What a strange reality I live in. What other time in my life am I going to be single, exploring Europe with nothing to think about besides school? If I want to go to Germany or Paris for the weekend, I just go to the train station and am there within hours. In the states, I would be planning the trip for months in advance. Sounding so cliché, this is pretty much the time of my life. No kids, husband, job or anything to think about besides myself. I can be selfish. Mi piace! It’s majorly good to get it out of my system in these couple months!
Something a friend said the other day struck me, he said, “There are no parents here. We have to take care of each other.” It seems like such a basic thought, but is something I had never heard or tried to put into words. There are no parents here. There are no adults, we are the adults and people treat us as such. If someone needs to go to the hospital, which was the case in this particular example, we as the friends need to be the ones to go with them and comfort them. Other than our host families, which many students don’t have, there really are no people that play a significant role in our lives. Even our host families don’t truly know what goes on in our lives. Maybe this will change with time, but they treat us as completely independent adults as well. At college, we at least have people on campus we could go to or mentors in various organizations we are involved in, friends of the family, etc, but it’s different here. The only other people I can truly say that are involved in my life and have any significant role in it, are my peers. We are totally and completely the adults. Parents are (extremely) hard to reach for multiple reasons, faculty are not incredibly personal with the students, and anyone outside of SUF is regarded as a stranger. There literally are no adults here other than us. It seems like it would be intimidating but the fact that I haven’t gotten myself killed yet truly helps.
Life has defiantly settled down here meaning I have a norm. I no longer get excited returning to Florence after being away. It’s my norm and as any norm, I just do it automatically. Not saying I love the city any less, I’ve just adjusted to my current reality. I don’t miss home nearly as much as I did. As with school, it takes several weeks to a month or so to adjust to the new norm, which is the same here. I understand how to handle common situations with the different culture I experience everyday. I have learned to handle tiny waves of homesickness I get and how to prevent it. The newness is gone so daily life happens.
Fun stuff: This past weekend I went to Cortona and Perugia. Cortona is a tranquil hillside town on the border of Tuscany. It was authentic Italy while still touristy but not nearly as much as any place I have been. It is so much quieter than any place I have been also. I think what made the whole weekend for me though was the people I was with. We had so much fun just being together, and really silly. I’ve learned a lot of what determines how much I enjoy something is the people I am with, and they are wonderful. I seriously needed a goofy weekend!
Sunday, we took a train about 45 minutes from Cortona to Perugia for the Chocolate Festival which puts Perugia on the map for everyone around Europe, for a week anyway. There were roughly 150 vendors selling all sorts of chocolate items. Although I tend to be a vanilla girl, it was really interesting to see people carving giant chocolate sculptures and all the different things you can do with chocolate….believe me, there are a lot! We could have spent major euros trying the chocolate but there was a special pass we bought for very cheap that allowed us to go to several designated vendors and get free samples, many of which were whole chocolate bars and very nice. The only damper on the day was the rain and cold. We had planned to be there most of the day, but around lunch time it started raining heavily and got noticeably colder. At first it was an adventure and we didn’t mind the weather, but after the rain soaked everything in our bags, and everything on us, it was time to go home. There were so many people there we literally had to shove our way everywhere. I think the max number of times I said “permesso” in one minute was 20. Not kidding.
One challenge I have found with the language: it’s hard to joke with Italians. The languages, as with all languages, don’t translate literally. Little sayings and phrases that are funny in English, aren’t in Italian because they don’t understand the meaning behind it. Italians have phrases also. Example, we stopped to ask where a tabacchi was so we could buy bus tickets. The woman said what literally translates as something close to “200 foot steps up the hill”. After thanking her and walking out the door, we quickly realize 200 steps up isn’t going to lead us to anywhere. Later, we learn it is a phrase that means “a short walk”. Little things such as that give the culture much for character and makes the culture more appealing.
