Tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare

Dozens of famous inspirational speakers circle the globe, attracting people hopeful to learn something about themselves to their seminars; hundreds of books have been written to help people figure out their lives; thousands of websites are out there with how-to's on fixing all your problems; millions of inspirational quotes are exchanged every day, every hour and every minute with people exclaiming, "Aha! NOW I know exactly what I have to do to be a happier, more relaxed, richer, kinder, stronger, wiser, more helpful, more understanding, more compassionate, better, etc. person." The list goes on and on because the reality is quite simple - it's human nature to strive for something better, because there is not one person (correct me if I am wrong) that is fully happy with each and every aspect of his or her life.

My Italian teacher in high school taught us a saying once, "Tra il dire e il fare c'è di mezzo il mare." This literally translates to, "Between what is said and what it done there is half the sea." Or, easier said than done, if I may.

What I am trying to say is, it is not enough to go see a motivational speaker, read a book, or cover the walls of your room with inspirational quotes. Sharing them with your friends on Facebook and Pintrest won't do either. It, "is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum," (taken from "The Sunscreen Song," I suggest you give it a listen).

If you see an idea that you love, something that speaks to you, something that, when placed into the context of your life, makes perfect sense and makes you question why in the world you have not come up with it sooner, GO FOR IT. Not next month, not next Monday, not tomorrow, NOW. As the laws of physics state, the hardest part of putting an object into motion is the initial movement, but an object in motion is more likely to remain in motion unless, of course, somebody stops it; and from what I have come to learn, the only thing that is going to refrain your object, your life, from setting off in the direction of your dreams is YOU.

Below are ideas that spoke to me, taken from Relevant Magazine and shown to me by a friend who has been nothing but an inspiration. Have a look :)

11 Things to Know at 25(ish)

What you need to know to be a real adult.

When you’re 25-ish, you’re old enough to know what kind of music you love, regardless of what your last boyfriend or roommate always used to play. You know how to walk in heels, how to tie a necktie, how to give a good toast at a wedding and how to make something for dinner. You don’t have to think much about skin care, home ownership or your retirement plan. Your life can look a lot of different ways when you’re 25: single, dating, engaged, married. You are working in dream jobs, pay-the-bills jobs and downright horrible jobs. You are young enough to believe that anything is possible, and you are old enough to make that belief a reality.

1. You Have Time to Find a Job You Love

Now is the time to figure out what kind of work you love to do. What are you good at? What makes you feel alive? What do you dream about? You can go back to school now, switch directions entirely. You can work for almost nothing, or live in another country or volunteer long hours for something that moves you. There will be a time when finances and schedules make this a little trickier, so do it now. Try it, apply for it, get up and do it.

When I was 25, I was in my third job in as many years—all in the same area at a church, but the responsibilities were different each time. I was frustrated at the end of the third year because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do next. I didn’t feel like I’d found my place yet. I met with my boss, who was in his 50s. I told him how anxious I was about finding the one perfect job for me, and quick. He asked me how old I was, and when I told him I was 25, he told me I couldn’t complain to him about finding the right job until I was 32. In his opinion, it takes about 10 years after college to find the right fit, and anyone who finds it earlier than that is just plain lucky. So use every bit of your 10 years: try things, take classes, start over.

2. Get Out of Debt and Stay Out of Debt

Part of being a healthy, mature adult is learning to live within your means all the time, even if that means going without things you think you need, or doing work you don’t love for a while to be responsible financially. The ability to adjust your spending according to your income is a skill that will serve you your whole life.

There will be times when you have more money than you need. In those seasons, tithe as always, save like crazy, and then let yourself buy fancy shampoo or an iPad or whatever it is you really get a kick out of. When the money’s not rolling in, buy your shampoo from the grocery store and eat eggs instead of steak—a much cheaper way to get protein. If you can get the hang of living within your means all the time—always tithing, never going into debt—you’ll be ahead of the game when life surprises you with bad financial news.

I know a lot of people who have bright, passionate dreams but who can’t give their lives to those dreams because of the debt they carry. Don’t miss out on a great adventure God calls you to because you’ve been careless about debt.

