30 Minute Field Trip

Yet again we took the train to our "favorite" spot in Italy, which is Florence. This Friday we went to a different town called Fiesole. Fiesole is a small town in the mountains that still has their Etruscan city walls. We had to take a bus from Florence, all the way up the mountain with 28 students, 3 professors and a baby, 2 staff members, and our famous tour guide Silvia. This meant a constantly packed bus with few opportunities for anyone to really get a seat. The bus driver was rushing us to get on the bus but all of us had to validate our tickets before we got on. The bus route to the top is known for its pickpockets. There were some sitting right next to us that actually tried to trick another lady on the train, but our friend Andrew stared the guy down so he stopped. The way that the buses here speed through the streets is crazy. When we got to the top Silvia told us a little about the city and a man named Garibaldi. He was an Italian hero that went to South America and fought a great war. He also helped unify Italy by freeing the southern kingdoms from their rulers. Due to this, he spent the last 20 years of his life imprisoned in a villa as the sole inhabitant of an island because the new king was scared he would overthrow him. The first church we saw in Fiesole was a cathedral founded in 1028. It has the same shape of the church of San Monica Al Monte. Jeunesse, being Catholic, decided that it was a great opportunity to pray. I let her be while I walked around the cathedral taking in all of the architecture. As we were leaving I tapped her on the shoulder only to realize that she was in tears. She got up and said with a smile on her face, "I'm okay. I just needed to talk to my peoples and the tears just started flowing."

While we walked the long trek up three other steep hills Silvia told us about the auguries. They studied the ancient practice of reading an animals entrails to predict the future. In all of Italian history, they were never wrong. It was an augury that told Caesar to beware the Ides of March. The practice has long since been discontinued.
The second church was smaller but spacious. It was split into multiple rooms and a basement.

The view from the entrance of the church was beautiful. It was definitely easier to go down than come up because we took a different way. Behind the church was a famous pathway through the trees. The European Literature class is reading a book called A Room with a View in which the main character and a possible love interest share their first kiss in a field of violets. Nearing the end of the path, if you looked through the trees, you could see the exact field that the book and the movie were staged in. We then got on the bus and headed back. 

Over the weekend, there was a chocolate festival in our square. they had all types of different designs including chocolate cleats, golf clubs, lipsticks, nail polish, and etc. they also had chocolate liquor. It wasn't as big as the food festival.
We joined our friends from New Haven after the festival and decided to take a walk outside the walls. This probably wasn't a good idea due to the time we went out but there were 5 of us and we knew where not to go. We walked for 2 hours just talking and laughing. After a long walk we sat down on the steps of the old castle over-looking the square. Met some interesting Italian kids, sang songs from the 2000s, and went down memory lane doing cheers and telling all of our athlete stories. It was definitely a weekend full of laughs. 

As for Monday, I think that it's time to create a complaint and suggestion box for these field trips because the way that they've been going, we have some COMPLAINTS and some SUGGESTIONS. The goods news is that we have a lot (too much) history to tell you about and the bad news is we can't tell you about the adventures we had because we didn't really have time to have any. They set up the wake up call for 7:15 and told us to be downstairs by 8 o'clock. We chartered a bus for our day trip to Venice and it met us at exactly 8:30 on the main road. It took a little under 4 hours to get to Venice. We took one break on the way and Silvia took advantage of the fresh minds to give a pre-tour of the region of Veneto in which Venice resides. The region of Veneto is a very forward thinking and extremely wealthy. One of the more recognizable things they are known for is Prosecco. One of the famous drinks of that area is a Spritz which is a mixture of Prosecco and Aperol soda. The economy in only the region of Veneto is rich enough to be one of the G10 countries.The Group of Ten is made up of ten industrial countries (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States) which consult and co-operate on economic, monetary and financial matters. 

