Paris, London, and a Ball

Since leaving Florence I've been to Paris, London, and Oxford. I went to Paris and London with one of my friends from SUF, Rebecca Pedersen. We arrived in Paris in the early evening on Thursday. We basically unloaded our things, relaxed for a little bit and discussed our priorities for Paris and then went in search of dinner in our neighborhood. To celebrate the successful completion of junior year (oh dear god) and my semester abroad I decided to treat myself to the froi gras for a first course (it was part of the prix fix menu) and every single bite made me so happy. Rebecca and I spent our first full day in Paris in the Louvre. We went through the French and Dutch Renaissance paintings first. After that we took a break for lunch at an awesome Japanese restaurant. I went there on my last trip to Paris with my friend Cathy. I once again enjoyed the terrific gyoza and ramen noodle soup for lunch. We then went back and explored the Italian and Spanish paintings and the the large-scale French paintings from the 19th century. After that we took a Starbucks break, sat by the pyramids and enjoyed the brief sunshine before returning to the Louvre one more time to see the rest of their collection of French paintings until we were so exhausted that we had to stop. Since I've already discussed the Louvre in detail and I still loved the same things, I'm not going to go into detail about my second trip through. Rebecca and I figure that we spent a total of 7 hours in the museum.

The next day, May 1st, was actually a national holiday so all the shops and the sights/museums were closed. We walked around in the morning, had Japonese food for lunch (again). After that we went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed as high as you can before taking the elevator to the top. It was cold but the views were amazing. I have low patience so I hated waiting in the lines but in the end it was definitely worth it. I was just sad my battery was messed up so I couldn't take pictures. But Rebecca and I did the jumping photos in front of the tower. We laughed so hard and just had a great time entertaining the other tourists and locals with our attempts at capturing the perfect photo. We also discovered this one moving sidewalk in the Paris metro that was springy and took photos skipping down it until a local took offense and started shouting at us in French. The next day the museums were once again open, they were also free! Rebecca went to Versaille in the morning but having been recently I did not feel the need to be assaulted by large tourist groups at Versaille. I'd save that for the Musee D'Orsay. I enjoyed a leisurely morning strolling along the Rive Guache (left bank) of Paris. In the afternoon I met Rebecca online at the entrance to the D'Orsay. I have to admit I was disappointed by the D'Orsay. The area where they keep the Impressionist paintings are under construction. But since not showing them would cause riots, they moved them into really tight corridors on the first floor. Basically you had no room to look at a painting without being elbowed by another tourist. Furthermore you didn't have enough distance between yourself and the painting to actually really see the whole picture. One of the greatest things about Impressionism is the way a work can change as you move from being a foot away to staring at it across a room but that's not possible in a 6 foot wide hallway. It was nice to look at the Impressionists they are distinctly different from all of the Madonnas with Child and naked Goddesses I've been staring at all semester. The next morning we left Paris for London. We took the train which was really cool although I slept through most of it.

The best part of going from Paris to London was getting two more passport stamps. I just think passport stamps are so cool. The only downside was that the woman in the UK part of passport control grilled me to an almost insulting point. I listed my occupation as student and she said, "How much time are you taking of school for this trip?" I told her none I've been studying in Florence and now the semester is over and I'm on break. She asked how I was paying for it. I said from my savings, and she condescendingly asked if that meant I had a job. I didn't enjoy being treated as if I was likely to be the next great burden on the British state. Our hostel was very nice, right by Hyde Park and the Victoria and Albert Museum. After lunch at a neighborhood Indian restaurant, Rebecca and I went to the National Gallery. We went through half the museum before it was closing time and having missed some of the works we most wanted to see, we decided to return the next morning. That night we had Thai food for dinner. The only thing that would have made me happier than being united with chicken pad thai would have been a reunion with sushi. After dinner we went to one of the local pubs where I was happily reunited with Stongbow. The next morning we returned to the National Gallery and saw the second half of the Museum. I was really happy because we got to see Bronzino's Allegory of Venus and Cupid. In fact we spent so long in the National Gallery that we had to take a lunch break in the cafe. In the past few weeks I think I have become an expert on Museum cafes and I have to say the one in the National Gallery is the best by far. With the cafe in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna in second, the Tate Britain in third, and the one in the Louvre not worth considering. We left the museum, eventually, and walked along the bank of the Thames. We stopped to look at the globe and warm up a little in a Starbucks. I realized I have a somewhat embarrassing love of Starbucks. Then we went to Saint Paul's Cathedral. I can say with pride that during the past semester I have been to the three largest Cathedrals in the world: the Duomo in Florence, St. Paul's in London, and of course St. Peter's in Rome. After that I went back to the hostel because I wasn't feeling very well. Rebecca and I had Indian for dinner (again). We went to an Indian restaurant that I'd first been to when I was in London freshman year for the Shakespeare program. It was as excellent as I remembered it being 3 years ago. The next morning Rebecca left and went back to America, by way of Italy. I went to the Tate Britain to spend some quality time with the Pre-Raphaelites and the Turners. Which was amazing. I never get tired of seeing those paintings. I also tried to go into Westminster and see the halls of Parliament but unfortunately no tours were being given. The next day I walked around London and just enjoyed being in a city where English was spoken.

On Friday I went shopping in the morning. I'd intended just to window shop and if I saw a dress for the ball at Oxford I would have purchased something. However my downfall came at Top Shop. Did I find a dress? No, but I did find a pair of ankle boots which I had been searching for since January. Friday afternoon I got on the bus for Oxford to be reunited with Abby. We enjoyed a dinner of traditional pub food and then relaxed for a bit before going on a pub crawl. Which was a lot of fun. Saturday was the day of the St. Hugh's (Abby's college) ball. Abby and I spent the day shopping to see if I could find a dress and to pick up a few accessories from Primark. I spent 14 quid at Primark and bought a pair of high heels, a pair of flats, and sunglasses. I can only imagine that I am enabling the most horrifying labor conditions imaginable but for once my Jewish guilt doesn't seem to be working. I couldn't find a dress so I borrowed a little black dress from one of Abby's friends.

The Ball had a Secret Garden theme. It was so much fun. They had carnival rides, tons of different music venues, and awesome food and drink vendors. The only down side was the fact that it was about 10 degrees too cold for comfort. There was a huge variety of food and drinks from wine and beer to a bathtub full of Pimms. There was also everything from falafal to do icecream, to sausage and mash. The music ranged from jazz to a Queen cover band. I thoroughly enjoyed eating, drinking, and running around listening to music all night. Especially since I did it in fantastic company.

On Sunday Abby took me on a tour of Oxford. We wandered around some of the more famous Colleges and their beautiful grounds. Oxford is as gothic, stately, and is covered in enough coats of arms to make even me happy. For dinner I had a final meal at an Indian restaurant. Unfortunately I had to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport for my inevitably delayed flight to Vienna.

Farewell Firenze

I'm sitting in the common room of my hostel in London. My program ended a week ago and I miss it. I'm going to be traveling for the next month until June 3rd when I will return to the USA. So much has happened that I never wrote about. So I'm going to try and give brief recaps of my last month in Florence.

Abby came and spent the last few days of march/first few days in April with me. We spent a day in Milan where we wandered around and talked about life, working, study abroad, and the horrifying but inevitable life after college. Abby also had dinner with my host family one night, we brought dessert for them. Which as always with my host family was a huge success.

Abby left on Easter weekend.

Which leads to its own "adventure." My host family told me about the traditional Italian Easter cake called a Colombo. My roommate and I were naturally very excited about the prospect of another kind of cake. On Easter morning my roommate and I woke up to the sounds of my host mother sobbing. On Easter morning her dog, Lilly, got hit by a car and was killed. Needless to say no one really had a happy Easter. Tracey and I went out to dinner that night. Which was easily the highlight of the day. We went to Baldovino, one of my favorite restaurants where we ate and drank copious amounts of food. We were just happy we found an open restaurant with a table available on Easter Sunday in the pouring rain. A few days later we got to try the Easter cake and it was delicious although everyone missed Lilly until the very end.

The next weekend I went to Venice with my 16th century art class. The trip was awesome. We saw tons of paintings by Titian and Tintoretto. Who are probably my two favorite artists of the Italian Renaissance. The weather was also perfect for the entire trip, which is always a bonus.

The next week was rather uneventful. I spent lots of time rehearsing for Romeo and Juliet. And denying the fact that I had to prepare for exams and eventually leaving florence.

The Next major highlight of my trip was easily the beach day I took at Viarreggio with my friends Ellie and Evan. We relaxed on the beach, soaked up the sun, and completely denied the existence of our rapidly approaching finals and the end of the program. By the end of the day Ellie was very burned, Evan was somewhat burned, and I had an epic tan (and maybe a minor burn or two).

