We've come now to the last week of our stay in Italy. By Saturday night we'll be home. Lauren and I still have a few more tests, but some people are already finished with their finals and the class is beginning to break up. For most, this will be the last time they will ever live in a truly foreign place. Over the course of the semester romances have formed. After this week, some couples will be separated by thousands of miles. We have been living here for over three months. I know specific stones in the road, items in store windows, and old plastered advertisements that I walk over and by every day. More later.

Morgantina

While Gare was in Ortigia studying and writing papers, I went to Morgantina an ancient Greek city complete with theatre, market, and kilns. I also had a huge, huge 35 euro meal! Lots of vegetarian antipasto like sun dried tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, green olives, fresh cheese made from the goats of the owners father in law! A true Sicilian experience. I asked one of our tour guides how often they eat a meal like this, the answer- typically once a week! I can't imagine, it was like Thanksgiving! Here are some pics...

The castle that is carved into the sandstone rock.

The steps in the market place, unique to this ancient greek city. Sorry I don't have any food pictures! :)

Thanksgiving!

We both wish we could be home for Thanksgiving, especially me because it is my favorite holiday, but we had a great time at school. We posed for a picture taken by our Plato professor Scott Burgess. Apparently the word describing the look on Gare's face is "stoic"
About 12 of the students came and brought a dish to share, some families were here to eat as well. Also about 12 faculty members came with their families too, I would say their were about 40 people there. I made mushrooms from my mom's family recipe, very delicious, not quite as good as the usual though. I have included the only picture I have which is also of me stuffing my face with them, below.


Gary brought bread and there was a ton of it left after dinner. I think everyone was so excited to have familiar food in front of them that they forgot the very Sicilian dinner addition of bread. I didn't have any on any of my three plates. Bonnie, a mcas student, ordered bread from the bakery in the shape of a turkey, a pretty cool addition to our Thanksgiving buffet! Pictured below is Gary's large bad of bread and the turkey.
It was a great Thanksgiving in Ortigia! Hope everyone had a great one as well!

Selinunte

Benjamins: Arch. Park, Palermo, Cefalu, and Enna.

At Monreale there is a Norman church with amazing colorful Byzantine mosaics all along the ceiling and walls. From the Monreale center there is a view of the golden bowl of Palermo with its many orange trees and one-way streets. When my parents reached Palermo we didn't go straight to sleep. We found a hotel and parking space for a couple of hours. We walked around the Teatro Massimo area, which is where Mary is shot down in The Godfather: Part III. It was a Saturday night and the young hair-gelled masses were out on their scooters and at the bars. There is cafe style seating for thousands out on the streets, and though it was kind of cold, everyone was still out.
Enna is a wild place. It sits way up on top of a hill parallel to another city and is just built right into the rocky mountain. It's the highest provincial capital in Italy, whatever that's worth to you.
This past Friday in Rising Sun, I met a guy who's grandfather was born in Cefalu. Crazy world.
At the archaeological park on Tuesday, one of my gym-mates was working and we all got in for free.

Benjamin Visit

The Benjamins came to Sicily and decided to rent a car, so Gare and I thought it would be a good idea to have them drive to Palermo (the other side of Sicily) and meet up after our school field trip. It was a good idea in theory. Gary and Kelly were jet lagged and didn't get up until 11.30! They then got stuck in tons of traffic and when they finally made it to Palermo it was 8pm! Gare and I had a nice time exploring the cathedral at Monreale and some churches in Palermo, but by 8pm all four of us were beat and just hit the sack. The next morning we got up and left Palermo as quickly as we could. We had the advantage of plenty of daylight and little traffic, but it still took us a little over an hour to get out! The slide show will have some pics of the madness.
We traveled to Cefalu, a beautiful seaside town, with a peak to walk up and then a wonderful view to take in. Lines and lines of stuff to buy, mostly the same things repeating. Big Gary was able to barter for a sweet leather fanny pack. Kelly contemplated a purse, but no one else got anything. I will keep my eye out for a beaded alligator keychain for Kelly, I know she was really sad to leave it behind. We left Cefalu for the sleepy, cold town of Enna. We were greeted by an alarm which rang for the duration of our visit, about 35 minutes. Maybe the one person who knows how to turn it off was out of town that night. Whatever, the sound was incredibly annoying and possibly contributed to our quick visit.
Back in Ortigia we had a delicious dinner. The waiter/owner spoke to us in Italian which we didn't fully understand and we got a little more than we planned on ordering. It was all delicious though! Unfortunately their visit ended suddenly and they weren't able to get a taste of even more delicious restaurants. I would love to come back one day and maybe they will be able to tag along. :)