As we were about to arrive in Venice she began to narrow the facts specifically to Venice (one of the most photographed cities in the world). It was founded in the 5th century around the time that the Roman empire was crumbling. The city itself is built on a lagoon full of small islands and marsh lands. In the Middle Ages, Venice was almost impenetrable because they were always sheltered. It was very hard for outsiders to navigate the changes in depths of the canals and sand banks to successfully take over the city. By 1204 Venice had actually become one of the four maritime powers in the Middle Ages because of their military presence. The city's government was an exceptionally Democratic type of republic. A Doge was elected and was only in charge for a certain term length, There was a council of 10 and a council of two thousand people made up of all of the most influential families. In 1851 Venice joined the unified version of Italy. 

Because Venice is built on salty water, they had to build underground ways to track water into wells.  There were very few wells in the city and they were very heavily guarded because that was the only source of water for the city. A person would be terribly punished for going near the wells with dirty hands or with pets because they would contaminate the water.

 Speaking of water, all forms of transportation in Venice are narrowed down to boats. There are garbage boats, ambulance boats, firefighter boats, and water-buses. The most known type of boat in Venice is the gondola. We didn't realize that so much went into making them. They are 20 inches wider on the left side to compensate for the force of the gondolier's ore otherwise they would always be turning left. The 6 lines in the front represent the six parts of Venice. The three most known are Murano (known for its glass), Purano (known for its lace), and Lido (known for its beautiful beaches and the art exhibition it holds every 2 years). To get the severely glossy black color, they have to be painted with 7 layers of black paint. They are also made of 9 different kinds of wood and sell for around 15,000 Euro each. 

Venice is also famous for its large carnival. Their carnival is a period of celebration before Lent begins. It is an old tradition starting from the 11th century, but it was most popular during the 1700s. It was full of gambling and sexual promiscuity. People would wear the most amazing and lavish costumes that cost a fortune and have been created with a lot of historical background knowledge. It is a big thing for tourists to buy a mask to bring back with them or sit down in a shop and paint your own like I got to do when I was in Italy. 

After an hour of walking Silvia got to a small square called the Grand School of Saint John the Evangelist. 

This was the base of where many people would come to partake in the 7 labors of Mercy (feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned or ransom the captive, and bury the dead).
As we kept walking Silvia showed a place where you could get cicchetti, which are the Venetian version of tapas. 

We reached the famous Rialto bridge and got to take pictures of the beautiful view for like less than a minute. The view was like no other though. We finally got to the last part of the tour which was Piazzale San Marco. There are three important buildings in that giant square.

The first has an intricately designed clock on the face of the building. The two artists who built that clock had their eyes gauged out because the people of Venice didn't want them to build a clock like it anywhere else.

The second building is another architecturally detailed cathedral. In 1807 it became the official cathedral of Venice. Before that it was personally used b the Doge for different things. The third building had an important bell tower attached to it.

There are 5 bells with all different functions and all different names. One of them is Maleficent. At this point we had 1 hour of walking and 2 hours of Silvia. They let us go for 1 hour. In that hour we had to eat lunch, find a bathroom and explore. It really wasn't enough time to do much of anything. After we met back with the group we walked another hour back to the bus but had to wait for an extra hour because two people got lost and had to take a taxi to where we were. Because we waited so long, there was no break on the 3 hour trip back. We tried to sleep for at least some of the bus ride back but the front of the bus told the bus driver to play music on loud and the only English music he had were 80s hits. The back of the bus was fuming. Lianne (cranky from no sleep, limping on her right knee from all the walking, and terribly hungry) walked directly to the front row and asked Constanza, Dr. Brode, Silvia and the bus driver himself to either turn it down or off. The bus driver brought it down to almost the lowest volume. There were shouts from the front of the bus saying she was a party-pooper and all sorts of other stuff. She gave one of them her "don't even think about it" looks and they mostly stopped. We made it back and went straight to sleep. We'll save the suggestions portion for next week after our field trip on Thursday. We are the test dummies after all. There's no way it would be smooth sailing the whole semester. Until next week!

