Yeah, soon

Okay, so I know now that I am home I have like zero readers, but I have not written in a while, and it is midnight so now seemed an appropriate time. Though sleep is probably the wiser choice, as I have class tomorrow. I am working on this quilt at the moment. Well, I mean not at this moment, but I have been working on it and I am about half way done with the piecing. Also, my mom made me a beautiful dress last weekend. Also, we have been making aprons. Lots and lots of aprons. If you need an apron, I am your girl. Well maybe, I have been promising myself I would do other things, like read this book for my fall class and work on some sketches, and make some leg warmers that I owe someone from about a year ago. BUT I am at the moment (again, not this particular moment) making up a little pattern, for a little project for people departing for college. Or for people who like to have an identifying sign on their door. It is easy and fun and involves some applique and embroidery work. Basically I made it with scraps I took from my mom and thread I found lying around. So yeah, that is happening soon. As soon as I start doing something other than napping in my free time. Actually it is not so much napping as lying on my bed pretending I am napping so that no one bugs me. Though usually it is when no one else is home....hmm...I will figure out what I mean later. For now I am going to watch something silly then go to sleep.

These are some pictures from Rennes, France taken back at Easter. I kind of wish I was there right now looking at books and buying fabric with my friend Becca. That is basically what they illustrate. Also, Becca's super cute, super French haircut.

Spring Market Take Two

 

Amy Butler's new line of yarn, I can't wait to knit something with it.

Anna Maria Horner signing my books.

 

Adorable baby booties from her new book Handmade Beginnings!!

 Anna Maria and I on the lovely couch in her booth.

Heather Bailey and I (my bag is made from her Saturday Market Tote pattern, in Nicey Jane Fabric, her newest line.)

                                My mom and I with designer Joel Dewberry


I am currently sitting on my bed, watching episodes of Daria, while I try to recount the highlights of my first Spring Quilt Market. One would definitely be Pam twirling in the middle of the street and pretending to toss a hat up in the air like Mary Tyler Moore (the conference was in Minneapolis.) Others are meeting Anna Maria Horner and Heather Bailey, two of my favorite textile designers. Sample Spree was interesting...a bunch of crazy quilters running, literally running, to get fabric at super discounted prices. We did get some cute things though, some nice fabric from art gallery, kokka, and seven islands, and a few really cute patterns. I met a lot of nice people and generally had a good time hanging out with my mom and Pam.

Spring Market

Umm...here I am? Well sort of... at the moment I am sitting in the hotel in Minneapolis listening to Camera Obscura (thanks Erick, for posting them on FB) waiting for my mom and her friend Pam so we can go eat. I took what I am going to say was a three hour nap while they were off doing stuff. It may have been longer but I think it was needed since we got up at 5 AM to get to the airport this morning.

Tomorrow I am going to the Mall of America. I'm not a huge fan of malls, but I don't think I can miss this one, then to some of Spring Market. expect silly picture of my mom, Pam, and I with out favorite fabric designers, buying things we don't need.

Home Home

So I have been back home for about a week and a half. Last weekend I headed down to Greensboro with my mom to visit all my friends at Guilford while my mom hung out with her friend Flo. It was an interesting weekend. Seeing all of my friends after three and a half months was wonderful. It was a little weird, everything is different. That is the hard part about being away for a long time, not only that my life continues without the people I love, but that everyone else's lives continue as well, and I am not there to see it. I came to Guilford on a perfect weekend. Alethea was heading up WQFest. For those of you who don't know, WQFS is one of the top rated college radio stations in the country and I happened to come to Guilford on the weekend of the first ever WQFest, getting to spend all of Saturday listening to live music with some of my best friends.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the whole getting home part. There was this huge volcano in Iceland that spread a huge cloud of ash over most of Europe making air traffic impossible for almost a week. I left on April 23rd, one of the first days that airlines were flying, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be getting home. I flew from Florence to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to DC. I was relatively sure I was going to be camping out in the Frankfurt airport for at least a night. But I got lucky. My flight from Florence to Frankfurt was delayed an hour (not the lucky part) so I had about five minutes to make my connection. I got off the plane and there was a bus to drive all of us going to DC directly to our gate (well sort of) we got to the terminal, skipped security, had our passports stamped and sprinted to the gate.  I got on the plane and it took off ten minutes later. It was a pretty surreal day. I was sitting next to a very sweet German couple who did not seem to mind my snoring through half the flight.