While sitting at an outdoor café in one of the major piazzas near the duomo, I realized how spoiled I am here. Cute little outdoor cafes are one of my favorite things at home so I am in heaven here! A good friend and I were drinking hot chocolate with whip cream and a complimentary sweet bread to dip in the drink when I thought of this. I couldn’t drink even half of it, it was just so chocolaty. I didn’t realize how much our American food is influenced by Italian food, but I discover more is everyday, literally. Hot chocolate really isn’t, it’s just thicker and less milk, but I don’t know how I am going to like returning to the states while knowing there are better forms of the same food in Italy. We have the fake stuff in the states, usually with preservatives. Many of my classes are site visits around the city such as Medici palaces and villas (and all things Medici because they basically built Firenze) so we don’t actually have “class”. One the way back from a photography class, we stop in for gelato. We travel around Europe on the weekends for fun. My host mom does EVERYTHING for me. All these and much more things make us incredibly spoiled, and I love it!!
Sarah
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
When in Florence
At dinner Tuesday night, Claire and I taught our host family about Thanksgiving and all the foods we have. They in turn, taught us about wine. Bruno has been bringing home wine for us to drink since he learned we like it. So, they learned about stuffing, of course they had to learn about the best part, and we learned about the “copyright laws” of the different wines of France and Italy and what they can be called (ex. Chianti). Apparently the two countries have a big rivalry that are not limited to wine. As is usual with our family dinners, Bruno got so passionate about convincing Guido, Stefania’s boyfriend, that Stefania, Claire and I had two whole conversations and were still amazed they were going at it. Oh the passion of the Italians.
Although we have 2 hour Italian classes each day and I am picking it up quicker than other languages simply because I am here, but in class it is so painful to understand and talk it. Even at dinner, I try to think of stuff to say in Italian but by the time I think of all my verbs and the conjugations along with how to put the prepositions together with the adjectives, etc, Bruno gets impatient and answers my question before I finish. My family is very patient with Claire and I though. They almost always know where we are going with the sentence though, so they respond back before we get to practice it. No complaints though. They are pretty amazing. I have to laugh at myself, as other people do, when I say something that isn’t right. Who knew words could have two meanings anyway?
I want to have an Italian bambino (baby). Ok, not seriously, as the man from the Italian consulate advised us, “It’s not always a bad thing…could mess up your studies though…” (it was hilarious). Every single kid I have seen here is so stinking cute though! They all have curly hair, some blonde, some brown but all adorable. Maybe I should have let that guy sell me to his friend yesterday…haha It would mess up my studies.
I asked my host sister if Italian guys hit on Italian girls all the time or if they just spot American girls and go for it. She said it’s everyone. Just the culture unfortunately. This is still a source of confusion for me.
Continuing my serious first hand realizations and issues I analyze, lately I have been realizing how much I let relationships define who I am. In Italian class, I gave a presentation on details about myself. Looking over my written speech, I noticed how much I described myself as the role I play in different relationships, thus allowing relationships to define who I am. Sister, daughter, niece, roommate, friend, etc. This has definitely been showing in my life with my want for the type relationships I have at home. I am homesick right now not for my actual home, but mostly for the relationships I have in the states. Recently, I have gotten upset with myself for allowing some of those relationships get to me emotionally. Thinking about it now, why wouldn’t they? Relationships are so incredibly important to every human on the planet, so why should I feel guilty about being upset in some of them? It isn’t trivial, it’s a fact.
Wednesday was Saint Bruno day. In the catholic church there is a saint for every name so on that day, the person with that name gets presents and celebrated for the day. So, Bruno’s day was Wednesday. I had never met the other daughter but she and her children along with Stefania’s boyfriend came to dinner. The older daughter has never come to dinner. There has never been a special occasion like it was that day. The apartment was loud and a typical family sound coming from everywhere. Little Julio, who is 3, was singing and making kid noises while crawling on the floor making travel difficult for the adults…a typical 3 year old. Little Agatha, who is 6 months, would cry periodically when she thought she wasn’t getting enough attention. The adults laughed and were obviously excited. Claire and I even got to help some, which never happens either. Bruno got gifts as if it were his birthday. The feel was very much of a birthday celebration. Although they are not practicing Catholics, their days are still celebrated.
