Lessons Learned

I hope that Chris doesn't read my blog. If he does then I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't read this post because he would have three words for me: Told. You. So.

Yesterday I went to the co-op and, while I typically don't go places in Italy by myself, this time I ventured out on my own. I had been the co-op two or three times before so I knew where it was and I wasn't worried about getting lost. I feel pretty safe because we live in a pretty small village- so that wasn't the issue either.

When I was done shopping and getting my groceries (they don't serve us breakfast or lunch on the weekends so we get munchies) I went to the checkout line. I knew I wasn't going to be able to carry my things up the hill in a plastic bag because they were somewhat heavy- I got my first bottle of Italian wine! So I picked up one of the reusable bags that are ever so popular in America and put it on the conveyor belt with my things. When she was finished ringing me up she picked up the reusable bag and started talking to me (quite quickly) in Italian. I told her "me dispiache, no italiano," which means "I'm sorry, I don't speak Italian." She continued to babble to me saying things that I can't even imagine meanings to. This went on for about two minutes. I'm feeling terrible because I have no idea what she is saying and clearly she is trying to communicate with me.

On my two-mile walk back up the hill with all my groceries I think I put the pieces together as to what she was saying. Apparently the reusable bag that I had gotten from the rack did not have a price tag on it so I think she was trying to ask if it was already mine or if I was trying to purchase it that day.

Ugh, it was awful. Language barrier realized. In small towns like this people don't know English. It is so refreshing when we get to go to larger towns like Florence where some of the people speak very small amounts of a language that we actually realize. It's even better to be walking down the street and hear people speaking in English (there are American Universities in Florence).

Lets just say that I was definitely overemphasizing my Italian skills when I said in a previous post that I could "get by."

Lesson learned. Next time I would definitely have brushed up on the language before throwing myself into the fire (just like Chris told me to).

Planning a Trip for this Weekend

So I am planning a trip to Pisa this weekend and I am really excited! We're currently getting a head count of how many people want to come and then we're going to book a room at a hostel! Haha! These are the current plans as of now:

Friday:
Take the train from Castiglion Fiortentino to Pisa (stops in Florence and switch trains)
See all the sights in Pisa including: The Leaning Tower of Pisa (of course!), the Baptistry, the Cemetery, the Duomo and museum, and the Piazza del Duomo. Everyone that comes to Italy has to take that stereotypical leaning tower of Pisa picture so we decided to take ours early.

We're going to stay in a hostel in Pisa Friday night. We found one that has private rooms that can fit 8 people for only 13 euro a person. A lot cheaper than trying to rent hotel rooms for that many people!

Then on Saturday we are going to wake up early and take the train to San Gimignano (every time I try and say the name I butcher it beyond all repair). It's about an hour away by train and it's supposed to be an amazingly beautiful city. In the medieval ages there were over 70 towers built in the city and there are still 13 standing so it has a "sky scraper" skyline, which will be awesome to see. There are also outside markets in the middle of the city during the morning, so shopping, shopping, shopping! :)
The thing I am most excited about in San Gimignano though is (don't judge me) the Museo della Tortura. Yes, you read that correctly: a museum about medieval torture devices. I think it'll be really neat to see, everyone else seems a little hesitant about it though! Haha
Then late Saturday night we'll head back to Castig (unfortunately we'll probably miss dinner).

But yeah, that's kind of the gyst of the planning so far. Hope it all works out and we can get enough people to go! :)

I am off to my jewelry making class. Hope we actually get to do something today. I can't wait to start making pretty things. I figure jewelry will be a nice souvenir for friends!

Ciao!

Saturday in Florence

Haven't posted in a couple of days, so I'll give you a quick recap:

Thursday: Class & Velvet Underground After

Friday: Slept in & Did a load of laundry. Laundry is unnecessarily expensive here. Doing a moderate sized load costs about $10.

Continued to bond with the roomies. After laundry we went to the co-op and Liz bought an enormous jar of Nutella... she's already finished a smaller one so this time she went for the mond0-size! She's excited... can you tell?!

Aaaaaand today: SATURDAY! :)

Today a big group of us woke up early and headed off to Florence by train, which cost 13 euro round trip. There was word of a chocolate fair and a leather market. While the leather market went unseen we definitely found the chocolate fair. There was chocolate out of the wazoo!! I didn't but any, but my friends did and it all looked pretty delicious!

While we were walking through the town all of a sudden we heard all this banging... needless to say we were a little alarmed being the tourists that we are. We kept walking and came across what seemed to be a parade... which we thought was odd. However, after watching for a few minutes and our sad interpretation of their signs in Italian we realized that the thousands of people walking through the streets banging on pots and pans were protesting the Prime Minister's recent scandal. (At least I'm pretty sure it was the Prime Minister... I'm not too up to date on my Italian government scandals!)

They had all sorts of signs saying things like "confess your sins" and things that sounded really funny once translated into English. Seeing it was definitely an experience!

After window shopping for a bit we ate lunch at a little cafe close to the train station.

