“…And we have a special treat for you today,” my professor David said when we pulled up to Pompeii, “Pompeii in the snow!” And yes, that’s exactly what we got. Pompeii in the snow. For about 10 minutes we walked around in the slushy/rainy/snow that was pouring down from the sky and we were certain that this was going to be the worst day in Pompeii…ever. And we were all really pissed. But then fortunately for us, the rain/snow stopped quickly and we were able enjoy (minus the extreme mess of mud) Pompeii. Two thoughts that I had about Pompeii before entering were quickly proved wrong. The First one: it’s actually huge. So much bigger than you are lead to believe it is. Two: It’s not in the middle of nowhere, it’s actually surrounded by snowy mountains. But it was a good exploration/adventure. Unfortunately they rope off/lock up several places so its hard to really get in and see some of the ruins besides a few houses here and there that they’ve opened up. However, Marco told us that the golden Italian rule was: If the gate is open or unlocked, you may enter. So after a slight frustration of not being able to see more things, we took this rule to heart. We disregarded a lot of the ropes and barricades and just made sure to be careful not to step on anything “important looking” such as tiles or frescoes. Thanks to this maneuver we were even able to climb up inside the amphitheater. The staircases were originally blocked off by big orange plastic gates, one of which had been torn down on one side and hadn’t been fixed. SOOO therefore, it was open to us! So, we got to climb to the top and get a pretty good view of the inside and of the neighboring structures. Then we climbed down the seating and got to go inside the lower chambers and eventually found a hole in the fence to climb back out of. However, my friend Eric was too tall and couldn’t fit through the hole and it just so happened that a gigantic tour group showed up around the time we were trying to crawl through this hole in what was obviously an “off-limits” area. But we eventually managed to escape without getting kicked out of Pompeii. And right as we boarded our bus, it began to rain/snow again. So I’d say we got really lucky.
From there we headed (on our gigantic charter bus) to the Almafi coast. To put this into perspective for you: we had to scale the mountains to get there. Well, actually Almafi is in the mountains. But, it’s also the coast. The mountains just kind of drop off into the ocean. No beaches or flat land to keep them separate. They just plummet straight into the ocean. Their houses/towns are built up on the sides of the mountains in a somewhat stair-step fashion with windy roads and hairpin turns. Now that you have that picture, please picture a 40-ft long charter bus driving along these stair-step roads and hairpin turns. This was the entire drive for about 2 hours the whole way to Almafi. I’m not scared of heights or usually things of this sort. However, I kept thinking to myself, “Oh my god, I’m going to die today.” I wanted to close my eyes and not think about it. But I didn’t, because this was also the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen of the ocean. When you are up in a mountain, looking out, the ocean appears SO much more vast than it does when you are just standing on the beach. It was really cloudy but about 4-5 miles out from the coast there were patches of clouds missing and it formed a sort of sun-spotted pattern on the ocean water. So, despite being absolutely terrified, the view was amazing and we eventually made it to Almafi (alive) and I felt like I could breathe again.
Almafi is beautiful, but very very small and for the most part, pretty quiet. Probably because it is the “off-season”. And don’t be fooled by the phrase “Almafi coast” or “southern Italy”. We thought that it would be a little warmer and some people even brought shorts with them. (Which I thought was a bit of a stretch). However, it’s FREEZING! The wind blowing in from the sea and the snowy mountaintops didn’t help the cause. But our hotel was pretty amazing and my roommate, Meg, and I were blessed with not just a balcony, but also a deck with a great view of Almafi and the sea, which we shared with some of the other girls from K-State. We found a small café in town and made friends with the owners (a husband and wife) and we actually went back the next day and they gave us free cookies! Plus, they made hot chocolate for us, and if you’ve never had hot chocolate from Italy/Europe before then you’d be impressed. It’s so thick that you can set your spoon on top of it and it won’t sink into the “liquid”. It’s extremely rich, but very good. We also bought lots of Limoncello while in Almafi. Limoncello is a liquor similar to a vodka, but it’s a neon yellowish green in color and its made from lemons and tastes like an extremely sugary lemonade. But its liquor and it’ll definitely kick you in the butt. But, Almafi is the birthplace of Limoncello and it was only fitting that we buy some. PS. You can tell that they cater to lemons in this region. Lemon tree farms are plastered along the sides of the mountains and are about as common as wheat fields in Kansas. For dinner, we made friends with the cute little old man that worked the front desk of our hotel and he told us that the best seafood restaurant in town was down the road quite a distance. (Not walkable). But, he called the restaurant and they sent a car to come pick us up for free! (There were 7 of us). It was good meal, and they even gave us some Limoncello and meloncello (which is awesome!) on the house as well as some appetizers. So far, I was really starting to like the hospitable people of Almafi! We had some things that were called “seaweed puffs” and they were awesome. I need to figure out where I can get some of these in the states!
