I wanna be a sommelier.

Thursday was nice. We finished our midterms and everyone was so freaking happy we made it thru the week filled of papers and presentations in Italian. I got 100 on my oral midterm! Ha. Rather exciting. I got a 89 on my written. I totally thought those scores would be the other way around, but alas, not so.

Our program director congratualating us for getting thru the week w/ dolci. The same powdered sugared cookies we got at Carnavale. Mmmmm nice pay off.

Friday we went to Castello di Brolio. Brolio Castle, were Chianti Classico was created in the 1800s. We got to roam the grounds of this huge castle. The castle has been in the Bettini family since 1141. Of course between then and now, it has been subject to numerous invasions, but always managaed to get back to the family. The longest time, they didn’t own it was when they were under house arrest for 40 days back in the 1400s. we went into the Castle church, complete with a family tomb area underneath. Our program director’s grandparents actually worked on the grounds for a number of generations. She had all these stories. She talked about how her grandmother hated one of the jobs she had at the castle. She had to light the candles in the tomb area below the church. And she always was scared because there were rumors that if you were quiet enough down their you would hear the baron breathing echoing in the room. Spooky….there was also some other story about his ghost riding around the grounds on his white horse. He was called the Iron Baron because he was very strict with his workers. He invented the type of wine now dubbed Chianti Classico.

All the views from the terrace and the gardens were abfab. Rolling Tuscan hills, sun, vineyards. Like I keep saying, a picture that comes to life.

After the tour of the castle grounds, we got to go on a tour of the actual winery! Very cool. We saw the big fermentation vats. And the masceration machines and barrels they go in to age.

Then we were taken to a wine tasting. Mmmmmm. It all makes you feel very sophisticated. She walked us thru the process of how to taste wine. First you stick your nose in. and smell it. Check it out. Then you “let the wine breathe” and swirl it around a bit. Then you smell it again and recognize the differences in the first scents you got. You can also turn the glass on it’s side and let the reflection show on a napkin. If the color is a light red it is a “younger, lighter” wine and if it is a dark vibrant color it is older. You can also tell this from looking at the wine’s legs. The legs are the streams of wine that fall on the inside of the glass after you swirl. If the legs fall slowly down the inside of the glass, the wine is more structured. Has a better body.

The whole entire thing kinda made me wanna be a sommelier. A professional wino or something.

VENICE

This past weekend me and my roommates decided to go to Venice for Carnavale/Valentine’s Day. We took the bus from Siena, then once in Florence we got on a 3 hours train ride. We left in the early morning, so we go to Venice around 1.00pm.

Thankfully every single day was soooo sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

It is safe to say that Venice is the most breathtaking beautiful romantic place I have ever been to in my life. It floats in this gorgeous lagoon and in the horizon line lies the Dolomite Mountains.

With the gondolas and architecture and lagoon, it is no wonder why this place is so unbeliabley romantic.

The first day we all bought masks to wear around that night. We walked around and checked everything out. So many people were coming into the city! Our apartment was this gorgeous place we rented from this woman for the weekend. She owns this huge house 3 minutes away from San Marc’s Square. I even got to sleep in my own room! J

That night we went out to a restauraunt and I got a seafood dish, I had to, I was in Venice, plus being in Tuscany there isn’t much of a fish market whatsoever. I have a seafood spaghetti dish – mussles, scallops, clams, crawfish and shrimp – o m g it was amazing.

That night we just walked around with some other kids from the program. We soon ditched them because they were far too trashed to even hold a conversation. So we passed by the Rialto bridge area, saw an open air party and joined in. It was a rather big crowd and a bar set up. There was “rave” music playing. There were not many drunk people. I was expecting an atmosphere akin to Mardi Gras, but not so. During the day, people were out with their kids and families and lovers were scattered all about every street corner and making out in every gondola. But there were no half naked drunk people or boobs or drag queens, so i considered this to be quite tame.

The way I felt about it was a kid friendly, celebration with some drinking involved, but not necessarily in the sense of excess. Throughout the day there were families w/ kids dressed up in little 17^th Century outfits and such. Very cute. There was definitely a Halloween element to the whole thing. They also had people who would go allll out with their outfits and tourists would flock to them and take pictures. If you are in costume or in a mask , you are not supposed to speak all day to anyone. My friend from the program, Kate, actually made a costume and wore it, mask and all. She said it was a wonderful experience, actually being A PART of the whole celebration. On Saturday night she was sitting in San Marc’s square watching the sunset and all of a sudden a bunch of photographers were taking her photo all fanned out in front of her. She was a Carnavale celebrity for a day.

