Il Papo. The Pope.

Hello everyone!! Well, 2 more days have passed. I can't believe I'm half way done with my school week already. Yikes. Well, yesterday I got up and got ready for school. I was planning on waking up at 8, but when my alarm went off, I didn't hit snooze, rather I completely changed my alarm to 9 am and went back to sleep. (That is my kind of snooze!) I had planned to meet up with one of my friends from school before our class. I was going to show him Paninopoli- which is Sarah's secret panino place. Both of us were running later than we had planned, but eventually we met up and headed out to get lunch. When we got to Paninopoli there were 5 other people from our program there! (Word is quickly getting out!) This time I opted for prosciutto crudo, salame, maionese, and lattuga. It was very good!

 

 

 

Then after hanging out at school for a little bit and working on homework, I had my literature class. We talked about some of the romantic images of Italy that books and movies present, and then talked about their accuracy. We watched portions of the movies "Roman Holiday" and "Eat, Pray, Love". Very different movies, from very different times, but with a similar kind of idea. It was a very good class. During class our professor offered us a snack. Her colleague brought a very large bag of dried figs and prunes from Sardenia I believe.

This is one of the dried figs that I ate. (Yes, Dad, I ate it!!!) It actually was pretty good. I only had one though because I forgot my water bottle that day and they were kind of chewy and sticky.

 

During our break our professor told us to go get some coffee because we looked like we were all about to fall asleep. I opted for a bar of 71% Cacao (cocoa). It was wonderful, and I ate the whole thing! One thing I would like to mention is the relationship with food that Italians (or Europeans as a whole) have versus the U.S. We've talked about this relationship in a few of my classes (psychology and consumerism) and it is very interesting to note the changes. Italians often eat more, but it is much healthier food. You all have seen the food I've been eating, and yet I can tell that I am losing weight. It really is an interesting thing. And with this chocolate bar, I ate the entire thing and didn't care. Now, I don't have a complex about my weight, but in the U.S. I would usually have a passing thought about how that isn't really a healthy thing to do. Here, that wasn't the case. I've found that I haven't had any thoughts about how many calories are in this or that or trying to decide what is healthy and what isn't. I simply enjoy the food and move on with my day. I think this makes for more peace of mind and some better eating habits without consciously thinking about it. Just some food for thought. (No pun intended.)

 

After class my I leaving my classroom and my friend came over to me with a stack of envelopes. He said "Jeez, you need to check your mail more often!" I informed him that I had just checked it last week and that I was just on my way over to check it again.

I got 4 Valentine's Day cards! Thank you to those of you who sent them! :)

After class I headed over to some friends house for a little bit. We had an aperitivo with our program at 6:45 and class got out at 5 so it was pointless to go home just to come right back. An aperitivo is a cheap way to have dinner. Many bars have them. Basically you pay for a drink (alcoholic obviously) and then you get access to a buffet of food. The more you pay the better the food usually.

 

We left my friends' apartment and this was the view that was waiting for me right around the corner!

While I love living out of the craziness of the city center, it must be pretty cool to literally have the Duomo in your backyard. After the aperitivo was over I went home so I could work on some homework. It was already about 10:30 by the time I got home, which is why I didn't have time to do my homework and write my blog.

Plus, Stella decided she was going to try and prevent me from doing my homework and laid down on my notebook.

Luckily I convinced her to let me do it and I got it all finished and was able to head to bed.

Oh, I almost forgot! The Pope announced his resignation. Obviously this is big news throughout the world, but it is pretty crazy (and cool) to be in Italy while this is happening. It will be interesting to watch it all play out being only a few hours away from Rome!

Una Festa. A party.

Well, to be honest, I am currently writing this laying down in my bed, on my iPod. I almost fell asleep and realized I hadn't written today's blog. Which is understandable considering today was pretty uneventful.
I woke up around 9, had my breakfast and then started on my homework for today. I had a bunch of reading, but not as much as previous Sundays, which was nice. It felt like more of a relaxing day.

