Laura Pausini and being back in the states

I learned a lot about Italian culture from my host family and one of my favorite Italian singers was Laura Pausini. Here is one of her hit songs that you should listen to, as well! Even if you don't know Italian, she has a beautiful voice.
http://popup.lala.com/popup/360569449482768050

I miss Italy! I miss the lighted up streets as I walked my 25 minute walk home from the Villa Rossa to my 4th story appartment in Campo di Marte. Our last night in Florence was definitely memorable. We finished classes and finals on Thursday and I had the best feeling ever going into my Italian written exam because my Nutrition & Health teacher is also an Italian student. She gave me a big grin and said, "good job! highest grade on the final" as I had taken the nutrition and health final the previous day and it covered 4 chapters. I was not expecting that at all but I'm so happy because I studied my butt off for that last nutrition exam that included about 200 or pages of information. So grades ended up working out fine it Italy, after much hardwork post midterms scare. I got an A- in Italian!! A B plus in Family & Gender In Contemporary Italy and a B in Nutrition & Health.

Maddy, Myra, and I collected Maddy's paintings and sculptures and we took the bus back to Maddy's apartment and then walked to Spero's pizzeria, famous for their Neopolitan style pizza with bigger crusts. Then Myra and I walked back towards school and I headed down the center to do some shopping for family. It was nice to have one last walk down "Via de Servi" the street that I walked so many times while I was in Florence. It goes directly to the Duomo from Piazza Savonarola where Syracuse UNiv. In Florence is located. I admired all the shops, taking everything in as I knew my time in Florence was coming to an end. I had luck with selling books back at Paperback exchange, and I found my mom the perfect lavender scarf. I went to San Lorenzo market to get my dad and brothers Firenze shirts and I finally bought myself a purse. The past 3.5 months Id been frugal and picky about purses, but I finally saw one I loved. I bartered with the lady to sell it to me for treinta euro instead of treinta-cinque.

Then I took in the crisp air and high tailed it back to School because many friends of mine were in the play at the Villa Rossa which was a version of the Importance of Being Earnest. It was really funny even though I was pretty exhausted at this point. Afterwards, there was food and wine of course but I was full from Pizza. After a little socializing and some goodbyes, I walked back to the apartment, down those streets that became less foreign and more apart of me everyday in Florence, as I stood more confidently by the end of 3 1/2 months, didn't wear rainbow sandals anymore, and tried to smile at the occasional Italian instead of put my head down, like they do. Kiera and I packed our things that night and had a final dinner with Alessio, Vittoria, and Ludo. Vittoria made my favorite pesto al genovese lasange. (lasange with pesto sauce) and I helped her make Tiramisu the night before. We had a fun last dinner and Kiera and I continued packing. Id been working ahead on my packing so it wasnt too overwhelming. I said bye to my family before I left to meet my friends for one final night on the town in Florence and goodbyes. Alessio apologized for not being more communicative but I still enjoyed him very much this semester and I gave him a big hug. Ludo came into my room and gave me a very long hug. It really felt like she was my little sister, and Vittoria of course open her arms up in Italian-mother fashion kissed me and gave me a huge hug, and said we'd be in touch.

The last night in Florence was memorable as it poured after being in the Piazza Savonarola with lots of my friends-- all drinking alittle prosecco and taking pictures. We wandered to the Duomo and headed over to Cafe Biggalo, even though I'm usually not found of the American bars. It was special being with maddy and Myra my last night as well as Remi, mary, lauren, Julie, Emily, Aviva, and other girls. Maddy, Myra, and I wanted to try to find a place to dance but the next place we tried was closed. We still had a blast wandering our streets together talking and reminising. We went to Twice which is kind of like a joke--its a discotech where tons of creepy men always try to dance with girls but its also fun to occasionally go to just to dance and its not too hard to ward them off if they are weird. Twice was completly empty!! There were maybe like 9 people there so Maddy Myra and I let loose on the open dance floor.
We didn't stay there too long but when we left it was pouring raining. Long story short, I walked back into my appartment at 230 am, and woke up 430am to get ready for my Taxi that picked me up at 5am. It was pouring rain and freezing and as I walked out of my appartamento, it was snowing!!

Then it took me 49 hours to get home...but that's a boring story :-)

Now I have been home in San Diego and appreciating many things about SD and the comfortability of my own home and family, but I can't say that I didn't end things on a happy note in Florence. I came such a long way from the mosquito bite that closed my eye that first week of classes. I was confident, found happiness again admist some hard times before and after midterms. I gained 10 pounds which was also not helping my self esteem while I was in Italy, but I was loving the food and refused to diet. Now that I am home, I have enjoyed working out and running along Del Mar's coast. I have been eating very healthy and I bought new clothes and cleaned out my wordrobe. I am now packing up my life again to start a quarter at Santa Clara in a new appartment. I don't mind that I don't have a car up at school this year, because I am quite fine with doing it the Italian way, and riding a bike.

