Jeanette's Blog

Field trip! Everybody loves them.
Pisa was the first destination.” What’s in Pisa?” some have said. The world famous leaning tower, a cathedral, and a baptistery. That’s about it.
The leaning tower left me truly baffled. It leans, man. It really leans, a lot, and it’s really tall. Fascinating beyond belief. We didn’t go in it because there was limited time and it cost a good chunk of money, but of course I needed to take the staple pictures with the tower. I took one trying to push it back up, one kissing it and a funny one that looks like I’m picking off the flag on top. It was lots of fun and tourists were actually taking pictures of me being funny. haha goofy tourists…
In the Cathedral, there is a Marble Pulpit which was sculpted by Giovanni Pisano, a very important Italian sculptor from the late 1200’s. I am studying him and his father, Nicola Pisano, in my art history class. Nicola Pisano’s Marble Pulpit was in the Baptistery. It was really great to see the pulpits in person and be able to get up really close to the sculptures. The Baptistery had an excellent echo effect that was demonstrated every half hour. The demonstrator would sing one note and be able to sing a different one right on top of the last as it echoed. (I don’t know if I really explained that very well, but it was awesome.) The Baptistery is constructed like a big white cake. That’s exactly what it looks like from the outside. haha
The buildings are right next to each other, boom, boom, boom. It’s easy to find them from the train station as well. It’s a short, direct walk to the center. Right on Barbara’s schedule, we boarded the train with Marta; our destination Cinque Terre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s one of the top ten places to visit in my Italy book, it was recommended to me by countless numbers of people and described phenomenally in all my research. Hence, I was extremely excited.
The train ride was a little over an hour from Pisa. I knew we were close when I caught a flashing glimpse of brilliantly blue water. From that moment on, my face was glued to glass window of the train. It was very humorous because we were traveling inside a tunnel that was lined with arched openings equidistant from each other. So, every time there was an opening, everyone altogether would say, “whoa!”. It went something like this if you can imagine the situation: ………Whoa!……..Whoa!……..Whoa!……..Whoa!……..Whoa!……..etc. haha
We got off the train and dashed toward the shore to soak as much of the atmosphere in as possible in that very moment. It’s easy to fall in love with Cinque Terre. It’s a line of 5 small towns that are along the eastern coast of Italy. There is one road that connects them in order to travel by car, but IT’S THE MOST IMPRACTICAL WAY TO TRAVEL. In Cinque Terre, the best way to transport yourself, etc is by Train, or Boat, or Foot. It’s amazing. The air is so fresh as I’m sure you can imagine, the greenery so green, the sky so blu, and the people are so friendly!!! Finally. People talked to us there like we were people and not ‘foreigners.’
Our hotel was located in Monterosso the last of the cities if traveling from the south. Monterosso is a good place for young adults stay because it houses the one and only pub that is open in the off seasons. Pubs are a great place at night to go and practice Italian with the locals!
Anyway, our hotel was perfect. We had breakfast and dinner included in our stay. Delicious. The first night we had muscles and olives in a red sauce over spaghetti for our first plate and for the second was roasted potatoes and broiled fish. The second night we indulged in either a four cheese pasta or shimp scampi over penne pasta for the first plate and second was swordfish or chicken with a vegetable that I don’t remember. but it was ended by a couple slices of fresh pinnapple. Perfect! (I wonder where this belly of mine is coming from?)
Guess what… I got to sleep on the top bunk this time!!!! Heck yeah. From all the travelling on Friday we all hit the sack pretty much right after dinner. haha that seems to happen regularly here. Long Long days… In the morning, we ate brakfast, which was a selection of fiber filled cereals, yogurt, marmalades, and fruits, and then met Gabriele, our tour guide for the day. We took the train to Riomaggiore, the first if traveling from the south. We walked Via dell’Amore, which is a path along the edge of the mountain that goes through a National park, and we learned some interesting things about the culture of Cinque Terre. For instance, on each side of the mountain there are different types of climate. On the east side, the one in which we were standing, there were cacti, and other warm climate vegetation because all the wind comes from the west, but on the other side of the mountain it snows and is much colder because it catches all the wind. That was a bad sentence, sorry.
Cinque Terre was not built by slaves but by the citizens that lived there once upon a time, which makes it a unique place. It was built and is now maintained manually by those that continue to live there. UNESCO helps to raise money in preservation of this beautiful place. The people make money through tourism in the summer and by producing very good wine. More stones were used in building the vineyards of Cinque Terre than to build The Great Wall of China. Yeah that’s a lot. The native people invented a structure in which to build into the shoreside to prevent erosion with inverted slates. It’s hard to explain, so I’ll try and illustrate it for you:
the first row is / / / / / / / / / /
The second is \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
and then / / / / / / / / / /
So when the waves crash into the walls of earth the water trickles down and back into the sea instead of rotting the earth away. Pretty smart, huh.
Lemons are sweet in Cinque Terre… no really I wasn’t making an analogy they really are sweet. And their wine is very smooth. I want to go back there soon. I almost left everything and became a fisherman, haha. Cinque Terre is place where people and nature live harmoniously together, it’s magical.
I met a bunch of great people there, Simone included!!! I miss Simone! He taught me how to dread hair the right way, us Americans got it allllllll wrong. He showed us pictures of what Cinque Terre used to look like years ago. He took us to his home and treated us very kindly and respectfully. He opened a 20 year old bottle of wine to share with us. I will never forget him, because in some way he impacted me and changed my life in ways that I’m not even sure of yet. Maybe something that I learned from him was: Don’t let language be a barrier between good people. Jump into life and don’t look back. Live in the moment, because it will pass before your next breath.
The day we left I spent the morning exploring. I think I found the end of the earth. I sat on this point of land that jutted into the sea and from that point I could see nothing but sea and sky. It was an indescribable feeling. There was silence in that place. Real silence, serenity.
I took some of the beach with me in the form of really beautiful rocks. I plan to make jewels with them. Cinque Terre is inspirational!! Make it a destination sometime in your life. I highly advise it.

