Buongiorno Mom and Dad!

I just finished an excellent 6 day adventure with mom and dad. The trip included many wanderings (mostly not on purpose) tripping (there are a lot of steps in Italy!), scarpe e sciarpe, an extreme overusage of the word "allora"  and of course visits to some of  "Verona's most suggestive locations" (recommendation from poorly translated Verona guidebook), oh and let's not forget that Hannah partied it up and burnt down half the house while Mom and Dad we gone (Facebook always tells the truth) 

 

Mom and dad arrived in Rome on Wednesday where I hear they stumbled around ancient roman ruins after not sleeping for 36 hours. I met up with them Thursday in the late morning. We quickly (well attempted to be quick but failed) to see the synagogue in Rome which was absolutely gorgeous. I will probably try to make my way back there so that I can have more time. We were only able to stay about a half hour but it was good to make it there. After that we had a quick lunch (where I impressed mom and dad with my spectacular Italian ordering skills recently acquired) and then met up with our tour guide near the Vatican. We signed up for a Jewish tour of the Vatican and I was curious to see what that meant. I quickly found out that the Vatican museums are ridiculously large. Our tour guide took us to different parts and explained some general history but also some Jewish origins that were found. She took us at first to an area that was roped off and showed us stones with Jewish references that were found under the Vatican. We then made our way through some of the art that had been collected by the popes, there was sooo much. Mom and I loved the story about how popes could stroll around Rome and if they saw a statue they liked they could just take it (see our imitation in the picture below) As a result, there were tons of statues, so much that the people in the Vatican had to aimlessly stack them on top of each other, even if they didn't go together. We also saw the Sistine Chapel (did you know there are Jews  there? Look for the little yellow or green hats)  and the famous Cathedral just outside the Vatican.  After the tour we picked up some gelato (my parent's first in Italy) and went back to the hotel to relax. We then went out to dinner and I finally got to try something I have read about and sounded delicious…fried artichokes. I know this sounds weird, but they were so good! It is also co to know that this dish was invented by Jews because sometimes they had to eat things, such as artichokes that they found in the forest when food was scarce. 

The next morning we took a train to Florence. The first thing that I noticed was that Pashmina scarves were only 5 euros each ( I have been waiting for this all semester). It was definitely a sign of good shopping to come. Our hotel was located in a beautiful Piazza, Piazza Santa Maria Novella. The weather was absolutely perfect and we really enjoyed walking around. The first place we found was the synagogue, which is by far my favorite Italian synagogue I have seen. 

Our plan was to maybe see one of the art museums that day, but there was a national strike on all museums in Italy (figures). It ended up being fine though because we made reservations for both the Ufizi and the Academia the following day.  After a great dinner (served by a waiter who lived in Wisconsin for awhile) we went to bed, (so early for me but I was totally fine with it)  The next day we  hit the museums. I was very excited for the Ufizi and absolutely loved seeing the Birth of Venus and the Painting I had been copying in class. Mom and Dad got a bit annoyed with me for going too slow but I got better as the visit went on. After that we had lunch and then went shopping.  San Lorenzo market was a lot of fun, but we sadly couldn’t find the stand that Suzy (author of Italy shopping book, mom and I pretend like we know her and always say "Suzy Says)"  suggested. After successfully getting only a few things (I totally had this many scarves and purses when I came here) we had our appointment at the Accademia. We were mostly going here to see David but a great bonus was a musical instrument museum. We saw instruments from the D'Medici court including Amatis (shout out to Pappa's viola in Highland Park) and Strativariusis. It was really hard not to break into the glass and just try to play them (such a shame they are stuck in there) One of my favorite things was this stringed instrument that plucked strings but had piano keys so that "ladies wouldn't ruin their fingers"  We of course saw the David after this. I was really surprised by how big it was and how amazing it was. After that we did a bit more shopping and rested before coming across a local restaurant called "La Spada" for dinner. The tiramisu we had there was the best I have ever had in my life, and the waitress even told us she gave us a little extra because we were all sharing. 