Off to Vegas! Ciao ciao and happy new years!!

Fall break pictures

Athens-

Some glimpses of what I have missed writing about online:
Greece: Corfu

we stayed at the pink palace, atving, kayaking, unibrowed men on the traghetto or ferry, toga party, card games, happy hours, rooming with tori, traditional greek dancing and plate breaking

Lets Euro that Star to Rommmmma

I really wish my uploader was not lost so I could share pictures with you guys, they speak so much louder than words sometimes... but what I will do is share them on here when I get home for Christmas break which is less than a month away now!

This past weekend I went to ROMAA ! Yay. I was so excited to travel again on the weekend as staying in Florence all weekend has its pluses and minuses sometimes. Roma brought a life into me that I felt was missing the past 2 weeks. I was able to escape the Villa Rossa and my stresses of school, or daily things and jet on that Eurostar bright and early with a bunch of friends, it was also an all school trip, so included in what Syracuse tutition was. It was a gorgeous day in ROma and we toured the Vatican Museum with Rocky. The Lycoon, Sistine Chapel, School of Athens and Maps Room really stood out to me, not to mention the SIZE of the The Vatican, holy cow. We of course went inside St Peters bascillica and The Pieta was beatuiful. Lauren Romanazzi and I decided to climb to the cupola of ROme which was def. an interesting experience. Im never queasy going up high but as u get higher and higher the passageways get smaller and smaller and slant sideways so its a weird feeling going up, combined with the fact that we had to climb around a man who was passed out and they were trying to bring him back to life...but then we made it to the top and the view is pretty awesome. I gotta say, I enjoyed the Florence view more, I think its more beautiful since you can see Tuscany and The Arno, but Romes view is obviously awing beause Rome is huge! 4 million people i believe.

Lauren and I grabbed lunch and then we met up with our class again outside the bascillica and then headed to our hotel where we all checked in. Hotel was near Piazza Republicca, and right near the train station which was convenient for the next day. I roomed with Maddy, Lauren, and Emily, which was fun. We napped and goofed around at the hotel for awhile. Our room was super hot at the beginning, but we got someone from the hotel to turn off the heat and open the window, since we sadly couldnt figure it out. Maddy was under her bed covers when he arrived and I was on the bed, but Lauren did the talking, and I think he felt kind of awkward, and quickly said buona notte and left. It was funny at the time.

I couldnt nap too long because I wanted to shower and kept saying Were in Rome guyss. Eventually we made it out to explore the city of ROme at night which was a lot of fun. We took the MEtro, changed our train tickets for the next day so we could get back for the Fiorentina soccer game against parma on Sat. night.. We had a group of about 8 of us and we went to the Trevi Fountain, which was so incredibily beautiful, I thought. And we meandered through Piazza NAvona, and passed outdoor restaurants and lights, and Romans out enjoying the pleasant temperature. The streets are bigger, the piazzas are bigger, and there is so much life and vivaciousness in ROMAA. We finally settled for a restaurant near Campo di Fuori which was completely empty at nine but the prices looked right and it ended up being an adorable family run restaurant. Ravioli with spinach and cheese is what I got. Our first destination after dinner was a bar called the Drunken Sailor, an irish pub that was playing the OSU game, and they had ber pong. We made it to two other bars and there was lots of walking, and exploring, which is always fun. We all refused to take a taxi home, so we got home around 230 am and woke up around 8 on Saturday for ANCIENT ROME. Collosseum, The Forum, Capitlone Hill, THe pantheon, and i was abosolutely mesmerized by a Church called del Gesiuex. Great feeling.

By this point we all were feeling pretty tired, but the rest of our time consisted of lunch, gelato, and some shopping-browsing.

hopped on the 450 eurostar back to firenze just in time to attend a Fiorentina soccer game on the Curva Fiesole side, which means we were right in the hubub of the radical Florence fans.. which I will tell you about in my next Blog. So stay tuned!

I dont know how else reads this besides my mom, but thanks for reading whoever you are! I love and miss you all, and hope you are doing well.

where did the last month go?

I feel like so much has happened in the last month that I don't know where to begin... we had midterms, my parents came to visit me in Florence, I turned 21, I went to Greece, I had a crappy week after Greece getting midterms back, and sorting some things out at school, I had an amazing weekend in Prague, and then another week at school that was filled with ups and downs. I dropped my art history class, which I think is for the best as it was stressing me out too much and I'm ok on credits for Santa Clara. The classes that I do need to do well on that actually count are Sociology and Nutrition. Nutrition and Health, believe it or not, has been my hardest class here. We have 5 tests throughout the semester, and each test is on 3 chapters of infomration or about 150 pages. My first test really didnt go too well, but the 2nd was better, and the third was the best, but it was still an 80...multiple choice and I don't do too well...but Im keepin on keepin on. Well, I dont want to spend the whole blog sharing my grade worries with you, but they defintiely were there, but I have improved the situation for sure.

