Carnival in Italy

My friends & I's Masks!

 I had the wonderful chance to make my very own carnival mask this last week.  Traditional mask are made from paper mache, jesso and sometimes clay.  My mask is made from paper mache.  Mask were made for Italy's Carnival. They were also used to disguise people and their voice.  Men's masks were full faced and it would change the sound of their voice.

My Mask!

The mask was pre-made for me to save time.  But it was started like this:

1. First a clay form is made from the face or shape that you want. 
2. Then you put plaster over the clay form, leaving a face mold to make multiple masks. 
3. You then put a layer of soap on the face mold to ensure that the mask comes off.
4. Then layer by layer you put tiny pieces of paper onto the face mold along with glue.  
5. After the layers of paper and glue are dry you pull your mask from the face mold. 
6. Then you put a layer of thin cloth on the front of the mask.
7. Now its time to decorate.
8. Usually you start with a layer of white paint.  Then to make the mask look older you can sponge on a rust color paint. 
9. From there you can add any colors you want.  

More info here for Carnival:  http://www.livetravelhelp.com/info/events/mask-carnival-venice/

programma completo - full schedule

I have to get in the habit of writing a post everyday...sorry its been days again.  I can tell this semester is going to go way to fast.  I am already done with my 2nd week of classes.  I have learned so much from all of my classes in just these two first weeks.

Fashion Class (interesting facts)

• Definition of clothing:  Clothing is something you wear until it falls apart, where as Fashion is something you wear until the next things become popular.

• The name given to sweaters came from clothing made for athletes, because the users became sweaty from wearing the clothing.

• Top four fashion capitals in the world: London, Milan, New York and Paris. (After this semester I will have been to every city)

• Trench Coat - Came from Great Britain in World War I when they asked Burberry to design a coat for the army in the trenches.

America and Italy are heavily intertwined in fashion, it would be hard to survive without the other.  My teacher said that Italians would never admit it but America saved them from becoming obsolete in the fashion world.  My photography teachers grandfather invited his American friends to come to a fashion show in Florance. This brought the American market to Florence. 

Travel

I have also spent much of the week planning for the rest of the semester :) I have my dad coming this Sunday!!!! I have a great week planned for us.  We will be going to Rome for 2 days and one night along with many of the sights and museums of Florence.  After my Dad leaves I am going to Barcelona Spain for a weekend trip with my two friends Kayla (from Colorado & close to the Midwestern feel with a little hipster) and Kaitlin (from South Carolina - she is a USC Game Cock & a sweet southern girl). 

The next weekend we are going to Rome for a school field trip, 4 days and 3 nights. Then we are off to Paris for 3 days and 2 nights with Kaitlin and Chelsea.  Later in the semester we have another school field trip to Venice. Along with my Mom & Sister coming during spring break.  Along with other family members and friends coming :) Can't wait!

The amazing thing about Europe is that you can travel/fly all across to different countries for just a few pretty pennies.  In the states it cost a arm and leg to fly from state to state.  Here you can fly from county to country for under 100 Euros.  I never would have thought I would be saying that I'm just going to Paris for the weekend or hey I going to Spain, so crazy!

 

Fitting In - Adjusting - Rushing

Today I had the wonderful privilege to face-time (video chat) with Mrs. Gumb's 5th and 6th grade class.  What a group of talented and smart kids they are.  I know all of them from spending time in the classroom over my winter break.  They taught me the very important game of 6 square.  You can learn a lot from kids.  Mrs. Gumb's class is studying the Renaissance and Middle Ages, how perfect for me.   So, they grilled me on Italy and it's history.  I think I only missed one question.  I hope they all have the chance to travel the world and learn like I did. 

Days have been rushing by it seems.  My dad will arrive in four days time and I am pretty excited about it.  I have booked out the whole week for us thanks to the newly acquired internet at via santa maria.  For our big excursion we will be going to Rome for 2 days and 1 night.  I have emailed all of the supplies that I would love to have, for example floss! Everything like that here is so expensive, floss costs $10! I also gave him a few tips on traveling and packing (I'm so nervous for him)!

Besides the excitement of my dad coming its been a blur/rush from Monday all the way to Wednesday night.  Homework, painting, photography and cooking and eating...doesn't sound too bad right.

Have much to tell you...but its already late and I am wiped. 

Love to everyone back in the states!

Egg Yolks

After a late night at the opera Monday morning started off great with painting class.  I learned how to make my very own paint using egg yolk and pigments.  Can be a very messy process. The colors seem to be richer. :)

My teacher is so great.  He was born and raised in Holland and has lived in Italy for quite some time.  Interesting story: I asked him about the health care here. He said that is used to be free before the bad economy.  Now you buy health insurance according to your income.  For example: His daughter hurt her ankle playing basketball and now has to go to PT.  He bought a card for 37 Euros (about $48) and that gets his daughter 11 physical therapy appointments. WHOOOOOOAH! In the US $48 wouldn’t even pay to say hello to the doctor.

