Mondo-Vero: Firenze

Mondo-Vero means “Real World” and obviously Firenze means Florence.  And that is what this has become for those of us living in the Casa Fiorentina at Via Maffia.  We have a classic case of 18 people living together in one house for an extended period of time…the only thing missing are the cameras (we have a confessional room- the Maid’s closet!).  One by one we will decide who to vote off the Island.  There is a good array of diverse backgrounds represented.  And one by one we have all had/will have our freak out moments.  Stay tuned to my AIM and Emails for further info!  Overall tho, the Casa and the personne are great still!

This week has gone by in a blur, it is already Thursday!  Lots and lots of classes and homework have lead to a pretty uneventful week however.  I went to the grocery store on Monday morning and cooked dinner that night for the next 6 nights.  All of them have been delicious AND healthy.  Look at me mom and dad.  On Tuesday, had class from 9am-715pm so needless to say I was eager to get home.  That night we had a Casa meeting to discuss the decling situation within our kitchen and I feel like most of the discussion went very well; lets just see if any dishes actually start getting done.  Today was the first really rainy day in a while and even in the fog and rain, crossing the Arno and our campus are still really remarkable things. 

This afternoon the Assistant of Student Life, Alexa and I went into town to explore a Community Boathouse that is accepting athletes from America.  I was hoping to do some Crew here, maybe with real Italians!  But the boathouse is far away and fairly expensive to join for 3 months.  They also do not actually race so I think Im going to pass. 

The biggest news from this week is Spring Break planning is in full swing!  Mark and I are planning out 10 day/9 night long trip for this Spring Break and things are really looking awesome!  Athens, Patras Greece, and an overnight ferry-cruise to Bari Italy to a hotel with its own private beach!  If this all happens, it will be an awesome time.  There are so many little things that could snag us, and finding deals is challenging but not impossible.  We are also planning, more immediately a trip to go skiing in the Swiss Alps for a weekend and NYU has many day trips coming up including a trip to a GIANT Outlet Mall outside of Florence.  Also in the mix is an excursion to the Mercato Centrale which is an open air market that has been running for hundreds of years and has the freshest of everything that spoils.  Haha. 

Sounds like later on in the month there is also a day trip to Moderna which is a small town outside of Bologna.  I found out however that Bologna is bussable from Moderna in about 10 mintues and in between the two cities…THE FERRARI FACTORY.  We may decide to go up with NYU an tour with them but then make a weekend of it and see two other amazing parts of Italy!  …you need to own a Ferrari to see the factory, however there is a museum for the gentiles. 

Upcoming this weekend…Viareggio and Carnavale.  We will have to dress poorly but warmly because kids throw eggs and silly string but its also going to be cold.  Also upcoming for those of you playing along at home is the deadline for NYU Housing applications and the deadline to apply for study abroad Fall 2008. 

Lastly, it occured to me that some of you might want some of these things:

My email (NeverON@comcast.net), AIM (PDT83088), address here in Florence (Patrick Therriault, C/O New York University, Via Bolognese 106, 50139 Firenze, Italia, My Italian Cell Phone is 039-348-404-4993. 

Also coming soon are some photos!  Talk with you all soon

Post-Lucca Hangover

Today is Sunday!  No school!  A few things:

Since last writing, I went to buy books for classes- $300.  There are only two stores in Florence where NYU students can buy their textbooks, and I am pretty sure I know now what Im going to do when I retire and need an extra salary…  The Paperback Exchange is a remarkable monopoly.  Haha.  I have done laundry for the first time, and as my roommate Mark said, it is approximately a three day production.  The washer is half the size of an American one which means, two loads, each one taking 4 hours plus line-drying time.  Our room sort of looks like a gypsy hideout with wet laundry hanging everywhere. 

The other big thing since writing was our school’s trip to Lucca!  Yesturday around 930AM our bus pulled away from the train station for the one hour ride out towards the Mediterranean Sea.  Lucca is a small city, smaller than Florence, that happens to be the only city left in Italy with its original city walls in-tact.  When I went on the trip to France, junior year, we saw a similar city where it was possible to walk on top of the walls.  Lucca was the same, they had turned their’s into a sort of beltway of greenspace to run, walk, or bike.  We started with a walking tour of downtown, seeing only a few of the amazing churches and cathedrals (there are 99 in total, or were at one point, so basically churches were to the Holy Roman Empire like Duane Reade is to New York City or Starbucks is to the World!).  We then went to see the remains of a Roman amplitheater where the city met in times of crisis, or to watch games and events.  Now it is a large oval square with restaurants and apartments.  Not very good restaurants as it turns out however, we ate at one and the food wasnt anything special, the service was HORRIBLE, and very expensive.  I remarked that we were straddling the line between charming Italian culture where they take a long time to enjoy a meal, and ridiculously bad service. 

