A Return Post

I just checked. The last time that I posted was in September. I'm sorry for all of you that have checked back here and those who have requested an update. October brought some struggles with my grandfather passing away. In November was my first Thanksgiving (and favorite holiday!) away from my family. And in December I missed a very special birthday, got a new roommate, stood by the phone as my brother was entered boot camp, and couldn't help but think about my empty nest parents on their first Christmas without either Jason or me. (Read: I got homesick for my people.)

Meanwhile, there was some real personal adjustment happening within me. I have been learning how to live in an apartment on my own. On the other side of the world. First time paying all of the bills. First time budgeting money. First time shopping for food and feeding myself. Not an easy adjustment to do these things for the first time, but how about in another system? I mean, you think about standing in line for at least half an hour to pay bills at the post office and get back to me if you still think I'm a wimp. Not to mention all of this living is done in another language. One that I'm getting better at, but am still quite far from being an expert. And as for making new friends? I have them and the ones that I have are great (truly AWESOME!!!), but it is a process to create a whole new network of people in a completely new place. (Which is both unsettling and exciting when I think about a move to Washington state in my future.)

And finally, there was my work. Having been out of a good, solid schedule for the almost year I spent at home, I found that I had really lost a great number of my skills as a super productive human being. Not to mention, I set out with this massive project in mind with a loose infrastructure of support on this side of the pond. Don't get me wrong, my professor is great and I have wonderful friends and colleagues in the two other ladies in my lab. But I had to teach myself a new area of the identity research that I loved and didn't have anyone to discuss some of my confusion in the theories. That left me feeling like a fish out of water for sure. As a response, I've also reached out to my professor-to-be in Washington who responds with all the patience and enthusiasm I could ask for in someone who doesn't even owe me anything.

But it's not all woes and tears! I'm happy to say that I'm well on my way to standing on my own. I feel like it all started in a crawl, I'm cruising, slowly pick up speed, and ready to storm straight ahead. Like I said, I have made some wonderful friends and am always opening myself up to new ones through a variety of experiences. My research is moving along. I started volunteering and am enjoying getting to know different women while putting some of my own life in order. I am less self-conscious about speaking Italian in general, but especially to strangers. I got over the homesickness hump and have been making Firenze a familiar place.

Here are some of the highlights during my blog black out, some of which I hope to fill you in on much better later:

Fulbright Orientation in October: Here's a picture of most of us on the Spanish Steps. I met the other borsisti, had some great laughs, and made some new friends.

 

Friendsgiving 2011: Linda and I cooked for two days and we had a feast with all my favorites--food and people alike. I was the turkey assistant at Thanksgiving 2010, but orchestrating it for the first time was a lot to handle. It wouldn't have worked without the wonders of technology and the wisdom of Grams. In the end, I filled up my plate three times and cried because it tasted like home. 

Protest against razzismo: There was an incident here in early December against some Senegalese men and the people of Firenze came out to show how they feel about that. This moment turned out to be a defining one for this city, this community, and my project.

Visit from Corinne: After a total of ten months spent in this country over three years, I had my first official visitor to Italy. Ever. And Corinne and I had a blast in a whirlwind tour of Firenze and Siena.

Christmas: I spent it with my dear boyfriend Gabriele and his family. I'm only sad that I didn't get pictures of the pheasant, dove, and pigeon we ate. I'd never have thought I'd say this, but it was so, so yummy! But easily my favorite part was his amazement (and mine!) to follow the scavenger hunt to his Christmas present in his own house.

New Year's Eve: One of my roommates Laura is Spanish and co-hosted a semi-traditional Spanish New Year's Eve feast. At midnight we ate a grape at every strike of the clock that is meant to represent the respective month of the coming year. I didn't know that until after the fact and was so busy shoving down grapes, 2012 is still going to be a surprise for me.

