Glass Harp

I went to an amazing concert last night. I was a little skeptical about going to see Mozart, Bach, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Grieg performed on a glass harp for 15 Euro. Don't get me wrong, I love classical music (it reminds of my previous life after all), but I'm also on a budget and really cheap. Fortunately, my Aussie friends talked me into it.

What is a glass harp, anyway? It's essentially a piano made of wine glasses. The duo that performed last night has the biggest glass harp in the world with 57 glasses. They commissioned a glass company to make them 2,000 wine glasses of various sizes and they chose 57 of them to get the right pitches. The couple plays on the same instrument and it's really incredible how coordinated they are - it's not surprising given the amount of time they practice together, but it's not that big an instrument and one could easily get in the other's way. In fact, in one of the pieces they kept rotating positions, so one would be on the left and cross over to the right. It reminded me of figure skaters and how magical it looks when they are able to seemlessly move together.

The instrument creates a very unique sound. Some of the pieces they played could have been part of the Harry Potter score. It has that fantasy-like quality to it.

To top it off, the venue was perfect, being performed in the courtyard of Santo Stefano. I am unclear on the history, but there is a cluster of 7 churches (it might actually only be three, but locals call it sette chiesse or "seven churches"). Regardless, it is a beautiful brick building from the 5th or 8th or 13th century (or a combination thereof).

Here are few pictures of the performance:


From afar.





So cool!

Ravenna

I've been delinquent for the last week as I've been settling in. Between 6 hours of lecture and discussion every day, nightly readings, socializing, and minimal internet access, I haven't had much time to provide updates. As you can imagine, I've been busy!

I'll start with my weekend, since that spares you the academic, conflict stuff. I went to Ravenna with my roommate, a small town about 75 km east of Bologna. It is famous for its mosaics, and it certainly lives up to the reputation.

To back up for a minute, though, I want to say how amazing my roommate is. Her name is Sophie, she's from Australia and is currently at "uni." I LOVE her. I've never had such a good roommate on these shorter-term programs that I've done. My internship at the RAC in DC was a disaster initially - my roommate would smoke pot in our bathroom every night so everything in our room wreaked. It worked out in the end because she was kicked out of the program, but initially it really sucked. I guess things were ok when I was in Jordan, but my roommate slept all the time and took ridiculously long showers despite the severe water shortage facing the country (to the point that water trucks came around weekly to deliver additional water as we would run out otherwise). Israel made for another interesting experience because my roommate was so obviously miserable sharing a room that it was just really awkward. Ultimately, I suppose that also worked out because she moved into a different unit and I got the room to myself. But, in this case, I really like Sophie, we have similar living styles (she goes to sleep early, too!) and interests.

And since I'm talking about Australians, I may as well run with it. There are 7 Aussies here and I seem to be spending most of my time with them. At this point I think I have learned more about Australian culture than Italian. Obviously an overstatement, but I certainly know a lot more about their political system - they have a new Prime Minister, the first female ever, and she has red hair - and have learned about their education system and have picked up on some of their lingo. For example, they say "op. shop" (short for opportunity) instead of consignment shop or thrift shop. They say "do you reckon?" The lobby of the hotel is "the reception," something my roommate has commented on because she has started calling it a lobby. "How are you going?" means "How's it going?" or "How are you?" Something is rubbish if it's ridiculous or weird, and so is a trash can. There are many others that I have noticed, but can't recall at the moment...more to come.

Back to Ravenna. It was absolutely beautiful. It's a quaint little town - we decided quaint was the most apt word to describe it - and we went specifically to look at these famed mosaics, which were naturally all in churches. It really hit home to me while I was there how surrounded I was by churches and all things Catholic. It clearly should be no surprise that I would encounter churches wherever I turn, or the fact that I have seen numerous nuns, and even a monk wearing flowing white garments (while talking on a hands-free phone, mind you), but I was just struck at how omnipresent it is.

So these mosaics were amazing - I took pictures but have yet to upload them so they'll come in a later post. A lot of them had gold leaf so the sun reflecting off of them were fantastic. And the other colors were so vibrant. All of them depicted Jesus and the apostles in some form, but one of them depicted the binding of Isaac and another Christ's baptism. All of them were built between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. The buildings are surprisingly modest on the outside, and one would never guess that such intricate and painstaking work was inside. Since I don't have pictures, here is a link to the Ravenna Tourist site: http://www.turismo.ra.it/contenuti/index.php?t=arte&lang=2
. It doesn't do justice to its beauty, but hopefully I'll have pictures uploaded by tomorrow.

A few other interesting facts about Ravenna: Dante's tomb is there. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it, but that's kind of cool. It has been the capital three times: for a period of the Western Roman Empire, of King Theodoric of the Goths and of the Byzantine Empire in Europe. And, as can be expected, the gelatto is delicious.