I had lunch with my family. We had mini gnocchi with a meat sauce, followed by some wonderful meat rollups. They were ham and cheese wrapped up in chicken filets and then they were cooked on the stove. They were delicious! During lunch we watched a tennis match. USA vs Italy. It was a very intense game and we were all silent except for when a point was scored. I cheered at one point during the beginning when USA had scored and my mother told me to leave- no food for me! (She was joking of course.) Then I pretended to not know what was going on and act like it wasn't me that had cheered. (I silently cheered for the rest of the game.) Finally USA won!! (7 out of 11.)
Then I silently went back to my room. VICTORY! Haha.

I continued to work on some homework and have a nap during the afternoon. Then I got a few Skype calls!! I was able to talk to quite a few people in my family, since they were all together having a party! It was great getting to see them and quite funny to see their reactions. They couldn't believe I was really across the ocean!

For dinner we had one of my favorite pasta dishes that my mother makes. It was spaghetti with a pesto type sauce. After that we had cicoria, which wasn't translating properly. Finally I figured out that it is the green leaves from dandelions. It looked like spinach after it was cooked, but it didn't taste like it. I only had one bite. (Yep, this is probably the first thing I haven't liked. Also, I would like to note that I tried it before I finally figured out what it was.) Then we also had eggs, which were cooked sunny side up in a red sauce with some cheese. I normally only eat scrambled eggs, but this was good! Most likely because of the sauce and cheese.

Well that was all for my day. Since I didn't go out anywhere, I will include some pictures that my friends had taken, that I just received. One is a group of us from Friday night up on Piazzale Michelangelo. Another is a few of us from our Mexican dinner Saturday night. And one is from our "family dinner" from a previous weekend.

Italiana Messicana. Mexican Italian.

So I spent the night at my friends apartment after we went out last night.
Their couch was actually pretty comfortable, despite not being long enough for my legs.
We woke up around 11 and got ready. A few of us then headed over towards the Duomo where we were meeting up with some other people from our group. Today we all decided to go to the Parco di Villa Demidoff. Apparently this park is very popular with Florentines during the summer. Many families head up the mountain to the park to have picnics and to get away from the city. We hopped on the bus, and had a beautiful 20 minute bus ride up the mountain!

 

A few pictures that I was able to capture while we were zooming up the hills! There were a lot of good views, but I wasn't ready for them all!

 

Once we got off our bus, we had to figure out which way to go. We just got dropped off in the middle of the little town.

There was an older guy and his son playing soccer right by our bus stop, so we decided to ask the guy where the park was. He pointed us in the right direction and told us where to go.

We literally walked 15 feet and then saw the sign. We felt really dumb!

 

We walked down a little hill and crossed a street and found the park. Unfortunately the park isn't open until April. Luckily we all have bus passes, and the view was really nice, so we didn't feel like it was a complete waste of time. So we decided to head back up to our bus stop and head back down to Florence. We will be going back in April to check it out once it's open!

Once we got back into Florence we decided that we would go check out the Chocolate Fair. In Piazza Santa Maria Novella there is a chocolate fest that is going on for the next week.

There were a lot of vendors set up! First we decided that we would walk around to all of them to scope it out. We got a lot of free samples! :)

They had chocolate in a variety of different shapes!

Various flavored truffles. They also had chocolate balls that were filled with various types of liquor.

Chocolate cakes.

Chocolate shaped shoes!

 

 

I decided to start slowly and only got a chocolate cannoli today. Half of it was chocolate gnache and the other half was chocolate mousse. It was amazing, but it really made me want an ice cold glass of milk afterwards. I will be going back a few times this week to try out some of the other things, especially some truffles!

 

After the chocolate fest I headed back home for a little bit to rest and bring my stuff back from the night before. I met up with a bunch of people from my group around 7 for dinner at Tijuana, a Mexican restaurant. The food was really good, but I was a little confused on which language to speak. I didn't feel like I was in Italy, and it felt weird ordering Mexican food in Italian, and I don't know Spanish. We all just ended up ordering in English.

It was happy hour so I started out by splitting a pitcher of Strawberry Margarita with my friend Simone.

 

 

My first Margarita! :)

 

Then I ordered some Nachos for dinner. They had cheese, refried beans, chicken and sour cream on them and they were a nice change from all of the pasta we've been having. Also, their sour cream was amazing!

After trying a little bit of my friends' Azul margarita I decided I would get one as well. It tasted like a blue slushie!

Now I know how this picture looks, but I would like to say that there really wasn't that much alcohol in the margaritas. I could taste it, but none of us felt it.