Posted by Jeanette at 06:01 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Last minutes decisions are always exciting! Whoever disagrees should try making one again sometime.

www.Hostelworld.com was the portal through which we discovered the FARMHOUSE in PERUGIA! Yes a farmhouse, that’s what I said. And not not just any old farmhouse, but a 200 year old farmhouse. 18 euros a night with complimentary, homemade, red wine. Baby ducks, a pony, goats, sheep and chickens came with the package, too! Vicariously through the chickens, we got eggs for breakfast, which we cooked in our very own kitchen and ate at our kitchen table which was next to the sitting room which was connected by a hallway that led to our four bed room. I got to sleep on a bunk bed again. (the bottom, which wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I’m a nice person) : )
Outside the walls of this fortress were rolling hills of emerald green for miles. I was so excited to run and roll and lay upon them. As beautiful as Siena is, it can be very suffocating at times, because the buildings are huge and tall and the streets are very narrow.
So, I unpacked my stuff and explored every nook and cranny to satisfy my curiosities. After, I went outside and ran into our Grandparents for the weekend, Reta and Bruno. They told us about the market and some information about the farmhouse and the animals and then said “Andiamo!” Reta shewed us into the back of their mini truck and closed the tailgate and we were off to the market. haha. There was no ice to break here. I was so glad because I do not like ice in relationships. (It makes jumping in a little difficult.)
For four people, we spent 7 euro each to eat for the entire weekend. I was impressed. I miss cooking, so it was nice to be able to exercise some independence in the kitchen for a weekend. We returned to the farmhouse and put everything away and prepared to make a quick trip to the world famous Perugina chocolate factory. Have you heard of Ferrera Rocher? Those delicious hazelnut chocolates? They’re made by this factory. Our intentions were to catch a tour, but they stop early on Fridays, so we were out of luck. We walked through ourselves and then, of course, purchased a selection of world famous chocolates. America has Hershey kisses, Italy has Baci kisses. Ten times more delicious because there’s a hazelnut in every one!
We also purchased hand towels, because, unfortunately, towels were not included with our stay at the farmhouse. We found our way back and prepared for dinner and ate chocolates. Chocolate doesn’t spoil dinner here, mom. We had gnochi and salad accompanied by the homemade wine and then…a surprise entered our world. Four Austrians came to stay at the farmhouse with us! Very cool people. They made us feel better about our Italian. haha They were very good at English and we were horrible at German. That seems to be happening a lot.
We spent the rest of the night hanging out: Austrians, Americans, and one Italian. It was a blast. Conversation was great and again, no ice to break. It was interesting to observe this ecclectic gathering of different people. Americans definitely consume too much, too fast.And Bush has given Americans a bad reputation. It was a great learning experience for me.
The next morning, we headed to the center city to Piazza IV Novembre to see the fountain sculpted by Giovani and Nicola Pisano. It was gigantic and quite functional even 800 years later. Even in the city center, things were more spread out than in Siena. I met a guy on the steps of a church that talked to me for a while in Italian. He doesn’t like Perugia because everyone knows everyone. sound slike a lot of places, haha.
I loved Perugia, however. Maybe it was the sun, or the crazy views, or the open air. I’m not sure. The views were incredible, though. At one point I was standing even with the clouds in the far distance. It was pretty crazy. They seemed eye level, but in reality were not. I could see for miles and miles and miles and then right in near proximity there were people and houses. For some reason, it seemed that near me was real and everything in front of me was fantasy. We spent the entire afternoon in the center and then returned back to the farmhouse to cook dinner with the Austrians. By the way their names were Katy, Hanus, Morris, and Alex. : )
We had a feast of fresh mozzarella, tomotoes, pecorino (sheep cheese), fresh bread and pasta with an olive, tomato sauce that was delicious. It was accompanied by the wine of course and then we hung out and relaxed. We packed and chatted and went outside to look at the stars for a while. Guess what… there was no moon in the sky for two days! I don’t remember that ever happening in my life, but it was scary. I thought we should call the appropriate authorities, but I was outvoted. It came back Monday night, so I feel better now.
We hit the sack kind of early because we were tired from the long day of walking and traveling, but we ended it with a bed time story. It was about dinorsaurs. You had to be there. : ) We slept, with an area heater glowing up the room like a sunset, soundly and woke up, had eggs and cereal for breakfast and donated our leftover groceries to our new friends.
A well needed rest in the country. My health is much better. There isn’t anything that some fresh food, good wine, clean air, and the open countryide can’t alleviate, even a little bit.

