I love the Tuscan Countryside

Really.

This weekend I ventured to Cortona and Arezzo with SAI for the much anticipated Tuscan Movie Tour. Imagine watching a movie, looking out the window, then looking back at the tv and seeing the exact same scene that is outside the bus window. That's what I did this weekend in a nutshell.

We began by going to Cortona where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. First of all, I love that movie. Second of all, I walked on the land that it takes two oxen two days to plow. No joke - we were driving up this hill and around these really curvy curves in a giant charter bus (I was a little afraid we were going to hit either an ancient wall lining the road or a mophed parked along the side of the road; fortunately we hit neither.) and watching the scene where Paolo and Chiara are getting married. There is a shot of a church on the side of a hill. We passed that church and then moments later watched that scene.

The town was quite wonderful as well - small and quaint as all Tuscan towns should be. We toured through some churches there, ate a quick lunch, then hiked down the road to 'the villa.' 'The villa' in fact where the movie was actually filmed. I think the best part of all may have been that though we were with this tour guide from Florenc for Fun, and it was an organized outing with 70 or so students, we actually snuck onto the property. This was just the type of activity Sarah Rumsey would have loved - trespassing.

After Cortona we hopped back on the bus and began watching La Vita è Bella as we travelled to Arezzo. To get into Arezzo though, we actually had to ride a bunch of escalators up a hill and through the city wall. It felt as though we were in an underground train station or subway, and then suddenly we walked through these modern automatic doors and onto a stone road standing in front of a 12th century church. After that it didn't feel at all modern anymore, and there were no more escalators. Around a few corners from the church we walked into the piazza where some of the scenes for the movie were shot. Actually a similar thing happened when we got back on the bus in that the very next scene to appear was in that very piazza. I bought candy and foccacia bread in Arezzo.

Then I watched the sunset over the Tuscan countryside as we drove back to Florence with the end of La Vita è Bella playing on the television.

I like Italy. I enjoy travelling around, but just as much as I like Italy, I like Florence. I like that I live in Florence. I'm not a tourist in Florence or just passing through, I live here. I like waking up and going to my favorite cafè and shopping for fresh things and sweaters at the San Ambrogia Market. I like drinking caffèlatte with a dolce filled with nutella. I like eating il pollo and spinaci from a Salumeria. I like sitting in Piazza di Santa Croce and watching the day turn into evening and then into night. I like drinking wine with my dinner and getting stuffed on bread and olive oil. I like that the streets aren't smooth and not all the cars have four wheels (some have three). I like sketching statues and listening to street music from Loggia della Signoria. Italia. firenze. La dolce vita.

- io

Her name is Simona.

I spent a few hours at my cafè this morning journaling and reading la mia sacra bibbia and in the end discovered that my favorite little cafè worker's name is Simona. (I hope I spelled that correctly.) It's just fantastic. She smiles at me everytime I come in.

This past weekend I went to Cinque Terre which was beautiful in pretty much every respect. It did rain on us though in the afternoon, and the wind made the water choppy so we ended up not being able to take our ferry and then hiked in the rain. But that place was so beautiful, it barely mattered. I take that back - it mattered, but it was still a great trip. Besides just seeing Cinque Terre, I got to ride on a European train through the hills of Tuscany, through Pisa and then north. On our way home I looked out the window and saw clouds just sitting on the hills. It was truly a beautiful sight.

Check out the fotos, but keep in mind I think this may be one place you just have to see for yourself.

It's really beginning to feel like home here. I suppose I mean it is beginning to feel as if I live here. I have decided that there are some things I will be so excited to get to have again from home and then things from here I will miss terribly when I leave. It's strange to be missing everyone and everything from home, but at the same time absolutely loving that I'm here. I need to think on that.

Two little notes of interest:
I found the best enoteca in Florence (well, that I've seen so far). It's really close to the best cafè in Florence which works out well. They fill up the bottles of wine from big barrels and then you bring back your bottle when you finish the wine and they refill them. I bought the Chianti last time, and it was delicious. Today I bought a white wine from San Gimignano.

