Yes, it's true: in writing my last post, I forgot about this event which I have cited as "the best day of my life so far" on multiple occasions. I blame the concussion. Anyway, this day was amazing. It started at 5:30, which I was not okay with initially. We met in the train station and got on the first train. After transferring to the second (we were to take three trains), we heard rumors of a train strike. They're not too uncommon here, so of course we began to get concerned. After we reached the next station and got on the final train, we discovered that the strike was, in fact, happening that day, and it would prevent us from riding the trains until 5pm. This left us in the town of La Spezia with nothing to do. Fortunately, Professor Tom Kealy was determined to get us to Cinque Terre.
After asking around, Tom discovered that the best way to get us where we needed to be was to take a bus out to Portovenere, from where we could take a ferry out to each of the villages. The bus ride was uneventful, though it was nice to finally see the water after having spent so much time inland.
The ferry was probably the best mistake that could have happened to us. After reaching the port we realized that this ferry was a tour out to the Cinque Terre, stopping at each one (Cinque Terre means Five Lands, signifying the five villages along the coast and hillsides). We sat on the top level of the ferry in the open air and watched the water and the villages as we passed by them. At one point a water helicopter came out to pick up water, spraying it in front of us and causing a rainbow. At another point, we ended up in the middle of a pod of dolphins! The dolphins came up to the side of the ferry and started jumping alongside us!
After circling the dolphins a few times to allow everyone a decent photo opportunity we finally ended at Monterosso, the farthest village. It is a decently populated, compressed village with an abundance of tourist-oriented shops. Here we stopped for free time to wander the village, get lunch, sit on the beach, and dip our feet in the water of the Mediterranean. I had a panini, dessert of gelato, and skipped a stone eight jumps. After an hour or so we began our hike.
Our hike didn't last long before we decided to take a break. The reason? We discovered a rock outcropping down a side path to jump across the rocks and see the coves in the ledges up close! We made our way down and explored the rocks for a bit. Yulia even jumped into a particularly deep part of the coastline from the higher rocks! I dunked my head in the water to cool off (and moreover because I dunked my head in the Mediterranean -- how many of you from back home have done that?) and then we continued on our way.
The hike was breathtaking. I'm sure you can find pictures online (or on my facebook page) of Cinque Terre. It's gorgeous. The walkways are extremely narrow: we had to pass others going the opposite direction multiple times in areas where one would need to get off the path and onto a ledge or tree's trunk to allow space to pass. The views, though, were amazing. We were on the side of the hills facing the sea, of course, so most of our hike was lined by water on one side and earth on the other. occasionally we walked along a vegetable garden, an old well, or a brook in a small valley. It seemed to take forever, though! Fortunately the guys and I packed shorts, so we changed partway down the trail and were much happier for the last half of the 90-minute hike.
As we neared the village of Vernazza, the views were gorgeous. We were high above the village, allowing an amazing sight of the entire town with the sea as backdrop. The trail took us right into the middle of town -- one minute we were flanked by rock ledges, while the next saw us walking past someone's door. We sat by the sea for a few minutes and then wandered around town in search of food. We found a lovely little to-go pizzeria, whose food we took out onto the rocks to eat and watch the beginning of the sunset. Our viewing experience, however, was cut short by our dash to the train stop -- had we not made it to the train in time, we may have been stranded in the little town until almost midnight, returning to Florence around 2am. Despite this, we had a wonderful time. The train rides weren't even too bad, especially with company to talk to and Vonnegut to read.
As a small side note, I'll mention that the evening was the perfect ending to this superlative best day; sitting on the steps of the Basilica of Santa Croce, I enjoyed people watching and sharing discussions about literature and philosophy with my companions.
29 October 2011
28 October 2011
Okay, I'll admit that I'm bad at this.
According to my last post, you haven't heard from me here in two and a half weeks. Logically, that should mean that I have some crazy and exciting stories to tell, right? Unfortunately, I can't remember half of them right now! Maybe when I'm not concussed I'll have more to share.
yes, you read that right, I have a concussion. I remember taking a break from writing my project for class to go upstairs and listen to music with the guys. I even remember headbanging to a metal/dubstep song that came on. I just don't remember when that headbanging caused a chair to become violent with my right eyebrow. According to accounts from the others, I was a pretty gruesome sight last night. Fortunately, the gash has healed a bit and is minimally blended with my eyebrow, but my head is pretty blurry right now.
