November Activities!!

Well, since my fall break I have been super busy! When I came back from Ireland and Spain it seemed as if I had so much to do between tons of papers and planning Steve’s trip to Italy. But, aside from papers and quizzes I have done a lot of really great stuff with API as well! One night we got together and made this amazing pumpkin soup and pork loin. Then after cooking and eating we watched an Italian movie together. Another night, we went to Vetralla, a town about 20 km away from Tuscania, and we watched a “jazz concert”. However, when we got there it was not jazzy at all; it was more like alternative music. But, it was fun nonetheless. Monica had a few couches reserved for us and we sat around talking and listening to music. The BEST activity was the cheese making day.

At the very beginning of the semester we went to this shepherd’s house (Francesco) to eat his cheese and drink his wine, and he ended up inviting us back to make cheese with him. So, two weeks ago we went to his pasture, herded his sheep, MILKED his sheep, HELD BABY SHEEP, and made cheese (pecorino and ricotta). We had such a great time! The best part was the holding baby sheep part. It had been our dream since seeing all of the baby sheep in Ireland. He had such an amazing operation. He milks the sheep, well a machine milks his sheep, two times a day: in the morning and at night. They herd the larger sheep into the machine, where they are excited to go because they are fed while they are being milked. After about 30 seconds of milking, the next 8 to 10 sheep come up to be milked. It took quite a while to milk all of his sheep, but they were very quick and efficient. Then in the morning and at night he takes the milk and makes cheese, two times a day! The entire process of making one batch takes about three hours. He begins by heating up all of the milk in a large pot. Then, once the milk reaches a certain temperature he adds this chemical, which actually is made from part of the sheep’s stomach. This chemical causes the milk to ferment. After about 30 minutes of fermentation the cheese separates into a liquid and a solid form. He takes the solid form and makes pecorino. Then, he reheats the liquid that is left and lets that set, and that becomes the ricotta! Some people eat fresh pecorino cheese, but most of his cheese is aged from about one month to a year. At the end of the evening he gave us a ride in his van; but this was unlike any ride that I have had before in my life. We climbed into the back of his dark, dirty, farm van and stood up as he drove us home. It was disgusting and scary, but so much fun!

The day after our cheese making experience I set off for Florence, where I was going to meet Steve!!!! My friend Rich and I went to Florence on Friday and met up with our “3 City” friends, who were now studying in Florence. As soon as we got there we went to a huge grocery story and got enough food for a Mexican feast. Rich and I prepared a fabulous menu! We got so much food! We ended up spending 50 euro, but between 8 people that was an amazing price for dinner. We had salsa and guacamole for starters, and then our main dish was a tortilla with rice, black beans, and sliced steak with a fabulous yogurt, cilantro, and pepper sauce. We were in heaven.
However, we ended up getting escorted out of Dan and Cory’s apartment at 11 pm because the woman downstairs was having a fit. At 9:30 pm the landlord told us that we were being too loud, even though we were just making dinner, and that we needed to leave by 11. Well, by 10:30 we felt uncomfortable and were practically whispering at dinner as we ate, and at 11 she knocked on our door, came in and told us that we had to leave. It was the weirdest experience of my life. Never before had I seen a landlord shooing people out of their own apartment. But, we are in Italy.

The next day (Saturday) Steve arrived in Florence by train around 2:30 pm. From there, we went to our bed and breakfast, which was SO nice, and we dropped off our stuff. He had slept on the plane and the train so luckily he wasn’t tired, despite just getting over a terrible, week-long sickness! But he was feeling great so we walked around Florence for a while and ate some lunch. That night we found a great place for dinner, went to the Ponte Vecchio, and later met up with my friends for a few hours. Later that night, we got a call from Lindsey, my best friend, who told us that Ryan had just proposed! We knew it was coming but we were so excited for them!


The next day (Sunday) was the best day of his trip! We had a leisurely morning, went to see the statue of David, had a great lunch, and toured around Firenze. After lunch we walked from piazza to piazza, saw numerous churches, walked along the Arno River, and began our hike to the Piazza de Michelangelo. This piazza sits on top of a hill and overlooks all of Florence. You can see hills outside of Florence, the river, all of the bridges, the Duomo, and many other numerous buildings. When we got to the top it was extremely crowded and full of venders, so we went down some stairs to a less crowded viewing point. There it was much quieter and we could enjoy the romantic view and the sun that was setting over the hill. We had a really sweet, romantic moment and then Steve began talking about Lindsey and Ryan. Then these words actually came out of my mouth: “I know…if only you had a ring”. Then, he handed me his camera, which I turned on to take a picture, but then I noticed that he was pulling a little box out of his pocket. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!! I kissed him, said “YES!”, pulled him up, and he put the most beautiful ring on my finger! We proceeded to take happy pictures and enjoy the beautiful walk back to city center. It was a great walk back. That night it was so cold that we went to dinner at the restaurant on the corner right by our bed and breakfast. It was THE BEST day!

