Tuesday, 5/6/03
This is my last morning at Santa Chiara. I spent my last night here already. I prayed that today I wouldn't need excitement, giddiness (especially not giddiness) or excessive happiness, but only tranquility. And this morning tranquility is what I have. I have this calm, yet exciting feeling that the moment has finally arrived. I can pack, smile, and do nothing but get ready to go home. I'll see my parents in less than 36 hours.
Wednesday, 5/7/03
9 hours! I'm on the flight home, over the Atlantic ocean. We're about to be shown "Chicago", but until then I'll write. Tuesday was a very good day, a very good day. I woke up and started swinging my arms around out of excitement.
After lunch the "non-non architecture" group gave our gifts to the instructors/admin/cooks, etc. Then I went up to Kate's room to help her "focus" on packing. We listened to the Beatles, then the Bridget Jones' Diary soundtrack. If you step on top of Kate's bed, then to the radiator, then up to the window ledge, you can sit up there. There are diamond shaped bars across the big window, but one corner was sawed off, so Kate climbed through to the scaffolding on the other side. There has even been scaffolding on Santa Chiara all semester! I sat on the window sill and Kate translated the article on Legolas from her LOTR magazine for me. She's picked up some Italian pretty well. Next I helped Morgan proofread a paper she wrote for a scholarship application.
At check-out Amanda gave us our room deposits back and when I found out that we could buy the Italy Spring 2003 directories with American dollars, I was overjoyed. She gave me change in Euros. Somehow those Euros keep turning up! I ran to the bookstore and got the book on Tuscany that I thought would be a perfect gift for Grandpa. Now I have gifts for everyone! I was ecstatic.
After 9 everyone had already left for CoCo Palm. Valerie and I went, and got our gelati. I got melone, which tasted exactly like cantaloupe, a citrus mix which tasted like grapefruit, and creme. They were all good, but not my favorites.
I lugged all my stuff downstairs, then went to Kate's room again before we moved all the luggage to Piazza Garibaldi for the bus. Kate has become one of my favorite people. She is so funny with all her daydreams. Morgan thinks it is nuts how the two of us just go off on Lord of the Rings all the time.
We packed the bus and left Castiglion Fiorentino at 12:30am. A lot of other students who weren't leaving quite yet came to see us off. I discovered that the reason I hate goodbyes is because I want to cry but can't, and because if I say goodbye to someone I don't know too well, I regret not getting to know them better. So I would rather just wave happily.
We all slept the three hours to Rome. We got there at 3:30, and waited until after 5 to check in. We got one the plane with no incident, then got to Frankfurt after our boarding time, so we had no layover! Hurray! Now I'm watching the Q-tip clouds over the Atlantic.
[The end.]
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wrapping up the semester!
Saturday, 5/3/03
Last night after dinner I played "Settlers of Catan" with Karin and Valerie. It's Karin's favorite game, and a German game. I found out from the game that "ritter" means "robber".
This morning Morgan and I went to Cortona. I mainly wanted to go again because I didn't get postcards last week, but it was just as beautiful as before. I think Cortona is my favorite Tuscan town. The only thing I bought was a Tuscan cookbook. As soon as I got back, Kate and I went to get our hair cut. I just now packed most of my stuff. I think it might all fit!
Monday, 5/5/03
I'm in the courtyard in an attempt to stabilize myself once again. I have a knack for having a whole lot of fun, and thinking I'll have a great journal entry, then something comes along and ruins my mood before I have a chance to write.
I should start with yesterday. Church was wonderful, even though the heat made me dead tired, as usual. Anziano Waite told me that some of the members requested my testimony, since it was my last Sunday. I was nervous, but I did it, and he translated for me. I said goodbye to everyone then left.
I was walking back to Santa Chiara when I met Kate and Morgan coming out to go to studio. They told me that Taeg had moved our final review from 2:00 to 1:30. It was 1:40. I ran upstairs, threw on some different clothes, and ran up the steep road to studio. Taeg wasn't even there, and we didn't end up starting until after 2. The review went well, though it lasted five hours. With my projects, the reviewers have kept bringing up religious allegory and stuff. This time, Taeg's friend, who is teaching in Rome, kept talking about the "darker side" of my project, a flight of steps that go nowhere. It seems to imply death. I think that's hilarious, that I've gotten stuck with the symbolic projects all semester.
After dinner our studio hosted a party in the courtyard with wine and pastries, and a slide show of our powerpoint presentations. I had to be careful and smell the pastries to make sure I didn't eat one with alcohol. Andrea from Kansas showed me some things that Nicole had put all over the study center, little garlic cloves wrapped up and attached to string, just to help people notice details about the space that they wouldn't have otherwise. She put these little wire weed-like sculptures across some metal beams that span the hallway directly under the groin vaults. I never knew those little beams were there, and it really complemented the vaults to have something organic under them.
Next, I went with Karin, Edit, Kate, Crystal, and Carmen to the carnival to ride the spinny ride. It looks like the Sombrero at Six Flags, but it's very different. It doesn't spin very fast, but it jostles you up and down so you bounce around. There are no seats, just a bench around the edge, and the Italian kids would even go jump around in the middle and go flying. It was such a blast! We rode it twice. Edit, Kate, and Carmen tried to dance in the middle the second time, but didn't last very long. Edit landed on top of a little Italian boy twice.
Then we went to CoCo Palm and I got ice cream, though I was really full from the dinner and pastries. I decided to get fruit instead of rich chocolate because I was full, and I ended up getting coconut and green apple, which was the best ice cream combination I've ever had. It was absolutely divine!
I forgot to mention that before CoCo Palm, Karin put money in the punching machine and we all took turns punching it. I sucked. I guess I just don't have much anger in me. Edit and Karin kept naming it after certain guys. Then they told Carmen to think it was her parents. She got a really high score.
So, with our gelati we went and sat on the ledge on the opposite side of Piazza Garibaldi. People kept asking me if I was drunk, though I hadn't had a drop of alcohol. Then Kate, who was very giddy, got up and started doing the dance from the video "Lady Marmalade" at the end of Moulin Rouge. It was really funny.
[a stretch of complaining, because let's face it, when you spend 3 months with the same set of people, you get sick of each other]
In 48 hours, I'll be with my parents and I have never wanted a moment so badly in my entire life.
After lunch today I went up to the studio to help pack our models. Then I crashed on Carmen/Val/Bekah/Crystal/Marie's couch for not nearly long enough. By the way, their house is called Casa Vespa. Valerie and I went into town, so she could sell her cell phone, and I could find gifts. There is one shop in town called "Claudia" that has beautiful glass figures. I got Grandma a glass heart that has colored pieces on the bottom that give it a pretty effect. For Grandpa I knew that I wanted to get a book on Toscana. But I simply didn't have enough money. So I got him a beautiful glass globe from "Claudia".
At dinner it was "dress crazy night". I was really not in the mood. I couldn't bring myself to dress up. But everyone else was really funny. I was very quiet at dinner. We gave Taeg a pipe for a gift. He was ecstatic. We also all signed the postcards we're giving to all the other instructors/administrators/cooks, etc. What we did, was Sophia got a postcard of Castiglion and cut it into 14 sections. We each took one part and reproduced it in our own media, own style. Then they were all put back together. It looks really cool.
Well I'll have to start in the journal I got in Firenze now. 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours!
Last night after dinner I played "Settlers of Catan" with Karin and Valerie. It's Karin's favorite game, and a German game. I found out from the game that "ritter" means "robber".
This morning Morgan and I went to Cortona. I mainly wanted to go again because I didn't get postcards last week, but it was just as beautiful as before. I think Cortona is my favorite Tuscan town. The only thing I bought was a Tuscan cookbook. As soon as I got back, Kate and I went to get our hair cut. I just now packed most of my stuff. I think it might all fit!
Monday, 5/5/03
I'm in the courtyard in an attempt to stabilize myself once again. I have a knack for having a whole lot of fun, and thinking I'll have a great journal entry, then something comes along and ruins my mood before I have a chance to write.
I should start with yesterday. Church was wonderful, even though the heat made me dead tired, as usual. Anziano Waite told me that some of the members requested my testimony, since it was my last Sunday. I was nervous, but I did it, and he translated for me. I said goodbye to everyone then left.
I was walking back to Santa Chiara when I met Kate and Morgan coming out to go to studio. They told me that Taeg had moved our final review from 2:00 to 1:30. It was 1:40. I ran upstairs, threw on some different clothes, and ran up the steep road to studio. Taeg wasn't even there, and we didn't end up starting until after 2. The review went well, though it lasted five hours. With my projects, the reviewers have kept bringing up religious allegory and stuff. This time, Taeg's friend, who is teaching in Rome, kept talking about the "darker side" of my project, a flight of steps that go nowhere. It seems to imply death. I think that's hilarious, that I've gotten stuck with the symbolic projects all semester.
