February 25, 2009
went to San Lorenzo to get ashes. This was probably my weirdest mass experience so far. San Lorenzo is run by three different tourist companies, so it's really weird to go to anyway. I don't think you can even go into the main church without paying. So anyway mass was in this little side chapel and before mass started they did some other prayer service first. I really have no idea what it was since it was in Italian. There were only three other people at mass besides the three priests. Once mass started it was pretty normal, but they did ashes really strangely. Instead of making a cross on the forehead, the priest sprinkled them in our hair. It was so bizarre.
February 24, 2009
had a feast for Fat Tuesday :-). After all the Carnivale celebrations, I wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras in style, so I told my roommates that I'd make a ton of pancakes for dinner, which worked well since Tuesdays are Nadia and my day to cook anyway. Our pancake dinner quickly turned into a feast. I made the pancakes (some with chocolate chips) and Nadia made potatoes and parfaits. Pat and Jarrod joined so they brought fruit, and Hardy also came, so he brought juice and champagne. We decorated the house and made it a full-out party. (We called it the Pancakes, Potatoes, and Parfait Party). With our studio presentations due in only two days, a feast of good food was just the break we needed.
p.s. Mom, you'd be proud of my pancakes. Not every one was perfectly round, but they actually looked like pancakes instead of the usual blobs I wind up with.
had a feast for Fat Tuesday :-). After all the Carnivale celebrations, I wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras in style, so I told my roommates that I'd make a ton of pancakes for dinner, which worked well since Tuesdays are Nadia and my day to cook anyway. Our pancake dinner quickly turned into a feast. I made the pancakes (some with chocolate chips) and Nadia made potatoes and parfaits. Pat and Jarrod joined so they brought fruit, and Hardy also came, so he brought juice and champagne. We decorated the house and made it a full-out party. (We called it the Pancakes, Potatoes, and Parfait Party). With our studio presentations due in only two days, a feast of good food was just the break we needed.
p.s. Mom, you'd be proud of my pancakes. Not every one was perfectly round, but they actually looked like pancakes instead of the usual blobs I wind up with.
February 22, 2009
went to mass at Santa Maria Novella with Pat. Although I've gone to their daily mass a couple of times, this was the first time I'd been in the main part of the church. It was pretty cool inside even though I'm not a huge fan of the white and green stripes of marble. The little alcoves in the front of the church were all completely covered in frescoes, which was a strange contrast with the stark white walls of most of the rest of the church. It made me wonder if originally they planned on covering the whole church in frescoes, or if that's the way they meant it to be. Every church I've gone to has a different feel. There were so many people at this mass, and I really didn't get a touristy feel, so I think most of them go there regularly. Plus I recognized a few faces from daily mass. This was only the third church (including the one in Pruno) that had an altar server. Pat and I still can't decided if it was a boy or a girl. He/she had sort of longish hair for a boy but we figured he just had long hair. Then at communion, we saw that he was wearing red patent leather Mary Janes. My first thought was "why would a little boy wear such obviously girl shoes?" and then it occurred to me that it might be a girl. And then I could see her as a girl, but at the same time she still really looked like a boy, so we never made a final decision. During Communion, these two women started a conversation on the side of the church. I was thinking how rude it was that they just got up from their pews and started talking, not ever whispering, while there was obviously still a mass going on. I saw one of the church guards, who keep out the non-church-goers and help with collections, giving them the evil eye. Then when Communion finished and the priest stood up to say the final blessings, he stood at the altar, glaring at the women, and said in a very pointed tone, "Pregghiamo" (we pray). Then he waited until they stopped talking until he continued. I thought it was really funny that the priest totally called them out for their rudeness.
went up to studio to do some work. On the way there, we saw some people rollar-blading and biking by with funny hats and painted faces, but we didn't know why. Later as more people started coming into studio, they were telling us that there was a parade for Carnivale, but every time a new person came in, they would say, "But I think it's over now." Finally around 5 or 6, after this happened probably four times, we decided to go to Piazza della Signoria where the parade ended just in case the festivities weren't over. Lo and behold, they were still going on when we got there. Apparently everyone in the parade was dressed up for a different nationality (most of the people actually being from that country originally), so we got to see the Russian group singing their national anthem, but they were the last group, so Carnivale really was over then. We were glad we got to see at least a little bit, though.
went to mass at Santa Maria Novella with Pat. Although I've gone to their daily mass a couple of times, this was the first time I'd been in the main part of the church. It was pretty cool inside even though I'm not a huge fan of the white and green stripes of marble. The little alcoves in the front of the church were all completely covered in frescoes, which was a strange contrast with the stark white walls of most of the rest of the church. It made me wonder if originally they planned on covering the whole church in frescoes, or if that's the way they meant it to be. Every church I've gone to has a different feel. There were so many people at this mass, and I really didn't get a touristy feel, so I think most of them go there regularly. Plus I recognized a few faces from daily mass. This was only the third church (including the one in Pruno) that had an altar server. Pat and I still can't decided if it was a boy or a girl. He/she had sort of longish hair for a boy but we figured he just had long hair. Then at communion, we saw that he was wearing red patent leather Mary Janes. My first thought was "why would a little boy wear such obviously girl shoes?" and then it occurred to me that it might be a girl. And then I could see her as a girl, but at the same time she still really looked like a boy, so we never made a final decision. During Communion, these two women started a conversation on the side of the church. I was thinking how rude it was that they just got up from their pews and started talking, not ever whispering, while there was obviously still a mass going on. I saw one of the church guards, who keep out the non-church-goers and help with collections, giving them the evil eye. Then when Communion finished and the priest stood up to say the final blessings, he stood at the altar, glaring at the women, and said in a very pointed tone, "Pregghiamo" (we pray). Then he waited until they stopped talking until he continued. I thought it was really funny that the priest totally called them out for their rudeness.
went up to studio to do some work. On the way there, we saw some people rollar-blading and biking by with funny hats and painted faces, but we didn't know why. Later as more people started coming into studio, they were telling us that there was a parade for Carnivale, but every time a new person came in, they would say, "But I think it's over now." Finally around 5 or 6, after this happened probably four times, we decided to go to Piazza della Signoria where the parade ended just in case the festivities weren't over. Lo and behold, they were still going on when we got there. Apparently everyone in the parade was dressed up for a different nationality (most of the people actually being from that country originally), so we got to see the Russian group singing their national anthem, but they were the last group, so Carnivale really was over then. We were glad we got to see at least a little bit, though.