Private Concert with Pilar: A friend invited Gabriele and I to a private concert, but since he was playing with his band I went with my roommate Giorgia. This artist named Pilar was easily the greatest voice I have ever heard. No pictures from the evening, but here is one of the songs she sang. It was such an intimate experience to sit on the floor with 30 other people in someone's house for an unplugged performance by candlelight!

Visitor's Galore: I had an awesome overlap of friends come to visit at the end of January. First was Natasha and her husband James. Natasha is one of the friends I made during my tenure at Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance. Then one of my best friends and my very first Meredith friend Lauren came to visit. You can find her recount of some of our adventures here (which you should go see since I didn't take any pictures and would just be stealing hers).

Valentine's Day: Gabriele and I had our first Valentine's Day together. We decided that we would stay in and try our hands at some new recipes. Despite being total novices in the kitchen, we lucked out and had an absolutely delicious three course feast of seafood. He did the first course, I made the second (even though the first was way better), and then surprised each other by both having our own dessert. Plus he got me the best looking and smelling (!) bouquet of I have EVER over which everyone on the train ride home was jealous. Just look at that table!

Trip Home: I went to the land of Freedom and Liberty for two weeks. It was easily the fastest time has ever passed for me. I had no intention to return to the United States during my Fulbright year abroad, but when my brother decided to be a Marine, he was whisked away to boot camp at a time when I started to recognize just how important my family was to me. So I took a wild trip, going straight to Parris Island before even seeing home, and surprised my favorite Marine for his graduation. We are so very proud of him!

Las Fallas: Soon after my return from the States, Gabriele and I took a long weekend to Valencia, Spain. In all of my trips to Italy, I had never been outside of the boot, and after hearing the raving over the festival I was determined to go. And Gabriele wanted to come along having been there the year before. Despite being on antibiotics the entire trip, Gabriele was a great tour guide and we had such a wonderful time!

March Madness: In my desire to bring my culture to my little Florentine world and introduce it to some international friends, the NCAA tournament came to Tuscany along with some traditional game time food like the almighty Buffalo chicken wings. In respect to Thanksgiving, this spread felt like a piece of cake (the box kind you can only find in America, not where you have to start from scratch like here). And although it took a bit of trouble to find one streaming across the Atlantic, we eventually ended the night with a basketball game as advertised.


Il Trentissimo: Although I didn't get to plan the party like I hoped, my dear friend Chiara had a week long celebration for her 30th and graciously invited me to two celebrations. The first at the most beautiful Hard Rock, where we ate all-American and danced to Beatles and beach music. The second was a more intimate house party among friends and fun. How can you hate welcoming a new chapter like that?

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I'll do my best to fill these in a bit more and return far more often for your entertainment and my posterity. Can't make any promises because spring has sprung, but keep checking back and I'll see what I can do.

Baci da Firenze!

As I begin another full weekend, I wanted to share a little about what happened in the last first because it is definitely worth telling. After a wonderfully productive meeting with my professor, I took the train to back to Siena and spend the evening with my bestest pal Filippo. We made burritos thanks to the luck I had in finding a box with the shells at the grocery store on the way into the city. I had a hankering for Mexican for a while, but sometimes international ingredients are difficult to find in Italy. (But that's the best part about living in Florence, which is far more international than tiny Siena! Well, kind of, but I am sure there will be reason to discuss this later in the year.) So after dinner and episode of Treme and Modern Family, we went to bed. The best part about being with Filippo is we can spend lots of time together doing nothing special...and that we have, willingly and enjoyably. That might not sound like much of a virtue considering we are discussing friendship, but the man is a saint for what he's put up with over the last three years we have known. 