After dinner our studio hosted a party in the courtyard with wine and pastries, and a slide show of our powerpoint presentations. I had to be careful and smell the pastries to make sure I didn't eat one with alcohol. Andrea from Kansas showed me some things that Nicole had put all over the study center, little garlic cloves wrapped up and attached to string, just to help people notice details about the space that they wouldn't have otherwise. She put these little wire weed-like sculptures across some metal beams that span the hallway directly under the groin vaults. I never knew those little beams were there, and it really complemented the vaults to have something organic under them.
Next, I went with Karin, Edit, Kate, Crystal, and Carmen to the carnival to ride the spinny ride. It looks like the Sombrero at Six Flags, but it's very different. It doesn't spin very fast, but it jostles you up and down so you bounce around. There are no seats, just a bench around the edge, and the Italian kids would even go jump around in the middle and go flying. It was such a blast! We rode it twice. Edit, Kate, and Carmen tried to dance in the middle the second time, but didn't last very long. Edit landed on top of a little Italian boy twice.
Then we went to CoCo Palm and I got ice cream, though I was really full from the dinner and pastries. I decided to get fruit instead of rich chocolate because I was full, and I ended up getting coconut and green apple, which was the best ice cream combination I've ever had. It was absolutely divine!
I forgot to mention that before CoCo Palm, Karin put money in the punching machine and we all took turns punching it. I sucked. I guess I just don't have much anger in me. Edit and Karin kept naming it after certain guys. Then they told Carmen to think it was her parents. She got a really high score.
So, with our gelati we went and sat on the ledge on the opposite side of Piazza Garibaldi. People kept asking me if I was drunk, though I hadn't had a drop of alcohol. Then Kate, who was very giddy, got up and started doing the dance from the video "Lady Marmalade" at the end of Moulin Rouge. It was really funny.
[a stretch of complaining, because let's face it, when you spend 3 months with the same set of people, you get sick of each other]
In 48 hours, I'll be with my parents and I have never wanted a moment so badly in my entire life.
After lunch today I went up to the studio to help pack our models. Then I crashed on Carmen/Val/Bekah/Crystal/Marie's couch for not nearly long enough. By the way, their house is called Casa Vespa. Valerie and I went into town, so she could sell her cell phone, and I could find gifts. There is one shop in town called "Claudia" that has beautiful glass figures. I got Grandma a glass heart that has colored pieces on the bottom that give it a pretty effect. For Grandpa I knew that I wanted to get a book on Toscana. But I simply didn't have enough money. So I got him a beautiful glass globe from "Claudia".
At dinner it was "dress crazy night". I was really not in the mood. I couldn't bring myself to dress up. But everyone else was really funny. I was very quiet at dinner. We gave Taeg a pipe for a gift. He was ecstatic. We also all signed the postcards we're giving to all the other instructors/administrators/cooks, etc. What we did, was Sophia got a postcard of Castiglion and cut it into 14 sections. We each took one part and reproduced it in our own media, own style. Then they were all put back together. It looks really cool.
Well I'll have to start in the journal I got in Firenze now. 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours, 48 hours!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Stargazing, finals, and final trips to Firenze and Roma
Tuesday, 4/30/03
As I was going to bed I got in one of those giddy moods, and Cady and Karin said I was a drunk, a non-alcoholic drunk. I don't remember what happened, except that at one point Cady suddenly started singing the screeching violins from Psycho, and I screamed, then half cried-half laughed. Very unsettling memories. Then a few minutes later we were talking about hearing ceiling sounds and the conversation shifted to rat fights in walls and ceilings. Cady was doing something in the bathroom and she suddenly popped around the wall and screeched at me like a rat! I screamed, and Karin screamed louder just because she was startled by my scream. Tammy next door banged on the wall for us to shut up.
Friday, 5/2/03
I'm finally on my way back to Rome, my favorite place in Italy. The only places that may rival it would be Capri or Venice.
Tuesday afternoon Morgan and I, as well as a couple of Kansas girls, went to CoCo Palm for gelati. I was dreadfully late to mixed media, as CoCo Palm didn't reopen until 4. But it was so worth it. I can't believe I never had gelato before that. It was divine, so divine that I even came back after dinner.
So I went to mixed media over an hour late, and did some work on my 3d model, cut up my collage and arranged it on my model. But I didn't finish because Paolo was too tired to help me. I'm going to miss Paolo so much. I think he's my favorite professor ever.
Later, Karin and Edit were going to the Velvet Underground for dancing (every Tuesday), and I decided to stop in just to see what it looked like. No one was there, so we decided to go look at the stars for a while. Me, Karin, Edit, and Kate went and got blankets and carried them up toward the tower. In the Piazza Municipale we actually passed the Mayor and were embarrassed because Edit and I both had blankets wrapped around us. Then it turned out the tower was gated off, so we went up a side road that dead ended at the top of the hill. We just laid the blankets down on the road, because no one else was around. We had a nice time, though the street lamp made it hard to see anything other than the big dipper.
Now comes the funny part. We went back to the Velvet and I went in to see what people looked like on the dance floor. But we still had the thick wool blankets. I was waiting for Kate because she only wanted to stay for a few minutes, but when she kept dancing I began to get self conscious, holding two huge blankets in the entry way of a pub where I was in view of everyone there. Then Jesus asked me what I was doing. Finally, I told Kate I would take her water and go. I went.
Wednesday I skidaddled to Firenze. We had round trip tickets to come and go as we chose, since there was no organized field trip that day. On my way, I remembered that I was supposed to meet with Paolo about our mixed media exhibit. I made a mental note to find him before dinner. My goal in Firenze was to just walk around the city and enjoy myself, and find a gift for my brother. I went to the Duomo one more time, hung around the Loggia de Lanzi, the Uffizzi, and went through the markets. I saw a spray paint artist by the Uffizzi. His paintings were absolutely beautiful, amazing. They were very surrealistic, most with some kind of body of water with a boat, and one or two planets in the space above. It was amazing how he could manipulate the spray paint with his tools into such detail.
When I got back right before dinner, I ran into Paolo and he told me that I had failed and my project had been put through the grinder. Only two people had showed up to class, and he was mad. But all the rest of us went after dinner to mount all our collages on chipboard and put them on easels for display.
We had a final the next morning. I came back from the exhibit to find Karin, because we were supposed to have a study group, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I was very frustrated after 30 minutes, and wouldn't go back to my room, so I sat in the dining hall with Idalia and Morgan, who were working on Sociology. At length Karin and Edit did show up. They had been in the Colorado studio talking to Jen about the Renaissance.
Well, my final day in "The Eternal City" has come to a close. The first thing I got there was a pen. Now it's 6, and I'm completely exhausted. I planned on taking the 7:15 train back, but by 2:30 I was so tired I knew my legs could only tolerate the hour long walk to the train station.
Back to yesterday, after the final and lunch I took a nap then went to studio cleanup. We emptied and mopped the entire floor of our classroom building. I didn't mention before that we were renting those classrooms since the south wing of Santa Chiara was closed off, and there's a Priest who lives directly below our classrooms. On my way down the stairs one night, I was trying to find the light switch, and accidentally rang his doorbell! Luckily, I remembered "pardone" and "mi dispiace" and he understood that I needed the light. It was really embarrassing, but he is a kind old man.
May 1 is a festival day, so all this weekend the town is holding a carnival and market. Carmen, Cady, and I went to the carnival. It was small, in the playground next to the Piazza Garibaldi. The market we saw in the piazza was just farm equipment and we were disappointed until we discovered the rest of it up and down the main road alongside the arch. I got a beautiful white shirt for €5.
To today! I'm really glad I came again, though I didn't see anything amazing. I was just saying my own farewell to the city and getting to know different parts of it. First I stopped at Santa Maria della Vittoria to see Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa". It's supposed to be his masterpiece, but I was a little disappointed. The light from outside wasn't shining on it like it's supposed to, and it was too high to really see well.
Next I stopped in the Pantheon and the church next to it, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (with Bernini's elephant in front) then headed toward the Travastere to see Bramante's Tempietto. The Tempietto, where according to tradition Peter was crucified, is in a tiny courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio, which is on top of a high hill with good views of the entire city. Unfortunately, the Tempietto is closed for restoration, but I was able to get a photo of it through the gate. I ate lunch in a little grassy area next to the church.
The great thing about Rome, is that although it's a huge city and very touristy, it's still inviting, and has many quiet places hidden in it. Florence and Venice are fast paced, as is Rome, but there's no privacy in the other two, no place to eat lunch without masses passing by. There are so many monuments in Rome that span the city, that when walking between, you are sure to make several discoveries along the way. Every corner it seems has some mysterious ruin. And why is it that the banks of the Tiber even feel less exposed to the masses than the Arno? There are trees lining the Tiber, and large paved areas on the lower level of the water that feel removed from the rest of the city. "Roman Holiday" calendars are sold everywhere and I had to really restrain myself from buying one.
From the Tempietto I went to St. Peter's one more time. I just had to start heading in the general direction of the dome and ended up being cut off by the university. I didn't particularly like that part of town. But I got there. The cathedral didn't impress me as much this time, but I'm still glad I went. I think I love Bernini's piazza more. Probably because there are drinkable water fountains and I filled up my bottle and cooled my hands. It was an hour's walk back to Termini and my legs felt like they would fall off. But here I am, safe and sound, with twenty minutes until Castiglion.
