Sicilia

Finally this blog posting will update you on my whereabouts for the past two months. From January 18th-February 16th, I headed south from Rome to experience life in Sicily, the large island off the tip of Italy. I was happy to see other parts of this beautiful country on my 13 hour train ride through the toe of ''the boot'', thus legitimizing the name of this blog (''gets the boot''...means I'm learning about/'getting' Italy...in case you hadn't figured that out by now!). I spent the month at a meditation center just outside of Catania, the second biggest city in Sicily, located on the eastern coast. I wasn't sure what to expect of my time at the center since I'm more prone to prayer than meditation and would rather call on the name of Jesus instead of the sun and moon or some Zen guru, but hey, it shaped up to be quite the experience!

Sicily is absolutely breathtaking and its weather was a welcome change from the cold and snow of northern Europe. The sea surrounding the island is perfectly blue and the warm sunshine in the middle of winter was fantastic. The Sicilian people are a breed all their own and it took me awhile to understand their distinct dialect but by the end of my time I had adopted the Sicilian habit of speaking with your hands in excess (yes, this habit is true of all Italians, but Sicilians do it the most!) and the family I lived with took it upon themselves to teach me to curse in Italian, a skill I suppose will serve me well throughout life?!

The center was amidst countless orange trees and I loved taking walks each day (with the owner's four dogs!) and being able to just pick fruit off trees and eat it while overlooking the valley below and Mt. Etna in the distance. The oranges were the best I had ever tasted – as big as grapefruits and incredibly sweet! Recalling those oranges now reminds me of the many simple ways God has shown me His love and creativity on this trip – getting to taste the best food, meeting interesting people, having safe travels – are just some of the ways I know He's speaking to me.

I spent the month at Samadhi Center working as a family's personal chef and somtimes maid. It was fun being able to try out new recipes and by the end of the month I became much more confident in my cooking abilities! I was whipping up risotto, ragu, gnocchi, soup, tirimasu etc. all from scratch. I guess that's what people do when they have unlimited amounts of time on their hands to spend in the kitchen! I even made pizza that turned out pretty well if I do say so myself! (See photo below...) My real test however, came when Carmen (the lady who helps run the center) asked me to cook for her extended family who was coming over for the traditional Sunday lunch. Talk about pressure! Me, a 22 year old American girl, was solely responsible for pleasing the taste buds of a bunch of Sicilians...oh boy. All worked out in the end though and everyone enjoyed their meal. Carmen even asked if I could stay and work there longer because she hates to cook but I politely declined and was happy to head to my next destination.

On February 16th I arrived back at Casa Faustina, an agriturismo and farm in Assisi where I spend the month of November harvesting olives and making olive oil. Giordano and Tamara, the couple who run the place and who have also become my good friends, asked if I could return and house sit while they went away on vacation. It's great being back in a familiar place with unlimited internet access! I've spent the time spreading organic compost around the 1,300 olive trees (not a pleasant smell...), feeding Lola the dog and Lino the cat, and taking advantage of the internet access as much as possible. I depart here on March 15th and will head to a farm in Tuscany where I will hopefully learn to make cheese – and we're not talking Kraft Singles! It should be fun and I'm looking forward to being in a new environment and learning new things, although I will miss the comfort of this familiar place and its connection to the outside world – the internet! Therefore I apologize in advance for possibly not being able to post on here for awhile. Oh by the way, if anyone has any advice on taking care of sheep and then using their milk to make cheese, let me know! Ciao!

Roma

Forgive me for not posting on this in awhile but I've had extremely limited internet access for the past month or so. I'll do my best to catch you up on my travels since the last blog (munich/prague).

The last leg of my friend Jess' tour of Europe was a fantastic six day stay in Rome. After running from place to place, trying to catch trains, planes and buses and staying in hostels, we were happy to settle in the Italian capital for an extended stay - and in a real hotel! (Word of advice: Travel during the off season! We found a great little hotel in the heart of Rome for 50% off!)

Part three of our trip was full of culture, history, and great food. We had the chance to see practically everything our guidebook suggested and then some. We also were able to relax and enjoy some long meals of the most delicious Roman cuisine. Rome is impressive because it seamlessly incorporates the old with the new to create a culture unlike any other. Walking around you see amazing ancient ruins like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and Roman Forum among the thriving business and culture of Rome today. After spending a week there, Jess and I began to understand why Rome is rightly referred to as The Eternal City.

As a history major, I was fascinated by walking around the ruins of Ancient Rome and experiencing the stomping grounds of Nero, Augustus, Hadrian, and the like. I especially loved touring the Colosseum and Palatine Hill all while imagining what life was like back then. I know, what a nerd I am...

