City of a Million Moonlit Places

A proper post is long overdue. Although I don't feel like I have much to tell. My everyday is quite routine. I have school in the morning at the Siena School, where I studied during the Spring 2009 semester. It's an intensive language course for one more week. Then the afternoons change depending on the day. Mostly I work on my Fulbright application and trying to make connections. Sometimes I go to Campansi to visit my favorite elderly. Others are spent spontaneously with friends.

But I did want to go in more detail on one recent happening: another trip to Rome! Since I enjoyed the last show so much, Gabriele brought me along to the Globe Theatre in Rome once again. He has some company with whom he can discuss the show and I have a trip to Rome. Win-win, as far as I see it.

First we planned to meet up with Yoanna, my stunning French friend. She lives in Piazza di Spagna for now. On our way there, we stopped to watch a group of serious street preformers . I couldn't believe how these guys could move their bodies! We proceeded along, walking down Via Condotti with windows full of Gucci, Prada, and the like, forces you to stop and stare in awe. We waited on the Spanish Steps, chatting and doing some serious people watching, while we waited for Yoanna to come out. I read in a guidebook that centuries ago, the "beautiful people" would go, hoping to be chosen as a model by some artist. While there's not much modeling going on for paintings, there were enough characters to satisfy this psych nerd.

We finally caught up with Yoanna and together the three of us stumbled upon a restaurant nearby. It was delicious and offered an interesting form of entertainment when some woman decided to park her car on this tiny street. Cars piled up behind but there was nothing that could be done. We didn't see her for most of our meal...but did see the police who were stuck behind her write her a fine. We never hear her excuse herself other than explaining that she "ran" into the store to by some bread and eggs. Yikes.

After dinner, we ran over to Villa Borgese to the theatre. We were running late, but it worked out well because unlike the last time, the show was sold out! Luckily we had purchased our tickets beforehand. We saw La Bisbetica Domata, or The Taming of the Shrew, which is my favorite Shakespeare comedy. It was stunning! (Here are some pictures of the theatre, the last show, and this one, for those who are interested.) They updated the beginning to present day and the director created a gymnasium setting for much of the story. I really enjoyed myself despite that which was lost in translation, since they were all speaking Italian. Like last time, some actors were easier to follow than others and I'm sure it helped that I had read the play before, but maybe some of it is also from getting better. All bets are off when it comes to that.

After the show we went for a walk around Rome in some places I had never seen before. Unfortunately we couldn't get to all of them due to bad directions from locals and our incorrect map reading. Maybe next time?

This is to have succeeded.

This poem is my very favorite. It describes a definition that I actively struggle to compose for myself. First is the popular form attributed to Emerson, followed by the original which was confirmed to be written by Bessie Stanley. Lines from both resonate heavily with me, especially now as I find myself in the center of the boxing ring with Expectations. She's a quite the opponent, but I'm making the best of the match. Maybe we'll end up friends at the end of it all.

Success
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty; 
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Success
He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much;
who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children;
who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
who has left the world better than he found it whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
who has never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty or failed to express it;
who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had;
whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction. 

Bessie Stanley

Buon appetit! Buon apettito! and Good eats!

The latest adventure I've had here is care of my dear friend Yoanna. I met her on the first day of university and we became friends quickly. (You've even seen some of the fantastic pictures she took in the last post.) Among the other cool things about Yoanna is that she's French, but speaks near perfect English due the years that she spent in the States. Yoanna spent the Palio with us and during dinner later that night, us Americans (and quasi-Americans, right, Filippo?) learned that she knew how to make crêpes and would be willing to teach us.

The beautiful and sugar-sweet Yoanna :)

We arranged a date for the meal and it finally went down last week. Yoanna made the batter with us eagerly looking over her shoulder and taught us all the tips of the trade. We had prosciutto e formaggio in the the first round of crêpes for dinner. 

Savory crêpes. Yum!!!

Yoanna made more batter for the dessert crêpes. I asked if I could learn how to make them...and tried my hand at flipping them. Here's a video of my first time flipping a crêpe. It feels a lot like learning how to ride a bike for the first time.

I ended up making the whole batch of dessert crêpes and got an international seal approval.

French, Italian, and American all agree: Thumbs up!

