Buona sera a tutti!
Last night, we were lucky enough to eat free (well, it's included in our tuition for Holy Cross) at one of the most famous restaurants in Florence, La Giostra. At 7pm, we all met Elisa outside of the place and when we entered, there was a beautiful long table set up for us with pretty candles and linens. Elisa made sure that we ordered fast, because we had to be out of there by 8:30. We were automatically given champagne and 2 enormous appetizer platters because I assume those things get factored into the high meal prices. Every table gets them, and I thought they were a fabulous idea in place of bread that would have just filled me up anyway. Our platters included spinach and ricotta balls, rabbit and chicken crostini, tomato bruschetta, mini caprese salad pieces, zucchini stuffed with cheese and bread crumbs, red peppers soaked in balsamic vinaigrette, grilled eggplant slices soaked in olive oil, squash and some kind of mayo concoction, and mortadella slices. Elisa also ordered us red wine, and the waiters had a very interesting presentation process. They did all these crazy things with their hands and smelling the corks, and then they carefully poured the wine into a decanter. I now understand why their cheapest bottle of wine is 25 euro. What a fancy process!
I cannot even describe how fabulous this dinner was. Apart from the warm and cozy ambiance, the food was out of this world. For my first course, I ordered pear and pecorino ravioli, which is La Giostra's specialty. I easily understood why when I took my first bite. These ravioli were sooo rich with just the slightest hint of sweetness and an amazing flavor of pecorino. I was in food heaven. For my second course, I had veal with a lemon marsala sauce, and that was another draw-dropper. It came with perfectly seasoned potatoes, sweet peppers drenched in balsamic vinaigrette, and chopped eggplant. It was so delicious and one of a kind that I ignored my "I'm full" warnings halfway through the meal and finished the whole thing. Sadly, and probably fortunately, we didn't have time for dessert which was supposed to be amazing, according to Elisa. Looks like I'll be coming back with my Dad though, so we'll try it then :)
Dinner conversation was interesting, as it consisted of Elisa explaining her knowledge of the family who owns La Giostra. Apparently, the owner's son wears one bracelet for each woman that he has slept with. Right after she told us this, the legendary son (as a waiter) came strolling through the dining room with bracelets on both arms that stretched from his wrists to 3 inches before his elbows. There must have been about 50-75 of those very thin ones on each arm, and a few bulkier ones. Maybe the bulkier bracelets mean that those women were more important? Haha who knows.
Anyway, we left dinner very full and happy and headed to Il Teatro Verdi, just a 5 minute walk away. Elisa had gotten us all tickets to see Renzo Arbore, a very famous Italian singer from Naples. He's in his 70's now, so the crowd was generally pretty old but Elisa assured us that he would be singing "O Sole Mio," so we got ourselves psyched anyway. We had great seats right on the ground level, and the location made sense when I saw that each ticket had gone to Elisa for about 67 euro. Whoa!
While we waited for the show to start, I met Elisa's husband Marco, who was incredibly nice. After talking to him I realized how their marriage works. He seems to be a pretty laid back guy and Elisa can be very stressed and uptight. However, they are both equally (and highly) intelligent, and it seems to me that Elisa leaves her work for the daytime and keeps it as away from her marriage as possible. As my past tales have revealed, she's VERY scary when it comes to my group of friends and our academic achievements, but she was sooo relaxed last night that I actually enjoyed her presence! Shocking, I know. As for the good people-watching to be done in the theater, which there always is, we easily discovered an old woman who was questionably drunk, strutting back and forth through our aisle. (We had the first row of the second section, so it was the area where people walked to get to their seats). She was wearing a long, red lace dress with long sleeves and very red and runny lipstick. What a sight! The reason we thought that she had to have been drunk attributes to the fact that she tripped over Grace's foot and then glared at her for "being in her way," even though Grace had been sitting properly in her seat. We got a good initial laugh out of this woman, and there was still more to come.
Renzo Arbore opened up with a really upbeat song that we all loved. I don't think any of us had heard it before, but it was definitely Neapolitan and very foot-tapping worthy. Mid-way through the show, he got a little lovey and slow with his songs, so we had a hard time staying awake, especially after all of that red wine with dinner. I made it through, but some others dozed off for a few songs. Then, instead of making an intermission, Renzo stepped offstage for a break and sent a female barbershop trio into the spotlight. They called themselves The Blue Dolls, and they were VERY 50's. I thought they had amazing voices though, and really did a great job. Two were actually Florentine women, so that was pretty cool!
After his break, Renzo came back on stage and led into some more upbeat songs, including an attempt at Frank Sinatra in English as a dedication to NYC. He quickly used whatever Sinatra song it was (I couldn't figure it out for the life of me) to segue-way into something Italian because there was no chance in masking that heavy Neapolitan accent. I only recognized a few of the rest that he sang, but they were all great and had us clapping furiously to the beat. Elisa was next to me and waving her arms in the air like a crazy woman. She actually hit me in the head at one point, but I don't think she noticed. While our group was definitely the youngest and most spirited there, the old folks were pretty close in the energy department. They were going NUTS for this guy!!! Lots of people were standing, screaming, singing and clapping. Our "lady in red" was so wired that she tapped Jeff on the shoulder (she was sitting directly behind him) and asked him to scream "Luna Rossa" as a song request for her, because she wasn't able to yell it loud enough herself. Pretty soon after that, she left her seat and walked directly to the front of theater and stood in the middle of the aisle, dancing and clapping for Renzo all alone. That gave us another reason to believe that she was wasted... or just out of her mind. The funniest part was, she rocked herself back and forth, as if she were pretending that Renzo was singing directly to her, especially when the love songs came on. We couldn't contain ourselves from laughing. Even Elisa was loving it.
The show lasted 3 hours with no break, and he never sang "O Sole Mio." We were shocked and slightly disappointed by that little detail, but had an amazing time all the same. He really got the crowd going and we had a great time singing along and dancing to what we both recognized and didn't. The show let out around 12:15 am, and Elisa had arranged rides for all of us to get home. Her husband Marco was assigned to accompany Maggie Rossi, Maggie Wright, Andrea and myself to our respective houses. In the time that he took to bring us home, Andrea and I really struck up a nice acquaintance with him. He initiated the conversation by speaking to us in the most perfect English that I had ever heard a foreigner speak. Though he is 100% Italian, he had no accent whatsoever, and better grammar and sentence structure than a lot of people I know. He was so friendly and excited to learn about us that he made the car ride very comfortable, right from the beginning. We came to find out that he had been studying English since Kindergarten and that now he is publishing and researching in English for his geo-chemical engineering profession. Whoa.
So, last night turned out to be really great. I ended up with a huge stomach ache while I was lying in bed, trying to get to sleep, but I'm pretty sure it was worth it. Also, Renzo Arbore is most certainly worth a listen for those that don't know who he is. He actually toured NYC and Atlantic City this past year and Florence (last night) was the last leg of his tour. I'll remember this one, and the "lady in red," forever.