Anyway, I guess I'll share a few stories that I can remember. Monday we went to the Accademia to hear a few lectures on women and art. While our stay was interrupted by the test we had in Italian class, it was still a great chance to see Michelangelo's David without the crowd that I'm sure is typically surrounding it. The lecture we heard wasn't bad, though it was difficult to try to translate it when I only know half the words she was saying. The main point I got out of it was that she is definitely a first-wave feminist.
Wednesday was another day, another art exhibit. This time it was a modern exhibit at an art school! The exhibits were designed with Giorgio Vasari, a painter, architect, and historian who was born five hundred years ago. His biographies of Italian artists are famous for being a kind of start to art history, as well as an extremely valuable resource in the field. The exhibit (whose artists we got to meet) was set up in the classrooms. A brief rundown of the exhibits: a photo installment featuring images of Florence, the frame of a house with videos of deteriorating things and an explosion of household items suspended by string, a video projected onto hanging sheets of a victorian woman holding lilies while paper lilies surround the projection, and Bill Viola's "Acceptance" -- a video of a woman being sprayed by water from behind as she goes through a metaphorical life from birth to death. the other part: more cool installments and a lot of paintings.
After seeing the exhibits, we got to go downstairs to see their printing presses from 1860 and 1862 -- the years before and after Italy unified. I thought that was pretty cool. The presses were pretty cool to see in person, too.
Our trip on Thursday took us to an exhibit for which we've been seeing the signs all over Florence: Denaro e Bellezza. Money and beauty. Because usury was banned by the Church, bankers couldn't charge interest on their loans. This led them to engage in a system of trading which would then allow them to earn a profit when goods were sold and resold. That was the theme of the exhibit, and it was very beautiful and probably worth a pretty penny. Among other things we saw many artifacts including florins (the money of the time), a very intricately designed ivory comb, and some of the cloth that would have been used in the aforementioned trade system. There were also some pretty pictures that included Botticelli's Venus and a number of representations of the historic burning of Savonarola (look it up if you haven't heard of it, it's worth knowing about).
There's another exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi called Declining Democracy. It's free on Thursday nights, so maybe I'll tell you about it next week. I hope to, at least.
Well, I think I've written enough for now. I've been working on my project on Dante Alighieri, so maybe when that's done I'll tell you about it. Or I'll just post my essay. You want to read an essay, right? Don't worry, it's not long.
yes, you read that right, I have a concussion. I remember taking a break from writing my project for class to go upstairs and listen to music with the guys. I even remember headbanging to a metal/dubstep song that came on. I just don't remember when that headbanging caused a chair to become violent with my right eyebrow. According to accounts from the others, I was a pretty gruesome sight last night. Fortunately, the gash has healed a bit and is minimally blended with my eyebrow, but my head is pretty blurry right now.
Anyway, I guess I'll share a few stories that I can remember. Monday we went to the Accademia to hear a few lectures on women and art. While our stay was interrupted by the test we had in Italian class, it was still a great chance to see Michelangelo's David without the crowd that I'm sure is typically surrounding it. The lecture we heard wasn't bad, though it was difficult to try to translate it when I only know half the words she was saying. The main point I got out of it was that she is definitely a first-wave feminist.
Wednesday was another day, another art exhibit. This time it was a modern exhibit at an art school! The exhibits were designed with Giorgio Vasari, a painter, architect, and historian who was born five hundred years ago. His biographies of Italian artists are famous for being a kind of start to art history, as well as an extremely valuable resource in the field. The exhibit (whose artists we got to meet) was set up in the classrooms. A brief rundown of the exhibits: a photo installment featuring images of Florence, the frame of a house with videos of deteriorating things and an explosion of household items suspended by string, a video projected onto hanging sheets of a victorian woman holding lilies while paper lilies surround the projection, and Bill Viola's "Acceptance" -- a video of a woman being sprayed by water from behind as she goes through a metaphorical life from birth to death. the other part: more cool installments and a lot of paintings.
After seeing the exhibits, we got to go downstairs to see their printing presses from 1860 and 1862 -- the years before and after Italy unified. I thought that was pretty cool. The presses were pretty cool to see in person, too.
