Session II: Last Sunday Before Departure

It is the last Sunday before we (that is, those of us in Session II) leave for Italy. Excited yet?

As I write, the gang from Session I is on its way home. Our hosts in Montepulciano have a few days to, um, recover from their presence before they deal with us. Since Sesssion II is my session, I know that they will be even more impressed with . . . oh well, never mind.

Meanwhile, a few last minute points.

Luggage weight: please remember that Lufthansa says your free allowance for checked baggage is 23 kilograms = 50 pounds. You will pay a charge if you pack more. The limit for carry on baggage is 8 kilograms = 17 pounds. That does not include your purse.

Amount you can bring past U.S. Customs: this will not be an issue until you prepare to return July 31. However, you might want to make a note of the following and just possibly look at these websites.

First, as of my last visit two years ago, there was just no such thing as bubble wrap in Italy. Maybe things have changed, but since bubble wrap is practically weightless, I would recommend taking some if you have room, especially if you are planning to bring back anything fragile.

Second, the amount of purchased goods, including duty free items, you can legally bring back into the U.S. is $800. That includes clothes, gifts, really everything that you buy over there. After that, it is 3% on the first $1000 over your initial $800. You will be given a customs declaration form on the plane on which you will be required to list purchase totals by category, so save your receipts. If you want more information, you can go here and read what the Homeland Security folks have to say.

In particular, I am regularly asked about bringing back alcoholic beverages. Here are the rules, as stated on the Customs website:

Alcoholic Beverages: One liter (33.8 fl. oz.) of alcoholic beverages may be included in your exemption if:
• You are 21 years old.
• It is for your own use or as a gift.
• It does not violate the laws of the state in which you arrive.

You can ship more, but a duty is added when you do. However, U.S. duty, at 3%, is among the world's lowest.

How do I handle this myself? Ask me when you see me. But those are the rules.

So, after getting all regulation-ish on you, let me end on a lighter note. You are going to have a great time and learn an awful lot doing it. Don't think about most of this stuff until you prepare to return home. Thinking about leaving Italy always makes me sad (sniff!), so don't. Get ready for Rome, Florence, Siena and more! Tuscany awaits you!

See you all Thursday!

From the Director IV: Travel Time!

Further advice from our leader. Please note that the attachments he mentions are in the original e-mail, not here.

Studenti,

I am attaching some of the hand-outs and the powerpoint presentation given at the orientation.

A few things to note:

1. Be at the gate at 4:30 p.m. for roll call. Find the professors for your morning classes. For those in Tim Teeter's class: if you don't see Dr. Teeter, who might be arriving a little late, then please see me. For those in Rich Pacelle's class, please see Emily Dolezal. Dr. Pacelle will already be in Italy and will meet us in Rome.

2. In Frankfurt, please stop as soon as you have walked through the walk way from the airplane to the gate. We will gather here in order to go through the Frankfurt airport as a group. At this point, I will ask you to keep close to your morning professors. (Dr. Pacelle's group will keep close to Emily.) The Frankfurt airport is large, and we only have a short window to go through customs and get to our gate. In addition, Frankfurt often changes the gate at the last minute.

3. Make the security checks go as quickly as possible. In your carry-on luggage, place items, such as belts and jewelry, that might make the security scanners go off. Do this before you arrive at the airport, rather than at the security checkpoint. (You can then put these on after you have gone through security.) In addition, wear comfortable shoes that can be taken off quickly.

4. In your carry-on luggage, make sure that you have a warm sweatshirt or sweater. Invariably, the flights are cold, leaving you shivering all night as you try to sleep.

5. Take a benadryl or something that will make you sleepy.

6. Do not drink alcohol on the flight over. Both alcohol and flying will dehydrate you.

7. Carry your medications and important documents in your carry on luggage.

8. Carry your passport on you at all times while traveling to Montepulciano.

If you have questions before we depart, please feel free to call me at home at 770-383-9715 or on my cell phone at 770-367-8688.

M. Todd Harper, PhD

From the Director III: on Food

Ciao, Studenti,

Just a few things before I discuss the food. First, we will have dinner on the Friday and Saturday night we arrive. So, neither you nor your parents need to worry about being fed;-). Second, we will do our "tour" of Montepulciano Saturday morning. Later, that afternoon or evening, I will take a group on the bus to Chiusi to show them how to use the bus system and train station. (These students will then share with others how to access the buses and trains.) Third, Heike is still finalizing the apartments, and so I don't have a complete list yet. However, as soon as I do, I will send it out.

Now, onto food.

From Sunday to Thursday, we will eat dinners at a local trattoria (or, Italian restaurant).

Italian food at a local trattoria is not cafeteria food! This will be some of the best Italian food that you will ever have on a regular basis.

