Ferrara

So Friday we took a day trip to Ferrara because none of us had school and we're in Italy so we can just take day trips to really beautiful places! The train ride only took 25 mins and cost only 5 Euro. Number one cool thing about Ferrara: there's a medieval castle with a drawbridge and a moat and everything. We even went into dungenons whose doors were actually smaller than me! Here's me on some cannonballs -->
If you click on this pic you will notice two things: (1) I got a haircut, and (2) my super cool new European tennis shoes.

After the castle we ate lunch at this tiny place that was of course super cute. I ordered a trio which made me feel a little like I was at Olive Garden, but believe me, this was no Olive Garden. I had ravioli filled with brie, tortellini filled with pumpkin (a Ferrara speciality), and melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi with veggies.

We walked around a bit and found this <-- really fun cannon. After, we went to the Duomo. It was quite beautiful but I've decided I prefer smaller churches to grand cathedrals. The smaller ones have more detail and feel homier.

Finally, before catching the train, we decided to have some gelato. Before I came to Italy I thought gelato was gelato, but man was I wrong! The gelato we had in Ferrara was average at best...but we've already found 3 AMAZING gelaterias in Bologna. I've decided I'm going to stop wasting my money on mediocre gelato and save it for the good stuff.

One more pic of all of us after feeding the fish in the moat:

Luigi

Last night we were invited to a dinner party at Alessandro's friends house, outside of the center of the city. She lives with her parents, so obviously the place is WAY nicer than ours are. It was a two story apartment with a library, a balcony, and such a beautiful view of the hillside littered with cute houses. The walk there was a bit long, but totally worth it because it was very picturesque and there was food waiting to congratulate us at the other end! We had special pasta (not just Barilla) that they had bought hand made with pesto and prosciutto and of course wine. It was quite yummy.

After dinner I was out on the balcony with Shawn and Francesco (Shawn's roommate's brother) while they were smoking because I loved the view. I've gotten quite better at conversational Italian and it's amazing the kind of conversations I'm actually somewhat capable of carrying on! So were just chatting about various things such as a winter trip to the Alps when I made a comment about how beautiful the view was and Francesco twisted it into me commenting on how beautiful the two boys getting off their Vespas below us were. He said I should yell down to them and introduce myself. So I started getting embarassed of course and hid behind Shawn...then Francesco yelled down to them, "Hey, Luigi!" And I thought he was just being rude and yelling some sterotypical Italian guys name...but no...the guy was actaully his friend Luigi...and so Luigi looks up and greets him...and then Francesco tells him to come up because there's a girl on the balcony who wants to meet him. So pretty much the embarrasment just continued throughout the night. For the record, Luigi--not that cute. Anyways, I just played it off and we all finished the evening with an exchange of Italian/English tongue twisters.

California Girls

I have a lot of catching up to do with you guys! First things first: I have lights and gas! The toilet still doesn't work...but who REALLY needs to pee, right? That's just a luxury some of us can't afford.

The girls moved in on Tuesday...and so did their parents. We had no idea they were even coming, let alone spending 3 nights. So that's been interesting because they speak no English and have interesting stereotypes of us California girls. One of the moms, the first night, subtly explained to us that they're dangerous people out there and we need to make sure to lock our doors and not bring home strange men. Hehe. Of course, we're not the girls who have single rooms and boyfriends living in town (as do their daughters).

But as we (attempted) to talk more, they really warmed up to us and by the end they were super friendly, cooked us dinner, and invited us to Calabria, which I think I might take them up on for Christmas!

Speaking of traveling, I'm hoping to go to Amsterdam to visit Kristen for about 4 days in 2 weeks. It's going to be a challenging (and always expensive) journey all by myself, but I'm really looking forward to it! It'll be SO worth it once I get there. And I'm trying to get Britt to come too so I think it'll be a great trip.