Because we took so long with lunch we didn’t get a chance to see much more.  We did do a partial lap on top of the walls which give very amazing views of the Tuscan Mountains that surround the valley Lucca is in.  Supposidly, we could have rented bikes and done the whole loop in 20 minutes but the bike rental place was on their afternoon siesta.  Thats one thing to always remember, Italians who own businesses take a 2 hour siesta usually around 1-3 in the afternoon and then reopen their stores.   They also dont work on Sundays.  That to me seems pretty lame, but I guess they’re internally ok with that system.

We bussed it back in time to be home before dark.  Then last night we tried out a few places around Florence, some with music etc.  Some were better than others!  FRIENDS was a nice place but we had been there last weekend, and then we discovered a new dance club called Astor up by the duomo.  They are having a Super Bowl Party next weekend!  That will be a long night, cause here, the Super Bowl starts at 12AM and goes till 6AM. 

This upcoming week looks pretty calm: classes and homework.  On friday, we have a make up day so well be working on a Thursday schedule.  Thursday, Alexa from the OSL office and I will be bussing down to visit a Community Boathouse.  I may try doing crew here!  Im not sure though, I think there is a large membership fee that I may not be able to justify.  I have been running only once since being here because its been so busy.  I’ll start going more often, it was really incredible running along the Arno, literally under the Medici Walkway and past the Ponte Vecchio!  The one problem is here, I believe cars aren’t mandated to have catalytic convertors so the pollution hurts your lungs while running past cars. 

Also next week, on Sunday as well is a school trip out to Viareggio to attend that Carnavale celebration. I need a mask! 

To end this, so it isnt all itinerary and play-by-play, I am still enjoying Florence a LOT.  I was telling a friend on the bus back from Lucca, that I really feel like I made a great choice by coming here.  I can’t even find the right words to describe how I felt last semester in NYC but coming here has been awesome.  It is doing just what I hoped it would for me.  

Also, Things I am Officially Craving:  Dunkachino (but that started approximately when there was only two sips left to my last one), Chicken Caesar Salad (they dont have dressings here!), Luna’s Pizza, ANY form of a bagel (yes dad, even a Walbaums Bagel would do), Olive Garden’s never ending pasta bowl, Starbucks Mocha Frap, Driving very fast with Kanye playing louder than necessary.  More to come…theres three months left!  Talk with you all soon. 

First Week Of Classes

We are about halfway through our first week of classes here at NYU in Florence.  I am on my break between Italian Intermidate Intensive which is a class that meets four times per week for 1.25 hours.  Next, I am going to have Topics in Modern Culture: Futurism which is also 1.25 and a GSP requirement which means I need to complete it for my majors and to be accepted into CAS.  Yesturday I had, in the morning, Politics of US/EU Relations Since WWII and, in the evening, Literary Interpretation.  Four Big Classes!  I am refering to this semester as the “One with all the classes I dont like but must take.”  Literary Interp is the only requirement for a 4 class long English Minor, and the politics class will put a third class under my hat on my way to a 9 class long Politics Major!  History is still on the drawing board??  Hahaha and that one is 6 classes long!  Its a long road ahead.

Today the sun was out immediately upon waking up and all of the warm-toned Florentine buildings were glowing!  Campus is definately the best looking when the sun is out as well.  Walking to class is just something I actually enjoy doing…minus the VoD.  The VoD, or Valley of Death is what students at La Pietra call the LONG and STEEP decent and re-ascent from where you enter La Pietra grounds to the classroom building, Villa Ulivi.  It gets easier every day as my rock-hard quads take shape. 

Also today, I discussed Community Service Options today with Meghan, the woman in charge of community relations and decided I will hopefully get to participate in Florence International Theatre Company, building sets, working shows, and maybe some publicity around Florence!  Their first show is actually happening at La Pietra although its a city-wide program for all international students.  That would include the 7,600 other Americans here, not at NYU, including American U in DC and Syracuse U in NY.  It will be great meeting lots of other people. 

Today also was a sign-up day for yet another trip out of Florence.  For 15 euros, NYU is sponsoring a trip to Carnavale in Viareggio which is a city on the Mediterranean Sea!  Well be going on February 3 so look out for photos.  Carnavale, btw, is a month-long celebration in Italy similar to Halloween in USA.  The two largest celebrations are in Viareggio and of course, Venice.  Children wear masks they either make themselves, or buy at a costume store and they throw confetti to recieve hugs and sometimes candy/treats from adults on the street and at specific stores.  Right now, it has already started in Florence so the streets last weekend before the rain were littered with colored paper dots- it reminded me of the mess left after shooting off the air cannon to make an avalanche in Seven Brides.  Stores also sell “Carnavale Cake” at this time which is something I look forward to eating a lot of. 

