Villa time, Middle schoolers, Baloney!

Time rushes by here. I would say "time flies by" but "fly" implies a smooth, weightless journey, but in the villa time passes with all the clamor and cacophony of passing trains. Between travelling, meals, and homework, the days seem continuous. If I'm not so tired I feel like anesthetized, I'm starving, and good sleep is a precious, precious thing. I'm usually out like a brick. Villa life is so strange and amazing. One of my roommates has aptly referred to the entire experience as a fantasy world. We play by few of the rules that restrict our usual lives. The food is better, the days are shorter, the experiences are weird and crazy and beautiful.

Since my last post I have gone to Pisa and Lucca. It was a gorgeous, clear, crisp day that we started in Pisa to see that oh-so-famous architectural goof. For whatever reason, the majority of our villa group has yet to break free from the "sheep mentality", in which we all run around whatever Italian city we're in, wondering who is in charge and where something this. There are about four people on the trip who have good sense about where to go or how to get directions to something. I am not one of these people. Instead of getting a map or asking directions myself and others on the trip would rather wander aimlessly hoping to find, inevitably backtracking and getting angry ourselves. We do this about twice a week. My friend Becca had the genius idea of giving whoever is in charge a balloon to hold so we'll all know what to do. Long story short, we made it to the Leaning Tower. That's about the only thing to do in Pisa, aside from hit up a really freaking delicious kebab place around the corner from it all. I did not take the cliched "holding up the tower" picture, but one of my friends does have a couple pictures of all the tourists taking those pictures, so some quota was filled there.

Lucca was way, way cooler. It's a Tuscan town that is completely walled, nestled in the Apennine Mountains. GOYGEOUS! It was the first place other than my hometown of Sesto Fiorentino that feels truly authentically Italian. You could tell that Lucca doesn't get a crazy amount of tourists. We were there around 3-5pm and all the locals were walking around the quaint, cobblestone streets, popping into equally quaint shops here and there. At one point the girls I was with and I found ourselves in a really pretty piazza that we quickly realized was THE cool middle-school hang out. I seriously haven't felt that awkward since I was in middle school myself. You know what I'm talking about, when there is like a 40 person hangout, like at the mall or a movie theater, and all the kids were running around to each other giggling and play with their phones. Except they were way cooler than I was because they are in Italy and more fashionable that I am now or will ever be.

Tomorrow is my first fabulous weekend trip to Bologna! We found a super decently priced hostel and we're off to have fun in the country's gastronomical center. Yum!

lessons learned from my mother

This is sort of not even remotely relevant to my study abroad experience. Also, this has potential to become a book if I ever compile enough stories of the hilarity that is my mother. Nonetheless, I have learned some pretty important things from my mom.

The Philosophy of My Mother, in relevance to my life

1. Hydration = happiness, success, good fortune, and a prosperous future.
If ever a problem plagues you, it is probably because you are not hydrated. Drinking water solves everything. That, and you should probably brush your teeth. Try these two before taking any other form of action.

2. I am probably smarter than almost everyone else.
This one sounds kind of cocky and irrational, but nevertheless was implicit in my mother's parenting style. While rarely stated outright, this sentiment was always the foundation of my mother's quest to build up my self-esteem as a young girl. I think it kind of worked, and I know exactly the kind of mirthful laughter that will emit from my mom if she reads this, and also that it might preen her feathers a bit.

3. Even if all else fails, at least I have good hair.
This is brought up (still) at every occasion in which I am feeling slightly insecure. I used to kind of resent when she said this, instead wanting to be blond or something, but, heck! Come hell, high water, or prettier girls, at least I have some damn good hair.

(Side note: apparently one day in middle school I came home crying because someone told me I wasn't "one of the pretty girls". I do not recall this -repression?- but, the way my mom retells it, she just said "if you aren't one of the pretty girls, then who is?" incredulously, and that was that. Again, like #2, this sort of resolved disbelief in anything other than the fact that I am terrific has somehow been an effective tool in my upbringing)

4. "That baby needs a hat", or "why can't anyone put a hat on that baby?"
Okay so this isn't really a lesson, but if there is a small child in the ten mile radius of my mom in colder weather that is hat-less, my mom seriously considers alerting the authorities. She would probably argue that this is in fact an actual lesson that she wants to impart on every young adult, not just those in the vicinity of her when she sees (gasp!) a baby without a hat.

