Eternally Shining

A medley of miscellaneous photos, words, videos and all other wonderful things found under the sun

Today was when us Americans hit our food breaking point. WE NEED A BREAK FROM PASTA! It was funny to talk to other people from the program and hear that they too had refusing the wonderful food of Italy for the food from home-burgers. Tonight when we got home we set out with some friends to a place called The Diner. It’s the first and possibly only American Diner in Florence. (Other people in the program had been recently venturing to The Hard Rock Cafe for their burger-fix). We decided we wouldn’t feel as guilty going to The Diner because it was still small, on a random Italian side road/alley, and had a good number of Italians eating there. I had a spicy pesto burger and fries while the other girls enjoyed burgers, milkeshakes, chicken-wraps with broccoli and cheese soup. The best part was that the water was FREE and it had ice, how relieving. After we devoured our meals we started talking about how chocolate chip cookies were no where to be found in Italy. They were MIA! Why have they not adopted the chocolate chip cookie? We still don’t know the answer to that question. Catherine and I talked about cookies all the way home which made us feel like Angelica Pickles from the rugrat (hence the video link-poor quality but it’s all I could find). We were devastated when we got home and saw that all of the three American bakeries in Florence were closed. Naturally my roommates and I trekked to Hard Rock Cafe to enjoy a real american dessert and coffee. Satisfied, we were. 

To show that we are not crazy, and I am not a pig for writing a whole post on cookies, here is a NY Times article that we found when googling American bakeries in Florence that talks about the cookie withdraw and a bakery that hopefully is as good as the article makes it sounds. Don’t worry, we will try it and let you know. 

“FOR many Americans living abroad, and especially students, homesickness often shows up in cravings for brownies or chocolate-chip cookies.”

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/06/garden/you-need-a-brownie-but-you-re-in-italy.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Places we love

Florence Stores: 

Boutique Nadine (boutiquenadine.com)

Street Doing (streetdoingvintage.it)

Zara (found in the US-there’s one in Austin, lots of people shop here in Florence)

Bonpoint (baby/children’s store, bonpoint.com)


Florence Restaurants: 

Osteria Del Cinghisile Bianco (www.cinghialebianco.it, Borgo S. Jacopo, 43 r.; great place, homey, small, local place)

(I still have to get the names of all of our favorite places, ha)

Lucca:

Trattoria da Leo (trattoriadaleo.it, great place to eat, a lot of locals, felt like an Italian version of a diner) 

Rome:

Open Baladin (www.openbaladin.com, hip, bar with lots of locals-GREAT Roman take on burgers, only beer served)

Today we went to look for a leather duffle bag for Catherine and happily found great places while we were lost. Our favorite store we found was the one pictured above, it is called Boutique Nadine (boutiquenadine.com), and it was wonderful. They had new clothes, vintage clothes, men’s, women’s, bags, jewelry, journals. It was undoubtedly up Catherine and I’s alley when it comes to the setup and clothes. 

Ya live and ya learn…

Lessons Learned:

1. Flip flops or simple sandals are a dead give away that you are an American tourist. 

2. Never buy a piccell, they’re useless.

3. Completely ignore the rose sellers, the fake designer bags and glasses sellers.

4. If you don’t want sparkling water specify “flat.”

5. At the grocery store bring your own bags and bag them yourself, and you better do it fast. 

6. Eye contact unfortunately sends the wrong message. Don’t look Italians in the eye in passing.

7. ALWAYS validate your train ticket before getting on, otherwise you will get fined 40 euros. 

At 9:29 this morning, four friends and I sprinted around the corner just in time to catch the conductor getting ready to close the door for our 9:30 train to Pisa, Italy. Considering we were in a rush, we didn’t remember to validate our ticket; just our luck the man monitoring checked our ticket midtrip…next thing we know our pockets were collectively 40 Euros lighter. Fined, lesson learned. Terra guided us to the leaning tower all with the help of Rick Steve’s travel guide to Italy book. The tower did not look real. The eyes and brain were left at a disconnect when your eyes screamed reality but your brain was stubborn to believe it was just some scene set for a movie-not a real tower, where’s the green screen? My favorite part of being in Pisa was simply taking pictures of other people posing (picture posted above). I couldn’t stop laughing as we were snapping pics of strangers. After Pisa we went to Lucca, Italy (we weren’t as late this time but it was still a close call). Lucca is a small town that hasn’t been in war since 1410. They are famous for this wall they built surrounding the city. After lunch and wandering this calm, laid back town we went on a wonderful bike ride. There was around 12 of us who bikes the outskirts of Lucca and were in awe of the beautiful mountains and views. On the train ride back home we had finally got the process down. No fees, no mistakes, and we weren’t even late. Catherine and I went to dinner at our favorite restaurant which is right down the street. The owner is so sweet and sat us down at the same table as last time which is officially “our ” table. After chatting with him, we went to the famous gelato palace and went to listen to music on the ponte vecchio! I’d say it was a great day!

