June
Jump down to journal entries by month:
June 23
With two long days of traveling behind me, I am finally back in Daytona Beach. The last week seemed like a blur, rushing by so fast that I can scarcely remember what happened. It's hard to believe how far away from home I've been for the past five weeks. Only two days ago I was still sleeping in a cozy monastery on the hills outside Siena, and now here I am, back in the Florida heat and loving it.
For our last few days in Italy, we all took the time to enjoy what we loved most about the culture. I made sure to fully enjoy my last cup of chocolate chip and mint gelato. Also, Joe and I spent a lot of time wandering the shops of Siena, buying the rest of our gifts to take home to friends and family.
On Wednesday morning after Italian class, Enzo took us to the Torture Museum in central Siena. I think the place is more of a tourist attraction than a natural Sienese sightseeing stop, especially since we passed one in Florence a few weeks back. However the features inside do relate to much of Europe in the medieval times, and many of them even claimed to still be in use. We saw all kinds of torture tools from spiked interrogation chairs to limb-trapping metal splints and a cat-o-nine-tails whip. The museum also boasted amazing life-like figures that either demonstrated the use of a torture tool or represented some of the famous horror myths of the times, such as zombies, werewolves, and the many faces of Dracula and vampire creatures. Although I believe we were allowed to take photos I refrained because frankly, the images we saw were not ones I want to remember.
 Later in the day we went as a class to the Duomo of Siena. This would be our last view of the beautiful churches of Italy. We gazed one last time at intricate mosaic panels on the floor, solemn religious paintings on the walls, and great statues and carved altars spread our around the magnificent rooms. There was even an enormous pipe organ high on the wall. As each of us wandered through the church our thoughts began to turn to packing and preparing for the trip home and we soon began to slip away in small groups to head back to Vico Alto. 
Before saying our goodbyes and taking our leave of the area, we had one last hoorah at the Irish pub in Siena. Then we all began to head out in ones and twos for our points of departure.
Friday morning, Joe and I left bright and early with five pieces of luggage between us. We had accumulated a bit of extra weight with all the gifts we had bought so it worked out that I had gotten that extra suitcase in Rome. We dragged the luggage down to the bus stop, took our last city bus to the train station, and were soon on our way to Rome. Once there it was a fairly quick trip back to the airport and before we knew it we were in the air.
The fantastic feeling of being home after a long journey is keeping me from feeling any longing to return to Italy just yet. But perhaps after a week or so I might have enough distance to reflect on what I’ve experienced and how my perspective has changed. For now I think I will focus on delivering my Italian gifts, dining on hamburgers and fries, and relaxing on the hot Florida beach.
June 16
A chill wind is blowing through the trees and rain clouds threaten overhead as I reflect on the past week's adventures, sitting on the back porch of our monastery-apartment overlooking the countryside of Tuscany. Though the weather has not been accommodatinglately, we did not let it dictate our plans for theweek. Four-fifths of the way through our time in Italy we completed projects on Dante's Inferno, cooked an entire Italian meal from scratch under the guidance of a real chef,explored the Wednesday market of Siena,and took a weekend trip to Venice, the City of Love.
Tuesday afternoon Dr. Parker gave us an introduction to the poet Dante Alighieri. Native to Florence, Dante wrote his masterpiece the Divine Comedy, an epic three-part poem about a journey through Hell to reach Purgatory and finally Paradise. Because our study time in Italy is limited, Dr. Parker chose for us to study only The Inferno, which covers the arguably most interesting portion of the epic –Hell. Each of us were given about three Cantos, or chapters, to study and present on to the class. We spent our afternoon classes on Tuesday and Wednesday recounting Dante's travels down through the depths of Hell to the very center of the earth. The grotesque but creative imagery of Dante's Hell held everyone captivated.
I have to say that one of our class's most favorite activities so far was the cooking class. Tuesday after class we all trouped down to the kitchen of the school where we were met by our Italian professor, Enzo, and a bona fide Italian chef named Nando. Both were dressed in traditional chefs' uniforms of white. They provided us each with a disposable apron and a list of the dishes we would be making. The dinner for the evening consisted of a crostini (toast) appetizer with sardine toppings, fresh pasta with tomato and pesto sauce –all made from scratch, a dish of turkey rolled with vegetable paste, and rich tiramisu.
