Tonight for one of the first times here (apart from my birthday) I am in a fantastic mood. For the past several weeks I’ve been confronted with so many new things, people, sights, words, customs, and foods, it’s been difficult to just relax. Tonight, now on my third day of miraculous Italian anti-cold medicine, my nasty cold of several weeks is finally on its way out of my system. After dinner with Carla and Niccolo (Carla’s 4 year old adorable, but often difficult grandson), I sat down with my guidebooks.
There are few activities I enjoy more than reading a guidebook about a place I know I can go to. I think I will have to make this a life hobby because over the last couple months I have had an incredible time reading, planning, and dreaming. Tonight my task was to plan out my weekends -- with a huge list of places to go in Italy, I realized my long time here, although freeing, needs a bit of structure if I’m going to make it to all the places on my LIST:
Rome, Venice, Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, Florence, Lake Towns, South (Naples/Pompei/Capri), Dolomites, Sardinia, and Sicily, and of course to get out and about in Tuscana (sorry all my maps are in Italian and there’s too much of the language in my brain to write solo in English…so pardon my lapses in itanglish).
Confronted with the task of finding a perfect getaway for Saturday, I have many options and the top are Montepeluciano and Civita di Bagnoregio…now to find the bus schedules.
I think the primary reason for my lifted spirits is the set of classes I get to take in Siena. I swear the school is not paying me to advertise, but honestly, the classes in my mini school in an ancient Sienese house are to put it as I can’t help myself…pretty sweet!
In a varying schedule (on Mondays I have class straight from 9AM until 7PM with no lunch break! And other days I finish at 10AM) I’m taking Italian language, Italian regional culture (we pick a subject to study in local libraries and the city each week and make presentations in Italian every Friday--my first subject is wines of Tuscany), oil painting, creative writing, book making, and art history.
Book making wasn’t one of my top choices, but after meeting the professor I had to sign up. She is Mrs. Doubtfire (the real one). She is an older, quietly artsy woman. I think she’s from Australia originally, but studied at Cambridge, so basically has the “muddled” accent as Pierce Brosnan says in the movie--I know it too well. On the first day, in her perfect british-accent way of storytelling, she told us how she found her way to book making. Her husband’s collection of ancient books “fell into the sea” on a trip in South America, and she learned the art to restore them. I can’t help but imagine some chest of treasure tumbling from a ship and an old woman weaving the contents back together in a dusty library. There is something I’m not sure how to describe…humbling? about weaving the spine of a book. Granted I’m on day 2 of the class, but I can’t imagine I’ll grow tired of it.
In this blog I’ve left out a few taleworthy experiences, namely a 2 hour presentation in only Italian on heart failure recovery in a bank, the following buffet with too many already personal-space defying Italian older women, and last night’s brush with some local musicians in a failed attempt to find someone to play with me. One day I’ll write a long diatribe against a certain breed of 16-25 year old jazz musicians, but in my pleasant good mood, tonight is not the night. I hope as ever everyone at home is well. Goodnight.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Antiques Sale in a Bologna sidestreet
Neptune Fountain in the main square of Bologna
I didn't get a chance to write about my trip to Bologna the week before my birthday. I've added some pictures here. My rundown on the city...not worth going to if you're in Italy for a short amount of time. I enjoyed the trip, but after only one day I really wanted to go home (home being Siena). If you do go to Bologna, be sure to get to the anatomy museum in the university district, especially if you have slightly nerdy kids. This place was AMAZING! There were old skeletons of creepy deep-sea fish. My friend and I got a free tour up the old tower in a private part of the museum. The guide took us into rooms filled with ancient maps and astronomy instruments as we scaled the spiral staircase. We ended the tour on a terrace that overlooked the entire city (which is gorgeous from above, where you can escape the surprising amount of grafitti on the city's antique walls). I asked where I could find a bathroom and was shocked to see a whole other section of this free, empty, forgotten in tour books museum. There were about 10 large ship models built in the 1800s. They were incredible. And although I couldn't garner much from the Italian-only display cards, I think we came across a collection of old battle strategies carved into wooden boards. Bologna tourist suggestions: go to the museum, eat tortellini, if you're up for it don't miss the wild nightlife (my evening was a mild one in a jazz bar...but it's definitely a place to go if you want to meet italian university students), and make it a day trip, not the main stop (my friend and I wasted 6 hours around the square because we ran out of things to do the 2nd day).
