New Adventure on the Horizon!

Hello world!

Yes, it is now 2018 and not 2015. Over three years have passed since my last posting. Just typing that out sends shivers down my spine. How fast time has flown. There are so many things to update all of you on!

First and most importantly, I've decided to change this blog up a little bit, repurpose it, let's say. I'm up to much different things lately, and need a place to tell the world about it! Of course, it will stay travel-focused. If I proclaim to maintain a 'travel blog' I will need to backtrack the past few years and write about my adventures in Africa with my father. I don't think I wrote about my travels to Zambia and Botswana in 2015 following the end of my year in Padova.

The semester had come to a close, and my father and I met in Zurich. We flew to Livingstone, Zambia and spent a week with our friend doing a variety of wonderful things. We were able to work with our friend, Sandy Simpson, who founded GRAD, Green Rural African Development. He works in Livingstone and surrounding areas to mitigate human-wildlife conflict through the installation of cost-effective elephant deterrent fences around small village farms. His work is very hands on: he goes to villages who are having conflict with elephants destroying their crops, teaches them his system, and works directly with them to install the fencing. He then returns regularly to ensure the fencing has been successful, educating the villagers on how to maintain it themselves. We travelled with him on his daily routines, checking fences, meeting villagers in the more rural areas surrounding Livingstone whose lives have been positively affected by Sandy’s work. This is when the mal d’afrique hit me, and I fell in love with Africa. Connecting with these Zambians over a shared experience, working the fences together, was an entry point to connect as humans. I saw such genuine kindness, gratitude for life. Here I saw the success of the solidarity methodology: Sandy’s presenceand follow-through showed me the power of working together, supporting one another, and sharing joy in successes, and how this creates a more empowered and peaceful global community.

Of course we went on safari. Of course we saw magnificent animals, met magnificent people. Oh, and we also swam in the devil's pool at the top of Victoria Falls... 

that was quite the thrill! But above all, as I previously mentioned, this experience awakened within me a love for Africa, an incessant desire to return, and a newfound dedication to global social responsibility. 

Then, two years later, we returned! This time, my father and I visited Rwanda, Tanzania, and Malawi.We met incredible people. We saw incredible animals and nature. We learned about the countries we were visiting; their histories, current events, prides and fears. We returned having had the experience of a lifetime!  I'll share just one photo, where our joy is TANGIBLE! 

Rewinding a year from this life-changing adventure with my father: I spent summer 2016 living in Grenoble, France! What a wonderful, enriching study abroad experience that was. My french skills were sharpened, my cultural awareness broadened. I met some incredible people along the way, of course, as one does, when traveling with an open mind. 

And so here I sit , more than half way through 2018, in my kitchen in Cambridge, MA. I don't know if I've ever shared my professional experience with you... I work for Whole Foods Market, and over the course of the last year, have gone through a series of promotions where I now find myself as one of the Associate Team Leaders for Store Support. Working with people in myriad ways: customers, my team members, the community. 

I'm bursting at the seams to tell you of my newest adventure! Departure date is just around the corner. I don't know how to lead up to it, so I'll just tell you and then give you the back story. I applied and was chosen to serve as a Whole Planet Foundation Team Member Volunteer to INDIA!!!! with Whole Foods Market. I leave the US on 7 October for three weeks to travel, volunteer, learn and connect with an incredible group of like-minded people! 

You are probably wondering what Whole Planet Foundation is. If you've shopped at Whole Foods in March, you probably got the rundown from your cashier. (At least if you came to my store, you definitely did). Established in 2005, this non-profit provides microcredit to the ultra-poor around the globe in communities where Whole Foods Market sources product. Loans are provided particularly to women, giving them the opportunity to start small businesses and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Whole Foods Market has microfinance partners all around the world to which they provide grants, the monies of which are distributed as microloans. When loans are repaid --and Whole Planet Foundation has a 96% repayment rate-- all funds are redistributed as new loans, which allows the funds to recycle and the pool to grow. Check out the WPF website for stories and information! 

I am very passionate about this organization as it implements a solidarity methodology—support for the loan recipients at the ground level—and empowers individuals to use their entrepreneurial skills to create a positive shift in their lives and in the lives of their families (children go to school). I love working for a company that is socially responsible. It means everything to me. I believe that supporting the ultra-poor through small loans and educational tools is indeed a successful way to help combat global poverty. I am inspired at the idea of providing the tools and watching all a human being is capable of achieving.  

SO, as you can imagine, when I realized I could be a part of this, I was. From working within the store to spread the word, educate our team members and our customers about the work that Whole Planet Foundation does, plan fundraising events and spearhead our fundraising campaign, to researching independently the impact Whole Planet Foundation has around the world, I became completely absorbed within this world. Now I am grateful and incredibly excited to SEE, TOUCH, EXPERIENCE Whole Planet Foundation in India! 

On our trip, we will visit Varanasi to meet microcredit clients of CASHPOR, Whole Planet Foundation’s microfinance partner in India. CASHPOR's vision is a to help their members to break out of the intergenerational poverty trap... Through income-generating loans to loans that support their clients in education and health initiatives, they are approaching microcredit and helping people in a wholistic way. While in Varanasi, we will attend a center meeting where clients receive support and education on financial management and strategy, and learn about the microcredit clients’ businesses. We will also have the opportunity to meet with individuals who work with Whole Planet Foundation at an international level and learn from their experiences and about the work they do.  

We will also travel to Rajasthan to visit Jodhpur, then be introduced to the Thar Desert community of Baap by Traditional Medicinals (whose teas we carry in our stores), and learn about the cultivation and harvesting of Senna. You can check out the Revive! Project as part of the Traditional Medicinals Foundation we will be participating in on their website. With Traditional Medicinals Foundation, we will learn about and address water scarcity issues in the Thar Desert with WomenServe, learn about the empowerment of women in rural India, and provide community service, digging water collection tanks called Taankas and assembling play areas for children. We've had a few conference calls to this point, where we've been introduced to some of the incredible people we will get the opportunity to work with and connect with on this journey to India. I can only imagine how inspiring it will be to meet these individuals and learn about the work they are doing. 

The empowerment and education of women in rural and urban India is fundamental in breaking the cycle of poverty. The future is female! Please watch this video!

I just booked my flights yesterday, got approved for an Indian Visa, and am figuring out a few logistics. One of the incredible things about this program is that Whole Foods Market pays for all the in-country transport, logistics, etc. (And our region pays for half the airfare, too!)

Overall it's incredibly exciting. 

I can't wait to share this journey with you. 

How is it 2015 already?

Good morning blog-readers! I pray to you to let my enormous three month blog-hole slide. My sincerest apologies. Anyway, it would be close to impossible to recap from mid october until present day, however i can fill you in on a few things.
First of all, the first semester is over! we had finals that were literally so so stressful, especially my psychology final that had me crying and not sleeping, and stressing to the nth-degree! it ended up going well, thank the heavens, but it was my first university-in-italy-oral-exam... I'm sure you can imagine! before that my friends David and Lauren and I went to Amsterdam and it was amazing! Aside from being freezing, we had an amazing time and visited many places (my favorites of which were the Van Gogh museum, the tulip museum, and the cheese museum... where on a whim i bought 60 euros worth of cheese and payed 30 euros to get it sent to California for my father, lucky man, empty Tess wallet!) The culture in Amsterdam is so different, and it was really strange for us to hear so much english.  