I bought a journal at a bookbindery. That's right, straight from the bookbindery.

-jessica

(P.S. The comments come to me now before posting, so don't freak when they don't appear immediately. I get to read them first!)

So, I have this favorite cafè...

Quite often I find myself getting up in the morning and going to this little local bar (bars are what the Italians call coffee shops), and I call it local because really, it's down this street near my apartment in the opposite direction of the city center. You go out and turn left instead of right onto Via Ghibellina and suddenly you are in local Florence heaven. Professoressa told us before we left to choose a cafè or "bar" to frequent instead of trying them all. Well, Enoteca de Macci is mine. The lady who works there was so kind to me the first time I went, and she grins at me as I try to speak to her in Italian. Today, when she saw me come in she simply smiled this huge welcoming smile and came to let me order. She doesn't speak to me in English though I know she knows some, and for this I am thankful. All the people who come in are locals as well. They come in and order their morning caffè (though caffè in Italian is really espresso), and they down it in about 15 seconds standing at the bar. But while they wait they talk to each other, the customers to one another and the lady to the customers. I don't know what they talk to each other about yet, but my Italian will hopefully only improve as the semester goes on.

Soon, I hope to find out the lady's name. I bet she has a beautiful story, I think for me she is like the man with the flowers was to Francis in Under the Tuscan Sun, except she acknowledges me. But still, it's that mysterious quality about her and her smile and the fact that she never charges me to sit down. €1.80 for my caffèlatte and a cornetti. I can't wait to have another morning there.

Buon Compleanno a "Daddy" (e Erin 2 giorni fa)

Beware, this is going to be a long one.

Wow. This weekend I did so much I barely know where to begin telling about it. Well, Friday. Friday, after spending my morning reading my Bible at my favorite cafe on Via de Macci I met up at the school for a walk across the river and up to Piazzale Michelangelo and the church of San Miniato. It was so nice to venture away from the buildings everywhere and to see some trees. I decided this weekend that I miss trees. But from Piazzale Michelangelo I could see the whole city and the wall that goes around Florence. It was so beautiful up there. Then at the top there was this church. The church itself was not too spectacular from the outside but there was this amazing cemetary. I know, that sounds a little wrong, but seriously I'm so glad I had my slr camera with me to take film fotos. Hopefully I will get into the darkroom sometime this week, because I think I got some really amazing ones of the statuary and headstones. The tour guide left us, because the church was not open as she had expected (a common occurence here in Italy - nothing is ever "for sure"), but a girl I recently met, Rebecca, and I stayed until it opened about half an hour later to see the inside. I love going in the churches here, because they are so quiet and peaceful. This one, I do not think, had any electricity so the only light came through a few tiny windows. I liked it.

Fotos of Piazzale Michelangelo and the church of San Miniato.

Friday evening was the perfect continuance of such a splendid afternoon. My roommate, Rebecca, and I went out for a nice dinner at this place called Antico Noè. I will definitely be taking my parents here. They have slow food, which means everything is in season and very fresh. I had the most amazing spaghetti ever and a very nicely complimented glass of white wine. After our delicious meal we went to this concert my architecture teacher had told me about in the duomo. Yep, I went to a free concert in the duomo of Florence. Papa, you would have loved it. You told me I should try to go to a symphony while I was here, and you were right. I loved it. I did get a little tired there at the end, but then I looked up again at the gorgeous fresco over my head and went, um, I think this is worth every moment.

Then, the weekend just kept on getting better. Saturday morning, I got up fairly early, met up with a few people, and we headed out by bus to Fiesole, a small village like town on the outskirts of Florence. Pretty much, we just walked around looking out over Florence again. These were even more spectacular views because we could see not only Florence, but the amazing Tuscan countryside. Somehow we stumbled upon a convent too, up on this hill. Around the back of the convent we followed this little path back around to the city and as we walked through this wooded area, we could hear bells chiming in the distance. I wanted to lay down in the dirt and just soak it up. I want to go back up to Fiesole one day just to write, to listen to those bells again and write (don't get me wrong, there are bells all over Florence, just not trees).

Fotos of Fiesole.