For my lunch break I walked home and made myself a salad, much needed after all this pasta, bread and gelato.  My afternoon was filled with Fashion Marketing and Basic Spoken.  I finally did get a little internet at school and found out that we might get internet on Tuesday YAYYY! This evening I went to dinner and had one of the best pastas so far. (I keep saying that) Four cheese penne YUM!

Don Giovanni - The Opera

Such relaxing days for me.  Saturday it poured all day and was a great day to stay in and start on a book that was left behind from old tenets. (The Terra-Cotta Dog) A little laundry and cleaning took place, a few naps and of course dinner with friends.

Sunday evening I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Opera at the “Teatro Comunale”

Don Giovanni
Composer: W.A. Mozart

It was a beautiful opera and my very first opera.  I didn’t know that operas can last up to 4 hours.  It was about a troubled young man that  liked the ladies too much.  (I think that all Italian men do :)  Click on link for plot -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Giovanni 

Excursion to Fiesole

On Fridays I don’t have class!!! This is to give students the opportunity to travel and explore. So what did I do on my first Friday...no I didn’t sleep in, I signed up for a trip to Fiesole.  I was getting confident in my directions and knowing my way around the city, so I accidentally left my map at home.  We had planned to meet for coffee and a pastry before walking to the bus station, this is where I realized I had forgot my map.  We didn’t have enough time to go back and get the map.  So I said, “I can wing it, I’m good at this direction stuff” Famous last words! 

Florence has a river flowing through the middle of town so there are about 7 bridges that connect you to the other side of the city.  I was sure that the map had told me to go down to the 5th bridge take a left and go straight for awhile and I would arrive at the bus station. (FYI I had been by the bus station earlier in the week when walking to the real estate office to set up our WIFI (Which they said could take up to 10 days) So once again I was confident with my skills.  HAHA!

Sorry for all the stories inside stories. I guess that’s what you get when you don’t blog for days...

So, we had about 5 mins to be at the bus station and I realized that it was the 4th bridge and not the 5th bridge.  I admitted my mistake to my fellow travelers and started lightly jogging to the West.  We made it just in time, only a little sweaty and out of breath.  Once on the bus we took it about 20 minutes outside of the city of Florence to Fiesole.

Fiesole is a province of Florence, which is in the region of Tuscany.  Fiesole is like being in the clouds and you get to look down on Florence. It is known as a famously scenic height above Florence.  It was founded around the 9th-8th century BC.  And you can tell this by the remnants of etruscan walls, roman baths and the still standing roman theatre.  A very neat archeological site.

At the very top of the town there was a Benedictine Abby, with monks and everything :) We also visited the cathedral of Fiesole, which contains the shrine of St. Romulus and the shrine of St. Donatus of Fiesole.

Maybe best part of the whole day was brunch.  It seemed that we walked halfway back down the hill before we reached the restaurant and by that time I was dying of hunger.  Kaitlin and I could only think of American brunch and fast food places, for example IHOP, Village Inn, Chicken Buffet (Ashley & Court you know what I am talking about!) Pancakes and French Toast.  It made us about 10 times more hungry. 

But we were very wrong about brunch in Italy.  We sat down with drinks already on the table: orange juice, water and coke.  There was salad, cheese and cold meats also already on the table.  I was filling up my plate thinking we are only going to get a little salad and a piece of lunch meat. BOY WAS I WRONG! (2nd time that day)

We were served:
Egg Casserole with bacon (thick sliced bacon)
Warm Bread
Scrambled Eggs (I’m assuming fresh farm eggs)
Lasagna
Roast Beef (tender and so flavorful)
Bruschetta
More Warm Bread
Refills of juice
Breakfast casserole with eggplant and croissants

& then they took are plates away and gave us clean plates (very full at this point)

Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake (Always room for dessert)
And lastly Fresh Fruit on Ice

My table ate and cleaned off every single plate of food that they brought us.

Advice: Set at the skinny girl table, they have leftover food. :)

First Week In Florence :)

Saturday
Leaving Siena was so exciting with a twinge of sadness.  It was a quite, charming, and lovely little city.  The trip to Florence was a short trip with me sleeping the whole way.  I woke up just right outside the city.  The sight was breathtaking...

The bus dropped us right outside of the city.  This was really the beginning of my study abroad.  I took a taxi with one of my roommates to my place of residence for the next 3 months, Via Santa Maria n42.  So exciting whizzing through the tiny streets anxious about what was to come.

Our taxi driver dropped us right outside of our door, payed a whopping 19.50 euro for the ride, and started the process of getting all my luggage up the very narrow steps to the 3rd floor. (But really more like the 4th floor.)  It was well worth the work...my apartment is amazing.  It is more than I could have ever expected. 