All The Way Up, Nothing Can Stop Us

Another day, another set of 500 steps that feel like 5000 steps. This week consisted of multiple trips to Florence, a detailed museum, a  building with a view like no other and a triumphant treasure hunt where X definitely marked the spot. Strap in. Its going to be a long storytime.

Photo 1 - The initial wall

The first place that we went to for our field trip on Friday was to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Museum of the Florence Duomo). Silvia joined us as our tour guide through the history of the Duomo and just how much of a historical imprint it has left on the city and the people that have been influenced by it. The initial wall (Photo 1) as you walk into the museum is engraved with all of the artists, architects, and innovators that were a part of creating the baptistery, the church and the bell tower. As you enter there is an open space filled with the original and preserved pieces of artworks that have been recreated and the copies replaced the originals on the exterior. Part of the floor was glass and you could look down and see into the original design of how Brunelleschi used the herringbone pattern in his construction methods.

Photo 2 - East Doors

 The center of the room is dedicated to the three doors of the baptistery. The oldest door of the baptistery was not in the museum. It was represented with a full scale image of the door (Photo 4). The other doors are bronze with the appearance of gold accents(Photos 2 & 3). The details in the doors include extensive relief sculptures and busts of the most important people of Florence at that time. 

Photo 3 - North Doors (1422)

Photo 4 - South Doors (First Door: 1336)

Photo 5 - Virgin with glass eyes 

Photo 6 - Mary Magdalene Donatello

One of the statues that intrigued us the most was the Virgin with glass eyes (Photo 5). Her eyes reflect like marbles with a white haze over them, which was done in order to achieve a more realistic look to her expression. 
This wooden statue carved by Donatello (Photo 6) in the mid-1450s depicts Mary Magdalene (emaciated and old), whom Jesus freed of seven demons and who was believed to be a sinful person. After Christ's ascension to heaven, she became a hermit and devoted her life to spreading the faith via the ascetic lifestyle.

Photo 7 - Michelangelo sculpture

The next room featured a Michelangelo sculpture (Photo 7) that was done for his own tomb stone in the 1440s to 1450s. The face of Nicodemus is actually a self portrait of Michelangelo. He hated this work. The legs are not the right proportion. Obviously unfinished he smashed it with hit own hammer. A student finished it for him and added Mary Magdalene afterwards.
There was a long hallway with all of the original decorations (Photo 8) and statuettes of the building. On one side the hexagonal artworks are the chronological evolution of man and their creations. The diamonds are the moral virtues that man should live by. 

Photo 8 - Decorations of the outer church facade

On the other side were larger statues of important people. 

Fun Fact: the church is still unfinished to this day despite all of the work that has been put into it. The final room of the museum was full of all of the architectural models (Photos 9-11, 13 & 14) that were entered into the contest to chose the final facade of the unfinished part of the church. 

9 10 11 

12 13 14 

There were also historic building tools and instruments (Photo 12) that were invented to create the church. The room had a video playing telling the story about how Brunelleschi asked a room full of architects how to make an egg stand up on its own. Dumbfounded, they all gave up. Brunelleschi then broke the bottom of the egg and set the stable top half of the egg down. There was an outrage as the architects yelled, "We could've done that!!" Brunelleschi's response was, "Ah! But I did it first." Thus sparking the method for how the dome was created. It was all based on the strength of an egg and how you can't crush an egg if you hold it with your thumb and index finger from the top and bottom. It was the first of its kind. 

Photo 15 - View from the top

We ended up taking a lunch break for an hour and then meeting in line for the Duomo. It was very daunting. Once you start there's no going back. The staircase is a constant spiral of 463 steps to the top with some steep straightaways. We both took videos while we walked up. My video was a time-lapse of the entire staircase and Jeunesse's was a "just in case I don't make it" type of video. Going up, my main concern was my asthma but I made it without much problems. The view was breathtaking (Photos 15 & 16). It was also the perfect place to take squad photos (Photo 17).