This morning we had an olive oil tasting in my nutrition class. Literally, we had 3 different cups with a couple teaspoons of olive oil to drink. We learned the method for “slurping” it to tell if it is a good one or a bad one. My guess would be most of the olive oil we have in the United States is rancid, meaning the manufacturers did not take care with the crushing process leaving a bad flavor and much less nutrient than traditional olive oils. Italians use olive oil for everything, including baking. As most of you in the states know, if you use olive oil in baking, the flavor is usually still there thus you don’t use it. That strong oil taste will disappear when heated if it is of good quality (so most of what we use is not good). I hope I never have to do an olive oil tasting again though. I was looking around me and everyone else seemed to be ok with the texture and thought of drinking oil, however, I was definitely not ok with it. The thoughts…fine whatever, but the texture and thickness of the oil was building up in my taste buds and stomach. After tiny sips of the first two, I struggled so hard not to get sick on the last one. It was probably the nastiest thing I have ever tried. So greasy and uhhh just completely disgusting. I can somewhat taste good quality olive oil though.
Although we have 2 hour Italian classes each day and I am picking it up quicker than other languages simply because I am here, but in class it is so painful to understand and talk it. Even at dinner, I try to think of stuff to say in Italian but by the time I think of all my verbs and the conjugations along with how to put the prepositions together with the adjectives, etc, Bruno gets impatient and answers my question before I finish. My family is very patient with Claire and I though. They almost always know where we are going with the sentence though, so they respond back before we get to practice it. No complaints though. They are pretty amazing. I have to laugh at myself, as other people do, when I say something that isn’t right. Who knew words could have two meanings anyway?
I want to have an Italian bambino (baby). Ok, not seriously, as the man from the Italian consulate advised us, “It’s not always a bad thing…could mess up your studies though…” (it was hilarious). Every single kid I have seen here is so stinking cute though! They all have curly hair, some blonde, some brown but all adorable. Maybe I should have let that guy sell me to his friend yesterday…haha It would mess up my studies.
I asked my host sister if Italian guys hit on Italian girls all the time or if they just spot American girls and go for it. She said it’s everyone. Just the culture unfortunately. This is still a source of confusion for me.
Continuing my serious first hand realizations and issues I analyze, lately I have been realizing how much I let relationships define who I am. In Italian class, I gave a presentation on details about myself. Looking over my written speech, I noticed how much I described myself as the role I play in different relationships, thus allowing relationships to define who I am. Sister, daughter, niece, roommate, friend, etc. This has definitely been showing in my life with my want for the type relationships I have at home. I am homesick right now not for my actual home, but mostly for the relationships I have in the states. Recently, I have gotten upset with myself for allowing some of those relationships get to me emotionally. Thinking about it now, why wouldn’t they? Relationships are so incredibly important to every human on the planet, so why should I feel guilty about being upset in some of them? It isn’t trivial, it’s a fact.
Wednesday was Saint Bruno day. In the catholic church there is a saint for every name so on that day, the person with that name gets presents and celebrated for the day. So, Bruno’s day was Wednesday. I had never met the other daughter but she and her children along with Stefania’s boyfriend came to dinner. The older daughter has never come to dinner. There has never been a special occasion like it was that day. The apartment was loud and a typical family sound coming from everywhere. Little Julio, who is 3, was singing and making kid noises while crawling on the floor making travel difficult for the adults…a typical 3 year old. Little Agatha, who is 6 months, would cry periodically when she thought she wasn’t getting enough attention. The adults laughed and were obviously excited. Claire and I even got to help some, which never happens either. Bruno got gifts as if it were his birthday. The feel was very much of a birthday celebration. Although they are not practicing Catholics, their days are still celebrated.