It has a gorgeous tuscan feeling to it, duh I still can’t believe I am in Tuscany.  My apartment has a huge kitchen with gas stove top, oven, table for 8, chairs/couches, dishwasher (which I have a funny story to tell), fridge and windows facing the street and other houses. (Can see straight across to my 80 year old neighbors :)  There is also a bathroom and bedroom on the first floor with an office room that we converted to a bedroom (SHHHHH don’t tell our landlord)! On the way up the stairs there is s tiny little door that leads to a space in the wall for our tiny wash machine. Thank goodness we have one.  The 3rd bedroom is on the top floor.  We also have a terrace but haven’t got the key to it yet. 

So being the resourceful girl that grew up in an auction company I learned to move furniture through tight spaces and impossible turns.  :)  Well we turned our 2 bedroom into a wonderful spacious 3 bedroom apartment.

After all of the hard work of lugging our suitcases up the stairs and moving furniture around we had our fist family dinner together just to tide us over till the welcome dinner.  Megan made pasta for us, while Emma, Maria and I cleaned up.  It was such an exciting first night in the apartment.

We also had a welcome dinner in Florence that night in a wonderful hotel.  The hotel was so beautiful.  One of the rooms was said to have been Caesars girlfriends bedrooms.  It was magnificent with huge chandeliers, frescos, and a balcony for musicians to play as their alarm clock.  I think I could handle living there, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to get up in the morning then. 

For dinner we had a four course meal with water and vino.  We started off with bread which we dipped in oil and balsamic vinegar.  Then we had our first course, four cheese gnocchi (one of the cheeses was blue cheese, which I love).  Next up was a delicious pasta course with red sauce.  We then had a chicken breast flavored with lemon and fried potatoes. To finish it off we were offered chocolate cake and cappuccino.  After dinner there was a whole basket of bread left over, so be the resourceful girl that I am I wrapped up the bread in my scarf. (Going to use it in a soup)


Sunday
I didn’t have any musicians wake me up that morning, but I was in my new apartment IN FLORENCE, which was just as exciting.  We had another Mandatory Orientation Meeting.  3 hours of information was a bit of an overload.  To top it off a Police Man from Florence talked to us about our safety, which I think they hired him to scare us.  (And it worked!)  It’s a lot different living here than in Burwell, Nebraska. :)

After we took a group photo in front of one of the many churches here we had a FREE Art History tour.  BTW take advantage of anything that is free and furthers your knowledge in life, even if it could be boring.  (Its good for you)  After the tour I invited my newly made friends (Kayla, Chelsea, Kaitlin and Ashley) back to my apartment for dinner.  I made a simple meal of pasta and wine.  Still in love with my apartment and the city.

Monday - Thursday
Classes

I am taking: Painting in Florence, Fashion Marketing & Merchandising, Basic Spoken Italian, and Photography for the Media.  Each and every one of my classes is amazing. 

Painting is going to focus on the “Italian” still-life, full figure self portrait, a single form of Florence defined, Florence cityscape, a fresco, figure painting, and painting outside around Florence.  I am going to be painting with oil, (ahhh never used them before) but when in Florence one must try to use oils.

Photography has a total of four big projects.  They will be developing picture stories, that will include a short text in the form of an article, headline and captions.  Sounds exciting right?

Fashion class is going to be once in a lifetime.  My teacher has many connections and I will get to go on many field trips to luxury Italian fashion manufacturers and fashion outlets.  OH BOY!

And basic spoken I will continue my journey of learning and speaking the Italian Language. 

Food

Food here is just amazing.  On Wednesdays we have to decided to have family dinner at our apartment.  So last Wednesday I cooked my first Italian meal.  I used the soup recipe from the cooking class in Siena.  It is a great simple soup, please try it!

Lella’s Pappa col Pomodoro

4-6 Servings:
400 grams of firm Tuscan Bread
6 cloves of garlic
10 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
500 grams of ripe tomatoes or canned tomatoes
A bunch of basil
1 1/2 liters of beef broth
1 dried red pepper
salt and pepper

Prepare the beef broth, remove the fat, filter it and keep it hot.  (I just used the beef broth cubes)  In a deep terracotta pot, add the olive oil, garlic and the minced dried red pepper; then turn on the heat to medium-high. (more like medium)  As soon as the oil is hot, add a handful of basil leaves in order to ‘perfume’ the oil - be very careful to not burn the garlic - it should always stay white.

Add the bread that has been sliced very thinly.  The bread should toast and absorb all of the oil.  At this point, add the tomatoes and add a lot of broth - enough to nearly cover the bread.  Adjust the salt and pepper and add additional basil leaves. 

Cook slowly for about an hour in a covered pot, checking frequently that it remains most - add broth when necessary.  The soup should be rather dense.  Before serving, pass the soup through a food mill - esp. the big pieces of bread, garlic and basil leaves. (I didn’t have a food mill, but it still was delicious) Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

During summer, the pappa can also be served cold.  We can transform the dish into a complete one by adding a scrambled egg - one for every two people - and some grated Parmigianino Reggiano cheese.  This version of the soup is called “Pappa Maritata”