The next morning, I opened the shutters to our balcony and was greeted by an immense, blinding, bright sunshine and the view of the white Almafi mountain homes and it caused me to actually break out into song: “It’s a beautiful morninggggggg….” (You know, the theme song to the bounce dryer sheet commercials). This caused Meg, who was still in bed, to start hysterically laughing. But, we headed up to Ravello for the day, to see the gardens. (Apparently its known for its gardens, which were, of course, villas that used to be owned by some of the wealthiest Italians back in the day.) But, Italian gardens are always great. They have a sense of organization and placement that make them very appealing and quaint. However, most of the gardens we visited were extremely muddy and nothing was in bloom. We went to see the rose gardens at one of the villas and all we got was some steams and dirt. O well. Ravello is a small itty-bitty town located on the very tiptop of the mountain peak behind Almafi. So, it, along with the neighboring mountain peaks, was covered in snow. It was quite a frigid little excursion, but we got some great views. One of the gardens/villas we visited was called Villa Cimbrone and had been transformed into a hotel for the rich and privileged. Off-season price = 1,000 Euros a night. I was told that both the Clinton’s and the Kennedy’s had stayed here. We got back to Almafi in time to catch the sunset, and we walked out to the end of the pier and got pictures.
The next day, we headed to Naples to go to the archeological museum, which is mostly a collection of pieces found in Pompeii and in Herculaneum. (Statues, frescoes, pots, jewelry, etc) And I found out that the Pompeii people were very … .interesting. The museum had a “secret room” in which is kept some paintings, statues and likewise that came from the Brothel that was in Pompeii. Let’s just say that they Pompeii people were extremely perverted and leave it at that. Riding out of Naples was interesting. There’s trash everywhere, graffiti everywhere, bums everywhere, and the buildings look like they’ve just been bombed. There was just nothing what-so-ever charming about anything I saw. So I wasn’t eager to say I would ever want to return to Naples, but I hear that over by the coast is much better. So that concluded our “south trip, and I slept the entire way home on the bus.
2/15/2009
Florence put my legs into Shape
We went to Florence again on friday as a class. But I didn't stay the night this time, we caught one of the later trains back to Orvieto so that we could spend plenty of extra time in Florence, once Marco was done talking our heads off at the Uffizi Galleries. We spent all morning at the Uffizi (probably the most famous museum in the world due to the fact that it has the largest collection of master artworks in the world by a number as extremely extremely famous people) You may know some of them: Leonardo Di Vinci, Michaelangelo, Botticelli.. you know.. just those B list celeberties. I only recognized a few works of art though. I'm not near as knowledge with art as I am with architecture. However, I definately recognized "The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli and "Annunciation" by Leonardo Di Vinci. But, you aren't allowed to take photographs in the museum and I could only manage to sneak one of the funky ceiling frescos in the hall. This was extremely difficult to do because there were like 3 photo nazis in every room (a room the size of 20 ft by 20 ft). I was dying to have a picture of the Venus painting, but I couldn't have one, so instead I did what us artists do best. I sketched a picture of it. I think that was probably actually better though, because that way I was forced to spend a little more time studying the painting rather than just snapping a photo and walking away 10 seconds later. Which I think becomes a common problem with a lot of people. We should all spend more time looking through our own eyes, instead of a lens. Don't get me wrong, I'll always take a billion picture where ever I go, but, just something to remember when taking photos.