This morning we had an olive oil tasting in my nutrition class. Literally, we had 3 different cups with a couple teaspoons of olive oil to drink. We learned the method for “slurping” it to tell if it is a good one or a bad one. My guess would be most of the olive oil we have in the United States is rancid, meaning the manufacturers did not take care with the crushing process leaving a bad flavor and much less nutrient than traditional olive oils. Italians use olive oil for everything, including baking. As most of you in the states know, if you use olive oil in baking, the flavor is usually still there thus you don’t use it. That strong oil taste will disappear when heated if it is of good quality (so most of what we use is not good). I hope I never have to do an olive oil tasting again though. I was looking around me and everyone else seemed to be ok with the texture and thought of drinking oil, however, I was definitely not ok with it. The thoughts…fine whatever, but the texture and thickness of the oil was building up in my taste buds and stomach. After tiny sips of the first two, I struggled so hard not to get sick on the last one. It was probably the nastiest thing I have ever tried. So greasy and uhhh just completely disgusting. I can somewhat taste good quality olive oil though.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Celebrate the weekend!
This weekend has been so much fun! I had another cooking class Friday morning. Not going to lie: I’m bored with making pasta already. Although my nutrition class went to a professional cooking school for this particular lesson, I did not enjoy it as much as the one Wednesday night. The super clean, non-personal feel the room gave off was not appealing to me. When we were in the schools tiny kitchen with too many people in it, it felt more like a home cooked meal. It also tasted better probably because it was made in love (yes, I like cheesy!) I enjoyed our instructors more also. On Wednesday night, we had an Italian man and his wife. They were so sweet and king. Friday, we had an instructor from the school we were at. We made the same ravioli I made on Wednesday as well. It is a signature dish of Tuscany thus holds much importants.
That “home” feel is something I still struggle to get in my life right now. In several conversations I have had with multiple people recently, either they or I have mentioned it is a different kind of lonely here. I can’t put my finger on why it is different and neither can they. College in general is a very lonely time. Although students are surrounded by people, he or she is totally on their own with no one honestly looking out for them and no one to come home to at night. Here, I am also surrounded by people, including my host family. So in theory, it should feel a little less lonely since people are actually looking out for me (my family), but it just doesn’t. It isn’t something I can explain to someone who hasn’t been through this process, it’s just different.
Friday afternoon, a friend and I toured the Duomo. Although I find the exterior more architecturally interesting, the interior is nice as well. I particularly loved the dome. The artwork throughout the structure was gorgeous though! The white, green and rose marble which basically makes up the whole church, completely amazed me. It is everywhere! Continuing my love of the dome, we climbed the many, many steps up to the tip top of the dome. What an amazing view. I can’t even describe how gorgeous it was. All the major sites in Italy could be seen from the top looking out, including all the churches, museums, and markets. I got so confused looking at everything. I have yet to completely distinguish the churches from one another, so walking the circle of the dome was a little confusing. We met a wonderful English man and his wife at the top though. We had a very lively conversation about us living in Florence and his recent arrival the day before. It felt good to be able to respond with an honest answer when he asked where the best places to visit were and any advice in general. I have honestly met some of the nicest people here!
Saturday was Ravenna with other students from school. This is a must see for anyone that loves art! The town has a fascinating history. It was once the leading city in Italy around the 6th century (give or take a century). The churches we saw were built just before the fall of the Roman Empire and barbarian invasion ( a little history lesson there). Our focus on this particular visit was the mosaics (small pieces of colored glass, about the size of a fingernail, put together to create an image from farther away). They are designed to catch the light and reflect it off to illuminate the room. I have never seen anything like it! (I’m putting pics up on facebook, but they don’t do it justice AT ALL!). The golds and patterns, just to think about the fact that someone has talent enough to take little pieces of broken glass and put it together with many other tiny pieces to cover and entire walls and ceilings is mind blowing! Just little detail to make something so…I can’t even find the word. It simply is just that amazing! It can’t be described and a photograph can’t do it justice. One chuch sticks out to me especially, San Vitale. One of the lavish mosaics depicted by favorite story from the Old Testament which definitely helped it’s ranking in my opinion, but the architecture inside was as impressive to me as the more popular mosaics. However, by the end of the afternoon we had seen around 5 churches all covered with these pits of glass, so at the last church I was use to seeing them and fairly unimpressed. Over stimulated.
