Under the Tuscan Sun

Hello, my friends!

         I apologize for it being so long since my last post, but life has been quite the whirlwind! I completed my first week of classes, yet I am still struggling with snapping myself back into school mode! I am taking an Italian language class (which is MUCH needed), a class on Italian fashion and culture (appropriately named "Italian Fashion and Culture"), a field experience class, and, of course, my studio class! I am very excited begin learning again, but it's hard not to feel restless when you have a beautiful country around you waiting to be explored! This week we had a heavenly four-day weekend, and I find myself feeling like this is the first week of school again after a long break. The pains of studying abroad, right?

        So, what did I do on my four-day weekend, you ask? Aside from hitting up a few nightclubs, eating leftover pasta, and watching cat videos on YouTube, my roommates and I had an AMAZING adventure. We packed our bags with water bottles and threw on our most fashionable hike-able shoes, and headed off to tour the Chianti region of Tuscany for a day full of vineyards and wine tasting. The trip started off on a shaky foot (literally), as I failed to realize that bus rides in Italy are much curvier and hillier than in the States, and did not take anything for motion sickness. Also, trust me when I say that Italians do not slow down when driving around curves (I'm still convinced there are no traffic rules here). That story has a happy ending, though, as I managed to keep it together and eat some pretzels and sit upon our arrival. We also watched some Italian MTV in the resting process.

        Now, if you're wondering if the Tuscan countryside is as beautiful as you see in movies and photographs, it 100% is. I found myself in absolute awe; it is so incredibly breathtaking that I couldn't believe I was actually there. We began our tour in a small medieval village perched on top of one of the hills, made our way down through the vineyards, and then back up. Back up was not as fun as down, and there was lots of sweat involved, but we kept the image of chiseled calf muscles in our minds as motivation. Along the way, we learned about the planting techniques, admired the amazing villas, and sampled grapes fresh off the vine.

        When we finally arrived full circle back at the village (still sweaty), it was time for the traditional Italian meal we were invited to eat at the historic Sassolini Villa, which is over 600 years old. I don't think I have ever been in an estate as beautiful. The dining room was filled with a huge coat of arms, busts, portraits, and a massive fireplace. Apparently, the Sassolini family was involved in an ongoing territorial dispute with the famous Medici family, and had portraits of them hanging in the home to "remind them of their enemies". Sure enough, these portraits were still hanging near the fireplace. 

       We met Lorenzo, the last descendant, and his fiancé (who, we discovered, knows Miuccia Prada), and they showed us wonderful hospitality. Lorenzo explained the different types of wine we sampled and how to drink them, and we were treated to an amazing meal, with what seemed like endless courses. After the delicious meal and glasses of the best wine I've ever tasted, we were allowed to explore the gardens for awhile before we returned home. I wasn't sure if it was rude to take pictures of the inside of the Sassolini villa, so I only managed to snag a few when no one was looking! I took a few more in the gardens, and I hope that they convey the beauty of this home. I also didn't manage to leave without buying a bottle of their wine, which I will be bringing home to my parents! 

        The day ended with us being snapped back out of this fairytale land, and getting on a bus to Florence. We drowned our sorrows in some gelato, and went home to put our sore feet up. To sum it all up, it was a perfect day. 

8/21/14

Hello, again!

       The past few days have been quite a whirlwind! First off, we have begun our week of orientation to help us get accustomed to the new environment, and to prepare us for the start of our academic school year! We have covered things like important safety issues, medical services, introductions to instructors and advisors, and some basic Italian phrases to help us maneuver the city more efficiently and politely! We also touched on the rules and care of our school building, which happens to be a restored 13th century palazzo! It is gorgeous, and comes complete with a library straight out of Hogwarts. I'll have to take some pictures soon! Our actual classes will begin next week, and I am very excited!

         Aside from orientation, a lot of exploring has been done, both successfully and unsuccessfully. On our first full day, some of my roommates and I decided to go to UniCoop, a large grocery store just out of town, to get some food for the upcoming week. Well, long story short, between the cab service's poor English and our absolutely embarrassing attempts at Italian, we ended up stranded there outside for over an hour before flagging down the only random passing cab with no one in it (cab guy: wherever you are, we are eternally grateful). I'm pretty sure the whole city of Florence saw us there with our 57 shopping bags. Also, we left the grocery store through the wrong door twice, of which one time I set off the fire alarm. So, we aren't going back to UniCoop until we're sure everyone has forgotten us. Day One: success, lots of success. But hey, I have a tub of gelato in my freezer.