After the Uffizi, I split off with a group and we hiked up to the Piazza Michaelangelo. This is a piazza (square) overlooking the entire city of Florence. Then we continued on up, even higher, to the San Miniato al Monte (The al Monte stands for on the mountain, by the way) And let me tell you, it IS on the mountain. It was quite a treck, but it was easy, because we stopped alot for pictures and things of the sort. The San Miniato is a pretty cool little church with an extremely large grave/tomb cemetary-like area which surronds the hill and looks out over Florence. It had some cool graves and an underground crypt and hundreds and hundreds of statues and "family houses". And it was more than one story, it was 3 levels of dead people. Crazy, I know, but it was really cool. And the entire thing was covered in flowers and arrangements of plants. That's the one big thing I've noticed in Italy, the can keep flowers alive in the winter! It's amazing! This entire treck from beginning to end took up our entire afternoon and only gave us enough time to find a pizzeria before we caught the train. It was a very successful day! And if you have more than one day to spend in Florence, I highly reccommend this hike! The view is definately worth it and it you have an odd appreciation for graveyards, you'll definately like San Miniato al Monte!
After the Uffizi, I split off with a group and we hiked up to the Piazza Michaelangelo. This is a piazza (square) overlooking the entire city of Florence. Then we continued on up, even higher, to the San Miniato al Monte (The al Monte stands for on the mountain, by the way) And let me tell you, it IS on the mountain. It was quite a treck, but it was easy, because we stopped alot for pictures and things of the sort. The San Miniato is a pretty cool little church with an extremely large grave/tomb cemetary-like area which surronds the hill and looks out over Florence. It had some cool graves and an underground crypt and hundreds and hundreds of statues and "family houses". And it was more than one story, it was 3 levels of dead people. Crazy, I know, but it was really cool. And the entire thing was covered in flowers and arrangements of plants. That's the one big thing I've noticed in Italy, the can keep flowers alive in the winter! It's amazing! This entire treck from beginning to end took up our entire afternoon and only gave us enough time to find a pizzeria before we caught the train. It was a very successful day! And if you have more than one day to spend in Florence, I highly reccommend this hike! The view is definately worth it and it you have an odd appreciation for graveyards, you'll definately like San Miniato al Monte!
2/09/2009
Florence
On friday, we went as a class to Florence with our Italian professor, Marco. He only stayed with us until about 2:00 pm and then we were on our own. A group of us were able to book a hostel for the night so we were planning on staying until saturday evening. When we were with Marco, we took us to the Duomo/Baptistery/Bell Tower and I saw several gypsies (one of which tried to spit on Wendy, the wife of one of the professors from the Santa Chiara program). So if you ever go to the Duomo, beware of the gypsie stationed at the door to the Capula (dome). Apparently she's known for doing this! Next we went to a few smaller not-as-well-known places: Dante's house/church. And he showed us the first "skyscraper" built in Florence (5 stories high). But then we eventually made our way to Santa Croce (Church of the Holy Cross). This church houses several tombs of extremely important people to the Italian culture (for example: Galileo, Dante and several other artists and people alike). This is also the church that is attached to the Medici family's private Chapel. For those of you who aren't history buffs, The Medici family was the extremely rich and powerful family that ruled Florence for years and were known as "The Godfathers of the Renaissance". They didn't have many friends in Florence and there were several plots to kill the Medici family members, so they spent most of their days in hiding and traveling through Florence in an elevated passageway so that they could not be reached easily by the hostile townies.
