A Gelato A Day

Ciao, Italia!

2010-05-16T18:36:00.004-04:00

Talk about mixed emotions…this will be my farewell post, the one in which I divulge my feelings and reflections on the semester past, and reveal the raw emotion I am feeling about my soon-to-be post-Italy life. It sounds cliché but I’m not really sure where to begin my discussion on the last three months—first I must recall everything we did, then I must come to a concise, well-stated conclusion of my feelings on all of those activities. Wherein lies my problem—how in the world am I supposed to compact all the emotions, lessons, observations, and feelings of my semester abroad into one neat, well written final statement? I can’t. This is why I will now leave you with a slightly messy though honest effort in writing about my dissection of this past semester.

February 1 a dream came true for me—I landed in Italy to spend the next three months studying, playing, and living in this exceptionally beautiful country. I may have mentioned it before, but Italy has been the number one country on my list of places to visit since I even came up with a list of places to visit. What I didn’t yet realize was just how special my semester abroad would turn out to be.

My current feelings are that this semester has been one very surreal moment in my life; a moment that I fear will be left here in time, only referred to as a past, closed chapter in my life that will never be fully believable. It still hasn’t hit me that I am in Italy and I have spent over three months here; I’m not sure I will ever believe it.

Remember the cycle of emotions that students generally experienced with their study abroad experience that I talked about in my first blog post? Well, I’m pretty sure I have experienced each and every one of them twice over in the past three months, and am only now coming into the “content” stage of being here. Italy has become life for me; it is familiar now, it is what I know and what I do. Now, before I’m ready, I have to pick it all up and move back to the States. I’m sure that I will transition back into life at home faster and easier than I can imagine, and that terrifies me. I don’t want it to be easy. I want to struggle to let go of certain Italian-ways and continue others even at home. I want to question and challenge my life in the States because of what I have been exposed to here in Europe.

We have completed an amazing amount of activity this semester; looking back on the many, many excursions we took and the amount of authentic Italian culture and life I was exposed to shocks me. I am finally realizing the benefits of studying abroad with a small group of people in a small town; because of it I have been fortunate enough to meet some incredible individuals and have experienced up close in person things that most will never have the opportunity to experience no matter how many times they travel to Europe. I was handed on a silver-platter the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the best of Italy, and have been more than pleased with my experience. The integration of our classes in the palazzo with our excursions as a group was done so seamlessly, each lesson learned in the classroom supported with an excursion in the “real Italy.” We were given several opportunities for independent travel which boosted my confidence in my personal travel skills, and allowed me to have a lot of fun with the friends I have made this semester. I have traveled all over Tuscany and a few places beyond; I have been connected with a fun and supportive host-family; I have met Italian girls my own age who are sweet and welcoming of the Americans who have come into their town; I have been able to help out in an Italian high school and witness a raw account of young Italian life; I have seen ceramics and paper being made; I have participated in unique Italian traditions; I have eaten some of the best food of my entire life; most importantly, I have learned something about myself and my standing in this great, big, vast world of ours—that there is so much to see and do and live, and that I want to be a life-long traveler.

I know that I will not realize the full extent of how lucky I have been, the lessons I have learned about myself and life, and of just how much I will miss it here until I am home again and unable to come back for who knows how long. Thankfully our final dinner as a full group last week opened my eyes a little bit to just what an amazing experience I have been blessed with, and therefore I have made sure to take my last week to soak it all up and enjoy it while it lasts. As the old saying goes, “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

I will come back some day. I will return to Sansepolcro, if only to eat at the Goblin Gelateria again (hands down best fondente flavored gelato in the world). Until then, I will hold this place dear to my heart and only hope that the pictures I have taken and the memories in my head do it justice once I am home.