I was home for a day, then headed down to Guilford. I got there in time for the Senior Thesis Art Show. It was one of the best thesis show I have ever been to at Guilford. There were nine seniors displaying art,  and all of them had beautiful work, from drawing and print making to painting to photography to sculpture and installation.

And not we are back to where I began. WQFest. The headliner was The Tallest Man on Earth, one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I saw him live in Barcelona and it was one of the best shows I had ever seen, so I was really excited to see him again, at my school with all of my friends. This picture is of me and Alethea watching is awe, if you look closely you can see us there in the dark.  The Tallest Man on Earth's real name is Kristian Matsson. He is from Sweden and it actually not very tall. We talked to him before and afterwards. He was so nice, and was glad I enjoyed the show at Guilford and in Barcelona. He even gave me hug.

Some other highlights of the weekend include Greenleaf dinner on Friday night (African curried soup,) shopping at Target with Alethea, and going to Jan's House at midnight with Fran and Justin, my former flatmates.

Now that I am back home I need to work on finding a job. At the moment I am filling in at The Artful Quilter, where my mom works. In my free time, i.e most of my time, I have been watching bad tv and knitting or sewing (new books!), not to mention napping. Oh and some yoga thrown in there.

Arrivederci Italia

So soon, so soon, so soon. I come home. If that volcano doesn't strand me here. So this may be my last post for a bit. These last few days are going to be busy, and these past couple weeks have been pretty wonderful.

First of all, Claire and I made dinner for our host family last Wednesday. We made them a spinach salad with strawberries, goat cheese, walnuts, and balsamic vinegar. Then we made roasted chicken and potatoes with greenbeans as a side. We wanted to make sweet potato fries, but the grocery store did not have sweet potatoes. I would say the chicken went okay...but they really loved the salad. Everyone had seconds and Luigia has made it twice since then. Virginia told us they had never eaten raw spinach before. Overall, I would call it a success, Lucrezia was not crazy about the greenbeans (she thought they were too crunchy) but other than that we were very proud of ourselves. Especially considering we had to convert temperatures to celcius. I have acutally had this dream where I forget to do that...and it is bad.

Last Friday we went to Florence again. This time we went to the Uffizi, which is probably one of the biggest museums I have ever been in. You think it ends and then there are just more rooms, full of masterpieces. We saw Bottecelli's Birth of Venus, and Primavera, Da Vinci's Annunciation and the unfinished Adoration of the Magi, as well as Michelangelo's Doni Tondo. The museum was full of other beautiful works of painting and sculpture. I could have spent the entire day there. Afterwards, I met my friend Ian, from high school. He has been studying in Florence this semester. We went to a bakery for lunch where they had bagels! It was very exciting for me. We also got a red velvet cupcake, mmm. After lunch we walked around and shopped a bit. We talked about out summer plans and were delighted to realize that we both would be in Northern Virginia for most of the summer. We got gelato and headed to the Duomo to meet my friends. I have to say, I think the gelato in Siena might be better....but maybe that is because the place we go to in Siena is the only one with the chocolate pear flavor.

On Saturday night Claire, Kristyn, Izzy, Chelsea and I went to the discoteque. Before we left we split some champagne in Piazza Del Campo in honor of Izzy. If she was in America Saturday would have been her senior prom. Then we headed to the disco. It was quite an experience. We had to take a bus almost thirty minutes outside the city. My host sisters go there almost every weekend, and I don't know how they deal with that bus ride each time. But once we got there it was really fun. Granted, the club scene is not really my thing, and I am not a huge fan of how forward Italian men can be, but we all had fun dancing together and drinking long island ice teas. It was fun, but I think one time is enough.

Yesterday we had our farewell dinner at Carla's (our Italian teacher's mom) house. She lives just outside Siena on a beautiful farm overlooking the Tuscan countryside. It was really nice for everyone to hang out and eat good food. Our music history teacher Massimo was there, as was Sylvia our Italian teacher. As much as I am excited to come home, and as much fun as last night was, it made me a little sad. I am going to miss Sylvia a lot. I feel like I have been looking forward to this experience for a long time and now it is ending. I don't know, it just makes me feel strange. And it makes me feel even more strange that I wil be a senior at Guilford when I come back.