Okay, but back to my Florence adventures. So, at this point, after our Santa Croce visit, we were set free to do our own thing. Well the first thing we did was to check into our hostel so that we could drop our bags off (which were killing us). (By the way, a hostel is an extremely low-key hotel like establishment that is mostely for students who are traveling and its usually a share-bath, private bedroom situation) Hostels are much cheaper and much more rational for our travels, since we are never at the hostel. Afterwards, we continued our own tour of the rest of city. We stopped by the river so that we could get a good view of Ponte Vecchio (Bridge Vecchio). This is the bridge that is covered with stores, because back in the day there was law that taxed any store that was located "on Florence land", so these business entrepenuers found a loop hole and started building thier shops on the bridge (on water) so that they could not technically be taxed. Today there's still tons and tons of stores on the bridge, and they are ALL jewelry stores. So the second you step onto the bridge you are blinded with shiney dimonds and jewels from all sides. (And they are extremely expensive). But they do have the prices in the windows so you can always look and see the cost before you actually enter the store (most stores in Florence are like this). Florence has excellent shopping.. everywhere. So if you plan to do some good shopping, you should save your money for Florence. They are also known for their leather products and I saw some pretty awesome jackets and purses. And I was tempted, but I didn't give in! (But I did try on several jackets and some pairs of shoes) hehe.
This pretty much summed up our friday in Florence. When we woke up on Saturday morning it was sun-shiney and blue skies, so we were thrilled (because it rained the entire day friday and it was supposed to rain on saturday). We decided we'd better hurry up and make our way back to the Duomo so that we could climb to the top of the Capula to get an awesome view of Florence. So we did it, we climbed 496 steps to the top. (some of which was a spiral stair case and some of which spiraled around the dome and then eventually went staight up the side of the dome) It was a good trek, but fortunately we weren't too winded and if we were, we totally forgot the second we stuck our heads up out of the man whole at the top. With the bright sunny day, the city was absolutely beautiful! The red terra cotta roofs with the contrasting white stone buildings as just amazing. Our professor said that technically Florence wasn't a "beautiful city", but I'm disagreeing with him 150%. None of the pictures I took, although still good, don't do any justice to this view. So the one thing I would reccomend for anyone traveling to Florence would be, to climb to the top (its costs 8 Euros) but its worth that and much more. And you also get up close and personal with the frescos on the inside of the Dome as you are going up. They were within not even 2 feet of my reach and they are HUGE and insanely awesome! They depict the "Last Judgement" so theres angels and apostles near the top of the dome and down where we were walking there was devils and demons that were pulling the sinners down into hell (and in some cases eating them). It was way cool.
That mostly sums up our saturday, because after that we spent a good chunk of time shopping and then stopping for lunch and we hopped on the 5:00 pm train back to Orvieto. There were some things that I would still love to see in Florence, but we are headed back on friday again, so there is still time left to see everything else, and maybe somethings again. But I have one more peice of advice for those of you ever planning to visit Florence:
Italy is know for having excellent gelato (ice cream), which is more like a frozen custard/frozen yogurt, and they are tons and tons of flavors, all of which are amazing. But, anyways, in Florence some of the gelato stores have someone standing outside cooking waffles and the smell is very enticing, so they suck you in and the want to give you a waffle with your ice cream and then when its all said and done you end up owing over 10 Euros for an ice cream and a waffle. (This did not actually happen to me, but rather to another friend I was traveling with). So, avoid the waffle places and just go to a more hole-in-the-wall joint and you'll be much happier. You should look for somewhere that offered a medium size cone with 3-flavors for around 2 - 2,50 Euros. So, you sum up: beware of the waffle gelato shops, and the gypsie that stands by the Capula entrance to the dome.
Okay, but back to my Florence adventures. So, at this point, after our Santa Croce visit, we were set free to do our own thing. Well the first thing we did was to check into our hostel so that we could drop our bags off (which were killing us). (By the way, a hostel is an extremely low-key hotel like establishment that is mostely for students who are traveling and its usually a share-bath, private bedroom situation) Hostels are much cheaper and much more rational for our travels, since we are never at the hostel. Afterwards, we continued our own tour of the rest of city. We stopped by the river so that we could get a good view of Ponte Vecchio (Bridge Vecchio). This is the bridge that is covered with stores, because back in the day there was law that taxed any store that was located "on Florence land", so these business entrepenuers found a loop hole and started building thier shops on the bridge (on water) so that they could not technically be taxed. Today there's still tons and tons of stores on the bridge, and they are ALL jewelry stores. So the second you step onto the bridge you are blinded with shiney dimonds and jewels from all sides. (And they are extremely expensive). But they do have the prices in the windows so you can always look and see the cost before you actually enter the store (most stores in Florence are like this). Florence has excellent shopping.. everywhere. So if you plan to do some good shopping, you should save your money for Florence. They are also known for their leather products and I saw some pretty awesome jackets and purses. And I was tempted, but I didn't give in! (But I did try on several jackets and some pairs of shoes) hehe.
