Pisa and Rome

Our last night in Florence, we had gone out to a disco, so we enjoyed a nice sleep on the train to Pisa, where we'd be spending the day. We met the guide at the station, walking through the town towards the tower and cathedral. Pisa isn't quite as cute or pretty as Siena or Florence, but it has several notable buildings, such as the science school, several churches, and we saw one of the three possible buildings that Galileo was born at. We finished at Campo dei Miracoli, seeing the inside of the duomo, before hanging out on the grass in front of the tower. Unfortunately our tour didn't include climbing it, and we were unable get tickets for early enough, but we still enjoyed our few hours in Pisa, lazing on the grass. 
Then we went back to the train station, taking the train along the coast to Rome. In Rome we got settled in our hotel, meeting another exchange student there, before going out for dinner. After our meal Azmon, a student on the tour, took a small group of us for a quick tour of Rome. He had been living about 20 minutes by bus from the city centre, and knew it very well. We saw the colosseum, the Vittorio Emmanuele memorial, some of the ruins, and the Trevi Fountain, before heading up to the Spanish steps, enjoying the warm night. 
We woke up early, meeting the guide to go to the colosseum. Unfortunately, our guide in Rome was not as good as our others have been. He was very knowledgable, but something between his accent and his way of speaking made him a little difficult to understand. He also gave us way to much information and after the third or fourth emperor, we got a little lost.  After our tour, some of the guys wanted fast food, so we went to burger king, where I had some of the most disappointing onion rings of my life. 
The afternoon, I wandered around Rome with a few of the others, checking out piazzas and fashion stores. I felt very out of place in Prada in   Then back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. After eating I went out again with Azmon, going to Castel Sant' Angelo and San Pietro, as well as piazza Navona, among others. 
In the morning we went to the Basilica di San Pietro. Once again, I was amazed by the scale of the building. It doesn't really feel big until you look closely. In other churches, there are more archways inside (I've forgotten what they are called - they divide the church into three parts), but Saint Peter's has five (I think), so it feels smaller. I loved seeing La Pieta again, as well as the wonderful mosaics and paintings. Outside we saw the castle again, then piazza Navona, then the church San Luigi dei Francesi (to see the Caravaggios - wow amazing a must see), to the Pantheon, and the Trevi fountain. After the tour, we split up, three students going to the Vatican museums, while the rest of us went for pizza a taglio and a nap in the park. 
All in all, I'm happy I'd already seen Rome, because the tour and walking around for two days didn't see as much as it should. But I loved hanging out with a local, and my exchange student friends. 
Today we got to Naples, looking forward to our tour tomorrow. Some of the other students are a little nervous about Naples - everyone says it's so dangerous. Perhaps Palermo has toughened me up a bit though, I'm not sure there's much to be afraid of. 
That's all for now! I don't want this tour to end, but now it's just Naples and Bologna left. (Trying not to think about it).

Florence and Siena

We got to Florence two nights ago, and had our guided tour the first morning. I had already seen many of the places but I enjoyed learning more about the history and the specifics of the city. After lunch I climbed the dome in the cathedral, getting to see the paintings right up close. The scale of the paintings on the ceiling of the dome is ridiculous. The people are several meters tall. Then up to the very top where we saw an amazing panorama. 
Walking home after dinner, we came across a street performer. He had pulled volunteers from the audience and did a comedy show, totally hilarious. It was fantastic understanding both the Italian and the English parts of the show - he would speak in English to the mostly tourist crowd, but would add comments in Italian, usually poking fun at American tourists. 
The following morning we went to Siena for the day. Our guided tour was in the early afternoon so we spent our morning wandering around, snacking and relaxing. The tour brought us to the church of San Domenico where we learned about the story of Saint Cattarina (?), then around the city to the cathedral. I loved the music room in the cathedral as well as the amazing marble. They had wanted to make it even larger but a plague hit the city and so they were unable to continue. They got as far as some parts of the walls. Then to Piazza del Campo where they have the horse races. 
After our tour, some of us went to the torture museum, which I'll admit was mostly just really gory. Not sure I'd go back to that one. Then a walk to the train station to get back to Florence. 
Tomorrow we leave for Pisa in the morning, then from there to Rome. 
It's been really amazing being with the other exchange students. It's validating in many ways. There is more than one exchange experience, something that I frequently forgot in Palermo. It's ok to look forward to going home. It's ok that you struggled with the language, making friends, or getting along with your host family. I felt often that I was doing something wrong - that it was all my fault that I'm not the best in Italian or that I wasn't as close to my Italian friends as I wanted - but many others had the same experiences. My examples of exchange came from people that weren't necessarily like me - they spoke the language or learned quickly, or had a host family that they got along with immediately, or were better at making friends. So meeting the other students has helped me to feel a lot better about myself, knowing that others have experienced the same challenges, the same joys. 
Anyhow, that's all for right now, I'll update again as soon as I can. 

