Giovedi Santo. Holy Thursday.

Ciao!!
Sorry for not blogging the last two days earlier. I am using my 4 day weekend to my advantage and sleeping!! I slept 11 hours Thursday and Friday night, and I'm feeling very energized now.

Thursday for my art history class we went to the church of Santa Maria Novella, which was built in 1279, and is the seat of the Dominican order in Florence.

The exterior of the church. You wouldn't know it from the weather, but this picture was actually taken at 9am. The weather did get better then and we had a sunny, warm day by lunch time. 

This is the interior of the church. The crucifix was done by Giotto.

Now the main reason we went to the church was to see the famous fresco of "The Trinity" by Masaccio that is inside the church. The fresco was done in 1427 and is quite famous for a few reasons. The first, is that it is the first painting to ever use linear perspective. This was big in that time and made a very big contribution to Renaissance art. Recently the actual volume of the space within the painting was able to be calculated. Standard measuring units back in the 1400s were the "braccia" which was the standardized length of an arm (22.5 in) and a "palmo" which was a standard hand (11.5 inches). After figuring this out, they then realized that the dimensions of the painting had a magic number- 7. After 3, 7 is the next most important number religiously. (The 7 days of creation, etc). But there was also another reason for using 7. To figure out the volume, you're going to need pi. Well, how much is pi? If you're thinking 3.1417, you're wrong. They didn't have decimals back in the 1400s. So how did they calculate pi? As a fraction 22/7. As I'm sure you all remember, when learning fractions you loved when there was the same number in a denominator as in the numerator of the number you're multiplying. So the other reason Mosaccio used 7 in his painting was that the 7's would then cancel each other out. Pretty cool. (I don't know if I'm explaining it as well as I had it explained to me, but it was mind blowing when I learned it.) So after a lot of math, they determined that the space in the painting is 11 ft deep. 

The second reason that the fresco is so famous is because it went missing for 400 years. You might be wondering who a fresco, which is painted into the stone goes missing. Well, in 1470, Lorenzo de' Medici (those darn Medici's) had the church Renaissanced. This meaning that the rude screen was taken down, many times the walls were white washed to get rid of the gothic paintings, and side altars were placed throughout the church. Now, the man that was in charge of this, new how important the fresco was, but he had no choice. The Renaissance was all about symmetry, and seeing as how there was a side altar opposite the fresco, one had to be placed where the fresco was. Then in 1870, an art historian, who had read Vasari's  book and very detailed description of the location of the fresco, wondered if the fresco was still there. So they removed the altar piece and discovered that the fresco was indeed still there. This was the greatest discovery of the 19th century. So after discovering the fresco, they then moved it to the back of the church to its own wall. You can see in the picture the darker spots on the column is where parts of the fresco were lost in the move. Then, almost 100 years later in 1959, another historian re-read Vasari's book and read his description of a lower part of the fresco, describing a sarcophagus. So they went back and removed the actual altar, and discovered the lower part of the fresco. This was the greatest discovery of the 20th century. So, they then moved the top of the fresco, back to its original location and reunited the two halves. :) Yay!!

Here you can see the whole fresco, including the sarcophagus. The skeleton is 5'2'', the same height of the average man at the time. You can't see it in the pictures, but the skeleton is speaking. The words say literally "I was just that which you are and I am what you will be." Which is the known passage "What you are now I once was, what I am now you will be." The fresco was really beautiful, despite its quality. The upper portion is painted so it seems that you really are below the Trinity looking up, and the sarcophagus is below you and you are looking down upon it. 

Thursday night I to mass with my family. The Holy Thursday mass here was VERY different from the one back home. Honestly  I wasn't a big fan of it. It was too upbeat for the last supper if you ask me. There was clapping and the music was just too 'groovy' for me. I think that music would've been more fitting for Easter Sunday, not Holy Thursday. Also, they did not wash the feet of the congregation. They had 12 priests, in addition to the priests that belonged to the church, sitting up on the altar and they had their feet washed. It was very strange. There was over 30 people up on the altar. 16 were actual priests I think, then there were younger men that wanted to be priests, some older male servers, and then some younger servers as well. It was just a lot of people. I was very confused. I will say though, that I did pretty well understanding what they were saying, at least for the readings and the prayers. Those have pretty simple language and I've heard them so much in English, that I knew that what the readings were. I got a little lost as to what they were saying all of the rest of the time, like during the homily. Another difference was that they didn't kneel, at all. A few people did, but it seemed more of the, if you want to kind of thing, but not like back home where you kneel at certain points and don't at others. I found this strange because their kneelers are down all the time, they don't have the option of being folded up, but they also did not have any padding on them, so perhaps that is why no one kneels. I'm not exactly sure. I will have to go to a few more churches to see what the common consensus is. Overall the mass was good, and I did like the music in general, even though I didn't like it for this specific mass. 

Friday was a pretty low key day. I spent most of the day cleaning up my room, since I've been quite busy lately and haven't had time to keep everything organized. Then I worked on some homework and getting things ready for the next few weeks. Nothing really exciting. I had dinner with my family and we had pasta with a red sauce, and a frittata with potatoes. I normally don't eat dinner with my family on Fridays, so I'm not sure if they didn't have meat every Friday during Lent. I don't think the Italians follow that rule as much, because we had meat on Ash Wednesday, and my host mother said that we weren't having meat because it was Good Friday, so it made me think that this is the only Friday that they actually don't have meat. 

Well that is really all for now. I'm off to work on some more homework this afternoon and then I think I will be meeting up with some people from my program for a delicious dinner! 

La Primavera. Spring.