We continued shopping and found this little market that was selling all sorts of leather goods (I've been told that Florence is one of the world's leading leather producers). One of the first carts (I guess you'd call them that... they're outside vendors) I walked by had this purse that I immediately fell in love with. And then... I looked at the price tag, haha. It was priced at 75 euro, which my currency converter conveniently tells me is close to $102. I wasn't going to pay that much for a bag because 1-it was far too much and 2-I just didn't have that much cash on me. We kept walking around the market and I was looking for a cross-body bag that is bigger than the one I have, but I couldn't get that first purse off my mind! Hah! I've heard that you've really got to haggle and they'll lower the price on things. So, I went back to the man and I told him I literally only have 45 euro, will you give it to me for that price? He immediately as like "No," so I put the sad face on and started to walk away and he was like... "okay." He told me "special price" and "just for you" and made me promise not to tell anyone that he gave it to me so cheap (so if you're ever in Florence and meet this purse guy don't let him know!). So basically I paid 45 euro instead of 75, which was close to $60. I thought it was a steal, especially for genuine leather from Florence. And it has been my only splurge so far so I don't feel so bad... haha. I love it & I needed a bigger purse. (This is me validating my purchase to myself, haha!!)

Afterwards we took the train back to Castiglion Fiorentino (which Liz and I have decided to shorten to "Castig") and we had dinner, which was amazing! The center made us pasta, fried chicken and french fries- once again, the comforts of home are amazing to have! They always make us healthy food so when they give us something that isn't directly vegetable related everyone gets excited. But, they always make sure to give us salad and instead of desert we get fresh fruit.

Okay, now for the random things:

-Italians take their dogs everywhere. I'm not even exaggerating. In clothing stores, in restaurants... EVERYWHERE. And they aren't all even small dogs. There are huge dogs like Dalmatians in Louis Vuitton! And they are all dressed up cute and whatnot to keep them warm. They're all pretty adorable. They're all well groomed & taken care of. Definitely makes me want a dog more and more every day.

-Everyone and their mother drives a Fiat. Everyone. And if they don't have a car then they ride their bike everywhere, even when they appear to be wearing entire designer outfits.

-I have gotten okay at "survival Italian." That means that I can get around and do essential tasks and communication in Italy. I can order food and make sure that I am headed in the right direction (like if I'm headed to the train or back to the center).

-I've tried a lot of new food while I've been here. Unless something looks absolutely inedible or disgusting I'll typically give it a try. I've determined that kiwi tastes pretty good, I still like other fruit better. Oh, and that blood oranges are delicious!!

-When we went to the co-op the other day Liz bought something she thought was lotion and when we got back to the room it turned out to be hand soap. So now we have a nice bottle of hand soap in the bathroom. :-p

I am really enjoying each and every day here. Everything is so beautiful and I've met a lot of really awesome people. I don't really miss being home or in College Station; however I do miss some friends and my family- but I've been so busy that I haven't really had a lot of time to think about it.

Hoping to go to Arezzo tomorrow (only 1.90 euro for that ticket!) to go to an antique fair and hang out. We shall see... :)

Exploring Florence!!

There are few words that can describe how amazing being in Florence was today. I will start with these three: Oh. My. God! There was so much history and so much beauty... it was crazy!! I can't even begin to explain.

We woke up early this morning and got on the bus bound for Florence at 8AM. As much as I tried to fall asleep on the bus I was was too excited to. When we arrived I looked to the right and the first thing I see is the Florence skyline with the Duomo, Santa Cruce, the Baptistry, etc. Great way to start the morning, right?! (You'll have to check Facebook for photos, they are taking too long to upload to here.)

At the top of the hill in Piazza Michelangelo we toured a church that is 1000 years old. Think about that... that's 4X the time that the US has even existed!

Afterwards we went to Santa Croce- a Dominican Cathedral that you can pay 3 euro and take a tour. SO WORTH THE 3 EURO!

While my friends were in College Station in classrooms I was in Santa Croce with the tombs of... wait for it... Michelangelo, Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Dante. (While the bodies of Galileo and Michelangelo were there- da Vinci and Dante's are located elsewhere.) Just standing there in the church in front of their tombs was crazy! These are the people that I've read about in history books and now their bodies are within feet of me!

Afterwards we walked around the city with Paolo (the amazing man than runs the center) and he showed us all the sites that people don't typically see when they are just wandering through. Then we all went to a restaurant to eat and we had an amazing meal!! We had pasta, followed by pork, salad, french fries (comforts of home!), and then ice cream. Amazing!

Then we were allowed to do whatever we wanted and roam the city. Three of my friends and I went over to a market that lined several of the streets. We had to go over and look at them for a class (and write an essay on it later). It was really interesting. They had all sorts of cheap leather goods like purses, wallets, jackets, and gloves.

Once we were done walking the market we walked around and went into actual shops. Katie and I found a place that sold warm socks and we split a 5 pair/10 euro deal. Now my toes are nice and toasty. It comes in handy since they don’t really do the central heating thing over here. They turn on the radiators whenever they feel like it’s completely necessary for us to not get frostbite. This is part of the reason that I’m not feeling too sorry for people in Texas right now with the cold weather. Yes, it’s freezing there, but outside it is a constant 30-35 here and inside it’s about a constant 55 degrees. Really gotta bundle up to stay warm inside here. It’s funny because everyone will be eating meals in their full winter coats and winter garb.

We met back up to get on the bus in Florence at 5:30 and then started heading back to Castig. Once we got here we had about 30 minutes until dinner.

Now I am fighting with the Internet trying to post this. The wireless here has really been acting up- boo. Finally got it posted. Internet ninja! :)