Olive oil is a well-known product in Italy. Tuscany especially has many grooves of olive trees surrounding its countryside. In the late 14^th century, the region of Tuscany couldn’t partake in increasing world trade due to war and thieves, therefore they invested in themselves by planting olive trees and grapes. One of the school trips is called, gives you a brief idea of what olive farming looks like. They took us to a small town right outside Florence called Impruneta. In the city, the school bought the group coffee and took us to a historic church that had been rebuilt after being bombed during WWI. The countryside is beyond beautiful, and the visit ends with a guided tour of Antico Frantoio Doglia which is an olive oil production farm run by two young sisters. They explain the deep rich history of their land which goes back to the Roman Empire and the planting of olive trees dating back to the Renaissance. The tour also included seeing the modern technology and the green methods of recycling waste they use during each stage. Whether that be creating mulch or sending leftover pulp to a factory that will use the gas from the breakdown of the olives to produce green energy, nothing is wasted. After the tour was complete there was an olive oil tasting. The olive oil tasting would be my only critique of the trip because we each only got two golf ball-sized pieces of bread with oil, cheese, and tomato. Everything was terrific but I wouldn’t consider it an olive oil tasting. More of an oil sample, because we only tried one of their products and very little of it. Once all is said and done, it was a great trip!

To switch topics, time is flying by so fast that it feels surreal to have been here for almost two months. Although that doesn’t mean I haven’t met my fair share of mental challenges. Weirdly enough I haven’t had any homesickness yet, but I know I’m not out of the clear. Before beginning to speak on my what has caused these mental challenges, I want to remind people this is based on my personal experience and what I’ve heard from friends. I also have friends in homestays that haven’t experienced these issues because every homestay is totally different. For me living in a homestay has caused a few cultural shocks/ challenges. Italy is known for its sense of family and food. So, if you have a complicated relationship with food, I’d beware that some host moms do push eating lots of food on you. Though I always try my best to remember it is a way they show love and not a control aspect. My host calls my roommate and I “her little chickens” because she claims we never eat food after eating 2 or 3 servings for dinner. Also, because most of my friends here are in homestays it seems very common that you’ll have a better relationship with your host family if you keep them informed about when you’re going places/ when you’ll be back. In addition, I know that cleanliness is another issue that has come up with my friends and my roommate. The “normal” level of cleanliness of a college dorm room will most likely not pass here. A bunch of the families hire people to clean. If your room isn’t picked up it can cause tension with your family. In the end, I still would choose a homestay over any other living situation option. Hotel/dorms are a 25-min walk from campus and only one kitchen works in the entire building. The other option is an apartment, but that seems to work best if you’re going with a group you already know. Being a singular Whittie who didn’t know anyone before coming, the homestay was definitely the best option!

Ciao,

Rebecca

Salve!

I had the most eye-opening experience about how ingrained being multilingual is in Italy during my drawing class. A little boy about seven years old came and sat with me in Piazza Massimo D’Azeglio. I was drawing the main fountain in the Piazza for an assignment with a felt tip inking pen. The boy had brought his own sketchbook and started drawing the fountain as well. Intrigued by my competition I pointed to his sketch wanting to see what he was drawing. He said, “would you like to see” and couldn’t help but feel stupid for assuming the boy wouldn’t be able to speak English because he was so young. As we talked more, I was really taken aback at the level at which he could communicate, and we continued to draw together for the rest of my class. He ended up drawing a simple strip of comics about the birds in the fountain and titled it in English for me to read. There is so much I uncovered from this experience, one is the value of speaking more than one language, two is the European school system’s impressive emphasis on languages, and finally how much you can learn by connecting with local people.

The Italian language can be easier to pick up on especially if you’ve taken other romance languages before. After being in Florence for about a month now I have seen my French help me with a lot of menus, but also hider me. For when I want to say something in Italian I think in French. Though I wouldn’t say that it’s necessary to learn Italian to get around Florence since most people speak a decent level of English as I described above. Nevertheless, Syracuse requires its student to take a language class while in the country of their center. All the Italian courses at Syracuse Florence are very individually based on the professor’s preference. Each course is two and a half hours long which is personally a little straining for my attention span. Furthermore, it is only twice a week which makes it hard to consistently practice when you don’t necessarily have to use it to get around. This doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable to try. I honestly feel that Italians are one of the most caring people and you can tell they appreciate when you try to speak Italian to them instead of English. So I highly recommend learning at least the basics.

Ciao,

Rebecca