5. Driving the speed limit (let alone over it) is too risky a chance for anyone to take.
"No one ever died because they drove 45mph". This is one of my favorites, although slightly misinformed seeing as it is safer generally to just keep up with traffic (within reasonable speed). It exemplifies my mom's somewhat irrational yet genuine life lessons, which happen to be my favorite kind. My friends Emily and Rachel would undoubtedly agree that this lesson has been (perhaps unfortunately) deeply ingrained in me.

(Another side note: my mother is notoriously impervious to sarcasm, and will always find a way around to to make you look/feel like an idiot. If ever, during a lovely 35mph mosey down the freeway, she is prompted with the overwhelmingly sarcastic question "could you GO any slower?", she, without skipping a beat, will respond calmly, "why yes, I can", and reduce her speed.)

6. "Wait for it to go on sale".
In my mom's world, something you want to buy will eventually always go on sale, and you better believe she'll be there at that precise moment.

7. "When I was growing up, we weren't allowed to fight with each other".
This one was used when I would get angry with my brothers growing up. This little gem is almost, again, not a lesson, but it's too good to pass up because on one hand; it's completely irrational. My mom grew up in a house with 6 kids, and there is almost no chance that the children never argued because they "weren't allowed to". On the other hand, if you've ever met my mother and her siblings, you really wouldn't doubt it for a second.

8. There is no such thing as being too prepared.
This is employed mostly in relation to how many meatballs one should make before having company. (How could I make a post about my mom without mentioning meatballs??)

There are so, so, so, many more.

my global education

I didn't think it was possible to be jealous of yourself, but I think in the last week I have achieved it. I feel like the man in the Dos Equis commercials.

If you haven't seen one, you have to immediately-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVwG1t-NVAA

About three times a day I have moments where I feel so fortunate that it's the type of emotion that expands within you and I feel kind of like I'm floating, for lack of a better contrived analogy.

Lucky for you, I have learned more things in the past couple days.

1. The term "giving an opinion" implies a cordial, non-argumentative offering of one's thoughts. Italians do not do this. Italians do not believe their opinions ARE opinions, in fact I don't think they think "opinions" exist. They force their opinions on others with an absoluteness that is astounding to witness as a meek little American. Exhibit A: my Italian language professor. In the first ten minutes of the first class, she managed to convince me that Italian politics are horribly and irrevocably corrupt, which really wasn't a hard sell. She then, bless her heart, told us why Florence isn't that great of a city, that she actually hates it, as well as Milan, and can only borderline tolerate Venice. Nice.

2. Everyday, an American in Italy will do something stupid, be immediately identified as an obnoxious American, and be made fun of. There is no escaping this, do not try.

3. I know I already learned this, but I'm still floored by the lack of free water/clean toilets. Also, I miss ice, as in frozen water, an art that has yet to reach the exotic land of Italy.

4. Everyone makes jokes about Italian men being forceful and creepy- statements such as these should not be taken as jokes. Stay far away. Firenze also seems to be chock full of Australians, a much safer and more charming bet.

I really can't believe I've only been here a week and some days. It feels like a month, in a good way. I just feel like I've done and seen SO much more than I would in my normal day to day life. Also, the relationships I have with my fellow program participants have developed about four times as quickly as normal interaction. I feel like I've known them forever kind of.

I hope everything is going well on the other side of the screen! More updates when I find the energy.

Gay Rights, Renaissance Humanism, and Lady Gaga. Get Excited.

This has really nothing to do with my Italian adventures, but I feel just as strongly about it as I do our Italian chef Bruno!

All joking aside, today begins the trial of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the case in California that could overturn Prop 8. I am of the opinion that Prop 8, despite its supporter's fervent denial, is the cloak superficially covering years and centuries of homophobia. This case certainly has the sociopolitical implications that Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade had in the past- and is THE civil rights struggle of our generation.

