6-2-07
CT 6:30
IT 1:30
Ravenna!
I had an excellent day! I’m excited to write all about it, and I’m not sure exactly where to start.
I set my alarm for 7:30 so I could take a shower and eat breakfast. I didn’t quite make it… by about 40 minutes. I was freaking out, as I only had 10 minutes to get ready and another 10 minutes to get to the school to meet Dr. Bane and whomever else was going to go to Ravenna. I got a call on the way from some number I didn’t know, telling me to wait, and I said, “Uh… I’m not there.” Then Dr. Bane called me. “I’m almost there!” And Dr. Bane says, “Well, we’re not. We’ll be there shortly.”
There were only five of us (Paulette, Dr. Bane, Natalie, Lexi, and myself). From the school we went to the train station and milled around waiting for our train to arrive. We went first class to Bologna (Eurostar) and regular/only class to Ravenna (regional) and had about 10 stops along the way. But we had spirited discussion along the way, which was fun.
We got to Ravenna and got the “it’s five minutes thataway” answer from the shopkeeper, which is apparently an Italian joke. We found a sign and followed it to San ----?, where they had found 1st – 4th century mosaics in the floor. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I have many pictures. One of the mosaics was of a man tending sheep with birds above him and a lyre hanging from one of the trees in the background. There is an argument to whether it was a god (Apollo was one, I think) or whether it’s simply the owner of the house. Part of the mosaic had been destroyed because of the supports for the house built upon it, but most of the mosaic is still visible. It depicts a man standing at ease, petting his sheep. Scholars think it represents the power, prosperity, and protection that the man possessed or was able to enforce. Another mosaic depicted four men dancing in a circle with linked hands while a man played the lyre in the background. The one who was playing the lyre was supposedly Bacchus, and the four men were the Four Seasons. It was very interesting as well.
From there, we decided we would go to San Vitale next, after we had satisfied the rumbly grumblys in our tumblys. While we were waiting for a table for cinque (five), Dr. Bane and I had a discussion about post-modern literature and what the term actually means, and Paulette and I went to see what we should do next with only a signpost as our guide (it had three things listed on it and we were trying to decide which direction to go in). When she and I came back, Dr. Bane was already sitting. So we ate a nice outdoor restaurant that was packed because of its prices (6.50 for a Margherita pizza and a coke – “margherita” meaning cheese and tomato only). I had a piadina – a pita wrap that is exclusive to the Romagna region – which had polmadora (tomato) and some word I couldn’t say, which meant fresh mozzarella cheese. Therefore, lunch was excellent.
From there, we went to the San Vitale museum complex. We paid 8.50 to see a museum, a restored chapel, San Vitale, the baptistery, and the mausoleum. We had gone up a staircase to see the museum, but the woman told Paulette that she had to go back down and get a ticket – even though it was free (yesterday was a national holiday in Italy, kind of like Independence Day here except it’s a Unification Day). So we all trekked back down the stairs and got our tickets, but we were diverted into an open space. Since every thin was in Italian, we had to depend on Paulette to translate for us. It turns out that the space had been used to display a restored chapel dome, or maybe just a ceiling, with Byzantine style frescos. We then headed back up to the museum.
My God, the things in there. Luckily, I can cheat for my reader and tell you that we found out later in the Felix Ravenna museum that Ravenna had been a major trade city during from the Roman Empire up until the Carolingian Era (which began with Charlemagne in the late 9th century – this would have also been the rise of Islam and the financial fall of the Roman Empire). Therefore the items in the museum were quite a mishmash of culture and time. Granted, some items like the Egyptian scroll and figures were donated, but others, like a big room of medieval weaponry that had an Arabian war table and Indian weapons, Greek and Roman busts, grave jewelry from Rome and Ravenna, Byzantine art of Madonna and Child, pottery, a recreated ancient/early medieval apothecary, and so much more. We didn’t stay very long because, as much as we didn’t like to admit it, we were on a schedule.
Since the museum was connected to San Vitale, we only had to scoot out the back door to choose between the mausoleum and the basilica. Choosing the basilica, we walked amongst tombs in the courtyard. There were few, and they seemed so absurd, sitting in the green grass in the shade, as if they really were just resting for a moment. Yet they had been there for centuries upon centuries (some of the first Christian burials, I believe), and would continue to rest, undisturbed, for centuries more.
We walked into the Basilica and were swept away by what we saw. In the dome over the altar, there was a mosaic that would rival that of the Baptistery. It depicted Theodosius, I think, along with Jesus and the disciples in an archway (a dramatic effect that I could only capture in blurry pictures). It was a busy mosaic, certainly. Above us, in the high dome, was a fresco with what looked like saints jumping out of the painting. It may be one of the earlier examples of this, kind of an exhibition of a new technique, but I’m not in art history so I have no idea. Religiously, I’m not sure what sense it made. But it was gorgeous and odd, a juxtaposition between the altar ceiling (which was built over a 21 year period in the late 5th/early 6th century) and the Renaissance dome. It’s actually a really famous chiesa. I had no idea, but I can understand why.
We went to the San Vitale mausoleum next, which, for “microclimatic reasons”, we could not stay in for more than five minutes. I found that very interesting, because it didn’t make clear whether the mausoleum could hurt us (more than likely) or if we could hurt it (less likely but still possible). We went in and were of course amazed. It had beautiful mosaics, with gold stars and a cross on the ceiling,, mosaics of saints across the sides and around windows, and tortoise shell windows that weren’t really windows at all. It was honestly beautiful. There were three relatively unadorned tombs in the mausoleum, one of which they believe to be Constantine III. There was a woman in one by herself, and her husband and son were in another one. The husband’s (or I think it was her husband) had sharp designs on the top, but what little all of them had on the body of the casket was faded, eroded, or not there. It was an interesting example of early Christian burial which believed in the lack of the adornments in death (so I read later on).
Dr. Bane was itching to finally see Dante before they closed it, so we ran over to Via Dante Alighieri and took pictures of his tomb. Elaborate, yes. Full of references to the Divine Comedy, yes. But it wasn’t awfully big. His actual tomb is made of marble with his portrait on the side. Next to his tomb is a little cemetery with a few delightful easter eggs that took an Italian speaker and a historian to figure out. There was a huge mound that had a plaque at the bottom that had 1944 – 1945 on it (I could only read the numbers). Turns out, Dante’s bones were hidden there during WWII during the bombings and occupation. There was another place where Dante’s bones were hidden, but we couldn’t figure out what conflict would have prompted them to do so (it was in the early 19th century). My guess was the reconquest and unification of Italy, but I could be totally off.
From here, we went to the San Vitale Baptistery (I think it was San Vitale’s – I wasn’t sure at the time and I’m not sure now). They believe it was converted from a Roman bath. So the actual baptismal “font,” I suppose, was a huge basin. I have pictures of the Latin inscriptions on the inside. Above the bath on the ceiling is a mosaic of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus, who is standing in the River Jordan with the dove of the Spirit above him and a man behind him. The man is an actual personification of the river Jordan, which I thought was extremely interesting. The bath had saints everywhere, which seems to be the trend with any sort of Christian fresco, mosaic, or painting.
