Pictures of Paris and vado a casa!

Yay! I'm coming home on Friday! After my 4 exams 1 paper and one presentation....eww....

There isn't really a word for home in Italian. When you say I'm going home, Vado a casa, it translates to 'I am going to my house." There isn't a difference between the word house and home. I feel like there is a big difference though. Forgive me for going sentimental on you, but I've been thinking about the idea of home a lot. When you are young and moving from school to where you grew up to who knows where, you have several homes at once. In a way, home is a transient idea. I think home might mean different things to different people. But to me, home doesn't have to just be a place, though I'd say Virginia, particularly the area of Richmond and New Kent is my home. I think more importantly home is the people that you love and who love you no matter where you are.
One of the other girls and I were talking about our experience here and we decided that we had learned something similar. A lot of people want to travel, which is nice, but why? You may look at that postcard of Tuscany or where ever and feel that a place could release you from whatever you are tired of in your day to day life. "Oh if i could just go there, if I could just be there, live there away from it all. Then everything would be ok." But I have been living "there". And yah, its cool and all. I have been inspired in a way by the beauty of the hills or whatever, but after awhile, maybe after you've had time to yourself to think and reflect, after you've seen the monuments that are so famous and met the locals, you just want to be home. Nothing goes away. Everything isn't perfect, and until you can find the adventure in your own day to day life, getting away to somewhere exotic isn't really going to help all that much.
Some of us have had the opportunity to travel some on our own too, which is good in a way, it helps build confidence in yourself. All that you see and experience is nice, but I think we have learned that no monument or amazing place will mean nearly as much unless you have someone to share it with. It's the people that matter more in a way.
We have this amazing ability as humans to create new "homes" where ever we go. If we have to, we can make that home on our own in a strange place and be satisfied enough for a little while. But once you have a home that's more permanent, whether its a location, or a person or a whole group of people, you don't forget that, and you can't help but miss it when you are far away no matter how many great adventures you have. I can't appreciate the amazing opportunity that I have had enough, its been amazing. I've learned so much and seen so much. But I am ready to come home now. There is a boy here who is going to Australia next semester, but he's traveling around by himself meeting up with some friends here and there rather than ever going home. I think he's pretty brave. I could never go to NZ without at least coming home for a little while.

Anyway, there are pictures from Paris up now~ sorry it took me so long. My friends Leigh has more I can show you too sometime. http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martin YAY! I hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas! Mara and I have been listening to Christmas music! I hope every one's exams went well and wish me luck for the next crazy 3 days! Have a great day!

ombrello dodging in the street, friday the 13th and people who are different

Oh my goodness its been raining for days! I think I might float away. Or have seasonal affective disorder. Everyone seems pretty excited about almost being done and coming home though~ Its so funny, when you walk everywhere in a city, even a small one like Siena, it becomes necessary to doge people. Then add umbrellas to the mix and its ridiculous. I find myself weaving and ducking or twirling my umbrella up so as not to hit people. Walking down the street is like a video game...haha.

I forgot about a few interesting things to tell you...Real Da Vinci code stuff....
Friday the 13th!
So everyone has heard about Friday the 13th, supposed to be bad luck or whatever, well I figured out where it came from. There was a group of knights called the Knights Templar who I believe began in France, and were formed to protect religious Pilgrims. You may have heard of them from the DaVinci code, National treasure, Kingdom of Heaven, Indian Jones? Well they are real, and ended up being really powerful because they started some of the first banking systems in Europe. They would loan money, store money etc. They even kind of came up with the first travelers' checks/credit cards for Pilgrims. It was safer to have a piece of paper as a pilgrim that you could redeem places instead of carrying your entire wealth around with you. So they ended up getting too powerful the kings thought, they were actually lending money to the kings for wars. So at one point King Philip of France is in lots of debt to the Templars so he accuses them of heresy. They had secret ceremonies and initiations so that was the basis. Well the Church didn't agree and thought the Templars were innocent, but Philip and the other monarchs in debt to the Templar Knights persuaded the Pope to go along with it, and they were all condemned to death, and their assets seized. They were arrested Friday the 13th of October 1307. The ones who escaped went to Scotland, and alot in Tuscany. In two of the contradas here, there are Templar symbols everywhere and in one there is a meeting room where members still meet today. People think they helped found the first bank of Siena. Later lots of templars, still involved in banking, moved to the US. - I learned this in class, a girl did a research project on it.

