Rome, Florence, and Siena within 2 days...

About 2 weeks ago my Italian Cinema class went on a field trip to Rome (Roma in Italian) to see a movie at the Casa del Cinema there and then chat with some influential Italian directors and writers. We watched “The Conformist” (with English subtitles, thank god – my Italian isn’t that good yet). Afterward we had a round table discussion with Dacia Maraini (an Italian writer), Adriano Apra (Italian film specialist in film history and director), and Giuliano Montaldo (Italian director). It was a treat to hear them discuss “The Conformist”. Here’s the best photo I was able to secretively snap of them:




The day after Rome, my entire study abroad program went on our last excursion together to Florence (Firenze in Italian). Florence isn’t too far from Siena – only an hour and a half on the bus. There we went to the Uffizi museum as well as the museum that houses The David statue. Florence was gorgeous, especially it’s duomo.









Upon returning to Siena, I decided to finally take photos of my apartment that I’ve been living in for the past 2 and a half months…
My apartment is more spacious and newer than your typical Italian apartment. I also have a fantastic view of a Piazza. I often sit on my windowsill and watch as contrada’s parade by, people converse in Italian, and vespas zoom all over the place. Oh, one thing about Italian bathrooms – each and every one has a toilet and a bidet. So European.

Opera a Firenze!

Last Thursday I went to see an opera in Florence. The opera was Verdi's "Rigoletto" - this opera was adapted from Victor Hugo's "Le roi s'amuse" original play. While I had never heard of this opera, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I had already heard a few of the songs from it. "Rigoletto" contains the song "La Donna E Mobile", which I have heard as performed by Pavarotti.

Now, while I thoroughly enjoyed dressing up and sipping on wine before the opera began, I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed in the performance that I saw. Perhaps the most off-putting aspect of this production of "Rigoletto" was the set that was used. It did not look like a Duke's court with jesters and nobles as the time period of the story would have you imagine. Instead, the set consisted of a fake Rolls Royce that the Duke rode around in, a dog house that the main character (Rigoletto) and his daughter (Gilda) lived in, a boat, and a giant rotating black wall that didn't seem to serve much of any purpose. It is possible that the director was going for a modern spin on the antiquated story of Rigoletto, but it appeared as though the set was thrown together using leftover props from previous productions.

Aside from the aesthetics, I was not moved by the singing. While the singing was not bad, it was not what I would expect from a professional opera in Italy. But in all fairness, I had listened to Pavarotti's rendition of "Questa o Quella" earlier and the day, and Pavarotti sets a pretty high bar.

Luckily, the music itself was amazing - I really do have a lot of respect for the orchestra that performed that evening.

Aside from the opera, not much else is new. Except that it is now COLD here. Fa freddo! It literally happened overnight. Luckily it has been sunny and clear - though the locals tell me it will only get colder over the next few months, and you can bet it will start raining more frequently. I've had to go out and buy new sweaters and boots so that I don't freeze to death on the ten minute walk to class in the morning.
Today I could see my breath, despite the shining sun and bright blue sky. This did not sit well with me. I am a southern Californian girl - I am not familiar with cold weather.
This will be an adventure...albeit, a very cold one.

I'm going to get fat eating all this food - and I really don't mind

My apologies for going so long without posting here!

Life in Siena has been crazy (but good) and I don't even know where to start explaining it all!

I think perhaps the most important thing I need to write about is the food in Italy seeing as it is what my life revolves around here. I picked up a bit of Italian before classes started and it was all about how to order food. "Vorrei una fetta" is "I'd like a slice of pizza". Or "Vorrei uno piccolo cono di Limone" is "I'd like a small cone of lemon gelato". (Please forgive any spelling/grammatical errors in my Italian...I am still learning).

For the first week or so that I was here, I was on a strict pizza and gelato only diet. In Siena there is at least 3 pizzerias and 5 gelato bars on each street.

Now I don't really know how to describe the pizza here other than to say it is AMAZING. It is thin, but not too crunchy and it always tastes good. I don't think I'll ever get sick of the pizza here - and honestly I will probably never eat pizza in America again because now I've been exposed to the superiority of Italian pizza.

