the golden light of florence.

Walking back to my apartment today from class there was something exquisite about my surroundings. At first I could not quite grasp what it was that I was feeling. It was the golden light of Florence. I had heard this phrase mentioned but I did not fully comprehend its significance. Though I had previously heard mention of this so called “light” there is no comparison between what you may imagine and the true understanding which comes through experience of not only seeing it but feeling it firsthand. Having said this, I wonder if it is in fact possible to feel light, or if it is the way the light makes you feel? This golden light beams down upon the city reflecting off of the buildings bringing to life the warm Tuscan colors and catches my eye glistening on the water of the Arno. The light itself is difficult to describe but the way it makes you feel is much more tangible. It is the kind of light that makes you want to hug a stranger, share a true passion, or conquer the world’s problems by planting one tree at a time. It is the kind of light that warms even the depths of one’s soul. Although I did not hug a stranger or plant a tree I did come to the realization of how extremely blessed I am to be able to experience these simple beauties in which life has to offer.

bewildered.bologna.blog.

 we were about to embark on our first weekend adventure of the semester. we were breaking free of the confines of our AIFS school group and traveling on our own! a few weeks prior we had purchased tickets to see an iron & wine concert in Bologna. Julianna and Jacqueline really liked the band and their music was pretty great so i decided i would tag along. the concert was late so it made most sense to book a hostel in bologna for the night and catch the train back in the morning. the trip started out a little rough as i got pretty sick the day before we were supposed to go to the concert. the night before our departure i looked up directions to the train station--although this was not helpful because in the morning we realized it was the wrong train station! ah so we scurried our little selves out the door after scrambling to write down some directions where the mapped stopped. we decided our feet may be able to carry us faster than the bus and plus we did not know where the bus stopped nor did we have tickets. after walking for about 30 minutes we realized we were going to miss our 11:42 train departure. we continued our journey in hopes that we could catch a later train. we spotted a train station and thought that maybe it could transfer us to the correct train station where we needed to be...it was a good thing julianna asked right as we were stepping onto the train, who knows where we would have ended up? that would have been an adventure in  its own. after running out of map, directions, and after our gut instinct had failed us we decided to ask for directions. with the little italian i know i asked a gas station attendant the direction of the station where we needed to be. he was shocked we were even attempting to get there by foot. he insisted we take a bus. with the help of some friendly strangers we figured out what stop to get off and the direction we needed to travel to get to the correct train station. just as a little bit of discouragement started to creep its way into our spirits we saw a sign for the statione!!! our spirits were lifted back up. after talking to the ticket attendant we were able to get the next train to bologna. with the help of the very flexible train schedule, we finally felt like we were on the right track!

when 1:40 rolled around we boarded the train and it all seemed to be going as planned. the train ride was only about an hour long and with good company it passed by in no time. when we arrived in bologna we realized we were a little disorganized but we were not about to let that aspect ruin any part of our weekend trip! we did not have the name of the hostel or how to get there from the train station. this did not set us back, in fact it only created yet another adventure along this crazy ride of a weekend. our new mission was to locate an internet cafe and look up the necessary information to find out minor details like where we would be resting our heads that evening. wandering through narrow streets, crowded squares with dancing gypsies, we were kindly given a map and some directions. we eventually found an internet cafe as well as the necessary means to locate our hostel. we thought it would be useful to look up information regarding the concert. when we went to the concert's home page and logged in, to our utter dismay, shock, surprise, and confusion there was no record of our purchase of the concert tickets....um well what do we do now? hmmm think.think.think.don't get upset. move on. although it was not quite that easy we did our best. we played the cards life dealt us that evening and tried to look for an alternative. we first called the ticket company and they did not have record of the purchase either, and unfortunately tickets sold out 2 weeks ago. so, we planned our next move; step one: find the hostel and check in. step two: get to the concert to see if people were selling tickets. step three: do all of this with a positive attitude and a smile.

