The last days in the Villa

March 4th, 2011: Remembering my adventures far away.

The semester wrapped up with some tests and papers but nothing too outrageous. Alright, let's be real, I had to write a 12-14 (but Prof. Binetti didn't want it any less that 15 pages) page paper about modern Italian film and literature. Not my cup of tea, but I succeeded. (I wrote about relationships between fathers and sons in the literature and films we watched...who knows...I passed the class, so it must have been an okay paper!) I had an 8 page Art History paper too. I wrote about Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel and how it is a product of the Sack of Rome and the Protestant Reformation. I now know more about Renaissance art, Italian Fascism, foreigners' experiences in Italy and the Italian language than I would have imagined I would learn!

Three of the ladies studying at teh Villa actually graudated over there so we threw them a graduation ceremony one of our last nights there; it was complete with champange, diplomas, gifts, laurel wreaths and Pomp and Circumstance. Then, we headed out to a club/bar in Sesto called "Isolde" for a final party.

The last night at the Villa it snowed! (Helen said it was more snow than she's seen in 5 years in Florence.) Needless to say, with a snowfall every 5 years, no one knows how to deal with the snow. And by no one, I obviously mean transportation. Everything was behind, trains, planes, and automobiles! Snow-covered formal gardens of the Villa.

Check out the length of the delays of the trains.

Anyway, after we left the villa and took the bus downtown we bought train tickets for Rome. The "we" here is Abe, Julian, Amanda Villa and Yunha. They all had flights leaving from Rome the next day and I was headed there to meet up with Maggie and Phil. The delays were riduclous, the cold was unbearable (Of course, that's relative compared to the cold I experienced upon my return to WI)! Oh, and we were famished but didn't want to leave to get food since all of us had 4 months worth of luggage and we feared that as soon as we left our train would be ready to leave! During the 2? 3? hours we were waiting for a train we took turns waiting in the enclosed waiting room to thaw from the freezing cold train station area where our luggage was. Eventually, Abe and I ran to the Chinese restaurant across the street to get a food--we made it back in time for the train, don't worry!

Here's a funny story: You're in Florence and go to a Chinese retaurant with orders for 4-5 Americans. One of your friends tells you to order orange chicken for her. Where does one usually find orange chicken? Panda Express? Stir Fry 88? (i.e. food court Chinese restaurants!) Anyway, we asked if they had it and the young employee looked at us as though we were insane and said, "no." Then, the older woman, presumably the boss, said "Oh, yeah, yeah, no problem." So, we see her grab an orange from behind the bar and retreat into the kitchen. You may now be wondering what Amanda's orange chicken actually tasted like, right? Well, I'm pretty sure they took their regular chicken dish and added a few slices of orange peal and ORANGE FANTA! It tasted so much like orange pop, it was ridiculous!

Anyway, we ate, took a long train ride, and eventaully arrived in Roma! More to come about our crazy, nearly-terrifying? deadly? adventures in Rome.