One month down and I'm still on cloud 9

It has now been a month since I have been in Florence and I don't even know where the time goes. It's crazy how after just one month I know my way around the city pretty well, I have adapted a lot and find myself doing more European things like eating dinner at 8 pm.

Today, I was walking around after my one class and realized how much I have adapted. First off, when I walk down a street I now keep my eyes low and don't make eye contact with many people.( weird, but people won't bother you or try to sell you a purse or something). Second, I walk slower and take my time usually. No travel mugs of coffee or being able to jump up out of bed in the morning 15 minutes before class. I really like leaving 30 minutes in advance so I can greet the city as everyone starts their day and can enjoy the sites I see on my way to class.

Another funny thing I have realized since being in Florence is I don't get stressed out as much and am a lot more mellow and relaxed. Maybe it's the Italians and their passion for life and food wearing off on me. Whatever it is I'm happy about it and hope I can always hold on to it. My month here so far has consisted of cooking, exploring, tasting all sorts of food, and lots of picture taking. I love eating the food here because it's always fresh and good for you. I enjoy and am genuinely interested in all the classes I'm taking making me look forward to class (most the time and as long as there isn't a quiz). Finally I am in the country that I have always wanted to visit! ( When I used to live in New Jersey almost everyone at school was Italian so I secretly wished I was Italian because I loved the food).

Let me tell you a little bit about my classes! I am taking Intermediate Italian class, Italian Style: Food & Culture, Italian Family and Society, and a philosophy class called Enthusiasm. I really enjoy my Italian family and society class because I'm learning so much about the culture and how it has evolved recently. The class and material we cover gives me a better view of the people in Italy. My second favorite class is, Food and Culture, where I get to read about the history of Italian food and learn that pasta didn't originate in Italy. During each class we prepare and eat traditional meals from different parts of the country! We also get to go on a few pretty awesome field trips. One being a chocolate festival in Perugia (which is south of Florence). Who thought class could include some amazing dishes and trips?!

This past week I also talked to API (my program) about volunteering while I'm over here. They do a pretty great job of offering a variety of opportunities from visiting people in the hospital to helping out in a kindergarten class to helping the elderly. I chose to help this elderly women out once or twice a week. I have only met her once to establish times and what I will be doing and already can tell it will be a good challenge and opportunity for me. I was in a room where four people are speaking in Italian wicked fast and having two separate conversations at the same time as they figured out logistics. I tried to follow as much as I could, but was really overwhelmed for a few minutes. I hope my Italian will improve a lot after spending more time having to talk in Italian.

Ciao for now!

Lots of pizza and 11 amazing towns

Greeting's from Florence! I apologize for not writing sooner about the last two weekends, but now I shall tell you all about Pisa, Cinque Terre, Positano, Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii! On September the eleventh my program (API) took us to Pisa! Pisa is such an amazing town that is full of so much history and a few big important architectural structures. Walking into the Piazza where the leaning tower is along with a beautiful Church and Baptistery was breathtaking. Our tour guide told us that if we weren't amazed he would give us a refund, but everyone just gawked in amazement. Now everyone thinks Pisa, leaning tower, that's all to see. Wrong!

Pisa was this beautiful town with some the coolest buildings. The Chruch in front of the tower is so finely decorated with parts of the architecture looking like lace or finely detailed frosting on a cake. This church was the largest Church in the world for some time until it was out built by a bigger one. To the left of the tower is this walled in cemetery that is unlike any cemetery I have ever seen. Walking inside there is a large garden and walkways made with marble making it cooler and allowing for a nice breeze. The cemetery was very peaceful to be in and not creepy at all. Finally the tower that leans. After reading about it and growing up seeing pictures it's amazing to finally see it in person and go "Ok, it does lean and is real". Our group of course took the typical pictures of pushing it or leaning against it. We also got to hear the story of why it leans and about the engineering of straightening it up some what. But, I will tell you about Cinque Terre next!

Cinque Terre is part of the coast in Northern Italy in the region of Liguria.

The Almafi Coast is in Campania.

Cinque Terre is an area of five towns that are connected by trails/walk ways and a train. Our program let us see the area from several different perspectives which was awesome! First we boarded a boat in Spezia and proceeded to ride up to Portovenere which is right before CInque Terre. This town was beautiful and has been visited by some famous English poets who wrote about the town. The town is know for St.Peters Church and the St.Lorenzo Castle which booth at the cliffs edge looking out into the Mediterranean sea.

Next we got back on the boat after sampling some of the best pesto I have ever had rode past the first two towns in Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore and Manarola. At the third town, Corniglia, we got out for 40 minutes and got to explore and ate some delicious pesto pizza!

This is the harbour/mini beach area in the town and this is Alyssa and me eating our Pizza! The last a final town was Monterossa, which was absolutely beautiful. We arrived and got 3 hours to spend exploring and going swimming. My group, decided to jump in the water since it was wicked hot out. In Italy, beaches are either private ( you have to pay for a chair/ area) or free. We went with free and was able to experience the saltiness of the Mediterranean.

After tanning on some rocks and swimming, we took the train back through all the towns stopping in Manarola so, we could do this lovers lane walk connecting Monarola to Riomaggiore.

People on this pathway lock up there love by writing their name and their lovers and locking it on a fence. Very cool and romantic!

The following weekend of the 16th-19th, I travelled with a group to the Almafi Coast. Their we stayed in Sorrento and visited Capri on Friday. Capri hands down is high on my list of favorite places. The island was beautiful and we got to take a boat tour around the island seeing all the gratto's (sea caves where the water is absolutely beautiful because of the way light comes into them; there was a white one, green one, and a blue one which is best known). For the rest of the day, I enjoyed a delicious onion pizza and explored the many streets and stores.

