Monday was the first day since I've left America that I haven't had something planned with my program. It was wonderful to come home from school and relax. On Tuesday, we had a small wine tasting at school. Thats right, at school! In a classroom! It absolutely blows my mind how different my culture is. Wine would never be allowed near a classroom at Colorado State!
The wine tasting was held by a cute little old man named Sandro. We tasted four red, dry, Tuscan wines. Before every wine we said "salute" which I learned directly translates to "good health for you". The first was a generic Chianti (2012). Sandro explained that the key to a good Chianti is to pick the grapes in the fall when they are the sweetest, and to drink the wine when it is young-no more than 4 years aged. Our second wine was a Chianti Classico (2011). This is a wine that is made in the same region as the winery I visited so it was fun to try a different brand. The third wine we tried was Morellino di Scansanso which is a southern Tuscan wine made in a small villiage. This wine is produced in a warmer climate so we got to see how this affects the taste. The fourth wine (my favorite) was Brunello di Montalcino (2008). This wine is made strictly in 1 village in Southwestern Tuscany and it is famous for its ability to age. This wine is not released earlier than 4 years after production to give it time to age properly.
We discussed the poetic nature of wine making/tasting and the way Italians have adopted this art into their daily lives. Most Italian families have been drinking the same wine for generations, and are very loyal to wine grown in their region. However it is common for younger Italians to choose a different wine every night depending on what they are cooking. This drink is such a huge part of their culture, it's absolutely fascinating.
In other news, today was our midterm for our Italian Intensive course. This course is extremely rigorous, but I'm so happy we are all taking it because our communication with the locals has been very helpful. The class will end with our final next Tuesday and then the real classes, and the real fun begins!
Arrivederci!
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
In other news... just a quick update!
Because of my extreme lack of sleep, I’ve managed to make myself pretty
sick. So today I had to miss out of the Firenze soccer match. But hopefully
there will be another one in my future! On the upside, I booked my first trip
tonight! In a few weeks some friends and I will be going to Interlockin,
Switzerland to spend a weekend in the Swiss Alps! I absolutely can’t wait. My
parents are also in the midst planning their trip to come see me in my new home after my
program is over… I’m beyond excited to share this city and country with them. I
also get to see my dad in THREE WEEKS in Germany! A little taste of home will be just what I need :)
Arrivedercci!
Beautiful Siena!
Saturday morning we had to get up bright and early to head off to Siena, Italy. When we arrived we started our morning with a tour of the Duomo dei Siena for Pope Alexander the 3rd. The church (cathedral?) is famous for its paintings. The walls were covered in biblical stories and portraits of deceased popes, but my favorite was the inside of the dome that was covered in the North Star. We spent a while discussing an alter that was commissioned to Michael Angelo right before he finished the David. He sculpted 6 individual figures into the alter and it was absolutely breath taking. We went into a room that had rows of gigantic books along the walls. The books had gothic writing on parchment in Latin. Their purpose was to have writing big enough that the whole choir could read the lyrics from the same book during mass.
We then headed to the Castle of Sienna for a short tour. The castle was used as a town hall built for the republican government after Italy became a country. The paintings on the walls show the effects of good and bad government, as well as stories of the gods and their struggles for power. I thought this was an interesting contrast to the biblical paintings we had seen in the previous building.
For lunch we went to a small restaurant on the square. We started off with pumpkin risotto (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite Italian dishes!) then moved on to Pici. Pici is the type of pasta that Siena is known for. It is almost spaghetti like, but the noodles are very thick and chewy. Ours was paired with a garlic and spicy tomato sauce, and it was delicious! For desert we had gelato… of course! (Sorry mom, I have to talk about the amazing Italian food at least a little!)
Our next tour was of Contrada Della Selva. In Siena, there are 17 different contradas (neighborhoods), which are named after animals. Selva happens to be the land of the rhino! Each Contrada has two distinct landmarks. The first is a fountain. This is where every child is baptized. These baptisims aren’t into Christianity, but into the Contrada. The community leader says “for now and forever you are a little rhino” and there is a big celebration in August every year to welcome the new members of the community. The second landmark is a church. Inside the church is where the blessing of the horse takes place and where they hang the banners from the races they have won.
