Back to school, back to school....

Yesterday was my first day of school...let me just say that even though I am going to school in Italy in a building from the 1300's, its still school. After tossing and turning all night Sunday, I woke up after only about 3 hours of sleep and started my first day of school. My first class is Professional Seminar, in which we learn about putting a resume and cover letter together, interviewing skills etc... Common sense, I would think, but it is required before we can intern, so I will just get through it. My second class, which I have Monday through Thursday is Basic Conversational Italian. One would think that this class being called "Basic" in the title, it would be basic. Our professor walks in and immediately begins rattling off an entire lecture in Italian, and we continue to look at him like deer in headlights; and to top it all off he finishes his speech with, "You understand? Yes?" Obviously, we shook our heads "No." It is a very difficult class, but as the days go on, I am learning more Italian! He is definitely a strange teacher, but I feel like he does want us to learn.
The other class I have on Mondays and Wednesday is my Studio class. Right now we are draping a corset on the dress form. It is not necessarily difficult, but must be done with precision, and sometimes I am not so good at that. Once I am finished, I will have a boned corset with a side zipper, that has multiple layers.
My Tuesday and Thursday classes are Product Development, Italian and on Tuesday we have a class called, Italian Fashion and Culture. This class would be cool except our professor has this really weird accent. First of all, she is from Cincinnati, so she should have no accent, but she has been living in Florence for 20 years, so I am sure her Italian is pretty good. However, she puts an "a" on the end of all of her sentences. Example: Today, we are going to watch a moviea! Isn't that excitinga? Its almost as if she is speaking English with an Italian accent, but the only thing that carried over was the way they talk, not necessarily an accent...Just where she accents her words...anyways, it is EXTREMELY annoying and noticeable, and sitting through a 2 hour class of this is bordering on unbearable. But the class is about Italian culture and how it relates to Italian fashion. Interesting, but again unbearable. My class that I have on Thursday is Fashion Study Tour, which isn't really a class, but where we get information on the trips the school has planned for us, etc...
Speaking of trips, I am stepping into the world of the jetsetters! My upcoming schedule is amazing!
August 29: Volterra (bus trip through Chianti, not really sure what we are doing there, its with school)
August 31: Cinque Terre- a hike through 5 small villages on the coast of Italy.
Sept 3-7: London (with Fashion Program)
Sept 11-14: Amalfi Coast- A bus trip to the coast which consists of Naples, Pompeii, Blue Grotto, Capri, and Sorrento. We are staying in bungalows on the beach!
Sept 19-21: Amsterdam
Sept 24-28: Paris!!!!!! ( I am looking forward to this trip the most!!!)
Oct 3-5: Munich for Oktoberfest!!!!
Oct 10-12: Interlaken (Switzerland)- The extreme sports capital of the world! All of my roommates and friends are skydiving, but I will be safely on the ground taking pictures...however, I will go whitewater rafting when we are there!
Oct 16-19: Dublin- Guiness factory tour, etc...
Oct 23-26: Prague
Oct 31-Nov 2: Barcelona
Nov 14: Milan - daytrip with school
Nov 26-30: Venice and Rome with Ben!

These are the only trips so far, we only have about 4 other weekends that we would be able to travel and there are only a couple of other destinations missing:
-Egypt
-French Riviera
-Pisa, Tuscany, Chianti
-Greece
-Vienna
...not sure if we will make it to all these places, but its nice to dream!
Ciao ciao for now!
~K