Tomorrow is St. Patty's Day and we've decided to go out. I can't imagine Florence is too big on Irish culture, seeing as Maria Pia completely forgot when we informed her of our plans, but the Irish and English pubs in the center know what's going on. It will be a unique St. Patty's Day this year.
Buona notte!
Showing posts with label "becoming Italian" breakthrough. Show all posts
Showing posts with label "becoming Italian" breakthrough. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Castle Party
Last night, Kevin, Maggie, Maggie, Andrea and myself had the honor of being invited to Benedetta's 18th birthday party in Castel di Poggio in beautiful Fiesole. Unfortunately, Andrea was sick and couldn't join us, but the rest of us met up in Piazza San Marco around 7:15 to take the bus together to Fiesole at 7:45. Before hopping on the bus, we shared a little champagne on a piazza bench in celebration of Maggie Rossi's 21st birthday, which would start at midnight. Then, we got on the bus and took it all the way to the end of the line. There, in Fiesole's central piazza were an aunt and uncle of Benedetta, who had been asked to pick us up and drive us to the castle. They were very sweet, though they never told me their names even though we all introduced ourselves. Italians seem to have a way of not doing the introduction thing, as we also found out later into the night.
Anyway, we arrived right at 8:30, when the party was scheduled to kick off. We had no choice but to be there on time, and clearly everyone else had chosen to come late. So, we kind of sat there for a half hour or so while a small group of Italians talked amongst themselves. A little bit later, my boy cousin Andrea arrived (not to be confused with my roommate, Andrea, who is a girl and didn't come to the party). We greeted each other and I followed him over to wherever he chose to put his present, so that I could put ours down too. He was with two Italian girls, one of whom is his girlfriend and all they did was stare at my weirdly. So, I turned around and introduced myself in Italian. They certainly did not seem very excited, or even falsely excited to meet me. I got a "ciao, piacere" and then they just stared into space. SO AWKWARD. So, as I said before, Italians don't do introductions very well.
Benedetta made her grand entrance around 9:30 and we snapped some photos before she walked around to greet every table. Her stressed demeanor reminded me of that of a bride's, although I wasn't fooled long since she had chosen a bright green dress and had no husband on her arm. I'm pretty sure she didn't get to eat very much throughout the night.
We, on the contrary, stuffed ourselves. The antipasti consisted of assorted breads with small dishes of liver pate, mushroom spread, and a cheesy olive oil spread. There were also mozzarella balls and mini tomatoes stuck into a pineapple with sticks, which looked pretty cool. There was a farro and tuna salad, which I liked a lot. And lastly, there was a nice assortment of really stinky cheeses that tasted awesome! The first course consisted of a green salad, paparadelle pasta with wild boar meat sauce, and risotto with shrimp and zucchini. The second course was pork with bacon and a side of awesome roasted potatoes.
So that whole eating extravaganza took about 2 hours, time in which we were able to form a friendship with a nice, Italian couple that was closer in age to us than the high schoolers we were surrounded by. Their names were Sara and Alessandro and Sara was a cousin of Benedetta's. I can't figure out if that made her my cousin too, but I don't think so. Anyway, they were both around 23 or so, and were the cutest couple ever! They were so normal in comparison to the other Italian couples that I've encountered. They absolutely love NY, so we spent a lot of time talking about that. It also seemed that they really liked to party and have a good time, so they weren't as judgmental of us Americans and our "party habits". We exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and I suppose we're going to "prendere una birra insieme" some day soon. 15 minutes before midnight, Benedetta blew out the candles on her cakes and we all sang happy birthday in Italian, which was something new and exciting for me. Did you know they also do that "she's a jolly good fellow" song in Italian too!? Anyway, the cakes formed a huge 18 and were absolutely delicious. They are called "Torta millefoglie" and basically consisted of a cannoli-type cream with chocolate chips, a flaky crust, and tons of powdered sugar. So good! When the clock struck midnight, Maggie Rossi whipped out the nips that she had brought to welcome her 21st birthday. Our new Italian friends got a huge kick out of it and were so excited, so we all sat down and each took our nip shot in honor of Maggie's first American legal drink. It was very comical.
After cake (and shots), Benedetta started to open her presents, which I was a little surprised she was doing. After all, there were A LOT of presents, and that tends to be boring for guests when they have to watch someone else get all the things that they would probably enjoy having. However, we were pretty excited when she got to opening our present. Together we gave her a Holy Cross t-shirt, a map of NYC with our favorite (and her favorite) places marked and explained, an artistic map of Manhattan to hang on her wall, and I <3 NY shot glass, and a small NYC guide book in English. Our card was a little booklet that we had decorated, each taking up a spread and writing whatever we wanted. We called it "Benedetta's America Book," and I wrote English idiomatic phrases and expressions for the party scene, while Kevin went the dirty words route. Our idea is that she continues to use that book to write fun things that she learns in English. SHE LOVED IT.
Halfway through the presents, as I had anticipated, everyone got bored. So, we started dancing. Our new Italian friend, Sara definitely didn't take to the shot very well because she was certainly a little drunk and as a result, quite a fun dancer. We all had a great time and Alessandro, her boyfriend, was very amused. That continued until about 2:30 in the morning, when we had to try to find a ride home. Fortunately, Anarita (Benedetta's mom) had already planned it for us, and the people who had picked us up in the beginning were gracious enough to drive us all home, even though we live in completely opposite directions, and they live in a different town. We had told them that taking us to the center would have been fine because we could have taken cabs from there. But, they wouldn't allow the girls to "walk through the streets" at 3:00 am, even though the cabs were in plain sight. It was very nice of them to take us home though. Door to door service!
Anyway, the night was pretty awesome and I'm so happy to have been invited. It was really funny to be around so many high schoolers because it reminded me of the groups that were so present during that time for me. The nerdy kids, the hot girls, the charming boys. It's all the same in Italy! It was very amusing because my friends and I always say how old the Italian girls look. They look so much other than us, even! But, there is nothing that the boys can do to catch up. They can't wear makeup and fight their teenage pimples, so there was such a false age gap. Very funny. Also, the boys and the girls were very clique-y and definitely stuck to their own little groups. I think this was why we got along so well with Sara and Alessandro. They were a little older too, and past all that stuff.
Today, I'm going to the opera as a cultural outing. We'll see how this goes because I'm very tired and it's going to be all in Italian.
Ciao!
Anyway, we arrived right at 8:30, when the party was scheduled to kick off. We had no choice but to be there on time, and clearly everyone else had chosen to come late. So, we kind of sat there for a half hour or so while a small group of Italians talked amongst themselves. A little bit later, my boy cousin Andrea arrived (not to be confused with my roommate, Andrea, who is a girl and didn't come to the party). We greeted each other and I followed him over to wherever he chose to put his present, so that I could put ours down too. He was with two Italian girls, one of whom is his girlfriend and all they did was stare at my weirdly. So, I turned around and introduced myself in Italian. They certainly did not seem very excited, or even falsely excited to meet me. I got a "ciao, piacere" and then they just stared into space. SO AWKWARD. So, as I said before, Italians don't do introductions very well.