Siena is known for their biannual horse races that occur in June and August. 10 of the 17 neighborhoods are chosen to compete in each race. Once the Contradas are chosen, and a horse is chosen to represent the community, the horses are brought into the Contrada church to be blessed before the race. The races are absolutely brutal, and should honestly be outlawed, but the tradition and rivalry is so strong, the races continue after thousands of years. It was incredibly humbling to stand in the town square and think about the hundreds of men who have lost their lives there over the years, and the amount of people who have stood where we were standing to experience this tradition.
Chianti
My mom informed me that my blogs were talking way too much
about food and drinking, and not enough about my cultural experiences or
recommendations. I read a few other blogs from girls in my program and got some
ideas from them, so in my next few entries I will try to include more history
and experiences as apposed to food and drinking, however this might be hard
when talking about a wine tasting!
Right after school on Friday almost everyone in the program
hustled to the bus station to venture off to Chianti, Italy: a small region of
Tuscany where some of the best wine in the world comes from. It looked has if
our bus had driven us right into a post card. The scenery of Tuscany is just as
every picture portrays it: perfect. We were met by our tour guide, Gino, who
welcomed us to the Castillo dei Verranzano (Verrazano means wild boar, and the
castle was named this because of the wild pigs that roam the land that they use
for their world renown salami and prosciutto). Giovanni, the man who’s castle
this was, was the man who discovered the New York Bay Area on April 17, 1524,
so they were much warmer to American’s than most of the Italians we’ve run
across.
We toured the massive underground stone cellars where they
produce the famous Chianti Classico. In this wine they use two grapes that have
been growing for thousands of years. Sangiovese is the grape of the Chianti
region. The wine is named Chianti to verify that the grapes came from this
region and that the wine wasn’t mixed with anything more than 10% of another
grape. The wine ferments in barrels made of 15,000 year old French oak, and there
are walls and walls of barrels that are all in use.
Along with the wine, the vineyard is known for their
Balsamic vinegar. The production process is so complicated it takes from 12-40
years to make. The vinegar is extremely expensive and pure so it is used very
sparingly.
After touring the castle grounds we headed into a room with
a wall of glass windows that looked out onto the rolling hillsides of Toscana
(Tuscany) for our wine tasting. We were taught how to properly hold a wine
glass (by the stem so our body temperature doesn’t transfer through the thin
glass), how to swirl the wine, and how to smell it. Right when we got there
Gino said, “Where there is food there is wine. Where there is wine there is
food” to explain that they use of all the flavors in the region when making the
wine. Cherries, rosemary, flowers,
and oak are just some of the flavors you can smell/taste. He explained that in
life if you take the time to smell the roses, and savor all of your sensory
intakes, you will be able to savor the wine fully and pick out each individual
flavor. He said, “The wine is never what you find in the glass, it’s everything
that surrounds it. It is our history, our heritage, our ancestry. This is our
wine, and our grapes, and our territory”. The whole thing was very poetic.
After the long demonstration, we finally got to taste the
wine. He taught us how to keep it in our pallet, and intake small breaths of
air to fully embody the wine. The first wine was bitter but delicious. After a
few sips, they presented us with slices of bread that had extra, extra virgin
olive oil (only a month old!) on it. After tasting the bread we had the wine
again, and it tasted totally different! This was to show us that wine and food
were created to compliment each other, remember: where there is food there is wine,
where there is wine there is food! We got to taste three different wines that
were paired with prosciutto, salami, and goat chesse, and finally a dessert
wine paired with biscotti.
Leaving the castle was incredibly hard for me. Chianti was
hands down the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to, and this experience was
hard to put into words. It was absolutely magical. So far, this is my favorite
thing I’ve experienced on my trip. I feel like I was able to live a dream for a
day.
Although all of my pictures are on facebook, I thought it would be fun to include some here as well!
