Biergartens, Sound of Music, and OH MY GOD EARTHQUAKE

Alright kids. Here it is. Email della settimana (email of the week). I think it needs a theme song. You can hum something.

So I'll get right down to it.. I experienced my first earthquake the other night. Nowhere near as bad as L'Aquila, but still.. an earthquake nonetheless.

I was sitting in my bed. Reading. Doing some work, probably. And all of a sudden my bed started shaking! I thought, whaaat??! Who's under my bed? This is not FUNNY. But Alex's bed was shaking too, and then everything just stood still again. Like someone flicked off the earthquake switch. 

We were like cool! Earthquake. And that was that.

But! Then. The next morning I wake up and Ana kind of seeks me out in the hallway and asks, all excited,

Did you feel the earthquake last night?
(I said, sleepy excited, Yes! Around 10:30? It was my very first earthquake!)
10:30? No.. I didn't feel that one, I'm talking about the one at 3:30 in the morning. 
(Huh?)
You didn't feel it? I woke up and my bed was bouncing and my chandelier was swinging and I went into the dining room and that chandelier was swinging... You really didn't feel it??
(NO!!! -- a little confused)

Guys. I slept through an earthquake. How does this happen?? If I can sleep through a G-D-Effing earthquake, what else would I sleep through??

Anyway. That's my earthquake story. Italy's on a fault line (didn't know that!), so apparently these things are fairly common. But we're all ok here. The David's still standing. But the situation in L'Aquila is pretty serious. The news gives me chills. They'll play their news theme song and cut directly to footage. No music. No commentary. Just footage of a wrecked city and bodies. It's... well, it puts a feeling in your stomach like rocks.

On the lighter side.... I'll lighten things up. I went to Austria this weekend! I hopped in a rental car with my good friend Logan and my friends Delilah and Gerd-Helen in the backseat. I navigated. Yeah, I navigated! Overall that went pretty well except for how they don't mark "road closed for fear of AVALANCHES!!!!" on maps. That was a problem I'll get to later.

So the driving was excellent. It's been awhile since I could roll down my window and put my feet on the dashboard, and I took all advantage. On our way up through Italy we stopped at Lago di Garda. Wow. It was like the gateway to the Alps. Snow on mountains, short sleeves by the lake, sandwiches. And then we drove alongside it!

But what can I say about Austria except that I was actually kind of sad to come back to Florence. I loved it so much. So much I'll make you a list why.

Window down hair.

1. Bathrooms. They're everywhere. They're clean. Soap always smells like roses. They always had toilet paper. It was paradise for someone with an active bladder. Not that I have one... but if you do, then Austria's your place.
2. People actually seemed happy. That's been my problem with Florence... you walk down the street and people seem in a rush, too busy hiding behind their sunglasses to notice what's around them, judgmental about your clothing... generally not too friendly on the street. And all of the creepers who yell out CIAO BELLA, MA... CHE BELLA.... there was none of that here. People smiled more. If you smiled at someone, they smiled back at you. It was nice.
   *** Side note, I actually found out the reason why people don't smile back in Italy -- it's because they think you're laughing at them. That came straight from an Italian. Isn't that weird? Calm down, guys.
3. Air. You can breathe in Austria. Florence is a little stagnant. It's in a valley so the air just sits. But Salzburg! There was a constant breeze that smelled like grass, freshness, snow, and a touch of cow poop. Maybe that's why Austrians are happier. They get to breathe more often.
   *** About the cow poop. If you do through Austria with your window down, you're going to smell it the whole time. Just a constant scent of poop. But it's not bad. It kind of reminded me of Rich's Farm (where we got our ice cream in the summer in Connecticut). It smells like farming!
4. Wurstel. It might be German, but it's good in Austria, too.

There's a list to start. But my favorite thing overall was the people. They were so kind. They were so patient. They were just happy little Austrians. We got to Salzburg by nighttime and snuck 4 of us into a double room in a pensione (big house turned hotel... they're everywhere), and it looked like a winter lodge. And only 15 Euro for the night plus free breakfast! They were so nice there, and the down comforters were so cozy.

That night we went night-xploring. It was so still, smelled so fresh, and overlooking the city was a big castle on a hill. We climbed to it! We saw all of Salzburg... which means Salt... burg. It's a small place. And I never felt unsafe even though we were climbing a small dark path to a big dark castle. 

It just feels friendly there.

The next day I went to a BIG market with meats! Breads! Boiled eggs for Easter! Bought some lunch to take, frolicked through the garden from the Sound of Music, almost made myself sick spinning around on a playground we found, hopped in the car, and navigated us to St. Gilgen (another Sound of Music location!!).

Logan jumped in the lake there. I stuck my feet in and when they started going numb from the cold after a few seconds, I said I was all set. But my feet felt FRESHER!

We stopped at another lake on the way for lunch off the road at a little pull off. We were surrounded by the biggest, snowiest mountains I have ever seen in my life. 

That night we stopped in a little Austrian town on the way back to Italy. It was called Taxinbach. There was a nice lady who let us stay in a room for 20 Euro each. It was even cheaper than a hostel and we got cozy down blankets and pillows, a nice bathroom, a TV and a microwave to make tea, and she gave us a massive free breakfast while Austrian mountain music played from a little radio and Austrian mountains played out the window. We made sandwiches out of the free breakfast and headed back to Florence.

