Cottey group makes annual trek to Italy

Editor's Note: Students, faculty and staff from Cottey College are spending part of spring break on an educational tour of Italy. Steve Reed, Cottey's director of public information, will send a series of stories about the trip in the form of a letter to his mother. Today is Part 1.

Buon giorno, mamma!

Siamo in Italy. That means hello, Mom, we are in Italy. It was a long day of travel, but we are all here safe and sound, if a bit jetlagged. We were met in the airport by our tour guide Giuseppe, who is from Naples. As we were waiting for folks to come back from a bathroom break, Giuseppe was telling us about Naples. It's apparently a chaotic big city, but he likes it because when he is in his home he feels secure and comfortable. "Tutto bene," I said, which means "All is well." Giuseppe smiled and taught me the second half of that phrase "Tutto é bene quel che finisce bene," which means "All's well that ends well." (You would pronounce the Italian as two-toe ben-ay wheel chay fin-ah-chay ben-ay.)

It's a rainy day here in Florence, and our walking tour to acquaint us with the city was a bit on the damp side. Still, the thrill of being in Italy is not going to dampen anyone's spirits too much. It was interesting to me, having been here four years ago, how familiar some of the landmarks and navigation were. If I could just find my way around the hotel ...

When we returned from the walking tour, I helped check in the students in my travel group. I'm sharing a room with Dr. Sylvio Mannel, our environmental studies professor, and he went up to the room while I handed out key cards to rooms. I was pretty sure we were in room 564, but couldn't find it. Back I went to the front desk to ask for directions (after wandering all over the fifth floor.) "Ah, that room is in the south wing," said the man at the desk, who then kindly showed me how to find the south wing. Got my bags up to the room, and the key card wouldn't open the door. I tried it a couple of times, then dragged the bags back down to the front desk. "Um could you tell me what room I'm in," I asked sheepishly. "534." There's a lot of difference between the two, and for the third time, I dragged the bags up to the fifth floor when this time, thank goodness, I found my room.

After a bit of freshening up, Sylvio and I went out for a bite to eat. We found a small take-away pizza place and enjoyed a glass of Chianti with it. And that's how we ended our first day, sitting just off the Piazza Santa Croce eating Italian pizza and sipping wine. I have to admit, my life is pretty darn good.

Tuesday morning was module day. Sylvio and I took a group to the Museo Galileo, which is a museum dedicated to the history of science. It's super cool, mamma. I visited this museum four years ago, but it was undergoing renovations and about half of the museum was closed. This was the first time I got to see all of the exhibits. There were old telescopes, including a couple used by Galileo, microscopes, and all kinds of old gadgets with handles and cranks. Do you know how hard it is to walk by some old electrical generating device with a big handle and NOT touch it. It was easy to spot the science students in our group, they were also the ones wanting to crank, wind and touch stuff too.

The students had to research an item in the museum before we left and present their report in front of their instrumentation. It was great fun, and we learned quite a bit. My favorite was the report on Galileo's middle finger. You read that right, mamma, Galileo's middle finger is in a jar in the museum. I'll tell you more about it when I get home.

After that four students and I went to have gelato for lunch. Gelato is Italian ice cream, and it is so good. I know you probably wouldn't approve of a big bowl of ice cream for lunch, unless you tasted it. I had a bowl of picolata, which is pine nut flavored gelato. We all got different favors and shared the experience and each other's gelato.

After that we went to the Mercado Centrale, or central market, to look at food. They have everything from fresh fruits and veggies to steaks and fish and rabbits. I ended up buying a jar of mustard with apple and horseradish. I know it sounds weird, but it has an incredible flavor. When I eat sandwiches at home over the next few weeks, I will still have a little taste of Italy with me.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring. We found a neat 13th Century church called Orsanmichele. Very calm, and very beautiful. We found the brass statue of porcellino, a giant warthog. Legend has it that if you rub his nose, you will return to Florence. Of course, we all did.

After a full afternoon of wandering, the faculty and staff went off for dinner together at a nice restaurant called Osteria de Baroncelli. I had veal scallopini with mushroom sauce and sautéed spinach. It was so good! Thus ended our first full day in Florence. Tomorrow morning we are off to see the Ufizzi gallery.

Alla prossima (till next time)

Your loving son,

Steve