so we had directions and a bus number to get to the hostel. we took a city bus from the train station but we did not quite end up at the hostel. the instructions read; "the bus will stop directly in front of the hostel" since we weren't quite sure where to get off this was a minor issue. santa strena was in the name of our hostel and there was a stop on the bus schedule with that same name so we figured it would be a pretty safe assumption. we counted ten stops to where we thought the santa strena stop was and got off. well most of us got off anyway. julianna and i were the last ones in line to exit the bus and right as we were about to step off the doors abruptly snapped shut in julianna's face. out of our initial reaction we tried to pry the doors open. fail. so the bus continued on to its next scheduled stop. all julianna and i could do was laugh and wave goodbye to our friends from the inside of the moving bus. we got off at the next stop and began walking back in the direction in which the bus had just brought us. not too far down the road we saw jacqueline, sarah, and denny waiting for us. since we literally had no idea where we were, we went inside a small bar to ask for directions. a lovely italian man who spoke no english at all gave us some partial directions and told us  it would be about 1 kilometer in the direction we had just come from. we were embarking on yet another step in the journey towards finding our hostel. after we walked for what seemed like way more than 1 kilometer we finally found it!! the feeling was almost as exciting as finding buried treasure on a pirate's map...only we lacked the map. once we found our treasure we checked into our hostel, threw our bags down and headed for the concert venue. i almost didn't want to leave in thoughts that we may not make it back to the hostel after we had such a hard time finding it in the first place. but my adventurous side kicked in and since it was only 8:30 and the whole reason for coming to bologna was to see this concert we made our way back onto the streets of bologna.

we arrived at the original bus stop which was in fact very close to the entrance of the hostel and waited about 20 minutes for the next bus to come. just when we were about to give up hope we see the shining lights of the bus as it was approaching our stop. maybe our luck was just about to turn around. we boarded the bus without bus tickets...oops and got off at the train station where we first arrived. we had directions on how to get to the concert venue which was not too far from the station. we successfully made it there where we did not have as much luck as we had hoped for. we checked the list just to see if our names would magically appear along with backstage passes but there was no such luck and no one scalping tickets. denny did have a ticket and we were trying to convince him to go in and listen for a few songs but out of the kindness of his heart he refused. just as he was saying it would be cool to keep the ticket as a souvenir a man came up and asked us if we were selling any tickets and without hesitation denny sold his ticket almost as fast as you could say iron & wine. the woman was so extremely grateful as iron & wine was her favorite band. it was heartwarming to see that he absolutely made her night and that something that we thought went wrong was made into something so right.

after we got over the final realization that we were not going to see iron & wine we decided to bury our sorrows with some good old italian hospitality; food! the place we ended up eating was perfect to lift our spirits up. it was about 10:30 at night the whole restaurant was crowded and music from an accordion as well as cheerful italian vioces filled the air. with pizza, calzones, and pasta in our bellies we decided to call it a night and make our way back to the hostel...or so we thought. considering we took a bus from our hostel to the train station we thought it would be most logical to take the same bus from the station back to our hostel, but then again we were on the losing side of the public transportation battle. so boarding bus 21 when we really needed to take bus 21b was not productive in our efforts to get back to the hostel. we found out we were aboard the wrong bus just after the last stop. the bus driver told us he would take us back to where we needed to catch the right bus. once we got back, we all got off the bus in hopes to find bus 21b.  as soon as we got off of bus 21 the route and same bus in which we just got off conveniently changed to 21b and it was the last bus of the night leaving at 12:44am. joy to the world. we are alone. we made our way over to a taxi station and after about 30 more minutes of waiting we hailed a cab and this time we really were on our way to the hostel. we split the cost of the taxi with no questions asked, we were just grateful to finally get back.

throughout all of this i learned a lot. life is an adventure and sometimes no matter how much control you try to have over situations, they will find a way to outsmart you. there is nothing we could do most of these situations but laugh and find the best way to get through them together.

pictures of this remarkable adventure to follow...

documentation of my trip to bologna.

at the right train station....almost wrong platform

as you can see we were dropped off outside the city limits of bologna

trekking along the highway in efforts to locate our hostel

waiting for the bus,yet again

denny and the concert that almost was.

calzones for everyone

team rocket power never dies

i learn something new everyday.

things i have learned while living in italy:

