Week 7

Week 7

Monday (10-8):

This was the Monday before midterms and it was about a month ago, October 8th to be precise. Unfortunately, due to excessive studying and working on midterm preparations, I didn’t take any notes on the occurrences of this week. All I have to jog my memory are the pictures I took, of which I didn’t take everyday. Today (Monday October 8th) for example, I can only guess that I didn’t do anything other than worked on homework, ran errands, cleaned, and went to class. If I miraculously remember what I did on this day over a month ago, I will add it in for sure. Until then, here we begin my week and a half long anxiety over my midterm projects and exams.

Tuesday (10-9):

NUH 220: Current Trends in Italian Cuisine As mentioned above, all I have are the images to jog my memory, in this class we talked about what the format for the midterm exam would be and what was expected to be on it. After this we set to cooking.

We made Ravioli dip ere e pecorino (ravioli filled with pear and cheese). The dough and filling were all made by hand; we even got to fold, cut, and fill the ravioli ourselves. For desert, we made a sort of parfait, made with yogurt, cookie (for the crust), and fruit. It was all really delicious, and looked nice once we dressed it.

Here are some pictures from NUH 220:



GRA 260: Publishing Design
It this class we turned in our projects from the week before, you can see those below. The assignment we handed in was to make a poster for the “Give Blood” campaign. I made 2, see them below.

After this we got our assignment for our midterm project…compile a book of all of the works we have made so far. Sounds easy, but in design it is really time consuming.

NUH 245: Pairing Food and Wine
In this class we made some stuffed tomatoes, peach custard dissert, and tried a few different types of Rose wine. This was one of my favorite classes so far; the rose wines were some of the best I have tried all semester. The tomatoes were all right but not the best thing I have tasted. And the custard was pretty good as well.

After cooking we got some specific instructions on what the midterm would be like. I like specific Instructions.

Here are the pictures from NUH 245.

Wednesday:

GRA 315:Blog Design
I went to blog design class and turned in my numbers from the week. My blog had been steadily improving but nothing spectacular as far as my numbers. We were given our midterm projects. Basically, we had to report our final numbers for our blog; we were given a goal (percentage) that we were trying to meet. We got graded on if we met these goals; the closer you were to the goal the better the grade.

In addition to our blog, we also had to make a booklet about our blog showcasing some of the key aspects, including numbers.

We were not only being evaluated to determine our grade, but we were also being judged to see who would lead the group project (Blog) for the second half of the semester…no pressure there.

Italian:
We were given our final notes to review, a couple of packets to work on for extra help and some homework assignments. All of this was to prepare us for the midterm.

Thursday:

I can’t remember exactly but I am guessing I studied, did laundry, ran errands, and basically just spent the day trying to be productive.

Friday:

Same as the day before, Catherine and I went walking for a little bit looking for shoes and taking a break from studying. We mainly wanted to walk around to break in our new shoes. You will see them in the pictures below. We also went shopping for Catherine to get a dress. She knew that over break she would be going to a fancy restaurant and was told to dress nicely. She bought a dress and a pair of heels, then bought the pair of black shoes you see in the pictures.

Here are the pictures from Friday.

Saturday and Sunday:

Studying like crazy

Arezzo, Cortona, Pienza, Montepulciano: Under the Tuscan Sun

Before I go into the details I want to clarify that this trip took place October 6-7th, so I may leave out a couple of details unintentionally. Also all of these towns we visited were really beautiful and very steep, they were all mountain towns and we usually got dropped off at the bottom and worked our way up, so I may mention the steepness a few times.

First AREZZO:

When we got to Arezzo we stopped at the center piazza for bathrooms and breakfast. Then we were taken on a walking tour where we were shown several different churches and a couple of government buildings that had lots of beautiful art...unfortunately, no pictures could be taken in some of the churches.

After the tour, which I greatly enjoyed, we were given some free time to explore. This was great because there was a huge antique market that weekend so we had plenty to browse. After this we boarded the bus and drove for a little while before arriving in Cortona.

Here are some pictures from Arezzo.

Cortona:

We got to Cortona in the later afternoon/early evening. There was a parking lot at the top of a hill this is where we got dropped off then we had to walk/hike up the steep hill to get to our hotel. It was really steep probably about 45 degrees, maybe more, by the time we got to the hotel we were all pretty exhausted and could feel the steep hike in our leg muscles. We checked in and were given an hour or so to cool off before going to the fortress (at the top of Cortona…the tip of the mountain.

We began our hike, stopping at a place called snoopy gelato before fully tackling the climb. It was some of the best gelato I have had during my stay here and it was included in the cost of the trip so it was almost like it was free. We rested there and ate our gelato then hiked up a little ways to a Franciscan church where we stopped to take pictures and talk about the history of the church.

After this we began the real trek, our guide Luca said that he was going to be walking slowly up the mountain so if we passed him and we weren’t sure where to go he told us to just keep going up, always choose the steepest path until we got to the top. By the time we got half way we were all sweating and could really feel the incline in our legs, we stopped to take some pictures along the way before getting to another church. This church was about halfway to the fortress so it was a good resting place before continuing our journey up. We were all kind of peeved because the church had a huge parking lot that was accessible from a road, there were even a couple of charter busses there so we were wondering why we walked up the whole thing instead of getting dropped off there.

After resting for a little bit we walked up the rest of the way to the fortress. This was a huge building that overlooked the entire valley and it was beautiful. I was glad that I made the hike up there but at the time it felt like I was dying, being from central Illinois, hiking up mountains isn’t my specialty.

After taking some pictures and taking in the scenery, we all walked back down to the town and went back to our hotel rooms to freshen up before dinner. The hotel had free wifi in the lobby so most of is utilized that, talking to our family and friends, checking facebook, etc. Then we all headed to dinner, we had a traditional Italian meal planned and even though we had worked up an appetite walking up the mountain we didn’t expect so much food.

We started with a traditional aperitif/appetizer, fried olives, bruscchetta, and a few other goodies served with a sparkling wine (Riesling). After this we moved inside and were served our first dish, vegetable (artichoke?) custard (it’s the green mountain that looks like flan), and bread…can’t forget bread.

After this came the second dish, vegetable risotto, this was really delicious, I ate every bite with pleasure. After the risotto was cheese ravioli, thankfully they only gave me a couple of pieces because I was already really full and I knew there were a last/main course and a dessert still to come.

Fortunately they waited for about a half an hour before bringing out the main course which was the Florentine steak (huge slabs of meat that are cooked raw) served with a side salad. I didn’t care for the salad to much so I just enjoyed the steak…it was the first stake I have had here in Italy and it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. After this was the dessert…a chocolate lava cake! It was so warm and delicious I basically had to make room for it in my stomach.