The next day (Monday) we made our long and difficult trek to Tuscania. We left at 11 am and didn’t arrive until about 6 pm. Public transportation in Italy takes quite a while, especially if you don’t really know what you are doing. But, we made it! Unfortunately, when we arrived in Tuscania it was dark, cold and rainy. Then once we made it to my street, the street was muddy and covered with wooden planks to talk on. So, in the rain, Steve carried his huge suitcase down the street while balancing on wooden crates and planks. That night, Maria Carla made us a fabulous dinner! There was a great fire and we just sat in the kitchen for a while with them and warmed up. She made amattriciana and pork and mashed potatoes; it was certainly nice to stay in the house.

I forgot to mention that on Monday I woke up with a sore throat. Well, on Tuesday morning I felt like I was going to die. I could barely open my mouth, I had a head ache, and my stomach did not feel great. So, I guessed that I got whatever Steve had the week before, just to a much lesser degree. So I didn’t go to Italian class that morning (which I wasn’t planning on anyways), and we just spend the day around Tuscania. I took him around to the park and walked through the streets. That night we went to a trattoria for dinner and went back home pretty early. I felt very badly for him that I was sick because I think I was a bore. On Wednesday I felt a little better, I went to class, and Steve stayed in the library and worked on some homework from the week before. That night we hung out with my friends and began preparing for the next day: THANKSGIVING!! Rich was in charge of dinner, and he made CURRIED HORSE over rice with mushrooms! It was absolutely amazing. The kitchen was a fiasco. There was one oven for many, many pies: apple and pumpkin! Ashley made 6 huge pumpkin pies and Melissa made 3 huge apple pies.

The next morning I felt a little better again, but decided to go to the doctor’s anyway. It was a good think that I did because I had strep throat. So, I began taking my medication and felt better that evening. So after the doctors I skipped class and began making sweet potato casserole. That evening we had a great thanksgiving meal! We invited all of the Italians and they had such a great time. We were expecting about 30 people and we made three huge turkeys!! We had all of the authentic thanksgiving food and everything was delicious!

Friday morning we woke up extremely early because I had a field trip in Rome. We went to the Borghese Gallery and a few famous churches in Rome. When it was over, we stayed in Rome to do some touristy stuff. That night we walked around Rome and saw the Spanish Steps, the Coliseum, and the Trevi Fountain. We stayed in this bed and breakfast right by the train station, and the owner’s family has a restaurant right across the street. So we ate there for dinner and it was a great meal! The next morning we went to the Vatican Museum so that Steve could see the Sistine Chapel. Then, we rushed back to the train station so that he could catch the 2:30 train to Milan. I eventually made it back to Tuscania at about 7 pm that night.

Steve had an awful time getting out of Italy! But as I write this, Steve is on a plane home!!

Umbria

Happy Fall Everyone!

Time is flying by! I cannot believe that I have been in Italy for over two months already. I have definitely settled into my life here and enjoy every minute of being here. However, I am definitely starting to miss home. I wish I was there to see the leaves change, dress up for Halloween, and watch football on Sunday afternoons while eating lots of chips and dip. But, I am making fabulous memories here instead and I will be home soon enough.

These past few weeks have been so incredibly busy! On Sunday October 19th, API took us to the region of Umbria, which is the region directly north of Lazio, the region that Tuscania is in. We first traveled to the town of Assisi, which is home of San Francesco. San Francesco was a man during the 12th century who dramatically changed the direction of the church. He preached for poverty and saw the joy that can be found in God, not just fear. Many, many people make pilgrimages to the town of Assisi, and it is certainly full of beauty. We visited many of the famous churches in the town and walked through the winding streets.


After spending some time in Assisi, we traveled to Perugia. Fortunately (and unfortunately) it was the weekend of the Perugian chocolate festival and the town was teeming with people. We were very excited about all of the chocolate, but we were not excited about the crowds and the high prices. Also, it was in Perugia where we attempted to fulfill our craving for Mexican food…it was a bad idea. We walked into this “authentic Mexican restaurant” and ordered cokes, nachos, and enchiladas. After about ten minutes of waiting we thought that it was odd that we could not hear cooking taking place in the kitchen a few yards away from us. A few moments later we heard the soft humming of a microwave…yes a microwave. So, about 30 seconds later we received our tiny bowl of stale chips with a few strands of microwaved cheese atop. Then, our “enchiladas” came out, which turned out to be tacos. We left very confused and upset at our (expensive) “Mexican” experience. It was awful but at least none of us got sick! But at least we can laugh at it now! After our amazing lunch we walked, well shuffled, in the streets past the expensive chocolate stands. The streets were so crowded that we could barely move. We stopped at this one stand for a long time because these men were carving sculptures out of chocolate and whatever chocolate fell away we could eat! It was awesome! Overall, we were a little disappointed with Perugia because of we were exhausted from all of the people. However, the beauty of the city was obvious, but it was little hard to appreciate it with so many people.

