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Friday, February 21, 2003
Pictures are UP!
The only bad news is that I had to drastically reduce the size and quality to post them, but I still kept the originals for me to bring home. I promise to start taking pictures of Florence now.
Just got back from cooking class, in which we made an excellent onion cream soup, onion shells filled with feta and bread crumbs, and an onion quiche. Take that, peanut butter! I have a feeling my mom and vegetarian sister are going to love me, while my dad and chicken finger loving sister are going to be getting Wendys the nights I cook.
It's gotten quite a bit warmer here, which is great, and makes the trek from my house to the school (or to the bus stop, depending on how tired I am) much easier. It also makes it much easier to make fun of all the people stuck in the blizzard right now back home!
I am definitely not looking foward to waking up at 4:45 AM tomorrow morning in order to catch the bus to Venice, which leaves at 5:45 from the opposite corner of the city. It turns out that there is a train strike all weekend though, so it's a very good thing we didn't plan on going home not through our program, as there's only one train coming back from Venice on Sunday. I'm excited to see what the carnival will be like, as we'll be there when it's on.
Going to go to the supermarket again, though I'll try to avoid the bum's favorite busses. Thanks to everyone who wrote such nice comments about our engagement - both of us really appreciate it!
posted by Jon at 1:26 PM
2 comments
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
I've come to a conclusion: The absolute most expensive food item in Italy is peanut butter.
I made quite a discovery today in finding an actual supermarket, as the so-called supermarkets I've been to so far have been fairly small in size. This place was Stop & Shop size though. This sounds like pretty lame news, but I can't tell you how difficult it is to find things like peanut butter. Even at a big supermarket like the one I found though, it costs $13.50! My hopes for peanut butter & jelly have been dashed.
I also got harrassed by an Italian bum today, which was quite the experience. I was taking the bus to this supermarket when this old haggard bum steps on. He minds his own business for awhile before stumbling over and yelling things at Italian to me, and two other people near me. I'm guessing it was because I'm American, since he was also yelling at the only two other Americans on the bus, but who knows. I had to sit through a minute of this before finally getting to my stop and getting off, at which points he tries to grab my jacket. I may have second thoughts about being aggressive with a group of young Italian males, but this sixty year old drunkard didn't exactly frighten me. So I helped him off the bus onto the sidewalk. He didn't get hurt but he decided to stop pestering me. I saw him again on the way back, getting onto another bus and rambling at people on it. Hopefully he's enjoying his time in an Italian prison right now, or maybe I'll see him next time I take a bus ride.
Looking foward to going to Venice on Saturday, and I think travelling every other weekend is a very good idea, as things are pretty slow here during the week. I might regret this words later, but so far the semester has been incredibly easy, and it really feels like I'm still on vacation. I have about 15 minutes of class a week and don't wake up earlier than 11:00 any day aside from Monday and Friday. I understand now why abroad programs attract certain types of people. Aside from that fact, I'm really enjoying all my classes. In film we've watched the movies Paisan and Orpheus, which were both great. Italian language is one of my favorites because of how into the course my teacher is. Italian vegetarian cooking is, of course, excellent, and I often forget that it's even a course. Computer animation is excellent and couldn't get any better - it's just what I've always wanted to learn. I haven't had my ethnic music class yet (I switched into that from writing) because the second week I forgot about it and this week the teacher was sick, so I'll have to wait another week before having that class.
posted by Jon at 6:40 PM
4 comments
Monday, February 17, 2003
There are some things you just never imagine yourself writing about in an online web journal while abroad in Italy your junior year in college, such as:
I'm engaged
On Saturday, February 15th, in the Roman Arena in Verona, I asked Leanne to marry me. And, lucky for me, she said yes! I gave her the diamond ring I bought back in Cleveland and have been carrying around in my money belt for the past month or so (talk about paranoia). I hadn't even planned for that specific moment, but the setting sun, rising moon, ancient roman arena, panoramic view, and peace music (playing from the nearby peace rally) just seemed to make the moment. Plus Leanne said "Isn't this romantic?", which made me think "Hey, maybe this is a good time to give her that ring I've been carrying around." So I told her I was going to take a picture and went up another step (we were sitting at the top step of the Roman Arena, which is much like a smaller colloseum), took off my coat, scarf, hat, and gloves, and then went down one step beneath her and said that I had a question to ask her. The actual marriage (it still feels pretty crazy to be typing this) is planned for next summer (of 2004).
