last days

(I should preface this by saying I wrote this in the Madrid airport where the WiFi didn't work.)

Deanna likes to say that your last days in Italy are a hell of a time to diet. So really, no sane person does it. Especially when you’ve studied there for 4 months and know all the best gelato & pizza places in town. And you want to eat there every day for 2 weeks before you leave so you can always remember it. It’s kind of pathetic, really, but it tastes so good that you kind of don’t care.

Of course, this means we had to visit our favorite pizzeria twice in our last week and eat 1 pizza each both times. I think the owners were really sad when we told them we were leaving and asked them to take our picture with our pizzas. We were regulars, you know. They even knew what we usually ordered (“Un’emigliana e una bufalina?” she asked when we sat down and said we didn’t need menus.) But of course this time we switched it up and got 2 bufalinas because… well, I’ll be honest, those are the BEST. Simple, super-Italian, and just plain good. And so began the saga of the last Slurp pizzas of our study abroad experience (I phrase it that way because I know I will be going back to Ferrara and eating there again).

No more Slurp... :'(

We also had our last sun-bathing in Piazza Ariostea (I got burnt… but I did it the Italian way—I wore my bathing suit in the piazza! Well, not the whole thing, but I did wear the top, lol.) So the plane rides, as you can imagine, were super comfy with half my back burnt. It isn’t too bad, though, it’s just rather extensive. It should be gone in a few days in exchange for a nice, Mediterranean tan. :D

One of the hard parts was saying goodbye to the 21 people I have seen every day for the last 4 months… or practically every day. But I think all the last dinners, last experiences, last whatevers were great ways to remember all our fun times and say goodbye without really meaning goodbye forever. At least I expect everyone to visit New Jersey! Lol. There were 5 Rutgers students in the program, so that’s quite a big reason to visit.

On Tuesday the 3 girls in the other apartment hosted our last CIEE group dinner (not the one sponsored by the program, but the last one in their apartment… of which there were many before). Alyssa organized a load of fun stuff for us to do like superlatives (yours truly was voted: most organized & most likely to talk about sports with many other nominations like most likely to be in bed before 9—not true, I swear!!), “yearbook” entries on banners made for each of us which everyone had to sign, and a SCAVENGER HUNT. Except this one was more fun than the one we got in the beginning of the program. Maybe also because it wasn’t freezing outside. So if you saw any of those weird pictures on fb: yeah, that’s what we were doing. If not… here are a few gems. (And to get back at those people who don’t read my blog, everyone here gets bonus content: a video of me cartwheeling in front of the Duomo, which I refused to post on fb.)

Sit on Claire's broken bike.

Kiss a stranger.

Straddle a sphinx at the Duomo.

Get an old man to flip you off (we just asked nicely!)

Mustaches! (My personal fave)

Free limoncello shots after sprinting around Ferrara. Alright for only having large bills in my wallet!

Those are just some gems. You should be aware, though, that my team kicked butt and won the competition. Personally, I like to think my little sacrifice of my dignity helped in the team win. (Hey! I never said I was good at doing cartwheels!)

Of course we also had a program-sponsored CIEE dinner at the Bociofila (the place where all the old men play Boce and eat… a lot). And it was warm enough to sit outside the whole night!! Lol. I think you can tell how much I like warm weather, huh? ;) We got posters and prizes for the photo contest—I won best photo of life in Ferrara (and ironically, it was a picture for my thesis research, not for pleasure… haha). Technically it tied, but they said the people at the copy shop LOVED it and they wanted to use it for the CD covers (we each got a copy of photos from the program), but because it was a vertical shot it didn’t fit properly. Then again, only 6 people sent in photos and there were 5 categories. So I really hope it wasn’t a consolation prize.

Market Sunday in Piazza Trento Trieste

We also got posters and although they are not as cool as some of the past years (I mean… how cool can white paper get in comparison to bright blue, orange, etc.?), it is nice to have a reminder of all the fun times on a poster that I didn’t have to organize or make myself.

