italy's practical jokes.

I feel that it was inevitable. From the moment they showed us the picture of the World Champion Gelateria at orientation on the second day of the program, I knew that I was destined to find it. Despite the fact that API led us to believe it was in Florence, we disovered its true location: a small town in the Chianti region called San Gimignano, also known for its medeival towers and atmosphere.

We took the train from Santa Maria Novella station in Florence to...

We caught a bus from Poggibonsi.

We immediately headed for a restaurant after arriving in San Gimignano. I ordered the pesto pasta (delicious!) and we all split a bottle of red wine. We were, after all, in Chianti, Italy's most famous wine region. Sam and I downed most of it, and I was definitely in a good mood after lunch. Our next mission at this point was to find the Gelateria!

Of course, not one thing can go entirely smoothly for us here in Italy. We found the gelateria with ease (it was right around the corner from where we had lunched) but it was closed...until March 7. What a cruel, cruel joke.

We found consolation gelato next door. It was good, but tasted like sloppy seconds. We are already planning a trip back to San Gimignano to get the real thing. We will not be thwarted by Italy's penchant for throwing wrenches into our carefully-laid plans.

We were kind of at a loss for what to do in San Gimignano after our gelato bust, so we just wandered a little bit. Fit in a workout here and there.

The view from the town down onto the vineyards surrounding it was absolutely stunning. I couldn't really capture any truly great shots, because the lighting was kind of weird (due to the storm that was rolling in...more on that later) and because the details were so small. But take my word for it: if you ever have an extra day in Tuscany, San Gimignano is worth it just for the views.

When we got bored with wandering, we did a bit of shopping! Sam and I each purchased a bottle of San Gimignano's best (Sam thought she was getting red, but we both ended up with white. Whoops.) and then I also purchased a little dish that had been hand-painted in the city. Cute.

At this point, the wind was picking up, and it was starting to rain. I, always being prepared, had an umbrella on hand. But Sam and Gillian decided to purchase some cheap umbrellas from a shop on our way out of the city. You see how that decision turned out for them.

The umbrellas turned inside out within MINUTES of their purchase. Sam later stuffed hers angrily into a trash can, haha. While all of this was going on, we were attempting to figure out when the next bus would take us back to Poggibonsi. While we waited, nearly freezing to death, we made up songs, played ISpy, and generally complained about the weather. We were all extremely glad to see the bus when it finally arrived. Unfortunately, the train was about as cooperative as the weather. It ended up being delayed 25 minutes, meaning we spent over an hour at the train station, just staring at the wall and wishing we could be asleep.

An exhausting and somewhat frustrating day, but as usual, made better by wine, gelato, and our own ridiculous antics. Stay tuned for San Gimignano, part 2....I have a feeling you will all be made quite jealous by my ranting and raving about the world's best gelato.

alaina's [postponed] thursday top ten.

I'm feeling a little grumpy today, after last night went SO badly, and the weather this weekend is screwing with all of our plans, so today's top 10 is going to be:

Top 10 Things I Hate About Italy

[Warning: There may be some profanity below.]

1. MEN. MEN MEN MEN MEN MEN. Just as an anecdote, I was innocently walking down the street last night with a cup of beer in my hand, when some drunken Italian decides that it would be HILARIOUS to just knock it out of my hand for no apparent reason. Fortunately, he got his comeuppane when Sam's friend Elaine, who has lightning quick reflexes and a taste for vengeance, tossed her beer into his laughing face, drenching him. Things like this happen with surprising frequency. Men think it's hilarious to touch you, harass you, and generally annoy you, and then they want to take you home with them. Then there are the street vendors, whose sad attempts at sexual harassment are nearly as pathetic as annoying. I could probably write an entire entry about how fed up I am with the male gender here, but I'll spare you. I don't know what kind of American idiots have conditioned them to think that this is okay, but the next Italian that messes with me is likely to get a boot up his ass.

2. Weather. It was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS outside yesterday, when I had class from 9 AM until 2:30 PM. Today, when I have nothing but plans to explore the city, it is pouring rain. Tomrorow, when we wanted to take the train to San Gimignano, it will be pouring rain. Sunday, when we were planning to stay inside and study all day, it will be lovely, sunny, and warm. This is Italy.