 I find this picture funny though, because there's a 90% chance it will make my family, especially my sisters, feel old. :)

 

Well that is all for today!

I'm looking forward to a good sleep back in my own bed.

A domain!

Una notte fuori. A night out.

Ciao!
Well I had a very good night out yesterday, so I hope that you all survived not having a blog!

On Fridays I don't have anything planned, so I slept in until noon, and had my breakfast, which served as my lunch. I then had a very leisurely afternoon getting ready and hanging out with Stella before heading out. Around 4:15 I left my apartment and headed down the road a few minutes to the base of Piazzale Michelangelo. For those of you that do not know, Piazzale Michelangelo is one of the most well known spots to take the panoramic shots of Florence. (That is where the photo at the top of my blog was taken.)

I got to the bottom of the hill and had to start my climb up!

You have to start weaving your way up these roads, which aren't open to cars, and then you have to cross 2 roads that are open to cars (be careful!) and then continue up the hill.

Half way up! (I'm starting to get a little tired.)

I made it! It only took about 5 or 6 minutes, but it was steep!

View to the West.

A view to the East.

 

We all hung out up there for about an hour or so waiting until the sunset, and then until all the city lights came on. It was cold, but definitely worth it!

After we all started getting cold, and hungry, we decided to start walking back down the hill. We were trying to decide what we were going to do for the night. Some people wanted to go out, and I had made the comment of not having had a mixed drink before. At this comment everyone swarmed me, completely shocked, and said that I HAD to go out with them. They said that they were going to take me out and that I would stay at their place for the night. It was only 6:30pm at this point, so I decided that I would quick hop on the bus and grab some stuff for the night for sleeping and that I would meet them back up at their apartment. I was back at their apartment at 7:30 and we made some pasta before we went out. Then once everyone was ready we walked a couple blocks down from their apartment and went to a bar. (This is a normal kind of bar that you would think of in the U.S.)

I got a menu and everyone was trying to help me pick something to drink. I settled on a Long Island.

My first mixed drink!! (I would just like to say that it was really weird drinking in public, and not even getting carded.)

The group of friends that I went out with.

I ended up getting a second Long Island because I couldn't decide on something else that I would like, and I didn't want to get something and end up hating it.

We ended up leaving the bar around midnight and we were all really hungry. We walked down the block to a Kebab place. A few other people in our program had gone here before and said it was really good. It was!! For those of you that don't know what a kebab is, it was kind of like a combination of a gyro and a wrap.  Now, even though it was delicious, everyone says that you do not want to get one when you are sober, because they aren't that good sober. I decided I will take everyone's word for it, although I can't believe it could be true, because it was really good.

And as if we hadn't had enough food after the kebab, we then headed over a few more blocks and went to the secret bakery!

Yes, a secret bakery! People know where the bakery is basically by word of mouth because there aren't any signs by the door. You head down a dead end street, and there is a back door that you knock on. Someone from the bakery will come open up the door and ask you what you would like. They have cornettos (which are pastries like croissants) that you can get filled either with chocolate, crème or marmalade. Then once you tell them what you'd like, they close the door and come back a few minutes later with your pastries! They are 1 euro a piece and they are delicious! I got 2 chocolate filled cornettos. I saved one for the morning. They are much better then if you buy them in the morning because these are fresh and still warm!

This is the pastry that made it to the morning. You can't see it, but there is chocolate hiding on the inside! :)

2009- at sunrise                                                        2013- at sunset

The picture on the left I took when I was in Florence 4 years ago. And the picture on the right I took last night. It is crazy to see how this journey has come full circle. It was at that exact moment 4 years ago, up in Piazzale Michelangelo, as I was looking out over Florence that I realized that was where I wanted to study abroad. It was absolutely beautiful as the sun was rising and while the city is large, it can be very small and peaceful at the same time.

I still can't believe I live here!

 

Un bello giorno! A beautiful day!

 

Buon Giorno tutti!!!! Oggi e` stato una bella giornata!

Today was a beautiful day! (But not just because of the weather.)

Today I had to get up quite early for my Art History class and I was very tired because I couldn't fall asleep last night. I ended up pulling out one of my journals and writing by hand for a little bit to get my thoughts out of my head so that I could fall asleep. It worked, but I still only got about 6 hours of sleep. (I really have no idea how so many people can function like that. I suppose if I liked coffee I might be able to.)

