I'm in Dulciano!!! and it's completely different from being in Roma. If I compare the two cities, Roma is a city thats filled with narrow roads and tight spaces; while Dulciano is like country side with a lot of free space. Feels so much better here, being away from the cars and traffic pollution. A completely different environment. So once we got here we all took a break, took a siesta, then woke up to meet Andrea and Marino (the owners of the house)...they prepared a welcoming dinner for us which was nice of them =] pizza for all!
After the dinner, went back to our rooms and relaxed by watching some Resident Evil 3. As for the coming day, it's going to be a relaxing day yet again. Can't wait for the morning light to come out. In addition, we have a number of cats living in the area and one of them is suuuuuper cute. Cute enough that Karen wants to "eat the cat" for some reason. Must keep the cats away from her for now =]....For now, ciao...
Day 17
Went out to swim today for our free time. The swim was molto (very) relaxing. Cold at first but adjusting to the temperature and it was fabulous. After the swim, I had some lunch, had a expresso, and played with the cats. After playing with the cats, took off to one of our first hill towns in Dulciano.
Our first hill town was, Pienza. A hill town filled with many elders and very few young people around the area. The place was known for their cleansing fountains where many people across the world come to place their pains in the running water. During our time in Pienza, I worked on the project with the Pieza team in being their photographer for the project; had a chance to talk to some people in the town and in the end had a nice dinner. Ate some sweet pasta, had a drink of wine, ate some delicious grilled rabbits, had a nice coffee cake, and ended off by having an expresso. Although that was a mistake, because it's nearly 3am right now and I'm wide awake!!!...yay?!?! no....BUT the good news is that tomorrow is one of our free days, so we'll get to chill for a bit and I get to prep for my hill town project, which is Pitigliano!!! Can't wait to check out the hill town in this area since its away from cities like Roma, which I am hoping to enjoy =]
So far the food here is pretty sweet, people here are very nice, and best of all the weather is pretty nice. Overall, I am loving it here...but then again I do miss the city. Missing the interaction with a lot of people and how a large city operates. So far, learning that Pienza's a town where there aren't that many international tourists, other then those who are coming in for the cleansing water, BUT there are many local Italian tourists. For the coming up events, I'm probably going to be examined on the "Dynamics of Delight" book for the field study and having the presentation of the Pienza hill town project maybe by tomorrow? or the following week. So after we got home, guess what I did. I went out into the forest to look for some fireflies....and there were a LOT of them. Haven't seen any fireflies before so it was a pretty nice thing for me. Stayed out into the forest for around an hour or 2, caught some and just enjoyed the view while it lasted. Chilled with Karen and Simon, played around with the slr's and taking night shots. After that ended up home, so for now, ciao...
Day 18
Today was pretty relaxing. Had some time to catch up on some rest as well as a nice swim in the swimming pool. As its tradition in the ItaliaField design, the group makes a whirl pool. And as tradition goes, we did make a whirl pool. Indeed it was fun, so we had it done twice =] after swimming for a while, my team for Pitigliano, the next hill town gathered up for a meeting a prepared for the project the following day. Other then that, had dinner with the others then slept at 3am finishing off the questions both in english and Italian. Ciao...
Day19
So it is 6:30am, leaving for Pitigliano at 7am. We first arrived in Saternia, where we dunked our feet into the hot springs (except me, derek, Kiks, and April), while the others swam. For one thing, the water is warm, yet makes me want to swim in it. Kinda regret not swimming in the hot springs, but maybe the next time I go to Pitigliano, which I hope to, may have that opportunity again.
So we got to Pitigliano, my hill town neighborhood with team Derek Pante, Kiks, and Azmina; arrived in town around 3pm. Took 2 hours to do some research which seemed very short, but we had it done anyways. Meet a few people in the town, which gave us a ton of information. Made a few friends within a few hours which is by far one of my most memorable moments in the Field study. Exchanged emails and contacts to keep in touch so thats the sweet part. Bought some Pitigliano di Bianco (Pitigliano white wine) for around 5 euros, there were ones around 2-3 euros (WHY IS THE WINE SO CHEAP IN ITALY!!!! ITS NOT FAIR!!!!) anyways, after getting some wine the group had some dinner. By far the best dinner/day I've ever had so far =] through this entire day. Although Pitigliano's a small hill town, with limited space in making anything modern, the people there are sustaining themselves pretty well. A hill town I would suggest for those wanting to visit Italy that has a lot of free 'space', where Roma is more like a fast-paced city, where everything is chaotic but with orderliness in their system. As far as my opinions of the hill towns, I'm loving it pretty much. Can't wait to recapture the moments into text from what we got from the interviews and observations, as well as seeing a new hill town as well. Ciao.
Day20
Our last to the two main hill towns for our field study. Woke up in the morning to go to Siena, one of Toscana's well known hill towns known to tourists and such. Went there early in the morning, arrived there around 11am to beat the tourist wave and climb the Palazza Pubblico, Siena's bell tower. The view I must say is something that I would remember. Was able to check out the structure of Piazza del Campo. Unfortunately we couldn't stay for a long period of time due to time constraints and with the project deadline coming up. Had some time to explore North-west of Siena, but I wish I can go visit again to explore a little bit more on the place.
But the good thing is that I was able to see the "good and Bad Government" in the Palazzo Pubblico by Ambrogio Lorenzetti!!! When doing research about paintings and historical locations, I believe the by seeing the actual piece of architect makes the experience a lot better then what you can imagine. The amount of pleasure and joy is a totally different level, this I believe is something that the Field study is bringing me so far. To the point where I'm wondering off and nerd-ing out on the Good and Bad Government painting and looking at the amount of detail that's right in front of my eyes. What a start this has been.
The following we head down towards Montepulciano. Now being in this hill town is the complete opposite of what we have experienced from Siena. Siena is like tourist central, where Montepulciano is like the dessert, where there aren't many tourists. So why did we come here? We can here to research how this town is known for Italy's best wine. The city is a winery in general. There aren't any tourist attractions to keep these people there, but there is a sense where it allows wine tasters to come and enjoy a large selection of wine. I went down to a winery with Karen and bought 2 bottles of wine. One is the 2001 Vino Mobile and the 2004 Chianti Classico. Was able to talk to the storekeeper at the winery and asked about some wine questions. After buying some wine, the group meet up at the Gattovechio where one of the finest Vino Mobile is made in this winery. We were able to have a tour about the winery then ended the tour with some wine tasting. After a long day we had out group dinner at the Osteria Acquacheta. The menu there was mainly 2 main dishes. Entry was pasta and the secondi was a LARGE piece of meat...literally the meat was huge. The day ended with a nice sunset where the team had our group transcendent moment, cheers to Karen for finding the sunset for the team. Such a new way to end the day.
Day21
Project day. So every crammed in the project, worked on it from 9 am until 7pm. Our group compiled the content of the research and did what we can. So, presentation time. The group improved from what happened in Rome and we were able to move the project forward from last years work. After the presentations, we packed our stuff ahead of time then went to see some fireflies.
*Note: Images will be update soon, give me time. I found internet *hearts*... oh how I miss connecting to the world!!! hahaha
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