As I was going to bed I got in one of those giddy moods, and Cady and Karin said I was a drunk, a non-alcoholic drunk. I don't remember what happened, except that at one point Cady suddenly started singing the screeching violins from Psycho, and I screamed, then half cried-half laughed. Very unsettling memories. Then a few minutes later we were talking about hearing ceiling sounds and the conversation shifted to rat fights in walls and ceilings. Cady was doing something in the bathroom and she suddenly popped around the wall and screeched at me like a rat! I screamed, and Karin screamed louder just because she was startled by my scream. Tammy next door banged on the wall for us to shut up.
Friday, 5/2/03
I'm finally on my way back to Rome, my favorite place in Italy. The only places that may rival it would be Capri or Venice.
Tuesday afternoon Morgan and I, as well as a couple of Kansas girls, went to CoCo Palm for gelati. I was dreadfully late to mixed media, as CoCo Palm didn't reopen until 4. But it was so worth it. I can't believe I never had gelato before that. It was divine, so divine that I even came back after dinner.
So I went to mixed media over an hour late, and did some work on my 3d model, cut up my collage and arranged it on my model. But I didn't finish because Paolo was too tired to help me. I'm going to miss Paolo so much. I think he's my favorite professor ever.
Later, Karin and Edit were going to the Velvet Underground for dancing (every Tuesday), and I decided to stop in just to see what it looked like. No one was there, so we decided to go look at the stars for a while. Me, Karin, Edit, and Kate went and got blankets and carried them up toward the tower. In the Piazza Municipale we actually passed the Mayor and were embarrassed because Edit and I both had blankets wrapped around us. Then it turned out the tower was gated off, so we went up a side road that dead ended at the top of the hill. We just laid the blankets down on the road, because no one else was around. We had a nice time, though the street lamp made it hard to see anything other than the big dipper.
Now comes the funny part. We went back to the Velvet and I went in to see what people looked like on the dance floor. But we still had the thick wool blankets. I was waiting for Kate because she only wanted to stay for a few minutes, but when she kept dancing I began to get self conscious, holding two huge blankets in the entry way of a pub where I was in view of everyone there. Then Jesus asked me what I was doing. Finally, I told Kate I would take her water and go. I went.
Wednesday I skidaddled to Firenze. We had round trip tickets to come and go as we chose, since there was no organized field trip that day. On my way, I remembered that I was supposed to meet with Paolo about our mixed media exhibit. I made a mental note to find him before dinner. My goal in Firenze was to just walk around the city and enjoy myself, and find a gift for my brother. I went to the Duomo one more time, hung around the Loggia de Lanzi, the Uffizzi, and went through the markets. I saw a spray paint artist by the Uffizzi. His paintings were absolutely beautiful, amazing. They were very surrealistic, most with some kind of body of water with a boat, and one or two planets in the space above. It was amazing how he could manipulate the spray paint with his tools into such detail.
When I got back right before dinner, I ran into Paolo and he told me that I had failed and my project had been put through the grinder. Only two people had showed up to class, and he was mad. But all the rest of us went after dinner to mount all our collages on chipboard and put them on easels for display.
We had a final the next morning. I came back from the exhibit to find Karin, because we were supposed to have a study group, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I was very frustrated after 30 minutes, and wouldn't go back to my room, so I sat in the dining hall with Idalia and Morgan, who were working on Sociology. At length Karin and Edit did show up. They had been in the Colorado studio talking to Jen about the Renaissance.
***********************************
Well, my final day in "The Eternal City" has come to a close. The first thing I got there was a pen. Now it's 6, and I'm completely exhausted. I planned on taking the 7:15 train back, but by 2:30 I was so tired I knew my legs could only tolerate the hour long walk to the train station.
Back to yesterday, after the final and lunch I took a nap then went to studio cleanup. We emptied and mopped the entire floor of our classroom building. I didn't mention before that we were renting those classrooms since the south wing of Santa Chiara was closed off, and there's a Priest who lives directly below our classrooms. On my way down the stairs one night, I was trying to find the light switch, and accidentally rang his doorbell! Luckily, I remembered "pardone" and "mi dispiace" and he understood that I needed the light. It was really embarrassing, but he is a kind old man.
May 1 is a festival day, so all this weekend the town is holding a carnival and market. Carmen, Cady, and I went to the carnival. It was small, in the playground next to the Piazza Garibaldi. The market we saw in the piazza was just farm equipment and we were disappointed until we discovered the rest of it up and down the main road alongside the arch. I got a beautiful white shirt for €5.
To today! I'm really glad I came again, though I didn't see anything amazing. I was just saying my own farewell to the city and getting to know different parts of it. First I stopped at Santa Maria della Vittoria to see Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa". It's supposed to be his masterpiece, but I was a little disappointed. The light from outside wasn't shining on it like it's supposed to, and it was too high to really see well.
Next I stopped in the Pantheon and the church next to it, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (with Bernini's elephant in front) then headed toward the Travastere to see Bramante's Tempietto. The Tempietto, where according to tradition Peter was crucified, is in a tiny courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio, which is on top of a high hill with good views of the entire city. Unfortunately, the Tempietto is closed for restoration, but I was able to get a photo of it through the gate. I ate lunch in a little grassy area next to the church.
The great thing about Rome, is that although it's a huge city and very touristy, it's still inviting, and has many quiet places hidden in it. Florence and Venice are fast paced, as is Rome, but there's no privacy in the other two, no place to eat lunch without masses passing by. There are so many monuments in Rome that span the city, that when walking between, you are sure to make several discoveries along the way. Every corner it seems has some mysterious ruin. And why is it that the banks of the Tiber even feel less exposed to the masses than the Arno? There are trees lining the Tiber, and large paved areas on the lower level of the water that feel removed from the rest of the city. "Roman Holiday" calendars are sold everywhere and I had to really restrain myself from buying one.
From the Tempietto I went to St. Peter's one more time. I just had to start heading in the general direction of the dome and ended up being cut off by the university. I didn't particularly like that part of town. But I got there. The cathedral didn't impress me as much this time, but I'm still glad I went. I think I love Bernini's piazza more. Probably because there are drinkable water fountains and I filled up my bottle and cooled my hands. It was an hour's walk back to Termini and my legs felt like they would fall off. But here I am, safe and sound, with twenty minutes until Castiglion.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Urbino, crazy drunkards, and Cortona
Thursday, 4/24/03
Yesterday I got up at 6:15 to catch the architecture bus at 7am. We went to Urbino. The only thing good about that field trip was the Casa Natale Raffaelo. I went there all by myself, when we had free time before our museum reservation. The museum in Urbino was an endless collection of Madonnas and Bambinos; it bored me out of my mind, since one definite thing I've learned on this trip is that I don't like pre-Renaissance painting!
Kate told me she thought she'd seen every piece of Byzantine art (painting and mosaic) in the world. When I told her that she's probably only seen 1% of them, she nearly went nuts. Palazzo Ducale, that's hat the museum is called. I did get to see the original of "La Cita Ideale", which I've never overly liked, but it's important to Renaissance art history.
We also went to see some 1970s university dormitories, which where actually quite interesting, architecturally. But the worst thing about the trip was The Trip! 2 1/2 hours there and 2 1/2 hours back of winding through mountains on a bus! I think all of us were in one degree or another of motion sickness. Luckily, no one actually puked.
Friday, 4/25/03
Well, I'm about back on the top again, just like good old George "Babyface" Nelson, who was jumping for excitement about the electric chair. [in O Brother, Where Art Thou?]
Yesterday, Paolo's presentations were so far behind schedule that ours were rescheduled for 7pm. Our presentation went very well. Everyone else said that he talked more than they did, but he actually listened to our entire presentation and didn't talk overly much. I wouldn't have minded if he did; unlike most people, I love to listen to Paolo talk.
After dinner all the non-architecture people went out for ice cream, with their nice separate budget. When Dr. R announced that at dinner, Taeg stood up and said that the architecture students would get something even better later.
Saturday, 4/26/03
How much I have to write about, and I actually have time to do it! It's 4 in the afternoon, and I have no engagements. I'm in my favorite spot in the courtyard, at the top of the left flight of stairs, with a grand view of the courtyard to my left, the valley to my right, and the mountains beyond. I'm itching to write about today, but about yesterday as well, so I'd better go chronologically.
Yesterday morning I was lonely for some odd reason, and itching to go somewhere, but I hadn't gotten up early enough. So before lunch I brought my spiral up to this very spot and started writing nonsense. There was hardly anyone at lunch, and everyone was full of what happened at 4am the night before. Apparently, a big group got drunk and were having some kind of party in the computer lab. Somehow @@@ got the idea that ###, who she has had a thing with on and off this semester, liked ****. Now, according to her roommate, ### really does like ****, and he's always hanging out in their room and **** doesn't lead him on, but can't give him a firm "NO". So anyway, to prove his love for @@@, he got a chair from the dining hall, took it upstairs, and threw it at ****'s door, all the while yelling #$%^ ****!" over and over in a string of profanity. The chair knocked the door open, but luckily **** slept through it. About everyone else in the center woke up, though. What a way to prove your love! I guess it makes logical sense when you're drunk.
