So the Second week started off with the dreading of classes. Although our first class is Intensive Elementary Italian, and the professor is adorable, there is no ounce of me that looks forward to classes. But the classes came and went, and as beat as we all were, Sid and I, and later Dan and I, made our first trips to Coop(pronounced like chicken coop, not co-op as we all thought it was), the supermarket chain here that is a mix of Acme(or Shop-Rite or Albertson's or Giant or any neighborhood chain supermarket) and Wal-Mart(or the extinct K-Mart). It is a tiny grocery store, with a produce, deli, and meat section, 6 aisles, and a large wine section, but wht is truly the kicker is the prices. With my expert skill at buying Coop brands for everything, my first trip saw me buy: a package of 80 biscotti, 6 chocolate filled croissants, 12 peach filled croissants, 5 bags of pasta, 2 bottles of sauce, one large 750gram bottle of Nutella (which comes out to be around 1.65 lbs!), a package of 100 saltine crackers, and a package of 50 breadsticks that are pretzel shaped, all for...wait for it...€14 euros! What is also interesting about Coop is that you have to pay €1 to use a legitimate shopping cart. However, they have these red hand bins that you can hold, or as the locals do it, they pull it around. It's alot easier to just pull things around, and Sid double fisted and got two the first time. Although they don't hold alot, they make the shopping experience alot smoother and enjoyable. Also, at the checkout lane, they don't offer you any plastic bags. In fact, if you want to get plastic bags for your groceries, you need to pay €0.05 per bag. Although that might not seem like much, that adds up really quickly, and will definitely cut into the morning Nutella pastry budget that we have all set aside.
First trip to Coop
The handbasket that becomes a childhood favorite: the wagon
After buying all the dinner ingredients, Sid, Dan, and I decided that it would be pretty productive if we cooked in our own kitchen for the first time. We have been either eating and cooking at friends' places or just eating out and really cheap places. However, and as I'll soon list for you, a meal for three couldn't get any cheaper than how we did it. But back to the cooking. Our first problem was the people on our floor who cook don't clean dishes. They just sit in a pile in the sink, in tepid water, all dirty and caked with rediculous sauces. As if the common decency in some people wasn't turned on, the fact that we had to do the dishes of someone else just so we could have supplies and cookware to work with was basically obscene. But after those shenanigans, we turned on the gas and started to work our sauce and our pasta. Dan was in charge of the sauce, and used some of our Coop brand sauce and threw in ground beef that he had browned along with some frozen vegetables that he had bought. We also threw in 3 full Wurstel sausages, which are basically glorified hot dogs I think, into the sauce. Since we were famished at this point, Sid decided to throw in a bag and 3/4 of a second bag. Little did we know that this would be way too much food for three people. Although the sauce was done in 10 minutes and the pasta took its merry time to finally shed its desire to be al dente and become more soft, it was time to dine. The total bill for this meal was, for 2 large portions for 3 people: 2 bags of pasta at €0.59 each, 1 jar of sauce at €0.89, 1 lb of ground beef at €2.00, 1/4 of a bag of frozen vegetables at €0.50, and bread at €2.00. Add it all together and you get €6.57/3 = €2.19 for a buffet style dinner. I'd say there's no better deal out there than that! Plus, we can cut down on our portions and how much we use, so technically with one less bag since the original amount made about 2 lbs of pasta, we could be eating at €1.99 for dinner! Throw in €1 gelato and you are eating like a king for the price of a pauper. Also, with all the pastry type items that I bought, I am beginning to cut out breakfast at €0.70 a pop. This will accrue over time I believe until I'm only spending roughly €3.30 for lunch on campus, while dinner will be covered for. My money will definitely not be flowing out of pocket as wildly as it was before.
Chefs in the kitchen working their magic
Gluttony is a gift from the Gods
Wednesday went and gone with only one class, and Dan and I spent most of the day on campus cranking out all the work that we had for the entire week. We have decided that what the most optimal thing to do is to get all the work done the day it is assigned so weekends are free.
Thursday was much more interesting. What happened was in between our 1030AM Italian course and our 430PM Business Law and Society course, Vidisha, Rutali and I went and saw both the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral and we climbed up to the top of the Duomo. The cathedral itself was immense, although very spartan inside. The inside of the dome though had an amazing fresco, with the bottom beginning with souls in hell that were suffering and at the very top with heaven and all the angels. There were alot of people in the cathedral, and once we walked in, because Rutali's shoulders were showing, which apparently was both sacrilegious and a slap in the face to God, they gave her this blue tarp to put on. If you can imagine the paper that the doctor has on that long padded thing u sit on, and add the thing that hospitals make you put on after you strip down, its something like that. She walked around with this large baby blue shawl of sorts and everyone pointed, stared, and laughed. Actually it didn't go down like that more like everyone was minding our business, but I kept asking her what it was like being a smurf, or how was it traveling to Earth from whatever planet she was from. Once we left we headed to the Duomo and got in line.
