One of my favourite things to do in Cremona was eat lunch next to Stradivari's tomb.
Is that creepy? It seems a little creepy now that I've actually written it.
It struck me as odd on my first day walking around the city center that so many people walk right by the tombstone without so much as a glance in its direction. This is the grave of one of the most influential people in the history of music, and I have never seen more than ONE other person stop to even look at it...
But then I look around the rest of the park. People walked right by the grave because it was familiar- nothing new to look at or experience. They found joy in the things that weren't there all the time. Some school children's artwork is tied to the gazebo. There are a few high school and college age kids clustered around benches, sometimes with a guitar or two in their company. Sure, there are the people just passing through the park on their way to work or a meeting, but they're looking up. Admiring the trees, or the way the falling leaves are blowing in the wind. Stopping to watch the young children running around, and taking a moment to laugh before continuing on their way. There's always the group of septuagenarian men playing dominoes on a bench next to the gazebo- every day, without fail. When it was raining, they just moved under the shelter of the gazebo. The group size was always different, but it was always there. One day I even saw a single gentleman there, with the dominoes laid out in front of him, reading the newspaper to pass the time until another showed up. I was very tempted to go over and ask him to teach me to play, but at the time I had absolutely no confidence in my spoken Italian, so I chickened out. Sitting next to the grave gave me the perfect vantage point to see all of these things occurring before me, and until the day I left, I could not help but think "this is all so... Italian!"
Plus, there's a gelato place right across the street, so... that's a nice bonus.
What did I learn in Italy? Looking back, it was a lot more than I had originally anticipated, or even understood at the time.
One of my first days, someone told me, "when you leave here, you will take with you the culture of wine." I didn't know what that meant at the time, so I took it at face value- I never liked wine before, so Italy is a good place to start, right?
Now, when I reflect on my months in Cremona, I think I understand what he was saying.
This "culture of wine" isn't about the drink. In fact, I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with the wine itself, though that certainly is a welcome bonus.
The culture of wine is time.
Taking the time during a meal to be with the people around you. No phones, no instagramming your plate (which is why I don't have an Italian food post for you), and all the friends you can find. Meals are meant to be enjoyed- food is delicious!
Taking the time while out of the house to notice the people around you- stopping to say hi to a friend and catch up on each others' lives instead of nodding at them from across the street and continuing on your way. Riding a bike or walking instead of driving, to be able to take in more of your surroundings.
Speed is stressful. Yes, sometimes it is necessary. But what have I missed in my life because I was so focused on efficiency and productivity? Have I missed a beautiful sunset, or the changing of leaves? Could I have seen a wonderful street musician perform when instead I ran by because of my desperation to accomplish an impossible amount in a short time? What time could I have spent among friends when I instead gave myself anxiety attacks by taking on more than I could handle?
I want to live my life in a way that I can appreciate the small happinesses around me. I want to recognize happiness in a strangers' eyes. I want to see people stare in wonder at something they have never seen before. I want to play dominoes in the park in the middle of the town (I should probably learn to play dominoes first, though...) I want to spend a whole day watching ducks swim around a pond, and I want to see children's eyes light up when the ducks eat the bread they are throwing.
I even want to see heartbreak and sadness. Just being able to recognize it on someone's face, even if there is nothing I can do about it. I want to be able to send positive energy their way, even for a moment.
Right before I left Italy, my host family asked why I hadn't taken more time to travel and go to Brescia, or Venice, or Florence, or other places that would have been only a train ride away. What I told them was the truth- I wanted to originally, but when I realized that I wasn't ready to go back to the US yet I started budgeting my money to last a long time, and I hoped that I would be lucky enough for my travels to bring me to these places in the future. That was the truth, but it isn't the whole truth.
The whole truth is that I feel as though I travelled thousands of miles without even leaving Cremona. Every day, I strove to learn something new. Sometimes it was a new Italian word, sometimes it was a new knitting stitch, sometimes it was a new face, sometimes it was a realization about myself and my life experiences. I didn't need to go back to Florence, even though I've been waiting my whole life to spend time in that town. I didn't need the tourist experience. I was able to find everything I needed with my host family, with their - and now my - friends, and within myself.
I am a completely different person coming out of my experience in Italy. And I have already changed from my short time in Turkey. I will continue to change.
And for the first time in my life, I'm not afraid.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
First week(ish) in Istanbul!
Here are some thoughts and stories from my first week or so. Warning: I make NO promises on them being in a sensical order, or more than just fragments of thoughts.
The first few days were REALLY rough on my sleep cycle. I only moved over one time zone, but that small change, on top of the fact that I hadn't been sleeping due to nerves and excitement, plus getting sick on my second night, I was completely messed up. One day, I'd wake as late as 10, the next, 5 in the morning. I was taking naps at random points during the day. It was just completely screwed up! Luckily, I managed to get that under control after... maybe about three days.. and now I'm back to a pretty good cycle of being in bed reading by about 10, and generally waking up between 7:30 and 8. Without an alarm, which makes me REALLY happy. Well, that's a lie- the night I stayed up WAY too late finishing a book, I set an alarm so it wouldn't screw up my pattern again. That was a long, tired day on four hours of sleep!
This time has been all about getting used to the family's schedule and lifestyle, and seeing where I will fit into everything.
I spend a lot of time with the 7 year old son, Hakan. We've spent HOURS building lego sets! We have a pretty good system going, where as he's working on putting together one step, I'll be finding the pieces for the next. He really likes Star Wars legos, which I saw as a really good sign, until I realized that he didn't know anything about the movies. He said they were too confusing, and couldn't even tell me which trilogy he watched first! This kid was trying to convince me the Ewoks were the bad guys. I mean really. I suppose for someone who doesn't know the movies, his logic was decent, though- he remembered the clones being with the Jedi in II and III, and therefore thought the stormtroopers were the good guys, at least in that set of Legos.
He and I are also supposed to work together on his English homework, of course. He gets one worksheet every weekend, and is supposed to read every night. He brings a picture book home from school with him. The one he is working on now is really difficult, and we can only read three or four pages at a time. And he HATES doing it. So I am hard at work brainstorming some external motivators and other ideas to not make reading such a chore for him, as well as activities that help with reading comprehension.
Ipek, the daughter who lives at home right now, is 16 and while we get along really well, the difference in our age shows when we talk about high school. My high school experience centered around marching band, decathlon, and not much else. An Island birthday party here and there. But I have heard stories that would rival 110 gossip, and I cannot get over the fact that this is happening while these girls are in high school! When they asked what the drama in my life was right now, they couldn't believe I didn't have any. After a few minutes of "really? NOTHING?" I begrudgingly reached back a few years and covered the VERY basics of drama from freshman, sophomore, and junior year in a total of 5 or 6 sentences.
Another time the age different showed was when we were picking out a movie to watch. Everyone knows I haven't seen many movies, but she and her friend picked up "Project X" as an option and could not BELIEVE I had never seen it- "Have you EVER been a teenager?" First of all, no, not really. Not in the way that movie seems to think teenagers behave. Second of all, I was probably 22 when that movie came out...
On Friday, the kids were off school, so I went with Hakan and 2 people who work for the family to one of the palaces in the city. It was beautiful, of course, though I was outvoted in the language of the (compulsory) tour so I had no idea what anything was. Hakan was supposed to be translating for me, but that didn't last very long.
So now, I'll really be trying to dive in and fit myself into how everything works around here. It's a big adjustment for everyone, since they've never had an au pair before, and it will take some time until everything is running smoothly, but I am very confident that this is a wonderful place and family for me to be with right now!
The first few days were REALLY rough on my sleep cycle. I only moved over one time zone, but that small change, on top of the fact that I hadn't been sleeping due to nerves and excitement, plus getting sick on my second night, I was completely messed up. One day, I'd wake as late as 10, the next, 5 in the morning. I was taking naps at random points during the day. It was just completely screwed up! Luckily, I managed to get that under control after... maybe about three days.. and now I'm back to a pretty good cycle of being in bed reading by about 10, and generally waking up between 7:30 and 8. Without an alarm, which makes me REALLY happy. Well, that's a lie- the night I stayed up WAY too late finishing a book, I set an alarm so it wouldn't screw up my pattern again. That was a long, tired day on four hours of sleep!
This time has been all about getting used to the family's schedule and lifestyle, and seeing where I will fit into everything.
I spend a lot of time with the 7 year old son, Hakan. We've spent HOURS building lego sets! We have a pretty good system going, where as he's working on putting together one step, I'll be finding the pieces for the next. He really likes Star Wars legos, which I saw as a really good sign, until I realized that he didn't know anything about the movies. He said they were too confusing, and couldn't even tell me which trilogy he watched first! This kid was trying to convince me the Ewoks were the bad guys. I mean really. I suppose for someone who doesn't know the movies, his logic was decent, though- he remembered the clones being with the Jedi in II and III, and therefore thought the stormtroopers were the good guys, at least in that set of Legos.
He and I are also supposed to work together on his English homework, of course. He gets one worksheet every weekend, and is supposed to read every night. He brings a picture book home from school with him. The one he is working on now is really difficult, and we can only read three or four pages at a time. And he HATES doing it. So I am hard at work brainstorming some external motivators and other ideas to not make reading such a chore for him, as well as activities that help with reading comprehension.
Ipek, the daughter who lives at home right now, is 16 and while we get along really well, the difference in our age shows when we talk about high school. My high school experience centered around marching band, decathlon, and not much else. An Island birthday party here and there. But I have heard stories that would rival 110 gossip, and I cannot get over the fact that this is happening while these girls are in high school! When they asked what the drama in my life was right now, they couldn't believe I didn't have any. After a few minutes of "really? NOTHING?" I begrudgingly reached back a few years and covered the VERY basics of drama from freshman, sophomore, and junior year in a total of 5 or 6 sentences.
Another time the age different showed was when we were picking out a movie to watch. Everyone knows I haven't seen many movies, but she and her friend picked up "Project X" as an option and could not BELIEVE I had never seen it- "Have you EVER been a teenager?" First of all, no, not really. Not in the way that movie seems to think teenagers behave. Second of all, I was probably 22 when that movie came out...
On Friday, the kids were off school, so I went with Hakan and 2 people who work for the family to one of the palaces in the city. It was beautiful, of course, though I was outvoted in the language of the (compulsory) tour so I had no idea what anything was. Hakan was supposed to be translating for me, but that didn't last very long.
So now, I'll really be trying to dive in and fit myself into how everything works around here. It's a big adjustment for everyone, since they've never had an au pair before, and it will take some time until everything is running smoothly, but I am very confident that this is a wonderful place and family for me to be with right now!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Travel to Istanbul
My adventure for the day included a car, a train, another train, a bus, an airplane, and a van.
A car: Gianluca dropped me off at the train station, for which I was VERY grateful considering how much my suitcase weighed (26 kg... ugh). It was so hard to say goodbye, but I'm glad it was only him and the kids were already at school!
A train: There aren't trains directly to Bergamo, where the airport was, so I had to go first to Treviglio. I was SO worried about making the connection- trains in Italy aren't the most trustworthy timing-wise. I ended up in a backwards seat, which I wasn't terribly pleased about, but I had myself so boxed in with my suitcase and carry-on that it would have been a HUGE production to get everything moved around. Luckily, everything went on time, and I arrived in Treviglio with no issues.
Another train: Then, I just had to drag my bags across about 9 platforms (down stairs and back up) to get the the next train. In a span of about ten minutes. But I made it, and I was off to Bergamo! I was really worried about the stops- on every subway I've been on, there's a screen saying what stop is next, but not on the train- you just have to hope you see the platform name out the window, which didn't always happen. So I was a little worried! But again, I made it to the right place with no problems. The pages in my journal from that part of the trip are filled with the words "STOP WORRYING" every sentence or two. I was pretty nervous.
A bus: As soon as I got off the train in Bergamo, I had to find the bus to the airport. Of course, my italian skills chose that moment to completely fail me, so I could barely get out the sentence asking where to buy a ticket. And I'm pretty sure I used terrible grammar and an American accent. Thank goodness the woman behind the counter spoke English- and that was the right place. After asking her where to catch the bus, I was on my way.
A bus: Well, I was sort of on my way. She told me to catch the bus at McDonalds, but there was CLEARLY a large group of people waiting with suitcases a couple of buildings over. So that's where I headed, and asked there if it was the right place. It was. Soon, someone else came up to me and asked (in Italian) the same question, and where to buy a ticket. I pulled my brain together and was able to answer her, thank goodness. When the bus came we ended up sitting near each other and talked briefly (mostly about how terrible/insane the driver was) in a mixture of Italian and English.
