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.