3. Sidewalks. I cannot tell you how many times I have had my life recklessly endangered by some lazy Italian who does not want to share the sidewalk, forcing me off of it into the road to be hit by some wayward Vespa being driven as if it had been stolen. They are narrow, slanted, paved with uneven and wobbly cobblestones, and generally covered with dog poop. This does not make for an enjoyable walking experience.

4. Doing laundry. The lack of dryers here is way more of a pain than I could have ever imagined. It feels like every time one load of laundry has dried on the rack, it's time to do another one. It is an endless cycle that I'm trying my hardest to appreciate for its cultural value, but failing miserably.

5. Tiny kitchen. Unless you and three of your closest buddies have ever been hungry all at the same time and trying to prepare a meal in a room the size of a broom closet, you cannot understand.

6. This is probably a nitpicky complaint, but the size of the milk containers. I am CONSTANTLY buying milk because they refuse to sell it in gallon sizes (yes, I am aware that they do not use our system of measurement, but it is my personal opinion that someone should add something larger than a liter to the metric system, if only so that they can sell milk in that size).

7. Showers. Honestly, I took showers for granted in the US. I have never been a huge fan of sitting under a stream of water for an endless period of time (unlike some people I know) but here, I have yet to take a shower that lasts longer than 5 minutes. It is incredibly difficult to shave AND wash your hair in that span of time. Kudos to the Italians; I don't know how they groom themselves in these medeival conditions.

8. The euro. Or honestly, the dollar. Why did Italy have to change from the lira system? If they hadn't, I'd pratically be swimming in all of the leather jackets and boots that I could afford [hyperbole].

9. Train strikes. Apparently the public transportation system workers are striking at odd hours this week, for God only knows what purpose. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that specifying the hours of your strike is an ineffective way to fight the man. But it does make my life a little bit more difficult, since I'm unfamiliar with the train schedule.

10. The weird store hours. It's mostly irritating on Sundays, when nearly everything is closed. The afternoon "siesta" time can be bothersome as well, if you only have a small window in whih to complete your errand....and the store is closed.

Well, now that I've shared that joy with you, I'm off to wait until the rain stops so that I can go to the Academia Galleria to see the David. If it ever stops pouring.

free dinner? yes, please.

This is rapidly disintegrating into a food blog peppered with chatter about the occasional day trip. It seems like I talk/think about food way more often here than at home, but I guess that is just a symptom of Italian living.


My friend Mary invited me to dinner tonight with a faculty advisor for the James Madison University Florence study abroad program. Apparently the woman, Peggy, is good friends with Mary's parents, so the woman invited us over to catch up and talk about our programs.



We started with a couple of glasses of red wine while Peggy finished prepping dinner. I was personally very impressed with the spread. Please keep in mind, however, that this sense of awe is coming from a girl who routinely eats instant oatmeal and diet coke for dinner back home.

Our antipasti was freshly made bruschetta.....yumm.

For primi piatti, Peggy made a salad with onion, tomato, chickpeas crouton-y type things, balsamic vinegar, cheese, and olive oil.

Our main ourse was chicken breast made with some kind of balsamic vinegar marinade and sage. Forgot to photograph it, WHOOPS.

Peggy picked up some pastries from a bakery for dessert. I got one with strawberries.

Dinner was DELICIOUS, and I was quite happy to have been invited. Peggy said that she also usually has the JMU kids over to her apartment for dinner about once a week, and invited us to come, which I'm excited about. I'm always up for meeting new people here.

It's Thursday, and I'm already skipping my weekly top ten post. My bad. I'll do it tomorrow, I promise.

Tonight, Sam and I are going out to "Nutella Night" at a club called Twice, which we've been too many a-time. I'm not usually a fan of this club (it's full of career creepers), but any place that is giving out free samples of nutella and nutella shots all night has won my approval for at least a few hours.

P.S. My roommates and I are singing Lady GaGa right now. We are soulmates; I knew it.

veal, and goat cheese and pesto, oh my!

Be advised: Deliciousness ahead.