An airplane: I actually ended up getting to the airport about 3 hours before my flight, just because of when the trains were running. Better early than late! Check in was fine, though it took me far too long to figure out why all the check-in and security people automatically spoke English to me (I gave them my US Passport, duh). I was shocked again by the way airport security looks when the US isn't involved in some way. The Bergamo airport wasn't the MOST efficient/nice/clean security I've ever been through (that was definitely Dublin!) but still LOADS better than anything at home. I didn't even realize that I hadn't needed to remove my shoes until I was already through and saw that no one else was hopping around on one foot trying to put them back on. And I didn't have my liquids in a baggie- even though there were only 2 things, that NEVER would have been okay in the US. From security, I grabbed McDonalds before going through passport control to the international gates. I had the strange experience of someone speaking English to me and me not catching it- it was loud and I just wasn't paying attention. But for some reason, "Come, scusa?" came out of my mouth instead of "Sorry, what?" and when they repeated it in Italian, I understood. They probably thought I was a crazy person.
I have to say, budget airlines are AWESOME. There are so many terrible reviews online, about long lines and baggage fees and leg room, and I just read them and think "but... you KNEW you were flying on a budget airline. I feel like this gives you ZERO room to complain." I can completely understand why band people stuck on RyanAir or EasyJet were thrown off- you weren't told what the situation was. But I was determined to go in as a passive observer, and that made everything SO entertaining. Like the fact that as soon as the gate workers came, every single person waiting BOLTED for the line. And they didn't even make a straight line! It was just a giant mob! And their safety video was adorable. It was in Turkish, so I had to read the subtitles, but it was all little kids giving the safety instructions and showing the examples. Adorable. I was kind of sad that I couldn't even get water without having to pay, but whatever, it was only a 2 and a half hour flight. And I had a window seat! But it was really cloudy, so there wasn't much to see. We flew over Italy, a sea, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegonia, Serbia, and Bulgaria before making our way to Istanbul. Yes, I had to look that up later after drawing the map that was on the screen in my journal.
And a van: When we landed, I had to buy a visa to get into the country, and then go through passport control. After I got through there and collected my suitcase, I found the driver who was meant to take me to my host family's house. He had a sign with my name and everything! I felt super special. He didn't speak any English, so we had a pretty quiet hour+ ride across Istanbul. It was dark, but there was still a lot to see! The traffic was CRAZY - apparently lanes are meaningless here - and at the slowest points (it was rush hour, so the traffic was REALLY bad on the Asian side) there were people walking between the lanes selling things. Roses and what I'm guessing was some kind of food. And I think I may have seen someone with water bottles at one point. But they were just walking on the freeway, between the lines of cars!
When I arrived at the house, I got a tour, had some time to chill, and then ate dinner with most of my host family. We spent a long time talking, but I was so tired, I went back to my room to get myself organized pretty soon.
So that was my travel day!
It seems I'm not terribly fantastic at keeping this updated. My bad. My goal right now is to update once a week- probably on Saturday or Sunday. Whether it's an old story from Italy that I never finished editing, a craft project or other activity, or a new story from Istanbul, I hope to keep this more active in the coming weeks and months!
A car: Gianluca dropped me off at the train station, for which I was VERY grateful considering how much my suitcase weighed (26 kg... ugh). It was so hard to say goodbye, but I'm glad it was only him and the kids were already at school!
A train: There aren't trains directly to Bergamo, where the airport was, so I had to go first to Treviglio. I was SO worried about making the connection- trains in Italy aren't the most trustworthy timing-wise. I ended up in a backwards seat, which I wasn't terribly pleased about, but I had myself so boxed in with my suitcase and carry-on that it would have been a HUGE production to get everything moved around. Luckily, everything went on time, and I arrived in Treviglio with no issues.
Another train: Then, I just had to drag my bags across about 9 platforms (down stairs and back up) to get the the next train. In a span of about ten minutes. But I made it, and I was off to Bergamo! I was really worried about the stops- on every subway I've been on, there's a screen saying what stop is next, but not on the train- you just have to hope you see the platform name out the window, which didn't always happen. So I was a little worried! But again, I made it to the right place with no problems. The pages in my journal from that part of the trip are filled with the words "STOP WORRYING" every sentence or two. I was pretty nervous.
A bus: As soon as I got off the train in Bergamo, I had to find the bus to the airport. Of course, my italian skills chose that moment to completely fail me, so I could barely get out the sentence asking where to buy a ticket. And I'm pretty sure I used terrible grammar and an American accent. Thank goodness the woman behind the counter spoke English- and that was the right place. After asking her where to catch the bus, I was on my way.
A bus: Well, I was sort of on my way. She told me to catch the bus at McDonalds, but there was CLEARLY a large group of people waiting with suitcases a couple of buildings over. So that's where I headed, and asked there if it was the right place. It was. Soon, someone else came up to me and asked (in Italian) the same question, and where to buy a ticket. I pulled my brain together and was able to answer her, thank goodness. When the bus came we ended up sitting near each other and talked briefly (mostly about how terrible/insane the driver was) in a mixture of Italian and English.
An airplane: I actually ended up getting to the airport about 3 hours before my flight, just because of when the trains were running. Better early than late! Check in was fine, though it took me far too long to figure out why all the check-in and security people automatically spoke English to me (I gave them my US Passport, duh). I was shocked again by the way airport security looks when the US isn't involved in some way. The Bergamo airport wasn't the MOST efficient/nice/clean security I've ever been through (that was definitely Dublin!) but still LOADS better than anything at home. I didn't even realize that I hadn't needed to remove my shoes until I was already through and saw that no one else was hopping around on one foot trying to put them back on. And I didn't have my liquids in a baggie- even though there were only 2 things, that NEVER would have been okay in the US. From security, I grabbed McDonalds before going through passport control to the international gates. I had the strange experience of someone speaking English to me and me not catching it- it was loud and I just wasn't paying attention. But for some reason, "Come, scusa?" came out of my mouth instead of "Sorry, what?" and when they repeated it in Italian, I understood. They probably thought I was a crazy person.
I have to say, budget airlines are AWESOME. There are so many terrible reviews online, about long lines and baggage fees and leg room, and I just read them and think "but... you KNEW you were flying on a budget airline. I feel like this gives you ZERO room to complain." I can completely understand why band people stuck on RyanAir or EasyJet were thrown off- you weren't told what the situation was. But I was determined to go in as a passive observer, and that made everything SO entertaining. Like the fact that as soon as the gate workers came, every single person waiting BOLTED for the line. And they didn't even make a straight line! It was just a giant mob! And their safety video was adorable. It was in Turkish, so I had to read the subtitles, but it was all little kids giving the safety instructions and showing the examples. Adorable. I was kind of sad that I couldn't even get water without having to pay, but whatever, it was only a 2 and a half hour flight. And I had a window seat! But it was really cloudy, so there wasn't much to see. We flew over Italy, a sea, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegonia, Serbia, and Bulgaria before making our way to Istanbul. Yes, I had to look that up later after drawing the map that was on the screen in my journal.
And a van: When we landed, I had to buy a visa to get into the country, and then go through passport control. After I got through there and collected my suitcase, I found the driver who was meant to take me to my host family's house. He had a sign with my name and everything! I felt super special. He didn't speak any English, so we had a pretty quiet hour+ ride across Istanbul. It was dark, but there was still a lot to see! The traffic was CRAZY - apparently lanes are meaningless here - and at the slowest points (it was rush hour, so the traffic was REALLY bad on the Asian side) there were people walking between the lanes selling things. Roses and what I'm guessing was some kind of food. And I think I may have seen someone with water bottles at one point. But they were just walking on the freeway, between the lines of cars!
When I arrived at the house, I got a tour, had some time to chill, and then ate dinner with most of my host family. We spent a long time talking, but I was so tired, I went back to my room to get myself organized pretty soon.
So that was my travel day!
It seems I'm not terribly fantastic at keeping this updated. My bad. My goal right now is to update once a week- probably on Saturday or Sunday. Whether it's an old story from Italy that I never finished editing, a craft project or other activity, or a new story from Istanbul, I hope to keep this more active in the coming weeks and months!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Leaf Rubbings
My goal ever afternoon is for the TV to not be turned on in the time between the kids and I getting home from school and other activities, and when Gianluca and Elena come home from work. Sometimes I get off easy, and they're home already. Sometimes I stay at the playground longer just to have less time for it to be an option. I can never talk them out of turning the TV on, though, once they get the idea in their head- any pleading for them to find a book, colour a picture, play nascondino, learn to knit, fall on deaf ears. Or rather, ears who decide to only selectively understand English.
"Turn off the TV."
"Non ho capito!"
"Spengere il TV."
"Non ho capito!"
"You do too ho capito, that was Italian."
"Non ho capito!"
Today on the walk from school to Greta's dance lesson, she started collecting a few leaves. I think she actually needed a couple for school, from the jumbled explanations I was getting, but I immediately began to think of the leaf rubbing projects we did at Holden, the Outdoor Y, and Girl Scout Camps- finally, a good plan for when we returned home! I put the leaves she chose in my bag, and kept quiet until we actually got home an hour or so later. Then I quietly got out my journal and my crayons, chose a leaf from the bag, sat down at the dining room table, and started a rubbing.
Suddenly, I had two children who had been running all over the house and acting like monkeys standing quietly next to me and watching. IT WAS MAGIC, PEOPLE. MAGIC. The silence didn't last for long, though because they started asking me- in ENGLISH, no less- how to do it! So I showed them. It took a few tried for them to get the right crayon pressure and such, but they got it!
After a while, I asked them if they wanted to go outside and find more leaves. They didn't understand. Instead of running for my dictionary like I have before, I simply repeated the sentence closer, and in small segments.
MORE MAGIC. They worked together and supplied each other with the vocabulary the other was lacking to figure out the exact translation of my question- they even repeated it back to me in both English and Italian, so I knew they weren't just agreeing blindly! I was completely blown away!
We went outside to get some more leaves. There wasn't much variety on the street, but we found three or four kinds, so it was good enough. Luckily I had taken a small container with me, so it was easy to say when it was time to return to the flat- I think otherwise we would have been out all evening collecting leaves!
The activity didn't last as long as I had hopes once we actually got back to the house, but it was still enough to keep them away from thoughts of the television, and learn something new. Marco learned very quickly that darker colours were better, and even started layering and mixing colours to make unique designs!
Greta was doing well with the rubbings before we went after more leaves, but when we returned she had somehow decided she would rather just draw them. Close enough, right?
And I just decorated the next few pages of my journal, as I usually do when I'm bored. I'll have to remember to start carrying the right kinds of pens and markers to write over the crayon for the next few days!
Even though in all it lasted less than an hour, I consider it a VERY successful afternoon, and one of my favourite days so far. It helped that I was in a good mood from having what can ALMOST be considered a real conversation in Italian while I was at the playground- an older gentleman came up to me and complimented me on the fact that I was writing (in my journal) by hand rather than on a computer. I didn't catch every word, but definitely enough to get the gist of it- and then I didn't completely freeze up when I tried to answer. Now, my Italian was far from grammatically correct, but it was full sentences. We had a short conversation about where I was from, and what I was doing in Cremona, and then he went on his way, but it made me so happy!
"Turn off the TV."
"Non ho capito!"
"Spengere il TV."
"Non ho capito!"
"You do too ho capito, that was Italian."
"Non ho capito!"
Today on the walk from school to Greta's dance lesson, she started collecting a few leaves. I think she actually needed a couple for school, from the jumbled explanations I was getting, but I immediately began to think of the leaf rubbing projects we did at Holden, the Outdoor Y, and Girl Scout Camps- finally, a good plan for when we returned home! I put the leaves she chose in my bag, and kept quiet until we actually got home an hour or so later. Then I quietly got out my journal and my crayons, chose a leaf from the bag, sat down at the dining room table, and started a rubbing.
Suddenly, I had two children who had been running all over the house and acting like monkeys standing quietly next to me and watching. IT WAS MAGIC, PEOPLE. MAGIC. The silence didn't last for long, though because they started asking me- in ENGLISH, no less- how to do it! So I showed them. It took a few tried for them to get the right crayon pressure and such, but they got it!
After a while, I asked them if they wanted to go outside and find more leaves. They didn't understand. Instead of running for my dictionary like I have before, I simply repeated the sentence closer, and in small segments.
MORE MAGIC. They worked together and supplied each other with the vocabulary the other was lacking to figure out the exact translation of my question- they even repeated it back to me in both English and Italian, so I knew they weren't just agreeing blindly! I was completely blown away!
We went outside to get some more leaves. There wasn't much variety on the street, but we found three or four kinds, so it was good enough. Luckily I had taken a small container with me, so it was easy to say when it was time to return to the flat- I think otherwise we would have been out all evening collecting leaves!
The activity didn't last as long as I had hopes once we actually got back to the house, but it was still enough to keep them away from thoughts of the television, and learn something new. Marco learned very quickly that darker colours were better, and even started layering and mixing colours to make unique designs!
Greta was doing well with the rubbings before we went after more leaves, but when we returned she had somehow decided she would rather just draw them. Close enough, right?
And I just decorated the next few pages of my journal, as I usually do when I'm bored. I'll have to remember to start carrying the right kinds of pens and markers to write over the crayon for the next few days!