Saturday we did a lot of studying and I did a little Skyping with my super savvy grandparents during the day. In the evening, Filippo and I visited the Siena Art Institute, sister school to Siena School for Liberal Arts, where I studied Spring 2009. It was the inaugural event of the new school and was full of all kinds of wonderful art and brimming with lots of new folk and some of my old favorites! If anyone (not just traditional university students) is interested in studying art abroad at any level, this is a great place to check out because they do all kinds of really stimulating work in all kinds of medium, such as print-making, photography, creative writing, visual arts, and (my favorite!) book art. They will also host various professional international artists each month, starting in the new year, who will be making all kinds of connections with the community. For this exhibit, they collected over 4,000 postcards internationally that were on display Saturday. Here are some pictures I grabbed on my phone from the event:

Poi domenica... la vendemmia! (For those of you non-Italophones: Then Sunday… the grape harvesting!) I went to this same vineyard to work last year and it was, without a doubt, one of my very favorite days of 2010 (which you can read about here), so I was beyond thrilled to get an invitation back this year. Our Siena group was up and moving early, but when we got to San Quirico a little after 8 am the professionals were already on the third row. So we donned our gloves and got to work cutting the bunches off the vines. I always enjoy myself, but I can tell you that the company makes it great and the very short time I have to do this work makes it better. I'm not one adapted for lots of physical labor, but a little does the body some good.

But you know what makes the experience the best? Lunch! Because we were such an awesome group, we were able to finish the (relatively small) vineyard by noon. After a little bit of time chatting and playing with the cutest little one there ever was, I sat myself down to better food than you could imagine in your dreams. And if you think I'm kidding, I purposely skipped breakfast to make sure I was ready and then didn't eat dinner, breakfast, or lunch following.

We had pastasciutta (phenomenal!) for the first plate. Then there was goat (YUM!), rabbit (so, so tender!), and chicken (which looked great but I couldn't force myself to eat any more in that round). Beans and tomatoes that were ever so fresh and good. Perfect peaches from the trees in the grove where we sat. Cake and this awesome marmalade-Nutella-banana sweet thing which I've named Heaven. Plus on top of the wonderful wine that I helped to harvest last year, we had a little spumante for Gabriele's birthday, some arrancello, and un caffe'  to help digest all this goodness. And, I'll confess, after a productive morning and a great meal, this happy camper gets sleepy and quickly. I couldn't even keep my eyes open for the ride home!

So don't color me shocked when my time in San Quirico has made it on my "Best of 2011" list. If anyone is considering a trip to Italy, this farm hosts people in the cutest little house a little outside of Siena. It is in a really beautiful area off the beaten path, which is the best way to travel, and would be a great place to stay when exploring the Tuscan countryside for a steal. You can check out their information here (and see this album with some pictures of yours truly!) and have as wonderful an experience as I had! Alla prossima!

Two weeks. I’ve lived here for two weeks already, but it feels like quite a bit longer and conversely, like I left two days ago. Time and activity has such a way of filling your mind so, depending on your perspective (age included), it creeps by or is gone in a flash. But I think that is why I journal and blog. Yes, I want to share my experiences with you, but it keeps me reflecting on where I was, am now, and will continue to go. I don’t like to feel like time is getting away from me. It moves without consulting me first, but at least I can appreciate it to my fullest extent, no?

But enough with the lofty reflection and down to the happenings in life. Since I left you, I went to a huge concert on Friday, sponsored by a group called EMERGENCY. The foundation of this group is very liberal, so don’t investigate it if that doesn’t interest you, but we were going for the music. The headliners were Fiorella Mannoia, Elisa (who has put out some things in the USA and sings a lot in English), Casa del Vento (or House of the Wind), and—believe it or not—Paola Turci. I heard that lady sing twice in one week, so I guess I’m turning into a real fan. In all honesty, I had very little expectations going in, but it was a really great show. I took this phenomenal video (which somebody else seemed to get, too!), but unfortunately it seems like I dropped my camera at the concert and based on the number of people that were in attendance, there is no way of getting it back. Great luck, huh? I suppose you’ll have to do without quality pictures for a while and just trust my descriptions.