This issue is being viewed through a myriad of social lenses- some relevant, some not so relevant. Perhaps being in Europe, with all these crazy socialists, has made me even more adamant about same-sex marriage rights, but I am continually disappointed by some American's inability to realize the importance of civil rights as well as the consequences of this decision.

Natural human habit never changes- ultimately, we will always fear what we don't understand. You can pollute the issue with billions of court cases and studies and bible quotes, but these socially highly regarded formalities cannot veil what is teeming just beneath the surface- the uneasiness people feel towards homosexuality. It's easy to watch old white men on C-SPAN and trust that they oppose gay marriage not because they are homophobic, but because it "protects our children". Well that sounds great, I'd love to protect our children! That statement evokes the morality of raising our children right! We need to listen closer. We need to listen closer to what pro-Prop 8 groups (as well as any other "pro-family" groups) are saying. In their "About Us" section, the Protect Marriage organization fails to mention exactly what they think Prop 8 will protect their children from. They say,

"Because public schools are already required to teach the role of marriage in society as part of the curriculum, schools will now be required to teach students that gay marriage is the same as traditional marriage, starting with kindergarteners. By saying that a marriage is between any two persons rather than between a man and a woman, the Court decision has opened the door to any kind of marriage." (http://www.protectmarriage.com/about/why)

I have many problems with this. Namely, they ascribe to a long standing and incredibly effective literary tool: That of dancing around what you are really trying to say. This animal is known in the wild as "bullshit".

What Protect Marriage is conveniently leaving out is that they do not want their children to know that gay people exist, because if they know gay people exists, that means the idea will be planted in their head and that they could become gay. This is the most bigoted, inaccurate, and disgusting thing that is somehow accepted that I've ever heard, and it makes me sick. However, many people who don't support same-sex marriage are not wholly bigoted, unlike those who never want their children to "find out" about homosexuality. Many people are just uncomfortable with homosexuals, and hop on the bandwagon because they were raised in a time in which only heterosexuality was tolerated. These people are not immoral, rather just ill-informed. Ignorance has too long been covertly disguised and accepted in our society.

When I use the term "ignorant", I do not use it derisively, but rather seek to employ the true definition of the word; that of a state of unawareness. I think older generations are largely unaware of the significance of equal rights for same-sex couples and homosexuals in general. In a nerdy English major move, I can't help but think of Shakespeare when he said "This house is as dark as Ignorance, though Ignorance were as dark as hell" (Twelfth Night, Act IV, scene ii). I believe our house has grown dark, and I believe we will find the power to lighten it.

As Monte Neil Stewart found in his Harvard Study of the arguments for and against same-sex marriage,

"The successful constitutional arguments advanced in support of man-woman marriage succeed because they are ultimately premised on the factually accurate broad (or institutional) description of a complex whole—the marriage institution—that guides individual activity, sustains identity, gives sense and purpose to the lives of its participants, and thereby produces valuable social goods."

Now, Harvard is one of the greatest educational institutions in America and I'm sure Monte Neil Stewart owns many leather-bound books, but we are not a society dependent on the success of a nuclear familial unit to sustain our economy or infrastructure. Left and right (pun intended), heterosexual marriages are falling apart, with and without progeny. Nor are gay couples plagued by purposelessness, being attracted to your own sex does not strip your life of meaning. I'd also like to point out that "sustaining identity" could be a bad thing, such as sustaining one's identity as a bigot, felon, or tyrant. In short, Stewart's analysis short changes marriage, considering it only as a tool for a government or society- a government or society that could theoretically be morally bankrupt and corrupt. Stewart assumes the government serves all its members equally; but as history shows, governments generally fail in providing equal rights for all of their people. More often than not, all governments become oligarchical, serving only a small group. In America, this group consists of Upper-middle class, straight, Christian white men. Historically, marriage has been a tool for procreation, sustaining familial ties, founding alliances, and convenience. Our society is not dependent on these values. We have outdated our definition of marriage. Marriage, in a free society like America's, should be about love. Positive feelings toward another human being, including sexual love.

