yummy Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese!!

“Senza patienza non andrai al paradiso, non sarai nel paradiso,” Anna remarks as she motions upward. Immediately she lowers her eyes, shakes her head and adds, “senza patienza andrai nella terra.” Anna is one of my lovely Italian mothers here and her words have been my motto for this semester … “Without patience you will not go to heaven, you won’t be in paradise. Without patience you will just go into the earth.”

Getting to know Parma has been much more difficult than learning Florence was, but I have to keep reminding myself to be patient because I still have two months here, plenty of time to get to know the city completely. I know I’m here to STUDY abroad but class is getting in the way of my cultural experience! I spend much more time in the classroom here than at BC (which I never expected would happen). At the end of the long day of classes (9 to 4 with no lunch break on Thursdays… ahh!) I’m usually too tired to go out and explore Parma, especially because it’s so cold! I’m glad there are cultural experiences built into our time here so I get to experience Parma through my classes. It makes studying fun! Last week our History of Parma class took us to a Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese factory where we learned all about the process of making the cheese and the economic implications it’s had on the region.

Fresh milk comes into the factory twice a day, early morning and night. The milk from the night is stored in large containers (not shown here) where the fat separates overnight. That milk is naturally skimmed and then mixed with the morning milk which has not been skimmed to create a half-and-half like mix that goes into these large cone-shaped vats. The man here is checking the granulation of the milk after natural whey starters and natural rennet is added.

heat is then added to expel the water from the granules

The heat causes the granules to sink to the bottom and form a giant mass that will eventually form the cheese.

The mass of cheese is lifted up…

…then cut in half…

… and then hung to dry.

The cheese is then placed in these molds for 2 to 3 days.

This second mold will hold the stencil and the cheese together for a day to give the cheese its outer markings, labeling the specific date the cheese was made along with other required factory information and seals. After this the cheese will be placed into one more mold to give it the curved shape. (You can see the date of this cheese written on the top… 10-10-11 or October 10, 2011.)

Cheese is immersed in a salt water solution for a little less than a month, and it’s turned everyday to make sure that the salt enters the cheese evenly.

Finally, cheese is placed on the shelf to be aged for 24 months or more!

Cheese is only branded with the “Parmigiano-Reggiano Consorzio Tutela” mark (the large oval in the center) after it passes inspection…

Cheese is only tested (by sound and look) after the minimum period of aging (12 months) has passed.

passed inspection!

delicioso 🙂

the cheese is flipped and dusted often mainly by hand, but the bottom rows can be done by machine

so much cheese!!!

who knew food could be so beautiful??

Then we got a taste test, my favorite part… and everyone else’s too!

Buon Appetito da Parma!

Bolognese, per favore!

Another Saturday, another adventure… This time a group of us decided to take a day trip to Bologna, a charming Italian city known for its university and, of course, Bolognese sauce! Early Saturday morning we biked to the train station and jumped on the first train bound for Bologna. We were all busy admiring the cleanliness of the train when the controllare came over to collect our tickets. I handed him my ticket and was immediately told to fork over an extra 8 euro for getting on the wrong train. Apparently in all the excitement of the morning we had gotten on the wrong train (we can blame it partly on Joe… he has a bad track record with trains, just reread my Arezzo/Assisi post! 😉 haha just kidding, Joe)–still going in the right direction, but much more expensive. We’re getting better at making mistakes! Luckily the controllare’s payment machine broke so we were able to jump off the train at the next stop and get onto the train we were supposed to be on without paying the extra 8 euro!

Bologna was a beautiful city of arcade-lined streets and rich colors. Although Bologna is a big city by Italian standards, it still had the small town charm where you could see Italians and fewer tourists filling the streets. As we walked away from the train station we walked through a pretty park full of fall colors. I absolutely love autumn here. It’s just like autumn in New England except without the drastic temperature drop. Italian fall actually feels like fall! How crazy is that?!

the stereotypical Italian woman leaning on the windowsill to watch the people below

the turtle fountain in the park

the Saturday morning marketplace

This was the sight I saw most in Bologna…Cailin and the Joes were always stopping to consult the map!

so many arcades and they all looked different in color and style!