Ciao tutti!
Another few busy days have passed and my time just seems to be getting away from me! So much to do, so little time. Well, that is the way of life I guess, and studying abroad is no exception.
On Monday we had a guest speaker come to my Literature class. She is a historian working in Florence and she came to talk to us about the Pazzi Conspiracy. The Pazzi Conspiracy is first a foremost a conspiracy. For what? To kill Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, who were the leading Medici of Florence at the time. (1478). It is called the Pazzi Conspiracy because the Pazzi family, who was the second most wealthy and powerful banking family in Florence, were a major part of the conspiracy, and ultimately were the ones that had the assassination carried out. There were many other key players that were behind the conspiracy, one that is very notable, was the current pope, Pope Sixtus IV. To cut a very very long and complicated story short, the assassination took place in the Duomo of Florence in April 1478, but it did not go as planned. Giuliano, the younger of the two brothers, was stabbed 19 times and died immediately. Lorenzo, however, managed to escape, with only one cut behind his ear. The Medici quickly enacted their revenge, and over 80 people were killed within the following weeks for knowing of, supporting, or being a part of the conspiracy. The Pazzi family was completely taken out of power. All of their money and belongings were seized and were either killed or exiled from Italy. The women of the Pazzi family were forbidden to marry, (not like any one would want to marry that family after that) and many were forced into convents. We had a very interesting class and looked at a few different primary sources detailing the events, including one by Machiavelli, who was 9 years old at the time. It all is quite fascinating.

Tuesday I had my Literature class in the morning. Now, I feel that it is important for me to provide you all with a complete view of my experiences and not to only fill you in on the fun, exciting things. Well, let me tell you, Tuesday morning did not go very well. Besides the not enjoying having to get up at 7 am for class, I thoroughly dislike having to take the bus early in the morning. As I've previously mentioned, the bus is quite full with people going to work at that time. Well Tuesday was probably the worst. I literally wanted to scream. If I knew more mean words and sayings in Italian I would've yelled at a few people. The bus quickly got very full and while those waiting at the stops could clearly see that there really wasn't any room for more people, only a few decided to wait for the next bus, while the majority pushed their way on. So, I got pushed up against the side of the ledge that goes over the wheels of the bus. I have a few bruises on my legs from being pushed up against it. This was made even worse when people needed to climb over me to get to the exit. Now usually you are only supposed to get off at the middle door, but when it is so crowded the bus driver will open all of the doors so that people can get out because it really does be impossible to get to the exit. Despite this, many people decided they were going to go all the way from the back of the bus up to the middle door. So they're trying to push and squeeze on or move towards the middle and I just wanted to yell at them "where do you think you're going to go?!" Everyone was already back to back, there literally was no space between people. I was so frustrated. However, it gets worse. Not only were we crammed onto the bus, but there was a lot of traffic. More than usual, for some reason. So, we were at a standstill for quite a while, and more than once. And when we do get moving, the bus drivers really don't know how to use the breaks so everyone is falling all over everyone, because there are so many people you don't have space to spread your feet out and get a good balance. So, it's an overcrowded bus, traffic isn't moving, its beginning to get really hot, the windows are fogging up, and the air is getting thicker inside the bus. I honestly had to lean my head against the pole I was holding because I just needed to sit down and it was getting hard to breath. I was so angry, it was horrible. It really takes a special kind of patience to be able to ride the bus in Italy. Finally I got to my stop and was able to get onto my second smaller, much less crowded bus that would take me the rest of the way. I should add, that on Monday, my second, smaller bus was temporarily suspended for the morning, which I didn't know until I got to my stop. So I had to wait til the next bus came that was the same as the one I had just gotten off, and then I took that bus closer to where I needed to be and walked the rest of the way to school. :( As if things couldn't get worse on Tuesday, I finally got to class, opened up my backpack to get my books out and what do I find? Oh, the banana that I brought to school exploded all over my backpack because all of those people that were crawling over it smashed it!!! I was very upset, as I'm sure you can tell.
Okay, onto some good things now. During my class we got our midterms back, which I got an A on! So I can now say that I got A's on all of my midterms!! I will have to find something delicious to treat myself with. :)

Today, for my psychology class we went on a field trip to one of the hospitals in Florence, where we went to the toxicology and substance abuse center. We are talking about substance abuses and the differences between different cultures. It was an interesting presentation that we had. A few things that I noticed: The hospital is a teaching hospital and so it feels very much like a college campus. You would not have thought that it was a hospital from the outside. In addition, each of the separate departments of the hospital had their own small building, they weren't all in one large building. So it really was like its own mini city. Also, another interesting thing, was that we saw a guy that had just graduated. We knew he had just graduated because he had a laurel wreath on his head. They don't wear caps like we do. The verb to graduate in Italian is laurearsi, which as you can tell, the two go hand in hand.

Stella and I took a good nap together this week. We both curled up and it was really cute. :)

I hear that many of you are getting sick of the non spring weather back home. Well I just thought you might need a reminder of what spring looks like. The trees on my street are in full bloom!

Do you know what this is?? It's a firetruck!! Yep, it is quite small, but very cute! (Fuoco means fire.)

This is a picture of the many many scooters that are parked along the river. I pass them everyday, and I decided that it was about time I took a picture of them. Plus, as you can see in the background, it was a beautiful day. :)

This is a picture from inside my second, very small bus. There are only 10 seats on it.

Now, I cannot believe that I keep forgetting to tell you all my good news! I now have a punch card for my panini place!!! Everytime you go you give them your card when you pay and they put a stamp in the box for that day. On the second time you get a free drink, the fifth time you get a free crepe, (which is pictured above- I got nutella and hazelnut pieces inside and it was wonderful!), on the seventh time you get your panini for free and then on the tenth time you get a free choco kebab! I have yet to have a choco kebab since I've been here, but I should be able to get mine sometime next week, I think. Anyway, I was very excited when they gave me my card, because I go there every day and I absolutely love it! In fact, on Monday I went at a different time than normal and they asked me if I didn't have school today, because I was there at an abnormal time. I informed them that I did, but that it was later in the day. (This clearly is a sign that I go there too much. But I don't care!)