This morning I got up at 8:45 to catch the 9:30 bus. Cortona is one of my favorite towns in Italy. It was about the most successful day trip I've made. It's not much bigger than Castiglion, but it's all on the side of a mountain. From a distance, from the Val di Chiana, it looks like it's going to slide off the mountain. We walked through the town trying to find the church with the dead saint. Finally, Carmen asked someone, "Dove Santa Morto?" She found out that it was Santa Margherita, so after much more searching we finally understood that it was at the very top of the hill, and we had a nice scenic climb up.
The walk down was more worth it than the shriveled Saint Margaret. Carmen and I found an ideal field for frolicking. Valerie probably wanted to disown us at that point. I took lots of pictures on the way down, then we passed through the market. That was the best part. I saw this funky but cute shirt for only €5. I tried one on over my shirt and it actually fit! It was an XXL. Then the three of us rummaged through some silky scarves and I got a red one for me, and a black and white one for my sister, €2 each. Finally, when I passed some absolutely beautiful Chinese dresses, my blood nearly froze. There was a rack full of shirts and dresses, only €15! There was a black shirt that had dragons on it, but it was actually too big. The one that fit me the best was a dress, black with red designs on it. I tried it on when we got back, and I've never had a dress fit me better! That style usually makes my hips look enormous. In addition to the scarf, I got my sister a toy bow and arrow to indulge her dreams of being Galadriel and showing her moves to Legolas.
I told Valerie this morning that I was going to change my name to Leonarda DaVinci, because I want to learn how to fly.
On the way back from Cortona, the bus driver made a mistake and told us we had to get off at the bottom of the hill. Then, when we started walking up the hill and he started driving us, ready to pass us, I pointed at him and said, "What's this?" Valerie put her hands out to her sides and shrugged, giving him a look. He did the same thing back, like "Oops," but he pulled over and let us back on. It was really funny.
We got pizza in town before going back to Santa Chiara, and just as we got back, Dr. R was leaving! He actually missed his earlier train to Rome, and now was taking a taxi to the train station. It was lucky that we caught him.
Yesterday I got up at 6:15 to catch the architecture bus at 7am. We went to Urbino. The only thing good about that field trip was the Casa Natale Raffaelo. I went there all by myself, when we had free time before our museum reservation. The museum in Urbino was an endless collection of Madonnas and Bambinos; it bored me out of my mind, since one definite thing I've learned on this trip is that I don't like pre-Renaissance painting!
Kate told me she thought she'd seen every piece of Byzantine art (painting and mosaic) in the world. When I told her that she's probably only seen 1% of them, she nearly went nuts. Palazzo Ducale, that's hat the museum is called. I did get to see the original of "La Cita Ideale", which I've never overly liked, but it's important to Renaissance art history.
We also went to see some 1970s university dormitories, which where actually quite interesting, architecturally. But the worst thing about the trip was The Trip! 2 1/2 hours there and 2 1/2 hours back of winding through mountains on a bus! I think all of us were in one degree or another of motion sickness. Luckily, no one actually puked.
Friday, 4/25/03
Well, I'm about back on the top again, just like good old George "Babyface" Nelson, who was jumping for excitement about the electric chair. [in O Brother, Where Art Thou?]
Yesterday, Paolo's presentations were so far behind schedule that ours were rescheduled for 7pm. Our presentation went very well. Everyone else said that he talked more than they did, but he actually listened to our entire presentation and didn't talk overly much. I wouldn't have minded if he did; unlike most people, I love to listen to Paolo talk.
After dinner all the non-architecture people went out for ice cream, with their nice separate budget. When Dr. R announced that at dinner, Taeg stood up and said that the architecture students would get something even better later.
Saturday, 4/26/03
How much I have to write about, and I actually have time to do it! It's 4 in the afternoon, and I have no engagements. I'm in my favorite spot in the courtyard, at the top of the left flight of stairs, with a grand view of the courtyard to my left, the valley to my right, and the mountains beyond. I'm itching to write about today, but about yesterday as well, so I'd better go chronologically.
Yesterday morning I was lonely for some odd reason, and itching to go somewhere, but I hadn't gotten up early enough. So before lunch I brought my spiral up to this very spot and started writing nonsense. There was hardly anyone at lunch, and everyone was full of what happened at 4am the night before. Apparently, a big group got drunk and were having some kind of party in the computer lab. Somehow @@@ got the idea that ###, who she has had a thing with on and off this semester, liked ****. Now, according to her roommate, ### really does like ****, and he's always hanging out in their room and **** doesn't lead him on, but can't give him a firm "NO". So anyway, to prove his love for @@@, he got a chair from the dining hall, took it upstairs, and threw it at ****'s door, all the while yelling #$%^ ****!" over and over in a string of profanity. The chair knocked the door open, but luckily **** slept through it. About everyone else in the center woke up, though. What a way to prove your love! I guess it makes logical sense when you're drunk.
This morning I got up at 8:45 to catch the 9:30 bus. Cortona is one of my favorite towns in Italy. It was about the most successful day trip I've made. It's not much bigger than Castiglion, but it's all on the side of a mountain. From a distance, from the Val di Chiana, it looks like it's going to slide off the mountain. We walked through the town trying to find the church with the dead saint. Finally, Carmen asked someone, "Dove Santa Morto?" She found out that it was Santa Margherita, so after much more searching we finally understood that it was at the very top of the hill, and we had a nice scenic climb up.
The walk down was more worth it than the shriveled Saint Margaret. Carmen and I found an ideal field for frolicking. Valerie probably wanted to disown us at that point. I took lots of pictures on the way down, then we passed through the market. That was the best part. I saw this funky but cute shirt for only €5. I tried one on over my shirt and it actually fit! It was an XXL. Then the three of us rummaged through some silky scarves and I got a red one for me, and a black and white one for my sister, €2 each. Finally, when I passed some absolutely beautiful Chinese dresses, my blood nearly froze. There was a rack full of shirts and dresses, only €15! There was a black shirt that had dragons on it, but it was actually too big. The one that fit me the best was a dress, black with red designs on it. I tried it on when we got back, and I've never had a dress fit me better! That style usually makes my hips look enormous. In addition to the scarf, I got my sister a toy bow and arrow to indulge her dreams of being Galadriel and showing her moves to Legolas.
I told Valerie this morning that I was going to change my name to Leonarda DaVinci, because I want to learn how to fly.
On the way back from Cortona, the bus driver made a mistake and told us we had to get off at the bottom of the hill. Then, when we started walking up the hill and he started driving us, ready to pass us, I pointed at him and said, "What's this?" Valerie put her hands out to her sides and shrugged, giving him a look. He did the same thing back, like "Oops," but he pulled over and let us back on. It was really funny.
We got pizza in town before going back to Santa Chiara, and just as we got back, Dr. R was leaving! He actually missed his earlier train to Rome, and now was taking a taxi to the train station. It was lucky that we caught him.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
More time with the Branch, church bells, and Muster
Sunday, 4/20/03
Our example and conduct may be the only standard works a person ever reads. ~Anziano Cascone
Fratello Zuppardo invited me to their house for lunch, so here I am. On the way here he told me, "I speak English like a Switzerland cow!" Then, they say p-ssichology. It was really funny.
I now know all the Zuppardo children's names. Gabriele and Michele are teenagers. I don't know if I spelled their names correctly, probably not. Then Ginevra and Arianna just turned 12, then there is Evans who is 8, Selene who is almost 5, and Alexia who is 2. This afternoon was so much fun. We had a huge lunch, the Zuppardos, Anziani Bond and Lee, Anna and her parents, and me. We had pasta, of course, but Fratello Zuppardo wouldn't eat it because he burned the sauce a little bit. Then we had rabbit and lamb meat. The rabbit was pretty good, though tough, but I didn't really like the lamb. Then we had salad, then finally the family brought out 10 enormous Easter eggs. They were each about 10 inches tall! They had toys inside, but they weren't Kinder Eggs. I guess toy eggs are the real Easter thing in Italy. The chocolate was good. Then Sorella Zuppardo brought out some big dessert breads. One was really good; it had dried arancio [orange--had to look that one up!] inside, and almonds on the top. Sorella Zuppardo made me take a bag of chocolate home with me.
After dinner I went with Anna, Ginevra, Arianna, as well as the Anziani, Michele and Evans to the pond. The three girls did a funny pose for me, we threw rocks in the water, we fenced with sticks, and I told them how to make recycled paper. Oh, Selene and Alexia went too, on the Anziani's shoulders. We had to constantly keep Alexia from falling in the water, until finally she fell face down in the mud.
When we got back, the three girls sang with the karaoke box the twins got for their birthday last week. Then I was about to fall asleep on the sofa, when Anziano Bond said it was time to go. I started writing on the train home, but a man was trying to talk to me. He was originally from Romania. He wrote near the back of this book, "I love you my family."