Soccer

Gary and I played soccer together on Tuesday night, it was very entertaining. For about an hour and a half we ran after our Italian opponetns and once again beat them. I even scored! I actually scored about 6 goals because Matteo and Mimo (the two Italians on our team) kept setting me up. Gary scored the game winning goal! It was a fun and exhausting night, we might do it again. And since Gary and Kelly are coming this weekend, maybe it will be big Gary's turn to play.

Mt. Etna on November 2

My Ecosystems class took a field trip to Mt. Etna. It was a cloudy, but luckily not rainy, day and so the views weren't spectacular. It was fun to walk across a mile of lava flow! Of course it was cooled down which took away some of the fun, but enjoyable just the same. This is just one of the beautiful lava flows that we got to see.

Pompeii, Naples and Capri: 10.27 and 10.28

Rome: 10.24, 25, 26

Florence: 10.22, 23, 24

Venice: 10.20 and 10.21

Milan 10.18 and 10.19

Back in Siracusa

We got back to very warm Siracusa only 2 hours later than planned! We had a night train from Naples to Siracusa, but with one change over. That change occured at 4 am this morning and today was the first day of a train strike! Yikes! But the station set us up with a bus to a closer destination (catania) from where we caught another train to Siracusa. And believe it or not we are actually pretty well rested! And we were in good spirits the whole time. Perhaps because we knew that we would no longer be walking until our legs couldn't take it anymore! We saw alot in our 11 day tour of Italy. We will add pictures and blogs later, but here was our itinerary. Thursday we had a flight to Milan, spent the night and then the next day walking around Milan, climbed to the top of the Duomo, took an early evening train to Venice. Saw a little bit of Venice on the way to the hostel, the lots of Venice on Saturday, St. Mark's Square and Basillica, the gondolas, the Doge's Palace. Sunday we toured the Correr Museum in Venice and then went to Florence. In Florence we checked into our hotel, ate chinese, toured the city. Monday we took a day trip to Pisa, climbed the tower, toured the duomo and baptistery. Tuesday we spent looking at art! The Uffizi and Accademia in Florence, as well as the beautiful Boboli gardens. On Wednesday morning we rode the train to Rome, saw the Vatican Museum, Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, and Spanish Steps; spread out through Thursday and Friday of course! Saturday we took a train to Naples and visited Pompeii, an awesome city, then back to Naples. On Sunday we took a ferry to Capri, rode the chairlift to the top of the island and came back to Naples in the evening. We caught the 10pm night train to Siracusa, had a slight schedule change, and now here we are in Siracusa on Monday. I cant believe just a week ago we were preparing to climb the Leaning Tower!! We promise more posts soon! Ciao!

Tour of Italy Update

Our tour is going smoothly. So far we've climbed the Duomo in Milan. Enjoyed the grand canal in Venice. Climbed the Leaning Tower in Pisa. And seen a lot of art in Florence. We are currently in the Bella Roma (beautiful Rome). This morning we toured the 4.5 mile Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was quite a painter. Photos and video are allowed everywhere in the Vatican museum, just not the Sistine chapel. I still managed to sneak some! We are back at the hostel because we are exhausted from almost a week of walking almost non stop! A little break is well deserved. We are planning to write some postcards and do some reading for school tonight. Tomorrow we are in Rome again and then we have 2 days left in Naples before we got back to school.

Hope you all are doing well. :)

midterms and trip planning

This is shaping up to be a crazy week! Already we've had one midterm, we have a paper due by Thursday, and another midterm (Gare has two) on Wednesday! In the time that we aren't studying or writing we have been planning our trip to the mainland.

