Bologna Weekend!

Our train was ten minutes late, but we still arrived in Bologna at about 10:30 am on Friday. For some reason unbeknown(st) to me, all museums are free, which was great for us! We went to the Giorgio Morandi museum, which had some beautiful, albeit strange, still lifes and drawings.

For lunch we had tortellONI (tortellini have meat in them, tortelloni do not!) at a sweet little trattoria. We then made a little trip to H&M (Florence doesn't have one!) on our way to the music library and museum. It had a lot of great material and was in beautifully decorated rooms, but it was pretty poorly organized and didn't really make much sense in any continuituos way from room to room.

Our hotel was a sweet little place! The wall paper made Justina, Mari, and me all a little dizzy. My favorite part of the whole trip was probably when we climbed 498 steps up 97meters up a leaning tower (less lean than Pisa, but twice as high)- there's another one of them right next to it, pictured here: (the one we climbed had less lean than this one.) It was a fantastic view, and Justina and Mari are both afraid of heights, too!

On Sunday, Gaby, Abbie and I went out for American Brunch. It was amazing. I had french toast, scrambled eggs with cheddar and feta, and a chocolate milkshake (which isn't as much brunchy as it is americany, but I still really enjoyed it). I think we might become regulars.

Our dinner last night was hilarious. At the end, somehow we got to talking about animals, and for a period of about ten minutes, we were trying to clarify "owl" and "dark" and it turned out when Gaby said owl and made a hooting noise, Daniela and Andrea interpreted it as a "seal." I don't think I've laughed that hard since I was in Greenville. We ended up having to break out the english-italian dictionary.

Good times.

resolutions

*Do not feel obligated to buy something just because others are buying something
*Try to avoid small snacky (and overpriced) things, as 1. they aren't good for you, and 2. you could spend your money on something better
*don't worry about museum entrance fees-they are always worth learning something new
*DO check hostels and hotels for the best deals, because that's really where you can save a ton
*Don't worry about dinner. Enjoy it.
So basically, be careful with money, but not so careful that you don't do anything worth remembering.

In that vein, I just read a folktale about how this Florentine hears all these people talking about their travels, and he decides to go travel soley to have something to talk about. He meets a priest and a farmer who are similarly inclined, and they all find a castle, which they decide will be a good thing to talk about. Then, they all go inside and find there's a giant and have dinner with him. The giant then takes the priest and cuts his head off in a different room. The Florentine is excited because he has yet another thing to tell the people back home about. The giant also kills the farmer, which the Florentine witnesses. Then the Florentine realizes he is next and flees after blinding the giant. The giant tosses an enchanted ring and the Florentine picks it up and puts it on his finger. It's so heavy he can't move, and to get away from the approaching giant, he cuts his finger off and books it back to Florence. He never complains about not traveling again and when asked about his finger, says he lost it mowing grass and won't say anything else.

So don't do stuff just to say you did it, because what's the point?

Torino and Tombs!

I spent the weekend in Torino with Gaby and Abbie. It was a very nice city- sort of a cross between Florence and Paris, but smaller. The avenues are a lot bigger than Florence's windy streets, and since it's so far north, the building style is a lot more baroquey (read, flowery) than central Italy.

We went to the Egyptian Museum, which is the second largest collection of artifacts in the world outside of Cairo. Cool, huh?

Everyone in Torino has a dog. See??

On the train back (which was an ordeal in of itself as we missed ours and had to wait two hours for the next), we ended up in a 6-person booth with one other woman. She was probably in her sixties and had the most classy orange dye-job I've ever seen. We kept to ourselves for most of the ride back, but when we hit La Spezia, I asked how long it would be until we arrived in Florence (in Italian :) ) and she said an hour- hour and a half, and then asked if we spoke Italian well. We said no, but then had a really great conversation about travel and work all in Italian, and I was so proud of myself and felt like I've actually learned a lot in the past month.

I invented Tic Tac Art.

It's true, I'm a genius. Plus I was a little bored in Italian.

Water leads to Oil! (Painting, that is)

Because of the wet environment, artwork was doomed in Venice. Because of the humidity, panel painting wasn't going to work, and frescoes wouldn't last very long, and that was the main reason Venice emerged as one of the great oil-painting areas of the renaissance.