3. Don’t Rush Dating and Marriage

Now is also the time to get serious about relationships. And “serious” might mean walking away from a dating relationship that’s good but not great. Some of the most life-shaping decisions you’ll make during this time will be about walking away from good-enough, in search of can’t-live-without. One of the only truly devastating mistakes you can make in this season is staying with the wrong person even though you know he or she is the wrong person. It’s not fair to that person, and it’s not fair to you.

“Who are you dating?” “Do you think he’s the one?” “Have you looked at rings?” It’s easy to be seduced by the romance-dating-marriage narrative. We confer a lot of status and respect on people who are getting married—we buy them presents and consider them as more adult and more responsible.

But there’s nothing inherently more responsible or more admirable about being married. I’m thankful to be celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary this summer, but at the same time, I have a fair amount of friends whose marriages are ending—friends whose weddings we danced at, whose wedding cake we ate, whose rings we oohed-and-aahed over but that have been taken off fingers a long time ago.

Some people view marriage as the next step to happiness or grown-up life or some kind of legitimacy, and in their mad desire to be married, they overlook significant issues in the relationship.

Ask your friends, family members and mentors what they think of the person you’re dating and your relationship. Go through premarital counseling before you are engaged, because, really, engagement is largely about wedding planning, and it’s tough to see the flaws in a relationship clearly when you’re wearing a diamond and you have a deposit on an event space.

I’m kind of a broken record on this. My younger friends will tell you I say the same things over and over when they talk to me about love, things like, “He seems great—what’s the rush?” and, “Yes, I like her—give it a year.” And they’ve heard this one a million times: “Time is on your side.” Really, it is.

4. Give Your Best to Friends and Family

While twentysomethings can sometimes spend a little too much energy on dating and marriage, they probably spend too little energy on friendships and family. That girl you just met and now text 76 times a day probably won’t be a part of your life in 10 years, but the guys you lived with in college, if you keep investing in them, will be friends for a lifetime. Lots of people move around in their 20s, but even across the distance, make an effort to invest in the friendships that are important to you. Loyalty is no small thing, especially in a season during which so many other things are shifting.

Family is a tricky thing in your 20s—to learn how to be an adult out on your own but to also maintain a healthy relationship with your parents—but those relationships are really, really worth investing in. I have a new vantage point on this now that I’m a parent. When my parents momentarily forget I’m an adult, I remind myself that someday this little boy of ours will drive a car, get a job and buy a home. I know that even then it will be hard not to scrape his hair across his forehead or tell him his eyes are looking sleepy, and I give my parents a break for still seeing me as their little girl every once in a while.

5. Get Some Counseling

Twenty-five is also a great time to get into counseling if you haven’t already, or begin round two of counseling if it’s been a while. You might have just enough space from your parents to start digging around your childhood a little bit. Unravel the knots that keep you from living a healthy, whole life, and do it now, before any more time passes.

Some people believe emotional and psychological issues should be solved through traditional spiritual means—that prayer and pastoral guidance are all that’s necessary when facing issues of mental health. I disagree. We generally trust medical doctors to help us heal from physical ailments. We can and should trust counselors and therapists to help us resolve emotional and psychological issues. Many pastors have no training in counseling, and while they care deeply about what you’re facing, sometimes the best gift they can give you is a referral to a therapist who does have the education to help you.

Faith and counseling aren’t at odds with one another. Spiritual growth and emotional health are both part of God’s desire for us. Counseling—like time with a mentor, personal scriptural study, a small group experience and outside reading—can help you grow, and can help you connect more deeply with God.

So let your pastor do his or her thing, and let the person who has an advanced degree in mental health help you with yours.

6. Seek Out a Mentor

One of the most valuable relationships you can cultivate in your 20s is a mentoring relationship with someone who’s a little older, a little wiser, someone who can be a listening ear and sounding board during a high change season. When I look back on my life from 22 to 26, some of the most significant growth occurred as a direct result of the time I spent with my mentor, Nancy.

The best way to find a mentor is to ask, and then to work with the parameters they give you. If someone does agree to meet with you, let it be on their terms. Nancy and I met on Wednesdays at 7 in the morning. I guarantee that was not my preference. But it was what worked for her life, so once a month I dragged myself out of the house in what felt to me like the dead of night. It also helps to keep it to a limited-time period. It’s a lot to ask of someone to meet once a month until the end of time. But a one-year commitment feels pretty manageable for most people, and you can both decide to sign on for another year or not, depending on the connection you’ve made.