Our professor made a great point, because for centuries it was thought that the templers were really condemned for heresy. "You have to read between the lines a little with history, sometimes the ones with the privilege to write the history, only tell you what they want you to know. Of course Philip and the other monarchs condemned the Templars simply because they couldn't pay back the money. But it was widely thought for a very long time that the Templars were rightfully condemned for their corruption." We may never truely know what happened sometimes in history, we can only know some one's version.

Alchemic symbols and Masonry
Alchemy, was as you may know the knowledge supposedly of turning other metals into gold. A study that later became Chemistry. What most people don't see is that the whole purifying metal into gold thing is more metaphoric than anything. The idea is to transform. To transform yourself in order to achieve and obtain enlightenment. It wasn't forbidden to try and perform Alchemy, just illegal to try and sell gold that you "made". Alchemy was banned and became chemistry in 1666, but masonry is connected to it. The free masons are a fraternal secret society, who gained quite a lot of money at one point and were formed on Christan principles. Their main symbols include, a triangle with an eye or light inside of it, and an eagle. Reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian symbols and appearing in other places throughout history. Where have you seen these? In your wallet perhaps? look on a dollar bill~ The eagle is particularly interesting, an eagle flies the highest and represents awareness and the ability to see, often it symbolizes Jesus or John the Baptist. You can find the eagle on various coats of arms, and it was often the symbol of great empires. It was used in Egypt, Persian Empire, Byzantine Empire, by Napoleon, By Rome, and you guessed it.......The United States of America. Interesting.

Etruscans
The ancient people who lived in Tuscany before the Roman empire, were super cool. Very Feminist, women had lots of equal opportunities in society and they had their own names not connected to their husbands or fathers. There were also matriarchal legacies. Its actually a tradition that has stuck in Tuscany some. My Professor Amanda when she was young had like 4 names, b/c she had bother her father and mothers surnames. Another really cool thing, some of their artifacts are really ancient. For example, something interesting. You know how some Catholic paintings and christian paintings in general have halos around some one's head to symbolize that they are holy or a saint or spiritual, well there are Etruscan artifacts with people with the halos, and there are even figures of a woman and child with the halos! This is a culture from like 800 bc. Kind of crazy.

Other great quotes from my professor Amanda, the one that lived all over the world and is now also our new director, she's cool, we all like her a lot.

"History comes from the winners, always be critical. Knowledge makes you free from everything, even yourself. Look, Observe, Connect. Always."

"Yah members of my family were accused of heresy, eh, its a good thing I live now, b/c if I lived then I'd probably been burned at the stake too" -Amanda

something like, "Its hard to be different, but you know, its important that there are people who are different in society. Sometimes there are people who are just ahead of their times. The people who are different help society progress, they push everyone else and shake things up. Its good to be different, because if we were all the same we would never move forward."

So be different, its ok. Really.
Have a great day everyone!- I will try to make myself do work now.

Parigi!

getting ready to come home!
Its a pretty crazy thought actually. Today I went to the laundry mat for the last time, to make my clothes fluffy and dry, and the machine to get the laundry tokens ate my 5 euro bill! But I figured it was just homage to the Italian dryer Gods, the Roman ones that steal money. I can't tell you how ridiculously excited I get about clean, warm, soft, fresh clothes from the dryer. I will never curse a drier ever again I swear, actually I can't remember ever doing that, but now I really never will. I also met some really cool Greek girls there. I helped them figure out the machines and I told them about Siena. At first I thought they were Spanish, because I didn't recognize the Greek. They were so funny, they were videotaping the laundry mat b/c evidently they don't have those on the Greek Island they're from. Very cool. I will miss making random friends from random places, but I guess who says that needs to end.
It really is strange though thinking about coming home, I actually started organizing my things some in order to size up my packing situation. It may not be pretty, but I think I can do it. I am so excited to come home, but at the same time I'm a little rushed and distracted by all the work I'm supposed to be doing. Its also odd that I won't be returning for a very long time. I guess regrets/final thoughts, I still do have a little over a week, so I might be better with this right when I'm actually leaving. I think as of now, this was a great experience, it was tough at times, but all in all I learned a great deal about myself, people in general, the US and Europe especially. I think I said before, I really didn't feel like I clicked super well with anyone in my program, which can't be helped. Maybe I just didn't work as hard as I could have to cultivate relationships? Who knows, I got along fine with everyone, but it would have been nice to have someone here that I was really close to. Its funny how you just don't always find that, and yet you know what I mean I think. There are some people you just immediately connect with in your life. That doesn't always happen when you want it too but maybe it was more about me figuring myself out and gaining confidence in myself on this trip anyway. I certainly feel like I can handle a lot more now. I am not so afraid of the idea of growing up and living on my own anymore, and I know I can go places and do things on my own.
I kind of wish I had explored Tuscany better, but I really just ended up not having nearly as much time as I thought I would what with school and all. This is silly but the only thing that particularly bothers me is that I never got my house to figure out recycling, they kept doing it wrong, I'd put things aside to be recycled and someone would put it in the trash (Maria Francesca). And I couldn't ever find the right colored bags, it was just ahh! And I feel bad every single time I throw something away that could be recycled. So yah I feel a little guilty about that whole thing, I should have tried harder. I mean other than that, I think I should have maybe kept up better with exercising and things for myself. Everything was just so much harder here. I was always so tired from everyday things. So I think I'll cut myself some slack on that one.

