Submitted by Olivia Smith on the 2016 spring semester program in Tuscany, Italy…
This week is a little stressful with trying to get all the midterm assignments turned in before spring break that starts on March 17. Along with that, I enjoyed other activities that didn’t involve classes. On Monday, students from Germany came to our campus and played soccer with us! They were really skilled, and I did what I could. They were nice, and it was interesting to talk to students from Germany; an opportunity I never had before now. Some of them spoke a little English. I felt that they were making fun of me while we played soccer, but it’s ok. The middle of the week was mostly focused on classwork.
Thursday was the start of spring break and my parents came over to spend some time with me in Italy! We stopped in a meat shop which was owned by an older woman. There, we all got a salami sandwich, which was really good!! I showed my parents all the interesting parts of Volterra, and it was nice being the tour guide for once. My Mom was in awe of everything. We also stopped in a couple of shops to see what they were selling. We walked back to campus to eat dinner, which was my favorite white bean and vegetable soup, ham, potatoes, salad and some fruit pie! Just a side note about Italy; no one here really celebrates St. Patrick’s Day; the only one who wished us Happy St. Patrick’s Day was the man in the brewery where my parents sampled one of the locally brewed beers. I guess it is more celebrated in the U.S.
Friday morning, we had a SUPER early start to our day. We had to wake up at 5:30 am and leave the campus by 6:30 am to catch the bus to Pisa. The really interesting part of the day is that there was a transportation strike in all of Italy, which meant that all the public transportation services would stop from 9:00 am on Friday until 9:00 am on Saturday. We were told that the only time to travel using public transportation on Friday was from 6:00 am to 9:00 am. This is why we had to wake up so early. Nevertheless, we took a private taxi to the bus station. We got to the bus station about 30 minutes before it was supposed to arrive. We waited…the time of the arrival came…and passed, still no bus. The time was getting closer to 9:00 am, and we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to get to Pisa. Finally, we called a taxi and he drove us to Pisa. When we got there, some of the buses were running and some weren’t, but all of them were delayed. It was good that the bus that we needed was running during the day. On the bus, a handicapped man walked on and I gave up my seat to him so he could sit down. When I did, he took my hand and kissed it….I didn’t know what to think. No one has ever done that to me and I was super freaked out. I have no idea if that is part of the culture in Italy. Then we got off the bus and checked into our hotel, which was really nice!
We went exploring and for lunch we found a place called Pizza Cone. The dough was formed in the shape of a cone and then filled with cheese and sauce. “Pizza in a cone.” I had to get one. It was tasty. My Mom got a calzone with ham and cheese and my Dad got a salami sandwich with all kinds of toppings.
We found the Square of Miracles, which is the location of the LEANING TOWER OF PISA; it was really big! My Mom and I bought tickets to climb all the way up to the top! I believe that there are 296 stairs. THE VIEW WAS SPECTACULAR AT THE TOP!
We also went inside the Cathedral of Maria, which was also STUNNING! Dinner was a restaurant that we found on Yelp! For an appetizer, we had bruschetta and caprese salad. For entrées, my Dad had spaghetti with seafood, my Mom had ravioli with tomato sauce with a little cream, and I had spaghetti with tomato sauce. Dessert was tiramisu and ricotta cheese and Nutella cake. EVERYTHING TASTED AMAZING! After dinner, we walked back to the Leaning Tower of Pisa to see what it looked like at night. It was very interesting to find out that there are no lights lighting up the building. Except for the first level on which there is a spotlight…it is dark. We took the bus back to the hotel after a long, but fun-filled day!
Saturday morning, the hotel we were staying at had a really big selection for breakfast. There were many different types of croissants, eggs, yogurt, cakes, cereal, hot chocolate, tea and super tasty fruit! I had pineapple, kiwi, yogurt with granola, 1 plain croissant and one which I put wild berry jelly on! Everything was so good! We packed up all of our stuff, checked out of the hotel, and took the bus to the train station. We got on the platform where our train was to arrive. We got there a little early, so I decided to walk over to the vending machines to see what there was. I found these Italian cookies that looked good and they were 1€. I put my money in and pressed the number of the cookies. As the cookies were dropping to the bottom…guess what… they got stuck. I tried lightly hitting the machine, trying not to cause a scene. I even tried to buy something else for 1€ to see if it would move it…and nope. I got the second item that I bought, but the cookies were still stuck…then the train came and I had to leave. Oh well…I hope someone enjoys those cookies. Anyway, the train ride to Venice was about 3 hours, which wasn’t that bad because the train had comfortable seats. We were in Premium seating, and we got a drink and a little snack, which was good!
When we got to Venice, we had an interesting first experience. A man approached my Dad and I and asked if he could take our bags to help us down the stairs. AND THIS IS A BIG NO NO. There are many people in Italy that just walk around, make it look like they want to help you, but actually when you give them your bag, they will run with it and take it. So you need to firmly say “NO,” so they back off. The hotel was very nice, but it had no air conditioning, so we had to open the skylight windows, which wasn’t that bad. Walking around we found a gondola guy that wasn’t busy, and we went on a gondola ride through Venice. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! If anyone has the chance, DO IT!
The rest of the day, we walked around, looked at stores, and had chocolate chip mint gelato! After hours of searching, we found San Marcos Square, and it was GORGEOUS! All the lights lit up the buildings and there was a really big Cathedral that was very well constructed. For dinner, we looked on Yelp and we went to a pizza restaurant. The pizza dough, tomato sauce, and mozzarella were SO FRESH! THE TOMATOES TASTED AS IF THEY WERE RIGHT OUT OF THE GARDEN! It was probably the best pizza that I have EVER tasted! Since it was Father’s Day (St. Joseph’s Day in Italy, which is a really big holiday) the restaurant gave my Dad a free dessert! That was so nice! That has never happened once in the United States. While we were walking back to the hotel, I bought a few souvenirs! My visit to Venice, in summary, was INCREDIBLE! And the best part was that I got to spend it with my parents, and especially with my Dad, for Father’s Day!
Sunday morning, I was awakened by the birds chipping outside because we had our skylight windows open; this was nice! When we got ready, we walked down to breakfast! There were SO MANY options! They had pancakes, potatoes, eggs, bacon, croissants, yogurt with cereal, rice and different kinds of fruit. I had a little rice, potatoes, a pancake with berry jam, a small roll with apricot jam and a bowl of fruit (kiwi, orange, apples and pineapple). I had tea with forest fruit and water! SO GOOD!
I am currently writing this on the train! Yay! We have a 3 hour train ride to ROME!…..In Rome, we checked into our hotel called Operadreams because it is right across the street from the Opera center. In the building there is an old elevator, which was interesting but a little scary at the same time. The rooms of the hotel were nice, but kind of small. While walking through Rome, we visited the Trevi Fountain that was so much more stunning in real life than in the pictures.
Just exploring Rome, we found many churches that had their own special look to them. For lunch, we stopped by the place that supposedly has the creamiest gelato, and it was really tasty. I got chocolate, strawberry and pistachio. At 5:30 PM we went to a mass that was being celebrated in English. Before the mass, one of the priests was walking around and asked my Mom if she would like to read a part of the mass, which was really cool! After mass, a woman who was a member of the church made Filipino noodles and chocolate cake for refreshments. Everything was so good, and homemade! We walked around and saw the Roman Ruins and the Colosseum, all amazing to see at night being lit up by lights. For dinner, we decided to go to an Irish Pub and I got a hamburger which was a nice break from all the pasta. Later, we went back to the Trevi Fountain and it was a little less crowded.