Home is Where The Heart Is…… thank you Lady A

Yesterday, I climbed the Torre del Mangia, the tower in the Piazza del Campo. It was beautiful and I got to do it with Hannah, the girl who has been living close to me and going to a different school. She is really cool and I wish I had more time to spend with her to learn about a volunteer/leadership program she does through her school, her opinions about religion or some of the things she has learned about along the way growing up with 8 (!@!##!) brothers and sisters.

Today I went to school and after I volunteered for an English class for adults and college students in Siena. It was really neat to be able to hear the opinions of what the Italians thought about the American culture and how much English they knew already. A question that was asked was, “why is family so important in the Italian culture?” One man responded that he has always put church and Dio (god) before family because in the end, that is what is important. We were about to end the class but another women, probably about 37 years old started speaking. She started to talk about how in her earlier years all she worried about was her career and family was always second. Then she said when it came down to it, work was only work. She told us about how Italians realize and value how special relationships are, especially the ones developed in a family. This is such a prized possession (that I think many American families have lost sight of), that deserves the 2-hour dinner every night or gives reason to Maura fixing the tiniest crease in my bedspread, because that’s what family does. You always need others who will always be there for you no matter how bad you mess up. Everyone deserves that love and security in their life, even if it consists of you and God alone.

I guess I have been scared to admit this to anyone until this point, but I am pretty home sick. Yes, this is the most beautiful place I have been to, I am learning so much, making friends that will last a very long time, and love Maura to death. I guess it just makes me realize that wherever I am I will never forget how lucky I am to have wonderful family, friends, and Jake. I think it’s worse because I have not exactly been able to communicate with you all because I can’t call you with out excessive charges or have limited access to the internet. I know this is a phase everyone goes through after the initial rush of excitement of an exotic new place. This lasts until he or she becomes sane again and gets back into the pace of things. For the time being, I can learn from it. No matter where I am in the world, Brookfield, the little town on the buckeye state’s edge, which may look like a hole in the ground since they tore Valley View down, is my home. Why you ask? That’s where my dad and mom grew up and decided to raise Andrew, Anthony and myself there. Pauly built that house because that’s what momma wanted, no matter if it was feasible or not, he made it happen. My mom would fly across the ocean in a minute if I needed her to. My brothers are the two most adorable kids I have ever seen and I’m so proud beyond words of them. I love you so much, and thank Dio everyday for how blessed I am. I don’t know how I got so lucky. Thank you if you read all of this, sorry for blabbering…..The Palio is yet to come!!! The picture above is where the Palio will take place. This is the most famous horse race in the world and officially dates back to 1500 but actually took place in the 1100's.

Again with the double posts!... Sorry!!

#79

The significance of this title is that I am number 79 on Maura’s list of house guests. Yes, I know your mouth has just dropped. Mine definitely did too. I felt a little less special and more like just another number that has passed through. She has always treated me with such kindness and tells us we are like her children, but that’s just they way they are; anyone under their roof is family and treated as such. Plus, that means 78 people came before me and chances are a few bothered her more and messed up more than I will. So in that aspect, it is definitely a big relief. We volunteered to teach kindergarteners English last Thursday and it was awesome. I think I told you how cute little kids speaking Italian is before but this is just a whole new level of cuteness. Courtney, Sarah and I taught them Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Old McDonald had a Farm. This was their first exposure to Old McDonald so it was pretty much us singing and them chiming in for the animal sound parts and then humming. Per esempio, “ahhhhiiiiiiiiahhhhh moo moo ahhhhhiiiiiahhhh moo moo.” How much English they already knew, simple things like, “Good Morning”, “How are you”, and some animals and colors surprised us. They adored Courtney because she is just an Italian expert and even wants to teach some day. Girls actually started fighting each other to have a spot next to her. One even cried L. Other than that, I am starting to pick up more things and be able to break down what someone is saying better…. I’m getting there haha.

Bologna with no Boloney

Well we just got back from Bologna about two hours ago, and it was definitely a cool trip. Kristian, Joe and I made our 7:45 bus and got to spend all of today and yesterday (Friday/Saturday) in Bologna. We met up with our friend Joe, who is studying at a small school in Bologna for this summer. We visited a lot of beautiful parks and made fun of the couples making out very carelessly in public. I was just thankful that we were not in one of those countries where they may do more than that in public. We walked into two churches. Uno è stato Basilicia di San Petronio e forse Chiesa di San Maria ma non lo so. San Petronio was just gorgeous inside. They consisted of mostly graves and neat paintings older than 400 years old. One interesting painting was of heaven, purgatory, and hell. In hell everyone was nude and actually being eaten by satan. Well that sounds a little rough but it was subtler than that. I went to go shopping while the boys sat like old men in the park, but I definitely got a lot accomplished. I bought a dress for only 3 euros! We walked through The University of Bologna, which I think is the oldest university in the world that is still in existence. We checked the University district out later too because that’s where the nightlife is in Bologna. We meat a bartender from Cambodia who told us about his special drink called Magic Sam. He was sponsored by some company in San Francisco and showed us the website that the recipe is on (by actually taking out his macbook). He made us this special drink, that was about 7/8 liquor and I definitely could not even enjoy drinking it, but at least I can say I sipped it for a little. Today we met Joe’s friend from Sweden and ate Tortellini (supposed to be delicious in bologna). Other than that we saw our first Ferrari in Italy and enjoyed Bologna’s orange (yes Kelley Drew… lots of orange buildings haha), yellow and red color scene. Love you all and talk to you soon.