At 9:29 this morning, four friends and I sprinted around the corner just in time to catch the conductor getting ready to close the door for our 9:30 train to Pisa, Italy. Considering we were in a rush, we didn’t remember to validate our ticket; just our luck the man monitoring checked our ticket midtrip…next thing we know our pockets were collectively 40 Euros lighter. Fined, lesson learned. Terra guided us to the leaning tower all with the help of Rick Steve’s travel guide to Italy book. The tower did not look real. The eyes and brain were left at a disconnect when your eyes screamed reality but your brain was stubborn to believe it was just some scene set for a movie-not a real tower, where’s the green screen? My favorite part of being in Pisa was simply taking pictures of other people posing (picture posted above). I couldn’t stop laughing as we were snapping pics of strangers.

After Pisa we went to Lucca, Italy (we weren’t as late this time but it was still a close call). Lucca is a small town that hasn’t been in war since 1410. They are famous for this wall they built surrounding the city. After lunch and wandering this calm, laid back town we went on a wonderful bike ride. There was around 12 of us who bikes the outskirts of Lucca and were in awe of the beautiful mountains and views.

On the train ride back home we had finally got the process down. No fees, no mistakes, and we weren’t even late. Catherine and I went to dinner at our favorite restaurant which is right down the street. The owner is so sweet and sat us down at the same table as last time which is officially “our ” table. After chatting with him, we went to the famous gelato palace and went to listen to music on the ponte vecchio! I’d say it was a great day!

Roamin the streets

Roamin the streets

So, I haven’t written about my art class yet because it brings me so much joy I feel horrible short changing it with a crappy post. So once I have time I will post about it, but as for now here’s this video. After my teacher was really encouraging about my portfolio, I cleaned my brushes and felt that I was finally back into the swing of things in the art world. I walked out of the studio and onto the Florence streets feeling on top of the world! As I was floating down the street the chorus to this song was the only thing that naturally came to meet my emotional beat. HAHA why? I don’t know. Anyhow, hey art world, IM BACKKKKK, and it feels good. 

Earthquake in northern Italy

This morning there was unfortunately another earthquake in northern Italy killing at least 10 people. In my class we were able to feel a tremor from the earthquake as our desks swayed/shook. We all knew right after that it must have been an earthquake but we didn’t hear the news until later. My prayers go out to the different families of the 10.

This morning I went to my first class, Fashion Buying Concepts. The class is a little more intense then I expected it to be, but fun nonetheless. We are in the high-end shopping area of Florence and have four scheduled “field trips.” Today we learned the interesting start and growth of fashion. The class was introduced with this quote:  “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”-Coco Chanel

This morning I went to my first class, Fashion Buying Concepts. The class is a little more intense then I expected it to be, but fun nonetheless. We are in the high-end shopping area of Florence and have four scheduled “field trips.” Today we learned the interesting start and growth of fashion.

The class was introduced with this quote: 

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”-Coco Chanel

Last night we went up to the high point of the city where everyone goes to see the sunset. After a ridiculous amount of stairs and very heaving breathing we arrived to meet this view. I took this picture once the lights in the city started to turn on but the sunset right before this was breathtaking. This morning we woke up and took the morning slow. It is Sunday so instead of finding a church to go to this first weekend we enjoyed a wonderful Matt Chandler podcast. After eating lunch at the apartment we set out to find our classes. We also went to the nicer market where I made my first big purchase-a leather backpack. I’m excited that my fashion buying concepts is right in the middle of the high end shopping center. The building is across Armani and All the other big names are around the corner so I have a feeling our field trips all be fun! On our trek back home we came across a precious baby clothing store! The store was so great I won’t even try to describe it, so here’s the website: www.bonpoint.com

Last night we went up to the high point of the city where everyone goes to see the sunset. After a ridiculous amount of stairs and very heaving breathing we arrived to meet this view. I took this picture once the lights in the city started to turn on but the sunset right before this was breathtaking. This morning we woke up and took the morning slow. It is Sunday so instead of finding a church to go to this first weekend we enjoyed a wonderful Matt Chandler podcast. After eating lunch at the apartment we set out to find our classes. We also went to the nicer market where I made my first big purchase-a leather backpack. I’m excited that my fashion buying concepts is right in the middle of the high end shopping center. The building is across Armani and All the other big names are around the corner so I have a feeling our field trips all be fun! On our trek back home we came across a precious baby clothing store! The store was so great I won’t even try to describe it, so here’s the website: www.bonpoint.com

Just had to post a brief but very important post! We found and went to our first Florence vintage shop today! So exciting, the name of it is..Street Doing Vintage Couture (you can find them on Facebook). They were very sweet and the lady helping us spoke english very well.