Once we had all heard Nando's explanations of how to make the varying dishes and sauces, we spread out around the kitchen and set to work. Joe and I watched several of the others start mixing and kneading the pasta dough before we found something to do. By carefully separating the eggs, yolk from white, we started the process of making the tiramisu. Later we traded the tiramisu over to someone else and helped to cut the pasta and lay it out on trays. With great guidance and direction from Enzo and Nando, we soon had an amazing meal prepared and we were all hungry and ready to eat.
The meal was beyond superb. We enjoyed each dish immensely, savoring them with white and red wine. The entire meal must have taken close to two hours just to eat because we all took the time to really taste the food. There is no meal so satisfying as one that you have cooked personally, especially when it is new to your tongue and fills your stomach just right.
The next morning we visited the market of Siena as a class, professors included. Some of us had shopped there on previous Wednesdays, but Enzo wanted the chance to show us around, relating things we saw to what we had learned in class. Markets in Italy are much like flea markets at home. Vendors set up their temporary booths and watch them fill with people, ready to haggle for the best price. It can be extremely hard to move through the market because of the crowds, but if you find something you really like, chances are you can get it for a fairly low price.
First Enzo took us through the part of the market where abbigliamenti, or clothing, is sold. All kinds of styles are represented there, from trendy dresses and shirts, to leather jackets, and lacy underwear. The next section contained scarpe, or shoes. The endless types of shoes have a wide range of prices, but vendors are often willing to bargain with shoppers. I was tempted several times by stylish high heels, but in this case I decided I could get similar prices at home. Last we looked at paste, the Italian word for food. You can buy cooked meats like chicken and rabbit, cold prosciutto, fried potatoes, mozzarella balls, fresh fruits, and more. By this time my stomach was growling so, on Enzo's recommendation, I bought some small chicken legs and mozzarella balls to share with Joe. We also bought a couple juicy nectarines before heading back to the school for our second class.
At 6 a.m. the next morning, everyone stumbled down the long hill to the train station, backpacks loaded for the weekend trip to Venice. We had to walk because the buses do not run so bright and early. When we reached the station, we boarded a bus to Bologna. Everyone slept for the majority of the ride and continued to do so once we caught the train from Bologna to Venice.
Upon arrival in the City of Love, we all gathered around Dr. Parker as she pointed out the vaporetto station . The vaporettos are like a public bus system, only they are boats. We bought our tickets and boarded awaiting boat for the ride to our hostel. The particular hostel we stayed in was not exactly what we were used to –no toilet seats, males and females separated on different floors, shower curtains and bathroom locks hard to come by. But after the long day of traveling I resolved that if I could just get a good night's sleep it would be alright. The room was fairly quiet in the evening so fortunately I did indeed sleep well.
Friday morning we all met up in front of the bell tower in St. Mark's Square, famous for beautiful architecture and legions of pigeons flocking to bread crumb-throwing tourists. According to Mike, one of our classmates from the Prescott campus, the pigeons were not nearly so bad this year as they were the year before. Next Dr. Parker led us into St. Mark's Basilica where we were enthralled by the famous mosaics that cover the majority of wall, ceiling, and floor space of the entire building. What added to the experience and made it different from all the other churches we had seen was the eastern influence of the architecture. Rather than Gothic spires and scenes of the Crucifixion, we saw pointed arches and windows and scenes of a resurrected Christ.
Entrance to the main area was free but certain interesting sections cost an extra couple of euros to visit. I paid three euros to see relics and treasures from the days during which the Basilica was built. Among these were boxes and chalices covered with gold plating, pearls, and beautiful stones. One box was said to even contain a piece of the true cross of Christ. Also present were bones and even skulls that supposedly once belonged to some of the saints. I paid another two euros to go up behind the altar where I saw a great golden scene of Christ and his apostles surrounded by angels and hundreds of emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and pearls. Behind this lay a decorative coffin that was claimed to hold the body of St. Mark himself.
