buongiornio internet

having major internet issues, I have had a few requests for updates but coming soon. I am currently in Florence with my mom and dad (awesome!) news on Prague etc will be there as soon as I am back in Verona!

Buongiorno Lessons

Before I leave for Prague I thought I should relay some important lessons I learned this week.

1. If people's expectations are really low of your ability, then even if you suck at something they think you are amazing: my violin lesson. I haven't played for almost 2 month can barely crank out a 3 octave g major yet my teacher (my age by the way), thought I didn't know how to play violin at all, so therefore I am a musical genius. I even got a call from my director who had arranged the lessons telling me that the director of the school had called him to say how good I was (really I am not good considering how long I have been playing)  The only impressive thing about the lesson was that I semi-understood what was going on even though we spoke all in Italian.

2. Italians use Do, Re, Mi etc. when talking about instrumental music. I may be wrong, but is that used much in U.S. besides choral music and music theory? I think it is kind of confusing but I'm working on it.

3. If you are trying to paint "light" reflections in hair, even if the hair is red, it is probably a bad sign if the color is reminiscent of macaroni and cheese (no further explanation needed)

4. If people are loading money onto your debit card from home, don't try to buy things at the exact moment. My credit card got rejected in the span of a half hour from many atms in Verona as well as the train station. I come home to find more money on my account.

4. (dealing with the above problem) British customer service people are the best! I am not sure what it was about the conversation, but I suddenly was not in a bad mood, maybe it was that she said "lovely" every other sentence or "we'll sort this problem out right away!" It was really a pleasure to talk to them (no joke)

I believe that is all the life lessons for this week, until Sunday, Ciao!

Buongiorno Molto Formaggio

This past weekend I had a wonderful time traveling with the group to Asiago, a small town in the mountains of Northern Italy. The weekend was very relaxing and low key which was perfect. We set out Friday for the two hour drive. I was a little nervous I would get car sick from all of the windy roads but I did okay. We arrived to this quaint little area that looked like it was usually a ski resort but was pretty much empty in the random month of october. The hotel was really cute. It is completely family run and owned, everyone from the reception, to the waitress to the bar tender were all part of the same family. I loved this and wish there could be more businesses like it in the United States.

Friday was pretty relaxing. After settling in we went to a small shop nearby that sold honey cosmetics and other products. I got some interesting things like strawberry and mandarin honey and some honey candies. Later we had a delicious dinner in the hotel and then went out on the town. We were directed to a bar that ended up being a bowling alley, so we bowled (not so successful on my part) all of the equipment was the same as in the U.S. (Brunswick) but the exciting thing was that for strikes and spares you got tickets like at an arcade.
   Saturday we woke up to a day that was a bit overcast, but still gorgeous. Around 9:00, we set out for the cheese factory. (shout out to Inna, thinking of you this whole time, literally kept saying "my friend would die if she was here right now) I thought there was going to be an official tour, but really it was just Claudio taking us around. I thought it was really cool. First of all, you could see some cows literally grazing in a field next to the factory. We got to see how all of the different ages of cheese were made/ aged. We even got to try cheese that was fresh off of the line (literally Claudio just grabbed some from this machine that these men were operating, see picture of my hand below). We also got to see the large store rooms that the cheese is stored in to age. We then got to try all different kinds (I'm pretty sure I ate the most but it was so good!)