On the last day of the program we finally performed our production of Romeo and Juliet. Somehow the show came together in to a fun and funny production. I loved working with everyone on that show. It was a great way to cap off a brilliant semester. That night I had my final dinner with Sandra, Cosimo, and Tracey. They bought Trace..y and I gifts, which caused me to tear up a little bit. They gave me three kinds of tea and Tracey a tin of espresso to make with her new espresso machine. Once finished with dinner everyone from SUF went to the outdoor bar in Piazza Savonarola for a drink and to say goodbye. Talking to my friend and fellow Renaissance studies major, Jean, I realized that I was going to miss being in a city where the Medici had stamped their balls all over everything.

Now I'm in London, tomorrow I'm going to see Abbey in Oxford. I've already been to Paris (again) and will soon head to Vienna, Berlin, Lisbon, and Italy. I miss Florence terribly but I'm excited for what lies ahead.

Gothic Isn't Actually Gothic!!!!!

I went to Paris from March 25-28th. It was an absolutely amazing trip that made my inner nerd unbelievably happy. It also made me realize that I should have stuck with my French, since apparently all I needed to get into every museum for free was a little bit of French and the bright orange card with the emergency contact numbers for SU Florence (I think it was really the French). Anyway I'm going to attempt to tell the story in a semi-organized and chronological fashion. I left for Paris on thursday night. The flight was fine although Ryanair pilots really need to practice their landing skills. We flew into Beauvais airport which is like flying into Newark when you want to go to NYC. I'm serious about the Newark part. The first 3 things we saw on the bus ride from the airport into Paris were a McDonalds, a Buffalo Grill, and a power plant. This naturally begged the question where are we? Is this France or the Jersey turnpike? The question was finally resolved an hour later when the Eiffel Tower came into view.

I began the next day at the breakfast buffet. Where I reconnected with French croissants. I love Italy and Italian food but French croissants hold a special place in my heart. After breakfast I went to St. Chapelle in the morning with my friend Catherine. St. Chappelle was built by the St. Louis IX to house relics that his mother brought back from the Holy Land. It is a jewel box with stained glass windows comprising the majority of the interior. Unfortunately the apse was under restoration; but seeing the difference in the cleaned and uncleaned windows convinced me that the inconvenience was worthwhile and I would simply have to return when the restoration is complete.

After St. Chapelle we went to the Louvre and met up with Professor Hatfield and the rest of the students on the trip. We had to wait around for a bit while we got our tickets and the professor got permission to lecture. In the mean time we discovered something that made every American heart sing, yes I am talking about the siren song of Starbucks. With a Starbucks hot chocolate in hand the wait seemed much shorter.In the Louvre we started with some statues from ancient Greece, including everyone's favorite the Winged Victory. From there we marched on the the central focus of our trip Renaissance art! The Louvre has the best collection of almost every kind of art. I saw tons of paintings by Leonardo, Titian, Giorgione, and of course Da Vinci. I also "saw" the Mona Lisa as well as anyone can see it since they don't allow people within 20 feet of the painting. But after elbowing aside some Asian tourists (don't get me started) I got as close as you can get. What can I say it's the Mona Lisa. From their I happily proceeded onto the works I prefer by Raphael and Titian. Professor Hatfield, who was leading the trip, gave a great lecture in front of a portrait of Castiglione by Raphael. Once we had finished with the Italian Renaissance we decided to skip several centuries, move to France, and focus on the large scale paintings from the late 18th and early 19th century. My favorite room was the one I like to refer to as the room of the Barnes and Nobles classic edition paintings. Basically it was all the French monumental paintings that now grace the covers of my Barnes and Nobles editions of War and Peace and Les Miserables. I think there were probably a few more book covers in there but I don't remember which books. Although I have to admit that the painting that really got me excited was Napoleon Crowning Josephine. In addition to loving the Renaissance I must admit I have a minor obsession with Napoleonic era. Naturally I had to have a photograph next to that painting. The final stop on the Hatfield lecture tour of the Louvre (or at least the last one I cared about) was to look at the Canova statue Cupid and Phsyce. I am obsessed with this statue for several reasons. First of all it is a beautiful statue. Seco

nd of all George Balanchine quotes the statue in his Elegie section of Serenade which is one of my favorite ballets. I was secretly incredibly disappointed that I wasn't at the museum with 2 other ballet dancers and there for we couldn't do the Serenade based on the statue next to the statue. Instead I had to content myself with standing awkwardly next to the statue in a picture since I didn't think my classmates would understand why I was having them pose like that. I also thought they wouldn't look too good posing that way. I briefly contemplated the death of an Asian tourist who pretended to touch the statue in a picture she had her friends take and was leaning so far over the statue that she could easily have fallen over and onto the statue. However I really don't need to experience the French jail system. Although they might consider it a justifiable homicide. When our tour of the Louvre with professor Hatfield ended I decided I wanted to wander around the museum for a while. I really wanted to go see the period rooms. I have a huge soft spot for the decorative arts. I was sad I couldn't find the Cellini Saltcellar or any of Charlemagne's stuff. I left the Louvre when I felt as if I was going cross-eyed and my head might explode from too much art. I decided the best cure for this was shopping on the Rue du Dragon. The last time I was in Paris that was a street of amazing shoe stores. On my way to the street I did find my favorite chocolate shop in Paris, unfortunately I don't know how to spell their name. Unfortunately there were only 3 shoe stores left on the Rue du Dragon. I cannot tell you how devastating this was. I decided I might as well wander around the neighborhood and see what was their now. Like a moth to flame I was drawn to the Repetto store. I could not resist going in and looking at the leotards even though I wasn't going to buy anything. After window shopping for a few hours I met up with my friends by the Eiffel Tower and we went to dinner. Now the French may think that the Eiffel Tower is a hideous tourist attraction and I blight on the landscape but personally I don't care. Something about it just makes me happy and I love the way it's lit at night. I had dinner with my friends Sam and Zoe at a cute bistro by our hotel. Zoe and I split a plate of escargots for an appetizer and they were delicious. Anything cooked in olive oil and garlic is delicious. After dinner I went home and passed out.

The next morning I enjoyed more French croissants before heading off to Chartes and Versailles. Chartes is a town outside of Paris with one of the 3 famous French Gothic Cathedrals. First of all the town of Chartes is absolutely adorable. It is charming and French

and you could just picture Belle from Beauty and the Beast wandering around the town singing. At Chartes you can observe the development of the French Gothic style in architecture, sculpture and stained glass. The Cathedral like St. Chapel is currently under restoration. A decent amount of the facade has been cleaned. Staring at the half cleaned facade you realize that the cleaned stone is a completely different color than the unclean stone. Looking at some of the columns was rather like gazing at a black and white cookie. Now it may sound like I'm stating the obvious but until this trip if anyone had asked me what color stones were used in gothic cathedrals I would not have hesitated to say gray. And I would be completely wrong. The stone is actually white or off white. Again I'm sure you're wondering what the big deal is but the affect of off white stone as opposed to gray is striking. It's even more astounding on the inside

particularly with cleaned stain-glass windows. The effect is bright, airy, and colorful. Not dark, oppressive and gothic. I found myself questioning every assumption I had ever made about Gothic architecture as well as most of what I had leaned about it. My friend Cathy and I felt impelled to debate the meaning of Gothic architecture over lunch. Our final conclusion was that gothic architecture isn't actually gothic. Gothic cathedrals if they are cleaned just can't function with the word gothic as it applies to novels, clothing, or interior decoration.

The next stop on our field trip was Versailles. While the Gothic nature of Chartes can be debated, Versailles is definitely Baroque. I was incredibly proud of myself because with my limited memory of French, my international student ID and the SUF emergency contact card I managed to talk my way into free admission at Versailles. I was really happy to save around 15 euro on admission. My friends were all in line behind me and since they didn't speak french just smiled and said "moi aussi." Wandering around Versailles was a lot of fun. Cathy, Zoe, and I questioned Louis XIV's taste in statuary because porphyry and yellow marble look hideous together. Before entering Versailles we'd gotten a brief lecture from one of the TAs on the trip about life in Versailles. We learned that men could spend their days reading, writing, dancing, hawking, hunting, and flirting. Women had fewer options they could sit, stand, walk, sit, read, sew, sit, produce babies, and sit. In Versailles we saw all of the many seating options available to women. After wandering around Versailles we went out to the famous gardens. In the gardens we appreciated their symmetrically. Cathy was particularly fond

of this trait insisting that we walk down the center of the stairs rather than the ramps on either side so that "We can be symmetrical." She was very disappointed to learn that you couldn't walk through the exact center all the way down the length of the garden.

Upon our return to Paris, Cathy and I went to the Latin Quarter for dinner. We were rather disappointed to find that it has just become a massive tourist trap. However wandering down a side street we found an adorable bistro. We both had the salad with duck breast and chocolate cake for dessert. It was an absolutely fantastic dinner. Afterwards we returned to our hotel room where we continued to discuss Chartres Cathedral and our revelations concerning Gothic architecture.