Madrid was fun too. Even though the Bologna airport ruined my mood for most of the day—I can honestly say small “international” airports no longer hold any appeal for me. Take me to Madrid, JFK, Newark, Munich, London… anywhere but Bologna!!! After waiting 3 hours—JUST TO CHECK IN and get a boarding pass!!—I got to the counter and they told me I can only have 1 carry-on (that’s 1 personal item OR carry-on, not a purse and bag or something. Oh, no. Because their airport is so tiny nothing bigger than a single propeller plane flies out of there (just kidding, but you kind of get the point I think). They usually put the other carry-on item in the hold for you since the overhead bins are too small. And then the employee told me that my bag looked too big and made me weigh it to then inform me that carry-ons had to be under 10 kilos or they needed to be checked—for 60 euro! Jesù Christo!!! Nowhere on American Airlines’ website does it say that, so either the employees of Bologna enjoy getting people to pay exorbitant amounts for an extra bag or they are jerks. Or both, really. And I had to run back-and-forth between the check-in counter and the “cashier” because you can't pay for your extra bag at the counter. And the cashier, FYI, can’t answer any of your questions. Ever. So do not try to ask. $60 I wouldn’t  mind… but 60 euros translates to about $80 right now with the exchange rate. Exorbitant, am I right? Whatever. In Madrid—in a REAL international airport with real planes—they didn’t even look at my carry-on. Okay, so technically it didn’t fit in the little basket, but it’s not my fault they closed off one end and my wheels stick out a teeny bit. I know it fits in the overhead because that’s where it resided on my last transatlantic flight here.

Madrid, the city, was very cool. I think Spain might make its way onto my must-visit-again list. How beautiful (if a bit brown) and warm and lovely it is here. And the people are very nice even though I don’t speak much Spanish (okay, I’ll be honest, almost ZERO Spanish). The protest was interesting too. At least, that is, watching them talk about it on the news and thinking—was I near that news van? Lol. No troubles, though, just a lot of police vans, barricades and people chanting. I didn’t go through the square once the crowds formed, just on the outskirts to the Metro station—which is SO clean, nice, organized… and cheap! My hotel was just perfect: free shuttle to-and-from the airport, 2 blocks from the metro station, nice people who could understand my broken Spanish/English. 

Palacio Reale

Plaza Major and my yummy frozen yogurt w/ strawberries & mangos
(Sorry I look such a mess. 6 hours at airports and 90+ degree weather at 5pm can do that to you and your hair.)

The infamous protest that was all over the news last night.

As awesome as the Madrid metro is, thumbs up and bumping your butt against the doors is prohibited. LOL. Or maybe its step carefully if you have a peg-leg. I can't tell...

let me introduce you...

I was talking with my friend yesterday as we took a break from homework (alright, yesterday I didn't really do homework... or much of anything, but I was taking a break from lounging around in my apartment) and I realized that I always just talk about "my friends" on here instead of giving them names. Which, I must say, would have been a whole lot easier. I'll introduce you guys a little around town too.

"This is Deanna. We have been attached at the hip since we arrived." (She literally told me to write that, so I'll just quote her on it.)

She also really wanted me to post this picture on my blog.

This is Deanna when she is not impersonating an eskimo.

This is the cooking class crew, more-or-less (with aperitivi in hand... after we finished cooking, of course!):

Left to right: (front) Deanna, Alyssa, Gianna, Claire; (back) me, Cara, Meredith, Cait

(Balebuste cooking classes were also the place I discovered the wonders of Italian fruit juice. They're almost as thick as milkshakes and taste like the actual fruit! I'm gonna miss my peach juice.)

This is the last cooking class group, which almost everyone came to because we made dessert.

