A Bidet is Only Good for Washing Your Feet...

During my time in Italy I have learned a lot about the Italian culture. And I have to say that it is…well I do not know what word to use to describe the Italian culture, or any other culture for that matter. I cannot say that it is funny, because although there are things in the Italian culture that make me laugh the only reason I laugh is because its different from how I do things. And you cannot call a culture different because there is always that underlying feeling of something different as strange. And even if a culture feels strange the only reason it feels strange is because it is not the culture you are used to. Just because you are not used to something does not make it bad, in fact it makes it better! It makes it an adventure. There, that’s the right word; the Italian culture is an adventure.

One adventure that I have experienced is the Bidet (bu-day). You know, the round almost toilet looking thing that is in every bathroom in Italy, just sitting there. Something you bump your shin on every time you walk into the narrow bathroom. It is used for…well I think you know what it’s for and I would rather not describe it (if you don’t know then google it). In my opinion it just takes up space. Lauren and I have never used ours in the 4 months we have been in Italy: one because we are not sure how and two it seems a little pointless. However Giovana cleans it regularly because the dust that collects on it at the end of the week is always gone by Sunday (cleaning day). So I have decided that its best use is for cleaning your feet. It is the perfect height to just step your foot into without falling over and it has warm water so your feet do not freeze. After a long day in your shoes your feet can always use a warm bath and the Bidet helps do just the that.

Small door ways has been another adventure, and one that has made me laugh. There are always two doors to every room, like mini French doors. So the door way is about the same size as in American door way but there are two doors instead of just one. And the Italians really only keep one of the two doors open/unlocked at any given time. Making the entry and exit of a room a slow process. Everyone has to leave one by one. You cannot rush through a door because you could possibly hit a shoulder, elbow, or hip if swung too close to the door frame or other door. And it is really a fun process getting any sort of bag or backpack in and out of rooms because the doors are really only meant for one person or one item at a time. Sometimes the sideways approach works but not always. I have learned that the slow, squeeze approach works best. If you can get yourself though then most likely whatever else you have will make it through; a little pulling sometimes helps. They are however very practical when it comes to the size and shape of the city homes. They are normally pretty tall and narrow so the tall and narrow door ways make sense.

The ‘zenzara’ are anther adventure that we all experienced but im not sure I would call mosquitoes adventures. They are terrible little bugs that eat you alive if they get the chance. And they are all over Italy. The little evils were all over the house and I killed at least 5 a night: hoping to save my roommate and I from total destruction. So we all prayed for the first freeze. As soon as winter comes most of the zenzara die off so we hoped and prayed for the first freeze and when it came we all rejoiced!

Then there are also, of course, the surprises in every culture: the things in a new culture that you fall in love with and will now incorporate into your own life because you like them and they have made an impression on you. The Italian culture surprised me a lot!

The art appreciation in Italy has surprised me! There is so much art and history in Italy. Years upon years represented. Ancient cultures and societies have left their marks in every corner. These marks, in the form of art and architecture, have been found all over Italy. The Italians have been amazing at preserving these important pieces of history. The museums are well set up and preserve the delicate art safely. The churches from hundreds and hundreds of years ago are kept clean, beautiful, and silent: just how they were built to be. The United States does not have a very long history, we do not have as much past as Europe has. It is so nice to see Europe and Italy in particular cherishing the art they have and showing more appreciation for history than I have ever seen before.

Family has always been priority in my life. It was just how I was raised. And in Italy family importance is big, huge! The most important time of the day is dinner time, the time when you are with your family. Being a part of an Italian family was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Family has always been a priority to me but being in Italy has made me appreciate family and family time even more.

I was also very surprised to see so many small family own businesses and restaurants up and running all over Italy. Small corner shop artists being able to sell one of a kind pictures. Or the millions of bakeries on every block turning out the best pastries and cookies. And the fresh fruit and meat sitting outside tiny rooms with old ladies chatting away inside about the weather or the latest gossip. The small businesses in Italy always had the freshest products. Everything smelled so good and looked so colorful! The fresh and comforting senses that came from being surrounded by small businesses was wonderful.

My time in Italy (and Europe) was filled with adventures and surprises. I learned a lot. Made some great new friends. Was adopted by an Italian family. Saw more art that I could have ever imagined. Travel to seven countries and saw twenty five cities, in four months. And I am proud of who I have become after learning from all of my new experiences :)

Love you all and hope you enjoyed reading what I have been up to! Happy New Year!