Midterms and Fall Break

The following week was full of studying for midterms and writing lots of papers. I had five midterms in two days, so needless to say I was stressed out and tired. But, once Thursday was over I was officially on my fall break! From Friday October 24th until Monday November 3rd I was off from school and it was amazing! Maggie, Katy, Melissa, Rich, Nicholas (Rich’s friend from the US), and I went to visit Ireland and Spain for 10 days!!! Our trip was so much fun and full of so many memories. The six of us left on Saturday October 25th and our trip got off to a rocky start. For those of you who don’t know, Italy’s public transportation system is not very reliable. We began our journey by taking a bus to a nearby town called Tarquinia. In Tarquinia we planned on taking a train to Rome; however, it turned out that there was no 12:30 train like we had anticipated. Instead, the train came at 2:30, which wouldn’t have given us enough time to get to our 5 o’clock flight. So, we frantically began thinking of what to do. We decided to call Massimo, the only “taxi” service in Tuscania to see if he was available. We did not have much hope that the only taxi guy in Tuscania would be free on a Saturday morning IMMEDIATELY. However, God was with us and we showed up about 45 minutes later. He got us to Rome on time... actually about 4 hours early. So, we waited. Waiting was the theme of our trip. We did a lot of it. So, we boarded our Ryan air flight around 5 pm and arrived in Dublin, Ireland around 7 pm. As you can see from this picture, we had a lot of extra time on our hands! At least we were entertained :)

From the airport we took a bus to the center of Dublin where we had to walk about 20 minutes to our hostel (with all of our luggage). We were pleasantly surprised with our hostel. It was called the “Brewery Hostel” because it was located about 3 minutes from the Guinness Factory. It was a great location because it was about a 10 minute walk to the center of the city so it wasn’t too touristy. Also, we met a lot of great and friendly people at the hostel- mostly Australians- who were traveling as well.

That night we ate dinner at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland. It was so cool! We had such an amazing dinner!!! Most of us ate hearty Irish stew and drank Guinness. Maggie had her first beer in Ireland (and she liked it!). After a fabulous dinner we were completely stuffed and tired from our long day of traveling. So, we went back to the hostel and went to bed around 10 pm. Because of this, I woke up at 6 am and began planning our day in Dublin. We decided to take a bus tour of Dublin because it stopped at all the main tourist sites around the city and you could get off or on at any stop. So, we began our day around 10 am at the Jameson Distillery. Whiskey for breakfast probably isn’t the smartest idea, especially with two 23 year old boys who LOVE whiskey. We took the tour and learned a lot about the process of making whiskey and why Jameson is so special and unique. After the tour they asked for volunteers, and of course 4 out of the 6 people in our group volunteered (Maggie and I not included). They ended up volunteering for a taste test between 3 types of whiskey (Jameson, Scotch, and American). This picture shows them with their diplomas. Overall it was a super fun experience! So from there we hopped on the bus tour again and got off at O’Connell Street, which is one of the main streets in Dublin, and we found somewhere to eat really great fish and chips. It was absolutely delicious!

At this point the group split up because Maggie and I wanted to go to the Oldest Coffee Shop in Dublin. Honestly, we wanted an “American Latte” in a HUGE TO-GO cup. In Italy if you go to the bar to get a coffee you can either get a “caffé” which is just an espresso, a “caffé macchiato” which is an espresso with a tiny bit of cream, or a cappuccino which is espresso with milky foam. All of the above are really tiny and you drink them there at the bar. If you ask for it to go they give you a flimsy white Dixie cup. So, once in Ireland we were on a mission! And our coffee was awesome and we got it to go! After taking the tour bus all around the town and back to our hostel we met up with the rest of the group and went to tour the Guinness Factory. We were rushing through the tour because it was already about 5 pm and we needed to be at the end of the tour by about 6:30. The Guinness Factory was 7 floors and each floor had a different theme. The first few talked through the actual making of Guinness, which was somewhat similar to the making of whiskey. Then the next few floors discussed the company of Guinness, such as advertising. Unfortunately everyone was still so full from lunch/coffee that we couldn’t drink our free pint of Guinness that we each received when we made it to the top floor- the Gravity Bar. However, the view from the top over the city was definitely worth it! A few hours later we had a great dinner and went to bed early yet again.

The next morning we woke up, checked out of our hostel, and made our way to the bus station to find a train to Galway. We all had heard great things about this county/city in the Western part of Ireland. The bus ride was about 3 ½ hours, but the ride there allowed us to see so much of the Irish countryside, which was so beautiful and green and full of sheep. By the end of the bus ride I missed home so much! Everything in Ireland made me miss home because surprisingly it is very similar to home- the language, the food, the people, and the countryside. The next few days in Galway were our favorite days of our entire vacation. We stayed at a relatively nice hostel, ate lots of great food, and just hung out in Irish pubs at night and listened to music. While in Galway I tried hot whiskey, which is whiskey, hot water, honey, lemon, and cloves. I also tried hot port, which is wine, hot water, honey, and orange. They were much better than any other drink! Galway is such a beautiful city and is not too big and overwhelming. I believe it is a city of about 60,000 people. The next day we decided to take another bus tour to the County of Clare and the Cliffs of Moher. We got to see castles, more sheep, and the Atlantic Ocean from the other side! The Cliffs were breathtakingly beautiful and we had such a great time visiting them! While we were in the gift shop we actually heard the song “The Galway Girl”, which is the song from P.S. I Love You! Maggie and I got really excited! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to go rent P.S. I Love You. You won’t be disappointed. I made so many great memories and the pictures cannot even begin to describe the beauty. The next day we left for Dublin because our flight to Valencia was early the next morning.

