And you thought baseball was a classic sport…

My roommate and her friend took me out today to witness an annual tradition in Pisa, called “il gioco del ponte” (the game of the bridge). In this sport, squads from both sides of the Fiume Arno compete. The team from the north, Tramontana, and the team from the south, Mezzogiorno, each approach the bridge dressed in medieval garb. Following much pomp and formality, the two squads take their places on opposing sides of a giant sled. At the signal, the players begin to push until one team successfully forces the sled all the way to its opponent’s flag at one end of the bridge. The crowd didn’t get quite as riled as they might for a soccer game, but it was still an interesting event. Heck, I even got to see my team (Tramontana) win!

Cinque Terre: Hours of Hiking and Breath-taking Scenery

At last, today, Ramòn and I made it to Cinque Terre, described by some of my Italian friends as the most beautiful place they have ever seen. After a bit of hunting, we found a trail that would take us all the way from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. We began by heading up a seemingly endless set of stairs. There were small streams trickling down along the sides of the stairs and we even found a door in the side of a heavily wooded hill that led to nowhere! It was very, very hot. We took breaks in a couple of cute, small towns over the course of the day. Each time we reached a new town, we refilled our water bottles. I must have drank about five liters of water during the six hours we spent hiking, and sweat each drop out within a few minutes of drinking it! However, the challenge was well worth the reward.
It was easy to forget the heat when surrounded by so much beauty untouched by human hands, coupled with small, picturesque towns nestled in the hillsides and at the water's edge. In the towns, buildings sported bright shades of yellow, orange, pink, and red with shutters of a rich forest green. I can't imagine life in one of these towns. The energy vibrating from the big city streets pulses too steadily through my veins. Nonetheless, a vacation here every once in a while certainly wouldn't be something to cause me to complain! Around every turn of the trails, I could hardly believe what I saw. The scenery was stunning. It was as though I'd walked straight into an MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiative) Study Abroad poster. Someone, pinch me.

Firenze (Florence): Viva MISTI Italy Summer '08!

Enter Chris and Ramòn: these two are the other MIT students living and working in Pisa this summer. By chance, I ran into them on my very first full day in Pisa! On my first Friday in Italy (June 20, for those keeping track), we traveled together to Florence. There, we met another MIT student, Heather, who was working to implement a project she had designed through the MIT Media Lab. We shared a late dinner with Heather and her boyfriend Adam and then spent the night at their apartment. The following day, we picnicked in Florence and spent a sunny afternoon exploring the city. Of course, we couldn’t miss the Duomo di Firenze, il Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore (the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore). Even the heat and the swarms of tourists couldn’t lessen the beauty of this impressive building. In addition, we visited gardens, sampled some of Florence’s finest gelati, and generally toured the city. We left that night, but I returned only three days later (see final photo) to meet Heather, Adam, and another MIT Media Lab student for yesterday's festival of Florence’s patron saint, Saint John the Baptist!

Lab: My Home(s) away from Home

During the first few days following my arrival in Italy, I began to get a feel for Pisa. I got myself a phone (email if you need the number), found an apartment right by the Pisa soccer stadium with an excellent view of the Leaning Tower, and dove headfirst into a large stack of science papers!

To carry out my research project, I am using facilities at three different laboratories: the ARTS Lab (Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems), the CRIM Lab (Center for Research in Microengineering), and the NEST Lab (National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology). The first two of these labs are affiliated with the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, whereas the latter is affiliated with the Scuola Normale Superiore. Both of these schools are located in Pisa.

You can learn more about these labs by following these links:

ARTS Lab http://www.sssup.it/context.jsp?ID_LINK=59&area=47

CRIM Lab http://www-crim.sssup.it/

NEST Lab http://www.sns.it/it/laboratori/laboratoriscienze/nest/

The facilities available in these labs are top-notch. I’m thoroughly impressed by the work being done here and I’m incredibly excited to be a part of this research team for the next six months.

My Research Project: Testing Methods to Direct Neuronal Growth

So what exactly am I doing at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna?
My research project proposal is entitled The Pied Piper of the Peripheral Nervous System: Comparing Guidance Cues for Directing Neuronal Growth. This sums up pretty well what I am doing. The abstract of my proposal reads as follows:

The future of prosthetic devices lies in their integration into the body’s nervous system. The next generation of prosthetics, called neural prosthetics, will enable patients to move prosthetic devices using their minds and will recreate feeling through sensors in the mechanical limbs. The greatest challenge arises in connecting the peripheral nervous system and the prosthetic. The regenerating neurons in an amputated limb must be guided towards an implanted electrode so they communicate efficiently with the prosthetic. Researchers have already reported several different methods to direct neuronal growth, but I have found no published work which compares their efficacy. This summer, I will test the use of chemical, physical, and optical guidance cues to quantitatively compare these methods for directing growth in vitro. I hope to provide knowledge necessary for researchers to optimize the design of neural prosthetics. This new technology promises to vastly improve the lives of amputees.

Hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea as to why I'm here. If you're still curious, I'm only an email away.

Luminara (or, My Grand Welcome to Italy)

My plane landed in Pisa, Italy, on June 16, the eve of Pisa’s annual patron saint festival. The evening's festivities are known as the “Luminara di San Ranieri,” or simply “Luminara.” Having decided to use only hot pink luggage, I did not struggle to find my bags on the airport conveyer belt. Luckily, this year, I did not have to spend my first few days of summer scrambling to find a new wardrobe (oh what a joy that was last year... though I can’t say I wouldn’t have enjoyed the excuse to familiarize myself with Italian fashion!). My language skills were promptly put to the test as I tried to hail a cab. Fortunately, a friendly French woman helped me out. (This is the moment when I began wondering if I really did have to choose to go to Italy after studying French on and off for nearly a decade…) In the end, I arrived safely at my hostel, dropped off my bags, and wandered into Pisa. I quickly found the tower, then followed the hoards of people gravitating towards the center of town. I arrived in time to see the last of the approximately 70 000 candles that are annually sent floating down the Fiume Arno, which flows through the center of Pisa. The whole city was illuminated and the streets were crowded. Having been too thoroughly absorbed in a book to sleep on my flight the previous evening, I returned to my hostel by 11pm, lulled to sleep by the not-too-distant sounds of fireworks. It was a magical night to be welcomed into my new home.

So Why Pisa?

As you probably know, I’ve dreamed for years now about studying abroad… in France. And Pisa is only one letter shy of Paris, slightly rearranged. Did I book the wrong flight, then? Not quite…

At MIT, I discovered a passion for Biological Engineering. Still thrilled by the study of foreign language, I completed my coursework a bit early to free up my first term senior year. When looking at schools abroad, I discovered that Italy is home to a host of exciting laboratories for neuroengineering! Though I had studied many years of French and only one IAP (MIT’s January semester) of Italian, my science came first.

Last fall, I found the lab for me in Pisa, Italy. After countless hours pouring over papers and editing my research proposal, this May I got some very good news: I was awarded both the MISTI Sun Fellowship and the Eloranta Fellowship! With a lot of hard work and a good bit of luck, I had the funding I needed and my flight was booked. Just over a month later, my plane landed in the Pisa airport.