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| I've been home for a few weeks now, but i meant to write one last time while i was still in Italy, for closure. So the following is from my other journal, written before i flew home:
"In Italy, just like in the states, theres a fresh, just-born feeling in the air after it rains, like the world is opening it's eyes for the first time and it's very quiet and peaceful. And in Italy, the people speak a different language, but i've almost forgotten that-its where i live and what I know now. But im going home in a few days, even though i swear I just got here. I love home, and i am undoubtedly an american, but things are different now and I dont know how I can leave Italy-it's like once you've seen the light, living in the dark isn't appealing. I will miss Macerata, all of it-the people, the streets, the cobblestone and the shutters, my apartment and my friends. I'll miss waking up and looking out the window to see if it's a "good mountain day" and saying 'buan giorno' to the old crossing guard every day on my way to class. I'll miss the smell of the air and breathing like i've never breathed before, and church bells ringing all day long. I'll miss the red tulips in the green fields that leave your pants soaked up to the knee when you walk through them, and hills rolling out of control like waves in an ocean and the silence of the country that isn't silence at all but a sort of humming of nature. I'll miss eating dinner for 2 hours every night with my roomates and whatever extra person might be over-our 'family time' around our big kitchen table. I'll miss kissing when you say hello and goodbye, and laughing at my friends when they've had too much wine. I'll miss going to Rome whenever we feel like it, and the street market on wednesday where our fruit man gives us free lemons. I guess it would be ok to say that I will miss everything. This experience has opened my eyes to alot of things, changed my view of the world and of myself. I've changed, and i'm sure i won't even realize exactly how much i've changed until i'm back in the states. and i will be back in the states, and i will have to leave this all behind, and it will all be a memory. I'm sad to leave, but happy to have had the experience...and i'm listening to denison witmer's chorus of 'remember the places you've been, somewhere the language sounds like music to your ears', depressing, but suitable. I pray that I got everything i could out of these 4 months, and that one day i can come back again."
THE END | | |
| yeah, sorry about that brief pause in my story, i sort of got kicked out of the computer lab for 5 days....like the University of Macerata even needs an Easter break anyways. So urbino was cool but i dont want to write anymore on that. I have some random stories instead, and for dessert, ill tell you about my easter. ok, so 2 people in our group live with host families, micah and daniella. Micahs house is really awesome, his host mom is an artist and her work is up all over and theres a spiral staircase which makes any house cool im pretty sure. anyways, i went to see michah the other day, and to get to the house you have to ring the buzzer at the gate and the talk to you on the intercom to see if they want to let you in, and if youre lucky, they open the gate, and then they have to use another button to open the door. I always screw it up and ring the wrong one and get some irate old women who screams at me, but this time it all went smoothly and i was so caught up in being proud of myself that i didnt leave the gate open to get back out. So when i leave i walk down the stairs and out the door, shut it behind me and walk to the gate...only to find it shut. ok carly, you loved problem solving in elementary school, this shouldnt be hard. So i start playing with the gate, all of the knobs and latchlike obtrusions, and i realize that im not only stuck in there, but im also probably being watched out of at least 10 windows by hawklike old women. Ok, ill just make a fool of myself and go back up and tell micah i cant get out....oh, guess i cant since i shut the door. ok, now i look like a complete idiot, nervously giggling and looking around. I try to reach out the gate to ring the buzzer but i cant quite reach it and i almost get stuck....and you know the ladies are now calling there neighbors to watch the silly american girl acting like a chimpanzee in a cage. I scan the courtyard and see that i am indeed caged in on all sides. So whats the only option? climb the shortest fence and try not to kill myself. I struggle to climb up a fence that is as tall as me, about lose my pants on the top of it, jump down and actually run around a corner because im so embarrassed.....and imagine of what those old hawks think of american girls now.