Monday, 4/21/03
Though the church bells wake me from my deep slumber, I still love them. At the beginning they reminded me of The Sound of Music. Now they don't so much anymore; rather, The Sound of Music bells may in the future remind me of Castiglion Fiorentino. I don't even know how often they ring. Sometimes, on special occasions, it's every fifteen minutes.
I'm glad I didn't go to Cortona today; it's rainy and chilly outside, though beautiful. Last night I accidentally swallowed some toothpaste. That reacted very badly with my overeating, so my limbs felt feverish and I felt nauseous. I dropped into bed as soon as possible, at 10:40 and slept until 9:30. Then I read the four accounts of Easter in the Bible for an hour, then tried to read about Mannerism in my textbook, but went back to sleep. The bells woke me up thirty minutes later. My dreams mingled with my thoughts on how to retell the story of "The Black Bull of Norroway".
Wednesday, 4/23/02
What has been up with me and journaling the past two day? I'm not really depressed, but I'm in the bottom half of the emotional scale and I have no idea why. Maybe I'm realizing that, though I'm itching like nothing else to get home, I'm going to miss Italy so much. When I got here nothing took me by surprise, the mountainous setting, etc. That was because I had no expectations. But I know that once I'm home and I realize little things that Italy has and the U.S. doesn't, I'm going to want to come back.
To continue with Monday, right after dinner we had a Muster in the dining hall The best part was the yell practice at the end. All the graduating seniors led the yells, and Marty and Kelly got up on the table. After that, Valerie and I watched Dead Poets Society and cried.
Our example and conduct may be the only standard works a person ever reads. ~Anziano Cascone
Fratello Zuppardo invited me to their house for lunch, so here I am. On the way here he told me, "I speak English like a Switzerland cow!" Then, they say p-ssichology. It was really funny.
I now know all the Zuppardo children's names. Gabriele and Michele are teenagers. I don't know if I spelled their names correctly, probably not. Then Ginevra and Arianna just turned 12, then there is Evans who is 8, Selene who is almost 5, and Alexia who is 2. This afternoon was so much fun. We had a huge lunch, the Zuppardos, Anziani Bond and Lee, Anna and her parents, and me. We had pasta, of course, but Fratello Zuppardo wouldn't eat it because he burned the sauce a little bit. Then we had rabbit and lamb meat. The rabbit was pretty good, though tough, but I didn't really like the lamb. Then we had salad, then finally the family brought out 10 enormous Easter eggs. They were each about 10 inches tall! They had toys inside, but they weren't Kinder Eggs. I guess toy eggs are the real Easter thing in Italy. The chocolate was good. Then Sorella Zuppardo brought out some big dessert breads. One was really good; it had dried arancio [orange--had to look that one up!] inside, and almonds on the top. Sorella Zuppardo made me take a bag of chocolate home with me.
After dinner I went with Anna, Ginevra, Arianna, as well as the Anziani, Michele and Evans to the pond. The three girls did a funny pose for me, we threw rocks in the water, we fenced with sticks, and I told them how to make recycled paper. Oh, Selene and Alexia went too, on the Anziani's shoulders. We had to constantly keep Alexia from falling in the water, until finally she fell face down in the mud.
When we got back, the three girls sang with the karaoke box the twins got for their birthday last week. Then I was about to fall asleep on the sofa, when Anziano Bond said it was time to go. I started writing on the train home, but a man was trying to talk to me. He was originally from Romania. He wrote near the back of this book, "I love you my family."
Monday, 4/21/03
Though the church bells wake me from my deep slumber, I still love them. At the beginning they reminded me of The Sound of Music. Now they don't so much anymore; rather, The Sound of Music bells may in the future remind me of Castiglion Fiorentino. I don't even know how often they ring. Sometimes, on special occasions, it's every fifteen minutes.
I'm glad I didn't go to Cortona today; it's rainy and chilly outside, though beautiful. Last night I accidentally swallowed some toothpaste. That reacted very badly with my overeating, so my limbs felt feverish and I felt nauseous. I dropped into bed as soon as possible, at 10:40 and slept until 9:30. Then I read the four accounts of Easter in the Bible for an hour, then tried to read about Mannerism in my textbook, but went back to sleep. The bells woke me up thirty minutes later. My dreams mingled with my thoughts on how to retell the story of "The Black Bull of Norroway".
Wednesday, 4/23/02
What has been up with me and journaling the past two day? I'm not really depressed, but I'm in the bottom half of the emotional scale and I have no idea why. Maybe I'm realizing that, though I'm itching like nothing else to get home, I'm going to miss Italy so much. When I got here nothing took me by surprise, the mountainous setting, etc. That was because I had no expectations. But I know that once I'm home and I realize little things that Italy has and the U.S. doesn't, I'm going to want to come back.
To continue with Monday, right after dinner we had a Muster in the dining hall The best part was the yell practice at the end. All the graduating seniors led the yells, and Marty and Kelly got up on the table. After that, Valerie and I watched Dead Poets Society and cried.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Vinci, harpsichords, and other craziness
Wednesday, 4/16/03
Nothing is created, only discovered ~Ray Mullican
We're on our way to Vinci now, where, of course Leonardo was from. I never knew until a week ago that da Vinci wasn't his last name.
We, as the architecture group, are lounging in a park, eating lunch. We don't have enough of our budget left to join the other with their €16 meal. Instead, Taeg allotted us €5 each and most of us went to get €1 sandwiches. I'm making money today. When we walked down here together, Chase suggested we just go to the COOP and get mass food for a picnic. Taeg told him he was in charge, and gave him the money. The COOP didn' have much selection, so we kind of split of and decided to get our reimbursement later. Taeg was waitinug in the park for us. When he realized things didn't go as originally planned, he called to Chase, "Chase! Did you get me lunch?" He hadn't, of course, so Taeg had to go get his own. A few minutes ago Taeg said we had a number of options: stay here, split off, or Chase go to the tourist office to see if there was anything for us to see. We voted to send Chase on the errand. Ross said, "Yeah Chase, that's what you get for forgetting our professor's lunch."
Before lunch we went to Il Museo Leonardino di Vinci. Most of it was his sketches and technical drawing with models people had built based on his drawings. They were really fascinating but it was hard to visualize exactly how they worked because we couldn't touch them. The neatest pieces were a bicycle, these ski things to walk on water with, and a giant wing. Then there was a video playing on his work. It was fascinating, though it had the cheesy crummy feel of a '60s or '70s video. Now we're on the bus on the way to Leonardo's house.
If I write a book about my experiences I'll either call it "500 ways to eat pasta," or my personal favorite that I just thought of, "Over the Tuscan Rainbow."
For the first time in my trip, I would want to live in Italy. How I'll miss the gentle rolling hills, cultivated, yet still natural, and the horizons of soft mountains. How can I continue to experience the richness of art without all the originals at my fingertips? What variations Italy has! America is diverse as well, but not as compact. On the shores of Amalfi and Capri we felt like we weren't even in the country anymore.
Rome, Venice, Capri, Assissi, and now my favorite Tuscan town, Vinci, or the surrounding countryside. The house of Leonardo isn't in Vinci, but about 3 km outside. It's surrounded by an extensive grove of olive trees. The house was interesting, but we couldn't read the Italian explanations.
I was wondering what goddess Carmen was this morning, and she said she took the test and is Artemis. I told that was very much evidenced in how she frolicked in the olive trees today. We all walked through the groves. There were red poppies scattered, the first time I've seen poppies. I wanted to cackle and say, "Poppies! Poppies will put them to sleep!" like the wicked witch of the west, then take a nap, but there wasn't time. About half of us girls came back with flowers of different kinds in our hair. I cringe when I think of what I would've missed if they hadn't moved the field trip from last Friday to today. I took a picture of Taeg trying to whistle with a piece of grass.
We even had an adventure on the Moretti bus today. I slept most of the way to Vinci, but woke up when a weird dip in the road made us scrape against the concrete. We'd turned the wrong way and had to back up.
Cady and Karin just offered me €20 to ask ---- with a straight face to lay down on the floor, bring his ankles to his forehead, let one rip, and light it on fire.
Jen just walked in, and I asked her if she's seen anyone light their fart on fire. She said, "Yeah, I've done it." Then she said that they caught their tent on fire. Karin said, "In the tent? Why didn't you do it outside?" "It was raining and we had burritos for lunch!" I've been guffawing for the last 20 minutes.
Friday, 4/18/03
It's 5pm and I'm on my bed. I just finished eating an apple while listening to "Bridge over Troubled Water", then "Unchained Melody".
We had the most fascinating discussion in ARTS yesterday. Most people hated it because we didn't get anywhere. But I loved it because it was more about figuring out the questions than the answers. Then Paolo told us there was no time to do our presentations, so they were extra credit. Hooray! Then we had no slide projector for a lecture, so he and Dr. R stood up and started discussing the purpose of art and creativity. Dr. R said art was healing. Somehow it got morphed into the similarities between art and psychology. I was absolutely fascinated. The second half however, turned into us all trying to convince Paolo to be more open minded about the discipline of psychology. He was mostly trying to provoke us to discussion.
