Florence Design Week

Interior design has been one of my many weaknesses for some time now and being in a city like Florence does not help my obsession at all!  On top of that, since I go to Florence University of the Arts, they offer several workshops in interior design and it just so happens that this week is the official Florence Design Week of 2012.  It’s basically their version of New York Fashion Week – for furniture. Amazing, I know.

My day was spent touring the city where I found the most interesting design shops that promote the events from Renaissance artists to contemporary record styled clocks. I was in awe all day! I don’t have any pictures to show since I basically spent my days in galleries and class, but I promise to make up for it this weekend when I am in Venice.  All the USF students are heading to Venice at 7am and should return Saturday night around 10pm.

Side note: we made gnocchi with pesto today in our cooking class. New favorite thing to cook by far!

secret bakery

Last night was incredible.  We went out to our guy friends’ apartment to hangout for a bit then headed out to find a secret bakery.  A secret bakery is simply a place where you can get delicious baked goods anytime after midnight for 50 cents.  It sounds sketchy, but what you have to do is go to the address, knock on the door, a person will take your order, then open the door up 15 minutes later with everything from chocolate croissants to apple pies. You have to be really quiet though, or the neighbors will find water, eggs, or anything else to throw at you for waking them up so late in the night.  We were soaking wet from the rain, numb from the cold but those pastries made it all worthwhile.  (don’t worry joans – a mob of 20 of us went out to get them)

Today started with me and my roommates waking up at 9am and heading out to the local market.  I picked up prosciutto crudo, balsamic drizzle, eggplant, and bread all which I devoured even before lunch time.  I was able to order without using any English, but we still are having a hard time converting the sizes from grams and “ettos” to pounds, so today Kim ended up with over 2 pounds of pasta for herself haha. After the market, we met up with some friends and went to the gelato festival which had just as many gelato flavors as tourists! Most of the festival was a tourist trap and overcrowded, but the prices of gelato were reduced because of the festival.  Next, we explored some more of the town, went shopping for a bit and then sat out in the Santa Croce plaza which is a 2 minute walk from our place.

Dinner tonight was amazing as always since we went back to Ganzo for their special Wednesday pricing.  I absolutely love the people I have met here on the trip.  So many of us have become really good friends and I love that we now have our dinner dates every week! Tonight, we are having a late study date in our living room and eating some fruits and Baccio, which are the Italian version of Hershey kisses. I hope everyone is having a good time back in the states – I miss you all!

Bambinas

Today was a really slow paced day that was only filled with classes, and of course some more rain! In our cooking class we made Bucatini all’amatriciana which is a pasta dish that has a tomato and pork sauce – it was so tasty. Chef Desy calls us all his Bambinas since he has 2 daughters our age already he said we did a bellismo job today! We also learned how to make a homemade sausage/salami “toscana style”.  This simply means that a lot of the fat of the pork is left in the mix and it is also in bigger pieces than the typical salami would have.  After class I grabbed a coffee with the girls then headed to Italian which was a review session for our upcoming quiz on Thursday.  Lastly, I had my Italian Family Business course where we learned about the different types of companies in Italy and how they are based off of size and type of business. That class was really slow but at least we don’t have any classes tomorrow since it is the first day of the gelato festival here in Florence!

“Jonzi Moment” Berlin (Part 2)

So for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting my pint-sized grandma, Jonzi, you all are missing out! She’s basically the most adorable person I know and she famous for her “special moments” which typically involve some sort of chaos and here was my moment.. ENJOY.

Charlotte’s dad is in charge of an international hotel chain in Berlin and he was able to get us free segway rentals for the day, so  Charlotte, her boyfriend Linus, his friend Max, and I all headed out to explore Berlin.  The boys raced off as soon as we got them while Charlotte and I stayed behind so she could tell me about the different buildings. Well the sidewalks are 300x the size of the sidewalks in Firenze, but with the vendors and massive amount of tourists – there’s not much room. Segways work by leaning forward to accelerate, leaning to the left to turn left and so on.  We went to pass a group of tourists before a light pole approached and just as I was about to pass, one of the tourists stepped left and I instinctively moved left which made me hit square into the light pole and go flying! Now I’m not talking about a few inches – I superman flew a few feet. The huge crowd turned to see the commotion and a few old men came up trying to help me, but I couldn’t understand a word they said since they were speaking German. At that moment, Charlotte rushed over and responded back to the man (in English) that I didn’t understand German which only confused the poor old man more. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was so embarrassed that I rushed to get back on the segway to only make it down one more street where I eventually threw up – and I have thrown up MAYBE 6 times in my whole life. I was mortified.  (I only ended up with a few bumps and bruises)

Later that night at Charlotte’s parents’ house, we told them the whole story where instead of being embarrassed, we could not stop laughing at how far I flew.  In the middle of laughing with everyone, I realized that was the first time in a really, really long time that I have laughed that hard and that genuine.  Finally the stress from life and school has disappeared and in that moment I realized my trip of a lifetime has just begun!  In the end, I had a great time in Berlin and I was really sad to leave. We ended the trip by vowing to never let another 2 years go by before we see each other again.