Early the next morning we boarded another Ryan air flight, and we landed in Valencia a short time later. We took a metro to the city center and then walked to our hostel, which was clean and had free internet! Those are two highly prized qualities to us at this point in our trip. While there we began researching the best places for “tapas” in the city. We decided on this one restaurant that had 100 different types of tapas and they came in the form of tiny finger sandwiches. Between the six of us we had about 40 different types of sandwiches and we would just take a bite and pass it to the next person. Now looking back at it that seems kind of gross, but at the time it was a great idea. We tried all different types of food, including horse! Yes horse…we think. After our amazing lunch with HUGE glasses of COKE with ICE we decided to just walk around the city and see what we can. So we began by visiting some churches and some piazzas and we eventually found this huge castle tower thing, which we decided to climb to the top. It gave us an absolutely beautiful view of the city and it was the perfect time of day. That night we found another “tapas” place and this food was much nicer and higher quality. It was here that we had the best sangria, and again it was Maggie’s first taste of sangria. She tried her first wine in Italy, her first beer in Ireland, and her first sangria in Spain…how cool is that? She’s going to go back home and hate all alcohol because it just cannot compare to what we have had here in Europe.

The next morning we went to the bus station to find a bus to Barcelona. Note: up until this point we had been flying by the seat of our pants and it had been working out well. We bought all of our plane tickets about a week and a half before the trip and we booked our first night in a hostel. Other than that, we decided to do it as we go. Katy and I had taken the lead with planning (are you surprised?) and things were going great! We had great luck! However, we hit a bump when we bought our bus tickets to Barcelona. We decided to buy them online so we could get the directions in English. For some reason the web site wasn’t working well so we bought our tickets about 30 minutes before our bus left and the station was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel. So, we ran! Before we left the guy at the hostel said that we just needed to go to the bus and show them our passport because they should have the information in the system. Well, as we were all loading on to the bus the driver told us that we needed to get a slip from upstairs. So again…we ran! When we got upstairs there was a huge line, but luckily our driver came running upstairs after us and saved the day! Everyone on the bus hated us, but we were going to Barcelona!

The day continued to get worse. While on the 5 hour bus ride (which was supposed to be 3 ½), it started to turn black outside and pour rain! Once off the bus, we attempted to find our hostel, except that we had no map of Barcelona and apparently maps do not exist in Barcelona. So, we attempted to ask people for help, except none of us (except Rich…sorta) speaks Spanish. Surprisingly, I kept speaking Italian. I couldn’t stop. It was so strange. So, we finally decide to take the metro. So we go down to the station and buy a ticket…we thought. Turns out we bought the wrong tickets. So, we bought a second ticket and found our stop. We got off at the right stop and began trying to find our hostel, but the directions were awful. And again, we tried asking people and each person gave us a different way to go. We ended up going back and forth on the same street at least 4 times (while dragging our luggage). Finally, down some alley, we found the hostel. Like I said before, this is where the trip taking a dive. Our hostel was so gross! Also, there were homeless people about 10 feet from the door (more about that later) and then there were drug dealers. That night, the two boys went out and were attacked by a dozen prostitutes…seriously. The one guy even got his money stolen by them. The girls decided to find a nice restaurant and have a relaxing evening. We ended up finding the best restaurant of our life! All of the food was amazing!!!

The next day Maggie and I went to Starbucks for breakfast. It was fate. There was a Starbucks on the corner about 20 feet from our hostel. We also went there for dessert too! Don’t judge me. After breakfast we rented bikes and rode around Barcelona! It was so much fun and we got to see so much of the city! We went down to the marina and beach and then we went up to this huge park at the top of the city. Again, the views were amazing! That night we went back to the same restaurant as the night before, except this time we went with the boys. It was equally as good! Also, that same night we bought dinner for the homeless people that were outside the hostel. The night before Rick and Nick found out from some other people that one of the men lost his wife and child in a car accident a few years before and he abandoned his life and job and decided to live on the streets. There was also a man and a woman from Germany whose boat sank off of the coast of Spain and everything they owned was in that boat. We were very touched by their stories.

Finally, our last day of travel was grueling. We woke up at 4 am, took a taxi to the bus station, took a bus to the airport, took a plane to Rome, took a bus to the train station…the wrong train station, took a metro to the right train station, took a train (originally a wrong train) to Viterbo, took a bus from Viterbo to Tuscania. It was a long day! We traveled for over 12 hours! But finally, we were home. Home Sweet Home!

Tarquinia and Cinque Terre (5 Cities- not exact translation but close enough)

Hello Again!

