So I Can Stand on Mountains

Today was a beautiful day for exploring on my own. I had heard about a city about 5 miles outside of Florence called Fiesole and was intrigued by its charming reputation. I simply took a regular bus from the San Marco Piazza and we headed up one of the neighboring mountains. At the first sign I saw saying Fiesole, I hopped off. I thought that the ride had been exceptionally short, considering that I heard the downtown was at the near top of the mountain. So I soon discovered, the first stop is not the Piazza in the middle of Fiesole I wanted to get off at. Luckily, where I got off and all the way up on my walk there were amazing views of Florence. I also really enjoyed the time to myself and being in a quiet, peaceful atmosphere. Also on the way up there were huge villas and gardens, it made me so jealous! 

A cathedral ceiling that I stopped in

One of the pretty villas

On my journey up to the heart of the city I came across a beautiful viewing site with some benches. I took a seat and stayed there for about an hour and just soaked it all in. It gave me so much inspiration I wrote a poem! Here it goes:

Up here, everything is beautiful.

The air is cool. 

Fragrant scents from harvesting plants dance around my nose and face.

The trees are lush.

They cover every shade of green the eye can capture, their depth tricking your perception, not allowing you to see one stand alone, but only the volume of their forest.

The sky is everywhere. 

Clouds sink low into the valleys and blend the mountains all together, as if to say, "we are one."

The city is vast. 

Quiet and tranquil it sits as a lake amid high green peeks.

Il Duomo emerges tall, capturing my eye with its alluring majesty.

Everything is alive. 

My breathe captures the energy around me with every inhale. I am awakened by its purposeful energy. One season is ending, it is a time of change. 

I am alive. 

I am changing. 

I am a part of its energy, and humbled by its beauty. 

Okay I did finally get to the top of the mountain and to the main piazza of Fiesole! I walked around a few shops, went to a convent and had lunch. I highly recommend this trip because its close, the view is obviously gorgeous and I had one of my best meals here (I usually don't even tell you guys about places that aren't in my top 5). Vinandro is a nice little restaurant in the piazza and was recommended by both a Florence and Fiesole resident. Here's the pics from the rest of my adventure!

The convent at the top of the mountain

Overlooking my city. Unfortunately it was still early so the fog prevented a clearer pic. 

Pretty steep way up! 

Down in the Piazza Mino, Fiesole. 

Lunch from Vinandro. I had to order the risotto al porcini because they're in season right now, I made a fabulous choice. The porcini were cooked perfectly they were like tender silky pillows, the sauce was so flavorful and the sweetness from the white wine in it was incredible. Every bite had me amazed. Luckily I couldn't finish it all and have some for later!

Ci vediamo a dopo, ciao i miei amici. One love.

Vogue Fashion's Night Out!

Okay so I've been meaning to tell you all how it was! I didn't take any pics but my roomie did so I was waiting to get them from her. Fashion's Night Out is a promotional night for designers surrounding the fashion week events around the world. Although Florence didn't have their own runways, it is still known as the second fashion capital of the world. This is only a recent fall in the rankings - as I've learned in my fashion marketing class that Florence was the top designer headquarters in the world up until the 80's and 90's when Milan took the spotlight. This was mostly due to Milan's heavy business focus, and therefore it was easier for people to commute to. Florence is still home to many brands such as Cavalli, Ferragamo, Pucci, Patrizia Pepe, and Cavallini. This was actually the first year that Vogue has held this event in Florence ever! It turned out to be a major success and as you will see in the pictures it was well attended. Vogue also sold specialty items to help raise money for the Emilia Romana region that suffered the devastating earthquake earlier this year. So here are some pics!

Outside many store's door to let you know that they would be open until midnight with specials and events!

Live models were in many of the store's windows.

Promo sign for the shirts for sale to raise funds. 

Luisa Via della Roma - SO PACKED!

They had a big screen with the promo sigh on it. That beetle pin was something being sold to raise money for Emilia Romana. 

