Toscana (finalmente)... with pictures!

Ciao a tutti!

Ok, I know, I know. I have been awful at updating this blog. But rest assured I am alive and well. It’s been a very hectic term here (like most) only with a few extra obstacles like an additional 45 minute commute (each way) to/from school and an ever changing schedule. Our teachers have complete control over most everything we do during the week, with constant additions to our calendar… like 6 hour movies, ARG! However, one can’t complain too much (although I do as my parents know) since we only have classes 4 days a week (however for over 20 hours!). Before I go any further, please excuse my worsening English grammar and sentence fluency, it seems I have a finite amount of space for language acquisition and memory.

Before I was considering a Romance Language major (doubled with Government) or Italian minor… but after this program, I have decided for sure that I will not be following that course of learning. Don’t think that the program has completely killed any desire for the Italian language, it’s just the department after this program is entirely literature based and I am not that interested in Italian literature. I think I am going stick with my primary major of government (with an international relations focus) and minor in either environmental studies or geography.

Classes are kind of the same as I said in my previous post oh so long ago. Italiano 8, my Rome/Italian culture course is great (but a lot of work). We had to do a group presentation the week before vacation on one of the neighborhoods (quartieri) of Rome. Myself and two friends were assigned the Jewish Ghetto, which is a really fantastic area near where we have classes at the Campo de’ fiori. For a little quick history, the ghetto was established in the 1500s by one of the popes, as a place to keep the Jews separate from the rest of the city. The term ghetto in Italian actually means just an area closed off, not like the term ghetto and it’s use in the States. For the project we had to conduct interviews of locals in the area to get some real first-hand knowledge of the neighborhood. After two rather uninspiring interviews in a sandwich shop, we were starting to feel a little nervous about the project. However, across the piazza, we saw these four older gentlemen sitting on a panchina (lit. a park bench with a back). Long story short, we ended up having a 20 minute conversation with these guys about the Ghetto, finding out that they have all been born and raised here (with one motioning to a nearby 3rd story window where he has lived his whole life).

We ended up doing our entire presentation as if we were these four guys from the Ghetto, acting as tour guides to our classmates. It was a lot of fun to do.

Italiano 10 is pretty much the same as it was before, except now we are reading old Italian from the 15th through 19th centuries… I’ll save you any sort of ranting on my opinions of the proper methods for language instruction, except to say 2nd year Italian students should not be subjected to the musings Machiavelli. However, the discussions in the class have been pretty interesting, and I really do like the prof for the class. Not all the material is so bad however, as we have been reading a novel about immigrants and racism in Italy, which has been really entertaining… we also get to meet the author in a couple weeks!

Italiano 12 fa schifo (sucks a lot). It’s a terrible grammar course where we just discuss our own individual issues with the grammar as a class and the prof only chimes in every hour or so. I like the guy as a person, but the class is just awful. I blame it partially on this very new-agey book that tries to use specific learning exercises to teach the langue in lieu of actual lectures and information on the language. I will happy when this class is over, that’s for sure!

Okay, now for the stuff you want to hear. Last I left you, we were going to be visiting la basilica di San Clemente near the Colosseo. The church, while not the most beautiful in Rome, is an archaeological dream, with spanning multiple centuries of history with one building constructed on top of the next. The street level church of today was constructed in the 1200s with frescos and paintings from the 1200s, 1400s and 1700s. Below the first story is another church from the fourth century where you can see the first written sentence in the language we know to today as Italian. Even further down is another level consisting of Roman ruins of an ancient religion called Mitra dating back from the second and third centuries. The religion was actually a big contender with Catholicism and if the Church hadn’t stopped it’s spread most of the world would probably be practicing this religion instead of Christianity. An interesting fact about the religion is that the main day of celebration was December 25th, when the diety Mitra was born, which is especially interesting since the Catholic church only accepted the date of December 25th as Jesus’ birth in the fourth century.

After that week, we had an all expenses paid trip to Toscana. The first day, we took a bus from the train station to the town of Montepulciano, Toscana, where we were to have a free wine tasting.