But that is a while off...I have a whole summer to look forward to, not to mention a few more days in Italy to soak it all in. So ciao Italia, arrivederci, it has been a lovely three months, but I have to go. Home soon, home soon.

Il est bon, cette fondue

That title is french, by the way, not Italian. I was in Rennes, France this weekend visiting my lovely friends Becca, Scottie, and Natalie. It was wonderful, definitely one of the best weekends I have had since being in Europe. I flew to Paris then took a train from Paris to Rennes. Becca met me at the train station, which was actually quite funny. I was so excited to be there that I was skipping down the platform, but in my excitement I was not really paying attention and just sort of followed where everyone else was going, assuming that is where Becca would be. Actually, Becca was on the platform...and I ended up near the metro...but we found each other on the stairs and had the best hug. Becca just got her hair cut and looked very french with her scarf, not to mention she was carrying a bag of brioche for our breakfast the next morning. It was a little after eight at this point so we headed to dinner. We went to an adorable little creperie and had galettes, which are similar to crepes but made with buckwheat, and filled with eggs or mushrooms or smoked salmon or...other things...I had one filled with chevre, salad and walnuts. Afterwards we of course had crepes, they were banana chocolate and the chocolate was literally like brownie batter. It was so delicious. We headed back to Becca's host home, where her host mom asked me several questions in french before realizing that I couldn't understand anything. She was very cute though, and said in English, "Oh, you don't speak any French?" with an adorable accent.

The next day we got up and made french toast with brioche, then headed to the market. There were so many different fruits and vegetables, and huge loaf of bread and about a million different types of cheese. We bought some bread with nuts, goat cheese, pears, and dried apricots for lunch, then headed to the park to eat. This park looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland. There was also a bird sanctuary filled with these tiny neon colored birds all singing as little kids ran around chasing the pigeons, which were, in turn heading towards Becca and I hoping for some bread. After lunch we went to the best knitting/fabric store ever. It was called "La Droguerie." They had the best buttons, and the girls that worked there were very nice. I bought some fabric for myself, and my mom of course, as well as some buttons. Now I just have to knit a sweater to put the buttons on. After lusting over everything I couldn't by we decided it was time for baked goods and possibly hot chocolate. We headed to a little coffee shop where sat and knit for a couple hours. It felt like I was back at Guilford. Except in France....Natalie and their friend Hayley met us there and we decided to cook lentil soup and naan for dinner later. After knitting a bit more Becca and I headed off to get the ingredients. Scottie met us back at the house. She and Becca sang songs and played guitar as we prepared the naan dough. Once Natalie and Hayley got there Becca's host mom decided it was time to bring out the champagne and we all sat around talking and laughing (but by talking I mean they spoke french, and I listened, and translating happened.) Becca's host mom was so sweet and so generous for letting me stay with them. After dinner we watched Beauty and the Beast in french, and I understood everything because I have seen that movie so many times. And it was kind of perfect in french, because I never realized it before, but Belle is so french....

The next day Becca and I went to this tiny town called Becheral for a book festival. This town had something like eighteen bookstores. We walked up on the ramparts and generally had a good time exploring. Becca found some good things to enhance her french skills, and we ate crepes and galettes for lunch. After drinking tea and knitting some more we headed back to Rennes. At Becca's house her host family was already preparing the food for Easter dinner. We were having fondue and creme brulee. We even watched her set it on fire, which was really cool, if a tad bit nerve racking. Becca and I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as well. Scottie came over for dinner. In total there were about fourteen people there, including a tiny french baby. Becca and Scottie play music while we had appetizers. They translated for me, and some of the people some a little english, and as more wine was consumed, more english was attempted, which was nice of them. Dinner was delicious, as was dessert. We all definitely entered food coma. But Becca and Scottie still managed to play a few more songs. One of the guests requested wonderwall, which resulted in a everyone singing along. It was a long, but wonderful meal, a great end to a lovely weekend.