The next day after a few minor problems with Springing Ahead and even more croissants Cathy and I made our way to the Orangerie which contains some fantastic large scale Monet water lilies. They were in fact created for the Orangerie which was really cool to see. After that we had what might be my favorite meal of the trip. Japenese food! We found a little Japenese restaurant (unfortunately no sushi) that did a 9 euro lunch of gyoza and ramen noodle soup. It was delicious and fantastic. I've missed Japanese food so much. It was the perfect way to end my trip to Paris.

p.s. Did you know mustard is a liquid? I discovered this when the airport security confiscated a jar I had bought for my mother.

It's Not Inappropriate, It's Shakespeare

It's been almost a month since I last wrote. It's been one of those months where I never felt like I was doing an awful lot but never seemed to have much time either. At first I thought I haven't done much that's worth writing about. Upon further reflection I feel that is completely untrue. So I'm now going to attempt to make up for a month of silence. This may come in no particular order whatsoever or in several posts.

The best place to begin is with the production of Romeo and Juliet that I am stage managing this semester. Working on that show has really ensured that my time in Florence has been a positive experience that I will look back on and remember with a smile. What's better than taking random lines of Shakespeare out of context and using them to make inappropriate jokes (not that they are appropriate in context either). I also like the fact that most people seem perplexed by the occasional incidents of thumb biting.

I went to Vicenza and Padua with my dramatic literature class (which contains most of the cast of Romeo and Juliet) for a day. In Vicenza we saw the the Teatro Olimpico which was designed by Palladio and is the first example of set design with perfect perspective. The set was built at the same time as the theater and was meant to be used only for the inaugural production of Oedipus Rex however it was so awesome that they couldn't bring themselves to tear it down. And I have to say thank god. Picturing that set in a ye olde Renaissance dumpster is enough to make me cry. The theater is truely a work of art. I wanted nothing more than to leap onto the stage. However since getting arrested in Italy isn't something I want to try, I restrained my self.

After that I went to Padua with the goal of wiving it wealthily. Actually I we went to the University and toured the university and the chapel with the Giotto frescoes. However the highlight of of our visit was when we saw the celebration for recent university graduates. When an Italian student gets their doctorate, their friends make them dress in ridiculous outfits, recite dirty poems and songs, and drink... alot. It was hilarious to watch however it also made me glad that I will not get a doctorate in Italy. Although great to watch the celebrations are also a sort of hazing ritual, the kind that is illegal in the US. And as funny as it was to watch a engineering grad get is back waxed while drinking, reading a dirty poem, with a cow's tongue down his shorts I really wouldn't want that to be me. But I have no compunction about giving me sense of schadenfreude free reign to revel in another's pain.

During spring break I decided to leave Florence and explore other cities in Europe. My first stop was Aix-en-Provence to see my good friend Sophia. Aix is a completely charming French town. Built on several natural springs there are fountains all over town. Furthermore, everyone was very nice and friendly to the often confused American girl wandering around speaking French poorly. In Aix I went to the tapestry museum that was filled with awesome tapestries (of course) of scenes from Don Quixote. They also had an exhibit of theatrical sketches which were awesome. Most of them were of French actors and Directors however there was one wall of ballet and dance sketches. Seeing them made me quite happy. My first night in Aix I had dinner at a restaurant called Les Deux Garcons. The hotel staff recommended it and I'm really glad I went. It was one of the most expensive meals of my trip but completely worth it. I was sitting next to an older couple that were eating some kind of soup that I felt I needed to try. It was a seafood bisque (don't ask what kind of seafood because I don't know) that you added cheese topped croutons too. While the Italians would not approve of the seafood and cheese combination, I thought it was excellent. Naturally I ordered a Provencal Rosé to accompany my meal. The restaurant also offers everyone who orders the soup a second helping at no additional cost. This made me very happy. In fact only a HUGE plate of profiterols for dessert could have made me any happier. Luckily that's what I ordered. That was probably the highlight of my eating in France, except for all the pastry. Aix is an excellent pastry town. I brought chocolate filled cookies back to Italy for my host family since we are all addicted to dessert. Naturally I also enjoyed eating French croissants. I don't know what the difference is (I assume it's the amount of butter) but croissants just don't taste the same outside of France. Now on to the things that really matter and for once I don't mean my next meal. Seeing Sophia was an absolutely wonderful experience. Going abroad has truly affected us in ways that I can see but won't be able to explain for a long time. Seeing Sophia was nice it was great to be able to talk to someone from home, to tell old jokes, and comment on the things we miss back home. Like the inexplicable craving for peanut butter that I feel almost every week.

The next stop on my trip was Madrid. This was probably my least favorite stop during Spring Break but it's all relative and I still had a fantastic time. Once I started planning my break I knew that my stop in Lisbon was to see the museums. I went to all 3 of Spain's major museums. The Prado, the Reina Sophia, and the Thyssen. I arrived in Madrid at around 4pm on Sunday afternoon. I took about an hour to get settled an oriented. The hotel where I was staying was within 10 minutes of all the major museums. So I decided that the perfect way to spend my first evening in Madrid was by going to the Prado. I was inside the Prado by 5:15 and stayed until it closed at 8. The Prado has a fantastic collection of Italian Renaissance masters, particularly Titian who was a favorite of Charles V. The Prado also has hundreds of works by the two greatest Spanish Masters, Velasquez and Goya. I enjoyed wandering around the Prado until it was about to close and I thought my head would explode from sensory overload. At moments like that the application of wine and tapas is the only known restorative. So I headed to a tapas bar that had been recommended to me and was near the Prado. I had my first glass of rioja in Madrid and a sandwich with chorizo. When I left the first tapas bar it was only 8:45 so I decided to walk across town for my dinner. After wandering leisurely and occasionally getting lost, I reached a street full of restaurants. I let restaurant radar do the selecting for me and wound up having a fantastic dinner with croquettas de jamon, a seafood pintos, and the ever present glass of rioja. Once I was finished I was feeling quite sleepy. Travel, looking at great art until your head will explode, copious tapas and rioja has been known to have that effect. I wandered back to my hotel and went to bed. On Monday most of the museums except the Reina Sophia. Naturally that is where I started my day. The Reina Sophia is Spain's modern art museum. I'll be honest and tell you freely that I don't particularly like or understand Modern Art. Now this is a highly general statement and I will admit it is frequently proven untrue. But overall I just feel bored and slightly confused when staring at Modern Art. Having just told you how much I dislike modern art I should mention that I do have quite the soft spot for Picasso, but then again who doesn't? The Reina Sophia is the home of Picasso's Guernica which depicts the brutality war and the slaughter of innocents. I saved that painting for last. Some other highlights of the museum included political cartoons by Goya, other Picasso paintings, and Salvador Dali. Staring at Dali is always fun his paintings are bizarre however I felt slightly underwhelmed. In the Prado is the Garden of Earthly Delights which was painted in the Renaissance, roughly 500 years before Dali ever held a paint brush. Yet there is a certain similarity between the images that appear Garden of Earthly Delights to those of Dali. Dali no longer seems so unique or crazy to me. Guernica, however, did not disappoint in anyway. I can't describe the affect that the painting had on me. Part of the impact lies in the fact that Picasso makes no effort towards realism instead he allows simple shapes to convey complex ideas and emotions. After leaving the museum I decided to wander in search of lunch. My wanderings led me to the Mercado San Miguel. At the mercado I went to a seafood stall and began with a plate of tiny cold shrimp. They were delicious really sweet with just a hint of salt. However it was chilly and the food was also chilled so by the time I finished them I was cold. I decided to order a bowl of seafood soup next. It was an amazing seafood and vegetable soup with clams, shrimp, cod, mushrooms, and other vegetables. It was warm and so filling. After that I could have left full and content but I my way out I passed a stand selling various empanadas and felt the need to get a chorizo empanada. And I'm so glad I did eating it made me so happy. After leaving the market I was a hot second away from a food coma and decided the best course of action would be a siesta. The rest of the day was unremarkable with the exception of my trip to the Museo del Jamon where I had my special treat: a plate of Jamon Iberico Bellota. As I consumed that rich, buttery, acorn-fed piggy I felt at peace with the world. Tuesday was my final day in Madrid. My plan was to begin with the Thyssen-Museum in the morning, break for lunch, the visit the Naval and Decorative Arts Museums, and possibly return to the Prado if I had time to kill. My visit to the Thyssen was wonderful. They had a special exhibit of Monet and his influence on later modern and abstract artists. I actually really liked this exhibit and thought it had been very thoughtfully curated. Plus who doesn't like the water lilies? After that I went back to the Mercado San Miguel for empanadas, seafood pintos, and churros con chocolate for lunch. I then went to the Naval and Decorative Arts Museums and discovered to my horror and despair that they closed at 2pm. This lead me to do what any mature 21 year old would do in this situation. I found a sunny bench and proceeded to sulk for a full 45 minutes. Still having the whole afternoon ahead of my I decided to return to the Prado. There I spent more time among the Goya and Velasquez paintings. I also saw their special exhibit called the Art of Power. Which showed armor, tapestry, and portrait and their uses for projecting the power of the Hapsburg dynasty in Spain. I'm really glad I got to go back to the Prado but I'm still bitter about missing the other two museums. My visit to Madrid ended with a night train to Lisbon. I actually enjoyed the ride. It was much more pleasant than my train to France.