Today, my psych class met outside the McDonald's in the train station for our field trip. My bus goes right from my house to the train station, so it was pointless to go to school just to get lunch and then head back the other way. So I decided that I would just get lunch there. I had yet to have McDonald's in Italy, so I decided  now was as good a time as any. I would just like to say that I have not craved McDonald's at all, I simply chose to eat it to do a comparative taste test. I will say that it tasted very similar. The only major difference was that I didn't feel as much of that "icky fast food stomach" afterwards as I normally do in the US. The only big difference was that instead of just giving you ketchup for your fries, they give you mayo as well. I at first was confused when I saw it on my tray, but then I looked around and the majority of people were dipping their fries in the mayo in addition to the ketchup. So, I tried it. Honestly, it was pretty good. 

Stella hopped up to read my blog as I was writing it. She's in charge of quality control, so if there are any mistakes, blame her. :)

De' Medici.

Ciao Tutti! 

Well, it certainly has been an adventurous few days. 

Thursday I had my art history class, which is always exciting. 

I would tell the story in order in which it occurred, but I'm just too excited to hold it in!

At the end of my art history class my professor finally handed back our midterms from before Spring Break. As he handed me mine test back he said "So close. It honestly pained me to do it, but i had to." I got a 99.5/100!! I got one 1/2 point question wrong. I'm still very excited about my score. Maybe I will become a tour guide after all? You never know! 

So back to class- this week we went to the Basilica of San Lorenzo as well as the Medici Chapels. 

The Medici family was one of the wealthiest families in Florence, and at one point they were the third wealthiest family in all of Europe. They made their money in banking and were even the bank for the Papacy in their time. I won't go into all of the history of their family, (I will probably go more into that Monday, since we're reading a book about them for my Lit. class) but they were really extremely powerful. Here are just a few examples: 

-When the Council to try and reconcile the differences between the East and West religions was held in 1439 in Florence, it was hosted by the Medici. 

-Many of the Medici were buried in sarcophagi that were made of porphyry, which is a purple granite, that is now extinct, and previously only available to emperors. 

-The city of Florence went to the Medici to fund their war against Milan, which would have been close to 60 million dollars in today's currency. 

Yeah, they were rich and powerful. 

In many famous paintings from that time you may see orange trees that are in the background. This often shows that the patron of the painting was the Medici family. The coat of arms of the family has a shield with 5 to 8 red spheres. Medici is the plural of medico, meaning doctor, and oranges used to be called "mela medica" meaning medical apple. Even in the 1400s they knew the medicinal properties of the orange. And seeing as blood oranges are indigenous to Italy, it has been concluded that that is where they took their coat of arms from. 

These are some of the oranges that are still on the land that the Medici owned. 

For lunch on Thursday I decided to try something a little new on my panino. I had my usual turkey and salame with lettuce, and then I had dried tomatoes, philadelphia, and pesto. The philadelphia and pesto went together really well! It was definitely a success. 

Then I treated myself to a little chocolate for doing well on my exam! I got fondant chocolate with whole hazelnuts. It was some of the best chocolate! I may sacrifice my daily coke to buy some chocolate instead. 

At dinner that night I branched out and tried a new cheese. When I asked what it was they had a fun time explaining that it was what it was! (I was trying to figure out what the equivalent would be in the U.S.) Finally after a little searching online I figured it was a type of brie, but much much better than a normal brie. 

For dessert I got TIRAMISU! Yep, that whole pan, just for me! Okay, not really. But I do think I ate most of it. I had two pieces that night, one for breakfast today and another for lunch. :) My mom makes amazing tiramisu! It was delicious. 

Then after dinner I came back into my room to find this....Stella with Pooh. It was strange, to say the least, but quite funny. 

This is the Basilica of San Lorenzo. It has kind of an ugly exterior, but the inside is very beautiful, but quite simple, since it is the first Renaissance style church, it has little decoration. 

It was also the first Christian church to be built in Florence. (This is the third version of it.)

Normally I don't have Italian class on Thursdays, but we had a make up class for a holiday that we have at a later point in the semester. To make class a little more enjoyable we went to the Boboli Gardens and talked about some of the sculptures in Italian. It was an absolute beautiful day out. The sun was shining, the grass is green, and it was 60 degrees.

As you can see in this picture, I had my coat off! :)

 Inside the Boboli Gardens, next to the Pitti Palace is the old grotto. Which as you can see from the stalagmites, is quite old.

Apparently this is some famous statue, but we all just took pictures of it because it was funny. 

Yesterday, we had our weekly family dinner at one of the apartments. There were only 10 of us in town this weekend, but we had a lot of fun. There was only one down side to yesterday, the bus system was on a 24 hour strike. They don't actually strike the entire 24 hours though. The buses ran from 6 am to 9:15 am and then 11:30 am to3 pm. In Italy there are quite a lot of strikes, but they aren't a bad thing like in the U.S. The different unions or groups strike not because there is a problem (with pay or working conditions) but as a reminder to the city and those in charge. It's a reminder of "hey, we're important, you need us, this is what things would be like without us if you screw us over and we go on a strike an actual, long term strike." It really is quite genius. And, while it may seem a bit inconvenient, it serves its purpose, and they always announce the strikes well in advance so that you can plan ahead. For instance, I knew about the bus strike at least a week before. 