Last night, the Casa Fiorentina went out to dinner to the restaurant in the bottom of our casa and had an NYU supplemented dinner with our inhouse Italian resident, Marco.  We had possibly the worst combination of heart-harmful food I can think of.  Procuitto which is raw, but smoked red meat (similar to very soft bacon).  Also available was sliced of fresh motzarella and fried bread (similar to fried dough at the fair, sanza the sugar on top).  For the secondo piatti we has pizza of our choice which for me was eggplant and baked zucchini.  And most importantly- SODA!  Something to drink that isnt water!  All of it was VERY good, and it was interesting trying traditional Florentine items.  Tuscan bread is without salt, so some people do not like it, but I dont mind it. 

Tomorrow we head out to the Florence Chocolate Festival, Im not sure if there are samples but mostly it is the local Cioccaristti (sp?) who pull out all the stops and design pieces of chocolate of all kinds with fillings, nuts, different shapes, etc.  Looking forward to that- as well as the Lucca Trip this weekend which includes a tour of a town towards the Mediterranean that is supposed to be fairly anti-commercial. 

Tomorrow I also buy my books and Course Packets downtown.  Im especially excited for the 2000 page anthology of poetry on the required reading list for Literary Interp.   Talk with you all soon!  -Patrick

Roba Pesa!

First; Roba pesa is the Italian equivelent of “Thats what she said”…we discovered this by asking our Italian in-house resident.  His name is Marco and he is very helful for all our questions and problems, not to mention pretty cool to hang out with too. 

So much has happened since last post!!  Eventually what will occur I think is that classes will start and there will be less extra stuff going on, but for this past week that is certainly not true!  So many excursions into Florence, sight seeing.  Some things I have discovered: There are in fact dollar stores in Italy, theyre 1 euro Stores though and they have approximately the same items that they do in America.  hahah I had my photo taken outside one by Piazza della Republica.  We also ventured into the Supermarket Shopping task that is part of what I feel will be one of the hardest things to manage- food.  For the past week we have eaten out quite a bit which means a lot of money; cooking and preparing food a casa is certainly more practical.  The supermercato closest to us is Esselunga which also is the largest coincidently.  It sure is an experience!  I think Italians dont really have a good sence of product placement- i.e. bleach next to raw meat next to dishwashing liquid.  However, most of the things about shopping are the same.  There is less space in the store to move arond in, but luckily most products translate pretty well.  Peanut butter is absurdly overpriced, Italians dont eat corn (?) and they also tend to run out of things quickly.  However, they do have their form of Bagel Bites (!!) but unfortunately no real bagels.  At checkout, you pay per plastic bag used so bringing your own is recommended.  I am intending, of course, to sign up for Esselungas Rewards Card: CarteFidalty. 

In other excursions, we have been around town, seeing things like the Ponte Vecchio by day and by night, the duomo, some of the old portas that were doors through the now torn-down walls that went around the city.  At some point, apparently Florence was the capital of Italy, and during this time in the 1800s, lots of construction was done to modernize the city- all of the walls were torn down to create a boulevard belt-way around the city and bring in the outside neighborhoods into the city.  Also, this means not all of the architecture one associates with Florence and the middle ages is true. 

On Friday, we had another orientation day that was lots of fun because it was not mandatory.  We learned tips for traveling and shopping in Florence and greater Europe.  Also, there was a fair for local businesses to walk around.  After hearing some presentations, I have decided to explore three options to fill my time outside of class, besides traveling.  Community Service which may involve a blood drive, working with little Italian kids at a school, or something else.  Possibly joining briefly a Florentine Crew Team to either cox (in Italian???  English is hard enough!) or row.  Also, a possible work study on campus job. 

My schedule by the way is everyday stating at 130 with lots of breaks between classes where it doesnt make sense to take the bus back to the casa.  Looks like classes might be hard, but nothing like last semester I hope!

On Saturday it was almost 60 degrees and sunny!  We took a guided walking tour through NYU to see our neighborhood…kinda, she showed us most things across the Arno River from our house so it was not so helpful.  We all got free gelato at the end though, my first one too!  To die for is basically a summary of that.

On Sunday I woke up early to walk around the city a little and have lunch, it was colder and more cloudy.  I was with a person from Casa Fiorentina and we got a little wrapped up in exploring that we almost missed the Red Tour Double-Level tour we signed up for at 1PM through NYU. We literally got there just as it was pulling away- but they stopped for us.  The bus was very large with no roof so sitting on top gave a great overlooking view but pretty much froze my face off.  Also, most of the tour was done while the bus was going approximately 60 MPH but we saw lots of things while audio provided some history.  The highight of the tour was going up to Piazza Michelangelo which on a hill overlooking the city.  Great pictures! 

