To celebrate Italy’s 150th anniversary of unification (March 17th, 1861), I attended one event in Florence and another in Torino.  In Florence they called it Notti Tricolori’, or Tri-Coloured Nights.  The entire day there were Italian flags hanging from every building, museums were open until 1 in the morning with free entry, and concerts were held in the piazzas.  I attended the event pretty early, so there weren’t that many people, but from what I saw it looked like it was going to be a fun event.  I got my free Italian flag and celebratory pin, and even got a picture with the Mayor of Florence! By the time I was left I was pretty satisfied haha.  The festivities ran until late in the morning, so it wouldn’t have been practical for me to stay until the end anyways, because I had school the next day.  

For the festivities in Torino I went with the University.  It was one of the “optional fieldtrips.”  Over the weekend we did a lot of really fun activities- Elizabeth always plans the best trips, every activity planned to the tee but with excellent precision and thoughtfulness.  Originally I was very stressed, because the trip came at a very inconvenient time- this week I have three papers, a presentation, and an exam. But the trip turned out to be wonderful and I’m very happy that I went, even though I didn’t get any work done. Really the chance to see any city in Italy, especially on such a special day, is really a great and unique opportunity.  I feel really fortunate to be studying in Italy on the 150th anniversay celebration!

Our first day started with leaving the house at 7am, but I only slept for 1 hour. I wanted to finish one of my papers and do some laundry before the weekend started. I was really tired the next day, but I though it was so worth it to relieve my stress level haha. On our first day in Torino (we took a train) we went to the Reale Basilica di Superga and saw the tombs of the Savoy family and climbed the Dome of Juvarra.  I loved seeing the tombs…it’s so interesting to think about the royal families that are still living in Italy and that someday, if they wanted to, they could be buried there.  My friends and I joke that the Savoys are planning a resistance against the government to restore their power haha. Where can I meet a Savoy and be buried in a royal tomb with my own allegorical sculpture? Haha :).  That day we also went to the Chiesa dei Cappuccini, which required a drive and a climb to get there, but it was great nonetheless.

Another place that we went was the Cinema Museum was really fun. It’s supposed to be one of the most famous in the world, and it had a lot of American movies and fun attractions.  My favorites were these fake living rooms of every decade showing how people enjoyed television and cinema in the past up until the modern present (i.e lava lamp decorated living rooms and reclining modern lounge chairs with built in head sets and flat screens); the Matrix movie video recorder that puts your actions into the movie; and what I call the “charlie and the chocolate factory glass elevator” that looks like you’re going to crash through the ceiling. It’s my favorite movie so I loved it :)).

Elizabeth bought us all “chocolate passes” that enabled us to participate in a Chocolate Tour. In my opinion it really made the trip haha..probably because we all bonding in search of good chocolate. We had a joke- how fast can we get to these places and how many laws can we break? In order to make time more efficient and hit all the places we had to jump barriers, cross train tracks, run red lights, etc. Haha the things we do for chocolate :).  Chocolate in Torino = Delicious.

We also went to an Opera, written by the famous Risorgimento composer, Verdi.  Ever since learning about the effect of the opera during the Risorgimento I had always wanted to attend one. I went to one in Florence, which was great, but this was spectacular.  I wish I could have understood all of the Italian and wasn’t so tired, but nevertheless I had a wonderful time.  We got to sit in the box seats looking down at the stage.  What really surprised me is that the opera was set in contemporary time..I was expecting a 19th century setting!  It was fascinating, though, because they made a lot of references to Italian politics today.  While I didn’t catch everything, it was still very interesting.  In my research project about Italian Unification with Bud I really want to research the effect that the Opera had on the lives of the people, because from what we learned in class it shaped propagandistic ideals into the people in order to promote revolutionary activity and nationalism.  Fascinating stuff..