This pretty much summed up our friday in Florence. When we woke up on Saturday morning it was sun-shiney and blue skies, so we were thrilled (because it rained the entire day friday and it was supposed to rain on saturday). We decided we'd better hurry up and make our way back to the Duomo so that we could climb to the top of the Capula to get an awesome view of Florence. So we did it, we climbed 496 steps to the top. (some of which was a spiral stair case and some of which spiraled around the dome and then eventually went staight up the side of the dome) It was a good trek, but fortunately we weren't too winded and if we were, we totally forgot the second we stuck our heads up out of the man whole at the top. With the bright sunny day, the city was absolutely beautiful! The red terra cotta roofs with the contrasting white stone buildings as just amazing. Our professor said that technically Florence wasn't a "beautiful city", but I'm disagreeing with him 150%. None of the pictures I took, although still good, don't do any justice to this view. So the one thing I would reccomend for anyone traveling to Florence would be, to climb to the top (its costs 8 Euros) but its worth that and much more. And you also get up close and personal with the frescos on the inside of the Dome as you are going up. They were within not even 2 feet of my reach and they are HUGE and insanely awesome! They depict the "Last Judgement" so theres angels and apostles near the top of the dome and down where we were walking there was devils and demons that were pulling the sinners down into hell (and in some cases eating them). It was way cool.
That mostly sums up our saturday, because after that we spent a good chunk of time shopping and then stopping for lunch and we hopped on the 5:00 pm train back to Orvieto. There were some things that I would still love to see in Florence, but we are headed back on friday again, so there is still time left to see everything else, and maybe somethings again. But I have one more peice of advice for those of you ever planning to visit Florence:
Italy is know for having excellent gelato (ice cream), which is more like a frozen custard/frozen yogurt, and they are tons and tons of flavors, all of which are amazing. But, anyways, in Florence some of the gelato stores have someone standing outside cooking waffles and the smell is very enticing, so they suck you in and the want to give you a waffle with your ice cream and then when its all said and done you end up owing over 10 Euros for an ice cream and a waffle. (This did not actually happen to me, but rather to another friend I was traveling with). So, avoid the waffle places and just go to a more hole-in-the-wall joint and you'll be much happier. You should look for somewhere that offered a medium size cone with 3-flavors for around 2 - 2,50 Euros. So, you sum up: beware of the waffle gelato shops, and the gypsie that stands by the Capula entrance to the dome.
2/05/2009
My Adventures with Charlie
Yesterday evening proved to be quite the adventure for a small group of us. Rick and his wife Penny invited a few people over for wine and cheese after classes were over, so that they could start to get to know people better. Afterwards we met some more friends at a pizzeria called Charlie's Pizzeria. I've heard really good things about this particular pizza place, but hadn't been yet. Unlike a lot of the "grab-and-go" pizzerias in town, this was a sit down restaurant and you can order more than just pizza. (Although pizza is the norm). I ordered a tortelloni with ricotta and it was ...amazing! And as a group we also ordered some Tiramisu, which was also ...AMAZING!
After 5 bottles of wine (vini), we were the last of the crowd at around midnight. The servers/waiters/cooks/chefs that worked at the restaurant were all sitting and eating their own dinner. So we decided to invade their space and make some new friends. So we pulled up some chairs at their table and started a conversation. (There were 5 of them, only one spoke a small amount of English). However, it was crazy how we could still communicate fairly well, although at times they would laugh and I'm pretty sure they were laughing at us. But to be fair, there were times that we were laughing at them. So it turns out that the main man, Charlie himself, was infact the owner, and he ran the pizzeria with his brother and his son (Wiliam). (So.., we got in good with Charlie). After leaving, we walked home in the same direction as Wiliam (by the way, who is very young and still in highschool). And he knew only a few select words in English, but he talked A LOT. He told us lots of stories, which we.. kind of understood? :S But we did learn some interesting facts from Wiliam:
Orvieto has a lot of marjiuna.