I didn't get a chance to write about my trip to Bologna the week before my birthday. I've added some pictures here. My rundown on the city...not worth going to if you're in Italy for a short amount of time. I enjoyed the trip, but after only one day I really wanted to go home (home being Siena). If you do go to Bologna, be sure to get to the anatomy museum in the university district, especially if you have slightly nerdy kids. This place was AMAZING! There were old skeletons of creepy deep-sea fish. My friend and I got a free tour up the old tower in a private part of the museum. The guide took us into rooms filled with ancient maps and astronomy instruments as we scaled the spiral staircase. We ended the tour on a terrace that overlooked the entire city (which is gorgeous from above, where you can escape the surprising amount of grafitti on the city's antique walls). I asked where I could find a bathroom and was shocked to see a whole other section of this free, empty, forgotten in tour books museum. There were about 10 large ship models built in the 1800s. They were incredible. And although I couldn't garner much from the Italian-only display cards, I think we came across a collection of old battle strategies carved into wooden boards. Bologna tourist suggestions: go to the museum, eat tortellini, if you're up for it don't miss the wild nightlife (my evening was a mild one in a jazz bar...but it's definitely a place to go if you want to meet italian university students), and make it a day trip, not the main stop (my friend and I wasted 6 hours around the square because we ran out of things to do the 2nd day).Back in Siena, post b-day, it's snowing!!! It's not nearly the same as in Ohio, but really, snow? To all my new friends here in Siena, thank you so much for making my multi-part birthday celebration fantastic.
21 in Italy
I’ve now passed the essential American milestone. On Thursday I turned 21. I think this birthday ranks probably the best in several years. Spoiled by parents who always threw me perfectly themed parties, my last couple birthdays in college haven’t been that fantastic. My tonsil infection last year didn’t help. As a friend noted late last night, I really milked this one. On Thursday, my new friends threw me a surprise lunch party at school. They broke out spumante and certainly the best store bought cake I’ve ever had (you can get them like that here). As I’ve already a little bashfully told my parents, champagne during school is made even more interesting when you drink out of a coffee mug.
Friday was the last day of the language intensive, so all of us had a test to see how much Italian the professors have been able to cram into our brains with long days of grammar, Pictionary, singing, and endless games. In light of that, I postponed the true 21st celebration until Friday night. On Thursday night, Carla asked me to invite one of my friends from school over for a mini feste. I requested caprese, my favorite Italian dish that I had yet to have. Carla made an amazing cake with coffee, chocolate, crème, and apricot slices--mmm. Over dinner my friend Chelsea and I attempted to explain to Carla the ingredients of an American gourmet salad with chevre, walnuts, apples, and balsamic. Now she makes it every other night.
The girls going out in Siena for my first barhopping bday
Carla's mini feste
Last night was the main affair (officially my 3rd birthday celebration in 2 days). All of us girls from the program, save one who was on a trip, began the evening at an Irish pub. We moved onto another and then a Cuban bar, my favorite nightlife spot in Siena. It’s called the Bella Vista Social Club (I was seriously surprised that so few of the girls had heard of its namesake, the Buena Vista). We ended the evening in a fun discotheque in the city, much less “suuperrr sketchy” than our night at Vanigla a couple weeks ago. I sit here in my Italian apartment, doing what I’d probably be doing in the states on Valentine’s. I’m watching Italian MTVs Top 50 love songs. I’m not sure how number 4 is George Michael’s “ Careless Whisper.” OK so Whitney’s “I Will Always Love You” is fair for number one. Man I forget how much I love 80s-early 90s music videos and the movie “Bodyguard.” What I wouldn't give for a Saturday of TNT movies in English. I'll settle for Carmen Electra's top 50 love songs if I can watch after running in the tuscan rolling hills.
