Lucille Greets Europe: Ciao from Italia!

I had been saving funds for a trip back to Italy/Europe for after I graduated next Spring. However, after my boyfriend decided to do a study abroad trip in Belgium this summer, I couldn't resist the urge to go back to my favorite place with my friend Alka and do make some adventures with him as well!

Alka and I had been eager to travel together after a coffee date when we noticed that we both had (those super touristy) eiffel tower key chains after our individual trips to Paris. It was a no brainer when I asked her if she would want to go on this adventure with me! Although I only spent a short week in Italy, it was definitely worth seeing friends that I had not seen in over two years.

One Last Adventure

This has been a very long overdue post. I know I have been very slow with posts but after Spring Break it just hit me that I only had a month left in this beautiful country… blogging was the last thing on my mind. I planned to write a reflection after I got back to the States (which was two weeks ago) but 1) my laptop died on me in Italy and 2) I was just not emotionally ready to recall on my Italian adventures just yet. I still don’t think I am quite ready but now that my laptop has revived from the dead, I think it’s time.

It felt that after Spring Break everything changed so drastically. I went from worrying about what photos to instagram, what I could blog about, what cool place I could conquer next, to sitting at La Posta (the local café that some students visited religiously) just basking and being content with exactly where I was literally until dinner time (and being late to dinner) and then going straight back after dinner because I would rather have been in the atmosphere of foreignness than inside a room with people and conversations that were already so familiar and comfortable to me. I felt a lot of people were getting to this point as well.

From this I really got to develop a relationship with some Italians that worked at the bar (and those who helped out) and from that, their friends and family as well. In those last few weeks, I was finally able to grasp that “Italian culture” that I came for. I wanted to better my Italian. I wanted to figure out what it took to be an Italian in Tuscany.

They helped me figure out that what I’m learning in Italian class wasn’t perfectly translated in everyday conversation, in just THIS part of Italy (because the linguistics change everywhere you go… kinda like in the States). I learned what Tuscan aperitivo (custom before dinner drinks and “appetizers”) was and even got two aperitivo drinks named after my friend and I (The “Lucii and Kyla” and “Lucii and Kyla Parte Due” – summer time spritzers for those who need refreshment). I finally got to experience the Italian Night Life at a discoteca in Arezzo. Italian men are very forward and for the most part pigs when it comes to the bar/club scene. But I’m sure that was already a known stereotype. They showed me hands-on how to make a cappuccino and I even served a couple of them as well. I learned that the objective of drinking isn’t always what I consider it to be in the college scene. There really is an art to drinking (they have specific drinks for before dinner, during, and after dinner – the more you know!) that I am happy to bring back with me (and my friends as well – Wine Wednesdays, anyone?). Oh, and I learned how to ride a bike, finally! I can cross that off my childhood-things-that I-missed list. Who can say they learned how to bike in Italy? Well, except for the Italians.

One of my favorite memories in those last weeks was when Giulia, Federica, her aunt and parents, Cuoco, Valentino and Massimo (the sweetest old guy I met in Italy) drove a group of A&M and Kansas State kids to a Natural Park on Mount Lignano in Arezzo and had our own little BBQ. I was surprised when I saw a wild cinghiale (boar) and then they proceeded to show me all the awesome animals that were in caged pens around the park. We ate, we rolled around in the grass, we relaxed, we “played” with the animals, and well, just had fun. It was so strange to see how far we all had gotten since we first arrived in Italy.

The K-State boys decided to hold a “field day” competition between the two schools. I don’t know how but sometimes rivalries are the best ways to create friendships. There was a sense of (competitive) unity that we hadn’t had all semester, and I was just happy that it finally happened.  