Lisbon is an absolutely wonderful city. I spent my first day their wandering around the neighborhood of my hostel and reading a book I had picked up called The History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters on a sunny bench. Lisbon manages to walk that fine line between slightly grungy yet charming and sketchy. Although some of the tiles covering the houses are slightly dirty and occasionally broken it just adds to the charm of the city. My hostel offers dinner every night for 8 euro. I decided it would be nice to grab dinner there and possibly meet a few other people from my hostel. It turns out that one of the very first people I met was a cook from San Francisco named Travis. Naturally we became friends while talking about food, working in restaurants, food again, Anthony Bourdain (aka God), and eating. There were also a group of Belgian students staying at my hostel who were impressed by my love of Top Gear. After dinner several of us went to a jazz club that was having an open mic jazz night. So we listened to some really talented amateur musicians and talked. One of the Belgian's gave Travis and I a huge complement. We were the first American's he'd met that he actually enjoyed talking to. He knew American's like us existed before we met because John Stewart is American but he'd never actually met American's like John Stewart (or us). Being told that I am in any way, shape, or form as cool as John Stewart is a huge compliment in my life. On Thursday I decided to explore farther afield. I set 2 conditions for my wandering. First I would only look at the map if/when I got completely lost. 2nd I would only wander uphill. That way when i was tired I would only have to walk downhill. I ended up finding a beautiful vista that had a small cafe set up and tons of people relaxing and enjoying the view of the water. Finding that spot was probably the highlight of my wanderings and I could see myself going back there frequently but for the fact that I'm no longer in Lisbon. Thursday night I had dinner at the hostel again. In addition to Travis and the Belgians there was now an Australian cook, named Jeff, staying at the hostel. Needless to say Jeff, Travis, and I once again bonded over all things food related. After dinner the Belgians took us all to a bar for lots of drinks. I still can't get over the music played at bars and clubs in Europe. The music tends to be between 3 and 30 years behind music in the US. On Thursday night I heard everything from 80s pop to songs from Grease (which was high school promtastic). On Friday I took it easy and on Friday night I went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I'm not sure which was better. The movie or the really odd Portuguese commercials and coming attractions which I did not understand at all. I would like to think my confusion stemmed from a lack of knowledge of Portuguese but honestly the commercials made no sense. There was a 5 minute beer commercial that had no words and it took me 3 minutes to realize it was a beer commercial. Now the movie itself was fantastic and I would see it over and over again. On Saturday I went to Belem and saw the maritime museum and ate some of the local pastries. Frankly Saturday was basically my perfect day. It combined a history museum and pastry with an awesome lunch of octopus and shrimp in rice thrown in for bonus points. On Sunday I returned to Florence. My trip home sucked and never be in the Milan train station after 11 that is all I will say on the subject.

The Land of Beer and Waffles

This weekend I went to Brussels and I loved every second of my trip (except for the traveling part). Brussels is a beautiful city, the food is great, the beer is amazing and cheap, and the people are really nice. Originally Brussels was just an inexpensive city to visit with my friends Emi and Shira. I knew they had great beers and good food but that was about it. Getting to Brussels from Florence is an adventure in of itself, since I chose to fly ryanair which leaves from Pisa. Of course my flight was late taking off. The pilot was mediocre and the landing was incredibly turbulent, slightly terrifying and rather sickening. Eventually I did make it to Brussels. One of the first things to catch my attention was how multi-cultural Brussels was. Despite doing my best to keep in touch with the outside world through the newspaper, I'd forgotten that people other than Europeans, Americans, and Asian tourists ever came to Europe. Despite a slightly rough start to my trip I quickly began to enjoy my time in Brussels.

Emi, Shira, and their friend Jen are all studying in Geneva. The four of us started our night at the Grande Place, which is an absolutely beautiful square in the city center. Here you can see my failed attempt at night photography.

After wandering around the Grand Place and the surrounding neighborhood we decided we were ready to find to things: the famed Mannequin Pis and some waffles. In case you can't guess from the name the Mannequin Pis is a statue of a little boy peeing. Apparently it is also a symbol of Belgium and has been compared to the Eiffel Tower in France. Personally I don't see the similarity. One of them is a very large tower, the other is about the size of an American Girl Doll and it pees. While underwhelming the statue is at the same time rather funny. And the Belgians seem to love it as they reproduce versions of it, in chocolate. Anyway, the four of us got our waffles and enjoyed their amazing deliciousness while contemplating the bizarre phenomenon that is the Mannequin Pis. After finishing our waffles we felt ready to take on another crucial facet of Belgian culture, the beer. Our first stop on our journey of discovery into Belgian beer-land was a bar called Celtica (because what is more typically Belgian than an Irish Pub?) While their selection of beers on tap were primarily English and Irish, they did have a large selection of bottled Belgian beer. I began the night with 2 euro bottle of Duvel. For those of you familiar with Duvel you know that in the States a bottle costs around $10. After our first round of drinks we decided to move on to another bar, preferably one showing the France-Wales Rugby game on tv. After search for about 15 minutes we found shockingly another Irish pub. This one was called O'Reilly's. It was backed with fans of both the French and Welsh teams. My friends and I decided we were content to stay there and watch the game so we settled down, got a round of drinks, and watched a fantastic game. The first rugby game I ever saw was in England freshman year, Wales won. That same night was the first time I tried Strongbow. I decided it would be appropriate to come full-circle and order a Strongbow to enjoy the game. However this time, the Welsh team did not do so well. They were scoreless the first half of the game. While they had a fantastic comeback in the 2nd half (when the French team got lazy) they still lost. Watching the game was so much fun. Both the French and Welsh fans were prone to singing which made watching the game even more fun. I also started talking to a French student studying in Brussels while watching the game. It was really fun to talk to someone who wasn't American. When France finally won the match the fans started singing the Marseillaise. It was a fantastic moment in my life. After the game Emi, Shira, Jen, and I went in search of frites. We found a shop that basically just sold frites and split two huge packets. The guy asked if we wanted sauce and we said yes what's the most typically Belgian. When we found out the answer was mayonaise we asked for the 2nd most popular sauce. He told us it was Andelouse, a spicy sauce so we decided to try that and it was absolutely fantastic. After finishing our frites we returned to the first bar for another cheap round of 2 euro drinks. This time we tried a Belgian cider. While it wasn't my favorite drink of the night I still enjoyed myself. After leaving the bar we tried to get home, I say try because we failed at reading the tram schedule and thereby discovering which tram would get us home. Once we got that minor detail sorted out we got home while only being minorly creeped out by a guy lurking in a doorway.

The next day we decided to start with mini-Europe and the Atomium. Now I imagine mini-Europe is something like Epcot but I wouldn't actually know since it was closed. However the Atomium was really cool. It's a giant replica of a molecule that was constructed for the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. After that we went to the EU campus, the Cathedral, a bunch of parks, the Grand Place, the Palais du Justice. We saw so many things I'm not even sure what we saw. I'm going to skip talking about dinner, it was nice but unexceptional. After dinner we went to a bar called Delirium Cafe and drank more yummy Belgian Beers. We all tried a beer that tasted like Gingerbread. It was a little strange but good. We referred to it as the cookie beer since the name was Flemish and therefor unpronounceable. I rather liked the cookie beer but at heart I like my Belgian Trappiste Ales.

Now Midterms are over (thank god) and I'm off to Aix-en-Provence, Madrid, and Lisbon for Spring break. Over the next 10 days I plan to eat my weight in chorizo and shrimp. When not eating I'll go to a few museums and do a bit of shopping.

Italian?!?!! I can barely manage English

We had the Romeo and Juliet auditions on Tuesday, and our first read through will be next Monday. For the audition I asked the actors to fill out a sheet that would let us know their feelings on cross-dressing, lines in Italian, and how large a role they were comfortable with. I asked them to circle the appropriate responses some highlights include, on the subject of cross-dressing included:

a. Yes, bring on the high heels/facial hair

b. No thanks, I have enough gender identity issues as is.

For speaking in Italian: No thanks, I can barely

manage English

And for a role size: A small role like the Wretched Apothecary would be perfect.

Here's a photo from the acting workshop involving a small fight over a bag of chips.

In other news I'm in the midst of midterms... Yay... Not even Italy can improve midterms. In my Italian class we went to an Italian high-school and talked to students studying English. They spoke to us in English and we tried to respond in Italian. Part of the challenge is the fact that when someone speaks to me in English I automatically want to respond in the same language. It was easier in someways because I didn't have to try to translate what they were saying, think of a response and then translate it into Italian. What that experience really taught me though, was that Italian teenagers have more style than I can ever aspire to. I never thought I'd want fashion tips from a 16 year old, but I do.