I went to my first Italian movie theater tonight. Myra and I saw Public Enemies in Italian after getting apperitivo with 2 other girls, Mary and Maggie. The seats in the theater, just like Italian women are are very small..i dont know how dad and michael woud manage as i could barely fit in them and they have an intermission during the movie.Certainly it was hard to follow but I understod more than I thought I would. Also, instead of a huge concessions stand they just have a man who goes around holding a tray of a few things to sell during the intermission like water, coke, popcorn, and ice cream bars. The theater was smaller than ones at home and actually not freezing cold but quite warm inside.

I finally saw the David on Friday at the Academia. He is truly massive. Maplethorpe's photography exhibit showing the human body forms and movement was also there. Quite the contrast in types of art.

Sleep is calling me, but when I get a new uploader I will post some pictures and go back and recount fall break and Prague and bits and pieces of the last month.

xox

weekend in Firenze

This weekend I stayed in Florence and it has been soo nice to be able to sleep in, relax a little, and hang out with friends after what felt like a busy week. Friday, after sleeping in, I wandered to a market that is just a couple blocks from where I live. I was talking to my host mom about needing a pair of boots or some warmer things and she recommended checking out the Campo di Marte market first, which is open every morning. It was fun exploring down there and taking in the market scene. I thought some of the shoes and boots were nice, but it was very busy, and there were lots of Italian women asking for sizes and talking with the men selling the shoes, and I wasn't in the most aggressive mood, to be honest, I didn't know my shoe size in Italian standards...I will go back another time, I think size 10 is about a 41.

Many friends of mine were gone Friday, on the Venice trip or traveling somewhere else, but I met up with Catherine and we grabbed some lunch at a cafe nearby, and then hopped on a bus to the center where we went to the San Lorenzo market, a pretty big market in Florence, were should found a grey coat, and even got it down from 35 to 30 euros. We met up with 2 of Catherine's friends who came to Florence for the weekend. One is studying in Rome,and the other in Milan. They were very nice and fun to be around. We showed them Piazza Signoria, and where the Uffizi is, and took them along the Arno and Pontevecchio, and into the Oltraarno area. We got some gelato and chatted on the sloping sidewalk near the Pitti Palace as a fat pigeon dropped down on a woman's head nearby. It was pretty funny. Showing other people around Florence, made me realize how much I do love fLORence now. I'm really appreciating it now, not that i wasn't before, but Im really starting to feel like its becoming my city, and not a foreign city to me.

Later that night after walking forever to find an apparitivo restaurant, we found Kitch or Kitsch. It was amazing! Such a fun and decorative atmosphere. A drink and all you can eat Italian buffet for 8 euro. Very good deal. We went to 2 other bars afterwards, and walked many streets that night which was fun. Mark, who studies in Milan, kept commenting on how much he loved Florence after being there for like the first hour, which made me think about how happy I am about the size of the city I picked. Its not tooo big, but definitely not too small. Florence is a great size for studying abroad. Especially after hearing about Hillie's commutes living and studying in Rome...mine are a piece of cake compared to hers. We ran into our Moraccan friends on the bus ride home, too.

Today, consisted of sleeping in, going to an American diner with Myra, going to Oblate, a public library in Florence to begin the midterm studying, meeting Sierra for mass at the duomo in english, which we had the wrong time for, but at least we got there. I went out to dinner later with Myra, Lauren, Sierra, and Julianna, and Lauren, Myra, and I got some gelato at a place near Lauren's apartment and then I walked home.

Mom and Dad are in Austria now, I heard from them tonight, and they will be in Florence Tuesday night!

it actually got cold! (freddo)

Today was the first day since I've been here that it actually felt cold. It rained alot in the afternoon and I was very glad that I brought my jacket to school and decided in the morning after seeing the grey clouds that I would wear socks and close toed shoes. I like it that it was cold today, I hope I see a change of seasons. Today's classes were fine. Our teacher was sick in art history this morning so our TA had us watch a movie on Leonardo da Vinci's last supper. In Italian were are learning the past tense now, now that is a little more challenging.

We had a delicious dinner tonight because Kiera's mom and boyfriend are in town. The lasangne with pesto sauce was to die for! And we had lamb, spinach, and potatoes. We also had tiramisu for dessert which I learned how to make last night with Ludovica and Vittoria. It was fun learning how to make it and see how to make it since I'd never done that before.

Midterms are next week and I have another Health and Nutrition test on Thursday... I cant wait for that test to be over.

By some miracle my wind internet is working in the apartment again so now I can try to catch up with the lack of updates. I don't feel like my Sicily pictures fully explained what that trip was like, as those were only like 15 of the 80 pictures, but I do know you all have lives, so I won't overblog the experience. I would like to explain a little more though, that you didnt hear about.

