Soak Up The Sun

This weekend, myself and a group of 15 other people went to the lovely Cinque Terre. The name means "Five Lands," and is named so because it consists of five different towns situated on rocky cliffs on the Mediterranean Sea. We took the 6:10 morning train to Riomaggiore, the southernmost town and spent the day and night there. We were anticipating rain the whole weekend, but we got there and it was absolutely gorgeous! We immediately hit the beach; unlike California beaches, the beaches here are small and mainly rocks. However, after being in a city for a few weeks, us California kids weren't even about to complain; we were in Heaven. Unfortunately, we did not get much swimming done due to the massive amounts of jellyfish in the water, but laying out was just fine for me. Later, a few of us rented kayaks and went for a little jaunt around the cliffs.  It was such a perfect experience. The rest of the evening we spent wandering around the town, taking pictures, and doing a bit of fun reading. Then, the rain came. We got caught in a bit of a thunderstorm, and got a little soaked to the bone.

The next day we were catching a train from the northernmost town in the evening, to get home. One of the ways to get from town to town is to hike, and we were eager to take up that option. We set off on the first hike, known as the Via dell'Amore, or "Lover's Walk." There is all sorts of graffiti everywhere you look of names of couples and confessions of adoration; it's really quite moving. Also, there are locks all over the gates at the entrance of the walk, and even the fences holding the rocks on the cliffs. Apparently, they resemble a "lock of love" between lovers; a symbol that their love will never be broken.

After the first walk, we hopped on the train to the next town, Corniglia, because the trail was closed due to rain. We took a quick breather and bathroom break and headed on our way to the fourth town, Vernazza. This was the tough hike. Not only were we hiking with our overnight bags, I made the mistake of soaking my Toms (shoes) and had to wear sandals. However, for all of the pain and sweat that went into the hike, the view was well worth it. For the most part we were right along the bluest water that I have ever seen in my life. It was breathtaking.

We finally made it to Vernazza, after meeting a lovely couple from San Diego, and witnessing a real cat fight... literally, cats fighting in a tree. We stopped for some delicious lunch and opted to take the train to the last town, Monterosso, so we could hit the beach as soon as possible. We got there and had the most perfect beach weather imaginable, even though rain had still been in the forecast. This beach was "sandy," meaning smaller rocks, but it was perfect. The water was incredibly warm and the sun was so relaxing. We stayed at the beach for most of the rest of our time there, reading, tanning, and playing in the water. Then, we treated ourselves to some gelato and headed home. All in all, it was such a relaxing weekend, and much needed break from city life. It is great to be home though... amazing how Florence is already feeling like home.

Riomaggiore

View from the beach at Monterosso, complete with awesome Pirates of the Caribbean looking ship

"I'm gonna soak up the sun; gonna tell everyone to lighten up. I'm gonna tell 'em that I've got no one to blame. For every time I feel lame I'm looking up. I'm gonna soak up the sun." Sheryl Crow

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

I've been in Italy for almost two weeks now, so I concluded it was time to write a little about the food. Let's begin with an overall statement: The food is DELICIOUS! I can't go into everything I've eaten, because not only would that be embarrassing, but also boring; however, I will talk about my main highlight as far as food goes.

The program I'm with scheduled for us all to take a cooking class from professional cooks. It was INCREDIBLE! Now, I know you're all thinking, "wait a minute, Molly? Cooking? That doesn't add up". Let me just tell you, I am going to be one master chef when I return to the states. We still have one more cooking class scheduled, as well. At the class we made ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese (completely from scratch), the most delicious eggplant, zucchini, potato, and cheese appetizer, and panna cotta for dessert. Everything was very simple to make, and extremely delicious. Our teacher was a very young, hilarious guy who had his nose pierced so we bonded instantly. He is also studying to translate Italian and French so I got to practice a little of both, which was very fun.  After we made the food we all had a giant feast and ate EVERYTHING. I also may have finished a few people's desserts. I am so excited to recreate our dishes at home.

Side-note: During the course of my time here I have learned that I LOVE eggplant.  I never really tried it before, it always kind of scared me.  But now, I eat eggplant ALL THE TIME.  Honestly, it might even be rivaling the bell pepper for the spot of my favorite vegetable.

"A bottle of red, a bottle of white. It all depends upon your appetite. I'll meet you any time you want in our Italian restaurant." Billy Joel

These Boots Were Made For Walking

Well, I made it through the first week of classes and had a wonderful weekend.  My Art History class is so enjoyable, especially since we get to see so much of the art we're studying firsthand.  It's a whole new experience.  But, by far, my favorite class is Italian.  My teacher is the most adorable Italian woman who does not speak much english and teaches us by doing fun things in class, such as writing our own personal ads and listening to italian music.  It is so much fun, and I feel like I'm learning so much as well.  I try to practice my Italian whenever I go out, at least a little bit.  The other fun thing about our school is that it is right next to the amphitheater where Florence held their games (yes, I'm talking gladiators) back in the day.  Apparently, the basement of the building we have school in was used to house the beasts used in the arena, as well as the gladiators.  Fun bit of history!