The next day we went inside San Marc’s and for 3 euros, got to go to the top! Amazinf pictures and views. It was like having a regular’s crow’s nest over the square, looking at all the shenanigans taking place and costumes. The inside of San Marc’s. I was awestruck. All the art work is made of mosaics and the majority is gold mosaic. Really stunning. On the roof of San Marc’s square are these set of statues called the Four Horses, the real ones, are from the 2^nd century BC and are in the top of San Marc’s museum, part of the 3 euro fee. These really struck me. Each horse is so realistic looking and was made of gold. They obviously are no longer all gold. They were actually purposely scratched long ago, because they sight of their gold was blinding on a sunny day. Also, they are said to have been a present to Alexander the Great and were later put into the hands of Constantine.

We then headed out onto the vaparetto (water metro) to go to the Jewish Ghetto. It is a very historical part of Venice, mostly b/c it is a unique part. It is where many Jewish people lived throughout all the hundreds of years of persecution in Europe. There is a small memorial bronze mural in the main piazza for the Holocaust. Also, there is a synagogue across the way, which does tours and has a museum. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, so we were unable to get in on that interestingness. I kept on thinking about The Merchant of Venice.

That night we went out and went on a ride down the grand canale in a vaparetto. We sat outside of the boat of course, to get the best view – even though it was rather nippy.

The next day we went to the Doge Palace. The Dogi ruled Venice for 1000 years. They were basically like Venice Presidents. They had a pretty strong system of checks and balances like us. The prison is connected to the palace. They must’ve been true believers in the whole “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” phrase. Here, from the prisons that you meander through, you can actually see the Bridge of Sighs. This bridge is the last view prisons would see before they were “summoned” meaning in most all 95% cases, execution. The name comes from what the prisoners would do, sigh at the beautiful view of Venice, before going off to die.

After that we went to the Campinile, the Bell Tower of San Marc’s. We bumped into Kate wandering through the Square with her camera and made her come up the Campinile with us. Kate is a photography major and an very talented one at that. She was in Europe last semester and her work is just beautiful. We insist she get the great views. An elevator takes you to the top and you can see all of Venice and beyond! The Dolomite Mountains and everything! The bells did go off while we were up there. Holy crap it was loud. My ears were ringing. BADUMDUM.

Kate then told us her Saturday nite craziness. So turns out she ran into this American student whose shit had hit the fan with his hostel reservation and he and his friends all got in a huge fight and parted ways earlier that day. So he and Kate hung out and she ended up letting him sleep on the floor of her hostel along with the three other Italians who were sharing the room with her. This comes into play later on…keep that in mind.

Ok, so being the English major DORK that I am, I convinced my roommates to go to Harry’s Bar w/ me. Harry’s Bar is one of Hemingway’s haunts in Venice. The façade is straight up 20s art deco. Walking in, we were greeted by sharp looking older Italian men in white tuxes and black ties. We opted to sit at the bar. Although it was 11.30am I asked if they made Montgomery’s at the Bar. OOOOO Montgomery, really the bartender said, This early in the morning? You won’t be driving anytime soon, will you. I said I wanted what Hemingway drank and he said, yes but he was an alcoholic, you better go with the Bellini.

The Bellini is the famous drink from Venice, their signature. It is champagne and peach juice. Very delicious. We drank this stuff as soon as we go to Venice on Friday. It is “cheap” here, 4.00 euro, anywhere else in Italy the price is double or higher. I think they bartender’s appreciated that I knew some history about the place, cuz they hooked us up!!!! I ordered a 15 euro bellini drink and my roommates ordered coffee. After that the manager came up and chatted with us. He brought over free “dolci”, cookies. One of them was this paper thin light crispy flaky cookie covered in powdered sugar. He said this was also a signature Carnavale cookie from Venice. He then gave us all a round of Bellinis. After an hour of banter and taking the 1920s authentic scenery in, we got out check. The bartender slid it over to us and said a “friendly check”. The bill was only 20 euro. No way all the stuff we got and ordered was that much. The menu was expensive! And all the stuff we got for 20 euro, pretty damn sweet.