Monday, February 2, 2009
First week in Siena
I woke up this morning wanting to write, but I wasn’t sure how to start. Lunch gave me an idea.
I eat lunch on the weekends with my Italian host grandma. Yes, I have an Italian grandma now. Carla, a 61 year old widow, has two grandsons ages 4 and 7 (she calls them her two pests--due peste); they come over a couple times a week and I must admit seem to fit their description. During their visit yesterday, I won them over a bit (they usually just ignore me) by drawing their favorite animals and writing the animals’ names in English. I managed a bat, tiger, and dolphin. In Siena, every family is part of a contrada, a neighborhood Palio team (will have to save the description for another time--it’s a huge deal here). The boys loved the dolphin because it’s one of the contrada mascots.
Usually, it’s just Carla and I. We eat in an odd mix of silence and language confusion. Before meals she calls to me, “Leann, mi amore, mangiamo” (Leann, my love, we eat). I grab my new meal essentials, a dictionary and phrasebook, and sit. One of the girls here recently said, in a jokingly deep comment, “my life is a constant translation.” Although it was a joke, there’s some truth to that statement.
I came to Italy without any previous Italian experience. I wanted to practice a bit on my own during winter break, but I’d pick it up quickly in Italy. While that’s probably true, it is amazingly difficult to live with someone when you don’t speak their language. Most of the girls in my program (11 in all) have taken classes in college or high school. With only a week now of Italian, it’s still hard to communicate. I’m amazed, though, by the amount of information I’ve had to learn in the first week. I think my school crammed about one year of high school Italian into one week of language intensive. After 5 days of class I now have down my numbers, clothing vocab, basic food, table setting, and drink vocab, regular present tense verb conjugation for the 3 types, the greeting vocab, jobs, rooms, colors, months, days of the week, and two types of past tense conjugations! I think the hardest thing so far is matching singular and plural nouns with adjectives. Wow, I wish I could add an “s” to my nouns every once in a while.
The language will come. For now my time in my new home is a lesson in life as a foreigner. I can’t say just whatever comes to mind, and it’s impossible to say anything at more than a very basic level. Carla and I communicate only the essentials (today the most important was, “do you have nail polish remover?”). Luckily during the weekdays I have a release with the other students.
Where was I? Lunch…Lunches and dinners here are at the least 3 course affairs. We start with either a soup or pasta dish, and then move onto the next course of usually meat and salad. Finally, we have fruit, coffee or green tea, and some kind of cookie. Today was one of those “my life is a translation” days. After some fantastic ravioli, Carla brought out two whole sea basses. Now, I know that in many countries, fish is served whole--head, eyes, tail, and all. It’s just comically impressive when someone puts a whole fish on your plate during a leisurely weekend lunch in your sweats. Even after many backpacking meals of pan-fried trout, I still had to meekly ask Carla to help me figure out how to eat it. The meal was an excellent time for body-part vocab practice. I heard “take care for the bones” in Italian about 20 times.
On Friday, my school group went on a day trip to a nearby town, San Gimignato. It’s known for its surviving 14 towers (once 60). I think I’ve become known in my group as the travel book girl. Its not exactly a ‘cool’ identity, but I do know what to do for free. Our trip planner, a girl who recently graduated from college and returned to Siena because she liked the school so much, said she considered bringing a tour book but knew I’d have it covered. Equipped with my Eyewitness and Rick Steve’s books, I suggested we all head up to a park at the highest point of the town--che bella panorama! It still hasn’t settled in that I’m living in Tuscany. It’s so wild to stand at the top of a mideival fortress and see the vinyards in the distance and a huge parking lot or supermarket in the foreground. A modern/ancient divide has never so confronted me.