After dinner we went back to the hotel, showered and got ready for bed, I got on and used the internet for a little bit then went back up to the room and went to bed. In the morning we went to breakfast before leaving. At first glance it didn’t look like anything special, the typical cold European style breakfast consisting of croissants, rolls, and meats and cheeses. It actually had some warm food as well, bacon (I think) and eggs. It was the first time I have had bacon here also and I wasn’t then only one enjoying it, the wait staff couldn’t keep it stocked as fast as everyone was eating it. After breakfast we met in the lobby and walked back down to the bus heading to Pienza. Over all, I really liked this town, It was really beautiful even though it is a pain to visit (all the steep hills). It is one of my favorite places so far.

Here are some pictures of Cortona.

Pienza

We took about a half an hour bus ride to the small town of Pienza (known for the best pecorino cheese). We started with a quick walking tour and then were given about an hour or so to wonder around on our own. Catherine and I walked around and took some pictures before heading back to meet the rest of the group.

Once we met up with the group, we walked a couple of blocks to meet the bus. We weren’t traveling very far, only about 10 minutes by car but it would have taken to long to walk there. We were headed to a farm to learn how they make pecorino cheese. When we got to the farm our bus was having a little bit of trouble making the turn into the drive. It took us a few tries and a couple of bumps along the way but the bus was finally able to make the narrow drive and pull up to the farm. We all got off the bus to the delightful smell of burning rubber, turns out the bus was having a little more trouble than we thought. No worries, by the time we got back on the bus it was cooled off and rested.

After a tour and the presentation of how they make the cheese we were given a little bit of free time and were able to try some of the food. We were presented a huge spread with, fresh yogurt, pears, cheese, bread, olive oil, and meats. It was one of the best spreads I have seen since I have been here and it was gone before you blinked. It was all really delicious even the yogurt though it was plain and not flavored. After we ate, we wondered around the main area of the farm and had some down time before we got back on the bus and headed on our way to Montepulciano. The farm was really nice; it was quiet, quaint, and a relaxing change from the bustling city center of Florence.

Here are some pictures of Pienza.

Montepulciano

We arrived in Montepulciano around 3pm and were taken on a short tour before heading up the hill/mountain towards the main piazza. Montepulciano was a fortress town so it is built on top of a mountain and was surrounded by large stonewalls. The walk up to the main piazza was not quite as steep as the trek up to the fortress in Cortona, but it was spread out over a longer distance. Needless to say, we were all out of breath and sweaty when we arrived to the top. We were given a brief explanation about the history of the church and the other buildings in the piazza then given some free time.

Fun fact about Montepulciano, it was the town where they filmed some of the scenes for Twilight: New Moon. For example, in some of my pictures you will see a big clock tower, this is one of the main features in the movie. (it has been a while since I have seen the movie but now when I watch it I can say “I’ve been there”).

Given this fun fact, I took lots of pictures of this area so that I could prove that I have been there and so that I can compare next time I watch the movie. I even took a picture of the bar nearby, I went in to use the restroom and there were pictures of the cast and a little bit about the movie listed in there.

After a little bit of free time, we headed down a little ways and went to Palazzo Ricci, the courtyard of a really famous winery. We took some pictures of the view from the courtyard before starting our tour of the Ricci wine cellar.

The wine cellar was really interesting, it was by far the biggest one I have been to and it was cool because it is a really famous, old, and expensive vender of wine. We took these long steep stairs down into a cave like cellar where the wine is stored. Fun Fact about the steps (you will see them in some of my pictures) these stairs were made very wide and shallow so that the carts could be pulled up and down from the cellar by the horses.

This winery is also where some of the scenes from the film were shot, though I couldn’t really see it at the time. When we got to the cellar we were given a brief explanation of the process of making wine. Then we were taken on a tour of the rest of the cellar, at one point there was even a little cave that we could walk through. Most people had to duck but Catherine and I only needed to slouch a little. I took some pictures of this cave and the cellar.

After our tour we went to a reserved room with a bar in it where we participated in a wine tasting. We were given breads, meats and cheeses to pair with the two wines we sampled. Both of them were pretty good but what everyone really wanted was the food. Thinking back on it now, buying a bottle of that highly rated wine would have been a nice treat to bring home but at the time I wasn’t really interested in buying any. I probably would not have been able to bring it home anyways.

After this we were given about an hour of free time to roam around the rest of the town. Catherine and I took some pictures before walking back down to the main entrance of the town to meet everyone there. We waited outside of the main town for everyone before walking a couple of blocks to the bus. From there we headed back to Florence arriving around 9 or 10p.m.

Here are pictures from Montepulciano:

Chianti Wine Parade

Saturday September 29th

Here are some pictures I took of the parade.



Catherine and I found out about this parade that occurs here in Florence where Chianti (a major wine manufacturer in the Tuscany region) brings an ox drawn cart of wine into the city as a gift. I don’t remember the details about the parade and honestly it was a while ago so I am a little fuzzy on the details.

Catherine and I started walking towards the ending point, a piazza by the Uffizi gallery, and we got caught in part of the parade right outside Duomo. We stopped among the masses of people to take some pictures before fighting our way to the end point. Because there were so many people I knew that Catherine and I were probably going to get spit up so once we got to the piazza at the end of the parade, we agreed to meet at the large fountain in the square at the end of the parade.

I was able to get some decent pictures but decided that I was much more comfortable on the outside of the crowds rather than directly in them…you will notice (with my pictures of the fountain) that I couldn’t see much so I got a little distracted.

They had a big presentation where the Chianti manufacturer gave someone important a bottle as a gift. This whole thing was in Italian so I didn’t really understand what was going on. I just knew it was a big deal. One thing that was kind of neat was that all of the people in the parade were dressed in traditional renaissance clothing, the women in large medieval gowns and the men in funny looking outfits with tights. They had a drum line, trumpets, and flags…the flag bearers were really good, throwing the flags back and forth while continuing to move forward. This sounds simple but with all of the people in the middle of the road it was pretty skillful.

Cinque Terre

Friday September 28th

I know I have been promising you this post for a while now but with midterms and all that jazz its been a busy couple of weeks. Anyways here it is.

Below are some pictures of my trip to Cinque Terre.



Friday Morning Catherine and I left the apartment around 6:45 so that we could meet the people that she invited from her class. By 7:15 we headed over to the train station, no one had showed up so we left to get our tickets. Just after we gout our tickets, Chelsea, a girl from Catherine’s class found us and got a ticket for herself as well.

We ended up missing the first train to Pisa because we were told the wrong rail and it wasn’t posted on the board…so we just hopped on the next one. Because Pisa is so close, the trains run about every half hour or so. Quick info about the trains here, It is very important that you validate your ticket before you board a train, it is possible to buy a ticket in advance so taking the train without a validated ticket can cost you 50 euro or more in fines. Also, they rarely check tickets on these trains, it is not like taking the Amtrak to Chicago where you have a ticket, you get it punched or you buy one on board…you have a ticket that MAY get checked, and you can’t buy one on board (at least not that I know of). They actually checked our tickets on the way to Pisa, which is a rare occurrence from what I understand.

