Me, the Pastoralist

Proof of England's amazingly verdant/bucolic/idyllic setting. And proof that it doesn't ALWAYS rain here...


- R

Forza viola!

Alè alè alè, viola alè / Forza viola alè / Ooh Fiorentina / Segna per noi, forza Fiorentina / Forza viola dalla curva si alzerà

-J

Greetings from Oxford!

So I've finally gotten around to writing on this blog too... I've been in Oxford for a week now and am loving the sense I get here, literally like I've been transported into a different time. The city has so much history and tradition (commemorative plaques line the streets bearing such famous names as Fleming and Boyle), and it's not uncommon to see a professor ("don") or student walking the streets in full decked-out school robes. Sort of Harry Potter-esque. So old and unreal.

I've spent my time getting situated in the city, meeting people, and exploring places like museums and libraries - Oxford has so many! Unlike the other abroad programs that Stanford offers, overseas Oxford students don't have a homestay or host family, but instead live together in a large conglomeration of three former townhomes on the High Street, combined into one house and also hosting staff offices, classrooms, etc. As you might have gathered from that description, the Stanford House is sort of a maze, with a million staircases, in-between floors, and hidden hallways. I still haven't figured out exactly where everything is, and I got lost on my way back from the laundry room this morning...

Like Justine, I haven't had anything that feels like "real" class yet. The first week mostly consisted of orientation activities, tours, and free time, though my architecture class did take a field trip to a museum on Friday. The entire Stanford-in-Oxford crew traveled to London on Saturday, too, where we saw such sights as the Tower of London (very creepy), St. Paul's (spectacular), and a performance of Henry IV at Shakespeare's Globe theater. As an English nerd, it was amazing to see the Globe in person! This week is yet more orientation stuff (including Stanford-affiliated college information sessions and some more introductory classes), and then the Oxford term starts next Monday. Oxford students are only in class for 8 weeks per quarter, meaning that 1) they cram in their work when they are here, and 2) they're very self-motivated even when away from university, often pursuing their studies alone. And, actually, the educational system here isn't as much class-based as individual tutorial-based. But more about that another time. Right now I'm focused on enjoying myself before the workload really starts.

Missing everyone and the horses! I did try to find a suitable barn to ride here, especially since the English countryside is so beautiful, but that effort's failed so far. More about that in a future post, too.

- R

Another comment on peanut butter

After being told by various sources that French people don't like peanut butter, I seem to have landed myself in a French household that actually loves it! I don't know that they eat it plain very often (on bread or in a sandwich I mean), but last night my host family and I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. It was somewhat surprising when my host mom pulled out a half-size jar of creamy Skippy peanut butter (especially given the organic peanut butter craze in California--I don't think I've had Skippy in years, literally), and we started whipping up some cookies! Turns out she has a recipe for these cookies that their first exchange student from Stanford had given her. Génial! I told her that the cookies are even better with a heartier peanut butter, and she said that Monoprix (kind of like a Safeway, except that there's a clothes floor) had a whole aisle of different kinds of peanut butter, and that she would check them out next time she went food shopping. I may do a little snooping myself! Our next American food adventure will be banana bread--they can't quite seem to wrap their head around the concept, but after seeing copious amounts of way overripe bananas in the kitchen, I decided I had to introduce them to it. A bientôt!!

M

Quest for peanut butter

There are some things in life that you really don't realize that you really like/need until you don't have them. Though Italian food is AMAZING, my list of "normal" food cravings is rapidly growing. A couple of days ago, I started craving peanutbutter. It turns out that in Italy the equivalent of peanutbutter is Nutella. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Nutella. But after a while, Nutella gets really old. Especially when you're expected to eat it for breakfast every day. It has absolutely no nutritional value. Zero. Chocolate/hazelnut spread should be for dessert, not for all purpose consumption every day.
So I decided to buy myself some peanut butter for lunch one day. Little did I realize that finding peanut butter would be close to impossible. According to one of the professors here, many Italians don't like peanut butter because it's "too sweet" so although every grocery store stocks shelves of Nutella, they rarely stock more than a couple of jars of Skippy. Not only is it scarce, but also costs upwards of 6 euros in some stores. There was no way that I was going to pay that much for half a jar of semi-decent peanut butter. I finally got desperate enough after searching a couple of supermarkets and ended up forking out 3 euros for a jar of creamy American peanut butter. It was worth it; that jar is in my purse every day when I go to school. Now if only I could find a loaf of whole wheat bread... the Tuscan, non-salted variety is really only good for dipping in olive oil or layering with tomatoes for bruschetta.

-J

Bonjour from Paris!

Salut everyone! I got jealous of Justine's fabulous Florence posts and felt like it was about time for me to write a little Paris update. Despite somewhat crummy weather, the city has been fabulous! The Stanford center is in the 6th arrondisment, right by the Jardin Louxembourg, in the Quartier Montparnasse. Montparnasse is one of the oldest and most famous areas of the city, where artists like Chagall, Picasso and Modigliani came to live and work. Various ex-pats like Hemmingway and Gertrude Stein lived there too. Happily, the school is also surrounded by tons of delicious creperies, so we're all pretty well fed! I get to live in the 15th arrondisment, lucky me, about a 15 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower...pretty idyllic! Missing everyone tons. Bises (kisses)!

M

Stanford in florence students don't go to class...

...and by that I mean that we rarely have class in an actual classroom. At this point, I've probably had more classes in the Duomo or the Piazza della Signoria than at a desk in the Stanford Center. Plus, I get to feel like a fifth grader again because we have a ton of field trips planned for the quarter (Rome, Venice and Siena to name a few). A couple of highlights so far:


Field trip to Casentino countryside to study 11th and 12th century history


Corri la Vita walk for breast cancer awareness


Helping with the wine harvest (la vendemmia) at a vineyard outside of Florence

-J