Gelato is going to be the death of me - I love it even more than the pizza here. Gelato is the Italian version of ice cream,and like the pizza here, it is infinitely better than its American equivalent. I'm lactose intolerant but I can't stop eating gelato! There are tons of different flavors at each gelateria and while each gelato flavor I've tried has been amazing, I think my favorite combination is Rose Petal (petali di rosa) with Chocolate (cioccolata) or Strawberry (fragola). I haven't had gelato in two days now (I'm trying to avoid getting too fat right away), but I feel that in another day's time I will be indulging in some Nutella flavored gelato.


(Gelato at a gelateria on one of the main streets of Siena)

After eating too much pizza and gelato (if there is even such a thing as "too much pizza and gelato"), I've branched out and sampled various Italian dishes. I love running into a bakery and buying a panino with Tuscan salami and cheese. I tried gnocchi with ragu in Florence and wanted to buy two more orders of it. I've had risotto (with some beef in it - just delicious) and an unbelievable tomato soup with bread in it (I'm told I will learn to cook this in my upcoming cooking class). I keep my kitchen stocked with bread and brie cheese at all times and often prepare a simple past dish wish pesto sauce for a light dinner when I'm not eating out.

The other item I've become enamored with is the wine here. The region of Tuscany is famous for their Chianti, so I have been drinking a glass (or two...) with dinner every evening.

There really is no way to describe how fantastic the food is here - everyone really must try it for themselves.

Ciao Bella!

So I arrived in Siena a little under a week ago and have been far too busy to get around to posting! I apologize for the putting this off since I know a lot of you have been curious as to how my new life in Italy is going! Here is the explanation of how I got to Siena. Soon I'll post more about eating and living in Italy! :)

So to start off, I have to tell you about my journey from San Diego to Siena.
Last Sunday, my family drove me to LAX. I got through security and found my gate without a problem. At the gate I met with 8 other students who were all traveling to Siena to study in the same program as myself. We all boarded the plane right on time. Almost 11 hours later we touched down in Zurich where we all easily found our way to the next gate for our flight to Florence. Everything was going unbelievably well until we got the the baggage claim at Florence. Everyone got all their bags except for one girl who was missing one of her bags. We waited for 30 minutes for the lost and found department to give her the appropriate paperwork.

This delay caused us to miss the 8:00pm shuttle bus from the Florence airport to the bus station. So we took the 8:30 shuttle, which put us at the bus station at 9:00pm. At this point, 3 of girls we were traveling with left us and went to their hostel they had reserved for that evening in Florence. The remaining 6 of us frantically tried to find the bus stop (which is adjacent to the huge train station we had been dropped off at) in order to catch the last bus to Siena at 9:15pm. Unfortunately we missed the bus due to the fact that we couldn't find anyone to give us clear instructions (in English) to the bus station.

At this point we decided to buy an open train ticket to go to Siena. A train was departing from platform 2 in 15 minutes. We hurry over to platform 2 but there is no on on the train. We then hear an announcement informing us that the train on platform 2 is a non-passenger train. At this point we believe we have no way to get to Siena and make our hostel reservation for the evening. But we soon find out that a train is leaving for Empoli (where we can get a connection to Siena) in 3 minutes from the opposite end of the train staion. We sprint for the train and barely haul all our luggage onto the train before it takes off.

At this point, a nice Italian man named Luchio (please excuse any incorrect Italian spelling) helps us put all our luggage overhead and explains to us (in very good English) that some trains and workers are on strike so some trains are unavailable even though you can buy tickets for them. This explains why we couldn't take the train from platform 2. As the train sped along, I realized that we had not validated (stamped) our ticket before jumping on the train - this can result in a heavy fine in Italy. So two girls go to get our ticket validated by a train staff member who tells them to get off the train at Empoli and get a bus there that will take us to Siena.