• there is always confetti in the streets. i'm guessing this means life is a party in italia land
• wine really is cheaper than water. water is almost considered a delicacy
• you must ask for the check or else you will be sitting there for the entire night, it is considered rude to bring the check before the customer asks for it
• there is no concept of forming lines whatsoever
• you can tell the homemade gelato by looking at the pistachio flavor (its a secret)
•  ciao bella is not necessarily always a compliment when received on the street
• ecola, alora, and, va bene are key terms in the italian language!!!
• public transportation aka the bus system is more of a guess and check sort of aspect you never know where you'll end up
• the concept of personal space is virtually nonexistent. proxemics are much different
• dinner doesn't typically start until 8:30 or 9

beautiful is the growing mind.

i signed up to volunteer during the time i would be living in florence. i thought it would be good to give back to the community who so generously accepted me into their home. i also presumed it would be a very beneficial way for me to emerse myself in to the culture. on monday, also valentine's day, which has no relevance to this story whatsoever, i had my first volunteer meeting! i was literally thrown into the situation, not really knowing quite what to expect. my instructions were as follows, " all you need to do is catch the number 11 bus and take it across town and get off at lamarmora. it only comes every 20 minutes but if you leave now you may be able to make it, or you can walk." with the information i was just given jumbling around in my head i made my way for the door and hurried down the stairs. while frantically power walking down the street i was mentally deciphering  whether i should walk or take the bus. with the map clutched in my had as if the wind may snatch it away from me at any given moment and possibly talking myself through which means of transportation would be most effective considering  i had 20 minutes to get there and apart from a small red "x" on the map i had not a clue where it was. it would be safe to say i was looking like a lost and confused tourist more than ever, which i usually try to avoid at all costs. as i was walking down the street, i was trying to avoid the busy lunchtime foot traffic when a large gust of air following a city bus sped through the air coming from behind me nearly pulling me down. if it was not for this abrupt jolt of nearly being love tapped by a huge bus i may not have realized it was bus number 11 that zoomed past me. in only a moment's time to decide my feet took a mind of their own my body followed then my brain finally caught up and before i knew it i was running after the bus and jumped on just in time for the doors to close swiftly behind me and the doors closed just in time for me to realize that i didn't but a bus ticket. side note: so how the public transportation system works is you have to buy  a bus ticket which you can purchase at any tabacchi for 1,20 euros and it works for up to 90 minutes. however if you do not buy a pus ticket you could be subject to pay a 240 euro fine!! so at this point i am illegally riding the city bus to an unknown location while simultaneously freaking out that i am going to get fined and trying to recollect why i got on the bus in the first place. i was trying to look for the street i was instructed to get off at but before i knew it i was the second to last person left on the bus so i decided i should get off now before i was brought back to my original starting point. i got off at a stop i had never even heard of before and luckily i was about 2 centimeters from being completely off the map. after about 45 minutes and only one huge circle later i arrived at the school where i was supposed to volunteer. I was nearly an hour late, but because i was late i was assigned to a 5th grade classroom instead of kindergarten. i was a little nervous and excited wondering if these kids would tear me apart, what would i be doing and would i even be of any service to them? the teacher was very welcoming and introduced me to all the students. they were each instructed to ask me a question about my life. i was on the spot and suddenly i felt like i didnt even know how to speak proper english. my mind was jumbled with wanting to answer in italian and remembering the correct way to speak in english. i felt like new kid in class. haha. once class began,  i became a little more comfortable. i was observing the class as a whole and i was fascinated and truly impressed by their english speaking skills. i felt like i may have been learning more from them, than they were from me. i was mesmerized by their ability to switch from speaking fast paced italian to a language that i could comprehend. overall it was a truly rewarding experience and every monday i will await the anticipation and nerves that flow through my body upon entering this 5th grade classroom.

just a sneak peek at my future travel plans:

• Cagliari, Sardegna
• Rome
• Morocco
• Dad comes to visit me in Italia
• Venice
• SPRING BREAK: Greece and Turkey
• Cinque Terra
• Barcelona
• Mom comes to visit over Easter
• Amalfi Coast