Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Farewell, Firenze.

Well, I said arrivederci to Florence last week. Next week I'll move into my apartment in Tuscania and begin my classes there. Tuscania is a small town south of Rome, and I'm really looking forward to immersion in small town life. However, saying goodbye to Florence was bittersweet, and I'll recap a few Florentine highlights that I want to remember.



First of all, the museums. I went to the Academia a few weeks ago, the home of Michaelangelo's David. David was every bit the hype around him. The moment you walked into his domed gallery and see him, you are immediately struck by the realization that one gifted man created him from a block of marble. I also loved Michaelangelo's Prisoners, figures who look like they're trying to break free of the marble that surrounds them. Michaelangelo believed a sculptor was like the hand of God; sculptures were created by God and already existed in marble - it was up to the sculptor to release them.

I also went to the Uffizi, Florence's breathtaking art museum. My favorite room was the Botticelli room. Birth of Venus and La Primavera were awesome in person - especially because Botticelli was one of the first artists of his time to break free of the restrictions of flat religious art and paint something beautiful for the sake of celebrating things that are beautiful. The ancient statue of Venus de Medici (from the first century BC) was similarly striking for her beauty.

In the Palazzo Pitti, or Pitti Palace, I saw many rooms that belonged to grand people, including the Medicis and even Napoleon at one point. We also walked behind the Palace to the large Boboli Gardens, which rewarded us with a beautiful view of Tuscan hillside.



At Piazzale Michaelangelo, we climbed flights of outdoor stairs until we reached one of the most incredible views. The city of Florence sprawls out below you. You can see the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, and in the distance, the mountains under which Florence is tucked. We could even see it snowing up in the mountain peaks, despite the fair weather in Florence. The sun was setting as we arrived, and I don't think I could have ever stood there long enough to drink in that view.



I went inside Santa Croce church and saw the graves and memorials of such notable Florentines as Galileo (once excommunicated from the church, his remains were later moved to Santa Croce), Dante, Fermi, Michaelangelo, and LEAD 101's own - Niccolò Macchiavelli! (His ends justified his means).



I also got a tour of Florence's Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, from my school. The style was Tuscan and simple, but the painting inside the dome itself - a scene of the last judgment - could give you neck pain from titling your head back for hours to look at it. My friends and I went to a Catholic mass in the Duomo. The entire time, I sat in the pews and thought about how people had been sitting in the same pews, listening to (relatively) the same mass, for literally hundreds of years. I realized how the cathedral reflected the Medieval and Renaissance concept of God - large, imposing, beautiful, and powerful beyond what we can imagine, but also cold and hard at times like the marble.



My school in Florence also provided for students a number of cultural events. We went to a shop associated with an organic farm in the Tuscan countryside and learned how fresh pasta is made - and got to take home a sample of fresh pappardelle, which is noticeably better than dried pasta. I saw how Florentine paper, with its beautiful marbled patterns, is made, and tried my hand at a pattern of my own. And we also did a mini course on fresco making, and I produced a fresco of my own of the Medici crest, which will last hundreds of years.









Florence is a city in which I felt surrounded by centuries of history everywhere I went, and I will certainly be back. What I loved best about Florence was the culture of Toscana that I had the chance to experience. Socializing and people-watching at the cafe and the market helped me understand why Florentines are so proud of their city and their region. They seem to have a relaxed, sociable way of life, chock-full of interesting traditions and norms that seemed overwhelming at first, but now seem beautiful because of how unique they are.






Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sbagliando, si impara!

"No frustrazione - ma ok."

Translation: From your mistakes, you learn. No frustration - it's all ok.

Our teachers told us that Italian saying the other day, and I have to say, I really love it. Many Florentines know English, but they really appreciate it when you at least try to use Italian - and if you make a mistake, it's alright. They politely correct you and commend you on your study of the language. This gives me the confidence to practice everywhere I go. In the San Lorenzo market yesterday, a vendor smiled and asked how long I'd been studying. In the mercato centrale, a young girl started jabbering to me in a tumult of Italian when she thought I understood her, like we were old friends. When I met the women who lives in the apartment below me, she knew enough English and I knew enough Italian that we actually held a decent conversation, and I was so excited I practically danced up the rest of the stairs. Total immersion is truly the best way to learn a language, and I can't believe the progress I've made in such a short time. Last week, our instructor took our class to the market and gave us a list of questions to ask the vendors - in Italian, of course! On Friday, another instructor took us all to a cafe in the morning to practice ordering the world's most delicious pastries in Italian (sfoglietta and bombolone - trust me, they're amazing).

