“Eat, Pray, Love, and Teach through the lens of Italy”

Virtual Experience

Eat

Upon my arrival to Italy I saw an array of advertisements for Eataly. Although I never visited the official Eataly establishment, I did my own version of a culinary experience. Highlights from my palate experience in paradise include: Osteria Antico Giardinetto, the wine and dine plus Florence by night tour, and Castello Del Trebbio. On the days when I missed my daily intake of gelato, I made sure I doubled up on the next days to make up any imbalance.

Although my usual premise is “calories on vacation don’t count”, considering that I did close to 127,000 steps in one week I believe my caloric intake and exercise worlds were balanced.

Pray

A struggle in my adult life has been my ability to strike balance between my professional life and personal life.  I will even admit that I have some workaholic tendencies and that coupled with a type A personality allows me to exceed professionally, but at what cost?  I was recently granted from some colleagues who I greatly admire permission to make mistakes – permission to be human.  Not only was I granted permission but was challenged to let some things go.  They had to state, “It will really be okay if you do not cross everything off your to do list for that day.”  I almost needed a paper bag to comprehend their sharing of words of wisdom but am thankful for their efforts to guide me in creating habits that will lead to a life lived in all aspects not just through the lens of my career.

I once heard someone say that time was the currency in education. And more often then not I feel as though I am working in the red.  As I write this post I am reminded that God, the creator of the universe and all that dwells within even gave himself time to rest (Genesis 2:1).  Who am I to challenge what He realized was necessary?  As I embark upon this year of being “18 with 22 years of experience,” I am now experienced enough to comprehend the words penned in Ecclesiastes 3 (The Message):

There’s an opportune time do things, a right time for everything on earth” A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go,  A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, A right to love and another to hate,  A right time to wage war and another to make peace.  But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does?  I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do – busywork, mostly.  True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time – but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going.  I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most our of life.  That’s it – eat, drink, and make the most of your job.  It’s God’s gift.

I think that the best gift I can give myself as I live this upcoming year is to carve out time to have a life that is balanced.

Love

What is there not to love about a country that gave birth to some of the greatest artists of all times? Not to mention all of its culinary influences that reach every corner of the world. I also love that I once again was given the opportunity to see the places I have read about in scriptures come to life. I formed tears in my eyes when touring St. Peter’s basilica. It is lavishly decorated with marble, reliefs, architectural sculpture and gilding. It contains a large number of tombs of popes and other notable people, many of which are considered outstanding artworks. I was given a map and a recorder to tour the facility and each noted sculpture or entrance received narration tied to scripture. To learn more about the basilica and Vatican please feel free to visit the hyperlinks.

Teach

The colors of Italy’s flag represent grass (green), the alps (white), and the blood spilt in wars (red). Italy is known for a lot of contributions and for sayings such as “all roads lead to Rome” and “when in Rome, do as the Roman’s do.” The first saying derives from the fact that Romans were the first to make roads and highways. The second saying means behave as those around do, conform to the larger society, and respect the beliefs and practices of a local culture. Being that I am one that gets lost easily on any road I followed the second one to a t on more than one occasion. When getting lost getting from the airport to the hotel on day one I had to get off of the train and ride the metro and transfer nonetheless. I got to a station that required me to have a card with no train personnel on site. The only option was to buy a ticket from the machine, which only took euros. Needless to say, I followed what others were doing and eventually made it to my destination. I take comfort in knowing that the next day when I received my Omnia Vatican and Rome sightseeing pass I received a metro card, which made the world right because I overpaid going to retrieve it. Side note, I highly recommend the Omnia Vatican and Rome package for anyone visiting Rome.

My bucket list item of a trip to Italy included trips to Rome (Roma), Florence (Forenzia), and Venice (Venezia). Rome or as pronounced in Italian, Roma is the capital of Italy.  One neat fact about Rome is that it has an independent country within the city of its boundaries, Vatican City.  Another name given to this capitol is the eternal city.  Rome was established 753 BC.   It is admired for its abundance in treasures, art, and architecture.   I will admit I had a hard time balancing leisure time with soaking up as much history and culture as one could in her two and half day stay. Rome was truly not built in one day!

To capture as much as I could I took a tour through a reputable company.  The tour began near Oppian Hill, which is one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome since it provides panoramic views of the Colosseum.  Side note, so thankful for the panorama camera app on my iPhone!  The tour also offered a photo opportunity from Palatine Hill which is thought to made the most famous of the Seven Hills of Rome.  I am truly thankful for all of the walking this tour provided since many of you know my feelings about calories while vacationing – they do not count! 🙂

I have often marveled at the pictures of the Sistine Chapel and the opportunity to see if person has left me in awe.  You are not permitted to take any photos within the chapel but I did my best to provide photographs of the art I viewed leading up to touring that chapel. Also visited was the Colosseum also known as the Flavian Amphitheater an oval amphitheater built of concrete and stone. It is the largest amphitheater ever build and is considered one of the greatest works in architecture and engineering.  – Inserts from Wikipedia

In Florence I had one glorious culinary evening at a home in the country of Forenzia. Although the tour conductor Sebastian was born and raised in Italy, our chef for the evening Isaac hailed from Seattle, Washington. Do not let his origins fool you; he had the Italian cuisine down to a science. Due to my trouble with navigating the streets of Florence I was late to my tour to the leaning tour of Pisa so instead took a trip to a castle in the countryside of Tuscany. It too was a lovely experience and was packed with history. The Castello Del Trebbio is rich in history. Please feel free to review the link.

As for Venice, it was divine. Its beauty is renowned and the architectural surrounds were spectacular. Venice is situated in the Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic part of the Mediterranean Sea. As for how does a city survive on water? The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wooden piles. Most of these piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on plates of Istrian limestone placed on top of the piles, and buildings of brick or stone sit above these footings. The piles penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach a much harder layer of compressed clay. Submerged by water, in oxygen-poor conditions, wood does not decay as rapidly as on the surface. Places visited in Venice included: Pointe Di Rialto, San Marco, Murano SS Maria E Donato, and Burano Museo Del Merletto.

I will say that it was quite an aggressive adventure and with my sense of direction I played solo endless games of Marco Polo without the polo. 🙂  I hope that one day I am able to visit again and experience Italy, mi amora in a different way.