Which was interesting. The trip back. Here's why. Roads close down because everyone's all afraig of an avalanche. We ended up seriously backtracking twice. It was nuts.

OH! And I got to run around and frolic on a hill while singing THE HILLS ARE ALIIIIVE. That was my main goal.

When you wake up early in Florence....

Some other things about Austria:

1. You can find yodeling radio stations. All yodel, all the time.
2. They make REALLY good jam. Go and try the cherry.
3. Nobody glared at my flip flops like they do in Italy.
4. Good beer is CHEAP! And the word "Biergarten" just sounds so nice... like a garden of beer.
5. Streets are clean... no dog poop like there is in Florence.

In conclusion, I'd like to be an Austrian. Just for a little while. This whole time I've been wondering if I'm falling out of love with traveling, or if I just don't love Florence. Don't get me wrong... I like Florence a lot... I'm just not in love with it.

But after this weekend, I feel more relaxed. I still love traveling... the thing is, you're just not going to love everywhere you go. But I love Austria. I'm a converted Austrian. Even with that cow poop smell. 

This weekend I'm going to Rome! The holy city for holy week and all that jazz. I'll let you know if there's a Pope sighting. 

So that's all! I hope there are no earthquakes where you are.
Earthquake or no earthquake, keep on rockin'.
Be careful just in case.

Harps, St. Francis, and I can Bake!!

Everyone!

Ana made us an ocean-themed feast tonight... pasta with mussels, then more mussels, then shrimp with mussels, then salad, then fruit, then cake. Then I rolled myself back to my room, and here I am at the computer. Oof.

It's getting late, and I'm a little tired from my food coma going on, but I'm heading out on a big adventure tomorrow and I know that I need to write an email before that happens, so here I am! Back in action.

So what big adventure?? I'm finally exiting the country. Woo! First time since I've gotten here. Where is this adventure taking me? Up to AUSTRIA. I'm going to go run around in the Sound of Music hills! Anyway, my friend Logan is renting a car, and I'll be navigating, and well... we'll see if we can keep us and the other passengers intact. Fingers crossed. That'll be next week's email. Get pumped.

So there are a few things to discuss today. I think I last left off at Mafia and pasta. (Still haven't forgotten that pasta, tutti... it was the best ever. If I could give a trophy to a pasta... I would give a trophy to a pasta).

Last Friday I went to San Gimignano. I woke up in the morning, realized I had absolutely nothing to do that day, so I went to the cafe I usually go to and asked Giuseppe and Sandra where they'd go if they had a free day. They wrote San Gimignano down on a napkin for me, and so I hopped on a bus to San Gimignano! I went all by my lil' old self... I needed some Audra time... and San Gimignano is like this:

I got off the bus and climbed through a porthole/gateway/arch to the town, and walked steadily up. If you need to know anything about San Gimignano, it is that it is up. But that is what makes it so beautiful. I go up up up, and finally I find a castle, I go into its courtyard, and a harpist starts playing. A harpist! In a castle courtyard! So I find a bench, I sit down on it, and I enjoy the free concert. You know how when people tell you to relax, they tell you to go to a 'happy place'? Well I made that one of my happy places... the weather was warm, there were trees with flowers, and it was my first San Gimignano experience.

Harp man plays the hits

It was good that it was my first impression because the rest was just ok. Sorry to let you down. Overall, I have to say that San Gimignano had the best views I have ever seen of Tuscany and Chianti, but the people??! They were not the friendliest. It felt like everyone was bitter that there were people around. I was trying to talk to the lady at lunch (because I was the only one there, I was trying to cover up the Celine Dion playing in the background, and if I didn't talk she would have just been watching me eat...), and she just seemed annoyed. I went to go find dessert so I could meet someone nicer, but the lady seemed bothered that all I wanted was dessert! Nobody seemed up for talking. If I went into a place and didn't buy anything (which was often, because stuff's expensive!), they turned off their smiles. Maybe it's just me. But it was just so contrary to every other place I've been in Italy so far that I was surprised.

But I'm not writing San Gimignano off as an unfriendly place just yet. It's really, really beautiful, and I can't imagine people who are surrounded by that all of the time to all be unfriendly. So I think I just met the wrong people.

Saturday I woke up and went with my friend Gerd-Helen to Assisi. To see what we could see-see. Hah haha. Sorry.. there were a lot of Assisi jokes. I'll tell you what I saw-saw.

Gerd-Helen in Assisi.

First of all, Assisi was uphill too. Maybe even more than San Gimignano. And everyone wanted to talk to us! We even had one man show us a photo album of all of the women he's been with in his lifetime. He said he has 20 photo albums... all full. Yep. We went to a beer tasting, and we ate free sausage to go with it. We talked to the woman who gave us coffee, and the man who sold us wine, and everyone wanted to know where we were from and why we know Italian.