Benedetta made her grand entrance around 9:30 and we snapped some photos before she walked around to greet every table. Her stressed demeanor reminded me of that of a bride's, although I wasn't fooled long since she had chosen a bright green dress and had no husband on her arm. I'm pretty sure she didn't get to eat very much throughout the night.
We, on the contrary, stuffed ourselves. The antipasti consisted of assorted breads with small dishes of liver pate, mushroom spread, and a cheesy olive oil spread. There were also mozzarella balls and mini tomatoes stuck into a pineapple with sticks, which looked pretty cool. There was a farro and tuna salad, which I liked a lot. And lastly, there was a nice assortment of really stinky cheeses that tasted awesome! The first course consisted of a green salad, paparadelle pasta with wild boar meat sauce, and risotto with shrimp and zucchini. The second course was pork with bacon and a side of awesome roasted potatoes.
So that whole eating extravaganza took about 2 hours, time in which we were able to form a friendship with a nice, Italian couple that was closer in age to us than the high schoolers we were surrounded by. Their names were Sara and Alessandro and Sara was a cousin of Benedetta's. I can't figure out if that made her my cousin too, but I don't think so. Anyway, they were both around 23 or so, and were the cutest couple ever! They were so normal in comparison to the other Italian couples that I've encountered. They absolutely love NY, so we spent a lot of time talking about that. It also seemed that they really liked to party and have a good time, so they weren't as judgmental of us Americans and our "party habits". We exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and I suppose we're going to "prendere una birra insieme" some day soon. 15 minutes before midnight, Benedetta blew out the candles on her cakes and we all sang happy birthday in Italian, which was something new and exciting for me. Did you know they also do that "she's a jolly good fellow" song in Italian too!? Anyway, the cakes formed a huge 18 and were absolutely delicious. They are called "Torta millefoglie" and basically consisted of a cannoli-type cream with chocolate chips, a flaky crust, and tons of powdered sugar. So good! When the clock struck midnight, Maggie Rossi whipped out the nips that she had brought to welcome her 21st birthday. Our new Italian friends got a huge kick out of it and were so excited, so we all sat down and each took our nip shot in honor of Maggie's first American legal drink. It was very comical.
After cake (and shots), Benedetta started to open her presents, which I was a little surprised she was doing. After all, there were A LOT of presents, and that tends to be boring for guests when they have to watch someone else get all the things that they would probably enjoy having. However, we were pretty excited when she got to opening our present. Together we gave her a Holy Cross t-shirt, a map of NYC with our favorite (and her favorite) places marked and explained, an artistic map of Manhattan to hang on her wall, and I <3 NY shot glass, and a small NYC guide book in English. Our card was a little booklet that we had decorated, each taking up a spread and writing whatever we wanted. We called it "Benedetta's America Book," and I wrote English idiomatic phrases and expressions for the party scene, while Kevin went the dirty words route. Our idea is that she continues to use that book to write fun things that she learns in English. SHE LOVED IT.
Halfway through the presents, as I had anticipated, everyone got bored. So, we started dancing. Our new Italian friend, Sara definitely didn't take to the shot very well because she was certainly a little drunk and as a result, quite a fun dancer. We all had a great time and Alessandro, her boyfriend, was very amused. That continued until about 2:30 in the morning, when we had to try to find a ride home. Fortunately, Anarita (Benedetta's mom) had already planned it for us, and the people who had picked us up in the beginning were gracious enough to drive us all home, even though we live in completely opposite directions, and they live in a different town. We had told them that taking us to the center would have been fine because we could have taken cabs from there. But, they wouldn't allow the girls to "walk through the streets" at 3:00 am, even though the cabs were in plain sight. It was very nice of them to take us home though. Door to door service!
Anyway, the night was pretty awesome and I'm so happy to have been invited. It was really funny to be around so many high schoolers because it reminded me of the groups that were so present during that time for me. The nerdy kids, the hot girls, the charming boys. It's all the same in Italy! It was very amusing because my friends and I always say how old the Italian girls look. They look so much other than us, even! But, there is nothing that the boys can do to catch up. They can't wear makeup and fight their teenage pimples, so there was such a false age gap. Very funny. Also, the boys and the girls were very clique-y and definitely stuck to their own little groups. I think this was why we got along so well with Sara and Alessandro. They were a little older too, and past all that stuff.
Today, I'm going to the opera as a cultural outing. We'll see how this goes because I'm very tired and it's going to be all in Italian.
Ciao!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday night
Last night was soooo much fun, but started off a little annoyingly. Andrea and I were hoping to grab the 8:06 bus into the center, knowing that there had been a strike that day. We knew that we risked not being able to get a bus, but we had seen a bunch of buses go by, so we thought everything would be ok. Nope, it wasn't. We waited for a half hour in the freezing cold and then had to call Maria Pia to take us in to town. We felt so bad, but she didn't seem to mind. She had told us beforehand that she would take us anyway.
So, we met Kevin, Benedetta and Eleonora at this pizza place called Yellow. I knew it was popular, but I didn't expect to see the mob of people standing outside the door, waiting for a table. Eleonora and Benedetta had made a reservation for 8:30, but we didn't end up sitting until 9:45. They didn't have a list or anything, so the reservation did absolutely nothing. That's Italy for you. We almost went to another place, but obviously, we didn't. Anyway, we had a really nice dinner together and spoke a little Italian and a little English, to please both parties. Benedetta and Eleonora's friend Giulia also joined us. She was really nice.
After dinner, we went to Cafe Bigallo and met up with Grace and Carla for some drinks all together. We had a great time! Then, we walked over to a bar at Santa Croce called "The William." We had never been there before and it was definitely a very Italian place. I really liked the atmosphere. I think we're going to go again tomorrow. I just love hanging out with Benedetta and her friends, and I think that they really enjoy it too. It's such a good exchange for each of us with the language and cultural differences. We always have so much fun together.
Tomorrow will be a really long day but I'm looking forward to the evening. We'll be going out to dinner with a Holy Cross professor that's on sabbatical here this year. He's from Italy, so we'll be speaking in Italian. I had him as a sub once in my philosophy class. He's a crazy, really funny guy. I can't wait!
More soon. Ciao.
So, we met Kevin, Benedetta and Eleonora at this pizza place called Yellow. I knew it was popular, but I didn't expect to see the mob of people standing outside the door, waiting for a table. Eleonora and Benedetta had made a reservation for 8:30, but we didn't end up sitting until 9:45. They didn't have a list or anything, so the reservation did absolutely nothing. That's Italy for you. We almost went to another place, but obviously, we didn't. Anyway, we had a really nice dinner together and spoke a little Italian and a little English, to please both parties. Benedetta and Eleonora's friend Giulia also joined us. She was really nice.