So I had my cooking class again tonight, and we actually got to do most of the cooking tonight. The previous two classes, we had mostly spent doing small tasks while watching the instructor doing most of the heavy lifting.

Tonight, we made an antipasti (that I failed to photograph) called involiti di bresaola. It's a cured and salted beef, thinly sliced almost like salami, with goat cheese and arugula mixed together and rolled up inside. Just a quick bite to whet the apetite. My first taste of goat cheese...I wasn't floored, but I did like it.

My group had spent most of the evening preparing ossobuco milanese (shin of veal, Milan style). The veal was coated in flour, then browned on both sides in butter. After simmering in white wine for 10 minutes, we continually added beef stock to the pan, refilling it as it boiled off. Eventually, we also added tomato that had been peeled and chopped.


A girl in my class, Grace, and I prepared the gremolata to top it with. Made of chopped parsley, lemon zest, and garlic, we put this on top of the veal in the pan about 5 minutes before we served it.



One of the other groups prepared a torta di cioccolato, obviously a chocolate cake which the teacher later topped with cacoa powder. It was made with a similar base to the hazelnut cake last week, with sugar, butter, flour, and egg whites. We also used very good quality dark chocolate to flavor it. Hot from the oven...



After the antipasti of the bresaola, we feasted on linguine with freshly made pesto. The pesto was a little creamier and a little stronger than I prefer, but it was still delicious. I wish I could try to make fresh pesto here, but without a blender or a food processor, it is definitely going to prove difficult. Good thing I can buy it freshly made at il centro mercato.





This is what the veal looked like after it was fully cooked and ready to eat....

My own little slice of chocolate heaven. Tasted like a super rich, dark chocolate brownie.

It is strange how my tastes here are changing. I eat way more fresh vegetables than I do at home, and way less meat. The only times I actually eat meat are in my cooking class (don't worry Mom, I'm eating eggs and beans at home to get my protein in). I've also started cooking heavily with extra virgin olive oil, and I've eaten more tomatoes in the past three weeks than I have probably in my whole life before it. I've become absolutely obsessed by balsamic vinegar, and fresh mozzarella is my new best friend. The coffee pot is almost constantly brewing a cup for someone in the house, oftentimes me. It's strange to think about returning to a world where these things are not my normal habits, and I will be interested to see how many of them stick.

Tomorrow, I have my first quiz in my Italian class, which I am finding it hard to take seriously. I am trying very hard not to allow my cockiness to get the best of me and do some actual studying tonight. I also have a character portrait as well as my major writing assignment for my Travel Writing class, and a paper on the Pazzi conspiracy for my Medici class to consider. Sounds like it is going to be superfun busy weekend for me...

We are planning to go to San Gimignano at some point this weekend, if only to experience the WORLD CHAMPION GELATERIA located there. Even though we were lied to and told it was in Florence, we decided that a short train ride was a small price to pay for the deliciousness that this little hill town promises. My roommates and I are also going to the Academia museum on Friday, to finally get a look at Michaelangelo's David (and other works of art...which I know nothing about.)

boring.

I've been feeling like a total bum the past couple of days, overeating and not getting much done. I plan to change this tomorrow...I think I'm going to spend the night in and just rest. I don't feel much like going out.

Like I said, nothing much really happened today, except that I ate excessive amounts of cookies. Oh, and I booked a quick trip to Innsbruck, Austria for the first weekend in March, for the low, low rate of 69 euro, round trip. We also booked a weekend trip to Barcelona at the end of April, and I'm trying to figure out if Amsterdam is a possiblity the second weekend in March.

Apparently I'm just as boring in Florence as I am in Gainesville. Sorry! More interesting post tomorrow, I promise, since I have cooking again tomorrow night :]

ETA: Change of plans...I decided I am going out after all. Hopefully it won't be too late of a night. Don't know if I'm up for that, but I decided I'd rather regret going out than staying in.

weekend in venice: one thing after another.

I put off doing this blog all day because I was unsure about where to begin and how to approach this trip. I went in expecting a BLAST; we were going to Venice for Carnivale for God's sake. But after the first day, I was dazed, confused, exhausted, hungry, and generally frustrated with the entire city of Venice.