Ciao Italia,

Hilary

The End is Near

2010-05-04T17:03:00.008-04:00

Our time is winding down; we’re planning final dinners, parties, exams, and last minute gelato runs. I’ll save my final feelings about my study abroad experience in Italy for my last blog post next week, and for now will focus on the last bit of fun we’ve been having. During the second half of the semester we have had the opportunity to participate in service learning with elementary, middle, and high school level schools in Sansepolcro helping teach the English classes. Everyone goes on Monday morning to their school, but because no English classes are taught on Monday morning at my school, Tecnico Commerciale di Sansepolcro (high school), I go on Friday mornings. However, because of our second travel break, Easter break, and our excursion to the Val d’Orcia, I haven’t been able to go to my school until just this past Friday. So finally now having had my first service learning experience, I’d say it was a success. I help teach three different classes, with two different teachers for about three hours. Thankfully before I arrived on Friday morning, one of the teachers had emailed me with suggestions of things I could talk about in her two classes. Since this was my first time, I spent about half of each class having the students introduce themselves, then introduced myself; they said their names, where they lived (since not all of the students live in Sansepolcro and some travel quite a long way each day for school), and what they like to do in their free time. It was obvious that this sort of conversation was one of the first things they learned and practiced a lot in their English classes, because each student had the dialogue down pat. Something I have come to realize about Italian youth is that they are very similar to American youth in the way they express their individuality through dress and hairstyles, and that their favorite free time activities include “listening to music, surfing the net, and going out with friends.” Even Italian high schools feel like American high schools—as soon as I walked in I was taken back to my days at Cary High with graffiti written on doors and desks in white out, masses of students overwhelming the hallways, teachers desperately trying to be heard over the noise, smokers congregating in the outside courtyard, and messy notebooks scattered over the desks. After going through introductions in my first class, I was asked to discuss the American education system with the students, something they were interested in for comparison purposes with their own school system. In fact, I think the teacher was more interested in hearing about similarities and differences between the school systems in each country than the students were. Italian high school students attend class from 8:00 in the morning until about 1:30 in the afternoon, where they then return home for lunch and are done with school for the day. But they do attend school on Saturday to make up for no classes being held in the afternoon. The students and teacher did not seem to be too surprised by the fact that American students usually go from about 7:30 in the morning until around 3:00 in the afternoon; what they were surprised by was the fact that homework is assigned on a daily basis and that quizzes and tests are given on a regular weekly/bi-weekly basis. In Italy, students are given one large cumulative exam at the end of the school year without much testing during the semester. Of course my teacher used this fact to try and tell her students that they were lucky compared to American students and that if they wanted, she would be happy to adopt the American way of homework and regular examinations…of course that didn’t go over with them so well.

After talking about school systems, I had the opportunity to talk about prom night! Most television and movies aired in Italy are American programs that have been dubbed in Italian; because of this, Italians are very much aware of American pop culture and unless they have traveled to the United States, their idea of American life is what they see in the media. My students wanted to know about prom night in the U.S. because they were having their very own, first ever prom night at the end of the semester and they wanted “to do it right.” They knew what they had seen in movies and on television, so they wanted to get a first-hand account from an American that had experienced prom night for herself. They asked what the girls wear, what guys wear, if a tuxedo jacket and jeans would be appropriate for guys (like I said, high school guys trying to be funny—same in any country I guess), if people went out to dinner, where prom was held, what time the dance started, what time it ended, and if students drank alcohol at prom. This last question didn’t throw me off that much because there is no drinking age in Italy, so Italians are raised on drinking alcohol responsibly and it would not have been out of the norm to see some of my students out on a Saturday night at a bar. Another reason this question did not surprise me was because some American students do drink alcohol (illegally) on prom night, as is common knowledge, so perhaps they picked up on this from movies. We also discussed corsages and how the flower or ribbon of the corsage should match the girl’s dress—to which they asked what you did if the girl wore black; that made me laugh and I just told them you could pick whatever color flower you wanted in that situation. It was fun to think back on one of the biggest nights in a high schooler’s life and see how excited the Italian students were about having their own prom night. The more I experience Italy, the more I realize that much of human nature must be universal.