Even though in all it lasted less than an hour, I consider it a VERY successful afternoon, and one of my favourite days so far. It helped that I was in a good mood from having what can ALMOST be considered a real conversation in Italian while I was at the playground- an older gentleman came up to me and complimented me on the fact that I was writing (in my journal) by hand rather than on a computer. I didn't catch every word, but definitely enough to get the gist of it- and then I didn't completely freeze up when I tried to answer. Now, my Italian was far from grammatically correct, but it was full sentences. We had a short conversation about where I was from, and what I was doing in Cremona, and then he went on his way, but it made me so happy!
Friday, October 18, 2013
Being American Automatically Makes Me an Expert On...
1. US Elections
Why is Ohio so important? Apparently that's a known fact worldwide, and is the FIRST thing mentioned when I say what state I'm from. Try explaining the electoral college to someone with only very basic English skill. Go on, I dare you.
2. Indiana Jones
We're playing an Indiana Jones medley in the community wind band. I can generally tell when the director is going off on tangents and when he's giving instructions, so I tend to tune out the tangents. Until I suddenly realized that he had switched to English, which meant it was directed at me. "Which Indiana Jones movie was first?" Uh... I've only seen one. Yes, I know I should fix that. But even if I had seen more than one, I still probably wouldn't know which was first. So I just said "Raiders of the Lost Ark," since that's the only one I've seen, and hoped I was right. But really? None of the other thirty people in the room know Indiana Jones, it HAD to fall to me?
3. Syria
At least I can find Syria on a map, unlike most. Luckily, questions in this area were generally geared towards "do you agree with the idea of going to war," which I could easily answer without getting too much into politics. Pacifism ftw.
4. The Shutdown
After the first few days, the only reason I kept reading all the articles I could find was to be able to answer questions. I mean, of course I wanted to stay informed, but honestly, all I really cared about was when it ended. Instead, I was memorizing numbers, dates, and names of members of congress.
5. John Williams
Wind band again. Before working on the Indiana Jones piece, the director talked for like 2 minutes in Italian. No big deal, I could pick out some stylistic reminders and other directions- after all, music therms are music terms. Plus, he generally translates things that are important. But this time, after he finished his original instructions, he looked at me and said "Well, you know John Williams. Play it like that." Sure, I'm plenty familiar with him... but I could still have used the reminders!
6. The English Language
Okay, this one seems a bit weird to add. Especially with how much I love grammar, I never thought this would be an issue. But I've never really had to THINK about grammar before, other than the things I'm working on fixing for myself. (Right now, my mission is to stop ending my sentences with prepositions. IT'S A LOT HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS.) But when I'm asked what the difference is between "drank" and "drunk," I draw a blank. I don't know, the right one usually just comes out of my mouth.
7. American Pop/Rock Music
...HA. Ask me anything about Broadway, but bring up Miley and I'm just going to stare at you blankly. Can I understand the words to [insert whatever song happens to be on the radio]? Have you heard this Niki Minaj song? How about Ke$ha?
8. Travel Within the US
"You've NEVER been to TEXAS‽‽‽‽‽" Nope. Well, I had a layover in Austin once, does that count?
"Have you been to New York?" City or state?
"Have you been to Washington?" Again, city or state? (ALWAYS city.)
"Can't you just take a train to..." *dissolves into laughter*
"Do you go to the sea for holiday?" Well, we don't have a sea, and the ocean is REALLY far away.
"Wait, so you can't see the other side of the lake?" Nope.
9. Muscle Cars
This was really only one time, but just the fact that it was used as a "common interest" conversation starter was weird. Nod and smile. I also get some questions about American cars in general, but that's mostly from the kids while we're walking down the street, and they ask which cars are American-made. Uh... Ford.... that's all I've got.
10. Cleveland Accent
This doesn't technically fit the category, but like hell am I going to stop on an odd number. I've never been more aware of the whole "a = ɪə" business in my life. Every once in a while, people ask me to pronounce random things just for fun. "Al" was one of the first. Also, thanks to a couple of friends from home, I'm well aware that I say "milk" wrong, and that did not go unnoticed here either.
There are so many little things along the way that I have never really though about before. Yes, our suburban neighborhoods look like the ones in movies. Yes, greek organizations really exist. Yes, huge parties do happen in college. Yes, we carve pumpkins for halloween. And we do the whole costume trick or treating thing. Just like in movies.
On the flip side, my perception of Italy: Yes, there is pasta EVERYWHERE. I think we ate pasta every day- sometimes twice a day- for the entire first week I was here. It's scaled back a bit now, but still a lot more than at home! Yes, everything here is very old. I was in a church a few weeks ago that was RESTORED before Columbus even left Europe. And everything is art.
We were watching a movie a few days ago- I have no idea what the title was, but the basic plot revolved around the President's daughter running away while on a trip in Europe. At one point, she is in Venice, and meets a local man, who takes her and her companion home where his mother fed them and gave them a place to sleep for the night. The mom only spoke Italian, and as soon as she started, everyone around me burst out laughing. However, I later learned that it was only because the accent was completely wrong for Venice- what she was saying, and how open and welcoming she was to complete strangers is VERY Italian. So our movies get some things right about other cultures, too!
Why is Ohio so important? Apparently that's a known fact worldwide, and is the FIRST thing mentioned when I say what state I'm from. Try explaining the electoral college to someone with only very basic English skill. Go on, I dare you.
2. Indiana Jones
We're playing an Indiana Jones medley in the community wind band. I can generally tell when the director is going off on tangents and when he's giving instructions, so I tend to tune out the tangents. Until I suddenly realized that he had switched to English, which meant it was directed at me. "Which Indiana Jones movie was first?" Uh... I've only seen one. Yes, I know I should fix that. But even if I had seen more than one, I still probably wouldn't know which was first. So I just said "Raiders of the Lost Ark," since that's the only one I've seen, and hoped I was right. But really? None of the other thirty people in the room know Indiana Jones, it HAD to fall to me?
3. Syria
At least I can find Syria on a map, unlike most. Luckily, questions in this area were generally geared towards "do you agree with the idea of going to war," which I could easily answer without getting too much into politics. Pacifism ftw.
4. The Shutdown
After the first few days, the only reason I kept reading all the articles I could find was to be able to answer questions. I mean, of course I wanted to stay informed, but honestly, all I really cared about was when it ended. Instead, I was memorizing numbers, dates, and names of members of congress.
5. John Williams
Wind band again. Before working on the Indiana Jones piece, the director talked for like 2 minutes in Italian. No big deal, I could pick out some stylistic reminders and other directions- after all, music therms are music terms. Plus, he generally translates things that are important. But this time, after he finished his original instructions, he looked at me and said "Well, you know John Williams. Play it like that." Sure, I'm plenty familiar with him... but I could still have used the reminders!
6. The English Language
Okay, this one seems a bit weird to add. Especially with how much I love grammar, I never thought this would be an issue. But I've never really had to THINK about grammar before, other than the things I'm working on fixing for myself. (Right now, my mission is to stop ending my sentences with prepositions. IT'S A LOT HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS.) But when I'm asked what the difference is between "drank" and "drunk," I draw a blank. I don't know, the right one usually just comes out of my mouth.
7. American Pop/Rock Music
...HA. Ask me anything about Broadway, but bring up Miley and I'm just going to stare at you blankly. Can I understand the words to [insert whatever song happens to be on the radio]? Have you heard this Niki Minaj song? How about Ke$ha?
8. Travel Within the US
"You've NEVER been to TEXAS‽‽‽‽‽" Nope. Well, I had a layover in Austin once, does that count?
"Have you been to New York?" City or state?
"Have you been to Washington?" Again, city or state? (ALWAYS city.)
"Can't you just take a train to..." *dissolves into laughter*
"Do you go to the sea for holiday?" Well, we don't have a sea, and the ocean is REALLY far away.
"Wait, so you can't see the other side of the lake?" Nope.
9. Muscle Cars
This was really only one time, but just the fact that it was used as a "common interest" conversation starter was weird. Nod and smile. I also get some questions about American cars in general, but that's mostly from the kids while we're walking down the street, and they ask which cars are American-made. Uh... Ford.... that's all I've got.
10. Cleveland Accent
This doesn't technically fit the category, but like hell am I going to stop on an odd number. I've never been more aware of the whole "a = ɪə" business in my life. Every once in a while, people ask me to pronounce random things just for fun. "Al" was one of the first. Also, thanks to a couple of friends from home, I'm well aware that I say "milk" wrong, and that did not go unnoticed here either.
There are so many little things along the way that I have never really though about before. Yes, our suburban neighborhoods look like the ones in movies. Yes, greek organizations really exist. Yes, huge parties do happen in college. Yes, we carve pumpkins for halloween. And we do the whole costume trick or treating thing. Just like in movies.
On the flip side, my perception of Italy: Yes, there is pasta EVERYWHERE. I think we ate pasta every day- sometimes twice a day- for the entire first week I was here. It's scaled back a bit now, but still a lot more than at home! Yes, everything here is very old. I was in a church a few weeks ago that was RESTORED before Columbus even left Europe. And everything is art.
We were watching a movie a few days ago- I have no idea what the title was, but the basic plot revolved around the President's daughter running away while on a trip in Europe. At one point, she is in Venice, and meets a local man, who takes her and her companion home where his mother fed them and gave them a place to sleep for the night. The mom only spoke Italian, and as soon as she started, everyone around me burst out laughing. However, I later learned that it was only because the accent was completely wrong for Venice- what she was saying, and how open and welcoming she was to complete strangers is VERY Italian. So our movies get some things right about other cultures, too!
Monday, October 7, 2013
One Month In Cremona
Lots of things have been happening recently! Here are some highlights:
Italian lessons started up again, in a slightly different format. We had a week off while Silvana, the teacher, got more students, and then she sorted us into three different groups based on our ability. We started at a much easier level, and although I still don't understand everything, I feel more comfortable asking for clarification than I did with the other students. I'll always be at a disadvantage since I'm not out using Italian all the time like the ERASMUS students are, but I'm getting better. I've gone through a couple different online language programs, like Quizlet, FreeRice, and Memrise, but I finally came across Duolingo, which is pretty fantastic! Now, I just have to get myself to start USING what I'm learning. I'm getting better at understanding, and faster at reading, but I'm still afraid to speak.
I started going to the practices of Elena's swimming club. The first night was so difficult! I was SUPER sore the next morning. The outdoor pool was nice for that first week- there were only three or so people in the same lane as me, and we were all really slow. The first couple laps, I was stopping every 50 meters (one length) to catch my breath! My lane only swam about 1 km that night, against the 2.5 km the rest of the group was doing, if I remember correctly. Moving indoors the second week changed things up- there were more people (now six or seven in the lane), the pool is only 25 meters long, and it's harder to hear instructions. And the "extra" people in the same lane as me are all a lot faster. So it gets confusing sometimes. But it's so fun, and I'm really enjoying it! I've found that I really miss swimming. Since I somehow lost my swimsuit in moving home from OU, I've been wearing a swimsuit-material sports bra and the mello volleyball shorts from last year- when a 2 piece makeshift bathing suit is your only option, you get over body image issues pretty darn fast!
I also found a wind band to join! A friend of the family I am living with knows the director. It also happens to be the same place where Marco goes for his music lessons. He just chose his instrument last week, and he will start to learn clarinet soon! I'm really excited for him. Giordano, the director of the music school and the community wind band, gave me a horn to play. It's a single F, which causes problems sometimes when I use B flat fingerings without thinking, but I'm really just happy to have an instrument to play! The band itself is kinda U Band-ish, but very small. The instrumentation is... interesting. Yeah, let's go with "interesting". If my memory is accurate, there are 3 or so percussionists, one tuba, one trumpet, 2 horns, 8 clarinets, 4 saxes, 1 tenor, 1 oboe, and maybe 5 flutes. But it's a really great group! Everyone is no nice! Some speak English and some don't. Giordano translates his instructions (though he joked around last week that he was only going to use English), though sometimes he goes overboard and translates what are already normal musical terms. I never really thought about the fact that those are really just words, even though we all learn them as technical terms. And not all of them translate the way we are taught! "Subito" is my new favourite word to use in everyday conversation.
My next big goal is to really start getting out of the house. I was out quite a bit the first week, while I was learning my way around the downtown area, but lately I've been holing up in my room during the day. Yeah, sometimes I'm working on Italian or doing other semi-important things, but mostly I'm browsing Pinterest and Imgur or playing Candy Crush. So that needs to be changing. It's a good thing Netflix doesn't work here, though, or I'd be in even more trouble, haha! But I want to start going to different coffeshops to study Italian, go to the museums and violin makers, and get to know more of the city!
Italian lessons started up again, in a slightly different format. We had a week off while Silvana, the teacher, got more students, and then she sorted us into three different groups based on our ability. We started at a much easier level, and although I still don't understand everything, I feel more comfortable asking for clarification than I did with the other students. I'll always be at a disadvantage since I'm not out using Italian all the time like the ERASMUS students are, but I'm getting better. I've gone through a couple different online language programs, like Quizlet, FreeRice, and Memrise, but I finally came across Duolingo, which is pretty fantastic! Now, I just have to get myself to start USING what I'm learning. I'm getting better at understanding, and faster at reading, but I'm still afraid to speak.