A little less profound, the most important lesson from that day was - if you see a sign for gelato caldo, be cautious. I’ve been in Italy for a week and a half and this was only my second scoop. I went for chocolate and panna cotta flavored. I didn’t notice that the panna cotta was warm gelato….essentially some mix of whipped crème, butter, and sugar; they’re all good ingredients, but not nearly the pleasure of a bowl of real gelato.
The Central Piazza in San Gimignato 
Me in front of a few of the 14 San Gimignano ancient skyscrapers
Lastly, I have to write about my first Friday night at an all Italian discotheque--Vanigla…an experience to say the least. I’ve written so long, I’ll spare you some details, except to say that it was one of those times I was glad to be in a good mood and actually happy to be an American (one of the few times lately--we aren’t everyone’s favorites). It felt like a strange mix of high class New York club, middle school dance, and the Euro club I’ve seen in movies like Bend it Like Beckham. No one seemed to be having much fun….especially the Italian women. I’ve met some very warm, welcoming Italians, but as a general observation, young Italian women really aren’t fans of American girls. And especially those of us who dance goofily and smile too much. The DJ (named DJ Inglese) kept saying in English, “Facebook Party Siena Number One.” I guess it was a facebook meet-up night. My favorite part of the evening was when everyone sang a Red Hot Chili Peppers song at the top of their lungs; without the apparently required tiny tight black dress on, I felt that this activity was actually something I did well. Most of the girls with me on this strange adventure didn’t have a good time…as our Italian professor would say in a thick accent, it was “superrr-sketchy.” I did because I like to dance, however awkward the setting. It occurred to me, though, that there’s something strange with the Italian relationship to American culture. I guess I’ve read about it, but haven’t experienced it firsthand. The young partiers seem to love all things American in terms of music and pop culture, but maintain a healthy disdain for Americans….especially us less than posh students.
Today I’m taking a little break from the busy Italian life….some time to write for you, watch movies, and paint my nails. I know the culture shock is good for me, but I love my little break today. And, Tuscany is gorgeous, but not ideal in the rain.
I eat lunch on the weekends with my Italian host grandma. Yes, I have an Italian grandma now. Carla, a 61 year old widow, has two grandsons ages 4 and 7 (she calls them her two pests--due peste); they come over a couple times a week and I must admit seem to fit their description. During their visit yesterday, I won them over a bit (they usually just ignore me) by drawing their favorite animals and writing the animals’ names in English. I managed a bat, tiger, and dolphin. In Siena, every family is part of a contrada, a neighborhood Palio team (will have to save the description for another time--it’s a huge deal here). The boys loved the dolphin because it’s one of the contrada mascots.
Usually, it’s just Carla and I. We eat in an odd mix of silence and language confusion. Before meals she calls to me, “Leann, mi amore, mangiamo” (Leann, my love, we eat). I grab my new meal essentials, a dictionary and phrasebook, and sit. One of the girls here recently said, in a jokingly deep comment, “my life is a constant translation.” Although it was a joke, there’s some truth to that statement.
I came to Italy without any previous Italian experience. I wanted to practice a bit on my own during winter break, but I’d pick it up quickly in Italy. While that’s probably true, it is amazingly difficult to live with someone when you don’t speak their language. Most of the girls in my program (11 in all) have taken classes in college or high school. With only a week now of Italian, it’s still hard to communicate. I’m amazed, though, by the amount of information I’ve had to learn in the first week. I think my school crammed about one year of high school Italian into one week of language intensive. After 5 days of class I now have down my numbers, clothing vocab, basic food, table setting, and drink vocab, regular present tense verb conjugation for the 3 types, the greeting vocab, jobs, rooms, colors, months, days of the week, and two types of past tense conjugations! I think the hardest thing so far is matching singular and plural nouns with adjectives. Wow, I wish I could add an “s” to my nouns every once in a while.