Neptune’s Fountain in Piazza Maggiore

part of Piazza Maggiore

As we neared Piazza Maggiore we started to notice large crowds of people and big charter buses with dozens of bikes piled up around them. Needless to say we were very confused… until we reached the piazza. At the “entrance” to the piazza stood a bright yellow arch and two fences running back into the piazza to form a pathway that cut underneath the arch. We had just stumbled upon an annual bike race that begins in Bologna! I don’t watch cycling regularly, but I’ve been told by my friend Charlotte (she’s at BC now but she saw pictures) that we saw some really big cycling teams… I didn’t even know and they were standing less than 10 feet from me!

watching the introduction of the racing teams!

Walking into festivals, races and other events accidentally is one of my favorite parts of traveling. It’s an unexpected chance to see the towns in all their glory, prepared for visitors and still authentic. Although this wasn’t as exciting as St. Andrew’s festival in Amalfi last summer, it was still fun to stop and watch for 15 minutes.

After watching the bikers get introduced and finally begin the race we walked through Bologna, making sure we saw the university and the two leaning towers…

one of the leaning towers (the other was covered by scaffolding–you can see part of it there on the right)… We didn’t climb either tower; according to local legend, if you climb the tower you won’t graduate!

I absolutely loved the colors of the buildings.

Piazza del Porta Ravegnana– the piazza that the two towers stand in

every day Italian life ❤

The University of Bologna is the oldest university in Europe so it was really cool to be there, even though we didn’t see any buildings that looked that old. Obviously they restore/update/rebuild the buildings of the school on a regular basis to give the students a nice school. Everything was beautiful, even the graffiti that covered the walls. Students definitely weren’t afraid to deface their campus with their political views or random thoughts. Yet the graffiti didn’t detract from the scholarly feel of the area… it almost seemed to add to it because the graffiti usually meant something (rather than just tagging the artist’s name). The University of Bologna and surrounding area reminded me so much of Yale and New Haven (the pretty parts, of course). I loved it. I got a taste of home without having to travel across the Atlantic. 🙂

BC kids take over Uni. Bologna!

(this picture could’ve been taken anywhere in New Haven)

Besides its homey feel, my favorite part of Bologna was the colors of the buildings!

When we were done walking through the university buildings (there’s no actual campus for most European universities), we headed to a restaurant called Cesari that Joe C. had found online. It definitely lived up to the reviews that he saw… it was so delicious!!!

the main attraction in Bologna… pasta with Bolognese sauce!!

the group from L to R: Phoebe, Cailin, Joe R., Patrice (my friend from BC who’s studying in Milan… I randomly bumped into her in the train station in Bologna and she tagged along with us for the day!), Joe C…. missing from the picture are Tommy and myself

Tommy’s so happy because he got the Grom gelato that he’d been bugging us for all day 🙂

my extra-dark chocolate and salty caramel gelato… yummmmmyyyy 😀

After our late lunch/dinner we took an earlier train back home to Parma because we had run out of (free) things to do. Most of our time in Bologna was spent just walking around and exploring, but we (or at least I) had so much fun doing it. Plus, it’s always nice to go somewhere with a different group of people and get to know them better!

one of the 12 ancient gates to the city (from the inside)

waving good bye to Bologna from outside the gate

Home sweet home– in Parma :)

First, I’d like to give you a tour of my apartment! I made a video for you, but it costs too much money to upload so I can only hope that these pictures show you enough to give you a general feel for our apartment. I live in a villa with 8 other BC students (4 boys, 4 girls besides me), but Cailin and I have an apartment to ourselves within the villa. Cailin and I have a bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. It’s a really awesome space for only two people. Then we have a common room downstairs that we share with all the other BC kids.

walking into the kitchen

the other half of the kitchen–Notice the window that opens on the floor and the slanted ceilings? We live in the attic. It’s awesome, except when I hit my head (very often because the ceilings get really low in the bathroom).

the bathroom (if you couldn’t tell…)–We have one of the two washing machines in the whole house! Definitely a perk because we can do our laundry whenever we want 🙂

I took this right after we moved in. We unpacked our clothes and everything ASAP because we were all so tired of living out of our suitcases!