After dinner, we went to Cafe Bigallo and met up with Grace and Carla for some drinks all together. We had a great time! Then, we walked over to a bar at Santa Croce called "The William." We had never been there before and it was definitely a very Italian place. I really liked the atmosphere. I think we're going to go again tomorrow. I just love hanging out with Benedetta and her friends, and I think that they really enjoy it too. It's such a good exchange for each of us with the language and cultural differences. We always have so much fun together.
Tomorrow will be a really long day but I'm looking forward to the evening. We'll be going out to dinner with a Holy Cross professor that's on sabbatical here this year. He's from Italy, so we'll be speaking in Italian. I had him as a sub once in my philosophy class. He's a crazy, really funny guy. I can't wait!
More soon. Ciao.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
English lesson, tutoring session
Ciao!
So yesterday, after being very productive on my work, I took the bus an hour away to Benedetta's house to teach her parents English, as promised. Antonio seemed to know a lot more than Annarita, but they were both hilarious and fun to work with. I didn't know where to begin, but there were a lot of things that Antonio wanted to work on, so we just started from there. It was soooo funny to hear them try to pronounce their th's and ed's. They had a really hard time with that... it's a work in progress!
We had dinner as a break between the lesson and it was very good. Roasted potatoes, green beans, salad, and steak, sausage and peppers on sticks. It was much more healthy than Maria Pia's cooking, thank goodness. (By the way, I asked Maria Pia to stop making me pasta and only serve me the main course. She fortunately complied. Phew. Save a few calories there.) For dessert, we had fruit, and cantucci with Vin Santo. So yummy. Then, we got back to the lesson!
Poor Annarita was having a lot of trouble with the alphabet because, in Italian, the letter E, sounds like the English letter A, and I sounds like the English letter E. So, she kept messing it up. Sometimes I do too when I'm saying the alphabet, so it's ok. We ended the lesson around 10:30 and I was sooooo tired.
Side note: Of course, Benedetta was there and was telling me about this huge party that she's having in January for her 18th birthday (18 is big here, just like 16 is big at home). It's going to be in a castle in Fiesole! Soooo cool! And, she has invited me, Kevin, Maggie, Maggie and Andrea! It was sooo nice of her and I'm really excited. Except, it's formal, so I'm going to have to find a dress when I get home for Christmas. Ugh.
So anyway, after all that, Annarita and Antonio brought me home.
Today was also a big day. However, it was exhausting. For Museologia tutoring, we all met at the Uffizi Gallery to do a quick run-through of the important pieces of art, etc. The biggest treat came second, with the Vasarian Corridor. The Vasarian Corridor is a long corridor (duh) that starts from the Uffizi, runs along the private area of the Uffizi, through the Palazzo Vecchio, over the Ponte Vecchio and the Arno, through the top of a church, and finishes in the Boboli Gardens behind Palazzo Pitti. It is about 1 km long and is filled with paintings on both sides of the corridor.
In the past, it's original use was for the Medici family. They used to use the corridor as a cut through from the Uffizi (their gallery) to their home in Palazzo Pitti (Boboli Gardens out back). Naturally (ha), they didn't want to have to go outside and walk to their home for risk of dirtying their shoes! They also created this corridor as a way of "walking over the heads" of the regular townspeople. Hmmm... a little arrogant I would say?
The special thing about the Vasarian Corridor nowadays is that it's not opened to the public because none of the works are protected by glass or rails, and the corridor is too small to handle large masses of people. The only way to see the Vasarian Corridor is by making a reservation WAY in advance and paying a TON of money. The Corridor is usually closed, so the reason it costs so much is because they have to turn everything on, and get a staff member to accompany you the whole way. Plus, you can only bring a max of about 10 or so people. To get idea, most websites I went to said that the admission price for one person was around 90 euro. I'm assuming that part of our tuition this year went to this tour, because we didn't have to pay anything today.
It was the coolest thing to see! We got to walk over the Arno and look down on all the places that we usually walk. The paintings were beautiful and we were able to get our faces right up next to them! Nothing in the way! It was also amazing to be all alone in this huge corridor. Elisa, despite being evil, is still incredibly knowledgeable about all of the artwork, so she made a great tour guide. That is one experience that I will never forget. So many Florentines still have not seen the Corridor and never will! Also, come January, it will be closing for 2 years for restorations. I didn't see anything that needed restoring, but whatever.
So after that, we had our Storia del Costume tutoring and now I'm back home. I'm dead and I have mountains of work today because I have two presentations due for next week and my internship resumes to work on. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday!
More to come this weekend! Ciao!
So yesterday, after being very productive on my work, I took the bus an hour away to Benedetta's house to teach her parents English, as promised. Antonio seemed to know a lot more than Annarita, but they were both hilarious and fun to work with. I didn't know where to begin, but there were a lot of things that Antonio wanted to work on, so we just started from there. It was soooo funny to hear them try to pronounce their th's and ed's. They had a really hard time with that... it's a work in progress!
We had dinner as a break between the lesson and it was very good. Roasted potatoes, green beans, salad, and steak, sausage and peppers on sticks. It was much more healthy than Maria Pia's cooking, thank goodness. (By the way, I asked Maria Pia to stop making me pasta and only serve me the main course. She fortunately complied. Phew. Save a few calories there.) For dessert, we had fruit, and cantucci with Vin Santo. So yummy. Then, we got back to the lesson!
Poor Annarita was having a lot of trouble with the alphabet because, in Italian, the letter E, sounds like the English letter A, and I sounds like the English letter E. So, she kept messing it up. Sometimes I do too when I'm saying the alphabet, so it's ok. We ended the lesson around 10:30 and I was sooooo tired.
Side note: Of course, Benedetta was there and was telling me about this huge party that she's having in January for her 18th birthday (18 is big here, just like 16 is big at home). It's going to be in a castle in Fiesole! Soooo cool! And, she has invited me, Kevin, Maggie, Maggie and Andrea! It was sooo nice of her and I'm really excited. Except, it's formal, so I'm going to have to find a dress when I get home for Christmas. Ugh.
So anyway, after all that, Annarita and Antonio brought me home.
Today was also a big day. However, it was exhausting. For Museologia tutoring, we all met at the Uffizi Gallery to do a quick run-through of the important pieces of art, etc. The biggest treat came second, with the Vasarian Corridor. The Vasarian Corridor is a long corridor (duh) that starts from the Uffizi, runs along the private area of the Uffizi, through the Palazzo Vecchio, over the Ponte Vecchio and the Arno, through the top of a church, and finishes in the Boboli Gardens behind Palazzo Pitti. It is about 1 km long and is filled with paintings on both sides of the corridor.
In the past, it's original use was for the Medici family. They used to use the corridor as a cut through from the Uffizi (their gallery) to their home in Palazzo Pitti (Boboli Gardens out back). Naturally (ha), they didn't want to have to go outside and walk to their home for risk of dirtying their shoes! They also created this corridor as a way of "walking over the heads" of the regular townspeople. Hmmm... a little arrogant I would say?
