Snow on a Volcano?

The second half of the traveling seminar we went to Catania, Sicily. We were all very excited to head south to the beach, except, we get there and it is pouring rain. However, that doesn't deter our adventurous group, so through the downpour we explored the gorgeous city of Catania. It has been completely destroyed 4 different times in the last 2,000 years. Destroyed several times by volcanic eruptions from Mt. Etna, it is slightly different than other Italian cities we have visited. It was built with a Spanish Baroque influence in the architecture, smaller cobblestones, and lots of vegetation.

Sicily is known for its seafood, desserts, and other baked goods such as Arancini which are fried balls of rice mixed with other fresh ingredients such as mushroom, spinach, ricotta or ragu. So the entire time we were there, we had fabulous meals and sweets such as cannolis, marzipan and chocolate almond nugget bars.

The second day we decided to climb Mt. Etna, and I think I am cursed to have to snow follow me wherever I go because when we got to the top we were in the middle of a whiteout blizzard. Of course, while everyone else was wearing pants, hats and gloves, I came in shorts, nike mid-calves and a thin rain jacket! We couldn't see anything unfortunately but we did make a snowman named Etno, roll a snowball down into the crater and steal lava rocks. I also had 2 elderly men stop along the trail, remove their hats, and use them to rub my legs while saying I was crazy!

Rommma

Overview: We just returned from our traveling seminar where we were gone for 6 days, the first half spent in Rome the off to Catania in Sicily. We had class everyday we were there, and we did a walking tour covering everything from the Colosseum to the Vatican to the Pantheon and even a private tour of the Government Building. Rome is amazing, very different than Siena or Florence. Everything around you seems to be an ancient ruin when you are in the heart of the city. The skyline is gorgeous - speckled with domes, crumbling columns and more vegetation than I had seen in any major city. The majority of the time we were there it rained but it was still great!

Night life: The first night I met up with my Bowdoin friends Chris, DJ and Kaitlin. We went out to a fabulous dinner on Gnocchi Thursdays, followed by one too many servings of Limoncello, then met up at a night club with a bunch of other Bowdoin kids who are also studying in rome or came for the weekend - it was great to have a huge reunion (the pic with all the people).

Art: We saw a Caravaggio exhibit which was AMAZING!!! He was a Baroque artist who reinvented the use of dramatic lighting. How the exhibit was set up was the rooms were almost completely dark except for several spot lights on each painting that mirrored the light sources in the painting. The other art highlight was the Sistine Chapel - after taking Art of Renaissance Italy last semester where we spent a week of class discussion and then writing my final paper on the ceiling, it was so cool to actually see the frescos in person!

"Drink Slow.. But Drink A Lot!"

After a very late Friday night where our group caught the last, 4:30 am bus leaving the discoteca and successfully jammed close to 100 screaming, sweaty Italians and us onto a 48 person charter bus (welcome to italy, where laws don't apply), we decided to lay low on Saturday.

However, since we are in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, Sunday of course had to go on a group wine tasting tour. The two small buses left from the city center and took us about 45 minutes out into the country side where we just passed vineyard after vineyard after vineyard! The gorgeous green, gold and red rolling hills of Tuscany were being illuminated by the breaks in the daunting storm clouds creating the most amazing views we have ever seen.

We made several pit stops to other small towns along the way. First in Montepulciano, Casa Vecchio, then San Geminiano. All about a tenth of the size of Siena with one main street located on top of a small hill. We stopped at two wineries where we learned how each vineyard made their own wine (all explained in Italian) and then at each place we tried about six different types accompanied with bread, meats and cheeses. If anyone is coming to Italy, let me know and I will give you the name of this tour - it was only 38 euro, and you have to ask for the tour guide Alessandro (he provided the title for this blog)!

Duomo and Taste of Home

Sorry it has been a while since the last post - summer job applications got in the way!

Last week was a pretty low-key week then we headed to Florence on Thursday for class to climb all 463 steps of the Duomo. After spiraling around and around then scaling nearly vertical stairs we reached the top and had an amazing view! You can see all of Florence and the surrounding Tuscan hillsides.

That night I stayed with my friend David who is on the NYU Florence program. Instead of doing the traditional Italian pasta feast, we decided we were both a little homesick for some American dishes - so that became our theme for the weekend. Starting with dinner, we cooked gourmet turkey burgers, mashed potatoes and salad. Then the following day found an American diner that served omelets, pancakes, bagels with blueberry cream cheese, milkshakes - everything you literally can't find anywhere in Italy. I then met up with some of the girls on my program who had also stayed in Florence with other friends and we went on the hunt for Italian leather jackets. Sure enough we found a perfect shop with great student discounts where we all left looking like a stylish group of biker chicks.