The second class I helped with is younger, about 13-14 years old and we’re practicing for their end of year Trinity exams that are coming up; these are the exams that test students on their English competency. Half of the class went into a separate room with the teacher while I stayed with the rest of the students and asked various questions about their family, hobbies, pets, etc to help them with their oral skills. My third class was the most troublesome, only proving what the teacher had warned me about before I entered the room. They nonstop talked, threw things at each other and were generally rowdy. Because of this behavior it was difficult for me to do anything productive with them, and their teacher seems to have given up hope at this point in the year, so we made it through introductions and that was about it before I left. This week I’ll be working with her more advanced level class which is better behaved, according to her. I enjoyed my time in the high school getting so see similarities and differences in the school systems and the students; I’ve been lucky with some great groups of kids.

This past Saturday we took our last group excursion to Gubbio where we ate large pretzels being sold in the market, rode up the steep mountain on a chair lift giving us the chance to witness a beautiful panoramic view of Gubbio from above, and visited the site of the K-T line where the first evidence of why dinosaurs became extinct was found. We were lucky with the weather and our day in Gubbio learning and exploring was very enjoyable.

The biggest benefit and joy of studying abroad in a small town are the unique opportunities with which we’re presented because of connections and getting to know the people in that town. One of many examples of this from this semester was our jewelry buying/cooking lesson/dinner night at the Chimenti’s house. A very friendly and generous family here in Sansepolcro invited us into their home for dinner on Monday night where we were also treated with a lesson on how to make onion soup and tiramisu. One of the Chimenti’s daughters, Barbara, makes jewelry that she had on display in her workshop for us to admire and purchase (of course I couldn’t turn down this offer and bought some beautiful earrings). After everyone had picked Barbara clean of her jewelry, Mrs. Chimenti taught us how to make tiramisu (I’ll add this to the homemade pasta I learned how to make from Patrizio once I’m home and have a complete meal!), as well as the Italian version of French onion soup, which was our first course for dinner. The “soup” was followed by pork, potatoes, zucchini, salad, and the tiramisu we had made. Mr. and Mrs. Chimenti are funny and friendly, as well as wonderful cooks so we had a great time that night.

We’re now half-way through our second to last week here, with our first exam tomorrow. Before we know it we’ll be gone, so this weekend I plan to soak up as much of Sansepolcro as possible.

Ciao for now,

Hilary

Got a Lot To Do in a Little Bit of Time

2010-04-27T15:40:00.018-04:00

When asked the question, “What is the most beautiful view in the world?” I now have an answer: rural Tuscany, Italy. We Ragazze Americane along with the Meredith College faculty here in the Palazzo Alberti spent last weekend in the Val d’Orcia area of the Tuscan countryside, admiring breathtaking views and experiencing authentic Italian life for three days straight. The area is literally the most stunning thing I have laid my eyes on, and I’m a person who has spent her summers on the coast of North Carolina—itself arguably one of the most beautiful places in the world. In the Val d’Orcia There are rolling fields of varying shades of green with so many little yellow wild flowers that it looks as if somebody sprinkled the valleys with gold dust. The introverted part of me has always wanted to grow up and live in rural countryside far away from noise, hustle and bustle, and other people. When I win the lottery this area will be where I decide to relocate and live in my renovated Tuscan Villa with future husband, miles away from other civilization—nothing but an Italian cypress tree lined driveway and green pastures for miles.

With an itinerary consisting of at least eight different stops, we were a busy bunch taking it all in. First on the list: Buonconvento and a museum featuring the life of Italian farm workers from the region through the years. After grabbing a quick lunch within the city walls of Buonconvento we headed on to Montalcino (Twilight series fans may know this as the city where the Twilight movies were filmed) to enjoy some time in a small Tuscan town known for its wine. After visiting some cute shops and having a tea and coffee break, we loaded back up the bus and drove on to Abbey di Monte Oliveto, a still functioning Abbey with beautiful frescoes lining the walls and a gorgeous chapel where we were able to stay and listen to Gregorian chanting during the monk’s afternoon mass. After a busy first day we headed to our accommodation for the weekend—Sant’Anna in Campiena, a beautiful old monastery with simple yet spacious rooms (there is a room in this monastery that was used to film a few kitchen scenes in the movie “The English Patient,” for those of you who have seen it). The hotel served dinner to its guests every night, so for two nights in a row we were spoiled with a large, traditional Italian meal complete with four courses and red wine. Delizioso!

