Craziest Week EVER

Wow. I need a minute or 10 to breathe after this past week. This was by far my craziest week since coming to Florence. Tuesday I had a big presentation in my Botticelli class so all of Sunday and Monday were spent in the Giardino when it was nice, and the Villino when it was cooler, doing research for that. The presentation on Tuesday went really well and so to celebrate, my friends and i went out to Beatles night on Tuesday. Always a good time! I also did my internship both Monday and Wednesday mornings at the elementary school- I love working in the English classes but it means that I start my day at 8:30 am instead of 11 am. Wednesday was the Milano-Firenze calcio game. Big soccer game- lots of yelling, lots of people, lots of beer. Also, lots of fun, but maybe something that I'm glad I did once and now can be happy watching the mass chaos from my apartment window. And as if 4 days of craziness wasn't enough, I took a bus to Padova last night (university town just south of Venice) to see a Dave Matthews concert last night! It was AWESOME! Much different than in the states, but still amazing. He played a totally different line up, lots of new stuff and a few really popular older songs, and much less chatting in between sets. Also, there wasn't a 30 minute series of encores where they leave and come back- the concert actually ended on time. Weird! The bus ride was looooong and we didn't get back to Florence until nearly 4 am but it was so worth it. It was an amazing experience to see Dave in Italy. And made me very excited for this summer's concert (which I bought a ticket for this morning lol). Today I was up early to go to the elementary school where I intern to read a Doctor Seuss book to a class of third graders. It was really fun- there's a story telling program through Syracuse that my host mom organizes and it was nice to finally participate. A friend and I read and acted out (costumes included) the story "I Wish I Had Duck Feet." Really good story, really hilarious to act out. To quote my host mom "by the end of the story you will be all decorated like a christmas tree"- you're wearing duck feet, deer horns, a tiger tail and an elephant nose. So fun! It was nice to finally have some time this afternoon to just hang out with my friends in the Giardino and "do homework." I hadn't seen half the wolf pack (what we call our massive group of ladies) in days so it was really nice. Tonight we're all going out for some Mexican food- there are two places in Florence that are apparently quite good. I'm ridiculously excited. I love Italian food and am eating SO WELL but sometimes you just want something spicy that isn't peperoncino. Bring on the hot sauce and tomatilla!

Bagel cravings and beautiful sunshine

I'm sitting in the Giardino where I dragged myself as soon as school opened to do work because I have a big presentation coming up on Tuesday. Needless to say, I am not working on said presentation. Something about it being gloriously, fabulously, wondrously SPRING is preventing me from actually looking at anything related to Botticelli. I just can't believe how Florence comes alive when it's nice out. I saw hundreds more people on my walk to school than I've ever seen- same roads, same neighborhoods, more sunshine. It's amazing. The sunshine has put me in a great mindset and I'm feeling really good about myself, my time here, and what I can still accomplish even though I got off to a rocky start. This realization may have hit me this morning when i woke up with the most intense craving for my traditional sunday bagel. I mean, I would have given just about anything for a green mountain coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. Name your price. One big difference this time though. Instead of it heralding a wave of homesickness and melancholy that I couldn't shake, it made me stop and think "it's only a bagel. it will be there when you get back." And then I went to the kitchen and poured myself some Fruite and Fibre which is apparently some kind of health food cereal reminiscent of raisin bran but should really be renamed tutti frutti party in your bowl because it's just that delicious. Who would have thought that dried coconut and apple could so vastly improve raisin bran??? The Italians have raised eating to an art form is all I can say.
Last night I took some lovely lady friends to the Reginella- the restaurant that mom and crew discovered on their solo night in Florence (something for which I will be forever grateful). Our favorite waiter Noe greeted me at the door and then after his friend gave us a hard time all through dinner (all in good fun of course) proceeded to feed us way too much free wine. Which naturally made all my good intentions to go home and get some sleep fly out the window as I went out for a night of dancing. But, on the note of Italians taking eating to an art form, I tried Spaghetti alla Boia. It's spaghetti sauteed in hot pepper, egg and garlic that makes a saucy consistency that coats your pasta in YUM and then they toss tomatoes in for good measure. I was not sure how I felt about egg and pasta. I am now a believer that egg and pasta is a direct sign from the heavens that someone up there loves us very much.
Well, before I go get some delicious Turkish food for lunch (possibly becoming my new Sunday tradition) I need to get some work done. Missing you all- be happy, be well.