They are communist.
He loves Katie Holmes.
His dad hates when he smokes.
There were some people arrested in Rome, Perugia, AND Orvieto after 9/11 because of their connections with Al Qida (spelling?) and terrorism.
He thinks that Bush = bad, and that Obama = JFK. :S
He threw up a lot of New Years Eve in the street.
I laugh now as I write this, because all of these random "stories and facts" were told to us by mostly signing and strange noises. (ex: a puking noise and action for throwing up, a gun and "bang bang" with the Obama, He grabbed his heart and pretended to pass out when he mentioned Katie Holmes.)
Nonetheless, it was nice to make some new friends even though we can't understand a word they are saying.
After 5 bottles of wine (vini), we were the last of the crowd at around midnight. The servers/waiters/cooks/chefs that worked at the restaurant were all sitting and eating their own dinner. So we decided to invade their space and make some new friends. So we pulled up some chairs at their table and started a conversation. (There were 5 of them, only one spoke a small amount of English). However, it was crazy how we could still communicate fairly well, although at times they would laugh and I'm pretty sure they were laughing at us. But to be fair, there were times that we were laughing at them. So it turns out that the main man, Charlie himself, was infact the owner, and he ran the pizzeria with his brother and his son (Wiliam). (So.., we got in good with Charlie). After leaving, we walked home in the same direction as Wiliam (by the way, who is very young and still in highschool). And he knew only a few select words in English, but he talked A LOT. He told us lots of stories, which we.. kind of understood? :S But we did learn some interesting facts from Wiliam:
Orvieto has a lot of marjiuna.
They are communist.
He loves Katie Holmes.
His dad hates when he smokes.
There were some people arrested in Rome, Perugia, AND Orvieto after 9/11 because of their connections with Al Qida (spelling?) and terrorism.
He thinks that Bush = bad, and that Obama = JFK. :S
He threw up a lot of New Years Eve in the street.
I laugh now as I write this, because all of these random "stories and facts" were told to us by mostly signing and strange noises. (ex: a puking noise and action for throwing up, a gun and "bang bang" with the Obama, He grabbed his heart and pretended to pass out when he mentioned Katie Holmes.)
Nonetheless, it was nice to make some new friends even though we can't understand a word they are saying.
2/04/2009
My classes
I'm sure everyone is wondering what my class load is it over here at the Orvieto Study Center. Well for those of you who didn't know, we took two of our own K-State Architecture professors with us. Our landscape professor is Rick Forsyth and he bought his wife Penny along for the ride. Our architecture professor is David Sachs and he brought his two sons (16 & 18) along with him. I am only taking 4 classes while I am here - 14 total credit hours.
One class is obvious: studio, which David and Rick teach jointly. We have series of 3 projects while we are here. They don't give a lot of busy work and the class is fairly laid back (compared to studio back home) due to the lack of technology and resources.
My second class is an exploration of architecture through drawing and painting, which Rick mostly teaches. (He's an excellent watercolorist). For this class, we simply keep a sketchbook and do 3-4 sketches weekly and then we will turn this in at the end of the semester. We are also required to do a "space analysis", and 2 "beautiful drawings" which is all due at the end of the semester. So as you can imagine, I am trying not to procrastinate, but I'm truly living the Italian motto: Don't do today, what can be done tomorrow.
My third class is Italian History/Culture, which is taught by Marco. Marco is a professor from the Rome area (his roots are in Umbria) and he lived for some time in Arizona. He speaks English well and he keeps us very entertained during his lectures. He has traveled all over the world and he enjoys showing us slides of the all the adventures he's taken. The only thing required for the class is to turn in a journal at the end of the semester.
My last class is Italian Language which is taught by one of the ladies who works at the Study Center, Roberta. There is nothing required for this class. Its a pass/fail credit and all they would like is your attendence. She speaks English, but doesn't use any during the class time. So, its difficult to understand and she teaches us as if we were 3-year olds. Which, in a sense, when it comes to the Italian language, we are. We play games and sing songs cut and paste a lot.