Just had to post a brief but very important post! We found and went to our first Florence vintage shop today! So exciting, the name of it is..Street Doing Vintage Couture (you can find them on Facebook). They were very sweet and the lady helping us spoke english very well.

Yesterday we woke up bright and early to take off to Cinque Terre. We took the boat and train to three of the 5 villages tucked away in the sides of the mountain. Pesto was supposedly invented in this region, and it tasted just like you would imagine-fresh, rich, and absolutely delicious. At the second village we had the local Cinque Terre wine and sat on this rock (featured in the picture) to enjoy it with our API friends. The girls in the picture are Carly and Terra from USC (South Carolina). The views of these villages were picturesque! Getting closer on the ferry boats you seriously felt like you were stepping into a postcard.

Yesterday we woke up bright and early to take off to Cinque Terre. We took the boat and train to three of the 5 villages tucked away in the sides of the mountain. Pesto was supposedly invented in this region, and it tasted just like you would imagine-fresh, rich, and absolutely delicious. At the second village we had the local Cinque Terre wine and sat on this rock (featured in the picture) to enjoy it with our API friends. The girls in the picture are Carly and Terra from USC (South Carolina). The views of these villages were picturesque! Getting closer on the ferry boats you seriously felt like you were stepping into a postcard.

Rome, Italy

Roma!

I jotted this down a few days ago while in Rome, but never had wifi to post it:

May 21:

To say Rome is beautiful is an understatement. Unfortunately it rained has the majority of our stay, but jumping around puddles with our cheap, street vendor umbrellas only made the romantic city all the more lively. Catherine and I enjoyed coffee in the morning at a cafe facing the market. Afterwards we browsed the produce and other food being sold under the precious setup of tents. We were so excited to be reading Romans in Rome (like WHAT?)

This verse is taken completely out of context but we were humored at how we could apply it to ourselves:

Romans 1:7 says, “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”


May 22:

Today was a longgggg day. It was our last day in Rome and we got to do many tours. We walked what felt like 435266 miles. Fun fact, we walked through an ENTIRE COUNTRY (The Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, located inside of the city of Rome). I’m  going to put that onto my bucket list just to cross that one off. Instead of describing the day in full I think I only have the energy to bullet point fun facts about my May 22nd. 

  • We saw St. Peters tomb in St. Peters Basilica. Peter the apostle’s body is claimed to be buried underneath the ground I stood on, INSANE! (I tried to research it to see if it really is his burial site and it’s either that the roman cemetery was where Peter was buried or that he was buried in Jerusalem-here’s that argument: http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/peters-jerusalem-tomb.htm) Either way, I went once in high school but I did not realize how awesome the opportunity was. 
  • Also I got to see two of my favorite pieces of art for the second time, the Sistine Chapel and Pieta by Michelangelo! Oh goodness, the Pieta is just so breathtaking.
  • We went into a castle that was over 2000 years old! What!? 
  • We saw the Coliseum which I also went to in high school. Here’s a fun fact I did not remember: The coliseum had cages underneath the wooden floor and sand that covered the arena. Animals from all over Africa, Asia, and Europe will held in these cages for the combatants to fight. in the 18th-19th century the coliseum was abandoned and plants started to grow in it. Later, botanists came and studied the plants that were growing in this structure. They found over 460 (maybe 420, but I’m pretty sure she said 460) different species of plants growing in the area of the arena. Interestingly, these species of plants were not typically found in the area. They concluded that the exotic animals kept in the cages had brought over plant seeds in their stomach or fur. SO COOL!? The nerd inside of me was just lovingggg that fun fact. 
  • Last but not least, we went to a really hip bar that we spotted strolling through a small street near our hotel. The eccentric burger and beer bar was filled with Italian locals. If you are ever in Rome I highly suggest going to this hole in the wall:
Open Baladin

openbaladin.com

Anyways, we saw many beautiful buildings. When walking through Rome you feel as though you are in a movie. Everything is so old and you can just imagine all the stories of times long ago flowing from each building.