Sunday I was in Fiesole which is a hillside town about 15 minutes from Florence by bus. I was not too impressed with the small town until we toured ancient Roman ruins. The amphitheater is still used by locals and dates from the 1st century B.C. (wow!). Even though it said “no climbing” of course that didn’t apply to me. I romped all over those things. With the type of plants and lizards that surrounded the ancient baths, temple, and amphitheater I felt like I was in Greece exploring. Even those few minutes of climbing and being so fearless while adventuring has been my favorite weekend trip since arriving. It surprised me that I felt that way, but literally I was fearless climbing all over the crumbling and somewhat unstable stones. They were huge, and only a tiny part of the base was left of the temple especially. It’s crazy, but here in Italy, I tend to be fearless. People actually tell me to be careful, indicating at least some degree of danger. At home, I tend to be fairly safe. I’ve been told by several people at various times they like my sense of adventure here as I try to get lost and go down that sketch ally, which usually always finds us the coolest places. I love that feeling! Summarizing, those ruins have been my favorite thing yet. Fiesole was a good town also. It seems to be a wealthy village with a lot of stereotypical villas with vineyards surrounding it, thus it was pretty. We got lucky because there just happened to be a large outdoor market happening, which only happens a couple times a year! Score!
So the 4th week slump is majorly getting to me. I am so hungry for a chicken breast, fries, and potato chips. I don’t even really eat fries or chips at home so it’s kind of surprising. I went to the American Diner near the duomo last night with a couple people. My expectations were not met. I wanted to put some MSG in my chicken sandwich. It was a fail, but no one can ruin pancakes though, right? I still have faith in them. I’m told the getting annoyed with the good Italian food and the horrible water (that my hair hates!!!!) and such will go away soon. Falling into a routine has really helped and finding several different core friend groups to be with has also. I have finally found people from a different program, and graduate school students, who actually like getting coffee and talking about deeper stuff and not how many Chanel shoes I have (not judging). That is something I have probably missed the most. Having conversations about trivial stuff for 4 weeks straight has had a bigger effect on me that I would like to admit, but all the people I am with are wonderful in their own way. It feels good to actually talk about emotions and genuinely analyze ideas with people though!
The weather is getting cold here. It hasn’t started raining yet and probably won’t until November, although it does rain about every other day or so. I am told come November, it will start raining and not stop which announces winter has started.
Sarah
That “home” feel is something I still struggle to get in my life right now. In several conversations I have had with multiple people recently, either they or I have mentioned it is a different kind of lonely here. I can’t put my finger on why it is different and neither can they. College in general is a very lonely time. Although students are surrounded by people, he or she is totally on their own with no one honestly looking out for them and no one to come home to at night. Here, I am also surrounded by people, including my host family. So in theory, it should feel a little less lonely since people are actually looking out for me (my family), but it just doesn’t. It isn’t something I can explain to someone who hasn’t been through this process, it’s just different.
Friday afternoon, a friend and I toured the Duomo. Although I find the exterior more architecturally interesting, the interior is nice as well. I particularly loved the dome. The artwork throughout the structure was gorgeous though! The white, green and rose marble which basically makes up the whole church, completely amazed me. It is everywhere! Continuing my love of the dome, we climbed the many, many steps up to the tip top of the dome. What an amazing view. I can’t even describe how gorgeous it was. All the major sites in Italy could be seen from the top looking out, including all the churches, museums, and markets. I got so confused looking at everything. I have yet to completely distinguish the churches from one another, so walking the circle of the dome was a little confusing. We met a wonderful English man and his wife at the top though. We had a very lively conversation about us living in Florence and his recent arrival the day before. It felt good to be able to respond with an honest answer when he asked where the best places to visit were and any advice in general. I have honestly met some of the nicest people here!