7. Be a Part of a Church

Twenty-five is the perfect time to get involved in a church you love, no matter how different it is from the one you were a part of growing up. Be patient and prayerful, and decide that you’re going to be a person who grows, who seeks your own faith, who lives with intention. Set your alarm on Sunday mornings, no matter how late you were out on Saturday night. It will be dreadful at first, and then after a few weeks, you’ll find that you like it, that the pattern of it fills up something inside you.

8. Find a Rhythm for Spiritual Disciplines

Going out into “the real world” after high school or college affects more than just your professional life. Where once you had free time, a flexible schedule and built-in community, now you have one hour for lunch, 10 days max to “skip” work and co-workers who are all over the place in age, stage of life and religion.

In those first few years of work-life, it’s easy to get too busy, too stressed and too disconnected to keep up spiritual habits you may have built in school. Figuring out how to stay close to God and to grow that relationship through activities and disciplines that complement your new schedule is critical for life now—and those habits will serve you for years to come.

One of the best routines I adopted in my 20s was a monthly solitude day. In addition to my daily prayer time, I found I lived better if once a month I took the time to pray, read, rest and write, to ask myself about the choices I’d made in the past month and to ask for God’s guidance in the month to come. Some of the most important decisions I made in that season of life became clear as a result of that monthly commitment.

9. Volunteer

Give of your time and energy to make the world better in a way that doesn’t benefit you directly. Teach Sunday school, build houses with Habitat for Humanity, serve at a food pantry or clean up beaches on Saturdays.

It’s easy to get caught up in your own big life and big plan in your 20s—you’re building a career, building an identity, building for a future. Find some place in your life where you’re building for a purpose that’s bigger than your own life or plan.

When you’re serving on behalf of a cause you’re passionate about, you’ll also connect in a deep way with the people you’re serving with, and those connections can yield some of your most significant friendships.

When you serve as a volunteer, you can gain experience for future careers. Instead of, for example, quitting your banking job to pursue full-time ministry, volunteer to lead a small group, and see where it goes from there. Use volunteer experiences to learn about causes and fields you’re interested in, and consider using your vacation time to serve globally.

10. Feed Yourself and the People You Love

If you can master these things, you’re off to a really great start: eggs, soup, a fantastic sandwich or burger, guacamole and some killer cookies. A few hints: The secret to great eggs is really low heat, and the trick to guacamole is lime juice—loads of it. Almost every soup starts the same way: onion, garlic, carrot, celery, stock.

People used to know how to make this list and more, but for all sorts of reasons, sometime in the last 60 or so years, convenience became more important than cooking and people began resorting to fake food (ever had GU?), fast food and frozen food. I literally had to call my mom from my first apartment because I didn’t know if you baked a potato for five minutes or two hours.

The act of feeding oneself is a skill every person can benefit from, and some of the most sacred moments in life happen when we gather around the table. The time we spend around the table, sharing meals and sharing stories, is significant, transforming time.

Learn to cook. Invite new and old friends to dinner. Practice hospitality and generosity. No one cares if they have to sit on lawn furniture, bring their own forks or drink out of a Mayor McCheese glass from 1982. What people want is to be heard and fed and nourished, physically and otherwise—to stop for just a little bit and have someone look them in the eye and listen to their stories and dreams. Make time for the table, and you’ll find it to be more than worth it every time.

11. Don’t Get Stuck

This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find God and themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely. They mean to find a church, they mean to develop intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don’t do those things, so they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.

Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.

Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with people who believe God is good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned.
Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.

Shauna Niequest is the author of Bittersweet (Zondervan). This article originally appeared in the May/June issue of RELEVANT. You can read more articles like this by subscribing—click here for more information.

AmeriCorps Motivational Statement - a little about me

Growing up in Latvia during the turbulent times following the collapse of the Soviet Union, my family did not have much. My mother, a single mother of two, struggled as she worked four jobs to put food on the table for me and my brother. One day, in the midst of teaching an English class, she fainted from hunger. It was in that moment that she realized that she needed to find a way out of the dark vacuum that was engulfing her family, no matter how challenging or precarious that way may have been.