In general, Torino was a beautiful city.  :)

On the Terravision bus back to Florence now! Long weekend was so spectacular. I spent the first two days in Florence and the last three in Paris. The point of staying in Florence for two of the days was to get a lot of work done, but in actuality I ended up doing none of it. I really tried to, but my computer is broken (when it loads to the desktop screen it crashes and switches to a blue dos screen- Ricky says it’s the “blue screen of death” and there’s nothing I can do about repairing it :( .) I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to get through the last month here in Italy without it..but that’s something I’ll worry about tomorrow. In the meantime when I get back I have to type my Italian paper on the library computer, which of course has a weird keyboard haha. But even though I didn’t get a lot of work done this past week, I did have some great experiences- and got a lot of sleep! Which is always a plus :). Let me break down what I did this week:

Wednesday: Slept in, got gelato at La Geleteria dei Medici (fragola e bacio of course- my favorite). For lunch I met up with Jacopo and he made me lunch at his house. I loved it..being in an Italian’s house and kitchen, watching him prepare food while looking at old family photos. It was great to see the family culture, which is so different from that of Americans. He insisted that what he was making was very simple and not anything spectacular, but nevertheless I really appreciated the gesture and thought it was very sweet. He boiled “pasta piccola”? (The small pasta shaped noodles) with some of his mom’s special red sauce (I told him he was cheating hahah), peeled potatoes to make french fries, cut pane, mozarella, and some salame, and potato chips. He also put out orange soda and vino bianco. Afterward he made some coffee in this tiny coffee maker using the stove..it was so interesting! And then he brought out the “coffee killer” which is this alcohol that you’re supposed to have right after the coffee (I wasn’t a fan haha..it was very potent). It was a great meal..a conglomeration of different foods, all complimenting each other in a way that differs from what I would usually get at a restaurant. It reminded me a little of home..how when we want to eat we grab a little of everything- whatever looks good- and throw it together to somehow make a tasty meal that just hits the spot. It was definitely a great lunch that I’ll always remember. After that we hung out at the villa and listened to music until I fell asleep and he went back home.

Thursday: This day was reserved for cleaning up the mess that accumulated on my side of the room during the week of midterms. I guess you can say I wasted time going into the city to try and find hangers because I couldn’t find anyyy (I don’t like to say that time was necessarily *wasted*, because everything happens for a reasons. At any rate, I was gone for a very long time because I also went to the supermarket and got some snacks for the trip (vanilla wafers- my favorite- and some potato chips). When I came back I cleaned up so I would have something nice to come back to at the end of the weekend, hung out with friends, and jacopo came over to say goodbye. I also had to book the hotel and bus tickets, which took a lot of time.