Our trip on Thursday took us to an exhibit for which we've been seeing the signs all over Florence: Denaro e Bellezza. Money and beauty. Because usury was banned by the Church, bankers couldn't charge interest on their loans. This led them to engage in a system of trading which would then allow them to earn a profit when goods were sold and resold. That was the theme of the exhibit, and it was very beautiful and probably worth a pretty penny. Among other things we saw many artifacts including florins (the money of the time), a very intricately designed ivory comb, and some of the cloth that would have been used in the aforementioned trade system. There were also some pretty pictures that included Botticelli's Venus and a number of representations of the historic burning of Savonarola (look it up if you haven't heard of it, it's worth knowing about).
There's another exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi called Declining Democracy. It's free on Thursday nights, so maybe I'll tell you about it next week. I hope to, at least.
Well, I think I've written enough for now. I've been working on my project on Dante Alighieri, so maybe when that's done I'll tell you about it. Or I'll just post my essay. You want to read an essay, right? Don't worry, it's not long.
11 October 2011
I'm Still Here!
Hello everyone,
My apologies for my extended absence from this blog -- I do, however, have a few excuses! For one, I've been sick, so I haven't done much lately. For another, I've been doing a lot of cooking and general hanging out, so I've been fairly busy despite not doing much of note. But anyway, I'll try to keep the updates coming now that I'm feeling better again. we are taking a trip to go hiking at Cinque Terres on Friday, so there will definitely be an update from that trip!
Moreover, it's funny to consider that I've been here for almost a month. Though it's been easy to get accustomed to life in Florence, it still doesn't feel like a third of this trip is already gone. I'll be back home in just over two months... and I only have a month and a half of Italian Language class left!
Anyway, no video right now, but once I do something worth talking about I will upload another video. For now, ciao!
My apologies for my extended absence from this blog -- I do, however, have a few excuses! For one, I've been sick, so I haven't done much lately. For another, I've been doing a lot of cooking and general hanging out, so I've been fairly busy despite not doing much of note. But anyway, I'll try to keep the updates coming now that I'm feeling better again. we are taking a trip to go hiking at Cinque Terres on Friday, so there will definitely be an update from that trip!
Moreover, it's funny to consider that I've been here for almost a month. Though it's been easy to get accustomed to life in Florence, it still doesn't feel like a third of this trip is already gone. I'll be back home in just over two months... and I only have a month and a half of Italian Language class left!
Anyway, no video right now, but once I do something worth talking about I will upload another video. For now, ciao!
01 October 2011
Life in Florence
Well, we went to Siena and San Gimignano yesterday and then had the welcome social event or all the groups. While I don't mean to diminish those experiences, from the hilly roads of Siena and the chaotic (entropy, Yulia!) architectural plan of the city to the "world's best gelateria" and gorgeous views from atop San Gimignano to the new friends and karaoke (Don't Stop Believin'!) at the bar last night, those are not going to be the focus of this post. I realized that, fourteen days in, I still haven't discussed life here. For some of you (such as Mrs. Laurie Brooks -- hi mom! I miss you!), this culture that I'm experiencing is foreign to you and you may not have even heard much about it! Thus, I want to describe in some disorganized detail what it's like to live here. I'll try my best, and stop me if it gets dull or repetitive.
Living in the apartment is very nice. We have a great view of the piazza in front of the place. It seems to always be busy down there, and there's a great kebab shop right beside our door with a friendly guy who loves to talk to us. Doing laundry gets frustrating, though -- I'm pretty sure our washing machine has about twenty settings, and we have to use about three of them to properly clean our clothes. The kitchen is tiny, but it's good to have one -- the girls on the first floor (remember, the floors are counted starting from the "first floor" above ground level -- so those of you in the states could find me on the fourth level, even though it's the third floor) don't even have an oven! It's a gas stove, too, which makes me really happy! The water is drinkable, but it's got a slightly chlorinated flavour, so I frequently pick up bottled water to have as well.
There is a grocery store right down the road about two minutes. It's a very busy place and there tend to be a lot of Americans who shop there -- probably because it's close to being in town. Despite this, everything is labeled in Italian and the staff doesn't know much English, so it's still good to practice. The food is relatively more expensive, though, so it's usually best to go to the Co-op -- a very big grocery store that's maybe half a mile or more down the road.