“hallllllo” Berlin (Part 1)

This is the first time I’ve seen Charlotte since high school graduation and it was like nothing changed! I stayed at her apartment in downtown Berlin, but I was able to see the countryside of Germany too since that is where her parents live.  The city is really modern but full of history – and I loved it! I saw a bunch of places but the most interesting thing by far was the Berlin Wall which use to divide the city into different neighborhoods by nationality.  It was partly torn down in 1991, and all that is left has become a blank canvas for professional painters to decorate.  I met all of Char’s friends which were super sweet, and German is definitely a hard language.  The words spelled out relate to many English words, but the speaking part is challenging. I saw Charlotte’s horse, rode on the AutoBahn and even went to their lake to relax for the day it was great. The people are a lot friendlier to strangers in Germany than in Italy, which was a nice change of pace! We watched the championship soccer game where Munich’s team played against Chelsea in the finals.  Berlin’s team is really bad so they cheer for Berlin and had a devastating loss after PKs!  Everyone was so bummed, but it was fun watching the game at the sports bar where everyone was so into it.

germany bound

My day started off by going to the local markets in my cooking class as my professor, Chef Desy, told us about the different ingredients and the areas of Italy where they come from. We were sampling olive oils, balsamic vinegar, cheese, meats and olives at 9am, but it was the most amazing breakfast ever.  The markets are filled with locals who typically run family owned stores that date all the way back to the 1800s – pretty cool stuff. Afterwards as a treat, he bought us some gelato where I was finally able to try the hazelnut flavor which was molto bene! (very good)

After Italian class, we then went to our family business course where we went around the city looking at family businesses and talking to the owners.  They were all really sweet and it was sad to hear that so many are struggling financially when they have been around for centuries. Also, today we found out that an apartment full of girls was broken into and they had their laptops stolen.  It really shook us all up but in a good way since we are taking more measures in being safe.  They took nothing else and didn’t rummage through their apartment either – no windows or doors/locks were broken.

I might not be able to post much this weekend since I am leaving to go to Berlin tomorrow to see my friend Charlotte! I should get in around noon their time and I can’t wait to see and experience the different cities. Until then..

struggling!

Sorry for not posting yesterday – the internet here wasn’t working.  Yesterday we all went out to get some gelato after our first day of classes and then we walked around and went to a local bar for a bit.  We tend to go across the bridge more than staying in the city center because there are way less tourists and it is a lot cleaner and cheaper on that side.  Everyday here is getting easier and easier.  The jet lag has finally worn off and if people speak slow, I can mostly pick up what they are trying to tell me.  I cannot begin to describe how different life is here!  Instead of constantly being on my phone or internet, the only way I know what time it is from the church bells that go off every hour.  The streets are chaotic with people everywhere but my experience has been amazing here.

I love my classes so far, my cooking teacher is very fun and we’ve already made pork with apples and a soup.  My Italian language “professoressa” is very sweet and my Italian business course seems like it will be interesting which is good.  Tonight a group of 20 of us are heading to a restaurant called Ganzo which is a student run restaurant that has a ten course meal and drink for 5 euros. We can’t wait! After that, we’ll probably sit out by the bridge or work on some homework. Side note: I think I sprained my finger (if possible) from climbing our orange tree with the roommates haha.. the good thing is we now have fresh orange juice

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settling in

Ciao! Today was spent doing orientations, wine tours, and walking tours – all which were unique and incredible. I felt like less of a tourist today and had my first conversation in Italian (well sort of!). It consisted of me asking where a building was and him replying, in full fast-paced italian mode, then I panicked and said “si, grazie” and walked off not understanding one word haha.

The wine class was really fun. We sampled a Chianti which is the best wine that comes out of Toscana.  I learned what to look for in wine (hold the glass slanted towards the light to look for particles then swoosh it around to see if it is fast paced or not. Fast paced = high alcohol), how to smell the wine to learn about the characteristics of it before I drink it (smell the wine once, then with that smell still fresh in your mind – smell it again. You will notice different scents everytime!) and also how to figure out if it has aged long enough (red wine should show an orange color when you tip the glass towards the light).  Tonight, we had a dinner with the program which was fun hanging out with everyone and then we went down by the river to have some lattes. It’s still really cold here but warmer weather is on it’s way!

“Ciao Bella” count: 8.

First day

Wow, I don’t know even where to begin – I feel like I’ve done so much already.  After endless hours of flying and camping out at the airport, we finally made it to Florence and discovered that not only is it crazy cold, but it also is really windy/rainy here.  Seeing Italy for the first time was surreal, it was beautiful and looked like a place from a painting.  With the red roofs, cobblestone roads, and rolling hills you couldn’t ask for a better view.

At around 9am we met up with the rest of our roommates from the program and managed to find our way to our apartment. It’s 2 blocks away from Duomo, (see picture below).  First off, our apartment is a massive 3 bedrooms/3 bath place for 6 people.  We have archways, a private garden area, murals on the ceilings – it’s ridiculous. I love it here! Here’s just a few pictures from today but there will be more to come! You can click the pictures to enlarge them, so enjoy

The countdown is on..

“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself.” – Galileo Galilei

With 3 weeks until classes start, I was able to finalize my schedule in Italy! Every class is taken on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays.

- Tradition of Italian Food, 9:00 am – 11:30 am

- Italian Language, 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm

- The Art of Italian Family Business, 3:00 pm –  5:30 pm

Over the next 3 months, I will take on 5 different countries, cultures, and languages.   I will submerse myself into the different lifestyles by speaking as little English as possible, eating the local delicacies, and wearing the same style clothing as them. Easy, right?

My main goals for the trip are:

1. See Casalduni, the town in Italy where my family is from
2. Be able to understand Italian by the time I leave
3. Find a vintage clothing/antique store in every country (sorry mom!)
4. Don’t gain more than 5 pounds, this by far will be the hardest.
5. Take this journey for what it is – a life changing experience. Explore, Learn, Experience daily.