"I Love Florence in the Springtime"

Written by Sarah Anne Polsinelli


Shortly after landing in Rome's Fiumicino airport, it will hit you like a ton of cobblestones: You're in Italy.

Simply being in Italy is surreal. Walking around,repparttar images that you've seen in photos and films literally come to life. The sites and people aren't extremely extravagant, but there is an abiding sensation that you are in a different world.

Last year around this time, York Italian literature professor Elio Costa told me aboutrepparttar 138019 annual trip organized byrepparttar 138020 Italian department.

"But it's too expensive," I thought immediately. I had been to Italy once before and three weeks of memorable travelling left me with serious credit card debt. Professor Costa told me to look into some bursaries and I did. When I was granted $1,500 in financial support, I started to stock up on film.

You land in Rome and take a coach to Florence, where you'll spend three weeks, staying at Instituto Gould, a hostel-like place that gives proceeds to needy children and orphans.

You'll have class from 9-11:30am, Monday to Friday, but calling it "class" doesn't do it justice, since most of these "classes" are walking tours of a city. The rest ofrepparttar 138021 day is leisure time, as arerepparttar 138022 weekends (during which you can take a train to nearby Siena and to many other towns that border Florence). The three weeks spent in Florence will fly by, and you can spendrepparttar 138023 following three weeks in Italy's capital - and my favourite city - Rome.

Florence differs from Rome because in Florence, everything is within walking distance. You will walk to everywhere - restaurants, churches, nightclubs, even trendy outdoor discotheques inrepparttar 138024 north riverbank Le Cascine district (walking there was easy, butwalking home in stilettos wasn't). We learned an important lesson walking alongsiderepparttar 138025 Arno one night. Just a few feet away from us, overrepparttar 138026 river, colonies of pippistrelle, (or bats, which are pretty common in Italy) decided to give us some unexpected company. The bats were bold, generally flying within a few feet of us, and in large clusters. Every once in a while a single bat would swoop down and come face-to-face with us, startling us with its bravado. There are, I noticed, some striking similarities between Italian bats and Italian men.

But even if you opt for a cab, don't expect them to be readily available. Taxis in Italy don't speed aroundrepparttar 138027 city looking for passengers and if you happen to find one and flag it down, consider yourself lucky. Walking back torepparttar 138028 hotel one night, strolling arm-in-arm with some friends, we noticed a police car stopped alongsiderepparttar 138029 river.

"Let's ask them for a ride home!" suggested one ofrepparttar 138030 girls. (For those of you that have never been to Italy, all ofrepparttar 138031 police officers are young and gorgeous.) So we approachedrepparttar 138032 car and with big smiles plastered across our faces, tapped onrepparttar 138033 window. Our faces dropped when they rolledrepparttar 138034 windows down and we spied what they were doing inrepparttar 138035 privacy of their police car: Reading Italian comic books (we did not get a ride home).

It's hard to spend six weeks in Italy and not have dozens of adventure stories to come home with. Every day is filled with adventure: For instance, finding a cold drink. On one occasion, I was at a train station and, seeking a thirst-quencher fromrepparttar 138036 sweltering Italian sun, deposited 2 Ś (about $3) in a vending machine for what turned out to be a lukewarm can of Nestea. Determined not to dehydrate, I popped another coin intorepparttar 138037 machine and got yet another can of warm iced tea. A stranger that witnessedrepparttar 138038 disheartening event leaned over to say, "E normale" ("It's normal"). Ironically, nothing is normal in Italy - especially not in Florence.

Even though Florence, along with other Greco-Roman cities, was a sort of blueprint for Western civilization, it's difficult for North Americans to relate torepparttar 138039 Florentine lifestyle. Italians linger over lunch, they rarely watch television and they never talk about money.

So why do tourists flock there? It might berepparttar 138040 aesthetic appeal. Along withrepparttar 138041 handsome police officers,repparttar 138042 city is an open-air art museum. The city is full of massive architectural marvels, museums, hundreds of intricately designed churches, not to mentionrepparttar 138043 hand carved beauty that can be found on every street corner.

"My First Time... in Chicago"

Written by Sarah Anne Polsinelli


People whirl through revolving doors. Sirens whirl and blare in 5-minute intervals. Potted wildflowers dividerepparttar North and South lanes on Michigan Avenue. Children run splashing across a large outdoor work of art: Two 30 ft tall screens project ethnic faces, sporadically spitting out water ontorepparttar 138018 children that wait anxiously below them. This is Chicago. Ernest Hemingway,repparttar 138019 father of modern literature, was born here. So wasrepparttar 138020 most notorious gangster of all time: Al Capone. Comedian Bill Murray is from Chicago. The city’s most identifiable citizen, one ofrepparttar 138021 wealthiest and most influential women alive today, is Oprah Winfrey. There is so much to do duringrepparttar 138022 day that evenrepparttar 138023 most decisive person feels dumbfounded. We spent our days walking around aimlessly, straining our necks to admirerepparttar 138024 world-renown architecture. I shared an elevator with some German tourists, and later found out that many people fly in from Germany to go onrepparttar 138025 $10 “Mies and Modernism” architectural tour, which tracesrepparttar 138026 buildings of German-born architect Mies van der Rohe.

Chicago lacks a downtown "core" because every corner ofrepparttar 138027 city thrives in its own way – each one different, yet just as fascinating asrepparttar 138028 next. The endless supply of 50-plus storey condominiums and eighty-story buildings is astonishing. But you don’t feel dwarfed by these towering edifices because ofrepparttar 138029 expansive, meticulously kept sidewalks and pleasantly “green” streets. The windy city allows you to breathe, inrepparttar 138030 midst of an urban jungle.

Chicago’s appeal is broad because of its variety of attractions. The Shedd Aquarium is located 25 ft underground and boasts one ofrepparttar 138031 most diverse collections of sharks in North America. The Art Institute is internationally known for its French impressionist collection, but also displays art from Renaissance Italy and Ancient China.

But art isn’t simply contained withinrepparttar 138032 museum walls: Modern art pieces are scattered acrossrepparttar 138033 city’s several parks. Tourists flock torepparttar 138034 entrance ofrepparttar 138035 United Centre to seerepparttar 138036 world-famous sculpture of basketball legend Michael Jordan. The Uptown Jazz Club is a living museum of 1930’s Chicago. Oh, and jazz bars are everywhere.

Although jazz music and prominent players came to Chicago fromrepparttar 138037 south inrepparttar 138038 1920’s (the "Jazz Age") to enlivenrepparttar 138039 city's nightclubs with their performances,repparttar 138040 excitement still resonates. One ofrepparttar 138041 most scenic bars is located onrepparttar 138042 95th (yeah - 95th) floor ofrepparttar 138043 John Hancock building, with floor-to-ceiling windows and an unbelievable view ofrepparttar 138044 city.

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