Mi Vernaccia! (My apartment)
After living out of my suitcase for over a week, I (along
with everyone else in the program) was BEYOND excited to finally move into our
apartment! The program told us to go into our apartment with relatively low
expectations: sharing rooms, no wifi, small/antique furniture, etc. But in our
case, they couldn’t have been more wrong about! My 9 roommates and I got
incredibly lucky! We live in a 5 bedroom flat right past the Ponte Vecchio. We
are situated along a busy street and intersection, directly above a fresh
market. I’m sharing a room with an amazing girl named Heidi and from our
bedroom window we can see the eventful street, as well as the Arno River. The
apartment comes equipped with 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room with a TV,
and a storage room. I can’t believe how lucky we all got. The apartment came
fully furnished and has mostly white décor with pops of pastel colors. Not to
mention, my roommates are incredible! We all get along amazingly and I can’t
wait to get close with all 9 of them. We are about a 6-minute walk to school
(if we take our time), which has made getting up and out the door a lot easier!
The apartments of other students in our program are spread out all throughout
Florence, so it has been fun to visit them and see different perspectives of
the city. I think I’m finally starting to get my bearings around here, so
hopefully I will be getting lost much less often!
Our first Italian exam was on Thursday so we didn’t get much
time to unpack everything before we needed to study… but after living here for
a few days I honestly can’t imagine anything/anywhere more perfect!
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
And finally, I'm here!!!
These first few days in Florence have been beyond busy. About 16 kids in the program lost their luggage between London and Florence (luckily I wasn’t one of them!), which delayed the process of getting in quite a bit. But once we got to our hotel we only had time to drop off our stuff before dinner. We took the long way to our restaurant in the middle of town so we could see some of the major sights at night. We then had dinner in an incredible building (some sort of castle or historic landmark) with huge gold chandeliers and teal blue walls with the most amazing art. Our meal was four courses long: pumpkin risotto, spicy penne pasta, stuffed turkey and veggies, and tiramisu. Our school also provides wine with dinner, which we thought was interesting, but we had a briefing on the Italian way of drinking. It’s actually illegal to be drunk in Italy (which is probably why American students are looked down upon so much), and they usually only have one drink, or they go to aprevito where they have a couple drinks and appetizers after work and all drinking stops at nine. Our cultures are so different, and I love it. After dinner a group of us girls picked up a bottle of wine on our way home (after our lecture about how to drink responsibly) and went back to the hotel. One of the rooms had a window that led to the roof so we went out and looked over the city then chatted for a little before bed.
We have a complementary breakfast at the hotel... And Italian breakfast is veryyyy different than what I'm used to. It consists mostly of meats and cheeses with herb tomatoes and espresso. Our second day we had a meeting to register with the police then we had a walking tour of the city after a quick lunch (real Italian pizza and gelato mmmm!). The walking tour took over 3 hours! We must have walked miles! Their intentions were good, they wanted to point out the major landmarks and bus stops and such, but honestly we were all too tired and turned around to comprehend any of it. The best part of the tour was the fact that we found our apartment! It's is on the cutest corner right by the ponte vecchio, above a super market, and across the street from a wine bar. I absolutely can't wait to move in! All of the apartments are spread throughout the city. Although it'll be sad to be away from everyone in the program, it will be nice to not look like such tourists walking down the streets in a group of 100! After the tour we came back and had dinner at the hotel. We had salad, roasted chicken (I got caprese salad), gnocchi, and cake. Even though our feet were killing us and we were exhausted, Lexie and I wanted to see the broncos game so we decided to go out. We went to a bar called The Red Garter. It was kind of an American bar and it had football on in one room and karaoke in another. We only stayed till the 4th quarter because we desperately needed sleep but we'll be cheering them on in the Super Bowl from 50,000 miles away!