In October of 1996, a brave woman arrived in the United States with nothing but five dollars in her pocket and nothing but perseverance on her mind. She began working as a caretaker for an elderly couple with Alzheimer’s, and every dollar she made was sent back home to her children. Three years, lots of tears, heaps of hardship and numerous immigration court cases later, my mother’s dreams came true – she brought her children to the United States of America.

My life, as well as the lives of my family members, has come a long way since that chilly October morning when I saw my mother boarding that plane, tears in her eyes, promising us a better tomorrow.  Two weeks ago, I became a citizen of the United States. I cannot even begin to describe the feelings of joy and gratitude that overwhelmed me when I became a part of this amazing nation. The struggles that my family went through now seem light-years away, but not a day has gone by when I have not counted my blessings. I thank God every day for guiding my family through difficult times, I thank my mother for her strength and perseverance, and I thank America for taking my family in as one of its own.

I am also thankful for my struggles because, as cliché as that may sound, they truly made me the person that I am today. I do not take things for granted, for I know what it’s like to have nothing; I work hard at everything I do, for I have an amazing mother as my inspiration and my role model; most importantly, however, I devote myself wholeheartedly to helping others, for I know what it’s like to be forgotten and neglected in this world of seven billion people, as my family once was.

In “Tuesdays with Morrie,” Mitch Albom wrote, “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

I believe that in today’s society, too many people are chasing the wrong things in their pursuit of happiness – a newer car, a bigger TV set. While materialistic objects may warm your heart for a day or two, helping others, devoting yourself to your loved ones and your community and making positive changes in the world will ignite a flame of pure joy in your heart that will burn for years to come.

The morning I became a citizen of the United States of America

Milan, Italy (April 4-5, 2009)

My best friend from Russia arrived early Saturday morning. My heart was overwhelmed with excitement and happiness not only because I was going to see Masha after months of separation, but also because I was going to let her experience this Florentine fairytale I was living in.

It was Gabriella's birthday weekend, her twenty first. Even though twenty one in Italy does not open up the same opportunities as it does in the United States, we still decided to celebrate BIG. What bigger way to celebrate than in the fashion capital of the world, Milan. We caught, and when I say caught I usually do mean CAUGHT, as in ran top speed with luggage in our hands, an early morning's train from Florence to Milan. Catching our breaths, catching glimpses of beautiful Tuscany passing us by, and lastly catching some shut-eye all the way to Milan.

When people call Milan the fashion capital of the world, they do so for good reasons. Getting off the train I felt less on a platform and more on a podium of a high-end fashion show. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Versace... pin-thin women wearing tight jeans, leather jackets and boots with stiletto heels, tall, dark and handsome men wearing suits ironed to perfection. We're in Milan all right!

What happened upon our arrival at the hostel was probably the number one traveler's nightmare - we were denied our rooms. Three girls, zero passports, zero luck bribing the mean clerk. Apparently, Italian law states that valid documentation must be shown upon check-in at all hotels; apparently, New York State licenses are not considered valid documentation in Italy. It was getting late, dark, and the last train back to Florence for the night was the one we had previously arrived on. Miserable and exhausted from carrying heavy luggage all day, the three of us headed to our last resort - sneaking into Gabriella's five star hotel; it worked. We changed quickly and headed out for a night of celebration.

Milan offered us choices of cuisine from every country in the world, but we were set on the famous Armani Sushi restaurant. Upon our arrival we were greeted by waiters and waitresses that looked like they had just walked off the Armani runway - typical in this city. Two hours and two bottles of exceptional white wine later, we were finally ready to see everything the Milanese nightlife had to offer. We hailed a taxi and sped through the Metropolis, wind in our hair and nothing but smiles on our faces.

Club Hollywood; dancing the night away; one of the best birthdays of Gabriella's life.

The morning of April fourth was a warm spring day, Palm Sunday, and we headed out early to devote it to sightseeing. We took the metro to the Milanese Duomo, a cathedral that reflects perfectly the Gothic architectural style of Italy in the late thirteen hundreds. Proudly standing in the center of the piazza, the majestic cathedral, fourth largest in the world today, took over four centuries to complete. Pinnacles and spires adorn the roof of the Duomo, and the outside detail and sculptures to dozens of saints, carved from brick and Candoglia marble, is truly astonishing. The inside of the Duomo holds hundreds of religious paintings, stained glass artwork, and a small red light bulb in the dome above the apse marks the spot where one of the nails from the Crucifixion of Christ has been placed. The cathedral had an atmosphere of majesty to it; simply being there gave me a feeling of inner peace and calm.