      

I guess the last thing I was missing from this experience was making relationships with something, someone from Italy… and when I did it was completely bittersweet to know that 1) I had one more reason to return and 2) I was leaving them behind for an unknown amount of time. I fell in love with these people and I wasn’t ready to leave them after such a short encounter. And I’m not only referring to the Italian friends and families that I had made. I was also nostalgic for the friends that I knew I would see walking around my university. But it didn’t matter that I would still see these amazing girls and guys around College Station, but the idea that we would never have our friendship in the same context as we did in that beautiful little town. When we were ever going to just walk two minutes up that God-awful Road of Repentance to La Posta and have a cappuccino/drink? When could we just take a train to another city, another region whenever we wanted to?  

It was really difficult to take it all in, especially when the Italians had thrown all of us a goodbye party, along with a surprise good bye slideshow with photos from throughout the semester and then greeted us at the bus before we left and lit a paper lantern that floated into the sky (it was a scene from Tangled, I tells ya). Here is when I mention that I cried so much in the last three days before we left. Shenell and I decided to say our last goodbyes to all the stores around town and my goodness I couldn’t believe how sweet and genuinely sad people were to see us go. It made me think how much harder it is for the townspeople who develop relationships with the foreign students than it really is for the student. Every year these townspeople have a batch of Americans that greet their town and every semester they have to let another batch go (while I only have to worry about the one batch I have)!

I can’t say how these past four months has changed me, I honestly still haven’t figured it all out yet but there is such a passion within me that I hope to figure where to target it all. There are so much real life situations that I have to get sorted (where to live, graduate school, classes, etc) that there hasn’t been much time and space in my mind to figure it out. I have really just been living in this dream world where the surreal happened and everything was perfect.   

Coming back I just wasn’t ready. I hadn’t squeezed out everything that I needed from my short time there, especially a real emersion to Italian culture and language. But being that it was such a small amount of time to explore and learn about such a long history and diverse country, there was just no way. One thing that I advise for anyone reading this and wants to study abroad similar to the reasons aforementioned; don’t travel with an English university or a university in that country that doesn’t offer a homestay program. Although in those last precious moments I was able to be in the company of Italian social life and family life (two amazing Italian families really showed me the universal love a mom shows to those she loves), you could not pick up the language the same way, nor the mannerisms and way of living. Live with a family. Go to the bars and cafes. Talk to people. Get out of your element. “Always do what you are afraid to do” as Emerson says.

You’re studying abroad, sure, but what exactly are you studying? If you think it’s the classes you’re taking or whatever concentration you are there for (architecture, art, field studies, biology, the works), you are half right and all wrong. You are studying the country, the city, the history of whoever “Abroad” takes you. So in essence, you don’t have to take classes to go abroad. Just do it. If you get anything out of this, it’s that although I learned a couple cool things out of some really amazing professors, they were on the same boat as I, it’s not even about the classes. Hell, to hell with the classes! It’s about the experience.

The experience doesn’t have to be abroad either. I’m from Texas. I’m sure NYC or L.A. would be just as strange to me once I find my way there, and I will be just as in awe of the Statue of Liberty as I was when I saw the Eiffel Tower. Even New Orleans which is right down the street would have so much history and culture for me to soak in. Everywhere is a learning experience, so keep your eyes (and mind) open.

I promise to (slowly) post pictures and stories about the last few cities that I visited before I decided to go on an impromptu hiatus from blogging. So frequent the blog for updates on my last several adventures!

“I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Ninth Week Updates: Siena

When I first decided to pursue my Italian minor, I took an Italian women through literature class and the first Italian woman (Italian person in general) I learned about was Santa Caterina da Siena. I remember being so amazed by her life history and how (for lack of a better word) bad-ass she was for convincing Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon and come back to Rome. Did I mention that she was a woman during the Middle Ages?totally not your average gal.

I was very excited to visit Siena because of the aforementioned reasons alone. My professor also told us that Siena is very contrada-oriented (rival districts, subdivisions in a town) with seventeen different contrade in the town itself. Siena is also very famous for having the oldest (surviving) bank in the world and housing Lorenzetti's Allegory of Good and Bad Government.

