Garfagnana

Lately, I have been mourning my losses. All that I have lost since moving to Italy seems to be great. So I have decided to count all my gains, (which after about three pages, completely outnumbers the negative.)

To celebrate my gains, I called for an adventure. I haven't been on an adventure since Greece, so it is time. One month overdue. I asked my friend and roommate, Arianna, to come/begged her because she has a car, and we were off. The mini alps of Italy...Garfagnana.

We, of course, road tripped it with an array of music to sing to loudly. Experienced 5 different villages, one fantastic monastery, and countless fantastic views. Add to this one horrible dinner, and one spectacular lunch and you get our weekend.

After watching the show Nashville, I now want to write songs about all my ups and downs here. So many. I just have to remind myself, I live in ITALY. I am learning Italian. I have had visitors, and in two weeks get three more to experience their vacation of a lifetime! Italia e bene. Molto bene.

Jesseanna: Italian Chef (2)

Here is yet another rather unhealthy yet very authentic Italian recipe, given to me by my excellent roommate:

Fried Zucchini Flowers Fritta fiori di zucchini

You will need:

1. Zucchini flowers (closed)

2. Flour

3. Egg

4. Breading

5. Olive Oil

6. Mozzarella

Directions

1. Partly open the zucchini flowers and stuff with mozzarella.

2. Coat the stuffed flowers flour.

3. Dip into beaten egg.

4. Coat with breading.

5. Fry in a half inch of oil.

 

This is not healthy, yet very Italian. I will surely feel the calories later tonight when my non gallbladder body exchanges pleasure with remorse. For now I will enjoy my flowers and read an Italian book I got at the library. Per la amore di cucina.

Dolce Niente

With a half hour left on my lunch break, my fruit and protein bar eaten, I decided I needed to go get a caffe latte at a nearby café.  I put my wallet in my pocket and walked extremely quickly to a café I know has to-go cups. My longing for home often makes me do idiot things, such as spend more money on a to-go cup, than a caffe mug in which I would just drink in stillness at the piazza.

After putting a to-go cup in my hand, I had the familiar feeling. The one that makes you feel busy, and important, and slightly stressed. I never realized before moving to Italy how powerful a to-go cup could be.

I walked back to work, after just about three minutes away. Now please do tell me, why did I spend more on a to-go cup, instead of relaxing and enjoying the piazza? This may seem rather trivial, and unimportant, but there is a significance to it. A lifestyle really. Did America breed me for to-go cups. How is it, I live in Italy, with some of the best coffee in the world, and yet, I long for a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks?

The answer: Dolce Niente. This means literally sweet nothing. The sweetness of nothing. The art of nothing. Italians has mastered this. Walk past a café in the morning, and you are bound to see many older men practicing dolce niente. They sit, they sip, they be. That's it. Now, as much as this is romanticized in chick flicks, the European or Italian sweet nothingness, (the finer life, the sweet life,) have you every tried to sit and do nothing. Actually try it.

I have found this impossible. At a café I usually find myself chapters deep in a classic piece of literature. Or writing for my next blog. Planning lessons. Playing on my smart phone. Do you know how difficult it is to sit, to sip, to be.

I find most of the time, if I do nothing, I regret it. I should have done something. I often speak down to myself for sleeping in, not running, not doing my morning yoga. How could I sit and people watch when there are so many magnificent books to be read. And at home. Well there's books, there's movies, there's cleaning. Dolce Niente to an American...unheard of!

I find myself now, late this evening, wanting to be more Italian. What if I could do nothing, and not regret it. What would that feel like. (Even as I write this, I think of the 50 crunches awaiting me.)

Although my main goal to gain from Italy is the Italian, maybe I could also gain nothing. That is, doing nothing. Doing nothing and feeling 'ok' about it. There really is no reason to fill every second of my day. It only makes time fly in the most miserable way. Shall I try to recover from my American engrained timetable? I shall start. I shall start by not getting anymore to-go cups.

To help me feel at Home.

Today after I got off work, I went to Carrefour, the Italian Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for my new apartment. I walked in the heat in skinny jeans the long hike to the glass fronted building, to be awed by the memory of home.

It is set up rather American, I forgot for the (long period of time do to heat stroke, and gratitude of air conditioning,) that I am in Italy.

I ended up picking up more items than I could buy remembering I had to walk home.  After two hours of walking all day, I got back to my room, and attempted to make it feel like home.  I will be here for the rest of my experience in Italy after all.

The results:

All the books are ones I have bought here. Give a girl a discount card, and watch out!

Added wall art to make it feel like home.

 

Pictures of family and friends soon to follow.

 

And here it is. My home for the next 8 months. Dolce vita.

The Latest Development

It is officially back to school season in Italy! Made noticeable in this University town, by all the new bright shining faces and their crisp clean brand-spankin' new text books. These make me yearn to be back in school. I love learning after all.  I miss new textbooks (but not the cost!)

So to fill my desire for books, a new development.  I signed up for the discount card at my favorite bookstore in Pisa, la Feltrinelli. This, I believe, makes Italy my official place of residence, if only for a little while. Classics at la Feltrinelli are only 3.50. Therefore, I have read quite a bit, including

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Rip Van Wrinkle by Washington Irving, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte, Paradise Lost, and Paradise Regained by John Milton.

I have also discovered the greatness of Windows 8, with free apps to free books. This has led me to reading for the first time, the series of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. That's right, the first time. The books you read in upper elementary are being read by a University graduate.

Now, I do apologize to all my readers. Lately this blog has not been a travel blog, but a miss home, miss family, miss studying blog. I promise to make it up to all of you!

Moving

I have put this off as much as possible, but today, September 1st, was move in day.  I had a wonderful one bedroom, an entire apartment to myself for an entire summer. (Minus of course the time Adam was there.) Although it is coming to fall season, instead of moving back to the US, starting school again, and being around the people I love, I found a new apartment. Shared with two others.


Now, I am looking forward to making friends with my new roommates, but I must admit some tears were shed as I said goodbye to my old place. I filled my day by stuffing my face to clean out the fridge. Cleaning and recleaning because my feet were dirty. Watching episodes of Sex and the City. Walking the dreadful walk to my new place. It’s only a ten minute walk, but I had to walk all of my worldly possessions this 10 minutes…twice. (This is when I miss having a car.)


I came to my new ‘home’ and after 10 minutes of packing and hours of transporting, I have unpacked everything into one room. Four shelves for clothing, two bookshelves, and one closet later, I am in a dorm like space. I don’t want to complain, I am spending less money, and hopefully creating friends. I think the reason this is difficult is, my two American visitors were only at the old place. This place has no touch of home. Just me, in my West Virginia sweatshirt given our victory yesterday.


As I settle into my new bed, I must remember, my routine will be the same. Monday-Friday I will still work. I will still go to my favorite café, and frequent my favorite bookstore. I will still watch my favorite show. I will do some of my favorite yoga poses. I am still only 4,479 miles away from my favorite people. So really nothing has changed.