With Love and…

The End of My Adventure.

Pictures from the Connelly Travels :)

Dad and Valerio! Man Dad sure can eat a lot of pasta!


Giovana and Me. She makes the best deserts :D
Mom and Giovana! Mom's quilt is right in the background. This picture was taken right after i told Giovana that Mom had made or 'fatto' the quilt!

Mia Famiglia Italiano!
Christmas eve in London!
Christmas day on the plane :) Best tree ever!!

(p.s. i have one more blog coming and then i will be all done)

Mia Famiglia!

Mom, Dad, and Jen have been in Italy for a few days now! I still cannot believe they r here, in what has been my home for the past 4 months. They not only brought more love than i could have ever imagined but they brought snow too!

It has not snowed in Italy in 4 years and before that 10 years! And the night they came it dumped! Big fat flakes all over, covering Florence with so much snow. People we out walking around laughing and enjoying the snow at 2:30 am because what else would you do when you do not see snow on a regular basis.

Mom, Dad, and Jen have started getting the hang of Italy and i am very proud of them. Just the other day Dad made a great observation when he went to flush the toilet: the 2 big buttons on the wall are for right handed flushers and left handed flushers! Although this is not true it was a good observation. Even after i told him that each button was for a different toilet business he preferred to think of it as a right and left handed flusher friendly toilet. Mom is loving the coffee and wine here. It is different than what we get in the US. The coffee is really only for hard core American coffee drinkers, which mom is. And when you share a good bottle of Chianti with people who really know how to enjoy wine it makes the meal so much better! Jenny insists on trying to speak Italian which i appreciate a lot. Italian is not a easy language and i love teaching my family how to say things correctly and without such an American accent. Jenny has not quite been able to get over the American accent though. When ordering the pasta called 'gnocchi' she insists on saying 'nacky' which is one of the most American ways of saying a beautiful Italian word there is. Mom is also having a little trouble with the American accent. She has decided that the Duomo is no longer called the Duomo but more like the 'drromo.' Im not sure where that one came from but its close enough. They all have been trying hard to get the hang of the Italian culture and they are doing a great job so far :) I think the food has been the easiest to get used to!

Two nights ago i had dinner with two of my families! My Italian family and my wonderful American family. It was one of the best dinners i have ever had. Full of delicious food, Italian language, English language, wine, and laughter! Dad had more pasta than i think he has ever had in his life, in fact they handed him the platter that the pasta came on so he could lick it clean. Mom loved eggplant! I cannot blame her i asked them to make it special because i knew she would love it so much. I think Jenny liked the pineapple cream dessert we had, the best and i totally did too. Giovanna makes amazing deserts, Valerio cooks up some amazing pasta, and they both make delicious meats that melt in your mouth. I was so happy to bring my American family to meet and share an evenly with my Italian family! I was worried that the language barrier would be a problem but i had nothing to worry about: the Connelly's are the type of people who can communicate, eat with, and have a great time with Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime! I was so proud to have them representing me and the US! Just reminded me even more how much i love them and what an amazing family i have :D

I am loving Italy more and more now that i have been able to walk all over Florence and Not pull out my map once! It is such a beautiful city and being able to share it with my family means so much to me, so so so much!

Love and Miss everyone at home!

Non mi piace studiare...

If the fact that this weekend was the weekend before finals is not hint enough to translate the sentence above then let me help you: I do not like to study! Especially when there are so many other things i would rather be doing. Like for instance, going on an adventure. Going to Germany to drink beer. Taking a train to Paris to see the Louvre. Walking into one of the oldest most famous churches in Europe (that applies to a lot of churches in Europe). Practicing my Italian on the streets of Italy. Eating what ever food a country is most famous for. Or really just walking out my front door and down the street!

But like any student i have to study. So this is my study break before my 3 paper, 2 finals, and 1 oral are due. Which really is not that much compared to what work we do at SCU, but is sooo not fun here!

I figured i needed to share my not to eventful weekend to prove that i am doing work while im abroad. I promise I am learning tons and being tested on it! I would rather be doing all my learing outside all the time though, now that i have been so spoiled learning about art right in front of the pieces :)

With Love!

(The count down is T minus 5 days till Mom, Dad and Jen come!!!)

Lets Dig a Hole!