I'm going on a short day trip to Fiesole later this week so I'll post again soon.

A dopo, one love.

VA

Steady Summer in Tuscany

While all of my friends and family posting statuses and pictures about fall and cider mills back home, I'm still sweating! The past week we've had great warm weather, a little cooler in the mornings and night but I haven't noticed a significant temperature change yet. I must say though, I will miss an Uncle John's trip this season. I've done my best to try to remember that there will be many more falls and that missing one year of fall fun is no reason to be homesick!

Today I took advantage of warm weather and my roommate Amber and I explored the Boboli Gardens, behind the Pitti Palace here in Florence. A local has told us that the palace was bought by Eleonora di Toledo, the Duchess of Florence for her and her husband to live happily ever after in. Its in a prime location, just on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio and it is just massive! Unfortunately we had a busy day planned and didn't get to go inside today, but with our museum passes we can go back whenever for free. I could have spent all day at the gardens, and intend to go back sometime this week. There was a lot that we didn't get to see because its so big. I kept looking around at the palace and the gardens and thinking, this was seriously someone's house! How amazing that would have been. 

Pitti Palace

 

Giardino di Boboli

The views were so amazing!

After the gardens, Amber and I rushed to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella for a "flash mob" designed to bring awareness to hunger in Florence. Oxfam organized the event and FUA notified us of the opportunity. Here's a video of what happened! It as pretty cool to be a part of this, even if it was on a small scale. Look for me in the green shirt, there's a few seconds you can spot me.

In the beginning he is talking about Oxfam's mission. From their site: Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty.We work directly with communities and we seek to influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them.

Once we dispersed from the mob, we started making our way to the Expo Rurale Toscana. The event featured vendors of locally grown and DOCG and IGP certified products. This means that the goods have to meet certain qualifications, similar to our organic certifications. Many vendors were making sandwiches with fresh bread and different meat and cheeses. There was also honey, artichoke and truffle bread spread, jams, yogurt, milk, wine and more. I found a Chianti I liked and couldn't go home without a bottle and a wedge of pecorino cheese. 

Vendor selling sandwiches

Someone else's plate of goodies 

Exhibit featuring local products

Tuscan honey

Not sure what this is...

Cured meats

Formaggio

Honey comb!

Some massive bulls

The expo was in a park about 45 minutes walk from my house, and overall I was gone from my house for 6 hours today walking around. It was very nice to see some green again in the garden and on my walk outside of the city but I am so tired! There will be many more pictures on facebook also. Ciao!

One love,
VA

Some things

So up until now I've told you a lot of things that are awesome and lovable about Italy. But there's just a few things on my mind. I also want to point out for potential study abroad students reading this blog that the positives heavily out way the negatives, but here's a heads up. 

I've only traveled to one other country besides Italy that didn't border the United States. On my trip to South Africa a few years ago I went to visit my sister who was studying abroad at the time. She had made friends with locals and lived in a little town bordering Capetown so it made it feel like a community. To be an American there you were expected to have lots of money, be smart, and be pretty. I generally felt very well accepted. Here, Americans have a different reputation. SOME Italians think Americans are spoiled, crass, and uncultured. I have been doing my best to learn my Italian, make friends with local store keepers and neighbors, and immerse myself in the culture. I think part of the reason some people here don't appreciate us is because this is a city with millions of tourists every year: they come to see the statue of David and leave. When people learn that I am actually living here, that sometimes helps. 

Another thing that I don't particularly enjoy is the amount of groups of American students there are at my university. To me, coming to a new country with 45 people from my home institute is kind of silly. Yet there are at least two colleges that have majority population in my classes. I was hoping for more of an international feel, and try to make friends with people from South America or Asia instead of the states. 