Once we got to Pisa we had to get tickets to La Spezia train station. There was an hour and a half wait for the cheaper train so we decided to walk around a little bit and find something to eat for breakfast. We ended up going to this little café a little ways away from the train station, I had a turnover or something and it was delicious…and only a euro so it was cheep also. After breakfast we got our tickets and boarded the train to La Spezia. When we got to La Spezia we had to get tickets for a tram to Riomaggiore one of the five towns of Cinque Terre. Once in Riomaggiore, we walked around there for a little bit but the paths were closed because of a landslide the previous week.

From Riomaggiore, we were going to take the ferry boat to one of the other towns but it was kind of pricey…at least more so than the 2 euro train ride between the towns.

Took tram to Monterosso then down to Vernazza where we spent most of our time, it was beautiful and the weather was great. Catherine and Chealsea both did some swimming after we hiked along the cliffs to find a good place to set our stuff. I didn’t want to walk around in a wet swimsuit so I decide not to swim until we got to the beach.

By the time we left the cliffs it was starting to get dark so we decided to eat dinner and skip the beach. I was a little bummed about not getting to swim but the pizza definitely made up for it, it was delicious and one of the best pizzas I have had in Italy so far.

After dinner, we went to Monterosso to the beach but it was dark so we didn’t swim, only took some long exposure pictures using the lights from our phones. We left Cinque Terre at 9p.m. and headed back to Pisa where we switched trains to go back to Florence. We arrived in Florence around 11:30p.m. and stopped at our apartment to drop off our things, use the restroom, and relax before Catherine and I walked Chelsea back to her apartment.

It was a really long day but really worth it. I wish we had a little more time to swim and visit some of the other towns but I really enjoyed my time nevertheless.

Weeks 5 and 6

I am starting to get really behind with this stuff so bear with me. I am doing my best to at least post pictures on my Facebook page. Hopefully this will be sufficient for the next day or so until I can post about last weekend when I went to cinque terre.

Week 5
Monday 9-24:

After getting back from Oktoberfest, I found myself feeling really homesick. Mostly because I was thinking that though the trip was really fun, it would have been even more fun with my family and people that I know really well. For the most part, even the other students from ISU are still acquaintances, I get along with them but I don’t really feel like I know them or that they know me very well. It is similar to traveling with strangers and I am so used to traveling with my sisters or my entire family that I don’t like traveling with “strangers”.

Another factor to my extreme homesickness was stress. I was really exhausted from the trip and I still had a lot of homework to do for the week. So I was tired, stressed and homesick. After I went to class I was much better, I think I just needed to get out and do something but I had so much to do that I didn’t get a chance to earlier in the day. I got back from class and continued to work on homework before going to bed early.

Tuesday 9-25:

In Italian Cuisine class today; we made two different types of pasta. One was dry pasta, which is the light colored one with the cheese on top (goat cheese by the way). The other is hand made spinach pasta; we rolled it and cut it to put into a soup. I personally liked the dry pasta better but that was just because our soup lacked flavor and by the time it was done we had very little time to eat it so it was really hot while trying to eat it.

Below are some pictures:



In publishing design we turned in our posters. It had to be two sided and be about the famous speech that Steve Jobs gave to the graduating class at Stanford. I wasn’t really happy with my poster but I was gone all weekend and didn’t really have a lot of time to work on it. It is a decent poster still but I know I could do better. We also got our next assignment, which is to make a typographic poster using a quote.

Here is a picture of my two-sided poster:

In pairing food and wine class we went on a field trip to a local wine and Panini shop. We met the owner of the store whose name is Pino. He gave us free samples of two of his sandwiches and gave our class two full bottles of wine to sample. The wine was a really good pairing with the Panini and both Panini tasted great. After we ate, we went a couple of blocks to Pino’s wine shop/cellar. It is in a historic building that used to be attached to the prison. Here Pino had a wide collection of cheap and expensive wines, some of which are hundreds of years old. When we left the shop Pino gave us all discount cards so we could get a student discount on wine. It was really fun visiting his shop.

After this we went back to class and made a few different types of bruscheta. I did such a great job cutting the bread that my teacher had me cut up two loaves for our bread salad. I spent the whole time cutting, taking occasional breaks to eat the food which was perfectly fine for me.

Here are some pictures:



Wednesday 9-26:

In professional blog design class I admittedly didn’t do so well. I only managed to make one post (since I was gone during the weekend) so I only got 7 page views. I didn’t think that was too bad but that was before I saw that two of my classmates had a hundred or more. :O. Basically we worked on logo types and making our blogs look better…I think I am finally getting the hang of it now but It will take a lot of work.

Here is the link to my blog for class:

After Blog design I went to Italian then came home for dinner and a nice evening at home.

Thursday 9-27:

I basically just went about my normal Thursday routine…cleaned, went to the market, did laundry, and homework. In the evening I made a meat loaf for our “apartment family dinner”. It was pretty good considering the only experience I have with making a meat loaf is watching my mom make one. We had meatloaf, carrots, mashed potatoes, and rolls, it was a very home-style meal and it really seemed to hit the spot.

Here are some pictures:



Friday 9-28:

CINQUE TERRE...see specific post (soon to come).

Saturday 9-29:

This will be included with Cinque Terre, there was a parade!(soon to come)

Sunday 9-30:

This was a day of some well needed R&R. Catherine and I went to church in the morning then spent the rest of the day working on homework and getting some stuff done. It Thunder stormed for the first time here and I loved it, even though we don't get that many storms at home, it was kind of nice to have something so familiar as a thunder storm happening right outside.

Week 6:
Monday 10-1:

Happy first of October everyone! I am excited for the fall season to start up though it doesn't quite feel like home here in Florence. It is about 60 or 70 degrees and there aren't really any trees for me to watch the leaves change. It was pretty cloudy this day so I spent most of the day indoors. I worked on some homework in the morning then went to the photography studio with Catherine in the afternoon. I took some pictures of the photo shoot, some of them turned out kind of blurry because it was dark so the shutter speed was long. Plus they didn't know I was taking pictures so they kept on moving. I will have to see if I can get some of the pictures from Catherine so you can see what a great photographer she is.

Here are my pictures from the photo shoot:



Tuesday 10-2:

In Italian Cuisine class, we made a few different things, we made Foccacine ai porri,Cialdine con mortadella e mele (this was like a cookie with apple), and Triangoli di pasta fill al pollo (these are the chicken wrap things). All of the food was so delicious but we were late finishing it so we didn't get a lot of time to enjoy it. My favorite thing was the Cialdine con mortafella e mele, like I said, it was like a pistachio cookie served with apple and it was so good my stomach is growling right now.

Here are some pictures:



In publishing Design, I turned in my typographic posters. I made two, one that I liked the content more and one that I liked the symbolism more. My posters were much better this time since I had a little bit longer to work on them. I also had to make a logotype so I made a couple of different versions, the one I ended up making digitally is "the bleeding art". For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a bleed is a graphics term click here for the definition.

Here are the posters I handed in:

In pairing food and wine class, I was in the group to taste and evaluate the wine while the other group made food. They made fried ham and cheese sandwiches and also a pasta I think. It was really delicious. This week we studied sparkling wine (champaign) so we got to try a few different types of that.

