La Mia Famiglia

Cristina and I in Ancona 

This past weekend my friend Summer and I went to Jesi, Italy to visit my distant cousins. Jesi is a very small town on the east coast of Italy right outside the city of Ancona. On Friday morning we took a four-hour train ride through the countryside of Italy. It was the most beautiful train ride I have been on. All the trees and vineyards were beautiful fall colors and the hills and the countryside were breathtaking. Cristina picked us up from the train station and took us back to her house where we stayed for the weekend. Cristina is my age and luckily speaks English really well. We stayed with her mom, Lucia, and her 12-year-old brother, Andrea.

Andrea, Giovanni, Elisa, Cristina and I 

The town of Jesi is small and adorable and right in the middle of the countryside. After having an incredible lunch on gnocchi and mushrooms, Cristina took us on a mini tour of Ancona. We saw an extremely old church and saw a beautiful view of the Adriatic Sea. That evening we went to Cristina’s grandparents house for dinner. I met the rest of the family: Simona and her husband Renato, and their kids Elisa who is 10 and Giovanni who is 3. For dinner her grandma prepared homemade pizza that she had spent the entire day making. We sat around the table, everyone speaking in lots and lots of Italian, and ate the most incredible meal of my entire life. With Cristina’s help we were all able to communicate. I attempted the little Italian I know as they attempted the little English they know. Their family reminded me of my family back home, with all the cousins yelling, and the parents shouting over each other; the only difference was the language.

Nutella Tiramisu

On Saturday we had a girls day of shopping in a nearby local market with lots of clothes and shoes. The market was wonderful and I wanted to buy everything. That afternoon Cristina and Summer and I made tiramisu with Nutella and then watched Madagascar in Italian. It was so nice being in a home and baking and watching a movie on a couch. Elisa and Andrea spent a lot of time with us also, which was great. Andrea and Elisa are adorable and are like brother and sister, always playing, telling stories, talking a mile a minute. We tried our best to communicate in Italian, but we mostly just watched them go back in forth in their elaborate stories with lots and lots of hand gestures and animated speaking.

Cristina, Summer, and I at the festival

That evening Cristina took us to the city center of Jesi, which is a medieval castle area. It was were all the locals hang out on Saturday nights and was so crowded and lively. We went to her favorite restaurant for dinner and had an appetizer of focaccia, prosciutto, cheeses and amazingness. We split 2 pasta dishes and a dessert; I have never been so full and content after a meal in my whole life. After dinner we went to her boyfriend’s nearby town that was having their annual festival. There was live music and festivities happening in the city center. We tried a specialty of the festival: brule: hot wine. Surprisingly it wasn’t that bad.

Family photo!

Sunday was relaxing; we just spent time with everyone, playing European monopoly complete with Euros and various countries in Europe. I also found out I have cousins in Australia and we skyped them all together in the morning. Cristina and I decided we need to go to Australia together. Before we left, the whole family came over for tiramisu and to say goodbye to us. They all took us to the train station and saw us off. They were so incredibly nice and wonderful and I’m so happy I was able to visit them. It was the most Italian experience I’ve had in Italy and was the best thing I’ve done so far abroad.

Never a Dull Moment

Erika, Aubrey, Megan and I hanging out in our pensione 

Just finished midterms, which means the semester is half over! I can’t believe how fast time is going here. Last weekend I stayed in Florence and had a relaxing fun time with everyone in my pensione.

I started off the weekend volunteering at this place called Creative Corner, where little Italian kids go to learn English and play games. My roommates and I spent a few hours doing activities with the kids and then we took them trick-or-treating. I worked with 2 adorable first grade girls, who knew very little English. I realized that my Italian is not quite as good as I thought it was and I have a long way to go. But we were able to discuss our favorite colors! Trick-or-treating with the kids was a lot of fun and it reminded me of home.

Superbed

My roommates and I pushed our beds together to create a big superbed where we watched movies and snuggled. I also did a little exploring in Florence and went to the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace and found the most incredible park with leaves of all different colors on the trees.

Happy Halloween

On Monday my pensione decided to have a Halloween party and a trick-or-treating event. The trick-or-treating ended up as liqu-or-treating, where everyone went to each other’s rooms dressed up in costumes and were given a little wine or some other kind of alcohol. We all had a great time and it was nice bringing a little piece of home here, since Halloween isn’t celebrated in Italy.

Everyone in my pensione on Halloween!

Time is flying here and it feels like the semester is going to be over before we know it. November is very busy for me. I’m visiting cousins in Jesi, a small town outside of Ancona, Italy. I am going to Assisi on a retreat, going to Scotland for Thanksgiving, and spending some time with my parents next week! Seeing how little of time is left in the semester is making me so grateful that I am here for the year. Overall everything is going really well and I’m excited for all the traveling I am doing the next few weeks and especially excited for my parents to get here! 

Cavalli e Vino

Erika and Megan and I preparing for our horses

Horseback riding through the Tuscan Countryside!

A couple weeks ago my roommates and I went on a horseback riding excursion through Chianti vineyards and then went wine tasting in a 13^th century castle. 

Once we arrived at the stables, where no one really spoke any English, we were assigned horses. Erika made the mistake of saying she had ridden horses before and was given an Italian Stallion, a male racehorse that likes to run very fast. 

Chianti Vineyards

She almost peed her pants the entire 2-hour ride. Megan had an angry horse that was stubborn and angry and kept head butting the horse in front of her. Aubrey’s horse liked to eat absolutely everything and lead Aubrey astray multiple times from our group. And my horse was very mellow and calm, her name was Bruta, which means ugly in Italian, but I thought she was beautiful and we had a great ride together.  After a brief lesson, that included absolutely no introduction on how to ride a horse, we rode through vineyards and beautiful trails just as the sun was setting. It was incredible and we had a lot of fun.

Wine Tasting

Wine Tasting with Aubrey and Megan

When we got back we were taken to a 13^th century castle where we had a wine tasting of various Chianti wines. It was the first wine tasting I had ever done and we absolutely loved it. We then had dinner in a restaurant in the castle where we ate the most incredible food: bruschetta, gnocchi, thick noodle cheesy pasta, and panna cotta for dessert. After dinner we returned home to Florence. So far I think the countryside is my favorite part of Italy. It is so calm a serene and was such a nice change of pace from city life.