We went back to get my other roommate from the apartment and decided to have a goodbye to Venice from the sunny seaside street that had docks on the edges. We brought a bottle of Bellini and drank it while watching the lagoon wave by us. We all dangled are legs off the side and soaked in the sun as it glittered on the water. What a nice way to say goodbye to Venice.

So then we were rudely awoken.

We figured getting out was gonna be noooooooooo ppppprrrrrroooooooobbb. The only problem about that, was that everyone else who was there that weekend was thinking the same thing.

Standing on a vaparetto pick up point squashed like sardines, awaiting a boat. The first boat to come up was full so it just passed us by. Meanwhile everyone is pushing and being rude and we have all our are bags and stuff which seemed to be getting pushed up against us more violently every other second. Carol starts talking to this American guy next to her. They begin reflecting on their Carnavale weekend. He starts telling Carol about his crazy adventure and how he and all his friends parted ways and decided to seek out their own Venice experience after their hostel reservations went to shit. Do you know Kate? I say. “Funny story,” he says with this big grin on his face. So yes, we meet Tim, the random American student who slept on Kate’s floor. Meanwhile the crowd is getting worse and no empty vaparetto coming in sight. We start weighing our options. We know have 30 minutes to get to our train, the ride takes 20. So we’re kinda freaking out. This one fat German couple is puching Carol, who stands at 5’2’’ and they are yelling in German and Carol is telling them off and everyone is mad. So a vaparetto pulls up, and everyone is ambushing it. Tim sees an opening on his side and yells, over this way, we all sneak by the entry way and the Vaparetto takes off. Leaving the fat German couple behind. We waved to them as we left the dock. Yay. We made it on time and talked to Tim on the ride to the train station. Tim paid it forward to us and I found it all very charming in a karmatic sorta way. Also I do not believe that karmatic is a word and yes, my english has been suffering! That’s what happens when you are in a 2.5 hour Italian class M-Thursday!!! I will not be surprised if when I get back I say si and grazie to people. O geeez the stares I will receive.

Travel update: I am going to Paris w/ my roommates in 2 weeks. Two of them are having bdays on the same weekend and what better way to celebrate. Also, Vienna, Mykonos & Athens are booked!

Baci!!!! Happy Valentine's Day!

i went to another factory on monday.
yes, another food factory.
but this one was a chocolate one in perugia. no willy wonka in sight. we did have free samples and a metrosexual tour guide named Niccola.
It was a Bacio factory, bacio means kiss in Italian. it was invented after the hershey's kiss. i was surprised by this because usually everything in europe is older than everything in america.
one time in italian class, we were talking about old churches and my prof asked me (in italian of course) if my town had any old churches. i said yes, some from 200 years ago. then she laughed and said that wasn't old.
200 is just a drop in the bucket!

and look >>>> they had easter egg molds as big as my face!

a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.

So I was walking home. From MeetLife, my hang out. And I was hankering for a slice a pizza. Me and a bunch of my friends are going to Venice for Carnavale this weekend. I didn’t want to waste time cooking so I decided to grab a pizza.
After ordering and saying my most articulate Caio ever, I paid, took my piece of pizza from the cashier and left. As I walked out of the door, o look a slanted stair walk. I seemed to have missed this detail while walking in and clearly missed it on the way out.
All I remember is all my body weight going to one side and rapidly pulling me ass first onto the streets of Siena. It was a blur, I went down so fast. Now looking back on it, it must’ve been so amusing for the two pizzeria employees - seeing a girl briskly walk out chowing on her pizza, only to see her wipe out – o I’m sorry – eat asphalt - immidiatelyt after. A blur of a purple coat falling violently and swing with pizza in the right hand all the way down.
Laying there, I saw the face of the pizza man above me. He was looking at me, the kind of look when you want to convey that you are really concerned for one’s health, but your giggling is steadfastly overshadowing your kind inclinations. I looked above. I had two choices. I could either laugh or cry. But big girls don’t cry. So I began to laugh hysterically, pizza still saved from the misfortune of this event. Surprisingly, although falling in the air, I managed to hang on to my slice of 1.70 euro pizza. I got up and kept making jokes, with the pizza man that I “really knew how to make an exit” and so on, even though he didn’t understand a word I was saying. I could see the girl employee behind the counter laughing her ass off. He was so sweet, trying to hold back the laughter, but once he saw I was ok, he definnitley let it out, full force.
I guffawed all the way home, despite my hair awry, having a scrapped hand and a scuffed up bloodied knee. I couldn’t help it. People must of thought I was a crazy person or something, but whatever. Crying is too messy and laughing works your abs, so it was the better route to take. Someone once told me that if you don’t make a fool out of yourself twice a week you are not living the human experience.
I’m counting this week’s as double.