We tasted one white wine, two reds, and a sweet vino di santo (saint wine). Originally, we were going to have a tour of the city before the wine tasting, but since the guide’s car broke down we changed plans and did the tour afterwards. Probably not the best idea considering the condition we were all in, but to be honest, it was the fastest and most enjoyable tour of a city I have ever had, however I don’t remember any of the facts about the town to tell you all here… sorry = )

After the tour and nice nap on the bus, we arrived at our agriturismo (a type of hotel that’s associated with a farm or vineyard… and lucky for us… this was of the vineyard type).

The place was gorgeous… for the 17 of us there were 3 large (really large) apartments, complete with kitchens and living rooms.

The food there was also amazing, as most of it was made right at the agriturismo, and included cinghiale (wild boar) and other such Tuscan specialties.

The next day we went to Siena and had another guided tour of the city, including, in my opinion, the most beautiful church in all of Italy… the Duomo of Siena.

After, we climbed up the tower in the main piazza to take some pictures of the beautiful Tuscan landscape around the town.
I know that I still need to comment on the vacation, but at least this can suffice for a few days while I do more homework and try to find an internet connection that is faster than this one.

Ci vediamo in quasi quattro settimane!

Swamped

Hey everyone, ciao from Roma!

Sorry I slacked a little this week with updating the blog, and I hate to say it but this post won't be anything spectacular either. This coming week is mid-terms and as such I have three compositions, a presentation and a mid-term all sceduled between now and Thursday. I'll try to update my blog Thursday night before my vacation week in the northern parts of Italy. Hope everyone is doing well, Happy Homecoming and, as always, GO DUCKS!

Week 2: Trastevere, Tivoli, Spoleto e Assisi

A true Dartmouth term has officially started. Classes are truly sucky… it’s funny how each teacher knows the other’s syllabus and they all teach from the same classroom with the same group of students, and yet they still pile on the homework… more even than a normal Dartmouth term (hard to say). It’s difficult to try and travel on the weekends and get all the homework done.

This week in Italian 8 (our Roman culture and art class, taught by Paolo), we watched a movie completely in the Roman dialect of Romanesco (but it’s ok (I tell myself) because we had Italian subtitles… ugh!). Then on Thursday we went to Trastevere, the quartiere (neighborhood/borough/area) just south of il centro storico (the historic center) where I live. We were assigned to interview different people in the area about the neighborhood, likes, dislikes etc. (of course in Italian). It was actually pretty awesome since myself and my partner understood most everything we were told and we were able to communicate pretty easily with the people.

The other two classes are not quite as interesting. Italian 10 (intro to Italian lit) is really more of an exercise in using the Italian-English dictionary as I am no where near fluent enough to understand everything I am reading. However, the in class time is fun since Graziella (our professor) conducts much research in the area of immigration and most of our conversations are on that subject, as well as our first composition which was due today. Italian 12 blows… I like the prof (Filippo) but the class is ridiculous. I can understand how Filippo wants to have discussion in class, but this is very difficult with a subject as black and white as the grammar and use of a language… but he never really gives us the real answer.

In other news, I’m getting the Roman routine down, and I have the transportation system figured out to get me around to the important places in town… I just give myself 40 minutes in the morning to get to class on time since the whole process of waiting for the bus, taking the bus, and walking to class from the bus stop can take anywhere from 10-50 minutes. Speaking Italian is getting easier and easier as now I can effectively eavesdrop on conversations and understand the general idea. Also, I’ve been able to do more complicated tasks in Italian, such as buying my train tickets at the station (without having to say “Cosa?” = “What?”), as well as converse with people at tourism offices and hotels over the phone, although the phone is still difficult as it is hard to understand someone when you can’t see their face.

Friday, we took a trip by bus a town nearby called Tivoli to visit La Villa Adriana (or Adrian’s Villa), named after Roman Emperor Adriano. The Villa is a gigantic estate (now state park) filled with ancient ruins from Imperial Rome; there weren’t too many people at the park either which made for a really great tour. Agnese (our professor for the art history portion of Italian 8) took us on a 4 hour tour of the park (all in Italian don’t forget), telling us all about the different buildings.