I started going to the practices of Elena's swimming club. The first night was so difficult! I was SUPER sore the next morning. The outdoor pool was nice for that first week- there were only three or so people in the same lane as me, and we were all really slow. The first couple laps, I was stopping every 50 meters (one length) to catch my breath! My lane only swam about 1 km that night, against the 2.5 km the rest of the group was doing, if I remember correctly. Moving indoors the second week changed things up- there were more people (now six or seven in the lane), the pool is only 25 meters long, and it's harder to hear instructions. And the "extra" people in the same lane as me are all a lot faster. So it gets confusing sometimes. But it's so fun, and I'm really enjoying it! I've found that I really miss swimming. Since I somehow lost my swimsuit in moving home from OU, I've been wearing a swimsuit-material sports bra and the mello volleyball shorts from last year- when a 2 piece makeshift bathing suit is your only option, you get over body image issues pretty darn fast!
I also found a wind band to join! A friend of the family I am living with knows the director. It also happens to be the same place where Marco goes for his music lessons. He just chose his instrument last week, and he will start to learn clarinet soon! I'm really excited for him. Giordano, the director of the music school and the community wind band, gave me a horn to play. It's a single F, which causes problems sometimes when I use B flat fingerings without thinking, but I'm really just happy to have an instrument to play! The band itself is kinda U Band-ish, but very small. The instrumentation is... interesting. Yeah, let's go with "interesting". If my memory is accurate, there are 3 or so percussionists, one tuba, one trumpet, 2 horns, 8 clarinets, 4 saxes, 1 tenor, 1 oboe, and maybe 5 flutes. But it's a really great group! Everyone is no nice! Some speak English and some don't. Giordano translates his instructions (though he joked around last week that he was only going to use English), though sometimes he goes overboard and translates what are already normal musical terms. I never really thought about the fact that those are really just words, even though we all learn them as technical terms. And not all of them translate the way we are taught! "Subito" is my new favourite word to use in everyday conversation.
My next big goal is to really start getting out of the house. I was out quite a bit the first week, while I was learning my way around the downtown area, but lately I've been holing up in my room during the day. Yeah, sometimes I'm working on Italian or doing other semi-important things, but mostly I'm browsing Pinterest and Imgur or playing Candy Crush. So that needs to be changing. It's a good thing Netflix doesn't work here, though, or I'd be in even more trouble, haha! But I want to start going to different coffeshops to study Italian, go to the museums and violin makers, and get to know more of the city!
Friday, September 27, 2013
Burritos! Well, sort of...
On one of my first days in Italy, we got to talking about cooking, and what kind of food I usually eat. Obviously, Mexican was at the very top of my list- I mean, I eat something that could be considered Mexican basically every day of my life. Whether it's something as simple as throwing a plate of Tostitos and cheese in the microwave for a snack, or putting together an entire meal of tacos and everything that could possibly go inside... some form of Mexican food happens quite frequently.
Soon, we picked a day, and Elena asked what kinds of ingredients I needed. It was a lot harder to come up with a list than I expected, since I'm used to there being some version of everything I need right in the cupboard, with enough variety that if I didn't have one specific thing, there is always something that can be used instead. Out of sour cream? That's fine, use extra cheese. No refried beans? Grumble about it for a few minutes while mashing up pinto beans. Anything can be left out if necessary, because there are always enough other ingredients around that the food will still be inherently "Mexican." Now, the more I thought about this list of ingredients, the more intimidated I became. I ended up just listing off the bare minimum- meat (which took some explaining), cheese, lettuce, tomato. And I asked if she had basic baking supplies, because I could make my own tortillas.
How To Cook a Mexican Meal in 12 Easy Steps
You will need:
- Tortillas, or stuff to make them (flour, milk, oil, baking powder, salt)
- Ground beef
- Onion
- Tomato
- Lettuce
- Pinto Beans
- Salt and Pepper
- Cheese
1. Realize that none of your measurements are in metric. Sigh dramatically. Convert.
2. Realize that "yes, I have flour" means less than a cup. Cut measurements in half.
3. Look at the measuring cup and see that it's only divided into 100-mL increments. Sigh dramatically. Decide to wing it.
4. Oops, baking powder isn't a thing here. Google replacements. (Luckily, Elena had "yeast for cakes," even in the same brand that was recommended.)
5. Meanwhile, start browning the meat. Easy enough. Throw some chopped onion in there, too.
6. Realize that you didn't leave any flour to use while rolling out the dough. Oh well. Roll it out anyways. Sigh dramatically. Deal with the sticky mess it leaves later. Set tortillas aside for a while.
7. Drain the meat. Look for spices. Realize too late that chili powder, cumin, and powdered versions of onion and garlic aren't normally found in a cupboard here. Sigh dramatically. Salt and pepper it is, then.
8. Cook the tortillas. Use the down time to cut up the lettuce and tomatoes.
9. Pour a tiny bit of the grease from cooking the ground beef back into the pan. Drain the pinto beans and throw those in the pan as well. Squish. Fry.
10. Look for cheese. Of course, cheese isn't exactly a hard thing to find in an Italian family's refrigerator... but what KIND of cheese is a bit of an issue. If you're lucky, someone will have recently accidentally bought Trugole cheese that ends up being as close as you're going to get to cheddar!
11. Realize that the only part of this dinner you're doing to do correctly is putting all the parts in their respective bowls. Decide to own it. Spill things everywhere in the process. Sigh dramatically.
12. Enjoy!
...Okay, so it was actually a really good meal. Like, super delicious. Everyone loved it. Marco claimed the extra tortilla immediately after taking one bite of his first. It just wasn't quite Mexican.
I'm rather thrilled with how my refried beans came out, though! They were much better than what I have even made in a crock pot in the past. I'm giving the inclusion of the animal fat full credit for that. It really isn't as good without!
While I'm frustrated with the obvious lack of Mexican-ness, I am quite ecstatic that it came out as edible, and even happier that it was actually an enjoyable meal! I'm open to suggestions on what to try next... I'm thinking about volunteering to make pancakes for breakfast during a weekend! I'll just have to find a recipe without baking powder...
Soon, we picked a day, and Elena asked what kinds of ingredients I needed. It was a lot harder to come up with a list than I expected, since I'm used to there being some version of everything I need right in the cupboard, with enough variety that if I didn't have one specific thing, there is always something that can be used instead. Out of sour cream? That's fine, use extra cheese. No refried beans? Grumble about it for a few minutes while mashing up pinto beans. Anything can be left out if necessary, because there are always enough other ingredients around that the food will still be inherently "Mexican." Now, the more I thought about this list of ingredients, the more intimidated I became. I ended up just listing off the bare minimum- meat (which took some explaining), cheese, lettuce, tomato. And I asked if she had basic baking supplies, because I could make my own tortillas.
How To Cook a Mexican Meal in 12 Easy Steps
You will need:
- Tortillas, or stuff to make them (flour, milk, oil, baking powder, salt)
- Ground beef
- Onion
- Tomato
- Lettuce
- Pinto Beans
- Salt and Pepper
- Cheese
1. Realize that none of your measurements are in metric. Sigh dramatically. Convert.
2. Realize that "yes, I have flour" means less than a cup. Cut measurements in half.
3. Look at the measuring cup and see that it's only divided into 100-mL increments. Sigh dramatically. Decide to wing it.
4. Oops, baking powder isn't a thing here. Google replacements. (Luckily, Elena had "yeast for cakes," even in the same brand that was recommended.)
5. Meanwhile, start browning the meat. Easy enough. Throw some chopped onion in there, too.
6. Realize that you didn't leave any flour to use while rolling out the dough. Oh well. Roll it out anyways. Sigh dramatically. Deal with the sticky mess it leaves later. Set tortillas aside for a while.
7. Drain the meat. Look for spices. Realize too late that chili powder, cumin, and powdered versions of onion and garlic aren't normally found in a cupboard here. Sigh dramatically. Salt and pepper it is, then.
8. Cook the tortillas. Use the down time to cut up the lettuce and tomatoes.
9. Pour a tiny bit of the grease from cooking the ground beef back into the pan. Drain the pinto beans and throw those in the pan as well. Squish. Fry.
10. Look for cheese. Of course, cheese isn't exactly a hard thing to find in an Italian family's refrigerator... but what KIND of cheese is a bit of an issue. If you're lucky, someone will have recently accidentally bought Trugole cheese that ends up being as close as you're going to get to cheddar!
11. Realize that the only part of this dinner you're doing to do correctly is putting all the parts in their respective bowls. Decide to own it. Spill things everywhere in the process. Sigh dramatically.
12. Enjoy!
...Okay, so it was actually a really good meal. Like, super delicious. Everyone loved it. Marco claimed the extra tortilla immediately after taking one bite of his first. It just wasn't quite Mexican.
I'm rather thrilled with how my refried beans came out, though! They were much better than what I have even made in a crock pot in the past. I'm giving the inclusion of the animal fat full credit for that. It really isn't as good without!
While I'm frustrated with the obvious lack of Mexican-ness, I am quite ecstatic that it came out as edible, and even happier that it was actually an enjoyable meal! I'm open to suggestions on what to try next... I'm thinking about volunteering to make pancakes for breakfast during a weekend! I'll just have to find a recipe without baking powder...
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Just a quick update =)
The last two weeks here have been such an adventure! I have done so many new things and learned so much, I can't even begin to recount them all in a timely fashion. But here's a few highlights:
I spent Monday with Greta, and Tuesday with Marco, so I would have a chance to get to know them individually. Greta was all about trying to use her English skills while teaching me some Italian- I learned my colours very well that day. We had a great time making and painting little plaster animals and drawing pictures! And then she found my phone, and I had a great time trying to figure out how to enable all the different restrictions. Apparently I should have read all those things I've seen on Pinterest about regulating iPhone usage with young kids.
Tuesday, I spent with Marco. He's a lot less likely to use English- he understands it alright (when he wants to), but is very resistant to speaking English himself. I have to say, I learned more Italian words that day than any other, just because I had to keep telling him to slow down so I could look things up! We played "Nascondino" (hide-and-seek) for a while, then built a fort out of blankets and cushions.
The first time I went into the city center was the Tuesday evening after I arrived in Italy. We took out bikes into town, and I was shown the main piazzas and landmarks. The next morning, I went back on my own, which was the first time I encountered the market, so of course everything looked COMPLETELY different! I got lost quite a few times, but I finally found the tourist information office and picked up a couple different maps. I started to find my way around, but soon realized I was depending on the market stalls to know where I was, and they won't always be there! When I went back that afternoon, it took me a while to reorient myself yet again, but I started to understand the main layout of the city.
That first Friday, I went to a dinner party at the house of some friends of the family. Everyone there spoke at least a little bit of English, so someone was always able to fill in a gap in communication. It was a really great night! At first I was super jealous of the pizza the kids were given for dinner, but then I saw what we were eating, and that jealousy immediately went away. Sandwiches made with hot bread and any number of combinations of fillings, including several different types of cheese, some cold-cut style meat, pesto made from different kinds of meat, and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting by now. After the sandwiches came gelato, of course. Then coffee, and other kinds of alcohol that I was given to try, but didn't like any of. I can think of so many people who would have thoroughly enjoyed that part of the evening, but definitely not me. I could tell they were all very delicious, but way too strong for me. We ended up leaving around midnight- I was falling asleep sitting at the table (the multiple glasses of champagne probably didn't help matters), and all the kids had passed out on the couch while watching Disney movies.
This past week was the first "normal" days of life around here. The kids were finally at school all day (the previous week had been only two half-days), and I was free during the day! I'm still working on what, exactly, to do with that free time, but I spent a lot of it walking and biking around town, practicing italian, and hanging out around the house. I went running with Gianluca once, and to the gym another time- it was great to get myself moving again, though the two-ish weeks I took off from exercise really showed. That's definitely something I'm going to focus on getting back into this week!
I did my first tourist-y thing this past week as well- I climbed the tower next to the Duomo. It is the highest brick tower in Europe! I made it to the first platform just fine- it felt very secure. However, the second platform was far more open, which scared me a lot, and I didn't even attempt the tight spiral stairs to the third. I might go back sometime when I've taken my vitamin B, and maybe have one or two people to go with.
Yesterday was a busy day, and very exhausting for my normally very introverted self. We started the day with a trip to the market, then biked to Gianluca's parents' house for lunch. They don't speak any English, so that was a big challenge for me. Elena and Gianluca translated a lot, of course, but I also did my best to use the Italian that I have picked up! Lunch was quite the adventure in and of itself- it was crazy! Very loud, and there were mosquitoes everywhere that we kept chasing around to squish. (The mosquitoes here are TERRIBLE- I get more bites every single day here than I did all summer at home.)