p.s. – to my little brother joey: think about the time we went sledding at heritage and that one kid sent me flying vertically w/ his snow tube. Ok, you are probably laughing with tears in your eyes now. Now think about that same image, only me doing that on a cobblestreet road w/ a pizza in my hand. Funny, I know.

How you can get fat in Italy.

I have developed a bit of a tummy. I always wanted to become a yogi master and this is the best incentive. When I come back I suspect I will have the body of a god – and that god is Buddha. I am not working here or really stressing out – o wait – I am never stressing out – ever. So i am content and therefore I feel sort of bobulous like Winnie the Pooh. Here is an ode to food:

Here is a list of foods I like in Italy

All their yogurt – especially coffee flavored

Every single cheese ever produced here, mozzarella is #1

Bread.

NUTELLA.

Wine. Red wine, I hate white, that is universal, unless of course I must have it with my seafood.

Bellini

proscuitto

Here is a list of foods I miss from America

Peanut butter

Captain crunch

Teavana (ok technically not a food, but ya know)

Guacamole

Doritos

BAGELS & CREAM CHEESE.

Wow. looking at this list, I’ve realized it is all junk food (except for tea). O, ya know what I don’t miss? Starbucks. If Nutella is Jesus, Starbucks is Lucifer. I do not miss Starbucks. What crap. Eeewwww. Watered down warm sugar w/ nasty chalky whipped cream on top. I don’t think so.

Besides my ass expanding [I kid, I kid], I think some of my travel plans are expanding also. I am going to Greece in April and after that on to Dublin for Easter, which will be interesting. Any suggestions I will take!

ASSISI FOR ME SI.

This morning we got up and took a 2.5 hour bus ride to Assisi. This past week I had gotten multiple raves about this spiritual hot spot, so I decided to check it out. The first rave came from my Food & Culture Professor. She is Jewish and went to Assisi with her husband last weekend. She said for her Assisi was an extremely “spiritual experience”, even though she practices Judaism. I had to see for myself what this town was all about.

It was pretty overcast and drizzly all day, but the views were still beautiful. The town is on a bunch of high hilltops, so the views are vast. The concrete of all the buildings are colors of coral, light pink and sandy yellow.

The first sight we saw was Basilica di St. Francesco. This church is made of white marble and the view is spectacular. The mist was flowing all over the Tuscan countryside below and the clouds were parted just to enough to have rays of sun coming out from the sky. Very…celestial....

Once we got inside, it was an overwhelming church. There were things I expected - paintings, sculptures, ornate stained glass, pews and flowers. But on the sides were these sort of little rooms to pray/meditate in. I put a coin in the offertory box and a candle was automatically lit for me. lol. Nifty.

Downstairs was the tomb of St. Francis. His tomb is not visible. It is enshrined by ornate metalwork behind the altar. It was so quiet and everyone was in pews praying, so I did the same. Very peaceful actually. I went into the gift shop after that and got a Franciscan rosary. Supposedly there is a difference between the Franciscan rosary beads and regular rosary beads? The dude who was selling me the 5 euro beads was trying to explain in Italian, but he was too fast for me. Next was the “Basilica Superior”, the upper basilica. In here are more fabulous altars and pews and stain glass. The real highlight for me was the frescos done by Giotto, about 6 on each wall, depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi. These were truly awe inspiring. Also the ceilings. Yes. The ceilings. They were all covered in deep azure paint, with some of it chipping off, revealing a base of regal turquoise. Covering this were gold stars. The ceilings were soooo high! Standing alone in such a quite beautiful space can make anyone feel spiritual. I think this is because you feel super small while surrounded by so much overwhelming beauty. Then you start to think about all the people who made the place and all the people who have been there before you. And why, why are all these people coming here and what are they searching for? And that’s when you feel blessed to even be in such a special space and look up at the high rafters covered in blue and gold stars and say to yourself, “Somebody up there likes me.”