Catching up

So its been a few days since I have really posted, so I have a few things to catch everybody up on. 

Classes are going well. I have a lot of homework but it is all interesting so I don't mind doing it so much. My italian class is getting a little bit better even though it is mostly in english (we are currently watching an italian movie with english substitles - what is the point!?) but we had a quiz the other day which I think I did well on. Unfortunately, my professor, Domenico has started asking me to correct the mistakes of others in the class which is not really a proper way to approach the situation, but at least it is more challenging for me. I am teaching myself a lot of italian too, I am now reading children's books in Italian (with the help of a dictionary always) and have just worked my way through the story of Pandora in Italian. My extra curricular reading lately is cookbooks and children's books....

My politics class is pretty much the same format as my topics class in NYC but the material is more interesting since we are really learning about the roots of "democracy" and it is a truly interesting time to be learning about such a thing. It also corresponds nicely with the time period that we are studying in my sociology of the arts class. 

 

My SOA class is definetely my favorite class. My professor is an old Italian lady named Professor Ciacci (pronounced Cha-chee) who speaks great english but lapses into Italian during our lectures (somehow an interesting 2.5 hour  period) which I love. She also has the tendency to fall asleep mid lecture. She is still really interesting, very realistic and grounded and super creative. She is very fixed on including students (since we only have 5 in our class) and she has some really incredible field trips planned. It is one of those classes where I am writing down notes for myself in the middle of class notes. It reminds me a lot of my post-modern poetry class last year and we have some cool trips planned to contemporary art galleries and photography exhibits. One of them is a gallery where they focus on the experience of interacting with the art and the artist so the entire viewing is considered a part of the art so I am pretty excited about that! 

My painting class is, er, interesting. I am a pretty bad painter! I spent three hours last wednesday night painting a black-green blob that was supposed to be a bottle. My teacher told me she didnt think it was so bad for my first time. I decided to take that as a compliment. Anyway, I am really enjoying the process of sitting for three hours in a well lit studio and playing with paint. 

My classes are all really well tied together  as I paint, where I learn first hand the artistic process, and then I learn about the relevance of art and the process in my soa class, and then I learn about the political context in which this process was developing and then the whole darn thing is in italian!

So thats pretty much everything. My roomates are  little bit sick and I am definetely fighting something off so I am drinking lots of tea, keeping the windows open and eating well. Alright, its way past gelato time!

P.s We got locked IN our apartment today and couldnt get out until about 3. Thats okay though. 

P.P.S I also went to a an AWESOME vintage fair yesterday and I got a shirt, some shades, and a bracelet. 

So  I will leave you with this little anecdote of Italian culture:

This happened in my Italian class the other day. We were learning how to describe ourselves and we were about to graduate past "I am tall" and "I am stubborn" into the world of hobbies and activities. We learned to say I like....(to play soccer, to read a book) etc. One of the girls in my class (there is only one boy) raised her hand and asked (in english, of course) how to say "I hate". My professor, Domenico, looked at her with a confused facial expression. "Hate" he repeated, asking her if the word was correct (his english is about as good as my italian). "Hate" she said again, and he went over to the white board and asked to spell it. "H-A-T-E" she spelled. "Hate" he said again, "Hate, like the opposite of love?" The girl nodded and Domenico, finally understanding, replied, "No, we do not have  a word for this. It is too strong". 

Pictures up!

Heres pictures from the last couple of days:

Uffizi!

Buonasera. 

I didnt really do much today except have class! I had my italian class and my politics class. Pretty normal etc. However today was the first day, (since weve been here) that it hasnt rained! So I was in a good mood all day because it was so sunny. After school I went to the bookstore and bought Ai piedi dell'Olimpio (At the foot of Olympus), Il GGG (The BFG), Il Piccolo Principe, e La Scienza in Cucina i L'arte di mangiar bene (The science of cooking and the art of eating well). I am going to try to read them in that order, since it goes from easiest to hardest but they will all be a challenge for me! My roomates and I are also trying REALLY hard to speak only in italian. People in my italian class are truly starting to get on my nerves though, they pretend to try to ask question in Italian and then just speak in english. I hate it. Anyway, I have boatloads of homework to do, so I'm going to get on that (even though I would rather read my new books, culinaria italia, etc.) ciao!

A few days' recap

Ciao tutti. Mi dispiace per not posting recently. My internet (which we affectionately dubbed Alice) has been a little fleeting lately. 