Immediately after moving in one of our program directors (aka our mothers while we’re here) Betta took us on a walk of our neighborhood, showing us the essentials like the grocery store, pharmacy, bank ATM, etc. Then we headed to our welcome dinner (#2!) for some delicious authentic Parmesan food. Oh my goodness was it delicious!!

The next day we got a brief tour of our new home… Though the tour was extremely boring and aimed at kindergardeners (we had just taken a 3 week art history course and could’ve taught our tour guide a few things), on day 1 I already knew that I loved it here and my opinion still hasn’t changed.

the clock tower on the governor’s palace

Piazza Garibaldi–the forum of Parma and a spot that I bike through many, many times every day (and yes, I did just say bike…)

the opposite end of the forum

Parma, Parma, Parma! (the Parma flag)

one of the main streets off the forum… so much shopping!!!

a random side street

EVERYONE here bikes… seriously, everyone, from the kids to the elderly.

welcome to the home of opera composer Verdi!! October happens to be Verdi Festival month… how lucky am I?? 

Parma’s Duomo!

Parma’s Baptistery

the Bishop’s Palace– The plates decorating the outside walls were a sign to pilgrims that they would find food, shelter, and hospitality in that building.

a calendar of figures above the door into the Duomo– Each figure represented a task or job during the month like harvesting grapes or curing ham.

inside the Duomo

so ornately decorated

This is what an art/architectural history tour looks like when we don’t have Rocky with us. Kevin is only smiling because he heard my camera clicking as I took the picture… trust me, he looked miserable and tired before!

my first home-cooked meal in my first apartment!

the meal– chicken with mozzarella and tomatoes, with a side of roasted vegetables… yummy!!

family dinner time! We’ve planned to have a pot luck supper every Wednesday night where each room brings a different plate and then we spend hours just sitting there eating and talking. It’s our own little family and one of the best parts of the week! (Cailin is missing because she’s taking the picture… everyone else is here. From left to right: Tommy, Liz, me, Allison, Joe, Liana, Kevin, and Justin)

my brand new bike! 

The people at the bike shop are such awesome people, so much fun to talk to and learn Italian from. I’m the lucky one who’s chain fell off going over a cobblestone within the first 24 hours so I got to go visit a second time. But I didn’t mind because I love that shop! And despite my fear of falling off a bike (because of a pretty bad fall many years ago), I’m absolutely loving riding a bike everywhere!!! At first it hurt to ride and I was walking around with a sore tailbone 24/7, but now that I’ve been riding my bike for almost two weeks I’m doing a much better job and am no longer hurting! woohoo!! 😀

the simplest dinner ever… chicken and onions… and I loved every bite of it!

it may not look that appetizing, but I love my eggs and I missed them (these pictures are nothing more than proof to my parents that I can take care of myself and feed myself a well-balanced meal 😉 )

I loved Florence and the city life, but Parma is home… I felt that as soon as I got here. It’s small enough that I can see people waving to others that they know on the street, but big enough that it takes me 45 minutes to bike all the way from my house to the other side of the city. I have room to explore and meet new people without feeling too overwhelmed or like I’m in a place that’s unauthentic. I have to speak Italian to everyone, but if I have trouble with a word some hand gestures, charades, and maybe an English word or two will get me by. There are so many people here that are excited to help students out with Italian phrases and culture that you’d really have to try hard to not learn anything!

Ti mancherò, Firenze…

How does one spend her last day in one of the most beautiful cities in the world after three magical weeks?? By eating, of course… we’re in Italy, the land of food! And there’s no better place to eat food than in a piazza that overlooks the whole city of Florence. Great food, new friends, and a beautiful view–sounds like a good arrivederci to me!