Parigi (Paris in Italian)
Paris was awesome! And I had no idea what to expect. I was kind of like eh, and Leigh and I decided to just go and see it. I thought French people would be really rude too. Nope, they are very cool. I mean with any city, you are going to run into at least a few rude people, but for the most part anyone I asked for help was very nice. Even if they didn't speak English they tried to help anyway. I did feel awkward not knowing French. I would like to learn some and go back. It was just such a beautiful and clean city. There is so much culture and I'd even use the word classy. We went to Museums and ate amazing food and and went to cool coffee houses where people sang. We got crepes and crembule, which I'm not spelling correctly. I would suggest it to anyone, but I would say learn some french- they don't really speak English much, its not like Rome or Venice. They do kind of expect you to learn some of their language if you come to visit. They aren't so concerned with tourists. They are kind of like us actually. The stereotype of them being isolationists and having extreme pride in their culture and language. Hello! Americans! We complain like hell when tourists come here who don't speak English and expect us to figure out what they're saying. So I found being polite and trying got me pretty far. I don't say this much about cities, but on first impression, Leigh and I agreed that if we spoke french we'd consider living in that city. I mean french is kind of fun anyway. You just feel silly moving your mouth into the necessary sounds. I walked around mumbling in french, singing flight of the conchords' foux de fa fa, and trying to pronounce things. I was entertained.
Some Crazy examples of how small the world is-So Leigh and I were at the Eiffel tower taking pictures and walking around. It was so cold but very pretty b/c Christmas lights were all over the city. And a girl our age approached us cautiously and asked us to take her picture. Relieved to find out that we spoke English we started chatting. Turns out she is studying abroad too, in Northern Ireland, and she asks us where we're from, we say Richmond. She has a friend in Ireland from Richmond, our only friend that is there is a girl named Britney Johnston. OMG, turns out her best friend in Ireland is our Britney who we've been friends with since freshmen year. She has lost her friend from home so we take her with us because we are going to the Louvre because its students get in free night. So in the Louvre, we see some girls who are in Leigh's art class in Milan, Leigh says hello. They turn out to be cool, so we all stick together and the 1st girl, Courtney, figures out that she happens to go to school back in the states with one of the girls from Leigh's art class! Then! we were walking around and Leigh and I saw a whole group of people from Richmond that we knew kind of, and by that point we weren't really all that surprised. They were going in the opposite direction, but we said Hi. We find the Ireland girl's friend from home as well in the Louvre. So the now six of us who all know each other in very weird ways end up hanging out the rest of the time in Paris. We went to dinner as a big group both nights. I liked all of them a lot and it was just a great weekend. So weird to make instant friends then maybe never see them again?
On the way home I also met some American students in the airport who are studying in Barcelona and they were great, out gates were next to each other's so we hung out for awhile. We swapped stories and ended up talking about Harry Potter. Its just funny how you meet people and quickly get a long like that. In the end, when you have to part, all you can do is ask for their name to facebook them. Its kind of amazing, my generation is so oddly interconnected through school and studying abroad now. People you met and were friends with sort of stay connected all over the country and even the world. I'd love to study the impact of the study abroad combined with tools like facebook phenomena. What it will mean for the future of the world is yet to be seen. So many people my age are not just traveling, but living in other countries around the world for extended periods of time, when even our parents were never offered such an amazing opportunity. Its crazy.

oldie- sorry- dec.3

the platform really exists and my first italian thanksgiving-dec.3
I think after all my traveling this year I'll be ready to take a break, especially from cities. Don't get me wrong I've had some amazing experiences, but I was thinking about it the other day, I will have gone to several major cities within about a two month span of time. Dublin, London, Paris, Rome, then for new years probably New York. Kind of crazy. So tomorrow I am going to Paris and I'm meeting Leigh, so I just wanted to give a quick update about my trip to London. I can't believe its almost time to come home.

