La Dolce Vita

I know that this is the least original title, but when you hear about this past week, you will have to agree that it is true. By the way, the translation is “The Sweet Life.”

On Tuesday I went to the first Spazio Conversione of the semester. Basically every Tuesday the school organizes this social for the students in my program to meet and talk with members of the Florence community, ranging in age and occupation. The point is for us to practice out Italian and for them to practice their English-it’s a lovely bilingual time. I went in with a good attitude and ready to speak Italian, and ended up speaking Italian, English and Spanish. Needless to say my brain was working overtime-crazy at least trilingual Italians. I actually lucked out and ending up at the table with four university students, two of which were in Law School and very cute. Niccolo and Giovani (the guys in Law School) were really great to talk with: when we couldn’t figure out the worlds, we’d just use wild hand gestures and sometimes Spanish (a good compromise between Italian and English). I have to go to these for the oral component of my Italian class, but I’d keep going even if I weren’t required to.

Wednesday was the day that a big group of us finally got out tickets and will be attending the Fiorentina v. Roma game this coming Wednesday. Yes, I am so excited and there will be a blog entry and lots of photos just about this game! More to come about said game very soon.

I’ve signed up to read books to elementary school students and we had our first training on Thursday. Basically, depending on the grade we get, we go to the school and teach the kids some words in English and then read a story to them, and then read it again with them helping us act it out. This semester the book is called, “Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo” written by Rosetta Stone. It’s really written by Dr. Seuss but he didn’t do the illustrations, so he used a nom de plum. I’m excited to get into the classroom and start reading with the kids. Earlier on Thursday, I went to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo with my Art History class. We learned about the fundamentals of sculpture by seeing the process first hand, ie seeing how the sculpture has evolved through time. The best thing about the Museo dell’Opera is that it’s where all the original works of art are held. Many of the works in the Duomo are actually copies, and the more valuable and delicate originals are in the Museo dell’Opera. We saw Michelangelo’s “Pietà”, Donnatello’s “Maddalena”, and some of Ghiberti’s bronze panels for the doors of the Baptistery. I have to say that if had to choose a favorite it would be Ghiberti’s panels. After classes got out I took a cooking class, and it was fabulous! We learned how to make three different types of pasta: spinach ravioli (the best by far), taglatelle, and a sudo-angel hair; three sauces: butter-rosemary, red pepper (which was really sweet and not spicy like I thought it would be), and traditional tomato; and Tiramisu. I was on team Tiramisu which was so fun. I am going to admit it now, I was never a big fan of Tiramisu, but after making it the right way I am now in luv with it! It was really great to eat fresh, hand-made pasta, and the best part (aside from eating it) was getting all the recopies!! So now I can make this yummy food when I get back to the states.