February 19, 2009
had family dinner. On the way to studio we decided we wanted to mix it up a little and not do the usual pasta, sauce, and bread. Instead we picked tacos. Everyone started getting so excited about it that we planned a whole Mexican fiesta. Everyone gave Nikul all their Spanish/Mexican music so he could make a playlist. We wanted to get sombreros but didn't know where to get them, so I spent half of studio making a GIANT sombrero. I used random model-making supplies left over from last semester and it turned out pretty awesome. Dinner included guacamole, tortilla chips, and tacos with ground beef, chicken, and all the usual fillings. It was really good. Of course Nikul's playlist was playing the whole time and any time the macarena came on (he put in something like six different versions), everyone had to get up and do the macarena. This only worked cuz we were down to 18 people instead of the usual 28 (some people went to the soccer game and some people went to the opera so they were all missing). Emily and Liz took a cooking class a couple weeks ago, and everyone wanted them to share one of the dishes they learned, so they made panna cotta for dessert. It was sooo good. After our Mexican fiesta, we went out to the club. We wanted to go to this Mexican sounding one but it was closed, so we had to go somewhere else.
had family dinner. On the way to studio we decided we wanted to mix it up a little and not do the usual pasta, sauce, and bread. Instead we picked tacos. Everyone started getting so excited about it that we planned a whole Mexican fiesta. Everyone gave Nikul all their Spanish/Mexican music so he could make a playlist. We wanted to get sombreros but didn't know where to get them, so I spent half of studio making a GIANT sombrero. I used random model-making supplies left over from last semester and it turned out pretty awesome. Dinner included guacamole, tortilla chips, and tacos with ground beef, chicken, and all the usual fillings. It was really good. Of course Nikul's playlist was playing the whole time and any time the macarena came on (he put in something like six different versions), everyone had to get up and do the macarena. This only worked cuz we were down to 18 people instead of the usual 28 (some people went to the soccer game and some people went to the opera so they were all missing). Emily and Liz took a cooking class a couple weeks ago, and everyone wanted them to share one of the dishes they learned, so they made panna cotta for dessert. It was sooo good. After our Mexican fiesta, we went out to the club. We wanted to go to this Mexican sounding one but it was closed, so we had to go somewhere else.
Pietrasanta, Pruno, and Viareggio
February 14-15, 2009
went to Pietrasanta, Pruno, and Viareggio with Margaret and Christine.
We left our house at 5:30 in the morning to catch a 6:10 train to Pietrasanta. Our tickets were kind of confusing and didn't say a train number, so we had to pick between two different trains that left at 6:10, but we asked one of the train workers and thought we were getting on the right train. After riding the train for several hours (the trip was only supposed to take just over two hours), we started to wonder if we had gone the wrong way. After looking at the train route map, we decided that the train went to Pisa Centrale then turned and continued to Viareggio and on to Pietrasanta. But when we got to Pisa Centrale it turned around and started back towards Florence. We still thought we were ok, though, because it looked like maybe it went back three stops and then went to Viareggio and Pietrasanta. So we rode the train back three stops to Lucca, but at Lucca we heard announcements saying the train was going back to Santa Maria Novella (the train station right by our apartment). We quickly asked a train worker if we were on the right train and he said we had to switch to the train to Viareggio. Luckily we were at a big train station where we could switch. So the man told us what track to go to, and we waited for the train to Viareggio. The train came and we thought we were finally on the right track. This train brought us to Viareggio, the big station two stops before Pietrasanta, and stopped. We figured it just stopped longer at big stations, but a man came and told us we had to get off; Viareggio was the end of the line. So we got off and went in search of a train to Pietrasanta. We found the right train and which bin it was coming to and finally got to Pietrasanta. Although it took us 3 trains and about 6 hours to get there (instead of 1 train and only 2 hours), it didn't put a damper on our moods. It was an adventure and we were all so proud of ourselves for figuring it out, especially since we did it almost completely in Italian.
When we got to Pietrasanta, our first goal was to find our hostel so we could drop off our bags and then wander the city. That turned out to be quite a lot harder than we expected. We found a map right away, but it didn't show where we were on the map, so we misread it and had to come back several times. Eventually we found the center of the city and another map, but we still guessed our location wrong so we spent quite a while wandering streets looking for our street (Via del Teatro) until someone was able to give us directions. We were so excited to have finally made it, but when we got to number 14 where our hostel was supposed to be located, there was just an empty building. We stood there in shock for a few minutes before sending Margaret into an Internet cafe to ask for help. She talked to the people inside for a good half hour trying to figure out where this hostel was. Finally they saw that the address said Via del Teatro 14, PrunoPietrasanta. Apparently Pruno is a tiny little town up in the mountains outside of Pietrasanta. The Internet cafe people told us that we had to take a bus up to the town. We decided to eat lunch on the Duomo steps and walk around the city for a little while before trekking up the mountain.
Soooo we bought tickets for the bus (at which point I got complimented on my Italian), and headed up to Pruno. We were actually pretty excited to be staying on the mountain even though we didn't get to spend much time in Pietrasanta. There were a bunch of other kids on the bus around our age or a little younger. One of the boys started talking to us. Between his broken English and our broken Italian we were able to make some small talk and he said that he was coming up to Pruno later and he and his friends could show us around the town.
When we finally reached Pruno (around 2:45), we immediately saw the sign for Ostello La Pania, the hostel where we had reserved beds. Finally a part of the journey was easy..... or so we thought. We climbed up the little mountain path to the hostel and rang the bell but no one answered. Since siesta is usually from 1:00 to 3:30, we thought that maybe the people were sleeping or out to lunch or whatever they do during siesta. It was freezing cold though, so after waiting half an hour (during which we continually exclaimed about the amazing views), we finally asked a woman and a man that we saw if they knew where the hostel people were. The woman called the hostel number for us and after a lot signals and simple Italian words managed to communicate to us that the man who runs the hostel, Lorenzo, had to drive up from Pietrasanta so he would be in Pruno in about an hour. She told us that we could go wait in the ristorante/bar to get out of the cold. Before going into the bar, we walked around the town and realized that it only has three streets and probably not more than 50 in habitants. When we went into the bar, the owner immediately knew we were the girls from the hostel. Luckily he spoke English fairly well, so he asked what we were doing for dinner and offered to make a reservation at a restaurant two towns down the mountain since his was fully booked (we had forgotten that it was Valentine's Day). I don't know if this is typical of small towns everywhere, but everyone we spoke to in Pietrasanta and Pruno was so nice and helpful and did more than we asked to help us out. Finally Lorenzo showed up and was mumbling about not receiving our reservations. He spoke English, so although there was obviously a mix-up with the hostel, at least we could understand him. After shuffling papers and pretending to look for our reservations for several minutes, he finally said, "Actually the hostel's closed. It's under construction." That definitely threw us for a loop. He told us about the other options in the area; there was another hotel slash bed and breakfasty type thing in Pruno, some place in Pietrasanta, and some place in Volegno (the town just before Pruno), but every one was going to cost at least 27 euro. Since we had planned for the hostel which cost 18 euro, we couldn't afford that. Lorenzo spent a lot of time talking on the phone and talking to everyone who came into the bar. Considering how small the town is and the fact that half of its population came into the bar at some point during this, I'm quite sure everyone in the town knew about the three American girls who tried to stay at the hostel. We thought a couple of the people in the bar offered to let us stay in their houses but Lorenzo told them no. Of course we were eavesdropping on Italian so we easily could have misunderstood what they were talking about. Lorenzo finally got the bed and breakfast in town to let us stay the night for 20 euro but we couldn't have the breakfast that was supposed to be included. Although Lorenzo was really helpful finding us a new place to stay, his whole attitude towards the situation surprised us. It was clearly his fault for not taking his hostel off the hostel-booking website yet he never once offered to pay the difference for any other place we stayed and any time he offered us a new place he seemed to think we were just being picky by not choosing the expensive ones. I don't know if maybe he had this idea that all Americans are rich, but eventually he understood that we really couldn't afford the other hotels.