She's a real life smurf
Inside Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral
Fresco on the Dome
It's 463 steps to the top, and that's not all of it. Narrow corridors, winding staircases that get skinnier and darker as you get higher, and once you get to the dome part of the section itself the stairs begin to curve more. The last few stairs were each at least a foot high, and at an insane angle. I climbed it in flip flops, the same Crocs flip flops I've had for 5 years that, although are in perfect condition if you looked at them, have absolutely no traction in them anymore. What made things even better was the fact that people would come down the way we were coming up, wholly bypassing the main reason for the "one path up, another path down" mentality. Stupid tourists from the world over would try and get by you while you were going up, brushing up against you while everyone was in a cramped and humid corridor. Needless to say there were times when tempers got short. But once we got to the final 10 stairs and we saw the sky, we knew that we were stumbling upon something special. Enjoy the view.
Welcome to the belly of the beast
"There is no lift/463 steps: This visit is not advisable for people with heart disease"
And here...we...go
It's pretty much that narrow all the way up
It's not only narrow, but begins to bend forward so you are almost crawling in some sections
A peek at what's to come
I've discovered the digital macro setting on my camera and am officially addicted
Trying to find...
The Straight Line of Trees leading to that large Yellow villa in the distance? Campus.
After that, we went back to class, which seems odd to say. It's things like, going to a centuries old religious site, climb to the top of one of the world's largest and most famous domes, and then going back for a Business, Law, and Society class. It's one of the main reasons why I've loved studying abroad in Florence so far. It's only been a handful of weeks, but I feel immersed in the city, and I don't even feel like a tourist anymore. But anyways, after class, Rutali and I missed our stop and got off at the bus station. And what happened afterward was epic. In the middle of a busy intersection, we tried to run across. But we both tripped in the same pothole. I managed to keep my balance and make it to the otherside. Rutali, however, had a more interesting trip to the other side. When I tripped my head inadvertently turned to Rutali and I saw her fall slow motion-ly to the ground. Only, it was a fall of normal proportions. After the initial trip, she tried to keep herself upright by putting one foot in front of the other. But the stumble took three parts: initial, mid fall, and final fall. We didn't get run over or anything clearly, but it was funny because everyone in the intersection stopped and stared at both of us. It was definitely a shining moment of our day. But we ended up getting dinner sans-bruises, and we enjoyed a nice bottle of Moscato wine on the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno. We decided to go to bed early because the next day we were going to Cinque Terra. I slept over at Rutali's and Vidisha's place, and am pretty sure I passed out at 1:30AM.
A rare beauty in the middle of Death Valley
Italy's favorite past time: wine on the Arno
Up before the sun to go to Cinque Terra
Sun decided to finally show its face
When Elton John sang of vagabonds, he was referring to us
Train is so packed no one had a seat
You have arrived at your destination.
Monterosso's first view
I love Macro
The water is that blue.
Uno...due...tre...formaggio!
Largest cajones for the day...you'll see
Our beach awaits
Jumper
The Swine Flu Pose
SQUADUSH!
After everyone got back from kayaking, we decided to go on the hardest walking trail in Cinque Terra...between Monterosso and Vernazzo. Our park map said it would take 2 hours and we would cross 3km. The hike started ok, up and along the outskirts of the mountainside. The views were utterly spectacular. But as we continued on the trail, the hills actually became the mountains we were trekking, and the trail started to get alot tougher. Now it would have been much more manageable had I done what most sane people do: wear sneakers. But I decided to ball out and wear my flip flops, the same ones that I tripped in. With no traction, on a mountain side, and following a serpentine trail, I got a chance to see a side of Italy most don't get to: picturesque vineyards carved into mountains, the Mediterranean shimmering in the distance, and a small dirt path that connected sea side towns. Our trek took about the full 2 hours of allotted time. Our calves and legs were killing us, but once we saw the town of Vernazzo, I had an inkling feeling like I had seen this place before. As the trail cut back into the mountain again, I racked my brain trying to figure out where I had seen that pristine town before. Then I realized, I had seen that place in a Canon Vixia commercial. It starts out quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. I remember watching that commercial at home and saying to myself that that was a view that I would have to go see one day, and when I ultimately, and very literally, stumbled upon it, I stood in shock. Not only were my legs totally in pain, but the very fact that I came to Vernazzo, and fulfilled a small travel dream, was more than enough to make an already fantastic trip even more memorable. As we walked through this quaint town, we saw the most colorful houses with natural Cinque-Terrians (if you couldn't guess it I made that up) who were just as quaint. We then jumped back on the train and went back. We were all so dead that we literally felt right asleep once we were on the train. We all got back at around midnight, and I was finally home at 1:30AM. I was only able to get two hours of sleep before I had to get back up and make a 4AM train to Venice.