So, then after Fiesole, my roommate and I were on our way back to our apartment when all the sudden the Florence soccer team was coming out of a hotel to load their bus. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

And, I had my first caffè latte the other day. I don't know what day it was, but I had it. Steph, you will be proud. The first one was good, but I needed the dolce I had with it. The second one I had in Fiesole after lunch, and it was great. And now I have them all the time. In fact, I've already had two today - how sad is that.
Awe yes, just a little bit more...cooking class. I'll keep it short, but I ate sardines. We made food from Sicily (it's Italian Regional Cooking). So I made spaghetti with mussels and the people behind me made sardines. Then we also made canolis. But, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the sardines, and will likely eat them again - possibly when I go to Sicily. The mussels were good too; I'm not sure if I've really ever had mussels. They were interesting to make - I know I've never made them. But you can see me cooking them below.

Fotos of cooking class.

Perhaps that is all; I'll probably think of something else in a little while, but I think I should probably spend some time doing my homework. I have a lot to read.

And since everyone has a birthday in September: Happy 20th to Erin two days ago on the tenth, and Happy Birthday (I'll not put your age up) Daddy today!!

Buon Compleanno a Mark

Another beautiful day in Italia. It has yet to rain on me here except our first night which only added to my inability to sleep which had much more to do with jetlag than the rain. Today is yet another sunny one, though it has gotten a slight bit hotter. I'm not one to complain though about heat when it is not accompanied by miserable humidity like in Tennessee. I recently heard a rumor going around that this weekend will be cooler; I'm hoping this is true because I'm planning on walking to Piazzale Michelangelo on the other side of the Arno tomorrow with FUA and then hopefully riding out to Fiesole with Emily on Saturday. The countryside will be a nice change from all this city. I love it - don't get me wrong, but some fresh air could be nice.

As far as classes go, I just returned from my last one, and for the most part, they will all be enjoyable. We even went on a sight visit in my architecture class today - the first day! We went to the duomo (just the outside unfortunately) and then to the Opera del Duomo Museo (or something like that - it's the museum that accompanies the duomo) and toured around. Since I had already recieved free entry to the museum through my class, I stayed for a while afterwards to look around. Michelangelo's unfinished "La Pietà" was there - beautiful, as well as the original panels to Lorenzo Ghiberti's bronze doors for the Baptistry. I wish I'd had my camera with me, but seeing as how this was the first day of class and I had no idea we would do a sight visit, I did not bring it along. The bronze panel doors were incredible (Dad, you should be reading about or have read about them at the beach in the book I gave you before I left, Brunelleschi's Dome). They are these huge doors on the east side of the Baptistry next to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Each panel depicts a different scene from the Old Testament. I spent so much time in that room - they were incredibly detailed.

My other classes are alright as well. Writing about Florence will surely be an enjoyable class that will feed right out of my journals - most likely an excellent supplement to my own record keeping. The teacher is, well... British among other things. Bookbinding I don't even need to say anything about because it's called bookbinding. Graphic Design also has a British teacher who, though I think I'm the only one that found it funny, kept saying words like "clutter" with an American accent when no one understood his British. Italian is going to kill me. And Italian Regional cooking I absolutely love! The teachers' names are Fabbio and Duccio. Yep, that's right - Fabbio. I loved it.

Man, I promise I don't mean to make these things so long; it just happens. And, send me e-mails if you haven't already. I feel lost as to what's going on in your lives! So, send me beautiful updates.

And...

Happy 21st Mark! Spero che è bella e divertente. Let me know how it goes.