Wednesday 10-3

Wednesday I didn't really do much other then go to classes (not that I can remember anyways). Blog design was a little more successful but I think I will still have to step up my game a little bit to get more views. I will be trying to advertise it a little bit more so that I can get more views, but I also need to create more posts.
Here is the link to my blog for class...again

Thursday 10-4

After class, Catherine and I decided to go get something to eat, and then check out the local Oktoberfest celebration here in Florence. Catherine ordered a pesto gnocci and I had chicken and vegetables. The food was really good and not to expensive. After we left the restaurant at about 10, we headed to the Ponte Vecchio to check out the Oktoberfest. When we were walking to the bridge, we met a group of Swiss high school students who were partying on the street. We talked to them for a little bit then they offered us a shot of jegermeister, so we took a shot with them. We met up with some of their class mates and walked around with them for about an hour or so, talking about differences between America, Switzerland, and Italy. Also talking about some basic introductory things like year in school ect. Cat and I both had a really fun time and thought we should go out a little more often.

We took some pictures, see below...



Friday 10-5

Catherine, Brianne and I went to a farm/vineyard visit on the outskirts of Florence that was provided through the school so it was free. We got a tour of the area and learned about how they make olive oil, wine, and about their cured meats. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was really nice. After the tour we got to participate in a tasting. We had bread with olive oil, some cured meats, and tried four different types of wines. The vineyard we were at specialized in Chianti wine which is a really famous type of wine in this area. All of the wines were really good but Catherine and I decided to get the desert wine that we were served at the end. We got a bottle of wine, and a jar of their home-made honey which was delicious.

Here are some pictures from the farm...



After the Farm we came back to the apartment and waited a little bit until we were supposed to meet Mario for dinner. Mario is an old man who has been working in the same camera shop since the 40's. He has lots of interesting stories about how he was here when Hitler spoke at the Duomo during the world war, and how he lived through the great flood in the sixties. It was really interesting learning about it from someone who was here.

We went to dinner at a self service place not far from his shop. The food was really good and Mario payed for the whole thing. It was really nice. After dinner we went and saw where mario lived and showed him how to use his computer a little better. When it was time to leave, Mario took us back to the center and we headed back to our apartment.

Here are some pictures of Friday evening...



Cinque Terre, The Parade, and my trip to the Tuscan Country side will be posted soon...hopefully. Until then, enjoy the last two weeks.

Oktoberfest

Friday 9-21

After a long 9-hour bus ride, we got to the Hostel in Munich at about 7a.m. Here we put our bags in the storage room and got our room assignments (the rooms weren’t open until 3p.m.). We used the restrooms, changed clothes, whatever we needed to do then headed to breakfast (it was pretty good, the typical spread here of bread meat and cheese). After breakfast we met our guides and paid for the beer walking tour we were going to take (it was about a 40 minute walk just to get there).

We walked to old town to meet the tour guide, when we got there he introduced us and gave us a brief description about what the tour would entail. For example, we were not only drinking (4 kegs for 50 people) we were also going to play drinking games along the way. If the guide said grenade, we were all supposed to drop to one knee and put our hands on our heads the last person to do this had to drink. If the guide said shark, we were all supposed to find something nearby and stand on it (basically get off the pavement), last one had to drink. If someone was caught talking while the guide was talking, or if they spilt any beer, they had to drain their cup. And if anyone said the word “mine” they had to do 10 pushups…I saw all of this happen at least once. I was careful to pay close attention so I didn’t have to drink too much…even so; I had probably 2 and a half glasses before we finished the tour at lunch. I was really good at the grenade game since I am short and already low to the ground, plus I am catholic so I have been genuflecting for the past 20 years. My friend Zach who is about 6’ 3” or so wasn’t so lucky, he got caught a couple of times as the last one to react.

When the tour was over (a couple of hours later), we stopped at the hofbrau house (a famous restaurant that is like an everyday beer tent). Here we ordered food (no beer since we had been drinking all morning) and had a nice lunch. I had bratwurst and potato salad, it was really good. After this we walked the 40 minutes back to our hostel. At the hostel we had to get about 20 different keys because we couldn’t get into our room. They told us they would send someone up to help us, and they did…45 minutes later. When we were finally able to get into our room we all decided to take a nap (none of us had slept well on the bus). At about 7:30 or 8p.m. I woke up and decided that I was going to go to the lobby to use the Internet. I was down there for about an hour or so then decided to go back to the room since the Internet was really slow. After that I got ready for bed and went to sleep knowing that I would have to get up early to get to a tent.

See Pictures from Friday below:



Saturday 9-22:

Woke up at 6a.m. got ready then headed to Oktoberfest, getting there at about 7:30a.m. It was rainy and cold out especially since the sun was barely up yet. We got to the grounds and decided to wait in line at the Lowenbrau house. We had a pretty good spot in line (you can see from my pictures). We were behind a bunch of people from Australia and we started up a game of 20 questions with them, then talked about what they did, where they were from ect. It was nice and helped pass the 2-hour wait time.

By 8:50a.m people had stopped standing in line and had started to budge, crowding around the door. When the doors opened at 9 we were hardly able to move because of everyone shoving…I compared it to black Friday. Needless to say, though we had a good spot and waited for 2 hours, so many people cut in line and pushed trough to save entire tables that when we got in the doors we couldn’t find a place to sit. Gianna and Allison found a spot with some Australians but they didn’t save enough spots for Zach, Andrea, and I. We walked around and looked for seats but having no luck we decided to leave Oktoberfest (they didn’t start serving until noon anyways and it was only 9:30).

We decided to go back to the Hofbrau house and get a beer there with our lunch. This time I bought a beer (it tasted pretty bad to me but I was going to drink it), I ordered a pretzel and some spinach pasta with cheese sauce. It was all pretty good, minus the beer with a bad aftertaste. I had half a beer (half of a liter that is) before eating anything, so I was starting to feel the beer a little bit. After eating I was better but I was still feeling a little tipsy. We ended up sitting with a group of 3 Italians, I am not sure where in Italy they were from but it was kind of nice anyways. There were a lot of Italians and a lot of Australians there.

After lunch Zach, Andrea, and I walked around and looked at a couple of the shops before heading back to our hostel for a nap. We woke up at about 6 and Zach and I decided to go back and give Oktoberfest another try. Andrea who wasn’t feeling well stayed to sleep. Off to Oktoberfest! We got there and passed a lot of drunk people who were leavening, we decided to wait outside a tent that didn’t have too long of a line. We waited for maybe a half an hour or so and were able to get a seat outside in the beer garden…It was still really cold out but it was not raining anymore so we sat with a crowd to keep warm.

We both ordered a beer and chicken for dinner. The beer was a little better than the one I had in the morning though still had the beer taste to it (I’m not a huge fan of beer yet but it slowly grows on me). When we got the chicken it was so warm and delicious, warm was the main thing because my hands were really cold. I took some pictures of it that you can see below. Later a waitress came by with an apple strudel so Zach bought one and we split it…it was really delicious.