Hiking and Wine Tasting in Chianti

I woke up and the sky looked pretty grey. My throat felt scratchy, and my nose was stuffed up, and I all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. But Italian class was waiting. And after Italian class we were going to Chianti. But it looked like it might rain, and I couldn't find my shoes, and I was sleepy. I sort of refused to be excited. Even after Italian class I couldn't get excited. But then we were in the car and leaving the city. And the sky started to look a little more blue. As we kept driving the city fell away and we were surrounded by vineyards and beautiful green hills covered in cypress and olive trees. We wound up and up into the hills of Tuscany. Then we were there. In the middle of nowhere. And we started hiking. The trail was beautiful, as we turned a corner there was a stunning view of Chianti. Vineyards covered all of the hills, set against the blue afternoon sky. We hiked for about an hour, then returned to the cars and headed to the town/city of Chianti. It was very tiny, much like other the other Tuscan hill towns. And finally we headed to the winery. Our guide led us to the freezing cellar, where massive oak barrels held the wine (or a similar wine) that we were going to drink. He explained how they make the wine, when they pick the grapes, why they have to import the oak from France (the oak in Italy has too many branches, which makes knots in the wood, which is bad for the wine,) the types of flavors a wine has, etc. Then we tastes the wine, a red, chianti of course, and a white, something similar to chardonnay. Both were delicious. As we drank he explained what each of the movements you see people do mean, and why they do them. And he showed us the proper "elegant" way to open a bottle of wine. Then, I open my first bottle of wine. I was not as elegant as him, but I managed not to break the cork.

Host Family

I feel that I need to dedicate at least on entry to my wonderful host family, Franco, Luigia, Virginia and Lucrezia Runfola. I was hoping to put up some pictures of them as well, but only Virginia is home at the moment, and she is doing math homework, so it will have to wait. But soon...so for now, these are pictures of the lovely house I have had the pleasure of sharing with them for the past two months.

So, first of all Franco. Okay, granted I do not know that many Italian men. But of the ones I have met, he is among the kindest. He is so good at slowing down when speaking Italian to me and genuinely seems to want to help me understand. He also is very interested in learning the English words for things. Often during dinner he will point to a food item and ask, "Come si dice questo in inglese?" So far he has found the words "strawberry" and "mushroom" most amusing.

Where do I even begin with Luigia. The Italian word to describe her is chiachierone (please excuse the spelling) which means talkative. But also, generoso. She makes us wonderful dinners everynight, lets us use the washing machine (may not seem like a big deal, but it is 10 euro at a laudramat) and basically just takes care of us. One day a few weeks ago I was feeling homesick and I had a bit of a cold and hadn't slept well, so just an all around bad day. Luigia asked what was wrong and after I attempted to explain to her in Italian, we moved to the computer and began using google translate to communicate. It was hilarious. Once she understood what I was feeling she said something like, "But you are in Italy, you have Luigia, be happy!' then, "Oh, I know banana!" and proceeded to offer me a banana. Keep in mind all of this was in Italian. Anytime someone is feeling down Luigia's solution is a banana. And you know what, I think it works. I felt much better after the banana.

Then there are my adorable host sisters, Virginia and Lucrezia. I have always wanted sisters and now I have two. And the thing is, they remind me of Olivia sometimes, and I have realized that I did have a sister at home. But anyway, they are both cute as can be and so kind and helpful. I am knitting them little fingerless mittens and when I gave Virginia hers she loved them so much she hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks. She is great when it comes to help with Italian homework. And sometimes I help her with her English homework. She and I have very similar taste in movies and books. I am going to try to get her and Lucrezia to watch Gilmore Girls with me. Lucrezia is just so silly. Unfortunately there is not an Italian equivolent of the word silly. She spends most of her time texting her boyfriend and making silly jokes to all of us. But she is so sweet too. Right now she is on a school trip in France, but when she returns I will give her the fingerless mittens I made.

I am so lucky to be living with this family. There are wonderful. I am going to miss them a lot when I return to the States. 

Only A Month...

Until I come home. I can't quite believe I have been living in Italy for two months. I have really mixed feelings about leaving. I miss home a lot, and can't wait to see my family and everyone at Guilford, but I know I am going to miss Italy, and my host family, especially my sisters, a lot. Things are just do unusual here. Last night I heard singing and I looked out the window. There were bunches of people, holding candles and singing in Italian as they walked down the road. And today there was a string quartet playing in the streets. There is often a man painted all gold, dresses in old fashion clothes, looking through a gold old fashion video camera by one of the piazzas. When it is nice out I see the same woman playing accordian at the end of my street as I walk to school. I think in a month I will be ready to come, and I know when I get there I will be happy. Especially once I eat some pancakes, which I have really been missing here. And a bagel with cream cheese.

