Italian reflections

Well, my 3 months in Italy are up and I'm now off to the UK.  It has been a very full 3 months and I've learned a lot about myself and about other people.  I've made some important decisions about where my life is going and the kind of person I would like to be everyday.  I have successfully learned how to drive and curse in Italian, as well as being able to have conversations and understand everyone (even old people who speak dialect!)!

I know that I will be returning to Italy one day although I'm not sure in what context.  However, I will miss the friendliness of its people, the beauty of its cities, and the deliciousness of its cheese.  And although there are somethings about Italian culture that bother me, I look forward to maybe living here one day.

As far as life decisions, I've decided that IF I go to grad school, it will be for something along the lines of teaching second language.  I have thought hard about what I'm going to do after I graduate and, though my first priority and dream will always be performing, I feel that I would be happy teaching as well.  I enjoyed teaching Luca (most of the time) and though it could be difficult, I enjoyed the challenge and felt extremely proud at his improvement.  To know that I helped this boy make so much progress is an amazing thing for me and I derived a lot of satisfaction from it.  So who knows, maybe I'll be a teacher when I grow up.

I've also learned different things about myself.  I've always tended to be a people pleaser.  I'm lucky in the fact that I'm an adaptable person and I can easily make friends with just about any type of person.  However, I sometimes spread myself a little thin in that I almost always say yes to people without stopping and thinking about the important things that I need to do with myself.  My time here in Italy has taught me that  it's ok to say no sometimes, that it's ok to express my true feelings without giving way to what others need.  I feel that at times, I need to be more forceful about the things that I need to do without having to consult other people.  I have discovered that though I enjoy being there for other people and I like pleasing other people, I also enjoy the strange independent feeling that comes with doing things for myself. Not that I'm not already a pretty independent person (as proven by this whole trip) but I feel like I need to be more so when it comes to other people.   It will be interesting to put this into practice when I get back home... I might lose some friends that tend to be needy and clingy, but in the end, I think I'll meet the kind of people that I need to spend more time with.

Just some thoughts!

ALLOOOOORA:  Ciao bell'Italia!  Mi mancherai ma ci vediamo presto!

Venezia and Sicilia!

My last 2 weekends in Italy were spent in my, now, 2 favorite parts of Italy.  Venice is beautiful and almost magical, with its narrow, winding streets, pretty canals, and laughing gondoleers.  We spent our first and last day just walking around and getting lost in the city.  Though it was a bit drizzly, we had a lot of fun!  We had quite the musical experience here as well!  On our second night, we sat in St. Mark's square, drank wine and were serenaded by a musical quartet!  It was very romantic; very relaxing.  I also caught a local production of La Traviata, which I was really excited about!  I've been wanting to go to an opera while in Italy, and I finally managed it.  Though I didn't like the soprano very well, the tenor was amazing and it was a great way to spend a Venetian evening!

On our second day, the sun came out and we hopped on a boat to see the islands of Burano and Murano.  First off, I've always wanted to go on a boat like that and I was really excited!  Robin thought it was cute :)  We first went to Burano, which has to be one of my favorite little towns!  It's so COLORFUL! It was very quaint and quiet, and we spent our time looking at the lace it's famous for and taking pictures of the colorful houses.

 

Our next stop was Murano, where all the famous Venetian glass comes from.  We went to see a glass-blowing session where the artist made us a horse and a vase.  It was very quick, but very precise.  However the most impressive part of the demonstration was the woman who described the process to us.  She was able to describe the process and answer questions in Italian, English, French, German, and Spanish!  It was incredible!  

I decided to do a lot of my gift shopping in Venice, which was probably stupid as Venice is ridiculously expensive, but it was difficult not to!  The glass, lace, masks, etc.. are beautiful and I found some great gifts!  After my weekend there, Venice is now my favorite city, followed closely by Florence, and I can't wait to go back and explore more!

However, my favorite region of Italy has got to be Sicily.  I was completely blown away by Sicilia!  The island is BREATHTAKING!  I had no idea it would be so beautiful!  The views of the sea were incredible, the flowers were colorful, the people were extremely friendly, and the cous-cous was yummy.  Sicily is part of Italy, but it's culture is so mixed, you end up finding all sorts of things!  We rented a car and drove everywhere around the island.  We saw ruins, incredible natural beauties, like the Turkish Steps, and so many incredible views of the sea!  The towns are small and clean, and in one of them (we drove to so many towns, I never really knew where we were), a very friendly old lady invited us into our home to see the view of the bay from her balcony.

