Slowly but surely, I'm becoming American once more

I have a small confession to make...

I've been back in the US for over 2 weeks. I came back as planned on May 10, thankfully dodging any interference from the volcanic ash that I was so worried about.

No longer can I use the lack of internet as an excuse to not update my blog. I am constantly connected to the internet - even more so than before due to my new Blackberry.

So my updates will become more regular and I will bring this blog up to date on all my traveling that transpired over the last 6 months or so.

Until then, I'm planning on making a half-hearted effort to find a summer job and readjusting to life in my native country.

I've already been made painfully aware of the fact that I am no longer in Italy by many different events. I miss the blunt approach the Italians have to life - when I spoke to my friends here, they initially found me to be brutally honest. Needless to say both parties had some adjusting to do.
I can't look at the "Italian food" served in the US, let alone eat it. No pizza for the next few months until I can forget what authentic pizza tastes like. And don't get me started on how dismayed I am that I can't buy alcohol for myself yet. How am I supposed to get my wine?!

But for all the cultural differences, I love my home country. And I can't complain that I no longer have to worry about communication errors when going to the doctors or ordering at restaurants. Plus, seeing my friends and family again continues to be a treat each day.

Now that I'm back I can clearly see huge changes in who I am and what I want out of life - all for the better, I think. But more on that later. And more pictures and stories of my travels.

I'm back on blogger but who knows when I'll be back in the US...

It has been 4 months since I've posted - I must apologize profusely for my absence from the web...

To bring you all up to speed with my life in Europe, here is a quick summary of where I am now:

I am still studying in Siena, Italy (Tuscany). The differences between this semester and last are staggering - I am no longer living in an apartment with American room mates, but in a homestay with an Italian family (and none of them speak a word of English). Unfortunately this means I have no internet access at home, thus making it a real challenge to post here. Other than that, it is warm outside (FINALLY!) which means I no longer have to wear 3 layers when I leave the house!

I've been on the move a lot, traveling across the country. In the near future I intend to post pictures and stories about all the places I've been (including places like Prague, Vienna, Northern Italy, etc.).

But sadly I will be leaving in 3 weeks to return to the US. Or at least, that's when my flight is scheduled - my flight that will be going through London's Heathrow airport. If you've been following the global news, you may have noticed a little hitch in European travel as of late...

For those of you who haven't heard, a volcano erupted last week in southern Iceland. The ash from this has been causing flight delays for almost a week now - especially in London - with no definite end in sight. The volcano is still spewing ash and scientists fear another eruption down the road (in a few weeks or a few months, no one really knows).

Some airports reopened (at least some of their flights) today, but a new ash cloud that is moving in could set all progress back to square one again. This may mean that I could end up stuck in Rome if my flight is canceled.

I know, poor Taylor, stranded in one of the most amazing cities on Earth...
I have to admit, I'll use any excuse I can to spend more time in Italy - but unfortunately doing so wouldn't bode well for my dwindling bank account.

But for now, there's nothing I can do except stay optimistic and enjoy my last few weeks in beautiful (and mostly sunny) Siena.

20th birthday in Paris!!!

I recently celebrated my 20th birthday (about a week ago) in Paris, France! I have to say that this was absolutely the best birthday I’ve ever had and a fantastic way to say goodbye to my teenage years.
About 20 of my friends from my study abroad program accompanied me and my friend Sabrina (who was turning 21 the day before my birthday) to a 4 star hotel in the business district of Paris. The whole weekend was magnificent – I ate nutella crepes nonstop, drank French wine and champagne, and saw all my favorite places in France!

I started my birthday off by going to Notre Dame, one of my favorite places in the world. The architecture conveys so much passion and devotion that must have gone into constructing this church. Standing there, looking at the breathtaking stained glass gives me a sense of tranquility and clarity. If I lived in Paris, I would be in Notre Dame every day just drinking in the beauty.




I also went to the Champs Elysees where there is a Christmas market and the Arc de Triumph where the Christmas spirit is nearly palpable.



I went to Montmartre – one of my favorite areas of Paris – and sat inside the Sacre-Coeur for a while.



On the way back to dinner, we encountered a band playing in a metro station. There was a huge crowd and a ton of strangers started dancing together. It was so much fun and there was so much positive energy. I felt as though it was my own personal dance party in the metro. I couldn’t stop smiling. :)



The best part of my birthday though was the evening. On 9:20 all my friends and I jumped on the metro and got to the Eiffel tower just at 9:54pm (the time I was born). I stood under the Eiffel tower and turned 20 there. I popped a bottle of champagne under the tower as a fantastic light show began and music played. My friends and I all watched the light show with awe – it was fantastic. We danced under the tower until we got too cold to stay any longer and went off in search of some other place to dance.

Upon returning to Italy, I had so many birthday wishes from my friends and family back in the US. My brother even wrote a special blog for my birthday :) check it out here:

The whole experience was so memorable – I feel so lucky to have celebrated my 20th birthday in the city of lights and have received so much love from the people in my life. Thank you to everyone for making it so special.

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.

So here's what I've been up to in Siena for the past few months...

Aside from my travels to other part of Italy, I’ve been having some small adventures here in Siena. A few weeks ago, I went to my first European football (soccer) game. The game was Siena vs. Lazio and it was played here in Siena. In Siena, women pay 6 or so euro less (almost 10 dollars) then men for football tickets. That, plus the fact that the football stadium is only a two minute walk from my apartment, meant that I had no reason not to go to the game.