Left to right:  (front) Gianna, Jordan, Ashleigh, Meredith; (back) Deanna, Cara, Lindsey,  me, Cait, Diana

Jordan broke his foot playing basketball on a team here. Congrats to him, they took it off on Friday!

This is the whole crew (including directors and the awesome CIEE Ferrara staff):

Left to right: (front) Telly, Lindsey, Meredith, Gianna, Katy, Deanna, Diana, Patti; (middle) Ashleigh, Claire, Alyssa, Veronica, Serg, Marty, Cait, Ricardo, Richard; (back) Maya, Tonilynn, Cara, Amy, Matt, Ben, Jordan, me

This is the castle in Ferrara. It's right in the middle of town, you really, really can't miss it. The area around it is "cobblestone," which really just means, original cobblestone which is super bumpy, not level, and which is uncomfortable to walk or ride your bike on. My shoe literally got stuck yesterday when I was walking through here. The street  around the front of the castle is paved in a similar style, except they used flatter stones (flatter being the operative word here, because it's still incredibly bumpy and uncomfortable to ride over on a bike.) Once, I lost my shoe in the middle of the street in that area. No joke. Granted, they were a pair ballet flats which weren't ideal for riding because the soles are super slippery, but my feet slipped off the pedals and there went my shoe. It was incredibly embarrassing to ride my bike with 1 shoe to the curb, prop it up (oh, yeah, it has no kickstand, so it was propped up against the lamp post for all of 2 seconds until I walked away and it fell over... which was even more embarrassing), then walk to my shoe which was in the middle of a very busy intersection with 1 shoe on one foot and a little ballet flat ped on the other.

Street-side view, but my little adventure happened further down, directly across from the castle.

This is the Duomo in Ferrara. On one of our first days in Ferrara, this is the place that the priest gave us a private tour of the dome interior. Because we asked him the name of the painter for our scavenger hunt...

This is a portion of the city walls. You can walk, bike, run, etc. on the tree-lined path which follows alongside the old walls. There is also a path outside the walls that you can use. Note: This is how they look in spring time when they are not covered in snow, ice, or slush.

This is my favorite pizzeria... maybe ever... but at least in Ferrara. Seriously, sometimes Deanna and I dream about their pizzas.

So I don't have a picture of the exterior because usually I'm too busy, you know, eating there. Duh.

This is a statue of Savonarola near the Castle Estense. Every time I walk by it, I seriously consider whether he was J.K. Rowling's inspiration for Lord Voldemort... You-Know-Who (which, fun fact!, in Italian is Tu-Sai-Chi. A lot of the minor character names are changed, for some reason, in each language. I think some of my favorites are Mrs. Purr (Mrs. Norris) and Unci-Unci (Griphook)... where do people even come up with these things??). Back to the point, this statue is unbelievably creeping. Especially at night. 

Creepier, right? I think it's the lighting. But also... that face...

I mean, you chop that nose off...

I'll show you all the cool spots in town on my map, because right now I am sooooooo not in the mood to do any homework. It's sunny, it's about 80 degrees and I have my window open. It was supposed to rain today, which would have been much more conducive to my 'shut-myself-away-in-my-apartment-all-day-so-I-can-finish-all-my-homework-today' plan. I'll get it done. After this I think.

I tried to make it in 3-D too! And now you can also laugh at the expense of my pathetic artistic abilities.

who needs a stairmaster when you have tuscany

I don't even want to think about how many stairs I climbed in 4 days in Florence & Siena combined. Let's just not talk about it, really. I think my knee might just spasm in pain sitting here in my bed. All my old dance injuries are coming back to haunt me: my ankle is sore, my knee is bruising and doing weird painful things, my hip is all tight and uncomfortable... but Florence was nice. Really, really nice. So, no worries (besides worrying that I need to find stretching time in the near future to alleviate all these rock-hard calf muscle issues)!