Venezia, Verona and Milano

I had my first tour day today (13 June). The multidistrict organised a tour seeing Venice, Verona, Milan, Florence, Siena, Pisa, Rome, Naples and Bologna, and though we're a fairly small group of just 12 students, I already feel like we've been friends for ages. The students came from Sardinia, Rome, Bari and Sicily, and we represent several countries: Canada, Sweden, Germany, Japan, USA and Argentina. Minus the student from Argentina, we all speak English, but we speak Italian most of the time, because we value including everyone. 
Kaley and I flew from Sicily, landing the evening of the 12, and we stayed at our team leader's house (where his wife essentially force fed us fresh fruit and gelato when we got there. I suffered.). This morning we met up with the other students and took of for our of Venice. 
We wandered the streets, crossing on the small bridges. I noticed just how silent it was - without cars (and their horns, alarms, etc), the city is very quiet. We met our guide at Piazza San Marco, seeing the cathedral (wow - that's all I can say about the cathedral... Just... Wow.), various buildings, such as the leaning tower, the fallen (and rebuilt) bell tower, and many other places. Unfortunately we did not have the time to go on a gondola ride (and it was raining), and we were a little disappointed to miss out on that experience. 
Then back to the hotel for dinner, and to go to bed. This morning we took off early for Verona! I'll try to update again as soon as I can. 
Ok so I didn't find wifi, so I'm stuffing Verona and Milano on this one as well. 
At Verona we saw the old city walls, the arena and Juliet's house. The arena is the second biggest after the colosseum, and we had a great time climbing the seats. They still hold operas and plays there, and the cheapest seats, those highest, are actually the best, and the acoustics are so that the sound rises. The house of Juliet (from Shakespeare) was packed with people, and you can tell as you approach because you see the signatures and messages of love on the walls. Inside the courtyard we got pictures with the bronze stature of Juliet, then we went to piazza delle Erbe. We had the afternoon free so we wandered around. 
In the evening we rode to Milano. We had a great evening out, then up early for our tour of Milan. We saw the castle, the galleria, then the cathedral. Again, we had the afternoon off, so we did a little shopping, getting gelato at a chocolate shop, and saw a church with a room of bones. Our guide in the afternoon was a South African student living outside of Lecco on exchange. We even managed to meet up with the other Milanese students  just to quickly chat and exchange information. I felt that had we lived in the same city, we would have instantly been friends, and I didn't want to say goodbye to our guide in the afternoon, promising to send letters, and keep up to date with each other through facebook and email. 
Then onto the fast train, heading to Florence! We have three nights in Florence, seeing Pisa and Siena during that time as well. 
I'll update as soon as I can!

On Being an Exchange Student

This is the first of several posts I've been writing on Italian life, life as an exchange student, learning Italian, what I'll miss/not miss, etc. I leave today for my tour and I've realised how much I've been ignoring my return until after I get back from my tour. Pretty much "I don't go home until after the tour, and since I hadn't left for the tour yet, my return date is not approaching, and therefore I don't have to worry about saying goodbye". But I know the end is near, less than a month left, so I've been trying to organise for my departure a little. 
Anyhow, here's something I wrote on being an exchange student. 