Our plan is to fly to Milan, stay the night and the next day. On Friday we'll take a night train into Venice and get there just as the city starts to liven up. We have rooms there for 2 nights. Then off to Florence for 3 nights, we hope to pop over to Pisa and Lucca. Definitely Pisa, but Lucca might be promising as well. Then take the train to Rome to enjoy the "eternal city" for 3 more nights. Finally we'll train to Naples and spend the night, the next day up early for Capri and Pompeii, then an overnight train to Siracusa. If all goes as planned we'll be back Monday morning in plenty of time for class! So we have all of the room stuff situated, we just need to figure out what we want to do. Any suggestions?

Ottobrata

On Sunday night half of the MCAS students took a bus to Mt. Etna (an active volcano) for Ottobrata (Octoberfest). There were rides like any carnival might have. There were grown men standing around the machines, punching the punching bag and slamming the mallet like they were kids. People were eating and eating and eating. We had these delicious honey covered fried dough finger sized snacks. Lauren ate mushrooms and Gare had a few sugary chocolate filled donut things. Overall it was fun. Mix the carnivals at home with hundreds of crazy Italians and you get Ottobrata!

Gare enjoying the honey sticks. He said they were alot like the french toast sticks he ate as a child.

Monday 10.01: Vulcano

We only about an hour and a half in Vulcano, but we managed to make it to the radioactive mudbaths, a couple of beaches and got full-on whiffs of rotten egg smell of sulfur steaming up from vents. We strolled a few inland roads and bought matching hand towels and a fun tropic shirt. All in all, a successful stop.

Lipari

We stayed at Lipari for two nights in the Baia Unci campground. We visited the chiesas, the archaeological museum, lied on the pumice beach, and then on the beach at Canneto, but by that time we had caught on to one another and didn°t trust a word the other said for the rest of the trip.

Sunday 9.30: Lipari

Salina

The best thing about Salina was that we got to rent a scooter and visit the whole island. There were only a few cars and only a few more scooters, so the ride was nice. We saw the castle, a few churches, and the natural stone bridge. The climb was a little more than we bargained for and the view would be equally enjoyable from the water. Gary loved the climb, Lauren is really the only one who was nervous. Either way, Salina was beautiful. Being able to travel in Italy, on an island by scooter was an awesome experience.

Saturday 9.29: Salina

Stromboli

Stromboli was an adventure. Leaving the ferry the first thing we saw were tons of overgrown trees and bushes that just looked like a jungle. Everything seemed very wild and natural and it definitely is! The main reason for the trip to Stromboli was to climb the active volcano. You can only do this with a guide and we read that it is safe to do. The guide told us that it is actually safest to climb when there is activity. Possibly because they can measure and watch for what is happening. They don't think that Stromboli is going to explode for another couple thousand years, but anything is possible. We loved the climb. It was steep at times and we were going at a steady rate, but it was never too much to handle. The only time it was a little less than desirable was at the top when the temperature was about 40 degrees. We didn't have new clothes to change into and our shirts were soaked through with sweat so there was little keeping us warm. We stayed under the shelters alot to keep the wind from blowing through us. Finally the sun went down and it was dark. We walked over to the edge of the crater and waited for an explosion. It took about 10 minutes, but then we saw about 7 explosions right in a row. This excitement and splendor could best be compared to fireworks. If you are ever in Stromboli there is one thing you must do: climb the volcano!!


When Gary and I went to Oregon and Washington this summer we talked with my Aunt Bev's friends M.A. (Mary Ann) and Charlie. They have been to Stromboli and recommended a neat restaurant to visit. Well we visited it, but it was closed! It is unheard of for a restaurant in Sicily to be closed at 9:30pm, but it was. Anyway, we got a picture and we saw what it looks like. We just thought it was cool to hear about a place that's a world away and then actually be there!

Friday 9.28: Stromboli

Il cacio

The soccer game is posted on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ9PFsYY-Wk

This might turn into a regular Monday night thing. :)

Soccer Game

Some of the guys got together to play a soccer game against some Italians. It was heated at points, but the Americans dominated (with the help of Ramzi). They won about 14 to 3.

Some video will be uploaded to youtube shortly.

Brady and Dillon's Older Brother

This young man works at a store in the open-air market in Ortigia known as the "Asian shop." No, it really doesn't have that name, but it does remind one of the crazy assortment of things you can buy at the 99 cent store in Chinatown, Boston.