But, okay, since you literally couldn't be here to climb all these stairs with me, or appreciate how much I walked...
I should start out by saying that our hotel was in a building of 4 hotels. And ours was on the 2nd floor. Now that's 2nd floor Italian style, which really means 3rd floor to Americans (the Italians have a ground floor then the 1st floor, FYI). So everyday began with a descent of 2 flights of stairs and ended with me dragging myself back up said 2 flights. However, this day began with that of course.

Saturday:
2 flights of stairs to hotel
back down said 2 flights
lunch @ Trattoria da Mario (I just put that in there because it was wonderful and you should go!)
climbing Palazzo Vecchio (about 3 flights up)

back down
walk across town to Palazzo Pitti (which is kind of built into a hill, so I'm counting it)

up 2 flights in Museo degli Argenti
down 2 flights as fast as possible to see gli impromptu sbandieratori

up 4 flights to the Museo dei Costumi
down 1 flight to the Boboli Gardens

hiking up and down Boboli Gardens (not so much stairs as calf-burning uphill climbs)

up 2 flights at hotel to collapse in bed

Sunday:
down 2 flights at hotel
up 2 flights to second floor of uffizi galleries

down 2 flights to see foreign painters
back up said 2 flights because the designers of the Uffizi can't connect parts of floor 1 properly, apparently
down said 2 flights again
(Academia: almost no stairs!!)
up 1 flight in Academia to see not-so-exciting religious art
down again
(but it's okay, because I illegally snapped a pretty decent photo of the David!)

up 2 flights to hotel room
back down
down 2 flights at International Artisan festival (after walking for about 3 miles inside)
back up (after walking about 5 miles inside the ginormous building)

This isn't the building... but it was inside. I just thought  it was cool.

back up to the hotel -__-

Monday: Siena (which is really all one big hill -__-)
up to the top of Torre del Mangia: 400 stairs

back down
up and down various hills killing time before lunch

march uphill to the Duomo
up at least 2 flights to get to the Panorama line

up at least 300 stairs to the Panorama
back down
up the hill we climbed down to see the Baptistry to get to the Duomo

hike up to Piazza di San Francesco for a so not-worth-it museo we paid for in a cumulative ticket

up 3 flights of stairs in the not-worth-it museum
down
hike to the bus stop
dragging myself up 2 flights of stairs to the hotel room

Tuesday:
Duomo Campanile: 414 steps

back down (I should mention this was in monsoon-type weather. While it was nice to have the Campanile free from all signs of life, I would not recommend this method of beating-the-crowds to anyone.)


...and not to forget: up & down 2 flights of stairs at the hotel to get my luggage!


At this point, I would have climbed the Duomo Dome too, if it wasn't pouring rain and windy whichever way I turned. And if I wanted to spend 8 euros to be even more miserable. Instead I went to Coin and bought watch parts. I'm telling you, you're all going to be jealous of my new awesome watch! Then it stopped raining, I climbed a total of about 6 steps to Basilica di Santa Croce then went to Piazza della Basilica di Santa Maria Novella and lounged in the sun for about 4 hours, taking a break to walk to a pharmacy celebrating its 400-year anniversary where you can buy a small bottle of perfume for 80 euro-- if you have that kind of cash to drop! Me? I'll just stick with my scented soap.

So, really, no more mention of this for a while, okay? I'm afraid my muscles might tense up in fear.

I did also get a lot of shopping done. And to anyone who really cares or remembers this because they were there with me: I successfully remembered the exact location of the leather store where I bought my Florentine leather bookmark with gold filigree which I lost my senior year of high school and bought two more (of course they weren't as stunningly beautiful as my first one, but they will suffice. I was lucky to find even 2 nice ones in a pile of inferior bookmarks and really ugly red leather with blue paint imitation pieces). Also, I got some pretty good deals. A certain someone will be looking super snazzy with a teal leather bag with brown leather detailing that I haggled for in the market. All this and a boat-load of more souvenirs! Shopping and exercise... what more can I girl want from a vacation (other than no rain, no rain, rest, and relaxation)?!