It was such a beautiful day in Siena! A group of girls decided to sun bathe on the steps of the duomo. Although it was a gorgeous exterior, Oriveto's still takes the cake.

The interior of the duomo was probably the most beautiful and intricate that I have seen. There was just so much going on and I am a sucker for striped patterns. I loved that Siena has four patron saints (Ansano, Savino, Crescenzio and Vittore) statues watching over the cathedral along with Saint Catherine. The cathedral also houses the famous works by Donatello (St. John the Baptist), Michelangelo (Saint Paul) and the frescoes of Pinturicchio (Piccolomini library) designed by Raphael.

The piccolomini library was extravagant. Perhaps a little too extravagant for me. The frescoes tell a history of  Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who became Pope Pius II.  

After the cathedral, we walked to the Palazzo Pubblico to see Lorenzetti's Allegory. I had no idea how destroyed most of the fresco was, but the parts that stayed intact were very interesting to see. This fresco was one of the first frescoes that discussed morals that were not pertaining to biblical/spiritual morals, but in this case, public, governmental morals to create a stable city life. 

The Palazzo Pubblico was in the Piazza del campo, which was one of the biggest piazzas I've seen in Italy, which ought to be, considering that famous Siennese Palio (a biannual horse race where ten of the seventeen contrade compete) is located there.

Speaking of contrade, I was so taken aback by the idea of a modestly sized town with so many rivaling districts. At each district, there are square plaques that state where each contrada boundaries are. Our tour guide, who was in the Elephant Contrada (colors consisting of maroon, white and blue... whoop?) are rivals with the Goose Contrada (Saint Catherine's contrada, by the way) and the Dolphin Contrada considers the Elephants their rivals but not vice versa. It all sounds like college rivalries to me (A&M rivals with TU who are rivals with OU, etc etc)! 

Another famous place in Siena is a pastry shop called Nannini's (after the famous singer) that supposedly has the best pastries in Italy. The really like the aesthetics of the shop and the atmosphere but honestly I've had better pastries at Le Perla in Castig. I will, however, admit that they have prettier pastries (which obviously matters - not kidding).

Doing a hairpose headstand inside the Santa Maria delle Scala Yurt. Don't ask why I am doing yoga or why I am in a yurt.

Siena was pretty rad. I loved trying to figure out where each contrada district ended and honestly the smaller towns (as compared to Rome, Venice and Florence) have been the best towns that we have visited (Orvieto, Assisi...) and have been very relaxing.

Here are some photos from our first girl's wine night (Wine Wednesdays)! We all got dressed up and enjoyed wine and stories. Of course, I am only drinking moscato. 

Until next time!

"Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill. It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is filled with the fire of charity- the fire of love of God and neighbor- it will work wonders." - Catherine of Siena

Venice: That's Amore!

Benvenuti a Venezia! While A&M was on their spring break, our program took us on a week-long trip to Venice. As much as I loved the Capri's beautiful coast and the neighboring islands, I have never seen a place as unique and amazing as Venice.

When they say that Venice surrounded by water, they really mean it is SURROUNDED by water. And since we didn't stay on what is proper Venice but one of the Venetian islands called Lido, the only way to really get around is by boats, which after my first experience, I was naturally very frightened, but I actually got used to the feeling and am glad for it. There is something about the waters that really do make Venice the romantic city that it is known for.

Bellinis and hot wine while we stroll the Rialto Market. (Taken from Cece)

The many views of San Marco!

We all visited the San Lorenzo and Rialto which had giant markets filled with souvenirs, the most prominent being masks. So many masks! I didn't invest in a Venetian mask, but my friends bought gorgeous handmade masks that are to die for. We also visited the Doge's Palace, the Basilica of Venice (both of these toured by a tiny old woman who would grab your attention by shouting "YOO-HOO!" or "thaaaaat's a ques-tionnnn!") and the Guggenheim museum (which was incredibly refreshing - I have been going to a lot of churches and not enough art museums). We also bought tickets to see a Vivaldi's The Four Seasons' concert. They were completely amazing and the cellist was so filled with character, vigor and passion that it was just as amazing to watch him as it was to listen to it all.