So finally we had the whole accomodations thing figured out (it was about 4:30 by this time), and then Lorenzo dropped the next bombshell. No buses run to Pruno on Sundays. This was something we should have already realized cuz I had seen a bus schedule at the station but somehow we missed that important fact. Luckily Lorenzo was still feeling helpful so he did some more calling and finagling and set up a ride for us. FINALLY we had everything figured out and could actually enjoy being in Pruno. Despite everything that went wrong, we never stopped having fun, but we started getting frustrated when we couldn't figure out where to stay, so by the time we were settled in our room, we were ready to just relax and take in the views. The bed and breakfast we wound up in was attached to the church on one side and the bell tower was attached to the other side, more specifically, attached to our room. Before Lorenzo left, I asked him what time the mass would be at in the morning. He told us that it would be around 9:30 most likely, but really whenever the priest woke up, so listen for the bells.
After a couple hours of lounging around, taking pictures out the windows (we had an awesome view of the mountains and of Volegno), and recharging our batteries, it was time to head off dinner. We had to walk about five to ten minutes down the windy mountain road to the restaurant. Apparently it's the only restaurant for the town it's in (I don't know the name) and for Volegno so it was easy to find. When we walked in, the cook immediately knew we were the three girls from the hostel and pointed to a table that clearly said it was reserved for "ostello" ("hostel"). We felt like celebrities with the way everyone on the mountain knew who we were. As we were waiting for the cameriera (waitress), we realized that the menu was oral. We still don't know what a lot of the different foods are in Italian (I don't know what most of the stuff is even in English), so we were kind of worried, but the waitress was sooo nice. She didn't speak any English but she said everything very slowly for us and enunciated. Italians always run all their words together and if there are two vowel sounds in a row, they just blend them, so she really had to think about enunciating everything so clearly. I ordered the ravioli, which wound up having nuts on it, but they weren't too hard to pick out. I just hope I didn't look too rude, searching through my food and picking stuff out. We didn't order an antipasto, but the waitress brought us some of the stuff that comes with the antipasto anyway, which was really nice. The antipasti were all trays of meats with little bowls of tomatoes and onions and stuff like that to eat with it, so we didn't get that, but the waitress brought us a bowl of the fried bread (in addition to the regular bread that comes with any meal), and a dish of this weird thing that had a similar consistency and taste to grits. We never did figure out what it was, but it was pretty good. And because it was Valentine's day, there were chocolates at each of the place settings. All in all it was a really good meal.
After dinner, we were trekking back up the mountain and we remembered that we had agreed to meet the Italian boy at 8 (which was when our reservation for dinner was), but at this point it was about 10:00. We felt kind of bad for blowing him off, but were kind of glad it didn't work out because we hadn't realized before that Pruno is so small there is absolutely nothing to do at night. The real attraction of it is the view, which is obviously much better when it's light out. Just as we were talking about this, we heard a Vespa coming up the road towards us. I jokingly said "Watch that be the Italian boy." Well, lo and behold, the Vespa stops just a little bit up the road from us and the Italian boy and his friend get off. It was so funny. So we talked to them for a little while, but then we told the boys we were going to bed and headed back to our room. We felt really bad that they had come all the way up to Pruno just to see us. We were planning on going to Carnivale the next day, though, and the boys mentioned that they were also going, so Christine gave them her number and said we could meet up with them there.
The next morning, we woke up to CRAZY church bells. They started going off just before 9 and rang for a solid ten minutes. It was unbelievable sounding. We took that to mean the priest was up, so we got up and got ready to go to mass. Christine and Margaret aren't Catholic, but they wanted to see a mass, so we all went to church together. The bells rang two tolls at 9:30 and the mass begin about ten minutes later, so we figured out that the crazy bells are the wake up signal and then they ring the bell again to tell everyone to come to the church, and then mass starts.
A man from the bed and breakfast was supposed to drive us about halfway down the mountain to Cardoso where the bus comes twice on Sundays. The first bus wasn't until 1:50, so we had most of the morning free. We spent it walking around Pruno, taking pictures, and exploring the mountain. We found little overgrown trails into the woods, so we went on them. It was sooooo cool. We found a couple little abandoned houses built into the mountain. One of them was just a little corner with a window poking out of the stone. I couldn't even figure out how anyone would get in. Margaret had on heels and Christine didn't trust her balance, so they didn't explore too far, but I clambered all over, crossing the little streams trickling down the mountain and jumping from rock to rock. It reminded me of playing in the woods when we were little, except ten times cooler. Vic and JC would have loved it.
Eventually we went back to the bed and breakfast and Emilio (I guess he's one of the owners or someone who works there or something) gave us a ride. We were really excited to ride in an Italian car, but it turned out to be a Ford station wagon so not that exciting after all. It was still an interesting ride, though, because he went around those tight mountain turns like they were nothing. From Cardoso, we took the bus down to Pietrasanta, and then another bus to Viareggio for the Carnivale. Carnivale was INSANE. Before we even got into the actual carnival, we could see the giant floats, and people everywhere in crazy costumes, and confetti and silly string coating the streets, the people, the buildings. The costumes people wore were ridiculous. The most popular kind of costume was this sort of fuzzy potato sack. The potato sack ended in shorts and then you wore tights underneath with these fuzzy legwarmers at the bottom. They also had hoods, but no one wore the hoods up. I guess they were all supposed to be animal costumes since they all had different kinds of ears attached to the hoods, but they were so weird. They were all different colors, some obviously not animal colors. It wasn't even kids wearing this silly costumes. It was mostly college-aged kids and grown-ups wearing them. A lot of the kids were dressed up as characters or bumble bees. We didn't look out of place, not being in costume, but we were definitely in the minority. There were a few rides and food places, but the main part was the parade. The parade route was a loop, so it never ended. The floats were HUGE. Most of them were at least as tall if not taller than the buildings around...... the 5 or 6 story buildings. I've never seen anything like it. A couple of them were kind of gruesome, cannibal-type floats, which was weird. Every float had zillions of people on and around it, dancing and singing and acting ridiculous. And it wasn't like big parades at home where the spectators can't go in the streets. We were in the middle of the road watching this parade. The spectators became part of the parade. Everytime a float came by though, event workers would be walking along with it, clearing people out of the way. Even then, you had to duck as the corners went by, so you didn't get whacked. The marching bands didn't even try clearing people out of the way; they would just push through. My pictures probably don't capture it very well, but you can get an idea of how huge these floats were and how close we were. In a lot of my pictures you can't see the whole float, but that shows how close we were. If we weren't careful, we could have lost limbs to the floats as they passed.
When we were all Carnivale-ed out, and had taken the requisite pictures of touching the Mediterranean Sea, we decided to head home. We continued to practice our Italian by asking for directions to the train station. The train station was crazy with everyone trying to get home, and the next train to Florence was leaving in like five minutes, so we had a mad dash to the ticket window, threw our money at the teller, and sprinted up to the platform. We got there right as the train was coming in, and a rush of people tried to get on, so we just shoved our way on without double checking that it was the right train. It turns out that the train that was supposed to come after the Florence one came first so we found ourselves back at Pietrasanta. That was at least a town we recognized so we decided to get off there and find another train back. We eventually figured out that if we had stayed on that train, it would have turned around and ended up back in Florence eventually, but instead we waited in the Pietrasanta train station for 40 minutes until the same train came back headed to Florence.
On the train we noticed that the couple sitting across the aisle appeared to be sketching floor plans, which was funny since we were all taking notes and drawing things in our sketch books, too. When we were almost back at our station, Margaret asked the couple if they were architects. We talked to them for a little while, and it turns out that the man, and maybe the woman too, works at a firm right by the piazza we're designing for our studio project. Through a mix of Italian and English, he told us to check out their website and come visit the firm sometime. He said that students come work there "to get a little experience," so like an internship. He said they've never had American students, but the way he said sounded like they never had, but maybe they should consider it.
