September 30, 2011

September 30, 2011

This morning, I woke up at 8:00 after nine hours of sleep so I could be out of the room by the time the repairman came at 9:00. I got ready, took a shower, had breakfast, and was heading out the door just as he arrived and I’d even done all of those things leisurely. I caught the bus and took it as far into the center of town as I could and got off. I wandered through the markets, side streets and down to Palazzo Pitti, buying some more gifts and just window-shopping. After a while, I headed back toward Linguaviva where we had an optional work-study meeting at 11:00. We learned how to catalogue the books on the computer and make labels for them, which was kind of tedious but, since only six of us actually showed up, we got paid for working for two hours! That was definitely a pleasant surprise. We finished up around 1:00 and Leah, Katie and I set out to find a fun restaurant for lunch. We found a relatively inexpensive restaurant with a fun atmosphere near the mercato centrale called ZaZa and decided it was the one for us. It turned out to be the right choice because the food was absolutely incredible! Leah and I both had the gnocchi con gorgonzola and it was rich and delicious. The portions were huge as well so I was actually satisfied and didn’t need to eat anything between then and dinner. We had a wonderful time and it was so nice to get to spend time with a small group of people :) It was also nice to have such a leisurely lunch…we probably sat there for about two hours, which was lovely.

After lunch, we ventured out toward Santa Croce to find the Tuscany bike tours office was so we wouldn’t get lost trying to find it tomorrow morning. We didn’t have any trouble finding it and hung out in the Piazza de Santa Croce for a little while, which was lovely as it is not as overrun by tourists as many of the other parts of the city. After that, we wandered back toward the Duomo where we split ways so I could do a little more shopping and they could go get gelato. I looked a couple more places for some gifts and then, around 5:00, headed home. When I got home, I first downloaded a bunch of readings from online that I have to read for one of my classes. After that, I decided to take a little break before starting my homework so I decorated our room a little bit :) Because Italy does not really celebrate Halloween, it is impossible to find Halloween decorations or, more importantly (at least to me), pumpkins. I am sure pumpkins will be easier to find later on in October but, right now, they’re nowhere to be found. Anyway, while I was shopping today, I noticed that, in the 99-cent store, there were a few Halloween decorations. They were all very cheapy (being 99 cents) but I decided I needed to take advantage of the fact that I actually found Halloween decorations so I bought a pumpkin garland. Upon opening it at home, I found that we really had nowhere to hang it because it was so long so I took the string out, pulled them apart in pairs of two, and taped them up around our room. Now we have jack-o-lanterns smiling out at us from all over the room and I really love it :)

After decorating for a bit, I started on the mountains of reading for my classes…I don’t have THAT much but it seems like it after having almost no homework for the past month. We had dinner a little early tonight, around 7:40. Daniella had to take a phone call so Andrea and I ate together, just the two of us, for the first course. For our main dish, Daniella had made little mini mozzarella and tomato pockets and had made Fiore di Zucca again because she knows it’s my favorite and she had bought too much for just one night. For dessert we had FRIED PUMPKIN!!!! OCTOBER IS ALMOST HERE!!! It was absolutely delicious! It is fried the same way at Fiore di Zucca so I could probably even make it! It definitely made me feel like fall was finally coming :)

Now that dinner is over, I am finishing up my blog, will post it and then will do a little more reading before I head to bed. I do need to get a fair amount of sleep tonight, though, as I have my 13-mile bike ride through Chianti tomorrow and do not want to be tired for that! I will let you know how it is after I get back tomorrow!

Buona Notte,

Kari

 Leah and me at lunch

Katie and Leah at lunch

A few of our friendly pumpkins :)

September 29, 2011

September 29, 2011

This morning I got to sleep in until 10:00 because I didn’t have class until 1:30! It was so nice to sleep, eat a leisurely breakfast, and just kind of relax for the morning. I did head to school a little early, dropped off my stuff, and took a walk down to the river and around that area. When I got back, I ate my lunch with a lot of people in one of the classrooms and then had Italian from 1:30-2:45. Right after Italian, my Medici class met and walked together over to the Brancacci Chapel. For the first half hour, we watched a video about the Chapel and the frescoes commissioned for it and then spent about half an hour in the Chapel itself, which is a very small part of a much larger church. Most of the frescoes depict the miracles of St. Peter, with the only exceptions being two frescoes of Adam and Eve…before and after the temptation. The frescoes were stunning and I actually recognized a lot of them, which was pretty cool for me. I really enjoyed it and Jodie had a lot of interesting things to say about the frescoes and the chapel itself. Fun fact- Michelangelo broke his nose in this chapel :P After our time in the chapel, we walked to a nearby church to look at the architecture as a quick introduction to what we will begin studying next week. Unfortunately, we did not have a whole lot of time there because class time was up and most of the other students in the class had to get to their drawing class. I walked back with Jodie as far as the river and then meandered my way back to the school to pick up my backpack and head home.

I got home around 5:45 and started off my doing my Italian homework for Monday. I have quite a bit of reading between my other three classes so I figured I would get that out of the way so I could focus on the other things this weekend. It’s crazy to me that we have Fridays off because it makes the weeks go by so quickly. We have almost as many days off as we have of classes! I’m not complaining though :) I do keep thinking tomorrow is Saturday, though, since we don’t have classes. Anyway, around 7:00, Daniella called me into the kitchen because she is making zucchini flower tonight! MY FAVORITE!  She remembered that I had asked her to teach me how to make it so she did just that. We just did the first part of preparing them right then because they need to be refrigerated for about an hour before you can fry them. It was a little hard to follow because she doesn’t use recipes but I think I could probably get it down after a few tries! She let me help her and everything so I definitely got to be hands on…the problem with recreating it back home is that it’s all guesstimated…there aren’t measurements. I WILL TRY ANYWAY! She told me she will show me how you fry them after they have chilled for a while so I look forward to that. I hope this is the first of many Italian cooking lessons :)

After the first part of my cooking lesson, I went back to my homework and did a little more of that. Right before dinner, Daniella showed me how to fry the zucchini flowers (fiore di zucca). We had dinner at 8:00, as per usual, and I felt so accomplished that I had actually helped make one of the dishes! Because Franzi is leaving for Munich tonight at 9:50 (she is taking the overnight train and gets back Monday morning at 6:00 a.m.), we didn’t have a pasta dish first but, rather, had both the fiore di zucca and eggplant dish (another one of my favorites) together along with bread. It was absolutely delicious, of course. For dessert, we had gelato with caramel and chocolate that was just incredible—they sure know how to eat here! After dinner, Franzi packed up the rest of her things and headed out for the train station around 8:45…I am officially an only child for the weekend! It’s so weird to have the room all to myself and I’m going to be the only “kid” at dinner, too.

Well, for the rest of the night I’ll probably stretch and do some reading just for pleasure. Saturday I am going on a 13-mile bike trip through Chianti with some friends so I think I’ll lay low Friday and Sunday. Tomorrow morning at 9:00, a repairman is coming to fix our window (apparently something was wrong with it but they couldn’t fix it before we came…we haven’t noticed) so I have to get up around 8:30 but that won’t be a problem at all. I’ll probably get ready and then head into town for the day and do some shopping and maybe go to a museum or meet some friends for lunch. After a crazy week of classes, I am ready for a day of just doing whatever. Then Sunday I think I am going to set aside for sleeping in as well as all of my homework and reading for the weekend. It’s not too much but the reading makes it more time consuming. Plus, I would love to maybe even get a little ahead so I am not so overwhelmed this next week. But, for now, I had better go. I hear that fall is just beautiful back home so I hope you are all enjoying it! I am going to try to track down a pumpkin for my room at some point (I have no idea where you might find a pumpkin in Florence but I’m going to try…) to pair to my pumpkin spice candle to make it feel more like fall. And hopefully it will start getting cooler soon so it will at least FEEL like fall. Anyway, enjoy the fall colors and the fall weather for me!