If you ever, ever go to Italy, though... please make it on your list to go to the Basilica of St. Francis. It will be your favorite church. Most of the churches I've been to so far have been beautiful on the outside, but huge, empty, and imposing on the inside as if to say "sit down, shut up, God is coming." But when you walk through this Basilica for St. Francis of Assisi, you start to feel different. People go there as a tourist attraction, yes, but so many people treat it as kind of a Mecca. It's a place that they have the need to go to, because they need to pray for someone or theirselves.. just because they have to be there in some way. Gerd-Helen and I went down to the tomb, and the feeling of emotion down there was so strong I felt like crying but for no reason. There were photographs placed all around the tomb, there were monks, there were people singing. Gerd-Helen and I walked through pretty much in silence, and even though she isn't even Catholic, when we walked back outside, she said Whoa.. did you feel that? It was incredible. Go to Assisi. Go to the Basilica of St. Francis.

Otherwise, Assisi was walking uphill, eating a really good bread with walnuts and pecorino, avoiding the rain that happened in Florence all day, and just enjoying the town. It might be one of my favorite towns that I've been to here.

This week I've had classes.. yes, I go to class! And guess what?? Big news! Are you ready???

I learned how to bake BREAD!!!

I'm so excited! It's called schiacciata (kind of like foccaccia), and they bake it for panini... but it's also good as is. It's kind of like a gateway bread. If you know how to make it, you can make panini, pizza, whatever you want. So I'm a baker, now. I can't wait until I get home and have an oven to use... you're all getting bread.

Registered for fall semester this week... 3 geography classes, 2 Newhouse classes, 1 Italian, and AEROBIC DANCE!!! Yup, it's one credit!

Other things... I've been trying to check some landmarks off my list. Uffizi? Check. Palazzo Pitti? Check.

It's good because I can hop on other people's tours and learn information. You have to be sneaky and look like you're observing something else, but it's a fun way to learn. And free!

Uffizi felt like cowhearding. I haven't been anywhere so crowded in such a long time! This is what I think about the Uffizi... it's like tasting wine. The first few wines, you think 'yes, a bit of cherry' or 'hmm.. I sense an earthiness' or whatever you say when you drink wine. But by the 7th or 8th wine you just think 'yup, that's good.' Like that, the first few rooms I was really trying hard with, but by the end I was thinking.. 'Well that isn't how a face really looks', and 'Ahh! Everybody's naked!!!" (just kidding). The Uffizi is massive. Give it a few visits if you want to give the whole thing your full attention.

You must think I'm uncultured. But it's a big museum, and honestly? Once you've seen a few Rennaissance paintings, you get it.

But! Before I move on... the Uffizi bathroom is the BEST one I've ever been in. It's at the end of a cave, the stalls are big, and everything is made out of stone. It's incredible. It's clean. I get in for free with my student card, so I might just go back for the bathroom if I need one in a hurry one day.

Today I went to Palazzo Pitti. I liked it much more than the Uffizi. Is that a fair comparison? It probably shows how uneducated I am about art and history. But it was a palace, that also had art! So I saw more art, but at the same time, I could pretend I was a princess in a palace if I wanted to. I loved it. It was good for imagination purposes.. to imagine which room the duke played billiards in and which room the Queen slept in, and so on. There was also a clothing museum, a silver museum, and a modern art museum (but don't be fooled... "modern" = "less old" in this case).

That was a long email. Next time I won't write on a full stomach!

Everyone wish my sister a happy birthday.. it was yesterday.

I only have 1 month left! The weather is getting warmer (and the tourists are getting more frequent...! But I guess I kind of am one, so..)

I hope you're all doing great! Happy April.
Questions? Comments? Hit the reply button.
Till next time,
Love you!
Aud

Yeast is fun.

Parents, The Wrong Macie, and Roomate's got Whooping Cough

Buon giorno, everybody!

Melissa from France, David from Indonesia, and Audra from Connecticut all enjoy some time in the park.

How's everyone doing? I hope you're all well. Today is a really gorgeous day in Florence. I woke up, put on shoes without socks, and after class, I sat in a park with some friends and napped a little. Now I'm in a bar with a mint soda using their internet to write you this letter. It's been a good day.

So as you can tell I survived the week with my parents. They're a part of this email listing so I won't get into all of the gory details, but I made it through in one piece.

Just kidding. Actually, they got here two Fridays ago and they left this past Sunday, and we spent a really, really great week together. Aside from the weather being cold and rainy half the time, we did manage to get a few nice days in, and when it was rainy, they saw museums, the indoor market, good places to drink hot chocolate or wine, and other important things. So the week went like this:

Friday was a Lent Friday so being in the country of Catholics we decided to be good Catholics and go to "Il Vegetariano".. a vegetarian restaurant.. with some friends of mine. Even if you're a carnivore you will leave there happy and full to the brim. It was really good, and they got to meet some of the people I hang out with, so now they know I have friends, too! Great! Dad thought it was funny how David is a Java programmer from Java, Indonesia.

Gray hills of Tuscany.

Saturday we ate parma ham and parmagiano cheese in Parma... a lot of it. It's the epicenter of all culinary goods beginning with "parma-". Parma ham is the best prosciutto in the country! So that was a good day.