However, because the buses would not be running I planned my day that I would leave in the afternoon around 2 to head over to my friends apartment and then I would just sleep at her place for the night and take the bus back home the next morning. 

We had a delicious meal for dinner. We all slaved away all day.

 We started cooking around 2:30 and everything was finally ready around 7. 

 In case any of you were wondering, this is how you make egg rolls! 

So I feel like I need to preface the next few photos. There 8 girls that live in 2 apartments that are on the same street in our program. Despite being in different apartments, the way their staircases are and the rooms are laid out, their apartments are actually right on top of each other. Its very confusing. So, because we all had so much to cook a few went to cook in the other apartment that was empty. After the two people went to the other apartment to cook they called us saying they forgot their bottle of wine to cook with and they didn't want to come back to get it. Despite the apartments being on top of each other you have to go down over 100 stairs, go outside, and then back up about another 100 to get from one apartment to the other. So, seeing as the apartments are right over each other, we decided to lower the wine bottle to them, through the window. 

 They grabbed a bed sheet to catch it- just in case. 

 Then we wrapped the bottle up in a dish cloth, tied it to another dishcloth...

 and then tied that to a bath towel to make it long enough to reach. It was a success!

 For the family dinner I made our famous homemade pizza (I made 2 this size). It was absolutely delicious, and possibly even better than normal because I used fresh ingredients from Italy! :)

We also had a mac and cheese bake,

Our homemade egg rolls,

 and caramelized pears. 

Everything was delicious. Except for the gin that they made me try. If any of you drink that, I don't know how you do it. I felt like I was drinking a Christmas tree. Other than that though, it was wonderful. 

Today I worked on some homework and relaxed a little bit. 

 Megan was barking at some other dogs in the neighborhood. I felt like it was a 101 Dalmatians moment. 

 And then later Megan decided she was sick of being left out of snuggling with me and Stella, so she hopped right on up and joined in. I really had very little space left for me on my own bed. Silly animals! 

Well that is all for now. A dopo!

E. Giulia

Il Mostro. The Monster.

Well, time to catch up on the last few days.
Last weekend was pretty unexciting. As usual most of the people in my group travel on the weekends and so there's always a random handful of us left in Florence for the weekend. Last weekend however, those that stayed in Florence went to a concert on either Friday or Saturday night. I really didn't know the group very well, so I hadn't planned on going. Unfortunately, because everyone was busy I was on my own for the weekend. Friday I had a relaxing day at home working on various things and then headed out for dinner. I went back to the Pizzeria I Tarocchi, where I had previously gone for dinner with a few friends. Seeing as how they are first and foremost a pizzeria, I decided that I needed to try their pizza. So I hopped on my bus and headed out. I chose a small little 2 person booth, ordered my pizza and a soda, and read a little bit of a book that I had brought along. I didn't get to read very much because the pizza came out very quick!

My delicious pizza! It had tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, shaved parmigiana, fresh tomatoes, and basil. It was extremely good, and I even ate the fresh tomatoes! 

After my dinner I headed back home and read some more of my book. Saturday and Sunday were much the same. I stayed at home and worked on homework. Saturday night my mother said that it would be fine for me to stay with them for dinner. She made pizzas-which you can never have too much of. I had cheese and wurstels on mine. Wurstels are a kind of German sausage, which my mother and I had quite the joke over. At first when she was trying to ask if I liked them I had no idea what she was saying- because their pronunciation is completely different than ours. So she showed me the package, at which point I understood and said the name how we pronounce it. We have a lot of fun joking about the pronunciation of different things. This is also delicious! I really recommend having pizzas like this in the states. 

Finally, Monday had arrived, which I was actually quite excited about. 

For my Literature class we read The Monster of Florence, which is about the serial killer in Florence who killed 7 couples, 14 people in all over the course of about 20 years. It is an extremely interesting case, which has never been solved. Many people were arrested as the Monster, 4 men were tried and convicted, but later released after the murders continued- obviously proving that they couldn't be the monster. The final person convicted was released after his appeal because there was a lack of evidence in the case originally. The book isn't very gruesome, it focuses more on the investigation and the ways the Italian police and judicial system work, or possibly how they failed for this case. As if the book itself wasn't fascinating enough for me, we then had a lawyer that was on the case come and talk to our class. He told us some of his points of view and what it was like and answered a lot of our questions. It was one of those surreal moments; I read a book  for class that takes place where I currently live, and was written in the cafe next to my school. I then watched a documentary with the authors that was filmed in the square that my school is in, and to top it all off I got to meet and talk to one of the lawyers on the case. My professor thinks that I'm going to go on and finally solve the case. Who knows! Also, for those of you that know of the books/movie of Hannibal- The author, Thomas Harris, was present at the trials of the Monster, and the character of Hannibal was inspired by the Monster. 

Tuesday was a pretty rough day. I hadn't slept very well Monday night, and Tuesday I had a midterm at 9 am. I had an extremely hard time keeping myself standing on my bus ride to school, but thankfully I think my midterm went really well despite my sleep deprivation. However, because we had a midterm we got to be done with class for the day when we were finished! So, instead of having my usual 3 1/2 hour break between classes, I had a 5 1/2 hour break! It was wonderful. I sat on the couch in the library, did some homework, had lunch, and then watched a movie on my computer! In my Italian class later that afternoon we had Italian students come to our class and we got to chat with them for an hour. It was cool getting to talk with a local Italian that was our age and find out about cultural differences and their life in Italy. 

Finally, we arrive at today. Today started off quite interesting. I woke up to my host brother screaming this morning and was really confused as to what was going on. I could hear the conversation between my mother and my brothers, but it being in Italian and through the wall I had no idea what happened. Finally, when I woke up an hour and half later, my mother told me what happened. My brother's knee was hurting him and he couldn't walk on it. She took him to the hospital, where they were the entire day, and found out he tore his meniscus, and now he is in crutches. I hope that it will heal soon! 