After a couple hours back home, it was time to go to a BBQ party with part of Elena's swim team. Let me tell you- thirty strangers and a language barrier is NOT my ideal situation! But my discomfort was relatively short-lived, and I ended up having a lot of really great discussions with a lot of different people.
Over the past couple weeks, I've been asked a lot of questions about the US. About Syria, the government in general, why Ohio is so important for elections (apparently that fact is very prominent in the news here!), what Willoughby is like, if there are a lot of (insert ethnicity here) people, and where various states and landmarks are. I feel as though I've been able to answer them all accurately and, when the government is the topic, diplomatically. All of these questions have been understandable as they're about my own opinions, or g=just general facts. I haven't really been asked a lot about american stereotypes. Until last night, that is, when someone brought up that she's been watching Sixteen and Pregnant. It took ALL of my willpower not to face-palm right then and there. Her question ended up being a lot easier than I expected- she wanted to know if it was feasible for teen moms to continue their education. But I was really worried there for a minute, especially since I've never actually seen the show before so I didn't know what she was going to be basing her observations off of!
Hopefully this week I'll get better about nailing down a daily routine, and get to see more of Cremona. Last night, every one of my conversations about sightseeing started off very bland, with the other person saying there really wasn't much to do here- until I mentioned that I am a musician. Then, it turned right into "well then Cremona is the PERFECT place for you!" I am very excited to start exploring the museums and liutaio and finding new things to do with my free time!
I spent Monday with Greta, and Tuesday with Marco, so I would have a chance to get to know them individually. Greta was all about trying to use her English skills while teaching me some Italian- I learned my colours very well that day. We had a great time making and painting little plaster animals and drawing pictures! And then she found my phone, and I had a great time trying to figure out how to enable all the different restrictions. Apparently I should have read all those things I've seen on Pinterest about regulating iPhone usage with young kids.
Tuesday, I spent with Marco. He's a lot less likely to use English- he understands it alright (when he wants to), but is very resistant to speaking English himself. I have to say, I learned more Italian words that day than any other, just because I had to keep telling him to slow down so I could look things up! We played "Nascondino" (hide-and-seek) for a while, then built a fort out of blankets and cushions.
The first time I went into the city center was the Tuesday evening after I arrived in Italy. We took out bikes into town, and I was shown the main piazzas and landmarks. The next morning, I went back on my own, which was the first time I encountered the market, so of course everything looked COMPLETELY different! I got lost quite a few times, but I finally found the tourist information office and picked up a couple different maps. I started to find my way around, but soon realized I was depending on the market stalls to know where I was, and they won't always be there! When I went back that afternoon, it took me a while to reorient myself yet again, but I started to understand the main layout of the city.
That first Friday, I went to a dinner party at the house of some friends of the family. Everyone there spoke at least a little bit of English, so someone was always able to fill in a gap in communication. It was a really great night! At first I was super jealous of the pizza the kids were given for dinner, but then I saw what we were eating, and that jealousy immediately went away. Sandwiches made with hot bread and any number of combinations of fillings, including several different types of cheese, some cold-cut style meat, pesto made from different kinds of meat, and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting by now. After the sandwiches came gelato, of course. Then coffee, and other kinds of alcohol that I was given to try, but didn't like any of. I can think of so many people who would have thoroughly enjoyed that part of the evening, but definitely not me. I could tell they were all very delicious, but way too strong for me. We ended up leaving around midnight- I was falling asleep sitting at the table (the multiple glasses of champagne probably didn't help matters), and all the kids had passed out on the couch while watching Disney movies.
This past week was the first "normal" days of life around here. The kids were finally at school all day (the previous week had been only two half-days), and I was free during the day! I'm still working on what, exactly, to do with that free time, but I spent a lot of it walking and biking around town, practicing italian, and hanging out around the house. I went running with Gianluca once, and to the gym another time- it was great to get myself moving again, though the two-ish weeks I took off from exercise really showed. That's definitely something I'm going to focus on getting back into this week!
I did my first tourist-y thing this past week as well- I climbed the tower next to the Duomo. It is the highest brick tower in Europe! I made it to the first platform just fine- it felt very secure. However, the second platform was far more open, which scared me a lot, and I didn't even attempt the tight spiral stairs to the third. I might go back sometime when I've taken my vitamin B, and maybe have one or two people to go with.
Yesterday was a busy day, and very exhausting for my normally very introverted self. We started the day with a trip to the market, then biked to Gianluca's parents' house for lunch. They don't speak any English, so that was a big challenge for me. Elena and Gianluca translated a lot, of course, but I also did my best to use the Italian that I have picked up! Lunch was quite the adventure in and of itself- it was crazy! Very loud, and there were mosquitoes everywhere that we kept chasing around to squish. (The mosquitoes here are TERRIBLE- I get more bites every single day here than I did all summer at home.)
After a couple hours back home, it was time to go to a BBQ party with part of Elena's swim team. Let me tell you- thirty strangers and a language barrier is NOT my ideal situation! But my discomfort was relatively short-lived, and I ended up having a lot of really great discussions with a lot of different people.
Over the past couple weeks, I've been asked a lot of questions about the US. About Syria, the government in general, why Ohio is so important for elections (apparently that fact is very prominent in the news here!), what Willoughby is like, if there are a lot of (insert ethnicity here) people, and where various states and landmarks are. I feel as though I've been able to answer them all accurately and, when the government is the topic, diplomatically. All of these questions have been understandable as they're about my own opinions, or g=just general facts. I haven't really been asked a lot about american stereotypes. Until last night, that is, when someone brought up that she's been watching Sixteen and Pregnant. It took ALL of my willpower not to face-palm right then and there. Her question ended up being a lot easier than I expected- she wanted to know if it was feasible for teen moms to continue their education. But I was really worried there for a minute, especially since I've never actually seen the show before so I didn't know what she was going to be basing her observations off of!
Hopefully this week I'll get better about nailing down a daily routine, and get to see more of Cremona. Last night, every one of my conversations about sightseeing started off very bland, with the other person saying there really wasn't much to do here- until I mentioned that I am a musician. Then, it turned right into "well then Cremona is the PERFECT place for you!" I am very excited to start exploring the museums and liutaio and finding new things to do with my free time!
Friday, September 20, 2013
Cremona
The plan was to start off this post with a video tour of Cremona. I took the video this morning, and just got around to importing and watching it, and got motion sickness. So I'll spare you.
The first thing you need to know about Cremona is that it is the birthplace of Antonio Stradivari. He's probably only a big deal to musicians- string players in particular- but here, it means everything. The ENTIRE town is decorated with violins. I have passed apartment balconies downtown that have a railing made to look like violins. Every store window, no matter what they're selling, has a violin in the front- some clothing stores even have the mannequins holding them. Stradivari's house is a landmark, and there is a separate Stradivari museum. There are more violin makers here than there are bars in Athens. There are at least two separate collections of violins and string instruments outside the proper museums, and on Saturday, a brand new Violin museum opened and kicked off the Stradivari festival. There will be a concert every Saturday night in the beautiful auditorium housed in the museum, and during some, the musicians will be playing original Stradivari instruments. Finally, Stradivari's tomb is located in a Piazza in the middle of the downtown area. Cremona also houses an international violin making school, and is home to a very important College of Musicology, which I am told has a wonderful collection of antique instruments. I hope to be able to see them- I have connections, so it is definitely a possibility!
One of the maps I was given shows six different "tourist itineraries" covering the classical era, the middle ages, the renaissance, the 18th century, music, and the city and river. I plan to slowly cover each one of these, maybe taking one per week while I am here.
Maps of the city look very complicated- especially since I enter the downtown area from the upper left corner of the map, so everything feels like it is upside down. After a week of exploring, here is what it looks like to me- you can definitely tell what my priorities are!
The spot marked "Duomo" and "Violin Museum" are piazzas, or squares, as well. I just don't remember what they are called, so I remember them by the big landmarks.
Church bells can be heard at various times every single day. Sometimes, it is as simple as chiming the hour, but other times, they ring for a long time! The bells right outside my bedroom window have five different pitches, and usually ring for quite a while. There's a video on my Facebook of the ones right outside my window!
Every Wednesday and Saturday, there is a HUGE market that covers several piazzas in the downtown area. It would be completely possible to live entirely off what can be bought at the market- there is food, clothing, shoes, toys, artwork... so many different things! I really enjoyed walking around and listening to everything happening around me. Clothing seems to be the biggest draw- I probably could have found everything for my new wardrobe here, for 1/4 of the cost that I paid at the mall back home, and found it all within a couple of hours rather than traveling to so many stores in two weeks! On Sundays, there is a different kind of sale every week. This past Sunday seemed to be mostly books and antique items, while I am told that other weeks are devoted to organic foods and other themes. It will be fun to see what turns up in the weeks to come!
The Po river runs past Cremona on the southwest. This river separates Lombardy, the state that Cremona is in, from the next state over, which is Emilia-Romagna. It is a gorgeous river, and there is a long walking and biking path that runs next to it. I even found a nice spot to go down to the edge of the water. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but somehow I also managed to bike out onto a sort of peninsula... but I would need a map of the park to see how that happened, which I have yet to find.
I don't really know my way around outside the downtown area. I can get to the school and to San Zeno, which is the gym/sports complex. And I do mean complex- there are volleyball courts, tennis courts, bocce ball courts, basketball courts, a rugby pitch, three different sized of football fields, three different pools, three or four outdoor playgrounds, a jogging trail, and an indoor group fitness class room. The indoor gym equipment room had a few treadmills, ellipticals, stair machines, stationary bikes, free weights, weight machines, mats, and other small equipment to use. There are probably several other fitness areas and fields that I have either forgotten or haven't yet seen. And then there is a restaurant and bar. It's a really nice place! I have gone by car to the mall, where the big grocery store is, and to Lidl, which is the same as Aldi.
The weather here is beautiful. It feels very much like fall right now! And I am told that it doesn't get that cold for that long in the winter. I mean, there's a palm tree behind the house, so it can't possibly be THAT bad. Those whom I have told about Lake Erie winters have been SHOCKED to hear that we get snow as early as October and as late as April! I've been told that it gets to "minus two or three" in the winter, which sounds dreadful at first but hey, Celsius! That's really no lower than what, 25 degrees in Fahrenheit? I can deal with that, NO problem.
So that's a general overview of WHERE I'm living. Hopefully soon I'll be able to finish writing about what I'm doing, and life in Cremona!
One of the maps I was given shows six different "tourist itineraries" covering the classical era, the middle ages, the renaissance, the 18th century, music, and the city and river. I plan to slowly cover each one of these, maybe taking one per week while I am here.
Maps of the city look very complicated- especially since I enter the downtown area from the upper left corner of the map, so everything feels like it is upside down. After a week of exploring, here is what it looks like to me- you can definitely tell what my priorities are!
The spot marked "Duomo" and "Violin Museum" are piazzas, or squares, as well. I just don't remember what they are called, so I remember them by the big landmarks.
Church bells can be heard at various times every single day. Sometimes, it is as simple as chiming the hour, but other times, they ring for a long time! The bells right outside my bedroom window have five different pitches, and usually ring for quite a while. There's a video on my Facebook of the ones right outside my window!
Every Wednesday and Saturday, there is a HUGE market that covers several piazzas in the downtown area. It would be completely possible to live entirely off what can be bought at the market- there is food, clothing, shoes, toys, artwork... so many different things! I really enjoyed walking around and listening to everything happening around me. Clothing seems to be the biggest draw- I probably could have found everything for my new wardrobe here, for 1/4 of the cost that I paid at the mall back home, and found it all within a couple of hours rather than traveling to so many stores in two weeks! On Sundays, there is a different kind of sale every week. This past Sunday seemed to be mostly books and antique items, while I am told that other weeks are devoted to organic foods and other themes. It will be fun to see what turns up in the weeks to come!
The Po river runs past Cremona on the southwest. This river separates Lombardy, the state that Cremona is in, from the next state over, which is Emilia-Romagna. It is a gorgeous river, and there is a long walking and biking path that runs next to it. I even found a nice spot to go down to the edge of the water. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but somehow I also managed to bike out onto a sort of peninsula... but I would need a map of the park to see how that happened, which I have yet to find.
I don't really know my way around outside the downtown area. I can get to the school and to San Zeno, which is the gym/sports complex. And I do mean complex- there are volleyball courts, tennis courts, bocce ball courts, basketball courts, a rugby pitch, three different sized of football fields, three different pools, three or four outdoor playgrounds, a jogging trail, and an indoor group fitness class room. The indoor gym equipment room had a few treadmills, ellipticals, stair machines, stationary bikes, free weights, weight machines, mats, and other small equipment to use. There are probably several other fitness areas and fields that I have either forgotten or haven't yet seen. And then there is a restaurant and bar. It's a really nice place! I have gone by car to the mall, where the big grocery store is, and to Lidl, which is the same as Aldi.