And then came the day in which all the other BU students left to go back to the states (on december 17). It was very sad but i know they all had amazing experiences here. I feel extremely grateful and lucky and blessed that i will be staying here for another 5 months, its going to be nose to the grindstone, learn italian time!
I'm switching host families for a slew of reasons, but the woman who will host me is named Maria Grazia (like my Maria Grazia in Puglia, don't know how common of a name that is but its still a nice coincidence) and she used to work in a bank (like Angelo!) but now she is retired (even though she is younger than my mother) and lives in the center of Padova, which will be super convenient and make everything more doable, even if its just psychologically more doable.
Courses for next semester begin on February 2nd at the BU center, and March 2nd at the University of Padova, where three or maybe all four of my courses will be, still trying to decide.
Currently it's looking like Morphology (in the sector of linguistics), literature (maybe 2 courses of literature), french if i can make it work, and if not french, then Art History. I'll be sure to keep you updated!

I spent the holidays in Puglia with my family, all of us! (Titti, Angelo, Leda, Francesca, and Nonna Leda!) we went to Napoli for christmas and all stayed in a hotel together with Angelo's sister Anna and her family. It was completely different than all christmases i've lived before but i loved it and I'm glad i got to be with family for the holiday. We did a lot of cooking at the Caiati house! Making pasta by hand, typical Leccese deserts, and so much fresh produce, so many colors, flavours, it was heaven, i'm sure you can imagine!  I stayed in Trani until the 3rd of January, including New Years that was spent with all those lovely southerners that are so dear to my heart!

Then I embarked on quite a journey, from Trani to Roma by myself for 4 days. I took the train, in first class (because all the other seats were sold out at the time of last-minute booking), made my way from the station to my Airbnb right by the Colosseo, where Isa hosted me in her home, all the while with a huge creature on my back, affectionately my backpack, which easily weighed 50 pounds.

Galleria Borghese, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, and MAXXI were the three museums on my list, and I managed to see all of them! (all worth it). I fell in love with Bernini-- he is a sculpting genius, i spent far too much of my two hours in the Galleria Borghese just sitting and staring and being in awe. seriously breathtaking and unreal and magic!

Then Mamma Ruth arrived from sunny California and brought with her the sun! I met her in Rome and we went to Sicilia together for a few days, relaxing, eating well, and walking along the beaches of Ortigia, the historic center of Siracusa, on the south-east coast. We rented a little apartment, again with Airbnb, clearly obsessed, it's amazing can't say enough about how amazing it is... in which we had a kitchen, a bathroom, a roof-top terrace with a spectacular view of the city and the expansive sea, and an enormous bed ! Then we headed to Padova, where we rented yet another Airbnb(!!!) centrally located, sweet little apartment with all we could have ever asked for. I took my mother around this city and showed her all the wonders it has to offer, or at least those I know of!
We took a day trip to Venezia and visited the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which is marvelous. She tried some typical plates of Veneto and loved(i think) everything. She just left last week.

And so we are basically caught up! Four of the new BU students have arrived, they are with the Management internship program rather than the Italian Studies or European Studies programs (of which the students arrive next wednesday) they are sweethearts! I've been playing tourguide but it turns out i don't know as much about this city as i had previously thought, which is fine because there is time to learn, thank god :)

I went to mass (oh my gosh so unlike me, no one would have ever thought in their wildest dreams that Tess would go to mass, on a monday) but I went and to be honest I loved it. Its not that i'm becoming religious, but i have a newfound appreciation for the spirit and energy within the church, that the people (mostly old italian women) create. It helps that it was at the Basilica di Sant'Antonio, which is an utterly gorgeous space. I'm going again this morning! who would have ever thought.

But it's not too surprising, a lot of things about me are changing. I am no longer vegan, nor vegetarian, but rather omnivore, (whoops!) and i sometimes eat buffalo, or horse. I would have never thought that this would happen! where have my values gone? I no longer wear clothes that could be considered inappropriate, I cut off about 10 inches of my long long long hair that is now just long hair (but healthy now). I'm working on my fluency in italian and it's coming along although its not come as far as I would have wanted so far , and I know i'm a little at fault because english is often spoken amongst us american students (lets be honest, almost always spoken amongst us). It's definitely a LIFE-CHANGING experience going on over here!

Life is going on, this is one hundred percent my life now, this life here in Padova, I don't want this experience to be over, because then my life as i know it would be over. It's wicked strange and I'm not sure how re-adjusting to a life that i no longer feel such a strong bind too is going to be. Thats too far off in the future to be worrying about !
hope you all are having a beautiful 2015.
baci da Padova,
Tess

l'arrivo dell'autunno

Autumn is in the air, or should we say winter is in the air? because in the last week the daily high has dropped from mid seventies to low fifties, and it's cold! the smell of chestnuts roasting on an open fire (kid you not, in every piazza) and gently decomposing fallen leaves fills the streets and the mornings are sunny bright and crisp. It is a completely different Padova!
  Loyal blog-readers i've let you down its been at least a month since my last post and i'm terribly sorry. Life here has been so incredibly full and busy that in my free moments (which are not many) I'm sleeping! but here I am finally, on that brisk tuesday night, ready to fill you in (as best as possible) on the last month that has just flown by.
  I've been traveling almost every weekend. the weekend of 19-21 september our Boston University class went to Firenze. It was a little too hectic and touristy for my blood! (is that an expression we say? having written it, it seems wrong--what can i say, my english is falling to pieces...) Anyway, In Firenze we had the privilege to be taken around by BU which means going to museums, getting 'free' admission, and not having to make a long que. We visited La Galleria dell'Accademia and saw Michelangelo's Davide, which I had seen once before with my parents at age 11 and so this time it made much more of an impression ! what a masterpiece, truly. Whilst we were inside admiring Davide, we hear what sounds like millions of hammers on metal. It resembled pouring rain but much stronger... So we finally go outside and it turns out that there had been a brief hail storm! which seemed so out of time and place because mind you it was around 70 degrees! what a kick, to see all the streets covered in white hail-stones on a late summer afternoon.
  Our second stop included la Basilica di Santa Croce, which was my favorite stop in Firenze, a church / museum that has the tombs of some of the most famous artists, literary figures, and musicians in history that either worked or lived in Firenze, including Michelangelo and Galileo. the energy inside that basilica was indescribable, we spent at least 2 hours in silence just walking around and taking it all in. It is a must in Firenze and a little less touristy (still touristy).
  Lastly we visited La galleria degli Uffizi which i have to say is one of the most beautiful museums of art i've seen in my life. They have breathtaking collections of Renaissance masterpieces, including i capolavori di Giotto, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Caravaggio, e Botticelli (there are so many others but not being an art-history savvy girl those are the only ones i can pull out of my hat). Gli Uffizi were mind-blowing.  
  We also visited Palazzo Vecchio, Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and a lot of other interesting things whose names i cant remember. it was an amazing weekend and aside from the hail storm we had wonderful weather. we stayed in a really lovely hostel where we met a lot of travelers from all over the place, it was quite a trip to sit in the little bar at our hostel and talk with guys from like 5 different countries, communicating in 50% english, 25% french, and 25% italian. the ability to communicate cross-culturally is magic. that feeling is what this experience is for and when the opportunity presents itself like it did at that hostel it feels literally like the best thing in the universe.
  The next weekend i went back to Trani! Oh la Puglia you have my heart and soul. It was a mix of 'is this real' 'have three years really already passed' 'oh my god its so beautiful and i love all these people so much' 'wait, the food is exponentially better here' and 'i'm finally home again!'. it was bittersweet because i was only there for three days but knowing that my home and my family and friends are there and that I can return whenever the spirit moves me is such a magic feeling.
  I was able for the first time to really hear the difference in pronunciation and the dialect differences of Puglia and Trani specifically after having lived in Padova in Veneto for a little over a month. Before, Italian was Italian, but my ear has adjusted to a certain level from which i can now detect regional differences both in colloquial speech and pronunciation in general. i guess i've begun to speak an italian a little more padovano!
  The next weekend we did a day-trip to Venezia and did the Bacaro tour. I Bacari are little bars that are relatively inexpensive that offer little drinks (specifically small glasses of wine, prosecco, and spritz) along with little appetizers you can choose. much fun.
  Then we had midterms so the following weekend was spent studying... or trying to study because the weather was so wonderful and La Fiera delle Parole  was happening at Padova and I wanted to go out and listen to the authors, giornalists, and musicians that were speaking. It was really culturally enriching and quite a unique opportunity to go and see these people share their philosophies and inputs on life and on the literary/ cultural world.
  Then we all went to Roma and it was amazing. I love that city! Granted it is touristy as well (like Firenze e Venezia) but it doesn't feel as suffocating. We toured the Colosseo, the Foro Romano, Pantheon, many churches, and i musei vaticani. The art collections that the vatican museums offer are so numerous and so beautiful that one could spend at least ten years exploring, analyzing, and appreciating from an artistic, cultural, and historical point of view. three hours was definitely insufficient.
  Finally last weekend, I went to Firenze to visit Leda who now is studying Medicine at the University of Firenze. I hadn't seen her since I went to visit her in Canada in the spring of 2013 and so our sisterly reunion was greatly needed. She took me around Firenze with the perspective of someone who lives there and not as a tourist and I have to say that I liked the city much more. To actually hear italian in florence! It was just last weekend that the weather changed and we experienced quite a chilly night last saturday in the beautiful city of art.
  Back in Padova now and academically things are really picking up, there is a lot on the Padova-study-abroad-student's plate at this point. Our courses at the BU academic center are going well and I'm learning phenomenal amounts of things... The literature class i'm following has presented me with works of prose that i probably would never have found to read in my life but am so grateful to have had read them because they have made me think and made me smile and made me ponder deeply what it means to be in the 'Italian Literature' canon and what it means to be an author in a language that is not your mother tongue. Of the authors we have read some of my favorites have been Carmine Abate, Helga Schneider,  and Gezim Hajdari (who is a poet).
  At the university of Padova i decided to study psychology. this was an undertaking to say the least! it is proving to be very challenging (principally because the course is conducted in italian, its a lecture with about 200 students, the subject matters aren't light easy and breezy, the terminology [vocabulary] is new to me, and the pace is extra-fast) but i'm managing and i'm finding it super interesting and stimulating.
  I have become a volunteer for AFS Intercultura Centro Locale Padova! I realized that this would be an amazing opportunity to be a part of the community that was so fundamental to my first experience here in Italy and a way to meet like minded young people who have also studied in foreign places and thus have similar perspectives on the cruciality of becoming global as a generation. They are a lovely group here in Padova.
  Currently feeling ridiculously grateful of my decision to remain in Padova for the entire year rather than for just a semester as i watch the semester wean to an end and realize just how short four months really are. A year really is needed for a language, at minimum. My italian is only so-so still, in terms of speaking... reading and understanding is more or less of second nature at this point and i catch myself on a regular basis eavesdropping on a conversation and giggling or thinking something ridiculous or making a harmless judgement on the people i'm overhearing only to realize afterwards that i was listening to a conversation in another language. it doesn't even seem like a foreign language anymore, it just seems like another language that at this point in my life has become a part of me and a part of my synapses.
  may there be more to come. our brains ARE capable. language is, in my opinion, the best tool for existence, and it's all over this world and at our fingertips if we just reach out and try to grasp it with a little tug it will be in the palm of our hands and seeping into our essences becoming a part of us that can communicate with members of different cultures, different walks of life, different everything. it is what unites us as people.. just reach!