After the Basilica we all boarded a vaporetto for another island. One of the great charms of Venice is its handmade glass, attributed to the skillful glass-masters of Murano. When we arrived on the island, a shopkeeper informed us that most of the glass-masters had stopped for lunch. We took the waiting time to find and eat our own lunches. At this point Joe and I decided to split off from the others. One of the hazards of sight-seeing with a large group is the tendency for a few to slow the rest down. It was fortunate that we did separate because it turned out that no one saw the glass-making except us. Several furnaces charged for the viewing, but we wandered on until we found one for free. The show was very brief, less than five minutes, but mainly because the glass-master was so adept and quick with his work. In that short amount of time he used one technique –not actual blowing but sort of waving the glass around on the end of a pole—to make a clear vase, and another technique done with hand tools to create a red-orange horse figure. The crowd was in awe of his speed and agility and I barely had enough time to get a semi-acceptable photo.
After Murano, Joe and I took the vaporetto back to our hostel for a quick rest. We met up with a few of the others there who told us the rest were all planning to eat dinner near the train station in a short while. We joined them for the boat-ride back to the other side of Venice for another delicious Italian meal. I had spaghetti and a thin steak while Joe ate lasagna with his meat. For whatever reason, perhaps just the grandness of the city around me, I was feeling generous and bought a bottle of merlot for my table.
Later that evening, as we wandered back towards St. Mark's square wondering what else we should do, someone suggested taking a magical gondola ride. Unfortunately our group contained thirteen people  and the most that can ride in one gondola is six. Either one person would be left behind or someone else would have to make a sacrifice. We ended up going in two groups of four with the rest staying behind. The evening was calm and quiet, the waterways between buildings absolutely lovely. It would have been a perfect ride if only one of our group had been a little less enthusiastic. He was so excited to be aboard a gondola that he couldn't help but talk loudly and lean from side to side, rocking the little boat from time to time. Even so it was still magical and fantastic and a ride I will never forget.
While most of our classmates headed back to Siena on Saturday morning, Joe and I stayed around a little longer to do some shopping. Accompanied by our friend Nick, we explored the shops around St. Mark's square and down a couple side streets, doing our best to stay out of the pouring rain. When we were getting close to time to catch our train, we had each bought quite a few gifts for friends and family at home, and were plenty ready to get away from the rain and rest on the ride home.
One week left to go and I am anxious to get home. I have had an amazing time in Italy but I miss many things from home like cheeseburgers, terry-cloth towels, and queen-sized beds that are not made out of two smaller mattresses. In my final week abroad I plan to take as much advantage as I can of the things that exist here but not in the U.S. Delicious gelato and copious amounts of pasta aside, I look forward to boarding the plane for Florida.
June 9
This week, Joe and I spent more time exploring the charms of Siena. It was relaxing for us after our past weekend of traveling and we were grateful for the chance to catch up on our rest while the others were off visiting new places.
Wednesday after class, everyone walked down to the very heart of Siena for a tour of Gino Cacino's ham, cheese, and wine shop. Dr. Parker told us that this year was the first time they had tried this tour. Gino turned out to be the friendliest, most enthusiastic, and helpful shop owner we had yet encountered. The experience was not so much a tour as it was an explanation, with several colorful visuals, of how Gino and his employees make cheese and age ham right in their shop. We didn't get to look in the back where the work actually took place, but with the help of Luca's translations –Gino didn't seem to speak a word of English—we soon had a general understanding of the process for aging cheese and ham.
The best part was when Gino brought out trays of salami, prosciutto, goat cheese, and parmesan for us to taste. Prosciutto is actually slices of aged and cured ham that are eaten uncooked. It makes delicious  sandwiches or snacks with cheese and bread. I had never tried goat cheese before, but it was even better than the parmesan. We also tried red and white wine, as well as some dessert wine that we dipped pieces of biscotti into in the traditional Italian fashion. Biscotti are basically any kind of cookie, but the ones we tried were specifically crunchy and had sliced almonds mixed into them.
Gino was generous with his samples and we took our time munching while taking photos and examining his shop. He had one wall with several magazine clippings about his work and his shop. We determined that he is fairly famous in the area and he definitely deserves his excellent reputation. To thank him for his hospitality, several of us bought wine and cheeses from his shop to take back to our residences for later.
On Friday afternoon, Joe and I were scheduled to take the wine-tasting tour that we had missed the week  before. We went into town early to eat lunch and check our messages online. When we returned to the bus stop to find our tour guide and the tour bus, we nearly missed the whole thing for a second time. We had been told to look for the tour guide that our classmates had had on their trip, but no one who couldpossibly be guiding a wine tour matched the description of the man we had been given. While we were searching, a group began to form in front of the pub where we were told to meet our tour guide. I overheard one woman talking about a wine tour and Joe recognized some of the girls from our local school Dante Alighieri. By the time we finally asked the woman who appeared to be in charge, they were boarding the bus for departure.
