Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa

The trip started off with a minor panic attack during our first train connection. Cuisi, our next destination, was nowhere to be seen on the screens. An announcement came on in Italian and all we understood was "Cuisi" and "Firenze". For all we know it could have told us those were complete opposite lines but the clock was ticking and we had to act fast. The doors started closing on us as we jumped on and we literally had to push them open to squeeze in just like the steam engine workers on the sinking Titanic. A conductor saw us man-handling the steel door and yelled at us like we were the biggest idiots he has ever seen, which we probably were, so we briskly walked to another car to take our seats and avoid this angry Italian. All was well when I arrived in Siena, my favorite city to date. It is a small city in the Tuscan countryside, so we rented bikes for the day and rode all over to immerse ourselves into the town. And immersed we were. Up and down hills, on highways, searching for bike paths in the country, ended up on a vineyard, and trapped outside the city wall. We really got to see every aspect of Siena. For dinner we went to Rick Steves’ favorite place right behind the Palazzo Pubblico. It was such great food and a fun place to be. Our waiter has actually waited on Rick Steves when he was there and they were all very entertaining. By midnight the couple next to us and we were the only ones left in the restaurant while the workers even started to clean up. Our waiter told us a place to go afterwards, Café Corso. It was a tiny café turned into a bar at night with a DJ playing American music and people in the streets. It was easily my favorite day this semester!

San Gimignano is the most picturesque place I have ever seen. It is a tiny medieval town based on a hilltop entirely surrounded by countryside hills, vineyards, and mountains that you can see for miles upon miles into the distance. We followed our ears when music boomed through the city and we happened to stumble upon the first day and celebration of Carnival! Children ran around in costumes flooding the streets with confetti and silly string. There was a float with people chucking confetti at the bystanders. And yes, I do literally mean chuck. There was absolutely no way of avoiding a confetti shower when the float passed. A man dressed as a clown standing 6 inches away from me cannoned a fist full in my face as if he were throwing a hail-mary pass down a football field. And then of course immediately repeated this act with another fist full. This is the part where I choked on a few pieces. It was so crazy to stumble upon this unexpected festival in the little town of San Gimignano, we had so much fun!

Last stop, Pisa. We only had an hour in Pisa so we headed directly for the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Every Italian and us couldn't help but laugh when we actually spoke the words "Dove Tower?" out loud. After snapping my first picture, I immediately realized that we really should have tried harder to fit this in the daytime, you know when it's light out and you can actually see it. We struggled to take the standard holding up the tower pose and have it look sufficient enough. The pictures don't do it justice because it is an astonishing marvel to see in person. It really is leaning!!

I, Kelsey Carr, was actually mistaken for a European for the first time. Granted it was an Indian man selling falafels in a kebab store, but he asked if we were from London, which was quite exciting for us to hear. Unfortunately we couldn't enjoy the moment very long because our train was nearing departure time whether we were there or not. Power walking is my only memory of Pisa, oh and something about that       crooked building. Until next time…Ciao a tutti!

Electronic Chores

Classes always just seem to be getting in the way of my time here in Europe, I would so much rather just live and travel… So the last thing I want to come home and do is write and actually use my brain. I was first excited to keep all my friends and family updated on my fabulous life abroad until I was informed of about 5 more blogs I have to keep for different classes and projects, hence the dreaded act of typing and a major dose of procrastination. However, I know all of my avid followers are itching to hear about my next adventure and on a much more exciting note, I have many to tell!

In class we visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It was incredible to be standing in some of the most historic spots in the world. Our teacher lectured and told ancient stories and then slyly added in that we were standing exactly where Julius Cesar’s body was burned. The Colosseum is an astonishing structure that I can’t believe still exists. I stayed in Rome that weekend because we had a lot of visitors come from Granada, so I toured my friend Jenna around the city. On Saturday night I experienced my first futbol game! And I really do mean my first because if you don’t already know, the Carr’s are not quite a soccer family. Although it hasn’t made its ranks into my favorite sports, it was a very cool experience because it is such a huge deal here, especially this game against Naples. The Naples fans are notorious for outrageous behavior at the games and were once banned from coming back to Rome’s stadium. Earlier that day there was a big group of people on the Spanish Steps shouting chants back and forth at each other rooting for their teams. Or so we thought that was happening….

 The Italian couple sitting behind us at the game taught us all of the cheers throughout the game and were getting a huge kick out of how clueless we were. “Odio Napoli!” is pretty much all I remember, which means “I hate Naples!”