On Friday I'm heading off to Belgium for a weekend in Brussels with my friends Emi and Shira. I can't wait to see them! I've missed them way to much this semester. I'm looking forward to stuffing myself with beer, sausage, waffles, frites and yet undiscovered (by me) foodstuffs.

For God, Profit, and Freddy Mercury

The past week and a half was relatively uneventful. I continued to consume vast quantities of food. However I mostly spent my time in class or studying (when I wasn't eating). Fortunately this weekend has largely compensated for that. On Friday night I met my friend Caroline for dinner. Caroline and I met through pure serendipity. She isn't part of the SU program, but her roommate has known one of the girls in my program for years. We all went out together and Caroline and I realized we had three important things in common: sarcasm, bitterness, and an irrational, Anthony Bourdain inspired, anger toward vegans and the culinarily unadventurous. We had a fantastic dinner at Baldovino. I ordered pappardelle di cinghiale (pasta with a wild boar ragu) and Caroline and I also split a trio of sausages and a chocolate cake for dessert. It was Italian food at its best. They also have a 10% student discount which made me love them even more. I should mention that I've been to Baldonvino before, but I was somewhere between the ages of 10 and 12 and couldn't remember the food. When I walked through the door I had a huge moment of deja vu. I don't think I'll forget what the food there is like this time. After eating enough food to make me wonder if I'd grown a second stomach since arriving in Italy, Caroline and I headed over to Be Bop to see the Queen tribute band called Great Queen's Rats. We met up with some other people from SU, including Jean a fellow Renaissance Studies major. So the band was awesome. They had everything a Queen tribute band needed: leather, sequins, union jack tshirts, and a fake mustache on the Freddy Mercury impersonator. Not only that but it looked like they were having a great time and they were actually capable of playing and singing the Queen songs well. I was particularly impressed by the lead guitarist, he was super talented. As for the Freddy Mercury impersonator, at times he reminded me of Borat. I think that had a lot to do with the fake mustache and his accent when he was speaking in English. He was also hilarious and phenomenal. As Jean said, "Only and Italian could out Freddy Mercury, Freddy Mercury." They began the show with We Will Rock You, and they did. I was devastated to have forgotten my camera because there were so many photo worthy moments. Naturally they played Bohemian Rhapsody, there might have been a small riot if they hadn't. My personal highlight was when they played Under Pressure and Somebody to Love back to back. The band wasn't the only entertainment available at Be Bop. My friends and I debated which was more entertaining, the band or the American frat boys who were in the midst of a hilarious bromance. The band obviously won, for one thing they were actually talented.

On Saturday I went on a field trip around Tuscany to see some more Medici Villas. Once again my class mates and I were impressed by how subtle the Medici were in establishing their presence and power around Tuscany. After visiting two Medici villas, Castello and Petraia we arrived in the town of Prato. Before taking us to see any art our Professor felt that we should get acquainted with the town and some fresh doughnuts. I should mention that my professor wrote a book about the city of Prato. He also ate a lot of doughnuts while writing this book and he will tell you that with pride. Anyway the first thing we did upon getting off the bus in Prato was to head straight to a café that makes fresh doughnuts every 20 minutes. Our professor treated the entire class to doughnuts and a hot beverage of our choice. Professor Mclean's field trips always involve good food. After fortifying ourselves with doughnuts we went to several churches in the town of Prato. In one of them was the tomb of Prato's most famous banker, who signed all his letters and contracts with his name and the phrase, "In the name of God and Profit." This is a man who knows what his priorities are. The church was also patronized by the Medici, who hired Fra Fillipo Lippi to do the frescoes in one of the chapels. This is an example of subtle Medici patronage because they only put two of their crests in the middle of the high alter, rather than all over the entire church. I was really impressed by their subtlety and self-restrain in Prato. Lunch in Prato was unfortunately unremarkable. We just got sandwiches. My friend Jean and I had 3 goals while in Prato and managed to achieve none of them. Goal number one was to visit the Biscotti store that sells traditional Almond Biscotti and has for several centuries but we failed because it was closed for lunch. Goal number two was to ride the carousel in the town square, but it too was closed for lunch. Goal number three was to get take out in the Chinatown in Prato (yes this is a legit Chinatown) because our professor said he'd take us through it. This failed as well, we went through Chinatown on our bus. The final portion of our field trip was visiting the Medici villa in Poggio a Caiano. I'm going to gloss over this part as it was relatively uneventful. Suffice it to say that even the shrubbery (I love that word) looked like a Medici crest.

On Saturday night I went to dinner with my friend Cathy. We went to a cute little Osteria near Santa Croce. The pasta and bruschetta's are excellent there. I would especially recommend the drunkard spaghetti. Which is spaghetti cooked in red wine and garlic. It tastes like red wine and garlic which is a good thing in my opinion. The only downside to our meal was the table of extremely annoying American girls sitting next to us. Cathy and I inevitably texted back and forth during dinner complaining about them. We also wished that we spoke fluent Italian so that we could talk about without resorting to text messages at the dinner table. Other topics of conversation at dinner including student theater productions, our families, the pursuit of advanced degrees, and sexually active Popes.

The only other news in my life is my continued obsession with Top Gear. I've even downloaded episodes that I watch while doing my Dramatic Lit reading. We will also be casting the SU Florence production of Romeo and Juliet this week. I'm looking forward to that and getting down to rehearsals. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I was stage managing the production. I may also make a cameo appearance.

-Spitzy

For God and Profit

So Is This an I Feel Guilty Cake or a Let's Have a Party Cake?

There is a certain sense of joy that accompanies the more minor sort of poor life decision. I'm talking about the type that leads you to a bar on a tuesday night when you know that you have to look at masterpieces of Renaissance art the next morning. In case you haven't realized yet I'm speaking from personal experience. On tuesday night I went with some people in my program to see a Beatles cover band. It's hard not to be a Beatles fan and there is something incredibly comforting about hearing their songs. Anyway the band was pretty good. Were they the Beatles? Not by a long shot but they were clearly having fun and were good musicians. Being in a somewhat anti-social mood I decided I would rather watch the band than sit and talk. So drink in hand that's exactly what I did. I really enjoyed watching the band interact. They clearly enjoyed being onstage together. However the real highlight of my night came when the lead singer for the band dedicated one of the songs to me. He said something in Italian. Since I can understand 1 out of every 4 to 10 words spoken in Italian I had no clue what he said. Since I looked rather vacuous for someone who'd just had a song dedicated to her, he switched to English. He said, "You" and pointed straight at me, "This next one's for you." That's the story of how I got the song Help! dedicated to me.

Only in Italy would you be able to follow up a night listening to a Beatles cover band with a 9am trip to see David. Now I HATE mornings, I'm honestly just not a morning person. Now I realize I really shouldn't be complaining. My life is so awful I have to wake up early and see one of the greatest sculptures in the Western world. There is a reason that Michelangelo's David is pretty much the greatest sculpture ever. No matter the time of day or your state of mind upon entering the museum the moment you see it you can't help but be awestruck. I'm not going to say to much more about the statue. Obviously it's HUGE and beautiful. I could wax poetic about its magnificence until DC learns how to plow snow. The last thing I'm going to say about the statue is that if you've never seen it it's worth the plane ticket to Florence.

In previous posts I've mentioned my great love for pastry and the fact that the Carnival season involves the mass consumption of said pastry. A few nights ago over dinner my host brother Cosimo told my roommate and I that the Florentines (and probably the Italians in general) also have a special cake for Lent. Or as he put it, unable to remember what we call the season of Lent, "The season after Carnival when you are supposed to feel sad and think about why you should feel guilty." He also told us there was yet another Carnival cake that we hadn't tried yet. Tonight after a fantastic and very large dinner of artichoke pasta and spinach quiche my host mother brought out a cake. On seeing it my roommate asks, "Is this an I'm sorry cake?" Cosimo responds, "No this is still a happy cake. It's also for Carnival"

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum... I never actually made it. On Friday and Saturday I went on a trip to Rome with my 16th Century Italian Art class. If Renaissance art isn't your thing please skip to the end of this entry. It was one of the best weekends I've had in Italy so far. Rome is an art history student's wet dream. With ruins from the ancient world, some of the best Renaissance and Baroque art, and even some modern art. We got off the train and on to a bus that took us to the Vatican. We started off in the Vatican museum looking at works by Raphael and Michelangelo. Including Raphael's Transfiguration, the tapestries he designed for the Sistine Chapel, and his famous fresco The School of Athens. We also saw a lot of the Vatican's collection of ancient Roman statues including the Belvedere Torso and Laocoon. Which is the greatest Hellenistic sculpture. We also discussed the meaning and significance of the tradition of Papal patronage. Now I found this topic to be fascinating. I love analyzing why people patronize art and artists. The political, social, economic, cultural reasons are all so interesting. I realize that many people would probably disagree with me. I suppose it comes from having a mother who's worked in development for arts organizations. Then we went into the Sistine Chapel. There really are no words to describe the Sistine Chapel. The images you see of it just don't do it justice. You lose the sense of scale and of the vibrance and vivacity of the work. Finally we went into St. Peters Basilica. It's the largest Cathedral in the world and being inside you both realize it (because they compare themselves to other cathedrals by marking their lengths on the floor) and don't. Everything is on a massive scale that fits together beautifully. Yet standing inside the Cathedral you don't feel small. In St. Peters we saw Michelangelo's Pieta. It's an amazingly beautiful statue. He puts so much emotion into the marble you can't help but be moved despite the fact that the statue is behind 6 inches of bullet proof glass.