I went to the Guggenheim in Venice. It was a really nice collection, but I'll admit that I don't really "get" modern art. I love Alexander Calder though. He was pretty super. I got super inspired to make something when I was there, but I'll just have to wait to get back to Colorado. Oh well!

I went to an AMAZING George Barbier alone today. I even found my way there all by myself (I was wondering around hoping to find it and was lucky enough to actually stumble upon the right museum)! I bought the English version of the catalog as a present for myself...

When we visited Piazza San Marco, it was dry, but the next day....

Padova and Venice

Confessionals didn't exists until the counter-reformation when they increased the number of masses. Some "honorable women" would try to live solely off the host. Not much protein in that diet.



The Giotto Area Chapel was amazing. It was much smaller than I expected, and the whole experience was just framed in a strange way to make it especially memorable. For fifteen minutes before you enter the chapel, you need to sit in a small room and be "vacuumed," while watching a film about the chapel. Then you are ushered in in groups of 20ish people, and those fifteen minutes were probably the fastest of my whole life. It's very small, which rather than feeling cramped, made it really intimate. Every surface is covered with fresco. It's incredible, and totally worth the trouble.

Venice seems like THE worst idea ever. "Hey, let's build a beautiful city on a marsh!" Seriously, what would you do if you were pregnant and in labor? Heart attack? Obviously, take an ambulance boat to the nearest hospital. BAD IDEA.

Carleton in Italy? No way.

Today Gaby and got home and read for a while. Gaby translated my horoscope from Italian Vogue, which goes like this:

"Your elaborate glasses are replaced with a quick and accurate blow to the eye. Censorship becomes absent. A brilliant image of yourself radiates in a natural way about the world, while your darkest root is extirpated with maximum confidence. Your crown is bright and cannot fall from your head; better still, you will look again at love, which the bold self can approach without feear and gratify your beauty with surprising tactics."

I'm not sure what it means, but it sure sounds austere, don't it?

I also met a Carleton Grad from 2001, Emily, who said she's been waiting for five years to meet another Carleton student living with the Forconis. She was an art history major and is now working for Cultural Experiences abroad. It's so cool to meet people from Carleton all over, especially when you least expect it!

This morning Daniela came into the kitchen when I was eating my breakfast of toast and yogurt, and she ruffled my bed head saying "Che belli e ricci" (how beautiful and curly) referring to my massive hair in the morning. I think she's feeling a little better. Today we played with toy cell phones during class, as well as teaching Enzo "Simon Says"- it's actually a really hard game!

Italian Roosters

Italian Roosters say "Chicchirichi!"(pronounced KEE-kirri-kee)

My host mom unfortunately had to put her 15-year-old cat to sleep today. She was pretty upset about it, and Gaby and I gave her hugs. It was hard to see her so sad and not know what to do. We talked a little bit about how pets are really members of the family.

Way overdue.

Sept 9th-
Everyday I get home and hope that I'll get a ton of stuff done for school, but it ends up that I am so totally pooped that I can only do my homework and fall into bed. Since it's been hot, I'm not sleeping very well.

In the small book that Adrienne gave me about travel before I left, I found a quote that I really needed to take to heart:

"I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I ended up somewhere I needed to be."
-Douglas Adams

That pretty much summarizes the attitude that I'm trying to adopt while I'm here. No, it's not always comfortable, but anything I go through here will help me in the future in terms of adapting, making friends, and having a good time even if I am uncomfortable.

When I came home from school, I met the new love of my life- Massimo Forconi. He's nearly two years old, and calls me "Giu-lya" and Gabrielle "Bella" This is him!

He's over every Tuesday and Thursday, and makes me feel horrible at Italian! But what can you do. He gives me hugs and kisses every time I see him, and I turn him upside-down when Daniela and Andrea aren't looking (not really, but I used to.)