After the Uffizi on Friday, we woke up early on Saturday and took a bus to Lucca. It was rainy and positively freezing but we still had a great time. Unfortunately some of our capagne did not have as much fun but we planned ahead! We went to see the birthplace of Puccini, which is marked with a truly fabulous statue of him reclining in a chair eternally smoking a cigarette (he died of throat cancer). We also saw the Roman amphitheatre and the Piazza of San Martino which had some incredible bas-relief sections on the outside. Inside is the Volto Santo which is a truly unique depiction of the crucifixion. There is a legend about it that it arrived in an unmanned boat and the people from Pisa tried to reach it by boat but their oars broke (ask a Pisa native and they tell a different story) and once it arrive and was installed in the cathedral it would occaisionally disappear  and later be found in fields surrounding the city. Anyway, every year there is a big festival in Lucca where they carry it from one cathedral to another. very fancy. We also saw Tintoretto's Last Supper and the sarcophagus of Illaria del Carretto from 1405!! 

Once the tour was over we got some free time which we used to window shop (I bought nothing) and then we went to a nice Italian style 3 hour lunch at Buca di San Antonio. We started by sharing this beautiful little Tart of Ricotta and artichokes with a chickpea sauce. Then Danielle had guinea fowl with grapes (she is a vegetarian! haha, except when we go out) Katarina had baby goat with potatoes and turnip greens and I have pork with truffle sauve (hehe) and green bean pudding. We all shared and we had a bottle of Majulina Colline Lecchese Rosso (I wanted to get something local). The lunch was relaxing, warm and delicious.

Next we grabbed some local desserts - bucatello - a yeasty bread with eggs raisins, and the one we had also had chocolate. And cookies (they have a name but i cant remember!) dipped in chocolate with sprinkles. They were perfect winter cookies. 

Saturday night, (after a catnap) we discovered a jazz club (called jazz club!) and met up with some friends from a different school who are also studying in florence, and went to a dance club called Twice and then our Brazilian friends (a friend of the friends from Parsons who live in Firenze, showed us this lounge that was in a cave sort of undergroundish. very italian and fun. But we were exhausted so we came home and slept in on Sunday!

On Sunday there was a chocolate festival in Santa Croce!!! Chocolatiers from all over Italy come to Firenze and sold and gave away their delights. The highlight was a truffle with balsamic and fragole (strawberries). Then we just did homework and tried to go to bed early! 

So that is the weekend! 

I have been trying to plan some of the trips I want to take around Italy and Europe (I am trying to keep it in Italy) but here is my tentative schedule:

This weekend I may go to Bologna, Parma or Modena however I'm not sure yet. 

2/6-2/8 There is Carnaval in Arezzo, but there are also trips to Interlocken and we want to go there too, so that is a possibility. 

2/13-15 I am in London!!! (and Pisa briefly)

2/20-22 Elle comes and I meet her in Rome!!!

2/27-3/1 I am not sure yet, another chance for Bologna, Parma, Modena

3/5-8 I meet Dad and Leslie in Venice

3/9-3/11 We travel to Siena where I spend a few days with Dad and Leslie and then meet up with Mom and David

3/20-22 Back to Firenze with Mom and David and school starts up again

3/27-29 This is the weekend after my birthday and I am thinking of doing a weekend involving a cooking  class/truffle hunt/wine tasting

4/3-5 I have a site visit, a field trip planned by one of my classes to Rovereto for a celebration of the Futurists and a trip to Lake Garda. 

4/9-13 We have an extra day of for easter, I am thinking about going to Greece with some of my roomates/friends for a small vacation

4/17-19 No plans...yet

4/24-26 ""

4/30-5/3 There is a Flamenco festival in Sevilla!!!!!!!

5/8 back to the states!

So! There are my tentative plans. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome. Or give me suggestions on restaurants of activities that cannot be missed in these places, please please please comment here or email me (acekus@gmail.com) 

Things that I know I have to do:

Modena - balsamic

Parma-ham

Butcher of Panzano (school plans a trip)

and I want to get to a winery at some point (suggestions!?)

Okay. I have to get back to work!!! So much homework!!

Things to look forward to:

I m ay be going to a lecture on futurism tomorrow, there is a vintage fair this weekend and next week I am going to the observatory and going to see revolutionary road at the Odean theatre!!

okay! ciao! baci! 

The Uffizi

Today I decided I would let myself sleep in  since classes this week were certainly exhausting. I woke up and made myself some espresso (out of my Moka of course!) and a breakfast of yogurt, proscuitto and toast with honey and ricotta. 

 

I then got myself all dressed up  (in the red, yellow and blue dress with all the flowers!) and went to the Uffizi! I was happy to find out that my roomates are as dorky as I am when it comes to museums, and we are all of the belief that it is unacceptable to go a museum in just any old clothes and out of respect for the art withing the museum, we must dress up!