Sunday we hiked up a mountain for church, and then we headed to winery #1 of the trip. But before I get to explaining the winery, let me tell you how we got to the winery. The car was like this: little Opel Astra with stick shift; Mom with her eyes closed in the backseat; Dad dividing his attention between the road, the GPS, the crazy Italian drivers honking their horns, and me giving directions and saying Slow Down!; and me in the passengers seat grabbing the "oh shit" handle for a good portion of the journey. So we're on the road. GPS (we named her Bianca) is telling us how to get to Macie (where we expected Rocca della Macie) to be. And finally, we get to Macie. But what the hell is in Macie? There were some industrial buildings, a parking lot, some chickens, one residential area, and that was it, tutti, it. So I call up the people at the vineyard. I'm like hey! We're lost. They're like well let me give you some landmarks to look out for. I'm like well.. all I can see is trees and chickens so let me call you back.

..turns out we were in Macie, and we needed to get to Macie with an accent mark over the "i".

In other words we were in MA-cie and we needed to get to Ma-CI-e. So we drove another half hour, found it, drank wine and spoke with Valentina and her husband (the wine-ists) for four hours. Let me tell you. If you go to a winery in Italy to taste some wines, you better plan to visit one in a whole day. There's no sip sip buy leave. There's talk, sip, talk, sip, talk about your family, sip, talk about wine, sip, talk about how you should visit each other some day, sip, buy stuff, leave.

Valentina even offered me a job as an English tour guide! Look. I'm going to get a degree in television, but once I'm done, working at a vineyard is a serious, serious option.

Monday was another vineyard: Verrazzano... holy moly. Four more hours there with another small family talking to this guy named Gino. He didn't just love wine, he had a whole wine philosophy. Wine, to him, is a gift that makes you forget the past and relish the present. And it should be shared, just like happiness. And share we did. We ate lunch there, but we didn't just eat lunch. First of all, Gino brings us this TRAY of hams and whatnots, and we're all thinking cool. A tray of food for the table. But he puts a tray down in front of everyone. I'll attach a picture of the tray, Gino, and my Dad (by the way, the brown/grey shmear on that toast is kind of like a pate'... it's really yummy, so it doesn't taste what it looks like). So we ate and drank and got merry... learned what kind of wine goes with what... and we left!

Gino tells dad how it is.

At night Mom and Dad ate dinner at Ana's house (where I live). They even got to meet my roommate! Ask them all about it.

Tuesday... rain. Dinner at Porcospino (the restaurant where my cousin Lindsey knows Franco - the owner when the owner's not there). What a guy. Linds, I finally tried the pesto gnocchi. Holy ba-jeesus. I thought I had died for a second.

Wednesday... rain. I had exams this week, so you'll have to ask my parents what they did during the day. I'm pretty sure that they saw a lot of things and walked a lot of kilometers. For dinner I took them to my favorite panino place in the world. They make sandwiches that would blow your mind. I go there when I can. They have a rainbow disco ball hanging in the middle, and they're starting to remember me when I come back now!

Thursday... rain. I met my parents for hot chocolate, appetisers (big Italian custom where you buy a drink and get free food before you go away for dinner), and STEAK. Not just any steak. Florentine steak. It is flash cooked for about a second on each side, and it ends up being crispy on the outside and almost raw on the inside. Wonderful. The guy will cut it off the shank for you. Right next to you. Not for the faint-hearted. When you eat it, you feel like you're eating something that might have been living earlier that hour, but wow. Go to Florence. Eat steak.

Friday... what did we do guys? Oh! One last vineyard. Short visit, good wine, beautiful view. We found a nearby mountain with a castle and a perfect spot for watching the sunset over the ocean. We drove for 56 hours to find the restaurant we wanted to go to (also very yummy), and then Dad got us all home in the car. I think we were all surprised we made it. He was so tired. A little grumpy. Mom and I talked the whole way back to keep him awake.

Dad embarks the Opel.

Saturday we left for Milan. I like Milan. It's more city-like. We walked around, saw the Duomo and Fortress and Galleria. The Duomo looks like a sandcastle/dripcastle (said Mom). We ate dinner and they repacked their suitcases while drinking wine! I don't know if it was Dad's boyscout thriftiness or the wine that made him put the parmesan cheese wedges in his shoes, but everyone made it home safely without any broken bottles and without any overweight baggage fines. 

Sunday I was in Milan alone, and a little bummed. Went to Duomo for church, and to be honest, it kind of was a huge disappointment. I was in the biggest church I had ever been to in my life, and it felt like a fishbowl/show and tell. Tourists were walking all around me, there was a gift shop behind me, and people walking in and out and I just wanted to be like SHUT UP!!! So I left and found coffee after Communion. The barristo saw that I was a little blue, so he gave me coffee for free and then I went to go walk around.

Met a girl while sitting on a bench who moved from Chicago to learn opera, and she told me places to go. So I went to a bookstore, a good panino place, back to the coffee bar for a glass of wine, and just moseyed. I'd like to go back to see more. Milan is big.