As Stewart confirms, yes, heterosexual marriage is useful to our society, but so was slavery. Slavery fueled the cotton and tobacco economies that boosted this nation to its (now increasingly waning) financial supremacy, but it is inherently immoral. W.H. Beveridge, in his book Full Employment in a Free Society (1944), points out that "Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens."

As Americans, we cannot afford to allow this pervasive ignorance to continue to plague our fight for civil rights. America was founded not upon religious doctrine, but upon an inextinguishable hunger for liberty. Liberty in the face of a nameless and blameless monster that is the collective misguided public. I believe this hunger will eventually be sated, but it should be sated today, not in five or ten years. We cannot wait for those in the dark to "warm up" or "come around" to the idea of same-sex marriage, which so obviously just makes many uncomfortable. An alarming amount of people are still uncomfortable seeing an interracial couple, but that uncomfortable feeling is largely unacceptable to advertise in our society. So should the uncomfortable feeling of seeing two men holding hands down the street, or two women in the mall with their child. I believe Jack Nicholson's character in Scorsese's The Departed hit the nail on the head when he said "No one gives it to you. You have to take it". Interestingly enough, his character was also discussing civil rights, that of black Americans (although he uses less than savory vocabulary).

People ask me why I'm an English major- and truly, it's an impossible to define in a sentence. In a larger sense, it's easier to identify my concentration with the Humanities. My interest in English goes beyond my veneration of literature. For many people, the humanities are considered irrelevant, which is a travesty. I think it's important to relate the humanities to the idea of Renaissance humanism- which encompasses a bevy of ideas and schools of thought, but namely includes a passionate concern with "human interests and welfare, stressing the inherent value and potential of human life" (Oxford English Dictionary). It seems like quite a jump for same-sex marriage to Renaissance humanism, but it is wrapped up in the holistic view of education and philosophy. In my English classes we examine and analyze every aspect of the human condition, which sounds hokey and pretentious and airy, but ultimately can lead to my favorite thing to be led to- clarity. Clarity of history, clarity of meaning, clarity of significance.

For many, same-sex marriage is a confusing issue, convoluted with bias and tangled in never-ending politics. Boiled down however, it is in the same vein as every other civil rights issue. The emancipation of slaves in the late 19th century, the sufferance of women in the early 20th century, the Black Civil Rights and Feminist Movements in contemporary society, and now it's a different monster. People have a way of ignoring history and historical example. Despite all the cliches, history is in fact, condemned to repeat itself. For too many the issue of same-sex marriage is tossed aside as a frivolous foray of the idealistic and liberal. That is also what people thought about the entire doctrine of democracy in ancient societies. For a society to maintain its liberty, it needs to be looking forward. Not necessarily a doctrine of "progress for progress' sake", but rather progress for liberty's sake. In general, we are lucky to be citizens of America, fortunate enough to be guaranteed rights many citizens of the world are denied. America needs to be a beacon; not in a financial or militaristic capacity, but as a society that successfully acts in defense of basic human rights.

At this point I will hearken to a previous post, about negative reactions to the pop artist Lady Gaga. People think what she does is "out-there". What does "out-there" even really mean? It means something outside the boundaries of people's comfort zones. Lady Gaga wears outfits considered strange by our society- GASP! She must be Satan. Some people are attracted to their same sex- Grab your torches and pitchforks! Martin Luther thought religion should be free from corruption- Kill all the Protestants! Sadly, the last two are/were much bigger social issues, for which hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of deaths in history serve to evidence. Just like Luther's ideals challenged the Papal authority, gay activist's ideals challenge the authority of "the norm". It was the fact that Luther was undermining the theocracy- the power. I believe that gay activists undermine the power of the oldwhitestraightguy, and it unnerves them. However, we cannot afford to stroke egos, we are dealing with an issue larger than some people being "weirded out" by homosexuals.

Same-sex marriage is a question of freedom. America guarantees rights to its citizens, and in denying those rights fails as an institution. Our voices can turn the tide and work against ignorance. In whatever way you can, lend your support to the overturning of Prop 8, without which we cannot make progress for LGBTQ Civil Rights.

tu sei giapponese??

Greetings, loyal readers! I realize that demographic consists of my brother and maybe two other people. Anyhoosiers I have many things to say about Italy, these past three days have been incredibly amazing and awesome and eye-opening and delicious. I will begin with a quick list of things I have learned...