Generally, we will sit down between 7:00-7:30 (a little earlier on Sundays) for a multiple course meal.

The meal will include an antipasto, usually a serving of Tuscan bread with oil or balsamic vinegar. In Tuscany, bread serves as a staple and, indeed, often replaces the importance of rice and pasta in other regions of Italy. The antipasto is designed to stimulate the appetite.

The first course or "i primi" is, what I tend to think of, the carbohydrate serving of the meal. For this portion, you are likely to be served a soup, pasta, or rice dish. (Important: do not mistake this for the complete meal, as we might in the United States!) Like the antipasto, this course is meant to further stimulate rather than satiate the appetite. (Historically, rice and pastas are served alone without other items, such as meatballs.)

It is important to note at this point that Italian meals are involved. The Italians believe that dinner is a time for socialization and renourishment. Italian meals can take over an hour and a half to two and a half hours to serve, allowing the diners to enjoy their food and converse about the day.

The second course or "i secondi" is, what I tend to think of, the protein portion. This is the point of meal that you are likely to be served chicken, pork, or beef along with a cooked vegetable. Historically, the vegetable might be served as a separate course, "i contorni."

Finally, the dessert, "dolci," might be a fruit or ice-cream dish.

Several things have influenced Tuscan cooking. First, the land, although rough, is ideal for planting wheat, olives, and grapes (what Howard Shealy used to call the "trinity of the Mediterranean."). It is also good for raising particular breeds of cattle and pigs. (Wild boar is also a favorite.) Second, the economics of Tuscany have impacted the types of dishes developed. Although much of what we might consider classic Tuscan dishes, such as wild boar, arise from a more moneyed Florentine culture, the historic poverty of sharecroppers and farmers gave Tuscan cooking a certain flavor. For example, bread soups, such as pappa al pomodoro (a tomato soup with day old Tuscan bread), are popular, as are foods that keep long, such as dried and cured meats and hard goat cheeses (pecorino) and hard breads from day old Tuscan bread to the sweet paneforte. Third, Tuscany was known for its developments of herbs in the late middle ages. Originally for medicinal purposes and then for eating, these herbs and spices add a particular flavor.

These are just a few things for you to think about as you prepare.

M. Todd Harper, PhD

From the Director II

More information and wisdom from our glorious leader!

Studenti,

Here is a quick look at the first week. (If you did not receive the first note on beginning to prepare, please email me or see Prof. Teeter's blog.)

June 23: We will leave for Rome from Atlanta. The first leg of our trip will be an overnight flight to Frankfurt; the second, a two hour flight from Frankfurt to Rome. In addition to your checked luggage, bring a good book, an I-pod or music device, warm and comfortable clothes for the overnight flight, and a carry-on bag with at least one pair of clothes. If you are bringing a laptop, you must do so in your carry-on. Also, wear clothes, such as slip-on shoes, that will get you through security quickly and easily. Most importantly, have your passport on your person (in a pocket).

June 24: Arrive in Rome. A bus will pick us up in Rome.

June 24: Arrive in Montepulciano and get settled. (Generally, a small van picks us up at the bottom of the hill to take us to our apartments. The process, once in Montepulciano, will take one to two hours.)

June 25: Breakfast and tour of Montepulciano. (We will gather for breakfast. After breakfast, we will give you a tour of Montepulciano, including a stop by the food market and the school.)

June 26: Dinner.

June 27: Morning and Afternoon Classes, a meeting, and dinner. At the conclusion of the afternoon class, we will have a group meeting to discuss the upcoming week and to reiterate the rules. Dinner will follow.

June 28: Vatican Museum, lunch and dinner. You will need to be at the bus by 6:50 A.M. (The bus leaves no later than 7:00. On the June 25 tour, we will show you where the bus leaves. If you are not on, you will miss this fieldtrip, and your morning class grade will drop a letter.) For this trip only, you will be given a paper sack lunch. Once in Rome, we will break into our morning classes to tour the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters. We will return from Rome for dinner.

June 29: Morning and Afternoon Classes, dinner.

June 30: Uffizi and Academia, dinner. You will need to be at the bus by 6:50 A.M. We will leave for Florence for a tour of the Uffizi Art Museum (one of the great art museums of Europe) in the morning and a tour of the Academia to see Michaelangelo's David in the afternoon. (You will see these museums with your afternoon classes.) Students can either leave from Florence to weekend destinations or travel back to Montepulciano for dinner. Dinner will only be available to those who travel back to Montepulciano.

July 1-3: This is the first weekend to travel. Most students arrange to leave Florence during the late afternoon (do not arrange anything earlier than 4:30, and do not ask your professor if you can leave early!). Students generally travel to places easily accesible from Florence, namely Venice, Milan, Turin, Genoa. (If you are planning to travel to Cinque Terra, your best bet is the Thursday we are in Pisa, July 14.)