He is a really good salesman though. He knew exactly how to work the crazy singing laptop thing I was eyeing.

Skype

We have Skype now. Gary has a camera which captures picture and sound. You will be able to see us, but unless you have a camera we won't be able to see you. You can still chat with us by typing if you don't want to talk. We want to hear from some people so here is our information.

Lauren's Skypename- lauren.standiford

Gary's Skpename- garybanjoman

All you have to do is download Skype and you can chat with us online (like AOL instant messenger). If you want to talk to us, you'll need a microphone and speakers or headphones.

I think even the most computer-challenged person can do this. Good luck! Hope to hear from you guys soon.

Trip to Agrigento - Valley of the Temples

Lauren's Parents Visit Sicily.

Bill and Deb take on Ortigia

Well my parents just left for the states. They really enjoyed their stay at the Hotel Roma and the day trips to places around Ortigia. I have some highlights to post.

• We ate dinner out every night except one when I made a pesto pasta, green beans, and a salad. It was delicious, but my favorite meal, and my mom would agree, was the Trattorria Pizzeria where they serve french fries on pizza! So good. Although Gary pointed out, what is the point of ordering french fries on you pizza if you are just going to pick them off and eat them separately anyway. We got the idea from a girl sitting at the table next to us on our first visit to the restaurant. So, on our second visit we ordered the patatine frittes a la pizza margarita.
  

• The Siracusa aquarium is also worth a look. There were lots of tropical fish to watch swimming in the small tanks. You could walk right up to the tanks and I even knocked on the Moray Eel's tank. (Take that you ugly eel!) But my favorite fish was something that looks like a regular goldfish. It had an enormous brain-like head, swam backwards, and did not stop flapping its fish lips. Here is a picture, I also took video which I will post to youtube when I get a chance.

• On Saturday my parents and I were treated to a guided tour of the Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre), the Orecchia di Dionysius (Ear of Dionysius) and the Roman Ampitheatre in Siracusa. Our guide was Gare. He carried his Blue Guide to Sicily and filled us in on all of the facts that he could remember as well as read concerning these sites. We saw the Alter of Hieron where up to 450 bulls could be sacrificed. Then we ventured into the Teatro and looked at the seats, the stage, the view of the harbor in the distance, and the natural spring or aqueduct that flows into it. We walked into the Ear of Dionysius and heard some people singing, almost sounding like a choir. It was a spontaneous thing, apparently the sound only echoes once and then dies, so it is a very touristy thing to sing in the ear. When walking around the garden my dad picked up 6 4 o'clock seeds for me to plant with my flowers on my balcony. Hopefully they will grow! Gare then led us to the Roman Ampitheatre where he had 6 lions ready and waiting to attack my parents and I. Luckily they made it out of there alive, and we don't have to worry about any lawsuits from PETA. But they sure put up a fight as my parents were simultaneously punching their throats, gouging their eyes and biting them on the nose. I was in the back taking pictures.

All in all it was a good time. :)


Other things Gare and I have been up to. Writing papers, planning our trip to the Aeolian Islands, and watching Rounders. It took us two days to watch Rounders because I kept falling asleep during the movie. Apparently, its a cardinal sin to fall asleep when Rounders is on, so it must be turned off. Its a great movie and all, but in my opinion, it is nothing to lose sleep over.

The Performance

The video featuring Gary's entire performance has been posted on youtube.

While you may have enjoyed the concert as a whole cut down to 4 minutes, I think you will really like this a lot better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRSNYopZaNI

Enjoy!

Gary's Singing Debut

Last night Gary and a few other mcas students performed with the Ramzi Harrabi ensemble. Since I am still working out the logistics of uploading video from my video camera and then resizing it to fit onto a website, the video is slightly off. I used a program which edits the length of the video by cutting out pieces entirely, but keeping the overall idea. I think it's kind of artistic, but I still want to upload just Gary's performance. I promise to do that asap, but in the meantime, check it out:





If this doesn't work, I have also posted the video on youtube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=d7KEgl1H3YM

Walking Around Ortigia and the mcas Boat Cruise.

