Exploring Cinque Terre

Today I took my first day trip out of Florence and went to Cinque Terre with Bus2Alps with Courtney and three of my other roommates. We woke up early and took a bus about two hours there.

Cinque Terre means five lands in Italian. It is called this because there are five villages within Cinque Terre. There are trains connecting each village to each other as well as hiking paths. Right when we got off the bus to get on the train I was blown away. Cinque Terre definitely had a different feel to it than Florence.

Everyone took the train to the second village, Manarola. Here we stopped for about one hour and were able to look around at the different shops. There was also a path that lead upstairs where you could see the village's buildings from a completely different view, which was phenomenal. If you went up the hill a little further there was a play scape and see-saw. Of course my roommates and I played on it for a little while since we haven't seen anything like that while we've been here. The time here flew by here since we spent most of our time exploring.




Once our time was up there we took the train to the fourth village, Vernazza. We didn't have time to go to every village which is why we skipped the third village. Vernazza also had an amazing view. Here we had a choice to hike to the next village to get amazing views or take the train there. We were all feeling adventurous so we decided to hike (even though I may have rolled my ankle at the previous village).



About 100 stairs in I was definitely working up a sweat. With only 100 stairs done and more than 4,000 left I was debating if I made the right decision. Just as I was thinking this I started seeing breath taking views. As we were hiking I kept looking back at Vernazza. The village that I was once part of all of a sudden looked really small. There were still many more stairs and my legs were trembling as The path started to decline towards Monterosso al Mare. It was suppose to be a 90 minute hike and we ended up finishing it in only 60 minutes. The combination of the Mediterranean Sea, mountains, and the villages were definitely worth the hike. I saw amazing views where the pictures can't even do it justice.





Once we finally made it to Monterosso al Mare, we were ready for a meal. I decided to get a pesto troffe because Cinque Terre is known for their pesto, but Monterosso al Mare is especially known for it. It was one of the best meals I have had in Italy so far. The pesto was indeed amazing and I was able to enjoy my meal while looking over the Mediterranean Sea.


After lunch we changed into our swim suits and went swimming in the Mediterranean. There was no denying we were not going to go swimming after that hike. The beach there was a lot different than what I'm used to. Instead of being greeted by the beach with sand in my toes, I was greeted with rocks. They had large, smooth rocks on the beach and as you got closer to the water they become a little smaller. The rocks were also in the bottom of the Mediterranean, which made me want to tread water.




Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea was an unreal experience. The water was so blue and the mountains that surrounded the beach made me feel like I was inside a painting.

I keep going back to look at the pictures that were taken that day and still being in shock that I went there. I don't think this experience will ever feel real until I am back in the United States. Every day I am falling more in love with the food, the culture, and this country.
Ciao,
Jenn

Celebrating Independence Day in Italia

Today was the Fourth of July, which meant I needed to go out of my way to celebrate my country’s Independence Day. Just because I am in Italy does not mean that I can’t celebrate.

I started off the day by going to lunch with a couple of my roommates to Ganzo. I ordered a frittered cod with a lemon sauce. It was definitely a great choice because the sauce mixed perfectly with the fish. While there we decided to see how many baskets of bread and pitchers of water we could consume. For some reason this made everything more funny than it actually was. By the time we finished our third pitcher of water we decided to be adventurous and try sparkling water. We all tried it and all did not like it one bit. It tasted like carbonated vinegar. It was not a pleasant taste, but at least now I know I don’t like it. I figured I would try as many new things as I could.

 

After lunch Courtney and I attempted to find a bank. We ended up getting lost and decided to head back to where our class was. We had a whole hour to spare so we ended up exploring in our school. There was a secret garden in the main building with a sign that read “DO NOT ENTER. This location is a school. Premises are private property.” We went in there anyway and kept very quiet. There were stairs that led to a balcony with plastic chairs. It was a prefect view of the river and the buildings on the other side. Later that day we found out that we were allowed in this area so we didn’t have to be extremely quiet when we were there.

   

We went to our Introduction to Italy class. We reviewed Italian for half of the class and watched a documentary on the Medici Family. I have a feeling I will know a huge amount of information on the Medici Family by the time I leave Italy. Once again, the documentary was not awful. I actually enjoyed learning more about the family and the Duomo.

Once class was finished all my roommates and I went to The Diner which was an american restaurant in Italy. It was nice going to a place with a menu that was completely familiar to you. The decor of the place was also really interesting. There were bright colorful walls, license plates from multiple states, and different bottles from drinks that are popular in the United States. I ended up ordering a coffee and chocolate milkshake with french toast which ended up being delicious.

  

Later on in the night we went to the Red Garter, an american pub in Florence, to continue celebrating. Outside of the pub there were red, white, and blue balloons all along the sign. Within the Red Garter there was a dancing side and a side to just sit and talk. We ordered drinks and just got to know each other more.

After a little while we walked around Florence and found a pizza stand that sold pizza for cheap. We ended up making our way to The Lions Fountain, the other american pub in Florence. This pub has a variety of colleges from the U.S. t-shirts on the ceiling. The first time I went there I saw the Central one but didn't have a marker so I didn't get to sign it. Tonight I ended up signing it. It was difficult to reach it, even when I was standing on the bar stool, but I managed.

Overall it was a great day and I had a lot of fun celebrating Independence Day in another country.