This past weekend was my last travel weekend...can you believe it because i really cannot. Well i guess not my last last because when Mom, Jen, and Dad come out i will be taking them around to do a bit of traveling! So i am Not at the end of my Italy experience yet :) One of the things i have found to be really fascinating about Italy is that the majority of its history and art is found underground. All over Italy, someone one day started to dig a hole and found a city!

Friday I left on a class trip bright and early in the morning. We had had a good night the night before celebrating a friends b-day so the 6:00am wake up was not fun, but the train ride to Rome made for a good nap. The class is called Ancient Art and Society: Etruscan and Roman, and is taught by Professor Ewell. P. Ewell is one of the best Professors i have ever had! He looks a lot like Santa: i am not sure if i think that just because it is so close to Christmas, but he has a bowl full of jelly for a stomach and a deep kind voice. He is brilliant and took us all around Ancient Rome that is intermixed with current Rome (Dad: i got this sweet book that shows pictures of what Rome looked like then and what it looks like now, and i can make up for all of the info i lacked when we went to Rome). It was a long day, it rained a lot, then was supper sunny, and we saw a ton of Ancient Rome: Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Domus Aurea, Colosseum, Basilica pf San Clemente, Imperial Fora, Capitoline Hill, Theater of Marcellus, Campus Martius, Largo Argentina, Are Pacis, and - my favorite - the Pantheon. The Theater of Marcellus is a famous theater that was built in honor of Ceaser Augustus's nephew who he wanted to be the next emperor (but Julia, Augustus's wife, poisoned Marcellus because she wanted her son from a different marriage to be emperor next). The theater was later turned in to a palace and is now today broken up into 15 apartments. If i ever live in Rome i will live in one of these apartments! The Basilica of San Clemente is a church built on top of a house built on top of a church. You can go down 60 feet and be in the 1st Century! Rome is amazing and has so many stories on its surface and below: so much history its not even funny! That may have been my last trip to Rome for a while but i think i got the best of it the times that i was there, and enjoyed every inch of it.
Saturday we made our way to the Bay of Naples, where our first stop was Pompeii. Pompeii is one of those many cities that was found because someone somewhere dug a hole and found a city! Mount Vesuvius blew its top in 79 AD and covered the surrounding cities, including Pompeii with ash: so much ash that the city was lost for literally 1,000's of years! The art, the homes, the food, the lives of these people who made a home so many years ago in Pompeii were almost perfectly preserved under the many feet of ash and volcanic rock. In one of the pictures you can even see a plaster cast of one of the people who was asphyxiated by the ash and gas of the volcano. Many bodies were found completely covered in ash, that had hardened around the body, then when the body decade it left an open space, the ash made a mold of the body. Plaster was pored into these open spaces and the ash chipped away leaving behind a plaster cast of the person who died. They are so detailed that some of the casts you can even see the persons dieing facial expression. It is very sad but also an amazing discovery that has helped archeologists learn about the Pompeiiens: their diet, bone structure, and life style. The architecture and art of the many homes were also found preserved. Some of the best ancient art has come from places like Pompeii and the cities surrounding Vesuvius. The Villa of the Mysteries is one of those such homes dug up. Although its funny because not all of Pompeii has been excavated. A good chunk of the city is under the current city and cannot be opened up because it would cause the current city to collapse onto it! They also have discovered the seeds of the grapes used to make wine in ancient Rome. Small vineyards have been set up in Pompeii to imitate what it would have been like back in the day. They even sell the ancient Roman wine haha.





