Midterms/Spring Break

‘Tis the week of midterms already!  Thankfully, all of them are completed and went very well (or so I think).   That means that it is time for Spring Break!  Before spring break, however, the MCAS program has a four-day stay in Tunisia.  This trip has many interesting events planned for us to experience the Arabian culture of Tunisia.  I am EXTREMELY excited to experience one of the major influences on the Sicilian culture.  If I’m not mistaken, we get to take a camelback ride!  After this brief stay in Tunisia, a few students (Nate, Frankie, Katie, and Nicole) and I are going to Amsterdam!  During the second half of the week, Frankie, Katie, and Nicole are going different places while Nate and I are renting bikes and taking a tour of the Netherlands.  Our destinations include Den Haag, Rotterdam, and Utrecht.  In my next post, I promise to have MANY many pictures of my experiences and travels!

This past week was rather low-key.  Much of my free time was devoted to relaxing, enjoying the sun, and trying to get over the cold that has been going around the program.  Of course, my free time was limited due to my black and white photography project due after Spring Break.  Many hours were devoted to making prints of some of the better images I had taken (again, I will have those for the next post.  I promise!)  On Sunday, our Spanish friends, Paloma and Gonzo went for a walk with us (Frankie, Nate, and me) along the cliffs of Syracuse (not quite as stunning as the cliffs of Dover).  These provided stunning views of Syracuse/Ortigia, on a sunny day, Etna, and, of course, the Mediterranean.  Here are some pictures:

                                                        Anti-Berlusconi Graffiti

Well, I need to start packing for my Tunisian endeavors!  Until after spring break!

Another Week Past!

Oy vey!  It’s been a long time since my last post.  I’ve been busy busy busy!  For a change, the weather was actually enjoyable for the week!  It was sunny and warm-ish (by warm, I mean 50s).  However, today the rain picked up again and looks to continue throughout the week.  We were lucky with the weather because of all the traveling we did.

On Tuesday, a few classes had field trips open to all students, so of course I went!  A World War II history museum and a film history museum (both in Catania) were part of the trip as well as a bread maker in Lentini.  This bread maker was such an artist and made sure to get all of us students in on the action.  It was quite remarkable to see him work.  The rest of the week was devoted to school work and such.

                                                         A Valentine Sunrise

                                                    The Breadmaster at Work

Saturday, a few of us went to Ragusa just to explore the city.  It turned out to be a great adventure!  We really enjoyed the architecture of the churches and the beautiful scenery of more inland Sicily.  Other than the scenery and architecture, there was not a whole lot to do here.  Regardless, it was a wonderful experience to share with some of my new friends.  Sunday evening, the students in my program went to Palazzolo to celebrate Carnivale with the locals.  This turned out to be one of the most exciting experiences I have had!  There were so many people crammed into a tiny area to see the procession.  The floats in the parade were all works of art and… words are hard to describe how fantastic they were.  Most (if not all) were mechanical and moved around to music being played.  As if that wasn’t enough, they were all made from paper mache from newspapers throughout the year.

                                                         Beautiful Ragusa

                                  People crowding the stairs of a church for Carnivale

This week, I couldn’t be as adventurous with food because my card has yet to arrive.  I’m hoping (nay praying) it comes in today or tomorrow.  I did have a really good cannolo!  I think that’s all this time around.  Mid terms are next week, so I have quite a bit of studying ahead of me.  Ciao!

The Joys of Running Out of Money... Already!

So three weeks have gone by since my arrival to Sicily, and I’m already down to my last 50 Euro.  I know what you’re probably thinking… ‘How could someone blow through so much money so quickly!?!’  Well, the answer to that is simple: my bank cancelled my debit card due to a fraud warning.  This is understandable seeing as I live in America, am in Italy, and my latest purchase would be from Italy.  Therefore, they would think some person in Italy is using my card.  However, before I left, I made sure to call the company to inform them I was going abroad!  This person in Italy using my card is, well, ME!  So I have money in the bank, but no means to access it.  Hopefully the new card I requested will come soon, but with the notorious Italian postal system, lord knows when that will be here.  So note to future study abroaders: MAKE SURE YOUR DEBIT/CREDIT CARD COMPANY KNOWS YOU ARE GOING ABROAD!