This week me and rachel were walking to the grocery store and we see these 2 little boys who are about six playing with a ball. One hugs the other and we both think theyre adorable and get excited when they see us and start to walk towards us. When we meet, the ramble something off in little boy italian and we giggle and say we dont understand theyre italian...so they say baccio, baccio, which means kiss. we laugh and say no you silly little boys, still thinking theyre cute but maybe a little too girl crazy for their age. We try to walk away, but suddenly one of them latches onto both of us and starts kissing our arms. We now are moving away from the cute classification and into the annoying, but im still laughing because its so absurd. but then we realize we cant get them off, and now theyre tryng to climb up us and are saying sexy sexy, baccio baccio and we cant even believe they know the word sexy and are wondering if theyre some sort of womanizing mutants. Just as im trying to decide if it would be wrong to slug a little kid if your lifes at stake, the mini creep thats cemented to rachel runs after a woman who walked by, yells sexy and slaps her on the butt! she turns around expecting to smack an annoying teenager and looks down to see a 6 year old and then doesnt know what to do. But lucky for her, the kid runs from her, and latches on to me! so now i have 2 of the monsters on me, and im saying 'um, rachel...rachel, help, rachel' when one starts punching me and the other starts GROPING me.....where did these boys come from? Were yelling Basta! at them but theyre starting to climb up me again. Finally rachel comes to my rescue and we manage to pry their dirty little fingers off my butt and we run away from them. Then we look at each other half laughing-half in shock and both say 'weve just been violated by kindergarteners.' were definitely taking the long way to the store from now on.
On a less twisted note: It was the last night to go out the other night, and since me and rachel never go out, we decided we'd give in and go, but under one condition: we were going goth. IT WAS SO FUN! We wore all black from head to toe, and we wore black makeup so thick that it was chunky....and then we went to Tartruga, a club that is only open on thursday because its for guys only every other night of the week. There were big bouncers at the door and it was like a maze on the inside with weird little bars and different dance floors, all under some eerie red lights that brought out the goth in us even more. When we went and sat with our friends in the little padded cubicle thing, they didnt recognize either of us, because we never wear makeup, let alone black makeup all over the place-it was awesome. We went out on the dance floor and danced like we were at a rave(we were horrible at it!) while people looked at us like we were both stupid and scary, so funny. Ive decided that from now on its going to be All Goth, All the Time
oh yeah, now for the dessert. sorry, but this dessert will probably aste like brussel sprouts, cause easter was uneventful. Then why write about it? To let my family know thateaster sucked without them. unfortuneately all of our easter plans fell through, and we ended up spending 3 days straight laying around doing nothing, getting out of our pajamas almost never, and sleeping no less than 12 hours a night . But on easter julies parents were here, so we cooked them dinner. I was sick and missed home so i laid in bed al day feeling sorry for myself...until my family called! It was lovely. and that is the end, and seriuosly guys, stop being mad because this is so long, i cant help it, ok? sheesh. | | |
| - its all been a blur of quasi-remarkable happenings around here the last little while. Ill tell you about a few of the random happenings....stop getting so excited, theyre not very cool!
lets see...last weekend we went to a neat little city thats actually its own republic, the oldest one in the world-san marino, and who knew is was right around the corner from me! Theres a castle on the top of it, and we got to climb to the top (almost died from exhaustion, the only bad thing about italy is the stairs everywhere) where you could see FOREVER! took some really awesome pictures...that you dont get to see for a long and boring reason, but trust me, theyre neat. In case youre interested in torture (and im sure you all are) they have a torture museum there...what!?