Verona

Yesterday we went to Verona. For those of you who are not familiar with this town, it is the setting of Romeo and Juliet. Pictured above is the "mythical" balcony of Juliet from which se called for Romeo. It was a very neat place to go, however there were about 19834098029 tourists there (like us) as well. To get to the balcony, you had to walk through a gateway full of love letters and then it opened into a courtyard. The walls of the gateway were filled with thousands of letters and people's names, it was really cool. I would have put a letter to Ben up, but I didn't have anything to stick a piece of paper on the wall except a dirty band-aid that was on my foot! haha...so I decided not to. There is a statue of Juliet in the courtyard where it is said to be good luck to touch her right breast. How this came about I will never know, but I did like the other tourists and went for it. I however tried to be classy and instead of a full on grope-fest I decided for a one finger poke, which can be seen in my pictures here: www.kelliebeth24.shutterfly.com
After molesting poor Juliet, we made our way to the Verona Amphitheater where we saw Rigoletto. It is an opera about a jester who is cursed for mocking this man because he begs the Duke to allow his dishonored daughter come back to the town. The jester (Rigoletto) has a daughter who is named Gilda. She falls in love with the Duke and eventually gets kidnapped by his courtiers. Rigoletto comes to get her and convince her that the Duke is not a good man. She does not believe her father but leaves with him. Rigoletto hires an assassin to kill the duke and makes Gilda come spy on the Duke so she can see for herself that he is a bad man. They catch the Duke with another woman and the assassin is called. Rigoletto wants the Duke's body delivered to him so he can throw it in the river. Gilda gets dressed in men's clothes as not to be detected and goes into the inn where the duke is staying. During a scuffle with the duke, assassin and mistress, she is mistaken for the Duke and is stabbed, put in a bag and delivered to her father. Rigoletto opens the bag to see the Duke's face and is horrified by what he finds. From there it was pretty much over. It was a very sad tragedy but very beautiful. I am so glad that my first real opera was seen in an Italian amphitheater. It was magical. I am pretty sure I was one of the only students who enjoyed the opera, but oh well, it was great. After the opera was over, we all piled back into our charter buses and began the 3.5 hour trek back to Florence.
Today was very lazy and nice. After waking around 1pm (we got home at around 430am) we decided to go to the pool. It took us almost an hour to walk there and when we finally did get there around 415pm we were definitely ready for a dip in the pool. We went inside only to find that it was 8 euro ($12) so we quickly said "no grazie" and went on our way. We decided that next week we will get up early to go, where paying that much money would actually be worth it (I guess?) The rest of my day was spent at the supermarket getting treated badly by the deli counter lady (she made it perfectly clear that she did NOT like Americans...) and standing in line.
Until next time, ciao!
~K

Food!

August 23, 2008

Today was very fun! After being “recognized” by the police, in which I had to wake up early, only to show my passport to some woman who just checked off my name after looking at my passport, I went shopping!! We strolled around the Piazza dei Republica , went to the Post Office, browsed through the market ( one of the many) and bought a few things here and there. The market is so full of life and interesting things. It is like a visit to the United Nations! There are immigrants from all over selling things, tourists from everywhere and of course the occasional American. It is full of color and conversation and bargaining, it is almost overwhelming. It smells like leather because of the many, many leather stands, and there are beautiful glass sculptures, jewelry, and trinkets. I bought a couple of things there and we continued to look around the Piazza in various other stores. After shopping we had a class with Professor Marijke ( who is Belgian) about how to cook a simple Italian meal.

Marijke has been in Italy for 17 years. Although she seems very nice, she is not very friendly. I smiled at her one day and she did not smile back, and me being American, assumed she was mean, but I am being open minded about my Italian experience, so I will reserve my judgment. Anyways, she brought with her, a few basic ingredients for the typical Italian meal: tomatoes, garlic, sea salt, pasta, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, basil, parsley and parmesan ( a big fresh chunk). Now, of course all of these items are bought at the market and are basically fresh daily so they are especially delicious. I found this session to be particularly interesting and useful and wanted to pass it on to my American friends and family!

First, you must decide what type of pasta you want. Pasta cotta (cut pasta) is small , like bowties, macaroni, penne, etc…pasta lunghi (long pasta) is long pasta such as spaghetti, fettucini, spaghetini, etc… When choosing pasta one must keep in mind a few things:

1. What kind of sauce?

-If it is a thick and creamy/chunky sauce (ie very hearty, good for wintertime) one would choose a pasta cotta. This is a good choice because there are nooks and crannies for the sauce to get into and it becomes a very hearty and comforting meal.

-If it is a light sauce (olive oil and parmesan, good for warmer weather) one would choose pasta lunghi because it doesn’t absorb the sauce as much and is only lightly coated.

2. Always look for grano duro or durable grain, usually a more expensive type pasta only because better grains are used.

Next we want to decide on the sauce, below are several recipes that Marijke gave us:

1. Spicy pasta:

Pasta lunghi

Olive oil

Minced garlic

Peppercini ( ie red pepper flakes)

Fresh parmesan cheese

Boil pasta to al dente and then toss in remaining ingredients. Very light and delicious meal. A little spicy.

