Lazy Spring Days

I just got back from doing cartwheels down the hill outside. I went down there to do them because I hoped to be out of anyone's eyesight, but I quickly realized three things. One, the gardener could easily see me from where he was, and I'd be highly embarrassed if he saw my little childish display; two, there were two random strangers wandering around near where I was; and three, I really need to stretch because I think I pulled a muscle. Not that I'm going to let any of this stop me from doing it again next time the sun comes out.

So, I again meant to write about some of the things I've done in the past few days, but I again forgot to do it. Yesterday I went to Pisa with my friend, Erin, and we had a good time wandering around. A lot of people don't like Pisa because they're disappointed with it when they go there expecting a bigger city with more tourist attractions than there are. However, since I'd gone before and only ended up spending half an hour or so in the Piazza dei Miracoli where the cathedral and the leaning tower are, I was happy to return again. I'd actually found an anime and manga store on the way to the piazza the first time, which is why I left the area rather quickly. That and it was raining that time, too.

Anyway, yesterday was a perfect day for a day trip. The sun was out, the sky was nearly cloudless, and the temperature was almost perfect, just a little bit on the chilly side. I got to see the inside of the cathedral and wander around the city, plus eat at a Chinese restaurant where Erin and I were the only non-Chinese (or at least non-Asian) customers. We got some stares, but we wanted our Chinese food! After our busy day, I took the train home by myself since Erin was planning to stay a few days there. I was definitely ready to be in bed by the time I got home!

The Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral (Loved the ceiling)

Erin and the Baptistry

Eating lunch on the grass in the Piazza

The Cathedral and the Leaning Tower

A Day in Church

This is so cool! My roommate just pointed this video out to me. This was taken this past Sabbath in our church here in Florence, and my roommate (the only girl playing) and some other students were playing the special music. They did really well; in fact, it sounded a lot better in person, not that this sounds bad. The guy on the far right is also an ACA student, and then the other two are both high school students, I believe. Anyway, so I hope you all enjoy, and you can also get a tiny view of the church I go to most every Sabbath. I was actually sitting two rows behind the guy videotaping this up in the balcony. Pretty cool!

Bomboloni caldi

Bomboloni caldi. What a lovely phenomenon! Bomboloni are fresh, hot doughnuts made in the afternoons at four o'clock. They're balls of dough fried and covered in sugar, and they'll even fill it with cream if you ask.

Several of our teachers had mentioned i bomboloni, but I hadn't had a chance to go get them yet. Today was a perfect day, the first sunny day in over a week, and it seemed the perfect afternoon to walk down to Piazza Dalmazia and eat some fresh doughnuts. Becky, Sally and I ventured down through the afternoon rush hour, maneuvering between crowds of children and their parents as they poured out of the schools and onto the sidewalks. After a few errands, we went to the pasticceria (little shop where they bake pastries) for our afternoon treat.

First we were astonished to find enormous chocolate eggs in the windows along with piles of other sweets for Easter. Now, these eggs were not just really big Easter eggs, they were amazing! They had pictures painted on them with frosting, and everywhere was written, "Buona Pasqua!" (translation: Happy Easter) Once we got inside the pasticceria, we were all a little dazed by the assorted pastries calling to us through the display windows. Then a man who worked there walked past us and asked us what he could get us. He started listing off various types of sweets.

Then he said the magic words, "Bomboloni caldi!" We jumped to agree, and he pointed us to a spot on the counter where they had fresh ones sitting on a paper and uncooked ones waiting to be fried. They asked if we wanted cream, and after we agreed the lady squeezed some into each of the doughnuts with a big icing-bag-thing. Then the man got a little plate and they set them on it for us. We each took one and took the first bite. They were warm and perfect! I had sugar all over my lips by the end. Afterwards we looked at each other and agreed to get another.

I very much enjoyed my experience with bomboloni, but I'll definitely have to be careful that I don't start resembling one!

Marzo pazzo

"Crazy March." That's definitely the right name for this month! Sally, one of the volunteers here and a friend of mine, was telling me that she heard a couple of women in the store talking about "marzo pazzo" because of the strange weather we've been having. Then in one of our classes we learned a little phrase for it: "Marzo pazzarello, esce il sole e prende l'ombrello!" I know it doesn't go exactly like that, but it's close. It roughly translates as "Crazy march, out with the sun and take the umbrella," but don't put any faith in my translation skills! After a couple of translation classes and learning the dangers of mistranslating, I'm frightened to translate anything!

So my March has been pretty crazy so far. The weather has been pretty strange; at the beginning of this past week it felt like spring for sure with sunny days and very mild temperatures (I even went outside with short sleeves). Then in the middle of the week the temperature suddenly took a sudden plunge. The days since then have been cold, cloudy and rainy. Oh, and extremely windy! How could I have forgotten the wind? It's quite impressive wind, actually. When we're sitting in our classes, we can hear it whistling around the corners of the building pretty much constantly. Actually, it's more than whistling. Closer to screeching! One cool thing about this weather is that the clouds always seem to look incredible, even when they're dumping rain on us. Plus for a couple of days this past week, when it first got cloudy, underneath the cloud cover the horizon was extremely clear! We could see clearly some of the mountains (or hills, whatever they're called) around the city, which are normally seen through a haze of what I assume is probably pollution.

View under the clouds

The sky trying to decide whether to be cloudy or sunny

Besides the weather, we started a new trimester at the end of February, and I'm still getting used to it! I'm taking a lot of classes this time since most of the classes I need are available only this trimester. Besides the normal grammar, composition and conversation courses, I'm also taking History of Italy, Translation and Interpretation, History of Art, Literature, Italian Culture, Geography and Mediterranean Cooking. Of course, a couple of these classes only meet once a week, but it's still a pretty busy schedule.

In two weeks, we're taking a two-day trip to Rome, and the day we get back from that, our three weeks of spring break begin! This is my crazy March, though not so crazy when I'm writing it down.

Soon I'll put more pictures on my picture site, I hope, though I haven't been taking many pictures lately. I think the most recent ones (besides a couple I took of the sky this week) were from the Valentine's party. Those are pretty fun. Well, I suppose I'll save some of my motivation for writing for the next entry.

Shame on me!

Ha ha, once a week. I should have known better! :) So, here's my shameful first blog after about two months. Almost exactly two months, actually. And I really don't have anything else I want to say in this entry, either. I have one planned out, but I'll do that later today. Though I'm not going to promise since I know how well that works for me! Happy Sabbath, everyone!