After several tense minutes of explanation and a few phone calls by the woman to her tour company, we were told we could join the tour. Apparently we had the wrong information about the tour guide, and we didn't even know the name of the company, but Valencia, the actual tour guide for that day, was glad to have us after the confusion was cleared up. 
The tour began with an exhilarating ride over rolling hills and around sharply bent roads. Fortunately the weather held out for most of the trip and the sunshine made the landscape all the more glorious. In Florida, or at least in Daytona Beach, there is not much landscape to enjoy. But the Tuscany region is made up of the most gorgeous vistas –carefully rowed vineyards broken by patches of olive groves and small hamlets with their quaint homes and shops. We stopped at the top of a very high hill, looking out on these sights in both directions, in order to allow us tourists to enjoy the view and take memorable photos.
Next we visited a little town called Radda in Chianti which seemed to be about a tenth the size of Siena. You could walk every street in about twenty minutes and surely everyone who lives there knows one another. The small size added to its charm and Joe and I quickly found ourselves enjoying the local shops. We had just enough time to find a few gifts for friends, take some lovely photos, and walk back to the tour bus.
The next stop was smaller still, not even a town, just a tiny hamlet among the vineyards and hills. There weren't even any shops for us to browse and the total population was only about fifty people. We followed the tour guide on a brief, informal walk through one side of the hamlet and back up the other, just to get a taste of the simplicity of life there.
Finally we made our last stop at the main base of operations for Castello D'albola, the major wine maker of the area. The office and some of the wine cellars are located in the actual castle building. We wereshown three different locations of wine barrels holding wine in the aging process. Then we entered the office area where the wine tastings are held. We tried five different kinds of wine altogether but even more than the wines, I really enjoyed the olive oil. It tasted almost like some sort of grape syrup, possibly due to the fact that we tried if after sampling all the wine. I couldn't help but make a purchase for myself and my family.
The next day Joe had made plans to meet up with his Italian skateboarding friend, Elisseo. The two had met on an online forum for finding others interested in extreme sports. When Joe decided he would be going to Italy, it worked out nicely as Elisseo lives in the outskirts of Siena.
I joined Joe and Elisseo for the skating session, but only to take photos and watch. While I have come far in my skateboarding skills, I am still nowhere near able to manage the hills that Joe enjoys. The particular hill they had chosen for that day was a little narrow but very long with a steep enough incline to get moving quite fast. The surrounding area was beautiful with many wildflowers, a small vineyard, and mountains visible in the distance. Joe and Elisseo spent about two hours skating the hill while I amused myself with my camera.
Later that evening, Joe and I took the bus into town to explore the possibility of enjoying an Irish music festival. In the process of locating the festival, we discovered that there is quite a large area of Siena that is grassy and covered in plants. It lies to the southeast of the city center, the exact area which we had not yet had reason to visit. We also found the most breathtaking view of Siena and the surrounding countryside visible from a park not far from the school where we study. When the music finally started we enjoyed the lively rhythms of an Irish fiddle, a cello, and a guitar played by a couple of Irish women who call themselves the Clover Duo. We also enjoyed a glass of Guinness and some traditional Irish jacket potatoes before taking our leave of the festival.
There are now two weeks left in the study abroad program and I can feel myself getting a little homesick. But there are still a few more adventures to be had before we prepare to head back to Florida and I know we will make the best of them that we can.
June 2
Wow. Traveling abroad can be a real struggle at times. This week was filled with so many mistakes and miscommunications that I'm just grateful it's over and we're all back in Siena. Let me start from the beginning.
In preparation for our planned trip to Florence, Dr. Parker had assigned each of us an artist of the Italian Renaissance to study and report on. My artist was Masaccio and Joe had the more well-known Botticelli. Others included Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. We gave our presentations Tuesday, in order from the earliest artist to the most recent. This way we would have a better understanding of what we were seeing when we visited the Uffizi, a famous art gallery in Florence.