2. Light, buttery pasta:

Pasta lunghi

Butter

Freshly chopped parsley

Fresh parmesan cheese

Boil pasta to al dente and then melt butter in a sauté pan. Toss ingredients. Very light

3. Cheesy, Broccoli Pasta:

Gorgonzola

Broccoli

Milk or Cream

Pasta cotta

Boil past to al dente. Crumble the gorgonzola into saucepan and melt. Mix with milk or cream until creamy. Cook broccoli and put into food processor to puree (maybe not puree all the way, but chop thoroughly.). Mix broccoli puree with cheese mixture and toss with pasta. Great for colder months.

Cooking with Tomatoes:

When choosing a tomato for a sauce, always choose tomatoes that are deep red in color. They are called San Marrano or Pomodore tomatoes here, not sure if they are the same in the US.

When you start your sauce, either squeeze the tomatoes to remove the water from the meat or chop into very small pieces and drain. Either way, chop into small pieces and add a dash of salt. From there you can simply add pasta and olive oil and that is the ffirst tomato recipe!

2. Basic Sauce:

Tomatoes

Clove of Garlic

1 tbspn olive oil per person being served

pasta lunghi

Fresh parmesan

Salt

Any fresh herb: basil, parsley, etc…

Boil pasta, set aside. Cut tomatoes into small pieces, mince garlic and put garlic into sauce pan. Add olive oil . Sautee a little but never brown the garlic! Add tomatoes and add salt to taste. Remove from heat and add herbs. Toss pasta with sauce and top with parmesan

3. Pasta alla ponarolla:

Celery

Red onion

Carrot

Tomatoes

Pasta lunghi

Boil Pasta and set aside. Chop onion first, celery second and then the carrot. Keep separate. Add olive oil to sauce pan, again 1 tbspn per person and sautee onions until they are transparent. Add celery and carrot and sautee for 1-2 more minutes. Add tomatoes and sautee until mixed. Puree mixture and toss with pasta

4. Tuna with fresh tomatoes:

Olive Oil

Garlic

Tuna (if in can, DRAIN OIL)

Tomatoes

Pepper flakes if desired

Boil pasta, set aside. Add olive oil and garlic (and pepper flakes) to sauce pan. Sautee. Add tomatoes (squeezed and chopped). Cook for 10 mnutes. Remove from heat and add tuna. Toss with pasta. No cheese on this dish, because they do not mix cheese and fish in Italy.

5. Saltimbocca Roma:

Strips of veal

Ham

Sage leaves

Flour

White wine

Take strips of veal and place ham and sage leaf on them. Roll the veal and fix with toothpick. Olive oil in sautee pan. Place veal in pan until crusty. Add flour and white wine to remaining juices and cover veal with mixture and serve.

These are just a few of the recipes that I am sure she knows. I think h tey all sound so good and I cannot wait to make them all. I hope you try them as well!! She also gave us several tips when shopping for ingredients:

-Olive oil, the greener the better. It also gets a bit spicier with age. A very good bottle could run up to $75, but as long as its Extra Virgin, it is good.

-When using parmesan cheese, don’t buy any that has already been grated. Buy a block of it, shred when needed and wrap it in a tea towel and store in fridge. It should not be stored in the coldest part and if a little bit of mold grows,scrape it off this is a normal process of the cheese.

-When cooking garlic, never brown it. It should just change color slightly and then it is done.

-You will know when the pasta is done by looking at it or tasting it. It should be al dente , which will be slightly crispier than Americans normally cook (or overcook) their pasta. If you bite into it, it should be soft but the middle should have a little dot in it. The color will go from a yellowish color, to a pale color.

Well, these are all of the cooking tips I learned, I will write again later!

Ciao

~K

Day 2

August 19, 2008

Second day in Florence! Last night was a blast. My roommates and I went to dinner in the Piazza del Republica, which is a very cool area full of restaurants, shops, and tourists of course. We had a great dinner of various pastas and of course wine! After dinner we went to a gelatoria (a place that sells gelato, Italian ice cream) and got another bottle of wine and gelato. It was a great night already but we decided that since it was our first night in Italy, we should celebrate. So we then found ourselves at a place down the street called Angi’s Pub. The bartenders were kinda weird and the place was definitely a dive but it was pretty cool. There was crazy artwork all over the walls and comfy couches, kegs with cushions on them and deep chairs. We had a couple Italian beers and got to know a few locals, all who were crazy and fun.