So life is somewhat back to normal! I'm back to eating apples and bread during the day instead of steak and pesto gnocchi, but it's alright with me. Alex is still here, still enjoyable. In fact, she's got whooping cough. Maybe not exactly whooping cough, but something that sounds like that plus black lung plus allergic reaction. It's not exactly Sounds of the Ocean when you're trying to get to sleep, but if I just play a little Joni Mitchell through the iPod in bed, it'll tune it out for a few hours.

A lot of friends are leaving next week because one of my courses is ending, so we're spending all the time together we can. 

AMICI!!

Except for right now. I'm writing an email to you.

And in about an hour I'm going to an artist's studio. I'm posing for an artist. With clothes on, promise. Actually, I get to wear a ballerina outfit! Even though it's probably too late for me to learn how to be a ballerina, I can fulfill my dream of being a ballerina in the painting. So Gabriele paints as he listens to Fabrizio d'Andre (classic Italian singer), and sometimes he listens to Buffalo Springfield! I told him next time I'd bring ABBA. He said he likes disco.

...I'm sure that just sounded really weird and a little seedy. But it's not. It's completely safe, really fun to sit and talk to this painter in Italian, and all I have to do is sit for an hour or two, and I earn some Euros while doing it. I'll see if I can send you a picture when he's done. He even asked if I'd do another one. It's kind of like I found a side job! This is another story for another email, though. I've tested your patience long enough.

Dog Poop, The Two Carnivales, Olives

Tutti!

Only in Florence do you find Carnivale Poop. This isn't a delicacy or anything, but remember how I said a few posts ago that dogs poop everywhere on the streets? Well it was just Carnivale time here, and now this poop has confetti in it.

Gross. I know. 

So what's Carnivale? It's a big, huge party that the Italians (and other countries too.. but I only know Carnivale Italian-style) like to have the whole 2 some-odd weeks leading up to Lent. 

Forget Fat Tuesday. 

Well they have Fat Tuesday, too. But these Italians have two and a half-ish weeks of just Fat Tuesdays.

There are a few cities that are famous for their Carnivales. Venice, for example! But there are some lesser-known cities that Carnivale it up for the holidays. I'll talk about one of those. And Venice. 

Venice first.

SO. Two weekends ago I went to Venice along with the rest of the world. Not only was it Carnivale there, but it was Valentine's Day, too, so I was trying to squeeze through the little streets with all the rest of the lovers, trying not to fall into the canalwater (I heard that Jane Seymore aka Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman stuck her hand in this water, rubbed her eye, and her eye got so infected it almost fell out). So I wasn't going to touch it.. but it was pretty to watch! I forgot how much I missed the sound of water.

Basically everyone was DRESSED UP. These people obviously planned for a long time how they would plan their costumes. Women in hoop skirts. Men in tights! Batman children. Masks. It was like a fusion of Halloween, Mardi Gras, and Happy New Year.

There was confetti everywhere, and remember the famous pigeons in Saint Mark's Square? The ones everyone always photographs because there are millions? They didn't even know what was on the ground. Bread pieces? Confetti? 

"WTF?"

Saint Mark's was full of people. Almost everyone was in a mask. There were mask vendors on the streets where in Florence the cheap handbag vendors would be. It was normal to see a family dressed like they were from the 1800s sitting at a table eating pizza.

My table for one this evening. Bliss.

It was also really expensive. It's like they put out the special Carnivale price tags for a couple weeks. I wasn't really up for dinner in a restaurant one night, so I went and found a piece of dock to sit on to enjoy some bread and peanut butter. To be honest, sitting there listening to the Carnivale crowd behind me, watching the canal gondolas go by might have been the highlight of the trip. I met some Italian guys who shared their wine, and I went home to the hostel. It was a good time.

... it was one of those weekend I'm glad I experienced, but I'm not sure how much I actually enjoyed. This isn't a bad thing. I liked the idea of it.. the colors, the masks, the humbug, but the vibe was just strange. Everyone was pushing. Everyone was looking for the perfect mask. I must have passed so many Syracuse kids on the streets because it was THE destination for the weekend. Everyone was there to see Carnivale, but I'm not sure how many people actually SAW it... or what they really had intended on seeing. 

... it felt like something that people go to just to say they've gone.

NOW. The other Carnivale! Totally different. 

It was in Viareggio, and Viareggio is like this: beach, town, mountains. On the beach there was garbage, but I didn't mind... I really miss the ocean and as I was sitting with my friend Melissa we just stopped talking and breathed in the salty air. 

The mountains were a beautiful backdrop, and it's the first time I've seen them so close to the ocean. 

The town was an inch of confetti with streets full of paper mache floats and delicious things to eat.

Contrary to Venice where the atmosphere was a bit pushy and snobby, Viareggio was like a HUGE party! In the street!

There was more variety with the costumes (fewer hoop skirts, more Winnie the Pooh), and the floats... well. Let's just say they probably started on next year's yesterday.

They obviously took a ton of effort to make, and they were a lot more political than I expected. One was of Berlusconi (current Prime Minister... I think he's a bit of a pig, but Italians are very divided on their opinion of him) who was made to look like a saint with angels all around him, and there was a Communist/Devil float behind him.

There was even an Obamafloat. People seemed pretty jazzed about it.