Pesca

Bologna is decidedly lovely. With its porticoed walkways, old buildings, and "Bars" (more like a cafe and bar in one), there is a charming mix of old and new; the modern buildings juxtaposed against the original; and the vespas bumping along the cobblestoned streets. And Italian is such a beautiful language that I am content just people watching and listening to conversations that I don't understand.

I am finding Italian easier to pick up than Arabic, but I certainly have a long way to go. I bought an Italian phrasebook at the last minute, and not surprisingly, it only has limited value. It has been helpful for looking up individual words, but at this point I'm jetlagged and getting my bearings, so I don't seem to be retaining much. Plus, under the travel section, the phrasebook tells you to listen for "there is a strike" when asking about train schedules. Ok, I know Italy is famous for worker strikes, but really? Is that the first thing I shold listen for? And while it explains that Italian pronunciation is intuititive once you learn the rules, I haven't gotten very far. I mean, am I really going to remember when a "c" takes on a "sh" sound? Apparently it would be helpful.

I finally got some gelatto, which was amazing by the way. I walked into the gelateria with my new roommate (an Aussie) and semi-confidently ordered "pe-she y fra--la." The server, while very nice, started laughing and asked if I meant "pes-ca y -go-la." Yes. That is what I meant: peach and strawberry, not fish and strawberry, thank you.

My first day of exploring I happened to find all of the shops where noone spoke English. Everyone was very kind, but it was painfully obvious that I had no idea what I was doing. Ordering espresso, I was asked if I wanted American coffee...I did not come all the way to Italy for American coffee. Plus, Italians are serious about their espresso. Capuccino or caffelatte is a breakfast drink. One does not order it in the afternoon. The cream is too heavy apparently. Straight espresso or espresso macchiato (with a dollop of milk) is acceptable, but no more. And everyone has coffee of somesort for breakfast. You're just weird if you don't.

Other cultural differences: hotels don't provide shampoo, but we do have shoe polish in our room; there is no iron available, you can only have it sent out; you had better be hungry during the prescribed meal times (and dinner is served late by American standards), otherwise you're out of luck as most restaurants close between lunch and dinner.

A New "I"

I was encouraged to start writing in my blog again about my upcoming (which is now upon me) trip to Italy, France, and Ireland. I was initially reluctant thinking about how the focus of my experiences in Israel centered on the physical, emotional, and spiritual journey that that country promised to provide for me. Italy couldn't possibly do the same...right? I obviously don't have the same personal connection to it, nor do I tie up any of my identity in it (not that I necessarily do with Israel, but teasing that out was part of the point of going and remains something I grapple with). I was thinking that I couldn't possibly write anything as thoughtful or meaningful about my upcoming experiences as I did about my time in Israel. It took me some time to realize - yes, it is sad that I actually had to realize this - that a) my conclusion is very likely just not true, especially since the majority of my time will be in a conflict management seminar with 50 others from 30 different countries, and b) even if I don't have anything profound (if I should be so bold to use the term) to say, who cares?

In my preparations over the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about what I hope to get out of the summer. And, as with most of my adventures, I haven't really been able to articulate what my expectations are. I have settled on a few things, though. First, I fully intend on eating my way through the trip. It's a good thing I'll be in Bologna, aka "la rossa, la grossa, e la dotta" or "the red, the fat, and the learned." But given this goal, it's somewhat unfortunate that I'll be ending my trip in Dublin...not exactly known for its cuisine.

Second, and admittedly, this can't happen on this trip, but I've decided that it would be fun to visit every country that starts with the letter "I". Why? you may ask. Why not? I've been to Israel, and I'll knock out two more this trip - Italy and Ireland. So that only leaves Iceland, Indonesia (cool!), India (exotic), Isle of Man (I'm not sure if this is technically a country as it is still under the British crown, but it's between Ireland and England, so I could theoretically take a little detour and check it out), Iran (this one could be a bit tricky - a friend of mine did recommend that I leave Iran for last - you know, in case they detain me and I can't finish the list or something. and Iraq (my brother's been there...I'll say that's close enough). Michael is taking care of all of the continents and I thought I needed something to work towards. And, frankly, nine seems like a manageable number of countries.

Third, I'm just looking forward to exploring a new place. I'm taking the next six weeks (43 days to be exact) to escape reality and to immerse myself in something completely different (ok, not completely different...I'll be learning about all sorts of conflict-related things). It may be transformative on a level that Israel was, or it may be an opportunity for me to rejuvenate so that I can really engage when I return, or it may just be tons of fun. Stay tuned to find out...