Corleone is the third city we winded through via autobus (yes, for you Godfather buffs - Corleone) where our hotel was. The fields and the views were breathtaking. I felt like I was in an Italian trance. PLus side to bussing is how much of the countryside you are able to see and its really neat driving through the towns. These towns in Sicily are much smaller than Florence and appear poor as well. S staying in a hotel with friends was fun and we had a huge dinner that night with antipasti of salami, cheese, olives, bread with anchovies ( i tried them, but eh they are very salty), we each got a slice of pizza, and some pasta, and then they bring out breaded chicken and fries. Kind of odd. We were all very full. But thats nothing new here.

Saturday morning we were up really early. During breakfast we got a history on the Mafia and a current update from Professor Piombino. We then went to Cinesi to meet the brother of a guy named Peppino Impastoti who resisted the Mafia through public communication. It was intense. From there we went to Monreale where there is this really, really, really old Cathedral and cloister. There were cool mosaics there. Friends reported back that the cannolis were the best in the world, but Im not a big fan of those. I had gelato instead after lunch. I tried a different pizza than margherita! It was called norma and had eggplant on it. So good!

.After that we went to the site of te 1947 Mafia massacre on the farmers of the Albanian village. There were three survivors who recounted their stories. It was really heavy stuff. It was weird to contrast the gorgeous landscapes with that horrible event, and imagine these 80 something year old men as young farmers and little boys, and envisioning and being at the site of the massacre. We heard about the lives of their families and how poor they were, and the impact that the mafia had on their lives. The whole reason we went down to Sicily, well one we of them, was to join the current farmers and resistance movement against the mafia by helping the farmers in the fields. Many Italian students from Tuscany do this as a sign of resistance of the mafia, We met some Italians who were our age that were in Sicily to do this. They were very nice and I tried to speak Italian to them later that night when we saw some of them outside of a bar.

The guys who work on the farming cooperative that we were supposed to farm with offered to take us out for the night in Corleone so we accepted. We were all pretty tired, but wanted to see this aspect of the city since we are usually under an agenda and going from place to place on bus. It was very low key, smaller city, beautiful garden with large trees that we strolled through, and we passed restaurants and a kind of carnival looking area that was small. There was a candy stand and a white awning that looked like a spot where merchants might selll things during the day. The fashion of Corleone boys is even crazier than Florence. They all had those crazy hair cuts in crazy styles. We mostly tried to talk to the Italians from Florence and a few locals outside a bar, and ourselves.

Sunday, We had to be up at 6 to hit the road. We ate breakfast quickly and then went to the grape fields where we were supposed to form. It was gorgeous and the grapes looked so good. From there we headed to Palermo where we arrived to hot weather that I wasnt aware would be the case.We saw a bunch of old churches and building things that really don't have too much significance to talk about. We had a greasy lunch in Palermo at the second oldest restaurant in Italy called Antica Foccaceria San Francesco. They guy who owned it refused to pay the Mafia's protection fee and was therefore, literally, in mortal danger. He now has 5 Carabinieri - the equivalent of Secret Service - with him at all times to protect his life. The Mafia is still a big, big problem around here, and once again learning more about this was one of the coolest aspects of the trip.

Our train left at 4pm. We had sleeper cabins. It was a really cool experience to take a train along the Sicilian coast, I did some Italian homework, and we all hung out. In order to get the train to the mainland the broke the cars apart and put them on a ferry and rejoined them on the other side. I roomed with Emily and Maddie and was on the second bunk, and had a terrible nights sleep, but we made it back to Florence. The next 2 days were a little rough recooperating but then this week really shaped up and was a lot of fun.

I joined a gym that I hope I end up using more. More planning and figuring out of locations to go in November, and with who, and coordinating is coming together more. The trip Im most excited about besides fall break coming up in greece is going to Vienna and Salsburg in November. We are going to do the Sound of Music tour too, and Ive heard amazing things about Salsburg.

Tuesday night I went out to Lions Fountain with my roomate and some other friends. Its an Irish bar in Florence and they had the medals from the soccer tournament we played in 2 weeks ago. Cal. State Univ. were the champions. We went to another bar, and Twice for a little bit, but nothing more than that.

Wed. I got to see one of my mom's best friends and her husband. I met them at their hotel which was luckily only 10 min walk from school, and the three of us went out to dinner to an extremely nice and bonafide Tuscan restaurant called Cibrero. It was great to see them, and it felt extremely comfortable and I'm really glad we made it happen. I got home and studied for lmy Italian quiz, which I think I did well on.