During my psychology class today we went on a field trip! We went to the other side of town, to an enoteca, which is a wine bar. Unfortunately we did not go there to drink. :( We went to look at the modern art gallery that is above the enoteca. The enoteca has a new concept, (at least it is new for Italy) of the full experience- art, restaurant, and events. It was a very nice place, that is very close to all of the consulates of Florence. We were told that when important people come to Florence, the consulates bring the guests to that enoteca. Pretty cool! I usually am a little puzzled by modern art, but I really liked the two artists that I saw, and would definitely have bought some of the paintings if I had money. Perhaps one day for my future house!

On a side note, I think that someone told my pets that they should play hide and seek in my room. They have been very strange the last few days, to say the least. 

I took these pictures of them, and as you can see, they're not very good at hide and seek. Although, it was fun watching them try!

Rome, Calabria and Piemonte. Spring Break 2013.

CIAO!!! It is the day you all have been waiting for- the blogs have returned! I'm sorry for the excessive delay in getting these posted. This Monday and Tuesday I had dinners with my Dad and Uncle while they were in Florence and they turned into very late nights, so I didn't have very much time for posting the blogs, let alone homework. By Wednesday I was so exhausted from the last few days that I fell asleep, and then finally, Thursday, when I actually was ready to start writing the blog the power went out! The power came back on, but the wifi wasn't working until after midnight. So, now it is Friday and I will finally be able to get everything up! I am confident that you will all agree it was worth the wait! I am putting everything into one blog-which I think will make it easier to read. Sorry for the length, ENJOY!

DAY 1- FRIDAY 1/3

Spring Break had officially begun! I woke up pretty early considering it was Spring Break, got ready and finished packing my bag. A little after 9 my host mom took my to the train station. The traffic was absolutely crazy and I was sure that I would miss my train. Around 9:40am I arrived at the train station and made my way over to the departures board. The day before my friend explained to me how the train works and what I needed to know. (Their train system is a bit different than in the U.S.) I found my train and had to wait until the bin (track) number was put up. About 10 minutes before the train was to leave the number was finally posted. I made my way down to the track, all the way to the final car of the train and got into my seat. The U.S. really needs to do a major overhaul on our trains. These trains were so nice and they went extremely fast! So fast I even had to equalize my ears a few times because of the pressure. The trains have screens placed periodically throughout the aisle so you can keep track of where you are, the next stop, and other info about the train. Some of the info they provided was the current speed of the train- which I then converted from km/h into mph- we were going 156 miles per hour!! I was amazed. In the U.S. you really don't gain any speed by using a train as opposed to a car, but in Europe you do! I got into Rome precisely at 11:30 and met up with my Dad and Uncle Al. We then took a short subway ride and then walked a few blocks to our hotel, which was right around the corner from the Trevi Fountain! After dropping off my bag we headed out towards the Colosseum. While walking along the street I ended up running into someone from my program! Its such a small world! Before we went into the Colosseum we stopped and got lunch at a bar, which was extremely crowded and busy. There was a little bit of confusion but we managed to order okay and got what we wanted. We then continued on our day to the Colosseum, where we spent some time looking around and taking pictures. After we tried to figure out how to get into the Roman ruins. Instead of finding the entrance we ran into the church of Saint Bonaventure which was hidden from view. By this point we were getting tired and it was beginning to rain a little bit, so we ducked into a bar and got caffe for the men and a gelato for me! We then decided to head back to the hotel for a little bit to rest up before dinner. After realizing that we still had about an hour before the Pantheon closed we quick headed out so that Al could see it! We then wandered the streets looking for a place for dinner- in search of fried artichokes! We ended up in Piazza Navona and had a very delicious dinner! Sometime after 10:30 we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep, but first we stopped at the Trevi Fountain so that I could throw my coin in!

Trevi Fountain

                                       

 Lunch: Dad- zucchine pizza, Al- salame and mozzarella panino, Me- prosciutto and mozzarella paninio

 The view walking towards the Colosseum

 Inside the Colosseum

 The floor at the top of the picture is the same level as the original floor. The ruins in the main part of the picture were the underground tunnels.

Stella really did come with! Okay, not really, but this cat was inside the Colosseum! I thought of Stella. :)

The layers of the Coloseeum 

 "The money shot"

The church of Saint Bonaventure 

 The Roman Forum

 Dad and I reenacting a picture we took 4 years ago on New Years Eve. In front of the Roman Forum

The outside of the Pantheon. 

 My dinner: Tortellini in a cream sauce with ham. These were the first non soup tortellinis that I had during my trip. They were wonderful!

 Al's dinner: Spaghetti with pepper and pecorino in a fried cheese bowl

 Dad's dinner: Spaghetti with clams

 The Jewish style fried artichoke. It was pretty good and tasted like a potato chip

 We then split a very good cannoli.

 Making my wish and throwing my coin into the Trevi Fountain. 

Our hotel. 