I finished my language course today!!! I had a quiz Wed, an oral presentation Thurs, and a final oral exam Fri. So it's been a difficult week juggling studying with a house full of people. But I'm done! And now it's the weekend of celebration because we're in between programs. One of my classes starts Monday and the other the following week...it should be very interesting commencing with courses at the U. of Bologna. My Italian has gotten exponentially better since I've been here but I still feel like a newbie. We mix words up all the time but it's usually pretty funny.

For example, last week, Shawn (the boy from our program that moved in next door) bought these new tight black pants and we were making fun of him for it because he had asked Charlotte to carry his camera in her purse since it wouldn't fit in his pocket. Charlotte wanted to comment that he could only fit his lighter in his pants, but what she actually ended up saying was that he could only fit his washing machine in his pants! Che divertente.

Due Torre

Bologna's biggest monument is Due Torre, these two giant towers that are very recognizable as Bolognese. We went up them today (before a very large Chinese cena) and it was incredible. We had to climb up 498 stairs to get to the top, but the view was spectacular and so was the weather. We took lots of pictures and took in the beautiful 360' view of the city and the hillsides. There's a superstition that if you climb the tower you won't graduate...but i figure I'm ok because I'm not graduating from UNIBO (U. of Bologna)! But ya...the pictures are great and the view was even better. Whoever comes to visit me...we'll have to take a trip up there!

<3 of Darkness

Well here I am in my new apartment!! I really love it...my room is lovely, my bed is comfy, and the boys next door are incredibly helpful. Here's the thing though:

1. We have no electricity. And thus no light.

2. We have no gas. And thus cannot cook nor use hot water.

3. The toilet doesn't always work. And thus we have to use the boys'.

So ya...it's been interesting. We have candles and flashlights and the boys put an extension cord with a power strip in our kitchen via the window. So we have one desk lamp we can use and we can charge things. It's kind of ironic that I can use my laptop (we're stealing the boys' internet) but I can't do some things as fundamental as peeing or seeing. Hehe good times. Don't worry mom...we'll get all that stuff on the 18th. Only 3 more days in the heart of darkness.

The Big Move

I realized I've just been writing about my interests and not really telling you what's been going on! Today Charlotte and I hauled (almost) all our stuff over to the new apartment. We set up the room, including all the new bedding we bought on yesterday's not-so-fun trip to Ikea. Man that place is a nightmare.

We're still going to sleep in the residence tonight, for the one last night they'll let us, because our apartment still doesn't have gas or electricity. It looks really cute though. The room is HUGE and thus the furniture looks puny...but that just means we have a ton of space we don't know what do with and it's great! I bought a new duvet in...you guessed it...purple! It looks quite royal and the fabric is pretty nice so I'm happy. :)

It'll be sad leaving the Residence for good though...we had a lot of fun there and it was nice always knowing what everyone was up to and just being able to hang out. At the same time though, I'm really looking forward to having my own space and being all moved in...and getting started on the real meaty part of the year!

Apparently here you don't sign up for classes. You just go to them, and then you sign up for the final oral exam. Isn't that strange??? So I feel very much like I'm floating since we haven't had our academic orientation yet and the whole thing is, well, foreign to me. I think I'm going to take a contemporary Italian lit class and then maybe a poli sci class about Italy's government. I don't know. It's all very confusing.

Also, I had a job opportunity for which I interviewed yesterday. It's to "babysit" this 5 1/2 year old boy named Ricardo and teach him English while playing with him. They'll pay me pretty well and it's only a few hours a week, so it'll be a great way to bring in just a little cash while I'm here but still have lots of flexibility with the schedule. Hopefully it works out because the first time I went to visit their house the little boy was very shy and hid from me almost the entire time!

There's only 1 week left of my ILP program which sucks because that means our final is coming up next week. It's both an oral presentation and an oral exam so that's going to suck. But whatever...I'll be living with Italians by then and I'll make them help me study! The girls are moving in on Monday I believe, so our place will feel a little more complete come next week. I'm excited to live with them! And to have internet in my apartment!!!