The entire trip to Verona was absolutely wonderful. We took the from Florence at around 2 in the afternoon on Friday, and then switched trains in Bologna (which was extremely hectic - I always assumed there would be friendly conductors standing outside the train doors giving directions and taking tickets, but there's none of that, and it's very easy to miss your train or get on the wrong one). We did arrive successfully in Verona around five in the afternoon, and were able to save money and take the bus to our Hotel Di Capulett, coincidentally located right across from Giulette's tomb. The room was very classy and even had its own balcony terrace. We bought some cheese, crackers, and Coke and rested awhile in the room, before going out to find a place for dinner. We decided that even though it was Valentine's Day, we weren't going to go all out for dinner since neither of us had really nice clothes and both of us were pretty tired from traveling. Also we were both still a bit sick, with head colds and sore throats and coughs. We ended up finding an excellent restaurant anyway, called Due Forni (Two Stoves), which had tasty pizza at a cheap price. I also finally had a taste of 'Italian' beer, and it was marvelous. We lingered there for a few hours before going back to the hotel.
Saturday morning we woke up around 9:30 and enjoyed the free, full buffet breakfast at the hotel. We headed straight into the heart of Verona after that and picked up a card for 8 euros which allowed us to visit all the sights in Verona. We first stopped by Giulette's house, and it was interesting to walk through the house of such a famous character, although I couldn't help feeling that the whole thing was a bit silly since Giulette was, indeed, fictional.
Walking around Verona in between the famous sites was very enjoyable. The streets are a bit wider and smoother than Florence, and have sidewalks which can fit more than one person. The place was definitely mobbed with tourists though, but that may be a standard thing for any Italian city. We found a large bell tower in the center of the city which you can take an elevator up to the top, and I was able to get some excellent photos from the top of it.
Other stops we made included a few churches, which were beautiful as is always the case with the Catholic churches in Italy. We also walked around supposedly one of Italy's best museums, Castlevecchio. I enjoyed the sculptures there because of how unique they were (they all had very vivid facial expressions, like someone was stepping on their toes). They also must have the largest collection of pictures of Jesus in existence, and probably the best (though I'm no judge of that).
It was nearing sunset so we walked back to the center of town, where they were holding a huge peace rally. It's incredible to see how active Italians are in politics of another country, while U.S. citizens can be so apathetic about it when it's their own country. In any case, we walked through there and then made our last stop at the Roman Arena.
It's a pretty nice place. Leanne does a much better job of describing it though, so here's a quote from her email:
"When we walked to the arena, we went by a few large buildings, many cafes and restaurants, and a beautiful little fountain. the arena itself was a little like the colloseum, but smaller, and with different stone. the outside was a little spooky, old stone, and darkened arches, but once you were inside, it was light and open and beautiful. the steps/seats were of light pink and cream marble, which is all over the city, and it was a climb to the top, but worth it for the view. next to the arena, a peace rally was going on, full blast, and it was heartening to know that many people had gathered to unite against war, and the square was full of rainbow flags with pace written on them- the flag for peace here is rainbow with white lettering."
For dinner we forgot to make reservations so we ended up at the same place we went the night before, because it was so good. We had a great dinner together and finished it with the absolute best tiramisu we have every had.
Sunday morning we woke up fairly early, ate breakfast, checked out of the hotel and went to the bus station to catch a bus to Lake Garda, one of the largest lakes in Italy (and maybe Europe too?). We took an hour long bus ride to one of the most popular towns there right is right on the end of a tiny peninisula that juts out into the lake. The town was wonderful, and reminded me of towns in Cape Cod but with palm trees. We stayed there the afternoon, stopped at a few cafes and enjoyed seeing water again. At 5:00 or so we made our way back to Florence.
Next week we have an excursion planned to Venice, which is dandy except for the fact that I have to wake up at 5 AM to catch the bus. I don't think I'll be forgetting Verona anytime soon though.
Lastly - there are finally some pictures!. I spent the time to upload all the engagement related ones, which are in their own album, along with some from Verona. Expect more .. um .. sometime!
posted by Jon at 12:59 PM
7 comments
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