 

So, I marched on down to the Uffizi and spent the entire afternoon. I saw every single piece of art that was able to be seen! NYU gives us these amazing little cards that not only give us free admission to many major museums in Italy, but also let us skip all of the lines! So I marched right on in for free. The museum was obviously unlike anything in the states. The building in itself is gorgeous and competes with the works that hang on its walls. I found myself spending so much time just in one room studying not only the walls but the intricate ceilings, frescoes, window trimmings, etc. 

 

One room I walked into was completely Gold. The cieling was covered with individual Gold flowers and the walls had these tiny little pieces of thwarted artwork all over them. This was my favorite room not only because it was all in gold and the detail was incredible, but the sculptures in this room were all from one story, (I don't remember which one) and they all depicted (exquistely of couse) movement. It was just really neat to see these larger than life motions frozen in stone. I spent at least an hour in there! 

 

Anyway, there is way too much to cover so I put some of my favorites on here. Later I will try to post some of the pictures I was able to illegally take, once I can figure out how!

 

Below are:

Rosalba Carriera, 

Portrait of Felicia Sarton

Giuseppe Crespi, Cupid and Psyche (or in Italian Amore e Psiche)

and Woman Rising from the Bed (or "The Flea")

Giovanni Bellini, 

Sacred Allegory

This picture doesn't even do it justice. The detail in this one is incredible, especially in the floor. 

Boticelli, Cestello Anunciation

and then 

Matthais Stomer's Caravaggio inspired Anunciation

 

Well the pictures didn't show up, but theres the names of some of my favs!

After the Uffizi I came home and did research about Lucca since we leave early tomorrow for there. Now I am exhausted so I am going to do some homework and go to bed! Baci!

 the blog page has been down lately so I will try to post more of my weekend later. Highlights include Lucca, The Chocolate Festival and my travel plans! 

Il Cibo

Ciao tutti amici! (I have no idea if thats right)

Ookay, what have I been up to? 

Well this was the first real week of classes and after much switching, stressing and sampling, I picked a courseload that is interesting, challenging and oddly coherent. Instead of post-modern fiction I am taking Sociology of the Arts, upon the recommendation of an advisor who saw my interest in the food world and thought this would be a pertinent class. When I went to class today I got extremely excited as I saw the syllabus included explorations of Duchamp and etc. My professor is an old(er) italian lady who falls asleep in the middle of lectures but I loved that she passed out a questionnaire about us, asking about our experience in art, our interest in the class, what we want to do with our lives (as if we know!) and etc. she seems to have a serious passion which I truly appreciate. 

My Italian class is a bit of a let down since my professor speaks mostly in English and the students in the class (primarily girls) refuse to speak italian, even when they ask questions about what italian words and phrases mean! Its frusterating but my roomates are I are very committed to learning italian so i speak only italian with people around here (even when they try to speak english with me) and my roomates and I run around reading signs and naming everything in italian!

My topics class is cosi cosi. it seems really interesting and the professor is hysterical. it makes a lot of jokes that arent funny which makes them extremely funny. but in all honesty, i do think its going to be interesting. it is a class based around Leftist politics and what it truly means to be left both in history and in contemporary society. 

MY painting class is going to be REALLY interesting! mostly because I am a terrible painter! And my professor is a professional painter who doesnt believe in giving As and thinks grading is too inflated (im not sure i disagree....) anyway, after spending 140 Euro at the art store I'm pretty committed! But if there is anywhere to be bad at art...its Florence!

So we went the market the other day, it was WONDERFUL! There were dead chickens with their heads attached and fresh sausage and liver and cuori (hearts) IT was wonderful!

Tonight I cooked for my roomates, fresh tortellini from the market with porcini mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, onions, garlic, and chicken. It actually came out really good considering the only things in my spice cabinet were salt, pepe, and dried basil. a little porcini/balsamic reduction and voila! (er, brava?) My roomates now want to cook every night together. Which is even better since I found a copy of that out of print cookbook that I was researching before I left - Culinaria Italia! I bought it immediately and have been reading it all night! I do have to get back to organizing my school books here though! It takes forever to get things since all of the stores are specialty so school supplies are scattered around the city. I am going to try to make the Uffizi tomorrow and Saturday I am going to Lucca so I will try to post after that! I miss everybody! ciao! baci! 

It wont let me post pictures here so I will do my best to try to add them later!

Mercato Centrale e Obama!

Buona sera! I have NO time but heres pictures:

Mercato Centrale

I'll post more later!

First Weekend in Firenze!

Buon giorno! I have been running around the city as usual, still trying to find my way around. We have been finally making friends with people, mostly who work in shops in our area, as we get the courage to ask in our patchy italian where we should go for aperitivo, or dinner, or even where to buy trashbags (oddly hard to find here!)