Before dinner we went to Paolo's brother, Franco's, harpsichord shop. He's one of about 10 people in Italy who makes harpsichords. They were beautiful. The finished ones were painted with color designs, or scenes with people in nature.
After dinner Valerie came up to our room and Edit walked in with a radio to have a dancing party. After she got her energy out, suddenly I got up and started acting crazy. I was kicking off my slippers and trying to catch them. The I started acting like a crazy humpbacked witch speaking a cross between German and Klingon. Edit had never seen my crazy side and Karin brought up their first taste of it--back in the hotel park when I ran up and down the secret stairs one night.
After lunch me, Omar, Chase, Morgan, and Sarah hiked to the Castel Montecchio. It took us about an hour to get there. We not only cut across fields, but even climbed up the levels of olive grove on the hill, rather than take the road up to the top. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday, 4/19/03
This morning I got an email from Grandpa. He said that a trip to the Mediterranean was on his and Grandma's agenda, and to take advantage of the opportunity to travel while I am young. I thought that was really sweet. I decided last night to make one more day trip to Rome because there are still several things I want to see there. I'll do that next weekend.
Nothing is created, only discovered ~Ray Mullican
We're on our way to Vinci now, where, of course Leonardo was from. I never knew until a week ago that da Vinci wasn't his last name.
We, as the architecture group, are lounging in a park, eating lunch. We don't have enough of our budget left to join the other with their €16 meal. Instead, Taeg allotted us €5 each and most of us went to get €1 sandwiches. I'm making money today. When we walked down here together, Chase suggested we just go to the COOP and get mass food for a picnic. Taeg told him he was in charge, and gave him the money. The COOP didn' have much selection, so we kind of split of and decided to get our reimbursement later. Taeg was waitinug in the park for us. When he realized things didn't go as originally planned, he called to Chase, "Chase! Did you get me lunch?" He hadn't, of course, so Taeg had to go get his own. A few minutes ago Taeg said we had a number of options: stay here, split off, or Chase go to the tourist office to see if there was anything for us to see. We voted to send Chase on the errand. Ross said, "Yeah Chase, that's what you get for forgetting our professor's lunch."
Before lunch we went to Il Museo Leonardino di Vinci. Most of it was his sketches and technical drawing with models people had built based on his drawings. They were really fascinating but it was hard to visualize exactly how they worked because we couldn't touch them. The neatest pieces were a bicycle, these ski things to walk on water with, and a giant wing. Then there was a video playing on his work. It was fascinating, though it had the cheesy crummy feel of a '60s or '70s video. Now we're on the bus on the way to Leonardo's house.
If I write a book about my experiences I'll either call it "500 ways to eat pasta," or my personal favorite that I just thought of, "Over the Tuscan Rainbow."
For the first time in my trip, I would want to live in Italy. How I'll miss the gentle rolling hills, cultivated, yet still natural, and the horizons of soft mountains. How can I continue to experience the richness of art without all the originals at my fingertips? What variations Italy has! America is diverse as well, but not as compact. On the shores of Amalfi and Capri we felt like we weren't even in the country anymore.
Rome, Venice, Capri, Assissi, and now my favorite Tuscan town, Vinci, or the surrounding countryside. The house of Leonardo isn't in Vinci, but about 3 km outside. It's surrounded by an extensive grove of olive trees. The house was interesting, but we couldn't read the Italian explanations.
I was wondering what goddess Carmen was this morning, and she said she took the test and is Artemis. I told that was very much evidenced in how she frolicked in the olive trees today. We all walked through the groves. There were red poppies scattered, the first time I've seen poppies. I wanted to cackle and say, "Poppies! Poppies will put them to sleep!" like the wicked witch of the west, then take a nap, but there wasn't time. About half of us girls came back with flowers of different kinds in our hair. I cringe when I think of what I would've missed if they hadn't moved the field trip from last Friday to today. I took a picture of Taeg trying to whistle with a piece of grass.
We even had an adventure on the Moretti bus today. I slept most of the way to Vinci, but woke up when a weird dip in the road made us scrape against the concrete. We'd turned the wrong way and had to back up.
Cady and Karin just offered me €20 to ask ---- with a straight face to lay down on the floor, bring his ankles to his forehead, let one rip, and light it on fire.
Jen just walked in, and I asked her if she's seen anyone light their fart on fire. She said, "Yeah, I've done it." Then she said that they caught their tent on fire. Karin said, "In the tent? Why didn't you do it outside?" "It was raining and we had burritos for lunch!" I've been guffawing for the last 20 minutes.
Friday, 4/18/03
It's 5pm and I'm on my bed. I just finished eating an apple while listening to "Bridge over Troubled Water", then "Unchained Melody".
We had the most fascinating discussion in ARTS yesterday. Most people hated it because we didn't get anywhere. But I loved it because it was more about figuring out the questions than the answers. Then Paolo told us there was no time to do our presentations, so they were extra credit. Hooray! Then we had no slide projector for a lecture, so he and Dr. R stood up and started discussing the purpose of art and creativity. Dr. R said art was healing. Somehow it got morphed into the similarities between art and psychology. I was absolutely fascinated. The second half however, turned into us all trying to convince Paolo to be more open minded about the discipline of psychology. He was mostly trying to provoke us to discussion.
Before dinner we went to Paolo's brother, Franco's, harpsichord shop. He's one of about 10 people in Italy who makes harpsichords. They were beautiful. The finished ones were painted with color designs, or scenes with people in nature.
After dinner Valerie came up to our room and Edit walked in with a radio to have a dancing party. After she got her energy out, suddenly I got up and started acting crazy. I was kicking off my slippers and trying to catch them. The I started acting like a crazy humpbacked witch speaking a cross between German and Klingon. Edit had never seen my crazy side and Karin brought up their first taste of it--back in the hotel park when I ran up and down the secret stairs one night.
After lunch me, Omar, Chase, Morgan, and Sarah hiked to the Castel Montecchio. It took us about an hour to get there. We not only cut across fields, but even climbed up the levels of olive grove on the hill, rather than take the road up to the top. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday, 4/19/03
This morning I got an email from Grandpa. He said that a trip to the Mediterranean was on his and Grandma's agenda, and to take advantage of the opportunity to travel while I am young. I thought that was really sweet. I decided last night to make one more day trip to Rome because there are still several things I want to see there. I'll do that next weekend.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Amalfi#2, Capri, and Another Night in a Train Station
Monday, 4/14/03
Back to Saturday. While on the pier we talked about Amalfi. Dixie and Kate are both beach girls--they love the beach. I was thinking that maybe I'm just not a beach person because I just wasn't taking to Amalfi. The ocean made me extremely restless and I hadn't been to the beach since I was 3 or 4. But I think the reason I wasn't enjoying myself as much was because I was worrying about money and I wasn't comfortable with our hostel at that time. Later, "Willie's" became more of a joke, but I wasn't clean at the time, and was therefore uncomfortable. [clean, as in I hadn't showered, not that I was on drugs]
There's another thing about Amalfi. It's not even really a beach. The beach was tiny and not very sandy. The slope of the mountain went right on down to the water at most points, and the entire town felt very confining to me, confined by the mountains around it. Like it was being shoved into the ocean.
Later in the afternoon we went up the main road and into the shops. Kate and I split off so Dixie could check her email. We went up to the Duomo, a beautiful church with an interior of white and gold. I want a hall like that in my fantasy temple. On the way down the tall flight of steps, we saw a wedding celebration coming out into the square below. The bride and groom were dancing, people were blowing bubbles, etc. Later we found out that they were both American, but the families came over every year.
Tuesday, 4/15/03
So when we met Dixie we were standing in the square talking, when we saw a lady reading an English newspaper, sitting at the fountain. We had been keeping an eye out for newspapers for fresh news about the war. So I told Dixie to ask her where she got the paper. I don't know why I didn't ask her myself; we're just used to relying on Dixie because she speaks Italian.
Not only did she give us the front section of her Wall Street Journal, but she ended up showing us a few places where we could get some dinner. Her name was Suzanne and she lived in Italy, though she was originally from California and goes home to Atlanta every once in a while to visit her children, who live with their father.
So that's how we came to be in the wine restaurant Saturday night. Before we met Suzanne I had bought a sandwich to save for later, so by the time we got there I was too full to eat anything else or spend any more money. Suzanne told us we might see her there if we went, and we did! She was with an Italian man who we later found out was her fiance, the mayor of a neighboring town, and a marketer. His name was Giocanni (sp?). They invited us to sit at their table. Giocanni, when he found out Dixie was a marketing major, said he needed a business partner and that they should run a business together. As for architects, he said that Italy needed designers with more of a world perspective, because Italians take things so slow and discuss everything so much that nothing ever gets done.
Suzanne had an interesting background. I don't remember what her previous work had been in Italy, but now she was working on two books, one on something to do with MLK, and the other about some healing methods a doctor used. The two of them were looking at villas in Amalfi. They were nice enough to give us a ride back to Willie's after dinner.