Saturday was Ravenna with other students from school. This is a must see for anyone that loves art! The town has a fascinating history. It was once the leading city in Italy around the 6th century (give or take a century). The churches we saw were built just before the fall of the Roman Empire and barbarian invasion ( a little history lesson there). Our focus on this particular visit was the mosaics (small pieces of colored glass, about the size of a fingernail, put together to create an image from farther away). They are designed to catch the light and reflect it off to illuminate the room. I have never seen anything like it! (I’m putting pics up on facebook, but they don’t do it justice AT ALL!). The golds and patterns, just to think about the fact that someone has talent enough to take little pieces of broken glass and put it together with many other tiny pieces to cover and entire walls and ceilings is mind blowing! Just little detail to make something so…I can’t even find the word. It simply is just that amazing! It can’t be described and a photograph can’t do it justice. One chuch sticks out to me especially, San Vitale. One of the lavish mosaics depicted by favorite story from the Old Testament which definitely helped it’s ranking in my opinion, but the architecture inside was as impressive to me as the more popular mosaics. However, by the end of the afternoon we had seen around 5 churches all covered with these pits of glass, so at the last church I was use to seeing them and fairly unimpressed. Over stimulated.
Sunday I was in Fiesole which is a hillside town about 15 minutes from Florence by bus. I was not too impressed with the small town until we toured ancient Roman ruins. The amphitheater is still used by locals and dates from the 1st century B.C. (wow!). Even though it said “no climbing” of course that didn’t apply to me. I romped all over those things. With the type of plants and lizards that surrounded the ancient baths, temple, and amphitheater I felt like I was in Greece exploring. Even those few minutes of climbing and being so fearless while adventuring has been my favorite weekend trip since arriving. It surprised me that I felt that way, but literally I was fearless climbing all over the crumbling and somewhat unstable stones. They were huge, and only a tiny part of the base was left of the temple especially. It’s crazy, but here in Italy, I tend to be fearless. People actually tell me to be careful, indicating at least some degree of danger. At home, I tend to be fairly safe. I’ve been told by several people at various times they like my sense of adventure here as I try to get lost and go down that sketch ally, which usually always finds us the coolest places. I love that feeling! Summarizing, those ruins have been my favorite thing yet. Fiesole was a good town also. It seems to be a wealthy village with a lot of stereotypical villas with vineyards surrounding it, thus it was pretty. We got lucky because there just happened to be a large outdoor market happening, which only happens a couple times a year! Score!
So the 4th week slump is majorly getting to me. I am so hungry for a chicken breast, fries, and potato chips. I don’t even really eat fries or chips at home so it’s kind of surprising. I went to the American Diner near the duomo last night with a couple people. My expectations were not met. I wanted to put some MSG in my chicken sandwich. It was a fail, but no one can ruin pancakes though, right? I still have faith in them. I’m told the getting annoyed with the good Italian food and the horrible water (that my hair hates!!!!) and such will go away soon. Falling into a routine has really helped and finding several different core friend groups to be with has also. I have finally found people from a different program, and graduate school students, who actually like getting coffee and talking about deeper stuff and not how many Chanel shoes I have (not judging). That is something I have probably missed the most. Having conversations about trivial stuff for 4 weeks straight has had a bigger effect on me that I would like to admit, but all the people I am with are wonderful in their own way. It feels good to actually talk about emotions and genuinely analyze ideas with people though!
The weather is getting cold here. It hasn’t started raining yet and probably won’t until November, although it does rain about every other day or so. I am told come November, it will start raining and not stop which announces winter has started.
Sarah
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