My girls and the cellist and violinist, respectfully.

One of the most unforgetable events was when my friends and I went on our first gondola ride. When people think of Venice, one of the ideas I'm sure that pops up is romantic gondola rides down skinny waterways of the town. Well, we did exactly that, except no one played "that's amore" or other cheesy songs.

Asides from Venice, we also took day trips to Vicenza, which houses the Teatro Olympico, which is the first building that was built strictly to be a permanent theater, and Verona, where the famous Juilet house and statue are.

Vicenza's beautiful streets. Seriously I couldn't believe how wide and lovely the streets looked, especially when it began to drizzle.

I don't think I can really describe this theater. Honestly, I didn't understand what was the hype or why it was such an important theater in history, but unless you see it for yourself, you can't see the magnitude of how elaborate and impressive this stage is. It was designed to cater for the first performance of Sophocles' Oedipus The King. The background you see behind the arches is completely 3-dimensional and utilizes force perspective to create the linear perspective that we perceive. So incredibly amazing. And to top that, there was a surprise LIGHT SHOW during our visit that played contemporary rock music. I'll try to upload the video but internet here is not quick enough to upload large files.

Then there was Verona.

We first visited the Coliseum in Verona (yes, Rome isn't the only place with one!), which is the best preserved Colosseum in Italy. It was definitely impressive. I hope to see the inside of Roma's coliseum so that I can make a comparison as to which is the "better" of the two. Then we walked to Juliet's house and her famous balcony and statue. It is supposed to be good luck to touch Juliet's right boob with your left hand (or something like that) and watching everyone touch her boob or do other weird, hilarious photo shoots was very entertaining. 

"I touched the boob!"

The only negative thing I can say about Venice is how crowded its streets are. It is literally a tourist town, with about 22 MILLION tourists every year filling up the town. You can't really experience Venice until you find a part of town that no one goes to (such as local neighborhoods) and just listen to the silence that fills the air. It was so refreshing.

As much as I was afraid of Venice (I knew we had to use the water transportation system and because of my awful experience before, I didn't think I would make it through the first night), I was even more in love with it. Just strolling down San Lorenzo or the Rialto, and getting so far lost was just as fun (or even more) as when we had a game plan.

Until next time!

"A realist, in Venice, would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him."- Arthur Symons

Sixth weekend update: Ladies' Night and Meeting the Parents!

Asides from the beautiful Assisi, this week was rather filled with important dates! Friday was International Women's Awareness Day, and so Bar La Posta had a "Magic Mike" event to celebrate. A couple Americans and Italians got together and choreographed a performance that was very entertaining. The bar also gave every girl a  flower (which I helped put together) in honor of the night.

It was a really fun event (Bar La Posta never fails to be a fun night) and it was the first time I was brave enough to wear heels in the cobblestone streets of Italy! I didn't fall so I would like to call it a successful night. 

The next day I took a short morning trip to Cortona. I got there rather early and none of the stores were open yet, so I wrote in a cafe near the piazza. Have I told y'all how much I love Cortona? I hope so. It never fails to remind me that it's my favorite town. This time, it was the amount of wifi I could get literally anywhere I went. Not only did the cafe have wifi, but after I was done drinking, I went out to the steps of the bell tower to finish writing and could still get wifi from two other cafes. Ridiculous! I couldn't even get this kind of Princess treatment in Florence or Rome! Once T-Nobile opened (the store I came all the way to Cortona for), I bought the leather weekender bag I wanted and then I met up Shenell and Dezi in Arezzo for the rest of the afternoon. We finally picked up Dezi's handmade leather boots, which were beautiful!