 

The next morning we woke up and headed to Venice. All I'm going to say is that is was rainy and stressful, we were not happy. Fortunately, our hotel room was gorgeous and happened to be an apartment which we did not expect at all. I remembered my way around San Marco's square from when I visited earlier in the month, so we had a good time wondering around. The whole point of us going to Venice for one day since my parents were returning was that so I could see the Jewish Ghetto there with them, unfortunately it was too late and rainy by the time we got there, but I may go on my on sometime soon.

The next morning we headed to Verona, although it was raining I was excited to go back to something familiar. As we were taking the train we saw a ton of traffic that we later learned was due to the highway flooding. We were lucky it didn't affect any of our travel, but unfortunately a lot of people around the area are even displaced from their homes, so it was definitely serious.  In Verona I showed mom and Dad around and we also ate a bunch of delicious pizza. On Tuesday I took them to Castelvecchio, a 13th Century Castle and Museum and the Ancient Roman theater and Archeological museum. Even though it was raining, it was still very enjoyable. 

Most importantly, I purchased my first pair of shoes here, a really cute pair of gray leather boots that were impossible to commit to without mom's approval. A final highlight of the stay in Verona was meeting up with Claudio my program director and his wife Rita on Tuesday night. Claudio drove us to the top of a hill to view Verona at night which was beautiful. Wednesday morning, I woke up early, was very thankful that mom and Dad were there because like everything else in my apartment (aka washing machine and internet) my shower, and for that matter all the hot water in my apartment was broken. I was able to shower at the hotel after lugging a lovely red duffle of "goodies" to be sent home before I get home (a bit heavy but with a modification of packing fine) I was then off to class and Mom and Dad were off to Venice. Overall a great visit. I can't believe I will actually be home in a little over a month, so it wasn't as hard for them to leave as I thought it would be.

 As for now, working on planning the last details of my fall break. Thanks to Mindy I have all of my flights figured out and will be going to Israel for the first 6 days and then Sevilla for the other 4. Who else would I be visiting but my dear friends from JRF.  I can't wait!

Buongiorno Diary

Every week for photography we get an assignment. Usually it involves us going out an taking pictures with some sort of theme, or using a technique we've learned in class.  This week our assignment was to make a photo diary using pictures we already had or ones we took. Here is what I came up with. Comments are welcome!

 

Buongiorno Praga

This weekend (not this past one but the one before)  I got to visit Prague, somewhere I have wanted to go since I can't remember. Our flight left in the afternoon from Verona, so we left the apartment around noon. We then took a shuttle to the train station. On our first leg of the journey we flew a local airline "Air Dolomiti" although it was only an hour long it was really nice. First of all, everything was teal, including the flight attendants' suits. We also got a snack, a mousse type thing that was really yummy. The only issue was, the flight left 45 minutes late, making our 1 hour layover a bit tricky. We did not get to see much of the Frankfurt airport. It was all  kind of a blur considering we were running, but we miraculously made it. Upon arriving to Prague we took out money (really confusing, about 20 Czech Krowns per U.S. dollar) We then met up with Karissa's friends who are studying there. We found our hostel and then went out to dinner. I quickly learned that Czech food is not just heavy on the meat, but really heavy in general. I tried some  delicious beef goulash and potato and bread dumplings. (my stomach was not happy the next morning) We then returned to the hostel. 