Shortly after eating, we invited a couple to sit at our table since it was only Zach and I at the table. We ended up spending the rest of the night with them, they were a couple from bologna, Italy so we were able to speak a little bit of Italian to them and they were able to speak English pretty well. Ferdinando and Zach got along great; by the end of the night they were talking like they were old friends. Serena and I were the “baby sitters” of sorts so both of us were a little more lucid then the boys. I told Zach he could drink as many as he wanted as long as he could still walk to get home, and he didn’t do anything too stupid. This seemed to be a pretty good bargain so he agreed. We stayed at the tent until about 11 or so talking and drinking with Ferdinando and Serena.

After the tent closed, we headed to one of the rides…it is like a giant spiral slide but to get up to the platform you have to take a conveyer belt so it is like a treadmill at about a 30 degree incline and at a speed of about 5. It was pretty entertaining watching all of the drunk people try to make their way up the conveyer belt, there were some workers who would jump on after people and push them up so that they didn’t fall backwards. When it was time for Serena to go she only stumbled a little bit before she was caught by one of the workers. Ferdinando wasn’t so lucky; he fell backwards and had to ride the rest of the way up on his back. Zach was the same way except when he fell his long legs got caught in railing and he had to be pulled backwards before he could continue moving. This was all really entertaining from the ground.

After this we all walked to the exit and to the tram. At the tram we said goodbye to Ferdinando and Serena and they offered for us to come visit them sometime in bologna and stay with them for a day or two. After they got on the tram to go back to their car, Zach and I walked the couple of blocks back to the hostel. Not surprisingly, we were the last ones back when we got there at 1a.m. Zach was pretty wasted but still functional, and I had only one and a half steins in the 4 hours we were there so I was fine. We got ready for bed and went to sleep. I got a couple of hours of sleep before I heard Zach say something, next thing I know he fell out of bed and woke everyone up, turns out he was on the ladder then just slipped and fell. He was all right but it scared everyone in the room with the loud noise. Lets just say we all had a good laugh about it in the morning.

See photos from Saturday below:



Sunday 9-23:

We woke up and packed up our things before going to breakfast. Zach, Andrea, and I were going to meet the tour guide from the beer walking tour that we took on Friday. He was supposed to be going to Dachau concentration camp but we weren’t able to find him at the train station. After looking for the group for about 20 minutes we decided to just buy tickets and go on our own.

After about an hour we made it to Dachau. It only cost us 6 euro to get there and that included the bus we had to take from the train station. When we got there we all three bought the audio tour so that we could learn a little bit about the sites. We walked around and followed the audio tour for a couple of hours, and watched the documentary in the museum. We probably could have spent more time there but knowing that we had to meet the bus to go back to Florence at 4p.m we decided to leave at about 2:30.

We went back to Munich and collected our things and found seats on the bus. We waited for nearly a half an hour before everyone was there. The last girl on the bus had obviously just come from Oktoberfest and was obviously wasted. She got on the bus then just as we started backing up the bus to leave she realized that she didn’t pick up her stuff from the hostel so we had to stop so she could go get that. As soon as she got on the bus I knew she was either going to be obnoxiously drunk or she was going to get sick…sure enough, 30 minutes into the bus ride she gets sick all over the bus and herself. Everyone around her is spreading out trying to get away from the smell and I am just trying not to look at it, though I wasn’t surprised when it happened. We stopped at the next rest stop and tried to clean it up as best we could…lets just say that our bus driver was extra pissed off. I made a note to thank him for the whole situation, I thanked him when we stopped for food then again when we got back and I think that made him feel a little better, that or he had just cooled down enough because he had seemed friendly enough to me.

We got back to Florence at about 1a.m., I talked to my family for a little bit then went to bed. All in all I think it was a fun weekend even though it was cold, rainy, and disorganized.

See pictures from Sunday below:

Weeks 3 and 4

I know I just posted a blog for last weekend and now I am two weeks behind so here is a blog that will get you caught up with the last couple of weeks.

Week 3: Monday 9-10: Hana’s Birthday!
I talked to Hana and the family early monday morning (2am), watched her open presents and celebrated her birthday and such. After that I didn’t really do much, I waited until 6 and then went to class. Pretty uneventful but it was really nice talking to everyone at home. Especially Hana, it was the first time I have been able to talk to her since I have been here. When I talked to Sara later that evening (my time not bloomington time) I was feeling really sick, my throat hurt and I was really congested. I ended up going straight to bed and sleeping for 13 hours strait.

Tuesday 9-11:
When I woke, I was feeling a little better so I took some medicine and decided to tough it out through my long day of classes. I went to the advisor’s office to order a museum card, then headed to my first class. In my current trends in Italian Cuisine class we made two dishes, a custard similar to flan, and prosciutto wrapped turkey. Below are some pictures.



In graphic design, we got our first assignment...design a minimalistic poster for an item on the list he gave us. The list had some generic things on it, lady gaga, austin powers, homer simpson, the mask, and other things like that.
In pairing food and wine, I was in the group that was in charge of the pairing. this meant that I was wine tasting then characterizing the wine and trying to determine what the best pairing would be. The group of us did this with 3 different wines while the rest of the class cooked the food. We had a pasta as an “appetizer” then finished it off with a meat (I think it was veal and prosciutto). It was all really delicious.

Wednesday 9-12:
I went to class and didn’t do much else. Maybe I worked on some homework but I don’t really remember every detail of the day. I probably slept the rest of my cold off.

Thursday 9-13:
I was feeling much better so I decided to do some work. I did homework, cleaned a little, and went to the market. I decided to try to make the turkey dish that we made in class so I went to the market to gather the ingredients. After getting the ingredients I went to cooking. I knew Catherine had a break at 2:30 so I was trying to get it done in time for her to eat between classes (knowing that there would be extra). I made it and plated it and had it ready just as Catherine was walking through the door. I made four of them so I offered some to my other roommates as well. Jessi also ate with us before her class at 3, I had to laugh because both she and Catherine had only a short time to eat but they absolutely had to stop and take pictures of the dish before they could eat it. I guess it isn’t a bad thing that they are easy to please.
After this I basically just finished up some homework and did the dishes. Pictures of my dish can be seen below.



Friday 9-14:
Catherine was heading off to Paris so I walked around with her a little bit in the morning. We took some pictures out and about before heading to the train station to find the airport shuttle. After this I came back to the apartment and made some food then worked on some homework. Pictures are below:



Saturday 9-15:
I didn’t do much today other than clean, homework, and I may have worked a little on some work for CeMaST.

Sunday 9-16:
I woke up in time to go to church so I headed over to the church across the street. I wasn’t sure if it would be in Italian or English but I decided to give it a go either way. It was in Italian! I was able to follow along a little bit using a “bulletin” that they had with the mass parts and such (also in italian). The only parts I couldn't really follow or say in Italian were the homily, and the our father (i don't know that in italian). Other than that, I was actually able to follow along well enough. I think that going to italian mass may actually be a good way to learn some italian so maybe I will go to the same mass later on. I took pictures of the church and the square see below.