We also went to Urbino. You might not know it, but the rennaisance started in florence AND Urbino.....so maybe it flourished more in florence....but urbino was still important back then (Raphael and Bramante were born there!) It might have been the huge dose of motion sickness medicine i had in my system, but i swear when we arrived there it flet like we were in a dream. Our bus was climbing up the mountains and it was so foggy that you couldnt see a thing...then all of a sudden the town of Urbino pops into view and it looked like it was floating in the clouds cause all you could see was the top pf the town-nothing below it. We went through a really cool rennaisance palace, but like i said, i may have been a little out of it because i walked around the whole time in a silent stupor staring at my feet trying not to pass out...but im sure it was nice...crap, gotta go. | | |
| - The chamber of commerce ( do you even know what exactly a chamber of commerce is?) invited us to a meeting, er more of a presentation last night. Sounded ok, something different, chance to know more about the area and an excuse for all the girls to wear their new italian stilletos and skirts...and for ben to wear his new suit jacket with leopard print insides. We all met at AHA and walked to the meeting, sort of like a parade of monkeys, cause we were a huge group of americans, dressed up and wobbling in our shoes and the cobblestone, in a town of all italians. (sidenote: i got dressed up, did my hair and wore makeup for basically the first time since ive been here, and everyone said "wow, you dont even look like carly, you actually look nice"....so basically the regular carly looks like trash...fabulous.ha.) We got to the building, and all went into a big boardroom and sat in leather chairs surrounding a huge like marble looking table. The chamber of commerce gave us their speel, we asked questions and stared at one of them (you can call him Hugo Boss if you want) who looked like the exaggerated italian we all pictured before we came to italy..with long slicked back hair, super tan skin, a flashy siut with huge shoulders and a silver tie that was about a foot wide, he was ridiclous. After the meeting was over, they took us all out to dinner. Now we met at AHA at 530....and dinner concluded at 12:00! i have never seen so much food in my life! We had appetizers brought to us every 5 minutes for literally 45 minutes...onion bread, jams, honey, two sorts of bean salad, eggplant, some soy bread mushroom muck, COW STOMACH AND LIVER, salami, prociuotto, cheese (that you eat with honey?) and then it stopped and we were left in shock looking around in confusion and wondering if that was dinner-but no, because then they came bearing ravioli, which was great...until we had the tagliatelle with ragu sauce, 2 pasta dishes?! what is going on? well maybe that was dinner....oh wait here comes piles and piles of meat...the man slops a giant porkchop, a chicken breast, a kabob something i never did identify and stuffed zucchini on my plate. i ate about a quarter of it before they came with the salad ( salad always comes after the meat here) and thankfully the waiter didnt speak english cause i told him to throw the salad on my plate next to the meat graveyard. ok, it must be over now...no! What could follow this meal besides TWO desserts, tiramisu (wow) and some friut cake junk. im going to explode and the girl next to me is undoing her pants. We are all hysterically laughing because we cant believe its 11 and were still at dinner...but a proper italian meal must end with an expresso...which we all took like a shot, but speaking of shots, lets not forget the after dinner cocktail "serve yourself style". They brought out all these bottles and shots and people went up and got what they wanted....and finally after alot of the group was thoroughly sloshed, we headed back to Macerata at midnight, and i swear i wont be hungry for days. | | |
| I went to Florence. I am not joking when i tell you that your life will not be complete until you go too. Let me tell you how your trip will be (if its exactly like mine!)
Before you go, you will sit in on a lecture about Dante by a brilliant professor from oregon, and youll learn all about his lifelong love affair with florence, and youll be eager to see what he was so crazy about. And as soon as you step of the bus and onto the cobblestone street in Florence youll understand...even if it is hundreds of years after Dante walked down the same street. You'll see people everywhere, wearing anything, doing everything. businesswomen on bikes, tourists, locals all in one big sea of people. Youll see statues all over and rennaisance palaces on every street corner and youll find yourself thinking how the only thing that has changed since Dantes time is the people, and if we can still find some meaning in what he wrote today, we couldnt have changed that much.
Youll probably stay in a great little hotel overlooking Piazza Santa Maria Novella, and your room will probably have a mysterious tube coming through the ceiling that looks like the little tubes you see in action movies when they blow poison gas into an ememies room through a discreet little tube. But youll be over it in a flash, because youll be off to explore the city. Maybe youll go inside all of the churches youve read about and theyll blow your expectations to bits. Youll see frescoes by Giotto and statues by Donatello and youll be in awe of Massacio's "Trinity" and how the light coming through the window casts a perfet spotlight on Christ and youll wonder if maybe its not an accident. In a church that St. Francis started youll see the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Macchiavelli and youll feel goosebumps on your arm when you think that they are actually in the giant sarchophogus' youre looking at.
Youll eat dinner at a lovely little trattoria with all of your friends and youll eat so much pasta that youre sure it will start coming out of your eyes, but your stomach will miraculously find some empty room, because you will try tiramisu for the first time and youll discover what heaven tastes like. Then im sure youll linger awhile in your seat laughing while your friends drink too much wine. After you'll slowly make your way through dark and sleepy streets to the Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge that still has the private passageway of the Medici family running along the top of it. Once youre there, youll enjoy the simple pleasure of sitting on a curb listening to a street musician playing eric clapton cover songs with his acoustic guitar...while a bum attempts to play backup drums with some pans and a spoon. There will be lights reflecting in the river and couples kissing under ancient arches with the lit up city as a backdrop. People will be walking by in swarms, some slow and meandering -some fast and deliberate, all making there way to where they are going...all while you sit and watch and wonder where they will all end up. This will be a perfect evening that you will repeat the next night.