Afterwards Dartmouth (and when I say Dartmouth I mean my parent’s money they have paid for tuition) treated us to a lunch which was followed by a tour of a museum in another nearby town of Palestrina.

Saturday morning I woke up around 6:30am to make a 8:14 train to Spoleto in Umbria. I met Carrie (another girl on the program) and her friend from high school Allison (who is studying in Rome with another program). We reached our hotel around 10:30am to set down our bags and set out to explore the town and the hiking trails in the hills above. We ended up hiking for about 3 hours to the top of this hill nearby called Montecello where we enjoyed some great views.

Dinner that night was amazing as well, especially after the miles of walking we had done over the past two days. Carrie told us after we sat down to dinner, at this great little restaurant called Osteria dell’Enoteca, that her dad would be paying for this dinner as a birthday present to her (which was Friday). Needless to say, we went all out; we ordered an antipasto with bruschetta and prosciutto, first courses of pastas with wild boar and truffles, second courses of pork, wild boar and veal (which I tried, and to my satisfaction didn’t really like), dessert of biscotti with a dessert wine, a flan type dish, an Italian version of Crème Brule, the house wine (a 2006 Umbrian Merlot) during dinner, and some limoncello to finish it all off. It was amazing (and free!).

That night I didn’t sleep too well however, every time I tried to lie down my nose would get stuffed up and I’d have to go blow my nose… although it’s just a head cold, nothing to dwell to much on (read: Mom don’t worry). Anyway, Sunday we took a morning train to Assisi.



When we arrived at the city, we learned that there was a biannual peace march, taking place on the same day… and being the Dartmouth students that we are, we joined in. The march took us to the top of the town to la rocca (Italian for fortress) where there were plenty of free samples and other festivities. Later we toured more of the city and went inside both La Basilica di San Franceso and La Chiesa di San Chiara. Inside San Chiara, as we were walking through one of the rooms, I saw a nun take a picture. I thought to myself, “well if a nun can take a picture it must be okay.” But no sooner had the flash gone off I was told by three different people that it was not allowed… however one of them was a friar named Alessandro who ended up giving us an entire history of the church and offered to give us a personal tour were we to come back later during the study abroad, “Just ask for Friar Alessandro, I work here, and they will get me… God bless you!”

After exhausting the sites of Assisi, we made our way back to the bus stop for the train station and joined the masses from the peace march in pushing and shoving our way onto bus (ironic). Fortunately, we were able to find seats on the bus in the non-reserved seating area that is second class, and I was able to write this comfortably.

Other news, I figured out the laundry situation in the house. At first my host mom was saying that I needed to go to the Laundromat to wash my clothes, but when I looked at the Italian home stay forms and talked with Alessia, the Dartmouth Rome Center Director, I realized that I shouldn’t have to pay to do my laundry too. I talked with my host mom tonight and after much discussion I can wash my clothes in the house, and if I have a lot then she will give me the 2 Euros to take my clothes to the nearby Laundromat. I know it’s not a whole lot but it’s one less expense, especially when the exchange rate is (last time I checked) $1.41 = € 1.

Future Plans:
Tomorrow we go on a guided tour of San Clemente in Rome (I guess near the colusseum) with our professor Agnese; and early morning Friday we leave by bus to Tuscany for an all expenses paid trip to Tuscany thanks to the NIAF’s (National Italian American Foundation) president Frank Guarini, who is a Dartmouth grad. We’ll spend our time in the countryside as well as the beautiful city of Siena, as well as receive a cooking class and wine lesson.