After our art history exam in the morning we went to the grocery store to buy the essentials for a picnic lunch…crackers, tomato and onion spread for the crackers, grapes, raspberries (my favorite!), prosciutto, salami, 2 different types of cheeses, wine, and water. Then we walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo (a fitting final outing because it was my first Florentine outing) and sat on the steps overlooking the Duomo and city as we ate our delicious meal.

the BEST raspberries I’ve ever eaten

After finishing our lunch we walked around the piazza taking silly pictures, talking about our favorite and least favorite parts of Florence, and what we’re looking forward to in Parma. We had nowhere to be, no more art history final to worry about and we were prepared to get silly and have fun…

my friend Bridget

Esther, Jackie and I (R to L)

Jackie taking a long last look at Firenze

We were all so excited to see this statue because we could tell you exactly what each of the figures represented, where the originals can be found, and all about the symbolism behind them. Thank you, Rocky and your awesome art history class!!

Bridget, me, Jackie, Cynthia, Esther, and Cynthia’s visiting friend Audrey– I look like a giant compared to all these girls!

Bridget and Esther 🙂

On our way back down into the city we passed a giant pile of confetti left over from a wedding photo shoot so naturally we decided to stop and have our own…

the confetti pile!

We walked through the gardens to get back to our hotel, taking our time walking so we could enjoy every last second of our time in Firenze.

I will miss you, Florence…

❤

Assisi… oh wait, let’s go to Arezzo first!

I’ve determined that when it comes to transportation I can be a very unlucky person.

My friend Joe and I left Firenze on Saturday (September 24– I know I’m really behind with these posts) at 8 am for Assisi, hoping to get there before lunch so we’d have the whole day to sightsee before heading back “home” around 6. Unfortunately, we missed our connecting train in Arezzo by 2 minutes (literally!) and had 2 hours to wait before the next train to Assisi would come. Fun! Instead of just sitting in the train station, we decided to go out and explore Arezzo for a bit before we came back for the train. Why not take the opportunity to see a different town? The main town of Arezzo is situated on a hill with the train station on the bottom so we walked up to the park at the top before heading back down for the train. It was a nice walk and we got a beautiful view of Tuscany from the park. Not a complete waste of time!

Joe walking through the streets of Arezzo

from inside the park

Toscana

Joe taking in the beautiful scenery

an everyday Italian scene… a man leaning on a statue to talk on the cell phone

We finally arrived at Assisi six hours later, including our brief excursion in Arezzo, 3.5 hours more than it should’ve taken. I can’t complain… I’m happy we were there at all!

view of Assisi from the train station

The first thing we did when we arrived was head straight for the Basilica of St. Francis. By this point in our art history class we already knew the story of St. Francis and the different types of churches so we went through this fairly quickly. It was different from what I would’ve expected though. There were two different stories of altars, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. I wish I could’ve taken pictures for you to see what I mean. Then in the very bottom of the basilica (the lower sanctuary) was the body of St. Francis. It was a beautiful sanctuary and I wish I could’ve actually spent a few minutes in there, but because of our delay in Arezzo we had only 3 hours to see the entire city of Assisi before our train home.

walking up to the Basilica of St. Francis

convent attached to the back of the Basilica

“PAX” (peace) and a cross… seen outside the entrance of the Basilica’s second floor

the entrance to the second floor of the Basilica

the view from above (aka the second floor)

After the Basilica of St. Francis, Joe and I walked up the hill to the Assisi gates and then “hiked” down the road to San Damiano, the church that St. Francis repaired with his own two hands when he heard his call from God and where he spent a good portion of his saintly days. The church was extremely small but beautiful, with a convent of similar manner attached where St. Francis lived.

random side street view

walking up Assisi

cute little chapel on the side of the street down to San Damiano

SAN DAMIANO, the major site to see in Assisi…

from the outside– unfortunately, photographs weren’t allowed inside

the San Damiano convent courtyard

along the path down to San Damiano

From San Damiano we walked back up into the town and stopped in the church where Saint Clare of Assisi (a contemporary and follower of St. Francis) is buried. Two saints in one day… holiest day trip ever!! In the same sanctuary, we were able to see what is believed to be some of the possessions of St. Francis including his robe, Bible, and a stocking for his foot from when he had the stygmata, among a few other items. Whether or not these were actually his are up for debate, but it was interesting to see anyway.