There were free cookies everywhere that were very thin and tasted like licorice, and I even got to go inside a float at the end. I was with my professor from Centro (the place where I take Italian lessons... not Syracuse) and she lives in Viareggio and knows a float worker. So I saw all the big wheels turning on the inside!

There were acrobats. There were kids riding on shoulders. There was so much life there that I thought was missing from Venice's version. 

One thing that's the same everywhere is the Carnivale FOOD... especially fritelle. Fried balls with sugar. Really good for you. Yum.

In other news!

Parents are coming tomorrow... eep! Itinerary is wine drinking, food enjoying, and being afraid of my Dad's driving on Italian streets. I'm going to take them to all my favorite places: the gelato place(s), the roasted chestnut street stand, the place(s) where I buy hot chocolate. 

I'm trying to go running twice a week. Hey Bri -- you remember how you told me that everyone who drives a Jeep in the US gives each other a wave when they drive past each other? I'm trying to start that with running. Giving a little wave. Italians aren't like Jeeps, but I think they might catch on.. I really think they will.

Actually! I went running last night and this little boy started jogging beside me as his family laughed. I was like FINE! So I ran faster and told him to hurry up. I let him win and gave him a high five.

I also tried my first olive from a tree. It was a really Tuscan moment.

My friend Delilah and I went to this nearby hilltop village called Fiesole. It is supposed to take 2 hours by foot, but it took us about three because we stopped to eat oranges, looked at Florence from far away, pondered life, and picked/ate olives. 

The olive skin is a little bitter, but the inside pulp tastes just like olive oil. Delicious. 

It was a very good hike up to Fiesole. We sat on a wall and ate lunch as we watched the city, but for once didn't have to listen to all of its busy-ness.

School is school. It kind of feels like a burden. I'm going to drop a class... not because I'm a slacker. Mostly because I don't need the credit, took it for pleasure, and it's not pleasurable. Also, I'm in Italy. 

I'm going to teach myself how to bake bread in that new free time. More on that in the weeks to come.

Siena, Lucca, Prato, and salami!

Since I last wrote about the Perugia episode, I've been to a few more spots. Here is what Siena, Lucca, and Prato are like.

Siena

Felipe, Alex (roommate), Julian, myself, David

You know the crayon called Burnt Siena? It's like that.

The buildings are brown/red, and every street is a new surprise. It's also cool that Siena was the location for shooting the last James Bond film.

I went with a big group of us, but my friend David and I split off and went out own way. When we felt like taking a left, we did, and when we felt like eating lunch, we ate. We found a small fruit stand, and I bought an apple and washed it in a street fountain, and after that, we found some warm bread... so food in hand, we found a wall and sat on it, and we watched the mountains and the people below us go.

We had a really good adventure that day. We went back to thank they lady for the really good bread. We found a Christmas museum (and it was the end of January!). 

There was one time when we could have taken a left or a right, and we took a left because the right sounded like jackhammers. At the bottom of this street, we heard music and we ended up stopping outside a door where inside, someone was practicing piano (Clair de Lune, by Debussy). 

By the end, my hands were so cold, but we found a small pub where I could warm them on a blue, china teacup of English Breakfast.

The thing I like about Siena is that even though it has its crowded, noisy parts, you can take a right or a left down any street and find yourself in silence in 2 minutes. David said he liked how you can even hear your shoes as you walk. You can't always hear your shoes in Florence. And everything was a painting, even old ladies smoking cigarettes out their windows.

Lucca

Also small and beautiful, but not quite as pretty as Siena.

I went to Lucca for my Literary Travels class, and we stopped in a museum for a little, a church for a little, and then I had the most incredible soup for lunch. It was polenta and vegetables, and some sort of Luccan magic all mixed together. And for dessert, I shared a pear/chocolate cake with someone.

Go dip a pear in some chocolate. It doesn't sound like something that would be very delivious, but trust me. 

So then we walked around with a young tour guide named Marco, and he and I exchanged suggestions for good music. I'm trying to find some Italian bands while I'm here.

Lucca is surrounded by a huge defense wall, so we walked all around the top of it and I'm pretty sure I saw most of Tuscany from that wall.

Italy is all aobut walls. There are always walls to sit on or walk on.

Or pee on if you're a dog.

Prato

My friend Leonie and I just picked up and decided to go to Prato yesterday. It's only 20 minutes by train, but it's overlooked a lot because it's so close to Florence. 

What a great, great day. Our mission was first to find a bottle of wine and then find a piazza to sit and drink it in (because in Italy, public drinking ain't no thing). When we found a small store with a wall of wine in it, we went in. 

The man behind the counter asked if he could help us, and I said well, we're just looking for some wine. And he said well, let me get someone to give you really good advice.

Well. This advice turned into an hour long talk about the wine labelling process in Italy, where they raise their pigs to make salami (they get to run around in a big field, I was told), which wine goes well with what, how baking bread and being a butcher are forms of art in Italy, how Americans use too many ingredients in their food, how Tuscan food is better because 3 ingredients can make a masterpiece, and so on and on and on. 

I loved it. I couldn't understand everything, but I didn't want to stop them -- they were on such a roll! And so enthusiastic!