So after countless mishaps, mix-ups, and mess-ups, we made it safely back to Santa Maria Novella train station all in one piece with a weekend full of great memories. I think everything that went wrong just made the trip that much better, especially since only the hostel mix-up cost us any extra money (2 euro).
Although originally I had been a little jealous of my friends who were going on expensive trips every weekend, I'm really happy with everything I've done instead. This whole weekend only cost about a third or less of what a lot of my friends have been spending on their weekend trips. And I had thoroughly enjoyed spending some time in the city by myself on the weekend that everyone else went away, too, so you really can have an awesome time in Italy without spending huge amounts of money.
went to Pietrasanta, Pruno, and Viareggio with Margaret and Christine.
We left our house at 5:30 in the morning to catch a 6:10 train to Pietrasanta. Our tickets were kind of confusing and didn't say a train number, so we had to pick between two different trains that left at 6:10, but we asked one of the train workers and thought we were getting on the right train. After riding the train for several hours (the trip was only supposed to take just over two hours), we started to wonder if we had gone the wrong way. After looking at the train route map, we decided that the train went to Pisa Centrale then turned and continued to Viareggio and on to Pietrasanta. But when we got to Pisa Centrale it turned around and started back towards Florence. We still thought we were ok, though, because it looked like maybe it went back three stops and then went to Viareggio and Pietrasanta. So we rode the train back three stops to Lucca, but at Lucca we heard announcements saying the train was going back to Santa Maria Novella (the train station right by our apartment). We quickly asked a train worker if we were on the right train and he said we had to switch to the train to Viareggio. Luckily we were at a big train station where we could switch. So the man told us what track to go to, and we waited for the train to Viareggio. The train came and we thought we were finally on the right track. This train brought us to Viareggio, the big station two stops before Pietrasanta, and stopped. We figured it just stopped longer at big stations, but a man came and told us we had to get off; Viareggio was the end of the line. So we got off and went in search of a train to Pietrasanta. We found the right train and which bin it was coming to and finally got to Pietrasanta. Although it took us 3 trains and about 6 hours to get there (instead of 1 train and only 2 hours), it didn't put a damper on our moods. It was an adventure and we were all so proud of ourselves for figuring it out, especially since we did it almost completely in Italian.
When we got to Pietrasanta, our first goal was to find our hostel so we could drop off our bags and then wander the city. That turned out to be quite a lot harder than we expected. We found a map right away, but it didn't show where we were on the map, so we misread it and had to come back several times. Eventually we found the center of the city and another map, but we still guessed our location wrong so we spent quite a while wandering streets looking for our street (Via del Teatro) until someone was able to give us directions. We were so excited to have finally made it, but when we got to number 14 where our hostel was supposed to be located, there was just an empty building. We stood there in shock for a few minutes before sending Margaret into an Internet cafe to ask for help. She talked to the people inside for a good half hour trying to figure out where this hostel was. Finally they saw that the address said Via del Teatro 14, PrunoPietrasanta. Apparently Pruno is a tiny little town up in the mountains outside of Pietrasanta. The Internet cafe people told us that we had to take a bus up to the town. We decided to eat lunch on the Duomo steps and walk around the city for a little while before trekking up the mountain.
Soooo we bought tickets for the bus (at which point I got complimented on my Italian), and headed up to Pruno. We were actually pretty excited to be staying on the mountain even though we didn't get to spend much time in Pietrasanta. There were a bunch of other kids on the bus around our age or a little younger. One of the boys started talking to us. Between his broken English and our broken Italian we were able to make some small talk and he said that he was coming up to Pruno later and he and his friends could show us around the town.
When we finally reached Pruno (around 2:45), we immediately saw the sign for Ostello La Pania, the hostel where we had reserved beds. Finally a part of the journey was easy..... or so we thought. We climbed up the little mountain path to the hostel and rang the bell but no one answered. Since siesta is usually from 1:00 to 3:30, we thought that maybe the people were sleeping or out to lunch or whatever they do during siesta. It was freezing cold though, so after waiting half an hour (during which we continually exclaimed about the amazing views), we finally asked a woman and a man that we saw if they knew where the hostel people were. The woman called the hostel number for us and after a lot signals and simple Italian words managed to communicate to us that the man who runs the hostel, Lorenzo, had to drive up from Pietrasanta so he would be in Pruno in about an hour. She told us that we could go wait in the ristorante/bar to get out of the cold. Before going into the bar, we walked around the town and realized that it only has three streets and probably not more than 50 in habitants. When we went into the bar, the owner immediately knew we were the girls from the hostel. Luckily he spoke English fairly well, so he asked what we were doing for dinner and offered to make a reservation at a restaurant two towns down the mountain since his was fully booked (we had forgotten that it was Valentine's Day). I don't know if this is typical of small towns everywhere, but everyone we spoke to in Pietrasanta and Pruno was so nice and helpful and did more than we asked to help us out. Finally Lorenzo showed up and was mumbling about not receiving our reservations. He spoke English, so although there was obviously a mix-up with the hostel, at least we could understand him. After shuffling papers and pretending to look for our reservations for several minutes, he finally said, "Actually the hostel's closed. It's under construction." That definitely threw us for a loop. He told us about the other options in the area; there was another hotel slash bed and breakfasty type thing in Pruno, some place in Pietrasanta, and some place in Volegno (the town just before Pruno), but every one was going to cost at least 27 euro. Since we had planned for the hostel which cost 18 euro, we couldn't afford that. Lorenzo spent a lot of time talking on the phone and talking to everyone who came into the bar. Considering how small the town is and the fact that half of its population came into the bar at some point during this, I'm quite sure everyone in the town knew about the three American girls who tried to stay at the hostel. We thought a couple of the people in the bar offered to let us stay in their houses but Lorenzo told them no. Of course we were eavesdropping on Italian so we easily could have misunderstood what they were talking about. Lorenzo finally got the bed and breakfast in town to let us stay the night for 20 euro but we couldn't have the breakfast that was supposed to be included. Although Lorenzo was really helpful finding us a new place to stay, his whole attitude towards the situation surprised us. It was clearly his fault for not taking his hostel off the hostel-booking website yet he never once offered to pay the difference for any other place we stayed and any time he offered us a new place he seemed to think we were just being picky by not choosing the expensive ones. I don't know if maybe he had this idea that all Americans are rich, but eventually he understood that we really couldn't afford the other hotels.
So finally we had the whole accomodations thing figured out (it was about 4:30 by this time), and then Lorenzo dropped the next bombshell. No buses run to Pruno on Sundays. This was something we should have already realized cuz I had seen a bus schedule at the station but somehow we missed that important fact. Luckily Lorenzo was still feeling helpful so he did some more calling and finagling and set up a ride for us. FINALLY we had everything figured out and could actually enjoy being in Pruno. Despite everything that went wrong, we never stopped having fun, but we started getting frustrated when we couldn't figure out where to stay, so by the time we were settled in our room, we were ready to just relax and take in the views. The bed and breakfast we wound up in was attached to the church on one side and the bell tower was attached to the other side, more specifically, attached to our room. Before Lorenzo left, I asked him what time the mass would be at in the morning. He told us that it would be around 9:30 most likely, but really whenever the priest woke up, so listen for the bells.