Our last museum stop was the Felix Ravenna. Roughly “Happy Ravenna,” it was a museum of artifacts from the peak of Ravenna’s trading days, mostly during the Roman Empire era. It had capitals from ancient columns, paintings, mosaics, jewelry, pottery, etc. It was a delightfully interesting museum, and I got some great pictures. It was actually what I really wanted to see in Ravenna. I knew that the capital of the Roman Empire was moved from Rome to Ravenna after the German expansion and the political fall of the empire in 476. Financially, the empire didn’t fall until the spread of Islam and the withering of the Carolingian vine. Felix Whit-Whit.
We had another place we could have gone, but we decided to go and window shop. On the way to window shopping, we passed Piazza di J.F. Kennedy, which was most certainly an interesting addition to our sight-seeing. I just walked behind the others, as I didn’t see anything I wanted. While we were waiting on Paulette to buy a jacket, we saw a gorgeous man in designer clothing, rolling a baby stroller. But what’s interesting about this particular man is that his legs were smoother than humanly possible. Lexi and I discussed his manliness, or lack thereof, and decided he could have been a model.* We got dinner at the equivalent of a rest stop (which I probably paid for later) and I got a ham and cheese calzone. We chatted a bit more and then headed for the train. Ciao, Ravenna.
While we were waiting for the train, Paulette, Dr. Bane, and I talked while Lexi and Natalie conversed, and then we caught the regional train back to Florence. Paulette and I talked about politics, movies, Miyazaki (she didn’t know who he was, so I had to go into a long discourse on said director), gender roles, boundaries and borders, career choices and dreams. When Dr. Bane woke up, we began discussing the value of education, teaching, and the cynicism that the world will never realize its potential to get better. We continued this discussion as we got off the train and walked near the school.
I got back to the apartment, and was surprised when Haley, Kim, and Rachel came in and asked to see pictures. I showed them and they were impressed, but I think they were glad they didn’t go (good pictures speak loudly, I guess). One of my roommates was drunk already from her first date and on her way to her second, so the other girls decided to go ahead and leave. After that I was so exhausted that I couldn’t see straight, and decided to finish this journal two days later than the date on it.
I will finish the journal for the day after this later today, but for right now I have to get ready for class.
Much love, friends and family.
*I think this is a past time for them. Dress up, stroll the baby, pick up a girl. Interesting traditions in Italy.
Posted by
Unknown
5:29 AM
6-1-07
CT 6:12
IT 1:12
Short Day.
Today was short. Why? We had no class. With no class, what do students do? That’s right. They sleep in. And I was so tired that I woke at - not 10, not 11, not even 12 – 1:00. Crazy, I know. I was exhausted and didn’t want to move. That means I ended up with about 10 or 11 hours of sleep after I finally went to bed last night. That said, I got up only because I needed a bath and I was hungry.
We (Rachel and I) had agreed to go over to our cohorts’ part of town and shop today, but it was raining when I got up. I called and asked them what they wanted to do, and Haley said that they were all still asleep. So I began fixing what was going to be steak and asparagus. But Katie, Teri, and Rachel wanted to go to the grocery store, and I couldn’t see any harm in going. So I put everything on the stove on hold and went to the grocery store.
I bought Nutella, wheat bread (which cost less than white bread), salami, goat cheese, six 1.5 L bottles of water for .33 Euro cents each (that’s a steal here), mayo, sandwich cheese, wurst, cereal, milk, pasta, and tomato sauce for 27 Euro (about $41). After a bit of a hold up (Katie’s groceries had gotten mixed in with the woman’s behind her), we went back to the apartment and stuffed our food into the refrigerator. I began cooking my lunch with a change of plans – instead of pork (the meat I’d bought at the market earlier this week), I was going to have pasta.
I boiled red, yellow, black, and green pasta shells, added my boiled asparagus, sliced off a little goat cheese and poured in the tomato sauce. It needed salt, but all in all it wasn’t bad. I had put every spice we had in the cabinet into the pasta to try and give it some flavor, but I ended up making it worse before it got better.
After that, I started reading Drugs, Sex, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman (awesome book). I got a call from Rachel saying that Haley had called back and everyone was up and ready. Rachel told me I could go ahead because she was busy at the internet shop, so I went ahead and headed across the Ponte Vecchio.
About 30 minutes later, I arrived. The apartment was stunned, considering I was the first person who had gotten there without getting lost. They had spoken too soon, as Rachel called soon after and said she was lost. We decided to launch a rescue mission to get her, but we couldn’t even figure out where she was. We finally found her (seeing a lost “gatta” sign along the way – made me sad), and began shopping. This actually didn’t last very long. There were places to shop, but nothing either in our price range or what we desperately wanted. I bought a cookie, and I think that was the highlight. We did get to see inside and old church, something about Jacopi, and read that the missionaries there, or monks, or whatever they are, have a certain name, but are called Barbetti because of their “goatee beards”. When I ducked inside the church, there was a Barbetto wandering around inside in a black robe. After we left, he came out, in regular clothes, and locked the gate to the church.
From there, we somehow ended up getting to the actual Ponte Vecchio (when I said Ponte Vecchio earlier, I was being extremely general – there are several bridges). We decided to walk ahead and see if there was anything of any interest to look at. We were looking at dining prices when we happened to see a huge staircase to our right. We all decided we should go for it and climbed up.
We turned one corner and realized we were far from done climbing. The street would go upwards, flatten, then go upwards again. We saw three or four churches along the way, all dating back before the 16th century and some as old as the 9th or 10th, and many houses. We eventually walked into a secluded area that was obviously rich, with high gated fences and high priced cars. Interestingly enough, the road wandered through these secluded villas and then into these regular homes. One mother put her young child up to the window and they both waved at us. We met a smiling woman and the two men who were with her, who only looked at us appraisingly. We were certainly an abnormality in their community, but they treated us with respect.
But then, we got lost.
We decided, as we ascended to one of the topmost points in Florence, that we should turn around before we got lost. We wandered in a few circles, finally deciding to go down the main road we had found. We ended up at an edge of Florence, I think. We walked for over a mile to the heart of the city near the Piazza Repubblica, where we met another girl who was here by herself. We ate Chinese, which was actually really good, and had a hellacious time paying for it. I have to admit, though I was set against eating Chinese in Italy, it was really good duck with orange sauce.
After we got out of there, we were walking through the Piazza Repubblica when we saw a man doing spraypaint art in the street. We watched him, utterly amazed, and I bought two of his paintings and Haley bought one, but got her picture taken with him and his email address (“for the picture,” he said). In a good mood, some of us went and bought illegal stuff from the venders. Haley and I got sunglasses, and Kim got a purse. Everyone else tried stuff on, but didn’t find anything in particular. I actually haggled, though! I got him down to 15 from 20. I could have gotten him down to 10 probably, but I was happy I actually made any headway at all.
