Sicilia

Sicily is so beautiful!! I think I definitely am enjoying it more than Rome. I love Rome and all the things it has to offer, but it needs nature. This morning, Mira and I went running around the city- we had no idea where we were going, but found a grocery store for reference later. And then after showering, we went to said grocery store and came into studio to check email. Fortunately we did, because about 10 minutes after we got here, it started raining rather hard.

Marcella started giving the introduction, but Nino interrupted her, saying that we could be surprised and started to talk about the history of Sicily. It was quite interesting, and actually was a repeat of some of the things we learned from our Italian history class. Poor Sicily- they were conquerored over and over again by different empires- the Bzyantines, the Greeks, the Romans, the Spaniards, etc. They were never able to develop a country and culture of their own. But I like it here- it does remind me of Greece, the way the town is on the countryside. We are in the town Gioiosa (Joyosa) Marea, meaning Gioiosa by the sea. The real/ old town Gioiosa is further inland, tucked behind the mountains. Because of all the wars/ battles, towns were placed further inland, behind the protection of the mountains. There are these cuts through the mountains called torrentes, which is where the water drains into the sea. I went exploring down the main one today, and saw where it poured into the ocean. It was off and on raining today, so the water was brown and murky. But I followed the path around and ended up on the beach! Which is all pebbles and stones. Good for getting all the dry skin off of your feet. It was still sprinkling, so I took a walk across town to the other “boundary” that we were given. I’ll back up real quick- after the history lesson, we were let loose from 12 to 5 to explore and sketch the town. I was with people until I went to go explore the torrente. But I didn’t mind exploring alone. It was nice to chill by myself, and sketch if I wanted to. So, I walked across town in the rain without an umbrella- because of course I left mine in Rome. But I found this beautiful outcrop. It’s right next to the train tunnel and faces the ocean- the view was breathtaking, even in the rain. On the way back I found this cute building in town that was between two churches, so I stood under an awning and spent about an hour sketching it. And then when I went back to the studio, it was locked, and I didn’t have that key yet, so I decided to go down to the beach again and finish some sketches.

The neat thing about the beaches here is the access. So, if you are looking at the town from a plan view, first comes the ocean, then the train tracks, then a road, and then the town. To get to the beach, there are various tunnels that go under the train tracks! They are so neat. The last one I went through was very small and I could stand upright and touch my hand to the ceiling. Anyone close to 6 feet tall would’ve probably had to bend over a bit though. Being short is not always a bad thing. :)

At 5, Nino lectured about Information Technology and how it has changed various concepts (time and space) since the Industrial Revolution. Okay, so Marcella and Tiffany are here, and our two Italian professors are Antonino and Antonino. The older one is called Nino, and he was Marcella’s thesis advisor and is advising the other Antonino right now as he is working on his PhD. Nino compared us to a battleship last night, saying that we are all in this together and we are a family. And he has given us Italian nicknames, that we wrote on our chairs (because we each have one, and only one, that we move throughout the studio) and that goes on our set of keys. But the way he decided the nicknames was to have us tell him something about ourselves. Based on what we told him, he, and sometimes the other Antonino, would pick out the name from a list that was on the keys. I told him I was from Baltimore and that I loved learning new languages and traveling to different cultures. he gave me the name Agnese (Ag-nay-see), which is the name of a church. It also means pure and holy.

After the introduction, we had a “welcoming party”: snack food and champagne and beer. And then everyone was starving, we went across the street to this pizzeria place. It started out being only a couple of us and then ended up being almost everyone. I actually wasn’t that hungry, so I got bruscetta fantasia (bruschetta with prosciutto). It was warm and absolutely delicious! Most people ended up getting pizza, which was huge. At least as 15 or 17 inches wide. Hardly anyone finished theirs and there was a bunch of trading of slices.

After the lecture, I put on my bathing suit and went down to the beach again. Some people were already there sketching, so I took some pictures and waded in the water. Apparently I have been one of the only people who’ve actually gone all the way in the water- it’s…refreshing. Not cold like the Atlantic, and not warm like the Gulf. A nice temperature in between. And then the sun was setting an it was gorgeous. And the water splashing up on the rock jetties was really pretty too.

Allie, Mira and I had a dinner of gelati and aranchini alla carne tonight (fried balls of rice with meat and sauce/ragu in it). So good but also a little too greasy. Won’t be doing that again anytime soon. But the gelati was good- I got three flavors: limone, stracciatella, and pistacchio. Pistacchio I think is my favorite flavor of all time. It is sooo good. And pretty much everyone on the trip agrees with me. I first had it in Rome, when Marcella got it. I must say, I was super skeptical, but it IS really good.