The trouble started the next day after lunch. We were scheduled to take a wine-tasting tour of south Chianti, the area in which Siena is located. As everyone left the classroom and moved out into the hallway, I ran ahead to make a quick trip to the bathroom before we left. I told Joe, so he waited for me, but when I came out everyone else was gone. We hurried to the bus stop, practically sprinting across town only to realize they must have meant another bus stop because no one was there. So we turned around and headed back to the school, hoping someone would have come back for us once they realized we were missing. Well someone did come back, but they left again before we could get there, so we missed the wine tour altogether. We later found out that we could still take the tour, but we would have to go another day with a different group. I felt pretty miserable for missing out on the fun our classmates had together, but at least we will still get to go. Either way, this was only the first of our problems.
The majority of Thursday went fairly smoothly. We all took an hour-long bus ride to Florence, which is called Firenze in Italy. Our first sight to see was the Church of Santa Maria Novella. The inner walls were lined with frescoes and great paintings from the Italian Renaissance. Several of us recognized works of the artists we had studied, including one of the most famous frescoes, the Trinity, of my own artist Masaccio.
From there Dr. Parker and her husband took us to lunch at a lovely restaurant near the Medici Chapels. Florence is famous for its steaks, and we were all amused to see the gigantic slices which Brian and Jon ordered. They were like something out of The Flinstones –caveman-sized chunks of juicy meat. The rest of us took the opportunity to try other Italian dishes which we had not tasted before. Joe had an interesting mix of penne pasta, Gorgonzola, and bacon. My dish was linguini pasta with alfredo sauce and shrimp, plus two giant prawns. Absolutely satisfying.
After lunch, the Parkers gave us a few hours to explore Florence on our own, with the instructions to meet back up in front of the Uffizi gallery at 3:45. A few of us decided to use this time to find the hostel we had booked and deposit our backpacks which we had been lugging around the city. The others stumbled across an intriguing tourist trap –a so-called “museum” of torture, which they decided to explore.
When we found each other again in front of the gallery, Dr. Parker had our tickets for us. We did not have to wait in line because our group had paid for entrance at a set time. Inside, we climbed four stories to the top in order to work our way down. Fantastic statues lined the halls and the rooms were filled with grand Renaissance art. Again many of us recognized works by our artists. I did not find many by Masaccio, but there were two of the most famous pieces by Joe's artist, Botticelli –Primavera, which is “spring”, and The Birth of Venus. I really loved both of these paintings in particular. We also saw some of da Vinci's lesser known works among the hundreds of pieces in the gallery. It was a nice tour of some of the truly great works of art that we studied in class.
At this point we decided to split up and explore the city some more. However, we were unable to meet up again for the rest of the weekend due to some unforeseen problems. First, neither Joe nor I have a phone to reach anyone while we are abroad. Until that night it had not been much of a problem, but when the others decided not to stay at the hostel and to return to Siena instead, they could not find or call us to let us know. Their rooms at the hostel were uncleaned and their beds unmade, and they were so furious that they decided to cancel and leave. We had no idea that they were gone or that they had broken their plans to go to Rome for the rest of the weekend. Joe and I figured we would find them at the hostel there and we continued with our plans unaware.
Before we left Florence, Dr. Parker required us to visit one more monument or museum on our own. Joe and I decided to climb Giotto's Tower and visit the Duomo Museum. Giotto was one of the earlier artists from the Italian Renaissance who had a profound effect on the development of later artists' work. We climbed 414 steps up his bell tower to get a beautiful view of the city and the Duomo, which is Italian for something like “grand church.” The one in Florence is a Gothic cathedral with the most amazing artwork from corner to corner across its outer surface. It is a wonder to behold as there is hardly an inch of space undecorated. We did not go into the Duomo because our guidebook told us that there was not much to view inside as most of the art has been removed to the Duomo Museum, which is where we went next. There we saw many more paintings and sculptures, including Donatello's Mary Magdalene.
Joe and I spent the rest of that day traveling to Rome. On the way, we discovered by expensive accident that we had taken the wrong train. At the station in Florence there was no way to tell for which train we could or could not use our tickets. Thankfully the lady sitting next to us on the train translated this to the woman checking the tickets and was able to convince her not to charge us the full price. We paid only eight more euros each, rather than a miserable thirty euros. Though we arrived at our hostel in Rome fairly early in the afternoon, Joe and I decided to take the rest of the day to rest and wait for our classmates to show up. They never did.