From there, we went to Lexi’s apartment, chatted about our adventures, and then set out for our separate apartments.
We heard about Teri and Katie’s experiences today, and went ahead and got ready for bed. And here I am. And here I won’t stay. I’m going to Ravenna tomorrow, so expect a big journal entry.
Posted by
Unknown
5:27 AM
5-31-07
CT 7:51
IT 2:49
My God, it’s been a long day.
This morning we woke up early (much to my late-to-bed dismay) and met at the school at 11:00. From there we went to the Gli Uffizi (“The Offices” – the Medici offices). Unfortunately, as we were tourists, we were knocked around quite a bit. Once we finally got inside and Dr. Bane and Paulette had our tickets, they went to see about tickets for Pirates of the Caribbean 3 at the Odeon, a restored opera house turned movie theater. We went inside and had to check our bags at once because we might have some sort of bomb. Then we went in to the most impressive art museum I’ve ever seen.
The Gli Uffizi, first and foremost, is huge. It has more rooms than we could enter, more art than we could ever see, more statues that we could read about in Italian (there were very few English captions). They had quite a few statues from the late Roman Republic/early-mid Roman Empire years. They had an entire room dedicated to the myth of Niobe. She challenged a god, saying she had more children than that god. That god, in perfect Greek mythological style, condemned all of Niobe’s children. The entire collection of statues, which included all of Niobe’s children running with Niobe at the pinnacle of the room protecting another child was extremely impressive. Other bits and pieces were funeral alters and pieces of huge statues that would have possibly been comparable to David, though from antiquity. We saw the “Birth of Venus” and “Spring” – two of the more famous paintings in the museum. We also saw some Michelangelo paintings as well as a Leonardo da Vinci. They also had a special exhibit over Albrecht Duhrer’s engravings. It was a simply amazing museum. It bought a 16 Euro guide book, which was worthless, but I was all in all impressed.
But we were still lost in that huge monster of a museum. We all had to be together when we left to get our bags at once, since I had the ticket and so no bag would be left behind, so we had to wait for everyone to show up. We had gotten into the museum about 12 or 12:30 and came out around 2:50. We waited on everyone to show up, got our bags, and then asked each other what we wanted to do. We ended up getting cheap vendor stuff (I got an excellent ham and cheese calzone) and ran to the university to read what we hadn’t read for Dr. Bane (for the class we were to have at 4:00). We chatted instead, though, and were relieved to find out that class had been totally rearranged due to Dr. Bane’s earlier troubles with the airport.
Class was a lot of fun. We didn’t cover all that we were supposed to (and class ended 30 minutes early due to the lights going out), but Paulette came back with our tickets for the Odeon. We then set out across town to the Odeon and the fresh pasta place people kept talking about, window shopping along the way. Haley tried to talk a vendor down on a leather bag by saying $25 (for a $70 bag – I told her it wasn’t going to work), and Kim slowly shopped the other leather vendors.
We then set out to find the Odeon and the pasta place from there. We found the Odeon pretty quickly, but we were lost on where to find the pasta place. We finally found a Chinese food place with cheap prices, but no pasta. They went into Tiffany’s and other places like that, and I stayed outside and looked around.
Once it was finally time for the movie, we ran back to the theater, gave our tickets, and went to the snack bra. There were lots of alcoholic beverages at the movie, and I decided to try the second nastiest drink in the world after Gem Clear – Limoncello. It was so disgusting it makes me gag just thinking about it. I gave it to Haley, who drank it all with Kim and then got a bottle of champagne to get rid of the taste.
The movie was really good. I like it pretty well compared to the others, probably right up there behind the second one. After we got out of there (intermission and all), we found out Kim and Haley had drank the entire bottle of champagne between them within the first twenty minutes of the movie, and wanted more. We laughed until our sides hurt at their exploits of falling over in the bathroom, running out of champagne, etc. They wanted to find more champagne for their other roommate, so we went and found champagne – at a Chinese food store (which was right after I gave away a gelato because it had chocolate in it – I think we know who was living in “excess” that night). They asked the guy to open it, when they didn’t realize it had a screw top, and he nearly killed us with the shooting top.
Afterward, we finally went to their apartment, woke up their roommate, and talked for nearly three hours. It was a lot of fun, and we have lunch plans tomorrow.
Rachel and I walked back to the apartment, talking about religion, news, and war (interesting for us, I think). We got back to the apartment and could not get in, for whatever reason. We had to ring the doorbell for Katie to let us in.
We had talked about writing today, so when I stumbled upon a short story on my computer that I hadn’t finished, I let Rachel read it. I can’t decide yet if it was a bad decision or not, because she laughed at some of my word usage and said some of it definitely showed my personality (I had a history bit in there). I’ll take it as constructive criticism, I think – but it’s hard when the first work people read is one you held personally as one of your best… and they laugh.
I’m so tired…. But so excited for tomorrow! We’ll be shopping and cooking pasta. Nuthin’ better.
Posted by
Unknown
5:16 AM
5-30-07
CT 7:44 P.M.
IT 2:44 A.M.
Yes, it’s really late. But I wanted to get this done before I went to bed so I didn’t leave anything out like I’m sure I did last time.
Today we got up at 8:00 to get to the university by 9. From there, we walked to the Piazza del Santissimo Annuziata. There they have an orphanage, which we’d actually seen beforehand in our wandering travels. What we hadn’t seen was the actual church Santissimo Annuziata. It was free, so we went ahead and wandered in, even though we had an reservation at the Accademia at 10:00.
At first when we walked into the Annuziata, it was a just a foyer with frescos (it sounds weird to say that, but in Florence frescos are everywhere). Then we walked into the sanctuary. I’ve never seen anything so ornate, so ostentatious, so beautiful, or perhaps even so sacred. Gilded from the bottom of the walls to the center of the ceiling, with inscriptions in the ceiling, a fresco, the tomb of a pope, the tomb of a martyr, and a painted dome, it was the singular most beautiful thing I’ve seen while I’ve been here thus far. And we haven’t even been in Santa Croce, where the master, Michelangelo, is buried.
Annuziata was extremely impressive. Something I saw that made me think was the actual painting in the dome of the church (ital.- chiesa). Unlike the Duomo and the Baptistery (which I said were different in style, but I found out they’re also different in theology – the Duomo includes room for purgatory while the Baptistery has the black and white of those saved and those condemned), the dome of Annuziata has no crux/apex painting. There is an obvious ascension of those involved, men and women clamoring for heaven, but heaven isn’t shown. It’s a yellow-to-white cloudiness, and then the bright light of the sun shining through the absolute center. No assumption, just an assertion.