My life post-stomach flu

So on this emotional roller coaster that is Florence, I've definitely hit some highs and some lows since my last post. The rest of the visit from the crew was a blur of trattorias and wine and laughs...some travel snafus too, but all in all a wonderful time. Thank you to the lovely ladies who visited me- showing you Florence was amazing. Mom- I'm so glad you finally got to see Europe! I arrived back in Florence this Sunday after a weekend in Assisi to find that spring has sprung! It was a gorgeous day- sunny, warm, tourists and locals alike milling around downtown just being outside. I tried a new kebab place and had one of the best kebabs I've had in Florence while walking home. Marvelous. And then I got the stomach flu. Not very marvelous at all. I'm finally recovering (24 hour bug I think NOT) though, so that's a relief. Thank goodness for host moms who make you chicken broth and pastaccina and serve it to you on a tray in your bed bc you can't get up. Tonight I'm venturing out for the first time since getting sick so we'll see how that goes. Nothing crazy, just going to see Avatar, of all movies (typically not my style), in the English movie theatre downtown. I figure I'll save seeing Bachiami Ancora, the hot new Italian film, for when I'm less worn out. It takes a lot of energy to follow italian TV bc they speak so fast! Though I'm sure any foreigner who has ever tried watching American TV thinks the same of us, so that's probably not saying much. In keeping with the Spring motif, I have two points to make. One is something interesting I learned in my Botticelli class about the Primavera. The Primavera is one of Botticelli's most famous and well known works- you would have thought we would have cleared up any controversy about the identity of the figures actually in said painting right? Wrong! There's two big controversies- one about the identity of the "graces" (the three dancing females) who may or may not also represent the "hours". The other is about the identity of "flora" or the lady in the flowery dress, who may or may not just be "cloris"....interesting. I never realized you could discuss such things for 3 hours, but this Tuesday I most certainly did! Second point on spring for all of you lovely folks reading this during one of the snow storms that seem to keep slamming the east coast- I am writing this post from the Giardino! Our outside garden! Because it is in the 50's! This is so where I parked my car! Much nicer than the "unusually cold" weather that Florence was rocking up until about 5 days ago. Big upgrade.
Tomorrow I'm off to Perugia to take a tour of the chocolate factory with a possible detour to Lake Trasimeno (the lake that we passed on the train to Assisi!). Should be yummy! Hopefully my stomach will be up to the challenge. Saturday is a trip to Padova with my Black Death class to see the Scroveigni Chapel- should be amazing! And then next week is Dave Matthews in Padova! WOOHOO! Be on the look out for pictures from that adventure!
Ciao!

It's a brand new day

I think it was somewhere in between crouching on the floor of the Uffizi with my Botticelli class and professor to see what the Primavera would have "really" looked like when hung and dancing to "Down" with my friends and a waiter in the street by the light of the Duomo. But maybe it was when i realized I've come to love eggplants or when I was perfectly content in that very moment sitting in Zaza's with my mother in a near food and wine coma. Who knows- it might have been when I was told that to other people I look like I'm always "put together" and "excited." Whenever it happened, things shifted. Something changed- my outlook, my perspective, my world, I'm not sure. But it's good. It's really good. I remembered why I came here and what I want to accomplish and realized how very much I am still excited to do, see, smell and experience. Suddenly, two and a half more months seems nearly adequate instead of interminably long. And who knows, maybe in two and a half more months it will seem all too short and I'll look back and wonder why it took me so long to shift my perspective. Maybe it really was just a matter of letting go of how people say things should be seen and crouching down to see things as they were "really" intended to be seen.

The Laocoon and the Trevi Fountain. They say a picture's worth a thousand words....

La mia mama!