Before London
Dad and Carolyn came which was a lot of fun, though I feel bed that they didn't have very good weather, when we were leaving it was snowing north of us. But they did bring me lots of nice American things like peanut butter and cranberries. All of us in our program made thanksgiving for each other Wed. night too, which was really nice because it was most of our first thanksgivings away from home. I think we were all proud of our cooking and organizing abilities. It was a good thanksgiving. Then Dad and Carolyn and I went out to dinner for the really Thurs. night and that was nice, I got some pasta that kind of tasted like stuffing.

LONDON!
I had a great time with Mary in London. We had Thanksgiving again, So I kind of had 3 thanksgivings. During the day Mary had some work to do so I mostly did the tourist thing and went site seeing. There were Christmas decorations up and it was beautiful. English people were cool. I think I like Irish people better though, they were just more fun and entertaining. British people were normal. It was a lot like being home in America. But they did have different words and phrases that were entertaining, I couldn't help but do the accent sometimes when people were talking to me, it was tough..haha. Oh and they have a great underground system, which they call the tube, makes sense. And every time you get off the train they're like, "mind the gap please".....because there is a space between the platform and train. Its amusing/annoying haha after awhile you just don't even hear it. But one time I was waiting for the subway and the doors opened and this little, 5 or so year old girl skips out with her mom, and she skips down the side of the platform singing in her adorable little 5 year old British accent, "mind the gap please!" it was the cutest thing ever.
We watched Love Actually and The Holiday and I drank English breakfast tea for breakfast. I saw all the big sites, and I went to platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross, which was fun, and enforces how much of a Harry Potter nerd I am, haha. I have some pictures you can check out. And I will be sure to write again when I get back from Paris, I'm kind of in crunch time with school though so It might be short. I hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving, and the end of school is wrapping up well! See you soon!!http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martinits the Thanksgiving and London ones~

Sorry- this one is old nov.21

Come si dice procrastination nov.21

I'm actaully doing pretty good now, I've written several pages of a rough draft. I haven't been too exciting lately, mostly doing work and everyday things, but I hadn't written in awhile so I figured I should. Last week one of the girl who had been sick in our program earlier in the semester went to the doctor and found out that she was getting worse and needed to go home, so we had a going away dinner for her. She has Crohn´s Disease I believe. It was sad that she had to leave so soon. (Linda, this is Sarah who you met in Venice). I think it made us all think about enjoying our time here to the fullest though because I've heard more than one person same that they are about ready to go home. But then we had to think, Sarah actually has to go home. I will be ready for home, but if I had to leave right now I think I'd be pretty disappointed. One more month! 4 finals, 3 research papers, a trip to London and a Trip to Paris away. Evidently the expression cowlick is similar in Italiano something like te leccate la mucca. I thought that was funny.

Off to a good start with Otago
when I was procrastinating, I emailed a professor in NZ about doing research and she wrote back pretty quickly and was really nice to me. She gave me several options and seemed like she was excited to have me come and work in the department. So me and NZ off to a good start I'd say.

Maternity leave's ulterior motives
We talked about vacation and leave policies plus health care in EU class the other day. She was saying that italians get about 28 days paid vacation a year and more like 35 if they are in a high health risk profession. You also get a paid marriage holiday of 2 weeks if you get married. This along with their other million holidays with Saints. They certainly are laid back here. They also have parental leave policies, but she made it sound like mostly mothers take it. Mothers get at the very least 2 months before the baby and three months after but up to 3 months before and 5 months after leave paid at 80% of their salary. You can take more time but you would get like 50% after that time. They are required to give you your job back. Not too bad I feel like. She thinks they make this so appealing because there is such a low birth rate in Italy. Couples now get married very late and a woman doesn't usually have a child until the age of I think she said late 30s. So they are trying to encourage people to have kids.
Health care was interesting too. So when you go into the hospital everyone has insurance so they just pay a co-pay similar to ours with insurance. If you are unemployed and you have a document saying so you don't have to pay. They do actually also have private insurance that employers can get for people. And that just makes it completely free so you don't have to pay a copay at all. You don't have to legally be married to get benefits from someone you live with either. If you live with someone, and it doesn't even have to be a long time, you can get their benefits. Because she lives with her boyfriend and uses his insurance. We're also learning a lot about il palio, but I will talk about that another time. I'm watching Italian equivalent of funniest home videos with Maria..haha