the flight of time

Today marks three weeks since arrival in Padova. Time is going by ridiculously fast it blows my mind. I think that time has just progressively been speeding up! Regardless, a lot of things are going on here, lots of fun is being had, and lots of learning is underway. Our whole Boston University group is going on a weekend trip to Firenze, departing tomorrow morning bright and early at 9am from the train station (which is about a 40/45 minute walk from where I live). We will be visiting several galleries and museums tomorrow and and saturday and we will be doing some off the beaten path explorations (necessity). Three of my friends and I will be staying two nights at a hostel and the other 6 will be staying at an Air B&B. It's exciting!
   Last weekend we went to Verona for the day and we were blessed with the perfect temperature and the perfect amount of sunshine dancing down upon us. apart from going to see the casa di giulietta, (too crowed with tourists) we roamed around and stumbled upon some of the most beautiful bridges, buildings, churches, narrow streets, steep green hills rising up in the peripheries, and of course little cafes. It was amazing.
   I've been doing a lot of socializing with italians. In the element! It is one of the most amazing sensations that I couldn't possibly do justice with my words. this language sometimes gives me shivers. My italian has improved quite a fair bit, predominantly my understanding (which i would say is at about 90%) and writing... We had to write a composition for our Italian class and the paper I ended up writing to my surprise came out very stylized-- metaphorical and poetic and very quite Tess.
   On the academic front things are going well, learning so much every day that at the end of four hours of class in italian i'm exhausted! in a couple weeks we will begin our courses at the University of Padova, i'm hoping (so extremely) to take a french language, literature, translation and mediation course. At the BU academic center here i'm taking two courses with core focuses on emigration and immigration-- one is just that, in a historical mind frame, and the other is a migrant italian literature course that focuses on works of literature written by either immigrants who have spent a majority of their lives in Italy or those who were born here to parents who immigrated. These works of literature are so beautiful-- they offer us so much perspective both culturally and literarily. Immigration into Italy and the concept of "lo straniero," or the foreigner, is often a topic of discussion. It's really interesting to be studying a topic so currently culturally relevant that I hear people at the dinner table or in the bars talking about it almost every day.
  There is really not too much more to add at this point, just that things are really wonderful here and i don't know if I'll ever be able to leave. The other american students are really wonderful.  We have become a little clique-y which is better in my opinion because being in a big group of 11 americans is horrendous. (even though they are wonderful people). That being said though, we do all get along really well and when we do have to all do an activity together we have loads of fun.
  I'm trying my best to show that not all americans eat fast food, not all americans are monolingual, not all americans are culturally ignorant, not all americans dress poorly, not all americans tote guns, etc, etc, etc, without dissing my country of origin. I have discovered though that the way to get the message across that not all americans are arrogant and to disprove the aforementioned stereotype it proves pretty helpful to not be ashamed to carry myself as an individual and to not associate myself in the conversation as 'american'; rather as a child of the earth.

   xxx Baci xxx

 Verona Arena 

colors in the sky

happy people

 

 the kittens are growing up!