Parigi

Sean and I went finally made it to bed at 2:30 after our night out in Florence, but then her alarm rudely woke us up at 4:40 so we could catch a taxi to the airport. European airports, we soon learned, are not like US airports where you need to be there 3 hours before an international flight. No, in a total of 36 minutes we made it across town, checked in, went through security and were sitting with espresso and croissant in hand at our gate. Later that afternoon we arrived in Paris to meet Alex and her parents at the Weston Hotel (it's going to be hard to go back to hostel living after this weekend). It was Alex's 21st birthday so we slipped on our little black dresses and all went out for champagne then a MAGNIFICENT dinner where Sean, Alex and I happily did not order yet another pasta dish. We then went out to Club VIP where we started the dance party (and by "we" I mean Alex's parents who probably out danced and drank us girls). After a long day and fabulous night we crashed on our very comfy, 5-star, down feather beds.

The next morning we got up early to visit the Louvre. Alex, Sean and I are all Art History majors so it was the equivalent of a trip to Disneyland for us! I had visited the Louvre in 7th grade on a family vacation so I was old enough to remember seeing some of the pieces, but definitely not old enough to appreciate it! We then just walked around Paris for the rest of the afternoon, ate some crepes, did some shopping (no, mom I was good and didn't buy anything!), walked past a Starbucks and didn't get anything - big step for me, and then headed back to the hotel to take the most epic nap of our lives. Unfortunately later that night Alex and her mom came down with the stomach flu so Sean and I set off to lazily stroll the streets of Paris for the rest of the evening.

Sunday was a long day of traveling and we were a mess! We got made fun off by the security guy for each having mismatched sox, then I set of the metal detector, had to be patted down, and have my bag searched. The rest of the day just followed suit including spilled drinks, chocolate stains on the blouse, tripping over boots, and almost leaving tickets and a blackberry on a bus- so we were happy when our bus pulled into Siena at 8:45 last night!

Thank Goodness for Siena

On Thursday, after having a walking class in Florence with my Italian Culture History class, Sean and I decided to stay the night because we had to catch an 8:30 flight to Paris the next morning. We both have friends studying in Florence, so we had a big group dinner with Sean and her roommate from Colgate, and then my friend David, Kay and Claire (the last two are studying in Bologna). Dinner was great then we decided to meet up with some people on the Syracuse Program for a night out in the big city. It was amazing the difference between Florence and Siena in terms of night life and daily interactions with the locals. There are Americans and tourists everywhere in Florence. We went to a bar and everyone there was on some sort of study abroad program. Also, if you try and speak Italian to anyone they just automatically respond in English. Where as in Siena, I only speak Italian and the people really try to work with me and my limited knowledge of the language. Also, there are almost no Americans in Siena so it was weird to hear English at the bar. Sean and I were both saying how we had debated between studying in Florence and Siena and now how glad we are that we decided to go to Siena! As we were leaving I ran into my high school friend Ryan on the street - I guess it's true what they say about Country Dayers always seeming to find each other!

10 Easy Steps to Becoming Italian

After three weeks of living in Italy I think my friends and I have finally figured out how to live like a true member of the Sienese culture. Just follow their basic rules:

1) Always wear a scarf (guys and girls - yes, I've seen more bright purple scarves on straight men here than on women), boots, oversized glasses, and die your hair black (I'm failing at the last one).

2) Drink at least 3 cups of coffee aka-espresso shots a day.

3) Have a croissant for breakfast at 9, pasta for lunch at 2, panino with prosciutto and cheese for a snack followed by gelato at 5, and another large helping of pasta, pizza or some sort of mystery meat around 8:30 with several large glasses of wine.

4) Close shop and go home between 12:30-4:30

5) Go to local bar/club on Tuesdays. Odds are you should be wearing some sort of costume

6) Leave 4 days to do laundry seeing as the washers are 1/2 the size as in the US and they don't have dryers.

7) Eat basically 5000 calories a day (see #3 to achieve this goal), yet still remain ungodly thin.

8) Don't smile at strangers on the street - old people and women will give you a "why are you smiling at me when you don't know me look" and young men will think it's an open invitation to stare and tell you how beautiful you are (may sound flattering, but it's just annoying).

9) Keep everything extremely clean, Italians are neat-freaks.

10) Only have one light on in the house, turn off the running water when washing your hair, scrub all dishes with soap then rinse all together (one would think they are really concerned about the environment - not at all, they just have an insanely expensive utilities bill)

Hopefully now if you come to Italy you will not have complete culture shock!