From there, we hurried to the Accademia, which is where the David is held. They had old paintings and some statues, but that’s about it besides David. Interestingly enough, I saw an Andrea del Sarto painting (Browning wrote a poem about him that I really like). Even more interestingly, they had the incompletes, or the “slaves” that Michelangelo didn’t complete. These are blocks of marble, six and seven feet tall, that have the beginnings of statues coming out of them but were not finished. They were impressive, even if their description panels were a tad overdramatic. Calling an unfinished statue “human condition in finite and infinite” etc. etc. is avoiding calling a spade a spade. He didn’t like it so he dropped his chisel, had brunch, and then started another.
David was huge. If I hadn’t seen the movie Children of Men, I would have had no idea it was that large. But since that surprised was ruined for me, it wasn’t as impressive as it could have been. They had a 3D model of the statue that you could use virtual reality to move, but it wasn’t showing anything you couldn’t see by just looking at Il David. Interesting side note: he’s uncircumcised. Or at least, I was told he was. I wouldn’t have known how to tell, so I’ll take my friends’ words for it.
They also had a plaster museum for statues mostly built between the 18th and 19th centuries. These were the plaster models the sculptors used to do the huge stone statues around the Comune di Firenze. Then they had more paintings… And then they had the most expensive gift shop ever. Oh, did I mention you couldn’t take pictures? Yeah. That’s why. They make a killing off of selling stuff with him all over it. I bought stuff for Gran and Mama – I mean, really tiny stuff – and it cost me 16.80 Euros. That’s insane.
I saw some of my friends and we went upstairs to look at the XIV century stuffs. They even had some Russian saint paintings. Otherwise, it was a lot of gold and simplistic paintings. I’m more for the later stuff, which has depth, soul, and realism. It’s all impressive, but some of it is definitely more so.
After this, we went outside and waited on other people. I put on my sunglasses and nearly fell asleep – sitting on the sidewalk. We missed the other girl we were waiting on, so we went to catch up with her. They all started looking at bracelets. Since I had a whole 5 Euro and some Euro coins on me, I decided to head back. I stopped and got a 1.50 gelato (I’m not going to get to have them again, at least for a long time) and then stopped a grocery store that was strictly vegetables and got asparagus for my dinner for 1.90.
I went back to the apartment, downloaded pictures, and decided to “lay down and read.” I laid down, read two pages, and passed out on the couch. For four hours.
I woke up, refreshed at least, and got a call from Dr. Bane. He had my luggage and was going to drop it off at the school. I got my journal entries loaded on my memory stick and headed out. Shops close down from around 3-5 or 4-6 here and open again until whenever, usually 8, so the internet place wasn’t open. I went very slowly to the school (my right calf had been killing me for a few days now), explored a bit, went in the school, grabbed my bag, and came back (slowly) to the apartment. Dr. Bane tried to call me three times, but we couldn’t connect. We ended up texting each other. I told him everything was fine with my bag and he said to meet at the school at 11:00 for the Gli Uffizi tomorrow. I fixed my dinner, brought to you by 14 Euro, and had cinnamon peaches later on…. As well as another round of asparagus for my midnight reading snack.
The reason I’m up so late is because I’m behind reading for class. I found out on Tuesday that I had totally misunderstood the assignments and that I was supposed to read about three times what I thought I was going to have to, so I’m sharing with my roommate. I just read four chapters of the Aeneid and have one to go.
Hurrah! Off to bed. Kind of sad that’s all I did today, but when you take four hour naps because you’re just that exhausted, it severely limits what you actually do.
5-29-07
CT 3:32
IT 10:32
Today we got up early to meet at the Duomo to go to the Farmer’s Market (Mercato Centrale). There were vendors EVERYWHERE, each having his or her own specialty. Butchers, bakers (no candlestick makers), fruit and vegetable farmers, and even wine, oil, and vinegar venders – it was truly a sight for very-poor-money-wise eyes. One vender came up to us and winked and smiled at me, pinched the cheeks and noses of other girls, and even kissed one of them. But we all got a box of free strawberries out of the deal, so minor sexual harassment wasn’t too horrible. I saw whole rabbits for sale, but I skipped on those.
I got some cheese, bread, and meat for 14 Euro – WAY less than I would have spent going out to eat. To celebrate my good fortune (and begin my savings) I was going to cook myself dinner tonight. That didn’t happen, but read on.
Because some of us had disposable items (like my cheese and meat), we ran back to my apartment – the nearest, I think – put the stuff up, and then ran to meet Dr. Bane at 10. We were actually late, but I gave him one of my new oranges to compensate. We left from there to go to the Duomo and the Baptistery. We got there and began to line up for the Baptistery first, saw it didn’t open until 12, and decided to do the Duomo, which wasn’t open until 10:30. So we waited on Dr. Bane to get Euros to get us our tickets, and we went into that magnificent cathedral.
I didn’t really learn much about it, but I took lots of pictures, including the English mercenary John Hawkwood who came down during the Hundred Years’ War and was important enough to get a fresco in the Duomo. We didn’t get to go to the tombs because it was an extra 3 Euro, but I plan to go back on my own.
Next, we went to the Baptistery. Part of an assignment we have for Dr. Bane is how the ceiling of the Baptistery actually influenced Dante, not the other way around. The building is actually believed to have been a pagan temple that was converted and expanded, and the ceiling is actually in Byzantine style. It shows layers, with the bottommost layer having Satan eating three men. Sound familiar?
I have video of the Baptistery. It’s so beautiful it’s hard to actually believe it was a mosaic, placed tile by tile.
Dr. Bane gave us our tickets to climb the dome, but we decided to go eat first. I grabbed a sandwich and ate some of my tomatoes that I had in the apartment. While we were sitting there, we realized we didn’t have much time to sit around. Kim, Haley, Rachel, and I all headed out (Kim and Haley still leaving their groceries) to the Duomo. We had class at four, and it looked like it was going to turn out to be a crazy time frame. But the line started moving and we were able to climb up…. And up…. And up…. And up.
The dome has 463 steps, I believe. It felt like 4,265. I was already tired when I started, and like an idiot I didn’t bring water. I was so wasted by the time we were only halfway there that I was scared I couldn’t go on. But I finally climbed those last stairs, with the breeze on my face, and I nearly panicked. We were so high up. There wasn’t a building in the city that we couldn’t see, and suddenly it made sense why it was such a crowded city. We understood the why – it was only built for 20,000 people. But to actually see the why was an entirely different story. Florence is actually really small (compared to an American city) and holds nearly 400,000 people. But it is still beautiful.
We took pictures, mine being by a pillar away from the railing, and headed back down. It was crazy steep in some places, as well as crazy tight – there were so many people that had been let in without having been stopped that there was no movement of people in some of the places that we crossed paths. I was behind Haley, and Kim and Rachel were behind me as we went back down and to another section of the dome under the ceiling (btw – the ceiling of the Duomo is almost an exact copy of that in the Baptistery, with only a few differences in subject matter and a huge difference in style). Then we began our real descent and went back down in no time compared to how much time it took us to go up. By the time we got to the bottom, it was after 4:30, I believe. Paulette and Dr. Bane had gone to try and sort luggage out and he had called us to tell us class was cancelled because he was stuck at the airport. However, he decided to ask us all out to dinner, which we all complied. We decided to meet him at six but had nothing to do until then, so we went back to the apartment. We talked a bit and then headed back to the school to meet him. The place he wanted to take us to wasn’t open until 7:30, and it was only 6:30. The others wanted to have wine and I tagged along, not wanting to have any. We all talked to Danielle and Paulette about different stuff, including luggage and future study abroad trips. I told Danielle we had hot water when she had called me earlier on top of the Duomo, so we talked about how some of the apartment assignments had things that need to be fixed.