Firenze è Bella

I've been around this crazy city about a million times now. From my apartment to the Santa Croce to the Duomo to the Piazza de Republicca to San Lorenzo to the Piazza de Uffizi and back again. My feet have been well used, but I'm beginning to learn my way around. The key is to learn a few major streets that take you to key places so you don't feel lost. My favorite street so far is Borgo Albizi. Not only does this bustling borgo take you to the Republicca, but it also contains some of the best shops. I found the most amazing Cartoleria sort of shop. Basically it is a shop where you can buy everything from journals to handmade papers or pens that require a bottle of ink to use them. I believe I could spend at least a few hours in that place or another one I found which I believe was on Via Verdi. Then, I have also found some splendid bookstores. Edison on Piazza de Republicca reminds me of Barnes and Nobles with a little cafe upstairs. It's large and roomie. Then the one on Via Dei Neri which is an English bookstore so I can read all the titles. The markets are also amazing at San Lorenzo especially, but they are just about everywhere - people with their little carts selling leather goods and cheap souvenirs or knock-off purses and sunglasses. Anywho, I think I may just come back a bit less directionally challenged.

A few days ago, maybe Saturday (all my days are running together now) Emily and I walked around the city with the sole purpose of taking photographs. I think I may have gotten some good ones, but besides that we had so much fun. At the Piazza de Uffizi we saw the most amazing mimes. We took pictures with two of them even. Emily even got kissed on the hand by a man acting as some sort of white statue. I'm not going to lie, he was a little creepy. Then we watched this crazy mime run all over this one corner, sneaking up behind unsuspecting tourists and scare them or grab one of their hands and wait for them to notice and then scream or jump or scurry away.
We probably sat there for twenty or thiry minutes laughing. Emily got better pictures of him so you'll have to check out my favorites link on flickr where I'll select those from her photos. We also met these funny old painters just sitting outside the Uffizi. They just started talking to us and teaching us Florentine slang (good and bad). I believe they taught me the Florentine way to say "How's your momma and them?" which my dad will enjoy knowing.

Nights here are beautiful as well. All the little street musicians come out and set up everywhere. Last night my roommates and I walked to Piazza de Republicca and watched these Latin Dancers. They were playing some pretty interesting drum/Latin music. I'm sure one of my more musically inclined friends would have been able to better label that music genre, but you get the idea. On our way there we passed these three guys that I had seen a few evenings earlier. I hope I pass them again too; they were pretty good. In fact, Emily and I stood on the sidewalk for quite a while the first time we walked by them.


Awwe, so good. They had a cd for sale and last night my roommate bought it for 10 euro, so if it works I'll be rather excited.

It's amazing to be out and about around the city seeing things and wearing out my feet, but even sitting in my apartment can be its own adventure. I did laundry the other day - intriguing really. Buying the laundry detergent was even difficult; I know some Italian, but apparently not enough for everything.
Well, I wish I could write more, but my battery is dying, and I've been wanting to try out this great panini shop called the Oil Shoppe and my stomach is telling me it's ready for lunch.

P.S. I hope the pictures show up for everyone. If they don't, let me know, and check out flickr. (the first one is emily's picture, but I was there.)

Sono Qui

Yep, that's right, I'm in Italy. At this very moment, while all of you are sleeping away, it is 12:15pm here and I am sitting in this wonderful little cafe drinking tea and eating a chocolate pastry. Yum. We found this cafe right down the street from my apartment that has free wifi. So, my roommate and I got up today (after sleeping in a little - jetlag is a pretty serious ailment) and headed to this cafe to check some e-mail and whatnot. It is so good to hear a little from home too.

sidenote - a dog just came and left the cafe.

Okay, back to being in Italy. The flights were long, the lay overs were longer (not really, but it seemed like it. I sat in Frankfurt for 4 and a half hours.) But, alas, I am here. My apartment is fantastic. Sarah Rumsey would love it!! Someone tell Sarah that I said that, because I have a feeling she won't check this for a while. We live on the top floor, up about 70 flights of stairs (really 8 I think, because we live on the American fourth, and Italian third floor, and there are two flights of stairs per floor). Either way, it's way up there, and lugging my luggage up that was a chore. We have two beautiful views. One overlooks these awesome red rooftops, and trees, and the other is to this little area between all the apartments where everyone hangs their clothes to dry. That's right, we have one of those great hang your clothes outside on lines places. It's just awesome. I wish I had uploaded my pictures. Somehow I messed that up, so you'll just have to wait a few more days. Maybe I'll get them on tonight, but doubtful.

