Since coming back from Rome, things have gone so fast. That weekend, I hung out around town with friends, took over a local coffee shop for a few hours, made some homemade gniocchi with pesto… typical Italian weekend.
Right after we got back, we had our final spoken test in Italian. Our class was asked to prepare about 5-10 minutes on our 10-day breaks. We would go in, and talk to our teacher, Sara, and then she would ask us questions about it. It was a little stressful, but overall not too bad.
And it was a short school week, which was terribly exciting. Thursday was a national holiday, so we had no class Thursday or Friday. There were lots of events happening over the weekend, including a Christmas themed flea market, which was pretty amazing. There were booths set up around one of the piazzas where the Christmas tree is. The tree is a real tree, pretty big too, probably about 20 feet. My favorite part about it though, is the grass and flowers that have been imported to the inside of the walls and are around the base. There is very little vegetation outside of flower boxes in windows inside these walls, so this imported grass is very well protected. The lights on the tree blink and flash, its quite exciting.
Over the streets, there are lights that are little chains of stars hung alternating with icicle lights. The icicle lights flash in a little cascading pattern that reminds me of falling snow (they would be incredibly pretty with big fluffy flakes around them) Since it is dark a little after four every afternoon, I get to enjoy the lights for while every evening.
Thursday, I wandered around the market with Erin, and we bumped into Lisa. I bought a couple of Christmas presents one of which has a fun corresponding story that I cannot tell, lest the person receiving it reads this post… Sorry every one! There were lots of really cool crafty booths. There was one with amazingly adorable owl shaped purses, and very fun decorative wallets. There were several with cool handmade jewelry, and a few with antiques.
Friday, I wandered the market some more… and also overtook the upstairs of a the coffee shop again. But Friday night, there was a church service, and a bonfire. The bonfire is symbolic to guide the angels that brought the house of Mary to Loretto hundreds of years ago on that date. I went to the church service at the cathedral with Lisa and Lindsey, and it was beautiful. I saw the bishop, and there was actually music. I have been to Sunday mass at the cathedral a few times, and there hasn’t been music. They sang a song in Spanish even. It was a very gentle and reflective service, although I didn’t pick up on much meaning beyond most of the songs being focused on the Virgin.
The bonfire was to follow immediately in the piazza in front of the cathedral. As we walked out, we were each given a long white candle with a brightly colored paper cover. We lit them and stood in a circle, where more songs were sung. As the songs gained momentum and energy, a few kids and a few grownups began to “dance” around the inside of the circle. One song was even in English, but none of us could figure out what it was exactly, except that the chorus involved the word freedom, but other than that the Italians singing it were indecipherable… but it was fun to hear anyways.
Then they lit the bonfire, it was made basically of big bundles of brush, tied together. It got pretty tall, and I tried to take a few pictures, but I was toward the back of the circle, and had to hold my camera up above my head a ways to actually be ale to get he fire in the picture. Since it was just brush it burned up fast, so they added another bunch of brush, and that burned down pretty quick as well. And then it was done. Now, I had seen bonfire advertised, and I pictured a brief ceremony (check), lots of people gathered around (check), chatting and warming yourself for hours (false). The mass was twice as long as the bonfire ceremony and the actual bonfire. Once the fire was finished, the firemen swept up the ashes, and all the evidence was gone. But it was still a really cool experience.
Saturday, I woke up early, very early indeed. Ever since we first went to Civitanova our first weekend here as a group, I have wanted to go back there to watch the sunrise over the Adriatic. Well, Saturday, that is exactly what Lisa and I did. We caught a 6:30 AM train out of Macerata and got to Civitanova just after 7. There were the first hints of light in the sky, and we booked it to the pier. We sat on the rocks at the edge of the beach, and just soaked it in. To our left, we could see up the coast toward Ancona, still blue and hazy, covered in cool, gray clouds. To our right and in front of us, the sky was becoming a warm yellow behind the clouds. Little bits of orange and pink lined the horizon. The sea itself was an incredible shade of blue, somehow pale and rich all at once. The warm colors of the sun were brushed across the swells of the waves, and hitting the edges of the blanket of the clouds. The waves washed up on the rocky beach and made a fantastic sound as they drag rocks back and forth with them.
After sitting for a while, and then walking, sticking our hands in the water, and picking up seashells from the beach (which I haven’t ever really found many of on that beach before that day), we headed back into town to a café. We passed this one on our way to the beach, and it had beautiful glass chandeliers, counters decorated with crystal glass beads, and some classy white couches, and we determined that it would be a great place to warm up with a cappuccino. And it was. We took a couple picture of our cappucini (that’s the plural) and then…. My camera battery died. Better there than on the beach a little while before however. We walked around town and window shopped, and then caught a train back to Macerata, and we were home in time for lunch.
Lisa and I have been doing a lot of studying with breaks for “un giro” which is the brilliant little invention where you just go out for a walk around town. It is a great way to soak up more of our city for free. And it is also a nice break from our studying for finals. Sunday, we went to our last mass at Santa Maria delle Vergine, the church she and I have been gong to for a while now. One of my favorite things about that church is that they do not adhere to the rule that children should be seen not heard. This Sunday, a little girl who couldn’t be more than three, ran up the center aisle as her mom went to the front to read a Bible verse. She stood and waited for her mom, and then made a few more laps around the church before settling down. There has not been a week without a similar moment, precious little kids who are allowed to just be precious.
Sunday night, I went to Pizzeria Bel Mondo again, and it was just as wonderful a I remembered. I couldn’t find my mozzerella, tomato, arugula and prosciutto pizza (probably a season item), but I did find an AMAZING gorgonzola, spinach and speck pizza. I am fairly certain I dreamt about it that night. It was delightful.
And now, back to exam week studying. My computer/ internet is not letting me upload pictures, trust me I have been truing because there are a lot that need to go up. But, alas, it will be waiting til I get home it looks like.
Happy Snow! (we just had a thunderstorm, no snow here yet except in the mountains)
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