 good morning little princess <3 

New Flavors of Moment

So here I am, all you loyal blog-followers, sitting in my room in the Sacra Famiglia neighborhood in the ridiculously wonderful city of Padova, feeling a gentle bliss. The sun is shining radiantly and there isn't a cloud in the sky. The kittens are playing right outside my window and occasionally the little kids next door giggle and shriek in Italian as they play in the yard. Windows open (always) and the fresh end-of-summer-air drifts in and out of my room.
 Literally so much has happened since arriving here a little over a week ago, it feels like it's been a month (in a good way) and the life has been ridiculously non-stop (also in a good way). Talk about new experiences, new faces, new places, new tastes, smells, temperatures, streets, piazzas, everything. It is all new and so so beautiful. I can't believe how much i've grown in just these last 10 or so days.
  I would like to do a brief re-cap for you all, as daunting of a task that seems to me as my fingers click across my keyboard...
  And so here we go: there are 11 american students here , myself included, 9 of which are from Boston University and two of which are from other schools (which I can't remember right now). We come from all different places across the states and we all have different stories. It's a little (miniature) american melting pot of 20-something-year-olds. At present we all are getting along, thank god, and we are enjoying immensely exploring this city and all the experiences it has to offer. All the locals say that this city is small, that there's not that much to do here, but I just want to say, in contrast, that this city is very big, and that there are SO many things to do. (especially considering that Trani is actually a small city).
   On the topic of locals--I've made so many italian friends already its wonderful. I would say that i'm pretty blessed with my host family situation, principally regarding the attitude with which they run their house, but also because my host sister Marta is wonderfully social and accepting, she is opened minded and we get along very well--she has taken me out a few times and i've gotten to meet her friends. But, as I am focusing on a period of my life in which PROACTIVITY is essential, i've also made some wonderful friends on my own initiative. I think my abilities with the language have been essential, because i'm really able to communicate, socialize, and even touch on deeper social, cultural, and political topics in Italian. I can imagine that without my italian everything would be a little more difficult.
  I am so very comfortable here. I haven't been this content or happy for a long time. Something inside of me is finally at peace and now all the person that I am is able to look at life and say " i'm so grateful to be here, this life is so beautiful, this person that I am is beautiful, this world is my pearl( i think they say that?) " etc...
  Anyways, on to other topics, such as adventure: On my first friday here I went to Ferrara, which is a little city slightly south of Padova, like an hour-ish in car. To orient you, lets say Ferrara is near (just north) to Bologna. There was a festival going on called Bunkers Festival, in which street musicians come from all over to serenade the city-- on every street corner you stumble on a little cluster of people surrounding a solo-musician or a band, swaying or outright dancing to the multitude of genres from rock to jazz(the best) to some electronic mixing, to drums, etc. It was amazing! I went with Marta and some of her friends and for about 6 hours we talked non-stop in italian. Let me just tell you that this is a ridiculously beautiful experience, that words cannot describe, and that someone will only understand if they've had this experience on their own. Regardless of how insanely wonderful this experience is, (speaking for that long in a different language) , it's also very exhausting. and when i finally got into my bed at like 330 in the morning I was out for nearly twelve hours, basically losing my first saturday in Padova (I'm not too worried though, there are so many more to come!)
  Next topic is academics, because from monday the first to thursday the fourth i had my first four days of classes at the Boston University academic center at Galleria Santa Lucia near Piazza Garibaldi in the center of Padova. the first and foremost detail of this academic center is the fact that it is staffed by the most wonderful, interesting, insanely intelligent, thoughtful, and passionate people. My professors are amazing-- and considering that the average class has about 5 students (seeing as how we are only in 11)  the learning environment is very intimate and enriching. everything is taught in italian. It's going to be demanding, but doable. I would say that I'm definitely not feeling stressed or overwhelmed for the academics, but we've only had one week of classes so there's really no saying yet! My classes include: Advanced Italian Practicum with Claudia Baldelli, Migrant Italian Literature with Laura Lenci, and Immigration and Emigration in Italy with Gadi (I can't remember his last name!). They are all wonderful and intellectually stimulating, especially the literature course because it's a relatively  new field of study and very dynamic and thought-provoking. the academic director Elisabetta Convento is completely lovely and so helpful, as is Bonnie Ponthier, the student affairs coordinator. I also love Mara who basically dealt with all the legal documentation and visa paperwork for us and is entirely sweet and personable and a joy to see. I basically love all the faculty and staff at this mini-university.
  I will also be taking a course at l'Universita' degli studi di Padova, which will begin in the beginning of october--hopefully ill be taking a french class.
 Yesterday five of us took a day trip to Venezia and we were blessed with a beautiful clear day there, with sunshine, gentle breezes, and not to stifling of a heat. we drank wine in the piazze, ate pizza in Piazza San Marco (which was ridiculously over-priced but delicious) and walked probably a total of 4 miles exploring the narrow alleys and streets, walking along canals, admiring the architecture, and chatting amongst ourselves. I asked for directions about 50 times no joke--for a directionally gifted person like myself, Venezia was like a maze. We had an amazing time. It's so easy to travel!
  I'll add a few photos, but other than that, I think i've covered most of the main big details. So welcome to my Padovian life! I hope to keep you posted from time to time when life allows :)

Uno Spritz in Piazza dei Signori

Buskers Festival far out Jazz

 the view from my classroom window!

Piazza dei Signori

Cappuccino and croissant 1,50 Euro!

 In Venezia

Mama cat nursing her kittens in the kitchen <3

Here We Go Again-- Next Stop: Padova

So as you all could have probably imagined, my previous experience in Trani affected my life so much that i'm at it again, only this time through my college (yes, i'm actually in school at Boston University) and this time living in Veneto, instead of Puglia. I will study in Padova, a beautiful ancient city about 20 miles inland from Venezia in the north of Italy on the Adriatic Sea coast.
 Boston University offers so many foreign exchange programs, and lucky for me (and all the other Italo-language/life-obsessed university students) one of them happens to be the Italian Studies Program centered in Padova. I am about to embark on a year-abroad. Starting next monday, the 25th, I'll be on my way. This is an academic program so i'll be enrolled in 4 courses per semester (of which there are two), for a total of 32 credits at the end of this coming academic year. Boston University has an academic center in Padova, staffed by italian professors and coordinators, where students take either all or most of their classes. For those of us who are slightly more competent in the Italian Language, the option of enrolling in a class or two per semester at l'Universita degli studi di Padova arises. these classes are pretty difficult, or so i've heard, and will require serious dedication. And so, Im planning to take one course there in the fall and, depending on how it goes, two in the spring. I've declared a major at BU, Italian Studies, and so mostly all of the courses that i'll take abroad will apply towards my degree.
  Again I will live with a host family, who i will discuss in great detail after we meet--later next week! I just can't believe its all happening so soon! (sneak peak though, they have two kitties and two dogs, all girls!)
 Im ridiculously excited to embark on this adventure, to see how it is different now that i'm a little older and more matured in many ways, to see how different things have an impact on me than the things that impacted me before. My main focus this time is language: i've become obsessed with the human potential for language learning. i started dappling in french this year and i love it--there is no better feeling (in my opinion) than speaking other languages. my aspiration is to learn and master as many as possible, because i believe that in order to appreciate another culture the most important crucial skill is that of communication. I believe in my heart that it shows so much respect and a certain worldly value to learn a language other than one's mother tongue. Another focus is travel--this program is much less strict than AFS intercultura was, especially in regards to rules on travel. Im planning to travel as much as seems reasonable.
 Fortunately this go-around, the wonderful BU study abroad office dealt with all the visa shenanigans and so the stress of going down to the consulate and applying for a study visa was almost enitrely removed from the equation. The program manager at BU study abroad, Mary Ogburn is really amazing and all the staff are very helpful and supportive.
  All there is left to do is pack , organize and say goodbye to all the people and things in my life here in San Luis Obispo, CA, and get on that evening flight out of our little small-scale airport. it seems unreal, and i have a feeling i should be stressed and nervous--but thank god, i'm not in the slightest. I'm eager, proud, and longing for experience, for the cultural overwhelm, and to be in a historically rich, magnificent city where I get to finally hear italian everywhere i go again.
  I thought it would be interesting to keep this blog going, and there's a good chance i will keep it going for quite a while, as my twirls around the world are far from waining.  If it works out, I'm planning to write about once or twice a month whenever time allows.
 Here's hoping that my journeys can serve as inspiration for all those aspiring travelers out there, or can give the final push to just do it. I wanted to give a huge plug for AFS Intercultural programs though, because without them and without my highschool study abroad experience, I don't know if i would have found this passion of mine.
  May this passion within me awaken or stir the passion within you-- journey on.