On Monday we started Italian boot camp... We're packing 45 hours and 3 credits into two weeks. It's really intensive, but even after the first day we can communicate with the locals better... Thank goodness! Our school is about a 35 minute walk from the hotel, but luckily it will only be about a 2 minute walk from our apartment. The school is on a small street tucked away from the city. It has an adorable courtyard and the actual classrooms are all on the second story. The classrooms are small and the teachers are amazing. After school we grabbed a light lunch of bruschetta, then headed back to the hotel for more meetings (which almost all of us slept through). We had a nice dinner in town which consisted of more bruschetta, lasagne, chicken (I got caprese again), and chocolate cake. Once again even though we were EXHAUSTED we decided to go out (I forget what a full night of sleep feels like). We went to a bar called Lions Fountain. This is known as the study abroad bar and there were almost no locals there. There are signed college Tshirts hung up on the ceiling from past American students and there are different shots dedicated to popular colleges (we took the Richmond shot in honor of our first day of school at Richmond University Florence). They played American music the whole night and it was so fun to hang out with the people in our program.
Today we had boot camp again in the morning. We had a coffee break where we all did a shot of espresso and got a cappuccino to get us through the rest of the school day. We had more pizza and gelato for lunch then we headed back to the school to sign up for our excursions for the next month (wine tastings, soccer games, day trips, cooking classes, etc.) Now we're back at the hotel resting before dinner. Dinner is in town again tonight and prosciutto, ravioli, Chianti beef, and Lemon Bavarian is on the menu. We are coming straight back to the hotel after we eat to pack up-we have to be out of our hotel rooms before we head to boot camp tomorrow because after school WE GET TO MOVE INTO OUR APARTMENTS! We have to order wifi for our apartment and set it up we our landlord so I probably won't have internet for another week, but once I do I'll make sure to upload all of my pictures!
Until then,
Caio!
We have a complementary breakfast at the hotel... And Italian breakfast is veryyyy different than what I'm used to. It consists mostly of meats and cheeses with herb tomatoes and espresso. Our second day we had a meeting to register with the police then we had a walking tour of the city after a quick lunch (real Italian pizza and gelato mmmm!). The walking tour took over 3 hours! We must have walked miles! Their intentions were good, they wanted to point out the major landmarks and bus stops and such, but honestly we were all too tired and turned around to comprehend any of it. The best part of the tour was the fact that we found our apartment! It's is on the cutest corner right by the ponte vecchio, above a super market, and across the street from a wine bar. I absolutely can't wait to move in! All of the apartments are spread throughout the city. Although it'll be sad to be away from everyone in the program, it will be nice to not look like such tourists walking down the streets in a group of 100! After the tour we came back and had dinner at the hotel. We had salad, roasted chicken (I got caprese salad), gnocchi, and cake. Even though our feet were killing us and we were exhausted, Lexie and I wanted to see the broncos game so we decided to go out. We went to a bar called The Red Garter. It was kind of an American bar and it had football on in one room and karaoke in another. We only stayed till the 4th quarter because we desperately needed sleep but we'll be cheering them on in the Super Bowl from 50,000 miles away!
On Monday we started Italian boot camp... We're packing 45 hours and 3 credits into two weeks. It's really intensive, but even after the first day we can communicate with the locals better... Thank goodness! Our school is about a 35 minute walk from the hotel, but luckily it will only be about a 2 minute walk from our apartment. The school is on a small street tucked away from the city. It has an adorable courtyard and the actual classrooms are all on the second story. The classrooms are small and the teachers are amazing. After school we grabbed a light lunch of bruschetta, then headed back to the hotel for more meetings (which almost all of us slept through). We had a nice dinner in town which consisted of more bruschetta, lasagne, chicken (I got caprese again), and chocolate cake. Once again even though we were EXHAUSTED we decided to go out (I forget what a full night of sleep feels like). We went to a bar called Lions Fountain. This is known as the study abroad bar and there were almost no locals there. There are signed college Tshirts hung up on the ceiling from past American students and there are different shots dedicated to popular colleges (we took the Richmond shot in honor of our first day of school at Richmond University Florence). They played American music the whole night and it was so fun to hang out with the people in our program.