After the factory we went to the town center. Me and a couple of the other girls concluded that it looked a lot like Colorado. There were stores selling warm things (imagine that in Italy, I was surprised they sold anything that could provide real warmth) as well as handmade wood products. We went to the market which was a bit overwhelming but exciting. This was a legitimate market with clothes, shoes, scarfs etc. I left with a few pairs of warm socks and a new pashmina scarf (yay!). After the market, we returned back to the hotel for lunch and then horseback riding. Although  it was raining, the ride was still gorgeous. Slight mishaps included a small jump and gallop (my horse only, screamed both times) Also, I somehow woke up the next morning with a huge bruise on the side of my knee, not sure how that happened. An interesting thing that I learned on this tour from our guide (a guy around our age) was that a lot of people in Italy still really admire Mussolini. He said, "I think that is in your country what you call 'rednecks' " I thought that comparison was pretty funny, but it is interesting that people still really look up to Mussolini, it made me want to do some more research into history (slowly making my way through my history textbook I lugged here). The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. It included a warm shower and hanging out in the hotel becuase it was raining and cold outside.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and went ice skating. The rink was indoors and largely reminded me of the rinks at home (except for the cheese advertisments). We returned back to the hotel, had lunch, packed up and set off for home. Before going home we stopped at a local grocery store to stock up on local cheese ( I purchased probably a bit too much) Claudio also had me try a local delicacy, this fruit jelly stuff that you're supposed to eat with cheese that is really spicy. I wasn't allowed to try it without purchasing so I took the risk. With one cherry..yes really spicy cherry my mouth was burning and my tummy felt a little funny. Currently 2.50 euro of it is sitting in my fridge...not sure if i'll attempt to eat that again, but it is all worth the experience.  We took a beautiful scenic ride home, I was tired but had a great weekend. Currently counting down the days until Prague this weekend!

Buongiorno la settimana

Looking over my posts, I realized that I have been focusing a lot on my weekend adventures but have posted little about a typical week. I thought that this was a perfect week to describe becuase it was very enjoyable (maybe thats because both weekends were extended but whatever) My Monday Italian class got moved to Tuesday since we had all been traveling last weekend so I began the week with Photography Tuesday morning. First of all, I never thought I would be that into photography (and I can't say I am very good at it) but I am absolutely loving our class. Our teacher Mauro is a professional photographer (why is he our teacher I don't know) but he's so cool! We got to visit his studio in Verona on Tuesday. There he showed us his computer, software printer (the size of a piano) etc. he also uploaded our pictures for the assignment of last week (foreground and background, did not go so well for me). We then learned a little more about the photography process then got to look at books of photographers we have talked about so far (check out Maggie Taylor she's really famous and her stuff is kind of creepy but cool, Mauro put together one of her books). We were then off with our next assignment finding things that are blue and yellow, which I have yet to complete, guess I'm procrastinating until Monday. After that we had a break for lunch then our Italian conversation class. I think I'm improving?

Wednesday was a very artsy day. We started in the Morning with art history. I am absolutely loving this class and our teacher Andrea. It is quite possible that I am annoying the rest of the class with my constant questions and mumblings about history to myself, but it is nice to feel somewhat in my element, yet realizing that I am appreciating something at a new level. Right now we are talking about iconography and symbolism in Italian art, both Roman and Christian. We also got a beautiful book filled with wonderful prints of Italian art from Roman times to the present. I haven't fully gone through it yet, but I definitely intend to. In the afternoon we had painting which I am feeling so/so about. We are copying famous paintings and I just feel like the teacher sometimes helps me too much. I know that she is making it look better, but I prefer to do things on my own, so we'll see how the next assignment goes.  I returned home, had dinner caught up on Glee and talked to some people at home, all around successful day.

Thursday was by far the best day. Andrea our art history teacher took us around "ancient Verona" which is really just the center telling us all about the history and art related. We walked in places that I have been a million times, but I learned so many new things about the history and the past and present function of certain things all over the city. I was the only one in the class furiously taking notes in a little notebook while we were walking but I know I will appreciate it later. (by the way they have these really fun pens here that they only sell in art stores in the U.S. and the look really pretty and are in all different colors, obsessed, but definetely very doodle prone). I came home very tired but excited for the weekend.

As for today, we are off to asiago in the mountains with Claudio. I know that it's going to be cold and there's going to be cheese and that's about it. Update coming soon.

Ciao!

Buongiorno Brussels

Here is a much needed update on a fabulous weekend. Last week, for whatever reason was a very long week and I was excited for a break from Italy. I left Italy for the first time I arrived here for Brussels! I mus say I am very proud of myself for doing this because the logistics were a bit confusing and I have not really traveled much by myself before. The trip involved a train from Verona to Milan, a shuttle from the train station to the airport and then a flight to Brussels. Some bumps included, reading the date instead of time on my train ticket, therefore arriving at the Verona train station for a train leaving at "8:10" yes, October 10th instead of 9:07, being given incorrect directions by policemen in the train station to get to the shuttle, and arriving to Linate so early that the Brussels Airlines desk was not open. Despite this I did not freak out too much (okay I know you don't believe me but seriously I didn't). 