Saturday we awoke to more sun shining and more beautiful rural Tuscan scenery as we made our way to La Foce in Val d’Orcia, the large property of Iris Origio who hid Jews and P.O.W.s on the farmland during WWII. First we saw the cemetery where Iris, her first son, her husband, and several people who lived on the property were buried. La Foce also runs an olive oil business, using the olive trees grown on the property to make several different kinds of olive oil that we were given a chance to purchase. Our visit wrapped up with a tour of the extensive and beautiful gardens on the property, which of course was beneficial to the science class some of us are taking this semester.

By the time we left La Foce it was time for lunch at Ristorante Pulcino, a large restaurant operated by family members of the original owners, a couple who bought the restaurant several decades ago only to discover artifacts in the cellar dating back to the Etruscan period, which are now on display in the cellar and in a mini museum set-up inside the restaurant. I enjoyed wonderful bruschetta, delicious vegetable soup, and the best bread I have ever eaten. We left as happy campers from our delicious meal and drove down the street to the center of Montepulciano, another adorable Tuscan town with narrow streets and stone buildings. If you were to be blindfolded, picked up, and dropped onto a random street in the middle of any of the towns we visited this past weekend, you wouldn’t know which one you were in based just on looks; you have to find a feeling for each place that helps you distinguish it from the others. Montepulciano felt slightly eccentric and funky to me, very fun. The boutiques and stores all had something unique to offer and the feeling was down-to-earth and relaxed. I liked it! The only time it rained the entire weekend was while we were eating lunch and visiting Montepulciano, but the sun came out again and beautiful it was still. After another long day we headed back to Sant’Anna to explore it a bit in the daylight before another tasty dinner that evening.

Sunday we squeezed in a visit to San Gimignano, a tower city that originally boasted 72 towers, of which 14 still exist today. Obviously it is the towers that set this town apart in my mind from the others, but it also helps that the “world champion” gelateria for two years in a row is in San Gimignano. It was really, really good gelato—comparable to the Goblin’s here in Sansepolcro, but I dare not say better. After San Gimignano and some shopping around the many, many tourist traps, we headed to Volterra. While the Twilight movie series was filmed in Montecalcino, Volterra is the city named in the books as location (Vampires in Volterra—sounds catchy, right?). Volterra is known for its alabaster, of which several different things can be made—jewelry, lamps, clocks, picture frames, vases, bowls, etc. Alabaster is a mineral, an almost translucent white that can be dyed any color you wish. There were alabaster shops all over Volterra, so we spent our couple of hours there exploring what each had to offer, poking our head in a few churches and snapping a few pictures along the way. After Volterra it was back to Sansepolcro, leaving the incredible views of the Tuscan countryside out of the bus windows behind us. It was an enjoyable weekend, for sure.

Rewind about two weeks back; prior to our weekend in the Val d’Orica our time here in Sansepolcro has been jam packed with lots of other fun activities. I’ll go in order of events—first being a group outing to neighboring Anghiari, a small town that sits up on a hill and overlooks Sansepolcro. It has great views, cute shops, and precious winding roads. The weather cooperated and we had a fun few hours getting to know what is just down the road from home.