I'll Miss...
The built in excuse
Anything, from language, to clothing, to cultural no-nos, is usually forgiven after a "sorry, I'm foreign/an exchange student". Brilliant. Of course, this is not to be abused, but it is handy for learning the culture or pronunciation. 

Conversation Starter
Once I got better in Italian, I found myself chatting with so many people I would normally never say a word to - simply because they noticed I was foreign and asked where I was from. Before long I'm conversing, mentioning some differences between Italy and Canada, and they're telling me how much they want to go to Toronto - they have family there - and so on. On one hand, this fits into the "how do you know someone's an exchange student?... They'll tell you" category, but it's also an expression of the confidence I've gained through this experience. 

Explaining Canada
Most people here don't know a lot about Canada... We mention the USA in English and history classes, but Canada rarely gets a mention. Fortunately that means I get to tell everyone all about it! Well, anyone that will listen...

Being Part of a Club
It's sort of elite... (kidding)... But it is really fun. You instantly have something in common and you can laugh about language issues, faux pas, all with someone you had just met. 

But it's also really difficult...
Good friendships take time and energy to develop and when half of that time is spent speaking at baby level, it's even more difficult. 

I'm not sure how normal this is, but I felt emotional extremes here more - one day I think of calling my family to send the rest of my stuff over, I'm living here forever, the next I'm wondering how soon I can get on a plane. I think I'm looking forward to having things cool down a bit. 

Palermo

We flew from Pisa to Palermo, taking the bus into town. We stayed in an apartment building just steps from the mercato ballarò. In Palermo, we visited with my host family, making a "Canadian" dinner of salmon with soy, ginger and maple syrup. We also went to Mondello for a walk on the beach, and Monreale to see the cathedral, as well as exploring the city. We saw a few of the churches, the cathedral, the botanical gardens and the archaeological museum. 

Il Duomo at Monreale

Inside il Duomo at Monreale.

Cacti at the garden.

I think my mom was jealous that things actually grow here...

In front of the cathedral in Palermo.

Ballarò

Mondello

Gelato

[Sorry, I sort of became less inspired by these posts as I wrote them]

Florence, Siena and Chianti

We took the train to Florence, arriving midday. We stayed again at a B and B, close to the station. Breakfast at this place gets a big thumbs up, as it included fresh fruit and baking, and really good yogurt. I was slightly disappointed by the coffee - good, but American style. Our host was more than happy to make us Italian coffee on request, however.
Saturday we saw the Galleria dell' Accademia, which is the house of Michelangelo's David, among other works. I was confused whether "finito-nonfinito" (finished-unfinished) was an actual style or not, as it seemed to me that Michelangelo just ran out of time or switched cities, leaving his statues behind.
I liked the Galleria degli Uffizi a lot, though I made a bit of a fool of myself, confusing a Botticelli for a DaVinci. I enjoyed seeing as art progressed, adding in perspectives and scale. We got kicked out before I could see all the rooms, though. (I missed the Caravaggios - I was not impressed)

Sunday we went out to Siena, taking the bus. We had been told that if we had just one day for a trip out of Florence, to go to Siena, not Pisa. Other than the Piazza dei Miracoli (where the leaning tower and cathedral are), there isn't really much else. Whereas in Siena, much more if the style is preserved, plus it's fun and interesting to walk around.

Il Campo

The Cathedral

Il Campo, near the end of the day.

From Fortezza di Santa Barbara, looking toward the city

Monday we did a bit of shopping at the Market downtown, buying scarves and leather items, before going on a wine tour in the Chianti region. We learned about wine and olive oil production, before sampling cheeses, wines and olive oils.

Wine

For our last day in Florence, we took the bus to the sight seeing spot above the town, before walking back down and seeing an exhibit of sketches.

