Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tuscan Lunch

Two Sundays ago, nine of us from Bologna drove on down to Greve in Chianti for a 9 course meal based on meat. Meat, meat, meat. There were 17 of us in total and I we all left the restaurant almost 3 hours later practically crawling on knees from having eaten so much, but so well! 

When we arrived they offered us a light aperitivo with wine, bread, salami, and a rosemary lard spread. Then we headed into the dining room, ready to fill our stomachs with every cut of beef imaginable. There were some different plates such as Muzzle, Hoof, and Rosemary in the Bum. But, for the most part it was all delicious and I overcame the fear of eating raw meat in Italy. 
One of the best parts was when the owner came out with a bottle of grappa and 20 shot glasses and went around offering free grappa to everyone. 

Monday, March 19, 2012

March 17th

As we all know, March 17th is St. Patricks Day. We didn't celebrate per se, but we did go to another concert: Modena City Ramblers. They're a celtic folk band with an Italian twist. The music definitely has an Irish feel to it and was fun to see the crowd dance throughout almost every song. 

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Siena!

Sunday afternoon Luca and I hopped into the car and took a little drive. He wanted to take me to Montereggoni and I wasn't sure where it was so I said "ok, sure!" We got there and I realized I had already been there when I studied abroad with BCSP. So since we were just 10 minutes away from Siena and I wanted to see it again, we had a nice lat afternoon walking around the medieval city, meeting some friends, and climbing the duomo for a spectacular view of the city. 




Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Caparezza

Saturday night we went to a concert, Caparezza. Simply put, his music style is rap. Caparezza comes from Puglia and in pugliese capa means testa (head) and rezza means riccia  (curly) so curly head since he has a head full of thick black crazy curls. 
It was a lot of fun and entertaining even though I hardly knew any of his songs. The concert was more like a series of short acts. Each song had different introductory skit with various costumes. 
This is one of his most famous songs, he played it Saturday night and the whole sold out venue started dancing and jumping around, singing at the top of their lungs.

Friday, March 9, 2012

March 8th

March 8th is International Women's Day. About a week before, all the flower stands start to put out mimosas, which would be the Silver Wattle. Then on March 8th, these little yellow flowers are given as gifts to girls and women. It's common to see lots of women walking around with a bouquet of mimosas or wearing them around their neck, in their hair, or attached in someway or another to their clothing. 

I had never been gifted mimosas for Womens Day or any other time for that matter. Luca knew this and so last night I came home to nice bouquet of mimosas despite Luca's allergy to them! 



Saturday, March 3, 2012

Only in Italy

Luca and I were taking a walk around the small center of Poggibonsi last week, and in one of the main piazza's there was this sign.
It says that playing soccer in all of the piazza is prohibited. I suppose in the U.S. it's skateboards and in Italy it's soccer. 


Thursday, March 1, 2012

Lost and Late

On Monday I had the start of my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course. I took the bus leaving at 8 am from Poggibonsi and was given the directions that it arrives in Florence and I should watch for when we pass over the river, go around a rotunda, and see the roman door. 

I'm sitting on the bus.... we pass over a river.... go around a rotunda.... and there is a very large roman door in front of me, so I get off the bus. I start looking around me for #14 when I realize that I am Piazzale Porta Romana and NOT Piazzale Porta Prato where I had wanted to be and needed to be. 
I start walking in the direction that I was sure the bus had gone and figured I would start walking. I look for a bar to stop in but for some reason 9 am must have still have been too early in Italy. I finally go into a gelateria to buy a bus ticket. I find the bus stop but realize the bus doesn't come for another 20 minutes. I think to myself " I can probably just walk it in that amount of time" 

I keep walking and walking and walking and finally I get to THE river. Obviously the main central river of Florence- the Arno river. I see the porta! I keep walking. I finally get there and go the right of the old roman single standing door. I find a #14 on one side of the road... it isn't TEFL. Find a #14 on the other side of the road and it also isn't #14. 

I walk onto over to the complete other side of the roman door (now on the left of it) and I look at 2 OTHER #14s and none of them are TEFL. I'm starting to think this is a joke. 
FINALLY after an hour and half of wondering around and walking I arrive hot, sweaty, exhausted, and late but ready to start the course. 

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