In two weeks I am going to France to see Becca for Easter weekend. And after that only two weeks until I am on a plane bound for the states. This week has gone by a lot faster than I thought it would. Maybe it is because I have another class now to help pass the time. It is Medieval to Modern Italian art history. So far I am loving it. Our teacher, Ilaria, really knows the subject well. We also have a lot of out side of the classroom activities. Last Tuesday we went to San Domenico and wrote about the art there that we liked or didn't like. We also saw St. Catherine's head (and finger.) I still don't understand the whole concept of relics. Why do you want to keep around someone's rotting corpse. I mean, Catherine's head is sort of mummified....and it is in an airtight glass box now, but it back in medieval days it was just sitting out. What's more, people would come touch it to try to heal themselves. I just don't think rubbing a dead body is really going to improve your health, but medieval Italians sure did.

Language class is also going well. I felt pretty brain dead this while week because of spring break, but now I think I am getting back into it. We are starting a new tense next week. The other past tense I think, which will considerably expand my vocabulary, but will also definitely complicate things. It seems that I can usually understand what people are saying to me, but I often find myself unable to respond. Then, about ten minutes later I think of what I should have said. Oh well. My dreams and daily thoughts have Italian words mixed in. It is all getting kind of confusing, but I love learning this language and I hope I can continue once I am home.

Spring Break

Wow, I can't believe that week is over. It was a long one, but a good one, so this is going to be a long one too, so get ready. Well, actually, maybe not too long as I am exhausted from travel.

Spring break went like this: Prague for four days, six hours in Paris, Barcelona for three and a half days.

So Prague. It is a myth. I still do not believe that Prague exists, and I was there for four days. In the cold. Did I mention that? It was freezing. It snowed twice. Like blizzards. Very cold. But I walked into the hostel and saw Helen on the bed and everything was perfect. Despite the cold the city was beautiful. Everywhere you turn is something old and ornate. The castle is unreal, especially since we happened to walk in during the changing of the guards. I like the Eastern European atmosphere. It is very different than Western Europe. I just wish I had brought a huge really warm sweater, the kind I saw several Czech people wearing. Prague is so old and so beautiful that is does not quite feel lived in. The snow just made it more surreal. So basically Prague does not exist. I don't know what that means for my own existence...but Prague is not real.

Onto Paris. For a couple hours at least. I have to say I am very proud of myself. I got Helen and I from the airport in Beauvais to Porta Maillot in Paris, then to the Eiffel Tower, and from the Eiffel Tower to Charles De Gaulle airport. All with only a couple words of french and almost no knowledge of the city. But Paris reminded me of DC. The way it is layed out is so similar. And metro systems are pretty similar everywhere. After seeing the Eiffel Tower we headed to lunch, where we ate baguette sandwiches and creme brulee. The best creme brulee I have ever had. And madeliene cookies. Mmmmm....

So then we reached Barcelona. Oh Barcelona. I think it is my favorite place I have visited. We went to the Fundacio Joan Miro. It was amazing. There was this mural exhibit, which was really cool, it was several artists from all over the world. This one from great britain was like strips of wall paper falling to reveal other pieces, and weird paintings. Then there was one from Thailand that was all red with little white dots making up the picture. To get to the museum you have to go through this park. It was so pretty. There were foutains and old vine covered stairs, and avocado trees. Best of all there was an amazing view of the Mediterranian. It is the bluest sea I think I have ever seen. The we went to the Picasso Museum. It was organized chronologically, so that the viewer sees his progression, along with the history and what other events were happening in his life at the time. There was a good selection of his blue period, which is my favorite. They also had a lot of his sketches, and doodles from his school books which I thought was amazing. I love seeing things like that. It kind of reminds me that famous people are just people too. I felt like I really got a sense of Picasso the man, you know. The whole thing was great, really great. Our last night there this singer/songwriter I like, Tallest Man on Earth, was playing a show. There were only five tickets available at the door and Helen and I got the last two. I am so glad we did. It was one of the most amazing shows I have ever been to. He was just so adorable (and very tiny by the way.) The monitor almost exploded but he just kept playing, and was so kind to the sounds guys as they tried to fix it. It was great. The perfect last night in Barcelona.