We stayed in Sorrento that night. It is a very cute city on the coast. Actually it reminded me a lot of Palos Verdes, along the cliffs. Although that might just be because i have not seen PV in a while and i maybe sorta miss it a little ;) We watched the sun set on the Mediterranean and ate at an amazing restaurant. I'm not sure how much better it can get :)
Sunday we headed out on our purple bus for Herculaneum. Herculaneum is another city that was covered in ash and only recently discovered. When Vesuvius blew its top large gas bubbles came out and sped down the hill 100's of miles an hour wipping out the people and preserving near perfectly the wood structures of the buildings. Recently discovored means a few hundred years ago. It was dug up and pilfered. A good amount of the history was stolen and disrespected because of peoples lack of respect and knowledge of what they were finding. But the bad guys did not get it all! There is a good many statues and beautiful mosaics nicely preserved in the Archeological Museum in Naples. We also saw the Villa Oplontis which was the inspiration for the architecture and ground plan of the Getty Museum in LA. So if you want to see the basic plan of an ancient Roman villa, then go to the Getty and walk around: I know I will! The fresco's in this Villa are absolutely amazing! Some of the best preserved fresco's ever discovered. What is left is so detailed and colorful its hard to imagine the entire villa was covered with this delicate art. Arceologists have done an incredible job piecing together the millions of fragments of fresco and mosaic that had fallen off the walls during the many years the villa was underground. The pictures we see today are basically the biggest puzzles i have ever seen! The villa has 90 rooms, not all of which have been uncovered yet, a pool bigger than an Olympic size, orchards that have been replanted in the backyard, and is on what was the seashore at the time (it had an awesome ocean view). And this was just the vacation home, im not kidding! What a life! It was so much fun just strolling though the streets of an anchient city, like it was no big deal. "Oh hey, look a clothing store!" "What an awesome house." "Want to to come over to my place later, i live at number 2 Main St. Herculanium!" We all laughed when we realized how cool what we were doing was, haha.













We of course went to a Neopolitan Pizzeria while in Napoli and it was sooo good. I'm not sure how i fit the personal pizza into my stomach but i did and so did everyone else. We looked so happy and full at the end of the lunch, it was perfect! A Neopolitan pizza is really only garlic, oregano, and sauce, but i like a little mozzarella on mine. And the crust is thin, not cracker thin but thin enough so that you have to fold the slice in half so as to hold it with one hand and not let everything slip off. Oh and of course they poor olive oil all over it!

A good almost last adventure ;) I'm not done yet!

Love and Miss you all!

The Art of 'No Thank You'

During my time here in Italy I have learned so much about the Italian culture. And i love it! Learning about new cultures is such a wonderful expierence, not always easy but yet still wonderful. In order to remember all of the things i have learned about the Italian culture i have to write them down. The art of saying 'No Thank You' is just one of the many cultural, lets call it, adaptations that i have learned.

Dinner is the most important time of the day for my Italian family. Lauren and i better have a darn good excuss if we are not going to make it to dinner because the Leocata's will do anything to make sure we are all there for dinner. So Lauren and i do anything to make sure we are there on time, which is not that hard because we look forward to dinner every night, how could we not!? Dinner is set up in 2 or 3 courses. The first is always pasta! Any way you can think of doing pasta they do, and more! What made the Thanksgiving dinner this year Italian style was becuase of two differeences. One was that everyone was saying 'buon ringraziamento' and two that we had ravioli before the turkey. Pasta fills you up a lot but it is so hard to stop eating it because it is so good. Then the 2nd course of meat and veggies comes out. The meat is normaly chicken cooked in tons of different ways but always with olive oil, or beef fried with olive oil, or pork cooked with olive oil. Oh we had rabit one night, of course with lots of oilive oil! I have learned that everything is delicious with olive oil :D

But the point of telling you all about dinner time in Italy is to teach you and remind me how to say 'No Thank You' the most polite and effective way so as not to explode with food after dinner. First you must make sure not to eat too much pasta and not too fast. You have to be able to eat the right amount so that you can still have more food after the pasta. But you have to make sure you have enough pasta so that Giovana and Valerio know that you liked it. They judge weather or not you like their food based on how much you eat. So when eating the first course pasta eat slow enough to finish after Giovana and Valerio but do not be last because then you have made the table wait for the next course, and the grandma does not like to wait. I tend to eat the pasta faster than Giovana which shows her that i like the pasta a lot, but then she offers me more! And when they offer you more food you Must take it. If i do not say yes to more of the food that Giovana offers me, i can see the saddness in her eyes, she also makes it very obvious. Italians have the best facial expressions. So you must say yes to more food. Which may make my stomach say no but my mouth always says yes!

This is where the 'No Thank You' comes in. If you absolutly have to say no thank you because you litteraly cannot fit any more in your stomach then start off by saying that the food was great! 'Molto Buono!' or if it was really really good then 'Buonisimo!' Then say 'Non Grazie' 'Basta' and 'Buono Grazie!' Giovana normally will try to give you just a little more, 'Pocino?' And normally i say yes, just because i cannot resist. But the most important thing to do is leave a small spot in your stomach for desert, the special spot! Because Giovana is famous for her desert and you would never want to miss out.

Dinner normally takes about an hour to an hour and a half. And is a careful and delicious process! One that i would not ever miss :D But one that even if i fallow my own advise i still role out of the room and onto my bed with a stuffed stomach, haha.