Week 4 Monday 9-17:
Now I am really getting behind, it is hard for me just to remember what I did during the week. What did I do...oh right, watched while Catherine’s hair was cut by our roommate. Catherine asked me to do the honors but I politely declined since I don’t like hair (especially wet hair). So our roommate Jessi cut it for her. She probably cut off about 4 inches or so but Cat’s hair is still pretty long. Naturally I took some photos of this whole process, see below.



After that we went to the advisors office to pick up our museum cards and to buy a hoodie. I got a hoodie and a tee shirt, both were pretty comfortable. Later on I went to class then we went to the market to get some vegetables to put in our stir fry. After cutting up the zucchini, carrots, tomato, and steak tips,we had a wok full of delicious stir fry cooking. When it was done we topped some rice with it and ate all of it, it was really delicious.

Tuesday 9-18:
I woke up and got ready for my long day of classes. In my first class (italian cuisine), we discussed what will be on our quiz next week. Then we made two different types of risotto with a homemade vegetable stock. We made spinach risotto, and pumpkin/squash risotto and both of them were delicious. I didn’t spend much time making the risotto because I was helping with the chocolate souffle. I even got complimented by the teacher on how well I floured the cups that we were to put the chocolate in. I got to melt the chocolate, help mix the other ingredients (with another girl in our group) then pour the cups. All in all it was delicious, not sure how easy it will be to make on my own but I can’t wait to try it sometime. I tooks some pictures of the teacher’s presentation of the risottos and the souffle, see below.



After this class I ran home, swapped my books out and headed to Publishing Design. I had a couple of posters due for this class that we were supposed to print but the printer was broken so we ended up submitting our files digitally. I made one for Austin Powers and The Mask. We also got another poster assignment, Making a two sided poster from Steve Job’s address to the students at Stanford. I have yet to work on this but I am pretty excited to do so. Below are some images of the posters I turned in.

In my last class of the evening (pairing food and wine), we took a field trip to a gelato shop. What does gelato have to do with wine? very little actually but believe me, I wasn’t complaining. After gelato we went back to the classroom to make some food. Since I was part of the wine tasting group last time I got to be in the cooking group this time. We made risotto in this class as well though in this one we used powdered stock and it didn’t take nearly as long. We also made stuffed tomatoes. I think we stuffed them with risotto and onions maybe a couple of other things. We paired those with two different types of wine (one red, one white) and enjoyed all of it. It was delicious.

After this, Catherine and I went out to Vogue Fashion Night Out. At first I wasn’t really feeling like going or at least not being out so long but the longer I was out the more I enjoyed myself. We stopped at one store first, it had such a huge line of people pushing their way inside that we thought there was something awesome inside. I backed out of line when I noticed it was a lingerie store but catherine stuck with the pushing old people behind her and made it through the doors. She came out 5 minutes later with a bag and a couple of catalogs. We kept walking heading towards the “fashion” district.

We were stopped on the street by a young lady trying to tell us something in italian, I let her know almost immediately saying “um...we don’t know what you are saying” We laughed and she switched to battered english so that we knew what she was saying about the store a short way away with a live band and free drinks. We kept walking and sure enough we found the store she was talking to. Catherine asked a few ladies outside the shop if she could take their picture because she liked their outfits. So I held their beer while they posed for a picture and wrote down their email (to get the pictures). After this we went into the store (totally my style by the way, I loved it), at the back was a live band and free beer (strongbow gold). There was also a side show but I didn’t take any pictures of it seeing as how it was pretty risque.

After this we basically started just counting all of the free drinks and spending less and less time actually looking at the clothes. The next place we went was Tommy Hilfiger. Here we got a free cocktail called “campari orange passion”, it was good but strong. After we left Tommy, we passed this store where a ton of people were trying to squeeze in a picture of a famous soccer player (we didn’t know who it was at the time) so I told Catherine to push her way in there to get some pictures for the both of us (she is so little it is easy for her to get through crowds). I held her drink and waited as she pushed her way all the way up to the front and got a picture with Luca Toni. After this we got champaign at another store then some juice at another. There were so many people out and about, and so many free drinks it was a blast. I took alot of pictures though some of them were on the run so they didn’t turn out that well. See Below



Wednesday 9-19:
Busy...I woke up earlier than usual so that I could do some laundry, knowing that I needed some and had to allow time for it to dry before packing for oktoberfest. I managed to get one load (jeans because it takes longest to dry) done before class at noon. Then I went to class and got some homework for my professional blog design class. After class I hurried home to get a couple of hours of studying in before my Italian quiz. When I got to Italian, the quiz was so much easier than I was expecting and it didn’t have much of what I studied on it.
After class Catherine and I went to hear Andy Steves (Rick Steve’s Son) talk about study abroad and some various other travel tips. This was fun and really interesting, it was nice to hear about traveling from not only someone so experienced but also a past study abroad student who was in the same situation as all of us here.

Thursday 9-20:
I am quickly running out of time to get things done. I leave for Oktoberfest tonight at 11pm and I still have some homework and things to get done. I am packed and have run my errands but I feel a little rushed now. I think I almost prefer having a morning trip rather than late night departure. Updates from Oktoberfest to come when I get back!

Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri

I went to bed Friday night after packing and getting ready for my early morning departure on Saturday. The people on the floor above us were very loud, so loud that when I woke up at 2am I heard someone yelling at them in Italian. Needless to say they were pretty quiet after that. So 2 am I get to sleep only to wake up at like 5am. We had to meet the bus at 6, good thing it is just around the corner I guess.
We met the bus, got our seats and settled in for a 4-hour bus ride. The view was pretty amazing for a majority of the trip, mountains, vineyards, various other stuff, specifically lots and lots of solar panels. We stopped about half way along the road at a rest stop for some food and a stretch. After we get back on the road, we get stopped in traffic, I mean literally stopped, people were out of their cars, walking up and down the street. We were stopped for at least half an hour, when we finally got moving again it was pretty stop and go.

Pompeii

Another 2 and a half to 3 hours later and we reached Naples/Pompeii. The bus dropped us off and we were given about 45 minutes to grab lunch and what ever else we needed. Then we met our tour guide Luca at the gate and entered Pompeii. I took a lot of pictures and those should be below this. We walked around Pompeii for about 3 hours, it was interesting but not exactly what I was expecting. Honestly, I saw a whole lot of broken down stone buildings and not a whole lot else, a couple of dead bodies, a brothel or two, and a few paintings but I didn’t really see much more than buildings. It was still pretty beautiful though as you can see from my photos.



Sorrento

After the 3 or so hour walk around Pompeii, we boarded the bus again and rode for about an hour or so headed to Sorrento. The road there was very narrow and serpentine, and extremely high up. It reminded me of some of the mountain roads we took on our trip to California. Back then; it was hard enough to get the suburban around those roads, this time I was on a charter bus. The driver meandered his way around the curves with expert skill and never ceased to amaze me.