They gave us some chocolate to munch on and some salami to taste along with the rose wine we bought. I told them I'd come back so that they could teach me how to make salami. Their names are Rino and Renato.

So we sat in the piazza and we drank that whole bottle and we talked about everything. Leonie is from Germany. She was in New York for awhile living in a room above a yoga studio, working for a tour company. Then she worked in London working for a company that is trying to improve relations between Germans and Jews. 

Later we bought some cookies and went on down to the church -- we were only inside for 2 minutes when this old Italian man came up and started giving us an impromptu tour. 

This guy didn't even work for the church! But he told us all about the church and Prato. I learned that Prato's most prized possession is the Virgin Mary's girdle that she gave to St. Thomas before she rose to heaven. They keep Mary's girdle in a big ornamented box surrounded by frescos and a large imposing gate, and they take out Mary's girdle to show it to everyone about 5 times a year. 

After that we went home. So those were 3 Italian cities. Here are some other things I did:

 - Rode on a bike bar the other day. You know that bar between the bike seat and the handles? Well I sat on it because my friend Julian said we weren't walking fast enough and he peddled us both. Holy mother of God. I was screaming/laughing and I was afraid/excited and we almost crashed into a bunch of things, but I kind of almost felt a little Italian at that moment.

 - Anna is doing well. Every night she warns us of the gypsies down the street, but I haven't seen any. She made us saltimbocca romana last week, which is 2 layers of thinly sliced meat (I think prosciutto) with a thin slice of cheese in the middle, grilled in olive oil. Really delicious. Sometimes I worry that she thinks I'm insincere because everything she brings out I tell her it is magnificent, incredible, very good, mmm, or "I like it very much," but it just is. Everything is.

- The other night I couldn't open an almond, so Anna took the almond from me and cracked it in the window. Just opened the window and closed the almond in it. She lost a bit of the window frame, but the almond was goooood.

 - Sometimes I go to my friend Delilah's house if I have nothing else to do. Either this involves yoga or talking over tea, but a lot of times, it's cooking. She's a vegetarian, and she has a fruit/veg stand outside her house, so she'll cook us eggplant or peppers, or whatever we're in the mood for. Last week we ate an entire pot of peas. She's also addicted to chocolate. I'm not kidding.

 - My Italian is getting much better, and even though I can't express myself exactly how I want, I'm learning more every day. Language is such a funny thing. You don't realize this when you are surrounded by people who speak the same one as you do, but the moment you are put into a place where you don't speak a language fluently, you realize that language is such a big part of personality. You can't express yourself and your personality exactly how you want to, and that part is frustrating. So much of who I am is what I say and how I say it, and I almost feel like I come across as a completely different person because I'm so limited.

On the other hand, I feel like I can get to know the Italians I've met on such a different level. Speaking is such a big part of their culture (like any culture), and when they know you understand them, they completely open up and can talk for hours.

I think that if I didn't know Italian, I'd be missing out on getting to know a lot of great people. 

More Florence, Wandering Perugia, and Pokemon in Italian

Here are some of the things I've been up to:

1. Last week I almost got hit by a pigeon once. I almost got hit by a car once, too. Both are fairly normal.

2. I saw an Italian Beatles cover band last week. Just say "Sgt. Pepper" out loud, but roll your Rs. It was so entertaining!

3. I went to Perugia yesterday. It's a little town about 2 hours from Florence by bus.

Felipe, Delilah, and David in Perugia.

They are famous for: Tomb Museums, chocolate, the place where the American student maybe murdered her roommate, underground tunnels, universities, and apparently Jazz? It's not Jazz time of year yet though, so instead our professore took us to the tomb museums. While he was explaining all of the archeology in Italian (which did not register in my brain), some of us ran away to a chocolate store.

It's possible that I'm just not very into museums. This possibility makes me feel a little guilty in this country.

So.. Perugia. The bus rides were the best part, actually. The Italian countryside has a really eerie beauty. Almost smoky. 

I shared music with my new friends Felipe (Brazil) and David (Java), made a list of movies to see with my friend Julian (Spain), took pictures of the sleeping Gerd-Helen (Norway) and hung out with Delilah (Toronto) and Leonie (Germany).

The cool thing is that these people are from everywhere, and we're only here for such a short period of time. I was talking with Delilah yesterday about how because we're all thrown together so quickly and we leave so quickly we have to develop really short, but really strong friendships right away... mostly because we have to trust each other so quickly. These people have been really, really wonderful. It's going to be hard when they go in March.

This cat seems to also "mangia bene."

4. Walking around Florence is like this: you are always looking up and then down and then up and then down. This is because of dog poop. Felipe says, "I never see dogs, here. Just what they leave behind." So you have to look up to see where you're going for a few yards, and then you look down so you don't step on anything you don't wan to on your way there.

5. My house mom's granddaughter's name is Olympia, and I've been trying to teach her English every day. And she teaches me some Italian. She's 5 years old.. and she's almost got "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" down. So in between watching Pokemon dubbed into Italian, we learn some English (and me some Italian).

The food is still as good as ever. I "mangio bene" every day. Dinner is always SO much, but SO good. I'm trying to learn a thing or two about Florentine cooking.