I'm running out of steam with this long of post, as you probably are too, but I have to say that my best night in Florence was Thursday. Instead of going to bars, and discotechs, and seeing Americans, we went to this Piazza by school that has a little bar and we hung out there where many Italians usually are. My goal was to speak Italian with some locals and it happened by the end of the night. Before I knew it, I was speaking to 4 Italians/ Moroccans and we all played soccer in the piazza together. They have become our friends now and last night after I got back from the day trip tp Pisa and Lucca, Catherine and I hung out with Salah, Madi, Salah, and the name cant pronounce. They are very nice, and we went to a bar that had a lounge area and just talked. It was challening at times because their English was not the greatest except for one of them who did a lot of translating, but I also was forced to try much more italian. I loved it. It made me realize how much easier it has been for me to communicate with my host family since they speak English, but it was a great change of pace to be around Italians instead of all Syracuse students.

Pisa and Lucca were cool, but not my favorite cities of Italy.

Thanks for reading, if you hung in there with this super long post!!
BIIG hug, I miss ya'll but had a much better week in Florence :-)

it's about time huh?

Weekend in Sicilia, Italia through pictures

Grapes in the fields we were supposed to work in on Saturday, but due to rain, we had to change our plans.

Maggie, Kari, and Alex with some Corleone Italianos

Survivor of the 1947 massacre and Profesor McClean. This man was so interesting to listen to and very expressive!

Site of the 1947 massacre. We talked to 3 survivors as they recounted their experiences and memories and talked about the Mafia in sicily.

A memorial in memory of a man killed by the mafia

Beautiful views and early mornings

Risa standing in the old Theatro spot where plays were performed. If you stand here your voice echoes to the people in the stadium seating

View of Temple of Segesta from the bus

Pasticiera and restaurant where we had lunch and escaped from the rain. Shown here is marzapane--they look like fruit but they are like cookie dough inside and most everything had almond flavoring.

Our first day, looking at the Castle of Eric, we were hit hard by rain

I want to go to a Florentina game

I'm trying to think about what exciting news I have for all of you but it just feels like an average Wedesnesday. I had a site visit today, we went to the church of San Lorenzo and discussed the architecture and how it is deductive and not additive, meaning evyerthing builds off each other and if one thing is changed everything changes because the elements rely on each other. I got back to campus from walking to the center to find that my 1pm Italian class was cancelled today! So, I was able to get some Health and Nutrition reading done outside in the sun. I am feeling better, although I'm not totally cleared up so I saw the doctor this afternoon. The appointment was short and brief. He gave me a prescription for Augmuntion in case my sypmtoms get worse and I can use that anywhere in Italy...thankfully they seem to be getting better.



Big update: I have officially decided what I am doing during my fall break: I am going to Greece! I signed up for a trip through a travel company for students called "Bus2Alps" and we are taking a cruise to Greece and will be in Athens and Corfu. We also can go on a day trip to Aeginia. Picking where to go over fall break was not an easy task, so I am excited that this is finally set in stone. My parents are coming to Florence right before I leave for Greece, so with this departure date I will get to see them for at least a couple days.



We have had a tournament this week for soccer at school. We had two games on Monday and we had a game yesterday but I had a late class so I couldn't go. We have another game tonight though, at 6 so that should be fun! Its fun to play soccer here. I actually scored in Monday night's second game. I also went to pilates again yesterday.



I think one of the most entertaining days in Florence are days when Florentina has soccer games!! We can see the stadium from the apartment so at dinner last night we could hear all the cheering and watch the television as well as view the stadium during dinner. Florentina beat Liverpool last night 2-0 so that was a big deal! When I got out of pilates to take the bus home, the traffic was insane and all the buses were filled with people headed to the stadium. There are plenty of motorcyles and bikes to begin with, but last night I had never seen so many in my life. they were parked in every corner and they zoomed in and out of lanes like bees getting ahead of our bus. I am definitely going to go to a soccer game if not a couple, I just need to buy my titckets. I can't wait for that experience. Ludo, my host sister, gets very excited about the soccer games, so does Vittoria. Alessio, our host father, not as much, but both times Florentina scored last night Vittoria would run into our room jumping up and down with excitement. Soccer is huge in Europe, to say the least.

I'm sure I will have much to update you on after the weekend as I am headed to Sicily this weekend!

The school weeks go by quickly now, but Thursdays are always pretty long since I have 3 classes that are spaced out through the day from 9am-6pm. But, I was able to get more medicine and have a nice lunch that was something other than pasta and paninos! They had a chicken salad at a bar/restaurant near school that was delicious!

Did I tell you that a bike ran over my foot? I think I did..

This morning I got up early to go on a day trip with my Art History class to Siena and San Giminoigno. They are both beautiful towns! I wish we had more time to spend there and wander around. I'm sure I'll keep discovering new ones but I seriously think I had some of the best gelato Ive had in Siena. They had signs saying they are world famous too.