Crossing the road is interesting. if you're waiting to cross, people won't notice you, but you really have to push your way out into the street if there's no traffic light and just let the cars stop for you. it's also easy to get distracted by shops on the way -- the ground floor of buildings is reserved for shops and apartments comprise the upper (usually three) floors. the shops are also strange -- to save space, the front is generally narrow (which makes room for many shops in one building) and the store is instead very long. thus, what looks like a miniature specialty shop can be a small store with a few selections of boots or a full-size grocery store that's about six times as long as it is wide. That also means that you can walk down a road and see three liquor stores, five shops selling leather goods, two that have boots, and a grocery store or two -- all in the same strip. you can then turn the corner and find the same thing.
Doing alright so far? don't worry, I'll wrap it up soon.
I was talking to one of our program's staff the other day (Wednesday, it was) about various systems in Italy -- which is probably similar to much of Europe, in fact. Education is nearly free -- you can go to university for about a thousand dollars here, and that's the cost of the textbooks. You also get free medical coverage and prescriptions. Many of these things are already covered. The catch? Taxes here are about 51%. while that sounds crazy, don't scoff at it just yet -- Italy has sixty million people in a space roughly the size of Arizona. For that many people, this is just practical. Regardless of whether I agree with it, there are benefits to this system.
Well, I hope I haven't bored you too much. Especially for those who have been over here before and know this already, feel free to correct anything I mentioned in my comments, assuming you actually read this and didn't just leave. If that's you, great job -- I probably wouldn't have done the same! And sorry, no video this time -- though I may upload another video from the ruins at Fiesole or from Siena.
Living in the apartment is very nice. We have a great view of the piazza in front of the place. It seems to always be busy down there, and there's a great kebab shop right beside our door with a friendly guy who loves to talk to us. Doing laundry gets frustrating, though -- I'm pretty sure our washing machine has about twenty settings, and we have to use about three of them to properly clean our clothes. The kitchen is tiny, but it's good to have one -- the girls on the first floor (remember, the floors are counted starting from the "first floor" above ground level -- so those of you in the states could find me on the fourth level, even though it's the third floor) don't even have an oven! It's a gas stove, too, which makes me really happy! The water is drinkable, but it's got a slightly chlorinated flavour, so I frequently pick up bottled water to have as well.
There is a grocery store right down the road about two minutes. It's a very busy place and there tend to be a lot of Americans who shop there -- probably because it's close to being in town. Despite this, everything is labeled in Italian and the staff doesn't know much English, so it's still good to practice. The food is relatively more expensive, though, so it's usually best to go to the Co-op -- a very big grocery store that's maybe half a mile or more down the road.
Crossing the road is interesting. if you're waiting to cross, people won't notice you, but you really have to push your way out into the street if there's no traffic light and just let the cars stop for you. it's also easy to get distracted by shops on the way -- the ground floor of buildings is reserved for shops and apartments comprise the upper (usually three) floors. the shops are also strange -- to save space, the front is generally narrow (which makes room for many shops in one building) and the store is instead very long. thus, what looks like a miniature specialty shop can be a small store with a few selections of boots or a full-size grocery store that's about six times as long as it is wide. That also means that you can walk down a road and see three liquor stores, five shops selling leather goods, two that have boots, and a grocery store or two -- all in the same strip. you can then turn the corner and find the same thing.
Doing alright so far? don't worry, I'll wrap it up soon.
I was talking to one of our program's staff the other day (Wednesday, it was) about various systems in Italy -- which is probably similar to much of Europe, in fact. Education is nearly free -- you can go to university for about a thousand dollars here, and that's the cost of the textbooks. You also get free medical coverage and prescriptions. Many of these things are already covered. The catch? Taxes here are about 51%. while that sounds crazy, don't scoff at it just yet -- Italy has sixty million people in a space roughly the size of Arizona. For that many people, this is just practical. Regardless of whether I agree with it, there are benefits to this system.
Well, I hope I haven't bored you too much. Especially for those who have been over here before and know this already, feel free to correct anything I mentioned in my comments, assuming you actually read this and didn't just leave. If that's you, great job -- I probably wouldn't have done the same! And sorry, no video this time -- though I may upload another video from the ruins at Fiesole or from Siena.
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