oh to see it with my own eyes

a random mashup of my first month in italy! song: local natives- wide eyes

cagliari: color, curiosity, community

oh how badly we needed this weekend. PERFECTION. aside from the fact that everyone was a bit sick. except me. but serious relaxation and joy and overwhelming beauty. cagliari is the place to be my friends.

we made it to the island of sardegna thursday night with no trouble (i did try to mess things up...really hard. dropped the bus tickets in the street but we went back and found them) ryanair is actually decent and all went smoothly. got to our hostel which was a six person room with a loft. really nice. cagliari is the most precious little beach town. anchors everywhere- things i love. found a little restaurant and quickly realized we were not in an american-frequented place. very little english. which makes it hard but a good challenge and then we learn. called it an early night and passed the heck out.

woke up feeling reallll good friday. we explored in short sleeve shirts and leggings. everyone else was wearing huge coats and hats and scarves. several people asked us if we were cold. it was 63 degrees. so clearly we were in heaven. after walking a bit and taking plenty of pictures we decided to try to find the famous poetto beach. after getting directions and heading up the highway we were offered a ride by the same lovely older gentleman who gave us directions. so we hitchhiked (sorry mom). and he really was just a lovely older gentleman named luigi with wonderful intentions. dropped us off right at poetto beach where we were greeted by one of the most beautiful beaches i've ever seen. naturally we screamed at the top of our lungs and sprinted for the water (video to come). most of the day we just chilled on the beach and collected seashells and soaked in a whole lotta happiness. lunch consisted of chicken sandwiches at some sketchtastic panini booth called "fast and serious". it was both fast and serious. such a relaxing day of reading and just being together. which is always good. another lovely dinner and gelato success. boom boom baby what a day.

overwhelming beach joy

quad toes

shelllls

sketchtastic.

saturday was bike day. first we climbed this marble staircase thing in the middle of the city that had sweet A views. and we danced on top. a lot. wonderful wonderful wonderful. sun. rented bikes and biked everywhere. ev er y whereeee. had lunch on a restaurant on a boat! which was cool too. more relaxing. and reading. tackling war and peace with everything i have. more dinner. more gelato. more happiness and love galore.

view from the top of the marble stairs

lunch on a boat!

and we made it home. swift plane ride and a bus ticket exchange to get home earlier. sometime things just work out. sometimes they don't (bologna) but sometimes they work out beautifully, far better than we could imagine. the less frequently we try to make life happen- the more life just happens. no plans means no disappointments and pleasant surprises around every corner. i am living. i've been alive for 21 years and there have been plenty of times where i feel like i could not be more alive than i am in that moment. yet it always gets better. i become even more awake and even more aware of my full potential of life. i do have full life and real joy in christ and the more i let him show me that the more i live. and obviously i am blessed beyond belief to be living here and presented with all these opportunities. but it just really hit me this weekend how perfectly alive i am. ptl for that.

a blurb stolen from my dear friend julianna's blog

in response to the events this weekend:

"i'm discovering here that chaos can be so effervescently beautiful. that confusion and tensions and tears give way to laughter and community and love. this life is such an wonderful mess. one moment you can feel like life cannot possibly break your heart more, and in that same moment the comfort of a friend, the smile of a stranger, or the overwhelming beauty of nature reminds you of the magnificence of this life. this life is not to be wasted in pursuing meaningless tasks. an attempt to promote self and seek after success. rather it is an opportunity to appreciate the place you are sitting right this very moment, and the people who surround you. this semester, this day, this very moment, i am choosing to inhale the life swirling in the air around me. and i choose to breath that life into others. may life be breathed into you today, my friend."

check her out: http://mansionofbeautifulthoughts.blogspot.com/

a bologna backpacking deBacle

well, as you may have heard (i told the world) iron and wine was playing in bologna this weekend. which is an hourish or less from florence. obviously i'm gonna go. with lauren, sarah, julianna, and her friend denny who is studying in barcelona. iron and wine is solidly in my top five all time favorite bands. and in italy? seriously. you can probably imagine the experience it would be. me too. so here's a very long, detailed account of what really happened.