So, unfortunately it took me a week to post the Florence trip, so you are all getting 2 weeks in 1. Sorry about that. Well, last week flew by; I felt like I blinked and then it was Friday. So, Tuesday through Thursday I had classes and didn’t really do too much else. Thursday night LDM (my school) had an event called “Pizza con gli miei amici”, which is just Pizza with my (Italian) friends. So, it was all of the students a few of our Italians. It was a lot of fun and it was a free dinner. We ate at Pizzeria del Patata (Pizzeria of the Potato?- don’t ask me) which I had been wanting to try for weeks now. The pizza was amazing! Every person gets their own pizza and it is so big that they come out on two plates. I have included a picture. It was delicious. I got ½ pesce del mare (squids, calamari, shrimp, and mussels) and ½ sausage, potato, and mushrooms. Then, Maggie and I went to San Marco (our favorite bar) and got cappuccinos. When I get home, you all might have to have an intervention. I think I’m addicted to cappuccinos. Overall, the day was a ton of fun.

Friday was even better! API (Rome and Tuscania) had a one day event in Tarquinia, which is a town about 30 km away from Tuscania. Only Maggie and I went from Tuscania, and I was so happy that I did! First, we took a bike tour of the town and surrounding countryside. We all looked like idiots, but it was amazing. Imagine 40 American students riding around a small little town with cobblestone streets with matching red bikes and helmets. We certainly laughed a lot. Then, we rode our bikes to this “agritorismo”, which is a really big thing in Italy. An agritorismo is basically a farm that opens their doors to tourists who want to come to the farm and stay and help them harvest their goods. BUT, this agritorismo was BEAUTIFUL! They have amazing facilities! Their rooms are gorgeous; they have an infinity swimming pool with an awesome patio and an amazing restaurant. In order for a farm/bed and breakfast to be considered an agritorismo they have to produce at least 80% of their products on the actual farm. So, our lunch/wine tasting consisted of 3 different types of red wine, bruschetta with tomato and procuitto, vegetable lasagna, roasted chicken with potatoes, and orange tiramisu, and at least 80% had to be products of the actual farm. All of the wine, oil, vegetables, and meat came from the farm. Everything was delicious! But, before lunch we toured the farm- we walked through the vineyard and helped harvest olives for making oil! It was so much fun! That night, the 7 LDM students got together and made Chinese food! (Well, Rich made Chinese food.) He made fried rice and sweet and sour chicken, which hit the spot! The biggest thing that we are missing from America is international food (and peanut butter)- how lame is that?

Then, Saturday morning we woke up really early and made our way to Cinque Terre, which are the 5 towns in northern Italy. These five towns attract millions of tourists each year because you can hike from town to town or you can take a train. They are incredibly picturesque. On Saturday, we arrived and had a great 3 course lunch (bruschetta, penne with a Bolognese sauce, and roasted pork). Then, we began our hike. We hiked from the first town to the fourth town, which took about 3 hours. The terrain got more and more difficult as the hike went on. Eventually, Maggie, Allison, and I got separated from the group because we would stop every 2 minutes to take pictures, whereas, the rest of the group was on a mission. They ended up going to the 5th town, but we stayed in the 4th town and ate gelato  I was really happy that we did not go to the 5th town that night because they had to finish the hike in the dark! Then we all took the train back to our hotel, which was in the first town. We were all late for our dinner reservation so we raced back as fast as we could. Our dinner was HUGE, again. Our antipasto was marinated anchovies, which were actually pretty good. They are the specialty of the region. Then, our primi piati was penne with shrimp scampi, and our secundo piati was sea bass with potatoes. Then, the Tuscania girls went back to the hotel to sleep as the rest of the group went out.

The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and checked out of our hotel. Then, Rich, Maggie, Allison, and I did the hike from the 4th city to the 5th, which was an hour and a half hike in very difficult terrain. The first half (40 minutes) was entirely uphill! But, it was so worth it! We got great exercise and the views were breathtaking. Also, everyone told us that it is much colder in 5 Terre so be sure to pack warm clothes! However, no one told us the weather forecast. We all brought jeans and sweaters, and on Sunday it was easily 80 degrees. So, I ended up doing the hike in my bathing suite and a pair of athletic shorts that I brought for pajamas. After the hike, we met everyone at the 5th town and we relaxed on the beach for a few hours. Around 5 we caught a train back to Tuscania (well 2 trains and a van ride). We didn’t get home until 10 or so on Sunday night and we were all exhausted. But, we had a great weekend with amazing weather and friends.

Firenze (Florence) and Pisa

Hello All!

