Culture Shock #02 and #03

I am SO FREAKING HUNGRY.

Culture Shock #02: The past few times that I have been grocery shopping, I haven't seen anything that looks remotely edible and I don't know what most of it is. Don't think I would even if I could translate the descriptions on all of the packages. Which brings me to Culture Shock #03: even after four entire semesters of Italian, I can barely function over here. I am not confident whatsoever in my speaking abilities and I've forgotten most of my vocab even though I have four semesters worth of notes with me (and have looked through them several times).

My TA Chelsea told me this would happen and in order to speak well and or fluently, I'd have to get used to being embarrassed and get over it. Ugh. Why can't this just come naturally? I embarrass myself all the time at home, and I have absolutely no problem with it. But back to culture shock #2:

I miss my American snacks. I miss frosted flakes, I miss salted Ritz crackers, I miss PB&J, I miss salted butter (apparently they have it but I can't find it), I miss red meat--this is a big one for me. In the giant Mercato Centrale near the Piazza di San Lorenzo, they have a ton of meat, but it's still in animal-shaped form... I don't even know what to ask for--but it's all pork. Pork is HUGE over here, and don't get me wrong, I love pork, but where's the beef? I like my beef tenderloin, my ground beef, my strip, flank and any other kind of steak you can possibly think of.

I also have to add that I am not anywhere close to a vegetable person. I've tried 'em all and they're all disgusting. So I skip the vegetable portions of the markets and inside the stores. Fruit is fantastic--but they only sell what's in season. So I bought a whole load of oranges and clementines and kiwi. But I'm not a "meal-eater" per say... I like to snack. Very often, and every day. I don't have popcorn, I don't have recognizable chips, energy or granola bars. I don't have meat to make a small sandwich, and already, I'm sick of pasta because I can't make it like the restaurants do. I would love to have seafood pasta, gnocchis, raviolis, pasta carbonara, anything and everything, if I knew how to cook it and where to get the ingredients.

The final straw for me is the coffee. I stood in front of the shelf full of different kinds of caffe for an entire half hour and I walked away with nothing. I know what's espresso but I don't know if I can buy that for the "coffee maker" we have in our apartment. I don't know if the ground coffee (it looks like actual coffee) is caffe americano or not. I wouldn't even know if it was good coffee to buy or not, because we have SO MANY KINDS of coffee in the US, people develop preferences and then they're screwed when they leave the country.

Now that I've vented my frustrations on to the internet, I feel a lot better and I'm making myself a promise that I will try my hardest to learn to speak Italian, and to give myself a break because it's only my first week here. I have three more months in beautiful Florence, Italy and I'm going to make the most of it. So from now on, I'm going to try to not complain about things because I'm in Italy, and my family and I worked hard to get me here. From now on, I'm going to relax and only stress about school work, because that's the typical college student way of life.

Culture Shock #01

 Apparently in Italy--or maybe just Florence, I'll have to do more research on this one--when it rains, people stop what they're doing, and I'm talking about EVERYBODY, even the tourists. People stop what they're doing and they stand under the eaves of shops and buildings and wait for the rain to pass. Now, as this was our second day in Florence, my roommate Lauren and I had no idea. We had just finished up our placement exams for Italian, and we had to make it back to our apartment by a certain time to meet with our landlord. It was mandatory that we all be there from 5pm to 8:30pm and we couldn't leave until our landlord showed up and told us how to work everything. Of course, our placement exams ran long, and we had but 10 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other. So, naturally, we were in a hurry.

As soon as we stepped outside to walk home, it begins to downpour. It started out as just a light misting of rain and then BOOM, it downpours. We were the only ones walking in the rain. Literally, the ONLY ONES. We had people take pictures of us running through the piazza, and people laughing, making comments. All I could think about was, in America, we don't stop for the rain, we don't wait for it to subside. If its raining, we walk faster. Not in Italy my friends. 

Me and Lauren learned something new that day, and now we know to stand and wait like everyone else the next time it rains. Or check the weather and bring an umbrella. That may have been the smart thing to do.

Florence, Italy!

So, it's been about three years since my last post, and I have decided that I am going to use this blog as sort of a journal to keep record of all the things I'm doing (or would like to do) while abroad. That's right! Goodbye USA, Hello Italy! I am currently spending a semester abroad in Italy, mainly Florence, for half of my senior year as an undergrad. Graduate school will hopefully be coming up in the near future, but that's an entirely different story for another time.

I've been in my student apartment for a week and a half now, and I love my apartment-mates. You could describe our apartment as "country-chic" as it has very rustic colors, a lot of wood work, old school appliances, and stone floors.

I think it's adorable. I have my own room; it's on the smaller side, but I don't need that much space and I am only here for three and a half months. The only part that I don't care for is the fact that in Italy, there are only dryers at the laundromat. So my denim and my shirts may be a little stiff after I hang dry them... we'll see how this goes.

So far, my roommates and I have walked a great deal of the city, as well as across the river, had some of the best gelato, and at least a gallon of cappuccino's and caffè. We've crossed the Ponte Vecchio, walked along the Arno, been to a few fabulous restaurants and had some delicious looking (and tasting!) meals.

Four Cheese Gnocchi from a small restaurant by the Cattedrale in Siena, Italy.

My favorite has actually been the seafood pasta--I love me some shrimp! It's weird that they have little tiny octopi in the dishes as well, like, whole octopi (minus the head). I've probably eaten more vegetables than I've ever had in my entire life. Surprisingly, I love eggplant. Especially when it's paired with mozzarella, a little meat, and smothered in red sauce. I love the salads here as well because everything is so fresh! There are so many markets where restaurants (as well as my housemates and I) can buy fresh produce for meals every day. Although, I do miss American dressing--creamy ranch, Caesar, Italian--I'm not a big fan of just olive oil or balsamic vinegar. Two things I have learned about food though since I've been here: I still don;t like tomatoes, no matter how many times or how many different ways I try them, they just don't taste appealing to me. I also discovered that tofu is disgusting and I could never be vegan/vegetarian. I've had raviolis, gnocchis, the best bruschetta I have ever tasted in my life, delectable paninis, and I think the best vending-machine coffee known to man. But enough about food, let me dive in to my most recent adventure:

Last Sunday, my roommates and I took a day trip to Siena! It was absolutely GORGEOUS, and it was nice to be in a city that wasn't as touristy and busy like Florence. Surrounded by greenery, Siena is tucked away into the countryside, about an hour south of Florence. I made the mistake of wearing flats that weren't completely broken in yet, to walk around the city of Siena. My heels are just recovering, and my box of band-aids has been considerably depleted. (I remember thinking while I was shopping in Wegmans for things I would need abroad, that I am ridiculously accident prone and I should get two boxes of band-aids, but I ended up only getting one. Rookie mistake.) We took a tour called the Divina bellezza: The complete Museum of the Duomo in Siena, and bought the OPA SI Pass which allowed us to see the Museo dell'Opera, the Panorama dal Facciatone, the Cript, Battistero, and Cattedrale, all for 12,00 euro.

View of Siena from the Panorama dal Facciatone

Inside the Cathedral

The outside of the Cathedral

Another view of Siena on the walk back to the bus station.

The only thing we didn't have time to see was the Piazza del Campo where twice a year, the Palio di Siena takes place. The Palio di Siena is an event with roots that lead all the way back to the 12th Century.
      For more information on this famous race, read on: Italian Site (Homepage) or English Version

All in all, I'd say this was a good first adventure out into the countryside of Toscana, Italy!