Three posts at once, sorry!

Chianti Vineyard – Wine tasting

Saturday, we went to Ama. It is a farm/vineyard for Chianti Classico Wines and olive oil. These are northern Italy’s two main agricultural concentrations because of the terrain’s many hills. The hills cause water to not soak into the plant for long and dilute valuable nutrients and cause the sun to hit plants in different ways and cause grapes to have diverse flavors based on exposure to different nutrients. The same goes for the olive plants. The south is better for the vegetables of Italy. We tried three different wines. One was Come’era, which means how it was. This is made using old techniques with a many diverse grapes blended together. Chianti Classico is the other wine that we tried and it is made with a newer technique using only kind of grape. We also tried some thing else that we dipped biscotti in, it may have been Brandi though, because it was really strong. One other neat thing is that they use machines made of marble to preserve the flavor because machines made of stone can oxidize the grapes. They also store the wine in huge bins outside because again they want to preserve what is left of the old buildings and not make any additions. Hence, the wine goes outside. We did also get a lot about the history of this region, half way between Siena and Firenze and the fighting between territory and has always gone on.

Walking Tour of Siena

Sunday we went on a walking tour of Siena to see even more of every sight of the city that could be on a postcard. You can literally stop in pretty much location of the city and see the old brick buildings or Duomo from afar that could be the perfect desktop background. I think the take a picture button on my camera might need replaced after this trip. We learned more about some of the 17 contradas that compete in Siena’s famous Palio. By drawing, 10 of the 17 contradas (designated by different neighborhoods) will compete in the Palio. The Palio is a horse race on July 2^nd and another in August for 1 minutes and 20 seconds. These people go CRAZY for the Palio. The winner gets bragging rights for the whole year and wins a painting to put in their neighborhood museum. The painting is by a local artist and has three requirements; a horse, contradas and Mary has to be somewhere in the picture. P.S. they find a way to incorporate Mary in everything! She is even on street corners and in random windows. I also ate my first Italian pizza today. It had buffalo mozzarella cheese and was delicious. I’m hoping to only gain 5 pounds on this trip, haha. I may be successful or not gain any because we literally walk up mountains all day long. Love you all and tty soon J

First Days of Class

Yesterday was our first day of actually class. I am taking History of Emigration, History of Art and Italian. Everything is taught in Italian and today I had a little bit of trouble with History of Art but hopefully I will be able to get by. There are girls who have never spoken Italian until three weeks ago in this class, so that makes me feel a little better. In History of Emigration, I got to share that my grandpa is from St. Bartholomew outside of Naples and that my last name was actually (not so well) derived from iasiello. This class goes through the different periods of time and the reasons for emigration to different parts of the world. I guess they speak some Italian in Argentina, haha maybe that might have to go on the list of places to see next.

Since we do not have homework Angela, a girl who is leaving Thursday, took us around to some of her favorite spots of the city. She has really met a lot of random people and made connections. It was neat to see the city from the eyes of someone who has truly lived up her experience here.

Today at dinner Maura told us that she is sad to say goodbye to people and told us we will have to continue to call her after the program. She also went on to say how hard it was to let go of each of her children. It’s hard to try and console someone in another language especially when we are used to overly consoling someone’s hard feelings in our native language. I guess I felt rude because I couldn’t put in words my understanding for her. I just try to make faces to convey that I understand and feel sad for her.

P.S. Italians think that if you leave the house with wet hair, the sky is going to fall on you or something.

Campo Beach

Last night the group made some Italian friends. I discovered one hobby that they have is fixing couples up with one another. We were sitting on the Piazza del Campo and the one girl literally sat on my legs that were sprawled out and asked all the girls in the group," Lorenzo?, Lorenzo?, Lorenzo?" We of course all had boyfriends but after everyone refusing, came and said they could see it in my eyes that I was lying. They finally gave up after I couldn't help but laugh at these pazza Italian girls. We also have been spending so much time on the Campo that one of the guys in our group referred it to campo beach, like oval beach at OSU, haha. Yesterday we also found the Duomo after walking one of our classmates who lives in the city home. We are going to go back and see it in the day so we can take a successful O-H-I-O picture. The architecture is so detailed and sophisticated it must have take hundreds of years to complete it (someone said 150). This morning I told Maura about drinking a little wine yesterday in the day and she warned me about drinking too much. She said she doesn't drink but has watched her kids and young adults that have stayed with her drink and be sick the next day. When they are in pain, she also feels for them and suffers. She said this is the same for me since I am like her child now. If that doesn't make someone feel guilty, I don't know what would. I also talked about my whole family and she said her grandson looks like Andrew and has red hair. They think he came from the mailman too, haha. Today and tomorrow will be the last non-school worry free days so I will definitely be writing again soon. Buon giorno tutti!