       The following days went much smoother, as I have gotten better at communicating and finding my way around the city. The less I stress about remembering which street I'm on, the more I have time to start looking around and noticing things. I'm falling more and more in love with this city and country everyday. As cliche as it may sound, the people and their way of life are beautiful. They have this effortless and relaxed coolness about them that I envy so much, and I think us Americans could definitely take a few leaves out of their book. One of the things I love is their daily afternoon breaks, much like the "siesta" in Hispanic countries. Each day around 1pm, the store vendors pack up their items and close their stores and markets, and go home to put their feet up, eat a meal, maybe nap, and wait out the hottest part of the day. They will re-open their businesses throughout the day, but some places, such as those serving dinner, may not open back up until the evening. My class schedule also allows me to take advantage of these "siestas", and believe me, I will be making full use of them! 

        I also love their eating habits (but, I mean, how could you not?). Just in the past week, it has really hit me just how much Americans stuff their faces, and with how much unnecessary junk we do so. For example, Italians will wake up and have coffee and a pastry, maybe a sandwich or slightly bigger meal for lunch, and dinner with a glass of wine basically anytime between 8-10pm. While these may not be viewed as "health foods" necessarily, they aren't constantly snacking and grazing, overeating, or over-drinking. In addition, there are markets everywhere selling fresh produce to snack on, and their food isn't loaded with preservatives and antibiotics. We don't even have a microwave in our kitchen, because there isn't microwavable food to eat! (Also relating to eating habits, you can buy cheap wine, and by cheap I mean €2. And we definitely aren't talking boxed wine!)

       The city itself is absolutely stunning, but I'll wait to tell you more about it when I can get some good pictures up! We're in the middle of tourist season right now, which really detracts from the beauty. Side note, the Japanese tourists actually bring those poles with cameras attached to take selfies; that is real life. So, as commendable as that effort is, I would like my pictures of these beautiful Renaissance buildings to not have hoards of randos cramping the style. I'm going to wait to really take pictures of the city until the tourist activity has slowly died down! In the meantime, I'm going to photo bomb as many photo ops as possible. Also, don't try to take a pictures of the cute old accordion players, because they will ask for a tip in their jar, and when you only have 30 cents in your pocket, the will get very angry and rapidly become less cute. Just let them do their thing from afar. That's about all the advice I have for today.

Here are a few pictures I snapped from around town:

Officially In Italy!

      Hello, everyone! I have officially arrived in Florence, Italy and settled into my apartment! The journey over was very long and tiring, but completely worth it, if not just for the views flying into Italy! I began my trip with a little flight from Duluth to Minneapolis, caught a connection to Detroit, and from there flew to Amsterdam, where we had about a 4 hour layover. The final leg of the journey was a quick hour-and-half flight into Florence, which seemed like a blink of an eye compared to the rest of the trip over! Between a problem with my boarding passes, a $100 fee for six extra pounds of luggage, and a little bit of motion sickness, the journey wasn't exactly without hitches, but was overall fairly pleasant, so I can't complain too much! It was also awesome having a fun group of people to travel over with and pass the long hours at the airports!

Here is the view form my plane window flying into Florence:

       After arriving at the Florence airport looking very disheveled, we were greeted by our wonderful Italian advisors, who ordered us taxis and distributed our apartment keys to us. Because of the group being split into about four different flights, my friend Lizz and I were the only two of our six roommates to have arrived, so we shared a cab with another student that had an apartment in the same building as us. We all piled our (overweight) luggage into the small Italian car and rode about 20 mins or so into town from the airport. 

       Just in the short drive to our apartment, I was in complete awe of the city. It is truly amazing. Most of the bigger, more modern businesses and industries are located just outside of the city, and the more historical part of Florence is surrounded by a giant ancient wall. We live inside the city, about a 20 minute walk from the main plazas and shopping, where our school building is located! Our apartment is AMAZING and much more spacious than we had anticipated; there are 2 double rooms and 2 single rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and an adorable little porch off the back. It's in a cute old building on the 2nd floor, which we quickly were forced to learn actually means the third technical floor to the Italians, as we struggled to pull all of our luggage up multiple flights of steps. But I truly can't complain, because we are so blessed to have such a great place to live! 

Here is the view of the street outside my bedroom window:

        Now that we are settled in, unpacked, and have a few hours of sleep under our belts, we have a day off to explore the city before our orientation starts. I'm not gonna lie, as exciting as it is, I'm a little overwhelmed! It's going to take awhile to find my way around and get accustomed to a new city, and try to communicate in another language. I miss my family lots, and wish they were here to help me figure everything out, but that's part of growing up, I suppose! I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone throughout my trip, as well! I have WiFi in my apartment, so if you text, Facebook, or email me, I should be able to respond as soon as I'm in for the evening, or in the morning! I am also a big fan of Skype and FaceTime, so don't hesitate to contact me! That's about all I have for now; sorry for rambling & thank you for reading! 

xoxo