 This weekend we had a lot of potatoes and cheese in the house and, by Filippo's request, we decided to make a traditional Puglian meal. (Puglia is the heel of the boot.) But when it was time to start making dinner Filippo and Scottie were out on a day trip. I called them, got the recipe over the phone, and put it all together. I layered the potatoes, tomatoes, onions, rice, and mussels just right with the perfect amount of cheese...and salt, of course. It was in the oven by the time they walked in the door. Now, I must say, it wasn't the most difficult thing to do, but it came out really well. I couldn't even believe that I made it!

On an unrelated note, I finished at the Universita' per Stranieri much better than expected. Actually pretty well on just a normal scale. Unfortunately the end of the course also meant that I also had to say goodbye to so many friends that I've made in the last month. But looking on the upside, now I have people all over the world. Next stop: Hungary? Portugal? Slovakia? We'll see where life takes me next. Hope yours is taking you to wonderful places, too!

Super Update

So the first sentiment I feel is the need to apologize, but, dear readers, I can only apologize for because I can't properly excuse myself. I've been taking advantage of life here in every way possible. So to catch you up I'm going to throw a lot of images at you with a general update lacking the banal details you would've skimmed anyway. Anyway, you'll get picture (pun intended). And to ease the process, I put a handful in a video for you to watch. You'll find it at the end of the post.

To begin, a week and a half ago was the Palio. It's probably the most important thing that happens in Siena (twice a year). I've already been to the one in July, but it was on my Bucket List to see the August Palio. There are some pictures of the events that my wonderful friend Yoanna and I took leading up to the actual day, followed by the day of the race (where you find a very happy Sam), and the contrada parading through the street. There's the part where they pick the horses. Then the event when the horses are paired with each contrada by lottery. I was there an hour early because the rain storm brought a big delay. There are several pictures of the trials (or prove), one from the mass for the jockeys featuring the very famous winning jockey, and finally the big race.

There are also pictures of my trip to Pienza and Montepulciano with my school friends. I had a great time and got to see some small towns in the province of Siena, which run at a different pace then the city I call home...for now. It included a wine tasting of the famous Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (which you'll see in the barrels which are kept in a chapel-like area below the ground) and a play that Montepulcianese put on once a year. The people of the town have been getting together for several hundred years to celebrate the life of a different person each year. This spectacolo was about the life of Saint Francis from his youth to his death. The coolest thing is that this community theater was written and performed (with an original book and score) all by the inhabitants of Montepulciano. I was pretty impressed how many people got involved and how they filled the stage with men, women, and children of all ages.

Most recently I also went to "The Globe Theater" of Rome with my friend Gabriele. Our trip was improvised, but I had the greatest time. The theater is a smaller version of The Globe in London and in this Roman reproduction they only  produce the works of Shakespeare...in Italian. We saw Much Ado About Nothing, which I had never read before and didn't even know about the plot before hand. The language was difficult for me to keep up with all the details of the story, but the troupe was talented enough that I stayed interested the entire time. (I'm sure my experience was not very unlike those simple peasants looking for entertainment in the real Globe centuries ago.) I was blown away by the ingenuity of their work from set to music to delivery. And of course there's a story to accompany this adventure. At the end, the protagonists came from the stage to dance with audience members. The quite good-looking Benedick chose a woman who refused to dance and, in typical Sam-style, I ran up to him from the back of the crowd without even thinking of the consequences, grabbed his hand, and started dancing. Gabriele told me that the entire theater was amused and he was impressed enough to bring me on a walk through Villa Borgese to overlook Piazza del Popolo which you'll also find in the video of pictures.

Finally, Sunday I took a trip with Anya to the beach at Viareggio. Scottie and Filippo were there too, but we were at different free beaches on the same strip. We didn't meet up until we got to the train station, but I snagged some pics of my friends on the trip back. I'm finishing up the super hard class now, and have another adventure to recount...related to the kitchen. Hint: Think French yummies. :)

Lessons Learned, Part 2

Vitamin B doesn't keep mosquitoes away. In fact it might attract them.

I bat around a .350 on the mosquito kills-to-attempts.

Glasses are sassy.

Wear shoes when anywhere near Filippo's computer or risk a (literal) shock.

Having Facebook and my iPod in Italian has taught me useful vocabulary.

Good friends are good no matter where in the world they are.

If I don't listen to my own advice about wearing shoes near the computer headquarters, I will get shocked again.

Silly Bandz have made it to Italy. My professor wears one.