The weather here is beautiful. It feels very much like fall right now! And I am told that it doesn't get that cold for that long in the winter. I mean, there's a palm tree behind the house, so it can't possibly be THAT bad. Those whom I have told about Lake Erie winters have been SHOCKED to hear that we get snow as early as October and as late as April! I've been told that it gets to "minus two or three" in the winter, which sounds dreadful at first but hey, Celsius! That's really no lower than what, 25 degrees in Fahrenheit? I can deal with that, NO problem.
So that's a general overview of WHERE I'm living. Hopefully soon I'll be able to finish writing about what I'm doing, and life in Cremona!
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Wherefore Art Thou?
On Wednesday, Flavio, a friend of the family I am living with, was traveling to Padua for a business meeting, and offered me three options (oh, look, there's a handy little map at the top of the page that includes all of these places!):
1) I could go to Padua,
2) I could take a train from Padua to Venice,
3) He could drop me off in Verona, which was on the way.
I chose option three! I was discouraged from going to Venice since there wouldn't be much time to spend there- I am told that it is necessary to be there overnight.
First of all, band people- remember being in the busses in Rome and talking about how COMPLETELY CRAZY the drivers were? Well, imagine being in one of those cars instead of the safety of a giant bus! Flavio's driving wasn't nearly the scariest part, but being so much closer to the other crazy drivers was a little bit terrifying at times.
According to Flavio, "Every Italian man thinks he is a Formula One driver whenever he gets into a car." I nodded, gulped, and immediately scrambled to find my seatbelt. And the parking in crazy! It isn't necessary for everyone to be parked facing the same direction along a curb, and most people aren't even in remotely straight- just wherever at least a corner of their car would kinda-sorta fit. Or, you know, not fit at all, like when Flavio double parked while he ran into a Tabbacheria. I spent the whole time I was sitting in the car wondering what I was going to do when the owner of that white car came up and started yelling at me in Italian. Luckily, that didn't happen! The trip to and from Verona was an adventure in and of itself, though. Flavio speaks very broken english and doesn't have a large vocabulary, and my Italian consists of about 20 words, most of which are the names of colours. But we managed! At one point I commented on how big the mountains were that we were passing, and I'm going to paraphrase his answer into a very sassy "girl, those are just the foothills, you don't even know!"
Flavio had given me a map of Verona the day before, so I had a little bit of time to look at it and try to figure out what my tourist priorities were. I didn't know how much time I would have, and I was pretty much planning on pulling out another Florence-like super-tourist mode. I was starting to re-plan out the itineraries that were given in the map to save time and see things in an order that better suited my priorities. However, that wasn't at all necessary- as he dropped me off, Flavio said that he thought he might be back around six, if not later- that was a good seven hours away! We set a meeting place, and I was off on my own!
The first place I went was Ponte di Castelvecchio- a beautiful brick bridge attached the the castle. There were street musicians that were fantastic to listen to as I took in the view and ate the sandwich I had packed! It was also a great place to people-watch. I enjoyed having a few minutes to sit still! 
Eventually, I found my way up to one of these higher walkways in the bridge to get a slightly different view. The stairs were very steep and narrow, without anything to hold on to. I watched this woman slowly struggle her way down... then you better believe I walked right over and scooted down the steps on my butt! I attracted a few stares, but hey- I didn't fall and crack my head open on the bricks, so I'm considering it a victory. That's how that works, right?
After a while, I went inside the museum part of the castle and purchased a Verona Card. It was only €15- Definitely not what I was expecting after paying $50 for Firenze Card in May! I ended up saving about €18 in museum entrance fees. Plus, it's so much easier to just hand over a little card than to dig money out of my wallet nine or so separate times!
The museum itself was rather underwhelming to me- if you're really into medieval sacred art, you'd probably like it. Me, not so much. It was cool to walk around in, but I didn't do more than just glance around when I entered each room, seeing if there was anything I recognized. There never was. The was one room of weapons, which was pretty cool, but otherwise, the displays were kinda "meh."
However, in between sections of the museum, you walk through parts of the castle! These stairs go up to the top of the tower, but that was sadly blocked off. Later, I passed through a walkway that was a bit higher up on the staircase- right where that second gate is, and was disappointed yet again to not be able to climb the tower. Some areas had walkways out over the roof, which was very cool, and another was a walkway that went along the river for 50 yards or so. All of these different places offered great views! The best part was that there weren't many people in the museum- I bet most people didn't know that it was more than just the art, otherwise I'm sure it would have been a lot more crowded.
When I left the castle, I made my way to the Arena. Unfortunately, I made it there at the same time as several tour groups, so I had to wait in line for a few minutes. I didn't spend much time there once I got in- I really just climbed to the top and walked around the top couple rows of seats, looking to see if there was a unique view somewhere along the way. There really wasn't. The arena was set up for some kind of concert- when I walked past it again later that day, it was closed to tourists and there was very loud music coming from inside.
Juliet's tomb was far off the beaten path, but I had plenty of time and an English teacher friend to whom I promised photos. It was part of a museum, but I really don't recall anything from the museum part... not particularly interesting at all. There weren't many people, which surprised me... but it was pretty far out of the way, so I guess that's why. When I got to the tomb part, I was actually all by myself, which was a little creepy even though there weren't actually any dead people. It was pretty dark, so my photos didn't come out well, but here it is anyways!
From the tomb, I walked back around the arena to go down Via Mazzini. Flavio had told me about this street the day before, which is good, because it wasn't included on the tourist itinerary on my map! It was a long, beautiful street, with all kinds of stores for different designer labels. I'm not terribly interested in clothing, so I was really just walking by and glancing into windows, cringing at the thought of prices, and half scoffing at the people who were SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR CLOTHES. There were a lot of shoppers, individual tourists, and large groups of tourists here as well, and it wasn't a terribly wide street, so it was a little claustrophobic. Luckily, no cars drive on the street- it is for pedestrians only. It was cool to see, but I really just wanted to get to the other side, where I could go to another museum.
And then I found the Disney store. And it was a WONDERFUL Disney store. Lots of stuffed animals. A whole wall of mugs that I wanted every single one of. Action figures and such from every movie. DVDs. Some t-shirts and costumes, but not many (whereas the Disney store I'm used to has pretty much only those things, with a few toys from the most current movies thrown in here and there.) There was even a little touristy section in one corner with Shirts and figurines that had Disney characters with Italian flags incorporated into the design, and some things that said "Verona" or "Italy" on them. Moral of the story: I stopped being super judge-y of the high class shopping and turned into a six year old. It happens.
My next stop was Casa di Giulietta- Juliet's house. Wikipedia just failed me for the first time ever when I tried to find out more about how the location was chosen- there isn't an article about it in English! What I've pieced together from the crappy Google translation is this: It was created in 1937-1940, and modeled after a movie that was released in 1936. The movie was designed after a painting. The balcony was created with marble remains of the fourteenth century, and came from Castlevecchio. The site itself was chosen because a family called Capelletti lived there, and this is known because their coat of arms was found at the site. There was a family called Montague (maybe, more specifically, Montecchi), but there is no record of a feud with the Capelletti family.
But anyways. Here's some different perspectives of the balcony from the courtyard and from higher up in the museum:
Throughout the day, I looked for people who were attempting to take selfies and offered to take their picture in exchange for them taking one of me.
The rest of the museum was paintings of scenes from the play, paintings of shakespeare, and costumes and props from the movie. The whole place was, of course, decorated to resemble the period of the book. One room was dedicated to"letters to Juliet." Apparently that's a thing. Was no one paying attention in eighth grade when they first read the book? It's not exactly a love story to look up to! In fact, if I had to pick one character that I'd most like to be, I'd pick the chick Romeo ditches, because SHE SURVIVES THE PLAY. But apparently not everyone feels this way, and so they write letters to Juliet. Every letter is translated and answered by "Juliet's Secretaries," a group of young volunteers. Here's the address, in case anyone is interested... just don't tell me you're writing, because I'll make fun of you. A lot.
Club di Giulietta
Via Galilei 3
Verona 37100
Italy
I think there is also a way to send email. There are several computers set up in the museum that are set up to send emails, and there is even a mailbox to drop off written letters. In addition to the "official" letters to Juliet, there is also graffiti EVERYWHERE in the courtyard! To try to keep the graffiti at bay, the museum started putting removable panels in the tunnel that leads to the courtyard that are meant to be written on. Every so often, the panels are replaced, and the old ones put into storage, where they are then cycled through a display inside the museum.
In addition to writing on the removable wall in the tunnel, some people choose to put a lock on the gate at the far end of the courtyard, and more still leave pieces of paper tacked to the wall... unfortunately, this is usually done with chewing gum. I left a sticky note that simply said "choose love." That's more important to me than any expression of a relationship!
The last part of the courtyard was a bronze statue of Juliet. Lots of people were always crowded around taking pictures with her- apparently it's not a highly protected work of art, because people were climbing right on up, hugging her, and butting their hand on her boob. Yeah. I dunno. People are weird. The bronze there is a different colour than the rest of the cast from so many people touching her.
After I left Casa di Giulietta, I had a moment of panic where I searched frantically for my phone to see if Flavio had texted me with a meeting time to leave- after all, I had spent so much time in so many places! Imagine my surprise when I learned it was only about 1:30! I actually had some time to slow down! I found myself some gelato (duh), and found a nice corner of Piazza Erbe to people-watch for a while.
When I finished my gelato, I walked to Via Arche Scaligere 4, which has been designated as Romeo's house. It's not a museum like Juliet's or anything, just a plaque with a quote from the play next to a plain wooden door. It, too, is covered in graffiti.
I continued on my way to Arche Scaligere. I still have no idea what it is, but it was cool looking. They had laminated fact sheets to borrow as you walk around, but I forgot to pick one up when I entered, and felt awkward going back, so I just appreciated the aesthetic qualities of the collection. It was a lot of very intricate, very beautiful gothic sculpture. Though I'm about 99.6% sure they have something to do with dead people. Probably important dead people. You can Google it, I'm too lazy.
...Ok, I got curious. These are, in fact, tombs. Five tombs of the most important members of the Scaligere family, who ruled in Verona in the 13th and 14th centuries: Cangrade, Mastino, Cansignorio, Alberto, and Giovanni. THE MORE YOU KNOW.
Anyways, they were pretty cool. Three had these big tower things built around them, one was just a sarcophagus with no tower thingy, and one was built into the wall of the building it was next to, which I just learned is a church.
Speaking of churches, my next stops were to San Anastasia and the Duomo. Both beautiful, of course, though I don't have much more to say about them. The usual Italian artsy churches- sculptures, frescoes, other paintings, and this creepy hunchback dude.
It's strange to me that this is so normal here. Like, the Duomo in Cremona was closed to tourists this morning because of church services. People actually go to church in these places like it's nothing unusual. "Don't mind me, I'm just gonna go chill next to some famous artwork. Be back later." It blows my mind.
After the churches, I was about ready to call it a day and go find some pizza when I remembered the Torre dei Lamberti, the tallest building in Verona at 84 meters. Some perspective- that is approximately the distance from the goalie box on one end of a football pitch the the goal on the other end. At least, it is if my googling skills are worth anything. Another perspective- it is 268 steps to the top. I decided to save a Euro and skip the elevator, which would have saved me the first 243 steps. After the place where the lift lets out, it is another 46 steps to the first lookout area.
The moment I set foot on that first platform, I knew there was going to be a problem. That is SO. HIGH. UP. More importantly, I recall the railing as being slightly below my center of gravity, though I could be making that up since I was pretty much scared out of my mind even without that thought. There are two big bells at that level. After I had slowly worked my way around the tower, inching my way up to the edges to snap a photo and then hurrying back to where I couldn't see the height. Around that point is when I noticed several people looking up and covering their ears. The bell was going to ring. AND WE ALL KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE LOUD NOISES. Seeing another set of stairs, I took a few deep breaths, and started up those, hoping to get away from the bells.
Welllll, the bell rang when I had reached the first landing in this section. And it was a bell that was on the second platform- not even the ones that were there next to me. I jumped a foot, which scared me even more because DEAR GOD IT WAS SO HIGH UP and I no longer had the "protection" of four solid brick walls around me- oh no. Wide open. Once the bell stopped, I went back to the first platform to catch my breath before trying again, but it really didn't help at all. I SHOULD have given it up and just went back down, but I was 
determined to get to the top! I tried again, holding on to both railings and going one step at a time, walking both feet onto the same step before taking another one. Stop laughing, I was terrified! Soon I came to where it was enclosed by brick, but that barely helped because now, there was no elevator in the middle to take up all that open space, so it still felt very insecure. When there were landings, I was literally hugging the wall until I got to the next spot with a railing. Three separate guys asked me if I was okay. It probably took me ten minutes to climb 79 steps. I was hoping that the beautiful view would help take my mind off it when I reached the top, but first, I had to catch my breath and stop crying. Yes, there were tears involved. When I got to the top, I found the most secure place I could, sitting with my back against a pillar, facing in, and sat there for quite a while with my head down. One woman came over and asked if I was okay, if there was anything she could do, if I was there by myself. She and her husband were about to head down, and offered to wait a couple minutes so I could go down with them. So once I found some landmarks (the Arena and the Castle) and snapped a few photos (the view really was beautiful, I was just 100% unable to appreciate it!), the three of us went back down the stairs together. When we reached the lower platform, I thanked them profusely in as many languages as I could come up with (I could tell they weren't native English speakers), and continued on my way. Once I was back where the lift ran in the middle of the tower, it was much easier, though I was still very glad to reach the bottom!