DAY 2- SATURDAY 2/3

Despite some snoring I slept fairly well. We woke up around 8 am and went down to have breakfast in the hotel. I chose a chocolate filled brioche, corn flakes, and orange juice. There were also many types of meat and cheese, but I decided to skip it because I didn't want to upset my stomach. Then we showered and packed up our suitcases and checked out of our room. The hotel held our suitcases because our ride to the airport wasn't coming until 1:45. We walked around the area for a few hours to kill time. We ended up having lunch at a little pizza place nearby. Finally it was time to head to the airport. We arrived around 2:30 pm, but got dropped off at the wrong terminal, so we had to walk back to the correct one. Then when it was time for me to check in and check my suitcase the handle to wheel it did not want to go down! I was freaking out a little bit because I didn't know what we were going to do if we couldn't get it to go down. Finally we opened up my suitcase to try and get it to go back down, which worked. Luckily I had no more problems with it for the rest of the trip. We were in the second row of the plane, which was actually the first row on our side of the plane, so we got to stretch our legs out! There was quite a bit of turbulence, but no real problems. For the snacks they offered one of two kinds of biscotti- sweet or salty. I chose sweet, and they were really good mini chocolate chip cookies! When we landed everyone on the plane clapped and cheered! I had heard that it was common on Italian flights, but this was the first time I had actually experienced it. When we got through the arrival gate we were met by Vincenzo and his wife Maria. We then drove to Teresa and Pietro's house, where we would be staying. We were greeted by a big dinner with everyone! We had antipasto, wine, lasagna, pork, a grape and a nutella crostata, and some after dinner drinks. It was quite an event. We finally got to bed around midnight! 

My margherita pizza from lunch.

 Dad's broccoli and ham pizza. 

DAY 3- SUNDAY 3/3

I slept extremely well, and woke up around 8 am. We had caffe, yogurt, cereal, and some of the leftover crostatas for breakfast. Then after breakfast we started drawing out the family tree. It is extremely large, and a bit confusing, but I think we got it all! Then after a relaxing morning we all got showered and ready, and we headed out to Vincenzo's house for lunch. For lunch we had antipasto that consisted of 4 different types of meat, fresh mozzarella with olive oil and pepper, fresh ricotta with balsamic, mushrooms, olives, and bread with a pepper spread on top. All of that was then followed by spaghetti with chick peas, two different kind of pork, mustard greens, and peas. Then came dessert! We had melon and mandarins, grape crostata, a cake that had honey, rains, and nuts in it, and a chocolate pannetone cake. We then had more after dinner drinks! I had my first taste of limoncello, which was really good! After lunch we got a very nice tour of the house, and got to see where Vincenzo makes his wine! Later in the afternoon we went to Angelina's house, where we worked some more on the family tree. She offered us some caffe and cake as well. Then after a little while we headed back to Vincenzo's where we had hazelnut gelato! We all had a good time, and I really enjoyed watching Lulu, who is 2 years old. Her little Italian voice is absolutely adorable! That evening we went into Cosenza and walked around for a while. We got to see the fountains, which during the summer dance with the music, as well as the statues that line the streets. We then returned home and relaxed a little bit before bed.

 The beautiful view I woke up to in Mangone.

 The fountains. 

 A tree that was entirely made out of plastic bottles.

The streets of Cosenza. 

Beautiful lights. 

DAY 4- MONDAY 4/3

I woke up around 8 am again and head breakfast and showered. During the morning we went out to the cemetary and saw where the Montemurro's are buried and got some more history about the family. Then we went and stopped at Saint John the Baptist church and took some pictures. We then were off to meet some more relatives! We went and met Salina, who offered us some snacks as well as caffe. We returned home to Teresa's around 1:30 and had lunch. We had pasta with pistacchios, which was extremely good, along with a mixture of cheeses, bread and some fruit. We finally finished lunch around 4 pm and headed out to il mare (the ocean)!! It was absolutely breathtaking and we got there right as the sun was setting. We walked around, took a lot of pictures, and skipped some rocks. Then we stopped to get some gelato. I got cookies and kinder bar flavors. They were both very good. Afterwards we stopped at a grocery store and they picked up some foods that they wanted us to try. They got chocolate covered figs, which were really good as well as some glazed chestnuts. Then we returned home and were picked up by Lorenzo. He took my Dad, uncle and I to his house to have dinner. We had dinner with Enio, Frencesca, Lilia and Lorenzo. We had a very good antipasto, bread, pasta al forno, beef with arugula and some of the most delicious macaroons. They were dipped in alcohol and then filled with chocolate and creme. We also had some chocolate and fruit after that. After dinner we sat around and talked for a while and had quite the laughs trying to take pictures! After a wonderful evening, Lorenzo drove us back home and we got to bed a little after 1 am.

 Al, Enio, Francesca, Lilia, Dad

Me, Lorenzo, his dog Ryan , Lilia

DAY 5- TUESDAY 5/3

Today I woke up around 9 am and had my breakfast. I was one of the first ones showered and ready so I went into Cosenza with Maurizio. He had a few things to get done, so I tagged along. Over the last 2 months I've seen the crazy parking that Italians have. It is very common to have people double park, and I always wondered what you did if you got stuck. Well today I found out. You lay on your horn until the person parked behind you comes out to move his car. Then afterwards we returned home and waited for everyone else to come home so we could have lunch. Around 2 pm we had lunch. We had pasta with zucchine and shell fish- but mine was without the shellfish, olives and mushrooms, wine, bread, cheese, swiss chard, two different kinds of fried fish- anchovies, and merrutzo which is small pieces of cod that is dipped in a batter. I did not eat the anchovies, but I liked the merrutzo! We also had peppers that were filed with pecorino and dessert. For dessert we had biscotti that we dipped in Vin Santo, as well as fruit. After lunch we met another relative who stopped over! Then we headed out and walked around Mangone and saw the old houses of the relatives. Then we returned home for a little bit before we headed out for our last dinner with everyone. We went to a pizzeria and had 4 different kinds of pizzas along with bruschetta, and figs al forno.

Everyone was so generous during our trip and really made us feel welcome. I definitely will have to take them up on their offer of coming back during the summer when it is warmer. 

 Driving with Maurizio to Cosenza.