Photo 16 - panoramic shot of the view from the dome

Photo 17 - SQUAD (Joey, Lianne, Bull (Henry), Garrett, Jeunesse, Nadeem)

We met a really cool French couple at the top of the dome that asked us to take their picture. They took Lianne and I's photo too. After we parted ways, we missed the chance for all four of us to take a picture with each other. On the way down we both had panic situations but Lianne was incapable of standing up when we got to the bottom because her legs were shaking so bad (Photo 18 - LS). She was silent the whole way down, nodding when anyone asked her if she was okay. It was a great experience though. 

Photo 18 - Drawn by Lianne Smith

Friday night and Saturday night were both night life adventures as the squad (pictured above) went clubbing (to celebrate Joey's birthday weekend) and met some lasting friendships. Lianne and I met this girl named Diana and her best friend who gave us their numbers so that we could go for coffee in Prato one day. Our favorite club here in Prato is Naif Discoteque. They play all different kinds of music and have good deals when you're paying as a group. Nights like these with friends like these make great memories for the long run. 

Sunday and Monday were much needed rest days as well as a homework days. We were supposed to go to Florence on Monday but ended up going on Tuesday in search of a beauty supply store. We only had an hour before we had to get back in time for Zumba class. We hopped on the train and began our adventure. With broken hearts, we walked up to the store we had Google Mapped and realized it was closed. After a 10 minute depression mood, Jeunesse happened to look across the street and there was a store with braiding hair in the window. As soon as we walked in the African woman spoke to us in English. We explained we were looking for a needle and thread and she had that as well as any other African American hair care product. A big triumph in our books. 

Now our hearts are happy, hair is healthy, and bodies are staying in shape. That's all we could hope for while we live as local Prato citizens and you wouldn't even know we were Americans the way that we have been speaking Italian. Ciao bellas!

Around The World in 4 Days

It's an impossible thing to circle the world in a matter of days but we managed to do it in 4. From climbing what seemed like mountains to walking miles looking for a "special kind" of thread.

This Friday we went above and beyond the traditional "we're going on a walking tour" type field trip. What we didn't know was that we would have to climb up a ridiculously steep hill just to walk down another one. What we didn't know was that once we got to the top of that street, there was a staircase like no other waiting for us to conquer. What We Did Not Know was that even after reaching what seemed like the pinnacle of the hill (the Piazzale Michelangelo (Photo 1)) with a beautiful view of Florence, there was still another staircase (Photo 2) to get to the church named San Miniato al Monte.

Photo 1 - The view from the Piazzale Michelangelo 

Photo 2 - The last set of steps to get to the church 

Photo 3 - The organ inside the church

The church was beautiful. There was an ancient organ (Photo 3)  to the left of where the priest would've stood. The walls of the church still depict pieces of the frescoes (paintings done on wet plaster) from the 13th and 14th centuries. There is a crypt under the alter (Photo 4), where no pictures were allowed. Even if you weren't Catholic you could feel how much anyone who entered that room respected the religious presence in there. The center of the crypt holds the remains of Saint Minias after whom the church is named.

Photo 4 - The alter of the church (directly above the crypt)

Minias is thought to have been a Greek merchant or an Armenian prince who arrived in Florence in about 250 A.D. to live his life as a hermit. He was sentenced to be beheaded by the Emperor. Legend has it that after he was decapitated, he picked up his head, put it back on his shoulders and went to die in the cave of Monte alle Croci where he had lived as a hermit. That cave is now the location of the oratory and the church that are named after him.

There was a festival this past weekend in Prato that was advertised as a European Food festival (Photo 5) with all different country's foods in it set up like food trucks and tents. When they actually finished setting up and we walked through it, it was full of candy, pastries, clothes, and jewelry from all over the place. It was way better than what we expected. On Saturday we decided to eat food from the Mexican food tent and both had overpriced burritos cashing in at 18 Euro for the two of our burritos alone.