Not only was the driving and the road an experience, but also the scenery was an experience on it’s own. Nothing but the sea and the gorgeous shore line that combined with the setting sun really made the shore breathtaking. Once we arrived to Sorrento the town seemed really beautiful. The bus dropped us off at the hotel where we got our bags and checked into our rooms. The hotel was really nice, it’s a four star hotel and looked very sophisticated.

Catherine and I were signed up as roommates and we had another girl named Samantha room with us as well. We arrived in our room at about 7:15pm and were given 45 minutes to get ready and meet for dinner. The three of us went trough introductions, taking pictures of the room and then we all cleaned up and changed. We met for dinner on the second floor of the hotel where the restaurant was. Like the hotel, this restaurant was very fancy. We sat at a table for six, Catherine, and I sat with a couple of our roommates, Jessi and Brianne as well as with a couple of other (non ISU) students. We were given a menu and were allowed to choose for a couple of courses. For the first course, I ordered pasta served in a crab sauce, for the second I ordered rolled swordfish with clams, served with potatoes. You should see pictures of my meal below; it was all very delicious and looked just as great. I must have had 2 and a half small glasses of wine with it.

After dinner, we met in the lobby at about 9pm and walked down to the Lemoncello shop. Here we were given samples of three different types of lemoncello (35% alcohol) needless to say it was pretty strong. We were also given samples of some chocolate that is made at the same shop.

We left the shop at about 9:30 or 10pm and decided to walk around for a little bit. It was pretty late so several things were closed or in the process of closing. Since it had been a long day, I went back to the hotel around 11pm and got ready for bed. All in all, Sorrento looked like a beautiful city but I wish that I had more time to visit it in the daylight.



Capri

After breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we met in the lobby and were allowed time to drop off our luggage before we walked down to the ferry dock. We took the ferry, about a 30-minute ride, to Capri. On the boat I met a few people from America, one couple was from New York and the other was from one of the Carolinas, (I cant remember which one). They were on an eleven-day tour all around Italy and were spending their last day in Capri.

When we landed and picked up our tickets for the cable car, we took the car up the hill to the second village called Anna Capri. There we met up with our tour guide, Luca and followed him to the “best pizza place” to grab some lunch. When we got to the pizza place it was amazing how many famous people have eaten at that same restaurant, there were pictures of the staff with celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Samuel L Jackson, Mariah Carrey, and many more. The restaurant was really fancy and rather delicious. I split a pizza with Sam (another girl in the group from ISU) and I ordered a beer to wash it down. (see Pictures below). During lunch we had a nice talk with Luca and found out a little about the Italian drivers license, he said he was scared to check how many points were against him.

After lunch we headed up the hill to get “the best gelato”, I got mint chocolate chip and chocolate chip. It was pretty delicious, this shop even made sandwiches out of ice cream, they literally put ice cream in between 2 pieces of bread.

After Gelato we walked around for a bit then headed back down to the beach. We changed into our swimsuits and struggled to walk into the water. I say struggled because the beach was made of rocks so it was not only hard on the bottom of my feet, but also they were slippery and moved under my feet. Once in, the water was pretty chilly but I got used to it eventually. It was not only cool but it was rather salty as well. After the warm, long day of walking, it actually felt really nice.

Week 2: First Week of Classes

Week one of classes is over and done with. Sadly I don’t have any pictures to share with you, but I have plenty to tell. Where to start…well we left off on Sunday I think so I will start with Monday.

Monday:

            9a.m-12:40am- Florence Sketchbook

I woke up for my 9 am class at 8:10 in the morning so I was a little bit flustered, as I got dressed and ready to go. I left the apartment at 8:50 and thought for sure I was going to be late to my first class, turns out that my class was just around the corner a few blocks away so it only took me 5 minutes to get there. I made it on time, and was told that we were to take an assessment test and that the models would be in the room soon. “What?!” I thought…I didn’t know there would be an assessment, or models or any of this, but I did as I was told.

When the models arrived (clothed for those of you thinking otherwise), we were instructed to sketch them, loosely at first then adding more detail, as we got farther along. Now a little bit of background about me…I have taken one 2 drawing classes in my entire life and one of them was in high school. I am not horrible at drawing, but I am by no means a Picasso. I can do well if I have time to make my drawing look nice but I am not very good at quickly sketching, especially people. Needles to say, by the time we were done and met with the teacher I was feeling a little overwhelmed and out of place. Not only were there only like 8 people total in the class, they all seemed to be at intermediate to advanced drawing level where I am still obviously in a basic to intermediate level.

Anyways, this is halfway through the class and I am highly considering dropping/switching the course to something different. My teacher, very nicely suggested that an intermediate drawing class (something a little more studio based) might be a better fit for my skills. I agreed with her and though she said I passed my assessment, I went strait to my apartment to email my advisor.  I met with my advisor and was given a list of other possible courses.

1:30-2:45p.m. Italian 101

After all of this, I was off to my Italian class. This is the farthest building away from my apartment, but is still only about a 10-minute walk. I had some trouble finding it at first because instead of a specific street address, it is a piazza, which is basically an entire building. I had been there before for our orientation meeting but didn’t know where the actual room number was. After wandering for a little bit I finally found it (poorly labeled and hidden behind construction equipment). It was on the fourth floor, there is an elevator, but in Italy typically elevators are meant only for disabled people not lazy people. So I took the stairs…It wasn’t so bad, though the stairway was poorly lit and hard to see, one other observation I have of Italy is that the stairs here are not as steep as some of our stair cases in America, they are typically shallower and more narrow but not steep. So, I made it to my class about 20 minutes early and passed the time until class began.  Class went fine, learned a few phrases but mostly it was pretty average, nothing super special to report on.

Tuesday:

            12-2:30p.m Current Trends in Italian Cuisine

I went into this class with very little expectations; mostly I thought we would be learning to make simple Italian dishes such as bruschetta. I was completely incorrect; some of you may have noticed that I enjoyed this class based on my facebook status the other day. After basic introductions, the teacher says “this class is not to teach you how to make things like bruschetta, or tiramisu, those are too easy” immediately everyone in the class kind of gaped at her in disbelief…”easy?! What?”. Basically, this class is going to be nothing but nutritional, fresh, and delicious meals with extra focus on presentation.

            We went over the syllabus and the dishes we will make over the semester (my mouth was watering the entire time), and then we went to the local market place. This was my first time there and it was amazing. It is a huge fresh/farmers market where you can get anything such as fresh hand made pasta, fish, meat, produce, bread, and wine. The teacher took us to a few different booths and explained a little bit about the local produce and what to look for when buying it. I took several pages of notes, probably misspelling every other word, but it was fast passed and I had to keep up. When we stopped at the bakery, (this place was very crowded all morning, it appears to get a lot of business on a regular basis) the nice young lady behind the counter gave us free samples of a local dish, it was a special kind of bread with a pesto sauce and it was delicious!