The special thing about the Vasarian Corridor nowadays is that it's not opened to the public because none of the works are protected by glass or rails, and the corridor is too small to handle large masses of people. The only way to see the Vasarian Corridor is by making a reservation WAY in advance and paying a TON of money. The Corridor is usually closed, so the reason it costs so much is because they have to turn everything on, and get a staff member to accompany you the whole way. Plus, you can only bring a max of about 10 or so people. To get idea, most websites I went to said that the admission price for one person was around 90 euro. I'm assuming that part of our tuition this year went to this tour, because we didn't have to pay anything today.
It was the coolest thing to see! We got to walk over the Arno and look down on all the places that we usually walk. The paintings were beautiful and we were able to get our faces right up next to them! Nothing in the way! It was also amazing to be all alone in this huge corridor. Elisa, despite being evil, is still incredibly knowledgeable about all of the artwork, so she made a great tour guide. That is one experience that I will never forget. So many Florentines still have not seen the Corridor and never will! Also, come January, it will be closing for 2 years for restorations. I didn't see anything that needed restoring, but whatever.
So after that, we had our Storia del Costume tutoring and now I'm back home. I'm dead and I have mountains of work today because I have two presentations due for next week and my internship resumes to work on. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday!
More to come this weekend! Ciao!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Pranzo in Fiesole... and then the day got weird
Today was very interesting and entertaining... I did the normal school thing at CLIDA from 9-11. At 11, I left to find the bus and headed to Fiesole for pranzo with Edurne (the lady, Aunt Gail's friend, that I met at Thanksgiving that wanted to have me for lunch). She picked me up at the bus stop and we walked to the school that she teaches at. Now, this wasn't just any school, as I had thought. This was, in fact, a VERY prestigious university where people come from all over the world to do their PhDs! It's called the European University Institute, and Edurne is the Spanish teacher there.
She showed me around for a while because I arrived a little early (12:15), and our lunch was scheduled for 1. The campus was absolutely gorgeous. Some of the University departments were even in 12th century buildings!!! There was a beautiful view overlooking all of Florence and amazing gardens. The libraries were insane! As she was showing me the library, she rattled off some stats and features and said one thing that caught my attention: "We have every book you could ever want." I thought about the book that Elisa had us all order from America. It's called "Princes and Artists," it's very random and hard to find, and the only book that we are allowed to read in English for our class. We had all ordered it over a month ago, and it still hasn't arrived. Since the semester is almost over, Elisa gave us the photocopied Italian version to read instead. We were pissed that we had to read in the Italian the one thing that we were actually allowed to read in English. So, I went out on a limb and asked Edurne if maaybbbeee they had "Princes and Artists" in English. Turns out, they did! She immediately checked it out for me and made photocopies of the entire book, one section for each of us students (me, Jeff, Grace, Maggie and Andrea). The best part was that the photocopies were free since she's a teacher there. Elisa had made her Italian version photocopies for us, but had to get 5 euro from each of us because in Italy, you have to pay copyright fees in order to have a photocopied book. Not in this case! I can't wait to tell my friends. They are going to be soooo excited.
So, after thanking Edurne a million times, we met her students for lunch in the cafeteria. There were about 7 of them from all over the world. We all had lunch together and talked for about an hour. Of course, they all spoke English and whatever their native language was. So, I didn't have to worry. But seriously, EVERYONE KNOWS ENGLISH! I have to catch up on learning Italian! And then move onto foreign language #2! Naturally, they were all ridiculously brilliant and making all these historical jokes that went over my head. It was really cool to be around such smart people though. I felt like I was back at Holy Cross with the way the students were and the campus was set up. We had a really nice time and the students invited me to a party tonight. I don't think I'm going to go though because the cab will cost me about 40 euro, and I just can't swing it. So, after a lovely lunch, Edurne drove me back downtown and I walked to the bus stop to head home. This is where it got interesting...
I was standing at the bus stop minding my own business, but overheard an attempt at a conversation between two Italian women and an American woman. The American woman was struggling hardcore and trying to get directions on the right bus to take. The Italian women noticed me and of course, since I look totally American, said in Italian "Do you speak English!?" And I answered back in Italian, "Yes, I speak English and Italian." Then, they handed the American woman over to me. Turns out she needed the same bus I did, so we got on together, and started chatting. Her name was Sasha, and she was 66 years old, but didn't look it from all the plastic surgery she'd had. She was from LA and spending 4 months in Italy, exploring and trying to learn Italian. But, she was definitely doing more exploring than she was learning. She seemed so amazed at my ability to speak Italian and kept asking me lots of questions. Next thing I knew she asked "do you have a job?" I told her "no" and she then asked "Do you want a job? I'm on my way to this dentist that a pharmacist near the Duomo recommended to me. I broke my tooth a week ago and have gone once, but the dentist doesn't speak English and I don't speak Italian. I'll pay you to translate for me." Since I was in NO position to pass up money for simply speaking Italian, which I love to do anyway, I totally agreed. The dentists' office was right on the way to my house anyway!
So, we chatted a little on our walk from the bus stop to the office. When we got there, I introduced myself to the dentist and she was absolutely gorgeous! Blonde, tall, skinny and very very Italian. I started talking to her about what Sasha had said to me, and the dentist explained the procedure of fixing her crown. She explained that there were two types of crowns. One was the traditional way, which cost 1000 euro per tooth. The other was a new "high tech" way, which cost 1800 euro per tooth. Sasha kept telling me over and over that her insurance in the US only covered 500 euro's worth and that she wanted a discount. I of course conveyed the message to the dentist, but she wasn't into it, as I expected. I tried to explain to Sasha that the dentist had nothing to do with the strength of the euro versus the dollar and that procedures cost what they do. Perhaps materials are more expensive here than they are in the US, etc. Europe is just naturally more expensive than America in most ways. Finally, Sasha started to understand and decided to just take care of the hurt tooth, and worry about the other tooth and aesthetics when she got back to the US. (She was VERY concerned with how it would look and I told her to just do the less expensive procedure because she was so upset by the price. It would still be white, just not all the way through. I then told her to worry about the other tooth when she could pay what she wanted in the United States. Beauty wasn't an immediate necessity. Well, maybe it was for her, but I talked her out of it). Sasha ended up paying me 15 euro and asked for my phone number in case she ever needed a translator again. That would be awesome if I could help her again! And now I have money to go out tonight! The dentist also thanked me and told me that I could always come by if I needed anything.
I feel soooo cool right now :) And I can't wait to go out tonight! Yay weekend!
Ciao!
