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Published: January 21st 2008
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All last week was spent learning Italian all over again. Six hours a day for five days straight of Italian, Italian, Italian. We went on many “uscitas” or outings. One was to the soccer museum, which as can be guessed, was a bunch of uniforms, pictures, soccer balls, copies of trophies, and more uniforms. We went to the offices of “La Repubblica,” one of the biggest newspapers in Italy, and talked to a reporter there, or an editor, I’m not sure what he was. We went to a place called “CIRS” pronounced “cheers,” which is a day-home rehabilitation center for adults with disabilities. We hung out with fifty year olds with down-syndrome as we painted pottery, helped them make space blankets (selling space blankets is how they make their money as a house,) and I stepped in on an aerobics class. After, a group of five students talked for a long time with a group of the women there. One of the women is a Chilean with down-syndrome, and she speaks mostly Spanish even though she thinks she’s speaking Italian. I understood her perfectly and was able to talk to her for a while. She loves music and to dance and
to flirt with guys, as any self-respecting Latina would agree. That night we actually went to the Florence opera house to watch Madame Butterfly! Everyone was dressed nicely and going to the opera, it was a surreal Italian experience, and I even managed to stay awake through most of it.
Wednesday of last week I also got to meet my adopt-a-family. My friend Jillian and I were picked up at the villa by our “mom” at 7:30 and taken to her apartment, where we met our “dad” cooking our dinner. It was a VERY nice apartment, they have no children, but they do have three dogs, which are almost as much work. For dinner we had tortellini with a very thick cream sauce, very tasty, and then a course of filets with salad, all with excellent wine. For dessert he brought out the sweetest wine you could imagine to have with our sugar-covered dough balls. It was amazing. We talked for hours after about religion, America, Mexico, places to see in Europe, computers, and my favorite, Harry Potter. They both are HUGE Harry Potter fans, the wife reads English and read the last book when it came out last
year, but the husband only speaks Italian, and he had to wait until January of this year to read it, so he was still very excited about it and loved talking about it. We’re having dinner with them again this Wednesday.
Enough of last week, most of it was spent studying in the house. But speaking of the house, I’ve finally included a picture tour of it today in the picture section, hope you enjoy it.
This past weekend my friend Samantha, Alex, and I made a weekend trip to Sienna and Elba Island. It was super difficult getting up in the morning for our 8:10 train, because we wanted to get breakfast first at the Caffe Liberta, where Pepperdine students can eat all we want for free for breakfast on the weekends. It was harder to wake up still, because the previous night forty of us went to a local dance club “Twice” and didn’t get home until three in the morning. It might have been a bad decision, but I made a promise to myself that whenever there is a question of sleeping or doing something fun while I’m in Europe, I’ll always pick the fun,
and I think it is a logical decision. Getting off the train in Sienna, we caught a taxi to the center historical square, which is huge and beautiful. We then walked to the cathedral and sat outside looking at it for a long while. I helped a group of Spanish tourists take a picture, my three languages are really coming in handy here, I talk to Spanish people, Chilean people, and I met a group of very attractive American girls at the dance club that were very excited to meet an American guy amongst the sleezy Italian guys. After walking around the inside of the amazingly beautiful cathedral, we bought some paninis at a local shop and ate them in the main square. We caught a taxi back to the train station and left for Elba by way of Piombino. Total time in Sienna: four hours.
From Piombino we took the ferry to Elba Island, the island where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to when he was captured the first time. I can’t think of an island I’d rather be exiled to. The city that we stayed at is called Portoferraio, and I have some awesome pictures of it. We
got to the island at about six in the evening, and the first thing we did was find a relatively cheap hotel. Then we went to get some dinner, explored the town at night, and bought some wine and drink it on the beach. The next morning we got up early for breakfast, and hiked up to the Fortezza di Medicee, a really cool fort with a spectacular view. We then explored the city some more, and went to Napoleon’s house, where there was a collection of his actual books, and his furniture and his garden and everything. It was strange to think that the only emperor of France lived here on this island, in this house. We had to wait at the train station in Piombino for about three hours for our train to arrive. I’ve included some thrilling pictures of that experience for your viewing pleasure. I got back to the villa last night just in time to see the Chargers valiantly lose to the Patriots. Though I insist that their victory is hollow, for it took the five states of New England to beat the one city of San Diego without our best player, and an injury-riddled
Sienna (10)
Back of the cathedral at Sienna. first string. We’ll get them next year.
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Mom
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Great picures of the villa, thankyou....I bet the messy bed is yours,...thats my baby! Love you