Cortona e Pienza

Cortona is a beautiful city. We arrived around 10:30 in the morning and there was almost no one in the street. Then we walked through the main Piazza and there was an adorable market going on. People were selling all kinds of old things, I wouldn't call them all antiques though...One guy just had a bunch of old rusted keys, which I actually found really interesting. There were a lot of old Italian books, and old jewelry, and one bizarre stand with what looked like Tibetan and Buddhist things. Didn't think I would see a lot of that in Italy.

Cortona, like many other Tuscan cities is built on a hill. At the top of this particular hill is the Church of Santa Margherita, the patron saint of Cortona. So we climbed through the town just to go see he tiny church The view was spectacular, the whole Tuscan countryside, including Lake Trasemineo, was layed out before me. Into the church we went...and we found Santa Margherita's mummified body. There she was, teeny-tiny, wrapped in very old clothing, rotting away for all to see. I just don't understand. I don't know if it is an Italian thing, or a Catholic thing, but they really like having people's rotting corpses around and on display. We climbed back down into the city and were on to Pienza.

Now, the Italians call Pienza a city. But, the Italian definition of city is any place with its own town hall. By my standards Pienza is not a city. It is barely a town. There is one piazza and one main street, with very tiny little alleys branching off. When I say tiny, I mean tiny...like the size of my driveway, but narrower. Pienza is famous for perorino cheese and as soon as we got out of the car we could smell it. But it was a charming little town, a fine place to spend an hour walking or relaxing.

Firenze

Michelangelo’s David. How do I even begin to describe the moment I saw it? It is so much bigger than I imagined. David’s foot is probably bigger than my head and neck. The Galleria dell’ Academia built a special room just to house it. It is like this: you turn a corner and on either side of you are Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures from the Medici tomb, and looking down the hall you see David, standing there. So you walk past forms just beginning to come out of the marble and by the time you reach David you understand what Michelangelo meant when he said that the sculpture is always inside the marble, it is the soul of it. It was amazing. And overwhelming really, to see such a work, one of pure genius, reaching a height of beauty and artistic achievement that I really cannot comprehend. To have seen what is maybe the most famous sculpture in the world…I feel so lucky.

Afterwards Becca, Kristyn, Elissa and I explored Florence. We saw the Duomo. Like with David, you turn a corner and there it is, this impressive, ornate building staring down at you. That is how I have found a lot of Italy, you turn a corner and stumble upon a masterpiece.

Florence is such a beautiful city. The streets are wide, and like in Siena pedestrians simply ignore cars and keep walking. The Arno tells you where you are, and if you do get lost just look up and you will see the top of the Duomo and find your way. We shopped in the market, and in a huge H&M. Everything is Italy is so colorful, from the flowers and fruit and pasta in the market, to the buildings and people on the street. And of course the gelato. Everywhere, no matter what time of day there is gelato.

Assisi e Perugia

 I thought Toscana was the most beautiful region in Italy, but Umbria is right up there with it. Today I went to Assisi and Perugia with the school's tour guide, Riccardo, and three other people I had never met before. One was a professor from New York named Connie, who is almost fluent in Italian. Then there were two guys in their thirties who just began studying Italian this week, one named Steven, from England, the other, Anthony from Australia. We met Riccardo at the Basilica Cateriniana Di San Domenico (the church in Siena housing St. Catherine's head,) piled into his car and headed to Assisi.

I thought that Siena was old, and it is, but Assisi is even older. Riccardo just kept saying molto vecchio molto vecchio. At least, that is the most important thing I caught as he explained the city to us in rapid Italian. It was built during the Etruscan time period. Before the Romans. That is old. Riccardo finished explaining how the city was layed out, then we were one our own, free to explore for a few hours. We had a cappucino then Steven, Anthony and I headed to The Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi. It was amazing. We couldn't take pictures, but a picture really wouldn't do it justice. The walls were covered in Medieval frescos and all of the beams were ornately decorated. I just cannot fathom how old the paintings are. Many of them have been restored. The floor is beautiful with marble and quartz inlays, and there were wooden benches with other types of woods inlayed into the backs. Afterwards we got s little lunch and headed to the most adorable bakery I have ever seen where I got tiramisu flavored gelato.

Then it was back in the car and on to Perugia, which is famous for cioccolata! It is a beautiful town situated on a hill, surrounded by the wonderful Umbrian countryside. It started to rain, but we still walked around and explored yet another medieval city for a few hours. Perugia had wide cobblestone streets, and shorter stone buildings. It was lovely.