All my love,

Kari 

September 28, 2011

September 28, 2011

Wow, as of today, I have been here in Florence for one month! Pretty crazy, right?! I can’t even believe that a month has already passed…if this were an interim trip like when I went to London in January I’d already be going home. I simply can’t even believe it. Anyway, this morning my Dante class met at Santa Maria Novella at 9:30 to discuss the crucifix by Giotto, how the layout of the specific church was symbolic of Dante’s Divine Comedy and the fourteenth century chapel with the paintings representing Inferno and Paradiso as depicted by Dante, once again in his Divine Comedy. It was incredibly interesting because they were painted after the time of Dante’s works so they were very parallel to his telling of the story. It was interesting to follow the painting to where we have read so far. After about an hour in the church, we headed back to the classroom where we further discussed the cantos in Inferno that we had read for the day. Class got out at 11:30; I ate my lunch and then headed over to the Uffizi for my next class. I got there a little early so I read for Weaving the Tale on the steps in the middle of the courtyard until the rest of the class showed up. At 1:00, we got our tickets to go into the Uffizi and my Weaving the Tale class went to see the exhibit on tarot cards by Francesco Clemente, which was fascinating after reading both The Castle of Crossed Destinies and The Tavern of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino, who uses a method of storytelling through the narration of tarot cards. We spent the entirety of our class there, noting the differences between the tarot cards of Clemente and those in our books, noting the mediums used by the artist, and looking at the cycle in which he created them. We also saw his twelve apostles, which are paintings of each of the twelve apostles with symbols pertaining to them specifically but each had the face of the artist, Clemente. Although they were almost eerie, I really enjoyed them.

After class, I headed back to school to pick up my backpack and then caught the bus home. I decided it would be nice to get my homework done early and maybe even get ahead a little bit. I read the article for my Medici class tomorrow and made sure my Italian homework was all finished for tomorrow as well. Then I did the reading for Monday for my Dante class, got started on reading for my Weaving the Tale class, and took a shower. All in all, I had a pretty productive afternoon. Because we had the concert tonight at 8:00, Daniella made me dinner at 6:30 so I would be able to eat at home before I left. Franzi had drawing until 7:00 so those people were on their own for dinner before the concert.

At 6:30, Daniella called me into the kitchen where she had dinner waiting for me. She and Andrea were going over to their son’s house for dinner so I had my own dinner in the kitchen. I was completely overwhelmed as I saw what she had “thrown together” for me. First of all, she had made me a big bowl of pesto (because it was my favorite) and bread. For the second course, I had both green beans and an entire caprese salad all to myself. For dessert, she had set out a peach tart. I was so hungry so it was just the perfect meal and I really appreciated it. Apparently Italians have a different meaning of “throwing something together” but I’m definitely a fan :) I enjoyed my “little meal” very much! Daniella and Andrea left for Mattheo’s house just as I was finishing dinner so I had about half an hour with the house to myself before I had to leave for the concert. I had just been talking about how I hadn’t really been able to sing in a while so it was the perfect opportunity! I spent the next half hour singing and it was absolutely wonderful! Around 7:15, I caught the bus to the Santa Maria Novella station where I met Erin and we walked to the Teatro Comunale together for the concert.

The concert was absolutely incredible! First of all, we had amazing seats in row S of the orchestra level and my seat was smack in the center! And Teatro Comunale is really a beautiful theatre! Wayne Marshall conducted the orchestra and choir, but also played piano in the first half of the concert and was brilliant. The first half was composed of music by Gershwin and the second half, by Berstein. In fact, they opened the second half with Chichester Psalms (which we sang last year at St. Olaf Christmas Fest) so I definitely sang along in my head! It was so much fun to know a song so well and hear it again after almost a year. The performed incredibly and I really enjoyed it. Overall, I enjoyed the Berstein half better but both were just wonderful. I cannot describe how happy I was to be at a concert, listening to music, and just taking the music in—there was no need to analyze anything or take notes…I could just listen. I think I smiled through the entire concert :)

After the concert, we walked back to Santa Maria Novella and caught the bus home. It’s already 11:30 so I had better wrap this up so I can post it and get to bed. Thankfully, I don’t have class until 1:30 tomorrow so I can sleep in tomorrow morning! I hope you all had a wonderful day and I hope you have a wonderful evening.

A domani (until tomorrow),

Kari

My personal dinner :)

At the concert!

September 27, 2011

September 27, 2011

This morning I had Weaving the Tale at 9:00 so woke up earlier, took a shower, made my lunch, had breakfast and caught the bus around 8:20. In class, we discussed the book we had read for the day-Castle of Crossed Destinies, which was very interesting and I really enjoyed. We have to read the other story within the book for tomorrow and I look forward to reading it after dinner. Our class only has eight people in it so it is a lot more manageable than some of my other classes and I really love the intimacy of the class. It is much more discussion based simply because there is time for everyone to share their thoughts, which I really love. That class went until 10:30 and then I was free until 1:30. Because I had so much time, I headed out into the city and did a little gift shopping and exploring. I returned after a couple hours to eat lunch and do some homework. From 1:30-2:45 I had Italian, during which we reviewed reflexive verbs and their conjugations. After Italian, I had a fifteen-minute break and then I had my first Medici class.

We started off in the classroom with a presentation on Cosimo de’ Medici and who he was and where the Medici came from. After about half an hour, we headed to the Baptistery and the Opera del Duomo or, rather, the museum for the Duomo and Baptistery. I had not yet been inside the Baptistery so it was really incredible to see the glass, mosaic ceiling and lavish tomb of Pope John XXIII for the first time. We talked a lot about both the ceiling and the tomb, focusing on the history behind each as well as the specifics of their construction and how they factored both into the lives of the Medici family, as well as the life and works of Dante. After spending a little time in the Baptistery (we did not look at the doors today as it was ridiculously crowded), we headed over to the museum. In the museum, we worked on guessing which sculptures had been sculpted by which artists, according to their other works we have seen so far. I was pleasantly surprised by how well I was able to do this already. We saw many works by Donatello and other very famous Florentine artists of the time. We talked about the past and the new construction of the Duomo as well. We had an extended class today so we weren’t done until 5:30, when we headed back to Linguaviva and I met with my Dante discussion group. We discussed the cantos we had to read for tomorrow and came up with three discussion questions to bring to class tomorrow, as we must do together before every time our class meets. A little after six, we headed home and started on some homework.

When we got home, Massimo and Marco were over but Marco was sleeping. When he woke up, Daniella called me in and I got to play with him for a little while! I’m sorry, but I still haven’t gotten a photo of him…I will soon! He really is the cutest little thing and I really love getting to play with him so often; I am so lucky that there are kids in our house so often—there aren’t any in any of the other houses, even grandchildren. After playing with Marco for a bit, I got back to work on my homework and managed to finish my homework for Dante and Italian. I needed a break, though, so I decided to blog for a little bit. Dinner smells delicious! I think we are having pizza and my favorite light and fluffy bread things that you put cheese and salami inside! I am very hungry so it’s the PERFECT dinner for tonight. I’d better do few more things before dinner so I will write more after.

For dinner we did, indeed, have the rolls with cheese and salami and they were DELICIOUS—I had four…(they aren’t that big, I promise). For our main dish, we had pizza, as I had guessed, with a little bit of sausage that was delicious as well! For dessert, we had fruit and tried a new type of fruit called jugele (that is NOT spelled right…) that we thought tasted like a cross between an apple and a kiwi, but are the size of a grape. They weren’t bad but not my favorite either; fun to try something new though!

Now that dinner is over, Franzi and I are doing some laundry and I am going to do my reading for Weaving the Tale. If I finish that quickly, I have a few other homework assignments for other classes that I would love to finish up so we’ll see what time allows. My Dante class is meeting at Santa Maria Novella tomorrow morning at 9:30, which should be interesting. Then I have a break from about 11:00-1:00 for lunch and then I have Weaving the Tale until 2:30. I am glad I will have most of the afternoon off tomorrow so I can get a little more homework done and relax a little bit. Then, Daniella is preparing me dinner early at 6:30 because our group is going to the Wayne Marshall concert tomorrow night at 8:30, which features works by Bernstein and many other famous composers—I am VERY excited for that! Anyway, I’d better sign off now and get to my homework and to bed; I don’t want to be too tired for the concert tomorrow night!