The Saturday prior to our Val d’Orcia weekend I made it back to my favorite Italian city, Florence, and met-up with a long time camp friend of mine, Beth. We matched -up our individual itineraries and made it to the Pitti Palace, Michaelangelo’s Piazzale, a few churches, the San Lorenzo market, and Il Papiro! Pitti Palace is HUGE, each room a piece of art in itself, and filled with actual paintings as well. We admired some pieces of famous artists such as Rafael, put kinks in our necks staring up at the beautiful ceiling in each room, and made personal commentary on the bedrooms of the Duke and Duchess. After making our way through the large interior, we had an equally large exterior garden to spend time in, as well. This wasn’t a problem, because the weather was in our favor, spring had awakened in Italy and it was hot outside that day. We wandered around the gardens for a while before deciding we had seen the majority, grabbed some sandwiches and walked up a very steep hill across the Arno river from the Pitti Palace to Michaelangelo’s Piazzale, one of the most popular locations for stunning views of the city, as confirmed by the FOUR different wedding parties we saw getting their pictures taken in the piazzale. We enjoyed the sunshine, the views, and our sandwiches, chatted for a while, and got up to see some churches nearby (we had to make that trek uphill worth it). Beth hadn’t yet been to the San Lorenzo market, which is an experience anybody visiting Florence just has to have. So we took our time walking through Florence towards the market where ironically enough we ran into another Seafarer friend of ours studying abroad this semester. We did eventually reach the market which is always a fun time checking out the various goods being sold and the people trying to bargain, and of course I had to show her Il Papiro, my new love. It was a great day getting to catch up with an old friend and share study abroad experiences in one my most favorite cities of this most beautiful country.

The next week we were busy students as we took three mini excursions in the afternoons. The first was to a goat farm just outside Anghiari where we saw what went into the care, upkeep, and production of a goat farm. There aren’t many small, independently managed goat farms such as this one because of the strict regulations put on such farmers, so it was interesting to get Brent, the owner’s, perspective on the life on a goat farm. His farm consists of about 200 goats, some babies, and he plus one worker are the only ones to manage the farm and take care of the goats. They are milked twice a day, even when they aren’t pregnant, in order to keep up milk production. The goats are allowed to roam freely for four hours a day, and eat whatever they would like—which inevitably affects what their milk tastes like, and therefore what the cheese that is made from the milk tastes like, meaning no two goat cheeses that are made from Brent’s goat’s milk taste the same. We were able to sample some of the cheese, though, and I can tell you that it doesn’t matter what the goat eats, all the cheese tastes delicious. Cute goats, beautiful countryside, and delicious cheese made for a winning mini excursion number one.

After the goat farm we headed to the San Lorenzo Archaeological Arboretum. This large arboretum is run by and maintained by one hard-working woman, Isabella. The intent of the arboretum is to preserve heritage trees—those apple and pear trees that are native to Italy but are quickly disappearing from existence because of selection. She works hard to graft and grow a few of the hundreds of varieties of apple and pear trees that once existed in abundance in order to preserve some of the natural heritage of Italy. We were given a tour of her orchards where we saw many of the several varieties she grows, all flowering and looking beautiful. She was given a grant by the government at one time to do this work, but that money has since run out, so she is individually working hard to preserve this piece of history that was so important to her father, is so important to her, and can be very important to botanists and scientists all over the world.

Last but not least, my busy week included my first host family dinner! Jess and I are partners and have been matched with the Alberti family. Sound familiar? We live in the Palazzo Alberti and our host family is related! Valentina (Vale for short) is our host mom, Daniela (Danny) is our host dad, and Riccardo (Ricky) and Martina are their children. They served a typical Tuscan appetizer of a cheese and apple crostini, sausage, and pieces of meat, followed by roasted duck and French fries (which Europeans call roasted potatoes) and fruit salad and chocolate rice krispy treats for dessert. Delizioso! We had an absolute blast with them, taking a tour of their house (which was larger than I was expecting), looking at their family photos from their trip to New York City in 2005 (which they still talk about excitedly—maybe because we are American and they felt it was a connection?), and watching family videos of Ricky’s final martial arts performance, Martina dancing around the house, Danny’s birthday sky diving trip, and his flag throwing performance as part of a cultural, traditional celebration in the piazza of Sansepolcro. Their English is about as good as Jess’ and my Italian, which isn’t saying a lot, so together we were able to figure out enough to carry on conversation. They even used Google Translator a few times, which cracked me up. Time flew by while we were with them and Jess and I are both eager to return for our next dinner.

Whew, I think that about catches me up to speed on all that has been happening. This Saturday we’ll take one last excursion to Gubbio before we begin our last two weeks here in Italy! How time flies…

Ciao for now,

Hilary