Posted by Jeanette at 12:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

First, I’d like to say HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
Now I’ll get into Venice.
We left early Friday morning and after a bus ride to Florence and a train ride to Venice it was 12:00 in the afternoon. Upon leaving the train station, we were surrounded by confetti and costumes and beautifully painted masks. The first thing we had to do was find our hotel, which ended up being very conveniently located around the corner a bit from the train station. Along the way we window shopped at all the stores and bought masks for Carnivale. My mask is a blue and silver butterfly. They range from quite simple to very extravagant and detailed. Venice is known for blown glass and leather goods, and these shops have gorgeous merchandise.
Check-in at the hotel wasn’t until 2, so we made our way to the main square of Venice, Piazza San Marco. This is where most of the festivities were being held in celebration of Carnivale. We crossed bridges and walked along canals and through skinny alleyways following signs that read P. S. Marco. Suddenly and very unexpectedly we stepped through an archway into the Piazza. There was in front of us the enormous Church of Saint Mark. It was built with Gothic architecture using pointed archways and tons of pinnocles stretching to the sky. The church was clad in three colors of marble. It was the center focus of the square.
Around the piazza, stages were set up and small acts of musicians, jugglers, stilt walkers, and actors were doing their best to woo tourists and make some pocket money. Pigeons were everywhere! Tons and tons! Their feathers were darker than the pigeons’ here in SIena. Probably because it rains more in Venice and there’s more sun in Siena. Anyway, I thought I was going to get swarmed, ran into, or pooped on at least a few times during the trip but none of that happened. haha. People were actually paying 1 euro for bread crumbs to attract the pigeons. It worked phenomenally, because the pigeons swarmed to them like magnets on their head, arms, in their hands, everywhere! It was very entertaining, but a bit gross to think about.
We headed back to the hotel to check in, change, put our masks on, and prepare for a night out in Venice during Carnivale. When the sun goes down in Venice, there are lights strung up over the streets that come on and make everything sparkle. We found a place for dinner and learned a valuable lesson about eating out in Italy. We got charged a base fee just for sitting down! Surprise! I paid about 20 dollars for a pizza and a glass of wine. For the rest of the weekend, I ate on the go.
After dinner, we went back to the Piazza San Marco and danced while a jazz band played on the main stage. I went back to the hotel at 9:30, which was early, to plan my day Saturday, read, and write a letter. Saturday, I rocked out of bed at 8 and was off to discover Venice in the morning. I wandered and wandered. I figured out that even when you’re lost in Venice, you’re not really lost because if you just keep walking soon you’ll find something familiar or a directive sign of some sort. Venice is a small city comparitively.
So I put my map away and just walked. I found a fish market and ‘The Most Beautiful Bookstore in the World’. The bookstore was really neat. There was a lifesize gondola in the center that was filled with books and there wasn’t an open space on any of the walls, and in the back there was a port with steps down into the water. I found the Santa Maria dei Miracoli church, the enormous and ornate Santa Maria delle Salute where a couple was getting married and taking pictures, the Fenice Opera House, the hospital, the Guggenheim Museum, and I also went inside the Church of Saint Mark. The church was amazing. The floors were tiled decoratively and the ceilings were high and arched and painted in gold leaf. Everything was very dark from the hundreds of years of candle burning. I could feel a strong sense of history. It was incredible.