Trip to Catania

On Saturday we, the mcas students took a trip to Catania, a city northof Siracusa to check out the city and some students. We walked around and saw some cultural sights, a Roman amphitheatre, the symbol of Catania which is an elephant holding a pillar stolen from the Egyptians, and another Greek amphitheatre. Then we had a brief break for some shopping, a slice of pizza, and a gelato. The slice of pizza was delicious. It was a round piece of dough with sauce and mozzerella- baked to perfection. It only cost 1.40 Euro. They have the round pizzas in Siracusa too, but this one was the best by far. Perhaps it was that we were famished, or perhaps it really is that good.

After the historical tour, we walked around with some students from the local University of Catania. They told us about some fountains and showed us the river flowing underneath the city that supplies water for most of the fountains. One particular fountain is called the "Sheet" fountain, but because of the Italian accent and the particular smell radiating from the fountain, I thought our guide was saying something entirely different. Pictures will show the sheet, you will have to imagine the pun.

Our guides were 2 guys about 22 who chose to hang out with Gary and myself. They taught us the most famous Sicilian word "Minchia!" This word can be used to describe anything. For example if you see a beautiful painting, "Minchia!" if you enjoyed your pizza, "Minchia!", and even if you fall on your face, "Minchia!". It is used for everything! But not with professors, as the guides told us. I keep refering to them as "the guides" because I cannot remember what their names are! Ugh! However one was born in Spain, has a mother from Annapolis, MD, and speaks fluent English. The other has long hair, sleeps until 1am and taught us this wonderful word. That is all that I can remember I know Gary will have some more to add.

The slide show will be added shortly, we just have to sort through our pictures.

minchia.

Sunday at the Beach

Gary, his roommate Jack and I spent some time on an actual sand beach yesterday! Woo-hoo! Where we met a cute little boy named Marco. He head butted Gary in the thigh while they were in the water and then they played and played. Gare threw Marco in the air and then pretended to have Marco throw him. Comical.
Kelly reminded me that there was one point during our sunbathing that Marco removed his orange speedo, filled it with sand, and slapped his brother with it. Unfortunately I do not have any video of this because that would be borderline pornographic.

The Slide Shows

The pictures directly below our from this past weekend in Siracusa, Sicily. Our very first weekend! The pictures below that are from Garys apartment. More to come, possibly video, after Gary and I travel to Catania, Sicily this weekend.

ciao,

lauren

First Weekend in Siracusa!

Garys Apartment

View from Lauren's apartment

Wouldn't you love to have this view? The cute Smart cars, the Vespas, the gelateria right below, and of course the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. This is the view out of one of my windows. There is one good way to see it in person...


Come visit us!

Flight from Philly to Brussels to Catania (Italy)

Wow, with our flying record it's pretty amazing that our flights all got off the ground, and relatively on time. There were no actual delays and the weather was perfect for flying. The flight from Philadelphia to Brussels was 7 hours and 50 minutes. We saw the city of New York as we flew over after dark, it was gorgeous. We tried to see Boston, but somehow we missed it. The flight went up to Canada and turned toward Belgium, so we saw a lot of nice coastline. We saw the sunrise over the ocean too. Once in Belgium Gary bought a Belgium waffle which reminded me of a honey bun. It was delicious! We got on the flight and noticed that everyone, I mean everyone, had smaller luggage then ours. Not only did theirs most likely not meet the extreme weight of ours, 46 pounds, but they were much smaller in general. More like a child's suitcase, cute really. On the flight to Catania I sat next to a really nice guy who was tutoring us in Italian. It was a nice gesture, but I was too tired to absorb much. We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage, still better than our last adventure, and then we were off. Loaded into a taxi/van with 4 others and carted off to Ortigia Sicily. My roommate Suzy and I were dropped off first. The apartment is very spacious. Spread out over 2 floors, it has an eat-in kitchen, laundry room, living room with non-functional tv, 2 bedrooms and a large bathroom. The second bedroom is rather small and is really just a place to sit and read/study. I have a desk on my half of the big bedroom, a bed that sinks in about 6 inches when I lay down, and two small non- matching night stands. My dresser and wardrobe are out in the hall. A small price to pay for having the only desk! :)

That covers the first day (very, very long day). More pictures and blogs to come.