A Jam-Packed January

     Ciao! In the last few hours a group of my friends and I decided to travel to Rome this weekend, for 24 hours. We are leaving Saturday morning at 5:50am and returning at 6:13am Sunday morning! Long story short, this arrangement made the most sense with the ticket options, so we will be packing our Rome experience into one full day! Planning this trip has made me excited for traveling again, as I will be leaving the country much more this semester. As of right now, almost all of my weekends are booked and this semester is going to fly by even faster than the first one.
     In the past 3 weeks I have been enjoying many local sites around Florence, as our Program Director set up various outings as part of our orientation week. Some of these day trips included a visit to a local journal/leather shop (where we watched the craftsmen - two brothers - make journals, photo albums, and other products by hand, and learned about this historic and traditional trade), a horseback riding excursion (which is a whole different story...let's just say standard safety practices are more advanced in America than here), a trip to the town of Assisi (in Umbria), a medieval dinner (complete with short dance and flag twirling performances and a mock duel), a cooking class at a local restaurant (eating the bruschetta was much more difficult after we chopped up the raw chicken livers for the "fegatini" pate ourselves), and a day spent bike riding around the city walls of (Tuscan town) Lucca.

The view from behind Assisi's wall of the landscape outside the town

Part of an old fortress in Assisi

Horseback riding in Tuscany

Three of my friends and me in Lucca

     We were also very privileged to be among the few people who actually get to see, in person, Ghiberti's famous Gates of Paradise. These were originally the doors on the Florence Baptistry, but were taken down and replaced with replicas for preservation, etc. They were created during the early Renaissance; many artists competed for the commission of the doors and 21-year-old Ghiberti was the winner. This pair of doors was dubbed "The Gates of Paradise" by Michelangelo himself. They are still under restoration (after have been for the past 20 years), but we got a behind-the-scenes tour of the 'workshop' where many works are being restored, including the doors. And I may have snuck a picture or two ;)

One of the Paradise Doors

     Two weekends ago I was able to spend the day snowboarding with friends in Abetone, which was icy and definitely lacking good fresh powder, but the day was a blast nonetheless. I wasn't prepared for snow activities when I came to Florence, and understandably, I didn't want to wear jeans or cotton in the snow. So, a few days before leaving, my roommate and I walked over to the hardware store and purchased some lovely waterproof (matching jacket + pants) suits for the snow. I think they are designed for riding motorcycles and vespas in the rain, and they are certainly not high fashion, but they did the job and kept us dry for the most part. We were able to spot each other by looking for the only other hideous forest green shiny blob on the mountain :) And to keep our hands dry? Cheap knit gloves with surgical gloves and saran wrap over the top for water protection! And helmets? Of course not, we were clearly working with the bare minimum. Shh....don't tell mom!

A picture I took of my roommate, Joelle, on the mountain

Chillin in our super-fashionable water-proof suits!

    The day after snowboarding my body was very achy; I though I was just sore. However, a few hours later I felt my fever coming on, and it wasn't long before I was bedridden. This was the beginning of what we like to refer to as The Plague that ravaged our Pepperdine Villa. With everyone in such close confines, it's no surprise that the sickness spread to almost all 50-some of us. Being one of the first ones to pave the way with the sickness, I suffered through and ate whatever I could that was available at meals, I weakly sat in class each day, and tried to keep up my normal responsibilities (in order to skip class, you have to have a doctor's note, and I was in no feeling up to venturing outside to the doctor). Just as I was beginning to get better, the big onslaught occurred and everyone else started to get sick. Then, of course, our Program Director got worried, and she paid for everyone to see the doctor (free house visit), get whatever medicine they needed, and she demanded that they all skip class for 2 full days. My sense of injustice was somewhat mitigated by the fact that I was probably responsible for many of them being sick...thankfully, we are all much better now and back to life as usual.
    That pretty much sums up what I've been doing so far this semester, excepting classes and other random activities. I'm looking forward to starting my travels and attempting to keep up in school too! :)

Bringing in the New Year with (many) a Bang.

As requested, here is a recap of my New Year's Eve in Florence:


     On Saturday night, after bundling up for the night out, I caught a train to the Center with my friend and her mom and sister (with whom I was staying during this particular part of the break). The train ride from the part of Florence in which we were staying to the center of Florence was a short one, only about 7 minutes long, but in that period of time I almost witnessed my first fight on a train. There were a bunch of younger men, maybe 10 to 15 of them, who were all really worked up about something and were somewhere between talking loudly and yelling. We sat down in the same car as them, but farther away. During the ride, the man I was sitting next to started yelling over at them and getting involved in their argument. At one point, some of the men came over and, back and forth above my head, continued their altercation with me in the middle. We finally moved over to the next car, and I thought the rest of our night would be smoother once we got out of the train.
     I could not have been more wrong. As soon as I stepped off the train, I wanted to turn around and get right back on. My history classes from the past came alive as I felt like I was literally in the middle of a war zone there in the Center. Between the huge fireworks being set off by civilians on every side and the mine field of broken glass, waving sparklers, and (unusually) plastered Italians, even my industrial ear plugs were futile when pitted against the explosions that literally shook the ground. At this point, it was only 9:15pm. 
     After navigating our way through the masses of people (holding hands at all times so as not to be separated indefinitely), we sought refuge in a cafe that was still open. That lasted for about 45 minutes, and then we decided to venture outside once again. While wandering through the streets, we rushed past each piazza as we learned that they were the most dangerous. Fireworks that I'm sure are illegal in the U.S. were like children's toys in the hands of Italians. They were setting of large, legitimate fireworks no more than 10  yards away from where we and others were walking, and then running away as the explosives detonated. I was afraid for my life more than once. When we weren't busy navigating around the piazzas, we were dodging people who walked through the streets waving sparklers right in front of our faces and smashing bottles where we were about to walk. Some way or another, we managed to get to Palazzo Vecchio, where the booming seemed a bit softer, and the background noise was mostly due to a classical concert which was being performed by an orchestra. We stood there for a few minutes, relieved, and then looked around only to realize that we were seeking refuge in the senior hang out spot. Literally, I could not see anyone who looked under the age of 60 except, of course, ourselves. But hey, it was safe, so that's where we stayed until the end of the night.
    I must say, with all the theatrics of the evening, you would think the firework show at midnight would be out of this world; however, I can say without a doubt that America is, hands down, far superior to Italy (and probably all of Europe) in this regard. After hours of anticipating, midnight arrived with no more than a wimpy, single file line of simple fireworks that could best be personified as patient and polite...after an individual firework went up, the next one waited for a few moments to slowly go up into the sky and do the same, one after another, with the only variety being in color. I actually laughed out loud when I saw the display.
     Finally, when it was all over, we began our search for a taxi to take us home, which was a whole ordeal in and of itself. Somehow we found one, got back, and went to bed around 2am. It was quite a night, and I am glad to still have my hearing and my life :)