1. Italian food is beyond any sort of adequate description and now is the sole concern of my existence.

Our villa chef, Bruno, (do you hate me yet?) is the most talented cook I've ever known, including my own mom, sorry Maria. Every day except Saturdays we have breakfast at 8am, lunch at 1pm, and dinner at 7pm and I can honestly say that my day and all the villa resident's lives singularly revolve around these mealtimes. I'm already inexplicably attached to these times and look forward to them like five year olds look forward to Christmas morning. I'm seriously going to start taking pictures of the meals he creates for us. Breakfast is the simplest of the day, some cereal and really delicious flaky lovely croissants. Americans DO NOT do bread right. I don't know what secret we're missing but it's seriously an issue. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Saturday we had a kind of rice I've never had before which rapidly became my favorite kind of rice to date. Anyway, on top of that was this chicken and mushroom sauce mix. Dinner is usually salad (so fresh!), some sort of pasta, and always bread on the table. Oh, did I mention dessert? Last night we had some sort of rhubarb inspired souffle and tonight was a kind of apple torte drenched with the best vanilla sauce ever. I wish there were some names for the desserts our chef makes but whenever we ask him what it's called, he shrugs, mentions a single ingredient, and just motions for us to inhale it (we promptly do so). Both nights we've had these mysterious, captivating confections two of my fellow Real World: Florence members at our table refused dessert out of sheer volume of food ingested in the previous course, but Bruno in turn refused that refusal (the plot thickens) and placed a dish before them. Both people ended up finishing the dessert, it's that good. I really could talk about it all day long but I will save it for some quality food-blogging at a later date.

2. Water is not free.

This one is hard for me, but most ristorante italiane don't serve tap water, and instead charge up to €3. Ridic. However, you can buy a bottle of vino for about €2. This is how Italians live.

3. 13-year-olds can get into bars in Italy.

Okay maybe not exactly, but at a bar in our town my friends and I ran into a couple of Australian kids and some Italian girls who were all 16. They were just casually sipping on beers, looking cooler than I ever could have managed to when I was that age (almost 5 years ago- jesus). Even now, I'm not sure I'm as cool as them. I don't know where that falls on the scale of Europeans just being really cool or myself just being really lame, but it's at a point where those roads meet. On the other hand, there were many 20-something Italian boys who played foosball all night. Yeah, there was a foosball table at the bar, I don't know, whatever. They had cool piercings and taught us Italian swear words.

4. Bathrooms in establishments are largely "unisex", which is Italian for "a urinal that we tell women to use, despite whatever unsanitary consequences it might have in store for them".

I seriously almost took a picture of this bathroom in a bar I went to last night. It was a toilet without a lid, seat, or toilet paper. It did, however, have a what looks like a hose with a sink sprayer attachment on the wall next to it. Ew, ew, ew. I cried a bit.

5. In Italy, there is no set standard for stair length/width/steepness/material.

You really might as well sit on your ass and slide down them. It is a recreational sport navigating through stairs that are made of gravel, mossy and slippery, or 3 inches wide, one I now try to avoid with the hardened dedication I employ in avidly avoiding every other sport.

6. "Public transportation" is not a terrifying mythical beast, but a useful, economical, and ecologically responsible way of moving yourself from place to place.

Call it American suburban naivete, but public transportation has always vexed/horrified me. Trains and buses are confusing, loud, and dirty, but also kind of fun, and really make you feel like an authentic Italian (yeah it has only been three days but I think I live here). Plus now I am superior to all you gas guzzling, carbon big-foot footprint leaving, obnoxious Americans with your SUVs and salted bread. Again, these three days have been super transformative.

7. Apparently I look Japanese.

I was under the impression that Asian is possibly the last ethnicity I would be identified as, but a friendly street vendor was surprised that I wasn't. One of my roommates explained it quite aptly, saying "it's probably because you have dark hair and bangs".




"The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes" - Marcel Proust

i love ya, tomorrow!

with the help of all my singing mice friends, my bags are packed, my wallet houses euros, not dollars, and i will see you on the flip side!