We got back to Piazza Savonarola around 7ish and Myra, Lauren and I enjoyed a great dinner at "Edi House" right across from school. Also, the waiter is very cute. I know you are all thinking...ohhh noo hear we go. But, quite honestly I have not been very impressed with the Italian men here and its been hard to make friends with locals...but Marco seems like he could lead us into meeting Italians so this could be a gold mine..we shall see. At least better than the creepy ones that say buennnnno sera or hiss at you like cats near the bars.

Well, I have to go now but I love you all!

Happy and congested from Firenze,
Buona notte! Laura

ho mal di gola

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last posted! I feel like I never have time I'm at the computer labs at school or its just not as private to do it but I purchased Internet access through the WIND store where I bought my Italian cell phone and therefore I should be able to blog more here in the apartment from my little dell.

Where to start? week Alex Taddeucci's mom and grandma were in town so they took a few of us out to dinner in Florence whcih was very nice of them. It felt surreal stepping into a taxi to go to dinner from their hotel since I am so used to walking everywhere when we are down in the center, or let alone up where I live in Campo di Marti. I would say that walking to and from school from our apartment is one of my favorite activities, even if my backpack weighs me down and people give me the look over for wearing rainbow sand sandals, I love seeing the day in and day out moments of Italian daily lives. In the morning I see lots of parents walking their bambinos to school, I see the cutest older Italian ladies with their shopping bags or groceries, who often don't smile but more than often you will find two ladies holding hands or helping each other stroll the streets. Men really do dress up more here. Its cool to see people all dressed up for work, looking snazzy, but riding a bike or a motorcyle/scooter. Its Something I rarely see in California. Italy is very environment cautious. At least my host family is...leaving lights on is a definite no no. And my family reuses everything. Bottles, water bottles, jelly glasses, etc.

Today I got a nasty sore throat (mal di gola) so I trecked around after classes were out in search of a farmacia. Pharmacies are not located in major grocery stores, they are sporadically around town and cannot be missed by the big green cross thats illuminated. I had bad luck at the first two farmacias that were not open but the third one gave me some sort of nasal spray...It doesnt do a whole lot but I think this cold will just have to run its course.

Today in my Italian class we had an activity where we had to go in groups to a nearby supermercato and il forno (a bar or caffe, place for lunch) and answer questions in italian, compare prices, and talk to people. It was fun to get out of the classroom, but weirdly enough a bike ran over my foot. It wasn't bad at all but bad enough to leave a bruise and some scrapes. I was able to walk fine though and it didnt startle me too much..it could have been a lot worse.

Yesterday I did the pilates class again and I think I am going to give this instructor a chance. It was only myself, the instructor, and one other girl on Tuesday, although typically we should have maybe 4 or 5 people. She speaks English and is from the South of the USa but lives in Florence now. I'm already sore, and although I'd love to do yoga, I think pilates will be just as good if not better for me.

The day trip to Ravenna on Saturday was awesome! It was so cool seeing the mosaics there. I have been in a few churches since Ive been in Italy but these were the first ones where I really was mesmerized. It was neat seeing the Mausoleum stairs and then the famous Justine and theodora mosaic I'd studied previously. Ravenna is a much newer city than Florence because it was rebuilt after WW2 when much of it was damaged. The streets are wider and look more modern. There were alot of neat little markets and people selling jewelry and miscellaneous items.

Syracuse Univ. in Florence is about 250 students, many of them from the east coast and only 26 or 28 boys i believe! I've decided it kind of feels like high school in the sense that the amount of time you see people is just in and around classes and the campus...whereas at SCU you see peple and get to know people more and better because you are in the dorms. It's kind of cliquey, although there are also some very nice people I've met.

I want to type more but I should go to bed because I have a test tomorrow in health and nutrition. More updates soon!

Love, laura

day trips are awesome!

Greetings from Firenze on a Monday afternoon that is wet and cold. We have had a weather change around...its been warm, hot, and sticky since I arrived but right now it is pouring rain! Rainbow sandals just won't suffice anymore, but I wore them to school with yoga pants and a t-shirt because I am trying out a free pilates class this afternoon. Im excited because even with all the walking I do here, I still feel like I need to figure out how to get workouts in...and a friend told me this weekend that she asked the activities office about finding a pilates place and sure enough its 5 minutes from school and today is a free trial I guess!

Soo this Friday I went on an all-school trip to Assisi. It was very fun to explore the town! I had lunch with some girls at a good restaurant and we explored the town.

I wish I could post more pictures on here but they take a long time to upload, so check out my facebook for more pictures of Assisi and Cinque Terre!