The whole city is just, I don't even know if I can say. All the buildings are old and everyone speaks Italian. That's the easiest way to describe it, but I know that helps you absolutely none. I love just walking down the street and listening to the people around me, and knowing that in a few days I will begin to hopefully understand some. When that happens I'll be able to get up early in the morning and listen to the neighbors below me who cook the most amazing smelling breakfast and spy on their conversations. We have to leave our windows open for airflow. The windows are even amazing. Sarah would like them too. And she would like this dog that keeps coming into this cafe and the cashier keeps saying, "Vai, vai" which means go, go. Awe.

The Duomo - I cannot forget the duomo. We saw it first at night - my first night here in fact. I was with my roommates and we were just wandering up this street thinking it would be a few more streets 'til we came upon it and then suddenly it just began to appear around the corner. Beautiful. Absolutely incredible. Again, my pictures. Darn.

And the Santa Croce. I live probably two minutes walk from the Santa Croce. I have serious plans to do all my homework sitting in the piaza overlooking it. Our first dinner was at this restaurant (where whatever I ordered was not what I wanted), but we sat outside, right next to the Piazza di Santa Croce. It was beautiful. The weather here is nice too. I don't miss humidity one single bit. I like the breeze and the shadows all the tall buildings make for the streets below that keep everything cooler.

La Vita é Bella

Deep Breath.

By this time tomorrow I'll be chillin' over the Atlantic Ocean. And man am I ready to be there. My bags are packed; my camera's charged; my ipod is about to be updated. I have run more last minute errands than anyone should ever attempt. It has been a long summer of preparation and working and stressing, and it all comes down to tomorrow - and the next four months.

Whoa! I'm leaving for Italy tomorrow! Yeah, that sounds strange. The next time I put a post on here it will be from an Internet Train somewhere around Florence. Seriously, that's totally strange. I mean, I've been talking about this for a while, but tomorrow really isn't that far away. It is in fact... tomorrow. I can't think about it anymore.

Enough with the goodbyes. Bring on the hellos.

- 17.5 hours

preparativi

Check it out.

Preparing is not as fun as it should be. It shouldn't be this stressful to put my entire life into two medium sized suitcases. I mean, it is just packing, but a serious, scary kind of packing. The whole thing is starting to feel more real though. I mean, I'm actually leaving for Italy on Monday. Not, "I'm going to go to Italy one day," but "I'm going to Italy next week - this coming Monday." That's strange.

So, yeah - there's not much else to do now except wait. And pack. And say a few more goodbyes. And drink as much sweet tea as I possibly can in the next few days. And make a lot of copies of a lot of documents. And make too many decisions for an indecisive person to make in five days. And get my teeth cleaned. And celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. And keep reminding myself that in six days I will be staring at the duomo saying, "wow, all that stress was totally worth it."

- five days.

solo 10 giorni

Correction to the previous post.

My apartment is actually located here.

I was moved. Sadly I'm about 20 minutes closer to the school, except that's not sad at all. So, now I will be approximately 10 minutes walk from the school building.

Only 10 more days.

due settimane

Only two weeks more now and I will be nervously going through security (minus any liquids) and getting on a plane that will take me to an airport that will take me to a foreign country far far away. And, upon arriving (in two weeks and one day), I will be taken to the main building of my school located here. Then, I will be further shuttled to my apartment located here, where I will live with five other girls on the third floor of what I assume to be a very very very small apartment.

And there I shall live, while enjoying the Tuscan countryside and and living among the Florentines for the next 3 and a half months.

All in 14 days.

la visa è arrivata

My visa finally made its way here, and boy do I feel relieved. Seriously, I can now breath again. I was pretty worried about it, but I can officially enter the country... if I don't lose any of the five hundred and thirty-three papers I have to keep with me and have available when I go through customs. (The aforementioned number is both an approximation and an exaggeration.) But the point is, I have the visa and the papers and a plane ticket and luggage and will be getting traveller's cheques tomorrow, and so I pretty much have all the big stuff done. Now, it's just down to packing and figuring out if I want to take the blue shirt of the green one? or will both of them fit in my bags? or ... well you get the point. And I can handle it.