Above the city

Local cuisine includes:

Crostini Toscani - unsalted bread topped with a purée of chicken liver, capers, and onion. My host mom makes these when we have guests over, but I'll admit, I am not the biggest fan.
Ribollita - literally "reboiled", bean and bread soup
Bistecca alla fiorentina - Florentine steak, comes in two sizes, large and huge (500 g and 1kg, no joke). We wanted to know if we could get 250 g, not an option. However, we still wanted to try it, so we ordered the 500 g for all three if us, plus side dishes. (Unlike in North America, it is unusual for secondi piatti, main dishes, to come with vegetables, salad, potatoes, etc. If you order steak, veal, chicken, etc, that is all you get.)
Cantucci, or cantuccini - known as "biscotti" to North Americans, these dry, twice baked cookies are usually flavoured with almonds (mandorle), and served with vin santo. After trying one dipped in the strong, sweet wine, my mom said something along the lines of "I've been eating biscotti wrong my whole life".

Parent visit - Rome

My mom and step dad came to visit me for two weeks, which was certainly a lot of fun. We planned a three city tour, Rome, Florence and Palermo, as well as several guided tours. First stop: Rome.

Goodbye Sicily, I will miss you.

Hello, Rome! It actually looked really small from the air, I thought I'd taken the wrong flight.

Due to my parents missing their flight, I was in Rome by myself for the day. I walked around, visiting a few churches and sights nearby to our b and b. We stayed near the station, for its accessibility to the metro and trains, at a renovated older building, run by a really great pair of brothers.

The next day, early, my family arrived, and we revisited many sights that I had seen the day previous.

Tuesday we went to Vatican city for a guided tour. We splurged and got the "skip-the-line" as well, so we didn't have to wait outside for three hours. I learned a lot about the history of the Vatican, as well as all the art. Our tour guide was a young Irish woman taking time off from her Phd in archaeology, with a fun and energetic style.
Highlights included, well, a lot of things. In particular, Raphael's School of Athens, the Sistine chapel, Michelangelo's La Pietà, and St Peter's. I liked the stories associated with each place - how Michelangelo was known to throw things at people who bothered him, how they made St Peter's seem less big from the inside by using scale, how painters would being themselves and other artists into their work.

Our tourguide.

The hall of maps.

School of Athens.

La Pietà. Mary is shown as young and rediculously tall.

After lunch we saw some more of the sights including, but not limited to: Castel Sant' Angelo, the Spanish steps, a DaVinci exhibit, and Piazza del Popolo.

The Da Vinci exhibit had a 360° mirror...

Spanish steps.

Wednesday we went to the colosseum and Roman forums, again with a guided tour. The site was possibly busier than the Vatican so I was very happy to skip the line here.

Outside the Collesseum.

The colosseum has seen some better days, it lost a lot of its stone to other buildings, and the pollution of Rome hasn't helped for its colouring. I wouldn't have minded seeing below, but it's open only during the summer.

Cleaned, vs uncleaned.

The Roman forums were interesting, but very difficult to visualise. They had been covered by dirt after a flood, and they are still excavating, and, like the collesseum, many pieces are missing. I was trying to picture the average roman standing where I was, as the forums were the centre of daily life during ancient Roman times.

Arch of Constantine

After lunch we went to the Trevi Fountain, the pantheon, Piazza Navona, stopping to buy strawberries at the Campo dei Fiori, and seeing Michelangelo's Moses at San Pietro in Vincoli.

My mom and I throwing our coins into the fountain.

Apparently Michelangelo threw his hammer at the statue when he had finished, yelling, "But why don't you speak?"

For our last full day in Rome, we saw more of the sights, ending up far above the city, enjoying the lovely day.

Circo Massimo

Food Highlights from Rome:

Classic roman dishes include Pasta Carbonara, and Carciofi (artichokes) alla Romana, both of which I was sure to enjoy. Pasta carbonara is pasta tossed with a mix of egg, pancetta (bacon), and cheese, usually Pecorino Romano.  The key is freshly ground pepper.