 What road signs look like- could you imagine having to read all of those and quickly decide which direction you need to go?! 

Maurizio making lunch.

 Pasta with zucchine and shellfish

 My pasta with out the shellfish

 The merrutzo- fried fish

 Cheese!!! 

Peppers filled with pecorino 

 The meat that they cure themselves!

 The old house of my great great grandparents.

 Pizza! 

They look like prunes, but they are actually figs. 

DAY 6- WEDNESDAY 6/3

We woke up around 7 today, ate, showered, finished packing, and said our goodbyes. Francesco and Pietro then brought us to the airport. We checked in and then were waiting around talking for a bit when our names were called through the speaker of the airport. I got a little worried, but we headed over to the desk to find out what the problem was. It turns out a copy of Al's passport and fallen out by the desk when we checked in and they were returning it. No major problem thankfully! We had a smooth flight into Rome, had about 20 minutes until our flight to Torino boarded, and then we had a smooth flight into Torino. Gianni picked us up at the airport and brought us back to his and Antonella's home around 2 pm. Antonella made us pasta in a red sauce, cheese, bread, and wine for lunch. We were all very hungry because we hadn't had time to stop for lunch between our two flights. After lunch Gianni took us around Torino, giving us a sense of the area. Then we stopped at his dad, Aldo's house. We talked for a while and showed pictures, until it was time to head back home for dinner. Gianni made fish, and some steak for me, along with salad, cheese, and their homemade wine. After we had fruit for dessert and talked for a while before we all headed off to bed.

 The views from their home in Torino.

DAY 7- THURSDAY 7/3

Today we woke up around 8:30 am and had yogurt, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, and cereal for breakfast. After we all got ready we headed off to Meana. We saw the little neighborhoods of Susa and Capodilupo with Aldo, Gianni, and Olivia. We saw Aldo's house in Meana and the view is absolutely breathtaking. We then had an extremely good lunch at a local restaurant/hotel. We had 2 plates of meat, the largest grissini (breadsticks) I have ever seen, peppers- which I loved, ravioli, cheese, fruit, and nuts, and wine from Meana. I had quite the fun experience trying to crack the nuts. I had them flying all over the room! We then drove around the area after lunch and saw a few churches and got great views of the mountains. Afterwards we returned home. I read for a while, Al napped, Gianni did some work on the computer, and Dad and Antonella went to the store for groceries. Around 7 I went with Antonella in the new Cinquecento (!) to pick up her son Luca for dinner. I decided that after I graduate when I go to buy a car, I will buy the cinquecento. So my goal for the summer is to learn how to drive manual! We went to dinner with their friend Giulia and her son Francesco. Before dinner we went to Giulia's house for happy hour. At dinner I ordered carciofi ravioli in a butter and sage sauce. They were very good. For my second course I had fried mozarella, zucchine, and eggplant. It was all very good, but very filling, and I didn't have any room for dessert, despite it all looking extremely delicious. After dinner we headed home and headed off to bed. 

 Driving to the Meana.

 Where they grow their grapes for their wine.

 View of the train station from their house.

 Aldo in front of the little chapel. 

 The old house of my great-great grandparents.

 The cemetary in Meana.

 The tiny streets of Meana.

 GRISSINI! 

 These peppers were absolutely amazing.

 The appetizers that we had at Giulia's house before dinner.

DAY 8- FRIDAY 8/3

Today we woke up around 9 am and had breakfast. After we got ready we headed out to the center of Torino and walked around and did some shopping. We saw a lot of landmarks, which I can't remember all of the names right now, but they are pretty none the less. Then we had lunch back at home- pasta in a pesto sauce. I'm becoming extremely fond of pesto sauce. The weather wasn't very nice the rest of the day so we stayed at home the rest of the afternoon, and I went with Antonella to hang out with her son Luca and daughter Marta for a while. For dinner we had some of the best chicken I've had in a long time. It was in an orange glaze sauce and was delicious. I will definitely be trying to make it sometime on my own. Then we had salad, wine, bread, cheese, and prosciutto. 

After dinner I video chatted with my sister Emily, and she got to say hello to Gianni, Antonella, and Olivia. 

 Most of the downtown area has these covered walk ways which make shopping really nice in inclement weather. 

 The front of the Duomo of Torino. 

 Yes it is much smaller than the Duomo in Florence.

 They had the medal ceremonies for the Olympics out in that Piazza.

 Inside a courtyard at the University of Torino.

 The front of the Torino Opera House.

 The symbol of Torino.

 The oldest pharmacy. 1732.

This is Olivia, their dog. She turned 9 while we were there. She is VERY big, but very nice!!

DAY 9- SATURDAY 9/3

Today we got up around 8 am and headed off to Bardonecchia in the Mountains. We got to see the mountains up close, the snow, Olympic Village, as well as Gianni's ski house. We walked through the streets of Bardonecchia and it was absolutely breathtaking with the mountains in the backdrop. It really was what you'd picture a ski town to be like, but with a little bit of an Italian twist. For lunch we went to a Pizzeria. I got the Olympic 2006 pizza that had mozzarella, wurster, spicy salame and arugula. It was really good! After lunch the sun came out and everything got even more beautiful. We then continued to walk around and do some shopping. So many people knew Gianni,that we were joking that he could run for Mayor! After a nice afternoon we returned back to Torino and stopped by Aldo's house again. We said our goodbye's and I got a little choked up. When we got down to the street where the car was parked I looked up and he was standing in his window waving down at us. I was really glad I finally got to meet him. 