In other news, another mostly uninteresting week.  Most of my time out of class was devoted to either homework or internship essays.  At least the weather is getting better.  And now that I’m finished with these applications, I should be free to do whatever I want almost whenever I want!  In black and white photography, we developed our first roll of film and made our first prints.  I printed a picture of the sea during the storm last week.  The waves were violently crashing against the rocks.  I’m really excited to see what else will come of that class!

In Italian class on Wednesday, we went to the Syracuse open-air market for a challenge.  Which team could stretch the value of 5 Euros, and which team could find the most bizarre thing at the market.  While the practical use to stretch 5 Euros would be to get a whole lot of tiny, knick-knacks and such, our team purchased 5 Euros worth of potatoes… nearly 22 pounds (thanks Evan and Nate).  Because of the surplus of potatoes, the 13 of us got together last night and had a hodge-podge of potatoes: chips, mashed, home fries, hash brown, etc.  To finish, here are some pictures of non-potato things I have seen around:

                                              Another gorgeous sunset over Ortigia

                                         

                                                    Moon over the Mediterranean

                                                             My crab friend!

A Rainy Week

The second week here was characterized by rain.  Thankfully it was only rain.  Upper Italy, from what I hear, got snow!  “The Cave” feels like it could snow in here…  Not a whole lot happened due to the rain.  There was a huge storm on Monday and Tuesday that caused the sea to act violently:

Friday, we took a trip to Agrigento to see the ancient ruins there.  It was a marvelous experience.  Born and raised in a small town in New Hampshire and never traveling very far in my life, it was amazing to experience such things that I would only be able to Google Image in the past.  It goes tot show that Sicily is a melting pot of culture with Norman influences, Roman influences, and Arab influences.  I feel privileged to be able to study abroad and expose myself to such different cultures and history.

Us in front of the temple of Concordia

Because I can’t think of anything else that really happened, I will share some of the challenges faced so far.  First and foremost is the language barrier.  Sure some people speak English, but the majority of people only speak Italian or their English is spotty at best.  Therefore, I’ve had to study extra hard to even try to communicate with the local people here.  As mentioned in the previous post, I am trying to do some volunteer work with the locals, but it will be extremely hard if I cannot speak with them.  It just encourages me to try harder!  Secondly, there are foods here I would never have tried.  Carne di cavallo (horsemeat, again mentioned in my previous post), squid and octopus, and I guess in Palermo, spleen is a delicacy.  I’m really starting to miss good ol’ Vermont cheddar cheese.   Finally, the housing, again mentioned in a previous post, is difficult to adapt to.  The shower is barely big enough to stand in, the kitchen as well.  I just have to jump right in and make it normal or else come mid-April, I’ll still be frustrated about my inability to speak Italian or having to substitute horse for beef.

Hopefully there is more sun in the near future so I can share more experiences and pictures instead of complaining.  Ciao!

It has been (a little more than) a week in Sicily, and it is still just as great as the first day.  In that short period of time, I can say I have already changed quite a bit!  My diet has seen the biggest impact.  More on this later…

My class schedule is very favorable: Italian, Mediterranean Ecosystems, Volcanolgy, Black and White Photography, and the Sicilian Core class.  I really enjoy all of my classes and am excited for what the future brings in each one.  One of my goals for this experience is to be able to speak Italian semi-well (well enough to sustain a conversation).  There is an older lady living upstairs that Nate, Frankie, and I have agreed to help, but it is very difficult to offer assistance without being able to communicate.  I’m also the “president” of the food delivery volunteering, so it would be nice to be able to communicate with the locals when I help them.  The language barrier is by far the most difficult object to overcome.  It is going to take a lot of time and effort, but I’m up for the challenge!

The rest of the week was mainly devoted to familiarizing myself with the area.  Ortigia is very small, but it is still foreign and therefore hard to know the names of places.  At least I know how to get back to my apartment from anywhere!