We then went to this special Italian restaurant (I don’t know the name) and had two courses of the meal. Lasagna, which actually had cinnamon in it (absolutely out of this world), and beef with Chianti sauce. Everyone had wine (even me, but I hated it and gave it away), and the meal was absolutely fantastic. It came out to 19 Euro a person, which was crazy, but Dr. Bane said to pay him whatever we budgeted and he would take care of the rest and take us out for gelato at the number one rated place in Florence. And it really was good. I had rice and strawberry flavors, and they were absolutely wonderful. I talked to Paulette again about how crazy Italy is (she would know – she lived here for a year), and then we all headed our separate ways.
Now’s my time to tell you that it’s actually 8:38 A.M. here (1:38 there). Here’s what happened: I came back to the apartment, started reading, and fell into a deep sleep that I didn’t wake from until 7:50 this morning. So an entry that would have been humongous and annoyingly detailed ended up being a disappointingly short entry. But it serves to highlight every event of the day, even if not in vivid pre-sleep detail.
Ciao, Friends. Off to the Accademia to see David.
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Unknown
1:27 PM
5-28-07
CT 3:52
IT 10:52
Piove.*
Today hasn’t been too awfully busy – just rainy. We’ve had two or three stints of downpours – one of which was while we were on our way to go eat dinner. But before I get ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.
This morning we got up and met at Kent State University (the university who we’re studying through in Florence). We went upstairs and were introduced to two of the people who work for KSU here in Florence. Then we had the most entertaining act of the day: a chief inspector from the police department. “Get use-ta to my funny English-a. It’sa bout as good as it’s gonna get-a.” I’m not exaggerating. He was so fun (and cute!). Here are some of the things he told us:
Don’t leave your windows open at any time, especially at night. Robbers have been known to scale buildings to break in.
- The gypsies in the piazzas want you to stop so they can pick your pocket. By the time you realize that they have done so, they’ve taken your money and thrown your wallet away. Don’t stop for them.
- The date rape talk.
- The number one sport in Italy is not football – it’s “women-a.” He said that men will stop women, especially not Italian ones. Why? “Italian women are not friendly-a. They don’t like you. They won’t tell you their name. They will not call the police-a if you are dying-a. American women? ‘My God, you are so pretty and you have such beautiful hair. What is your name?’ ‘Oh, ha! My name is-.’ You see? Americans are-a friendly-a.”
- Strong reactions to men. He said, “You will get tired of their advances. You will get bored and you will *stomps foot and flips up his middle finger*. Or you will go, ‘F*** you, man!’ That is when they get off the bike and smash your face.” He went on to say a girl came in and reported that crime last year.
- Don’t wear a bag on your street-side. Motorcycle riders will come through and steal a bag by jerking it off the shoulder. If it doesn’t come off, they will drag you. “We had four elderly ladies-a die from injuries last year.”
- He rattled off a bunch of other stuff. He was very blunt and honest, which was good. He said the whole thing about not buying off of the sheets from the Central African men, and that much of the crime and duping of tourists comes from immigrants from Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, as well as from Eastern Europe. “They will talk to you, they will try to take your money, they will target you.”
- Oh, and about the men who sell off the sheets. They know they do it. Everyone knows they do it. But they allow them to because it's better than them selling drugs.
Glad to know I’m wanted.
He talked for over an hour and I didn't get even close to all he said, but he was good to look at, with his decoration (he had his parachutist badge on), muscles, and Italian accent. After that whole deal, we went to the American Express (where you buy train tickets) – rather, I tagged along- as they talked about buying tickets to go see Pompei and the Cinqueterra (lit: Five Lands). I tried to help out. It started pouring, so we grabbed Paninis and went to a friend’s apartment on Aguillara. We ate there, discussed a plan, chatted it up about ourselves, our parents, education, DHS, and various other subjects, and decided to go get my laptop and go to Kent State to use the wireless. First, we hit the Duty-Free shop ($1200 for a watch, $2500 for a ring, etc. You know – chump change) and then went back to the apartment because it was just so cold and rainy. We regrouped, not to be beaten, and half of us headed for the 99 cent store while I got my laptop. We met at the store and headed for the Duomo and Kent State University. The university is a bit lackluster itself, but the actual building is quite interesting. There are fragments of frescos everywhere in it, and those are the bits that haven’t been painted over. Anyway, I took pictures of some of these while we were there and went ahead and tried to get online. I couldn’t. It was protected. Thinking, “this is not good,” I was told to call Dr. Bane and Danielle, who were both like, “Uhh… I can’t help you.” So I went upstairs and talked to the lady who had given us the largest part of our orientation this morning. She said that Danielle hadn’t included wireless in the cost. So we didn’t have it.
We regrouped again and decided to head to an internet “café” (they kept calling it that, but we’re not actually served anything; therefore, it isn’t a “café”). This agreed, we headed down Anguillara again (passing a wooden Harley Davidson in a window) and found the Wi-fi café that we couldn’t find the other day. So we went in, ordered the token cup of coffee, and used the wireless. It was fantastic to be on this computer and online, so I made the most of it, checking stuff out that I had been missing out on. We looked up train fares and tried to look up bus fares. Armed with more information (but not quite enough), the others left for the grocery store while I stayed put. I called a while later and they were still in the grocery store. I decided to take pictures of Santa Croce (some of which are of really high quality, I think), and generally loafed around Piazza di Santa Croce. I finally saw some of our crowd, who said they wanted to go shopping. I waited outside for them until I finally called. They said they were trying to figure out the evening and that I should just come up. It was okay, though. I had the best strawberry gelato while I was waiting, so not a moment was wasted.
We decided to go to the Piazza di Signore, where the statue of David used to be, etc. As we started out, it began pouring down rain. Some of my new friends met a girl at the supermarket who was here on her own until her school got here. As we were talking and walking, it began pouring down even more. After we finally got to the Piazza di Signore, we couldn’t find a cheap enough restaurant. Finally, we settled on one that, coincidentally, had a waiter who spoke good English. We had trained ourselves to say, “Che cosa mi consigli?” (What do you recommend for me?), but only one of us wasn’t too much of a chicken to say it. Then he kept speaking to us in English.
After a good meal (I had Ravioli with truffle sauce), we made a big ordeal out of paying (eight people split a check). I wanted to look at the statues, which didn’t photo well in the dark. We left in a hurry, as it was cold and still rainy, and went back to the apartment on Anguillara. We regrouped again, decided on where to meet to go to the farmer’s market, and went our separate ways. Rachel and I walked Angela (the girl who’s here alone) to her apartment, and then headed back to ours. I took (another) cold shower, and here I am.