After a couple hours of lounging around, taking pictures out the windows (we had an awesome view of the mountains and of Volegno), and recharging our batteries, it was time to head off dinner. We had to walk about five to ten minutes down the windy mountain road to the restaurant. Apparently it's the only restaurant for the town it's in (I don't know the name) and for Volegno so it was easy to find. When we walked in, the cook immediately knew we were the three girls from the hostel and pointed to a table that clearly said it was reserved for "ostello" ("hostel"). We felt like celebrities with the way everyone on the mountain knew who we were. As we were waiting for the cameriera (waitress), we realized that the menu was oral. We still don't know what a lot of the different foods are in Italian (I don't know what most of the stuff is even in English), so we were kind of worried, but the waitress was sooo nice. She didn't speak any English but she said everything very slowly for us and enunciated. Italians always run all their words together and if there are two vowel sounds in a row, they just blend them, so she really had to think about enunciating everything so clearly. I ordered the ravioli, which wound up having nuts on it, but they weren't too hard to pick out. I just hope I didn't look too rude, searching through my food and picking stuff out. We didn't order an antipasto, but the waitress brought us some of the stuff that comes with the antipasto anyway, which was really nice. The antipasti were all trays of meats with little bowls of tomatoes and onions and stuff like that to eat with it, so we didn't get that, but the waitress brought us a bowl of the fried bread (in addition to the regular bread that comes with any meal), and a dish of this weird thing that had a similar consistency and taste to grits. We never did figure out what it was, but it was pretty good. And because it was Valentine's day, there were chocolates at each of the place settings. All in all it was a really good meal.
After dinner, we were trekking back up the mountain and we remembered that we had agreed to meet the Italian boy at 8 (which was when our reservation for dinner was), but at this point it was about 10:00. We felt kind of bad for blowing him off, but were kind of glad it didn't work out because we hadn't realized before that Pruno is so small there is absolutely nothing to do at night. The real attraction of it is the view, which is obviously much better when it's light out. Just as we were talking about this, we heard a Vespa coming up the road towards us. I jokingly said "Watch that be the Italian boy." Well, lo and behold, the Vespa stops just a little bit up the road from us and the Italian boy and his friend get off. It was so funny. So we talked to them for a little while, but then we told the boys we were going to bed and headed back to our room. We felt really bad that they had come all the way up to Pruno just to see us. We were planning on going to Carnivale the next day, though, and the boys mentioned that they were also going, so Christine gave them her number and said we could meet up with them there.
The next morning, we woke up to CRAZY church bells. They started going off just before 9 and rang for a solid ten minutes. It was unbelievable sounding. We took that to mean the priest was up, so we got up and got ready to go to mass. Christine and Margaret aren't Catholic, but they wanted to see a mass, so we all went to church together. The bells rang two tolls at 9:30 and the mass begin about ten minutes later, so we figured out that the crazy bells are the wake up signal and then they ring the bell again to tell everyone to come to the church, and then mass starts.
A man from the bed and breakfast was supposed to drive us about halfway down the mountain to Cardoso where the bus comes twice on Sundays. The first bus wasn't until 1:50, so we had most of the morning free. We spent it walking around Pruno, taking pictures, and exploring the mountain. We found little overgrown trails into the woods, so we went on them. It was sooooo cool. We found a couple little abandoned houses built into the mountain. One of them was just a little corner with a window poking out of the stone. I couldn't even figure out how anyone would get in. Margaret had on heels and Christine didn't trust her balance, so they didn't explore too far, but I clambered all over, crossing the little streams trickling down the mountain and jumping from rock to rock. It reminded me of playing in the woods when we were little, except ten times cooler. Vic and JC would have loved it.
Eventually we went back to the bed and breakfast and Emilio (I guess he's one of the owners or someone who works there or something) gave us a ride. We were really excited to ride in an Italian car, but it turned out to be a Ford station wagon so not that exciting after all. It was still an interesting ride, though, because he went around those tight mountain turns like they were nothing. From Cardoso, we took the bus down to Pietrasanta, and then another bus to Viareggio for the Carnivale. Carnivale was INSANE. Before we even got into the actual carnival, we could see the giant floats, and people everywhere in crazy costumes, and confetti and silly string coating the streets, the people, the buildings. The costumes people wore were ridiculous. The most popular kind of costume was this sort of fuzzy potato sack. The potato sack ended in shorts and then you wore tights underneath with these fuzzy legwarmers at the bottom. They also had hoods, but no one wore the hoods up. I guess they were all supposed to be animal costumes since they all had different kinds of ears attached to the hoods, but they were so weird. They were all different colors, some obviously not animal colors. It wasn't even kids wearing this silly costumes. It was mostly college-aged kids and grown-ups wearing them. A lot of the kids were dressed up as characters or bumble bees. We didn't look out of place, not being in costume, but we were definitely in the minority. There were a few rides and food places, but the main part was the parade. The parade route was a loop, so it never ended. The floats were HUGE. Most of them were at least as tall if not taller than the buildings around...... the 5 or 6 story buildings. I've never seen anything like it. A couple of them were kind of gruesome, cannibal-type floats, which was weird. Every float had zillions of people on and around it, dancing and singing and acting ridiculous. And it wasn't like big parades at home where the spectators can't go in the streets. We were in the middle of the road watching this parade. The spectators became part of the parade. Everytime a float came by though, event workers would be walking along with it, clearing people out of the way. Even then, you had to duck as the corners went by, so you didn't get whacked. The marching bands didn't even try clearing people out of the way; they would just push through. My pictures probably don't capture it very well, but you can get an idea of how huge these floats were and how close we were. In a lot of my pictures you can't see the whole float, but that shows how close we were. If we weren't careful, we could have lost limbs to the floats as they passed.
When we were all Carnivale-ed out, and had taken the requisite pictures of touching the Mediterranean Sea, we decided to head home. We continued to practice our Italian by asking for directions to the train station. The train station was crazy with everyone trying to get home, and the next train to Florence was leaving in like five minutes, so we had a mad dash to the ticket window, threw our money at the teller, and sprinted up to the platform. We got there right as the train was coming in, and a rush of people tried to get on, so we just shoved our way on without double checking that it was the right train. It turns out that the train that was supposed to come after the Florence one came first so we found ourselves back at Pietrasanta. That was at least a town we recognized so we decided to get off there and find another train back. We eventually figured out that if we had stayed on that train, it would have turned around and ended up back in Florence eventually, but instead we waited in the Pietrasanta train station for 40 minutes until the same train came back headed to Florence.
On the train we noticed that the couple sitting across the aisle appeared to be sketching floor plans, which was funny since we were all taking notes and drawing things in our sketch books, too. When we were almost back at our station, Margaret asked the couple if they were architects. We talked to them for a little while, and it turns out that the man, and maybe the woman too, works at a firm right by the piazza we're designing for our studio project. Through a mix of Italian and English, he told us to check out their website and come visit the firm sometime. He said that students come work there "to get a little experience," so like an internship. He said they've never had American students, but the way he said sounded like they never had, but maybe they should consider it.
So after countless mishaps, mix-ups, and mess-ups, we made it safely back to Santa Maria Novella train station all in one piece with a weekend full of great memories. I think everything that went wrong just made the trip that much better, especially since only the hostel mix-up cost us any extra money (2 euro).
Although originally I had been a little jealous of my friends who were going on expensive trips every weekend, I'm really happy with everything I've done instead. This whole weekend only cost about a third or less of what a lot of my friends have been spending on their weekend trips. And I had thoroughly enjoyed spending some time in the city by myself on the weekend that everyone else went away, too, so you really can have an awesome time in Italy without spending huge amounts of money.