After that, I decided that I deserved more gelato because why the heck not? I also grabbed a slice of pizza, and went back to chill in Piazza Bra for a while.
I finished my day by purchasing a copy of Harry Potter e il Prigioniero di Azkaban, and going back to the bridge to find somewhere to sit and read. An group of Japanese tourists showed up, so of course I immediately stopped reading and started people-watching. One of them took a picture of me sitting up on the higher ledge on the bridge. I asked him to email it to me, so we'll see if anything ever comes of that!
On the way home from Verona, Flavio and I stopped at Sirmione, where Lago Garda is. It is so, so beautiful! I have a large number of pictures from there, mostly because Flavio kept taking my phone and telling me to take pictures with various things behind me, including but not limited to: the sunset, the castle, the lake, nuns, and a swan. This is my "you KNOW swans are mean, right?" face:
"Get closer! get closer!" "Um, how about no?" I finally just went and took my phone away. I tried to slowly move a little closer to get a picture of just the swan, but then it started moving VERY determinatedly (is that a word) towards me so I ran away.
So all in all, a really wonderful day! I have some pictures on facebook, but I didn't want to just photo dump, so I put all of them on a picasa album which you can visit HERE
1) I could go to Padua,
2) I could take a train from Padua to Venice,
3) He could drop me off in Verona, which was on the way.
I chose option three! I was discouraged from going to Venice since there wouldn't be much time to spend there- I am told that it is necessary to be there overnight.
First of all, band people- remember being in the busses in Rome and talking about how COMPLETELY CRAZY the drivers were? Well, imagine being in one of those cars instead of the safety of a giant bus! Flavio's driving wasn't nearly the scariest part, but being so much closer to the other crazy drivers was a little bit terrifying at times.
Flavio had given me a map of Verona the day before, so I had a little bit of time to look at it and try to figure out what my tourist priorities were. I didn't know how much time I would have, and I was pretty much planning on pulling out another Florence-like super-tourist mode. I was starting to re-plan out the itineraries that were given in the map to save time and see things in an order that better suited my priorities. However, that wasn't at all necessary- as he dropped me off, Flavio said that he thought he might be back around six, if not later- that was a good seven hours away! We set a meeting place, and I was off on my own!
After a while, I went inside the museum part of the castle and purchased a Verona Card. It was only €15- Definitely not what I was expecting after paying $50 for Firenze Card in May! I ended up saving about €18 in museum entrance fees. Plus, it's so much easier to just hand over a little card than to dig money out of my wallet nine or so separate times!
The museum itself was rather underwhelming to me- if you're really into medieval sacred art, you'd probably like it. Me, not so much. It was cool to walk around in, but I didn't do more than just glance around when I entered each room, seeing if there was anything I recognized. There never was. The was one room of weapons, which was pretty cool, but otherwise, the displays were kinda "meh."
However, in between sections of the museum, you walk through parts of the castle! These stairs go up to the top of the tower, but that was sadly blocked off. Later, I passed through a walkway that was a bit higher up on the staircase- right where that second gate is, and was disappointed yet again to not be able to climb the tower. Some areas had walkways out over the roof, which was very cool, and another was a walkway that went along the river for 50 yards or so. All of these different places offered great views! The best part was that there weren't many people in the museum- I bet most people didn't know that it was more than just the art, otherwise I'm sure it would have been a lot more crowded.
When I left the castle, I made my way to the Arena. Unfortunately, I made it there at the same time as several tour groups, so I had to wait in line for a few minutes. I didn't spend much time there once I got in- I really just climbed to the top and walked around the top couple rows of seats, looking to see if there was a unique view somewhere along the way. There really wasn't. The arena was set up for some kind of concert- when I walked past it again later that day, it was closed to tourists and there was very loud music coming from inside.
Juliet's tomb was far off the beaten path, but I had plenty of time and an English teacher friend to whom I promised photos. It was part of a museum, but I really don't recall anything from the museum part... not particularly interesting at all. There weren't many people, which surprised me... but it was pretty far out of the way, so I guess that's why. When I got to the tomb part, I was actually all by myself, which was a little creepy even though there weren't actually any dead people. It was pretty dark, so my photos didn't come out well, but here it is anyways!
And then I found the Disney store. And it was a WONDERFUL Disney store. Lots of stuffed animals. A whole wall of mugs that I wanted every single one of. Action figures and such from every movie. DVDs. Some t-shirts and costumes, but not many (whereas the Disney store I'm used to has pretty much only those things, with a few toys from the most current movies thrown in here and there.) There was even a little touristy section in one corner with Shirts and figurines that had Disney characters with Italian flags incorporated into the design, and some things that said "Verona" or "Italy" on them. Moral of the story: I stopped being super judge-y of the high class shopping and turned into a six year old. It happens.
My next stop was Casa di Giulietta- Juliet's house. Wikipedia just failed me for the first time ever when I tried to find out more about how the location was chosen- there isn't an article about it in English! What I've pieced together from the crappy Google translation is this: It was created in 1937-1940, and modeled after a movie that was released in 1936. The movie was designed after a painting. The balcony was created with marble remains of the fourteenth century, and came from Castlevecchio. The site itself was chosen because a family called Capelletti lived there, and this is known because their coat of arms was found at the site. There was a family called Montague (maybe, more specifically, Montecchi), but there is no record of a feud with the Capelletti family.
But anyways. Here's some different perspectives of the balcony from the courtyard and from higher up in the museum:
Throughout the day, I looked for people who were attempting to take selfies and offered to take their picture in exchange for them taking one of me.
The rest of the museum was paintings of scenes from the play, paintings of shakespeare, and costumes and props from the movie. The whole place was, of course, decorated to resemble the period of the book. One room was dedicated to"letters to Juliet." Apparently that's a thing. Was no one paying attention in eighth grade when they first read the book? It's not exactly a love story to look up to! In fact, if I had to pick one character that I'd most like to be, I'd pick the chick Romeo ditches, because SHE SURVIVES THE PLAY. But apparently not everyone feels this way, and so they write letters to Juliet. Every letter is translated and answered by "Juliet's Secretaries," a group of young volunteers. Here's the address, in case anyone is interested... just don't tell me you're writing, because I'll make fun of you. A lot.
Via Galilei 3
Verona 37100
Italy
I think there is also a way to send email. There are several computers set up in the museum that are set up to send emails, and there is even a mailbox to drop off written letters. In addition to the "official" letters to Juliet, there is also graffiti EVERYWHERE in the courtyard! To try to keep the graffiti at bay, the museum started putting removable panels in the tunnel that leads to the courtyard that are meant to be written on. Every so often, the panels are replaced, and the old ones put into storage, where they are then cycled through a display inside the museum.
In addition to writing on the removable wall in the tunnel, some people choose to put a lock on the gate at the far end of the courtyard, and more still leave pieces of paper tacked to the wall... unfortunately, this is usually done with chewing gum. I left a sticky note that simply said "choose love." That's more important to me than any expression of a relationship!
The last part of the courtyard was a bronze statue of Juliet. Lots of people were always crowded around taking pictures with her- apparently it's not a highly protected work of art, because people were climbing right on up, hugging her, and butting their hand on her boob. Yeah. I dunno. People are weird. The bronze there is a different colour than the rest of the cast from so many people touching her.
After I left Casa di Giulietta, I had a moment of panic where I searched frantically for my phone to see if Flavio had texted me with a meeting time to leave- after all, I had spent so much time in so many places! Imagine my surprise when I learned it was only about 1:30! I actually had some time to slow down! I found myself some gelato (duh), and found a nice corner of Piazza Erbe to people-watch for a while.
When I finished my gelato, I walked to Via Arche Scaligere 4, which has been designated as Romeo's house. It's not a museum like Juliet's or anything, just a plaque with a quote from the play next to a plain wooden door. It, too, is covered in graffiti.
...Ok, I got curious. These are, in fact, tombs. Five tombs of the most important members of the Scaligere family, who ruled in Verona in the 13th and 14th centuries: Cangrade, Mastino, Cansignorio, Alberto, and Giovanni. THE MORE YOU KNOW.
Anyways, they were pretty cool. Three had these big tower things built around them, one was just a sarcophagus with no tower thingy, and one was built into the wall of the building it was next to, which I just learned is a church.
Speaking of churches, my next stops were to San Anastasia and the Duomo. Both beautiful, of course, though I don't have much more to say about them. The usual Italian artsy churches- sculptures, frescoes, other paintings, and this creepy hunchback dude.
It's strange to me that this is so normal here. Like, the Duomo in Cremona was closed to tourists this morning because of church services. People actually go to church in these places like it's nothing unusual. "Don't mind me, I'm just gonna go chill next to some famous artwork. Be back later." It blows my mind.
After that, I decided that I deserved more gelato because why the heck not? I also grabbed a slice of pizza, and went back to chill in Piazza Bra for a while.
I finished my day by purchasing a copy of Harry Potter e il Prigioniero di Azkaban, and going back to the bridge to find somewhere to sit and read. An group of Japanese tourists showed up, so of course I immediately stopped reading and started people-watching. One of them took a picture of me sitting up on the higher ledge on the bridge. I asked him to email it to me, so we'll see if anything ever comes of that!
On the way home from Verona, Flavio and I stopped at Sirmione, where Lago Garda is. It is so, so beautiful! I have a large number of pictures from there, mostly because Flavio kept taking my phone and telling me to take pictures with various things behind me, including but not limited to: the sunset, the castle, the lake, nuns, and a swan. This is my "you KNOW swans are mean, right?" face:
"Get closer! get closer!" "Um, how about no?" I finally just went and took my phone away. I tried to slowly move a little closer to get a picture of just the swan, but then it started moving VERY determinatedly (is that a word) towards me so I ran away.
So all in all, a really wonderful day! I have some pictures on facebook, but I didn't want to just photo dump, so I put all of them on a picasa album which you can visit HERE
Sunday, September 8, 2013
On Travel
It is my second day in Italy, and life is wonderful! I'm having trouble nailing down a specific subject for this post, so it is going to be very scattered. Just a warning.
My suitcase decided that it would much prefer to stay in Cleveland. It was supposedly put on the next flight, but so far, no news.
My layover in Heathrow was supposed to be just under 2 hours. I was nervous as it was. When we got there our stand was "utterly occupied" (not just a little bit occupied...) but another plane. Once we got to the stand, we learned the reason it was being called a "stand" and not a "gate"- it wasn't anywhere near the terminal. SO we had to take busses. I was five rows from the back, so that took a LONG time! LUCKILY, I didn't have to change terminals... but I still had to go through security (for the THIRD time), and the lines were VERY long. My flight was at 9:10- I made it to my gate at 9:00 after running to the bathroom as fast as I could.
I was 3/3 on window seats (YAY!) and 2/3 on having an empty seat in my row. Can't complain.
On the trans-atlantic flight, there was a video screen in the back of every seat, and you could pick your own movie! I watched Star Trek: Into Darkness, and it was just as amazing as when I saw it in the theatre. Actually, I think it was even more amazing, because I've actually seen Wrath of Khan now so I got all of the references.
When we left the airport, we went straight to the other side of Milan for the Color Run! Most of that trip was on the metro. It was a while until the run actually started, but it was nice to have a little break and start to get to know the family I am staying with. We stopped to see a giant statue of a horse that was designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, though the actual statue was built by an American. I have learned that I talk way too fast (who would've guessed, right? ha) and if I listen very closely, I can identify more Italian words than I thought I would be able to- lots more from music than from anything else. One example that I was surprised by was "senza"- I recognized it immediately from seeing and hearing "senza sordino!" There are many words that I have recognized from Spanish, too. However, no matter how many individual words I recognize, I can't construct my own sentences. I've had my nose buried in my dictionary all day today, but that doesn't help at all with grammar and syntax.
The Color Run itself was very, very fun! I didn't have my phone with me to take pictures, but the people I was with took plenty, so hopefully I'll get my hands on them soon to share. I didn't actually get that much powder on me during the actual race- I have a talent for staying out of the way- but when everyone threw their packets at the end, we all would up covered head to toe. Most of us still have a little bit that we couldn't get off in the shower!