back to the here and now

I don't know exactly what my problem is. writer's block? who knows. perhaps the complete utter shock i've been in for the last month since i arrived home to sunny little California. to my quaint little town nestled between the rolling mountains. to my favorite coffee shop downtown with excellent vanilla soy lattes. to all my loving friends. to all the adventures that i had missed so. to my family, my house, my garden... the farmer's market. i guess everything came down upon me like an oppressive fog, an overwhelming  haze that dragged out for over a month.
so here i am. adjusting from my shock. re-habituating myself to this life. and let me tell you-- that's not an easy task. first of all, i feel like a completely different person. i feel sort-of displaced. like there is no specific place where i really belong. and then i think... i obviously belong here. wherever here is, because that is constantly changing. but here. where i am. in this moment. in this place. all on a general scale, of course:) and this place, where we are in every moment, is constantly changing. and that geographic location doesn't even really have importance in our lives... in our places. we are in control of our satisfaction and of our contented bliss. so then why is it so ridiculously hard to adjust from one place to another? why do we struggle so much to re-find our contentment? and what really is contentment? does true contentment really exist? or are we all changing our outlooks to find our own satisfaction, our own enjoyment and peace in our lives. who will ever know. anyway, my apologies for my philosophical babble... just a little tiny circular-shaped window for you to peer  into my chaotic mind!
what i was trying to get at, is that i believe, in all honesty, i have found contentment in my life. not my Italian life, or my San Luis Obispo, CA life. not in one particular section of my life, but in my life in general. and i think it's thanks to my experience with AFS. my lovely experience in Trani, Italia.... where i made life-long friends and memories. the 6-month period of my life taught me more about myself and the people of this world than i ever thought possible.
and so here i am! at one of my homes. It's really wonderful. the sun is shining, the birds are eating on the feeder out front. my best friend is dj-ing on our local college radio station, and i am feeling so peaceful.
To me, living six months away from my California home helped everything to fall in place for me. i know who my true friends are. i'm more social. more aware of the effects of my actions and words. less of a hypocrite. more worldly. i have one more year of high-school. and i'm taking only the classes that interest me. im non a pawn in a cookie-cutter system any longer. and i'm not afraid of what will come.
This life we are living. all of these glorious moments, each of which has at least a miniscule effect, are like teensy dots on a stippled picture. when looked at in a scrutinizing manner, they may appear insignificant, chaotic, meaningless or even angering. but we zoom out, step back, to get a better look at our lives. our stippled masterpieces. with shadows, textures, graceful-flows.
we all have them, stippled lives.
and so look at what you have. it is beautiful.
this program, Intercultura, figuratively grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me violently, and scared me. but it dragged me back from my judgemental, prying, stress-filled outlook. it dragged me out of my rut... where i was stuck, trying to analyze senseless dots. this experience pulled me into another realm from which i can never leave. from which my eyes are more open and i can see all the beauty that this world offers us. where all my dots come together. from where i can see the potential, the opportunity, and the millions of doors which are swinging open all over the place. doors i think i can enter now without fear.
so here i go.


thank you all so much for following along with my journey. I hope you got something out of it :)


quando si permette l'opportunita' per qualcosa nuova da succedere, tutte le cose belle che sogniamo inizieranno. e la strada che desideriamo diventera' una strada che possiamo prendere facilmente e senza paura.
grazie intercultra. <3

June Bloom

I have often heard the phrase June Gloom, especially in California, where the morning fog really can be a bit of a downer. but as i live through this June here in Italy, I've got to say it's anything but gloomy. And so, welcome to the month of Bloom. it feels fitting, since there is a lot of growing taking place, a lot of blooming, so to speak. I feel like in my last full month in this wondrous country i'm a lot like an oriental poppy... a red one to be precise. all of my petals have emerged, slowly uncrumpling from the fuzzy green package which restricted them so... folding outwards, still wrinkly, but initiating to form a flower. a flower, which is unlike any other... not in fragrance or appearance, but in it's roots which twist down deep into the earth, it's roots which are nourished by this diverse globe.... the soil which we all share.
And so i'm a happy little red poppy in these days! my last two weeks were so full of fantastic moments, fantastic adventures, fantastic memories. First of all, I made a voyage up to Milano!
and what an incredible voyage. So essentially it put to test all my skills i've learned here. I had to take the plane alone, navigate the airport in Milano, find my train to the Milano Centrale Stazione, then find another train to Brescia, a beautiful little city where my friend Chandler lives, who was hosting me. overall, it was about a 4 hour journey. I had to ask for help, which put to use my italian speaking ability, I had to follow signs, have confidence in my decisions, and most of all I had to take in the amazing fact that i was traveling in Italy alone, with my colorful backpack slung over my shoulders, not as a tourist, not as an italian. Who exactly am I then? if not an italian, not a tourist.... who can I be? and so I sat in that little train from Milano Centrale Stazione to Brescia, thinking. and I came to the whole idea that i'm Tess. It was like an obvious realization, that to you may sound stupid, because obviously i'm Tess. but it was more than just, 'i'm tess'. it was like, here's this girl, who's living in a new place, speaking a new language, and contently experiencing a new way of living, who is traveling alone in a semi-sketchy train, a train that she found on her own. I don't know... perhaps it sounds stupid. For me, it was just a real confidence booster that i could accomplish that on my own. it was like a realization of all i've accomplished, of all i've become, of all who i am- Tess... someone worldly, diverse from just a Californian, or just an italian. i'm a swirl.
So i arrived at Brescia and Chandler and her host mum got me at the station. we took a beauteous walk around the city, it is gorgeous. there are so many mountains and green trees everywhere. Honestly, it really made me miss California. gosh, it was so beautiful! all those rolling hills, forested in a deep green. peeps of red and yellow, and the cloudy sky adding a suppressive hot glow to all the nature. quite the few days there in Brescia. one of the days we journeyed to Milano with another girl Ursi from Australia. that night, we saw Death Cab For Cutie (SO FANTASTIC!!) live in Milano. we ate Mexican Food! we laughed, walked through the streets of the city, enjoying our blissfully young lives. we saw the duomo, had some really expensive cinnamon gelato, and did some shopping:)
The next day we saw Verona, the city of love and Romeo and Juliette! how beautiful! We saw the house of Juliette, the walls full of graffiti, the letters nestled in the cracking walls... quite a poetic sight. all the young lover's names scribbled across the stucco, blending into a twisting and twerving colorful mass of sensations... hallways filled with romanitic energy, all the dreams waiting to be had, all the memories waiting to be remembered.
And then I returned to Trani. my home! for my last day of school - alas, i've finished with school! I had to write a 4 page paper in Italian, summing up my scholastic experiences here, and my friendships that i've made at school. It wasn't too difficult! and with that, I finished up with Liceo Psico-Pedagogico.
The next morning, very early, I left with all my Intercultura friends for a four day camp of all the students in this region in Taranto. we did a whole slew of activities. the second night, they had us all sit in a large circle on the floor... with all the lights out, and they gave us all little tea-light candles. we had to think of a memory that is really meaningful to us that happened in Italia, and when we felt ready, we had to say it out loud to everyone, and then light our candle with a lighter. there was a pure silence, full of so much respect and understanding. so many curious ears listening, so many open hearts loving, relating, and of course so many sets of eyes crying. It wasn't suprising how similar some of our memories were. We began to gradually illuminate the pitch-black room with all the lit-up emotions. and then all the volunteers came and took all our lit candles and placed them in the middle of the circle, organizing them to speel AFS. it was so beautiful.
and then on the last day, they had us all lie on the floor, close our eyes, and imagine all these things, imagine entering into our houses after having been gone for so long, smelling the essences of our kitchens, kissing our mums on the cheeks.
 but overall it was quite the bonding experience for all of us... it was also real sad because we won't see each other all together again until we are in Rome. Until we go home in 20 days. the number is so small. I have found a pack of four friends, we call ourselves the four seasons... Me (autumn) Leah (summer) Ian (winter) and Charlotte (spring). we are all AFS students, and thus have something really strong in common. also, we get along spendidly. I'm really going to miss them when i go home. oh those words, 'when I go home'... are finally setting in with some reality. because i'm going home so soon. but i feel so at home here. so where am i going? this adventure has taken me all over the board... i've found my other home.
With my papa who takes us out in the boat on the Adriatic Sea, the powerful, vast, strong sea... whose gentle swells caress us. lapping softly, the transparent and warm sea surrounds us. It's such a concept, the sea. So impossible to understand, so expansive and strong.. but then again so gentle. such a soft touch. kisses from the sun, strokes from the sea, and stability from our soil. we are all walking, all growing, together producing an infinite wildflower field... and i'm a red poppy