My favorite part of our visit to Rome, however, had to be our stop at The Vatican. Jess and I found our way last minute into the weekly Papal Audience where the Pope hosts visitors and gives a message and blessing to all in attendance. We were somewhat surprised during this time because the hour seemed more like a football game than time with the holiest person in the Catholic Church! At the end of the service, various visiting groups are acknowledged and when each is called, they stand up, hoot and holler, sing, wave flags, and do whatever else they want in front of the Pope! It was fun though to be with so many different people from around the world in the same room because so many countries were represented (the latin american nations yelled the loudest and were the most fun and the Americans were the most boring when the Pope recognized them..in case you were curious...)

After getting our blessing from the Pope (we felt invincible after that!) Jess and I headed to the Vatican Museum. Needless to say our jaws dropped the moment we entered and stayed that way until we left. The artwork in that place absolutely takes your breath away. Seeing paintings by Raphael, Botticelli and others room after room is enough to make even the most disinterested tourist have a new appreciation for art. The last room at the Vatican Museum tour is Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel and it certainly does not disappoint. I hope he thought it was worth it to spend four years on his back painting the ceiling because I definitely think it was!

I hope to remember some of the meals Jess and I ate in Rome because they were second to none. It was so fun to eat two hour dinners of gnocchi, ravioli, lamb, calamari etc. with the perfect glass of red wine and finished off with delicious tiramisu and lemoncello (always compliments of our friendly Italian waiters! - needless to say it certainly pays to be two young girls in Rome!) We ate a ton of pizza as well and couldn't refuse making a stop at a pizzeria that our guidebook referred to as 'simply the best pizza in Rome.' We thought that was a rather bold statement but when we went there and finally tried the pizza, we couldn't agree more! The pizza, cooked in a wood burning oven (the only REAL way to do it..) was so big it overflowed off our plates and had the perfectly thin crust that we all know makes for the best pizza. We finished the night off with a gelato and a stroll around town and ended up having the most perfect and quintessential Italian evenings. We were lucky to have a lot of nights like that and I was sad to see Jess head back to America on the morning of January 18th while I went on my way to my next wwoofing stop in sunny Sicily. Look out for another blog post on that soon, but for now, hope all is well back in the States!

Prague and Munich

Planes, trains and automobiles. Since Jess and I have started this three week whirlwind adventure, it seems as if we have employed practically every type of transportation. It's been fun being so spontaneous and not exactly knowing what each day brings. We've only booked our travels days before each destination and have certainly felt the pressure of it all. We feel like we're on the show The Amazing Race, where contestants race around the world completing challenges along the way and the most resourceful team ends up the winner. After this trip, Jess and I feel confident we'd win.

After a delayed flight from Paris, we arrived in Prague and mastered the public transportation system in the middle of the night to safely arrive at our hostel. We then spent three days touring around one of our new favorite European cities. Prague is beautiful, interesting, friendly, and in mid-January, FREEZING COLD. We are sure that Jess got minor frostbite on one of her toes. It probably didn't help that on one day we took a three hour outdoor tour of the city. and the next day hitched a ride with some Australians we met to a small town in Lord-knows-where, Czech Republic to see a church made partially of human bones. (Don't worry dad - we knew the Aussies a whole 12 hours before we got in a car with them! haha) The Aussies had been traveling Europe in a giant white, beat-up van with no heating. Of course, we got lost on the way, and then the van, surprisingly enough, broke down! We missed the bone church and to top it all off, Jess and I can honestly say that we have never been colder since we were forced to spend the whole day in below freezing temperatures. We finally made an executive decision and said our goodbyes to the Aussies and instead hopped on a train back to Prague. We are still not sure if they ever made it out with a fixed van. Oh well, I suppose that is the life of a backpacker!

Upon arriving back safely, we celebrated out final night in Prague by consuming one of our favorite meals this whole trip. Rightly coined 'The Feast', we ate a traditional Czech meal of potato and bread dumplings, pork, sausage, ham, more pork, cabbage, potato pancakes, and traditional Czech beer. Delicious. Also, if you are a vegetarian, dont go to Prague.

The next morning we had scheduled a bus for Munich and got to the bus station about a minute before departure. It was not our favorite moment. We are thinking of writing a letter to the City of Prague telling them to more clearly mark their bus stops!