Beginning our epic hike by saying goodbye to the beach
A vineyard carved into the mountains
A vineyard says hello to the sea
This was considered the easy part.
And then it started to get harder...
Until we were one with the jungle
Our view for the most part
When I said mountain I wasn't joking
Vidisha thought it was smart to jump off the trail and onto a tree
What me and Earl screamed on the trail to each other a mile away from each other
Me: Earl! Meat! It's what's for dinner!
Earl: Hillshire farms! Go Meat!
The Sun began to set on our trip
Vernazzo, our endpoint, was coming into view.
Squadush and I felt it necessary to climb onto a stone ledge that was ultimately pretty dangerous
"It was pleasant to drive back to the hotel in the late afternoon, above a sea as mysteriously colored as the agates and cornelians of childhood, green as green milk, blue as laundry water" - F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender is the Night"
Canon Commercial of Picture Above (I was there!)
Reaching Vernazzo
Ground Zero of Vernazzo
We made it!
Leaving Cinque Terra with the Sun
The map of our trek
My tribal feet...what I get for trekking in my flippy floppies
The trek did a number on all of us
I set 4 alarms to go off, and yet, heard none of them. I was supposed to get up at 3AM, but slept through all of it and woke up at 3:55AM to Sonali's voice asking if I was still going. I literally woke up, put my contacts in, and ran downstairs to Komal and Earl waiting for me. By now it was around 4 and we were outside debating whether or not we would make it. I decided that we should take a cab, and once we called it said it would take 5 minutes. We stood there for legit 5 minutes and a cab arrives in the distance. Once we got in, Komal said Stazione Santa Maria Novella, and he literally drove us out of hell and got us there in no time. We safely made it onto the train, where we proceeded to pass out for awhile. But we couldn't sleep because within an hour we had to transfer trains in Bologna. Once we got to Bologna, we barely missed the train. So we had another hour to make the next one, we walked around Bologna. But by walk around I mean we walked around the train station, and outside for about a block and then came back in. We got onto the train bound for Venice and made it after a glorious nap. Once we got there the first thing we saw was the Grand Canal of Venice. However, seeing as Komal was the only person ever to come here before, and not remembering where we were, she wasn't sure if we were actually in Venice. So Sonali just walked up to a tour guide and asked, and when she came back the first thing she said was, "Yep guys, we're in Venice." So we were actually, and officially in Venice.
Getting off at St. Lucia in Venice
First view outside of the train station
The Grand Canal
We walked over the Grand Canal, and started to make our way to St. Mark's Square. Because we neither knew the city nor decided to buy a map, we literally had no sense of direction, but still had every sense of fun. We sauntered down tiny Venetian streets and saw all of the hand-made Carnivale masks that people made by hand for centuries. There were so many shops for these intricate and incredibly amazing masks, Murano Glass, and other trinkets Venetian artisans made that most shops were chock full of people. Furthermore, the streets weren't always clearly marked, so our main way of making it to St. Mark's Square was just to follow the small, but ultimate large crowd of people slowly make their way to the square. It turns out that we could have taken a free boat taxi to the square, but thought it would be alot more fun to just make our way there. We stumbled across a large church and decided that since we were famished at this point, it was a good time to stop and eat. We found a small bar and ordered what looked to be really good portions of food. However, once the lady prepepd us with our placemats, we all suddenly were shocked. On all of the palcemats were pictures of food and a brand name, similar to any Tyson bag of Frozen Chicken or Market Pantry meal. We literally thought she was picking things out of the freezer and heating things up in the microwave. She brought the food out, and I must say that it was absolutely the worst meal I have had since I've begun studying abroad. It tasted really cheap, with the sauce clumpy and my ravioli unevenly warm. We decided it wasn't good enough to be called lunch and decided we would have to find another place to get food to make up for it. We continued our journey through Venice's web of streets. About an hour later, we literally turned the corner and saw St. Mark's Square in the distance. Under an archway and yonder, Piazza San Marco and St. Mark's Basilica began to show its face. Once we walked beyond the archway, Piazza San Marco, in all of its glory, welcomed us with open arms. It's most famous occupant, the pigeons, were out in full force, and much deadlier than NYC's pigeons. These would literally walk into you, fly into your face, and should they feel inclined to relieve themselves, would pick you out of the millions of other people in the piazza to do so. I paid €4 to go to the top of St. Mark's Basilica, where inside I met the original four horses of St. Mark, and then I went onto the terrace outside where I met the famous bronze replicas, and saw Piazza San Marco from a view that was absolutely gorgeous.