Museo Della Civilta Contadina

We went to a really great peasant museum today out in the country, called Museo Della Civilta Contadina. It was beautiful and I really enjoyed all of it, especially the people and the parts where I kneaded bread and then get to watch it go in and come out of the oven in a period of five minutes (and then, of course, to eat it). Our guide spoke only Italian, but we understood him anyway, even without the help of the translator. He took a special liking to me and gave me two postcards and a guide book in English and Italian, plus a wink.

The Third Sunday!

It's strange to me to realize I've been here for a whole two weeks, but only two weeks. As my days are becoming a little bit routine with the continuity of waking up at seven, getting a breakfast of bread, jam, and nutella, going to school until 12:40, and having a delicious dinner at about 8pm, there has still been plenty of variation.

It's funny to get here and realize all the formality stuff I learned on my tapes, guidebooks, and talking to people have gone out the window. Evidently, one is only supposed to use "ciao" with close friends and family, but shopkeepers and pretty much everyone I encounter says "ciao." My host mom, Daniela, says it's because Gabrielle and I are younger, and with her it is actually much more formal, and she does get "buongiorno"ed and "arrivederci"ed.

This week I've been (I'd like to think) a little bit more daring in getting to know people and actually seeing different parts of the city and what it has to offer. I've had some preliminary meetings for my classes that will start at the end of September, and Janet, Gail, and Nick look like they will offer some great insights into Italian art and culture. I've started one of the folktale books for the Italian culture course, and the stories are really funky. So far I've learned that if some crone gives you an object and tells you to do something, you had best do it, and you'll end up marrying some princess.

On Wednesday I went to the Boboli gardens (photos forthcoming) with Christine, a Colorado College student from Dallas. Together, we also learned to use the "D" bus, which is a teeny-tiny bus that can fit through the streets on the other side of the Arno. The gardens were the first real sight I've gone to see without a group, and hiking through them was great. There are tons of fountains and sculptures, and Christine and I noticed tons of turtles incorporated into the art work, which we plan to ask about in class.

On Friday, I went out for lunch with some other ACMers for the first time. I've been packing lunches, but I wonder if it's about the same cost to just sit down for some pasta. Afterwards we had a class meeting for the politics of art class. Then Sandy, Abbie and I had an amazing afternoon. We decided to go on some quests around the centro (pronounces chentro- in italian, che and chi are keh and kee, and ce and ci are che and chi. Confusing.), and I ended up with everything I was looking for, as did Abbie and Sandy. Then we decided to indulge and got cokes and fries at McDonalds, talking about the things we liked about America and our families. After dinner, we went out to gelato, and it was just a really good day.

Saturday was not as nice as Friday, however. I signed up for a guided tour around Tuscany, ending in Montepulciano. What I did NOT sign up for was being carted around the country side, being permitted to leave the bus for periods of 25-35 minutes, taking pictures, getting back on the bus, and being spoken to at a deafening volume on the bus about the discontinuous history of the country side. The one place we did remain in for more than an hour was for lunch. Kathleen and I went into the creepiest museum I have ever seen in my life that had a bunch of painted wooden statues. It scared me out of my mind.

We then went to the designated point to meet the rest of the group and get back on the bus. We saw two other women in the group, so assumed we were in the right place, as the bus had dropped us off there. Evidently we were making a grave mistake, because our guide found us and starting yelling "RAGAZZE, DOVETE ASCOLTARE. That was NOT where we decided to meet! We are now behind schedule! You have to listen better!" Etc. Well that just pissed us all off. We thought we were doing the right thing, we weren't lost and yes, we lost SIX MINUTES. Anyway, this disrespectful conduct gave us the right to hate him as much as we wanted for the rest of the trip. And it ended up that the one place I reaally wanted to see, Montepulciano, was the one place that we didn't have enough time to actually visit. We got back at 8:15, and I had to wait forty minutes for the bus that gets me home. I've cried twice in front of my host parents, and I think they might think I'm a little crazy, which I suppose I am. It's been more difficult to adjust than I thought it would be, but things are steadily getting better.

This week Sandy, Abbie and I hope to make it to the impressionism exhibit at the Strozzi, which I have heard great things about. I might even go today after I grab something to eat.

Long post! But it's been a while, so I suppose that's warranted.

Ciao!
Julia