After leaving the Vatican we had a break for lunch. I had Spaghetti Carbonara, which is probably one of my favorite pasta preparations. It was a nice lunch of comfort food and a restorative glass of red wine. After lunch we went to the Church of St Peter in Chains. We saw Michelangelo's colossal statue of Moses. I loved that statue there is so much movement in it despite the fact that Moses is seated. It's in the way that he plays with his beard and in his gaze. After that we went back to the hotel and basically crashed until dinner. It's amazing how much energy appreciating art takes.

Dinner on Friday exemplifies everything I HATE about group travel. The 5 people I had dinner with were awesome but the meal itself... not so much. Our original plan was to walk to the Trevi fountain and have dinner somewhere nearby. We only made it about halfway before some of the group felt that they were too tired and hungry to keep going. While we'd past several cute, small restaurants earlier on our walk but the place people insisted on stopping at was huge, touristy, generic, and had the vibe of a chain. I had an absolutely unexceptional pizza. I admit I was dissapointed, Rome is a city with great food, and I hate feeling like I wasted an opportunity to eat well. Part of group travel is being flexible and willing to make compromises. I just wish that didn't mean compromising the quality of my meal. What can I say I'm a proud food snob, the daughter of a chef. After dinner we were all to tired to go to the fountain. We just went back to the hotel and crashed.

Saturday was another day of art. We started the day at the Farnesina a 16th century pleasure villa. The decoration theme was Greek and Roman mythology. Ovid anybody? My favorite frescos were Raphael's Galatea and the Loggia (room) of Cupid and Psyche. The Farnesina was built as the pleasure palace of Pope Julius II's banker. Half of the frescos contain erotic or suggestive images. The decadence is wonderful.

After the Farnesina we went to the Villa Borghese. This was the part of my trip I'd been looking forward to the most. The Borghese commissioned, purchased, and stole countless works of art by some of the worlds greatest artists. There were tons of Titians but none of them were tiny. We also saw a lot of paintings by Raphael. This was a weekend for Raphael. After that we got to the part of the gallery I'd been waiting for with baited breath... the Baroque artists. I got to pay homage to the Berninis and Carrevagios. I love Carrevagio, this is an artist whose biography is known through jail records and arrest warrants. His paintings are dark (literally and often metaphorically). He has a self-portrait as Bacchus suffering from alcohol poisoning. Seeing the Bernini sculptures was the highlight of my trip. Bernini is my favorite sculptor. If we'd been allowed to take pictures there would be pictures of me genuflecting before his Apollo and Daphne. The details of that statue are breathtaking. The delicacy of the leaves, the swirl of the drapery, Apollo's sandals (which I covet). I've always wanted to take a detail photo of the sandals on the statue to a shoemaker and tell him to make them for me. I also got to see Canova's statue of Pauline Bonaparte as Venus. I love this statue, Pauline was an aging tart and this statue captures that. Going to the Villa Borghese just made me so happy and not even the awful weather could change that.

Our next stop was lunch in front of the Pantheon.

I had the best meal of my trip to Rome in front of the Pantheon. I had fettucini with artichokes. It was phenomenal. The pasta was al dente, the artichokes were fresh, there was a hint of olive oil and lemon, and lots of parmesan cheese on top. In short it was everything I could possible want from a bowl of pasta. After lunch we went in the Pantheon. As buildings go the Pantheon is pretty badass. It's ancient, massive, and there's a hole in the middle of the dome. While we were there it was pouring rain and it rained inside the building. From the Pantheon we were going to walk through past all the ancient Roman forums to get to the Colosseum. Due to the rain our group leaders decided that we'd take cabs to the Colosseum instead. The hoped the cabs would at least take us past the forums instead. We did get to do a drive by shout out to the forum but I never actually made it to the forum. Halfway through our visit to the Colosseum it stopped raining. The entire group got so excited when the sun came out. And the Colosseum looked beautiful in the afternoon sunlight. There are also fantastic views of ancient Roman ruins from the Colosseum. As you can see I enjoyed both the ruins and the sunshine.

On Sunday I was back in Florence and the weather decide to be nice for once. It was 50 degrees and sunny. I decided to celebrate the perfect weather by going to the Chocolate festival in Santa Croce. After all I love chocolate. I tried some chocolate liqueurs, and let me tell you Godiva has nothing on what I tried. It was basically melted chocolate with alcohol. Chocolaty and delicious with slight burning sensation on the back of your throat to alert you to the alcohol's presence. I also ate one of the most epic pastries of my life. Considering my obsession with all things chocolate and pastry that says a lot. Basically this looked kinda like a meat pie or pasty. It had a thick crust covered with powdered sugar rather than flour. The inside was filled with chocolate. I sat in the sunshine on a bench in the piazza and watched the people go by. In that moment I realized that life really doesn't suck.

Lots and Lots of Pasta

Tuesday night I took a cooking class hosted by SU. We learned how to make fresh pasta from scratch. It was a lot of fun. The classes were taught by an Italian chef and his wife. He's retired from the restaurant business and they teach cooking classes throughout the city. Making my own pasta was a fun awesome. Making the dough is simple yet really challenging because you have to kneed the moisture out. Once the tedious business of preparing the dough was finished we got down to the serious business. Cutting the pasta and cooking it. We made 3 different types of pasta. Ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta (my favorite), tagliatelle in a pepper sauce, and spaghetti in tomato sauce. We also made tiramisu for desert. We started the cooking class at 5:30 and didn't finish eating until 9:30. Which is what I'd call a successful evening. Eating the pasta was amazing. We got a bottle of wine and then just kept eating plate, after plate, after plate of pasta. As soon as we'd finish one pasta another won was ready to eat. Then their was the tiramisu. There are no words to describe the food coma is was in by the end of that meal. I felt as round and a beach ball and as happy as a cat with a bowl of cream (or pasta in my case). I'm really mad because I forgot my camera otherwise there would be many awesome pictures featuring lots and lots of pasta.

Last night I went with some friends to an awesome bar. This bar had three things going for it. First of all the drinks were excellent, second the atmosphere was fun and relaxed, finally everyone was young and Italian. This bar will remain nameless because I don't want it to become flooded with Americans. Not that I flatter myself with thinking that every American in Florence reads this blog but still. The bar we went to also has live music at least once a week. Next Tuesday is a Beatles cover band, no I'm not talking about Be Bop. Am I going back for that? Yes.

I haven't really talked that much about fashion but this is Italy and there a lot of amazing style. I have to say that my Italian teacher Francesca has become my Italian style icon. She is always wearing terrific tailored suits, great knits, skinny jeans, and of course her shoes and accessories are impeccable. I'd take pictures of her outfits but I'm afraid she might find that a little bit creepy. Sandra my host mother also wears some wonderful pieces of clothing, including a fantastic leather pencil skirt. Cosimo, her son, works as a fashion designer. He naturally is always incredibly well put together. He wears basic pieces that always have really interesting details to them. I think my favorite fashion moment was the woman I saw riding an old beat-up bicycle and wearing a fur coat. The juxtaposition of the two was indescribably awesome.

My cure for culture shock

Being sick over the weekend left me with plenty of time to think and true to form I thought largely about food and culture. Before leaving to go abroad everyone warns you about to things being safe and culture shock. I've always felt like the minute I announce I'm going abroad people tell me to be careful of men and pick pockets. A part of me always feels these warnings are slightly ridiculous. After all I grew up in New York City and Florence is hardly the third world. Of course I'm going to be careful, I'm careful at home. Thinking about it further I realized that I do need to take extra care because I don't speak the language. You don't realize how comforting it is to be able to understand what's said around you until you no longer can.

