and she falls in love...

First of all, I am sorry I am being a blogger-slacker...... But perhaps you can infer that my lack of available time has to do with the fact that I finally am living in a house where I have other things to do and other things to enjoy and therefore, I do not need to spend every moment blogging.

Secondly, I will again share how odd Italian hot chocolate is... I've decided it's the difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa perhaps. When I got home this afternoon (yes, in Italy it is still afternoon at 5:45 in the EVENING), Silvia asked me if I wanted something hot to drink. I said yes and was in the midst of saying that some English Breakfast sounded great when she decided that I should try some "cioccolato caldo." It is just so fascinating and surprising to me that I was handed a cup of hot chocolate pudding….. Fortunately it was a bit lighter than the hot chocolate from last week, but still, I was full for about 2 hours after eating it. I tried to explain to Silvia what we had in the United States that we call hot chocolate and I am fairly positive it sounded somewhat disgusting to her.

Now, once again, I have neglected blogging for long enough that I should probably do a little timeline in order to keep my events straight.

Saturday

I am not sure if I have shared this or not but my host mother is the sister of Victoria and Chrysanthe’s host father. Therefore, my two fratellini are the cousins of their host brother and sister. Saturday afternoon we gathered the troops (Lorenzo and Filippo, their two host siblings, plus 3 of their friends, and the 3 of us made a party of 10) and strolled over the train tracks to the movie theater to see Up which only came out this past week in Italy. Mind you, I saw up in 3-D this summer and it was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Nothing changed seeing it the second time. Although it was not 3-D and it was in Italian, I still cried and I still laughed hysterically. And the fact that we all went together as a big extended family was just about the sweetest thing I have ever done.

After returning from the movies with the two fratellini in tow, I threw on something cute and headed over to Breana’s at which point we met Chrysanthe and Victoria to wander over the Arno for aperitivi with Ali and her lovely English boyfriend. In case I haven’t explained aperitivi, it is a very Italian concept somewhat similar to tapas only about 1.72 million times more fantastic. Many of the fanciest (and not so fancy) bars and restaurants have aperitivi every night, especially on the weekend. As long as you buy one drink, you can eat as much as you want at the buffet. There is always pasta and many types of salads, breads with all kinds of condiments, veggies, and meat of some kind of another so for 7-8 euros, you can sip something nice and snack away for hours. The place we ended up at Saturday night was outside and the food was great!!

After aperitivi, Breana and I headed to The William, an English/Irish pub, with Ali and Keving. This pub tends to have the most random range of music each night, ranging from live American cover bands to Miley Cyrus to heavy metal. Satuday happened to be Disney stars and heavy metal. Something to note is that since Italian students often have class Saturday morning, and there is no drinking age here, all of the young teens are out Saturday night making for quite a sight. Perhaps that’s why we were surrounded by Jonas Brothers music videos all night? Regardless, we had some great cider, and headed home somewhat early in preparation for a great Sunday!

Sunday

This is the point at which I fell in love.

At 6:45am, I woke up, took a speedy shower, threw on some warm clothes and headed to the train station where I met Breana, Julie and our Italian friend Alessio. After purchasing our tickets, we hopped on the train to Perugia where there was a chocolate festival. Yum.

The train ride to Perugia may have been my favorite part of Italy thus far. I don’t particularly like Florence – it is loud and dirty and full of tourists and beggars and dog poo. All of the little towns outside of Florence on the way to Perugia were gorgeous, each one a small cluster of buildings surrounding a piazza and a church on a hillside. My favorites by far were the small towns all around the edge of Lake Trasimeno. Alessio could tell that I was awestruck and in love because in very sweet English he said, “It appears to me that perhaps this is some place that you would like to someday live maybe?” Yes, Alessio. Yes.

When we arrived in Perugia, I fell even more in love. The chocolate festival was lovely, but it was overcrowded (and by overcrowded I mean that you literally could not pass through the crowd and as Alessio said, “How do you say this? We are like sardines all in one place tight together?”). Disregarding this chaos, Perugia is stunning. It sits up on a hill, overlooking copious churches and small towns scattered across the hills. To reach the center of the city, you must take a bus (or walk up steep streets) until you come to an semi-outdoor escalator. This escalator turns into two and then three escalators, gradually bringing you more and more underground within the hill. When you step off the final escalator, you set foot in the lower part of the old city of Perugia, which now lays underground. Today this underground city is a series of galleries used for events such as the chocolate festival, but it remains breathtakingly beautiful because it remains just as it was so many hundreds of years ago.

As I stood overlooking the hills surrounding Perugia almost teary, I was overcome with first goose bumps and then the overwhelming sense that I needed to spend more time here in the future. When I looked up, there was a patch of sunlight beaming down in vertical rays, spreading its warmth over this incredible old church off in the distance. Thank you, rosary.   

As usual, there are more pictures on Facebook!