On Sunday, the center organized a brunch for the students to eat and socialize with local families. Shenell and I paired up and were paired up with the sweetest family! Our family also decided to join two other families and we had lunch in Cortona (after a prosecco drink in Castig). It was the longest lunch/meal I've ever had. The whole meal lasted four hours and we had an after lunch promenade around Cortona and then they took us to Montecchio Castle. This was the first time I really was expected to use and know my italian (although Stefania knew English pretty well) and it was such a breath of fresh air to actually get to practice and do what I planned to do when I got to Italy. I suppose I never really thought about how being enclosed in a space with only english-speakers and not exactly needing to speak any Italian other than what is necessary to get by (knowing how to ask for information in the streets, stores, order) would really hinder my learning, but I got a heavy dose of it with these families!

If you want to learn a language, talk to a child. They don't understand that you can't understand them. They don't understand that you need them to speak slower and they will just keep talking so you better keep up!

The whole family! 

The leather bag I bought in Cortona.

On Tuesday, I leave Castiglion for two weeks! One week in Venice and the second week (spring break) in London and Paris. It's going to be a long adventure with only a backpack worth of clothes and necessities!

"Chi si volta, e chi si gira, sempre a casa va finire."
(No matter where you go or turn, you will always end up at home.)

Assisi: San Francesco e Santa Chiara

As someone who has never really known anything about San Francesco (Saint Francis), Assisi was just going to be a normal town with normal expectations. Many people told me I would love this town but I only assumed I would because I have come to realized that I am much more receptive to the smaller more intimate towns. Assisi also housed the Basillica di Santa Chiara, who is the namesake of my home in Castiglion Fiorentino.

My first reaction to this beautiful open piazza was if I could just sit there and have lunch. The ground itself was a work of art and truly completed the exterior for me. Our tour guide was Muara who toured us in Orvieto and I was excited to hear what interesting things she had to say. I learned so much about Saint Francis, his principles, and why he is so important not just to the Catholic faith but to all of Christianity as well. He also was the friar that started the Franciscan order (split into three orders - one being the Capuchin) that created the Capuchin Skeleton Crypt that I saw in Rome. He also was documented as the first person to receive the stigmata. He really did lead an extraordinary life of three virtues: Chasity  poverty, and obedience which is represented by the friars three knots on the rope around their waist.

In the Santa Chiara basillica, we got to see the relics of Santa Chiara and San Francesco. their robes, his shoes during the stigmata, and her hair were some of the cool relics displayed.

Muara also showed us some "sexy frescos" but really they were just creatures urinating or defecating. Cool story, bro.

Shenell and I with our beautiful angel of a tour guide!

... and then this gem.

We also "hiked" to the tower in Assisi and climbed its walls. 

In Assisi, I bought a wax stamp with my initial on it. It was an impulse buy but I can't wait to use it on graduation invitations or other celebrations that I'll have in the future. I got a maroon and bronze wax and a gold shimmer to highlight the wax. I also got a fat little Capuchin friar mug that I adore. No pictures since I wrapped it up and refuse to open it, but believe me when I say it's a cute chubby thing.

This is Max and he is almost as tall and as big as I am but he was so sweet!

Assisi was a beautiful town but I enjoyed it much more after learning about Saint Francis. His life makes you stop and think about what truly is important in life, which is living humbly (we are so caught up in the price of our experiences that we are not truly enjoying it) and living for other people. I really hope anyone who travels to Italy stops and visits Assisi and the Basillica di San Francesco.

“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today”  ― St. Francis of Assisi

Fifth Week Updates: Books, Theatres and Picnics!

Either this week has been a pretty easy breezy week, or I’ve really gotten used to all the intense travelling that we cram into it. Perhaps a bit of both!

On Monday, the mayor (or as they call him in Italiano, sindaco) of castiglion fiorentino came to eat dinner with us. A couple friends and I got to meet him and present him with a gift! But that was pretty much the extent of it. He welcomed us to castig and then we just ate as if it were just any ol’ day.