For dinner we went out to a very nice restaurant that was a bit of a drive away. I got potato gnocchi with chestnuts in a creamy cheese sauce. It was the best gnocchi I have ever head. They melted in my mouth and had amazing flavor. I decided to skip a second course so that I would have room for dessert. I chose a chocolate dessert- there was a thick chocolate mousse on the bottom, topped with a scoop of hazelnut gelato, and a piece of sugar. It was heaven and absolutely delicious. There was quite a bit of fog on our ride home, but we made it home safely and then had to pack and get ready for bed. 

 The Italian Alps

 The map of all of the ski/snowboard runs

 A cow on skis! 

Me, Dad, and Al in front of the Olympic Rings 

 Gianni's Ski house

 Gianni's pass from working at the Olympics

 My Olympic pizza!

 Bardonecchia. :)

Olympic Village

 The half-pipe from the Olympics

The ski lift.

Dad, Antonella, me, Gianni, Al

DAY 10- SUNDAY 10/3

Today we got up very early, around 6:45 so that we could leave for the train station at 7:45. We got up, finished packing, and loaded up the car with our bags. We got to the station, got our tickets, and had some breakfast (caffe and some pastries). Then we headed off to our train and said goodbye. We had about a two hour train ride from Torino to Milan and then had to change trains to get us to Florence. We got into Florence around 1 pm. The hotel where Dad and Al were staying was very close to the train station, so we walked over, checked in, and dropped off our bags. Then we headed out for lunch. We got lunch at a little place near the Academia. The food was very good, especially because I was starving! Then we headed off to visit San Marco and the Academia. I got to see the real David! He was absolutely breathtaking, I could've stayed there all day. By the time we finished there it was around 6 pm. So we headed back to the hotel to decide what we were going to do for dinner. It was raining pretty heavily and we didn't want to trek all through the city for dinner so we decided that we would have dinner at the hotel restaurant. First we sat in the bar lounge near the lobby for about an hour before heading up to dinner. The restaurant is on the top floor of the hotel and has a great view of the city. 

We had a very nice dinner and got to talk with some people sitting near us that were from Australia. 

After dinner my host mom picked me up from the train station and brought me back home. At which point I had just enough energy to open up my suitcase and get out my toothbrush and get ready for bed before I fell asleep. 

 My grilled chicken that had been marinaded in balsamic vinaigrette. 

 The view of the Duomo and bell tower from the restaurant.

 Dad's Florentine Steak.

 My wonderful molten chocolate dessert. 

MONDAY 11/3

Today I slept in until 10:30 am. I was absolutely exhausted from such a busy spring break. I had a lot of fun, but today I had to go back to class. I had class from 2-5 and then met up with Dad, Al, and Chris from school. It was time for Chris' homestay  dinner at my house, so he was coming with my Dad and Al and we were going to have one big dinner. The housing coordinator from school also came for dinner along with her daughter and her exchange student. We had quite the party. My mother made a delicious dinner, as always! 

TUESDAY 12/3

Today I had my early morning class from 9-12 and then I met my Dad and Al in the Piazza outside of my school. I took them to my favorite panini place for lunch!! They were very excited to finally get to try one of the blog-famous paninis. After lunch I went with them to help them find places for a little bit more shopping until I had to return to school for another class from 3:30-5:30. After class I then met back up with my Dad and we headed to our cousin Vincenzo's house for dinner. He lives in Florence- only 2 blocks away from me!! We had an absolutely wonderful dinner, and their son Giovanni, who's 8, was absolutely hilarious. 

 Al chose braesola, prosciutto, pecorino, and tomatoes for his panino.

Dad chose speck, prosciutto, lettuce, pecorino, and tomatoes for his. They both really liked their panini especially the bread I recommended. They said it had the perfect balance of crunch and softness. 

After lunch we stopped for gelato. I got chocolate fondante and hazelnut. Dad chose marscapone. Al chose pistacchio and another flavor that I can't remember. 

Dinner at Vincenzo's

WEDNESDAY 13/3

Dad and Al left this morning. So it was back to a normal schedule for me. The afternoon was pretty uneventful, except for trying to catch up on homework from the last two days. A little after 7 pm I heard that there was white smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel! I quickly ran into the kitchen and told my host mom and she turned on the TV. We then watched the coverage until they announced who was chosen and through the new Pope's Blessing. It was really cool getting to watch the selection from Italy, especially since now I have been in St. Peter's square. I know what the energy and excitement was like during the Pope's New Year's blessing 4 years ago, so I can only imagine what it was like that night. 

For dinner we had polenta with sausage and beef with some tomato sauce. I'm not a huge fan of polenta, but it was pretty good. The sausage was my favorite part, though. 

THURSDAY 14/4
Today I went with my Art History class to the Uffizi (pronounced oo-fee-z, not oo-feet-z like most people say. There is only one z so it does not get the 'tz' sound.)
It was really cool getting to see pieces of art that I had only heard about or seen in pictures before. After class I went and did some homework back and school and had my lunch. Just as I opened up the page for my blog the power went out and then the internet stopped working. So I spent my evening starting to read my next book for class- The Monster of Florence. This is definitely going to be a good book, but a little gruesome.

 Today I bought my first Italian paper-for a good reason too! Have to commemorate Pope Francesco!

My attempt at being creative. I took this picture outside the Palazzo Vecchio. :)
Today my host mom made an amazing dinner! First we had some angel hair pasta, with the spicy oil sauce that I like, followed by extrememely juicy and tender chicken drumsticks and thighs, and to top it all off- MASHED POTATOES! I was just thinking earlier in the day how I missed mashed potatoes, and then she ended up making them for dessert! They were really good. :)

FRIDAY 15/3

Well I am finally caught up! I just spent 4 hours and 41 minutes writing the blog and uploading all of the pictures. I hope it didn't take you all that long to read it! Now I am off to shower and get ready and head out somewhere for dinner!