a random Assisi street

As we walked through the town one last time on the way to the bus I joked that there were a million churches in this town, practically one around every corner. As soon as I said those words, I caught the glimpse of a sign for “Chiesa Nuova” or New Church and dragged Joe in that direction… what was one more church after a day of churches and saints? Although he initially doubted my instincts, he was happy I forced him to see it… Chiesa Nuova (ironically built in 1615) stands on the ground where St. Francis’ house once was. We walked in and were able to see his front door, the place where his father imprisoned him, and his father’s shop. It was pretty cool and the church was pretty too; unlike the other churches we saw, the ground plan of this was a Greek cross (a cross with arms all of equal length) so you could stand in the middle and see the entire thing at once. It was also small and intimate compared to the grand, over-the-top churches that we’ve been seeing everywhere else.

Chiesa Nuova… small, unassuming church on the outside, packed with St. Francis history on the inside

the entrance to Chiesa Nuova from the historical St. Francis street

Oh, and don’t worry, Joe ate his words like a man and said I was right, he was wrong… I was happy. 😉

An Eagle’s eye view of Firenze

(really bad pun, I know, but my other titles were getting boring)

After getting back from our class trip to Siena, I decided to take a trip of my own to the nearby town of Fiesole, which was about a 15 minute bus ride up the mountain. I wasn’t expecting to see anything but a gorgeous view of Firenze, so I was pleasantly surprised to find an archeological museum and beautiful church there! Although the people in my group are amazing, it was really nice to be able to take some time away to do exactly what I wanted to and go through the museum at my own pace.

a typical Italian street

I love learning about the ancient Greeks and Romans so walking through this museum was really interesting. From what I understood (not all the signs were in English), Fiesole was originally founded by the Etruscans (native people), but then redeveloped by the Romans so it has a history rich with both native and Roman culture. The museum itself had an amazing collection of pottery, sculptures, sarcophagi, figurines, coins and even a skeleton from the different periods of the town’s history. I loved taking my time looking at everything and reading the descriptions (skipping the few that I didn’t find interesting, of course).

view from the archeological museum

Hercules, anyone??

view of the other side of the mountain from inside the museum– Although the mountain was extremely small and you could walk all the way around the top in about 20-30 minutes, Florence couldn’t be seen from the museum.

By far, my favorite part of the museum was its coin collection… there were so many! I loved that you could see Caesar’s head on some of them and then others just look like pennies that were made by flattening an M&M (y’all know what I’m talking about). I could’ve spent an entire day there just looking at those coins. I just wish I could’ve had someone explain all of them to me, with the story of when and where they were used. The little plaque just didn’t give me the detail that I wanted!!

coins from ancient Fiesole– The coins were by far my favorite part of this museum. It was fascinating to see all the different ones from various regions/time periods and read about their histories. If I didn’t know before, I know now… I’m definitely meant to be a business/accounting major!

I have bad eyesight but I can definitely read the word “Caesar” on there!

After leaving the museum building, you can walk around outside through the ruins of the temples and theater. I loved Fiesole because it was so quiet and peaceful. It was a great escape from the city of Firenze where I was always moving from one museum to the next or finding some place to eat or going shopping in a crowded market with a group of people. Fiesole was my chance to relax and just stroll through the ruins enjoying the quiet and beauty.

The archeological museum is also used as a museum for more modern art. This was on the path between the museum building and the ruins.

the ancient Fiesole theater

ruins of one of the temples

Visitors were actually allowed to walk right up to and wander through the ruins (without actually touching them)… it was really cool.

all of the different temples, though distinguishing between them seems impossible to me

just another view from the ruins

Fiesole’s main piazza

After having my fill of stillness and relaxation, I walked around the piazza and headed over to Fiesole’s church because I had heard it was gorgeous. It was. I loved its simplicity in comparison to the churches in Firenze.

The church was so beautiful that I had to take a picture even though it wasn’t allowed…

the outside of the church

I left the church in search of a good view of Firenze. It took me a couple minutes to find somewhere that wasn’t private property (I made a friend with an elderly man who was looking for the same thing), but eventually I found a few good places along the busy mountain road. It was a fairly hazy day, but you can still see the Duomo standing tall and proud along the skyline.

walking to get a good view of Firenze

the view of Firenze from someone’s driveway

la bella Firenze ❤

the Duomo is on the left hand side near the horizon line

can you imagine these previous views of Florence from your living room window?