The next day, we travelled to Positano, which was a very cute town on the coast. Our bus dropped us at the top and we had to walk down a long series of steps and roads winding our way down to the beach. At 11am, we went swimming and enjoyed the beach and how warm the water was. I was extremely paranoid about being stung by a jellyfish after knowing several friends who had been stung in Cinque Terre! For lunch, we sat at this restaurant and were able to look out at the ocean while enjoying our seafood! I had Mussels, which were absolutely fabulous. Luckily, when we left we took a bus back up the hill to meet our bus to take us back to our hotel.

Finally on Sunday, we packed up and drove to Pompeii and got a tour of the town. Pompeii, is very interesting and surreal to visit because it is fully preserved and the whole time you can look up and see Mt.Vesuvius.

After touring and learning about all the history, we travelled to Mt.Vesuvius driving up part of the way and then hiking the rest. Since it had been in the upper 80's that day we were all pretty much dressed in shorts, tank-tops and sneakers. Hiking up the Volcano the temperature got cooler and we saw people wearing everything from winter coats, to hiking boots, to hiking pants, to high heels and a sun dress. It was a funny variety of different outfits for the hike. Getting to walk up Mt.Vesuvius after being in Pompeii was unreal. Mt.Vesuvius is a dormant Volcano that last erupted in 1944. The whole time I kept telling myself that if it all of a sudden became active a lot of scientists in the world would have known so I was safe walking up that day.

Both weekends we had fabulous weather which made the experiences even better. I loved both areas in Northern and Southern Italy. This weekend I plan on enjoying Florence and exploring some museums and gardens. I have more pictures on my facebook page and on Picasa.

Ciao for now!

It doesn’t matter what size you are

At the end of the day when everything is said and done it doesn’t matter if you’re a size two or a size fourteen. Age is just a number and so is our body size. After being in Italy for a little over a week I have noticed a lot. And I am frequently wanting to call my mom or call one of my good friends and tell them what I just saw , but I really can’t because my cell phone is so expensive and a lot of my friends are embarking on their own journies to far off lands. So my solution is to just be; to just be present in the moment and take everything in and share it later with my flatmates or with others via Skype later! (I love a good long Skype session).

One of the wonderful and interesting things I have noticed about this country is the women. Italian women endure a lot especially in the city. Number one cobblestone streets + highheels = disaster for so many Americans. But these Italian women walk in spike heels, ride there bike in heels, go food shopping in heels, and tell Italian men not to touch them in heels. Number two is Italian women are able to put up with Italian men who are persistent and claim to fall in love with passerbyers all the time(especially when they are outside the Duomo). Thirdly, Italian women dress very well (remember I’m in a city with a lot of fashion). The fashion here is beautiful, but I am still missing yoga pants and a T-shirt as my everyday attire.All women are not wearing size 0 here, they wear what looks good and makes them confident. They come in various sizes and always dress sharp and look their best.I haven’t paid attention to my size here as much because it goes by European sizes so a 38 doesn’t really mean anything to me. I just see what fits. Finally, Italian women love food and will eat a lot. No pre-packaged 90 calorie meal replacement snack bars for them. They indulge in real food and can tell you

Being a young college student in America we are always trying to look or act a certain way and discover ourselves. After switching my everyday routine and venturing to another country it’s important for me to “Hold my own, know my name, and go your own way” Jason Maraz. So I look at the Italian women here give them respect and hope to take a little bit of their strong characteristics with me. I’m just on this journey called life and have to constantly keep reminding myself to just Be. And the rest I will leave to the universe to decide.

Firenze

Ciao Ciao!

So I have been in Florence for a week and am just beginning school this week. And man has it been an adventure so far! I am slowly learning my way around the citta and am working on my Italian each day. A few days ago our group took a cooking class which was so much fun. We prepared for an appertizo egg plant sliced with zucchini, potatoes, and cheese in between the three slices. For dinner we had linguini pasta hand made with a vegetable sauce. The sauce consisted of three tomatoes, 2 zucchini, and the inside of the eggplant. For dessert we made Tiramisu which were delicious. It was so fun how to learn how to make this and we got the recipes.

Our program API has students living in different parts of the city so one day each group in a specific neighborhood got a tour of there area. This was very helpful because our tour guide, Guido, told us the cheaper places to buy stuff from and was very helpful! I have never lived in a city or on my own really so this is all new to me. I live with three other girls and we all get along really well. Last night we had a big family dinner and invited some friends over so we could make a lot of food! Our apartment also has a rooftop terrace which is so sweet and that's where I like to go and write or drink my coffee and think about everything I've been doing.

Above is the Duomo and part of the view and the second photo is looking straight out!

Everything in Italy is so unique and beautiful. I love being able to see the Duomo and all these beautiful historical building and statues everyday! And I walk everywhere so it lets me really take in my new city.

Today I began classes and only had Italian which was an adventure just to get there and find the room. I am in small class, but am so excited for the semester because my Professor seems really nice. I am also taking a philosophy class, Food and culture, and Travel writing class! My schedule is so different from what I usually do at SMC, but once I get into a routine it will be great.

Everyday seems to be a new adventure whether I'm trying to buy my textbooks, find a market, or just simply buy fruit at the supermarket. (You have to wear gloves when you buy fruit and vegetables you never touch it!) I will post a link to my photos and write again very soon!

Ciao !

Ciao

Hey So I am working on writing a super long blog talking about my journey to Italy and my first week! So check in soon and I will have it up and have pictures!!!