Roma, om bowls, and little things

So the day after my last entry i got a call, an amazing call, a call that made me scream so loud with excitement that my sister was furiously surprised. I got a call from MariaGrazia, my Intercultura support person, asking me if I would want to go to Roma with the host family of my friend Charlotte, from New Zealand! I don't know if i wrote about this in my last post, but on the 11th of April my host grandmother had a pretty bad fall and came to stay with us. she has been staying in my room since then, and I've been bunking with Francesca, my little sister:) It was pretty difficult at first, because everyone in the house was so nervous and stressed out, and for the first week I felt like i was without a space of my own... without my room, my closet, etc. But now it's much better and I'm settled in (in fact, sharing a room with Francesca has made us so much closer! so in a sense I'm grateful!). Ok.. so how all this relates to Rome... so my family was going to go to Rome the last weekend of April, but after the accident with my grandmother, we couldn't make the trip. which was sad. but then, I got a call! and I went to Rome. and oh my god.
Roma Roma Roma... I could probably write about a 20 page book about how much i love Rome. honestly it's the most beautiful city I've seen in Italy so far... or at least it ties with Firenze. my two favorites. However, Roma is so full of green. for being such a busy full city, there are a surprising amount of trees, flowers, grassy open spaces, and other natural things! Here in Trani, there is not really that much green. not to say there isn't any, because of course, there is green. but roma... my goodness. and on a sunny day, when the temperature is warm, there is a gentle breeze, the piercingly blue sky is splotted with puffs of white,the sound of about 20 languages is fluttering at ear's reach, and your sandaled feet stroll mindlessly along the cobblestone streets, rome is better than a dream.
Ok so as you probably know from my previous posts, if you've been following along in my adventure, I'm a terrible tourist. in the sense that when i see a famous place, and have to retell about it, i usually say something like, "there were these really pretty red oriental poppies growing out from the cracks" or something. not because i'm stupid, because i'm not, but because those tiny little beauties stick with me more than the dates of some battle, or some emperor who lived in a big house. and so, yes i know, the fact that I went to rome and didn't learn much about rome might be considered a bit pathetic. but here's what i know and the touristy things i did for those of you who like to read that kind of stuff:)
Allora... so we arrived, (having driven 4 hours in the car... Me, Charlotte, her host parents Silvana and Giani, her host brother Andrea, and their little terrier dog Laky) around the hour of 2 or something. and we got settled into our cute little bed and breakfast, on the 8th floor of this gorgeous roman building, old, and with an elevator that doesn't leave much to the imagination! and then we set off, having raded the B&B's pantry of whole wheat bread and jam, to walk around the city. of course, there was a gelateria down below, (thank you Italia, by the way, for having a gelateria on EVERY single block!!! makes dieting simply impossible) and so we had a gelato. i tried pear! suprisingly delightful! ok, so we went on this long walk and crossed the river of Roma, i'm thinking its called Tiber River... then again, im not sure, considering i am terrible with names! ok, then we saw some famous buildings in the political district of Rome, and then a Piazza who's name I don't remember, but who I studied in Latin class at SLOHS! there is a fountain in the center, and i think my latin teacher told us a story about how he and his wife met/went out for the first time/had a date there at some point, i can't remember. but it felt cool to stand in a place where someone I know had stood! so then we went to this amazing little restaurant where i ate an immensely delish salad with arugula, fresh tomatoes, huge pieces of Buffalo mozzerella, and some amazing rich balsamic. we all had glasses of beer and shared some bruschetta. yum. but oh how much i miss my family in California's cooking... the fresh, light, veggie/flavour-filled, small portioned meals!
ok, so then we went and saw forum romanum (which i studied in my latin class too!), colosseum, panteon, arch of Titus, fontana di Trevi, and many other things. one monument whose name i cannot remember, but some people know it as the 'Wedding Cake'. if you have no idea what im saying, sorry. ok, then that night, we went out for SUSHI! the first sushi of italy... and here is what i have to say: italy isn't famous for it's sushi for a reason. I left feeling homesick, hungry and 20 euros poorer! but oh well, it was an experience. So the next day we went to the Vatican! after waiting in line for ages we entered, and it was so beautiful. probably the most beautiful church i've ever seen. so immense and filled with art, colours, details. it's crazy that it was made by people before the times of power tools, machinery as we know it, before computers. the capacity of humanity unaided by modern technologies is shown clear as a bell in the Vatican, it is truly a magical feat. speaking of feet... we walked more than 500 steps to the top of the vatican to see a panorama of rome. so amazing, in fact i did it barefoot! my feet were blistered so i removed my shoes during the stair part. don't worry, i wasn't barefoot in the church! but the concept of being up so high, standing above one of europe's most gorgeous churches, seeing all of rome, proved to be even more spectacular than i could ever have imagined. ok, so then we ate lunch at this tiny sweet restaurant caffe and went home to our b and b. Charlotte and I went out together, met up with my second cousin and had caffe macchiato's in another famous Piazza whose name i cant remember. but there was a huge fountain and about a million vespas zooming around! and my cousin, Denver, told us to go to the Spanish Steps. The spanish steps are some (or should i say tons) of marble steps going up up up, covered with geraniums, bouganvilia, and other flowers, and of course a million tourists. I bought a piece of cheese and we sat in the sun enjoying life.
OK im on the last day of our trip! we woke up pretty early, took the metro into the center, and went to a huge mercato di Roma! where i had an amazing experience with an OM bowl. for those of you who don't know, om bowls are like singing bowls, and when you play them, huge vibrations and sounds that penetrate deep into your body, into your soul. so we are walking through the market, and i see this booth with all the things i love: tapestries, om signs, prayer beads, om bowls, little buddha statues, statues of ganesh, but most of all in that moment, i was drawn to the om bowls. there were so many! and so i imedialtey picked one up and started playing it. it was so big and so the vibrations were really strong. i guess that in Italy not many people know how to play om bowls, and so the guy who was working at the booth seemed happy and suprised! he brought out another om bowl from the back that was much bigger and began to seranade me. oh my god. i just closed my eyes as he moved the singing bowl from the crown of my head to the front of my face to myear to my stomach and back to the crown of my head. the vibrations of the sound waves were so intense. it literally left me trembling it was so intense. but so beautiful. it was like a ten second sum up of all my sensations in this experience abroad. so intense, and yet leaving me so trembling, so effected, easliy taken over by a greater power, a greater energy that fills our lives... some type of universal energy i cant describe. but this experience, here in italy, concentrates the energy. increases the flow of this feeling, this sensation of unitedness... all the crazy air molecules vibrating insanely together, fluctuating and pulsing with a vital rhythm. Ok, and although I probably sound crazy and i'm not making any sense, this moment i spent with that om bowl essentially re-directed all this universal energy at me. re-awakened my drive,  my courage, my focus.
alrighty i'm done with retelling rome! please excuse my english, i know it has gotten rather horrible! but now on to my life here in TRANI! the city that will always come into my mind first when i think about italy, the city where my family lives! where i have friends, two sisters, a whole crew of adults i see as parental figures for me, and five cats. where i have a beautiful life.
and oh what a beautiful life it is! It's storming right now, quite the fluke, but it has been so lovely! i went to the beach many times, and my family went out on the boat on Saturday! we slept under the strong italian sun, went swimming in the salty adriatic, and ate cucumbers and focaccia:) quite a beautiful day. probably the amazing family helped make it such a beautiful day...  oh what an amazing family i have here. they are such loving, remarkable people! it feels like i have two houses now. one in California, and one in Trani.
but all beautiful lives have their difficulties, part of what makes them so aweing. and my difficulties here in this beautiful life are summed up in one word that pops directly and easily into my mind. mentality. the mentality here is so different. i dont want to say it's bad, because it's just a little bit strange. perhaps only for me because im foreign, but for me, the mentality here has been a difficulty. the feeling that you are being judged for almost all you do. the feeling that everyone is always talking about everything, there are always rumors, there is always gossip. of course, you may be saying something like, 'there's gossip everywhere!' and yes it's true. but perhaps its stronger in southern italy, at least it seems it to me. and everyone here is extremely over-concerned with their reputation. they always think about their reputation before they do anything. ok, i shouldn't steriotype all southern italians by saying 'they', so i mean, in general, 'most' souther italians. but its okay. just takes some getting used too. and i think i'm getting used to it. I actually doubted my outfit yesterday before school and changed because it was too low cut. and if you know me at all, you will think, 'Tess changed her outfit to be more appropriate for school???? WHAT???' and i reply, yes, yes, yes. perhaps i'm more italian than i ever thought possible:)
and i'm speaking! pretty well! not fluent at all. but i'm working on it. it seems when i study, my speaking energy gets worse! who knows why:) but i've been studying alot because i'm going to take the certification exam in Bari at the end of June. im thinking of doing level B1 or A2(which is a little easier) i have to pay, alot, and if i dont pass the exam i choose to take, i dont get any type of certification or anything! so i'm thinking it may be better to go the safe route and do the easy one. but then again i think i can do B1! and this experience here sure isn't taking the safe route in life, and so maybe the exam should be a little stressful and scary also, because if i can do it, which i think i can, it will be even so much more rewarding.
I have to say that I LOVE my afs local chapter. they are all so amazing. we had a lovely party in the country last sunday, filled with marvelous food, music, singing, dancing, and good company. we are all one big family! its like a mini globe... all united, all international, all friends. AFS intercultura truly is like a huge global family. a family that I have become a daughter of:)
and i love my families.