It was only a short trip to Fiesole, but I enjoyed every second of it, from the relaxation and history to the beautiful setting.

Siena!

Class trip numero due: Siena!

Early Friday morning we jumped on a bus and headed to Siena for our daily art class. (Still so cool!) There are so many rules about getting into and out of Siena by bus that when we get there we learn that our time is cut short by about an hour now… leaving us just enough time to have our lecture and sprint back to the bus so we aren’t stuck in the city. (Siena closes the road to tour buses during the hours of noon and 3 while the kids get out of school.) Many of the others in our group had travel plans to take a train to Rome from Florence at 4 so we had to make sure we were out of Siena by 12. It made for a very rushed visit, but we still talked about the major sites… starting with the head of St. Catherine (of Siena). It was kinda creepy because it was just her head (her body is in Rome–Some Sienese people were so proud that they smuggled her head out of Rome. It was actually a really interesting story! I wish I could remember the details to tell you.), but it’s always a weird sensation to know you’re in the presence of a saint’s body. After seeing the Basilica of St. Catherine we walked toward the center of the city with this outstanding view…

We walked into the center of the town… first stopping in the Piazza del Campo which looked like a giant sloped amphitheater with the town hall (Palazzo Pubblico) as the backdrop.

the piazza

Palazzo Pubblico– Siena’s town hall

With its narrow and hilly streets, terra cotta roofs, and beautiful Cathedral, Siena was beautiful and I wish we could’ve spent more time there.

walking up the stairs from the piazza to the Cathedral– there are stairs everywhere in Italy!!!

the intricate design of the Cathedral’s facade

The inside of the Cathedral was so busy that we didn’t know where to look first. Literally every inch of it was covered with some kind of decoration, ranging from the stripes of the columns to the frescoed floors to the pulpit. It was so crazy and unorganized that it actually looked beautiful.

the pulpit

Although I fell asleep on the drive to Siena in the morning, I made sure I stayed awake for the drive home because I wanted to see the Chianti region. As you’d expect, there were farmhouses dotting the countryside in between the acres and acres of grape vines. It was beautiful and I made sure I took some pictures just for the wine lovers in my family so they could see where the Chianti wine comes from… (as always, pictures just don’t do the beauty of the countryside justice!)

Our trip to Siena was two Fridays ago so I’m a little behind with my posts but I promise I’ll catch up this weekend. You’re going to have a lot of reading to do so get ready!! ❤

Living life the Italian way

yummy risotto with mushrooms from the cafe around the corner from our hotel

I know it’s been such a long time since the last time I’ve posted, but I’ve been so busy squeezing every last ounce of fun out of my last week in Florence (oh yeah, and I was studying for my art history final too). We did so much in the last week… mostly we were were trying to act Italian by eating delicious food, people watching, picnicking, relaxing in piazzas, and meeting new people!

the sandwich "shop" I Due Fratellini (or more like a stand because it's literally just 2 guys behind a counter in the wall)-- really cheap sandwiches that are wildly popular among locals because of the fresh ingredients and delicious bread. It's been around since 1875!

eating on the curb outside I Due Fratellini just like the locals do 🙂

lunch from my favorite cafe in Piazza San Marco-- I spent my last Sunday afternoon leisurely eating my lunch by myself at an outdoor table and people watching. I felt so Italian.

a close-up of the dessert because it was just so delicious

pigeons are EVERYWHERE

Cailin and I just grabbed a bench in a park between our classes and sat there for 2 hours just talking, eating gelato, and watching the children get picked up from school.

making new international friends! This is Yves from Switzerland, whom we met while we were relaxing in the piazza in front of Palazzo Pitti before going in to see a museum.

lounging in a piazza before class... I have such a hard life 😉

experiencing my first Italian train strike while on the way home from Cinque Terre-- Now I feel like I'm truly Italian!!