July 3: Dinner. Remember, you need to be back for classes on Monday. The safest option is to arrive back in Montepulicano mid-afternoon or before on Sunday, July 3.)


Dr. Harper

From the Director

Hello! It has been a while since anything has been posted here; end-of-semester stuff plus some personal health issues have gotten in the way. However, in the run-up to the departure of the second session on June 23rd, our director Todd Harper has sent out the first of some general e-mails to help you prepare.

Ciao, Studenti,

We have exactly one month to go before we board a plane to Italy.

While four weeks might seem like a long time, you will be amazed by how quickly the time will fly before you suddenly find yourself in a bus as it turns a sharp corner and you see the Renaissance walls and old stone buildings, many built on ancient Etruscan sites, of Montepulciano rising high above wheat fields, vineyards, and olive groves. (It is absolutely breath taking.)

Over the next few weeks, I will send information about the program and preparing for the program. Feel free to respond to these emails with questions, and we (Emily, the Italy faculty, and I) will try to answer them to the best of our knowledge.

Right now, you should be doing four things to prepare for the program.

First, you should be preparing for your classes. Several of the faculty (most likely, all) have assigned you readings and exercises that need to be accomplished before leaving. DO THOSE NOW!!! This is the best time to get as much of your work done. When you are on the plane, you will find it difficult to concentrate, and when you are in Italy, you will want to be exploring Montepulciano and the rest of Italy as much as possible. Now is the best time to do as much work as possible.

Remember, first and foremost, this is a college program, and we expect you to do the work and to engage in the material like a college student.

Second, you should be preparing for the strenuous exercise. There are really only two directions in these beautiful Tuscan towns, up and down. And, if you go one way in Montepulciano, one of the steeper Tuscan hill towns, you have to return the other. In other words, you cannot avoid "up."

My advice is this: regularly hike steep hillsides and/or mountains. If you do not have hills or mountains, then work out daily on a stair stepper. Moreover, brace yourself for the heat. It will be hot and somewhat humid when we arrive in Montepulciano.

Third, you should begin packing. Although I will send out a list in the following weeks, I would like to remind you to pack as lightly as possible. Some of the cobbled streets are difficult to maneuver and almost all of the rooms in these old stone apartments are tight. In short, you do not want to be lugging heavy suitcases around Montepulciano or trying to squeeze them between two beds in your apartment. My best advice is to pack for no more than two weeks. There are enough inexpensive laundries as well as washers within the apartments to wash your clothes on a regular basis.

Fourth, check out books on Tuscany, Florence, and Rome. Montepulciano is in south-central Tuscany and reflects both the culture and history of this important region. Florence, where we will take at least three field trips, is the capital of Tuscany and, in a manner of speaking, the place where the Renaissance was born. When not fighting Sienna, Pisa, or any other of the regional Tuscan and Umbrian towns, it was often at odds with Rome and the papal state. We will travel to Rome at least three times to experience this very different side of Italy.

In short, by studying Tuscany, you will learn about the region where you will live for five weeks in the same way that a student moving to KSU, GCSU, UGA, or Georgia Southern might read about the South and southern culture. By studying Florence, you will be reading about Tuscany's "Atlanta." And, by studying Rome, you will be reading about modern Italy's "Washington, D.C." --Not a perfect analogy, but one that might help those who are unfamiliar with Italy to understand a little of the place he or she will be staying for five weeks.

One final note: I will send out roommate lists as soon as Heike, one of our contacts in Italy, finalizes the apartments.

In the meantime, feel free to email me, Emily, or one of your professors.

Dr. Harper

Address and Directions for April 9 Meeting

For those who don't know . . .

The address of Georgia College and State University is

231 W Hancock St
Milledgeville, GA 31061

The meeting is in the auditorium of the Arts and Sciences Building.

You will find a campus map here (PDF) and a parking map here.

Please be there by 9:00.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Who says the U.S. government doesn't do anything worthwhile? Along with issuing your passport, the State Department also maintains a more-or-less up-to-date summary of Italy, its history, government, and society. You can read it here. I highly, highly recommend that you do so. You'll learn a lot of really useful, interesting stuff in a short space.

You will also find a lot of handy information on our diplomatic presence in Italy and safety issues here. Also definitely worth a read.

For that matter, you may as well benefit from Italian taxation as well as your own. RAI is the government owned Italian public broadcasting service, sort of the Italian BBC, and it maintains a large internet presence. In particular, you should check out this site:

Italica is the RAI website for Italian language and culture. This link takes you to the English language page. You will not only get the latest in culture news, but you can experience Italian radio and video and . . . take free Italian lessons! Dentro l'Italiano is an introductory Italian language course that combines audio and video (needs Flash Player). You'll find it on the Italica website.