I have only eaten one actual meal here, but it was so, so delicious. Pasta, salad, and a meat I couldn't identify, but was very, very good. Late this morning, we went to the grocery store, which was a strange experience. The grocery store is in the mall, right along with H&M, other stores that I've never heard of, and one called Stradivarius that, although the logo contained a treble clef, was a clothing store and had nothing to do with music. Since this IS the guy's birthplace, I guess they're allowed to do that =) Also, the carts (which are like Aldi's, with the lock that you need a quarter to release) are found in the parking garage underneath the mall, and aren't just for the grocery store- they go to the whole mall. The Entire front of the store opens out into the mall, and is completely lined with checkouts. And they all have someone working at it. And the cashiers have comfy-looking chairs. There is a kid's playplace in the mall, which is a jungle gym like they would have at a McDonalds, only GIANT. Marco and Greta stayed there while we went to the grocery store. Shopping was a bit of a culture shock, even though I was just following around- I knew I wouldn't be able to read most of the food names, but even a lot of the packaging is different, so most of the time I had no idea what I was looking at! I found a few words I could identify, mostly among the meat. I recognized "pollo" from spanish, so we were good to go there... and then I recognized "equina," and got a little weirded out. Luckily, Elena and Gianluca passed right by that section, though not without laughing at my expression. I think the biggest difference in food, though, is that seafood is a big part of their meals... I told them I'm up for trying just about anything, but couldn't make any promises. I've never been able to eat seafood. I mean, I spit out shrimp once when I was talked into trying it. So that will be interesting. Maybe it will be an acquired taste... but I'm skeptical.
Sadly, though I have more to say, my computer is about to die. While I have my charging cord, my adapter and converter is in my suitcase, so I have to wait for that before I can use any plugs. Ciao for now!
My suitcase decided that it would much prefer to stay in Cleveland. It was supposedly put on the next flight, but so far, no news.
My layover in Heathrow was supposed to be just under 2 hours. I was nervous as it was. When we got there our stand was "utterly occupied" (not just a little bit occupied...) but another plane. Once we got to the stand, we learned the reason it was being called a "stand" and not a "gate"- it wasn't anywhere near the terminal. SO we had to take busses. I was five rows from the back, so that took a LONG time! LUCKILY, I didn't have to change terminals... but I still had to go through security (for the THIRD time), and the lines were VERY long. My flight was at 9:10- I made it to my gate at 9:00 after running to the bathroom as fast as I could.
I was 3/3 on window seats (YAY!) and 2/3 on having an empty seat in my row. Can't complain.
On the trans-atlantic flight, there was a video screen in the back of every seat, and you could pick your own movie! I watched Star Trek: Into Darkness, and it was just as amazing as when I saw it in the theatre. Actually, I think it was even more amazing, because I've actually seen Wrath of Khan now so I got all of the references.
When we left the airport, we went straight to the other side of Milan for the Color Run! Most of that trip was on the metro. It was a while until the run actually started, but it was nice to have a little break and start to get to know the family I am staying with. We stopped to see a giant statue of a horse that was designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, though the actual statue was built by an American. I have learned that I talk way too fast (who would've guessed, right? ha) and if I listen very closely, I can identify more Italian words than I thought I would be able to- lots more from music than from anything else. One example that I was surprised by was "senza"- I recognized it immediately from seeing and hearing "senza sordino!" There are many words that I have recognized from Spanish, too. However, no matter how many individual words I recognize, I can't construct my own sentences. I've had my nose buried in my dictionary all day today, but that doesn't help at all with grammar and syntax.
The Color Run itself was very, very fun! I didn't have my phone with me to take pictures, but the people I was with took plenty, so hopefully I'll get my hands on them soon to share. I didn't actually get that much powder on me during the actual race- I have a talent for staying out of the way- but when everyone threw their packets at the end, we all would up covered head to toe. Most of us still have a little bit that we couldn't get off in the shower!
I have only eaten one actual meal here, but it was so, so delicious. Pasta, salad, and a meat I couldn't identify, but was very, very good. Late this morning, we went to the grocery store, which was a strange experience. The grocery store is in the mall, right along with H&M, other stores that I've never heard of, and one called Stradivarius that, although the logo contained a treble clef, was a clothing store and had nothing to do with music. Since this IS the guy's birthplace, I guess they're allowed to do that =) Also, the carts (which are like Aldi's, with the lock that you need a quarter to release) are found in the parking garage underneath the mall, and aren't just for the grocery store- they go to the whole mall. The Entire front of the store opens out into the mall, and is completely lined with checkouts. And they all have someone working at it. And the cashiers have comfy-looking chairs. There is a kid's playplace in the mall, which is a jungle gym like they would have at a McDonalds, only GIANT. Marco and Greta stayed there while we went to the grocery store. Shopping was a bit of a culture shock, even though I was just following around- I knew I wouldn't be able to read most of the food names, but even a lot of the packaging is different, so most of the time I had no idea what I was looking at! I found a few words I could identify, mostly among the meat. I recognized "pollo" from spanish, so we were good to go there... and then I recognized "equina," and got a little weirded out. Luckily, Elena and Gianluca passed right by that section, though not without laughing at my expression. I think the biggest difference in food, though, is that seafood is a big part of their meals... I told them I'm up for trying just about anything, but couldn't make any promises. I've never been able to eat seafood. I mean, I spit out shrimp once when I was talked into trying it. So that will be interesting. Maybe it will be an acquired taste... but I'm skeptical.
Sadly, though I have more to say, my computer is about to die. While I have my charging cord, my adapter and converter is in my suitcase, so I have to wait for that before I can use any plugs. Ciao for now!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Extreme Makeover: Wardrobe Edition
I've been frustrated with my wardrobe for quite a while now. It's outdated, the few nice things I own have been worn so much they aren't nice anymore, some stuff doesn't even fit correctly, and truth be told, nothing matches. At all. This all became even more obvious when I started creating my packing list for Italy. After a few attempts at sorting through my clothes trying to figure out what could mix-and-match, what was appropriate for a European country (obviously not all my OU t-shirts!), and what was versatile enough to work from September through November- that's a really wide range of weather possibilities!- I just gave up.
I gutted my ENTIRE clothing collection.
Mom took a few things to keep and a few to babysit since she's likely to wear them while I'm gone (Steelers jerseys being the most obvious example), and I tried unsuccessfully to get a few dollars by selling some things to Plato's Closet. I ended up with four garbage bags stuffed full of clothes that I gave away through Freecycle. Hopefully the ladies who took them will get some use of of them!
What did I keep? My semiformal dresses, all of my t-shirts that are from some specific event or organization (which is, admittedly, over 60 shirts), a couple of summer dresses, my absolute favourite long skirts, my best-fitting workout clothes, and a few (probably less than ten) nice tops that I wear too often to part with. That's it. I was able to clear out an ENTIRE cabinet in my room that had previously been devoted to clothes, and over half of both my dresser and closet.
To rebuild my wardrobe from zero, I started by utilizing this business casual "capsule" wardrobe from Outfit Posts.
Everyone knows I am incapable of matching things, so I stuck as close to her suggestions as possible- even the colours of each item. Here is my recreation! Note: I spent a long time looking for an online photo collage maker. I hated every single one, so I just went with the easiest to use. They cropped all my pictures awkwardly and I don't like it.
A few differences:
I ended up finding a teal dress that I really liked, but it was a sheath dress instead of a wrap. I figured it was no big deal, and I could just switch the two styles. However, I never found a grey dress in ANY style, so that's actually a skirt I found that I really, really like. It's a great skirt, and it is long enough that I can pull it up and belt it to wear as a dress! Neither my black and white nor my black skirts are pencil skirts- those two are things I already had in my clothing collection, so I decided to stick with them and save some money. Plus, that makes them slightly more casual than business-y, but still look nice!
Hopefully, I am going to sew a little piece of elastic into the back of the pink T-shirt to make it a little more fitted around the waist.
Now for a couple accessories:
I've been wanting a purse like that for a long time, so I decided to get it while I was already spending money! Plus a belt, and both a black and white camisole to round everything out.
And, of course, some extras:
Mom found these for me at Plato's Closet, and I decided to get them because the colours go with everything else in the capsule!
Last but not least...
I've been needing new tennis shoes for quite a while. I think I got these during spring break of 2012, which means they have been through QUITE a bit: two semesters of walking to the Ridges every day, a bunch of starts and stops of getting myself to run, walking the dog every day that I'm home, one Ohio winter, and most significantly, an entire 110 season... not to mention everyday wear! They have definitely seen their fair share of pavement and turf! I decided to go with Nike's, because I have heard so many good things about them from fitness bloggers and other runners I know. They're so comfortable!
This is the part that makes me cry a little. I don't think I've ever spent so much money on clothes in my life- I'm usually a thrift store-or-nothing type of shopper, and I have NEVER bought this many things at once.
Yellow cardigan $15 Target
Grey skirt $22 Cato
Black jacket $40 Macy's
Teal dress $40 JC Penny's
Purple cardigan $49 Sears
Black blouse $22 Sears
White blouse $25 H&M
Black and white skirt $0 (already owned!)
Black skirt $0 (already owned!)
White button-up $23 Target
Jeans $0 (already owned!)
Pink T-shirt $15 Sears
Black pants $25 Macy's
Striped shirt $32 Express
Black belt $8 Wal*Mart
Purple purse $19 Wal*Mart
Black and white camisoles $3 each JC Penny's
Teal and black knit sweater $8 Plato's Closet
Polka dot blouse $7 Plato's Closet
Nike's $50 JC Penny's
Ouch. But I really do think it's well worth it. I spent my money wisely. I bought new clothes for once, from good stores. These ALL match, rather than me just picking up random things I like without knowing how they fit into my wardrobe. I will get a lot of use out of them. And it is a fantastic starter wardrobe to build from in the future.
I gutted my ENTIRE clothing collection.
Mom took a few things to keep and a few to babysit since she's likely to wear them while I'm gone (Steelers jerseys being the most obvious example), and I tried unsuccessfully to get a few dollars by selling some things to Plato's Closet. I ended up with four garbage bags stuffed full of clothes that I gave away through Freecycle. Hopefully the ladies who took them will get some use of of them!
What did I keep? My semiformal dresses, all of my t-shirts that are from some specific event or organization (which is, admittedly, over 60 shirts), a couple of summer dresses, my absolute favourite long skirts, my best-fitting workout clothes, and a few (probably less than ten) nice tops that I wear too often to part with. That's it. I was able to clear out an ENTIRE cabinet in my room that had previously been devoted to clothes, and over half of both my dresser and closet.
To rebuild my wardrobe from zero, I started by utilizing this business casual "capsule" wardrobe from Outfit Posts.
Everyone knows I am incapable of matching things, so I stuck as close to her suggestions as possible- even the colours of each item. Here is my recreation! Note: I spent a long time looking for an online photo collage maker. I hated every single one, so I just went with the easiest to use. They cropped all my pictures awkwardly and I don't like it.
A few differences:
I ended up finding a teal dress that I really liked, but it was a sheath dress instead of a wrap. I figured it was no big deal, and I could just switch the two styles. However, I never found a grey dress in ANY style, so that's actually a skirt I found that I really, really like. It's a great skirt, and it is long enough that I can pull it up and belt it to wear as a dress! Neither my black and white nor my black skirts are pencil skirts- those two are things I already had in my clothing collection, so I decided to stick with them and save some money. Plus, that makes them slightly more casual than business-y, but still look nice!
Hopefully, I am going to sew a little piece of elastic into the back of the pink T-shirt to make it a little more fitted around the waist.
Now for a couple accessories:
I've been wanting a purse like that for a long time, so I decided to get it while I was already spending money! Plus a belt, and both a black and white camisole to round everything out.
And, of course, some extras:
Mom found these for me at Plato's Closet, and I decided to get them because the colours go with everything else in the capsule!
Last but not least...
I've been needing new tennis shoes for quite a while. I think I got these during spring break of 2012, which means they have been through QUITE a bit: two semesters of walking to the Ridges every day, a bunch of starts and stops of getting myself to run, walking the dog every day that I'm home, one Ohio winter, and most significantly, an entire 110 season... not to mention everyday wear! They have definitely seen their fair share of pavement and turf! I decided to go with Nike's, because I have heard so many good things about them from fitness bloggers and other runners I know. They're so comfortable!
This is the part that makes me cry a little. I don't think I've ever spent so much money on clothes in my life- I'm usually a thrift store-or-nothing type of shopper, and I have NEVER bought this many things at once.
Yellow cardigan $15 Target
Grey skirt $22 Cato
Black jacket $40 Macy's
Teal dress $40 JC Penny's
Purple cardigan $49 Sears
Black blouse $22 Sears
White blouse $25 H&M
Black and white skirt $0 (already owned!)
Black skirt $0 (already owned!)
White button-up $23 Target
Jeans $0 (already owned!)
Pink T-shirt $15 Sears
Black pants $25 Macy's
Striped shirt $32 Express
Black belt $8 Wal*Mart
Purple purse $19 Wal*Mart
Black and white camisoles $3 each JC Penny's
Teal and black knit sweater $8 Plato's Closet
Polka dot blouse $7 Plato's Closet
Nike's $50 JC Penny's
Ouch. But I really do think it's well worth it. I spent my money wisely. I bought new clothes for once, from good stores. These ALL match, rather than me just picking up random things I like without knowing how they fit into my wardrobe. I will get a lot of use out of them. And it is a fantastic starter wardrobe to build from in the future.
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