That's not food
One of about a million little Rios
Carnivale Masks
Picture of the Rialto Bridge
The craziest Carnivale mask...Price: €260
Don't play with your food? I say nay.
If that's Casanova I don't know what the fuss was
We somehow bumped into Joy Li!
And there it was...
St Mark's Basilica
St. Mark's Clocktower
Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco's longest standing tenant: Pigeons
Married in Venice
St. Mark's Square from the Basilica
The Horses
Let's find edible food in Venice
After we took turns going inside (since we couldn't find the entrance for people with bookbags so we stayed outside), we wandered around trying to find a gondola ride for cheap. None of the vendors budged, and we decided we were more hungry than anything to try and find a gondola. We found a small restaurant right on the Grand Canal and called it a day. I ordered the Viennesse pizza, which is a pizza with pomodoro (tomato), mozzarella (self explanatory), and wurstel (our hot dog's classier cousin). The meal was epic and filling, and we sat around outside the train station since we were early and our train wasn't for awhile.
Buon Appetito
Looks like American food, but it tastes very distinctly Italian
Once it was time for departure, we sat in a set of what we thought were comfortable seats. It turned out to be anything but, not because of the seats, but because of the harsh florescent lights and the loud occupants who, it turns out, were fellow NYU but were just totally obnoxious. So it was an uncomfortable ride to Bologna, where we again transferred. Only this time we didn't take the Regionale trains like we usually do, but the Espresso line. Now the inside of this train was exactly like the Hogwarts Express train, with individual cabins with the sliding door that allowed up to 6 people inside each one. It was really shady, seeing as it left the station at 11. It was filled with every type of suspect character, from drunk teeny bops to grunge rockers who clearly didn't realize we were out of that movement. We quickly found our cabin, sat down, and just tried to get home alive. The ride home was enjoyable, and we could make out the mountains that lined the tracks even though it was dark outside. Light conversation and a cool breeze were all that kept us up. Our train took us to Firenze Campo di Marte, which wasn't the usualy station that we got off at and that threw us a curveball at midnight. We called a cab and waited, but when the first one came another group of students hailed it down and stole it. Incensed, we were reduced to nothing but calling another one that arrived 15 minutes later. It zoomed us to the Duomo, and while we were all trying to fight sleep and total exhaustion, I picked up on the fact that the radio in the taxi was playing "Believe" by The Bravery. I let a smile escape, with the song's lyrics providing a small sense of comfort by putting me back in a secure element of knowing where I was and being in control of the situation, as opposed to literally flying by the seat of our pants and not knowing how things were going to turn out, like our train ride home. Once we got to the Duomo, we walked Sonali back and then Komal, Earl, and I slowly trudged back. Once I got back, the logical thing would have been to go to bed. But I decided to skype home, and then Jordan, Vicki, and Chris and that all took about another 2 hours. Exhausted, I crawled into bed and fell into a deep slumber, something I hadn't done since I was back home during the summer.
Dunzo
2 days, 2 incredible cities, on 2 hours of sleep. I'm pretty sure at this point I'm beyond the "Brooklyn, we go hard" slogan. From here on out, each weekend should get even more intense. For a quick preview, next weekend I'll be galavanting in the Amalfi Coast like Sabrina, Kate, and Natalie did this weekend and the following weekend will see me in Germany at Oktoberfest. Let's get some sleep, cuz we definitely went way too hard this weekend. Beauty sleep never hurt anyone, especially if we want to impress all of the beautiful people here in Italia. I'll save you a seat on the bus for our next trip.
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way with words...
Meaning-Gavin DeGraw
Mountin' the trail, but you got it in sight.
Sometimes our only way is jumpin' I hope your not afraid of heights.
Reach in my pocket, for a bill that isn't there,
To face all of the un-doings, is still more than I can bear.
wow. how long did that take you to post?!
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