Masters Reading Response to R. Browning's "Two in the Campagna"

This poem uses Italy as a setting immediately with the line:

"I wonder do you feel to-day
         As I have felt since, hand in hand,
We sat down on the grass, to stray
         In spirit better through the land,
This morn of Rome and May?"

Rome in this sense is a strengthener for people's spirits. It is somewhere to go that will help you figure out something about yourself that will aid you in the strengthening of your spirit. It is like the Triggering Town piece that Dr. Davidson assigned for our class to read: Italy (in Browning's case Rome) is the triggering subject that his speaker is discussing, but in the end there is a found subject, or discovered subject that reveals something about the speaker: in this case it reveals a part of the speaker that he wishes he could change and be more like the one he loves.

Masters Reading Response to P.B Shelley "Eugenian Hills"

This reading discusses Venice as a setting. The line that really stuck out to me was the line that read:

"...Underneath Day's azure eyes
Ocean's nursling, Venice lies,
A peopled labyrinth of walls,
Amphitrite's destined halls,
Which her hoary sire now paves
With his blue and beaming waves."

I sat at the hotel while reading this, thinking back to a conversation with Dr. Davidson just moments before I opened this document, talking about staying in Venice. I have yet to arrive there, however, I know from stories my father told and images seen through friends who have been, that this city is extremely crowded and small and easy to get lost in. This is exactly what I got from Shelley's description, particularly in the phrase "people's labyrinth of walls." That line seems so beautiful to me: its not something you would hear on the street corner, but it perfectly describes the crowded confusion that is Venice...apparently.
The other part of the poem that stuck out using Italy as a location of meaning was the line that read

"...so thou art, Mighty spirit -- so shall be
The City that did refuge thee."

My thought when reading this was that Shelley's speaker is talking to someone that is suffering for some apparent reason, and this city (I believe it was Padua) is a healing place for that person. Something about this city refuges the hurting and the weak in spirit so that they can be healed and made stronger. That is kind of what Italy is doing for me: I wouldn't say I am hurting, but I was feeling very worn down and stressed/ frazzled when we got here. It was not hard, however, to fall under Spoleto's spell and become more brave in the ability that I have to travel around and venture out of my comfort zone. That is what I think Shelley's speaker is saying: Italy can allow someone to become more assured of themselves and their spirit, but this can be relevant to traveling in general.

Junkyard Quote Two Week One

Honks echoed through the piazza as Fiats roundabouted faster than Mario Andretti. Four Americans merged with the cheers, white lines of the cross walk blending with the black and white of Vidal's fans. Juventus and Palermo. A pop-rocket explodes confetti under the piazza billboard scrolling assorted Italian phrases. To the right, a tan finger shakes in the face of a boy no older than six, who stepped in front of a blue Vespa. To the right, a man and woman, dressed in color coordination, argue about whether or not he locked the door. Hands fly, a language all their own.

--The reason this image continues to stick out in my mind: this was my first experience of the celebrations that happen here in Spoleto. The fact that Juventus won a soccer game was apparently the most exciting thing and the fact that I witnessed this very public display of excitement was inspiring for me. I loved the fact that some of the people stood and took part in this celebration and others went about their business. It made me curious as to why they were not going to celebrate.

Junkyard Quote One Week One

Pizza, wine, and good talk with new friends are the cures for jetlag."
-Lucas

Willy Wonka had a party in my mouth.
-MacKenzie

Two parakeets: one a pale puke color, as if you've eaten too many bananas, the other blue and white, chatter in a five euro bird cage from the Italian PetsMart. The birds nuzzle each other and eat a piece of the pellet in the box under their ledge. This cage sits upon a white wicker bar matching all of the other outside furniture. The birds are the only splotch of color around, other than the three flags above the inscribed HOTEL CLITUNNO: blue flag with gold stars represents, the typical Italian flag with green, white and red bars, and the Hotel Clitunno flag with the logo from the cappuccino mug.

--The reason I love this image is because its the juxtaposition of the old and new worlds in Italy: architecture pre-1700 and the three relevant flags of this area slammed up against the modern furniture that welcomes free wi-fi users and lovers of parakeets trapped in a cheap plastic covered metal cage. This is another representation of the modernization of the ancient world, people becoming more and more attune to what is happening within the rest of the world.

Italy: First Impressions

Broccoli florets color a wall around this town that, from a view on a Roman carriage bridge, looks as though it could house sophisticated ants. Scenery fit only for a DaVinci painting in an Art History book makes my stomach drop to my toes. The trees and grass are deeper and cleaner than anything in America, where water must be filtered through a Pur attachment on the faucet in order to drink. Our group walks by four stone fountains cemented in limestone walls, where you fill your bottle with liquid purer than Holy water. After ten hours in the air, a Lana del Rey album on repeat outside a hotel that forgot you eat breakfast for free, internet and a cappuccino with lingering cinnamon and warm foam cures all jet lag. Paper thin walls echo the heels of teenage Italians while my brain draws blanks as to their conversations. I’m definitely the American; the glazed over tourist doubling as a student. As we wander streets that barely fit two cars and a single file line of students, nails disappear at the thought of traveling on my own. I gnaw the end of my pinky right now, thoughts of people who cut and stare at me confused when I speak Italian (sounding more of a mix of Spanish and French with an American accent) fill my brain. But I battle off hesitations with the postcard out my window: the rainbow of brown and terracotta ceramic lining the roofs of houses from before 1700, built into the mountain side with clotheslines drying sheets and acid washed jeans.

Italy: Expectations

Italy comes with its own ideas and stereotypes, as mentioned in the Cliches post. I expect to find pasta. I expect to find pizza. I expect to find art and music and Italian men arguing in the street using their hands in unorthodox ways to express themselves. All of these are expectations we get from television and movies.
I carry that baggage with me when I begin to think about packing and traveling to Spoleto, Rome, Venice, and all of the Italian places I plan to discover over the course of five weeks. I expect to travel by train most of the places I go. I expect, and am afraid, that all the people there will speak only Italian and will not know much English (though I have been told that they know better English than some Americans.) I expect that it will be hot, however, it has been warned that weather is quite fickle this time of the year, so I'm expecting a Georgia weather type on steroids.
I believe that Italy will be loud and filled with breathtaking cobblestones and rivers in the middle of towns where gondolas actually take people from one place to the next. I believe that Italy will have scenery that Americans can only dream of seeing: actual mountains that are not covered in billboards and trees that are not "just for decoration" but actually are what people travel to see.
I expect to see museums and architecture that we only see in art books. I expect to be blown away by beauty at every turn.

Italy: Cliches

I'm about to embark on the trip of a lifetime...Five weeks in Italy. This comes with a few cliches,
first of all being the food. When I think of Italy I think of pasta and pizza. However, I have read (and heard) that this is most definitely NOT TRUE. Italians love their meats and cheeses, they only eat a slice of pizza or a small dish of pasta in addition to other foods, and they do not eat carbs on carbs.
That threw me for a loop. Bread served with pasta is a staple here in America, how does one not eat a crunch piece of Italian garlic bread with Spaghetti? I suppose that is why America is one of the most unhealthy countries in the world.
The other cliche I have about Italy and writing about traveling there is the amount of times I have heard the word "quaint." It makes Italy sound like either a third world village needing missionaries, or a town outside of Atlanta that contains the only sit down restaurant in a fifty mile radius. I don't feel as though Italians would call themselves quaint. Italy seems like one of the most bustling places in Europe when I finally see pictures and actually sit down to Google "Rome."
I am truly excited to erase these cliches with images of the architecture and landscape.