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!)

Special Edition: a non italiana in svizzera

(And to all you non italiano speakers, that's Switzerland.)

Mamma mia! What a day. Everything was going relatively well until Milan, with the exception of freaking out on the bus because we literally sat at a 5-way intersection for 8 minutes without moving. Coming from Jersey, I have seen my fair share of intentional intersection blocking and cutting people off, but geez! Easter weekend must put Italians into non-Christian driver mode or something. I swear, a dump truck literally blocked the whole intersection for EVERYONE who didn't have a miniature car...

I did luckily make the train, thanks to buying my ticket beforehand and got to wait a few minutes on the platform before the train arrived. Luckily it wasn't a really, really ghetto train like the last one I took back from Ravenna, but it was SUPER packed, so I had to sit with my suitcase between my knees and my way-too-stuffed backpack on my lap.

The FrecciaRossa from Bologna to Milan was kind of awesome. I have to say, if you have the option of taking a FR, disregard the extra cost and just do it. They are the Italian real-life equivalent of movie train rides. Quiet, comfy seats, almost enough room for all your luggage in the overhead compartments and luggage storage in the corridors for those pieces too big for the overheads. And you have an assigned seat, so no worrying about pushing old women and children over to get that last prized seat. Not that I've ever done that...

But in Milan... I had about a 20 minute break. Or what was supposed to be 20 minutes in between trains. That turned into 35 minutes after I got off my personal train heaven. And then after wandering around, sneaking away from creepy men who stare at me (seriously, I think I should have considered the black wig option before coming here. Have Italians seriously never seen a blonde before?!?! And don't they know it's impolite to stare?), eating a Brutto & Buono gelato from Venchi (milk chocolate & hazelnut flavor... damn good, btw), and standing in front of the departures board for about 20 minutes waiting for the track number to finally show up, the delay turned into 25 minutes.

FINALLY, it showed up. And somehow, I wish it hadn't. In long distance trains, 2 rows of seats face each other with a table top in-between. Ours was covered in crumbs, wrappers, not-so-moist-anymore towelettes, and empty water bottles. The cleaning man never came around either to pick it up. My Italian friends in the two seats next to me (this older man and his wife who fed me and talked to me and were really, really nice) talked to the guy who comes around punching tickets and he said very impolitely that there wasn't time to clean the train because it was late and it was the Swiss's fault. Ha! Even my Italian friends didn't buy that! Like the country that basically cornered the market on precise timepieces could run a train like that... Oh, not to mention the bathrooms were a disaster--I think there were only 2-3 open on the whole train and I never personally went inside, but from the looks on people's faces when they peaked... wow. Oh! And my seat was broken so I spent the entire trip in a reclined position and had to push the seat upright to escape from it.

If 25 minutes late wasn't bad, 35 certainly was. And 45 minutes late was even worse. Somehow, a train DRIVEN BY ITALIANS (don't try and blame this one on the Swiss, Mr. Ticket-Puncher!) lost time as it made its way north. In basically sunny/partly cloudy conditions. My goodness.

But after getting off the train in Zurich (finally!! and getting to stretch my back!) I tried to follow the crowd and find someone who spoke English or Italian and could tell me how to get to a Tram 4 stop. Except I saw a sign  (Yay! The Swiss believe in accurate signage!) that indicated Tram 4 was in the opposite direction. And I basically walked to a completely empty underground station to find an ATM (KLB or something in German... that's stranger than BancoMat, gotta say) and a Tram 4 stop--with a local who spoke English to help! And then this rude man and his kid cut right in front of me as I was thanking the women for her help--she had set up the machine for me and everything. But I have 4 minutes until the next tram, so whatever. I'll just wait.

Except this man moves like a snail, and apparently can't work a machine to save his life. And my tram comes and goes and he still is trying to work the damn machine. I was willing to let the cut slide... but when you make me miss things due to your incompetence... lord help you! Rude American Act ON! Let the foot-tapping (which in my Italian boots it pretty loud on stones since they have hard soles) and loud sighing commence! Finally, after I think my second sigh he just gives up. A group of English speaking people arrived about half-way through the whole ordeal, so I turn to them and ask if they know how to work the machine and if they can help me since I had the machine set up for me and then that man cut me off.

There was the really, really nice British guy in the group who told me that I should have told them I spoke English sooner because they were about to say some really mean things about that man. Haha. He deserved it. He asked why I didn't just kick him and yell at him for cutting me off, but I told him I was trying not to be the Rude American. He replied that most of my countrymen do a superb job without me. Then he proceeded to pull out change for the machine, ask me where I was going, buy my ticket and refuse any repayment (okay, I only had a 50 Swiss franc bill, but honestly, I would have given him Euro!) He told me he remembered his first day in Zurich and was happy to help. Seriously, I don't know if British people not in the UK are just really nice or... the Swiss are and their niceness rubs off on foreigners who live here.

The only person I met who isn't super nice here was the guy at the reception desk, but I think that's because my English scares him (do I speak too fast or something?). I got a Kebab (to everyone who doesn't know what that is in Europe, it's basically a gyro, only not quite. But just think gyro, it will make this easier. It's just kind of... Indian-ized) and the people who ran the counter clearly spoke NO English, if limited German, so... yeah. But the guy ordering next to me told them what I wanted.

Seriously. Is Switzerland the country of niceness?

On a separate note, I completely love Zurich. Well... not that separate really. This city is incredibly cool, but I've only seen it really in the dusk-dark. Can't wait to see it in the full daylight tomorrow! I mean, they have super old buildings, a lake, a canal/river, nice people, and trams!! Although this whole trip is supremely improved by the free WiFi in my hotel room and a TV. I have missed TV so much that I am actually excited to watch CNN, CNBC, and BCC News (all 2 channels of it... and some super strange shows...). Sad comment on my depraved Italian life without TV (except of course the shows I watch on my laptop to keep up with American programs).