That's where some of the culture shock comes in. I find myself missing American television or hearing the Wendy's employees at J Street take orders. Catching a cold I realized I missed Tropicana orange juice. I also have a bizarre and frequent craving for peanut butter. I rarely eat peanut butter in the states. I love it but I just don't eat it that often. I would also sell my soul for a starbucks hot chocolate or even swiss miss. My feelings of culture shock are strongest in their associations to food. It's not surprising really, besides being necessary for survival a good meal can have a profound impact on the soul. Years later memories of a dish will comfort or excite you. One of the things I promised myself was that while I was in a homestay I would try any dish my host mother prepared. So far of done just that. I haven't loved every dish but I haven't hated anything either. There are certainly dishes I would rather eat but I've also been surprised by some of the things I've really liked (chicken liver). I understand that due to allergies or religious reasons some people have dietary restrictions. It just makes me sad when someone says they won't eat meat unless they are sure what it is. Like I said earlier Florence is hardly the 3rd world. The Italians may try to serve you tripe but your sausage won't be stuffed with cat. I know that when you order veal or steak no one wants to eat a mouthful of gristle but there's no need to cut away all the fat. Fat=flavor. I know that food is a very personal thing and perhaps this is hypocritical of me. I was and in some ways I still am a picky eater. But I'm in a country famous for their cuisine. This is also a country where the flavors are familiar to me. It's unlikely I will try anything with a flavor I find really strange and repellent. So why not use this time to expand my tastes farther and break out of my comfort zone. I guess food is my cure for culture shock. On the one hand I can have all the excitement of trying a dish I've never tried before. At the same time I can retreat behind the familiar comforts of Spaghetti Carbonara or Bolognese. Both options are before me and I expect I will take advantage of both the familiar and the strange.

If all else fails when it comes to culture shock I can always take two advil and listen to some Bruce or Sondheim on my ipod.

The Medici were here

I've finished my second week of classes and it already feels as if I've been at it for weeks. I'm supposed to submit a proposal for a midterm on monday. I have NO CLUE what I want to write about. The main academic thing I've learned is present in the title of this blog. When it comes to Renaissance Italy the Medici were everywhere. Coming in to the program I thought I already knew that. They were after all the richest family, later the Dukes of Tuscany, and famous as artistic patrons. However the Medici, and from what I can gather most other wealthy and noble families took it a bit more literally. If you look around the buildings of Tuscany, on statues, or church decorations you'll see family crests. And you see the Medici crest twice as often as any other. It makes me think of a cross between graffiti tags and dogs peeing to mark their territory. My friend and I were picturing rogue Medici stone masons wandering Florence in the dark of night and affixing the Medici crest to the side of buildings.

Unfortunately you can't see it that well but the Medici crest is below the bust.

I realize that while I find the near constant presence of the Medici crest both hilarious and fascinating, most people probably don't share that opinion. So I'll move on to things found universally fascinating: eating, drinking, and shopping.

The food remains fantastic and since it's Carnival season delicious pastry abounds. Which is wonderful because I have a HUGE weakness for baked goods. I LOVE PASTRY. I recently tried a Carnival desert called Cenci. It is essentially thin sheets of fried dough and covered with powdered sugar. It was heaven. I went to the central market for lunch today and spent some quality time with my favorite food group... the pig. I had porchetta! It was served thinly sliced and in oil. It was pungent and salty in a way that was so wrong... that it was perfect! Our homestay mother, Sandra, made sole for dinner tonight and I loved every bight.

As for the drinking... I can order a hot chocolate in perfect Italian. Which is good since it is my signature beverage back in the states. As for other kinds of drinking... I went out with my roommate and some friends last night. Thankfully there were not as many creepy men of a certain age as last week. I consider that an improvement. However the club we went to for a while seemed to be the favorite place of the dreadlocked emo/punks of Florence. I was definitely too happy and had showered too recently to fit in at that club. Otherwise it was unremarkable and confirmed my preference for bars. We did go to a bar as well called Fish Pub. This one didn't have Strongbow but it did have a much younger clientele. There were also a lot more Americans there. I admit a part of me would go back there, nurse a beer and watch some of the shit-shows happen. I suppose it's bad that I would so indulge my Schadenfreude and watch other people make poor life decisions but there you have it.

On to the shopping. My bank account probably doesn't appreciate this week very much. On the other hand I'm not planning on buying anything else for a while. I got a beautiful pair of black leather gloves with a pink embroidered stitching that's really subtle and elegant. They're lined with cashmere so my hands should stay nice and toasty. I also indulged myself at the Farmacia di Santa Maria Novella. There is nothing like a beautiful smelling beauty product to brighten up your day. I also bought a beautiful leather bound notebook. Which I can carry around everywhere and record all of the wonderful and ridiculous life stories that seem to occur. Quite a few of which I am sure will find their way onto this blog. But right now a gelato is calling my name and it is quite persistent.

No one said we'd be off-roading...

On Friday I had a field study trip with my Medici Patronage class. It was a lot of fun but freezing cold because we went to a bunch of hill towns. Our trip started with the Medici villa in Fiesole. Fiesole is a beautiful town outside of Florence. The views from the villa were phenomenal. It's a private home, so people unrelated to the Medici currently live there. We didn't get to go inside we just walked around the grounds. I wish I lived there, you could spend years looking out the window and never get tired of what you see.

Out next stop was a Carthusian abbey in Certosa. The abbey is now run by Cistercian monks. The difference between the two orders has to do with the amount of contact they have with the outside world. The Carthusians don't want anything to do with it and the Cistercian's have cell phones. I'm serious about the cell phones.

On our tour of the abbey a cell phone began ringing, everyone looked around guiltily, sure that the

monk giving the tour would be offended. Instead the Cistercian monk whipped a cell phone out of his habit and began talking. I have photographing evidence to prove it. W

hile I was unfortunately unable to capture the monk with the cell phone next to his ear you can see him looking at his cell phone.

Next we went to Poppi and had lunch before visiting two Medieval castles owned by the Guidi family. Once again lunch w

as fantastic. I love being in Italy and having every meal range from good to unbelievable, I could get used to it very quickly. I had pasta in a rabbit sauce, yummy! Thumper is delicious. I also had a side of fried artichokes and split a bottle of wine with 3 other girls. Having fortified myself with a good meal and some lovely wine I felt ready to face the rest of the afternoon. This was long before I realized that part of my afternoon would consist of hiking on "trail" in order to reach a church on the main road. The first castle we went to was fully intact and had everything you expect from an old castle except the tapestries. The second castle was more of a ruin, and that's where our off-road adventure began. The bus cou

ldn't get all the way up to the castle so our professor told the driver to meet us back on the main road next to an old church. We would follow a path from the castle to the church that took us past an old spring. Unfortunately my professor couldn't find the proper path. We found a path with a chain across it and a sign on it that said "don't go this way." Naturally we went that way.

After hopping another fence their was barely any path to speak of but my professor is determined so he tells us to wait while he explores. The "path" was pretty much impassible after a few yards so we had to turn around and go back to the castle. Eventually thanks to one of the students in the class with sharp eyes we did find the correct path. This one, mercifully, did not require fighting with bushes to get anywhere.

The rest of the weekend was eventful in other ways and involved a lot of exploring, none of it off-road thank god! On saturday I went to Santa Croce and had lunch in a restaurant near the square. I had polenta with sausage and black truffles. It was wonderful. The sausage had a nice element of spice that cut the creaminess of the polenta and it was all enhanced by the richness of the truffles. In case you haven't noticed yet good food is a priority in my life. Saturday night I went out to a bar with some friends. We went to an Irish pub and I know you're thinking wtf? an Irish pub in Florence???? I ask myself the same thing but I guess an Irish pub has become a universal institution. It was also a lot more laid back than a lot of the bars we passed on the way. The other advantage of the Irish pub was the presence of Strongbow on tap. I LOVE Strongbow and it's presence will compensate for a great deal. However even Strongbow was not enough to keep my from feeling as if my night had taken a bizarre turn. It began as we were walking to the bar. My friend Claire is a redhead and as we were walking some guys on the street just began shouting "Ginger ginger ginger" really loud and really fast. It was kinda creepy but also hilarious. The Irish pub is clearly the frequent and preferred hangout of a group of regulars age 35 and up. One of them took a liking to me and kept trying to flirt with me. I kept trying to ignore him, with limited success. When he finally decided to leave he shook my hand and said "Very nice to meet you." After quickly shaking his hand I was quite ready to end all physical contact but he wouldn't just let my hand go. So as I tried to pull my hand away he held on and caressed my hand in one of the more uncomfortable moments of my life. It was blatantly obvious I wanted no further physical contact. Even the guys an the next table could see that. Unfortunately they were not so astute about the fact that one of my friends who they liked was completely uninterested. They called my group of friends over and started to chat with us about the type of person we're attracted to and making awkward sex jokes. Then they challenged the one guy of our group to arm wrestling matches. I'm glad to say he won them all. The conversation alternated between the hysterical and the really uncomfortable.

Today I wandered around in search of bookstores with my friend Peter. We didn't care if they had any books in English or not. We just liked looking at the variety and options. There is something comforting and familiar about a book no matter the language of the words. Some element of it is universal. We also enjoyed looking at the comic books in Italian. Comic books and children's books seem like a great way to help learn the language. We walked all over the center of the city in search of bookstores. Unfortunately Sunday was probably not the best day to search for books as most stores in Italy are still closed on Sunday. Still it was an adventure and a chance to explore a beautiful city with a friend. The more I wander semi-aimlessly the more I enjoy it.

Back to School

My first week of classes is over and I've already learned some very valuable information. The most important of which is that in winter all field studies and site visits involve freezing your ass off. I'll elaborate on this point later.