It started at 5 AM on Saturday morning, when I woke up, showered, and ate breakfast before boarding the charter bus. Not to start off completely negatively, but that bus had so little leg room that my legs started falling asleep within minutes of boarding. Not wishing to listen to the odd music playing over the stereo system when we boarded ("ABC" by the Jackson 5, anyone?) I put in my headphones and attempted to sleep.

I woke up, completely disoriented when we stopped for a "bathroom break" at a gas station about an hour and a half outside of Florence. I should have foreseen that the mob of 300 API students at that gas station was mere foreshadowing for the weekend ahead, but I pushed my way through the crowd to order what *looked* like a delicious spinach panini of some kind. Though ridiculously overpriced, I was starving. Still in denial after the first few bites, I realized about halfway through the thing that it was disgusting, and I tossed it. When we finally arrived at the Tronchetto, or dock where we would depart to get to Venice, it was around 10:30 AM, and I was already feeling the hunger pangs.


This isn't the actual boat I ended up riding; mine was much larger. But either way, the ride over to Venice (which is an island city located in a large lagoon, by the way) was absolutely GORGEOUS. It was sunny, and though a bit chilly, we were all glad to be off the bus. After docking at the pier, however, we all realized this trip was going to be quite different than we had anticipated.Me, Laura, KJ, and Sam riding on the roof of the boat to Venice.

At the dock, HORDES of crazy tourists, sporting masks and crazy costumes, swarmed everywhere. We were supposed to have a two hour tour of Venice at this point. Locating our guide was difficult, since she was about 4'10" tall and completely invisible in the crowd. Her amusing solution to this problem was to carry a bright green umbrella over her head, like a beacon of hope to her flock, lost in a sea of people. After following the guide for over an hour and learning absolutely nothing due to a) the noise of the crowd and b) the tour guide's own inanity, a little group of us decided to ditch the tour and get some food.

By this point, I was completely ravenous, and not happy about it at ALL. I'd like to think that so far on this trip I have been pretty laid back and haven't had an issue going with the flow. There was absolutely no flow to be had in Venice. I was near hysteria at this point. Every restaurant we tried to enter was either too full to accomodate us, way overpriced, or had no place to sit. The crowds were messing with my mind and I was nearing my breaking point...and it showed. We finally settled on an "Italian" restaurant run by a group of Asians. Enough said. I paid over 15 euro for an underwhelming meal of pizza and diet coke, but I devoured it all.

Gondolas we passed on the initial part of our tour.



Masses of people in Piazza di San Marco, Venice's major square.

People wearing attractive garbage bags on their feet to protect them from the minor flood.

Feeling a little better at this point, four of us decided to do the most touristy thing possible and overpay a gondolier to cart us around Venice for about half an hour. Even though we paid way too much and didn't really "learn" anything, this half hour completely changed my afternoon. Away from the crowds, on the canals of Venice, I finally CHILLED OUT and was able to see the city and not just the up-close-and-too-personal-faces of one million tourists flooding the city.

Us and our gondolier, Carlo.

Carlo, hard at work.

Every view from the gondola was gorgeous.

After disembarking from the gondola, we had a little more time to kill before taking the boat back to the Tronchetto. Laura decided that purchasing some confetti would be a good idea, and would get us more into the "Carnivale mindset." We got a little carried away.

Later, we waited on the pier for API to take us back to our buses. The irony of the scene below caught my eye and I couldn't resist taking a photo.

Our hotel in Mestre, located about 5 - 10 minutes outside of central Venice by train, was very nice. Exhausted beyond all measure after waking up at 5 AM and walking around the city all day, I conked out for about 2 hours before rousing myself in hopes of finding one of the famously delicious seafood dinners that Venice is known for. On the recommendation of the hotel concierge, we walked a couple of blocks to a place called...l'Ostarica...or something like that. Though Americanized (they gave us plates for our bread, which was warm and salted, unlike any other bread I've had in Italy, as well as huge portion sizes...not that I'm complaining) it was quite good. I ordered the linguine with seafood. Check it outtt.