Youll wake up a little tired the next day and eat as many free croissants as you can so you wont have to buy food. Youll see things amazing things that day. On your way, you might play a game with your friend by seeing how many people you can hit with a rolled up poster without seeming like you did it on purpose, and if you do, youll be laughing so hard that youll be suprised that youre already at the Accademia, and youll be suddenly excited to go in.Right inside, youll be slightly bored with the paintings you see so youll walk around a corner. You'll see a long corridor flanked with Michelangelos unfinished sculptures with chisel marks still visible-the figures looking as if they are forever trapped in solid marble. But they won't keep your attention because they will be competing with the massive "David" at the end of the hall--and the ABSOLUTE PERFECTION of this statue will demand all of your attention.You'll walk slowly down the hall without taking your eyes off the "David" youve been seeing slides of for years and youll imagine Michelangelo creating him all those years ago and it will be hard to believe that something inanimate and made of solid marble could look so alive. You'll stare at the details-the veins in his hand and his toenails and then you'll understand why the statue is as famous as it is. You'll sit dow right there, and sketch the statue and you'll love every second. When its time to go, youll be sad to leave but happy that you and david finally met.
I reccomend you eat mexican for lunch and after get gelato at the "best gelato place in the world"-you wont be disapointed. Of course youll have to see the Duomo that was designed by Brunelleschi and its green and white marble fascade will amaze you. Youll look up to one of the first church domes ever erected, and youll want to go to the up. Youll climb to the top of the dome, up 463 steps that wind through ancient narrow passageways , going by mysterious locked doors the whole way. When you finally reach the top, the fresh air and light will hit you in the face and youll forget about the burning in your calves and youll lok out over Florence, past the brown Arno river to the hills and mountains and rooftops and youll be happy to be alive, happy to have the experience. Youll look down at Giottos belltower and all of the citys church towers that are dwarfed by the enormous dome youre standing on, and youll have a strange sensation of feeling big and small at the same time. Then mayb youll sit on a bench in the sun with good company and not feel the need to leave that spot for the rest of the day.
You have to go to the Uffizi museum. And when you go, youll probably rush through the first rooms with byzantine and romanesque art, because youll be looking for "the birth of venus", the Botticelli painting that was one of the first paintings you ever studued and copied. Youll find it, next to Botticellis other masterpiece "Primavera". Im sure youll have to sit down on a bench and look at every single inch of the painting and youll be giddy because youre actually seeing it. Youll do some quick sketches, more for the memory than the practice, and youll leave to explore the rest of the museum-where youll see the only painting by Michelangelo and other amazing works. Youll be separated from the group so youll sit on the floor (dont even think about leaning against the pedestal of the sculpture beiìhind you, that gurad takes her job seriuosly!) and youll sketch some poor bust that got stuck in the corner next to a window overlooking the river and city-a beautiful view that overshadows the sculpture. Youll sketch for a long time, and a little girl who is not shy whatsoever will come and sit behind you, or more on top of you, and will watch you sketch and it will be lovely. When you leave i gurantee youll promise to come back someday.
After doing about a million other things, it will be time to leave florence, and youll look around at the sunny piazza and youll feel silly and sentimental when you swear it feels like theres some sort of magic in the air, and you will understand perfectly Dante and his love for Florence.
..And on the way home when youre driving through perfect mountains swimming in marshmallow fog and the hills that look like they have soft green velvet pulled tight over their contours--dont close your eyes, not even for a second. Because these are the times, the days, the moments you were made to be a part of.
(one more tip: dont run inside to grab your jacket right before a fight breaks out between a man on crutches and another man who takes one of the crutches and starts beating him..and then miraculously crutches man is ok and starts fighting back so the other guy runs off with one of the crutches leaving fake handicap man walking around disoriented with one crutch. If you miss this, you will be so jealous that your friends got to see it and you didnt, trust me) | | |
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