Friday: James and I left the house at around 3am, ended up not getting on the Terravision bus to Pisa because the time to book online had passed and we had counted on being able to buy a ticket on the bus, but it turns out they were filled. Luckily there were 4 others who weren’t able to get on either, so we all shared a taxi to Pisa, which was a lot more expensive, but at least we made the plane!
This was also my first time flying RyanAir. It was definitely an experience. Flights, if you book early enough, can be ridiculously cheap (like 25 euro), but the trade off is that there’s like no service at all- no food, drinks, tv, even the aesthetics are all plastic. But hey, it gets the job done. It’s pretty much flown by college students or young people traveling, which makes sense because of the price. A lot of people have told me horror stories of how the people are jerks and they didn’t make their flight on time because of issues with their bags, but James and I didn’t experience any issues, lucikly. We flew into Paris-Beavois Airport and took a shuttle into Paris, where we took the metro to our hotel, Relais..?
The next few days were packed..but so amazing. We were so productive and had a great time. First we saw the Louvre and the Muse Orsay (spectacular! Seeing all the paintings and sculpture that I had read about in books for years was breathtaking- especially Renoir’s “Le Moulin de la Galette”, Gericault’s “Liberty Leading the People”, Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”), had lunch at a cafe’ in the Louvre, got Starbucks! (Woho ice tall caramel macchiato with whipped cream!), shopped on the Champs-Elysses, went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and looked at the city at night (absolutely stunning), had dinner at the Latin Quarter and ate Fondue, saw the Arc de Triumphe, and called it a night.
The next day we had delicious crepes at the Creperie in the Latin Quarter (a section of Paris where the young crowd tends to hang out), went to the opera house, inside Notre Dame, a few random cathedrals, walked all the shopping floors of the Gallerie Lafayette, got Lauren and Jemma a bag at the LongChamp store, visited the Creed perfume and cologne store, had the MOST AMAZING macaroons ever at Laudree, which is famous for inventing the double sided macarones. The line outside it was so long, but it was so worth it. We also went to Moulin Rouge, and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe..which was so great I can’t even express it in words..it felt like home.
Today we slept in, ate at a small cafe’ where we had the traditional French breakfast: a coffee, orange juice, and a croissant (flaky and delicious). We also ordered a crepe with nutella and banana haha. It was so filling and worth it. Then we took a walk through the park. It was nice to see the Parisians taking a stroll on their Sunday afternoon- it’s cool to observe their lifestyle. The italians call it a “passagiata.”. James called it our “sunday walk on la Grande Jatte,” after the Neo-Impressionist painter, Seurat’s painting haha. After we made a quick stop to visit the Bastille, which was just off the metro station, then headed to the hotel to pick up our bags, and caught the bus to Paris-Beaveis.
overall the weekend was spectacular. Now I feel a bit more refreshed to get back to work and slam out the last month I have in wonderful Florence!
xoxo Josette

I feel like last semester the weekends were filled with new, exciting, culture-shocking events and travels, whereas this semester is so sweetly enriched but in a different way.  I’m having such an amazing time in Italy this time around.  Before I get to what a great weekend I had in Florence, first let me describe how my Friday went. 

For our project on Italian Unification, Bud and I took a train to Rome (this was my 5th time to Rome haha) to visit the Vatican Library.  The library is situated inside Vatican City, where regular tourists aren’t allowed to visit.  Undergraduate students aren’t usually admitted, either, unless you have special permission.  Usually you have to be researching for your doctorate or theological studies.  Anyways Alessio was able to get us inside, laughing saying that he had to say we were “very important people” :).  When we first got there we had to go through the Swiss Guards (google the Swiss Guards at the Vatican— so cool!), go through multiple levels of security with passport information, admissions letters, have a badge printed with our picture on it with a security pass code, and be read the rules and regulations for touching ancient manuscripts.  Unfortunately, our research was very limited because everything was in Italian (something we weren’t too smart about predicting), so instead we walked around the library trying to find the oldest books and manuscripts that we could find.  They used to make books so gorgeous!  They really treated knowledge as something to be earned, respected, and prized.  Some were leather bound, with gold rims, painted stars on the edges, on parchment paper.  Bud and I put a little slip of paper in one book from 1610 on the History of Venice.  Hopefully it doesn’t fall out..I wonder how many people are really going to pick up that book for a light read?

When we came back I ended up sleeping all day..was so exhausted from the busy day.  The next day, after studying, I went out with my Italian friend.  Over the past few weeks he has really become a good friend here in Florence.  I’m so happy that I met him!  Right now he is studying to take exams for his classes.  How the university system works (from what I can understand) is that you go to class for 3 (or something like that) months and then you have a break, and then you study for the next 3 months to take an oral and a written exam in each of your classes.  He said that he wakes up to go to the library at 7am every day and studies all day for his exams.  It’s really sweet because sometimes he drops by the villa to say hello and asks if I want to get lunch :).  Sometimes when we are speaking English I forget that he is Italian because he can speak it so well! With colloquial slang like “dunno” that he learned from mtv haha.  I am reminded that he isn’t American when I listen closely for his accent and when I speak a little too fast he gets a slightly confused look on his face (he can’t pretend very well haha).  It’s also really interesting because I have a hard time understanding his Italian sometimes because he says that Florentines like to “eat their words” by not pronouncing certain letters.  I’m working on speaking, but it throws me off sometimes.  