All my love,

Kari

September 26, 2011

September 26, 2011

This morning I got to sleep in a little bit and then caught the bus to Linguaviva for work-study. I worked with Erin from 10:00-12:00 in the library, cataloging books. It was tedious but interesting to see the different books we have in the library. After work, I had lunch with a few other people in our class and worked on uploading my photos from the weekend. As I said in my blog earlier today, you can see my photos from the weekend on my Shutterfly site. It takes too long to upload them to my blog so it will be easier if you just look at them there :)

At 1:30 we had Italian and only for an hour and fifteen minutes, three days a week now. I have the same class and Umberto is still my teacher, which is wonderful. One of the other classes had to switch teachers and I feel like that would be very difficult at this point. We worked on reflexive verbs and worked on conversational speaking. I much prefer only having Italian for half the time we had been having it because it’s easier to stay engaged and focused. From 3:00-4:30, I had my first Dante class. The class has 16 people in it (one more than the maximum class size) so it’s really full and kind of crazy, but I think it will be a good class nonetheless. We didn’t get to discuss much of what we read today because we were talking more about Dante’s background as well as how to go about reading the Divine Comedy, but that is definitely useful information.

After class was over, I used the school’s Internet for another half an hour and then headed out. Before I caught the bus home, I stopped at the grocery store by school to get my groceries for the week. After that, I headed home. I got home about six, which was so weird to me. I am used to being so free during the day yet, today, I was out of the house from 9:00-6:00. I like being busy but it’s definitely something I haven’t experienced yet in Italy so it will take some getting used to. But I am sure I will get into the swing of things soon enough. Once home, I managed to get a lot of my homework done in the two hours before dinner. First, I read a chapter for my Medici class that started off looking like it would be really long and boring (which it kind of was) but I actually found it pretty interesting; it was about how the Medici came to be the main Papal bankers. After I had finished that and taken notes on it, I moved on to my Italian homework for tomorrow. That didn’t taken me nearly as long as I thought it would so I was able to read through the next couple cantos of Inferno for Wednesday (but I am meeting to discuss them tomorrow afternoon so I have to have read them by then). I will probably read those two cantos over one more time tonight to make sure I really have a grasp on them and then read an introduction to Inferno article for class on Wednesday.

Franzi got home late tonight because it was her first day of drawing class, which meets in the evening, so we had dinner around 8:15 instead of at 8:00. Daniella was worried I would die of hunger if I had to wait so she brought me cheese and crackers in my room; she’s always looking out for me :) For dinner, we had penne pasta with Gorgonzola cheese—basically really delicious macaroni and cheese! For our main dish, we had green beans, bread and cheese and I had my soy burger while Daniella and Franzi had chicken. For dessert, we had fresh peaches, which were so sweet and delicious. I am very content and very full!

Now I’m going to read through those two cantos in Inferno once again, post this blog, maybe do some reading for pleasure and then head to sleep a little earlier. I have Weaving the Tale tomorrow from 9:00-10:30 so I will have to wake up a little earlier. Then I have a break from 10:30-1:30 before Italian at 1:30 and Medici at 3:00. I should be off from class around 5:00 tomorrow so it will be another full day of classes! I am excited to see how my other classes go and get going with those as well. I already feel like I’m adapting to this new schedule even in this first day. Yes, I have homework for four classes now and have class much of the day but, hey, I’m hear to go to school, aren’t I? :P I think it’s going to be a good schedule and I am going to learn a LOT, that’s for sure.

Well, I’d best go before I ramble on about nothing. I hope all is well and you have a wonderful Monday!

Buona Notte,

Kari

Photos from Venice

Hi Everyone :)

I just uploaded about one hundred photos from the weekend to my Shutterfly site (crazy I know). That took me so long that I figured you might as well look at the photos there if you are interested rather than me posting them again on here. Here is the address:

http://kariinitaly.shutterfly.com/pictures

If you have trouble accessing them, shoot me an email.

xoxo Kari

To tide you over until I post more... :)

My computer cooperated enough to let me share a couple of photos with you this evening :)

Me in Burano-my new favorite place in the world!

Venice <3

September 25, 2011

September 25, 2011

This morning, I woke up at 6:00 to watch the sunrise with Erin. She had woken up to watch it the morning before and said it was really beautiful. I really wanted to do it and was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have to meet her until 6:40. We walked along the canal by our hotel, out to the main channel. The sky was pink and really quite beautiful. We walked all the way to the point where we saw a few professional photographers getting ready to photograph the sunrise. We looped back around, past our hotel and sat down right by the water to wait for the sunrise. The sun rose at about 7:15 and was truly spectacular; definitely worth getting up early for! After the sunrise, we walked a little ways in the other direction. It was so wonderful because only the fishermen were up at this hour. It was so quiet, cool and beautiful outside! As we walked back to our hotel, we saw one more cruise ship coming through the channel! At 8:00, we had breakfast and kind of beat the rush. Erin and I had breakfast with Gail and Jodie. Gail was telling us about what she was doing that day and pulled out a map to show us where she was going. On the map, I also noticed Burano where I had really wanted to go, but didn’t think I would have the time. Mom and Sonja had also encouraged me to go there because it was so beautiful so I asked Gail and Jodie if it would be possible, as we had all of today free until we left at 4:00. I had signed up to go with Jodie to the Academia art museum but she said I should definitely go to Burano and they both said I could definitely do it in the time I had! However, I wasn’t too keen on going along. Because a lot of people really wanted to explore the art museums, it was just Alex and me who ended up going. It worked out perfectly because he had wanted to go to Burano but he had asked a couple people whom had both said no. He had been there before and really wanted to go back…and I just wanted to go!

The two of us left the hotel a little after nine and set out to find where to catch a boat to Burano. We got our boat tickets but had to wait about half an hour until the boat came, which was not a problem at all. We were a little confused by where exactly the boat was going but found out with enough time that we needed to change boats at the second stop to get a boat to Burano. We ended up arriving at the second stop just before the boat to Burano left so we really lucked out! Because of the port we left from, the different stops, and changing boats, it took us about an hour and a half to get there. I was so happy to be out on the water in the boat again though! The views were incredible and it was a beautiful, sunny day. Plus the breeze of the water kept us cool. As we came up to Burano I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had seen photos of the brightly colored houses but I figured it was maybe one row of houses that was that way. But, as we drove up, the island burst with color—every house was a different bright, brilliant color! From the moment I saw it, I felt like I was in the middle of a storybook. We got of the boat and immediately started exploring down side streets and back alleys, taking in all the brilliant colors. I couldn’t stop taking photos, saying “oh my goodness” as we rounded every bend, nor could I stop smiling the whole time we were there. Burano is a magical place…I am serious. It was really incredible to explore so many of the side streets and to see all of the laundry hanging, the little kids playing, and the old women cooking…people actually live here, this is not just a story book! Once we’d taken in lots of the colors and their reflections in the water, we decided to get some lunch. When Alex was here with his family, he ate at a restaurant that had some of the best food he had ever eaten so he really wanted to go there. It was absolutely beautiful, with silk tablecloths (Burano is known for it’s silk-making) and right on the canal. I had gnocchi with fresh basil and tomato sauces that literally melted in your mouth; you didn’t even need to chew it! It was some of the best food I have ever tasted in my life! It was a really beautiful lunch and so relaxing, as well. After lunch, we wandered for a bit longer and then caught the boat home.

We ended up taking a different boat than we had planned but we actually preferred it! It took us back to Venice via Murano so it was a more beautiful ride and much quicker (it took about forty minutes). It was still lovely to be on the boat and to be able to just talk for such an extended period of time. We didn’t have to change boats, which was nice, and this boat dropped us off on a different side of Venice than we had started from. We knew the general direction in which we needed to go but nothing really more than that, which was a lot of fun because we just wandered through random streets and alleys, eventually stumbling upon the old arsenal, which is just beautiful. From there, we walked along the water, taking everything in before we had to leave in a couple of hours. Around three, we decided to head back, walking along the water all the way from the point to San Marco. In the piazza, we got some gelato and then headed back to the hotel. We took the little gondola across and got back well before 4:00. We got our luggage out of the holding room and went to meet our group. At 4:00, our group got back on our private boat, which took us to our bus, which brought us home to Florence a little before 8:00. Franzi and I took the bus home, unpacked and we had dinner a little later, around 8:30. We started out with shell pasta with tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes and mushrooms that was very yummy. For our main course we had omelets (I am really beginning to like omelets!) and, for dessert, we had a jam tart that was lovely, as well. We were all very tired from the weekend so dinner was not as long as it usually is.