After a short 5-hour bus ride, we got to Munich and had the whole day ahead of us. We met some more Australian friends at our hostel (we started to wonder if anyone else traveled around Europe this time of year...). We didn't know what to expect in Munich and after several peeks at the guidebook we still had no idea what exactly the city had to offer. A lady on the metro asked us what we were interested in and Jess quickly replied, FOOD! So we set out on a quest to find the traditional German bratwurst and beer. We found some at a famous Beer Hall where interestingly enough, Hitler made some of his first speeches. We also managed to see the Glockenspiel, some Biergartens, Englisher Garten (bigger than Central Park!), and the site of the Munich Olympic games - all in one day!

We then found some lats minute tickets on an overnight train to Rome where we got our best night's rest yet! We are not enjoying the 'Eternal City' and will post more later.

Ciao!

Paris

Today Jess and I leave Paris and fly to Prague, Czech Republic. Our time in Paris has been wonderful thanks to my friend Brian who has lived in Paris for two years and is currently a student at the American University in Paris. Jess and I had a free place to stay and plenty of free meals all thanks to the meal tickets Brian gets from his internship! We brought in the New Year at the Eiffel Tower, met lots of interesting people, and became well versed in the Parisian metro system.

I figured that many of French stereotypes would be refuted once I came here but surprisingly, some of them are actually true! Most Parisians only wear black and gray, and act very "cultured." Most smoke. Its funny. Needless to say, Jess and I felt very "American" here. We were tempted to order Freedom Fries instead of French Fries just to stick it to these Frenchies, but restrained. Just kidding, our experience in Paris was great!

We visited most of the main sites, and climbed the Arc d'Triomphe - twice! It was built to celebrate Napoleon's victories and was meant to welcome home the armies. We walked up the almost 300 step spiral staircase to the museum above, then saw people standing in line for an elevator. We figured that must be taking people to the very top, where you can look out onto the Champs d'Elysees, the most popular shopping district in Paris. To our surprise, the elevator actually took people all the way back down to the bottom! So we climbed all the way up again and finally got a fantastic view of Paris. We also went to the Louvre, but only saw the impressive outside since there were too many people inside that they actually museum closed! We did however visit the Musèe d'Orsay and instantly felt loads more cultured! Unfortunately the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed as well but we were happy just to stand at the base and gawk at the impressive landmark.

Jess' trip was made one night while we were eating at a popular tourist restaurant in Paris - a place where they serve wine in baby bottles and diners eat delicious fondue. Jess spotted the actress Leighton Meester, a girl who stars in one of her favorite shows, Gossip Girl. Brian and I had absolutely no idea who this girl was, but perhaps if any of you readers know a 12 year-old girl they might give you some more information! (You can probably tell that we will never stop teasing Jess for this silly obsession!) Anyway, Jess got her picture taken with Leighton who by the way, was not very excited to meet a fan. Despite Leighton's disinterest in us, we were happy to act superior since we got a table at the restaurant and this actress was forced to wait outside! Attached is a picture of Jess with the actress.

That's about all for our time in Paris. I've been so blessed to be with a good friend from high school and one from college as it's nice to not always travel alone. Tonight we'll be in Prague for 4 days, then Munich for 2 nights, then back to Rome for 6 nights! What a whirlwind travel experience!

Au revoir!

Paris Photos

More Pictures from Norway

Leaving Norway

I can't believe that it's already time to leave Norway. My time here has been wonderful - I loved reconnecting with old friends and being part of a family! Kate and Thor have two beautiful little girls and so it was fun to act like a nanny and help out the family. I got a chance to see their ministry to native Norweigan teenagers up close and I was encouraged and inspired because working with people from a different culture is not always easy! Christmas was great because we were invited by Kate and Thor's friends to eat moose for Christmas Eve dinner - it was delicious! I also had to try every kind of Norweigan dessert and was not disappointed! We hiked a bit in the fjords and drove to visit a bunch more which helped me understand just how beautiful Norway really is. Perhaps I'll get a chance to come back here and go on some more outdoor adventures! I was also really grateful to have unlimited access to the internet, central heating, American movies, and the chance to use a free phone line to call the US = all things you take for granted but when you're holed up on somebody's farm in Italy you don't always have access to them!

Today I fly out of Stavanger into Paris where I'm excited to meet my friend Brian from college who attends grad school at the University of Paris. My friend Jess is flying over from the US to meet there as well. She and I will spend the next three and a half weeks traveling around Europe! I was thinking that the title of my blog, "gets the boot" is no longer relevant since I'm not actually in Italy anymore, but rest assured, I'll be back there soon! In the meantime, I hope you had a blessed Christmas and have a Happy New Year - I'll be celebrating in Paris this year!