When I arrived home Sunday later afternoon, I was greeted warmly by my lovely family. When it seemed to be time for dinner, I left my room, only to join a caravan of people already heading down the stairs. Silvia looked overjoyed when she looked up to see first Lorenzo, then Filippo, then Enrico and then me trooping down the stairs to enjoy dinner together. Throughout dinner, Lorenzo chatted about various different things and I believe that Filippo might have even said something directly to me…. Perhaps? Silvia, yet again, teased them for becoming so shy around. I swear its soon to change, I can feel it!

I might add that we had INCREDIBLE meatballs for dinner, followed by boiled potatoes and steamed green beans – both of which were very welcome because I am forever craving vegetables. The twins were very resistant to eating the “schiffo” potatoes but then Lorenzo had the great idea of smooshing his into mashed potatoes and added not just oil, salt and pepper, but also mayonnaise. You should all know that Italians LOVE mayo. They put globs of it on sandwiches, they add it to various salads, plop it on veggies – they use it as a dip and condiment for nearly everything. As Lorenzo dolloped his mayonnaise onto his potatoes, Filippo freaked out because he actually thought it was vile, but Silvia was just happy that her son was eating potatoes so she remained silent. Let me tell you, it did not look appetizing! Too each his own!

After dinner I presented them with chocolate that I bought as a thank-you gift. Little did I know that Lorenzo and Filippo adore milk chocolate with hazelnuts – and how could you not? It’s amazing! In a fit of excitement, Lorenzo remembered that he had a book with all of the musical instruments in it and he showed it to us. When Silvia asked what I played and I said viola, Lore eagerly flipped to the viola page and patiently explained the difference between all the stringed instruments. Thanks little bro!

Today

Mondays are long…. And today was no exception. I am in class from 9.30 until 5.30 with an awkward 3 hour break in the middle of the day. Fortunately, Breana and I decided to walk to the market at Sant’Ambrogio where we bought fruit, veggies, bread, cheese, meat, milk and snacks for the week. Shopping in markets is definitely the way to go around here because everything is so fresh (although fruit season is passing…. and veggies are starting to lack their incredible summery taste, but still…. very tasty!) and it is all so reasonably priced!

Anyway, when I arrived home, Filippo was home alone and greeted me cheerily, letting me know that la mamma was grocery shopping and Lore was at his music lesson (French horn, so cute).

Unfortunately, when I got upstairs and checked my email I learned that Laura Mann, the founder of the non-profit I worked at this summer, passed away this morning after fighting cancer for over 5 years. Laura was an incredible woman – powerful, brilliant, inspiring and beautiful. I know that she touched everyone who she met and changed their lives in some way or another. So Laura, good luck on this journey and we will all see you in the future!

It couldn’t have been more comforting to be able to go downstairs to my family and hear the boys teasing each other and watching the Disney channel (they LOVE “The Life of Patty”), while hearing Silvia and Enrico chat in the kitchen as they cooked and set the table. Sitting at dinner and absorbing all of the Italian language around me, savoring my spaghetti with tomatoes and pancetta, soaking up my balsamic vinegar with salt-less Tuscan bread and toasting with my host parents after dinner was an incredible feeling and it is not anything I ever felt at Luciana’s.

Mothers are always right: Everything happens for a reason. Always. And here ends my tale of falling back in love with Italian..... 

Baci e abbracci!

A domani! 

a series of somewhat magical days....

So I have no idea where to begin this blog.

I have been trying to blog for days. Unfortunately, my emotions have been a muddle, mess, and disaster these past few days and I felt unable to write the purely happy and optimistic blog I desired. Amidst my fluctuating feelings of Italian ecstasy and confidence of no bedbugs and the fear of being stuck with bedbugs for life and having to head home to the states I decided to hold off until I could guarantee sheer joy for my readers. That being said, I have been creating a list of blog subjects for about 5 days now and I can't quite put them in order..... please bear with me!

To start off, I would like to say this: You will never believe what we ate for dinner tonight.

Luciana has been sweet enough to provide us with meals this week. In case you weren't aware, we were displaced yet again, this time to an INCREDIBLE and very expensive apartment right up the street from Luciana's. It is stunning and very adorable, and naturally I have attached a photo. Every night at 7.30pm we walk down the street with a neon orange cooler/bag to acquire our homemade meal and then we return to our apartment, eat together, wash the tupperware, and repeat the following day. Anyway, back to my point. Dinner tonight.

We had something I would like to call Italian Tuna Noodle Casserole. Shocking, I know. The wonderful mother of my darling boyfriend makes this delicious meal called Tuna Noodle Casserole. A casserole is foreign to me. As my mother says, "We don't really eat those..." I ha

d never even seen a casserole. My last night at Gaber's house this summer, I requested that his mother please make tuna noodle casserole so I could try it. It was amazing. Pardon me, but what is not to like about pasta with tons of cheese and tuna and peas? Nothing. So. Tonight. The Italian equivalent. I was laughing so hard. I opened up the tupperware container to find penne (cooked al dente, of course!) with a fresh tomato sauce and tuna. Canned tuna. Flakey, canned tuna. It sounds terrible, yes? It was incredible. So tasty. There you go, America. Italians do it to.