Today we had boot camp again in the morning. We had a coffee break where we all did a shot of espresso and got a cappuccino to get us through the rest of the school day. We had more pizza and gelato for lunch then we headed back to the school to sign up for our excursions for the next month (wine tastings, soccer games, day trips, cooking classes, etc.) Now we're back at the hotel resting before dinner. Dinner is in town again tonight and prosciutto, ravioli, Chianti beef, and Lemon Bavarian is on the menu. We are coming straight back to the hotel after we eat to pack up-we have to be out of our hotel rooms before we head to boot camp tomorrow because after school WE GET TO MOVE INTO OUR APARTMENTS! We have to order wifi for our apartment and set it up we our landlord so I probably won't have internet for another week, but once I do I'll make sure to upload all of my pictures!
Until then,
Caio!
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Ello England!
Well our flight out was interesting! I got to sit with Karley and Lexie (the girls from my school who are in my program) which was good.. And the TV was free! We got a pretty nice meal with Spanish wine (and of course a spot of tea!) but we all only slept for about 2 hours. There were 5 other girls from our program on the flight, so we started out having some friends in London which was nice!
Our hotel was awesome, and the 90 of us in the program took up almost the entire 3rd and 4th floor. Even though we were all exhausted, we decided we needed to go out and see some of the city. A group of 10 of us girls walked to a cute cafe down the street for lunch. Most of us had quinoa salad and white wine... Which was surprisingly delicious! We then walked to Kensington palace. We didn't take the tour, but we walked the gardens and poked around inside. I was expecting it to be bigger, but it was absolutely beautiful. By this point we were all toast and went back to the hotel for a nap. We finished off the evening with a mixer for everyone in the program at a Pub down the street from our hotel. We ate fish 'n' chips and drank beer and got to know a lot of the people we'll be spending the upcoming semester with. There are only about 10 guys in the whole program, so I'm sure they were pretty overwhelmed! Everyone is so friendly, and there are people from all across the US. I haven't met all 9 of my roommates yet, but so far I love the ones I have met!
Our last day in London was PACKED! We ate a continental breakfast at the hotel, then we loaded onto a double decker coach and headed out on a tour of the city. The tour lasted about 3 hours with a quick coffee and wifi break. We got to see so much! Everything from buckingham palace to Big Ben to London bridge and everything in between! Since we had such a short time in London, this was the perfect way to see all of the sites. After the tour, we had a quick bite to eat then went shopping around a little market and explored the city. We went back to the hotel to regroup in the late afternoon because we had a big night ahead of us! A group of girls took the tube into the heart of London for a Thai food dinner... Which was definitely out of our comfort zone! After dinner we went down the street to see Dirty Dancing the musical (so quirky and cute!). Once the musical was over, we went to Tiger Tiger, a local bar/club. There were a bunch of other AIFS students, along with a lot of locals which was the perfect mix and made such a fun atmosphere. The night ended with about 15 of us sprinting through the tube station trying to catch our ride home. We all got about 4 hours of sleep before we had to load all 90 of us on the coaches and head to the airport for our flight to Pisa!
London was an amazing city, and I definitely want to come back for a longer period of time to experience it more in depth. But right now I absolutely can't wait to get to Florence!!
Well our flight out was interesting! I got to sit with Karley and Lexie (the girls from my school who are in my program) which was good.. And the TV was free! We got a pretty nice meal with Spanish wine (and of course a spot of tea!) but we all only slept for about 2 hours. There were 5 other girls from our program on the flight, so we started out having some friends in London which was nice!
Our hotel was awesome, and the 90 of us in the program took up almost the entire 3rd and 4th floor. Even though we were all exhausted, we decided we needed to go out and see some of the city. A group of 10 of us girls walked to a cute cafe down the street for lunch. Most of us had quinoa salad and white wine... Which was surprisingly delicious! We then walked to Kensington palace. We didn't take the tour, but we walked the gardens and poked around inside. I was expecting it to be bigger, but it was absolutely beautiful. By this point we were all toast and went back to the hotel for a nap. We finished off the evening with a mixer for everyone in the program at a Pub down the street from our hotel. We ate fish 'n' chips and drank beer and got to know a lot of the people we'll be spending the upcoming semester with. There are only about 10 guys in the whole program, so I'm sure they were pretty overwhelmed! Everyone is so friendly, and there are people from all across the US. I haven't met all 9 of my roommates yet, but so far I love the ones I have met!