It seems that many of the tucked away more traditional and less touristy places here are magical! When you are looking for them, they are never there, however when you aren't looking they are incredibly easy to find. Last night we stumbled upon a tiny osteria on the other side of the river and it was the most adorable restaurant. The meal was pretty awesome, especially because as soon as we sat down we got glasses of sparkling wine and a bread basket filled with cheese and olive tapenade. 

We have been keeping it pretty mellow mostly going out to dinner and to some cafes/bars after dinner. A lot of the places are catered to tourists/Americans and its less fun but we are starting to find the more italian places. We had heard about this gelateria that was good and realized that it was literally two doors down from our apartment. It was delicious, and dangerously convenient. 

After dinner last night we walked back from the other side of the river over the Ponte Vecchio and listened to a violin player outside the Uffizi. Then we walked home (and ate gelato)! 

Anyway, I've got some pictures but for some reason I can't upload them on here so here is a link:

Pictures! 

I also got a cellphone that you can call if you need me. The number from America is : 01139-328-384-3957. If you are calling from Europe you dont need the 01139. In terms of calling - Skype is better because its free!

Thats pretty much everything. Tomorrow should be interesting as I start classes and have to find my way around alone. I'm going to run out and get some espresso now as I haven't had any today!

Ciao! Baci!

Duomo!

I went out and saw the Duomo for the first time last night. It is literally around the corner from where I live! It is, obviously, incredibly beautiful and surreal to see - somewhat like a pop-up book. I am finding my way around much better even though the traffic is terrible and the buses are always late so I have been late to the orientation both days. We will try again tomorrow! This morning  I woke up and the sun was shining and the air was just cold enough to be refreshing. For breakfast I had espresso and an unbelievable apple which I bought right downstairs where there is constantly fresh produce. For  lunch we had pomodoro, mozzarella e pesto panini which was provided by the school (even cafeteria food is good here) and after lunch we walked up to the Tabbachi to get more espresso. We are very chatty! I'm going to post pictures of campus later - my roomates and I are constantly walking around campus and we just stop and stare at how incredibly beautiful everything is. The entire city, obviously is gorgeous but campus is pristine! Well we are about to food shopping at the market and then out for dinner; more interesting stuff to come once classes start. Until then, ciao! baci!

Firenze!

After 30 hours of traveling. One cancelled flight. Two delayed flights and an unexpected six hour layover in Amsterdam, I am FINALLY in Firenze! I haven't even seen the Duomo yet since I got in at 2am and had to go right to class this morning (the buses in Firenze are not reliable at all!) We spent long hours in pointless workshops at the beautiful NYU campus. It literally is picture perfect. We actually aren't allowed to walk in many places because it is so perfect! 

I have three suitemates: Katarina (my roomate), Danielle, and Seta. We have two bedrooms and a kitchen/living area and a bathroom. Its pretty small but it is really cozy! It comes completely furnished and its got a beautiful exposed brick wall with all of these little nooks. Its pretty fun. The windows have those beautiful old shutters. We live on this tiny little street that nobody can find, tucked away in almost the heart of the city. I can give you more info once I go out tonight and learn the town! Plans for this evening are mellow - going out to dinner and taking it very easy. Unpacking and such. Classes start on Monday and I still know very little Italian but I am trying! I miss everybody back home and I get a cell phone tomorrow so I will post the number once I get it. Its free for incoming calls (if i get the right one!) so anybody can call me! Ok! Thats all for now. ciao!

6 days and counting!

So, I have been packing and getting all my things together and some people have been asking for my mailing address so:

Amelia Ekus

New York University

Villa Natalia

Via Bolognese, 10650139

Firenze, Italia

So that's where I have all of my classes, it is slightly outside of the city. I think it's funny that it's on a street called "Bolognese" but that's just me. 

You really shouldn't mail anything though, because its very expensive and it takes forever. I am planning on writing letters which is fun, but no packages or anything ok!

I have been packing and preparing up a storm. I have to read all of my guidebooks and Room with a View now, because I don't want to schlep them all the way to Europe, so I am reading nonstop. I'm also reading cookbooks in preparation! 

I have a trip planned already to Sienna and Venice with my dad and Leslie for March, and hopefully plans for Sicily will follow! The excitement is starting to build but it still hasn't hit me quite yet. I fly out of Boston at 4:30 on Monday and get in to Frankfurt at 5:30 in the morning! Then I have to wait all the way until 8, and I get in to Florence at 9:30. I've never been to Germany so I guess I'll have to live it up in the airport for a while before I take off. 

Anyway, I'm getting a cell-phone once I get over there and I will post the number, but it is cheaper to call from the United States to Italia than vice versa so I will be keeping that in mind. The best way to contact me is through e-mail or Skype. 

I am going to get back to my reading. Ciao!