She showed me around for a while because I arrived a little early (12:15), and our lunch was scheduled for 1. The campus was absolutely gorgeous. Some of the University departments were even in 12th century buildings!!! There was a beautiful view overlooking all of Florence and amazing gardens. The libraries were insane! As she was showing me the library, she rattled off some stats and features and said one thing that caught my attention: "We have every book you could ever want." I thought about the book that Elisa had us all order from America. It's called "Princes and Artists," it's very random and hard to find, and the only book that we are allowed to read in English for our class. We had all ordered it over a month ago, and it still hasn't arrived. Since the semester is almost over, Elisa gave us the photocopied Italian version to read instead. We were pissed that we had to read in the Italian the one thing that we were actually allowed to read in English. So, I went out on a limb and asked Edurne if maaybbbeee they had "Princes and Artists" in English. Turns out, they did! She immediately checked it out for me and made photocopies of the entire book, one section for each of us students (me, Jeff, Grace, Maggie and Andrea). The best part was that the photocopies were free since she's a teacher there. Elisa had made her Italian version photocopies for us, but had to get 5 euro from each of us because in Italy, you have to pay copyright fees in order to have a photocopied book. Not in this case! I can't wait to tell my friends. They are going to be soooo excited.
So, after thanking Edurne a million times, we met her students for lunch in the cafeteria. There were about 7 of them from all over the world. We all had lunch together and talked for about an hour. Of course, they all spoke English and whatever their native language was. So, I didn't have to worry. But seriously, EVERYONE KNOWS ENGLISH! I have to catch up on learning Italian! And then move onto foreign language #2! Naturally, they were all ridiculously brilliant and making all these historical jokes that went over my head. It was really cool to be around such smart people though. I felt like I was back at Holy Cross with the way the students were and the campus was set up. We had a really nice time and the students invited me to a party tonight. I don't think I'm going to go though because the cab will cost me about 40 euro, and I just can't swing it. So, after a lovely lunch, Edurne drove me back downtown and I walked to the bus stop to head home. This is where it got interesting...
I was standing at the bus stop minding my own business, but overheard an attempt at a conversation between two Italian women and an American woman. The American woman was struggling hardcore and trying to get directions on the right bus to take. The Italian women noticed me and of course, since I look totally American, said in Italian "Do you speak English!?" And I answered back in Italian, "Yes, I speak English and Italian." Then, they handed the American woman over to me. Turns out she needed the same bus I did, so we got on together, and started chatting. Her name was Sasha, and she was 66 years old, but didn't look it from all the plastic surgery she'd had. She was from LA and spending 4 months in Italy, exploring and trying to learn Italian. But, she was definitely doing more exploring than she was learning. She seemed so amazed at my ability to speak Italian and kept asking me lots of questions. Next thing I knew she asked "do you have a job?" I told her "no" and she then asked "Do you want a job? I'm on my way to this dentist that a pharmacist near the Duomo recommended to me. I broke my tooth a week ago and have gone once, but the dentist doesn't speak English and I don't speak Italian. I'll pay you to translate for me." Since I was in NO position to pass up money for simply speaking Italian, which I love to do anyway, I totally agreed. The dentists' office was right on the way to my house anyway!
So, we chatted a little on our walk from the bus stop to the office. When we got there, I introduced myself to the dentist and she was absolutely gorgeous! Blonde, tall, skinny and very very Italian. I started talking to her about what Sasha had said to me, and the dentist explained the procedure of fixing her crown. She explained that there were two types of crowns. One was the traditional way, which cost 1000 euro per tooth. The other was a new "high tech" way, which cost 1800 euro per tooth. Sasha kept telling me over and over that her insurance in the US only covered 500 euro's worth and that she wanted a discount. I of course conveyed the message to the dentist, but she wasn't into it, as I expected. I tried to explain to Sasha that the dentist had nothing to do with the strength of the euro versus the dollar and that procedures cost what they do. Perhaps materials are more expensive here than they are in the US, etc. Europe is just naturally more expensive than America in most ways. Finally, Sasha started to understand and decided to just take care of the hurt tooth, and worry about the other tooth and aesthetics when she got back to the US. (She was VERY concerned with how it would look and I told her to just do the less expensive procedure because she was so upset by the price. It would still be white, just not all the way through. I then told her to worry about the other tooth when she could pay what she wanted in the United States. Beauty wasn't an immediate necessity. Well, maybe it was for her, but I talked her out of it). Sasha ended up paying me 15 euro and asked for my phone number in case she ever needed a translator again. That would be awesome if I could help her again! And now I have money to go out tonight! The dentist also thanked me and told me that I could always come by if I needed anything.
I feel soooo cool right now :) And I can't wait to go out tonight! Yay weekend!
Ciao!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
La Festa del Ringraziamento
Buona sera!
Today was AWESOME. I left my house around 1 to catch the bus to Aunt Gail's and Uncle Ellis'. I arrived much earlier than I was supposed to (2:00 pm) but it didn't matter because Aunt Gail needed some help anyway. She had given this Thanksgiving the theme of "New York chic," so I dressed completely in black. When I walked in, the living room furniture was gone, and in its place were gorgeous tables, set perfectly with tan and brown sparkling linens, pretty centerpieces, wine glasses, etc. The chairs were covered with beautiful quilted covers and everything looked amazing. Since New York is "The Big Apple," the biggest apples I had ever seen were placed on every table, and there was an enormous tower of apples as a centerpiece on the main food table.
I went downstairs and Aunt Gail was not in the kitchen. Instead, a team of chefs were in there cooking our Thanksgiving meal! Aunt Gail was outside slicing apples for "Big Apple Martini's" with one of the waiters. Again, there were huge apples everywhere. They were hanging from trees and everything!
Once everyone arrived, we all congregated outside and waiters continuously passed out awesome hors d'oeuvres, champagne, and "Big Apple Martinis." I spent most of my time chatting with Benedetta, Andrea, Arianna, and their respective parents. I think I relate best with all of them. Of course though, every time another person came through the door, they had to hug and kiss me and tell me about the time they came to the United States and saw me when I was 5. They even had pictures! One grandma made me her special cookies! It was so funny because I knew almost none of them, and they all knew me. One women, who was just a friend of Aunt Gail's and Uncle Ellis', wasted no time in scheduling lunch with me on Friday. She's Spanish and teaches foreign and Italian students in Fiesole. She really wants me to see the school, so I'll be going there for lunch with her on Friday. That should be fun. She was really nice. Benedetta's mom also made sure to remind me that on Sunday, we are having lunch together and going shopping at the outlets outside of Florence. Italian designers at discount price? Definitely. So much for having a free weekend ahead of me. Oh well. I'm looking forward to it.
Another interesting character would be my 87 year cousin, Alberto. Apparently, my grandmother used to stay with him and his wife every year that she came to Florence. He's really old, but still walks very well and speaks REALLY loudly. He kept getting in my face every 10 minutes, yelling the same thing every time in Italian. "You have to come to our house and see where you're grandmother used to stay! You have to eat the cookies that Maria (his wife) makes! Don't just say "ok," you HAVE to come!" Then, he would shove me (a love shove), and since he's huge and I'm small, I'd fall off balance every time. Funny guy, but everyone was getting really annoyed with him. It was humorous.