10isham- we wake up. quickly pack and decide to actually look at where we are going. realize it's a 30 minute bus ride or 45 minute walk. our train leaves at 11:42.

11am- decide to skip the bus because it's too confusing and we think we're pretty fast walkers.

11:40am- we come to terms with the fact that we are not going to get there in time walking. so we go to a nearby train station to see if we can go from there. we half board train. guess what? wrong train. thanks to ju for asking. so we talk to a lady who says we can't walk to the real station and gives us directions for a bus to get there.

12:30pm- we find the bus and actually go the right way. make friends who tell us which station to get off.

1pm- we make it to the train station. i do a little exchange with the ticket guy who was EXTREMELY nice and he gives us tickets for a later train. really. great man. we go looking for food. i think i've found bliss aka a hamburger. it's not a hamburger. i'm still not sure what it is. lovely friends suggest river rat meat. i do not rule out this possibility.

2:15ishpm- train leaves. guess what? we're on it. thank the lord. sweet lil train ride.

3:15ishpm- we arrive. in bologna! which is where we want to go. ten points for gryffindor. we sit in the train station for a bit while denny changes his ticket home. poor sick lauren devere throws up in a clear trashcan in broad daylight.

3:28pm- we realize we don't know where the hostel is.

3:28.5pm- we realize we don't even know the name of the hostel. we head out to find an internet cafe to get the info from my email.

3:40pm- we meet a lovely concierge at a hotel who gives us directions to an internet cafe. we walk.

4:30pm- we wonder where this internet cafe is. we stop for directions again and actually find it.

5pm- i retrieve all information about the getting to the hostel, concert, back, etc. i'm on a roll.

5:07pm- i try to print our concert tickets.

5:09pm- i realize i have no confirmation email for the concert. i look all over the place and on the website. it tells me my order was canceled and never went through. i retrieve the phone number and call just to make sure. a nice man tells me they do not have my tickets.

5:15pm- i do not cry. i do not cry. i do not cry. i want to cry. i do not cry.

5:20pm- i tell everyone we don't have tickets. they are not as mad as they should be and don't hate me for life. even though i deserve it because i'm a freaking idiot. we decide to make our way to the hostel and figure it out from there. i know the bus and get directions so i lead. i immediately forget how tall i am and walk my head straight into a metal garage door half closed. we move on.

5:45pm- i am leading in the wrong direction. we can't find the right bus.

6pm- a nice man helps us find the right bus.

7pm- we get on. we count ten stops. we get off. when i say we i mean denny sarah and i. we watch as the doors close and lauren and julianna disappear, still on the bus.

7:15pm- we laugh a lottt at the situation and our luck throughout the day. get directions to the hostel. we are about 2 miles away because we got off at the wrong stop. ju and la find us. we walk. on a highway pretty much. looking like world travelers with our big backpacks. funny sight. we try very hard not to be hit by cars.

8ispm- we arrive at the hostel. hallelujah. check in. find our rooms. regroup and head in the direction of the concert to find scalpers. we are not stopping. we will go to this concert.

9:15pm- we are still waiting for the bus. we decide it's not coming and stand up to leave. the bus comes as soon as we stand up. thank ya jesus. we ride and try to get off at the right stop.

9:30pm- we get off at the right stop. walk a bit. find the locomotiv club. denny retrieves his ticket (he bought his on his own. therefore he actually bought one.)

9:45pm- we are standing outside the club deciding what to do. trying to convince denny to go in. a man walks up and asks if we have an extra ticket. he gives it to him and makes a random girl's night- possibly life. the night changes and we know why we're there.

10pm- we get over missing the concert and go to dinner at this cute little hole in the wall with live music and wonderful, huge calzones. then move onto chocolate. duh.

midnightish- we go back to bologna centrale to catch the bus home. we planned. we had directions. we get on bus 21 with some other people going to our hostel.

12:30am- we realize we are at the last stop and it's not the one we want. the bus driver tells us he'll take us back to the station so we can take the right bus.

12:43am- we get back to the station and get off the bus. stoked because the last bus leaves at 12:44 and we just made it. the bus that drops us off drives away and as soon as it leaves the number changes from 21 to 21b. which is the bus we need. not helpful mr bus driver man. and it was the last bus of the night. we are a 20 minute drive- a verrrry long walk- from our hostel. we do not panic.