February 13, 2009
spent most of the day doing work. Nadia's grandma and aunt came to visit and brought us each a jar of peanut butter which made me extremely happy :-)
went to evening mass at Santa Maria Novella. Since I was planning on being away on Sunday, I felt a little bad that I wouldn't get to go to a new Florentine church, so I decided to go to Santa Maria Novella. Weekday mass is just in a little side chapel, so I didn't get to see the main inside, but it was still cool. Every time I go to mass, I feel so proud of how much I understand.
had a mini family dinner with Alex, Margaret, Nadia, Katie, Christine, and Nikul. We made a bunch of pizzas and then attempted to make a cake slash cookie thing. We totally just made it up but it was really good.
spent most of the day doing work. Nadia's grandma and aunt came to visit and brought us each a jar of peanut butter which made me extremely happy :-)
went to evening mass at Santa Maria Novella. Since I was planning on being away on Sunday, I felt a little bad that I wouldn't get to go to a new Florentine church, so I decided to go to Santa Maria Novella. Weekday mass is just in a little side chapel, so I didn't get to see the main inside, but it was still cool. Every time I go to mass, I feel so proud of how much I understand.
had a mini family dinner with Alex, Margaret, Nadia, Katie, Christine, and Nikul. We made a bunch of pizzas and then attempted to make a cake slash cookie thing. We totally just made it up but it was really good.
February 12, 2009
visited San Lorenzo church with my Architecture in Italy class. I've explored the area around the church a lot because I was originally going to do a project in the piazza it faces, but I'd never been inside before. Three different tourist companies control the church, so you would have to pay for three different tickets to see everything. We only did one section, but we got to see the basement under the dome where a bunch of works of art are kept, the dome itself, and the new sacristy which was designed by Michelangelo. The sacristy was really cool, because it wasn't as gaudy as most churches, chapels, etc. and one little section was never finished so we could still see where Michelangelo sketched out the design on the wall.
went to Italian and studio..... the usual.
had family dinner over at the other boys' place and then went out to a couple different pubs. We found this one called Rex that's really cool inside. On the back wall it has a giant map of the world. It's a little inaccurate but it's all textured and three-dimensional with little lights shining around the borders of land masses.
visited San Lorenzo church with my Architecture in Italy class. I've explored the area around the church a lot because I was originally going to do a project in the piazza it faces, but I'd never been inside before. Three different tourist companies control the church, so you would have to pay for three different tickets to see everything. We only did one section, but we got to see the basement under the dome where a bunch of works of art are kept, the dome itself, and the new sacristy which was designed by Michelangelo. The sacristy was really cool, because it wasn't as gaudy as most churches, chapels, etc. and one little section was never finished so we could still see where Michelangelo sketched out the design on the wall.
went to Italian and studio..... the usual.
had family dinner over at the other boys' place and then went out to a couple different pubs. We found this one called Rex that's really cool inside. On the back wall it has a giant map of the world. It's a little inaccurate but it's all textured and three-dimensional with little lights shining around the borders of land masses.
February 11, 2009
climbed the Duomo with Pat and Nikul. They let you (if you pay of course) climb all the way to the top of the dome. There were 462 stairs, but I was less tired climbing those than climbing the 72 to our apartment. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see all of Florence except our house because the bell tower was blocking it. After climbing pretty much inside the walls for about 283 steps, you come out onto the little walkway around the inside of the dome. From the there, the fresco is huuuuge. You're right underneath the gruesome devils and the people in hell. On the other side of the dome, you climb another 179 stairs around the dome to come out on top of it. The second half of the climb is really weird because you're between the inner dome and the outer dome so the walls are both curving in, making you feel like you half to walk slanted. The very last part of the climb is straight up the dome, so it's really steep. So not only was the view really cool, but just seeing the hidden spaces in the walls and the dome was really neat.
had my first test in Italian. I finished half an hour early, so Nikul and I went to get some gelato and go back to our site for studio for some measuring and picture taking before studio. Working in metric is pretty convenient, because we can approximate distances just by taking a long stride and calling it a meter. The people milling about the piazza gave us some pretty odd looks.
climbed the Duomo with Pat and Nikul. They let you (if you pay of course) climb all the way to the top of the dome. There were 462 stairs, but I was less tired climbing those than climbing the 72 to our apartment. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see all of Florence except our house because the bell tower was blocking it. After climbing pretty much inside the walls for about 283 steps, you come out onto the little walkway around the inside of the dome. From the there, the fresco is huuuuge. You're right underneath the gruesome devils and the people in hell. On the other side of the dome, you climb another 179 stairs around the dome to come out on top of it. The second half of the climb is really weird because you're between the inner dome and the outer dome so the walls are both curving in, making you feel like you half to walk slanted. The very last part of the climb is straight up the dome, so it's really steep. So not only was the view really cool, but just seeing the hidden spaces in the walls and the dome was really neat.
had my first test in Italian. I finished half an hour early, so Nikul and I went to get some gelato and go back to our site for studio for some measuring and picture taking before studio. Working in metric is pretty convenient, because we can approximate distances just by taking a long stride and calling it a meter. The people milling about the piazza gave us some pretty odd looks.
February 9, 2009
woke up to the landlady ringing the bell saying that our shower was leaking through the floor into the apartment below us and the one below them. The shower has always drained pretty slowly, but apparently if you unscrew the drain, it'll drain fast but it'll leak into all the apartments below. None of us had done that, but somehow the drain came unscrewed anyway. The plumbers came and are doing all this work, but that bathroom is out of commission for a couple of days. Plumbing seems to be really fickle here and the floors are so thin that water leaks through super easily.
went running. I ran around almost all of Florence. I ran from my apartment down to the river, out to the city walls and all the way around the walls back to the river. So I guess I ran the half of Florence on my side of the river, but that most of Florence. It really didn't take me all that long to run it either, so Florence is pretty small. There are some really cool things along the edge, though. I definitely want to go back and walk the whole thing so I can stop and look at everything. I passed the Fortessa de Basso which looks pretty interesting. It's one of the old fortresses from when the city actually had walls. I also ran past this big raised cemetery. It was just lifted up on a mound of earth with tons of trees and stuff. And of course I passed a couple of the gates that used to be part of the walls.
woke up to the landlady ringing the bell saying that our shower was leaking through the floor into the apartment below us and the one below them. The shower has always drained pretty slowly, but apparently if you unscrew the drain, it'll drain fast but it'll leak into all the apartments below. None of us had done that, but somehow the drain came unscrewed anyway. The plumbers came and are doing all this work, but that bathroom is out of commission for a couple of days. Plumbing seems to be really fickle here and the floors are so thin that water leaks through super easily.
went running. I ran around almost all of Florence. I ran from my apartment down to the river, out to the city walls and all the way around the walls back to the river. So I guess I ran the half of Florence on my side of the river, but that most of Florence. It really didn't take me all that long to run it either, so Florence is pretty small. There are some really cool things along the edge, though. I definitely want to go back and walk the whole thing so I can stop and look at everything. I passed the Fortessa de Basso which looks pretty interesting. It's one of the old fortresses from when the city actually had walls. I also ran past this big raised cemetery. It was just lifted up on a mound of earth with tons of trees and stuff. And of course I passed a couple of the gates that used to be part of the walls.