After dinner, I typed out all of my blogs from the weekend, which took a little while but I didn’t want to go to bed right after I had eaten a big meal. As I write these last few sentences, however, I am finding it a little difficult to keep my eyes open. I am going to post these blog entries so you can start tackling the process of reading through all of them and then going to straight to bed; I am exhausted. I will post some photos tomorrow when I have the school’s faster Internet because I will fall asleep at the computer if I have to wait for everything to upload tonight. Look for photos sometime tomorrow! Tomorrow marks our first day of the rest of our classes, wish me luck! I am working 10-12:00 for work-study, have an hour and a half for lunch, have Italian from 1:30-2:45 and Dante from 3-4:30 tomorrow. I am really excited to start classes and to have things pick up a little bit and come more regular! But, for now, I must get to bed.

All my love,

Kari

September 24, 2011

September 24, 2011

Today, I woke up at 8:00 after a wonderful night’s sleep. We went downstairs to find a delicious breakfast with yogurt and granola, DELICIOUS croissants and jam, meats and cheeses, fresh fruit, juice…so much more than we usually get for breakfast! After breakfast, I decided to go on the optional mini walking tour with Jodie. It really turned out to be a wonderful choice as only six of us decided to do it—it was wonderful to travel around with such a small group, and such a good group. We began by walking to the church of San Zachariah, which was a beautiful old church with incredible artwork, including a famous divine conversation painting by Bellini; a very stunning little church that was not overrun by tourists! From there, we went to a confraternity that was home to some very famous artwork by Carpaccio. It was really a wonderful morning of some incredible art. We all took the little gondola for 50 cents that crosses the Grand Canal from San Marco to our hotel. On our short walk back to the hotel, we noticed another huge cruise ship sailing by…I cannot tell you how surreal it is to see such huge ships driving though such small channels in Venice, they just dwarf these huge churches!

At 11:40, we met up as a group to walk to the train station to head to Padua for the afternoon. We grabbed lunch at the train station and headed out around 1:00 on the train. Our reason for visiting was to see the Scrovegni Chapel. It looks so little and mundane from the outside but the frescos in this chapel are absolutely breathtaking between the juxtapositions, colors and different storylines—I actually got goosebumps. After our time there, we caught a train home at 4:30 and arrive back in Venice about 40 minutes later where we were free until dinner.

Erin and I stuck together and decided to follow the signs to San Marco rather than use our maps, which turned out to be a lot of fun. It brought us past the Rialto Bridge and a few other places we had not yet visited. We got to San Marco in a while and did some shopping. After a while, we headed back to the hotel for another wonderful dinner. This evening, we started out with some very wonderful pesto pasta. For our second dish, the others had fish while I had a really yummy omelet and we finished off the evening with a kind of yellow cake with chocolate chips in it that was very good. We also had white wine with our meal that was really quite wonderful—I had a small glass and loved it! It was also a dinner of wonderful conversation—I sat with Alex, Katie and Erin and we had a really great time together.

After dinner, Erin and I decided to go on a walk because it was still pretty early (dinner was at 8:00 tonight.) We walked across the bridge and meandered to San Marco, enjoying the beautiful lights in the piazza and the lights on the water along the way. We ran into a few family parties going on that were so beautiful and looked like so much fun! We decided to sit down by the water and talk after wandering for a while. All of a sudden, we saw a flash and heard a boom across the channel from us. Before we knew it, there was a spectacular fireworks show right across the channel, over a beautiful church and we were in the best seats in the house! It was such a fairy-tale-like moment! When the fireworks were over, we walked back to the hotel and I went to bed. 

September 23, 2011

September 23, 2011

This morning, Franzi and I woke up at 6:00 and caught the bus a little before 7:00. Our entire group left for Venice at 7:30 on a private coach. We drove for about two hours before we stopped at an Autogrill (basically rest stops plus a restaurant-we stopped at them all the time when we were in Italy on choir tour) to go to the bathroom. We drove the last hour and arrived in Venice around 11:00. We got off the bus and walked over to our private boat that was taking us to Murano, an island across from Venice, known for their blown glass. Being on a boat and on the water was really refreshing for me; I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it! Feeling the spray of the water, the sunshine glimmering on the water and the wind in my hair—I was really on vacation! On the boat, we ate the bag lunches that our host families had packed for us. It took us about half an hour to get to Murano via the boat. It dropped us off right in front of the glass blowing factory we were visiting as a group. We had a glass blowing demonstration, which was very cool and then we could look around the showroom and explore Murano for about another hour. I bought some glass and explored Murano and all of the cute shops with some friends and, after an hour, headed to the lighthouse where we were meeting our boat. From Murano, our boat took us right to our hotel, Hotel Messner. We checked into our rooms and got to kind of get situated. I am in a room with Franzi, Becca and Nikki. The room has one set of bunk beds and two twin beds right next to each other. It was not a bad hotel at all! We all really liked it.

After getting settled, our group walked together to Palazzo Ducale, the living quarters for the Doge and the center for government. It was very interesting and the artwork incorporated into that building is simply incredible. We toured the palazzo for about an hour and a half and then had a little free time before we needed to meet up again. I wandered around with Katie and Leah. We wandered through the back streets, window shopping and got some gelato. We also went down to the water and sat for a while, taking it all in. We met up with the group again around 7:15 where we joined together with a group from Duke, University of Michigan and Wisconsin to rent out the Basilica of San Marco. While we were waiting, the piazza began to light up, as it got darker outside. Before it got too dark, I looked toward the water from the piazza and saw a huge cruise ship, all lit up, passing by, towering over all of the buildings; it was so surreal, but beautiful! A professor from Duke began by telling us a quick history of Venetian government. Once inside, Jodie gave a talk on the art history of the basilica that was very interesting. When we walked into the basilica, all of the lights were off. We sat down in the pews and the organist started playing a twenty-minute concert. As he played, the stunning mosaics on the walls and the ceiling of the basilica were revealed as the lights were slowly raised. It was really an incredible experience. Once the basilica had been revealed and the concert was over, we walked around and Jodie explained more about the different artwork. It was a truly incredible place; he mosaics really were absolutely breathtaking.

After that, we headed back to the Hotel Messner for dinner a little after 9:00. Our first course was cannelloni stuffed with cheese and spinach, which was really delicious (especially since we were so hungry because it was so late…). The second course was chicken and I had a capresi salad and, for dessert, we had some very delicious chocolate cake. After dinner, a few of us took a walk to walk off some of our huge dinner and then we all went straight to bed, for the most part. 

September 22, 2011

September 22, 2011

Guess what?! I got one hundred percent on my Italian midterm! I am so relieved and so happy that it is over. Because of the midterm, we got out about an hour earlier than usual. I ate my lunch with a few other people and then decided to head out on a little adventure through Florence. Today, all of the kids in the drawing class had their orientation but, being one of the few who is not taking that class, I had the entire afternoon free. I started out wandering through the markets, buying a few scarves for gifts. I made my way through the street to Piazza della Signoria and then wandered the streets behind the palace. When I came to Florence on choir tour, we sang on the steps of a church and, until yesterday, I could not figure out which church that was and in which piazza. I showed a photo of us singing there to Jodie and she recognized it as Santa Croce, pretty much the only big place we have not yet been to. I looked on a map yesterday and saw that it was somewhere behind Piazza della Signoria. So, today, I set out to find it. It was not difficult at ALL to find. Plus, on the way, I found so many cute little shops, which made it so much fun. When I came into the piazza, Santa Croce ahead of me, I immediately recognized it. It was kind of a déjà vu moment. Ahead of me were the steps on which we had sung, to my left was the restaurant where Ryan, Joe and I had the best fettuccini alfredo in the world, also on the left, but further down, the leather shop where I bought my purse…it was really fun to relive all of that. And, this time, in the sunshine! I explored around that area for a while and then wandered down another street that lead to the river. I crossed the river and could see all the way to the mountains on one side and Ponte Vecchio on the other. Once I had crossed the bridge, I walked toward Ponte Vecchio along the river. I window-shopped and wandered down some of the back streets, full of little shops, where there were not as many tourists. I started getting pretty warm so I started heading back toward school, stopping in a few more shops and stores along the way.