Back to our apartment for a m

inute. Lately, I have been trying to find some beauty in this city. Besides the obvious beauty of the buildings and churches, Florence is actually pretty disgusting.... There is no gree

nery like you find in the occasional pocket park in NYC or Boston, no trees on the sidewalks, hardly any flowers outside houses. Pl

enty of fake flowers stuffed in window boxes, and of course there are large parks but nothing immediately near my house. The streets are full of trash and even worse, dog poo. Everywhere. There are no laws about this here, and therefore no one cares.... How vile!! Our temporary apartment sings a different song. When you enter the first door into the "building" you are actually still outside in a beautiful courtyard full of the most luscious green grass and beautiful pink, yellow and red flowers, looking up to a sky where you can actually see stars at night... A little slice of home.... or heaven even!

Of course, the churches are beautiful too.... I might have even found one to call my own. We visited Santa Croce last week (see photos on Facebook!). It was a gorgeous Gothic church but it didn't call my name when I entered. The one breathtaking aspect of Santa Croce was the sensation I experienced when we exited the church to walk around the convent area

/private chapels.... I haven't smelled anything so similar to the scent of my grandparents house in Elmsford, NY since I last visited their house as a junior in high school. It must have been the scent of a tree that was planted in the courtyard but it was a magically reminiscent moment, reminding me that somewhere my grandparents are glowing with happiness that I am here in their country.

This morning we visited a church of the Renaissance - San Lorenzo. My heart may have stopped when we entered. It is a simple church - brick on the outside, no marble. The inside is all white plaster and simple grey stone. There are no frescos, all the art that hangs inside now was added later. Construction began in 393..... I walked in and immediately felt like a tiny particle in the universe. There are at least two organs.... what I would do to

attend mass at San Lorenzo and hear those organs playing.....

I had another magical moment yesterday.... slightly less ethereal but equally awesome (in the true meaning of the word!). My friend Allie is back in Northampton at Smith and she has a radio show Wednesday nights. Naturally, I wanted to listen to it live but for some reason it wasn't functioning properly. To cheat the system, I video-chatted my darling Gabriel and he turned it up very loud on his computer so I could hear. A few minutes later Allie sent me an instant message saying she was about to play a song for me. Momentarily Pablo Picasso by Citizen Cope came on..... a song that Gabe and I have listened to together for about 4 years now.... it was a very comforting and reassuring moment - a moment that made me feel as though everything was going to be okay no matter what happens with the bedbugs or the distance between myself and home. Thank you, Allie May!!

Prior to this lovely event, I had two other humorous, interesting and sweet experiences. Yesterday morning I went to a market over on our side of town, down by the Arno. I was wandering the market and after buying some peccorino and some sunflower honey (AMAZING by the way) I decided to buy a panini. I wasn't sure what kind it was exactly, but there was some kind of meat, perhaps pork, that all of the panini stands seemed to specialize in. After ordering one, I stood in front of the stand eating my delicious snack with a group of three Italians - a couple and their younger male friend. The older man asked me if I would care for a small glass of wine with my panini and after politely declining a few times, he gave up trying. I then tried to pay. I went up to the counter and offered my three euros but the younger man came flying over saying that I could not pay because he was... I tried to argue but to no avail and thus I walked away with an exceptionally tasty, free panini.

Only moments later, I was strolling along a very ritzy street full of designer shops and a man in a very nice Italian suit approached me, saying something very quickly in Italian. He soon realized that I had no idea what he was saying and he repeated more slowly - "Posso prendere un foto dei suoi piedi?" "May I take a picture of your feet?" To which I said, "Scusa?!?!!???" He then explained that he was a photographer and a designer, he loved shoes and that was his specialty. He said he adored my shoes (mind you, they were gold sandals from Payless......) and really, could he please just take one photo. He then whipped out a very nice camera and proceeded to show me that he had hundreds of photos of feet in shoes on the street.... Che strano! I decided if he were going to put my life in danger, my chances of surviving were higher if I obliged, so I stood in the street, posed my foot, and let him snap a quick photo.... Hopefully he doesn't trace my $8 sandals back to me!

Bedbug update: Any minute now (its 11.35pm) we have to walk down the street to Luciana's and start Night 1 of the Bedbug Watch - otherwise known as Bedbug Busters! (If there's something strange in your neighborhood, Who ya gonna call? BEDBUGBUSTERS! If there's something weird and it don't look good, Who ya gonna call? BEDBUGBUSTERS!) If we see even HALF of a somewhat alive bug, we are to call Giovanna immediately and we will no longer be allowed to live there..... Hopefully there will be none, given that they gassed the walls and re-sprayed the apartment a few days ago...... Wish us luck!!

Goodness, my apologies for the length of this blog!

A domani!!

Baci e abbracci!

P.S. I actually had one more subject I was going to cover in this blog.... a very important one! But I think this is long enough as it is, and instead I am going to write a separate one!!!