The next morning we began our full day with breakfast at a local bakery. This is where I discovered that 
everyone in Prague speaks english, literally everyone. I also discovered that I can really tell the difference between an Italian cappucinno and a non-italian one, but I lived. Anne and I walked around a bit, saw then Lennon Wall, and then I had my Jewish tour. My tour guide Roman was great, and there were a lot of characters in the group. This one guy looked like Eugene Levy, but yet wasn't Jewish miraculously! I discovered this because his wife was one of those people ( I think they were German) who was having a difficulty understanding the Holocaust. When our guide was talking about Terezin, a concentration camp near Prague, the woman kept interrupting him claiming that the Jews in the camp should have been able to defend themselves. I guess it was good to have this experience, but it was a bit annoying. I met some other really nice people on the tour. There was a nice Jewish couple from the U.K. and an older woman from the U.K. who was studying theology and asked me a bunch of questions about  my practice. The Jewish Quarter was really cool. It is called Josefov after Joseph II ( Enlighted rule of Austro-Hungarian empire, son of Maria Theresa, if you want a better history lesson just ask me) It was really refreshing after being in the land of Churches known as Italy to see Hebrew everywhere and hear of familiar stories.   Some of my favorite things that I saw were the Jewish cemetery ( really cool, also there is a gravestone that if you rub the lion's stomach, it is supposed to help you get pregnant..don't worried I steered clear of it see below)  as well as a clock tower in Hebrew whose clock runs counterclockwise! I also learned at the Old-New Synagogue, you can go for services but they have bouncers at the door making sure you are actually Jewish and actually want to daven. I saw them in action on my way to the Reconstructionist services I attended.  By the way, if you were worried that I forgot anything from the tour I took notes (come on it's me!) After the tour I met up with Anne and we took pics by these massive baby statues (with no faces) see the above blog post for a pic, really a bit creepy but worked for my photo diary because of metaphors.   We then returned for the hostel for a bit and I got ready for services.

I decided to take a risk and not go to the touristy Spanish Synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat, but a local Reconstructionist community I found online. This experience was absolutely incredible. The community is small, and are located in the basement of an office building. I arrived and was immediately warmly greeted by the Rabbi who was actually Israeli and had perfect English. Everyone who was at services introduced themselves and said Shabbat Shalom. The rabbi asked if I would light the candles. I was really nervous, but excited to feel a part of everything. Also, at the beginning of the service he introduced me as a special guest "A Reconstructionist representative from the United States" ( I am not sure how the RRC or JRF would feel about this but I went with it)  The services were great. The community used their own siddur but it had a lot of the modifications in the prayers that I am used to at JRF. I knew 95% of the tunes, even a little Debbie Friedman was thrown in there! I especially loved her Misheberach (prayer for healing)  because it was written with a mixture of Hebrew and English and here it was sung in a mixture of Hebrew and Czech…so cool.  There was also a discussion after the service about the Torah portion which was nice to participate in. I decided I had to come back for Saturday morning.

Later that night, Anne and I met up with Karissa and her friends to go out to dinner and the bars. We went with a big group from the Prague program and were all really nice. The first bar we went was completely underground and like a maze. The second one that we took way out of town was more like a disco and was themed with lots of metal gears and stuff (very post-Soviet Union in my opinion). Anne  and I had a bit of adventure getting back, it took as an hour when it should have taken 15 minutes, but luckily Prague felt very safe and people were out and about.

The next day I woke up and went to services. The group was small ,but very nice.  I then met up  with Anne and went to see the Prague Castle. I did not expect the castle to be such a big complex but it was really cool. I spent a very long time in the art gallery, but also went to an exhibit about the history of the castle. I had no idea that the castle was over 2,000 years old. Exhausted, I decided to return to the hostel but on the way back got this circular doughy thing (see below) that is traditional in Prague (soo good) I then napped for a couple hours and met up with the group to go back out. This time they told us we were going to a Charles University Student Party. The party was just off the Old Town square, in a church, yes a church. The DJ booth even had a glowing cross. Yes this was a typical disco atmosphere with the drinks, techno music and dancing, and we were in a church. This ended up being a ton of fun despite the location being odd, we danced for two hours and then returned back to the hostel. 