Finally we piled back in the car and headed back to Siena. I sat there between these people I had just met and spent a wonderful day with, looking at the hills of Italy, wrapping my mind around the amazing things I had seen.

Frutti di Bosco

Fruit of the woods. A.k.a mixed berry, the type of yogurt I eat for breakfast every morning here. I get up and go into out little kitchen and take my time eating and drinking a little (un po) espresso. My host family is so wonderful. They have all kinds of things left out for us for breakfast. And dinner is always delicious and fun, with everybody talking at once while I try to grasp a few words. Luigia and Franco often have silly arguments, neither one actually mad, about things like vitamins versus better shoes. I am not just mistranslating, that is what they were talking about the other night. Virginia often tries to explain what is going on, but there is a still a lot left out. I think my host family thinks I understand more Italian than I do. I tend to nod when they say something, and when I don't know the words I can usually figure out what they are saying. Sometimes I am able to form the right response in Italian. A lot of times Virginia helps me. Lucrezia just laughs at everything. She is your typical fifteen year old, sighing and making fun of everything. Some things are international like teenage behavior or fathers falling alseep while watching tv. Every night after dinner I hear Franco snoring on the couch, just like my dad at home.

Italian class is going well. We start the past tense next week! I will finally be able to tell Luigia what I did at school not what I am doing. I like pronouncing the words, and figuring out how to use prepositions even though it is hard. I just want to be able to communicate in this language. My literature class, aptly named by Heather Love and Betrayal in Tuscany is also going well. We finally finished Dante's Inferno (thankfully!) and have moved on to Boccaccio's Decameron which I like much more. The Inferno was just so disgusting and depressing. The Decameron keeps me a little more interested. But perhaps that is because I tend to prefer short stories over novels... or epics, as it were.

After a rainy morning to sun has come out and we are all crossing out fingers that this will be the beginning of warmer weather. Though, as soon as I leave for Prague in two weeks I will be freezing again. But I can warm up afterwards in Barcelona. I am feeling more at home here. I am confident in my ability to navigate the city and to speak enough Italian to get around, if I cannot yet have long conversations with people. Overall, life it Italy is good. I live in Italy, in a tiny medieval city in Italy. I still have trouble believing it.

Making Pasta In Toscana

Sorry for the horrible rhyme, I couldn't help myself, hehe.

Yesterday it snowed. I didn't know it snowed in Siena, and, apparently the Sienese didn't either. They don't really use salt or snow plow or anything like that. I mean, the streets are barely big enough for one car, let alone a giant snow plow, so I kind of understand. Plus these are thousand year old cobblestone streets so it would make sense that they wouldn't want to damage them.

Despite the snow, last night we ventured into the semi-countryside to learn how to make pasta frm out Italian teacher Sylvia's mother. After getting horribly lost we finally found the Porta Tuffe, one of the city gates, and met Sylvia and he dad who drove us to the house. Once we got inside I immediately felt better. Carla, Sylvia's mom, let us warm our socks and shoes by the fire and gave us other socks to wear while they dried. Once everyone was there the pasta making began.

First Carla showed us how to make a ragu sauce with meat, and a pepper sauce. Then she made the pasta dough. we kneaded it or what seemed like a forever. But I didn't mind so much because it was somewhat reminiscent of working with clay, which I have been missing here. We then put it through the pasta machine to flatten it, filled with spinach and ricotta cheese, then cut it into piece with a special tool that sealed it up. We also made tagliatelle We ate bruschetta and drank wine while we waited for it too cook.

It was delicious. And we had tiramisu for dessert. All in all it was a pretty perfect night.

Feeling Normal Again

This morning I finally woke up and knew I was in Italy. It was not a surprise like it often has been. I have settled in, gotten over jetlag, and found some regular things I like to do. There is a coffee shop, un caffe, that I started to go to in the afternoons to do homework and drink tea. I almost done with Dante (thankfully) and am able to spend more time reading what I want. Next in my lit class we move on to Baccacio's Decameron, which I cannot say I am excited about, but as I learn more Italian and more about the culture it all becomes more interesting.

I watched the second part of Pirates of the Carribean with my host sisters last night. They love Orlando Bloom. It reminds me of when I was in high school. They are just so adorable. I gave them some Burt's Bees lip balm and they loved it. They said is smelled so good, and kept putting it up to their noses.