So as you can see, my class load is .... easy... and definatly not stressful. Its been a great break from the usual chaotic class load demanded of the architecture major. However, of course, the main source of my learning while here mostly comes from just being able to experience another culture's way of life. I've definatly already learned so much while being here and it has only been 2 weeks. I'm excited to see what Italy has in store for me!
Also, I have tried to post some pictures, but the blog website has had a disagreement with my images and refuses to post them, but I will keep trying anyways.
One class is obvious: studio, which David and Rick teach jointly. We have series of 3 projects while we are here. They don't give a lot of busy work and the class is fairly laid back (compared to studio back home) due to the lack of technology and resources.
My second class is an exploration of architecture through drawing and painting, which Rick mostly teaches. (He's an excellent watercolorist). For this class, we simply keep a sketchbook and do 3-4 sketches weekly and then we will turn this in at the end of the semester. We are also required to do a "space analysis", and 2 "beautiful drawings" which is all due at the end of the semester. So as you can imagine, I am trying not to procrastinate, but I'm truly living the Italian motto: Don't do today, what can be done tomorrow.
My third class is Italian History/Culture, which is taught by Marco. Marco is a professor from the Rome area (his roots are in Umbria) and he lived for some time in Arizona. He speaks English well and he keeps us very entertained during his lectures. He has traveled all over the world and he enjoys showing us slides of the all the adventures he's taken. The only thing required for the class is to turn in a journal at the end of the semester.
My last class is Italian Language which is taught by one of the ladies who works at the Study Center, Roberta. There is nothing required for this class. Its a pass/fail credit and all they would like is your attendence. She speaks English, but doesn't use any during the class time. So, its difficult to understand and she teaches us as if we were 3-year olds. Which, in a sense, when it comes to the Italian language, we are. We play games and sing songs cut and paste a lot.
So as you can see, my class load is .... easy... and definatly not stressful. Its been a great break from the usual chaotic class load demanded of the architecture major. However, of course, the main source of my learning while here mostly comes from just being able to experience another culture's way of life. I've definatly already learned so much while being here and it has only been 2 weeks. I'm excited to see what Italy has in store for me!
Also, I have tried to post some pictures, but the blog website has had a disagreement with my images and refuses to post them, but I will keep trying anyways.
2/02/2009
Rome and Cooking
So I got to go to Rome on friday! It was great and fortunately the weather was nice and sunny! We got to see:
The Colloseum
Arch of Constantine
Arch of Titus
Roman Forum
Circus Maximus
Capitol Hill
Jewish Ghetto
Fountain of the Turtles
Piazza Nuvona
Pantheon
Trajan's Column/Forum
Victor Emmanuel Monument
Santa Maria Maggiore
And we did all this in 8 short hours! The Colloseum was pretty amazing, but we didn't get to go inside (and I think we would have been waiting in line for 2 hours if we did). My favorite of the day was the Fountain of the Turtles. According to our professor, Marco (who is a walking history book) its actually the most famous Roman fountain it just doesnt attract was many tourists as the Trevi does. He also recommended that we revisit the Pantheon and go to the coffee shop named "The Golden Cup" and order the Granita. So we did. Apparently this is a frozen esspresso drink with lots and lots of whip cream. Its soo good and it kept us awake for quite a while!
Another food trama: we ate at a pizza restaurant and all it had were names of pizzas and a picture right beside it. A couple of us got what was called a "Pizza Napoletana". Never trust the picture. But I was pretty sure that Napolean meant a spicy type of sausage or salami. Wellllll, so we got the pizza and it had globs of something pasty on it. It was really salty and bitter. Not necessarily bad, just.. not what I really wanted on my pizza. Well I went back and looked this up in my Italain phrase book and it turns out that a Pizza Napoletana usually means: a pizza with cheese, tomato and anchovies. *long pause*............... yea... and I ate it all. Never again. But I guess now I can say I've had it.