The next day was pretty relaxed. I saw a cool Mucha and Dali exhibit, visited Wencalas Square, tried a bit more street food and then went home. Overall, weekend trip= success!

buongiornio internet

having major internet issues, I have had a few requests for updates but coming soon. I am currently in Florence with my mom and dad (awesome!) news on Prague etc will be there as soon as I am back in Verona!

Buongiorno Lessons

Before I leave for Prague I thought I should relay some important lessons I learned this week.

1. If people's expectations are really low of your ability, then even if you suck at something they think you are amazing: my violin lesson. I haven't played for almost 2 month can barely crank out a 3 octave g major yet my teacher (my age by the way), thought I didn't know how to play violin at all, so therefore I am a musical genius. I even got a call from my director who had arranged the lessons telling me that the director of the school had called him to say how good I was (really I am not good considering how long I have been playing)  The only impressive thing about the lesson was that I semi-understood what was going on even though we spoke all in Italian.

2. Italians use Do, Re, Mi etc. when talking about instrumental music. I may be wrong, but is that used much in U.S. besides choral music and music theory? I think it is kind of confusing but I'm working on it.

3. If you are trying to paint "light" reflections in hair, even if the hair is red, it is probably a bad sign if the color is reminiscent of macaroni and cheese (no further explanation needed)

4. If people are loading money onto your debit card from home, don't try to buy things at the exact moment. My credit card got rejected in the span of a half hour from many atms in Verona as well as the train station. I come home to find more money on my account.

4. (dealing with the above problem) British customer service people are the best! I am not sure what it was about the conversation, but I suddenly was not in a bad mood, maybe it was that she said "lovely" every other sentence or "we'll sort this problem out right away!" It was really a pleasure to talk to them (no joke)

I believe that is all the life lessons for this week, until Sunday, Ciao!

Buongiorno Molto Formaggio

This past weekend I had a wonderful time traveling with the group to Asiago, a small town in the mountains of Northern Italy. The weekend was very relaxing and low key which was perfect. We set out Friday for the two hour drive. I was a little nervous I would get car sick from all of the windy roads but I did okay. We arrived to this quaint little area that looked like it was usually a ski resort but was pretty much empty in the random month of october. The hotel was really cute. It is completely family run and owned, everyone from the reception, to the waitress to the bar tender were all part of the same family. I loved this and wish there could be more businesses like it in the United States.

Friday was pretty relaxing. After settling in we went to a small shop nearby that sold honey cosmetics and other products. I got some interesting things like strawberry and mandarin honey and some honey candies. Later we had a delicious dinner in the hotel and then went out on the town. We were directed to a bar that ended up being a bowling alley, so we bowled (not so successful on my part) all of the equipment was the same as in the U.S. (Brunswick) but the exciting thing was that for strikes and spares you got tickets like at an arcade.
   Saturday we woke up to a day that was a bit overcast, but still gorgeous. Around 9:00, we set out for the cheese factory. (shout out to Inna, thinking of you this whole time, literally kept saying "my friend would die if she was here right now) I thought there was going to be an official tour, but really it was just Claudio taking us around. I thought it was really cool. First of all, you could see some cows literally grazing in a field next to the factory. We got to see how all of the different ages of cheese were made/ aged. We even got to try cheese that was fresh off of the line (literally Claudio just grabbed some from this machine that these men were operating, see picture of my hand below). We also got to see the large store rooms that the cheese is stored in to age. We then got to try all different kinds (I'm pretty sure I ate the most but it was so good!)