Anyway, I was able to take my first trip “back home” to Siena on Saturday. It was wonderful to see my friends there! For those of you who don’t know my biography, I lived in Siena on three different occasions (July 2008, Spring 2009, and July-October 2010), so I might be more familiar with that medieval city than I am even with my hometown. I certainly took more time to explore Siena.

The strangest sensation was walking around the city, especially alone. At first I became discouraged when I tried to think about the way to get from one place to another because I couldn’t remember it. Often I would try anyway and was shocked (although I shouldn’t be) by the way my feet seemed to lead the way without missing a step. The brain is a powerful thing, I tell you.

But Saturday, afternoon and night, I spent time at Filippo’s where I lived for three months…in the kitchen. 

That apartment will always be home for me, more for the company shared than the place itself. But then Filippo and I had dinner with our dear friends Anya and Deanne and I was so happy that my cheeks hurt. As I got ready to go out after dinner, the lovely ladies serenaded Filippo and me (and the rest of Via dei Rossi). Finally we went out and met all kinds of characters, which was entertaining, of course. It was just nice to be with my friends and be speaking lots of Italian again in the city where I feel most comfortable. I must say, though, that I’m not very used to going out Italian-style which often means going to bed near dawn. That is definitely going to take a while to get used to.

After another lazy morning, I had a wonderful reunion with Ennio and Tina, my house parents from my semester in Siena. That place will always be full of good food, great language lessons, and better company. We had a lunch you can only dream of and a little nap before I had to get moving.

Sunday afternoon I gathered my things and took a whirl-wind trip to Rome with my friend Gabriele. Last year we saw two of Shakespeare’s works at the Globe Theatre in Villa Borghese and wanted to catch the last one of the season. I really have never seen better professional theatre in my life than at this place. Just sitting down on a little cushion in the middle of that Globe excites my heart.

We saw Riccardo III, which I was very unfamiliar with as far as Shakespeare goes. It was the most difficult to follow linguistically of the three I had seen there, but I grasped the gist of most scenes and the art was enough that they could have said nothing and I would have enjoyed it just the same. So moving! I certainly appreciated it even more after spending several months with my Theatre Alliance family. And, believe it or not, there was confetti. In a Shakespeare historical play. I couldn’t help but laugh out of pity for the poor souls sweeping and recycling it for the next show since that was my job at the theatre. (PS: If you are in the area, you should go see Theatre Alliance’s production of Kiss of the Spiderwoman that opens this week. Get your tickets here! These people are brilliant.)

So despite starting this week with very little sleep, I enjoyed my weekend tremendously. And to think the next is right around the corner!

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” - G. K. Chesterson

I've never thought of my hometown as a very exciting place, but I've got to work with what's at hand right now so I've been looking for the adventure wherever I can find it. And rather than use words, I'll rely on the pictures I've taken to share the stories. First up is visiting Mom's second grade class complete with Cranberry Centers and a Thanksgiving feast with the kindergardeners.

Describing cranberries like a scientist.

My partner for Cranberry Centers and I at the taste testing.
What's your favorite cranberry treat: juice, bread, or sauce?

Cranberries: sink or swim?

The feast! Turkey sandwiches, popcorn, grapes (from the cornucopia), and milk (...from the cows?).
You know, just like the pilgrims.

Uh, yum!

I'm pretty sure that my daughter will be JUST like this little girl. She's gonna be an astronaut. 

Then was catching up with one of my best and oldest friends Shane who was in town for the weekend. We went bowling and Christmas shopping...which gave us the excuse to "Kinect." I had such a great time, but that should never be much of a surprise when you're rolling with this guy.

He's as silly as the day I met him. Just geriatric now. 

He's a master in the lanes, but he can't beat his mom on the Wii.

Look at that form! And with the slight curve at the end, that's what a spare looks like, people.

If I had an extra $149 lying around, I would have bought this in a second. So fun! 