Our last day in London was PACKED! We ate a continental breakfast at the hotel, then we loaded onto a double decker coach and headed out on a tour of the city. The tour lasted about 3 hours with a quick coffee and wifi break. We got to see so much! Everything from buckingham palace to Big Ben to London bridge and everything in between! Since we had such a short time in London, this was the perfect way to see all of the sites. After the tour, we had a quick bite to eat then went shopping around a little market and explored the city. We went back to the hotel to regroup in the late afternoon because we had a big night ahead of us! A group of girls took the tube into the heart of London for a Thai food dinner... Which was definitely out of our comfort zone! After dinner we went down the street to see Dirty Dancing the musical (so quirky and cute!). Once the musical was over, we went to Tiger Tiger, a local bar/club. There were a bunch of other AIFS students, along with a lot of locals which was the perfect mix and made such a fun atmosphere. The night ended with about 15 of us sprinting through the tube station trying to catch our ride home. We all got about 4 hours of sleep before we had to load all 90 of us on the coaches and head to the airport for our flight to Pisa!
London was an amazing city, and I definitely want to come back for a longer period of time to experience it more in depth. But right now I absolutely can't wait to get to Florence!!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Well, the time has come!
My dream of studying abroad has been several years in the making; however, I never thought I would be moving to Florence, Italy. I have studied Spanish for years, and I was dead set on living in a Spanish speaking country until earlier this year. One day I decided that I no longer loved learning the language, and I needed to expand my horizons and try something new-so here I am, moving to Italy with no knowledge of the language, and only a vague understanding of the culture... This should be interesting!
Those who know me well know that I'm a planner. I'm not very spontaneous, and I like things to be organized and well thought out. For me, this trip is about letting go. I have almost no plans, and very little control over most of the adventures I will be enduring. Although this is completely nerve racking, I am beyond excited to see what will come of this journey, and how I will grow as a person because of it.
I will be studying at a Fashion Institute in Florence from February-May. I have several planned trips through my program, and I hope to visit many countries throughout the school year. Most of the other college students in my program will be flying home in May... I don't have a flight home until mid-July. At this point, for those last few months I have no plans, no where to stay, and not a care in the world-I will simply go where ever the universe takes me!
This last semester, and especially these last few weeks, have been a woorl-wind of stress and preparation. But my bags are packed (...almost) and I have about 36 hours left before my flight. I've never been away from Colorado for more than a few weeks, and although I love this state and will miss its beauty, I can't wait to see what the rest of the world has to offer me.
Several people have asked me to keep in contact while in Europe, so I thought this blog would be the easiest way. I have been informed that due to the age of most buildings in Florence, and the thick bricks of their foundation, I will have limited wifi access... but I will do my best to post once every week or two.
Until then,
Arrivederci!
Those who know me well know that I'm a planner. I'm not very spontaneous, and I like things to be organized and well thought out. For me, this trip is about letting go. I have almost no plans, and very little control over most of the adventures I will be enduring. Although this is completely nerve racking, I am beyond excited to see what will come of this journey, and how I will grow as a person because of it.
I will be studying at a Fashion Institute in Florence from February-May. I have several planned trips through my program, and I hope to visit many countries throughout the school year. Most of the other college students in my program will be flying home in May... I don't have a flight home until mid-July. At this point, for those last few months I have no plans, no where to stay, and not a care in the world-I will simply go where ever the universe takes me!
This last semester, and especially these last few weeks, have been a woorl-wind of stress and preparation. But my bags are packed (...almost) and I have about 36 hours left before my flight. I've never been away from Colorado for more than a few weeks, and although I love this state and will miss its beauty, I can't wait to see what the rest of the world has to offer me.
Several people have asked me to keep in contact while in Europe, so I thought this blog would be the easiest way. I have been informed that due to the age of most buildings in Florence, and the thick bricks of their foundation, I will have limited wifi access... but I will do my best to post once every week or two.
Until then,
Arrivederci!
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