After the factory we went to the town center. Me and a couple of the other girls concluded that it looked a lot like Colorado. There were stores selling warm things (imagine that in Italy, I was surprised they sold anything that could provide real warmth) as well as handmade wood products. We went to the market which was a bit overwhelming but exciting. This was a legitimate market with clothes, shoes, scarfs etc. I left with a few pairs of warm socks and a new pashmina scarf (yay!). After the market, we returned back to the hotel for lunch and then horseback riding. Although  it was raining, the ride was still gorgeous. Slight mishaps included a small jump and gallop (my horse only, screamed both times) Also, I somehow woke up the next morning with a huge bruise on the side of my knee, not sure how that happened. An interesting thing that I learned on this tour from our guide (a guy around our age) was that a lot of people in Italy still really admire Mussolini. He said, "I think that is in your country what you call 'rednecks' " I thought that comparison was pretty funny, but it is interesting that people still really look up to Mussolini, it made me want to do some more research into history (slowly making my way through my history textbook I lugged here). The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. It included a warm shower and hanging out in the hotel becuase it was raining and cold outside.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and went ice skating. The rink was indoors and largely reminded me of the rinks at home (except for the cheese advertisments). We returned back to the hotel, had lunch, packed up and set off for home. Before going home we stopped at a local grocery store to stock up on local cheese ( I purchased probably a bit too much) Claudio also had me try a local delicacy, this fruit jelly stuff that you're supposed to eat with cheese that is really spicy. I wasn't allowed to try it without purchasing so I took the risk. With one cherry..yes really spicy cherry my mouth was burning and my tummy felt a little funny. Currently 2.50 euro of it is sitting in my fridge...not sure if i'll attempt to eat that again, but it is all worth the experience.  We took a beautiful scenic ride home, I was tired but had a great weekend. Currently counting down the days until Prague this weekend!

Buongiorno la settimana

Looking over my posts, I realized that I have been focusing a lot on my weekend adventures but have posted little about a typical week. I thought that this was a perfect week to describe becuase it was very enjoyable (maybe thats because both weekends were extended but whatever) My Monday Italian class got moved to Tuesday since we had all been traveling last weekend so I began the week with Photography Tuesday morning. First of all, I never thought I would be that into photography (and I can't say I am very good at it) but I am absolutely loving our class. Our teacher Mauro is a professional photographer (why is he our teacher I don't know) but he's so cool! We got to visit his studio in Verona on Tuesday. There he showed us his computer, software printer (the size of a piano) etc. he also uploaded our pictures for the assignment of last week (foreground and background, did not go so well for me). We then learned a little more about the photography process then got to look at books of photographers we have talked about so far (check out Maggie Taylor she's really famous and her stuff is kind of creepy but cool, Mauro put together one of her books). We were then off with our next assignment finding things that are blue and yellow, which I have yet to complete, guess I'm procrastinating until Monday. After that we had a break for lunch then our Italian conversation class. I think I'm improving?

Wednesday was a very artsy day. We started in the Morning with art history. I am absolutely loving this class and our teacher Andrea. It is quite possible that I am annoying the rest of the class with my constant questions and mumblings about history to myself, but it is nice to feel somewhat in my element, yet realizing that I am appreciating something at a new level. Right now we are talking about iconography and symbolism in Italian art, both Roman and Christian. We also got a beautiful book filled with wonderful prints of Italian art from Roman times to the present. I haven't fully gone through it yet, but I definitely intend to. In the afternoon we had painting which I am feeling so/so about. We are copying famous paintings and I just feel like the teacher sometimes helps me too much. I know that she is making it look better, but I prefer to do things on my own, so we'll see how the next assignment goes.  I returned home, had dinner caught up on Glee and talked to some people at home, all around successful day.

Thursday was by far the best day. Andrea our art history teacher took us around "ancient Verona" which is really just the center telling us all about the history and art related. We walked in places that I have been a million times, but I learned so many new things about the history and the past and present function of certain things all over the city. I was the only one in the class furiously taking notes in a little notebook while we were walking but I know I will appreciate it later. (by the way they have these really fun pens here that they only sell in art stores in the U.S. and the look really pretty and are in all different colors, obsessed, but definetely very doodle prone). I came home very tired but excited for the weekend.

As for today, we are off to asiago in the mountains with Claudio. I know that it's going to be cold and there's going to be cheese and that's about it. Update coming soon.

Ciao!