It was a good game that ended up in a 1-1 tie. I particularly enjoyed the diehard Sienese fans that yelled at the refs when they made questionable calls. Here are some photos from my first football game in Italy.





My class recently took a small field trip to one of the many contrada’s (neighborhoods) of Siena. There, in the Tortuga (tortoise) contrada, we visited the contrada’s church and museum. Each contrada has its own church, museum, and fountain. Tortuga, being one of the winners of this summer’s Palio, has their current Palio painting (which the winners of the Palio receive each year) on display in the church. The museum holds many artifacts and past Palios from the contrada. Here are some photos of it all:






In my free time a few weeks ago, I ventured outside the walls of Siena to a nearby middle school where I tutored some 7th graders in English. I prepared a game about American pop culture in which they guessed the names of American celebrities. I was surprised how much of American culture is present in Italy, seeing as they not only knew who Beyonce and Lady Gaga were, but they were also very familiar with figures such as Obama and George Clooney. There is so little Italian pop culture that I see in America. This makes me feel a little guilty – why is America so isolated and seemingly unwilling to learn from other countries?

About 2 weeks ago I headed down to the center of Siena at the Piazza del Campo to find that there was a huge outdoor market taking place there. I’ve never seen this in the two months I’ve been here, but it was so exciting to see so many people out in this colder weather. The stalls at the market had a huge variety of merchandise including contrada memorabilia, knick-knacks, clothing, accessories, food and wine. I purchased a slightly pricey bottle of Chianti wine (my personal favorite). In the evening, I returned to the Campo and was surprised that the market was still in full swing, now accompanied by beautiful sparkling lights lining all the rooftops of the Campo. It was a very gorgeous sight. Unfortunately I left my nice camera at home so I couldn’t capture the extent of the beauty with my little point-and-shoot, but here are some photos anyways.




My Italian class took a day off from language learning to learn how to cook traditional Italian food! We learned to make rice stuffed tomatoes, a tomato and bread soup, pici (thick traditional Sienese pasta that we rolled by hand!), a tomato sauce, and tiramisu! Then we ate everything we made. So good!

Update (part 2): Autumn and Sicily

Alrighty, part two of my blog update…

First of all, I’d like to point out that up until now, I have spent my entire life in Southern California. Therefore, I do not know what cold weather really is. Due to my belief that winter consists of a couple rain showers and temperatures in the low 60’s, the last few weeks have been a cold shock to my system. Despite my slow acclamation to the autumn weather, I managed to get myself out of the house and take some pictures of the beautiful autumn leaves at La Fortezza (the fortress) near my apartment.






This is also where I go to exercise when I’m feeling fat from all the food I’ve been eating here. I love the beautiful views from La Fortezza. It almost makes running fun. Almost.

So due to my inability to cope with the cold, I was quite glad to escape to the south of Italy last weekend where the temperatures are considerably warmer. I met up with a friend I know from the US who is currently studying in Florence and we flew from Pisa to Palermo (in Sicily). From Palermo, we ventured across Sicily to the city of Catania, then back to Palermo before returning home.

On my way to Sicily, I managed to snap some nice photos from the plane. I believe this is the Amalfi coast (but I could be wrong). Look at the beautiful blue water!



I think the best way I can describe Sicily is this: when you picture Italy and all the stereotypes that come along with it, you are imagining Sicily. Now I say this in a good way, because Sicily truly completes one’s experience in Italy. They have amazing foods (especially pizza and baked goods), gorgeous buildings (some antiquated and dilapidated), handsome men, hectic drivers, and Italians yelling, gesturing and swearing at each other in Italian. The Sicilians speak far less English than the north of Italy, but they are infinitely more helpful and warm when tourists ask for directions.

There are other stark differences between Sicilians and Tuscans. First of all, the Italian spoke in Sicily can almost be considered its own dialect of Italian. While northern Italians pride themselves on having a more “pure” form of Italian, Sicilians have a very different way of speaking.

Another huge difference is the nightlife. In every other Italian city I have visited, the majority of people go out around 10 or 11 at night and party until about 2 or 3 in the morning. However, the Sicilians do it very, very differently. In Sicily, people go to a bar around 11 or 12, then go to a different bar/dance club until 2 or 3, then head over to another bar for a few hours, then another club. Most people seem to stay out until 6 or 7 in the morning. While the nightlife in Sicily (especially Palermo) is exciting, I had an incredibly exhausting night full of dancing and drinking on my Saturday in Palermo.

Catania is a beautiful city that seems elegant and sophisticated, but is also incredibly colorful with huge outdoor markets of fresh meats, cheeses, fruits, and of course seafood.









The Sicilian countryside is absolutely beautiful with lots of greenery, hills, and palm trees due to the more tropical climate of the south.



In Palermo, my friend and I did some exploring and saw some beautiful sights. Here are some statues, parks, cathedrals, and theaters we found.












We were also directed (by the owners of our hostel) to a delicious bakery that serves the most delicious chocolate cake I have ever tasted.





We also went to a huge seafood dinner. Sicily, being on the water, has a great amount of fresh, delicious fish. Here are some shots I snapped of my dinner before I devoured it.




Although I was not allowed to photograph it, we did go to the Cappuccini Catacombs in Palermo, where years ago some monks began mummifying people once they had died. In the catacombs, there were hundreds of dead bodies on display, all dressed in the clothes they were mummified in. Some corpses had flesh and hair while others were only bone. It was a haunting, yet interesting experience.

Overall, Sicily was beautiful and seemed to be the quintessential Italian experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself there in search of good food and a little bit of warmth in some of the colder winter months.