I have had an amazing past few days (I feel like I say that a lot)! On Wednesday, I had a very busy, busy day. I had class for about 8 hours, which is typical. However, the last class is my cooking class, and this week we hosted the entire school, the President of Lorenzo Di’Medici, and many of his friends. We cooked for about 30 people. It was crazy busy but it was so much fun and everyone really enjoyed the food. That night we had a little going away party for the 3 cities group. This group is the 6 students who spend about 1 month in 3 different cities (Tuscania, Rome, and Florence). Sadly, they left us last week, and we miss them so much already. The party had a Toga theme, don’t ask me why. But it was so much fun and my toga was really cute  Then, Thursday was equally as busy. We had our last game of Ultimate Frisbee and then rushed off to a wine tasting at a great restaurant in Tuscania. This was an event that was sponsored by LDM, and it included lots of different kinds of wines and dinner (for free!). We all had so much fun and it was a nice last dinner with the 3 cities group. After dinner, we went and got gelato and went to the park to enjoy the night. We ended up playing lots of games from our childhood (i.e. freeze tag- the kind where you have to crawl under people’s legs to unfreeze them). It was a blast!
Early the next morning we had to leave for Firenze. As soon as we got into the city we were off. We took a guided tour around much of Firenze and then went to the Academia Gallery to see Michelangelo’s David. I am always so surprised when I see these famous pieces of art. I am expecting them to be great and awesome, but they always exceed my expectations. It is truly something that cannot be expressed in words. You all have to come here to see these masterpieces (preferably when I’m here)! Then, we decided to go back to the hotel to take a nap- I know, we’re lame. Then, we met with our group (API) and had aperitivo at a local bar. An aperitivo is basically like the American “happy hour”. Italians eat at very strange times. They eat lunch around 2 pm (14:00) and dinner between 8 and 10 (20:00 to 22:00). Because of this, they usually go and have drinks and eat the snacks at the bar. But these snacks are not like our snacks. They are much more appetizing than wings and peanuts. I think I tried about 10 different dishes and everything was so tasty! Then, the four of us (API Tuscania) took a slow walk around and really enjoyed our evening. We went to the Ponte Vecchio (the famous bridge overlooking the Arno River) and sat there enjoying its beauty for probably over an hour. We sat on the wall and people-watched, well more like lover-watched. It is probably the most romantic place in Italy. Then, we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
The next day, we did more touring, but in the afternoon we went shopping! I am so thankful that I did not study in Florence because I would have spent much more money! They have so much leather! They have huge open air markets that sell goods for great prices, and it is really hard to resist. We then had a great authentic Italian lunch. We ate the traditional Florentine “Riboletta”, which is a soup made of old bread and vegetables. I know…it sounds appetizing, but, it is really good! They began making it when the majority of the population was very poor and couldn’t afford anything else. After our lunch, we went to our hotel to collect our suitcases and make our trek to our hostel. The four of us decided to stay in Florence and extra night and take a day trip to Pisa on Sunday. Our hostel was surprisingly nice, thank God! We had a four bedroom suite with our own bathroom! It also had free internet, gym, pool, and sauna. We were pleasantly surprised. I ended up paying 17 euro for the night.
The next morning we went to a bar and had a cappuccino and cornetto (with nutella!!!!!!!). We feel like we eat dessert for breakfast everyday…it’s awesome. Then we went to market again and then went to the train station. Our train experience was great and arrived in Pisa around 1 pm (13:00). We then checked our luggage so we wouldn’t have to lug it throughout the town of Pisa. It was the best 3 euro I have ever spent, considering the walk to the tower was over 30 minutes! We then got to the Tower and again we were breathless (from the walk and the view hehe). It was so beautiful! We of course took the corny touristy pictures of us holding up the tower. We couldn’t resist. Then, we went to various shops and collected different food items for a picnic! We decided to skip the tourist filled restaurants and have a quiet lunch in a piazza. It was a good decision. We had different types of sandwiches, pizza, and bread. Carbs, carbs, carbs! Oh, and COKE! We continued our “Coke Club” in Pisa. We then made our way to the train station and had cappuccino and gelato while we waited for 5:45 to role around. I am really surprised that I am not 30 pounds heavier yet…well maybe I am, but I haven’t noticed. We just eat and eat and eat- it’s great! We feel like our days revolve around meal time. Once we boarded the train we had about a 2 ½ hour ride, but it flew by! Because Pisa and Tarquinia (our end point) are both on the coast, our entire train ride was down the coast! We watched the SUN SET on the MEDITERRANEAN in a TRAIN on our way back from PISA and FLORENCE. How cool is that?
That night, one of our Italian friends (Marco) picked us up from the train station and took us to his farm house for dinner. A few of our other friends were there and we had a nice meal. It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. Even though I was absolutely exhausted on Monday, it was worth it. This week is so busy with school work, but I can’t complain. We have more exciting trips this weekend. Friday I am going to Tarquinia and taking a bike tour and going wine tasting with API. Then, Saturday and Sunday I will be at Cinque Terre, which is the 5 cities on the coast in northern Italy. I hear that it is the most beautiful place in Italy! I am very excited! I will be sure to fill you in next week! I love you all!

