at the gardens without a jacket! YAY!
We wandered around the gardens for about 3 hours, and decided to call it quits. On the way back, we stopped at the Uffizi museum to buy passes, Amici degli Uffizi (friends of the Uffizi), which will get us into several museums and top spots around Florence for the rest of our stay. This includes the Boboli Gardens, so I'm sure I'll be back there many times. I would tell you more about the gardens, but I don't really know what to say other than it was beautiful: so check out the rest of the pictures on Picasa to see for yourself!
After the gardens, we decided to go for a small dose of home, so we went to Blockbuster and got some movies. Blockbuster was CRAZY far away, so we were all starting to get tired and cranky on the way home. So, we stopped and got some gelato (gelato makes everything better haha).
Shannon made dinner during the movie, and afterwards, we decided to go out. Instead of searching for a place, we opted for a club called Astor, which we had been invited to a few times by this guy Christian who works there (he has an accent, but we can't decide if he's British, Australian, or a Kiwi lol). Astor was fun, we danced and chatted up some of the locals. This was the first time I really started to feel the language barrier- it is so frustrating to try to have a conversation and not be able to communicate! Luckily, we figured out that some of the guys we were talking to spoke Spanish, and I have never been so happy to hear Espanol in my entire life! Finally I could hold my own in a conversation! (I'm not going to lie- I was pretty impressed with my Espanol!) We were there kind of early, but the place livened up as the night went on. Funny story- there was this really rude, rather annoying short little waiter who we nicknamed the Hobbit. I mean, seriously, I could have stepped on this guy.
A little later in the night, Andrea called Shannon and met us at Astor. We had a really good time visiting with him. He and his friend, the chef whose name I still haven't figured out, were a lot of fun. They told us that we should come to the restaurant again, and that we should cook dinner with them sometime! Andrea is such a nice guy- he was asking about my classes and told me that if I have trouble with my Italian homework to bring it by the restaurant, and he would help me! lol :)
We turned in for the night a little later than we had intended, as we were going to the calcio game the next day and had forgotten to find out how to get to the stadium. Oh well! :)
Ciao!
The weather was so nice that I spent most of the afternoon at the gardens without a jacket! YAY!
We wandered around the gardens for about 3 hours, and decided to call it quits. On the way back, we stopped at the Uffizi museum to buy passes, Amici degli Uffizi (friends of the Uffizi), which will get us into several museums and top spots around Florence for the rest of our stay. This includes the Boboli Gardens, so I'm sure I'll be back there many times. I would tell you more about the gardens, but I don't really know what to say other than it was beautiful: so check out the rest of the pictures on Picasa to see for yourself!
After the gardens, we decided to go for a small dose of home, so we went to Blockbuster and got some movies. Blockbuster was CRAZY far away, so we were all starting to get tired and cranky on the way home. So, we stopped and got some gelato (gelato makes everything better haha).
Shannon made dinner during the movie, and afterwards, we decided to go out. Instead of searching for a place, we opted for a club called Astor, which we had been invited to a few times by this guy Christian who works there (he has an accent, but we can't decide if he's British, Australian, or a Kiwi lol). Astor was fun, we danced and chatted up some of the locals. This was the first time I really started to feel the language barrier- it is so frustrating to try to have a conversation and not be able to communicate! Luckily, we figured out that some of the guys we were talking to spoke Spanish, and I have never been so happy to hear Espanol in my entire life! Finally I could hold my own in a conversation! (I'm not going to lie- I was pretty impressed with my Espanol!) We were there kind of early, but the place livened up as the night went on. Funny story- there was this really rude, rather annoying short little waiter who we nicknamed the Hobbit. I mean, seriously, I could have stepped on this guy.
A little later in the night, Andrea called Shannon and met us at Astor. We had a really good time visiting with him. He and his friend, the chef whose name I still haven't figured out, were a lot of fun. They told us that we should come to the restaurant again, and that we should cook dinner with them sometime! Andrea is such a nice guy- he was asking about my classes and told me that if I have trouble with my Italian homework to bring it by the restaurant, and he would help me! lol :)
We turned in for the night a little later than we had intended, as we were going to the calcio game the next day and had forgotten to find out how to get to the stadium. Oh well! :)
Ciao!
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