Cooking Class with Chef Lorenzo at Cafe Zeppelin
Saturday was a full day of cooking with Lorenzo at his cafe, which is, yes, actually named after Led Zeppelin. We got there at 8:45 am and before the noon hour hit, we had already had 2-3 cups of coffee and 2 shots of liquor and 3 glasses of wine... and we were still had to cook our 4 course meal.... lunch. Yes, lunch. I was in charge of the chocolate moose. (which turned out amazing if I do say so myself) It was pretty easy though and I had a lot of help from the main man himself. But our 4-course lunch consisted of: Salad with cheeses, nuts, fruits and beef with bread, Risotta (um... amazing), beef stew and potato flan (also amazing) and of course, my chocolate moose. Then after lunch and being extremely uncomfortably full, we went to a winery and tried a ton of wine. Then to an olive oil press and ate some more samples of their olive oil and their spreads. ... AND THEN.. we headed back for our 4-course dinner prepared by the Chef's team of cooks and students. For dinner we had: Salad with artachokes and peppers, lasagna, a crispy crepe filled with pork and chicken and tomato and basil (again, amazing) and for dessert was an orange pie with lemon gelato (also... amazing). Lets just say that was some of the best food I'd ever had..... but I pretty much waddled home and felt like I was going to burst for quite a while. And I woke up this morning and didn't feel hungry til about around mid-afternoon. Mamma Mia!
The Colloseum
Arch of Constantine
Arch of Titus
Roman Forum
Circus Maximus
Capitol Hill
Jewish Ghetto
Fountain of the Turtles
Piazza Nuvona
Pantheon
Trajan's Column/Forum
Victor Emmanuel Monument
Santa Maria Maggiore
And we did all this in 8 short hours! The Colloseum was pretty amazing, but we didn't get to go inside (and I think we would have been waiting in line for 2 hours if we did). My favorite of the day was the Fountain of the Turtles. According to our professor, Marco (who is a walking history book) its actually the most famous Roman fountain it just doesnt attract was many tourists as the Trevi does. He also recommended that we revisit the Pantheon and go to the coffee shop named "The Golden Cup" and order the Granita. So we did. Apparently this is a frozen esspresso drink with lots and lots of whip cream. Its soo good and it kept us awake for quite a while!
Another food trama: we ate at a pizza restaurant and all it had were names of pizzas and a picture right beside it. A couple of us got what was called a "Pizza Napoletana". Never trust the picture. But I was pretty sure that Napolean meant a spicy type of sausage or salami. Wellllll, so we got the pizza and it had globs of something pasty on it. It was really salty and bitter. Not necessarily bad, just.. not what I really wanted on my pizza. Well I went back and looked this up in my Italain phrase book and it turns out that a Pizza Napoletana usually means: a pizza with cheese, tomato and anchovies. *long pause*............... yea... and I ate it all. Never again. But I guess now I can say I've had it.
Cooking Class with Chef Lorenzo at Cafe Zeppelin
Saturday was a full day of cooking with Lorenzo at his cafe, which is, yes, actually named after Led Zeppelin. We got there at 8:45 am and before the noon hour hit, we had already had 2-3 cups of coffee and 2 shots of liquor and 3 glasses of wine... and we were still had to cook our 4 course meal.... lunch. Yes, lunch. I was in charge of the chocolate moose. (which turned out amazing if I do say so myself) It was pretty easy though and I had a lot of help from the main man himself. But our 4-course lunch consisted of: Salad with cheeses, nuts, fruits and beef with bread, Risotta (um... amazing), beef stew and potato flan (also amazing) and of course, my chocolate moose. Then after lunch and being extremely uncomfortably full, we went to a winery and tried a ton of wine. Then to an olive oil press and ate some more samples of their olive oil and their spreads. ... AND THEN.. we headed back for our 4-course dinner prepared by the Chef's team of cooks and students. For dinner we had: Salad with artachokes and peppers, lasagna, a crispy crepe filled with pork and chicken and tomato and basil (again, amazing) and for dessert was an orange pie with lemon gelato (also... amazing). Lets just say that was some of the best food I'd ever had..... but I pretty much waddled home and felt like I was going to burst for quite a while. And I woke up this morning and didn't feel hungry til about around mid-afternoon. Mamma Mia!
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