Until next time,

Jenn

The First Week of Adventures

 

Tuesday was my first day of classes. After attempting to make my way through the city, not knowing much Italian or the city in general, I was excited to actually begin classes. My first class is The Florence Food and Culture Experience with Gionni (Johnny), My professor went over history of the city and talked about the Medici Family. For half of the class we watched a documentary on the family. Usually I don’t like history lessons or documentaries but I actually liked learning about Florence. I ended up getting out of class about ten minutes late.

In our orientation, people from Palazzi FUA told us that it was a “twenty minute walk” from where Courtney and mine’s first class was to where our second class was (the main building of campus). After power walking through the city we finally made it to our second class only being five minutes late. The teacher did not start until ten minutes so we were fine arriving a little late to class.

The second class I am taking is Cultural Introduction to Italy and happens to be my favorite class. The teacher, Martina, is a petite Italian women who is very energetic and has a good sense of humor. We spent the entire day learning Italian that would be useful to us during our time in Italy. Everything from salutations to introducing ourselves to ordering gelato at a store (which is obviously come in handy). After this class I felt a little more confident approaching people on the streets and at restaurants.

For dinner my roommates and I decided to go to Ganzo, the student ran restaurant that is located right by the apartment, for dinner. I ordered the gnocchi which was actually really tasty. While eating outside we could literally see our apartment. At Ganzo they supplied free water and bread. This isn’t a big deal in the U.S., but here it is because you have to pay for water at restaurants. After dinner we all decided to walk to get gelato. The place we went to had at least 50 flavors of gelato which made my decision extremely difficult. Once we all received our gelato we walked to the Repubblica where there was a man playing live music. There is just something about live music that I love and being able to enjoy that while eating gelato in Italy.

      

The USA vs Belgium world cup game was tonight. My roommates and I wandered our way to The Lions Fountain, an american pub, to watch the game. The place was swarmed by Americans chanting and cheering for our team to win. At half time we all decided to watch the game in a less crowded place. We found a pavilion, that belonged to a restaurant, with a pull down screen and projector. It was an absolutely beautiful night, but unfortunately the game wasn’t as beautiful. It was definitely a neat experience to be able to watch a USA World Cup game in Italy with so many people cheering for USA to win. Too bad Italy didn’t make it out of the first round because that would have been quite the experience as well.

  

Wednesday was a cooking lab in my The Florence Food and Culture Experience class. A chef, from a different country, came in to teach our class how to cook. As a class, we chopped vegetables, stirred mixtures, made bread, and then got to taste what we cooked. The recipes for today’s class were for a tomato soup and a vegetable mixture that contained: tomato, garlic, red pepper, onion, celery, carrot, salt, pepper, sugar, and A LOT of olive oil. Both of them were really good and I was able to to eat as much as I wanted. It was interesting learning the different techniques the Italians use, especially how much olive oil they put on everything.

 

In my Cultural Introduction to Italy class, we learned more Italian. Today it was colors, numbers, and other random words. Martina showed us an Italian song and we were able to sing along with it to help with our pronunciation. After that she took us on a walking tour of different places in Florence. She told us about the Church of Santa Croce where a couple famous artists were buried. This is a church I pass regularly, so it is nice to know more about it than just what it looks like. We also learned more history of the city. During the tour Martina pointed out one of her favorite gelato places and as an entire class we ordered gelato in Italian. She was there to help us with pronunciation and explain to the cashier that we were practicing Italian. We ended the tour in the Rupubblica. This was an area that was built to look like the ancient times and a popular place for people to hang out, eat, and shop. At the end of the tour she pointed out a department store and told us about a cafe at the top where you can over look the city.

  

Courtney and I immediately speed walked over there. We went up one flight of stairs, an elevator to the fourth floor, one more flight of stairs (the cafe was located here), and one last flight of stairs to find a seating area with a phenomenal view.  This is my favorite place to go so far. You can see the hills on one side and the Duomo on the other. I can’t wait to go back there and have a cup of coffee while enjoying the view.

 

Thursday was a lot of walking the city. In both of my classes we took different walking tours of Florence. Conveniently both of my professors are tour guides for the school so they are very educated. It is fascinating learning a lot more about buildings you see daily and actually learning about the roots of them and why they are built a certain way. The first class went to the Medici’s “office” which looked like a garden, In my second class we crossed the river. This was my first time visiting the other side of the Arno and it was beautiful. The combination of the buildings, the river, and the bridge made it an amazing sight to see. After learning more about the other side of the river we ended at Martina’s all time favorite gelato place. I was trying to resist the urge to get more gelato, but we ended right outside the door so I got more gelato. I ordered in Italian all by myself today which is something I am proud of!

     

For dinner on Thursday my roommates and I decided to go to a pizzeria called Gusta Pizza which was located across the river. The size of the pizza was enough for two people or one person to eat and have leftovers. When reading the menu I realized the first pizza on the list did not have cheese on it. If you know me, you should know that I always peel off the cheese off pizza because I do not like cheese. This is for anyone who has ever given me a weird look when I peel off the cheese, because someone can order a pizza in Italy without cheese! I was told when I came to Italy I had to try pizza with cheese though because it might be different, so I did try a cheese pizza. People told me before I came that I had to try pizza with cheese because it would taste different. It definitely tasted different and I ate two slices with cheese on it, but I still preferred it without any cheese. Something I found interesting was that they put olive oil on top of their pizza. Italians literally put olive oil on anything they can think of.

   

Ciao,

Jenn