I met up with David my cousin from the Airport and started a great weekend. One of the first things that I noticed was that people in Brussels actually drive normal sized cars, compared to the tiny cars and vespas in Italy. Driving from the airport, the area reminded a lot of the east coast, it was a little more hilly than in Illinois and wooded. We arrived at their beautiful house and I was immedietely greeted by their dog Junior (see picture below), who I believe was not sure if he should be excited or scared to see me. He kept running into the room, trying to sniff my stuff, then when he noticed I was looking at him ran away. He quickly warmed up to me though, and I believe forgot that I wasn't always there within a few hours. After that we had a nice Shabbat dinner, something I definitely miss. I got to eat all of the foods I missed from home, matzo ball soup, chicken and Challah.  

The rest of the weekend was just spent hanging around, which was something I definitely needed after the long adjustment to living in Italy. I started the day Saturday just laying around and reading while Gaby and Arielle did their homework. We then went to a gas station that sold American goods (random but exciting) I bought peanut butter (an unfortunate victim of the Brussels Airport Security), twizzlers and a People Magazine. After eating lunch we went to a park that was just two minutes from my cousin's house. It was a beautiful day (apparentely rare in Brussels) and there were tons of people in the park. The park had nice paths for walking, a road that was closed to traffic on the weekends and a big grassy area. The grassy area kind of reminded me of the quad at school except that there were tons of cute children (one little naked boy we were not sure why) and a lot of  French (which I comprehended nothing of) In the park, we bought a "gaufre" (spelling?) which is a waffle. Brussels is famous for their waffles with big chunks of sugar inside but we got ones with chocolate and sprinkles too. (see below Arielle with hers) 

 

After eating our waffles we walked around, the area was beautiful, with the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees. We spent a bit of time trying to catch leaves, because it is good luck to catch them before they touch the ground.  

Once we returned to the house I helped Arielle a bit with violin (she just started and uses a quarter size!) we decided to bake some cupcakes. The cupcake recipe was in Hebrew, which was good practice but confusion for me. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication  and instead of putting a "capit" (tablespoon) of baking powder, we put in a "sackit" (an entire packet)…result: exploding cupcakes. We decided to leave the baking for awhile, but later we made the double baked chocolate chip cookies which I always make at home, and they were a hit.  That night we relaxed watched "strictly," the British version of Dancing With the Stars (very British) and watched 2012 which was a great movie.

 The next day me and Jackie worked out while the girls had tennis. I was not as unfortunate as I thought I would be, but I definetely felt the past month of spaghetti and cappuccinos. We returned back to their house for a a quick shower, then went off to the main center of the city. A majority of the city was actually destroyed during WWII, so most was built in the 1950s or after. The center is the only remaining old part and was really pretty. There, we bought chocolates and frittes (fries that Brussels is famous for) and I learned that the symbol of Brussels is a small statue of a boy peeing.

 

We returned home with a mission to successfully bake the cupcakes and luckily they worked this time (with the help of a "capit"). We later decorated them and enjoyed. I also gave the girls the U of I t-shirts I had brought at home. I did not anticipate how much they would like them (especially their new American factory smell) and was happy to spread the Illini spirit in Belgium. After that we relaxed a bit and then went to bed, I knew I had a early flight in the morning.

The trip home was largely uneventful. The major things that happened were

1. I forgot I was going to Milan and kept trying to find Chicago on the flight board...whoops

2. Had to empty my entire backpack at security and had my precious peanut butter confiscated. The woman went "too sticky!!"

3. Wandered around, bought some more chocolate and books (in English yay!) until they finally told me what gate my flight was at (only 10 minutes before boarding)

4. Found this funny coca cola ad (if you were wondering what the peeing boy statue looked like) 

Otherwise I made it back, very proud of myself for traveling independently and loving that I connected with new family. Can't wait to see you guys in Israel next year!