            We went through a few other booths then went to the fish market last. Everything looked so fresh and delicious my stomach was growling. It was just past closing time and the nice young man at the fish market gave us a plate of various fried fish to try, I had a piece of shrimp and a piece of calamari…I don’t usually like calamari, but both it and the shrimp were so delicious, my mouth is watering as I am typing this. I will definitely have to go back and get a fishplate for lunch sometime.

           

3-5:30pm Publishing Design

            This was my first graphic design class. It is an upper level class so I had to take an assessment again. The assessment was a packet with some basic questions like when to use vector or raster images ect. Then it had a picture of a simple girl illustration and our task was to re-create or use the same elements as the image. I re-created the girl with ease, I know my way around adobe illustrator like it is the back of my hand (even so, I am sure I only know about 20% of what it can actually do). I think I intimidated the girl sitting next to me (by accident), she looked over at my screen and saw that I was finished and talked to the teacher about taking a lower level course. I felt bad because that is exactly how I felt with my Florence Sketchbook class and it is not a good feeling. Anyways, I finished, and turned it in.  When I got up to turn in the packet, the teacher looked at my work and said “very good…since it is the first day I don’t have anything else so you are free to go.” Needless to say I passed the assessment with flying colors. I was the first one finished and got out of my class at 5pm, 30 minutes early. I used that time to go back to the apartment and cook some dinner/lunch.

6-8:30pm Current Trends in Italian Culture: Pairing Food and Wine

        I walked into this class and I already knew two people, one from ISU, and the other was a girl named Ashley who was in my Florence sketchbook class. Then the teacher came in and we did introductions, the teacher was funny and seems like a nice guy, I think he will be a very entertaining teacher, as if the subject wasn’t interesting enough. We started by going over the syllabus and went over some basics on how to “taste” and examine wine. We started with a white wine (a rather strong one at that, it was like 30%) I enjoyed this wine, it was strong yes, but it was sweet and smelled and tasted of apples.

        After a little more discussion, we started to cook. We made Spaghetti alla Carbonara, basically, we each had a different job in making the food. I was in charge of sautéing the bacon with some garlic for added flavor. Others were in charger of beating eggs, others were in charge of grating cheese, and others were in charger of the pasta. Basically, what we did was once the pasta and bacon were cooked, we used the egg and the cheese to make the sauce. It was creamy, cheesy, and delicious, we paired it with a strong red wine. The red wine was good but the white wine was better and would have been a better fit with the spaghetti. I think this class is going to be really fun.

Wednesday

            11am Permit of stay

This is when I took my forms to the school to file for the permit of stay, a very important step in my stay here. I should know in a couple of weeks when to pick it up or what the next things I need to do. After this, I went to my advisor to pick up my revised schedule…after a couple of meetings and the final decision as to what class to switch to, I finally got a new schedule figured out.

New Schedule

12-2:30pm Professional Blog Design

This is the class that I switched to in place of my Florence Sketchbook class. I got there about 10 minutes early to find that the teacher is late, the schedule on his door said 12:30 where all of the other schedules say 12. After arriving a little late, the teacher opens the door for us. There are 5 students total and all of them are part of some certificate program or something so they have been at LdM for more than a semester and have all been in classes together. Needless to say, everyone else, the other four students and the teacher, know each other, so I am the only one no one really knows anything about. That’s not to bad though; it is the same teacher I have for my Publishing Design so he saw that I was good at illustrator in the previous class.

        As he was going through the syllabus, he was talking about the assessment that we had to do for the course and said “it should be easy, I know all of you can do it, the only one I don’t know for sure is Mary, and I saw her speed through the assessment yesterday so I’m not to worried” that was reassuring…sort of. I think that I should be able to keep up in the class though it is hard to tell after the first day. All in all the course sounds like it will be a lot of fun, and even though I feel a little out of place now, I am sure that will change.

6-7:15pm Italian 101

       That’s right, since my classes changed I had a conflict with my previous Italian class so now I have Italian at 6pm. It isn’t so bad, the teacher was very helpful in getting me caught up and two of the girls in that class are also in my Pairing food and wine class. Looks like it’s going to be an interesting couple of months. I can’t wait.

One thing that I have also noticed about the market and several Italians in general, is how very nice they are. I have seen two instances where there is either a shortage of money for an item or a credit card issue and the owners use an honor system where they basically say “you can bring back the money you owe tomorrow”. Not only is this very trusting, it is also kind…I only hope that the Americans they are being trusting to bring back the money honor their trust. I also notice this kindness with my teachers; they are very polite and understanding of our adjustment to their culture. They are very hospitable and always eager to answer questions even if they don’t have to do with class. I think that the longer I stay here, the more I will enjoy it and the wonderful people.  

Thursday

       I woke up at 11am (stayed up late Wednesday night because I knew I didn’t have class). After showering and eating breakfast, I went out to run some errands. I needed to pick up a text book for both of my cooking classes, and I needed to pick up a couple of things for publishing design, not to mentions some various other things I needed to pick up. I got a little lost but was eventually able to find my way to the two different copy shops that sold the books. Here, instead of a textbook it is more like a compilation of readings and articles that the teacher has printed and bound for students. It was only 15 euro for one book and 20 for the other, maybe American universities should do this also, sure the books don’t look as nice, but I don’t have to pay 150$ for a book I will use 4 times throughout the semester. Seems like a good system to me.

       After getting my books, I stopped by the art supply store to pick up a sketchbook and some pencils for publishing design.  Then I stopped by the shop down the street and picked up a bag to carry my books in, some folders, postcards and a couple of other various supplies.

       I took the stuff back to the apartment then went down stairs and bought some meat, a liter of coke, and some cheese slices, then brought it home and made cheese burgers. They were delicious, I had been graving meat a little bit since I have been eating mostly pasta, I haven’t really bought any meat except for yesterday.

       After lunch I did dishes, swept the hallway, my room, the bathroom, and the kitchen. Then I wiped down the bathroom sink and counters, and did the same with the kitchen…All of this while my laundry was in the washer, so it was a rather productive day.  I didn’t really work on much homework, but it will get done.

       Thursday night, Cat and I walked around a little bit and bought chicken Panini’s for dinner, we stopped on our way back and bought a bottle of Chianti red wine. We ate in the living room and decided to flip through some channels on the T.V. the only ones not in Italian were music stations. They had a lot of eighties re-runs like the Cosby show on, they were in Italian so it just wasn’t the same. We ate, drank wine, and just had a good time until about 12:30am. Then we got ready for bed, I talked to my parents on FaceTime, then went to bed.

Friday:

       This is a day scheduled for homework. I have a lot to do this weekend, but I will be gone on a weekend trip to Pompeii, Capri, and Sorrento, so I have to get all of my work done now. I will probably also go get some groceries sometime today, or at least something to eat for lunch and dinner. Other than that, there really isn’t much planned.  If I end up doing anything fun and exciting today, I will include it in my post about the weekend travels. Caio!