Today we didn’t do much but sit in orientation sessions, all which were boring. During our break for lunch, we began our quest to find pillows and towels. It took us until around 730 to even find the store. We looked for around 2 hours during lunch and then had to go back to Pallazo dei Cerchi (our school). Then around 5 we resumed our mission and 2 hours later we were in the only store in the city (that we could find) that carried these items. So, 15€ later (ie around $22USD), I had ONE towel, and a small crappy one at that. It was like Williams and Sonoma only twice the price. After having serious buyer’s remorse over a towel, we headed to the grocery store, which is more like a large mini-mart with really long lines and a great deli. We decided that we were blowing through too much money and really needed to start cooking, so we bought pasta, sauce, deli stuff and some crackers. Oh and a 2€ bottle of wine (score!) and a couple other odds and ends. Our total for groceries came to about 55€ (approx. $85) which I guess isn’t that bad considering there are 4 of us, but we only bought enough food for maybe 4 days. After the grocery we trucked on back to our apartment and relaxed for a minute. Then my roommate’s friends wanted to meet for dinner at this cute little restaurant down the street. It was pretty good until we got our bill-- 119€( …$185!!!!!!!!) for four of us. I guess this may sound normal for four people out at a nice restaurant celebrating a special occasion or something, but an everyday dinner!?! So, I will be eating at home and for the next week or 5. The problem with Euros is that they don’t look or feel like “real” money ( ie American Dollars…haha) So, you kinda feel like your just spending Monopoly money and that is getting us into trouble. So we decided that we can be on vacation this week (although I won’t be spending more money on food…) but after this week is over, its back to eating cheap and at home.

Well, its 2am and I have to get up at 9 to be at school by 10. Walking tour at 10! Then I get internet at noon, so these will finally be posted!

Derci!

K

Ciao!

August 18, 2008

Well, I have arrived, however not without a few minor mishaps. The 8 hour flight was not enjoyable, however after three Excedrin PM’s and two cocktails I didn’t even notice that I was on a plane. The few times I did wake up were to eat what they called, “beef stroganoff,” watch some movies (or the first few minutes at least) and let my neighbor go to the restroom about 18 times. She was a nice old lady, but besides waking me up to use the restroom (I was on the aisle, she was by the window…thankfully the middle was empty!!) she would wake me up to ask me if I dropped something. Which to me was strange, seeing as how I was nearly in a coma and could barely move as it was. This occurred several times, but I ignored her the last few times so she stopped bothering me.

When we arrived in Rome around 745 am local, 145 am Ohio time, we were all a sight. Everyone looked haggard and tired, which we were. My first thought was to get to the restroom, after two drinks and a couple waters I was ready to explode. I finally figured out where the “toilet” was and got in line. I waited in the most disgusting, hot “restroom” for around 20 minutes. Then it was finally my turn and to my horror, there was no toilet seat!!! I was thinking, “What is this? A third world country?? I mean come on!!” Well, I did my thing as best I could and made my way to the luggage cart area where I was yelled at by an Italian man because I wouldn’t give him my 1€ coin that I needed for my luggage cart! He was mean and angry with me because I would not trade him my 1€ for 4 American quarters!!! Oh well…I told him to leave me alone and he eventually went away. After we all claimed our luggage we made our way to the charter buses and boarded after we eventually found our driver chain smoking and chatting with friends.

Once aboard, we basically all passed out for 3 more hours until we got into Florence. It was amazing! It was everything I imagined and more. Our apartment is adorable, although I got stuck with the small room and an even smaller bed. Its maybe a step up from a crib, but not quite a twin. My roommates are surprisingly cool thus far and I feel like I was nervous for no reason. It turns out that our apartment is adequately equipped with closet space, as we still have empty closets. It’s actually more storage than I had in the States. Woo! I just finished unpacking and taking pictures of the apartment and wanted to connect to the Internet. We have access to wi-fi at the Duomo (which happens to be in our “backyard”) but, of course I am having trouble connecting, so I thought that before I forgot what I wanted to write, I would just type it up now and post later!

So, I am off to explore Florence with my roommates and to pick up some odds and ends, eat, drink, be merry and try not to go to bed until at least 10pm!

Until next time—arrivederci!

~K