We quickly found our way to the spiral staircase leading to the roof of the cathedral. Nine hundred and nineteen stairs later a spectacular vista opened up before me. A view of Milan, a modern metropolis, came together with the beautiful scenery of the Alps to form a picturesque skyline that would put half the beautiful cities in the world to shame. Hours of exploring and sunbathing later, we descended the steps again, leaving this beautiful cathedral behind, yet taking memories that would last a lifetime with us.

Masha and I finally got some time to catch up as we walked through the beautiful garden within the Milanese fortress. Beautiful statues, ponds and trees imported from all over the world were all wonderful companions as my friend told me of her adventures in India. Walking through the gardens was a soothing way of winding down from the fast life of Milan; the sun was starting to set, and I was glad to beheading back to my cradle of the Renaissance.

Athens, Greece (March 25-26, 2009)

What better day to arrive in Athens, the capital of Greece, than March 25 - Greek's Independence Day. After hundreds of years of Turkish rule, Greece won its independence in 1822.

We arrived at our hotel early and headed right out to the city's center to watch the Independence Day Parade. We were fortunate to have our EuroAdventures tour guide, Shaun, take us around, for even with maps it was hard to understand the directions - all the street signs were in Greek, an alphabet that few of us were familiar with. We made it to the parade before the actual start, but apparently crowds lined up hours before to get the best "seats" in the house. Gabriella and I squeezed and maneuvered our way closer to the main street of Athens, one that runs past the Parliament Building of Greece, and enjoyed a few glimpses of every branch of the Greek armed forces that marched by - army, air force, national guard, and even the scuba divers of their navy! Though squeezed by hundreds of people, we still managed to get a great view of one of these branches - the Greek Air Force; its airplanes and helicopters soared the skies above, pridefully displaying their country's aviation prowess. The Independence Day procession was truly a magnificent one.

Following the parade, Gabriella and I took the sightseeing bus tour all around Athens to get a better idea of the best spots to explore the following day. We tuned our headphones to channel 4, the Italian channel, and enjoyed the guide's detailed descriptions of architecture, museums, important buildings, statues and ancient ruins. Later that evening the whole EuroAdventures group, about 100 people, rented out a small Greek restaurant and enjoyed a family-style Greek meal with unlimited food and wines, as well as the traditional Greek yogurt and honey dessert. We finished the night off dancing at a little disco nearby.

Thursday was our last full day in Greece, and we dedicated it to sightseeing. Our first destination was the world-famous Acropolis of Athens. It is hard, if not impossible, to describe the feeling one gets upon entering these ancient ruins - quite frankly, I do not think there are words in any language to describe the rush of emotion upon approaching these crumbling remains that once served as temples of the Gods. The Parthenon, the Old Temple of Athena, Propylaea, Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, the Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus, all these landmarks, thousands of years old, magnificent with their timelessness and filled with spirit of the past. I put my hand on the cold stone and closed my eyes - my mind traveled in time to 450BC, the Golden Age of Athens; I could almost hear the voices of the ancients, feel their presence around me...

A picture is worth a thousand words, but no picture in any history textbook can compare to an actual visit. People can spend months if not years studying ancient Greek history, but their journey will never be complete until they experience the places where it all began firsthand. I believe that it was there, at the Acropolis Ruins, that I finally realized how important, if not vital, studying abroad truly is. Whether you are a business major looking to start your own business or a history major planning to teach elementary school, you need to go; you need to leave your comfort zone, your bubble, and travel. Travel to enjoy yourself, travel to explore, travel to learn other cultures and customs, travel to have your questions answered, travel to learn about your past. Our world, if you allow it, may just become the best teacher you ever had.