Though we spent most of our time driving around and looking at seaviews, we did end up going to see some ancient sites, including this extremely well-preserved ancient temple:

Our first night in Sicily, we spent at a beautiful hotel that offered all of its guests to eat dinner together.  We had a fun time meeting these Italians and after dinner, went to a wine party with 3 of them.  I spent my time drinking some excellent local wine, flirting with an Italian named Massimo, and giggling sillily with Robin.  The next day, we stayed at the B&B owned by a friend of Robin's host mother and he took all his guests out for a traditional, multi-course, Sicilian-style dinner.  It was delicious but SOOOO big... You couldv'e rolled me home!  Without a doubt, the best part of Sicily besides it's stunning views are its people.  Friendly, warm, loud, and full of life, I can't wait to return!

Friends

Sometimes the best memories come not from the places you go and the sights you see, but from the people you meet along the way.  I have been fortunate here in Italy in meeting some great people; people I hope I will be friends with from now on.

I have spent most of my weekends traveling with a girl named Robin.  Robin is a very intelligent, funny, and generous person who I am EXTREMELY thankful for.  We've had lots of adventures together, most of them involving wine, and without her, I'm sure my stay here would've been lonely and a bit frustrating.  She is an amazing person, very strong and sure of herself, and she makes a great travel buddy.  Her food is YUM.MY and the fact that she allows me to drag her to crazy discos and random weekend getaways is a testament to her patience.  Robin, if you ever need anything, my home will always be open to you!

This past weekend, I went to Napoli.  I hadn't planned on going to Naples but when I learned that I had a 3-day weekend for Easter, I quickly decided to go.  It was one of the best decisions I've made while here in Italy.  I spent Friday afternoon walking around the city, going to the archaeological museum, eating pizza, and people-watching.  Then I hopped on a train to Pozzuoli, a suburb of Napoli, and met my couch-surfing host for the weekend, John.  John was.... amazing.  He was kind, generous, funny... He took me to some great places (Pompeii!!!), we had interesting conversations, and though we didn't agree on some things, he was considerate of my personal beliefs.  We spent most of our time laughing, exchanging music, watching movies, and drinking wine.  My memories of this weekend will stay with me forever.  To find someone you can be open and honest with, someone who is respectful, funny and intelligent, is a great part of traveling.  I hope that I will always be friends with John and that one day, we can go on some trips through Greece or even South America together!

So, in short, I've been very fortunate in my friends here and the experiences I've had with them.  My memories of them will always be sweet and I hope that even after I return to Tucson, we'll stay in touch!

A relaxing weekend amongst mosaics and pizza!

So this past weekend, Robin and I hopped on the train and spent the weekend in Ravenna and Bologna.  At first, Robin was a bit skeptical and I was worried we would be bored, but thankfully, we were both delightfully surprised.

We spent Saturday in the small town of Ravenna.  This town is extremely picturesque with it's cobblestone streets, cozy piazza, and crowds of locals.  We were lucky as there were hardly any tourists and we were able to see everything we wanted to without a fuss.  The local tourist office offers free bikes to tourists, so we spent the day pedaling through the cobblestone streets to the different churches we wanted to see.

The thing that is special about Ravenna are its mosaics.  Ages ago, Ravenna was a center of power of the Byzantine Empire and the Orthodox influence can be seen in many of its churches.  The mosaics are incredible!  As an Orthodox Christian, it was a pleasant experience being surrounded by familiar, Orthodox style iconography, however, I've never seen mosaics like this! The quality of the depictions, the countless number of tiles, the COLORS were all incredible.  After seeing three different churches filled with mosaics, I didn't want to look at another Western-style painting! (don't worry Dad, that feeling passed)

We were also able to visit the tomb of Dante Alighieri, which was a treat for me, the nerdy Italian Literature major.  His tomb is elegant and beautiful and filled with German tourists.....

The only problem with being in Ravenna in the off-season is that EVERYTHING closes after 2pm, which was annoying as that was when we got hungry!  Luckily we were able to find ONE place that served the traditional Ravenna-style panini and we watched as people danced in the Piazza del Popolo.

Afterwards, we got back on the train to Bologna and walked to the popular Piazza del Nettuno for some wine.  Bologna is a beautiful city bustling with students, tourists, and annoying street vendors, but for some reason, I wasn't feeling the vibe.  Something felt off.... not exactly sure what.  However, we went back to a restaurant near our hotel to have some Pasta Bolognese and Tiramisu, both of which were tasty.