I got back to the school around 3:30, checked my email and then went to catch the bus home. When I got to the bus stop near Gelatteria de Medici, I had a sudden craving for gelato so got off. I got a little cup of crema de Medici and walked the last ten minutes home. As I was walking home, all of the school kids were on their way home in their little uniforms! When I got home, Massimo and Marco were there! However, it was late enough that Marco was just going down for his nap so I didn’t get to play with him much today. And Massimo fell asleep while watching cartoons. Apparently it was an exhausting day! Instead I finished my Italian homework for Monday as well as my homework for Dante. I’m putting off packing because I don’t know what I want to pack, so I decided to write my blog instead :) I’d better tackle the packing, though, so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight-I have to be up by 6:00. More later! Wish me luck with packing :P

I finished up my packing without a problem! I have a few things I have to pack in the morning but I am done with everything I can do tonight! Before dinner, I took a shower and did some stretching. For dinner this evening we had a kind of garbanzo bean soup. I don’t know what all was in it but it was very good. For our main dish, Daniella and Franzi had chicken with lemon and I had a veggie burger with the same flavoring. For dessert we had fresh, crisp apples (I miss the apple orchard!) and ice cream bars. Very yummy :)

After dinner, I straightened my hair so it might be easier to deal with in Venice. I’m sure it will find some way to misbehave nonetheless, but I figure it’s worth a shot. Now I’m posting my blog and I’ll be off to bed very soon here. We just got word that the bus actually leaves at 7:30 so we need to be there by 7:15…so a little earlier than we thought but it won’t be too bad. If we go to bed around 10:00, we should get about eight hours of sleep. Plus, we can sleep on the three-hour bus ride to Venice, so I’m not too worried. Remember, I won’t be posting any blogs until Sunday night or Monday! Whatever will you do without a blog post?! Just kidding…I really do appreciate all of you who do read this though :) Okay, I must stop rambling and get this posted so I can get some sleep.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kari

Ponte Vecchio 

Santa Croce 

September 21, 2011

September 21, 2011

We spent Italian class today reviewing for our Italian midterm tomorrow. There is a lot that we have learned over the past four weeks so it is going to cover a lot of different things but I am pretty confident about it at this point so hopefully it will go well! After class, I ate my lunch and went, again, to the market and the surrounding areas with a few others where they go their lunches (I was content with my home lunch today). It was warmer today, in the mid eighties, but at least not the nineties as it had been. Hopefully it will only cool down from here. After a while, we came back to school and just hung out and used the Internet until our Venice orientation meeting at 3:00.

Our Venice orientation definitely made me excited for this weekend, although I am sure it will be a whirlwind. We leave Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. on a private coach that will take about three hours to get there (thankfully we can sleep on the bus). When we get there, we take a private boat to Murano, known for its glass blowing (I am foreseeing this as a highlight for me). After about an hour there, we get back on our boat, which will take us to our hotel. We’ll have about an hour in our hotel to get settled before we head back out into Venice. We were allowed to pick our roommates for the hotel so I am rooming with Franzi as well as Nikki and Becca, another roommate pair who were both in Cinque Terre with me (see photo of a bunch of us in Cinque Terre). I think it will be a fun little group. After we get settled, we are headed out to do some sightseeing and tours in Venice (I’ll elaborate more later- in the blogs for the days when we actually go there).  Then we have a few hours in the late afternoon to explore Venice on our own. At 7:30, ACM along with study abroad programs from University of Michigan, Duke and Wisconsin have come together to actually RENT the basilica. While we are there, they have hired the organist to play classical music and Jodie will talk about the art history of the basilica and a professor from Duke will talk about the politics of Venice over history (I think…I don’t quite remember). We will be there for a little over an hour and then we’ll head back to the hotel where we’ll have a late dinner at 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, we have the morning off unless we choose to take a walk with Jodie to some of the churches around Venice. A little before one, we will meet the professors to take the train to the cathedral in Padua. We’ll be there for the afternoon and arrive back in Venice around 5:30 where we’ll have free time until dinner at 8:00. Sunday morning at 9:30, we go to the Academia for a couple hours with Jodie and then are free until we leave to go back to Florence around 4:00. We’ll return home in time for dinner that night. Like I said, it will be a whirlwind, but hopefully a lot of fun! Also, a quick note: I am not bringing my computer to Venice so I will bring a journal and try to write down my blog entries each night. I will post all of them when I get home either on Sunday evening or Monday. So don’t worry when there are no posts Friday, Saturday, and maybe Sunday!

After orientation, it was about 4:30 so I decided to head home. I brought my computer out onto the balcony to send a quick email and download a reading for one of my classes. Right before I signed off, I got a surprise call from my friends at St. Olaf, Sofia and Rachel who were calling from the green room (aka the theatre student hang out room)! I was SO excited because I got to see so many of my theatre friends at St. Olaf and even Karen, my professor :) It was such a wonderful surprise and so exciting to see all of their faces! Every time someone new walked into the room, everyone would yell to come over to the computer and see who was there. It really brought a smile to my face :) I really have the most wonderful friends. Speaking of which, I got a lovely letter from my friend Rachel today so a shout out and a thank you to her!

Now I thought I would write up my blog entry before I start studying for my Italian midterm. I’d better go to that now and write more after dinner. Wish me luck!

I studied for my Italian midterm and did a little more homework for my other classes so I feel fairly accomplished. I will do a little more before bed but I’m not too worried. We’re spending the first hour and a half of class tomorrow studying, taking our break and then taking the test after the break. So we’ll have plenty of time to review in class. As I was finishing up my studying, I could barely concentrate because dinner smelled so wonderful! We started off with penne pasta with ricotta cheese, zucchini and fresh basil that was to die for! I definitely had seconds on that. For our main dish, we had a spinach and cheese quiche that was also incredible. We ended off the meal with ice cream cake and dessert wine (that I had a small glass of-it was okay). We spoke a lot about colleges in the United States at dinner, which was a very interesting conversation. You would think they would know all about it after hosting so many students but they were so fascinated by everything we said. They thought Knox and St. Olaf were huge schools…then we told them about Madison and the like…they were dumbfounded.

Well, I have a bit of a headache so I’d best get this posted, study for a little bit longer and get myself to bed. Oh, but two more fun little tidbits! First of all, my friend from Minnetonka Theatre and high school, Simon, is studying abroad in London this semester so we decided to hang out one night while I am there over fall break. Today, he got us tickets to see Phantom of the Opera so I am VERY excited for that! Also, I made reservations for myself and four friends from the program to go on a biking tour of the Tuscan countryside next Saturday. It’s a thirteen-mile bike ride through Chianti and includes a trip to a castle/vineyard where there will be a wine and olive oil tasting followed by a homemade, huge lunch. We also stop for gelato along the way. A bus will pick us up in Florence at 10:00 a.m., we’ll go on the tour and then the bus brings us back to Florence by 5:00 p.m. We’re all very excited to go! Okay, now I must sign off for the evening.

All my love,

Kari

September 20, 2011

September 20, 2011

This morning was pretty dreary. As we walked to the bus stop it was drizzling and it was fairly chilly outside. During the first half of Italian today, we reviewed for and took quiz #4. There was some confusion as to the subject matter of the quiz (for some reason, our quiz was on a different topic than the other two classes) but it was still not difficult at all and I got all of the answers correct. For the second half of class, we started off playing charades and guessing games in Italian, which were a lot of fun and tested a lot of the adjectives and vocabulary we had been learning. After that, we reviewed for our midterm, which is this coming Thursday. Can you believe we have a midterm already? I think that’s just crazy!

After class, I had my bag lunch and then went to explore the market for fun with some friends. We got a few pastries and fruits to try and they were delicious. It’s so much fun just to walk around the market and see what you can find. And, of course, try new, delicious foods. After that, I went back to school for about an hour to use the Internet. My Dad found out the other day that you could make a Shutterfly share site to share photos with friends and family. I decided to follow in his footsteps and make an Italy photo share site for two reasons. First of all, it takes a long time to upload just one photo to my blog so I can’t post as many photos as I would like to. Also, when I get home in December, I am going to make a big Shutterfly book with photos from my whole trip. Because I know this will be a VERY daunting task, I am doing my best to stay on top of things now so it won’t be as difficult. Every week or so, I am going to go through my photos and choose my favorites for the book and put them in a folder. Then, every few weeks when I am at school I will upload those photos to Shutterfly. That way, by the time I get home, I won’t have to choose and upload all of the photos I want in my book all at once. So basically, it’s saving me time later and sharing more photos with all of you if you want to see more :) Here is the link if you are interested: http://kariinitaly.shutterfly.com/ I Skyped briefly with my Mom and then caught the bus home around 3:15.