The language will come. For now my time in my new home is a lesson in life as a foreigner. I can’t say just whatever comes to mind, and it’s impossible to say anything at more than a very basic level. Carla and I communicate only the essentials (today the most important was, “do you have nail polish remover?”). Luckily during the weekdays I have a release with the other students.
The other girls outside of The Siena School
Where was I? Lunch…Lunches and dinners here are at the least 3 course affairs. We start with either a soup or pasta dish, and then move onto the next course of usually meat and salad. Finally, we have fruit, coffee or green tea, and some kind of cookie. Today was one of those “my life is a translation” days. After some fantastic ravioli, Carla brought out two whole sea basses. Now, I know that in many countries, fish is served whole--head, eyes, tail, and all. It’s just comically impressive when someone puts a whole fish on your plate during a leisurely weekend lunch in your sweats. Even after many backpacking meals of pan-fried trout, I still had to meekly ask Carla to help me figure out how to eat it. The meal was an excellent time for body-part vocab practice. I heard “take care for the bones” in Italian about 20 times.
My sunny room in Carla's apartment
On Friday, my school group went on a day trip to a nearby town, San Gimignato. It’s known for its surviving 14 towers (once 60). I think I’ve become known in my group as the travel book girl. Its not exactly a ‘cool’ identity, but I do know what to do for free. Our trip planner, a girl who recently graduated from college and returned to Siena because she liked the school so much, said she considered bringing a tour book but knew I’d have it covered. Equipped with my Eyewitness and Rick Steve’s books, I suggested we all head up to a park at the highest point of the town--che bella panorama! It still hasn’t settled in that I’m living in Tuscany. It’s so wild to stand at the top of a mideival fortress and see the vinyards in the distance and a huge parking lot or supermarket in the foreground. A modern/ancient divide has never so confronted me.A little less profound, the most important lesson from that day was - if you see a sign for gelato caldo, be cautious. I’ve been in Italy for a week and a half and this was only my second scoop. I went for chocolate and panna cotta flavored. I didn’t notice that the panna cotta was warm gelato….essentially some mix of whipped crème, butter, and sugar; they’re all good ingredients, but not nearly the pleasure of a bowl of real gelato.
Me in front of a few of the 14 San Gimignano ancient skyscrapers
Lastly, I have to write about my first Friday night at an all Italian discotheque--Vanigla…an experience to say the least. I’ve written so long, I’ll spare you some details, except to say that it was one of those times I was glad to be in a good mood and actually happy to be an American (one of the few times lately--we aren’t everyone’s favorites). It felt like a strange mix of high class New York club, middle school dance, and the Euro club I’ve seen in movies like Bend it Like Beckham. No one seemed to be having much fun….especially the Italian women. I’ve met some very warm, welcoming Italians, but as a general observation, young Italian women really aren’t fans of American girls. And especially those of us who dance goofily and smile too much. The DJ (named DJ Inglese) kept saying in English, “Facebook Party Siena Number One.” I guess it was a facebook meet-up night. My favorite part of the evening was when everyone sang a Red Hot Chili Peppers song at the top of their lungs; without the apparently required tiny tight black dress on, I felt that this activity was actually something I did well. Most of the girls with me on this strange adventure didn’t have a good time…as our Italian professor would say in a thick accent, it was “superrr-sketchy.” I did because I like to dance, however awkward the setting. It occurred to me, though, that there’s something strange with the Italian relationship to American culture. I guess I’ve read about it, but haven’t experienced it firsthand. The young partiers seem to love all things American in terms of music and pop culture, but maintain a healthy disdain for Americans….especially us less than posh students.
Today I’m taking a little break from the busy Italian life….some time to write for you, watch movies, and paint my nails. I know the culture shock is good for me, but I love my little break today. And, Tuscany is gorgeous, but not ideal in the rain.
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