almost may...

this month of april has flown crazily. and many lovely and exciting things have happened over the last three weeks that i must retell. ok, so shortly after my last blog post was the initiation of easter break in italy, which is a week off of school for easter (as you may have figured). the friday before Easter, my family and i went to Bari for the day and did all the fun sorts of shopping things, etc. but my favorite part of our day trip was the 3 hour picnic/nap we had in the most gorgeous park. all green and filled with trees, grasses, flowers, animals... and yet in the middle of a massive city. reminded me of some of the city parks in DC. it was beautiful. we had probably the best gelato i've ever tasted at this little gelateria, very antique and well known for the people of Bari.
easter was soon here and we had a beautiful day. blue, clear, and warm. where i live, on a little peninsula jutting out in the south of trani, there is a very historic monastery. So on easter sunday, my family walked, (the 30 second walk), to easter mass. It was actually incredibly beautiful! seeing that im not really the religious type, it was so beautiful even i was able to appreciate it's beauty. our easter lunch, oh deary me, so devine. suprisingly small! i always thought that easter in italy was the biggest food day! but in my family we just ate a regular amount (tons) but especially delish; crepes with a marvelous sauce and mushrooms/artichokes.  my italian grandmother made them, so you can imagine their wonderful/classic-tastiness.
ok then it was Pasquetta, the day after easter, and there was an amazing party in the country that i went to, so beautiful with tons of trees, grass, flowers. I think that nature is what i miss most. Trani is incredibly gorgeous, and there is some nature, but i miss wild nature. and so it is fun fun to be in the country or in a vast green area:)
there are many religious parades of the Madonna and of Jesus in my city, some of which take place during the night, others the morning, others the evening. i saw two, and they were so intense. i have to say they frightened me a little. mainly because all the men in the parade were dressed in these white cloaks and their faces were covered with these white cone hats, and they looked almost identical to the Ku Klux Klan, whitch was horrifying. i almost cried when i first saw them. marching slowly twoards us... but then i realized it was totally different and not a horrible racist group, it was a beautiful religious tradition. then i appreciated it. but in the begining it was scary, as you could imagine!
the fifteenth of april, all of Intercultura in my local chapter traveled to Napoli, which is a very beautiful city. we walked around like crazy! it was a bit chilly and rainy but we had so much fun! it was so cool because i got to see mt. vesuvius, which i studied for like two years with my latin teacher at SLOHS. we ate pizza of napoli, probably the most delish pizza of my life! and some delishious sweets, we saw the sea, the castle on the water, many other glorious things!
the other students of Intercultura are so amazing. i have made so many close friends with the other foreign exchange students! they are all so easy going and fun to be around! and its so wonderful to know i have friends all over the world i can go to visit whenever in this life.... this experience is totally eye opening for just how big and diverse this planet is, and also just how connected and small it in in the realm of the universe.
I was thinking today about this experience, and i came to 5 points why its insanely life changing.
1. you learn a new language, honestly. i never could have fathomed this, but i am learning Italian suprisingly fast! in no means am i fluent, i barely get by to say the least... but its starting to feel like i can do it! and my friends who have been here for a year are such inspirations!
2. it gives you the possibility to make life-long friendships with people from all over the world. friendships that will last forever because they share one thing so strong, they can never be destroyed.
3. your relationships with your family and friends in your home town gets stronger and better. as they say, time strengthens everything... wait, do they say that? i do:)
4. you get the chance to know and love (and hate some parts, like being judged by EVERYSINGLEPERSON when you go barefoot somewhere) a new culture and a new family. a family that isn't related to you, but feels like it. a family that will always be there for you, always be a second home.
5. and finally, this experience helps you mature. the whole concept of having to be way more social, way more comunicative, give way more of an effort to all relationships, way more self-dependent, way more self-transportive, and way more reflective on your life in general, your future, the choices you've made, the effect of every little thing you have done, are doing, and will do. it's insane how reflective this experience will make you. and it really opens you up. like someone slices you open with a swoard and at first your in agony because it's so painful and scary, but then (considering that this example doesn't include the possiblitiy of death...) you are so relieved as everything can pour out into the open, it's lightening. i'm imagining this example, (mind you, im crazy,) with someone so weighted down, and then sliced across the chest and all these birds fly out and its so liberating. in a strange way thats exactly how this experience is. painful, difficult, but so worth it. It teaches you so much about yourself, the world, your previous life, your priorities, the things you used to take for granted, and how diverse our planet is. Its the best choice I have ever made in my life. and also the most difficult.