Despite being a bit worried and irritated that no one had yet met us in Rome, Joe and I got  upearly the next day to see the sights. We used a cheap guidebook to get us to what we thought was Trajan's Column but turned out to be a different one which wasunlabeled in the book. By the time we had realized our mistake, we had already found our way to the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II which was a grand castle-like building decorated with magnificent statues and sculptures. Nearby we found the actual column we had first been looking for. It stood on the ruins of Trajan's Forum, next to the partially restored Trajan's Market.
There we made another mistake which cost us more time than anything else. Confused by the cheap guidebook and the unclear explanations on a free pamphlet, we spent a few hours exploring the Market which had been used to house the Museum of the Roman Forums. For the majority of that time, I thought we were in fact looking at the actual Roman Forums, not just a museum. Even so, it was an excellent place to explore; dark alcoves and steep stairs led from one level of ancient ruins to the next. Many broken pieces of columns and sculptures still lay strewn on the lawn of the Market where they had likely been marked and counted by archaeologists. We got quite a workout making sure that we had seen every interesting hidden corner of the ruins that we possibly could.
Next we strolled alongside the true Roman Forums, choosing to mostly ignore them in favor of the more exciting destination ahead of us –the Colosseum. Our anticipation grew as we caught short glimpses of the massive amphitheater between buildings. When we got a better view I took a volley of photographs as we approached. It felt amazing to see in person the great site which I had previously enjoyed finding in Google Earth, an online view of the entire earth by satellite images. Unfortunately we were pressed for time and the lines were long, so we did not go inside the Colosseum. But as Joe said, sometimes just being there and seeing it is enough.
Originally we had planned to see the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel on our way back to the hostel, but by the time we had gotten on the metro we decided to save it for the next day. It would have been better if we had just gone that afternoon, for when we had hiked all the way to the Vatican the next morning we learned that the Sistine Chapel was closed on Sundays –something we could have easily discovered if we'd just researched beforehand.
But that was only the beginning of the worst day of the week. Joe and I took the metro back to the train station and made certain that we got on the right train. However when the train reached Florence, where we already had tickets for the return bus-ride to Siena, we got off at the wrong station. We didn't even know Florence had more than one train station until after we had walked up and down the street outside and finally looked in our guidebook to find out where we were. Fortunately tickets from that station to the main one only cost us about one euro each.
At the main station we walked in circles again trying to figure out where exactly the bus station was. Our guidebook map was not exactly clear but we finally managed to make it show us the way. Unlike the bus we had taken to Florence on Thursday morning, the return bus made many more stops and took much longer to reach its destination. By the time we arrived, the inner-city buses that ran to Vico Alto were no longer running. We asked one bus driver which bus we should take to get to the train station, where we knew that we could get a taxi. But the one he told us to take went nowhere near the station. Instead it took us on a wild, frightening ride through the north side of the city, out into the country on dark twisting roads, and finally right back to the bus plaza where we started.
By this point Joe and I were exhausted, hungry, and clueless as to how to get to Vico Alto. We thought to go into our favorite pub and ask the bartender to call a taxi for us, but just before we did we saw someone we recognized –our classmate Christian. He told us everyone else was in the back of the pub playing darts and they planned to take a taxi home later. Considering the weekend we had just had, I convinced Joe to stay and we spent the evening catching up with our friends and making up for being separated from them for three days.
May
May 26, 2008
A week has passed since we have been in Italy, and so many things have happened. The most vital thing has been getting to know the other members of the group. My apartment houses the only girls on the trip. Liz, Allison, and Soo are all friendly and fun-loving. Joe lives in an apartment of five, and his roommates are Travis, Christian, Nick, and John. Next door to Dr. Parker and her husband Captain Tom Parker of American Airlines, there is another apartment of three boys. They are Mike, Brian, and Dr. Parker's student assistant Luca. Because two of the original 14 students were unable to make it, one student, Ahmed, is living in town near the school. So far everyone seems to be getting along well and generally enjoying each other's company.