My Past Week

Basket weaving

This past Thursday was an absolutely amazing day! After my Italian class in the morning, Monica took the 4 API girls to do some basket weaving with an older man named Lucciano. Apparently he is the only person in Tuscania who still knows how to make baskets. So for about 3 hours he attempted to help the four of his with our baskets. First, he helped us all make our bases. We had to select certain types of branches depending on the section of our basket. He had previously collected hundreds of “branches” and they were now soaking in a huge well of water in order to make them more pliable. After the base was constructed, we then began to weave. For those of you who have never weaved a basket, it is not an easy feat. We constantly used 3 branches, but once a branch would end you had to add in another one. This “switching” was the most difficult part. After we weaved the main body of the basket, Lucciano helped us with the handle and then it was complete! It was so much fun and it felt so good to see the finished product that I can take home with me and have something to remember this experience by. Probably the most memorable thing about the experience was that tons of people came by the farm to see us! People actually came out of their way to see the American girls make baskets. One woman actually had a video camera. Another woman was a writer for the Viterbo (the larger region that Tuscania is in) newspaper and is going to write an article about us! I’ll keep you posted 

Thermal Baths/Picnic

After the basket weaving, Monica took us to the thermal baths about 15 minutes outside of Tuscania. These baths are natural hot springs and is open to the public. Monica kept raving about how healthy the natural spas are because of the natural minerals that are in the water. It was very nice except that it smelled a little like eggs (sulfur). There were many different pools, and they got hotter the closer you got to the top spring. There were a lot of people at the spring but it was not overcrowded and we got our own pool. Then, Monica prepared a picnic for us! She got an assortment of pizza and panini and frutta. It was so tasty! We had a really relaxing evening and I went to bed as soon as I got home.

Friday Markets

The next morning, I woke up refreshed from my evening at the spa  Maggie and I met Mei, one of our advisors at the school, who took us to the Friday market. Every Friday morning in Tuscania there is a huge open air market. Unfortunately, this Friday it was raining, but we still enjoyed ourselves. It is pretty much like a huge thrift store, which you all know that I love! There is tons of second hand stuff, but there is also new stuff. They have everything from clothes and shoes to kitchen appliances and household decorations. It is fun to just go and walk around and see what is new (and cheap). This week I bought a coat, a cute shirt from H&M and a little sweater for 16 euro!

The Locals

Tuscania is a great little town in Italia with so many unique people. Everyone here is friendly and will talk to you if you give them the chance. They are also so willing to help you with your Italian. Not too many people here speak much English, so it is easy to only speak Italian to them. They usually look at me like I’m crazy and smile until I finally make some sense out of what they just said to me. I have definitely learned to laugh at myself and have fun in any situation. For an Italian homework assignment we had to go around Tuscania to a bunch of shops and ask them a few questions about their store and the products that they sold. This was interesting. My friend Maggie and I went around on Monday morning to about 8 shops asking various questions in very, very bad Italian. We made a lot of good friends and had a lot of laughs. I even got asked out on a date (I think… the butcher asked me if I wanted to take a walk around the town this evening). I pretended like I had no idea what he was talking about. The assignment that we thought would take 30 minutes ended up taking about 2 hours because everyone wanted to talk to us. Overall, we are having a great time in Tuscania and we really feel at home here. We saw tourists here today and were semi-annoyed by them.

Classes

I totally forgot to mention my classes…you know…the reason that I’m here ;) I am taking 16 credits while I am here, which is a lot! Luckily, I only have class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I always have four day weekends. On Tuesdays, I have Beginning Italian from 8:30-10:10 and Ancient Mediterranean Civilization and Culture from 15:30-18:00. On Wednesdays (my terribly long days), I have Italian Cinema from 9:00-11:00, Italian Renaissance Civilization and Culture from 15:30-18:00, and Mediterranean Cuisine from 18:00-20:30. Finally, on Thursdays I have Italian again from 8:30-10:10. My favorite class is of course my cooking class, without question. It is amazing!!!! The best part is our uniforms  we look like real chefs. There are 6 of us in the class and we pretty much get together, cook dinner, and eat and drink wine the rest of the night. It is awesome! Our chef, Giordano, is a great chef who has traveled the world to cook. He is only 26 and has now settled back down in Tuscania and opened his own bakery! He is actually going to be selling his famous “biscuits” (cookies/biscotti) in the US! We all have so much fun and we make some great food. My next favorite class would probably have to be my Italian class because I get to learn the language that I so desperately need to know. Because Maria and most other people here do not speak English, I am forced to speak and learn Italian. I am slowly picking it up. At first, I only attempted the nouns and simple vocabulary, but now I am becoming braver and attempting conjugate verbs. My favorite thing to do is to go to the bar (coffee in the morning and afternoon and alcohol at night) and order a cappuccino and cornetto! I usually say, “Io prendo un cappuccino con caffé ginseng senza skeuma e un cornetto per favore”. This just means, “I would like a cappuccino with ginseng coffee without foam and a pastry please”. And you all thought that ordering at Starbucks was difficult. Mei turned us onto ginseng coffee because it is much lighter than and not as hard on the stomach as regular coffee. We also decided that the foam just took up way too much room and that we wanted more coffee.  Typically a cappuccino is 1 euro and a cornetto is 0, 60 euro. So, it is difficult to not go everyday especially because it is part of the culture. Like today, about 10 minutes before the end of class my teacher said, “Let’s stop and go to the bar. Everyone seems tired.” So we all went to get a cappuccino. It was great! Anyway, the other class that I really like is my Italian cinema class because it is so different than anything that I have ever taken before. Before this class, I had never seen an Italian film, but it was something that I really wanted to do while in Italy. So this class makes it easy. I typically have to watch 2-3 Italian films a week. I am now learning about the “neorealism” genre and learning to love subtitles. Also, I am the only person who signed up for this class, so it is now an “independent study class”! It’s awesome! My other classes are good as well, but they are just history classes. They are really long (2 ½ hours) and it is really difficult to understand my teachers. But, I know I’ll make it through 