Our class in cafe "Sieni"

Last week, we had an entire day dedicated to learning the importance of gestures in Italian. In the US, we have this stereotype that Italians speak with their hands, with wild and harried gestures emphasizing every word. That's not exactly accurate. Italian is a language in two parts - the spoken language, and the gestures, which are almost as exact as American Sign Language. There are very specific gestures that mean very specific things, and if you do them in the wrong place at the wrong time, well... the consequences can get a little socially awkward. Hence an entire day dedicated to learning them! It was fascinating. I learned how to gesture "we're leaving," "I swear," "good luck," "I don't know," and "Ale!" (important for soccer games).

My class and the best instructors ever, Irene and Francesca

Since my last update, I've taken day trips to Cinque Terre and Pisa. The Cinque Terre are a string of five tiny, colorful villages built right into the cliffs of the Italian Riviera, and I don't think I've ever been to a more beautiful place in my life. Even though it's winter, we got very lucky and the day was sunny and warm. Since it wasn't tourist season, some things were shut down - like the hiking trail that follows the coast and connects the villages. However, off-season proved to be a blessing because the villages were calm, serene, and populated solely with locals. We bought the sweetest clementines at a shop in Manarola, stopped for great gelato in Vernazza, and watched hang gliders land in Monterosso-al-Mare. Although the trail was closed, we found there were still plenty of paths to hike along cliffs and soak in the incredible views. I promised Madeeha, the other student I was traveling with, that I would come back to Cinque Terre someday. I want to take the big hike through all five villages, and maybe then I'll have seen my fill of that beautiful coastline - but probably not.


The following day I traveled to Pisa. Pisa is an underrated little city - there is much more there than the leaning tower. Although the day was dreary, we walked through a small artisan fair that was set up and peeked in a few shops. The duomo and baptistery in Pisa are just as gorgeous as the tower, and the area really deserves it's name - Campo dei Miracoli, or Field of Miracles. Leaving Pisa, I started thinking about tourism in Italy. It's a double-edged sword. Although tourism prevents towns like Pisa from falling victim to the repercussions of a harsh economy, it overloads the city and takes a huge physical toll. Tourism is the largest industry in Italy. Towns like Pisa or Cinque Terre highlight their selling points in desperate attempts to cash in, but at the same time they sacrifice so much of their character to make room for tourists. I realize this seems a little hypocritical, being myself a tourist here. So what do we do? Leave the land untouched, or sacrifice a bit of it so that we can look at something beautiful? I certainly don't have the answer to that - there's a leadership question for you, 203!

Tuttomondo or Whole Wide World by Keith Haring - Pisa

Also in Pisa, I discovered this mural by American artist Keith Haring. Apparently, Haring was commissioned to paint this wall by the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. The mural is called Tuttomondo and was completed in 1989, bringing graffiti art to Italy. Across from the mural is a bar called Keith's, dedicated to the late artist. My guidebook made the following comment about the meaning behind the mural:

"A celebration of diversity, chaos, and the liveliness of our world, vibrating with energy."

Bellisimo, no?

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Siena, Epifania, e lezione di cucina

Ciao!

Has it just been a week? I feel as though I've been here at least a month. I think that every day at least ten times I admit to myself that something is much more difficult or much more complicated than I expected it to be - but you simply have to keep going until you figure it out. For example, the markets. Shopping for groceries in Italy is a completely different experience from shopping in the states. Fresh meat and cheese and produce is in one market, and then smaller convenience stores have a random assortment of other items - but you may need to go to two or three of these before you find everything you're looking for, and even then you probably didn't find anything you were looking for (and annoyed quite a few shopkeepers in the process). However, the abundance of fresh food and the lack of processed food is a refreshing change for me.

What's challenging for me at the moment is culture shock - something that I truly did not think existed or that I would experience, but I'm willing to admit that it's real now. It's not the culture itself that shocks me; it's my placement in this culture and away from my own world, and the realization that this disconnect will last for another four months. There's just nothing to prepare you for that feeling, and even though it's incredibly freeing, it's also somewhat constricting, because you can't escape this freedom for a moment. The best way to fight it, though, is to get involved - and so I have.