Dolci

Gelato was God's personal gift to me. I eat it just about once a day, if not more! There's gelato just about every other block and there's so many different flavors and freshly made cones...ohmygod it's amazing. I found the best place so far on Via Castiglione and I wish I would have discovered it before I signed my lease because I would have limited my apartment search to only that street. As it stands, I'm pretty darn close and oh so thankful. The limone and cioccolate are to die for. The first night I had it I went back for a second helping! I'm so bad but I can't help it because it's so good.

Also, there's crepes. Just right along the street, you can pop in and get a soft, gooey, delicious crepe to go. They are all about the Nutella here and boy does it melt in your mouth.

I'm salivating just thinking about it.

A place to call home

Well last night I got a special treat. I got to talk to so many of you on the phone at Brittany's going away party!! It was so nice to feel like I was a part of the party. And I was so very excited to talk to you all! As you know...instead of being in St. Helena I was once again at Corto Maltese, but this time for Hip Hop night. It was great fun! I could've danced all night (don't worry Mom, I didn't)! But man...it's crazy to be in Italy and still dancing to Chris Brown and Rihanna. Oh man and there was this middle aged Indian man dancing next to us that looked like he was doing the twist or the hokey pokey or something all night. It was hilarious.

Saturday we went on a field trip to Monte Sole to learn about the tragedies of WWII here in Italia. It probably would have held more weight for me if I were able to understand what the man was saying, but it was a beautiful hike and afterwards we got to eat Tortellini and Tagliatelle al Ragu (Pasta Bolognese). Yum.

I'm moving to my new apartment on Thursday or Friday...and soon I need to make a trip to Ikea because I don't even have sheets or towels! That should be quite the adventure in Italian. I'll keep you updated on the apartment developments! I'm really looking forward to moving in and getting into some sort of a routine. This craziness right now is exhausting. I need a place to call home. :)

Corto Maltese

So people here don't differentiate between weeknights and weekend nights. People just go out every night! I've been trying to hold back a little because I'm afraid I'm going to get sick if I'm always on the go...or never get my homework done. However going out is so much fun because there's so many free things to do and everything's always hopping. We often frequent this one club called Corto Maltese...it's not that cool, but we make it cool because there's so many of us. It has a couple bars and a dance floor that plays such random Italian/American music. I've already told you guys a bit about it but I wanted to elaborate! Hehe...sometimes we try to go another club but we always end up back at old faithful :)

One night before making it to Corto Maltese, we were in Piazza Verde listening to a concert and there were some caribinieri (a version of Italian police who are very cute and stylish) around. Charlotte wanted a picture with them and so evolved this :

Good times.
Anyways...we're going out again tonight and we're going to try to go somewhere new but odds are we'll see Corto Maltese at some point tonight. So any of you who are coming to visit me...now you know what you have to look forward to!

I have a home!

So Charlotte and I signed the papers and we're living at the place I was telling you guys about earlier. The more we hang out with those people the more we know we made the best choice. They are just wonderful, the girls we're going to be living with and also all the boys next door. They're super patient with our Italian and they enjoy learning English as well. We watched Sicko with them, played Rummy with them, went to a concert with them...good times! We Google Earthed eachother's homes and it was really neat to see where everyone came from. I'm sure at some point we might be able to go visit them in Calabria, in southern Italy!

There isn't any furniture in the apartment, so a picture doesn't say much...but this is the view out of our bedroom window! Bellissima, no? I'm so excited to be living there. Every minute I spend talking with them by Italian improves exponentially. It's like having my own personal tutor.

Rimini

So this Sunday a big group of us went to Rimini, a beach front town on the Adriatic Sea. It was pretty much amazing. The weather was perfect, the people watching was phenomenal and the company was so pleasant. I swam in the ocean...took a nap on my chair...Oh! I ate an Italian cheeseburger AND gelato. It was great.

The train ride back was pretty rough though because there was probably 3x as many people on board than should have been who kept pushing and yelling in Italian. I was so squished and holding tight to my bags...but I always felt safe because there were a bunch of us, including boys, and we were all watching out for one another. What an experience. I can't wait to go somewhere else!