For our Field Trip Wednesday, we went back to Florence and toured the Accademia museum. This is where the REAL David is. Of course when I refer to David, I’m referring to Michelangelo’s David. I’ve only seen the FAKE Davids and I had only assume (that since they were really good copies, as I’ve been told) the real one would be quite similar. Nope. The real David is massive compared to the fakes and just all around more visually appealing. You can really see the pensive expression/thought in David’s face and I don’t think I can exaggerate how gigantic his hands were. They. Were. Massive. And lets not forget his butt. It was nice, not gonna lie. David is supposed to represent the perfect proportions of the body and well, he definitely takes the gold for a nice sculpted body (ha! So punny).

Our professor Giovanni took us back to the Galileo museum and into their private library where we were introduced to many old important texts of various philosophers, astronomers and etc. 

A work by Cardan that is censored due to "dangerous information" that went against the teachings of the church.

It was pretty neat to be able to touch first edition original texts from Galileo that were secretly published by the Medici family after his death because owning any books by Galileo were forbidden/illegal. 

Thursday we went to Castiglion’s Teatro that is no longer in use because of the town’s financial problems, but it was a beautiful baroque style theater. We got to sit in the fancy box seats and I got to pretend I was rich and important for a couple minutes. Hey, a girl can dream!

Look how beautiful it is! Also, there is the amazing Kyla reciting Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream while Cece, Laura and I LUXURIOUSLY watched her performance.

One of my favorite things back in the States that I indulged in are Friday morning/afternoon errands (and feelgoodfriday, but you already know all about that!) after classes. In Castig, since I don’t have classes AND there is a Friday market place, Friday morning errands are my dream come true. There is nothing like the feeling of doing all my  errands by foot and not being dependent on a car. Although I’ve never had a car of my own to begin with and so never really needed to drive anyway, I’ve really enjoyed that luxury of being able to walk to nearly anything I need. Back at Cstat, if I need to go to HEB, I would need a car or I would have to take a bus. Here, I can literally walk to an alimentari in five minutes (or to the market on Fridays).

   

I know, Dez and I are super adorable.

On Saturday, Shenell, Alice, Tessa, Ivan, Dez and I took the early morning train to Arezzo for the day to shop, visit the Antique Market and have lunch. I wish I took an earlier train (we took the 940AM, which is pretty early honestly...) just so that I had more time to check out the antique fair (it nearly stretches through most of Arezzo) before lunch and Siesta started. But I got three vintage Italian postcards for my collection which I am very excited about! One of them actually was mailed TO Italy from Pittsburgh, PA by an Italian tourist, which I thought was super neat and I can't wait to translate all the letters on the back of each postcard.

We had lunch at a cute trattoria and then we shopped around town. I mostly bought stuff at Sephora (also a pair of matching socks with my lovelies Alice and Shenell) and did my traditional "grocery" shopping at the Arezzo Eurospar (because we are too lazy to walk fifteen minutes to the Castig Co-op), which is grocery store. The boys and I went to get drinks at a cafe and striked up an interesting conversation with the bartender about America, travelling, basketball and american football. I think I may be in love with him but I may be speaking too soon. I'm always so shocked at how incredibly well the Italians speak English  It's just flawless compared to my jumbling of words and thoughts. I feel so inadequate!

 

This explains our relationship very well. You don't really know what is going on but you know it's a bunch of weird silly people doing weird silly things.

This is me trying a "flaming absinthe" shot, in which they light the liquor on fire, melt sugar over it, stir, and then I proceed to drink it. As you can see I didn't enjoy the experience very much. But my face was priceless so I thought I would share it with you all.

Sunday was probably THE best weather we have had since we've been here. The sun was shining so bright, the temperature was perfect and so we decided to have a brunch picnic in the courtyard.

It was completely relaxing - a much needed break from the stress and the cold!
I'm hoping the weather will continue to stay this amazing for our Venice trip and Spring Break!

Until next time!

"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."