And to close on the recent adventures, Mom and I had some great bonding time decorating our gingerbread house. It took 2 HOURS to do that tiny thing, but balancing our different visions and compulsions equaled a pretty awesome house.

And doesn't it look yummy enough to eat?!?

So maybe these are a different breed of marvels and mishaps than those you would find galvanting around Italy but I'm certainly enjoying myself. I guess that just goes to show you: "Adventure is out there!"

Lessons Learned 3.0

When asked how I'd like to spend my final moments in Rome, I'll admire art.

I should always prepare for my trip to and from Italy to be at least 5 hours longer than expected. 

While traveling I should be as padded as a linebacker. Too many bruises.

No matter how old you are, you can always run into Momma Bear's arms.

A brother is the best friends a girl can have. Best friends are the sisters she never got.

I can live at home (at least for now) happily unemployed.

“There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.” --Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

When the South comes to town

Of course, my mind is oriented toward coming home. There's only a week left here to enjoy Italian life and finish up business, then I'm back to the States. But to my surprise, I got a strange preview of live back home this past weekend.

Friday night, I went to a local bar gig to watch some of my friends play in their band called The Last to Knows. (Yes, they're completely aware that the name is grammatically incorrect.) The Last to Knows are a pop-punk country/folk band of six Italians from the district of Siena. The lead Mattia writes the songs and sings...always in English. Have any of them been to the South? That seems to be an irrelevant point, but I'll have you know that they have the heart. Three of the guys also performed live on the radio Sunday--after which we had the most awesome dinner of specialty meat, cheese, and olives which we washed down with some tasty IPAs. Oh, the joys of simple life.

I must admit that I was left wondering during the concert Friday night and then on Sunday as Mattia spoke to the disk jockey, what did Italians understand when they hear their music? Now, don't get me wrong, Mattia's English is great. Sure, lyrics are sometimes hard to decipher, but that's the case with any singer. (I just found out the lyrics to this jem are "Just stay close at hand" and not "Just because I asked." Rocked my world.) Although I still think Mattia should get a tutor with a drawl.... But then there's the question of what do they think of the sound? Italians are pretty used to getting inundated with music from the Anglophones, but this is no Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. I guess all that matters is that there was a packed bar Friday and, I assume, some radio listeners out there on Sunday.

Back to the point: if you want to listen to some of The Last to Knows' recent recordings you can download their newest songs, listen to some older ones, or just watch my poor quality video clip (cut short since the file was so big). Also, I only have a point and shoot and Friday night's concert was at not an ideal location for picture taking, but here are a few anyway.

Not everyone likes to be center stage.

Hardest to photograph. The most fun to watch.

 

Saturday, I bribed Gabriele into driving me to Sansepolcro with promises of lots of good food and company. Upon arrival, we were picked up by Sara, had a wonderful lunch prepared by Patrizio, and were entertained by Leonardo, Ginevra, and Veronica. Beyond the fun that children bring to life and the great warmth I feel when I'm at their home, one of the best things about seeing this wonderful family again was being able to actually "speak." I met them at the end of my first trip to Italy and Patrizio just couldn't believe I was following his point about bike racing in detail. Like I said before, it's the simple things, people. :)

Aren't we the cutest?

I was also able to visit Palazzo Alberti and visit with Dr. Betty Webb, John Rose, and the ragazze from Meredith College. We just happened to arrive on the day in which Palazzo Alberti was celebrating a year in Sansepolcro. As a result there was an open house birthday party complete with cake and prosecco. It was wonderful to see how Meredith has started to become a real part of the community. You could hear both English and Italian floating around the room, along with the most important language, MereCollian (or Meredith-ese? I don't know. I just made it up.).

This one was an exclusive tongue known only by a few of us. For instance, Dr. Webb introduced me to some of the students as 2010's Senior Tall Tale and although I didn't know most of them, I was instantly recognized as being a part of Cornhuskin'. Of course it was a mystery to the other guests because...all toooooogether now: You just have to experience it! But it was nice to find others out in the real world who made "good ol' Meredith, Meredith ol' MC" their home, too.

Coming back soon!

Friends Makin' Mems.

...memories, that is. This weekend I had so much fun with friends these past days that I just couldn't wait to share with you some of the things I did! First, I received a wonderful visit from my friend Abi. We studied together here in Siena during the Spring 2009 semester, and since lately I've especially been missing my Siena School friends who made this lovely place even more special, it was a special treat to have her here. She's living in Florence for now and was able to come for a day trip a few weeks back, but this time Abi came on Thursday and stayed for a few days. Slumber party, anyone? We talked and talked and drank LOTS of tea and talked some more. It was really perfect for the both of us.

Friday evening, after some awesome stone soup alla Abi, we went out on the town and shared a Bella Vista. Although I'm not much of a cocktail drinker, this drink is great! The ginger they put in it gives a nice spicy taste that definitely reminds me of being in Siena with friends. We were joined by Deanne, the most awesome Canadian I know, and had some fun girl talk. Can you really ever get enough of that? The three of us joined some friends to celebrate Gabriele's birthday. I usually don't talk about going out because it's mostly the same scene no matter where you are, but I mention it this time for two reasons:

1. Realizing that I can have a conversation in Italian really never gets old to me. I struggled (and continue to fight) with this language. It means a lot that, despite some hiccups, I can get my point across. It was also nice to hear Abi, who is a language genius, recognize how the language is more fluid for me after a year and a half. It's difficult to see my own growth so moments like these are especially sweet.
2. Italians celebrate birthdays differently. I didn't know this when my birthday rolled around, but on your birthday, you pay. Team North America (Abi, Deanne, and I) tried to explain how it works in our cultures, but Team Italy wasn't having any of it. Not that I was complaining. The free drinks were nice. :)

On  Saturday afternoon, Abi and I made a visit to Florence. Shamefully, I had not made a trip up there until then, but maybe that contributed in making the trip so wonderful. We spent the afternoon with the group of friends I made on my first trip to Italy in July 2008 and had a fantastic time, as per usual. I finally made it up to Piazza Michelangelo which offers the best view of the city.  Then we walked around and caught up with each other, played some billiards to pass the time, and I got a ride on my friend Armando's moped. Don't worry, Mom, I made him promise to drive safely. It was SO FUN!!! Abi and I made the trip back to Siena and went to bed early because yesterday we had planned a big day.

We woke up extra early, dressed ourselves in the sloppiest clothes we had, and met Gabriele who drove us out into the country a hour to go grape harvesting! Since there was no one on the road, we were a little ahead of schedule, and so he took us to a nearby town with a Roman bath that people still use. Next day trip, maybe?

 

When we finally got to the small vineyard of Gabriele's family friend Raddichio (or "Radish"--I couldn't figure out where the nickname came from), we jumped into the work cutting the bunches of grapes off the vines. Not very complicated work, but it was a great experience and a wonderful day to pass outside of the city and in good company. 

Lunch time, as usual, was the best part though. Waiting for things to be finished, we toured a bit of the farm and played some with Raddichio's grandchildren and the hugest pack of dogs I've seen in real-life. Raddichio's wife and her crew made a feast for us with their homegrown products which we ate under the olive trees. I had to take a slow pace just to keep going, but everything was delicious beyond words. I wish I could share with you the good food and the warm feeling from being in moments like this one. It's certainly an experience to have. Post-meal, we went back to work which went by so quickly and even got some free wine as payment.

Where all the magic happens.

Real free range chickens.
We ate here under the trees...but there were no birds to be found.

If anyone's interested in renting this cute house it's available. :)

On the trip back, I took some pictures of the view I thought you'd like to see and dragged our tired and sorry selves back home. My sore scissor-cutting hand gives a big wave to all of you until next time!