More will come soon about the other things we’ve done in the last week… plus my first few days in Parma! Let me just tell you now, Parma is amazing and I love it here already. (Though my tailbone is sore from riding my bike on the bumpy cobblestone streets… any tips on how to best avoid this problem??)

A presto, mia famiglia e amici!! ❤

Falling in love… with hiking!

Immediately after our class excursion to Pisa, Cailin and I jumped on a train to La Spezia, a town just south of the Cinque Terre and where we would be spending the next two nights (well, we actually walked for 45 minutes through the hottest part of the day carrying our 30 pound overnight bags, but I shouldn’t be complaining… I was in Pisa on my way to one of the most beautiful places on earth!)

After a long day of sightseeing and traveling we finally arrived at our hotel a little tired and wanting to rest up for the next day’s hike. We went out for a delicious dinner in La Spezia and then walked around a little bit because it was still too early to just go to sleep for the night. We got the best chocolate gelato and then had a scary encounter with a guy who wouldn’t leave me alone and followed me for a good 5 minutes… luckily, my quick thinking got me out of that one. (No need to worry everyone– I’m good in tough situations and I’ve got my size on my side because Italian men are short and thin!) After that adventure I was ready for a good night’s sleep in preparation for the long day ahead!

yummy!

Before I tell the story about our long day on Saturday I think it’s important you know where exactly I’m talking about…

Cinque Terre in relation to Florence and the rest of Italy

map of the 5 towns and trails connecting them

On Saturday morning Cailin and I woke up early to take the train to our starting place… Riomaggiore (the southernmost of the towns). The path between Riomaggiore and Manarola is called Via dell’Amore and it’s the easiest of the paths by far. Last year (or a couple years ago) there was a landslide that took out the trail and they replaced the path with an ugly walkway that’s essentially just a sidewalk with beautiful views (though not the best we saw all day). I was unimpressed and a little worried that the entire hike would be like that.

the beginning of our daylong journey

view of Manarola, the 2nd town, from the walkway

Fifteen minutes later we reached Manarola…

Manarola was the cutest little Italian town. Maybe it was just because we were there at 9 am before the tourists arrived, but it seemed so much more steeped in Italian culture than the others which were overridden with people that obviously did not live there. People in Manarola spoke only Italian and wandered the streets getting their morning grocery shopping done while stopping to chat with the passersby.

After much confusion, we were told that we had to get on a bus from Manarola to a small town in the mountains called Volastra because the trail between Manarola and Corniglia is still impassible. The trail between Volastra and Corniglia was by far my favorite (and the most challenging) of the day. Most photos below were taken on this trail (because my camera died after this), but the most challenging parts couldn’t be captured on camera because I was too busy trying to make it across the path without falling off the cliff to my left!! If you want to follow our route on the map, we started in the south at Riomaggiore, walked north to Manarola, then bused to where trail 6 breaks into 6 and 6d. We followed the 6d and 7a trails down to Corniglia. From there we followed the blue trails through the rest of the towns.

looking backwards and down the mountain at Manarola

view from the beginning of the trail

way out there in the distance on the last piece of land that juts out is our final destination of our hike, Monterosso

Most paths were fairly similar to this one (some were much more difficult, some were wider). Paths were about 1 foot wide and had a cliff directly to the left without anything to hold onto. Notice the steep decline to the left of this one… this was one of the easiest parts of this trail. Also, you can see the crops of a family farm surrounding this trail. We were walking through people’s backyards, past them picking their crops, through their conversations with their neighbors… it was awesome to get a glimpse into the lives of these Italian people.

the view if I look directly down and to my left

Words cannot describe the feeling you get when you can look down to your left and see nothing but a huge drop into the water. So much fun!! and it was all so beautiful!

I was trying so hard to get a good shot of the drop directly to my left, but these pictures just don’t do it justice.

oh my goodness, there were so many stairs!! all uneven, broken and missing, of course (There weren’t many stairs on this path–more on the others–but my camera had died by then so I couldn’t take a picture.)

Corniglia!

beginning the decent to Corniglia

The hike from Volastra to Corniglia took us between an hour and a half to two hours to complete and I loved every second. After a ten minute picture and water break in Corniglia we started off on the trail again, this time for the town of Vernazza.

the beautiful blue water down below

Vernazza in the background… Monterosso in the distance

Vernazza!!