I have used “we” a lot instead of “me” because pretty much the 17 of us plus or minus a few depending on the outing from Casa Fiorentina have been doing things together.  The first time I had alone to myself was this afternoon.  I walked down from our house to see Palazzo Pitti and the Porta Roma which are on our side of the Arno.  On Sundays, everything in Florence is closed so the streets were quite and it was an interesting walk.  I think once classes start well spend more time on our own, but its still nice to have an open door policy within the suite and a common area to hang out with everybody. 

This upcoming week, we start classes tomorrow.  On Tuesday our Italian resident Marco is taking us to dinner at the restaurant a few doors down from our Casa.  On Thursday we are going to a Chocolate Festival in Florence which should be interesting and on Saturday there is a day trip out to a small town in Tuscany called Lucca which is just for looking, not for tourists so that should also be cool.

Talk with you soon!

January 17, 2008

Hey everybody!  It is 5:24PM here in Florence and I wanted to get this diary/blog kicked off!  I thought this would be easier to write but I am finding that it may take me some time to find the best way to get thoughts onto this site.  Let me take you through the first couple of days here.  I started in Boston with my parents- we drove up to stay the night before because of a big snow storm predicted.  However, it turned out that it didnt cancel that many flights and I was going to be able to get off the ground on time.  The flight was on Alitalia leaving around 6PM to Milan and it went pretty well.  The in flight movie: The Nanny Diaries which didnt hold up on the second viewing!  Milan Int’l, as it turns out, is like Italy’s Ellis Island, as around 7AM many American planes touched down at the same time.  It was still dark out and a very long wait as the sun came up, for the second flight to Florence.  I met up with my new roommate and other NYU people at this point and the plane to Florence came finally- it didnt require goggles and a scarf! 

Getting into Florence, the NYU rented bus and luggage truck took up to La Pietra for the check in process.  (More on the campus later!) Check in was a multi-stage ordeal where we recieved ID’s, Orientation folders with maps, Immigration information, and finally lunch and keys!  I called home on a land line by the way, talked with mom and dad around 7:30AM their time in CT.  A Mercedes minivan took me and a few others to our off-campus dorm on Via Maffia. 

Via Maffia is a small and very Florentine street on the south bank of the Arno River.  I am in “Casa Fiorentine” which is a special-interest housing option that is for around 20 people.  It is expected that Italian be spoken as often as possible and we plan to have trips, excursions, and meals/movie nights in house relating to Italian lifestyle.  Anyways, thats not interesting, the interesting part is what our crib is like!(yo)  We are on the second floor of a building that is likely more than 100 years old.  There are around 7 rooms for students (some with lofts, all with bathrooms and skylights) in a long corridor that eventually leads to a common room and kitchen.  The corridor is off the stairs from the street behind a lockable door so it makes for a very nice NYU-only suite, similar to Hayden or Rubin, with a community feel.  Pictures will be posted soon!

Anyways, we went out for dinner the first two nights around our neighborhood.  Orientation was also Wednesday and Thursday.  We are located very far from La Pietra, the main campus, so we all met up in the morning to take the Florence city bus.  A transfer is involved, and its a very messy ordeal overall.  I forsee this being the more frustrating part of living here!  Also expensive (34 euros per month).  Maybe Ill buy a Fiat!  The European cars are fascinating to me- Renault, Fiat, Citrogeen, Opel (which is what Saturn is in America), Saab, BMW, Benz, and some others we also know.  Of course Smart Cars are everywhere, and will be once I get back too! 

The bus drops us out right buy our campus after a 30 minute right.  La Pietra is a giant piece of land- the largest private property within city limits.  There are 5 buildings, each with a different function.  Theres 2 that act as offices with freshmen dorms above them.  One that is strictly admin stuff.  One that is a all class rooms and one, La Pietra (the original Villa that Sir Harold Acton lived in) is a museum with classrooms and a large garden.  Pictures will be coming of this as well!  I literally can not believe that I go to school at that campus.  It is similar to something Disney would recreate in Orlando, but in reality it is just something very beautiful.  Olive trees, paths, gardens, Tuscan buildings, and since it is on a hill, remarkable views of Florence and the Tuscan mountains. 

I am going to wrap this up for now- I think the biggest thing right now is figuring a lot of personal stuff out.  I am SO tired because of the time change, I am not quite certain when I feel hungry because of that as well, and I am very confused over why I feel pretty happy overall, despite the chaos.  I dont usually do happy!  My roommate, Mark, and I need to start figuring things out like cell phones, supermarkets, bus passes, and navigation.  Its all so much!  And to make matters worse, my bed is warm and very comfortable.  Makes it hard to get out of.  Haha.  I am thinking of lots of you back home, and will try to get this updated once in a while, maybe once a week, and with pictures.  I hope you enjoy it, I hope I will!