Island of Corfu, Greece (March 21-24, 2009)

With all the stress and studying of midterms week finally behind, what better place for some R&R than... Greece. We left Florence in the early morning and headed to Ancona, an Italian port city on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. We boarded the ferry and set sail towards Igoumenitsa, Greece. The ferry ride was a little over fifteen hours, but we found all sorts of entertainment on board. As always, food was first on my agenda. I found the menu to be quite funny - Greek salad with a block of feta cheese, fruit salad with a block of feta cheese, french fries with a block of feta cheese, everything on the menu came with generous serving of feta cheese! I did not mind, however, for it truly was delicious. After our delicious meal came dancing with the national dance ensemble of Georgia - they were traveling on the same ferry with us, heading home after performing in Europe. Not only did they dance for us, but they also taught us traditional Georgian dance moves, let us sample home-made Georgian wine and pastries, and I even got to speak Russian to them! Bedtime came early that night, courtesy of Dramamine.

We arrived at Igoumenitsa early the next morning, took a short bus ride to another port and then another ferry to the beautiful Island of Corfu. The island itself was quite uninhabited, with only a few houses here and there - it was mostly forests and mountains, and the most breathtaking views of the surrounding beaches and sea once we got to higher elevation. The Pink Palace Hostel, a famous location in Greece for traveling students, was situated on a hill, a ten minute walk away from the beach. The rooms were beautiful, facing the sea. We had the most delicious Greek dinner that night - salad, chicken, baked potatoes and lots and lots of feta cheese!

The next day was spend enjoying the first rays of sunshine my skin has felt since the summertime. We sunbathed, shared traveling experiences with fellow Pink Palace guests and explored the Mediterranean beaches.That night the hostel hosted their famous toga party; we had to use the silky pink sheets that they provided us with and turn them into Greek togas - we got creative. Over the shoulder, strapless, knee-high, belts, pins - if I didn't know any better I would say people were auditioning for Project Runway! The rest of the night was spent sampling Greek foods and beverages, such as the Ouzo shots, and dancing. The Pink Palace crew put on a performance of traditional Greek dancing, lifting chairs up with their teeth and even breaking plates on our heads!

That Tuesday we signed up for the "ATV Safari" - basically, a tour guide took a group of about fifteen around the whole island of Corfu on quads. We went through small villages, around olive plantations and off-the-road through woods and fields, and even reached the highest point of the island where there was a small church and a gorgeous view of not only the Corfu island, but also other surrounding Greek islands in the Mediterranean. We stopped for a quick break at a cafe hidden in the mountains and enjoyed hot chocolate and fun conversation with the owners.

On the way back, our tour guide took us on the Corfu version of a parkway, a two lane paved road. Here we tested "the quad's full speed" - a mere 70 kilometers per hour, equivalent to about 40 mph - but the wind still whistled in my ears as we returned to the Pink Palace for one last time.

Florence, Italy (March 16-19, 2009)

Midterms Week

Up until this point, the only image that would come to my mind when I thought "midterms week" would be one of me sitting in a library, 3 in the morning, hunched over a notebook with a large Dunkin Donuts coffee loyally by my side. But this time around, it was different. This time around, I was in Florence.

Now, don't get me wrong, I was still in the Lorenzo de Medici library until the wee hours of the morning. However, most of my studying was not done in a library - it was done through "hands on" exploration of Florence; that's the magnificent thing about taking these classes in Italy, in Florence - you not only get to look at pretty pictures in textbooks and read about timeless masterpieces, but you get to see them with your own eyes, experience the atmosphere the artists were in when they created their artwork, and even see how and where they lived!

My "Renaissance Art" class, taught fully in Italian, focused on Florence as the "Cradle of the Renaissance," the place where it all began. We focused on the Medici family and their long legacy, thoroughly studying the artists who began as private painters and sculptors for the Medici family, such as Michelangelo and Boticelli. We learned the architectural history of the hundreds of churches and palaces of Florence, including the famous Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, the Pitti palace, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella and dozens of others. We took a class trip to the Uffizi Gallery, located in the historical heart of Florence, right on the Arno river. Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and "La Primavera," Fra Filippo Lippi's "Madonna with Child and Two Angels," Raphael's "Madonna del Cardellino," Michelangelo's "Tondo Doni," all honored the walls of this magnificent gallery. We visited dozens of churches and art exhibits, and grave sites of Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