An Average Day in the Life of Lauren

So, my average weekday is really different than back home. I wake up in my large but uncomfortable bed every morning at about 7:30 (all of the beds are hard as rocks). I take a bath because I only have a bath tub, so I usually almost freeze to death every morning. After I bath and dress I go downstairs and eat breakfast. Maria usually has something laid out on the kitchen table, either biscotti or a pastry of some kind. She also has the percolator ready to go for my morning coffee. I then select a fruit, usually a peach because Maria knows that I love peaches so we always have tons of them. I then make the 10 minute walk to school and attend class for a few hours. Around 1, I go back home to make my own lunch or I go to a pizzeria with some friends. Around 2 or 3, I go back to the school to use Skype to talk to Steve and my family. I then go to another class (if I have one) for another few hours. After class, I go home and do my homework or sit around bored waiting for Maria and Dominico to get home. Around 7 we begin to prepare dinner. Maria usually only lets me set the table or stir a sauce. Tonight was a huge victory for me because I actually washed my own plate before she came over and took the sponge from my hand. We never eat until 8 or so and we are finished and cleaned up by 8:45 or so. By this time, I am exhausted for some reason and am usually in bed by 9. I live a very exciting life…not.

My Campania Weekend!

Hello Again!

Sorry it has taken me some time to add another post, but I have been so busy! I just had an amazing weekend in Campania! On Friday we left Tuscania at 6:30 in the morning...it was awful. We had to first go to Rome to pick up the Rome LDM (Lorenzo Medici's kids, but also the other API students who go to John Cabot University (which is like 50 students). So, we were a huge group, which was kind of a bummer. But, we left Rome and went to Vesuvius, which we hiked to the very top (the bus brought us most of the way). The views were unbelievable and Napoli (Naples) and the bay looked beautiful from that far away. However, we got out of Napoli very quickly because it is run by the mafia and it is pretty unsafe (and there is garbage everywhere!). After the hike we made our way to our hotel in Sorrento (3 hours). API paid for our dinner that night and it was really good Neapolitan food. We had bruscetta (which they pronounce brus-K-etta), gnocchi, cake, and coke WITH ICE. We are already laughing at all of the simple pleasures- normal sized showers, toilet seats, ice, and the list goes on. Then we had a free night in Sorrento to shop and roam around the beautiful town.

The next morning we woke up and took a hydrofoil over to the island of Capri (prounced KA-pri); however, before we boarded the boat there was a huge storm. We were all standing outside without jackets or umbrellas and the wind, rain, and HAIL were gracing us with its presence. Once we arrived on Capri the rain stopped and it was beautiful weather. We had a free day to explore the island. We took a lift up to the main city of Capri and did some shopping, we took a bus up to the smaller city of Anacapri (less touristy) and had an amazingly secluded lunch, and then we went down to the bottom and sat on the rocky beach for a few hours. When I say rocky I don’t mean sandy with some rocks. I literally mean there were only rocks, tons of rocks. It was really cool but painful. There was also so much sea glass, which of course I collected. The Mediterranean Sea is just as beautiful as you would imagine. I had no idea that it was actually clear. You can see your toes! (Also, I forgot to tell you that Thursday LDM Tuscania took us to Lake Bolsena, the largest volcanic lake in Europe. It is about 15 minutes from Tuscania and it is gorgeous! Again, it is SO clear and beautiful). Ok, then after the beach we got back on the hydrofoil and it began to rain again (surprise, surprise). Then we had a wonderful free night in Sorrento. I bought SO much stuff…a.k.a. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done. Then we had a beautiful dinner with all of the LDM people- Tuscania and Rome (about 10 people)- at this restaurant where we were serenaded and I was kissed by an old man who works there (seriously!). Then we had gelato of course!

Sunday we left the hotel and drove to Pompeii! It was actually a lot cooler than I had imagined. Then we made the 5 hour trip back home. After being surrounded by people in the big cities we have determined that we hate tourists and we hate the big cities. We are so content being the only Americans in Tuscania and living in a quiet town with nothing to do. The constant noise and busyness were awful! This week I just have class and we have a free weekend, which we are so excited about. Also, on Thursday Monica is going to take us to learn how to do basket weaving!!! We are so excited! I will post more pictures soon! I love you all!

Lauren