So I got to my Art History class, and today we spent the entire class in the classroom. This being because we were talking about the art and architecture of Siena, and while Siena is close, it's not right outside our classroom.

I was going to have a TON of cool information to share with you, but that was before the rest of my day happened. So, now I will try to keep the history part brief, so that I can tell you about what happened after class.

 

So, in 1267 Siena was trying to redefine itself and identify their origins. To do this, they came up with a myth stating that they could trace their founding back to Remus (of Romulus and Remus). They said that Remus had 2 sons before Remus killed him. One of the son's name was Senus; he fled Rome and went North, where he found an area that was made up of 3 hills. Here he decided to stay because it reminded him of the 7 hills that Rome was founded on. However, Senus was still young at this time, so the gods sent down white clouds in the day, and black clouds at night to protect him and keep him unseen from potential harm until he grew old enough to protect himself and build the city of Siena. It is from this story that the Sienna's colors are black and white, and that you can see images of the she wolf and Romulus and Remus all over the city.

The cathedral in Siena is dedicated to Saint Mary of the Assumption. The cathedral is well known for its excessive decoration inside, which stems from horror vacui (which is a fear of emptiness- therefore there is no empty wall or floor space that is undecorated).

The cathedral was paid for by the commune of Siena, of which a subcommittee was tasked with overseeing the project. The subcommittee was called the opera. Opus means work, and opera means works (the plural), The subcommittee was referred to as the Opera because they were in charge of all the works commissioned by the commune. Any time you see a P with a line through the middle it means that the letters ER are missing.

I recently found this picture from the last time I was in Italy. I believe it was from inside St. Peter's. It is usually seen in buildings or on paintings, showing who the patron was.

I don't think I really knew what I was taking pictures of back then, which is why I LOVE my art history class. I'm learning so much, not just about art and architecture, but also the history of Florence as well as Italy, and a lot about the Catholic church as well (that went into the art and architecture). I also enjoy when I know the answers to questions because I paid attention in Religion class! :)

 

We also learned that an Easted church is when the altar is on the east end of the church (this is where the sunrises). Most churches are easted churches. Notably, St. Peter's Basilica is a wested church.

 

Another very interesting thing we learned about was the great battle of Montaperti that took place in 1260. Florence and Arezzo marched on Siena and said give us your city and we won't tear it down. The people of Siena were held up inside their walls and were ready to give over the keys of the city. (The keys to the city were the literal keys to the city back then. Not a fake key on a plaque.) Just before they were about to give over the keys, Buonaguido Lucadi convinced the people to go down fighting and said that they should "put their fate into the hands of the queen and empress of eternal light." That person was the Virgin Mary. The people then literally brought the keys to the painting of the Virgin Mary, thus "marrying" the city to the virgin and asking for her protection. (Still today Siena is called the city of the Virgin.) After giving the keys to Mary, they opened the door and were ready to fight to their death. However, the Sienese were able to defeat the army! This is known as one of the greatest underdog war battles in history, and apparently Sienese people still talk about this battle as if it happened yesterday.  

 

I learned much, much more about the specific art and architecture of the church and the town hall, but the blog is already getting pretty lengthy!

So, on to the rest of my day!

 

My friend Sarah took another girl, Jessica, and myself to this little panino shop that she found. She told us that it was a secret and we shouldn't tell anyone. It was one of the best paninis that I have had yet, and it was only 3 euro!! You could put as many ingredients as you would like on it, and it would still only be 3 euro! Such a good deal! I got salame, tacchino, pecorino, maionese, and lattuga. (Salmi, turkey, pecorino cheese, mayo, and lettuce.)

 

 

My delicious panino!

 

 

The shop also had THE BIGGEST nutella container I have seen yet!! Obviously this is a good sign that this is the place to be! All over the city I have seen varying sizes of large nutella jars, but this was by far the biggest. It's crazy!

 

So, after we finished our paninis we were walking around and wanted to a gift for Jessica's friend. We ended up walking into a paper shop, Il Papiro. (You may have heard of it, as there is a shop in New York as well as Miami, but the original is here in Florence. There are actually 5 or 6 shops in Florence and many in other cities in Italy as well as Australia.)