Also, myself and five others finalized our plans for the break around All Saint’s Day (October 26- November 3) to travel by train to different places north of Rome. The itinerary is as follows:
Cinque Terre (2 Days… don’t know which city yet for the hostel)
Torino (2 Days at a Best Western downtown)
Courmayeur (2 Days in a hostel just outside the village which is located in the province of Valle d’Aosta near the Swiss border)
Parma (1 Day)
Bologna (2 Days)

How’s that for an update? I can’t guarantee this much each week, but I had some time on my hands (read: I was procrastinating) and I thought a real thorough chat would be nice. Oh, and since I hadn’t put it up sooner, here is a picture of my apartment building… nothing special, but it gives you a better idea.

If you feel like talking or writing to me here is all my information:

Address
Via Quirino Majorana, 31
00146 Roma, Italia

Cell Phone
+0039 334 174 3958

Home Phone (don’t call this number unless it’s an emergency)
+0039 06 558 4983

Skype Name*
Andrew.ferrera

*Since I don’t have internet at my house you won’t be able to call me but if you send me your skype info I can give you a call sometime.

Okay, that’s it for now, I’ll update the blog again sometime next week after Tuscany.

Ci Vediamo (lit. we’ll be seeing each other, but also a standard “bye”)

Roman Family Life/Appartment

Hey everyone! Rome the first week has been an adjustment that's for sure. I got in last Saturday and had to immediately remember my Italian from three months ago in an attempt to communicate my family history, what I like to eat and what I wanted to do to my host mom/grandma (nonna) and her daughter, Rafaella.

Also, when I first read the letter Antonietta (mia nonna italiana) sent, I guess I misread it, her daughters are actually 44 and 40 (or something like that).

I live in an appartment about 3mi south of il centro storico, just outside the ancient Roman walls. The area isn't too much to look at, but graffitti is common in most all areas of Rome. For the size of my apartment, I actually have a pretty good size room, although the bed is just a twin with my feet hanging over the end.

The apartment is two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and two small banconies (one of them being off my room).

It's been a real challenge to adjust to speaking Italian all the time and I desperately miss English. I think it's really more though that I am not living in the immediate vicinity of all my friends and having to adjust to both that and living in a large city for the first time. It's been a learning experience, that's for sure.

Classes are good, but real tough, I'm not sure what to expect from the tests in Italian 8 (culture/art) and Italian 10 (into to Italian lit), but I'm hoping it gets easier as I get accustomed to the language. Italian 12 (adv. language) isn't as bad as the other two because it's just a harder version of the previous grammar classes I've had. My classes are held in la Piazza della Cancelleria right next to the busy (and touristy) Campo de' Fiori. There is a market there each day where we all buy our lunch (covered by tuition). I'll put some pictures of that up soon.

This last weekend we had Friday off and could only stay in Rome in order to familiarize ourselves with the city. This coming weekend I'm planning on travelling nearby (only a two day weekend) to a city within just a couple hours by train, perhaps Siena.

I'll try to post on the blog once more before I go with some more anecdotal information, but for now I need to get back to my homework (the hardest adjustment of all).

Ciao from Italy!

Shipping Out

Just about done with the packing, still have to see what all I absolutely need to bring and how to get my bags under 50 pounds. My flight leaves at 8:15am PST tomorrow, with a 4 1/2 hour layover in Toronto. I arrive in Rome at 11:00am (Rome Time: +9 West Coast, +6 East Coast), and have to get on the Leonardo Da Vinci Express to the Stazioni Termini where I will meet my host family and see everyone else on the trip at 3:00pm.

My next post will be from la bella paese d'Italia!

Update: Gift

I ended up getting my host mom a Dartmouth blanket. I know it seems a little but of a cop out, but I know that people use blankets and I wouldn't have to figure out a size. As far as wine goes, I wouldn't be able to get out of the country with it even though I know Northwest wine is pretty good. I figure I can get them something else near the end of my trip after I know my host family's taste.

Nine Days Left!

I haven't left yet, but it's getting close. I still have to get all my paperwork organized and make sure everything I want to pack fits into my two suitcases. Also, I'm still trying to figure out what to get my host mom/host family. My mom has said Made in Oregon is a good choice and I agree with that, but I have also heard sending some fresh salmon or buying a Dartmouth something. Thoughts?