After 2 hours of hors d'oeuvres, we sat down to dinner upstairs. The turkey weighed 35 pounds! There was also a 20 pound ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, spinach salad with pomegranate, green bean almondine, pumpkin and cheese pie, corn... and the list goes on.. We had an awesome dinner and chatted a lot. Afterwards, I felt like I was in a different world because I was so tired. For dessert, there was pumpkin pie, cheesecake, a huge apple pie shaped like an apple, and more champagne! An Italian man sang a beautiful love song because it was an attending couple's 25th year wedding anniversary. He also sang a Christmas song.
I didn't hang around much longer because I was exhausted and had homework to do (which I still haven't started because I was too excited to wait to write this entry). Benedetta and her mom and dad drove me home.
I had such an awesome time! At points, I was completely overwhelmed with all the Italian and wanted to cry. But everyone kept telling me that I was doing great and everyone wanted to hear what I had to say. We had such a wonderful time. I even broke down and agreed to speak a little English with Benedetta and Andrea because they really wanted to practice (they're really good). I'm also really excited because Benedetta is coming to the States to study this summer (July and August). We are going to have so much fun together!
So, that's all for now. On to another torturous week of work. I'll write more when something else exciting happens.
A presto!
Today was AWESOME. I left my house around 1 to catch the bus to Aunt Gail's and Uncle Ellis'. I arrived much earlier than I was supposed to (2:00 pm) but it didn't matter because Aunt Gail needed some help anyway. She had given this Thanksgiving the theme of "New York chic," so I dressed completely in black. When I walked in, the living room furniture was gone, and in its place were gorgeous tables, set perfectly with tan and brown sparkling linens, pretty centerpieces, wine glasses, etc. The chairs were covered with beautiful quilted covers and everything looked amazing. Since New York is "The Big Apple," the biggest apples I had ever seen were placed on every table, and there was an enormous tower of apples as a centerpiece on the main food table.
I went downstairs and Aunt Gail was not in the kitchen. Instead, a team of chefs were in there cooking our Thanksgiving meal! Aunt Gail was outside slicing apples for "Big Apple Martini's" with one of the waiters. Again, there were huge apples everywhere. They were hanging from trees and everything!
Once everyone arrived, we all congregated outside and waiters continuously passed out awesome hors d'oeuvres, champagne, and "Big Apple Martinis." I spent most of my time chatting with Benedetta, Andrea, Arianna, and their respective parents. I think I relate best with all of them. Of course though, every time another person came through the door, they had to hug and kiss me and tell me about the time they came to the United States and saw me when I was 5. They even had pictures! One grandma made me her special cookies! It was so funny because I knew almost none of them, and they all knew me. One women, who was just a friend of Aunt Gail's and Uncle Ellis', wasted no time in scheduling lunch with me on Friday. She's Spanish and teaches foreign and Italian students in Fiesole. She really wants me to see the school, so I'll be going there for lunch with her on Friday. That should be fun. She was really nice. Benedetta's mom also made sure to remind me that on Sunday, we are having lunch together and going shopping at the outlets outside of Florence. Italian designers at discount price? Definitely. So much for having a free weekend ahead of me. Oh well. I'm looking forward to it.
Another interesting character would be my 87 year cousin, Alberto. Apparently, my grandmother used to stay with him and his wife every year that she came to Florence. He's really old, but still walks very well and speaks REALLY loudly. He kept getting in my face every 10 minutes, yelling the same thing every time in Italian. "You have to come to our house and see where you're grandmother used to stay! You have to eat the cookies that Maria (his wife) makes! Don't just say "ok," you HAVE to come!" Then, he would shove me (a love shove), and since he's huge and I'm small, I'd fall off balance every time. Funny guy, but everyone was getting really annoyed with him. It was humorous.
After 2 hours of hors d'oeuvres, we sat down to dinner upstairs. The turkey weighed 35 pounds! There was also a 20 pound ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, spinach salad with pomegranate, green bean almondine, pumpkin and cheese pie, corn... and the list goes on.. We had an awesome dinner and chatted a lot. Afterwards, I felt like I was in a different world because I was so tired. For dessert, there was pumpkin pie, cheesecake, a huge apple pie shaped like an apple, and more champagne! An Italian man sang a beautiful love song because it was an attending couple's 25th year wedding anniversary. He also sang a Christmas song.
I didn't hang around much longer because I was exhausted and had homework to do (which I still haven't started because I was too excited to wait to write this entry). Benedetta and her mom and dad drove me home.
I had such an awesome time! At points, I was completely overwhelmed with all the Italian and wanted to cry. But everyone kept telling me that I was doing great and everyone wanted to hear what I had to say. We had such a wonderful time. I even broke down and agreed to speak a little English with Benedetta and Andrea because they really wanted to practice (they're really good). I'm also really excited because Benedetta is coming to the States to study this summer (July and August). We are going to have so much fun together!
So, that's all for now. On to another torturous week of work. I'll write more when something else exciting happens.
A presto!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Dinner with the relatives
Yesterday evening, I had the joy of taking a one hour bus ride across Florence to my cousins' house just outside the city. My cousin, Arianna, picked me up at the bus stop and as soon as we got to her house, her Mom (Antonella) gave me lots of hugs and kisses. Andrea, the boy cousin, greeted me kindly too. I felt so welcome right from the beginning. I had seen Arianna and Andrea in the beginning of the semester here, but I hadn't seen Antonella since Dec 2007. Now, Antonella knows no English, Arianna knows a little, and Andrea knows a conversational amount. But, we spoke all in Italian the whole time! It was sooooo cool! I felt fluent because we just kept talking and talking! It was a great experience because I was with no one else that had to learn Italian, so I could talk as much as I wanted! They were sooo interested to hear everything I had to say and they even said that they were really impressed with my language skills! Yay!
Benedetta showed up around 8:30. We sat down for dinner around 9 pm and had tagliatelle with mushrooms, pork roast, french fries, and salad. For dessert, she had 3 cakes- all of which she insisted I try, and roasted chestnuts. I was soooooo full! And she kept trying to get me to eat more! Those darn Italians. After dinner, Benedetta's parents came over (I had also met them in Dec 2007). We all sat and talked for a while. It was so much fun! I got home from their house around midnight and I was completely exhausted but really happy to have family here in Florence. Even though it was only my second time hanging out with all of them, I felt like I had known them forever! They are so nice and easy to talk to... and so funny- especially when they bicker. I can't wait to see them for Thanksgiving at Aunt Gail and Uncle Ellis' house! We are going to have lots of fun chatting in Italian! Yay!
Ok, I have to write my paper now because we are going to aperitivo with Kevin's mom in a few hours. She's visiting from New York.
Ciao!