Saturday I slept in, did, some homework, and since we don't get fed on weekends I found a cafe for a panino called Il Masaccio. I met my friend Maddy at school and then we headed down to the Uffizi to look at "Virgin and Child" by Giotto, Ducio, and Cimabue for a class. We wandered around the center for awhile afterwards, and getting in and out of the museum is kind of hectic but luckily our passes got us in for free. I have discovered my favorite gelato place thus far...I had cinnamon and after eight which is like a mint chip flavor. The gelateria is called Le Perignale gelateria artigeniale. Manja manja. I went out to dinner with some girls and had the best margherita pizza and a yummy salad. On Sunday, I woke up early and took the bus to the train station where I met many other people to go on a day trip to Cinque Terre whihc means 5 towns and we hiked though all the towns ( Southeast part of Ligurian coast). We even went in the water and laid out on the beach, had gelato (its kind of an everyday event) but the hiking was extensive and views were beautiful!!! I'm so glad I went and I highly recommend Cinque Terre for a day trip.

Piazza Signoria

I woke up to my eye still swollen but after taking my first pill after breakfast I feel like the swelling has gone down slightly! So hopefully by Saturday I will be back to normal. I do feel better today, though. I had my first site visit today with my art history class. I met some girls at school and we rushed down to the Duomo area on bus 17 to then try to find Piazza Signoria. After a little running, and trying to figure out where we were, we found our class by the fountain. We have two TA's for that class who are really nice and are in their twenties so every Wed. we will meet them somewhere in the city for a site visit. Today we learned about 300 years of history and an overview of the Medicci family power. We talked alot about the Republic and we studied about 6 different sculptures that are outside in Piazza Signoria, though they are not the originals. I can't wait to see the originals! Especially, to see the David in the Academica. We have a student museum pass that supposively zips us through lines and gets us in for free. Awesome, huh? On our way back we picked up a slice of pizza to go and get back to school for my next class. I was a little late for my next class, but my Italian teacher didn't seem to mind. Italian is my favorite class here so far, though I haven't had many classes. It is fun to try to use my Italian at bars (which is basically a caffe) or just around anywhere, if I can. If you haven't been to Italy you must know that there are many places where you can grab something quick to eat without sitting down, or some bars don't even have room for you to sit down. Many Italians crowd into these little bars for a quick espresso or panino.

I found my teacher who teaches Family & Gender in Contemporary Italy this afternoon since I missed her class yesterday. She was really nice and gave me the syllabus. Yesterday afternoon there was an acitivities meeting and there are a lot of cool extracurriculars to get involved in, including soccer and sports, dance classes, cooking classes, and even conversaciones with italians where it would be like an exchange...you try to speak italian with them for 30 minutes or an hour and then you help them speak engnlish. I definitely want to look into these things.

There are also many compies that help students plan traveling or have preorganized travel weekends to Greece, Switzerland, Prague, Cinque terre, you name it! My host mom suggests waiting to go to Cinque terre until the touristst leave in a couple more weekends. Alot of people are going this weekend but I think I will go on the day trip to Assissi on Friday, and then enjoy another weekend in Florence. I haven't even climbed the steps of the Duomo yet or gone into the Uffizi! One thing at a time :-)

I am feeling better though, if you can't tell and I hope you all are have a good day too! (Buona goirnata! --have a good day)

swollen eye and a little homesick

The mosquitoes are terrible in Florence. The first night I probably got at least 15 mosquito bites and we are not talking little bites...they get big and red and swollen...so I dealt with it and the next few days we have just been good about turning off the lights in our room at night and trying to keeo the windows closed...buttt last night...we had the window slightly ajar and the mosquitoes definitely invaded. I tried to close the window but I wasn't able to close it...needless to say, i woke up to my right eye swollen and puffy, red, and irriated. I didn't sleep much last night either so that has not helped my emotions today. It really made me miss home or just long for something familiar as I am adjusting to my new environment. Overall things are going well, but the doctor isnt here today so I wont be able to see him until tomorrow. I did go over to the farmacia and buy some cortisone, so hopefully that helps. I also popped a benedryl. Once I got to school I felt a little better because I have seen some friends. I've been adjusting well overall, and excited about my new surroundings, but this morning I just had a moment.

Thank god for my sunglasses.

On the upside, the weekend was pretty fun with the host family and I like my Italian professor a lot. I can't wait to get better at italian, and try using words and phrases when I am at home or in town.

I feel like time is limited, I have to go get some lunch before class, but thanks for reading, and I will let you know more about where I live, and the city, and my classes in the next blog.

Until then! ciao ciao

After my first night with my host family

Buona sera!! Much has happened in the last few days. I had a great weekend in San Francisco with my family before taking off for my flight. Saturday's dinner at 'La Barca' was fun and it was great to see some friends before I left, in addition to the total surprise of my dad just showing up at the dinner. I was under the impressiont that he was not coming up to SF for the weekend, so he totally surpised me by showing up on Saturday night. It was actually warm in SF on Saturday! I've never experienced warmer weather in SF! Sunday was low key- we went to church, made breakfast and watched the Little League world series championship game. We went out for a very nice dinner at the Boulevard in the financial district...then the traveling began on Monday!