1:30am- after standing a while a man offers us a taxi. we almost take it. reallll sketch. a big legit one comes up and all 5 of us get in with our new friends nora and something who were american and also studying in florence. just like us. only they saw iron and wine and we didn't. they said it was hands down the best concert they've seen. we were happy for them. and trying hard not to be sad.

2am- we make it back to the hostel. the taxi costs way less than we thought it would and we are happy, tired, done. we pass out.

9am- we are up and out on our way to the boys' hostel to get denny. he calls and says the bus we need leaves in ten minutes and if we miss it we're screwed. we decide to run but then these dogs come out of nowhere in the field across the street. sprinting toward us. we suspect they are wolves. we get a little(lot) scared. the are not wolves but follow us on the other side of the street staring at us like we're breakfast. they quit so we run the rest of the way. backpacks and all. like 7th graders late for school.

9:10am- we make the bus!!!!

9:30am- we get off on the wrong stop. again. walk to the train station. another wonderful man changes our tickets so we can leave earlier.

11:10am- we say bye to denny. we board our train. it's the right one. we are in a cabin with this funny american couple who we talk to the whole time.

12:18pm- we arrive at rifredi station

12:20pm- we run and magically catch our transfer to santa maria novella RIGHT before it leaves.

12:45pm- we come home. the key doesn't work for 7-8 minutes. that's actually a long time.

1pm- we are home. we shower. take naps. chill. so hard. we made it. we did not see iron and wine. but some girl did who may not have if we all had tickets. we met lovely people. and we made it home.

^backpacking on the streets of bologna.

it is hard to understand the insanity of this weekend. overall, every single thing that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong. ridiculous. mind blowing misfortune. but we trust. and god came through. and we actually kind of had fun. and now i sleep.

i will see iron and wine someday.

whatta weekend

friday- fiesole. sole in italian means sun. and seriously sun. 65 degrees and sunny. it's basically a hill overlooking florence. beautiful. warm. happy. we toured around ruins built by the etruscans in 100 bc. now THAT is nuts. it linked to a lot of things i'd learned in my roman archaeology class i took last spring. crazy how old everything is. we walked a lot but it was such a lovely day i could not care less. and then lunch. holy crap lunch. it was a feast. so much food. sooo good. we are all fully committed to the no-carb-left-behind diet. and trust me we're succeeding. went back to the city and walked around a bit. wandered into this fabric shop looking for yarn and the second we walked in we were greeted by these two older men. romano and his nameless brother. spoke english pretty well and decided to grant us a lesson on florentine history. and fashion. the man has a lifetime of knowledge that's for sure. we seriously sat in a circle and romano talked. and talked. for two hours. it was awesome. you can't pay for experiences like that. sweetest old man. he showed us some poems he'd written. we didn't even buy anything or find yarn. but we spent two hours in a random store with a random man exposed to more italian culture than we could on any tour. and we are quite emotionally attached to romano. we will go back. we promised.

etruscan amphitheater in fiesole

a feast of epic proportions

romano reading our entry in the guestbook

ragazzi e romano. tutte amore

aaand friday night consisted of lots of dancing at the red garter. real fun club. apparently italian men love my eyes, they just walk up to me and say "occhio occhio" and touch my face. uncomfortable. julianna's blonde hair is also a fan fav. and actually just all of us in general because we're american. they just stare. and sometimes touch. nono

saaaturday- sleeping late is so wonderful. we shopped all day. like seriously all day. and if you know me you know that is something i just do not do. we walked around the whole city and just got lots of things done. so many accomplishments. and interactions. oh and gypsies. alllll around the duomo. gypsies galore. sly lil minxes but we're quicker. julianna tried to steal my bag when i wasn't looking and i just about socked her in the mouth. basically we're on our game. pick pockets beware. probably the best part of the day was the chocolate festival held outside santa croce. a huge, once a year chocolate festival with parades and free samples and everything good in life. i got a brownie with chocolate icing and hot fudge dripped on top. italian chocolate which i swear is better. overwhelmed by chocolate. not a bad thing. we decided not to go out at night and just had a chill dinner/pride and prejudice watching night. OH. and learned to crochet. not easy. but a good feeling. i made a headband! i become more of a woman every day here. so fun. i guess looking back saturday doesn't look like that great of a day when i write it out. but trust me. it was.