Homework update:
1) Read 37 pages of Contemporary Italian History 26 pages
     Read 27 pages of Italian Cinema
     Write a 2000 word essay for Italian History
     Finish researching my essay
     Finish reading 25 more pages of a super boring book for Fem Lit
2) Read an additional 81 pages for Fem Lit 57 pages
    Read 100 pages more (at least I can do this in English) for an Italian presentation
    Plan my Italian presentation for my final (which is this next week, I should add) 
    Give my presentation
3) Study for my Italian final (also next week) (tomorrow)
4) Study for my Cinema final (thankfully in 3 weeks) (in 1 1/2 weeks)
5) Study for my Contemporary Italian History final (ditto)
6) Study for my Fem Lit final (almost 2 weeks away)
7) Write my Fem Lit paper (and I haven't even started on that research...)

and let's add:
8) Do all my thesis work
to the list, because I don't already have enough to finish in 2 1/2 weeks. I don't even want to list all that mess out for you.

One last gem for you, my readers!

At Trattoria da Mario... it is forbidden to ask for ketchup, mayonnaise, pizza  & coffee. Lol. Don't worry, I still liked it.

back to the grind

Well, Switzerland was fun! But I came home to an apartment in tatters and this:

Okay, so my mountain of homework isn't THAT big. But it's relatively large. They told me before I left that a semester abroad would be more difficult than I was used to. I didn't believe them and I still don't. But I will say that they give you more work which takes at least double if not triple the amount of time it would take me at home. It's not harder. I can study for an exam in a day or two and still ace it, but I get about 30 pages of reading for each day (if not more, especially for feminist literature.) To all my friends who are pleasantly shocked that I'm taking a fem lit course: I had to take it, I hate it, and I am in no way excited about the mountains of reading my teacher assigns--in dialect, no less!--nor am I particularly excited to sit for 2 hours twice a week to be talked at. To all my friends who are appallingly shocked that I took a fem lit class: I repeat--in no way, shape, or form did I have a choice in this matter.

Also, when you figure in that you basically won't be doing homework on the weekends when you want to travel and see the world and not sit with a textbook and read pages upon pages of Italian, your time windows for getting homework done are significantly narrowed. Oh, and don't forget you have 9am classes every day and an 8:30am class on Friday, so you can't stay up until 3am doing homework. Plus, even if you do (I have tried it for fem lit), you end up falling asleep because it is so incredibly boring and confusing and you're soooooo tired from getting up at 8 that you can't possibly keep your eyes open.

So! Even though I have a month to do this:
1) Read 37 pages of Contemporary Italian History
2) Read 27 pages of Italian Cinema
3) Write a 2000 word essay for Italian History (which of course I still have to research, so...)
4) Finish researching my essay
5) Finish reading 25 more pages of a super boring book for Fem Lit
6) Read an additional 81 pages for Fem Lit
7) Read 100 pages more (at least I can do this in English) for an Italian presentation
8) Plan my Italian presentation for my final (which is next week, I should add)
9) Study for my Italian final (also next week)
10) Study for my Cinema final (thankfully in 3 weeks)
11) Study for my Contemporary History final
12) Study for my Fem Lit final
13) Write my Fem Lit paper (and I haven't even started on that research...)

And, of course, make time to research my thesis in the historical archives when I can't even figure out how to access them. This is shaping up to be a very interesting month, huh? So to everyone who's been asking what I've been doing: STRESSING!

And of course, seeing this little corner of the world while I still can, which has probably contributed to the whole 'I feel like I have no time left now' feeling. Oh, well!

Switzerland was fabulous, to everyone who wanted to know. Although, this meat-eater found out that she sometimes likes to change it up and not eat fried or sausaged meat every night (which the Swiss apparently are not so fond of, unless you consider fondue, which I am not so fond of). I will look back on my time in Switzerland fondly, though. Especially the hotel which left a Toblerone on my pillow every day and which had 4 channels of TV in English (and 3 in Italian!) so at least I got some couch-potato time in there. And of course Zurich and the scenery was just beautiful.