On our first day of classes, I did not know what to expect. At 8 a.m. Dr. Parker and her husband led us to the bus stop which took us from the village of Vico Alto, where the monastery is located, to the bus station near the center of Siena. From there we walked up and down endless cobblestone streets which seemed to twist and turn with no planned pattern whatsoever. The buildings all seemed to look the same –medieval rows of shops and apartments with no breaks between them, only continuous walls. There are no patches of grass anywhere, though the occasional tree has been carefully planted here or there. To those of us who had not before been exposed to such an atmosphere, it was as if we had been transported back in time into a medieval Italian city. It would take most of us a couple of days to even begin to know the way through the confusing streets.
Though on our first journey through the streets of Siena, the confusion and twistedness made the greatest impression on my mind, don't misunderstand... I soon found myself in love with the medieval feel of the streets and shops. It inspires stories and images along the same lines as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Chronicles of Narnia. I can't get enough peeks into the shops filled with glittering jewelry and amazing art, or enough tastes of little sandwiches and pastries. Siena has a charm all its own...
The building in which our host school, Dante Alighieri, is located appears to be just another part of the continuous inner walls of Siena. The inside is just as twisted and convoluted as the streets outside. However, the people who work here are friendly and helpful to us, just as they are to the many other visiting foreign students. Embry-Riddle is one of several American schools to partner with Dante Alighieri for study abroad programs.
The director of the school, Luca, introduced himself to us, apologizing for his broken English, but giving us a warm welcome to the program. Next, he introduced us to our Italian teacher, Enzo. He is in his late 30's, a little on the short side, thin, bald, and wears what seems to be the trendy Italian style of clothing. He teaches well, likely in part due to his friendly, casual, and understanding personality, as well as his sense of humor. I cannot speak for the others in class, but Joe and I are enjoying the Italian language class and do not find it too difficult, though it is sometimes a little confusing.
After lunch, for which we have an hour to eat anywhere in the city, we have Dr. Parker's Italian Art and Literature class. The morning subject matter feels light and easy compared to the deep and rather personal topics we have covered so far in our afternoon class. In the first week, Dr. Parker talked about divisions of culture with relation to our position in the world. We discussed cultural differences between the U.S. and Italy; gave personal definitions of ourselves to the class based on things such as birthplace, family upbringing, and religion; and began to consider our two projects for the summer –a presentation on an Italian artist and a report on different levels of Dante's Inferno. Despite the tendency of this second class to be sleep-inducing in its depth and weightiness, I find it entirely intriguing and do my best to focus and participate.
After classes, in the first week we have found ourselves generally hanging around (ironically) a certain Irish pub near the bus station for a couple hours. I believe the main reasons for this are the free Wi-Fi internet offered there and the wonderful laid-back atmosphere. It is something familiar to us in this typically unfamiliar city. We discuss classes and plans for weekend trips over a pint of brew and our favorite American-based websites. Also we all seem to like visiting a nearby grocery store which has a wide variety of Italian foods to experiment with.
Each day this week has brought new surprises and experiences, but in, general the days with classes tend to go the same way. As we approached our first three-day weekend, several of us had different ideas for where to go and what to see. In the end, three of the boys went to see Rome and a group of seven chose to fly up to London to see the city and the new Indiana Jones movie which just came out in theaters. Joe and I had plans to see Rome the following weekend and we both felt that flying all the way to London was out of the question when we were really here to see Italy. So we chose an Italian city nearby with the least expensive train ticket we could hope for –about seven euros each to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and its neighboring monuments.
Two of our fellow classmates, Nick and Allison, were planning to fly out of Pisa on their way to London. They chose to take the bus, which left early in the morning, giving them several hours to see the city before flying on. Joe and I joined them on the bus so that we could explore as a group rather than just the two of us. The walk from the station to the Leaning Tower was nice after two hours on the cramped bus. We ate lunch outdoors at a local cafe and continued on into what was the most tourist-filled sight we've yet seen in Italy. Everyone around seemed to be trying to hold up the Leaning Tower like mimes in line with hundreds of cameras.
Despite the crowd and the cheesiness, we enjoyed the monuments which, though not overwhelmingly large, did produce some sense of wonder and awe. Inside the cathedral the grand paintings and gothic architecture instilled a silence among the tourists. I don't think I have ever noticed before how much presence a building can have. Though I do not practice much religion personally, I felt myself caught up in the spiritual curiosity and solemnity of the place. Even while I experimented with my camera to see how far it would focus and how best to steady it, I found myself talking with Joe about deep religious questions and considering what the people who built the cathedral felt when they knelt before the altar and allowed themselves to reach for something beyond the physical world.
