Family.

Off to visit family in Bratislava! In the meantime here is a great article a friend wrote for the Smith newspaper about i Rom, enjoy and wish me luck!

A taste of home

Life has been busy and I don't really know where to start. I guess with the fact that Marisa and I finally united in Europe, something we have been talking about since AP Modern Euro senior year of high school, if not before. It was great to be together again, and our time together was almost surreal as we wandered the streets of Venice on Valentine's Day, ate gelato, and had our normal conversations while over looking the duomo of Florence from San Miniato, a spot that has come to be one of my favorites this year. It was really refreshing to be with someone who I know well, and who knows me, because it was almost like going home for a weekend.

However we weren't in Northampton anymore, and I'm still not, I'm living in Italy and it's amazing. Today I woke up, hopped on a bus, then a train and arrived in Pistoia for my second day of work at Marino Marini, a Montessori style pre-school 30 minutes outside of Florence, in the community of Pistoia, that focuses on teaching its students about the environment and science. I am working with three year olds that have already collected olives from the school's oliveti (olive orchards) to make olive oil, gathered herbs from nature walks to make pizza, and started a greenhouse. When I arrived it was tea and biscotti time, followed by story telling and an adventure to find the bunnies that we read about and their burrows. In the search we found a donkey, sheep, seed pods, rocks, stones and even a burrow, but no bunnies.

After work I meandered home through the city center to go for a run and then stretch on my rooftop terrace, before grocery shopping and errands. It was pretty great. Tomorrow I return to the neuroscience lab where I have been working for the last few weeks as a special studies to continue our research on the effects of binge drinking on the brain. We have also been looking into possible preventative treatments against the neuro-inflammation we have seen as a result of the binge drinking that closely resembles the neuro-inflammatinon that occurs in many neuro-degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Not only do I love the research of this lab but they are also sending me to London in a month to work with their collaborators and see all aspects of the project that we are currently working on.

Needless to say my semester looks as though it is going to be great. I'm really just living in Italy, working with kids, doing my science thing, and enjoying the city, my host family, and my friends. The experience is constantly changing and getting better. I think that to be here for anything less then a year would have been difficult, despite the fact that I often miss Northampton, because I still haven't fully adjusted to the language or the culture here in Italy, but I am as time goes on, and everyday it feels more like just another home.

Wind Chime

Sitting on the bus during our week long journey through Sicily Christine turned to me and told me a story about her mom searching for the perfect wind chime. This perfect wind chime would make the sounds of grazing sheep in a meadow followed by their shepherd. Until Sicily I wouldn't have understood this request, but somewhere between the ocean and the roman temples we found these sheep grazing in the fields with the sound of their bells creating a hypnotic and beautiful noise. It really was the perfect wind chime.

In general the whole trip was amazing. But I believe pictures can tell it better then I can, so if you are interested take a look...

A New Year.

"And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been"
— Rainer Maria Rilke

As I welcome the new year in Italy I am excited by all of the possibilities that lie ahead of me this year, and in my life. For me it feels as if the new year is just about to start. Finals are ending, the sun has been out for the last week bringing with it warm weather and birds, and in one week I leave for Sicily with Smith for a break in between our two semesters.

I feel very fortunate, and am particularly excited for my new semester. I will be starting an internship at Marino Marini, an elementary school in Pistoia focused on nature, where I will be working with three year olds. As well as taking on a research assistant position in a Neuroscience lab at the University of Florence Medical school, in addition to one or two other courses. I hope to fill my weekends with travel, hiking, and work at an organic farm that I spent a beautiful day at last week. I am thankful for all that I have and I will work hard in making the most out of these amazing opportunities that are ahead of me.

What a year this will be.

La Befana

The Holidays were great. I got to share them not only with Smith friends, but also with mom, dad, Riley and Kate (and for one wonderful evening her whole family!) They were full of food, lights, and celebration!

With my beautiful mother and brother in Siena

With my favorite boys, on the old streets in front of the sede

One of the most unique parts of le feste in Italia (unique enough as they were) was the epiphany, when many florentines dressed in medieval garments paraded through the streets with drums, flags, cannons, oxen, bunnies, goats, donkeys, owls, hawks and more! Ending at a live nativity scene at the duomo where they gave presents to children and released balloons over the cathedral.

The three kings (Magi) in front of the gates to the Smith Center.

Not only was the parade on the epifany great, but we also celebrated the Befana, a witch like woman who missed seeing the baby jesus because she had to finish house chores and is thus left to wander the streets of Italy giving children presents in hopes that one of then may be baby jesus. In other words a female, pagan version of Santa. Needless to say I love her.