Buongiorno Llamas, Lace and lovely weekends

This past weekend was an excellent fun filled, interesting weekend. It started Friday morning with a trip to Bolzano with Anne and Janet. Bolzano was a place that I had heard a little about but kind of just decided to go on a whim. It was about a 2 hour train ride, totally worth it. Not only was the town completely off the beaten path for American tourists, but I felt like I was in a completely different country although I was still in Italy. The story with Bolzano is that it has changed hands multiple times between Austria and Italy, as has most of the area. It is one of the few towns that has official languages as both German and Italian, although it is a sensitive discussion. The main center of town is a part of the German area, so I felt it even more. I even felt weird using my Italian to order a cappuccino, but the bartender was Italian so it was all good. Anyways I had done my research and we did a ton that day. To my surprise (and delight) everything I wanted to see was all walking distance from the main square of the town so it was easy to do everything. We first visited the mercantile palace. This was the main place where trading went on. The actual building was gorgeous and had a lot of cool old furniture and artifacts. Right off the mercantile museum we found the fruit market which was amazing. They were selling every type of fruit, veggie, pretzel bread etc.

Next we went to an authentic German restaurant that Anne had read about in her guide book. It was delicious! Anne was adventurous and got the town's specialty white sausage, but I stuck with risotto with artichokes and trout (yum) it was there that i discovered that I actually like beer if it isn't too dark and is of good quality. I accidentally ordered a medium, which was difficult to finish but I thoroughly enjoyed it. (see below)

 After lunch we took a visit to the archeological museum to see the "iceman," a 5,000 year-old man discovered just outside of Bolzano in 1992. That was really cool and what Bolzano is really famous for.  After that we got some gelato (raspberry yay!) and finally took a cable card ride up into the mountains where we hiked around a bit. It was cool to be somewhere so green, very different from what I typically see here. We saw an interesting statue (see below) as well as llamas grazing in the fields. Overall I would say very successful day...oh yeah and did I mention I ran into a glass door at the mercantile museum...only the worker there saw me she kind of just gawked for awhile...remarkably this is the first time that has happened in my life, but well worth the great day!

The next day we took a trip with the group to Venice. I have been told by countless people that I would love Venice, and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. The town was gorgeous but crowded with so many American tourists (yes I am disassociating) that it just kind of bothered me. We saw a glass blowing demonstration which was really cool. By far the best thing we saw was a lace factory, where they continue to make gorgeous lace by hand. They are subsidized by the government to continue to do everything without machines. I learned that there is a specific type of Venetian lace that will be basically extinct over the next few decades so it was really cool to see it.

Unfortunately, my attempts to wander and get lost in Venice ultimately failed because I couldn't get away from the tourists!  I am optimistic though, and will give it another chance when mom and dad come. I am also glad that I can really appreciate the more authentic experience I am getting in Verona. Even if there are a lot of tourists around, many of them are Italian and I am surrounded by the language and people just living their lives.

Luckily, I did not have to wait long to get a more authentic experience outside of Verona. Yesterday, we went with the group to Montagna, which is a town not far from Verona. It is one of the few towns completely surrounded by walls left in Italy. We were lucky enough to arrive there on a once a month fair. Since it was a small town, few people spoke English so I was able to practice my Italian. It was really cool seeing everything that was sold from veggies, fruits, antiques fresh meat and fish, different food spreads and honeys, purses etc. I left with some fresh olives and sun dried tomatoes which I cooked with tonight (fyi if you buy sun dried tomatoes fresh you should soak them in a jar of olive oil or they'll taste like raisins my issue tonight) the olives were absolutely delicious ahh. I also tried some sort of honey chocolate sprinklee sweet roll. The market totally reminded me of why I came to Italy. Unfortunately I regretted eating because we went to a castle..yes a castle to eat lunch. The castle (Belivicqua) was gorgeous and had a ton of cool artifacts. Claudio our resident director and his wife were married there. If only it were closer to Chicago, everyone would get married there...seriously. There we learned some medieval activities such as archery ( I had a good shot look below, yes the bullseye is a pepper...shout out to Hannah!)

We also visited a torture chamber. We had fun at pretending that we were being hung..weirdly I recognized a lot of the stuff we saw from writing my paper one women murderers in 17th century England...didn't realize I was such an expert.

What better way to end the day but with a trip to the mall? Although the ride there made me a bit nauseous, it was totally worth it, the mall was a cultural experience. Because it was Sunday, the mall was packed and insane. I left only with a cardigan but cannot wait to go back.  As for this week, I am excited to continue my new classes, start art history and visit my cousins in Brussels this weekend!