I’m just glad I made some friends. I was kind of worried for a minute.
Anyhoo, I’m having a great time, all. Email me, comment, do something. Tomorrow classes begin, so this will be the only short entry for at least another day or two.
Oh, and to answer Dylan's question, I'm seeing a lot. So nothing's off limits at the moment. But I also have four weeks to do it all in.
*It's raining.
Day 2
CT 5:19
IT 12:19
Firenze
Today has been long, but not as long as yesterday by any means. This morning, we went and met Danielle (study abroad) and went on a “walking tour” of Florence. Actually, we found the university who we are studying through and then wandered around to find special places in the vicinity. Though we didn’t cover too much ground, we still covered enough to make us all moan.
I’m pretty good with directions, but because of our random wanderings-around, I really don’t have a clue as to where we actually are supposed to go tomorrow. Granted, it was the first place we went, but it got jumbled around with all the other things we saw, which were many.
Along the way to the university, we saw various statues, usually of religious nature (such as Johannes Baptiste). The most fantastic sight was when we went into a piazza – where, I’m not sure at the moment – and saw the most wonderful congregation of statues that we’ve seen yet. Cosimo de Medici on horseback, a fountain with horses coming out and Poseidon or some other figure standing, with fauns and mermen around the edge (I think there’s something similar, albeit bigger, in Rome). On the other side was a replica of David, where it originally stood (one of many, and actually a shorter one). On one side of the piazza, there were around 10 statues, all depicting various scenes – religious or mythological, I’m not sure. It was surely a sight.
After all of this, we ended up next to a market –again, I’m not sure where. By this time I’m all confused and know that if I see another street sign, I’ll only get further turned around (as I didn’t have a map yet). The market was bustling with tourists, and there was a lot to buy – just nothing that I wanted. They did have a pair of “David” boxers, which I do believe I should get for Josh or Jeremy. We’ll see, though. I don’t want to spend too much on something that I could perhaps haggle with someone on. Ha! Haggle in a foreign language. Stranger things, I guess.
We ate at a place called “Nuti’s.” The waiter didn’t speak much English, but between Danielle and Dr. Bane we were able to get our food. I had a “cuatro formaggi calzone” (4 cheese calzone) with palmodora (tomato) dipping sauce. It was absolutely divine – well, close anyway. The sky opened up while we were inside, and none of us had umbrellas. Little illegal merchandise sellers* popped out of no where – literally no where – with boxes of umbrellas. “Umbrellaumbrellaumbrellaumbrellaumbrella?” (Dr. Bane had acted out this beforehand; we thought he was joking.) We bought three umbrellas for 15 Euros (about $20). My lunch was 7.50 – 8.50 (around $9-10), and then we left for Dr. Bane’s apartment. We got lost on the way there (one wrong turn, which we corrected – right before we took another wrong turn). His apartment is very nice and makes us all jealous.
After we left there, I decided to find a Wi-Fi bar we had seen earlier (buy a drink and have unlimited wi-fi), but I couldn’t remember where we saw it. After that, I missed the internet shop that was right by where we live that I had used earlier. When I missed that, I realized I was very tired. My feet were still swollen from the plane and the walking we did yesterday. It only seemed like insult to injury that I couldn’t find the shops I wanted. Instead, I went to the 99 cent store, got two 1.5 L bottles of water and a 500 ml Pepsi, went back to the apartment, began to read on the couch, and slept for about 3-4 hours until 7. I barely woke up when my roommates came clattering in.
When I got up, they asked me if I’d like to go eat. We decided to go the opposite way down Pilastri toward the Piazza Sant’Ambrogio,, but we took a left on Via Luigi Carlo Farini. From there, we walked along the street, pausing to take pictures of tiny cars. We found a huge building called the “Sinagogo e Museo Ebraico di Firenze. It had no religious markings except for the Ten Commandments at the top, strangely enough. Even Santa Croce has a Star of David, and it’s a church.
We passed the Piazza Massimo d’Azeglio (a community park) and turned left on Via Giuseppe Giusti. We found some really awesome doorknobs going this way, but not much else. Here, we turned on Via Gino Capponi. Here we stumbled onto this magnificent place. I took pictures of doorknobs and markers (some reading as early as the 1500s), thinking it was all we were going to see. Then we found the Galleria della Spedale degli Innocenti and the Palazzo Griffoni, all around the Piazza d. Santissima Annuziata. Here was another figure riding a horse – not a Medici, surprisingly. Also, some of the most magnificent frescos we’ve seen this far (of which I have pictures).
We then traveled along the Via del Servi. I think this is where the OK Bar was. The waiter couldn’t speak English, but he was cute so we tried anyway. He tried very hard to work with us, and it turned out his English was better than he thought. I met him halfway (that’s what it’s all about anyway, isn’t it?) and ordered in Italian. There was a woman at a neighboring table who ordered dessert in English, so we asked her where she was from. Turns out, she’s from Buffalo, New York studying at the same university we’re studying through (not at - there’s a difference). She gave us tips, like telling us where the farmer’s market was, the flea market beside that (she said to start at half of what they say and work up). She also told us to start shutting our windows before the mosquitoes ate us alive, although she said they don’t itch – just turn to blisters (kind of like flying fire ants, I guess). She was really nice and took our picture with all of our cameras. We told her we might see her again, said Ciao, and went on our merry way.
I found a paper store on the other side of the Duomo when we were walking one of our party back to her apartment. I got to see the Baptistery doors (although I saw the real ones at an exhibit in the Pyramid in Memphis). We then traveled back along Giuseppe Verdi (a friend indeed) to Fiesolana, and decided to get on the internet (I needed to post my journal entry since I didn’t have my computer on Wi-fi yet). While I was doing that, the other three were talking to a man who spoke proficient enough English to tell us about how communism may not be the best option but it was better than capitalism. He was relating this to the guy who worked at the internet shop. It started by them saying something about Mexicans in America and how Americans hate them. It’s interesting what kind of message we send to the outside world.
After that, we came back to the apartment, where I am now typing up my journal. Teri and Katie went to Teri’s daughter’s apartment to shower because we only have cold water. Because I stayed up so late last night, I’m going to go ahead and go to bed (I am ver’ ver’ sleepy) and dream about another wonderful day in Florence tomorrow.
*“Little illegal merchandise sellers…”: Consequently, it’s actually illegal to buy from these men if they’re selling “off the sheets.” They take white sheets and lay them down with imitation designer bags, belts, glasses, and such. If you buy from them, you can be fined up to $10,000 because it’s taking away from the legal venders. These men have scouts and will pick up the sheets and run when they see the police. In fact, some of the other students said this happened after we left the market area today.
Interesting cultural note: The “sheet” sellers are primarily black. When I said primarily, I mean I didn’t see a single one that wasn’t African. African-Italian men who can only resort to selling illegally that the police target? It seems the race finger that was pointed at Americans later on (see next to last paragraph) was at the least an incriminating accusation – at most downright hypocrisy.