I made my spring break plans this weekend. After booking so many things all I can say is I could never be a travel agent. I am meeting my friend Helen in Prague, then going to Paris for about six hours, then we go to Barcelona. For my birthday my parents gave me four nights in this beautiful hotel in Barcelona right on Las Rambas in the gothic quarter. I am so excited! it is going to be freezing in Prague, but warm in Barcelona. I think it will just be interesting to go to other European cities, especially such diverse places as Prague, Paris, and Barcelona.

Il Sole, I miss you, but I will deal with the rain for now...

I found a yarn store! Though I can’t say I found it all by myself. My mom’s friend Tracy looked up the address for me. I just had to navigate the streets which was not too hard. After breakfast I went and got an Americano, (which I ordered completely in Italian,) then went to the yarn store. It was very tiny, but had a good selection. The woman working there did not speak any English, but through the few words she knew and my tiny bit of Italian we were able to communicate. She was very friendly and helpful. I bought this beautiful thick purple yarn that I think I will use for a scarf. I also found a great little coffee shop. I think it is my favorite one so far, It is very small and has a tiny loft area with tables. The street it is on is very quiet, so I think it is probably less crowded than the place I have been going on Banchi di Sopra. It is nice to be able to walk everywhere, even with this rain we have been getting. But it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow, and the weather should warm up soon. I am ready for that.

I think what is hardest for me here is that I am used to being able to talk to people on the street or have conversations with people working at restaurants and in cafes, whereas here I cannot do that. It just makes meeting people hard. But I am learning more Italian everyday, and I try to use it as much as I can (which is very little at the moment.) Expressing myself through words is something I am used to being good at, I mean I am an English writing major. I want to be able to speak eloquently to everyone I meet and here I cannot. But for now I will settle for studying Italian and evesdropping on conversations to try to pick up as many words as I can.

I am having kunch with my host family then I think I will go back to the café on Via Panteneto to do my Italian homework and get some reading done. My host sister Lucrezia has her French penpal visiting this week. It is so cute because they each only speak a little of the other’s language but they are such good friends. Dinner last night was very funny, with a mix of Italian, French, and English.

Mi Piace....

Everything. I love blood oranges.  They are maybe my favorite thing about Italy. No, actually, they are not, but they definitely rank up there with the eighty cent cappuccinos and eight hundred year old buildings. Did I mention that the house I live in was built in 1265? (the same year of Dante’s birth.) I don’t know what I will do when I return to America and cannot find them anymore. Not only are they delicious, but they are so beautiful. Last week when I began to peel my orange after dinner I had to act like I was not surprised to find that it was half purple. They look like pieces of art. Actually, as lot of the food here looks like art. While I am on the topic of food Siena has this dessert which I have yet to try called “Baci di Siena.” It is gelato with chocolate chips, hazelnuts, sometimes cookie pieces, and whipped cream, all dipped in a chocolate ganache and frozen. Really Siena? Do you really think I need more reasons to eat gelato. The other thing is that eating gelato in the morning is totally acceptable. As is drinking a glass of wine after lunch. Which, I guess is sort of acceptable in America…

Anyway, learning Italian is hard, but I love it so much. Italian is maybe the most beautiful language ever. I thought maybe it was just me that thought this, but no, it really is. Most latin based languages are, in their modern form, derived from the dialect of the dominant city, so modern French is from a Parisian dialect, Spanish from Madrid, etc. Well, in the middle ages Italy was not unified enough for this to happen. People in Venice could not communicate with people in Rome, unless they spoke Latin. So Italians decided to take the most beautiful words from all of their dialects to make the basis of modern Italian. So it is not just me being infatuated with this language. Italian is just that beautiful. Just like Italy itself. I love saying things in first person plural so I can used the “amo” verb ending. it just makes the word sound like a song. Even in first person, Io sono piena, I am full, it sounds so much lovely, such a mundane phrase.

Nel Sangue

My host mother told me I have Italian in my blood. Which is true since I am part Italian.

We had our first Italian lesson today and it was wonderful. I love this language. I am so excited to be able to communicate with people and with my host family better. Silvia, our Italian teacher is so nice, and so patient with us. She tries to speak to use mostly in Italian, but will explain things in English if we don't understand. I like her a lot.

I have Italian everyday, and Heather's class on Wednesday which I am really excited about. I am not so crazy about Dante's Inferno, which is what we are reading right now, but I miss talking about literature, since that is what I normally do at school.