My most distinct memory, however, was at the Accademia Gallery (located about 5 blocks from our apartment - imagine living in the birthplace of the Renaissance?) There are thousands, if not millions of replicas of Michelangelo's "David" all around the world. However, there is nothing that compares to the real sculpture. Upon entering the Accademia Gallery with my "Renaissance Art" class, I noticed two giant paintings of people, tourists it seemed, all looking up in wonder and admiration; our professor later told us that these are just photographs of people looking at the David. We walked through two smaller halls and into a large, white, well-lit hall, leading to a giant room; from my peripheral vision I saw the statue, and I froze in my steps - no book that I ever read was even close to describing this majestic masterpiece. It was big, and when I say big I mean huge. I, along with every other person in my class, could not take our eyes off of David! Daniele, our professor, let us enjoy our minute of shock and admiration, and then went into an hour lecture about the statue. One of my favorite parts of the lecture was one about Michelangelo saying he did not sculpt the statue out of the giant piece of marble - he simply cleaned off excess marble off of David, who already existed within the rock. Poetic and brilliant, I know.

"Italian Cinema" was another class I studied which was taught fully in Italian. When registering for the class, I pictured myself in a movie theater-like room, watching Italian comedies once a week for three hours. Was I wrong. The first month of the class our professor focused on early Italian history, ancient Rome and numerous wars. We watched black and white clips without sound, having to quickly adjust to reading Italian subscripts. The second month was focused on the early 1900's, when some of the first short films were actually made. Then came World War I and II, a high focus on fascism and on movies depicting the hardships Italy faced during the war and post-war period. Roberto Rossellini's "Roma Citta` Aperta," (Rome, the Open City), was a tragic film about the suffering family and friends went through trying to cover up anti-fascism activity of a loved one. Then came neorealist classics like Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" and "Umberto D." and Luchino Visconti's "Obsession" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice." Our professor stressed the importance of film in understanding history, for a picture truly is worth a thousand words. Even though the class was probably one of the hardest classes I had taken in college thus far, alongside my Renaissance Art course, it was worth every all-nighter and every missed night out, for it painted vivid images of ever-changing Italy in my head, teaching me of the hardships this happy-go-lucky nation faced prior to my arrival.

My "Advanced Italian" course met for two hours every day, but I certainly knew the learning of class material did not stop once I left the Lorenzo de Medici building. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, I was surrounded by the Italian language, learning new vocabulary, grammar rules, conjugations and popular expressions. My new Italian friends were more than eager to assist in my learning process, kindly correcting my mistakes and explaining why what I say does not make sense. There is something about not being under the pressure of being graded that makes learning a lot easier - perhaps the lack of stress? My brain was a sponge for Italian knowledge, and it soaked up every last bit of the language, culture, and history material it could find.

Getting back to my description of a Florentine midterms week, a lot of studying time was spent re-visiting the beautiful churches and monuments, re-watching Italian films, going over Italian grammar rules while watching the sunset over the beautiful Arno river, and simply conversing with my Italian friends for language practice - beats sitting in a library until five in the morning, don't you think?

Florence, Italy (March 14, 2009)

Spring was finally making it's way into the chilly city of Florence. It was a sunny, warm Saturday before mid-term exam week. The girls and I decided to spend the day relaxing outdoors (for we knew the next week would be spent in the imprisonment of the school library, hunched over our textbooks, class notes and Italian dictionaries).

The Tuscan region is well known for it's beautiful hills and valleys, and tourists from all over the world enjoy bike riding on the hundreds of scenic paths. We rented bicycles at a nearby shop and began our journey in the heart of Florence. Little did we know that Italian traffic laws give no courtesy to bicycle riders - I had a few near-death encounters with Vespas and bus drivers as we headed toward the outskirts of the city.

It was smooth sailing through hills and valleys once we finally left Florence, with amazing scenery and very little traffic. The original plan was to ride our bikes all the way to Chianti, until a friendly shop owner told us, with a big smile on her face, that it was twenty kilometers one way. So we rode aimlessly, with the sole destination being pure enjoyment of this beautiful spring day. We rode for hours, and chose a small village as our turn-around point. On the way back we got to experience the setting of the sun over Tuscan hills - I can confidently say it's beauty could be compared to that of a sunset on a Caribbean beach.

Before returning our bicycles, we stopped at a hidden gelatteria and explored the taste varieties of gelato on the side of the Arno river opposite our apartment's. I am not sure whether it was a day full of outdoor exercise, the finally warm weather or simply being in company of good friends, but the pistachio/chocolate/stracciatella gelato tasted extra good this evening!