I walked from 8:30 until 4:30 in the afternoon and by that time was ready for a nice nap. I took a two hour nap and then got ready for another night of Carnivale. I ate a quick sandwich for dinner and made my way with the other girls to the Piazza to see the acrobat performance. It was way more than I expected. There were eight men flipping all over the place, a woman singing who had a great voice, and they were telling a story. It was one of my favorite things that happened in Venice. A couple of the girls made friends with a couple Italian guys, so after the show we went out with them. They showed us parts of Venice that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise because they were out of the tourist district. It was really interesting… there’s something about Venice that’s really hard to describe. It has a different feeling. We hit up some bars and then I called it quits, but some of the girls pulled an all-nighter!
Sunday, we checked out at 10 and went to the square to watch the famous “Flight of the Angel.” Apparently that was everyone’s plan because we couldn’t even move from the massive crowd. It was uncomfortably overpopulated. The angel was pretty, though, floating from the top of a tower down to the ground. After that we caught our train and headed back to Siena just in time for dinner. A virus is going around our group here and I caught it on Sunday. Maria Pia intuitively had soup ready for us when we got home. It was a perfect ending to the weekend.

Posted by Jeanette at 09:50 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

So as everyone experiences, I have experienced a little home sickness. Italy is a very proper country let’s just say. Being my loud active and theatrical self doesn’t really fit in here. It’s sad but true…I miss the vulgarity all around and the outrightness of people and the not exactly dirty, but livable feeling of America. In America, there’s no fear that you are going to break something. I have no problem being proper and refined, but sometimes i just need to run and jump around and scream and have emotion. This beautiful place does not facilitate this desire inside me.
I miss the theatre immensely. I guess that’s a good sign, since it is my major. I’m looking into seeing some shows here, but getting that kind of information is a bit more difficult than at home. There’s not as much theatre here.
I miss my friends and my boyfriend. By the way, I purchased a cell phone before I came here and in retrospect it is not necessary. I recommend simply buying phone cards. I payed 5 euro and on a payphone it pays for 45 minutes, but by a landline it pays for 4 hours and 41 minutes. My host family allows me to use their phone and I can use the one at school as well. Phone cards are definitely the way to go or you can buy a cell phone here and put minutes onto it.
Also sad, but true……I miss American television!!! I know it’s horrible when I am surrounded by the grand outdoors. However Deal or no Deal just doesn’t cut it and Americans are great entertainers.You have to watch some Italian TV to really understand what I mean.
I miss big, huge, colorful, delicious breakfasts like cereal, haha, and pancakes. I miss Panos at wee hours of the morning. I miss peanut butter. (My mom will laugh at that because i didn’t start liking peanut butter until recently) Even though I adore that my host mother makes my bed everyday………………I miss my disheveled covers and unmade bed. I miss having to clean up after myself. I miss baths………..and I haven’t had one of those in a very long time, because I couldn’t take one in my last apartment either.
I don’t miss doing my laundry and cooking for myself, though. I don’t miss the cold and the snow, that’s for sure. : ) Good luck and I wish warmth to all of you in the north.

Posted by Jeanette at 04:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack