Imagine Your Most Embarrassing Moment and Multiply it By Five

Ciao! Italia sta bellisima. Mi chiamo Katie. Dove Mars, Pennsylvania. Studio a Marietta College e io studio graphic design. So basically, what I just said was, Hello! Italy is beautiful. My name is Katie. I am from Mars, Pennsylvania. I go to Marietta College where I study graphic design. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the extent of my knowledge of Italian language...with the exception of numbers and letters and things like "please" and "thank you" of course. As of today, Friday September 5th, 2014, I have officially completed my first week on classes, and boy was it a whirlwind.

So when I left off, I  had somehow been mistaken for J-Lo on my first night in Florence, casual I know. On Thursday, my roommates and I had orientation for a good majority of the day so after it was over, it was nice to come back and relax. On Friday, I woke up and checked out the boathouse that I will be rowing out of. Located a few minutes from my apartment, it is situated right along the Arno river. There, I met Alberto who gave me a grand tour of the boathouse and everything it had to offer (which really is quite impressive once you are inside).

Soooo this is part of the weight room

Alberto showing me the boathouse

One of the many produce stands in Mercado Centrale

I was also able to meet Massimo, who thankfully speaks fluent Italian and English, (which made me feel very comfortable while there). I warmed up and did a few 1000m pieces with him on the erg and then I was able to go ahead and lift. Later that day, my roommates and I found a grocery store called "Despar" and after seeing the cost, you must be "DESPAR-ATE" to go there. I would later find out from Massimo that this grocery was a common tourist trap. When we got back with all of our groceries (minus chicken breast that I had been craving), we made our first apartment dinner and cheered to a successful semester with a bottle of Chianti from "our dude" down the street.

Basically, there is a tiny shop that a man runs down the street from our apartment that has fresh fruits, vegetables, some lunch meats, alcohol and other small items. From day 1, we called him our dude, and after introducing myself to him purely through gestures and such, I found his name to be Marcella. I quite like him because he gave me an extra tomato and a pepper for simply introducing myself. He also said "Ciao, Bella" to me as I left...pretty much a day-maker.

Monterosso in Cinque Terre (GoPro Edition)

On Saturday morning, some of my roommates, along with other people in the Athena program, signed up with an organization called "Bus2alps" to go on a day trip to Cinque Terre (Chiin-quay Tear-ae; meaning Five Cities). Many people are probably familiar with this location due to it topping the charts as one of the many beautiful places in the world, characterized by colorful buildings built into the countryside. We left on a bus at 7am for the two hour drive to La Spezia. From there, we took a quick train to Cinque and started the day. I can quite easily say that nothing compares to the beauty of Cinque. This is also where Foccacia and Pesto was invented, so naturally, that's what you've got to get there, no Italian restaurant in the States can ever come close to comparing to these dishes in Cinque.

 

About 1/3 of the way up the mountain on our hike

After lunch, each of us were given the option to either hike to the next city or take a train and relax on the beach. Naturally, I hiked, and it really was A HIKE. The views though, were absolutely incredible. Once we got to the end of the trail, we began singing "We Are the Champions" with many stares from the Italians there. Soaked in sweat from the hike, I grabbed a drink from the popular bar there, and got into the Mediterranean to cool off (the water is suuuuuper salty and I would highly recommend NOT opening one's eyes underwater). When it was time to head back to Florence, we were all so tired and crashed once we got to our apartment.

 

On Sunday, I decided to go rowing...and so marks the most embarrassing moment of my life. I wanted to go out on the water instead of training on the ergs and so I got out a single and one of the workers at the boathouse was pushing me off the dock. He was pushing me off while simultaneously lifting my blade into the air. If you know anything about rowing, you know this is not going to be good. Just as I began my decent into the gross Arno, a quad of four 60+ year old men were docking. They saw what was happening and began to violently throw their hands into the air (you think Italians speak with their hands? They do. Very much so.). When I came back up from under the water, totally ready for my close-up, I lifted myself up onto the dock and got the boat out. It just so happened that Massimo and one of his friends decided to dock at the same moment as well. Massimo interpreted the situation and spoke to Mauro (the most intimidating of the four men). Mauro, who has a good 70 pounds on me, said that from now on, I would row with him. In a double. Did I mention he speaks no English? Afterwards, Massimo was nice enough to go out in a double with me and I was so grateful. That night, we had a potluck dinner with some other people in our program to kickoff the semester. We also got gelato (my first time) and it really is something else, totally delicious.

On Monday, I only had Italian class at 9AM-10:15AM, so afterwards, I went to the boathouse again and then came back and cleaned my room, haggled for a leather bag, and then just did some stuff around the apartment and explored a little bit around Florence.

Tuesday is my busiest day of the week, so I have Oil Painting from 9AM-2:30PM and then I have Italian Cooking class from 3-5:30PM. Italian Cooking class is going to be totally awesome. My professor has cooked from the age of 13 and is super into what he does. We get an official chef jacket and hat and apron and we get to cook in Mercado Centrale  in the brand new state-of-the-art kitchen there (the Central Market with fresh produce and meats and basically anything you can imagine). After class, I went to the boathouse again and got in a workout and met a couple of the rowers there.







On Wednesday, I had Italian Language again at 9AM and then I had drawing 101 with one of my roommates from 3-6:40PM. Bus2alps was holding a dinner at Al Gatto for 15 euros with unlimited wine and water, antipasto, four types of pasta, and some great people. My roommates and I went and then after, we were given a free drink at a local bar. We got our free drink and then spent some time together out with some of the Bus2alps reps.

Left to Right: Nina, Natalie, Krista and Me at Niama

Yesterday, I had graphic design class from 9AM-2:30PM. My professor was "known as the best designer in Italy for quite some time" so that was pretty awesome. When I got back to my room, I took a nap and then headed to the boathouse. There, I finally met Filippo, who I had been emailing back and forth with for a while about coming to the boathouse...very much a Jesse Williams look alike. I also met Pedro, a rower out of school in Seattle...such a small world. Afterwards, I came back to the apartment, we cooked dinner, and then some friends came over and we went out to "Club Blanco" which was a pretty nice venue for a club for sure. There was a 70+ year old man out the night before when we went out and sure enough, he was at Blanco last night. Imagine Bob Barker plus 75 pounds and an even cheesier suit. Italian men in general, feel entitled at bars and I'm quick to give them a dose of reality if they try to do anything more than talk to me. When we got back to our apartment, some of my roommates wanted McDonalds (at 3AM) so we decided to walk there. Not knowing the precise location was our first downfall. After about a mile walk, I made the executive decision to go back to the apartment. So that's pretty much it since last time, haha.

Fun Facts about Florence:
1. Toilets do not have handles to flush, they have buttons on the wall.
2. If for some reason you thought that Italians drive on the opposite side of the road, they do not.
3. Police Officers can ask you anytime and anywhere to see your passport, and if you dont have it, you will be fined (I'm convinced they see it as a game).
4. There is not a microwave in our apartment, its like going back to the 50's, only, I don't make a good housewife.
5. Nutella is so much of a thing that it comes in big glass jars.
6. In some cases, wine is cheaper than bottled water.
7. Skype, Hulu, and any other video/tv show/movie streaming program "Has not reached" Italy yet.
8. The Italian accent is very cute when spoken by little children.