As far as field trips go, I finally made a decision after much deliberation. I will be taking a three day trip to the Amalfi Coast as well as a five day trip to Sicily which includes an overnight train ride and, well, did I mention it was to Sicily? Yep, I'm going to Sicily and the Amalfi Coast. P.S. for those who know Mrs. Clark-Brown and have enjoyed her multitude of lessons about Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius, the trip to Amalfi Coast includes Capri and Pompeii, so I will be seeing my sophomore and senior years of high school latin class in action. I have no complaints. Edith Hamilton and your mythology - I'm gonna have one up on you.

18 days.

Waiting...waiting...waiting...

I have hit this point in my adventure preparation I like to call the waiting period. I'm done with the major forms of preparation, and now I just have to wait. Wait. Wait. I'm a little sick of that. Honestly, it's beginning to make me nervous. This sort of nervous was one of the things for which I hadn't really prepared.

And the goodbyes have already begun, which is another thing to which I failed to give necessary consideration. My sister is coming in town this weekend, and when I say goodbye to her, it's goodbye until December. That's over four months between goodbye and hello. I am going to miss her a lot.

(Sigh)

Along with the goodbyes and the waiting period, there is the last minute decision making. I hate making decisions like this. Field trips. Should I go on the Tuscan Wine Tour or to the Amalfi Coast? Or should I go to Sicily with FUA or on my own? Who knows? But I probably should have decided that...yesterday.

24 days.

One month

one month.

check out my map

I purchased the coolest map of Florence at Borders this weekend. It's a map, but yet it is so much more. Not only does it tell you street names, it shows you stores and restaurants and hotels and such that are on those streets. I think you just need to see it, and buy one for yourself (both of which you can do by clicking here. The map I bought is the one on the far left, except it's of Florence, not San Francisco). Enjoy!
Also, I once had a dream to buy a hat in a hat box from a quaint little European boutique. I think I will do this too while I am there. I mean, why not?

Blackstone Merlot and Bongo Java Coffee

So...
In the last two days I had my first glass of wine and my first cup of coffee. The former was good, though I only had half a serving, which in terms of wine isn't very much.
The second first was positively revolting. I made it about a quarter of the way through the cup of coffee and thought I was going to be sick. The worst part was that even after eating Qdoba, the taste was still in my mouth. Yuck. I guess my dream of sitting in a piazza drinking an espresso and watching Italian people while reading the Italian newspaper is looking grimmer by the minute. Perhaps I shall change the dream to drinking a cappucino, but still, I just don't know. I suppose I shall just wait until I get there and find out what they serve at these cafes of theirs (which by the way are called il bar).
Addition to the MUST DO list: drink Chianti in Chianti.

49 days.

Lost in the Stumble, Stuck in the States

In a little less than two months I will embark on my first real international adventure. As the days draw nearer they seem to be picking up speed, and I can't seem to determine if I am scared out of my mind or simply excited beyond belief. I keep reading the travel books I have and have begun a journal to keep up with all the things I need to do before I leave, all the things I can't forget to pack, and all the things I must do while I am there. Each time I flip to a page and see one more thing I MUST do. There are so many, I fear three and a half months won't be enough time. Crazy, I say, crazy.
Things that have made the MUST DO LIST so far are bike Lucca, hike the Cinque Terre, and visit the Santa Croce, which is very near the school I will be attending and contains the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli.
I have also convinced myself I must go to Greece for a weekend, but it's looking a little expensive, and I have to keep reminding myself to focus on Italy, though how cool would it be to not only go to Rome and study Romans but to also go to Corinth and read Corinthians. -Pretty sure I should do that someday-
Besides all the places I have to visit and the cathedrals and museums I must see, I am thrilled about the photos I will have the opportunity to take. I received the go ahead a day or so ago to use the photo labs at FUA while I am there even though I won't be enrolled in a photo class. I had almost accepted my unfortunate fate when Cosimo (yes, someone named Cosimo) sent me an e-mail telling me they will allow me to use the black and white photo lab.

Anxiety. Excitement. Sheer joy. Utter terror. 54 days.