5-26-07
CT 8:45 A.M.
IT 3:45 P.M.
So. I’ve been up intermittently for almost 50 hours at this point. I have come by plane, bus, and taxi to an apartment at Vie de Pilastri No. 63, and it’s wonderfully old and foreign. But my God, the trip here. For those of you who might be traveling this summer (or ever), this little account will be the best gift I could give you.
Little Rock - Domestic Flights and Groups Don’t Mix
If you can avoid going abroad with a group, I’m inclined to encourage it. Here’s why:
At LR National Airport, thirty some-odd students convened between 9:45 and 10:00 A.M. A fiery (and coincidentally red-headed) Australian woman, with a PERTH, AUSTRALIA lanyard around her neck, tackled us head-on while her colleagues moaned at the sight of us. After doing a roll call (in a busy airport – you can guess the complications), they began to scan our passports and decide how many check-ins we had on baggage. I will say this now:
IF YOU TRAVEL, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR BELONGINGS.
We had people with anywhere from 51 lb. baggage to 78 lb. baggage (the limits are 50 lbs. and up to 70 lbs. with a $25 fee – above that it doesn’t get on the plane). Some people (except for those over 70 lb) thought they would take the $25 fee and go on. However, we were transferring to Air France in Houston, and they charge $115 per overweight bag. No one wanted to take that. So we had a mad dash to empty bags. People who had one bag were given another one to check (max checked: 2), stuff was left, choices made, hair pulled. Then they finally printed our tags for our luggage, which read that our destination was Houston (our layover before going international). The Aussie said not to put them on unless they said Paris. There’s a problem with this that will become apparent later. (Hint: We weren’t going to Paris.)
Anyway, after that fiasco, we went through security, which, to be fair, has gotten quicker… Just more annoying. I’ve been through three security checks at this point, but it feels like twenty. Shoes, belt, pocket contents, laptop, carry-on – all on the conveyer belt. Walk through detector. Stuff everything back where it was.
The Little Rock – Houston flight wasn’t so bad. My feet were cramped (feet will be cramped no matter what: get what you need out of your carry-on and store it; you need all the leg room you can get!), but the flight was quick ( 1hr. 45 min.). But here is where our prior problems all combined and became one ugly monster. Here’s my advice again:
MAKE SURE YOUR BAGGAGE IS GOING WHERE YOU ARE.
It was at Houston they figured out the conundrum – we were going to Bologna, Italy. Our baggage was going to vacation in Paris. It was straightened out through various pleadings and an extra security scan to go fix it – until we were told the last few bags didn’t make it because there was too much luggage. Again-
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR BELONGINGS.
Because people didn’t plan well, four others lost at least one bag – including me (and I weighed in at 31 lbs. – for both of mine!). It was an injustice, sure. But the airline will supposedly deliver my bag to my front door. I hope so. It had my teddybear in it.
Houston to Paris was… uncomfortable (read: excruciating). Cramped, crowded, and completely foreign* (as the service ran in French and English), I began to hurt badly from sitting at upright angles (there wasn’t enough room to lay back). They fed us well for dinner and a light breakfast (I have the wrapper from my first French cheese wedge as a souvenir). Once we finally got there (abt. 9 hrs. later), we had to run during our 1 hr. layover, across concourses by bus, escalator, and conveyer walkway (whatever they’re really called), to get to our Bologna flight.** Dr. Bane almost didn’t make it (he was checking on lost luggage, which required exact addresses that we didn’t have yet). I slept hard during this flight – only waking up for my ears to pop. After this short flight (1hr. 30), we landed*** and took a 2 hr. bus ride to Florence (that I again slept through).
And here we are.
By the way: everything here is NARROW. Shower, stairs, doorways, everything. Don’t carry unwieldy luggage. Also, no air conditioning – but the windows are great.
5-26-07
CT: 6:57
IT: 1:57
A little update.
We went exploring around town. Really a lovely place. Cobblestone streets are not kind to feet, nor are the drivers. I swear to God they try to hit pedestrians and aim specifically for Americans.**** The streets are crowded and mostly one way. It’s absolutely insane.
We ate a place called Caffe Nuovo Poste. Luckily, the man spoke enough English to talk us through ordering. It was really a cool place: for us, we pointed at sandwiches in the case (note: “salad” means lettuce and sometimes tomato), they grilled them Panini style. Wonderful thing about most European countries that I know: tax is included. Six Euros means six Euros, not a penny more or less. In fact, we discovered a neat little store called Nine-t-Nine, the equivalent of a dollar store. I bought one thing and got a cent back.
Anyway, we went to the grocery store, where people brought pets. We were bewildered when we were offered to buy a sack, and we all said no. Drinks come in liters and weirdly shaped bottles. From there, we went and visited another set of student apartments, and set off to find the Duomo, our meeting place for tomorrow. After walking for a while, I said, “Did we miss it?” Someone else said, “How could we miss it? It’s supposed to be huge.” Indeed, it was. And I still saw it on accident. The thing is absolutely beautiful. And so extremely large. I have video to show just how large it is (with people for scale) because pictures just couldn’t describe. And the intricate work!
Otherwise, we shopped around a bit (having our first bites of gelato ice cream – I had melon) and headed back to our room. I got on the internet at a provider shop for one Euro and 50 cents. Not bad. Then we went out to eat dinner (which I had been totally unaware I had skipped) at a place called Eby’s on Via del Corso (I think – it was dark). We walked one friend back to her apartment and then headed back to ours, where we are all exhausted and mostly asleep (except for me).
That’s all for today. It’s two in the morning here, and I’ve got to be at the Duomo at 10 tomorrow for a walking tour. Ciao!
Other Notes:
*“Cramped, crowded, and completely foreign…”: Well, that’s not quite true. As part of our reward for our sins for taking coach on an international flight (it could be a crime – who knows?), we could watch TV on the back of the headrest in front of us. Several options (in French and English) were provided: comics (cartoons for kids), cinema (films, TV, news, and “original” that would never load), global something-or-other (constantly updated flight information – we flew over Dublin!), music (I never chose it, but the first “radio” option was Japanese), and games (solitaire, the British version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” – never brag gain that you’ve never lost on a first tier question).
What I’m wanting to draw attention to is the “cinema” option. The flight is going from Houston to France, but I never expected to see so much American influence. The TV options were such “classics” as Friends, The Simpsons, and Numbers (under action, no less). There were three French movies along with American greats like Music and Lyrics, The Dark Veil (or something like that – Edward Norton and Naomi Watts), and Holiday (or something like it - Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, Jude Law).
What is really going on here? There are good TV shows that they could show. They could have broadened the spectrum from the comedy that deceptively displays what Europeans must think is American life. Friends, a show about nothing that had nothing on Seinfeld; The Simpsons, a cartoon about a dysfunctional family living in a dystopia that’s supposed to be clever and ends up being an puzzling reminder of American cash-cow-milking, and Numbers, a fledgling drama that is far from the best but better than what else was shown.