The next day we decided to just relax and take the day as it came!  We walked around the streets, people-watched, peeked into the GIANT churches, and visited the Archaeological Museum which has an amazing ancient Egyptian display complete with its very own mummy.

We also walked around the famed University of Bologna.  This is the oldest university in all of Europe and people such as Dante Alighieri and Paracelsus have attended it in the past.  Unfortunately, it had to have been the dirtiest, smelliest university I've ever seen.  Granted, it was a Sunday morning and the remains of partying from the night before hadn't been cleaned up yet, but my God was it nasty!  There is a beautiful, big church in the university district but the best part of the area was the graffiti!  Some rather interesting depictions that you would expect from university students:

but also, a rather strange tradition of putting up pictures of current students in awkward situations.  It was rather amusing reading all the little blurbs that accompanied the pics but I'd hate to have one of me up there.....

While waiting for out train, Livio from our hotel recommended his favorite pizza joint to us.  It was the best pizza I've had since coming to Italy and Robin and I ate a whole one each.... we couldn't move after awhile but I swear, it was the best decision ever!

All-in-all, an easy, relaxing weekend complete with beautiful art and yummy food!

La Citta Eterna

I went back to Roma and it was amazing, but tiring!  Rome has a much different feel to it then Florence.  It's bigger, busier, and louder!  There is just SOOOO much to do, that it's impossible to even scratch the surface in just 2 days.  I had to make a choice about what I was going to focus on, so I decided on the Vatican and Ancient Rome!  Of course, that doesn't mean that I saw everything, but I did see all the most popular sights and works of art.

The Vatican is intense- full of masterpieces that are so overwhelmingly beautiful it's hard to take it all in.  The museums are so full of paintings, sculptures, maps, sarcophagi, and other treasures that you'd need weeks to see everything.  Being obsessed with mythology, I especially liked the different sculptures of the ancient Greek gods, goddesses, and heroes.

The Sistine Chapel was breathtaking, but not at first.  Actually, I was a little underwhelmed.  I think that that's because I've been waiting to go for years and when I finally got there, the suspense was over.  I spent a lot of time looking at each panel on the walls and ceiling and, although impressed by the beauty, I wasn't floored.  And then I stood in the back and looked up at the chapel as a whole and that was when I realized exactly what I was looking at. I was mesmerized, not only because of the fame of what I was seeing, but also because of the sheer skill and talent it took to complete the Ceiling and the Last Judgement.  I spent about 15 mins just staring at everything in awe.... it was an odd experience but incredible.

The Last Judgement is really intense and kind of frightening!  I suggest everyone read about the history behind the painting. There's some rather funny bits of info behind certain people depicted in the painting.

Saturday night was a fun experience.  After the Vatican, Robin and I met up and walked around the ancient city for awhile.  We went to a Salvador Dali exhibit (AHH-MAZING!) and then chilled in the Piazza Venezia drinking wine and looking out on Rome.

Later, we met some girls from Australia, consumed a LOT of wine, and laughed the night away ;D

On Sunday, I decided to spend time in Ancient Rome!  When I was younger, I always imagined myself as an adventuring archeologist like Indiana Jones, and I was obsessed with Ancient Egyptian and Classical mythology and history.  In high school I had to decide between pursuing a degree in Classics or Music and I ended up choosing Music (which led me to languages).  However, after spending 7 hours walking around the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum, I'm considering starting over with Classics again..... maybe when I finally finish my undergrad degrees, I can go back! lol

Anyways, it was an awesome experience and though I was hot and a bit dehydrated, I couldn't stop looking at everything and imagining what life was like for people in ancient times.  How different were peoples' perspective of their world?  Exactly how did their culture shape their ideas and desires?  When walking around Rome, the center of the Catholic Christian world, it's an interesting exercise trying to understand the world the way a pre-Christian would understand it.  Our Western history and traditions have been shaped so much by Christianity and other monotheistic religions so that, even if you are non-practicing, it's hard not to be influenced by over 2000 years of certain religions!  How strange it would be for us to participate in a world where certain ideas and traditions were unknown!?

..... I'm a but of a nerd as these are the kind of things I think about a lot....

All-in-all, I liked Rome.  Yes it's packed with people (even in the shoulder season) and it can be annoying having to fight off vendors, but the city is so FULL and ALIVE.  I'd love to spend some time of my life living there!  One day!