Okay so for listening to me gripe, I'll tell you something that I LOVE but you can't tell anyone: secret bakeries. Almost every night, from around 2-3am, certain bakeries around the city open to serve freshly baked treats. Most of them are unmarked (like the one in the pic), hidden in side streets, and serve you goods straight out of the oven. Last night we finally found one! We literally were told a general area to look and smelled our way there. You have to be very quiet, if you're too loud they won't open for you. You knock one time to let them know you're there and someone comes to the door. You order and pay and then they return with your treat. We heard rumors of these chocolate filled crescents and our mouths were watering when they finally opened up. Unfortunately for us, no crescents - but pizza! This was one of the best pieces I've had and it was different because it was much thicker than most and completely covered in gooey mozzarella. YUM!

Waiting outside the secret bakery

Enjoying my secret treat :)

Okay now that I've got this off my chest I can get on loving Italy. One love.

When isn't it about food

Buon giorno! Time is seeming to fly by, especially now as I am planning trips and activities for the upcoming months. I think that my big trips outside the city are going to be Milan, Sicily and Barcelona. My roomies and new friends will be joining on the trips and we've already booked hostels and travel arrangements - stressful with a group but I'm so excited! We will be going to Milan the weekend before fashion week so we will hopefully miss a massive crowd and tourist prices. Speaking of fashion week, Vogue's Fashion Night Out is coming to Florence this coming Tuesday!! So from what I can tell so far its going to be an open house for all the designer stores with some special events and special guests. Florence is one of just 3 cities that Vogue picked for this event. Obviously I must go and do a little research for my Fashion Marketing class, my teacher even has a friend that owns one of the stores that's having an event and we got invited. Here's a trailer I found on their site, and here's a link of the events that will be happening. http://vfno2012.vogue.it/firenze/iniziative-speciali

Also this week in my Consumer Behavior class we got introduced to our semester project. We will be working closely with Il Panino Tondo in creating customer surveys and helping in other areas such as brand awareness. This is right up my alley! Especially after my summer at M3, I know that this project is gonna be fun and great to build my real life experience. A little info about Panino Tondo: it means round sandwich (aka hamburgers people!), they use all local products, the burgers feature 100% organic and local meat, they have vegan and vegetarian options (soy, tofu and seitan burgers), AND ITS DELICIOUS! I don't have any pictures yet but we got tons of samples when we visited the store the other day. I feel bad that it's not Italian food, although they occasionally have specials like homemade lasagna, but the locals love it too! I'm giving you their FB link because the pictures are divine. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Il-Panino-Tondo/168735313157457 Seriously what a perfect match though: marketing and organic food in Italy.

Okay so next up is the meal I had last night. Ganzo provides a themed dinner with guest chefs on Thursday night. This was a six course feast. I am so impressed with our school's culinary program. Here's why I had to go for an hour walk after dinner last night:

Amuse: Octopus with potato and maionese

Delicious 

Antipasto: Cickpea soup with cardamom with bread crumbs and mussels

Cardamom is the spice that's tasted in most Chai Teas, this was an interesting mix which I enjoyed, the mussels were great too - I also go my roomies cuz she didn't like them :)

Primo Piatto: Risotto with tomato, fried capers and baby calamari 

This is the best thing I've had to eat here period. The rice was cooked just perfectly, not too soft. The sauce was flavorful and when you got a caper it was so incredibly savory. By this plate I was full. 

Secondo Piatto: Cod with fig, orange and potato

Fish cooked perfectly, soft and warm but not raw. Good mix with orange and fig. Potatoes were flavorful and buttery flavor added sweetness. 

Paradiso: Mango gelato with coconut milk

Very sweet, lime zest was good offset and pairing right on with coconut milk. 

Purgatorio e inferno: chocolate ganache with macaroon and pear liqueur. 

Without the liqueur it would have been too much - and that's coming from a chocaholic! The tactic was to still have some of the ganache in your mouth and a sip of the pear liqueur. An amazing end to an amazing meal. Bravo Ganzo!

That's all for now my friends, a dopo. One love. 

Adventure is out there

Incredible to me that I've only been gone a bit over a week. Everything around me has started to become familiar, although I was pretty stressed about being here at first. It was awesome, but it was A LOT to deal with all at once. I've been blessed with some amazing roommates and we've quickly become good friends. They are going to be a key part of why this experience will be so special. 