Photo 5 - Some of the things sold at the festival (Drawn by Lianne Smith)

The burrito was actually pretty good despite what we thought even though Lianne wanted it to be spicy. The corn gave it a really nice flavor. There were 2 candy tents, one for gummy candies like Haribo peaches and the other was purely black licorice candy. We also visited the Greek stand on Sunday and had overpriced chicken gyros with fries in them for 7 Euro each that were actually really good (but still not worth it). I still have my bag of candy that I bought from the festival. Lianne is already done with all of her candy  (that sweet-tooth of hers is SERIOUS).

Monday we decided to sleep in instead of going on the optional field trip/scavenger hunt that actually ended up getting canceled because not enough people signed up. That day the maids knocked on our door and the both of us reluctantly picked up our phones to entertain us while we sit outside but by the time we got to the door they were gone. No sign of them on our floor at all. We were so mad and waited for like 10 minutes and laid back down to sleep. After 5 minutes of silence and almost getting to  sleep, they knocked on our door again to clean in a hurry. That night we ended up going to Mokha, one of the restaurants on our mean plan, for dinner with our friend Madison from University of New Haven campus in Prato. The soup wasn't really the consistency of soup. The second course took 10 years to get to the table. Then it took another 10 minutes to get their attention to get us new forks since they took the last ones from the soup (you shouldn't need a fork for "soup"). Overall, the portions were pretty small and the only thing we liked was the cheesecake.

On Tuesday the maids knocked on our door earlier than they normally do. They put their master key in the door and tried to come in before we said anything even though they know that we are always in there. While Jeunesse is walking to the door, the room phone rings and I slowly go to answer it. It  was Roberta from the front desk saying, "Can you let the maids in so that they can change the lightbulb?" I was so confused but they came in anyway to change the light at the door. After they left we got ready and went out searching for a hair salon that sold needle and thread for weaving. With no luck we came back to the hotel completely forgetting that Zumba was that same day. The minute we got in the class was starting and they told us to go upstairs and get ready. We rushed downstairs in our workout gear and danced away. Afterwards we went to dinner with friends again at the burger place, Ci Garba. One of our friends ordered a pizza that I didn't even know they had (mozzarella pizza with spinach and no tomato sauce). It was by far the best pizza that I have had from Ci Garba since I've been here.

I think the best part about this trip is that we get to watch ourselves grow in real time. There's more responsibility and more freedom. It's all up to us how we want to go about 3 months away from the U.S. and I think we've been doing just fine. 

Fully Booked

There's always something for a Beacon student to do on the weekends from mandatory field trips to hanging out with friends or getting a tour by our favorite tour guide, Silvia (Photo 1). This past week we jumped on every opportunity that came our way. It was a week full of movie nights, all-nighters and adventures. 

Last Friday's field trip was to the town of Pistoia, part of the Metropolitan area that connects to Prato and on to Florence. As we walked around the town Silvia told us the history and fun facts associated with Pistoia and its surrounding towns.

Photo 1 - Jeunesse and Silvia on the Pistoia tour

Some of these places are known for specific products. For example, Montecatini is known for its healing spring water that will clear up any digestive problems you have and send you straight to the bathroom as well as Monsummano, which is known for its saunas and steam rooms.

Photo 2 - Lianne  in Pistoia waiting for the rest of the group

Pistoia was named the cultural capital of Europe for 2017 because of the care and restoration of the rich amount of history within its limits. After Silvia finished the tour she gave us an hour free time to explore more in-depth. We happened to catch a glimpse of a McDonald's while we were walking and decided why not go while we have the time. The two of us including Nadeem, Joey, Garrett, Aaron, Laura, and Bull  joined together in search of the McDonald's. We made the mistake of giving Nadeem the job of navigator and ended up walking all the way outside the city limits after what seemed like an hour. The whole time the only thing Lianne said was "All this walking for some damn chicken nuggets. Ya'll are a joke!" Before we ate, we all had the idea of staying in Pistoia for the day and catching the later train back but after all of us were full we got back so fast that we made it on the train before the rest of the group did. We were ready for bed.