So in we walk, and a worker greets us and says hello, and starts talking to us. (Not only is he a worker, but he's the owner of the company.) He asks us if we would like him to talk to us in English or Italian. We said Italian (but his English was very, very good, and we ended up switching back and forth. We later learned that he lived in New York for a while.) Gianni then asked us if we had ever been there before. Sarah had been to one of the other stores in Florence, but Jessica and I hadn't been to any of them. So he said, oh, well then you have to come with me. So he brings us to the back of the shop, and tells us that since we're students he is going to teach us how they make the paper! Il Papiro is known for their marble painting of paper, which is a 17th century technique.

Gianni was very interested in what we were studying, where we were from, and how we liked Florence so far. He had asked us our names when we went into the back area, and at first I started to say Erin, but I stopped midway and said Giulia. At which point he asked why the confusion, and I explained that my first name is Erin but its hard to say, so I go by Giulia. He then asked me if Giulia was a translation for Julie. I said no, and he asked if I had Italian blood, and I said yes! He seemed very happy to hear that, and then asked me where my family was from. I informed him that I had half from Piemonte and half from Calabria. To that statement he said "You know those are the North and South." I said yes, I know, and it's not very common, but everyone gets along. Even today, it's not a common thing for people from the North and South to intermarry.

 

So after getting to know us a little bit and chatting, he showed us I was going to do. 

 

First you take the paint (acrylic) and you tap some off of the brush into the bin (which had water and an acrylic base.)

 

Then once you get all of your colors, you take a tool (which is basically just a wooden stick) and drag it through the bin making vertical lines all the way through. You start on one end and go up and down and work your way across to the other end.

Hard at work! Gianni said I can stay and work for him this summer!

 

I'm almost to the end in this one.

 

 

Then you get to choose between 3 different size brushes (they're metal prongs) and your slowly run that from one end through to the other end. This makes the arches.

After you do that, you take the wooden stick again and you make an additional design. There are several different ones you can do. I made hills and valleys horizontally and did a few rows on top of each other so that the hills of one line hit the valley of the previous line. 

 

Then you carefully lay down the paper. Gianni did this because it is very hard. You don't want to move the paper and mess up the paint and you don't want to get any air bubbles.

 

Then you pull it out and you have your marbled paper!!!

 

This is a close-up. I MADE THAT!! HOW COOL!

We then laid it over a rod so it could dry. Gianni then informed us that I could take that when it was dry! He then asked if Jessica and Sarah wanted to try it too! So we each got to make a paper. We each had different colors and he did different brushes and designs.

Not only did we get to make that, for free, (they have a class that you can pay for at their workshop in another part of the city) but he rolled it up in tissue paper, and sealed it like a nice package. He also gave us their courtesy card which gives us 10% off anytime we shop in any of their stores, anywhere in the world. He was also very helpful and showed us all of the different products they have. We each bought various items. They use the paper for cards, for wrapping books, for wrapping pens, pencils, boxes, book ends. All sorts of things! Not only can you buy the covered items, but you can also buy just a single piece of paper that has colors or designs that you like. We were there for a good hour, looking around and talking with him. He told us to come back often, and if we ever just have a question about life or Florence that we should come and ask him. He told us to find him on Facebook and he wrote down our email addresses.  

We also learned that he has had many famous people come into his store! He's had one of the members of the Rolling Stones come in (I forgot which one) as well as Ken Follet! He even showed us the pictures to prove it.

 

 

Gianni was awesome and completely made my day! I had to take a picture with him.

When I returned home this evening I was very excited about my afternoon and told my host mother, only to find out that Gianni is the father of one of my brother's friends and that my mother knows him very well!! How funny!  

 

I had a wonderful dinner again tonight with my family. I was very proud of some of the sentences I put together! We had some penne pasta with a red sauce and some hamburger meat, then we had polpettone, which basically is a meatloaf that is filled with ham and cheese, followed by some pane toscano, and some peppers! (Yes, I ate a big spoonful of red, green, and yellow peppers!)

As if you thought it couldn't get any better, we then had a crostata di marmelatta! This is a cherry crostata that my mother made!  It was wonderful, and looked so pretty! I had to stop her from cutting it so I could take a picture first. :)

 

 

Well that is all for today! Now time to rest up for what I hope will be another exciting weekend!