Italia = amore o ossessione?

I have 236 pages of reading tonight to complete for my classes tomorrow and I have read maybe 97 pages or so. I am so easily distracted and I have one obsession driving me crazy right now: Italy.
Instead of doing the reading I was assigned as homework, I have spent the last couple of hours reading, looking, etc about Italy...more specifically Rome. Maybe it doesn't help that I am reading Renaissance literature this summer and am studying the Italian Futurists in my "Avant-Gardism" class. Maybe all this love of Italy is birthed from the fact that I cannot get away from it. She is everywhere but then again she is here by choice, she is not forced upon me. After all, I have chosen to double major in Italian.
Did the whole universe conspire to this love? Was that fateful day in which I left to what I thought to be "randomness" to learn a new language predestined?
I cannot say. All I can say that that July of 2009 when I pulled "Italian" from my plastic bag, I was somewhat relieved that I wasn't going to have to learn a whole new script for Arabic. I remember immediately going to Livemocha and beginning my Italian "courses." Arguably we could say that Italian is so similar to Spanish and this has greatly facilitated my learning of it but I was also rather obsessive in my learning. I used to listen to the radio constantly, watched movies, tried to read in Italian--I am still amazed now when I listen (much less frequently) and I understand. I can understand! Isn't that amazing? Furthermore, people understand me! I speak and they understand me! I am by no means fluent but I am still amazed. I am amazed that what was once undecipherable is now intelligible language. Is it this that made me fall in love? Have I replaced all sense of romantic love into a country? It is possible.
I often say I am glad I am not Italian and I am very serious when I say this because if I was I probably would not love Italy as I do. The beauty of Italy is that it is not my own but foreign. Even in all of its foreignness it is mine because she has it all: art, food, language, music, landscape. She is not mine by obligation, she is mine because I have chosen her to be my lover and she always welcomes me with open arms. She does not stifle me. She accepts me with all my virtues and faults. And I have proof she loves me back because even when I visited her in winter she provided me beautiful sunny days and only rained the day of my departure.
Le sigh.
Do not ask me why I love her because I cannot tell you why. I just feel it. You know that sensation, the one that gives you butterflies in your tummy, that makes your chest ache, that makes you smile immediately at the thought...Italy is this to me. I cannot help but think of Carrie Bradshaw (sorry for those who never saw Sex in the City) and how she describe New York City as her lover. I understand now fully what she meant. The idea of Italy is so powerful in my mind, the ideal portrait of the Old World still living. Granted all of Europe contains this element but in Italy it is different. Maybe her landscape often reminds me of California and there is some comfort in that. Maybe it is the fact that the art I have loved from my childhood is housed in the Uffizi in Florence. Maybe it is the incredible diverse amounts of cheese and wine. Maybe it is the people and their melodious language accompanied by hand gestures. Non so e non posso spiegarlo, solo so che l'ho nel cuore.

The things I do when I am in love...

There always comes a moment when the desire to create becomes more than just a desire, it is an uncontrollable need. My hands have been rather useless to me, well, that's not entirely true. My hands help me everyday throughout this existence I perpetually live in, doing wonderful things such as playing with my daughters toes or scratching an itch but this is nor here nor there. My point is: I came to the point that I needed to do some art with my hands!
People always mock me because I collect the weirdest things. I save almost everything I deem "important" from bus passes, museum tickets, to random pieces of paper. You call it trash, I call it gold. Now, when I travel or I am experiencing something important, I really save odd things like tea bag wrappers and napkins. When I was on my vacation, I saved boarding passes, advertisements, and maps (a little secret: I love maps). When I got back, I placed all my "trash" into a box because I knew that same day I would use it. I have many boxes like this...things I am saving because one day it will be handy to me. Many of these boxes have remained untouched for years.
Lucky for this little vacation box, I am in love and when I am in love, I need to create. My dormant hands grabbed this vacation box and a dusty blank canvas and began to magically lay pieces into shape. Now, I'm not saying this is a grand masterpiece, nor do I expect it to be hanging at the MoMA someday but this was exactly what my hands were craving to do. Now my hands are satisfied and my passionate heart are content.

This is my tribute to my giro in Italia!

P.S. In case you are wondering who (ok, ok, what) I am in love with, does the subject of this collage give you an idea?

Italia: Castelfranco di Sopra, Siena, and Firenze

Ok, so if you think it's bad that I only took a few photos in Amsterdam, you are going to be disappointed with the results in these three beautiful cities. Castelfranco di Sopra was not exactly the village I was staying in while I was in Toscana but it was pretty darn close. I have to say that the countryside in Italy was absolutely relaxing and the village of Castelfranco di Sopra was exactly was I always imagined a tiny Italian village to be like. Thank you to my friend Andrea, who allowed me to stay at his vacation rental there. I loved exploring this provincial landscape and it was a great opportunity for me to speak Italian because no one in this village knew how to speak English (at least who I spoke to). 

Lucky for me, Andrea was my tour guide in Siena and Firenze. In Siena, I learned a little about its history and the famous horse races that take place each summer. When we got there it was night time and I didn't have a tripod :( but I still think you can see the beauty of the architecture of Piazza del Campo. In Firenze (Florence to us in the English speaking world), I visited the Uffizi which has some the most famous Italian Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque pieces. I got to see my favorite paintings, Primavera and The Birth of Venus, from my favorite Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. I also visited Galleria dell'Accademia where I finally saw the real statue of David by Michelangelo. Yes, Firenze is filled with art! I finally got to see all those infamous works of art that I have learned about in my art history courses.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see everything I wanted to see but I figure it's ok because something tells me that it will certainly not be the last time I am in Toscana. I hope you enjoy the few photos I have of this beautiful region.

I love these random religious figurines located along the road.

An old abandoned elementary school building

Piazza del Campo

Andrea

Firenze

I thought this was so cute and I had to photograph it. It says, "Genio, I really hope that one day I can show you this dedication...and we can laugh about it...together."