When I got home I decided to tackle my homework for my classes that begin next week. I started with Dante, thinking it would be the most difficult to read. We only had to read the first two cantos of Inferno but I was still daunted by the idea of it. However, once I started reading it, I took an immediate liking to it. Because no one else was home, I read it out loud, which made the poem much more understandable. I really really enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to reading all of the Divine Comedy. I was very pleasantly surprised by it; hopefully that feeling will continue throughout all three sections! After tackling Dante, I moved on to my reading for Weaving the Tale. Our first assignment is The Castle of Crossed Destinies, which I did not know anything about. However, prior to reading the book, we were instructed to read an essay online about the history of tarot cards. I read that first, which was very interesting and understood more of what the story was going to be about. In fact, the book is more a reading of tarot cards than actual text. The tarot cards are on the outside of the page and the textual analysis is inside. It was a very intriguing tale and the illustrations of the tarot cards made for a very interesting read. The book also contains one more story in similar fashion, which is our next assignment so I look forward to that!

Now that I have tackled a fair amount of my homework, I decided to take a little break to write my blog. Franzi and I are also going to do some laundry tonight. We aren’t supposed to do it until after 7:00 because it’s not as expensive so we can start it pretty soon here. I’m not as hungry as I usually am at this time of day but will definitely be in an hour when it’s time for dinner. When I came home today, Daniella was on her way out but before she left, she gave me a chocolate-ice cream Popsicle just because. I was lamenting the fact that I had not gotten gelato today but had not wanted to get in the habit of having it every day or I would run out of money! It was the perfect treat and so sweet of her :) Well, the clock just chimed 7:00 so I’d better go start some laundry. More after dinner!

We had gnocchi for dinner again! This time we had it with fresh tomato sauce and Parmesan and it was just delightful. I love gnocchi :) For our main course, the others had beans and tuna fish while I had beans in olive oil and bread and cheese. Beans in olive oil are really quite delicious…I’ll have to continue that tradition upon returning home. It’s so simple but so good. For dessert, we had fruit salad, which is quickly turning into one of my favorite desserts. Here I was so worried about getting lots of fruit while I was in Italy; I obviously did not need to be worried in the least! After dinner, Daniella told us that she was going to show us her studio. I had seen it from the balcony but had never been down there. When we went down the stairs, we found a little guesthouse, almost, and a patio, as well as a pretty big backyard, as far as Florence goes! They have a lot of space out back. Once we entered into her studio, I immediately fell in love with it. It is all one room but is sectioned off with a curtain separating a kind of living room with a couch from the studio. There is a small spiral staircase that leads up to a loft that has a bed in it. She said that Mattheo (their son) lived out there when he was living at home. Talk about every teenager’s dream! Different paintings she has done line the walls and each one of them is stunning. My favorites are one of her mother when she was a young woman and one of Massimo a few years ago. She really is an incredible artist.

When we came back up from the studio, we hung our laundry up to dry. Now I am going to do a little bit more of my homework for next week and then go to bed. Tomorrow we have our Venice orientation, which I am excited for because, as of yet, we don’t really know what we are doing. I’ll be able to update you more on that tomorrow! I hope all is well with each and every one of you and I send to you all my love!

Buona Notte,

Kari

My Italian teacher, Umberto :)

Daniella's Art Studio

September 19, 2011

September 19, 2011

I fell asleep last night to the sound of the rain against the window and the distant thunder, sleeping soundly through the night. I woke up this morning to much cooler weather, although it’s not supposed to really last. To take full advantage of the one day it would be cooler, I wore jeans, leather boots, and a three-quarter-length shirt. I figured that, even if it got warmer throughout the day, I would pretend it felt like fall. Luckily for me, it ended up being quite cool all morning and I was very happy to be in long pants and to have sleeves. During the afternoon it was sunny and warmer for a little bit but, by the time I caught the bus home, it was cooler and looked like it would rain again. So, finally, some signs of fall!

This morning in Italian we reviewed for the quiz tomorrow and did a lot of dialogue, which is my favorite. We did role-plays of ordering in a restaurant and buying tickets for a train. They are so relevant to our lives in Italy and things we will actually use right away and things we need to know! While we were in class, it started pouring rain, then thundering and lightening, and then even hailing! It was a pretty crazy storm but cool to watch from inside the classroom. Because it was storming, we also learned storm vocabulary!

After class, I ate my sandwich and responded to a few emails. Because we had yet to go grocery shopping for the week, I only had a sandwich today so, after a bit, I went to the central market (the place with all of the fresh fruit and fresh everything) and got some fruit and freshly baked strawberry muffins that were delicious! When I came back to Linguaviva, I checked my mail and found a letter from Aunt Julie! Thank you so much for the card; I love getting mail! Also, thank you for the reminder to stretch on the back of the envelope :) I appreciate it!

At 2:00, I had the informational meeting for my Dante class. It is exciting to finally be thinking about our classes outside of Italian. The idea of reading all of Dante’s Divine Comedy is definitely daunting but I am very excited for it nonetheless. The assignments for the class seem like they will definitely require a lot of work and effort but they look enjoyable and interesting as well! My professor for the class is a professor from Cornell College in Iowa and the students on the trip from Cornell say she is a really wonderful teacher and a favorite on campus. I’m glad I am taking both of her classes! She definitely seems to know and love the material she is teaching, which is great. The class has fifteen people in it (the maximum for an ACM class) so it’s a little crazy but I think it will be a very interesting class (in a good way, of course!)

At 3:00, I had the informational meeting for my Weaving the Tale class. In the class, we look at both art and literature narratives about Florence. For whatever reason, this class only has seven students, which I LOVE. Since most of the students on this trip are artists, I think the reading component is a little more daunting. Besides, most of them are taking the drawing class, which I (with my zero ability to do any type of visual art) am not. We will be reading The Decameron along with a few other pieces of literature that all look like they will be very enjoyable. We will also, of course, be looking at narratives in works of art, which will be more difficult for me but definitely interesting nonetheless. I guess I’ll learn with all of the art components within this program! The Cornell professor, Katy, also teaches this class. Another thing I love about Katy is that all of her assignments for both classes are creative projects, analytical papers and oral presentations rather than the classic “exam.” They are also very discussion based, which is definitely something I love.  It was a little overwhelming to get both syllabi at once and see all of the reading and projects to be done over the next few months. However, it was also very exciting and I am definitely ready to get started with everything! It’s definitely a manageable workload and won’t completely overwhelm me and stress me out. However, I say that now and they could overwhelm me at times…for the most part, they should not be too bad :)

After the informational sessions, I went to the store that sells notebooks and writing utensils and such. I needed a nicer notebook for one of our assignments for my Dante class (for every class period, we pick a passage from our assigned reading for the day from The Divine Comedy, write it out and then make or find a visual representation of what it means to us), a few smaller notebooks for note taking in my classes and on sight, and some colored pencils for my Dante project (in case I actually want to try my hand at something artistic). After that, I went to the grocery store right by Linguaviva to get a few groceries for the week. Because we leave for Venice on Friday morning and it is already Monday, I just needed a loaf of bread, some fruit and some yogurt. I got what I needed and then caught the bus home. While I was waiting for the bus, I could see lightening and dark clouds coming toward where I was. Thankfully, the bus came right before the rain started and, when I got home, the rain hadn’t started yet so I didn’t get rained on.

When I got home, I put my groceries in the fridge and put away my purchases from the writing/art store. As I was doing my Italian homework, I came across another example in my workbook with “Dirk” in it. It’s so funny because most of the names used in the book are very Italian and then, every once in a while, Dirk pops up. It made me smile :) Dad, you should really come to Italy; your name is everywhere! After I finished my homework, I made myself a study sheet for my quiz tomorrow and studied for a bit. I needed a break so I decided to write my blog for the day. It has stopped raining but it is still very dark and cloudy. Every once in a while, you can hear thunder in the distance. I hope it storms again tonight! Well, in the hour before dinner I think I might start reading for one of my three classes for next week. I realized that I need to do it before we go to Venice because I’m not going to want to do it there! More after dinner, as usual :)

Brrr I am sitting outside on the balcony in jeans, a long sleeve shirt and my fleece jacket and I’m still cold! What is this?! Oh well, I’m not complaining :) For dinner, we started out with fettuccini noodles with butter and cheese (a creamy kind of cheese, not parmesan sprinkled on top). That was very yummy and perfect for a chilly fall night. For our main dish, we had lentils and a kind of baked/breaded pastry with spinach and lots of cheese that was delicious as well. We finished off with fruit salad, my favorite :) I love how you can tell the season through the fruits in our fruit salad. Daniella likes to cook with fruits and vegetables only that are in season. That also means she gets them fresh from the market. It’s fun to try new things as they come in and out of season! And we definitely get a taste of Italy through her cooking.