When the four of us finally emerged from the cathedral's heavy darkness, we were all in need of some sugar and a rest. We sat on some steps and indulged in some delicious gelato, the Italian version of ice cream, which we have been enjoying almost every day since the first in Siena. Afterward we explored some of the local shops before walking back across town to the train station.
It is hard to believe that already one out of five weeks in Italy is over and behind us. Despite the little bits of culture shock that sometimes make things difficult, it is hard not to love everything about this trip so far. Everyone in our group seems to be agreeable and fun, Siena is lovely if not inspiring, and our exploration of other cities in the country has only just begun.
May 15, 2008
At 5:20 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, barring delays, I will be sitting on a British Airways jet headed first for London, and after a short layover, finally to Rome. Traveling beside me will be my best friend and boyfriend, Joe White. This trip will mark the first time we have been across the Atlantic, and we are both more excited than words can express!
Summer 2008 is my last chance to explore and travel as a student before I have to take on the real world. Next year I will be a senior in the Communication program at Embry-Riddle, set to graduate in May of 2009. Last May I interned in Washington D.C. at Airports Council International of North America. It was a trip of both spontaneous discovery and crucial responsibility. I drove north on my own, moved in with people I had never met before, and commuted daily to the heart of D.C. by bus and Metrorail. I learned so much from the experience, both on a practical level and in relation to my job in the Communication and Marketing Department.
This summer, Joe and I chose to participate in the Italy Study Abroad program to travel outside of our normal boundaries, experience a foreign country, and gain insight into the current global environment, all while earning credits for school. We will be staying our first night in Rome, and then traveling on to Siena where our professor in residence, Dr. Nancy Parker, has made accommodations for all 14 of us to stay in a converted monastery.
Aeroplano, treno, metrebus –all forms of transportation Joe and I experienced on our first day in Italy. And metrebus includes both the underground metro and the bus system on the streets. Once we arrived in the Rome Fiumicino airport and recovered our luggage, we were immediately accosted by a taxi driver who did not speak English but wished to charge us 48 euros, or close to $75, for a ride to our hostel. We assumed this was quite a rip-off and turned him down, saying we would take the train and find our own way. If we had only known how much hassle that decision would cause us, we might have accepted the not-so-expensive taxi after all.
For one thing, I did not acquire suitable luggage for walking more than ten minutes at a time. The resulting stress load will leave my shoulders and Joe's hands that much stronger by the end of our trip, supposing I do not end up purchasing new luggage soon enough to save us some pain. We have two bags each and have been dragging them from one kind of transportation to the next.
The train took us to the heart of Rome where, after struggling to figure out how to get change for our tickets, we finally managed to get on the metro to Cornelia, an area west of the Vatican where our hostel was located. Above ground once more, we took nearly twenty minutes to figure out which way our bus was going and how exactly we were to catch it. Fortunately once we were aboard, an American woman correctly assumed which hostel we were going to and told us which stop was ours just in time for us to get off the bus. Having checked in and reached our “bungalow,” and being exhausted from an overnight flight and a loss of five hours through changing time zones, we immediately passed out for almost six hours of desperately needed sleep. The adventure of being a world traveler was not quite what we had expected –at least not yet.
Unfortunately by the time we fully woke up, it was almost 11 p.m. in Italy, which is apparently the time most places close. Therefore our dinner consisted of a chocolate-filled croissant, some strange chocolate candy, and a small bottle of banana-strawberry flavored juice from a vending machine along with some granola bars I had packed before our trip. We spent another hour or so looking over important or interesting Italian phrases. For example, “Dov'è la toilette?” is “Where is the toilet?”, “Viaggiare è vivere” is “to travel is to live,” and “Lei crede negli extraterrestri?” is “Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?” We also made sure to look over our travel plans for the next day.
As I write this I am sitting in the Termini train station in the center of Rome. Joe is reading, and I am considering checking out the luggage store I saw on the level below us. We have another two hours to wait for our train to Siena. Because of my poor choice of luggage, we decided it wouldn't be much fun to try to drag our things around Rome in order to see the sights. So we have chosen to focus on getting to our main destination for the time being. We will have more fun once we have rid ourselves of these heavy burdens.
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Name: Suzanna