So warnimg in advanse there are no dryers in Italy so all of my pants fit now, but they might not when i get home and run them through the dryer! Because i am not good at saying 'No Thank You' to the wonderful Italian culture!

The Party!

Sunday night was a fun filled night! Lauren and I attended a party with about 20 Italians only 2 or 3 of which spoke English. It was a dinner party hosted by our Italian family. They had 20 of their closest friends over for dinner from the ages of 40 to 80 (most were over 50). I have no idea where to begin to tell you about this amazing get together! The party started at 8:00 and people showed up at 8:00 and went on until about 12:30. We met the most interesting people that I have met yet in Italy. Basically this party defined my Italian experience in the best way I could have ever imagined!

We met a man who had worked for Gucci for 30 years: he was completely decked out in Gucci apparel. We met his wife who is from Bulgaria and loved the fact that I knew what ‘mishka’ and ‘mutsuna’ meant (although I cannot spell them). Baba, this woman sends her greetings! She is also a tour guide in Florence and speaks 6 languages (none of which are English). We met a pipe maker who explained to us all about this big competition about who can smoke a pipe the longest and how his handmade pipes are the best in Italy. We met a man who must have been about 80 and who had lost his memory, so we were asked the same questions about 4 or 5 times, but he was so sweet. His memory had definitely reverted back to his 20’s so we were hearing stories about when he went to soccer games and got drunk. We met a man and his wife who live on a vineyard outside Florence. They provide the wine that the Leocota’s love so much. We met Giovana’s brother and his wife. Giovana’s brother is so much like Valerio it is not even funny: they are both sarcastic, enthusiastic, and fun loving Italians. He teased me the entire night for going back to the table with all the food multiple times :) We met three actors who are in a play that is opening in early December. One is the director and writer, while the other two are famous actors in Italy. One of them spoke English and did a lot of translating the whole night. He and his wife have been to the States many times to see tons of shows. His favorite by far is Wicked. They invited us to come see their play on the opening night and visit them backstage after the show!

All of the food was set up on the big dining room table and everyone went in and out sitting all around the house talking and eating. This went on for about 2 and half hours. Then people started to trickle out around 11:00 and we were left in the living room or ‘after dinner room’ with about 10 of the remaining guests. The conversation was half in English half in Italian. When the actor who spoke English talked to us he spoke in English and the whole room would get mad at him because they did not know what he was saying. So Lauren and I would answer in Italian. The conversation eventually turned to politics, mainly because Italians are very straight forward and I was asked straight up whether or not I liked Obama. I am not one to get into a political discussion but I went with it and it was really very interesting. I got the Italian view of politics and especially United States politics. I was asked the question as to whether or not it was an issue that Obama was black and if that effected racism in the US. I was asked my thoughts on September 11th and how it affected the entire world including Italy. We talked about family and how important it is to Italians. That dinner is the center of the day and how nice it is to have the family connection. We talked about how much Italian Lauren and I know and if we speak it all the time at school. We were asked about our future and what we wanted to do with our majors.

And finally the question as to what we liked most about Italy and what we disliked most came up. I knew it would so I was ready. I told them that I don’t like was that I have not been able to get used to the lack of smiling here. The fact that people on the street do not say hello to one another is so odd to me. To which they all agreed that Italy is a very closed off country and very family centered: if you know someone you welcome them in and if you don’t know them then there is no need to make eye contact. But they had an example of the opposite feeling when they visited the US. One of the couples was at Yellowstone or some national park and some random American came up to them and started talking, asking them questions, how they were, where they were from, what they were doing, and they were very caught off guard, a little intimidated, and personal space and privacy was a bit invaded. To which Lauren and I laughed and had to agree that Americans do not have as much of a sense of personal space, haha. Then to answer the question as to what I like most about Italy I said—most of you already know the answer to this—the art! Every corner has something new and beautiful to offer. Every building has something inside. And every street is literally paved with history! How much better can it get :)

We received so many compliments about how lucky the Leocota’s were to have us. How nice it was to meet such wonderful girls. And how much fun they had talking us. Which was so nice to hear because we know we represented the US and woman well. Our parents raised us right and we held ourselves very nicely with a large group of adult, opinionated, boisterous, Wonderful, Italians!

(P.S. the entry below this one is new too but I figured this was a different part of my weekend that deserved its own entry)