Tonight I supposed I’d better study a little more for my quiz tomorrow and then I’ll probably either do some more reading for one of my other classes or do some coloring with my new colored pencils. I may not be any good at drawing but I still love to color :) Then I’ll probably get to bed fairly early, as usual. It’s so nice to be well-rested…imagine that!

Buona Notte!

Kari

September 18, 2011-Thunderstorms

September 18, 2011

I woke up this morning around 9:30, getting another ten hours of sleep! It sure feels nice to be able to sleep in and not have to wake up to an alarm clock. I had my breakfast on the balcony because it was sunny and beautiful outside-not too hot yet! At about 10:30, Franzi and I walked to the supermarket to get this week’s groceries. However, once we got there, we found out that it is only open on the last Sunday of the month, not every Sunday. Oh well, we got a nice walk out of the deal. By the time we got back home, it was pretty hot and humid out. I finished up my Italian homework and did some reading for my Medici class that starts not this week but next week. Then I read for a little while and made myself a little lunch. After a while, I sent some emails and looked into trains for fall break and a few other weekends to check times and prices. Then, although it was cloudy and kind of looked like it was going to rain, I headed across the street to the park and brought my computer, hoping for a better Internet connection than I have at home. Right as I was leaving, Daniella said that it was just about to rain but I headed out anyway. It FINALLY felt a little like fall today. I write this as I am sitting in the park, at a picnic bench, under some pine trees and a tree that has changed color! It smells lovely and it smells like fall. It’s been forty-five minutes without rain but I think I am finally feeling the first raindrops. I guess I’d better head home before it starts pouring down on me. I love the sound of the wind rustling the leaves and the leaves tripping across the path through the park. Gosh I love fall :) Okay, more later when I am inside and dry!

I got home just as the rain really started to fall; the thunder started to rumble and the gale force winds hit. The wind is just crazy. Florence seems so different in this kind of weather…but I guess I’ll get used to it because apparently it rains every day in November. I kind of like it though; at least right now. It feels so cozy to be inside, listening to it approach but being safe inside. I guess that feeling might change when I actually have to be out in the wind and rain for a class. Ooo the storm is getting stronger now and I can feel the cool air coming in. I am going to watch a little bit of Italian TV with my host parents…it’s in black and white and looks like an old Italian movie. Very fun :) I’ll write more after the movie and then after dinner!

 Although I did not understand most of the movie, it was still fun to watch. It was so cozy to be watching a movie and listening to the rain and thunder outside. I didn’t know that it thunderstormed here but I am glad it does! I hope to watch more movies and TV with my host parents over the next few months because I think it will also train my ear to the speed at which the language is actually spoken. I can understand fairly well when someone speaks slowly and repeats themselves but actual everyday conversation is very hard to understand. So I can be studying Italian and spending some quality family time as well. Now that the rain is pretty much over, it’s really chilly in the house, which feels wonderful! I already have jeans on and I might actually have to put on my sweatshirt instead of this cardigan!

I am in a sweatshirt, jeans, socks and slippers and I am STILL cold. It felt good at first but it’s making me a little nervous for winter here…if I need to bundle up this much for the fifties, what is it going to be like when it actually gets cold? Oh well, that’s what layers are for. It IS a nice break from the heat but I am quite cold right now :P

Dinner was delicious, especially after having such a little bit of lunch. It was just the two of us and Daniella because Andrea was out. We started with penne pasta with tomato, basil sauce that really warmed me up. We also had bread and salad with both the first and second dish. For our main dish, we had omelets with zucchini, which were also piping hot and perfect for a chilly day. For dessert, Daniella had made delicious chocolate pudding that melted in your mouth and I enjoyed VERY much :) Then we finished off with fresh pears. The perfect dinner for a chilly Sunday.

Now I am cuddled up in bed, finishing up this blog post and then I’ll probably be going to bed early again tonight so I’m well rested for the week and Venice this next weekend. I am very excited for Venice, by the way! We leave on Friday morning so this week will fly by, I am sure. Well, I’d better wrap this up so it doesn’t come out as long as yesterday’s post. I hope everyone is staying warm (if it’s still cold) or staying cool (if it’s warming up). Either way, enjoy the first signs of fall! It’s my favorite season :) I have a little pumpkin spice candle by my bed from Bath and Body Works that I can smell every night as I fall asleep. Remember to enjoy the little joys of fall for me :)

All my love,

Kari

P.S. As I am posting this, another thunderstorm is arriving. You can hear the thunder rumbling in the distance and the lightening…it’s beautiful. I love Florence thunderstorms. 

Verona Photos!

The Dirk store!

Me on Juliet's Balcony :)

The river, the cathedral and Verona

In front of the Verona Arena

The draw-bridge of the castle!

Juliet and Me

Franzi and me at Juliet's house

On the bridge behind the castle

xoxo Kari

September 17, 2011- Two Gentlewomen of Verona

September 17, 2011—Two Gentlewomen of Verona

This morning we woke up at 5:30 a.m. to head to Verona. Thankfully, the buses run early so we didn’t have to walk to the train station at 6:00 a.m. We got the 6:13 bus, the starts and the moon were still out, and it was FREEZING cold outside. When it’s ninety-five during the day, how is that possible?! We got on the bus and, of course, no one was on it. We were surprised when even three more people did get on. We got to the station, got on our train, and left promptly at 7:00. The train was a pretty nice one because, after we got off in Bologna, it was heading to France. The trip to Bologna took only 35 minutes; we got off there, and found our next platform. We waited there for a while until we realized that there really was no one else at the platform and no train. Apparently, we were not at platform six but six for some other kind of train. Thankfully we still had plenty of time and made our train without any trouble. Then we were on our way! The train drove though the beautiful countryside and, in an hour, at 9:30 a.m., we arrived in Verona. We left the station, without a map in hand or any idea which way to take to get to the heart of Verona where everything was. We began wandering one way, following a couple with a Verona guidebook. After a little bit, they realized they were going the wrong way and turned around; we followed. In the end, Franzi and I found the way and had a line of tourists following us! We wandered down the main street and, before we knew it, found ourselves in the heart of Verona.

We first came to the big piazza with the arena that sort of resembles the Colloseum. They often have concerts there and I am sure it is a very cool venue. We wandered through the park in the piazza and then headed down the main, pedestrian-only walkway. The first stretch is all high-end shops and designer stores. THERE WAS A DIRK STORE!!! Mom, Dad and Sonja, your names keep popping up all over the place! Anyway, amongst all the designer stores, there was a Disney Store! Kristin, I am really getting close to my goal of visiting all of the European Disney Stores ;) London, Paris, Florence, Verona…and was there one in Edinburgh? Anyway, I’m doing the Disney European Tour! We continued down that main drag and eventually go to another big piazza. There was a big market in the middle and beautiful, bright buildings surrounding it. We then wandered down another street and found a sort of art fair where Franzi bought a beautiful leather journal. Our wanderings led us to find Romeo’s house (not really on the maps), some fun, bright buildings and, eventually, the river. The view from the bridge (hey, that’s the title of a play! :P) was incredible. Verona is so beautiful! On the other side of the river, we found the Roman Theatre ruins which were built into the hillside and beautiful. While we were on the other side of the river, we saw a few couples that looked like they were going to a wedding. Sure enough, when we went to see Verona’s cathedral, there was a wedding going on. It was funny that we were allowed in while it was going on but I am glad we were because it was lovely.

After the cathedral, we decided to find Juliet’s house. We didn’t have much trouble finding it because we just followed all the tour groups. It was so busy but still very cool. It was definitely cool for two theatre girls :) We took our photo with the Juliet statue and then I decided I wanted to pay to go in the museum and go on the balcony. Franzi stayed outside to take my picture. I got a student discount so it was not expensive at all. In the museum, you got to kind of tour the home, which is filled with paintings across the years of Romeo and Juliet. Then you can go out on the balcony and Franzi took my picture! Then it leads you through the rest of the home. One room features the bed, costumes and costume sketches from the 1968 movie version of Romeo and Juliet-the version we watched in high school (Sonja, it’s the one in which Romeo looks like Zac Efron)! In another room, you could write an email to Juliet asking for love advice, which I, of course, did. I look forward to my email back :) I was very glad I went through the house because it was very exciting for me as an actress :) After the museum, I met back up with Franzi and we wandered back toward the cathedral.