Stein am Rhein, Switzerland near the German border

Sir Stu liked the view too.

But I think he liked playing around in Hohenklingen Castle more...

Back to the homework, though! (And hopefully some fun travels in the near future which include me leaving the apartment and the weather not being rain EVERY. SINGLE. DAY... I mean, seriously, when did "April Showers" become "monsoon season?" And I heard it's supposed to be 88 in NJ tomorrow... and probably sunny too.)


Oh! I forgot to tell the wondrous story of my trip back to Ferrara from Zurich! -__- When I got to the train station yesterday--45 minutes early, I might add, even after exchanging my Swiss francs into Euros!--my train wasn't on the departure board yet so I waited in a really long line at the ticket counter to ask what track it might be on. I was promptly informed that it was on track 7 and was not a direct trip today; that everyone who was going to Milan had to change trains at Chiasso. Wonderful! When I got on the train, car 5 seat 47 did not exist. I found car 5 seat 46 in 1st class and the rest of the car was a restaurant. So I got to spend a whole 4 hours in a wooden-backed, minimally-cushioned chair at a dining table.

At Chiasso, they made us walk through the station even though the train was literally on the next track (i.e. on the other side of the platform), past the Italian finance police and a bomb-sniffing dog (I think... maybe it was drugs, I don't know). And then the train left about 30 minutes late.

Meanwhile, I had a Frecciarossa to catch at 3:20pm from Milan to Bologna, which I had already paid for. Luckily for SBB and Trenitalia the train arrived 10 minutes before my Freccia left. Otherwise, they would have had a very upset, possibly screaming & cursing American on their hands.

Unluckily, my Freccia was 5 platforms away and I had a suitcase with me. Also unluckily Milan is a very, very  crappily designed station and all the major tracks funnel into the main station area. Imagine it like a T, except it has too many vertical lines connecting to the one horizontal line. The vertical lines are the platforms. Which means that people just hanging out smoking and generally getting in my way all stand at the end of the vertical line nearest the horizontal area or in the horizontal area directly adjacent to the vertical platform lines. And everyone is bustling around the connected area trying to get to their trains. And old ladies are just generally getting in the way because they are slow and well, old ladies. They are also short, which I use as an excuse for why I always seem to crash into them (sorry, they are all of 4'8" which makes them impossible to see over a normal-sized Italian crowd).

At the connection of these horizontal and vertical lines the Milanese people have erected sloped slabs of marble to display the digital signs which inform travelers of the track number and train information. Unfortunately these slabs of marble are not so conveniently placed for harried travels running between tracks and trying to avoid old ladies, rolling over people's toes with their suitcases, etc. Oh! At this point I should mention I was wearing Converse, which even as brand-new pairs have little traction. Mine have about -5 traction. Yes, the are basically just flat rubber on the bottom. Not great for trying to mount giant slabs of sloped and polished marble. Unluckily for you readers (and luckily for me), I did not in fact wipe out on the marble mountain/sign display-er. But there was a second of uncertainty where I thought I might. And I'm sure a bunch of unhappy and crowded travelers were disappointed to see me wobble, slip, trip... and steady myself on the actual sign to remain upright and sort-of stumble the rest of the way around the giant slab.

Luckily for me--and unluckily for the man sitting in my seat--I made the train. After almost-yelling at the man in my seat that I had the corridor (in Italian, I might add... I think he was Canadian and didn't really understand much of what I was saying. Which of course I realize about 5 minutes too late), I was finally, finally seated. And the Canadian guy even offered me a cookie about half-an-hour later. (But, seriously, I can assure that I do not look deathly thin and do not need to be offered food by every passing traveler, so I'm still not sure why they do it!)