Outside of school we have just been enjoying the beautiful city of Firenze.  There is so much to do here and I want to experience all of it.  On Friday we went to Fiesole, a small town up on a hill outside of Florence that has a beautiful view of the city.  The town was built by Etruscans and then taken over by the Romans so there is a lot of beautiful architecture.  We got to tour the remains of a theater, and the Roman baths, which was very interesting.

The view from Fiesole (a bit cloudy so it's somewhat hard to see)

Remains of the Roman baths at Fiesole

I also had the pleasure of attending a traditional Italian Mass at the Duomo, the large church with a huge dome that can be seen in any picture of Florence.  The building itself is breathtaking.  The outside is so intricate, but the magnificence is truly shown when you enter and look up a the inside of the dome.  There is a gorgeous fresco done by Vasari that is so detailed, I could stare at it for hours and still not see everything.  Mass was extremely beautiful.  Of course, I did not always know what was going on, having grown up in the Christian tradition and not Catholic, and also not knowing Italian very well.  However, the few words I could pick up, to understand the gist of what was going on, and the power of such a long standing tradition was so beautiful.  I hope to attend more services at different churches, as well as some in English, so I'll understand a little more.

By far, the best part of my weekend was last night.  We all got to go to the Fiorentina soccer game (the Florence team)! It was such an incredible experience.  It was not like american games where there are replays on a big screen or mascots running around doing silly things, but there was nothing boring about it.  There was a group of Italian guys in front of us with matching shirts who were probably singing during about 90 percent of the game.  Instead of regular cheers like we have in the states, they have full songs that everyone knows.  One person starts and EVERYONE follows, it's incredible.  We did witness a bit of a standoff when the other team scored a goal and their fans, few though they were, offended our fans.  As I wrote to my brother in an email, I felt like I was in the middle of the movie Green Street Hooligans.  Soccer is a whole other world over here, and it is extremely exciting!  Sadly, we did lose the game, but the experience was one that I will never forget.

Some of the girls from the trip and the Italian boys in front of us who sang the whole game!

The fight between our fans and theirs (check out all the security)

Having fun at the game! Their color is purple, I was one happy girl!

We walk EVERYWHERE here! I am not against walking in any way, I like to think that I walk a substantial amount when I'm home.  I probably walk even more when I'm at school because I haven't had a car for the past two years.  However, nothing compares to how much we walk here! Not only do we walk everywhere, almost all of our apartments are flights and flights of stairs up so we are getting quite the workout.  At first, it was very hard; my legs just weren't used to all the walking.  Now, I'm getting a lot more used to it and I absolutely love it.  There's so much to see here, and I would miss so much of it if I weren't walking everywhere.  But, I'm probably going to come home with the legs of a body builder.

My beautiful, new Italian boots :)

"These boots were made for walking, and that's just what they'll do.  One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you." Nancy Sinatra

New Soul

Ciao belli! I have finally made it to the beautiful city of Firenze.  It has been a long and wild ride; I’ve only been here a few days and it feels like weeks have gone by since I’ve been home.  The trip itself was long, but not horrible.  We had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany, where I’m almost positive we had to walk under the runway to get to our gate.  Then, we took a bus onto the runway to board our plane, something I've always dreamed of doing but never have.  At that point I was already sleep happy, so I was about to cry out of happiness of one of my life long dreams coming true; I'm sure it was a sight to watch.  

We finally made it to Florence, stood at the baggage claim crossing our fingers that our bags had all made it (which they had!) and got in our taxis to our new apartments for the next three months!  The taxi ride was a trip in itself; it was a little scary at times (the Italians are crazy drivers), but mainly it was a breathtakingly beautiful tour of the city.  

Two of my lovely roommates and myself after our long journey... extremely jet lagged.

My apartment and roommates are wonderful! The girls are so sweet and we all get along very well; who wouldn't with the palace we get to live in? Ok, palace might be an overstatement, but the apartment is HUGE! We have two bathrooms, a living room, an informal and formal dining room, a kitchen with a table as well, and three bedrooms all for five girls! Granted, the appliances, furniture, and decorations are ancient and have a lot of character, but it's all part of the Italian experience (so we're told)!  