When we got back to Willie's we found Marty and Maari in the kitchen, and they said that there was a train strike, so we couldn't get home on Sunday. That really upset me because I couldn't afford to stay another night. Marty was worried because she had 3 Italian quizzes on Monday morning. So until she could get a hold of her instructor, the plan was to go to Napoli Sunday evening and catch the first train running after 9pm to Rome, then the first train of the morning back to Castiglion.
Having the whole day of Sunday to hang out, we decided to go to Capri. I debated about the expense, but I didn't want to stay by myself. How glad I am that I did. Capri was by far the best part of the weekend, and what made it exceptional. We thought we would have to make a choice between Tiberius' palace and the Blue Grotto. I was for the palace because it was less expensive, and we would see more of the island that way. We decided to go for the palace and do other things if we had the time. Marco had said it was a 2 1/2 hour hike up there, but he's a leisurely man. Once we took the funiculare up to the real town of Capri, it was only a 45 minute walk up to the palace, Villa Jovis, it was called. It cost €2 to get in. It was a fascinating place, though in ruins. Tiberius was the Caesar during the time of Christ, and apparently he came to Capri for his health. His reign gave him a bad name, even though it was really his generals who were ruling from Rome and doing the cruel things. The funniest thing we saw was when we were walking down a path, suddenly two billy goats popped their heads over the wall above us. There were four or five of them climbing around in the ruins.
I knew I had left something out! Vick! Vick is a dog who picked us up about halfway to the palace and decided to be our tourguide. He was the friendliest dog I've ever known. Ken named him Victor Mancini after a character in some book (by the same author who wrote Fight Club). Apparently he was sort of a Silence of the Lambs-ish character.
Vick knew exactly how to get to the villa. He even showed us the restroom on the way up, where he proceeded to drink from the toilet. It was he who aroused the billy goats by barking. He even begged Marty for some water by nosing her bottle. He ate lunch with us at Tiberius' leap, a cliff edge where, according to legend, Tiberius threw his enemies over. We threw plenty of orange and lemon peels over.
Down at the bottom of the cliff we could see rocks just under the water that had an incredible green tint against the pure blue of the normal water.
Now that I felt I knew the island better, I felt a lot more comfortable going back to the shore and seeing the blue grotto. By that time Marty had found out they could take their quizzes on Tuesday, but by that time the hostel in Sorrento was full. Dixie and Kate had made reservations for that morning, but the rest of us were homeless for the night.
We paid €7 for the boat to the grotto, €4 for the rowboat in, and €4.10 to get in. We knew it would be really expensive, but we had heard tales of €20 or more, so we figured ourselves lucky. We were amazed at how small the entrance was. It was only about four feet above the water, and every minute or so a wave would all but fill the entrance, so the rowers had to be really careful and we had to get low down in the boat when we went inside.
In the larger boat on the way there, I was loving the sea spray, the taste on my lips, and running my hands through the water I could barely reach. The cliffs and small caves we passed were incredible. The water was so so blue, a deep dark blue. Not navy, but much darker than the sky. And I could see green in its ripples, reminding me of Monet's paintings of the sea. I love the Mediterranean!
Inside the Blue Grotto all we did was go around it, then back out. We were only in there for five minutes or less, but the beauty was worth every penny. The water glowed underneath like neon lights and the walls of the cave reflected the water.
Afterward, while we waited for Ken, Kelly and Kate, we walked out to a strip of big rocks on the shore and laid there. It was a little cold to try to get some sun, so I just found a flat rock and curled up with my hood over my head and relaxed, maybe slept for a few minutes. The sound of the waves filling the cavities of rock underneath me was exhilarating and calming at the same time. It was then that I wondered why I loved Capri so much more than Amalfi. To me, the sea at Capri was liberating, where at Amalfi it was suffocating. Maybe it's because there's something so much more dynamic about an island. The cliffs seemed to want to take off into the air, they were in an intense battle with the water. In Amalfi we were sandwiched between two large masses, the mainland and the sea, but Capri was fighting on my side, the cliffs cutting through the water, or the water cutting through the cliffs.
Finally, we took the hydrofoil back to Sorrento and I took one last photo of the silhouette of Capri with the white stream of water coming out of the back of the boat. The Sorrento shore was one straight cliff against the water. The town was actually pretty flat just beyond that. I really like Sorrento. There were tons of nice little ceramics and music box shops. It was a classy place.
When we split off from Kate and Dixie we went to the circumvia station to ask if there were any trains from Napoli to Rome, but the man at the ticket office said we would have to go to Napoli to find out. We didn't want to get stuck in Napoli if there wasn't. It's known as the armpit of Italy: hot, humid, and smelly, as well as dangerous and dirty. So Marty called Rachel and had her look up trains on the internet. There was a Eurostar after 9, which was supposed to be €10 more than a regular train. I told Marty that if we went to a club in Sorrento, we would end up spending more than the Eurostar anyway (I really didn't want to spend the night in a club, watching my friends get drunk) and that convinced them. We would take the chance. We rode the circumvia to Napoli, then caught our inner city train to Rome at 10, which only cost €12. Lucky us!
Inner city trains are the ones that are entirely compartmentalized. We got into our compartment (5 of us and 6 seats), pulled the seats to the middle to make a flat bed, and all slept for 2 1/2 hours. It was a tight fit, but generally very comfy. When we got to Rome, Ken was proud of himself for "not taking a shower for four days and then sleeping with four beautiful women." They had actually gone to Rome intending to spend the day there, but up and decided to join us down south. None of them had even changed their clothes for three days!
I forgot to mention that I decided Saturday night that I had to wash my hair or I would go nuts So I took my 2 (or maybe 4) minute shower. Just being clean made me sleep so much better Saturday night. That was a major contributing factor to how good my day at Capri was.
Sunday morning as we were leaving Willie's, there was a donkey tied to the front gate, in the middle of the enormous flight of steps. It belonged to an Italian neighbor. I've never even seen a donkey before, I don't think, much less had to walk within a foot of one. It was quite funny.
So, Rome. What a funny discovery when we got off the train. We knew it was Roma Tibertina and not Termini, but what a shock for me when it looked familiar, and I realized it was the very station we accidentally got off at on Thursday night! There was still that row of homeless people sleeping, and various others lurking around. There was a grocery store that was closed, but had a little window open on the gate where you could ask the person inside to get something for you and buy it. Then there was a 24 hour coffee bar.
I swore I would never go back to Milan after that train station experience because I never thought I would be in a position to spend the night in a station again. This time it was actually a lot of fun. Ken and Kelly played cards, while Marty, Maari, and I tried to catch up journaling. We met a girl who was studying in Rome and going home to Chicago for spring break. The reason was because she had studied in Milan the previous semester. Her father was Italian, her mother was German, and her sister was a flight attendant. So traveling came easy to her. We also met a Portuguese girl who was studying in Paris and in Italy for spring break.
Late into the morning Kelly bought Maari a Kinder Egg, one of the 8-in ones, for a joke. She broke it and put the toy together, one of those race cars with a pressurized takeoff. None of us wanted to eat all that chocolate, so while Marty and Kelly raced the cars down next to the escalator, Maari passed out the chocolate to the homeless men. Monica, the Portuguese girl, was amazed. She said they weren't used to that and that it was really nice of Maari.
Despite the pleasant enjoyments we had, we were all very near the end of our energy ropes by six o'clock. Our good old Diretto came at 6:19 and we slept the 2 hours back to Castiglion Fiorentino. We got back at 8:38, the time I usually leave to go up to Arezzo. When we got up to Santa Chiara I took a shower then crashed until lunch.
Back to Saturday. While on the pier we talked about Amalfi. Dixie and Kate are both beach girls--they love the beach. I was thinking that maybe I'm just not a beach person because I just wasn't taking to Amalfi. The ocean made me extremely restless and I hadn't been to the beach since I was 3 or 4. But I think the reason I wasn't enjoying myself as much was because I was worrying about money and I wasn't comfortable with our hostel at that time. Later, "Willie's" became more of a joke, but I wasn't clean at the time, and was therefore uncomfortable. [clean, as in I hadn't showered, not that I was on drugs]
There's another thing about Amalfi. It's not even really a beach. The beach was tiny and not very sandy. The slope of the mountain went right on down to the water at most points, and the entire town felt very confining to me, confined by the mountains around it. Like it was being shoved into the ocean.
Later in the afternoon we went up the main road and into the shops. Kate and I split off so Dixie could check her email. We went up to the Duomo, a beautiful church with an interior of white and gold. I want a hall like that in my fantasy temple. On the way down the tall flight of steps, we saw a wedding celebration coming out into the square below. The bride and groom were dancing, people were blowing bubbles, etc. Later we found out that they were both American, but the families came over every year.
Tuesday, 4/15/03
So when we met Dixie we were standing in the square talking, when we saw a lady reading an English newspaper, sitting at the fountain. We had been keeping an eye out for newspapers for fresh news about the war. So I told Dixie to ask her where she got the paper. I don't know why I didn't ask her myself; we're just used to relying on Dixie because she speaks Italian.