one of about 27 chocolate booths

my brownie. obviously i'm in love

pretty chocolatey faces

my headband masterpiece. the green thing is supposed to be a flower. i kind of made up how to make it so work with me here.

and sunday- a seriously chill day. not much to write about besides church and dinner. we went to st james evangelical american church. borderline catholic. but at least it was in english. pretty interesting. sweet gospel choir. several funny things about italian church: dogs in church. foreign concept to me. and prosecco (champagne) at the after service reception. learning experience. we talked to the priest and some random italian men afterwards. very welcoming. not my style of church but definitely an experience. chilled all day and then dinner. oh dinner. went to ristorante teatro. we got three courses with our vouchers. so much food. so good. inexplicable. you just have to trust me. teatro is where it's at. and unlimited water. which is great because wine is literally cheaper than water here no joke. church and food. a good sunday.

i realize you probably didn't need a rundown of every single thing i did this weekend. i just wanted to convey my feelings. this city is amazing. absolutely where i am supposed to be right now. i am full, tired, and happy. life is good.

"when you write you weave words"

- romano romoli

scuola

maybe you're wondering...does jacqueline actually go to school in italy? the answer is yes. occasionally. we completed an entire 3 credit course of italian during our two weeks in siena. intensive italian to the core. and now i have four classes. renaissance and baroque italy- a history course. interesting, we met at a church thursday instead of the classroom. our teacher is kind of a mousey mr rogers with a little zing in him. he's pretty funny. history of the italian mafia- very interesting. we watch lots of movies, but not like the sopranos. like real italian mafia movies. scary but cool. that professor looks like he himself may be a part of the mafia. and he doesn't take crap. kapeesh? basic spoken italian- a continuance of the elementary italian 1 class we took in siena. pretty dang easy. our teacher reminds me of the kind of teacher i picture my mom to be. passionate about the language and a little on the kooky side. and finally art in context. i love this class. it's basically art history which i've already taken. but it's different. and we don't need textbooks. why? because we can just meet in the santa croce and see whatever fresco would have been poorly represented in the page of a book. that, my friends, is how you learn. in class thursday i stood in front of the tomb of michelangelo. it's a weird feeling being surrounded by all this stuff. unreal actually. i love it. and my art in context professor is my favorite. he's french. his name is peter and he has long gray hair, wears large red glasses, and a sweater/scarf combo every day. he calls us children. and he loooves art let me tell you. art history isn't really history here, it's kind of just life. i would have it no other way. so yes i am going to school. just not usually in a classroom. and i don't hate that one bit.

a little taste of the view on my walk to school every day

esselunga

what an experience. seriously. supermarkets in the u.s. are NOTHING compared to italy. pure madness. it is going to be hard to explain the immense cultural immersion it actually was- but i'll try. monday we went to esselunga, the supermarket in florence. mistake number one: we went at 6:30. so did everyone and their mom. crazy crowded and we got separated pretty much as soon as we entered. so we did our best and trekked around the story yelling to each other about how many apples and which kind of bread to get. cheese. cheese is so difficult to figure out. i don't know why. some is like 15 euro and some is 2 and we want to go cheap but is it bad cheese? language barriers galore. and lauren and i were trying to get an even amount of food since we were splitting it all. peanut butter. i crave it sooo hard. i'm not even that huge of a peanut butter fan i think i just want it because i can't have it. but we found it. every aisle we went down got more overwhelming and there were several points of the trip where one or more of us were at the brink of tears. however we did it. we made it out. lauren and i ended up spending almost exactly 30 euros each. and we got tons of food. i also had a solely italian conversation with a worker about where the salad dressing was. it felt so good. it sounds dumb but it wasn't easy. and we did it. i'll tell you it was a joyful walk home. our only fault being that we bought "intimate feminine wash" instead of hand soap. oops. works the same. but man was it an experience.