As much as I would love to give a detailed experience of our time, there's no way I possibly can without writing a small book.  We've experienced so much already! So here are some of the highlights (in no particular order):

1. Meeting Pietro, the man who owns the purse shop downstairs.  He is our very attractive Italian friend who is always outside to say Ciao when we walk by.  He looks out for us to; the other day he yelled at his friend for looking at me as I entered the house!
2. Walking around the city and taking in all the beautiful architecture.  Everything is so intricate and beautiful.  I keep joking that Florence is Disneyland for grownups, and it's the complete truth!  Everything is so beautiful here.  There's so much to look at everywhere I go!
3. Wandering the city by night.  There are so many people out and about.  The other night I was walking with Antoinette, one of my roommates, and we stumbled upon a mime doing a street show, sat outside a building where a choir was practicing Gregorian chant music on the second floor and listened, and wandered into a gorgeous little church to sit and pray and take in the beautiful artwork.  The city is so alive here at night!
4. Going out for a night on the town! Yes, I did a little bar hopping the other night, but don't worry I was extremely responsible.  We found a bar that had a concert going on outside and listened for a while, and then moved on to some other cool bars.
5. The Italian men ;) They are on a whole new level.  Before anyone starts thinking I'm talking about their good looks let me stop you.  Yes, there are attractive ones, but I'm talking about the way they flirt.  They are hilarious! If you ever need an ego boost, come to Italia! I had one guy tell me I had a nice hair cut, I mean really? We can't go anywhere without hearing "Ciao bella!" And yes, I have had one Italian man buy me a rose already.  We have dedicated a bulletin board and vase in our apartment to all of the creepy stories and things we receive from the Italian men.  Needless to say, they're A LOT more forward than American men.  
6. THE FOOD! We had our first official Italian meal tonight.  Yes, I've been eating Italian food since I've been here, however a full Italian dinner is quite the experience.  There are many, many courses.  The first is bread, followed by some of the most delicious bruschetta I've ever tasted (sorry Mom and Dad, it even rivals yours).  Then, we move on to the "Primo," which was two different kinds of pasta (and not small portions by any means).  After that is the "Secondi," the meat course.  Ours consisted of chicken and potatoes.  Finally, we had dessert, which was some sort of custard with strawberries in a chocolate cup, covered in chocolate sauce.  And of course, all of this is accompanied by delicious red wine.  Then, to make the experience even more complete, we had a wonderful show of Italian hospitality.  One of the girls at our table was full and didn't want to finish her desert.  Well, the Italian waitresses weren't having any of that!  After trying to get her to eat it time after time, they took it away and brought her something else, thinking she would magically be hungry for it.  To their dismay, she still wasn't hungry!  Thinking she didn't want something fattening, they proceeded to bring out a pineapple boat, which she still didn't eat, but the rest of us did!  They were very disappointed, and we were all stuffed by the end of it!  It was such a wonderful and yet typical experience!
7. Cooking dinner for the first time in our apartment.  We got some pasta, veggies, and a bottle of wine (which I have lovingly named "three euro Nero," instead of the American "two buck Chuck").  It was an interesting experience; let's just say the appliances all have a lot of... character.  Each nob has to be "just so" for it to work correctly.  It was a very long, yet wonderful experience.  We had a lot of fun figuring everything out.
8. Our first grocery shopping experience.  Apparently, here you have to get your produce, weigh it, and print out a sticker with the price BEFORE you go to the checkout line.  Well, we didn't get the memo and stood in line with all of our produce and then had about three different Italians trying to tell us what we did wrong.  It was a little embarrassing, to say the least.

All in all, I'm having a fabulous time, and I wish all of my friends (that means you!) were here to experience this with me.  I'm already having the time of my life!

Until the next time, 

Mollina (this is the name my Italian teacher gave me today; apparently it means "little Molly."  She kept laughing every time she said it- at least it makes her smile)

"I'm a new soul, I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a bit 'bout how to give and take.  But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear, finding myself making every possible mistake." Yael Naim

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I sit on my bed surrounded by half packed suitcases, travel size toiletries, and vacuum sealed bags of clothes wondering what else I need to pack, (crossing my fingers that it will all fit!) and stressing about who else I need to see.  Tomorrow I board a plane directly to Frankfurt, Germany and then continue on to Florence, Italy, where I will be living and studying for the next three months!  I hope to share this experience with you through this blog; I will try to upload pictures and posts as much as possible.

It's been a long time that I've been waiting for this moment, and now that it's here I'm extremely excited; however, I'm being hit with the reality that I won't be seeing so many of my friends and family for what seems like forever.  I will miss each and every one of you dearly, and I would really appreciate your prayers while I am on this trip.  I can already tell it is going to be very challenging, but I have complete faith that God has put me in this place for a reason.  I am ready and excited to see the ways He is going to move in my life and in the lives of those around me in the coming months.

I'm struggling not to think too much about my expectations for my day to day life; what my apartment looks like, who my roommates are, even what walk I will take to school every day.  I know that it will be nothing like what I imagine in my romantically idealistic mind, and I'm hoping it will be even better!  Fortunately, I don't have much longer to wait, and neither do you!

Until then,
Ciao!

"I'm leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again." John Denver