Not only did she give us the front section of her Wall Street Journal, but she ended up showing us a few places where we could get some dinner. Her name was Suzanne and she lived in Italy, though she was originally from California and goes home to Atlanta every once in a while to visit her children, who live with their father.
So that's how we came to be in the wine restaurant Saturday night. Before we met Suzanne I had bought a sandwich to save for later, so by the time we got there I was too full to eat anything else or spend any more money. Suzanne told us we might see her there if we went, and we did! She was with an Italian man who we later found out was her fiance, the mayor of a neighboring town, and a marketer. His name was Giocanni (sp?). They invited us to sit at their table. Giocanni, when he found out Dixie was a marketing major, said he needed a business partner and that they should run a business together. As for architects, he said that Italy needed designers with more of a world perspective, because Italians take things so slow and discuss everything so much that nothing ever gets done.
Suzanne had an interesting background. I don't remember what her previous work had been in Italy, but now she was working on two books, one on something to do with MLK, and the other about some healing methods a doctor used. The two of them were looking at villas in Amalfi. They were nice enough to give us a ride back to Willie's after dinner.
When we got back to Willie's we found Marty and Maari in the kitchen, and they said that there was a train strike, so we couldn't get home on Sunday. That really upset me because I couldn't afford to stay another night. Marty was worried because she had 3 Italian quizzes on Monday morning. So until she could get a hold of her instructor, the plan was to go to Napoli Sunday evening and catch the first train running after 9pm to Rome, then the first train of the morning back to Castiglion.
Having the whole day of Sunday to hang out, we decided to go to Capri. I debated about the expense, but I didn't want to stay by myself. How glad I am that I did. Capri was by far the best part of the weekend, and what made it exceptional. We thought we would have to make a choice between Tiberius' palace and the Blue Grotto. I was for the palace because it was less expensive, and we would see more of the island that way. We decided to go for the palace and do other things if we had the time. Marco had said it was a 2 1/2 hour hike up there, but he's a leisurely man. Once we took the funiculare up to the real town of Capri, it was only a 45 minute walk up to the palace, Villa Jovis, it was called. It cost €2 to get in. It was a fascinating place, though in ruins. Tiberius was the Caesar during the time of Christ, and apparently he came to Capri for his health. His reign gave him a bad name, even though it was really his generals who were ruling from Rome and doing the cruel things. The funniest thing we saw was when we were walking down a path, suddenly two billy goats popped their heads over the wall above us. There were four or five of them climbing around in the ruins.
I knew I had left something out! Vick! Vick is a dog who picked us up about halfway to the palace and decided to be our tourguide. He was the friendliest dog I've ever known. Ken named him Victor Mancini after a character in some book (by the same author who wrote Fight Club). Apparently he was sort of a Silence of the Lambs-ish character.
Vick knew exactly how to get to the villa. He even showed us the restroom on the way up, where he proceeded to drink from the toilet. It was he who aroused the billy goats by barking. He even begged Marty for some water by nosing her bottle. He ate lunch with us at Tiberius' leap, a cliff edge where, according to legend, Tiberius threw his enemies over. We threw plenty of orange and lemon peels over.
Down at the bottom of the cliff we could see rocks just under the water that had an incredible green tint against the pure blue of the normal water.
Now that I felt I knew the island better, I felt a lot more comfortable going back to the shore and seeing the blue grotto. By that time Marty had found out they could take their quizzes on Tuesday, but by that time the hostel in Sorrento was full. Dixie and Kate had made reservations for that morning, but the rest of us were homeless for the night.
We paid €7 for the boat to the grotto, €4 for the rowboat in, and €4.10 to get in. We knew it would be really expensive, but we had heard tales of €20 or more, so we figured ourselves lucky. We were amazed at how small the entrance was. It was only about four feet above the water, and every minute or so a wave would all but fill the entrance, so the rowers had to be really careful and we had to get low down in the boat when we went inside.
In the larger boat on the way there, I was loving the sea spray, the taste on my lips, and running my hands through the water I could barely reach. The cliffs and small caves we passed were incredible. The water was so so blue, a deep dark blue. Not navy, but much darker than the sky. And I could see green in its ripples, reminding me of Monet's paintings of the sea. I love the Mediterranean!
Inside the Blue Grotto all we did was go around it, then back out. We were only in there for five minutes or less, but the beauty was worth every penny. The water glowed underneath like neon lights and the walls of the cave reflected the water.
Afterward, while we waited for Ken, Kelly and Kate, we walked out to a strip of big rocks on the shore and laid there. It was a little cold to try to get some sun, so I just found a flat rock and curled up with my hood over my head and relaxed, maybe slept for a few minutes. The sound of the waves filling the cavities of rock underneath me was exhilarating and calming at the same time. It was then that I wondered why I loved Capri so much more than Amalfi. To me, the sea at Capri was liberating, where at Amalfi it was suffocating. Maybe it's because there's something so much more dynamic about an island. The cliffs seemed to want to take off into the air, they were in an intense battle with the water. In Amalfi we were sandwiched between two large masses, the mainland and the sea, but Capri was fighting on my side, the cliffs cutting through the water, or the water cutting through the cliffs.
Finally, we took the hydrofoil back to Sorrento and I took one last photo of the silhouette of Capri with the white stream of water coming out of the back of the boat. The Sorrento shore was one straight cliff against the water. The town was actually pretty flat just beyond that. I really like Sorrento. There were tons of nice little ceramics and music box shops. It was a classy place.
When we split off from Kate and Dixie we went to the circumvia station to ask if there were any trains from Napoli to Rome, but the man at the ticket office said we would have to go to Napoli to find out. We didn't want to get stuck in Napoli if there wasn't. It's known as the armpit of Italy: hot, humid, and smelly, as well as dangerous and dirty. So Marty called Rachel and had her look up trains on the internet. There was a Eurostar after 9, which was supposed to be €10 more than a regular train. I told Marty that if we went to a club in Sorrento, we would end up spending more than the Eurostar anyway (I really didn't want to spend the night in a club, watching my friends get drunk) and that convinced them. We would take the chance. We rode the circumvia to Napoli, then caught our inner city train to Rome at 10, which only cost €12. Lucky us!
Inner city trains are the ones that are entirely compartmentalized. We got into our compartment (5 of us and 6 seats), pulled the seats to the middle to make a flat bed, and all slept for 2 1/2 hours. It was a tight fit, but generally very comfy. When we got to Rome, Ken was proud of himself for "not taking a shower for four days and then sleeping with four beautiful women." They had actually gone to Rome intending to spend the day there, but up and decided to join us down south. None of them had even changed their clothes for three days!
I forgot to mention that I decided Saturday night that I had to wash my hair or I would go nuts So I took my 2 (or maybe 4) minute shower. Just being clean made me sleep so much better Saturday night. That was a major contributing factor to how good my day at Capri was.
Sunday morning as we were leaving Willie's, there was a donkey tied to the front gate, in the middle of the enormous flight of steps. It belonged to an Italian neighbor. I've never even seen a donkey before, I don't think, much less had to walk within a foot of one. It was quite funny.
So, Rome. What a funny discovery when we got off the train. We knew it was Roma Tibertina and not Termini, but what a shock for me when it looked familiar, and I realized it was the very station we accidentally got off at on Thursday night! There was still that row of homeless people sleeping, and various others lurking around. There was a grocery store that was closed, but had a little window open on the gate where you could ask the person inside to get something for you and buy it. Then there was a 24 hour coffee bar.
I swore I would never go back to Milan after that train station experience because I never thought I would be in a position to spend the night in a station again. This time it was actually a lot of fun. Ken and Kelly played cards, while Marty, Maari, and I tried to catch up journaling. We met a girl who was studying in Rome and going home to Chicago for spring break. The reason was because she had studied in Milan the previous semester. Her father was Italian, her mother was German, and her sister was a flight attendant. So traveling came easy to her. We also met a Portuguese girl who was studying in Paris and in Italy for spring break.
Late into the morning Kelly bought Maari a Kinder Egg, one of the 8-in ones, for a joke. She broke it and put the toy together, one of those race cars with a pressurized takeoff. None of us wanted to eat all that chocolate, so while Marty and Kelly raced the cars down next to the escalator, Maari passed out the chocolate to the homeless men. Monica, the Portuguese girl, was amazed. She said they weren't used to that and that it was really nice of Maari.
Despite the pleasant enjoyments we had, we were all very near the end of our energy ropes by six o'clock. Our good old Diretto came at 6:19 and we slept the 2 hours back to Castiglion Fiorentino. We got back at 8:38, the time I usually leave to go up to Arezzo. When we got up to Santa Chiara I took a shower then crashed until lunch.
*********************************
I just had a long talk with Valerie. From the window of their living room we watched the KKK procession. Just kidding! Apparently, there is an Easter parade that's part of Italian culture, where the participants wear either white or black pointy hat with holes cut out for the eyes. I feel sacrilegious, but for most things I can look past the culture block. This though, the connotations are too strong in American culture not to be weirded out by it. And they were carrying burning candles and large crosses, four of them, as well as a statue of Jesus.
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