We start to realize that there are no signs or announcements informing passengers where to get off. I find a man who speaks only French and ask him where the stop for Empoli is. He informs me that we are about to arrive in Empoli in 2 minutes. There is a frantic rush as the 6 of us students all heave our bags to the doors and jump off the train. We are left alone at Empoli at 10:50 in the evening.

Empoli is a very sketchy place to be in the evening time. We pull our bags up and down stairs until we make our way out of the train station and onto the street. We can't find the bus stop so we ask some people at a cafe across the street. They point us to the bus stop but explain that the bus won't be there for an hour.

For some reason, Empoli is full of creepy old men who just stared at us as we waited nervously for the bus. At this point we had been traveling for somewhere around 20 hours. The bus to Siena arrives at 11:55pm. We board it and sigh with relief. We arrive at the train station in Siena at 1:30am. But we are not anywhere near the city center (inside the protective walls of Siena on the hill). So we all wait for a taxi. The only taxis running at this hour are tiny little cars that only have room for 2 people plus their luggage. So we split into pairs and arrive at the Pizza Gramsci.

We try to find a hotel (since we've missed our check in time for the hostel) but all are too expensive and we can't navigate the twisting cobblestone streets with our luggage. We find our way to the Piazza del Campo (Pictures at end of this post) at 2am, which is the heart of Siena's social scene. Unfortunately all the bars and cafes were closing. We all put our luggage down and decided to give it up and spend the night there.

In the Piazza del Campo we meet some interesting (and drunk) locals who offer us their apartments for the evening - but we, being paranoid and sleep deprived, decline.

We spent the evening talking there - no sleep. And when the sun finally rises, we go to check in with our program and undergo hours of waiting through orientation and paper work. Finally we are shown to our apartments and dorms at which point I shower and then reluctantly climb into bed (after discovering I was running a fever and was dizzy from the exhaustion) and then fall asleep for 8 hours.

When I woke up, I looked out my bedroom window and and could see a busy piazza full of people speaking Italian and riding vespas. "I'm in Italy," I thought, smiling. "Finally."

The frantic packing is well underway

I leave for Italy tomorrow. I can't seem to wrap my mind around that. In a few days I will be moved into my place and starting my adventure in Siena.

This is mind-boggling!

I don't have much time for a post here because my packing has now become frantic as I rip my room apart in search of various items that seem to have eluded me whilst packing earlier.

I have yet to learn much Italian and I find it to be a bit late in the game to try to learn much more...I suppose my lack of Italian fluency will allow for a more interesting adventure en route to Siena.

I'll be flying into Florence (with a layover in Zurich beforehand) and from there I will be haphazardly attempting to make it from the airport to the bus station in order to make the last bus to Siena for the evening. I have little faith that I'll make it to Siena (where I have a hostel room booked) the same night that I arrive in Florence, but luckily I'm traveling with a few other people from the UC schools who are in my program so I won't be alone in a country where I don't speak the language.

I must return to my packing now! My next blog post will be from Italy!

Ciao!

Going to Italy!

I finally bought my plane ticket to go to Italy the other day!

I am so incredibly excited to study there for the entirety of next year. I will be flying into Florence and then taking a bus to Siena (about a 30 minute ride).

Now I speak absolutely no Italian - that is the whole point of me going there: to learn the language. All my classes there will be Italian language and culture classes. While this doesn't fulfill anything for my GE's or degree requirements, I am far enough ahead in my studies that I can afford to essentially take a year off my real studies and still graduate on time.

I am, however, a little apprehensive about flying into a country where I don't know the language and then finding my way to Siena. But I have been in contact with other people from my program and we will meet up in Florence after my flight and then combat the language barrier together.

Now starts all the list making.

I love love love to make lists. So here is a quick list of all the lists I am going to need to make before I go:

1. What clothes to bring
2. What cosmetics to bring
3. What toiletries to bring
4. Stuff I need to buy once I'm there
5. Important papers/documents to bring
6. Which shoes to bring
7. All the places in Europe I want to travel to
8. What electronics to bring
9. Contact info for emergency situations
10. Useful Italian phrases
11. Miscellaneous items to bring

So much to do, so little time.