I flew from SF to Paris on Air France..we were an hour late taking off, and the flight was pretty long but there were a lot of other Syracuse students on the flight. I met girls from Santa Clara that I didn't even know were going to Florence in addition to feeling at ease knowing other girls from SAnta Clara. We all bonded through the traveling experience I feel. I was seated next to a girl on the plane named Maddy from Whitman and we definitely got to chatting and she is the person who I have spent the most time with so far. Once we got to Paris, it was actually raining and it was good that there was a big group of us to find our connection because it was pretty far away, and included getting on a shuttle to the other side of the airport. Buses took us and all our luggage to the hotel we stayed at for the first two nights. The hotel was really nice and was called "The Mediterranean" and was pretty close to the center of Florence. We were a block away from being able to walk adjacent to the Arno. That afternoon, I went on a brief walking tour with a student who had studied in Florence before and she took us to her favorite gelato stand and gave us advice about what phone service to buy, that you buy bus tickets at the Tobacco shops and other miscellaneous info. The streets of Florence are small and pretty. The first few days, and even now I just smile and laugh at all the motorcycles. They are so common and are found everywhere since the streets are smaller and there are a lot of one way streets. The cars in general are a lot smaller and Vespas and scooters are everywhere. The motocicletas have huge windows in the front and do not look like motorcyles do back home.

One of our first nights out in FLorence after we got to the hotel we just wandered around the streets walking near the Arno and we admired the piazzas and streets. The second day was very busy with orientation and going to school to sign up for things. We had a large dinner at the hotel and a safety meeting and meetings about the host families as we were to get our host family the next day. Alex, Julie, Maggie and I decided to go out that night too and check out a bar. First we walked on the other side of the Arno and we found an outdoor area with literally thousands of young Italians. I felt like we stuck out like sore thumbs as there were no Americans in sight and we clearly did not fit in, but we walked around and observed people. I tried twice to talk to some Italians and ask "pala inglese?" but no one spoke English. So we found a bench and just watched the hundreds of young italians socialize at this summer night scene where there are outdoor bars. We noticed that they all seemed very jovial and social, not drunk, but happy to see friends and just hang out. Mannnnny of them smoke though. Cigarette smokers are found everywhere in Italy. Just when we were about to leave we ran into 2 girls from Syracuse and they were headed to a bar so we decided to join them. We went to 'The Red Garter' in Santa Croce where we enjoyed a Carona and danced a little. It was very fun.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel, did a lot of busy and annoying but necessary things at school, and finally at 5pm I met my roomate, Kiera, and around 6pm we met our host mom, Vittoria, who we love!!

Friday we registered for classes and today was my first day of classes but we had a good weekend with the host family. Vittoria and Alessio, are our host parents and they both speak English. Vittoria is actually an Italian professor at school. She is so welcoming and nice. She is very informative and helpful, not to mention the meals have been great so far. I don't usually like tomatoes, but the way they eat them with vinagrette and salt, they are so good! Maybe food is just better in Italy. The bread here is unsalted mostly and every meal starts off with pasta or some sort of rice dish then u may have a meat and vegatables. I have had lots of gelato of co urse too at different gelaterias. We met out host sister on Friday night. Her name is Ludovica and she is 13! She is so sweet and helpful. She is very loving and easy to get along with.

Friday night we went to the Duomo, and had wine on the steps. We socialized and walked very far to a dischotech called "central Park' where I have never seen so many greasy and dressed up Italian men in all my life. We took a taxi home as the Duomo is about 45 min walk from our apartment. We are only 20 minutes from school though. We have been doing a lot of walking here!

I have to go now, but I will write more tomorrow about my weekend with my family and my first couple days of classes!

Love and miss you all.

Ciao ciao

What I am about to embark on

In just a few days I will be flying over to Europe to study abroad in Florence, Italy for 3 months and 18 days. I am studying abroad through Syracuse University and will be living with a host family. I don't know who that family is yet or who my roomate will be, but I am so excited.

I figured this blog would be a good way for me to chronicle my thoughts, anecdotes, pictures, and stories from my experiences in Italy and throughout Europe (I'm hoping to travel of course). We have classes Monday through Thursday, leaving us Fridays free to lengthen weekend travel or exploration of Firenze!

The past few weeks, well acutally, months, I have been reading about Florence, watching travel DVDS, and novels, and looking at pictures..hard to believe my time has finally come to experience it myself!

Tomorrow is my last day in San Diego as my mom and I are flying to San Fran on Saturday morning to spend time with Patrick in the city. I am very excited because some Santa Clara friends are also joining us for dinner in the city on Saturday night! I can't think of a better way to leave the country than to see some friends who I have been missing all summer.

Enjoyed my evening tonight meeting up with a friend from high school at Torrey Pines State beach, and capturing a beatuiful San Diego sunset as well as having dinner with my parents at Souplantation :-) They definitely will not have that in Italy.