Last weekend, another student and myself took a short bus trip to Siena. While on the bus, we got a firsthand tour of the Tuscan countryside. Even though it's winter, the country was so calm and beautiful. In Siena, we walked around and saw the Siena Duomo (cathedral), the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, and the outside of the Medicean Fortress. I wanted to go see St. Catherine of Siena's disembodied head (preserved in one of the churches, if you'll believe that), but we ran out of time. Siena was smaller and quieter than Florence, with lots of very lovely shops and families and children milling all about. There was a park with a carnival going on in it, and a lot the children were ice skating there. Siena felt a bit homier and less urban than Florence to me, which was a nice change of pace.

Sunday I had the opportunity to witness one of Florence's signature events - the parade of the Magi as a part of the Epiphany celebration. For those who don't know, according to Catholic tradition January 6 is Epiphany, the celebration of three kings or Magi presenting gifts to the child Jesus. This celebration took place all over Florence last weekend. When we got to the Duomo, a children's choir lined the front steps and were singing Christmas songs (in Italian, of course). Then we lined the streets for the parade, which included over 600 people marching in full historic costumes. I'm still doing research on the significance of the costumes - I'm not sure if they represented region or era or what exactly, but it was other-worldly to see them marching through the streets. There were also drum players, brass players, famous flag-throwers, and even a few random camels.



Cavalcata dei Magi


Yesterday, my beginner Italian class had our first cooking session. On Monday evenings, our instructors Irene and Francesca meet us at school for special cooking classes. Class is all in Italian, including the recipes that we're reading from. However, our instructors are probably the sweetest people in the world (they're currently my favorite part of this whole experience), and they helped us make some incredible dishes. On the menu was  rose di speck (antipasto or appetizer with a bacon-like meat wrapped in dough), sugo alla carbonara (pasta with eggs, cheese, and bacon), torta salata agli spinaci (a spinach and cheese torte), and for dessert or dolce we had baci di amaretti al mascarpone (the most amazing bite-sized sweets in the world) and torta al cioccolato (thin chocolate cake). My instructor also showed me how to use an espresso press (called a mocha) to make coffee, which was awesome. These instructors are amazing - I love every second that I spend learning from them, both in the classroom AND the kitchen!

Our beautiful baci.



Thursday, January 3, 2013

Sights around the apartment







Parte Una: Firenze

Buonasera amici!

As of yesterday at 9:30 morning, I have officially begun my stay in Florence. This semester, I'll spend three weeks in Florence, have a short break, then spend a month in Tuscania, a month in Rome, and my  remaining weeks in Venice. I'll study Italian language, history, classics, and even one course on the food of Italy. I've never been to Italy before - or Europe, for that matter - so this is the blog of a newbie, or as I like to refer to it, a Work in Progress (WIP for short). Feel free to live vicariously through this adventure, but be warned: the last thing I plan to do this semester is get comfortable.

"I’d like to have something happen to give me a jolt, something that would rattle my teeth and shake my hairpins out." — Edna St. Vincent Millay

My journey began in Cleveland. I flew to Toronto, ran (and just made it) onto a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, and then flew over the Alps to Florence. I wish that any of my pictures did the view over Germany and the view of the Alps justice. Landing in Florence was like landing in another world - a secret hidden at the foot of isolated mountains, a piece of history that time somehow excused.

I took a cab to my school's housing office, where they quickly handed me a key and pointed me toward my apartment. After spending about half an hour learning that most doors in Italy push inward instead of pulling outward, I got in. The apartment is absolutely perfect. My favorite part about it is that Italians are very conscious of their energy usage and their environmental impact. Heat may only be turned on 12 hours a day and only in certain months; electricity is used sparingly as well; recycling bins are in the piazza and collected every day. Many things are different, but I'm still wildly intrigued by the differences. The only thing I miss at the moment is people, and I'm lucky enough to have some pretty solid wifi which allows me to Skype when I need to.

I live with three other American students, none of whom have been here before either and none of whom speak Italian. We've already been in a few classic American adventures, including stumbling into a restaurant, ordering in quite broken Italian, trying out a cafe, and wandering aimlessly in the streets looking for the market. LdM (our school) is quite insistent that we learn by experience, which is probably the most exciting way to learn.

I've had one Italian language course so far, which was taught totally in Italian. The first things we learn is how to say are "How do you say -" and "What does ___ mean?" so that we can communicate with the professor. When I left the class, I couldn't believe how much I'd understood, even though the instructors said maybe one or two English sentences the entire time! Learning the language is what excites me the most at the moment. It's so beautiful, and the cadence of it seems to ring through the streets here every hour of every day - I want to be a part of that song.

Check out my photos so far at http://instagram.com/sydneymaltese/, and hopefully I'll be able to post a few photos on here soon.

Till then, arrivederci.