At this point it was about 1:00 so we found a cute and cheap little restaurant by the cathedral and had some lunch. We both had tortellini stuffed with spinach and ricotta, which was absolutely delicious! We also sat right by the open window/door so enjoyed some good people watching. After lunch, we wandered down a different street, leading us, once more, to the river. We saw a cool castle further up the river so walked along the river until we reached it. It was a very cool castle up close as well and we could explore it for free (you had to pay if you wanted to go in the museum). It even had a drawbridge! The castle also had a grand bridge over the river that was lovely. We explored the castle and it’s surroundings and then headed back to the main piazza to find a place to rest our feet.

We ended up coming across some street performers who were performing as part of a festival going on this weekend in Verona. We sat down and watched them—they were incredible acrobats and performed tricks I did not know were humanly possible. A very cool bit of culture to come across. There was a huge crowd, as well! After watching them, we went and walked around to look at the old city walls and walk around the arena. When we came back from that, another performance of the festival was beginning, so we found a spot and watched the flag twirling/throwing men and listened to the drums and trumpets behind them. Apparently, this flag sport is very popular in Italy among men…it’s a male sport; very cool and athletic. After that performance, it was almost time to head back to the train station so we got some gelato. I got crema and baccio (which translates to “kiss”), which is chocolate and hazelnut. It was absolutely delicious. Once we’d finished our gelato, we headed back to the train station.

We made it back no problem and found our train. We’re on a fast train home so it passes all of the little town stations and only makes stops in Bologna and Florence before heading to Rome. When we bought our tickets a couple days ago, for some reason, the cheapest tickets for the train were for first class (and they were pretty cheap, as far as trains go). We got into our first class car and kind of freaked out. The seats are big and comfy, there is so much space, the seats recline, we get free magazines…we were excited :) The car is also air-conditioned, while the other cars are not. Once the train started moving, we found out that first class also gets free drinks and snacks like on an airplane so we got orange sparkling drink and peanuts! That was another thing we got a little over-excited about :) The train ride went quickly because I worked on my blog (which is now nine pages long in my journal…sorry) and listened to my iPod. We arrived back in Florence around 8:40. We were at a different train station than usual, not the central one, and we didn’t really know how we were going to get home. Amazingly enough, the only bus that runs from the station happened to go in the direction of our house and have a stop close enough to our house that we could walk the rest of the way! We were home before 9:30! Now we’re just laying low and will probably go to bed soon, although I am going to post this first. We both took a LOT of pictures today so that’s a lot to sort through, as well. But I can do that tomorrow, too. For now, I’d better wrap this up; it’s gotten pretty long. I am so sorry! If you couldn’t tell, we had a WONDERFUL day in Verona! But now it’s time to get some sleep. Goodnight!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. For those of you who have seen Letters to Juliet, no, it is not really like that. Most of the letters are just graffiti with a few notes stuck to the walls. That beautiful wall with all of the letters tucked inside the stones, sadly, does not exist. However, there are a few post boxes in which you can send your letters to Juliet. Yes, both Franzi and I wrote letter to Juliet and brought them with to Verona. And YES, we did actually put them in the mailbox to be sent to Juliet :)

P.S. I will post photos in a different post

September 16, 2011

September 16, 2011

Italian class today was SO much fun! First of all, I got an email the other day from Shutterfly with an offer for a free photobook. Of COURSE, I couldn’t pass it up so I tried to upload photos to the site at home, with the Internet from the Internet key. Of COURSE, the Internet was too slow and it took about an hour to upload just one photo (I had 225 that I wanted to upload) so I figured it was a lost cause and I would just have to give it up. However, I brought my computer to school today and decided I might as well try it out. I started the upload and it started uploading as fast or faster than they normally do at home so I was very excited! I made sure it was okay with my Italian teacher for me to leave my computer open on my desk so they could upload during class so I could make the book during break and after class. He was fine with it and they ended up uploading in less than half an hour! Then, over break, I was able to start sorting out which photos I wanted on which pages. The second half of Italian was the fun part! First, we were supposed to give a speech/talk for 3-5 minutes on a topic of our choosing. We were supposed to use past, present and future tenses and lots of adjectives. We were only allowed to have a few notes, not write out the whole thing. My talk was about Sonja and, because I had my computer, I even prepared a mini slideshow with photos of the two of us :) I am such a dork! Don’t be embarrassed, Sonja, the class loved it the most of all of them! And I mostly used photos of us from when we were little. It was a HIT! After our speeches, Umberto put in the movie Mr. Bean (which I remember watching in middle school) and we watched a segment. After the ten-minute segment, we learned verbs, nouns and adjectives that pertained to what happened in the scene. It was actually a lot of fun and a good way to learn new vocabulary. Plus, it was a good Friday activity.

After class, I had lunch in our classroom and worked more on my Shutterfly book (which, in case you are wondering, was for Summer 2011 photos). I finished it very quickly (I’ve become a pro) and ordered it! I won’t actually get to see it until I get home but it was free and it was just too good of a deal. Besides, I will try and Skype with my family and they can show it to me :) After I finished my book, I went out into the city to hunt down Via Laura (“via” translates to “street”) and take a photo for my mom. It was nice to be outside for a little while even though it was still ridiculously hot. I found it without getting lost (woohoo!), took a photo or two, and wandered back toward school. When I got back, I Skyped with my mom again to tell her my plans for LONDON over fall break! I guess I forgot to mention that Franzi and I have officially booked our flights to go to London! Franzi has never been before and I love so much so it seemed like the best choice. Yes, they do speak English, which was definitely a factor for us. It’s supposed to be a BREAK, right?! :) We are just going for four nights but I think that will be best. Then we also have both weekends to just spend with our host family in Florence and actually sleep in, relax and get some things done. We’re very excited :) I talked for my mom for a bit and then to my dad for a very little bit (he was trying to figure out Skype on his new laptop). It’s nice to be able to stay in contact, at least for me. Here I told all of you I would blog once a month…I guess I blog a little more often than that, huh? ;) I really do love it though!

After a little more time of utilizing the school’s faster Internet and air-conditioning, Franzi and I caught the bus home, stopping at the Gelaterria di Medici for some Crema de Medici, of course. You need to end your week off right and that means with gelato. So, of course, we can’t refuse that! When we got home, I worked on my blog for a little bit and then did some Italian homework before dinner. Our train for Verona leaves tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. sharp so we need to go to bed very early tonight. After dinner, I’m going to post this and go straight to bed. Hopefully that will all work out. Also, we shouldn’t get back really late but, if we do or if I am really tired from waking up so early, I may not post Saturday’s blog until Sunday. Just so you know :) Okay, back to Italian homework. More after dinner, as usual :)

I knew we were having pesto about two hours before dinner, it smelled so wonderful! We began dinner with spaghetti noodles with basil pesto. Because I almost always have seconds on pasta, Andrea just gave me about three servings to start with. I ate it all with pleasure :) For our main dish, had eggplant parmesan, which we’d eaten with Daniella’s friend the second dinner and I LOVED. I was so happy to enjoy it another time and hope to do so again and learn to cook it as well! We also had fennel, a vegetable that smells like black licorice and is supposed to be good for your stomach apparently. If it’s going to keep me healthy in some way or another, I’ll eat it! For dessert we had fresh grapes and wine from Southern Italy from the town in which Daniella and Andrea have their second home or cottage. I had a small glass of it and it had a very strong taste (Dad, I think you would have liked it) but I didn’t mind it too much with the sweet taste of the grapes. Now that dinner is over, I’m finishing up this blog, posting it and it’s off to bed for me!  

BY THE WAY! We were given a sign up sheet this morning asking whether or not we would be interested in free tickets to a concert by Wayne Marshall and the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino featuring music by Gershwin and Bernstein. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity and am VERY excited to attend on September 28!! That’s all :)

Buona Notte a Tutti!

Kari

My adventure to Via Laura-I FOUND IT!