And then the weekend began! On Friday, I set out early in the morning on the train to CINQUE TERRE with my friends Katie, Sarah, and Evi. We met up at the train station, and after figuring out which one was ours and where we were supposed to validate our ticket, we finally set out on our way. It was a nice ride there in a cabin that felt very Hogwarts Express-esque. But there were no chocolate frogs on the snack cart and we didn’t have any Slytherines trying to stuff us into our suitcases. We were all pleased to arrive at the station and find out that our hotel was right across the street (something that we really appreciated later on in this story). The first thing I learned is do not judge a building by it’s exterior. From the outside, the Hotel Mary looks super sketch, but once we got in it was actually quite nice. The hotel manager was very accommodating and even let us check in early. A good rule of thumb when traveling in a foreign country is to always start out speaking in their language and communicate as much as possible. People are much more willing to help you out once they have seen that you’re willing to speak their language and aren’t a stereotypical rude American. I am not fluent in Italian, but I did my best to speak with the locals, and ask our questions in Italian. Without fail, we were met with positive responses and got some great help, like when ordering food and trying to find transportation. So once we dropped off our bags and got situated we left La Spazia (where we were staying) and set out for Riomaggiore (the first city). The walk started out quite nice with amazing views from the Via dell’Amore. The Via dell’Amore is a weird tunnel, with arches that frame great views, but it also has all of these poems and drawings on the inner-walls of, what else?, love. It was kinda cute yet kinda lame. But there was a guy playing an accordion at the end, which really just put it over onto the cheesy side. Up next was Manarola, which was also lovely and picture-esque. We walked around the shops and marveled at the ocean. And then things got interesting on the way to Corniglia. Let’s just say, our path stopped being a path and became rocks in dirt and then came the stairs. To get to the elevated town of Corniglia there are these switchback stairs that seem to go on for days. But at the top there is a welcoming sign that says, “Congratulations, you have just climbed 382 stairs and have arrived in Corniglia. Good job!” And you just look at it with distain. We were smart and decided to stop there and have a bit of lunch, cause we needed at rest after the walk thus far (little did we know what was in store for us after Corniglia). We ate some lovely breads and cheeses in this tiny tratoria along the hillside. It was just the break we needed. And then we headed out for Vernazza. In order to get to Vernazza they decided to make the path, steeper, more narrow, more rocks and more stairs. Wait I lied, they decided to make more steps made out of jagged rocks that are not that stable and very steep so you feel like a dying goat trying to climb a mountain. And then you would look out and see the coast, but wouldn’t want to look down cause you were on the coast, and at times we were literally on the coast and there wasn’t much separating us from the water down below. Aren’t we proud of me for trecking in the hot, up high on crazy paths, right above the ocean? Well, I am! Needless to say we finally made it to Vernazza, and sat down on the ground. And then we looked up and saw the most perfectly placed gelateria. It’s apparently famous, and celebrities go there and love it. Personally after the hike thus far I was loving anything. But I have to admit I have had better gelato. We took the time to take in the town, looking into the shops. I got really excited when I saw all of the pesto, and was tempted to buy some but I decided it was too early to buy food to bring home. We saw a great ceramic shop and lots of wine. And then came another memorable experience, using the bathroom. The only public restroom we could find was at the train station, and it was basically a hole in the ground. Once again, this is me, the girl who carries hand sanitizer and shout wipes. So after much deliberation, and the peer pressure from the girls, I used the hole in the ground, and it really was an experience that I wish I could, but will never forget. After laying on the giant rocks by the ocean we had rested enough to continue onwards. The final leg took us to Monterosso and we thought that the worst was behind us. Let’s just say there were more rock stairs, but these were windy and deceiving. As in they would go around the corner, and you would hope that you’d hit a flat part, but there would just be more stairs. I’m just going to say as of Sunday night, my legs are still store. I have re-named it, Cinque Terre: The Stair-Master of Italy. After lots of water, tears/laugher, and a few Hail Mary’s we reached the end of our trek and arrived in Monterosso. We then had one of the longest dinners in the world, as a reward for our travels. We ate at a little, relatively well-priced restaurant on the patio, overlooking the ocean. As in we could have jumped down and walked two feet into the cool waters. Dinner was delicious and just a blast. After eating for a few hours, we made our way to the train station, and relaxed as the train made it’s way back to La Spezia. Unfortunately we got on the wrong train, it was a non-stop express and we did have to pay another 3 euro. But it was well worth it. The only sad part, was how quickly we made the trip (comparing it to how long it took us to walk it-basically all day).

On Saturday we slept in and enjoyed our lovely hotel’s free breakfast. After we checked out of the Hotel Mary we headed out on the train back to Monterosso. The trains were backed up, probably due to all the annoying tourists, but we finally made it to our destination and proceeded straight to the beach to layout and relax in classy European lounge chairs with the most ridiculous looking sun blinders. It was a nice break, just people watching, listening to music, and enjoying the refreshingly cold water. Once we got tired of laying out in the sun, which is tiring, we decided to train it back to another town before catching our train back to Florence. Unfortunately the trains were behind all day and there was a huge confusion about what platform the train we needed was coming in at. Also everyone and their mom was trying to get on the same train. So needless to say we changed platforms a few times, ended up not getting on the train, and having to get onto another one. That was really the only bad thing that happened to us while we were there, so no worries. We caught another train, quite a bit later, after listening to the annoying Italian recording announcing information that wasn’t that useful. After a long day of hanging around train stations, we made it back to Florence- all four of us with all of our stuff. Overall, it was a great trip with hilarious and unforgettable memories attached to it.

Sunday was the day of rest. I got up and went to Church again. And once again I was surprised by how fast they get through mass. 45 minutes and we’re done! A Catholic 45 minute mass just feels so weird to me. I mean, hey, I’m not complaining. I’ve gotten better at understanding what is being said, with the aid of the little booklet (it’s not in English) so I can see the words in front of me in Italian. Afterwards, I came back home and did my homework. We did have some yummy Tiramisu, made by my host-mom Franca. I spent a good amount of time just hanging out with Franca and her friend Marisa, and once again I became La Marisa so we wouldn’t get confused.

I am anxious to begin this week! The soccer game is on Wednesday and on Sunday I am participating in the Corri La Vita (race for breast cancer). More details to come. Alla prossima.