Now to the changes in my diet.  First off, Italians tend to only have two meals.  For “breakfast” they just snack and have sweets.  Lunch is usually around 1 in the afternoon, and dinner is around 7/8 at night.  This took some getting used to, but I’ve come around to it and regained my appetite.  There are also a few foods that aren’t common in the states.  Horse meat is rather popular, so I had to try it.  Lo and behold, it’s delicious!  I have also taken a liking to Arancini (rice balls) and blood oranges.  There are more culinary adventures I have yet to take on like octopus and prickly pears.  All in good time.

Yesterday (January 27), we visited the city of Catania.  Unfortunately, it was too foggy to see Etna, but I know it awaits me!  Catania’s architecture was gorgeous!  In general, everything was made of basalt, a volcanic rock.

Well, that’s all I can think of to write now, so enjoy some pictures!  Ciao!

                                Chocolate Pudding with Pistachio Crumble.  Perfetto!

                                                        Sunset over the bay.

                                                     The sunset over Syracusa

                                  Statue of St. Sebastian during the St. Sebastian festival.

                                               Etna looming large in the distance.

                  An Aston Martin DB9 (my dream car) in Catania.  "Someone important's"...

                                                               Horse Burger!

                 St. Agatha's Cathedral in Catania.  Beautiful architecture and fascinating history.

                                                   Catania: the city of stray cats.

Finally Time to Explore!

It's the first Sunday of the semester, the Sunday before classes start... (more importantly) the Sunday the Patriots take on the Ravens in the AFC Championship game (GO PATS!).  It's also the first day that we have to explore the island of Ortigia and do whatever we so please.  Orientation all but culminated last night with wine tasting at a local wine store, where we shared a few bottles of an anti-Mafia red wine.  The orientation process included the general rules and regulations of the program and housing, a tour led by Ramzi, the MCAS student services coordinator, showing local markets, the best restaurants around, cheap barber shops, and historically significant buildings around Ortigia.

Ramzi has set up many trips for the semester including a 5-day trip to Tunisia at the start of March.  Granada, Spain and other cities around Sicily are future destinations for the MCAS group.  There are also 9 weeks for us to travel, explore, whatever by ourselves.  Initial plans show a possible Easter Sunday mass with the Pope..?  It will be exciting to see what destinations await!

The apartment I share with the other guys in the program (Nate and Frankie) is arguably the least favorable of them all.  The kitchen is so small we can barely even walk in it, the shower literally spits water at you with no constant flow and with no force, and it always seems freezing.  Yet, I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be right now!  The dubbed "Cave" already feels like a home away from home.

Everyone else in the program (all 13) are the only students at MCAS.  We all really get along well, granted we've but just met each other.  Classes should be interesting seeing as I may have one or two others in a few of them.  I am REALLY excited for all of the courses I have registered for.

Well, that is all I can think of that I have to share at this moment...  I'm excited to get to explore Ortigia in more depth and without a schedule (so I can take more pictures!)

Ciao!

First Full Day

So today is my first full day in Sicily!  I arrived yesterday at about 4pm local time to my apartment and got settled in, met a few people in the program, and realized I know just about nothing in Italian...  Since nothing much exciting really happened, I figured I would at least share my decision to come to Sicily through the program offered by Arcadia University:

There were a few main factors in my decision to study here.  First off was the professionalism the Arcadia University study abroad coordinators showed in my quest to come here.  At all of the study abroad fairs Saint Michael's offered, I felt the Arcadia representative explained everything the best.  Of course, the courses offered also seemed quite interesting to me.  Being a biology major, there were only a few countries/locations I could have gone to to take biology courses.  The Arcadia program through MCAS (Mediterranean Center for Arts and Sciences) offered some interesting once-in-a-lifetime biology courses (Volcanology and Mediterranean Ecosystems).  Finally, the location is beautiful!  I have yet to fully explore everything offered by Syracusa and the rest of the island, but I am sure there are many more beautiful surprises than those one can find on Google Images.