Interesting Florentine fact? Their bread has no salt. That's so you can taste the olive oil :)

Hello Firenze... the Sequel

Buon Giorno!

I'm scamming internet off of the neighbors. So if you need to get in touch with me via email, it's that much easier!

A lot has happened over the past week. I met some other kids from the program I'm doing.. the rest of the entire Syracuse University gets here this week, but for now it's just 12 of us doing this Italian language program at the "School for Foreigners." 

By now we've gotten to know the place pretty well. We were given a tour of our villa. Yup. We go to class in a VILLA. It was once owned by a duke. 

We had some dinners with some program coordinators. I ate chicken liver. Twice! In the same night! It was just that good. They like to spread it on toast, here.

Florence's streets are small, and they're like this:
 - When you don't want to find a place, you will pass it several times.
 - When you do want to find a place, you can't find it ever.
 - Whenever I get lost, I look for the top of the Duomo. It has a big golden cross that is higher than all of the other buildings, so it's usually easier to spot. I never stop feeling amazed that I'm using the Duomo as my navigation point. Instead of using street names, I use architecture to get around. 
 - Vespas and other motorbikes don't stop. 
 - Cars will stop in a pinch if you're in the crosswalk.
 - Busses will pull this magic Santa Claus trick and squeeze through the city streets like a birth canal. Sorry for the mixed metaphor. But you get it.

On Wednesday I met my family. Actually, my new Italian mamma. Her name is Anna. She's traditional Italian Mamma. Anna wants us to wear slippers in the house. Laundry is done every Friday. We must keep our rooms neat. Dinner is at 8pm sharp every night. Breakfast is out before we go every morning.

Anna cooks like there are 8 of us and wants us to mangia! mangia! Eat it all. But that's just impossible. I've had veal twice since I got here. She gives us 3 courses and always dessert. The other day she made her own focaccia and stuffed it with mozzarella, prosciutto, and tomato. Last night she made a cake out of honey, grapes, and apples. She is a food magician. She's also a little feisty.. she told us that she used to dance on tables. Also, our shower has a mirror in it.

Last week when I got sick with a stomach bug, she took good care of me. Especially after what happened.

A little embarrassing, but we're all friends.

So I was sick. With something. I don't know how.. but Anna says maybe it's because I ate dinner and then went outside and it was too cold for my body to digest? Maybe. Long story short, I threw up in bed while she was out for the day. 

I swore a couple of times, but then I decided I had to fix it all without Anna knowing. I went out with friends the night before and I didn't want her to think that I was a drunken American right off the bat. 

SO I washed the sheets. Hung them out to dry. Went back to bed. I'd get them later. 

Well, later, Anna comes home. I was taking a nap when I suddenly hear RAGAZZZZZZEEEEEE!!!! (GIRLS!!!!!) She starts jabbering in Italian and I can't keep up, but I knew she had found the sheets.

Well.. she found one sheet. The other one blew into a neighbor's yard.

Me and David in class. David is mid-yawn.

So then I had to explain everything in Italian and I had to use my hands to speak because sometimes the language is difficult... and then Anna helped me make my bed and that was that. Just got new sheets from the cupboard. 

Man. I'm an idiot. 

My roommate's name is Alex. She's really into politics.

School is great so far. I'm taking an 8-credit course in Italian at this place nearby. It's called Centro di Cultura per Stranieri. I met some awesome people, and the other night I went out with a guy from Brazil (Felipe!), a girl from Norway (Gerd-Helen!), a guy from Java (David!), and a guy from Spain (Julian!).

Scotty also came to visit before he heads off to Prague before he goes back home to Australia. It's cool seeing someone from the other side of the world somewhere in between your home and theirs. He got told off by an old Italian lady for wearing flip-flops, though. 

I think that about wraps it up. Anna just came in with my laundry. What a lady. Nobody's ever folded my underwear before.

Hello Firenze

Room with a view.

Tutti!

Well I'm here. Eccomi! That means "here I am" in Italian. 

I've been here for a few hours, but I don't really know what time it is. My body says dinnertime, so I'm going to go out in a little bit in search of a bottle of wine and maybe a baguette and cheese.

Is baguette a french thing? I don't know. I will find out for you.

The plane ride was lengthy. But good! Did you know that planes now have cameras attached to the bottom and front of the plane so you can see what you're flying through? Well it was dark outside. But a good idea!

I landed in an alp around 11:30 eurotime in Zurich. It got our December snowstorm about yesterday. It looked like a Christmas card! People were all out walking dogs in fields. Also, the Swiss flight staff can speak about 8+ languages. It's quite impressive. 

Another thing about Swiss airlines? They walk around the cabin with a basket of Toblerone chocolate! Ahh! Fly Swiss.

Almost slept through the descent into Florence. That would have been such a bad idea. It's beautiful from above. It's even more beautiful from below, though. I dragged my luggage through it this afternoon!

I didn't take a cab from the airport. Instead, this kid named Tom who's been studying abroad since September said hey, I'm on Via Cavour, too. So we walked and I saved 30 Euros. It was almost a bad choice, but I made it. 

And then I took a long, long nap.

This bathroom has a bidet. I'm just going to leave that alone.