But seriously, and I’m being very serious: Friends? Really? In the episodes shown, Ross gets married to Rachel in Vegas and plays a “trick” by telling her he annulled the marriage, Phoebe and Joey get in a fight over his not staying awake to entertain her on a road trip, and Monica and Chandler look for signs for them to get married, instead opting to move-in together for a very anticlimactic ending.
This is what Europeans like to watch from America. They don’t only like to watch it; they enjoy that it’s us. We do stupid things like get married at all-night wedding chapels, are rich and stupid enough to get in petty fights, and value proximity over fidelity (which is a whole other type of entry). It’s European voyeurism, and it’s ecstasy for them to see us, a powerful giant of a country that once fell under its own scalpel of colonialism until they cut too deep, in such relative dysfunction. There’s a good possibility that the U.S. will be the one to destroy itself and take the world with it. I think Europeans realize that and take some pride in seeing us drown in our own pride.
Not that I can talk too much. I’d already seen the episode.
** “…to get to our Bologna flight.”: Along the way, I saw a group of African men in blue cotton clothing with white wraps on their heads sitting close to a security checkpoint, resting. Two or three of them were sleeping, but the rest were keeping watch over the stuff at their feet – including woven hats with feathers around the top and trim. Anyone know what this particular group would be called, out of curiosity?
*** “We landed…”, Wherein I recount a Humorous Happening: Most of us hadn’t been to the bathroom since the Houston-Paris flight (or even before that), when we were told we could finally have time to go to the bathroom. A bunch of us went inside to go and saw the door with the man, woman, and handicap sign above the door. Thank God it wasn’t unisex, but the doors weren’t really marked. We saw women wandering in and followed them. As I was leaving the bathroom, I accidentally bumped into a girl. I saw excuse me, but got no response. I kept going straight ahead when I found myself in another bathroom. A man was washing his hands. Greatly puzzled, I turned around and ran out the door, where the girl I had bumped into was pointing at the exit. I think she meant to do that.
**** “….and specifically aim for Americans.”: But the pedestrians are quite nice. They at least smile and speak. It’s like a crazy juxtaposition of New York taxi drivers (complete with language difference) and Arkansan folk (complete with different polite language). Interestingly, and somewhat oddly, enough, they can be extremely nice: The sidewalks are pretty narrow, like everything else, and a group of older men were blocking the whole thing. Going around them and squeezing past bikes and cars, I said “Scuzzi, scuzzi” (when in doubt, be apologetic: even if they don’t understand why you are, they at least know you’re trying not to offend them), when one of the men smiled at us (or me, I’m not sure – I was the only one speaking, though), and said, “Scuzzi, Cara!”
Well? Look it up. I’m not going to tell you.
Also, shop vendors are nice. Well, of course they are, you say. Well, I say, they don’t have to be. Americans usually don’t try to meet them halfway on the language barrier, so they can be pretty testy if they want. But this one man, a gelato operator (ice cream with fruit in it – mmhmm), smiled at me as I came up to his restaurant stand.
“Buonosera! Ice cream?”
“Yes… Si… Uh… yes.” He picks up the 4 Euro cup (which is nearly $6 USD).
“What kind of ice cream, eh?”
“Hmm… Melon?”
“Melon?”
“Si.”
“Melon! So good! What size?” I point to the 2 Euro size (which holds an ounce or two of ice cream). He groans, playfully I think. “Oh nooo! No good…. Not good enough!” I laugh, pay him with two Euro coins, and thank him.
“Grazzie!”
“Prego! Ciao!” he calls, waving after me.
I’m going to make a point to go back, especially since he was so nice… and I dashed his hopes of getting a big cup. But all in all, those are the two best instances of nice strangers. The Italians are good people, I do believe (even though letsgo.com lists that between 1990 and 2000, 100+ women have been arrested on mafia charges).
I absolutely hate anticipation.
I've been fighting, trying to find a grad school, trying to scramble and be ready for my journey, and figure out where I want my life to go.
And I'm anticipating it all collapsing while I'm still trying to figure a way to hold it all up.
I am excited. Deep down. But on the surface, and perhaps a bit deeper, I am puzzled by feelings of regret, anxiety, and resentment.
I think it's a combination of all things life and spiritual. But I've been so disheartened lately that I question my own longevity to experience the meat of my life. People say it's gone by; I say it hasn't begun.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the end of an era. Tomorrow, I begin to understand. Tomorrow, I begin to grow in presence, in strength, in understanding. Tomorrow, I begin to find the answer - if I am woman, if I am man, if I am androgyny personified, if I am human, if I am spirit, if I am goddess, if I am child.
Tomorrow I begin to see the world.
No longer will I be caged. I will taste freedom, and I will covet it, cherish it, and hate it, because it will have ruined my senses for this dimension I have escaped, for this path I have walked, for this air I have cycled. I will hate it and love it and become one with it and part from it - all at once. Once after once after once. Once will turn into a moment, and the moment will last forever. I will be in limbo with my existence, and it will swallow me and spit me, and I will welcome and despise it.
To a land of past, present, and future I travel. Where I find myself I cannot wait to discover.
My, it's been so long! Look at the date difference between these two posts. Even though my last blog entry doesn't say too much that's important, I can still tell I've grown since that time not so long ago. When I posted that, I was fresh into college, 18-years-old, and expecting something special out of the world. Now, I'm officially a "veteran," I'm 20, and I don't expect much out of the world except for what I put into it.
This coming Friday, I am leaving for Florence, Italy, for four weeks - May 25 - June 25. This will be my center of gravity for a while - where I'll post my reflections and, possibly, pictures. It will be my connection to whomever will read this, as well as to a piece of myself that I can read and understand when I'm in a foreign land of foreign words and babbling tongues.
I'm excited, no doubt. But I'm also so afraid that I'm paralyzed. I'm afraid I'm going to walk onto that plane and have forgotten my suitcase, or get to Italy and realize I have no money - or worse, no underwear. But of course, things will go well, I'll have the time of my life, and I'll look back at all of my apprehension and call myself a fool. At least, I hope so.
This will become my critical thinking blog, my Xanga will become my insignificant day-to-day blog, and my Wordpress will become my extremely specialized blog - cultural criticism.
I'm probably spreading myself too thin again, but I don't think I know how to live without doing that. When I was in high school, I took three jobs during my senior year and two during that summer, working anywhere between 40 and 70 hours a week. During my freshman year at college, I jumped into five different organizations. This past semester I took 20 hours, became the coordinating editor of a magazine, associate editor of a campus-wide magazine, joined a new organization, worked at an internship, and balanced friends, family, and a significant other.
So three blogs, a million RSS feeds, eight blogs bookmarked on my browser, a constantly updated forum, and an six-hour a day job in the capitol (which I live an hour away from) is nothing special, nothing new, nothing extraordinary.
Welcome to another world of mine. Hope you enjoy.