Today (Thursday) was awesome. First off, I can't believe I am finally here in Italy. Today we were given a walking tour of Siena, an overview of our course options, had an ice breaker with the group, actually went to our small campus, purchased cell phones and explored the nightlife of Siena. This place just continues to amaze me by its surreal beauty and people. The classes seem like they might be a little harder than we all anticipated but definitely manageable when one puts adequate effort into it. I think I will take Art History and Emigration of Italians. Siena's art and medieval history something notable and I figure the reasons why Italians fled to certain areas for economic and political reasons are very interesting. I legally ordered my first alcoholic beverage. It was four vodka pecsa (peach). It was the bartenders specialty, I think it was 7/8 vodka and 1/8 spite, but very good. We just hung out on the Piazza del Campo which is actually where the Palio will be in about two weeks and a day. We were actually sitting on the ground, crazy right? The streets are so ridiculously clean that we think they must sand and wax the bricks and sweep them afterward, haha. I actually think it's because everything is made of stone that no dirt ever falls upon the road. We will find out soon. There was also a drag queen and belly dancer singing at a pub/ristorante. P.s. I may never come home. Nah, I would miss my family, friends, and Jake too much. Vi amo. Buona notte tutti....... Today (Friday) we went to Italian class until noon and then figured out how to use our Italians phones. Once that was a success we met others of the program(ten or so) and sat in the Piazzo del Campo (again.... picture given) together and enjoyed a bottle of wine. In Italy there are no drinking laws, for the most part. Today I also figured out how to use Maura's shower. Italy does have hot water. The water takes about 5 minutes to warm up, so I was under the false impression that her water never got hot... but it definitely does. Yesterday I showered by turning the water on to soak myself enough to be able to soap up and then rinse off because it was so cold I couldn't stand it. Today it got so hot I couldn't stand it. Stupid American, haha. Thanks for reading my blog, talk to you soon.

Wow, I’m IN ITALY!!! The flight in was so beautiful beyond words can even begin to describe. We flew over Morocco and Sardegna, which was a very mountainous sight before we got to the great homeland. We flew in North of Rome and then landed at the Aeroporto di Fiumocino a Roma. After waiting for everyone else in the group to arrive, Paulcarlo and Mike drove us to Siena. This was a three-hour drive that actually took about four because we took a long stop at an Italian rest stop. You can pretty much can say for most of the ride, we were all conked out from the over night flight to Rome. When we arrived in Siena, Mike gave us a quick tutorial about the program overall, our agenda for the next day and told us that we will be meeting our host families individually. Well I wasn’t nervous to meet my host family until this point but after I stepped out of the van I was greeted with kisses from Maura and her six-year-old grandson Matteo. Let me tell you, there is no cuter thing than a little boy or girl speaking Italian. We watched a cartoon together and he tried to explain to me what was happening in Italian. I couldn’t understand half of it but it was pretty darn cute anyways. I was also able to give him a USA baseball t-shirt, (thanks aunt bon!) which he loved J Oo ya definitely thought I clogged the toilet but turns out I didn’t know how to flush it properly. I guess they flush from a top pull down handle. Luckily, I didn’t have to explain that one in Italian to Maura, who speaks nothing but Italian. I can understand her for the most part and vice versa. This is definitely the immersion experience that will force you to learn and speak the language. I went to the supermarcato to buy some water, snacks, tic-tac’s and get change to call from a pay phone. I think I tried to work the pay phone with euro coins for about a good twenty minutes, which proved to be unsuccessfully. I will definitely try again tomorrow. I definitely got beeped and whistled at walking there today by this creepy old man; sorry Italian dude that you are that desperate yelling at someone with jet lag bags under there eyes and two day old clothes. Maura is also a wonderful cook. I think I ate my weight in pasta fresca and pesto today. P.s. have only spent 2.83 euros so far! I think the craziest thing is coming to a realization that other societies exist other than English speaking ones. My ignorant American eyes have disguised me from this thus far and I am honored to be able to learn from a new culture and una bella lingua.

Hey! Welcome to my blog!

Hey guys! I figured I can tell you all about my trip to Siena, Italy and I can also keep a journal this way. I will be leaving on June 14th and returning August 1st, 2011. I will be talking classes in Siena and trying to travel in Europe including Austria, Switzerland, France, Croatia, England (Harry Potter premiere??), and all over Italy. I am an actuarial science major and Italian minor. I am pretty much an Italian minor so I can go on this trip, but it will be worth it. Hope you enjoy! P.s. I am not the best writer in the world, just excuse grammar mishaps :)

Siena, Italia