He asked me where are the places that I have traveled to since I’ve been here, and where I usually go to hang out with friends. I told him very touristy spots and he just laughed.  He said that when I want, tell him when my exams are over and he will take me on an “Italian Day” where we go to parts of Florence where there are no tourists and when I speak Italian people will respond to me in English hahah. Soo so excited :).  Annddd he drives a scooter!  Stereotypical Italian guy pretty much.

I’m so sad to only have 6 weeks left in Florence! I hope I can make the best of it. It will be nice to return home to see my parents, friends, and boyfriend- all of whom I miss dearly, but it’s going to be so sad at the same time.  

xo

Back from Turkey!! Now I can say that I’ve been to Asia, since Turkey is divided into the European and Asian sides :).  Other than the gorgeous Islamic architecture was….STARBUCKS!  I should really try to be a bit more cultural and talk about all the amazing things that we did though haha…

The first day we went to Ephesus, an ancient city founded by the Amazons.  It was a major Christan center because Mary, St. John, and St. Paul lived there at some point or another after Jesus’s crucifixion.  The city is in ruins now, but we got to walk through.  I always get a kick out of that kinda thing because I like the feeling of walking on ancient ground and thinking that people from thousands of years ago used to live and walk those paths.  It really makes me wonder about the future of the world and if people will be touring the ancient ruins of my house one day, with a rope around my toothbrush =p.  

My favorite part is split between the next two days.  During this time we visited all the beautiful architecture.  We say the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, and Hagia Sophia.  I feel like I have studied these structures in my art history books for so many years..it was surreal to finally be able to see them in person.  The Hagia Sophia was spectacular, with gorgeous gold mosaics, and elements dating back to the Byzantine times.  The next day we visited the Grand Baazar and the Egyptian Spice Market.  I got my Big and my parents some Turkish Delight, my Big some tea, and some Turkish Delight for myself and 2 rings.  Ohh and a lamp hahaha.  For some reason I have a weakness for desk lamps (if I ever find a floor lamp that is just as unique as the desk lamps that I have found then I’m sure they will soon be included in my obsession).  The lamp looks like it’s from Turkey and it’s a great conversational piece (that’s me justifying my purchases haha).  We also saw the Whirling Dervishes, which is a sect of Islam that spin in circles to achieve a greater connection with God.  I really like observing worship practices from other religions (see India blog).  

The one really unique experience was the Turkish Baths.  We had to be completely naked (except they gave us some panties), lay on a hot marble slab in a room (guys and girls were separated, obvs), and then a woman came by and scrubbed and massaged us.  I didn’t realize that they were going to wash my hair..it almost felt like I was drowning haha..so much water was going over my head at once.  The Turkish Baths has been a practice every since ancient times. It was a social activity where the women would get together and share the gossip of the city.  It was a strangely relaxing experience, especially because after we got facials, pedicures, and manicures.  The dollar-lyra is like double right now, so I figured, why not?

I remember the last EFT to Sicily and that I got soo much sleep and by the time I returned I was refreshed and ready to slam out the second part of the semester until long weekend.  But this time around I’m so exhausted.  I’m not sure exactly why that is.  Maybe because we went out every night to explore the area around the hotel.  I think this time around everyone is so comfortable with each other that the temptation to hang out is a lot more present than it was last semester.  Or maybe because we did more on this EFT.  In Sicily we were on the bus a lot so we had opportunity to sleep and regather our strength for the next city.  Overall I loved it..it was a great experience and I’m happy that I got to visit.  It’s one of those places that’s ideal to visit on an EFT, I think, because traveling out where to go in Turkey would be so complicated haha. Yay for Elizabeth 

Midterms are coming up in the next two weeks.  It’s starting to get to that time when things get very stressing. Will write soon <3.