February 8, 2009
went to mass at Santissima Annunziata. I was running a little late, though, so I rode Nadia's bike up there. I think I'm starting to get the hang of biking around Florence. It wasn't nearly as scary this time. I think Santissima Annunziata has the most community feel of all the churches I've gone to so far. There was an altar boy which I haven't seen at any other mass, and I didn't see a schedule of tourist hours anywhere. There were pews reserved for children and babies, too, which was different, and a bunch of little kids got to bring up the gifts. Churches seem to attract the shortest people in Florence, though. Out on the street I never feel that tall, but every time I go to church, I feel like I'm towering over all the other women. The two girls sitting next to me today barely came up to my shoulder, and I saw one nun who couldn't have been more than four and a half feet tall. The Italian women must shrink a lot as they grow older, because these little old ladies don't look like midgets; they just look like gravity got the better of them.
went to mass at Santissima Annunziata. I was running a little late, though, so I rode Nadia's bike up there. I think I'm starting to get the hang of biking around Florence. It wasn't nearly as scary this time. I think Santissima Annunziata has the most community feel of all the churches I've gone to so far. There was an altar boy which I haven't seen at any other mass, and I didn't see a schedule of tourist hours anywhere. There were pews reserved for children and babies, too, which was different, and a bunch of little kids got to bring up the gifts. Churches seem to attract the shortest people in Florence, though. Out on the street I never feel that tall, but every time I go to church, I feel like I'm towering over all the other women. The two girls sitting next to me today barely came up to my shoulder, and I saw one nun who couldn't have been more than four and a half feet tall. The Italian women must shrink a lot as they grow older, because these little old ladies don't look like midgets; they just look like gravity got the better of them.
February 7, 2009
went running in the morning. I ran over to a park just outside of central Florence. Most of it was fenced off for construction, though, so I ran down some unfamiliar streets in the city.
went into the center of the city to do some sketching for my Architecture in Context class. It was so warm when I went running that I wore shorts and flip-flops to go out and sketch. From the looks the Italians were giving me, you'd think I had ten heads. They were still all bundled up in scarves and winter coats, with their umbrellas at the ready just in case it started sprinkling.
walked all the way to Campo di Marte which is on the other side of the city, a ways outside the old walls. We're supposed to sketch the spiral stairs at the stadium at Campo di Marte for Context, so I took some pictures and walked around. I found the public pool our Italian teacher had told us about. This part of the city was pretty different than the part inside the where the walls used to be. As you move further away from the center, the buildings get newer and more modern looking. Most of the buildings inside the walls still have the same style and architectural language as the older buildings, just newer, but once you go outside the walls, there are a lot more buildings that have their own style. Outside the walls looks more like the kind of city we're used to.
Observations:
One big thing I've noticed around Florence is that Italians really like to sing. You can't walk down the road without hearing someone singing to himself. I even saw a man on a cell phone all of a sudden break out into song while still on the phone.
Maybe it's being in a city, but the rain doesn't seem to keep people inside. The Italians and the Asian toursits will all whip at their umbrellas at the slightest hint of rain, but even when it's pouring, they still go out and do whatever they planned on doing that day.
As an American tourist, I expected to receive not necessarily hostility from the Italians but I expected at least some of them not to be very welcoming. It's been exactly the opposite, though. Aside from the weird guy who threw plastic at me (which was probably an accident anyway), everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. Some people, like the man at the market, seem to get really excited when they figure out I'm American. At the Joshua Tree, the pub that a lot of our group likes to frequent, the owners give us free drinks several times a night just because they like us. Maybe they do that sort of thing more often here anyway, but I was very surprised that even though I order nothing, they give me a free drink along with everyone else. Some of my friends have received the same treatment at other pubs as well. The people in the shops are very welcoming too. I always feel slightly rude when I go into a place and cannot speak Italian, but I guess they're just so used to tourists here that several people have been really excited when I try to order in Italian. When I got gelato the other day, the woman taking our orders complimented me on the way I ordered even though she wasn't much older than us and spoke perfect English. From what I've seen in Florence, Americans do not have the bad rep here that we think we do, at least in areas that see a lot of tourists. There are swarms of Asian tourists everywhere on two-day guided tours and they get in the way everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if people are just glad we're not Asian, so they give us special treatment.
went running in the morning. I ran over to a park just outside of central Florence. Most of it was fenced off for construction, though, so I ran down some unfamiliar streets in the city.
went into the center of the city to do some sketching for my Architecture in Context class. It was so warm when I went running that I wore shorts and flip-flops to go out and sketch. From the looks the Italians were giving me, you'd think I had ten heads. They were still all bundled up in scarves and winter coats, with their umbrellas at the ready just in case it started sprinkling.
walked all the way to Campo di Marte which is on the other side of the city, a ways outside the old walls. We're supposed to sketch the spiral stairs at the stadium at Campo di Marte for Context, so I took some pictures and walked around. I found the public pool our Italian teacher had told us about. This part of the city was pretty different than the part inside the where the walls used to be. As you move further away from the center, the buildings get newer and more modern looking. Most of the buildings inside the walls still have the same style and architectural language as the older buildings, just newer, but once you go outside the walls, there are a lot more buildings that have their own style. Outside the walls looks more like the kind of city we're used to.
Observations:
One big thing I've noticed around Florence is that Italians really like to sing. You can't walk down the road without hearing someone singing to himself. I even saw a man on a cell phone all of a sudden break out into song while still on the phone.
Maybe it's being in a city, but the rain doesn't seem to keep people inside. The Italians and the Asian toursits will all whip at their umbrellas at the slightest hint of rain, but even when it's pouring, they still go out and do whatever they planned on doing that day.
As an American tourist, I expected to receive not necessarily hostility from the Italians but I expected at least some of them not to be very welcoming. It's been exactly the opposite, though. Aside from the weird guy who threw plastic at me (which was probably an accident anyway), everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. Some people, like the man at the market, seem to get really excited when they figure out I'm American. At the Joshua Tree, the pub that a lot of our group likes to frequent, the owners give us free drinks several times a night just because they like us. Maybe they do that sort of thing more often here anyway, but I was very surprised that even though I order nothing, they give me a free drink along with everyone else. Some of my friends have received the same treatment at other pubs as well. The people in the shops are very welcoming too. I always feel slightly rude when I go into a place and cannot speak Italian, but I guess they're just so used to tourists here that several people have been really excited when I try to order in Italian. When I got gelato the other day, the woman taking our orders complimented me on the way I ordered even though she wasn't much older than us and spoke perfect English. From what I've seen in Florence, Americans do not have the bad rep here that we think we do, at least in areas that see a lot of tourists. There are swarms of Asian tourists everywhere on two-day guided tours and they get in the way everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if people are just glad we're not Asian, so they give us special treatment.