It is safe to say that this past week of classes was my favorite. On Wednesday, class was held at a bar in Testacchio and we had a wine seminar! This class was a true test to my will power, with my glass filled with wine and a basket of bread next to me and I had to sit and listen to the teacher talk and analyze for 20 minutes between each glass before trying anything. And let me tell you, it was not easy people. I learned all about the fermentation of wine and the grapes used for specific types. The 3 senses you use for wine tasting is sight, smell, and taste. When our teacher asked what we smelled in one of the red wines I replied, “Rich mahogany and leather bound books.” After everyone laughed he was confused and asked me to repeat it and I told him it was just a joke, but he said I was absolutely right! You really can smell the wood from the barrels it is aged in. The last wine we tasted was a sparkling wine used for dessert and it was deeeelicious! If you are not already wanting to trade lives with me, let me tell you about today. We spent the whole day at a vineyard outside of Rome for this same class. It was beautiful

 to see the countryside and rolling hills of Italy. The vineyard, Castello delle Regine in Umbria is 1100 acres and the house of the owner contains 42 bedrooms. Not only did I get to see the fermentation machinery and barrels upon barrels of aging wine, but cows too! The vineyard also breeds cows and bulls. We ate a beautiful lunch and had of course more wine tasting! I purchased a bottle we tasted of San Giovese for my parents, but it’s questionable whether it will actually make it into their hands after 3 months. It’s the thought that counts, I guess. J

Welp, I wake up in a few hours to go to Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa, so stay tuned. Until next time… Ciao a tutti! 

Firenze

You always expect to be exhausted after a long day of travel, that’s why most people like to get a good nights rest to start out on the right foot. Booking that 5:58 am train time did not coincide with this mentality. I felt like I was getting to bed pretty early around 12:45 am, until my alarm sounded at 3:57 am. (Yes, I always set my alarms for random odd numbered times and there is absolutely no reasoning for it, I just do.) I thought, “I can’t believe my alarm is already going off, it feels like the middle of the night.” Oh wait, it IS the middle of the night. As I resisted the urge to continuously hit the snooze button (I only hit it once, that’s an all time record right there), I gathered my things and ran to meet my friends for the tram that supposedly starts at 5 am. Once 5:20 rolled around we were panic stricken that we were going to miss our train. We started walking towards the second tram stop when a bus was pulling up, we sprinted through the streets to catch it. We finally arrive to the sketchy train station before sunrise and board the train for the next four hours. 

A few of us were oddly hyper and goofing around while others slept. I’ll leave it to you and the picture to decide which group I belonged to. I dozed off here and there and made it to Firenze by 10am! Traveling in huge groups like we have, always opts for a bathroom stop. We waited in the train station for quite some time and I hear someone say my name. I turn to see someone I went to elementary school with. It blows my mind to think that I don’t run into this person in Long Grove, Illinois ever, but here I am in Florence, Italy and he is the first person I see.

The first stop we made was to the Duomo. This building is so beautiful that it looks fake even in person when you are standing right next to it. Just like the stair adventure I had at the Vatican, we repeated our way to the top of the Duomo to over look the city of Florence. This marathon was only 463 stairs though, so it was a cakewalk. In the tight corridors of the stairs of people passing up and down I hear my name again to find the same person from my hometown that I ran into at the train station. The phrase, “what a small world” has really taken on a new meaning for me. 

The other places we ventured to this day was Ponte Vecchio, the only lasting bridge from WWII that is filled with top notch jewelry shops, Galleria degli Uffizi, and my favorite of all, the original statue of David. I was given mixed reviews of this statue, “It’s the same as all the replicas, not worth the bother.” My mother saying, “YOU HAVE TO SEE THE REAL DAVID! YOU HAVE TO SEE THE REAL DAVID!” SO, I went and saw the real David. And once again, mother knows best because this was so spectacular and absolutely nothing like the replicas. I stared at this figure inching my eyes over every little detail that was so delicately carved. This thing was enormous and so perfect to scale. It was definitely worth it to see the original David.

Our train tickets were open ended so a few wanted to stay a bit longer to shop around and enjoy a nice lunch, but after I impulsively dropped 100 Euro on a lambskin leather jacket, I was broke as a joke and decided in my best interest to head back. On an incredible note, the jacket was retail priced for 350 Euro and I talked my way down to 100. If that’s not impressive, I don’t know what is. I’m starting to rethink my career path and look into something along the lines of professional barterer. Until next time… Ciao a tutti!