"Say Cheese"

Did you know that cheese sits for years and years before you eat it? Well, Italian cheese! We were able to go to a cheese tasting at Gino Cacino's. He is known world wide and has a book out about his expertise in cheese.

 So they test the cheese by hitting it with this little hammer. We heard the difference between good cheese and bad cheese as well as cheese from 2010 and cheese from 2006. You never would have guessed how much time and attention goes into making cheese perfect. The cheese we sampled was good. I don't think I am a fan of the super strong stuff but apparently the older you are the stronger you like your cheese.

What a wonderful cultural activity.

DANTE ALIGHIERI 

A little courtyard area at school. It has an amazing view. 

                                                     Our Student Room at Dante Alighieri!

Yes that is a giant U of U flag???  There is a BYU one in the other room.

Adorable. At the end we get to write on the wall of fame too!

About half of the Piazza Del Campo. I love it here! People just come and chill and mingle. 

 Meredith absolutely loathes all pigeons. They have a knack for swooping down upon us or being too close to her when she is eating. All pigeons, except this one. We named her Carmelita. She was friendly.

 The Piazza is one of the best places for people watching. I love the families that come and hang out. No the man in yellow is not dead. He is simply napping. I know it is questionable from the pic; he laid like that for about 15 minutes.

My main gal MARTHA!!!! There was a whole Italian article about her. Unfortunately it was in Italian and I wasn't feeling patient enough to read all of it. 

Days as a Senese Citizen

Well I have officially been in the beautiful city of Siena for one week. The Tuscan countryside is absolutely beautiful, the streets are windy and narrow, and best of all the people are cheerful. I am living with my friend Meredith Stanfill in a quaint little apartment 35 minutes away from the Dante Alighieri Institute. Our host family is a darling retired couple named Angela and Viviano. Viviano is hilarious and is still very insistent that I am German and not actually American. He keeps asking me how to say things in German and I have to keep reminding him that I have no idea. He is also still trying to get us to drink wine. Mostly he is a big tease. Angela is the sweetest. I am determined that women in Italy take their role as mother/wife very seriously. She will not let us help her cook or do the dishes and every day while we are at school she goes and cleans our bathroom and remakes our beds for us. Yes, family I promise I am making my bed everyday! hence remakes ;) They only speak Italian and there are many many conversations where I nod my head and say si. I am trying to ask plenty of questions without overwhelming them too much.

School is wonderful. Learning on site is really an amazing experience. It makes learning so much more intriguing. Our Italian teachers are so kind, patient, and well so Italian. They have thick accents and speak with their hands. They love what they are teaching and are so passionate about Italy and either the language or the art. I love how proud Italians are of their country their language and their people. When you show interest and love for any of the above they love you as well.

The first couple days were definitely a humbling experience full of many culture shocks; but all in all I couldn't be happier with my situation. I think I could wake up to a rooster and this majestic sun-kissed land every day.  

Dodicesimo Giorno

 The first thing on the agenda for today was to see the Catacombs of San Callisto. It was honestly a little creepy to go four floors underground and be in these tombs where half a million bodies were or had been. We were at one of sixty catacombs in Rome. Slightly creepy!

Meredith, Abby, Ali

So beautiful! I wish I could buy them all! 

 Professor Stanford, Meredith, me, Brittney 

                                           

San Maria Magiore

It is now my dream to have a romantic picnic on one of these corner or roof gardens! There are several in Rome and I wish we made these more in America because they are so dreamy! Love it.

Undici Giorni

Today was extremely eventful! It started off with just the usual getting off at the wrong Metro Station, and the wrong bus station and walking farther than usual. BUT, Rome is a confusing place so no biggy. Then we went into the Borghese Art Gallery. It was probably my favorite museum because it had so many Bernini statues. My favorite was the statue of Daphne with Apollo. She was praying for a way to escape Apollo when the gods turned her into a tree. She has little roots coming from the tips of her toes and bark swirling up and around her torso and her arms and hair are transforming into leaves. Their faces have so much emotion and the whole piece just has so much movement and depth. I am amazed by these artists that can turn stone into such realistic statues. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed. 

So after the museum Meredith, Lucy, Forest, and I decided to rent this four person bicycle. Which of course is such a good idea, right! We were adventurous and decided to go off the paved path. We went down hills and across little grassy fields. We went around a round about several times. We were most definitely obnoxious Americans; yelling, "CIAO, CIAO!" to all passersby. Then we saw a hill, a very special hill. We decided it would be a great idea to try going down it. A great idea until we hit a divot in the hill, lost control, and crashed. The bike tipped over and landed on top of us. We survived with only a couple injuries and lots of laughs.

Post fall. We were a lot more mellow. 

                                 Later in the day we went to the Protestant Cemetery and the Pyramid.

A road side book store. 

Dieci Giorni

Today our group went to the Capitoline Museum. It was really exciting to see this Cupid and Psyche statue Meredith and I did a presentation on this, so we were quite excited to finally see it! Unfortunately we were a little frazzled by the time we got to Cupid and Psyche. We took a quick pit stop to the bathroom and then got separated from the group. We were searching for the group for about 45 minutes until finally we just got on an elevator and I said, "Wouldn't it be nice if the elevator opened and our professor was right there." And so it happens my luckiness struck again. There she was and we were connected again. 

Cupid and Psyche!

So in the Vatican this Cupid was missing his bow and he looked like he was doing a little jig and I really wanted to strike a dancing pose but I felt it was disrespectful. But after being lost in the Capitoline I was in the "no shame" mode and couldn't pass up the opportunity to dance along with the love angel. 

It's Forest! I made him be in some pictures today. 

So this is a really old fresco that I love. Christ is obviously in the center and then Mary to the right and John to the left. Above in the circles there are animal representations. The lion represents Mark, the eagle is John, the lamb is Christ, the angel is Matthew, and the ox is Luke.

             On top of the Capitoline Museum there is a beautiful wrap around balcony with incredible views of Rome.