February 6, 2009
rode Nadia's bike to the market at Piazza Ghiberti. I bought a sweater that was supposed to be ten euro. As I was paying, the man started talking to me about where I was from. He didn't know very much English, so I had a hard time figuring out what he was asking me some of the time, but he seemed excited to talk to someone from the states and at the end of our conversation he gave me a euro back to go get myself a caffe. I don't like coffee so I didn't buy the caffe, but I thought it was really nice of the man to give me a discount especially knowing that I'm a tourist.
rode around a little more. Riding a bike through the city is kind of fun, but it's SCARY. People, cars, bikes, and vespas are absolutely everywhere so you have to be able to swerve all over the place. I was glad her seat is fairly low because there were many times I had to stop and put my feet down to avoid running into people. Only the really main streets have real sidewalks; all the rest just have tiny little strips about two feet wide, so most of the time I had to bike in the street. Bikes and vespas usually zigzag all over the street in between the cars, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of consensus of which side of the street you should be on to make a turn, so that's confusing. I'm definitely glad I won't be driving a car or vespa around here.
rode Nadia's bike to the market at Piazza Ghiberti. I bought a sweater that was supposed to be ten euro. As I was paying, the man started talking to me about where I was from. He didn't know very much English, so I had a hard time figuring out what he was asking me some of the time, but he seemed excited to talk to someone from the states and at the end of our conversation he gave me a euro back to go get myself a caffe. I don't like coffee so I didn't buy the caffe, but I thought it was really nice of the man to give me a discount especially knowing that I'm a tourist.
rode around a little more. Riding a bike through the city is kind of fun, but it's SCARY. People, cars, bikes, and vespas are absolutely everywhere so you have to be able to swerve all over the place. I was glad her seat is fairly low because there were many times I had to stop and put my feet down to avoid running into people. Only the really main streets have real sidewalks; all the rest just have tiny little strips about two feet wide, so most of the time I had to bike in the street. Bikes and vespas usually zigzag all over the street in between the cars, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of consensus of which side of the street you should be on to make a turn, so that's confusing. I'm definitely glad I won't be driving a car or vespa around here.
February 5, 2009
visited the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata and the Spedale Degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital) in my Architecture in Italy class. It was really neat to see the Foundling Hospital, and how, even now, everything function the building houses has to do with children. There's a school and a library (with children's books and books about children's rights), conference rooms and lecture rooms (that are only used for conferences and lectures whose topics relate to children and/or children's rights), UNICEF offices, and a bunch of other stuff all aimed at improving children's lives.
visited Piazza Ghiberti (the site of our studio project) in studio. We also got to walk around the architecture school that faces the piazza since part of our project is to design a new entrance for the school. We didn't really get to see any classrooms or studio, but from the multiple courtyards we walked through, their school looks really nice.
had family dinner in our room. Afterwards I went to a bar/cafe with Katie C (the only non-RWU archie), Christine, and Karen for cake tasting. We each got to try a couple pieces of cake for free, including me, even though I didn't order anything. Then we headed over to the Joshua Tree to meet up some of the others because Liz and Margaret were dj-ing.
visited the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata and the Spedale Degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital) in my Architecture in Italy class. It was really neat to see the Foundling Hospital, and how, even now, everything function the building houses has to do with children. There's a school and a library (with children's books and books about children's rights), conference rooms and lecture rooms (that are only used for conferences and lectures whose topics relate to children and/or children's rights), UNICEF offices, and a bunch of other stuff all aimed at improving children's lives.
visited Piazza Ghiberti (the site of our studio project) in studio. We also got to walk around the architecture school that faces the piazza since part of our project is to design a new entrance for the school. We didn't really get to see any classrooms or studio, but from the multiple courtyards we walked through, their school looks really nice.
had family dinner in our room. Afterwards I went to a bar/cafe with Katie C (the only non-RWU archie), Christine, and Karen for cake tasting. We each got to try a couple pieces of cake for free, including me, even though I didn't order anything. Then we headed over to the Joshua Tree to meet up some of the others because Liz and Margaret were dj-ing.
February 4, 2009
went to the Serial Killer Museum with Nadia, Pat, and Nikul. I was kind of freaked out at first, thinking that things might pop out and scare me, but once we realized that it really is just a museum, it was pretty interesting. We saw the guy who inspired the Blue Beard legends and a woman from Transylvania who had vampirism and of course Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, and the other usuals. They had little scenes with a wax figure of each killer. When you go in, you get headphones to listen to a recording that walks you through the museum. Some of the information was pretty gruesome but it was still really interesting.
went to an movie in Italian at the movie theater across the street from my window. The movie was called "Happy Go Lucky" which is a British film without any real plot, so it wasn't the best choice of movie to watch in a foreign language, but the theater only plays one movie at a time. Even though the movie was mostly dialogue with no plot to follow, we were still able to understand the general gist of the movie. I definitely did not understand even a quarter of the conversations, but I was happy just to catch a word here or there.
went to the Serial Killer Museum with Nadia, Pat, and Nikul. I was kind of freaked out at first, thinking that things might pop out and scare me, but once we realized that it really is just a museum, it was pretty interesting. We saw the guy who inspired the Blue Beard legends and a woman from Transylvania who had vampirism and of course Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, and the other usuals. They had little scenes with a wax figure of each killer. When you go in, you get headphones to listen to a recording that walks you through the museum. Some of the information was pretty gruesome but it was still really interesting.
went to an movie in Italian at the movie theater across the street from my window. The movie was called "Happy Go Lucky" which is a British film without any real plot, so it wasn't the best choice of movie to watch in a foreign language, but the theater only plays one movie at a time. Even though the movie was mostly dialogue with no plot to follow, we were still able to understand the general gist of the movie. I definitely did not understand even a quarter of the conversations, but I was happy just to catch a word here or there.
February 2, 2009
didn't have Italian class because our teacher was sick. Another Italian teacher was sick, too, so I really do think they take sick days much more easily than we do. Since I didn't have to go to Italian, I had from 1:00 to 5:30 free. Nikul, Pat, Nadia, and I wandered around the city for awhile and got gelato.
didn't have Italian class because our teacher was sick. Another Italian teacher was sick, too, so I really do think they take sick days much more easily than we do. Since I didn't have to go to Italian, I had from 1:00 to 5:30 free. Nikul, Pat, Nadia, and I wandered around the city for awhile and got gelato.
February 1, 2009
went to mass at Santo Spirito with Pat. Santo Spirito seems more like a parish church than any of the other ones I've gone to so far. They still had security guards at the entrance and certain times for tours to come, but the people going into to mass greeted each other and the guards as if they knew each other. There was only one priest, but that's part of what made it feel like a regular mass instead of sort of a tourist attraction. They also had song books which I haven't seen at any of the others. I was really glad they did, because I could actually participate in at least part of the mass when I had something to read from. I feel like I understand more and more of the mass each time I go. It helps that so much is similar to either Latin or Spanish. I always try to say the responses to the responsorial psalm and the general intercessions. I don't get every word, but at least I mange to catch a few.
went to studio to do my assignment due Tuesday. Jarrod (my partner on this assignment) and I finished the whole project by about 4, so I decided to wander around Florence on my way home. Although I usually end up at the same sites I've seen before on all my wanderings, I almost always get there a new way, which is pretty cool. I went down streets I've never been down before and saw different neat little places.
went to mass at Santo Spirito with Pat. Santo Spirito seems more like a parish church than any of the other ones I've gone to so far. They still had security guards at the entrance and certain times for tours to come, but the people going into to mass greeted each other and the guards as if they knew each other. There was only one priest, but that's part of what made it feel like a regular mass instead of sort of a tourist attraction. They also had song books which I haven't seen at any of the others. I was really glad they did, because I could actually participate in at least part of the mass when I had something to read from. I feel like I understand more and more of the mass each time I go. It helps that so much is similar to either Latin or Spanish. I always try to say the responses to the responsorial psalm and the general intercessions. I don't get every word, but at least I mange to catch a few.
went to studio to do my assignment due Tuesday. Jarrod (my partner on this assignment) and I finished the whole project by about 4, so I decided to wander around Florence on my way home. Although I usually end up at the same sites I've seen before on all my wanderings, I almost always get there a new way, which is pretty cool. I went down streets I've never been down before and saw different neat little places.
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