Finally, something had gone right for us in Venice. This moment of joy, however, was disrupted when the man at the register became enraged at us for daring to ask for the check to be split among our credit cards, when a group of girls had done the same not ten minutes before. We spent atoubt 15 minutes at the counter, listening to him scold us under his breath, and then cheerily asking us to "come back soon" despite the fact that we obviously knew how displeased with us he was.

Sam and I were planning, after dinner, to take the train from Mestre back to Venice to see Carnivale at night time (and just to have a chance to wear our masks). Yet again, though, Venice decided to kick us while we were down. The automatic ticket machines refused to sell us a ticket, and the ticket tellers themselves had gone home for the night. Frustrated at this point beyond all belief, we decided make our own fun at the hotel.

We felt much better after the purchase of wine and excessive amounts of chocolate. We then retired to our hotel room with our roommates and proceeded to watch the Olympics, making fun of their names and respective sports, and discussing our own childhood Olympic dreams.

Trains be damned, I was going to wear my mask somewhere!

The next morning, we were supposed to be packed and ready to get on the buses at 10 AM. After waiting in an excessively long line for the breakfast at the hotel, my roommates and I were a teeny bit late getting downstairs. Fortunately, (or unfortunately, you decide) due to a "mortal" accident blocking the roads, the buses were late. This later affected us greatly, reducing the amount of time we had to spend at the islands we were supposed to visit, but we were happy at the time not to have missed them completely.

Back to the Tronchetto, we boarded the same boat, bound for the Venetian island of Murano, famous for its glass blowing.

Gillian's bag, stuffed full of food stolen from the hotel breakfast buffet, just to get back at Venice for all that it had put us through so far.

We were given a glass blowing demonstration upon our arrival in Murano, which was quite interesting. The glass blower was obviously very talented, and we were assuredly wowed.

He made this horse, as well as a vase.

After being given all of 15 minutes to look at the gift shop of the glass factory, we were hustled back onto the boats, and took off for the island of Burano, which is famous for its lace-making as well as its brightly colored houses.

I could have spent all afternoon here. Much less touristy than Venice or Pisa, it was home to the kind of true Italian restaurants where I feel like I could have gotten a legitimate, authentic Italian meal. Of course, we were given only 45 minutes, enough time to pick up some postcards and scarf down a sandwich, hoping to avoid the same kind of starvation that had occurred the previous day in Venice.


Reluctantly, we all returned to Venice for a couple hours of free time. Surprisingly, the city was MUCH calmer on Sunday than Saturday, even though it was the last official day of Carnivale. We actually got to see the city, getting ourselves lost in a few of the city's smaller alleys.

Yes, that is indeed a doorway that I am touching with the top of my head.

Looking back on the weekend, it is easy to remember its pitfalls, disappointing and frustrating moments, but overall, I had an excellent time. I definitely think, though, that had we gone on any other weekend, the excursion to Venice could have been one of my favorites.

just another day in italy.

Today was fairly uneventful, so no photos to add. Sorry.

We all slept in today, which was glorious. Sat around the kitchen table, munching, watching TV shows, reading books, doing homework. Then Sam, Gillian and I decided to venture out in search of boots. The other two found a pair each, but I was again unsuccessful. My own pickiness (and genetic-mutationally-large feet) make it quite difficult, but I'm sure that if I am patient, I will be rewarded with a pair of boots that I love.

Speaking of falling in love, I also tried on my first leather jacket since I arrived. This is an action I have been avoiding, often running through the open air market with my head ducked, all but singing "I CAN'T HEAR YOU I CANT HEAR YOU," trying not to look at the jackets or listen to the salespeople desperately trying to arouse my interest. The problem is that my interest is already aroused, but I want to take my time and find the best jacket for the best deal. Of course, I fell hard for the real-leather bomber jacket that I put on today. At a special price of 120 euro (NOT BAD, BELIEVE ME) I almost fell for it. But no. I just booked a flight to Barcelona today, and trips to Amsterdam, Prague, and Vienna are all in talks. And I'd rather have those than a leather jacket.

Tomorrow morning, the API program departs for Venice at 6 AM sharp. We are all extremely pleased to be waking up this early, but at least we'll get to spend better part of the day there. Carnivale is supposed to be crazy, so I'm really looking forward to it. I won't have my computer, so no updates until Sunday night, probably.