il Sindaco di Trani e qualche altre cose

I was officially welcomed into Trani by the mayor himself! Last week there was a meeting for me with the Sindaco (mayor) and many other important people, both from my school and from Intercultura... and of course my family. it was so amazing, that all those people took the time to welcome me into Italy, with a silver-plated plaque and an amazing foto-filled book of the history of Trani. The only reason this welcoming was after I'd been in Italia for two months was so that I could hopefully understand the language and speak a little, which i can! its amazing, in fact I was interviewed in Italian! if you are interested in reading the article, it's here!  http://www.traninews.it/articoli/9736-progetto-intercultura-il-sindaco-di-trani-incontra-una-studentessa-16enne-californiana-.asp yes yes yes, it's in Italian, but its easily translated in google translator:) It was really an amazing experience to have the opportunity to meet the Sindaco and communicate together. I am so grateful for Trani! an amazing place to live!
And it is surrounded by amazing places to visit! this last weekend i took a 3 day trip to Gravina in Puglia, a little town about one hour away by bus, where my amazing friend Leah Sharaby lives. she is another Intercultura student, and we met in New York, hit it off extremely well, and thank goodness we live so close! we took an amazing 3 hour long walk through the historic center of Gravina and almost got lost a lot... but thank god for my directional sense, we were never too lost:) Gravina has this beautiful section with a huge reservoir and grasses and trees and so much green and its hilly and everything is so antique and rustic and gorgeous. we traversed the hillside and crossed il ponte... a super old and stone bridge. being such marvelous adventurers, (considering that all students who go on exchanges are marvelous adventurers!) we ambled off the beaten path... (literally) and found a lovely sunny place to sit with an amazing view of the bridge, the valley, and the historic gravina... it was amazing! of course i did a bit of yoga:)

the flight of time

oh gosh golly gee whiz. time has flown. marzo has come and gone in the blink of an eye. it's already the thirtieth! for me this seems impossible, but then again, this experience proves everything possible. it is literally life-changing. aside from being insanely eye-opening to the world surrounding you, it also teaches you so much about yourself and about what your genuine priorities are. I feel like i've grown so much the past 2 months. haha i have to laugh at that, because i meant it mentally, but also I've grown physically... 10 kilos... whoops all that italian food's really setting in:) but oh goodness it's so so good. regardless, it doesn't really matter because all is good.
where to begin... So much has happened since my last post, ok i'll just start at the beginning. the trip to Umbria! insanely wonderful. aside from being heaps of fun, this trip was really educational and amazing practice for my Italian language skills. 3 days without one word of english:) my two roommates, Silvia and Claudia, sweetest girls ever... and luckily, they don't speak any english. it was perfect! in fact, i rarely speak english anymore here, only with my Intercultura friends and with emails and other things of that sort. it feels so good to be able to communicate in another language, as rough and incorrect as my italian may be. but today, i was having coffee with my friend and he kept telling me how american my accent was... and then we went to pay and the man at the counter asked me if I was from north Italy... you cant even believe my happiness at this! he thought i was from italy! it was so exciting:) for you its irrelevant, but i had to mention it because its just one of those things:) allora... Umbria: oh how i love this region of Italy. Umbria oh Umbria how beautiful you are. every place you look you see rolling hills, steeping mountains, little ancient towns nestled amongst them, trees, green, fields of trees studded with itsy-bitsy pink and white blossoms promising the fruits of summer...   it is insanely gorgeous. the first day we toured Gubbio, a little city that has a very antique church and a nice little history. It was hard for me to focus on the historical things in this place because I was so incredibly taken by the sweet little narrow streets, incredibly steep, the millions of window-boxes with cascading red and pink geraniums, and the quirky old italian ladies sweeping the street outside their doors. But, yes the church was beautiful, and also this city of Gubbio is a little famous for its hand-painted and crafted pottery! something of much interest to me:) there was one story about a man who spins his clay on a car wheel! hard to believe, yes? then we went to our hotel, a sweet little hotel, our class took up the whole second floor:) and dinner, so much! two pastas, then a second course, then some other things, then salad, then some bread and cheese, then some gelato if you want... oh goodness it was insanely too much.
so the next day we went to Assisi. So beautiful. we got an amazing tour of the Church of San Francesco, the st. who is famous for always being with the animals. i hadn't realized before, but san francesco d'assisi in Italian is st. francis of assisis! so it was really cool for me to see where this amazing man lived and worked... a man who my family has an advent calender of! quite a beautiful thing. but this church of san francesco was amazing. massive. filled with beautiful art. the gorgeous high ceilings covered in frescos, the stained glass windows basking the internal parts of the curch with colourful beams of light, and the cracking tile floors reflecting hundreds of years of passing. and this church is filled with a story. really awakening to the reality of history and to the reality of how small and united our globe actually is.
After we saw Assisi, we hopped in the bus and popped over to Spello, my favorite city of this trip. so incredibly quaint and gorgeous. all the streets were tiny tiny tiny and cobblestone and extremely steep. also the architecture here was breathtaking. so quiet and innocent, not sabotaged by the modernness of society, but historic and thriving peacefully in a more tranquil realm. there were so many wild cats! in fact italy is filled with wild dogs and cats! i dont remember if I already wrote about this, but its so different for me, its always on my mind! so i guess here in Italia its not custom/law to spay or neuter your pets... and so there are always excess babies! and they roam around, sleep on parked cars, follow you in the streets, it's actually a little sad, because they don't have somewhere cozy to go at night.
then we saw another church of san Francesco d'assisi, and it was really aweing. the concept that the room where San Francesco died, the paintings on the walls, have been here for over 800 years. and this amazing man was in the same romm in which i stood. in which we all stood. sort of sends up chills for the spine!
The last day of our trip we visited Perugia, famous for its chocolate. oh yes, this chocolate is very very good. the kind that just melts into a rich creamy syrup on your tounge, seeping into your tastebuds with the perfect amount of sweetness. i ate so much dark chocolate, my body was probably an anti-oxidant pool. Ok so then we came back to Trani.
That about sums up the class trip, so wonderous.
hmm then it was st. patricks day and my AFS friend Riley came to trani for the night and we went out and about a little, much fun, and the next day embarked on the primo giorno of Settimana in Scambio, or exchange week, with Interculutra, in matera... (my second time in matera) it was a brilliant day, sunny and clear, and we had so much fun roaming around the beautiful old city.
Settimana in Scambio is a program made for the year students with AFS, (not allowed for semester students, not fair!) in which you get to experience another part of Italy for a week. so essentially we had about 3 students from north italy and one from Sicilia. They come to the local chapter of Trani, which encompasses Barletta and Andria, and the whole chapter spends the week together, doing little tourish things around the area. nice to have a week to bond with other exchange students and not to have to go to school! we had a nice tour of Trani, and we got to go up into the cathedral, from the top of which the view is amazing. we also saw the castles of Barletta and Andria, beautiful. In Andria we got to see the church of the sacred spine. I guess this is a little spine that was in the head of Jesus and it is very sacred and magic. once and a while when two special days collide, this thorn becomes soaked in blood! its a miracle, because it's in an airtight container and it can't be opened. rather interesting, eh? for me this is so difficult to believe, but i find it cool that we got to see the home of this sacred spine considering there are like six or something in the whole world.
We had a lesson of classic Puglia dance, and that was so fun:) an amazing occasion to learn some traditions of this region and wear a long skirt. some of the other exchange students and I are going to embark on weekly classes to learn this style of dance better! its so fun and beautiful, and the music is oh so groovy and fun to dance too. Finally on the last day of the week we had a photography lesson with the husband of Annalisa, one of the volunteers. It was incredibly fun, walking around barletta taking pictures and being instructed in Italian how to give them depth and make them more alluring to the eye. the week was finished off with an amazing party of all the people involved in the chapter... lots of food, dancing, and happiness. Im so grateful for Intercultura Centro Locale Trani! this chapeter has been so amazing!
Ok now some little wonders you might enjoy, who knows:)
the flowers are popping up all over the place! on the braches of trees, in the grass, on the side of the road, and they are insalely beautiful. little red poppies are everywhere! and also little yellow dasies, and the cherry, peach, and almond trees are coated with little blossoms. its gorgeous! finally feels like spring:) and its warm! very warm! my family is begining to put away all the super warm things, because they aren't needed anymore! woohoo im so excited! we have a little terrace on the second floor of our house that is socked in wiht sunshine from noon to when the sunsets, especially strong from 3 to 5, and ive been taking naps up there after lunch senza pants to tan up my legs a bit! and its so nice and warm and summery:)
I've got this little vase of spring in my room, filled with some unique flowers i found, and it really brightens it up! if your room ever needs a little fresh cheeryness i strongly recommend a little bouquet, it will lighten everything up a bit! Che bella questa vita:)