This weekend was my first trip to Rome where I went with my school and met up with MY MOM and the crew. The crew consisting of Aunt Heidi, Dana, Nancy and Coco. Unreal! Upon arriving in Rome my school group went directly to the Vatican (after stopping for a coffee break- they don't make you do ANYTHING here without a coffee break, not even a 2 hour class). Oh. My. God. It was amazing. I was absolutely floored by the Laocoon- you stumble upon it while going through a pretty courtyard and then peering around the impressive display of seemingly tropical foliage that's in bloom even in February. The Sistine Chapel was gorgeous, and so fascinating to see in person. Only downside is that in person it's so far away that you can actually appreciate the details of it better in books. But the overall impression is obviously out of this world. Saint Peter's Basilica was just wow. You're standing in the middle of this enormous space and then you're told that the arch over the altar is 104 ft high- about the height of a typical 10 story building here. What!? I live on the 5th floor and sometimes feel like I'm floating about the world. This is twice as high and is just an arch that fits INSIDE the Basilica. Outrageously large are the only words I can think of to describe that place. I think the thing that surprised me the most though was the Pieta. I'm not a very religious person and quite honestly my only beef with Florence is that sometimes I feel like I just cannot look at a another religious painting or sculpture without screaming. I almost cried when I saw the Pieta. Glass wall and 20 ft of space and all, it was such a moving experience. The pictures help but cannot even convey what it was like. Also indescribable with words or pictures is the Pantheon. It was raining when we went and you could see the rain falling through the oculus. It was so beautiful and unexpected and oddly delicate in a space that is all heavy marble and geometric perfection. And on the subject of perfection, let me describe my first encounter with the Trevi Fountain. I'm walking home from a Mexican restaurant with my friends Nancy and Rachel.I'm the epitome of content because I've just had my first good beer in a month (I finally broke down and had a Corona since we were at a Mexican place and I really couldn't stomach another bad Italian beer). It has finally stopped raining after a damp and kind of cold day. We round a corner and suddenly BAM. I'm standing face to face with the Trevi Fountain in all it's illuminated night time glory. Again, words cannot describe how beautiful it was with the light reflecting off the water and casting shadows on the statues.
To top it all off, my MOM is finally here! Well, it hasn't really been long enough for a finally but it sure seems like it. I"m pretty sick right now so she could not have come at a better time. Having everyone here is so exciting because, especially now that we're back in Florence, I get the opportunity to show people from home the new home that I've found here. Which is precisely what it felt like, returning home, after a hectic, alternately wonderful and terrible, and all around intense experience in the bustling city of Rome. Tonight my mom came to dinner at my host family's house, which was so great. I really wanted all of these people to meet because obviously my mom is integral to me and who I am, but my host family is an integral part of my experience here and the person I am becoming by living here. And as my host dad said, you haven't been fully "mom'ed" about being sick until both your real mom and your italian host mom have decided to go off about your cough/cold. But sometimes that's precisely what you need.
Buona sera a tutti!

I can't believe it's Febbraio!

Wow- February already! On one hand it feels like I've been in Florence forever, but then on the other it feels like I just landed yesterday. Very strange time warp, but I feel as if it's not really so strange if you think about it. Sometimes I feel so adjusted, like when people ask me for directions in Italian, but then other times I am totally baffled by some small thing and am positive there's a big old "made in the USA" stamp on my forehead. But I suppose that's the whole point of this experience; learning to embrace that USA stamp and still be a respectful and courteous student studying in Italy despite of it.
This weekend was quite a topsy turvy one. I caught something, which those of you who have talked to me have had the pleasure of experiencing as I hack up a lung and croak like a frog, so ended up staying home sick from my school trip to Assisi. Quite a bummer, but Assisi is pretty accessible so I can go back. I did however go to Pisa on Friday with a bunch of girl friends, totally spontaneously, and had a blast. Notes on the Leaning Tower: it's waaaay shorter than I was expecting but it's actually quite tipped! And it really is as much fun as they make it look in the movies to hang there and take funny pictures with the tower. I will try to post some asap because they're a riot.
Mom and crew are arriving in Rome this Saturday and I couldn't be more excited. Sundays are family days around here and everything is closed so that people spend time with their families; it makes it kind of tough when you're a student all alone in a foreign country and you and your friends don't even have a place to go. But, the next two Sundays will be jam packed and after that it might (fingers crossed!) be warm enough that we could hang outside in one of the million little parks that polka dot Florence. There's one by my house that has a merry go round in it! It's totally just for kids but I may have to try it out sometime. Just saying, sometimes in order to really try Florence you have to do some slightly ridiculous and touristy things. I'm learning to embrace it.
Well, it's time for my first class of February so I better not be late!
Ciao a tutti!
ali