The hike to Vernazza took about an hour to an hour and a half, but wasn’t nearly as intense as the hike to Corniglia. In Vernazza we stopped for lunch where I had a delicious pasta with pesto (pesto is what the region is known for!) and Cailin got fish (with the head still attached… gross!!). After lunch we took our final leg of the hike, which was by far the hardest of the day… but only because of the filling lunch, the heat, and the tourists that had filled up the trails as it got later in the day.

all sweaty and gross from the hike haha… but Cailin and I still managed to make friends with the older Australian couple at the table next to us!

looking back on Vernazza from the trail to Monterosso

Monterosso! the end is in sight…

we survived! and rewarded ourselves with a trip to the beach 🙂

After 5 to 6 hours of hiking, we had finally made it to Monterosso! We were happy, sweaty, and running on only adrenaline, but there was still more to do! We relaxed for a while in the water, enjoying its cool temperature. Then we bought cheesy t-shirts and went to a cafe overlooking the water for dinner.

after our dip in the sea

I didn’t bring a bathing suit to Italy with me… so yes, I rocked the sports bra, tiger towel, and sneakers look like no one else 😉

our touristy t-shirts are extra cheesy because we match

Besides the hiking itself, my favorite part was the passing conversations we had with strangers. We’d say hello (in multiple languages–I spoke 3 languages within 15 minutes!), talk about the distance to the next town, and even cheer each other on as we passed each other. One woman saw my BC shirt and told me that she graduated from the nursing school at BC many years ago. A few couples stopped to ask us about what we were studying. Other students would yell out asking if we knew so-and-so who goes to BC. One Notre Dame fan even started shouting “Go Irish!!” as he ran up the stairs past us. It was such a sense of camaraderie among all these people whom I had never met nor would I ever meet again. It was exciting just to share this moment and experience with them. [These moments were only present among the morning crowd though–the early risers and go-getters were much friendlier than the very “touristy” people who hiked in the afternoon (they obviously just went to say that they had hiked part of it and didn’t actually care about the hike itself).]

I’d tell you more about this adventure but I honestly can’t find the words to describe it. All I can say is that this is one of the best things, if not THE best thing, that I’ve ever done. If you ever get the chance, come to the Cinque Terre and hike the whole trail. It’s difficult, but the views and experience with nature are definitely worth it.

Pisa, Pisa!

You know you’re taking an awesome class when you take a field trip to a famous place like Pisa. Famous only for its leaning bell tower, Pisa had a beautiful Cathedral complex, but nothing else. If planning a trip to Italy I’d stay away from Pisa and just look at pictures online (like the ones here!), but don’t go unless you’d like to kill some time. Everything in Pisa can be done in less than 3 hours.

The entire Cathedral complex can be seen in this picture—The short and long building that you can only see a section of is the Camposanto (cemetery). The most prominent building in the picture is the Baptistery, which was my favorite here because of it’s beautiful simplicity and conical inner dome that made for awesome acoustics (they demonstrated!). Immediately behind the Baptistery is the Cathedral. Beautiful, but we’ve seen so many gorgeous churches already that unfortunately they’re becoming commonplace and no longer awe-inspiring. Finally, all the way to the right is the bell tower and the main attraction at Pisa. It was pretty cool to see up close, but it looks the same in pictures.

I think you already know what this is…

inside the Camposanto—The people are buried in sarcophagi lining the walls inside and under the floors. The people of Pisa were eager to be buried in this Church structure, especially since the dirt inside was taken directly from Jerusalem!

This relief is on the pulpit in the Baptistery and is thought to be inspiration for Michelangelo’s famous David sculpture because of their similar body positions (just swap the positioning of the arms). Michelangelo is known to have spent a great amount of time in Pisa and he would have seen this many times before he sculpted his David.

This picture is pointless but I just thought the “leaning” mugs that they were selling at the souvenir kiosks were so funny.

But I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to come to Pisa… who doesn’t want to take cheesy tourist pictures?? (oh yeah, and see the architecture…)