Photo 3 - Woman in costume in the parade

Photo 4 - Marching men with spears

Saturday was more of a personal adventure for us. We took a trip to Florence with Dr. Brode and a few other students. We needed to take a portrait of a street performer for our photography class but also wanted to shop so why not kill two birds with one stone. The first thing we did when we arrived in Florence was feed our bellies. After stuffing our faces we made a bee-line for H&M. On the walk there, an entire parade (Photo 3 & 4) appeared and cut off the street we were about to walk down. After our detour, we finally reached the store and we all spread out to shop. Jeunesse and I kept Cody right behind us because he was overwhelmed by the number of girls and the fact that there were four floors (three of which were women's clothes). There were so many street performers that the four of us in the photography class all got photos of different subjects. Jeunesse wanted to go into Sephora for an eyebrow pencil (makeup is always on her mind). I followed along, but I doubt I really had a choice. That store gave me an instant headache with the number of perfumes they were constantly spraying. We hopped back on the train by 6 and had dinner with friends and a movie night. NOTE: A Cure For Wellness is a mind-bending movie. Just saying. The next morning we got to sleep in but it rained so Sunday was not a FunDay. 

Photo 5 - Medici Villa 

Monday was an optional field trip to an ancient Medici villa (Photo 5) in Poggia a Caiano. For those who don't know I, Lianne, am in love with the game Assassin's Creed. Out of the several games in that series, one of them is set in ancient Italy (Florence in particular) and I have been looking forward to learning any history about the Medici family since I played it. Lorenzo de Medici bought the Villa in the 1470's to have a country home surrounded by nature as a break from the normal diplomatic duties asked of a member of such a highly ranked family. The Villa stayed in the Medici family until the 1730's and was then owned by the sister of Napoleon. She changed the previous design of the theater to fit her expectations.

Photo 6 - Organ owned by the Medici family

Inside the theater room there was an organ (Photo 6) that was in perfect condition that was owned and used by the Medici family themselves. As Napoleon was defeated in the 1820's, Italy fell under the rule of the Austrians until 1861. It was then passed onto the Savoy family, who were royalty at the time. The left their own mark as there are separate king and queen quarters. They abandoned the country of Italy to save themselves, only to return when the coast was clear. It was then that Italy became a Republic and women were allowed to vote for the first time (1946). After the Savoy family fell, the Villa was then owned by the state as a historical landmark.

Photo 7 - Lianne and Jeunesse at the Villa

Photo 8 - Dr.Brode, Lianne and Jeunesse selfie

We concluded the tour around the back of the villa where the greenhouse (Photo 10) (more like green-mansion) for storing  the property plants in the winter is. Silvia turned to a large hedge and said "If you need to use the restroom you can go there behind the bush (Photo 9)." We all started laughing and asking questions. Once she realized what we thought she started laughing and said," WAIT NO! There are actual restrooms behind the bush if you follow the pathway."

Photo 9 - The bush that she pointed to with no obvious end point

Photo 10 - The property greenhouse/storage

Tuesday was a special day. We were scheduled to meet the mayor of Prato (Photo 11) and get a tour of town hall. Our initial expectation of him was a graying politician in his 40's that wouldn't really have time for us. We were very wrong. He is a young man in his 30's that wears high tops, tailored suits, and skinny ties.

Photo 11 - Jeunesse, the mayor of Prato, and Lianne

We got a nice tour and got to sit in the conference room where both sides of the government meet to discuss the wellbeing and growth of Prato. All in all I'd say we had a booked week and we wouldn't have had it any other way. We definitely love it here and the way that we've fully immersed ourselves into this city is the best we could've hoped for. Its never too late to  go out on a limb and try something
new!