This past Wednesday night, we all decided to go out for the Italian tradition of aperitivo. Basically this is a time of socialization and snacking before actual dinner. Ganzo, the university run restaurant I mentioned before, hosts a great aperitivo for 5 euro. Your entry fee includes a drink and a buffet of varied cuisine. The spread was great and we all had a really good time. 

This plate was my second haha there was so much to try! I will tell you some of the things I know are on the plate, sadly I do not know what everything was. Okay so the rice ball is to the right, it was pretty tasty, and a bit creamy on the inside. The veggies right above it were so good! I thought that they were onions so I only got a little bit but someone told me they are an local veggie, they were covered in an olive oil and mandarin orange dressing with spices. There's also some potatoes with an interesting sauce, chicken and rice curry, pasta, sauteed eggplant, couscous and a corn salsa. In case you were wondering, there was no need for dinner after this!

On Saturday, I attended my first school trip. We went to Viareggio, a town on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The train ride was beautiful because there were many small towns we passed through with soaring mountains just behind. At the beach, we had access to a private beach and spent the day basking in the sun (it was 32 degrees Celsius... do the math if you'd like). Instead of going with my roomies I went with a girl I've met from Louisville and another CMU student. It was a good day to sit with a book and work on my sadly forgotten tan. 

One love. Ci vediamo a dopo. 

Outside my Florence door

I've only been here a few days since my last post but I swear I could write one of these every day! So since my arrival I have been busy exploring every corner of the city and everything in between. FUA has provided some scheduled walks around town over the weekend where we got great tips on stores, restaurants and other places to visit. I've gotten to use the Italian I know to ask for directions, buy things and get food! Unfortunately I haven't made it into any of the actual museums yet but the city is beautiful enough already and even has some statues outside. This week I plan on going to get my museum pass which will supposedly allow access to all of the galleries and other museums at no extra charge. 

Also, today was my first day of class! I had my Intermediate Italian lesson at 3pm and the rest of the day was free to do some shopping at the market and work out at the palestra (gym). The class is going to teach me correct grammar and really take my language skills to the next level - hopefully to where I can become sociable with the Italians here! They really seem to respond well when I ask about things in Italian, they at least think its cute that I'm trying. Also, about the market, its fabulous. The Mercato Ambragio is just around the corner from my apartment. There vendors have fruit, veggies, meat, cheese, pastries, bread, clothes, take away food and even a little restaurant. Mostly I have gotten my veggies for dinner and my fruit for breakfast and snack there. Its all very fresh and flavorful, better than the supermarket (which is slightly less than super). Today, just for you, I decided to get something I've been seeing in many venues to find out if I was missing out on something. I still don't know what its called because the man spoke no English and after I paid I practically ran home to try it. See below...

Okay so here it is. My eye wants me to believe these are blueberries perhaps but no, they are figs. The texture of the fig was great with the sweet bread and I enjoyed that. I could also tell that this was fresh because the honey/sugar syrup that's on the bread hadn't saturated all the way through. It was good, but not my new favorite treat. But I'll tell you what is...

Gellateria dei Nieri! Okay this place is so good that I have yet to try another place since. The first night when we got gelato we didn't look up any reviews and went to the 2nd closest on the block. Mistake. This place is the real deal. We've even had a local tell us it is also one of their coveted spots. My favorite flavor so far is Ricotta e Fichi (fig). And I've tried quite a few flavors at this point seeing as how they have these little 50 cent cones and over 30 kinds. SCORE!!

Here is a pic of the Mercato Ambragio where I buy my produce. 

There are also lots of other markets around the city that are everyday like mine or just on specific days. This formaggio (cheese) is from the Marcatale di Firenze in the Piazza della Repubblica. This market is only there every first Saturday of the month. If you're going to get a food gift from me while I'm here it might be from here, they had fantastic samples.

I think I will post some pictures on FB today or tomorrow, they are adding up quickly. One love, VA.