I'm taking 4 classes while I'm abroad. Italian (of course), Medici Patronage of Art, 16th Century Art and Identity, and Italian and European Theatre. My professors are all really nice but unfortunately they all assign a lot of reading. Thank god I read quickly. Last year I took a political theory class and read Machiavelli's The Prince and Discourses. This week I read his History of Florence and Mandragola for various classes. I've now read most of the complete works of Machiavelli, like the Complete Works of Shakespeare but Machiavellian. I'm not sure why I thought reading the rest of Machiavelli in 1 week was a good idea. It must be some bizarre lingering effect of the jet-lag. My Italian class is just as insane. We have it 4 days a week and it meets for 2 hours at time. At the end of Italian I feel so dazed. The only thing that gets me through that class is my 10 minute hot chocolate break between the 1st and 2nd hour. Hot chocolate gets me through most issues in life.

On the bright side I've eaten a lot of really good food this week, which is a priority in life. Sandra, my home stay mother, served us the traditional Tuscan soup made with white beans, black cabbage, and garlic bread. It's amazing, especially in the cold weather. It makes you feel warm and full and happy. I also had my first porchetta of this trip. Porchetta is a slow roasted big that is heavily seasoned with herbs and spices. I had it in a sandwich. I was walking back from the bookstore and looking for a place to eat. I went into a cafe and was staring at the sandwich counter, when I saw the porchetta on top of the meat counter. I pointed at it and said "Porchetta?" the woman said yes, then I asked if it could be in a sandwich. She pointed at the breads and told me to choose which one I wanted, then she made me a porchetta sandwich. It was happiness in sandwich form and gave me the strength to get though all that Machiavelli. Sandra also gave us chicken liver for dinner bruschetta one night. She served it as a spread on toast. So far I haven't eaten anything that I've really disliked. I have my preferences and I liked somethings better than others but I will eat everything I've had a second time.

Back to lessons learned on site visits. Thursday morning my Medici Patronage class looked at sites around Florence. We discussed the relationship between architecture and power. What does a particular building say about the people who built it and why did they choose to build in that particular style? The lecture was really interesting but it was also freezing. The problem with standing out doors in 40 degree weather is that it doesn't feel cold at first. But as you stand still for long amounts of time in the shade (because in Florence very little sunlight reaches the streets) you slowly start to freeze. First your fingers go numb, then your toes, and finally your brain. By the end of class all I could think of was the school cafe and a cup of hot chocolate. The feeling did not return to my toes for another 4 hours. At least it wasn't raining. On Thursday night Glee premiered in Italy. They dub it all into Italian except for the songs. The beauty of watching the first season of Glee in Italian (besides the obvious fact that it's Glee) is that by watching it I'm "studying" Italian. Glee is also just as good in Italian as it was in English. I'm now obsessed with the same show in two languages. Perhaps this is something I should be worried about but I'm just not.

A Weekend in Chianti

I actually only spent a day in Chianti but I wanted to paraphrase "A Weekend in the Country" anyway. Yesterday my roommate Tracey and I wandered all over Florence. We walked around for 3 1/2 hours and it was so much fun. We had lunch in a cute little restaurant owned by a husband and wife. The food was really nice (of course), very simple, and the pasta was perfectly al dente. After that we tried to find the building where Tracey has her first class of the semester and failed MISERABLY. You would think that during orientation the university would take you to all the buildings especially the ones farther away from the main campus. After all isn't the point of orientation to help the students become familiar with their new environment? Not according to SU Florence. I didn't really mind searching for the building, but for Tracey's sake I wish we had found it. However, in searching we went to Piazza Santa Maria Novella (where the convent is), the Mercato Centrale (central market), the Ponte Vecchio, and the Duomo.

I plan to go inside the convent at Santa Maria Novella. The exterior was beautiful and the interior is supposed to be as well. Of course I loved wandering through the central market. There were tons of stalls filled with meat, cheese, pasta, produce, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, fish, and of course proscuitto hanging from the ceiling. There was also a little restaurant inside the market. I'll eat there sometime for sure. Wandering around the market made my mouth water. All the food looked so fresh and beautiful.

Tracey and I walked along the Arno to the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge filled with jewelry shops. It was a moment of visual gluttony. So much gold, silver, and beautiful jewels. We stopped for a snack at a cafe next to the bridge. It was terribly over-priced, extremely touristy but so much fun. Being a tourist is fun every now and then. I had a cup of hot chocolate that once again brought out my inner child. I LOVED it. Finally we walked past the Duomo and went home.

Today was amazing. Sandra and Cosimo took us outside of Florence into the Chianti region to visit their close family friends. It was cold and wet today but the countryside was still beautiful. They have a beautiful house and tons of pets. 6 cats, 1 dog, 2 birds, and a chinchilla. We had a huge lunch of polenta and chicken and some wine that the family makes themselves. The wine was spectacular. I wish I had my own vineyard in Chianti, perhaps in another life time. After lunch we drove to the local town and walked around. The clock tower in town leans slightly, it's not as dramatic as in Pisa but it's noticeable. In the central Piazza was a market. One of the stalls was selling porchetta, if I hadn't just had lunch I would have gotten some and eaten it on the spot. It's something to look forward to in the future. Going outside the city was a lot of fun. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures but hopefully I'll be back when the weather is nicer.

Orientation

Today was the last day of Orientation, it was like CI only without the singing or the organization. I registered for classes this afternoon and moved into my homestay last night. I'm living 3 blocks from the main University building. Which is great because I'm NOT a morning person. I'm living with a roommate, Tracey, and a mother and son named Sandra and Cosimo. They seem really nice. Sandra does not speak much English but she's an amazing cook. For our first dinner she made a pasta bolognese and a chicken with mushrooms in a white wine sauce. It was absolutely delicious. If I eat that much and that well every night I'll be gaining alot of weight. Cosimo is only a few years older than I am and speaks fluent English. Living at home after school seems so odd to me. I know it's common in Italy but I like the idea of independence.

I'm taking four classes while I'm in Florence. (Italian of course), two art history classes: Medici Patronage of Art and 16th Century Art and Identity, and Italian and European theatre 1500-1700. That class should be a lot of fun. I met all of the professors, except for the Italian professor, and they all seem really nice. My English professor is directing a production of Romeo and Juliet which is open to the entire program but is extra credit for students taking his class. I volunteered to stage manage the production. I figured it would be a fun challenge after co-producing The Nutcracker. My classes all have site visits. The English class stays in Florence but my Art and Identity class goes to Rome and Venice. My Medici class goes to Fiesole, Poggio a Caino, Rome, and Paris. I'm really excited to begin classes.

My English professor also told me that our health and wellness director used to dance and knows a lot about dance in Florence. When I wasn't doing anything at orientation, which was about half the time, I went and talked to her. She recommended a studio where I could take ballet or modern class. Once classes start next week I'm going to go and check it out. It's nice to know where I can go to dance even if I don't make it to classes

that often.

Yesterday afternoon I had nothing to do from 2-5pm when I got to meet Sandra and Cosimo. I went to a cafe and had a glass of hot chocolate (my signature beverage). It was the drinking chocolate, which is common in Europe. No Swiss Miss in Italy. The hot chocolate was amazing, it also had the cutest presentation. Instead of marshmallows it was served with small chunks of crystalized sugar and star shaped sprinkles.

It also came with cookies! After I left the cafe I walked to the Duomo. I'm being a major tourist this week and I'm ok with that. I want to enjoy how amazing Florence is before the ennui sets in and I find myself overcome with a desperate and inexplicable desire for Gelman Library and McDonalds.

This afternoon my roommate and I went back to the Duomo. We wandered around and window shopped for a few hours. When the weather gets warm I'm going to climb to the top of the Duomo and take pictures of the city. I plan to explore the city more during my free time this weekend. For the most part we are spending the weekend with our host family, getting to know them, our neighborhood, ect. It should be lots of fun.

In Firenze

I'm spending the semester in Florence studying the Renaissance. As an Early Modern European Studies major Florence is really the perfect place to be. I wanted to keep this blog as a way to share my stories while I'm abroad. The title of my blog comes from the musical The Light in the Piazza. I have a feeling this blog will contain quite a lot of theater references, so please bear with me. I hope I can keep my posts interesting and that you'll want to read this thing.

The main school building for Syracuse University in Florence is a Renaissance villa. I'm obsessed with the building and plan to take lots of pictures of it over the next few days. This week is orientation. We're just setting up our phones and internet, registering for classes, and figuring out housing. I really wish I already knew where I was living and what classes I was taking. I have learned that one of the professors will be doing a production of Romeo and Juliet. Obviously I want to be part of it. Unfortunately I don't have many exciting stories just yet as I spent all of yesterday in a jet-lagged stupor. I wanted to get this started so that I can just keep writing over the next few days. I can't wait to get out and explore the city. Last night I ate dinner at the hotel because I wanted to get to know people. I'm in Italy and eating at the Hotel buffet is just not acceptable. I want to get out there and eat well enough to make my dad jealous and Anthony Bourdain proud.