Benedetta showed up around 8:30. We sat down for dinner around 9 pm and had tagliatelle with mushrooms, pork roast, french fries, and salad. For dessert, she had 3 cakes- all of which she insisted I try, and roasted chestnuts. I was soooooo full! And she kept trying to get me to eat more! Those darn Italians. After dinner, Benedetta's parents came over (I had also met them in Dec 2007). We all sat and talked for a while. It was so much fun! I got home from their house around midnight and I was completely exhausted but really happy to have family here in Florence. Even though it was only my second time hanging out with all of them, I felt like I had known them forever! They are so nice and easy to talk to... and so funny- especially when they bicker. I can't wait to see them for Thanksgiving at Aunt Gail and Uncle Ellis' house! We are going to have lots of fun chatting in Italian! Yay!
Ok, I have to write my paper now because we are going to aperitivo with Kevin's mom in a few hours. She's visiting from New York.
Ciao!
Friday, September 25, 2009
L'universita, l'aperitivo e le canzoni
Ciao! Yesterday morning was absolutely BRUTAL in our grammar class. Because we have our exam to pass/fail the level on Monday, Maria was hammering "grammatica" into our heads for 4 hours straight. I was ready to punch someone after that session.
After our tour, we headed back for our 4 o'clock class. We enjoyed this one because we had a chance to vent (in Italian, of course) to our teacher about our grueling morning.
Around 6:30, we met with Elia (our 22 year old cultural advisor) in the Piazza della Reppublica. He brought along 2 Italian friends, Luca and Chiara. They too, are just as awesome as Elia is. We all went for aperitivo which was amazing! I had never done something like this before, so I had to learn the process. Basically, you enter during a certain time frame and order any alcoholic beverage (usually wine or a cocktail). Then, you help yourself to the buffet of aperitivi--- for free! This place had pasta with meat sauce, risotto, rice salads, potatoes, cheese souffles, bread, grilled veggies, veal, pork, fruit, and a bunch of other amazing foods. It was all you can eat, but I could barely finish what I had chosen! Everything was very rich. Our group spent about 2 hours talking and then once we left, we met up with Elia, Luca and Chiara's other Italian friends. One girl, Margherita, was absolutely adorable! Once she found out that we were American, she got sooooo excited and started jumping up and down and telling us about how badly she wants to learn English and visit the States. It was really nice to hear what she had to say. Once everyone arrived and gathered together (there were about 20 Italians and 5 of us Americans), we all headed for gelato at the BEST PLACE EVER!!!! Grom. We had been there many times already, but it never gets old.
Oh yea, I forgot to mention that all of these foods and drinks were paid for by Holy Cross. :) So, after gelato, we went to a piazza and all sat down. The Italians handed out little packets to everyone there and just randomly started singing along to the songs that were pre-selected in this packet! A boy played the guitar, and a girl played the flute. A lot of tourists came up and took videos and pictures. It was such a crazy, awesome experience for us because it was just so spontaneous! A bunch of Italian friends just decide to sing in a piazza! What?! They were so welcoming to us and sang a hilarious song in honor of our presence. It kind of made fun of Americans, but we loved it! It was very accurate, after all.
After about an hour of that, we decided to call it a night. It was about 11:30 and we hadn't been home since 8:00 that morning. I am so happy with how the night turned out. We still felt like Americans, but blended in much better. On the way back, we joked about how each of our families has, thus far, paid $150,000 to Holy Cross so that we could have just a few Italian friends. Way to go HC for paying Elia and his friends to hang out with us! Even though this is true, I think they actually like us.. thank goodness.
Anyway, I'm on break right now in between classes and after class at 4, it will finally officially be the weekend! Yay! We're not sure what we are doing yet, but we know that we want to go out tonight. Potentially some shopping and/or musems tomorrow. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.
Ciao ciao!
During our lunch break, Elisa's assistant (who we call Dobby *from Harry Potter*--- she really looks like him!), took us for a little tour of the Universita degli Studi di Firenze. Classes start Monday, so we all wanted to know where we were going. Walking into the first building was quite a shocker for us "spoiled Americans." Graffiti covered the buildings inside and out, there was trash all over the ground and even a homeless man sleeping along the wall. I tried my best to be optimistic and open-minded about the surroundings, but they were certainly different then what we are all used to. I guess the sight suprised us as much as it did because even the public, city universities in the states look better than this. Thankfully, the library was beautiful. It's in a convent, so I would have been appalled if that too was a disaster. Anyway, school is school and I'm going to be just as confused with the language regardless of the appearance of my surroundings!
After our tour, we headed back for our 4 o'clock class. We enjoyed this one because we had a chance to vent (in Italian, of course) to our teacher about our grueling morning.
Around 6:30, we met with Elia (our 22 year old cultural advisor) in the Piazza della Reppublica. He brought along 2 Italian friends, Luca and Chiara. They too, are just as awesome as Elia is. We all went for aperitivo which was amazing! I had never done something like this before, so I had to learn the process. Basically, you enter during a certain time frame and order any alcoholic beverage (usually wine or a cocktail). Then, you help yourself to the buffet of aperitivi--- for free! This place had pasta with meat sauce, risotto, rice salads, potatoes, cheese souffles, bread, grilled veggies, veal, pork, fruit, and a bunch of other amazing foods. It was all you can eat, but I could barely finish what I had chosen! Everything was very rich. Our group spent about 2 hours talking and then once we left, we met up with Elia, Luca and Chiara's other Italian friends. One girl, Margherita, was absolutely adorable! Once she found out that we were American, she got sooooo excited and started jumping up and down and telling us about how badly she wants to learn English and visit the States. It was really nice to hear what she had to say. Once everyone arrived and gathered together (there were about 20 Italians and 5 of us Americans), we all headed for gelato at the BEST PLACE EVER!!!! Grom. We had been there many times already, but it never gets old.
Oh yea, I forgot to mention that all of these foods and drinks were paid for by Holy Cross. :) So, after gelato, we went to a piazza and all sat down. The Italians handed out little packets to everyone there and just randomly started singing along to the songs that were pre-selected in this packet! A boy played the guitar, and a girl played the flute. A lot of tourists came up and took videos and pictures. It was such a crazy, awesome experience for us because it was just so spontaneous! A bunch of Italian friends just decide to sing in a piazza! What?! They were so welcoming to us and sang a hilarious song in honor of our presence. It kind of made fun of Americans, but we loved it! It was very accurate, after all.
After about an hour of that, we decided to call it a night. It was about 11:30 and we hadn't been home since 8:00 that morning. I am so happy with how the night turned out. We still felt like Americans, but blended in much better. On the way back, we joked about how each of our families has, thus far, paid $150,000 to Holy Cross so that we could have just a few Italian friends. Way to go HC for paying Elia and his friends to hang out with us! Even though this is true, I think they actually like us.. thank goodness.
Anyway, I'm on break right now in between classes and after class at 4, it will finally officially be the weekend! Yay! We're not sure what we are doing yet, but we know that we want to go out tonight. Potentially some shopping and/or musems tomorrow. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.
Ciao ciao!
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