The Birds of Venice

VENICE IS BEAUTIFUL! I can't stress that enough, hehe. Kristen and I got really lucky because despite freezing temperatures, the weather was quite nice. The highlight of the day certainly was feeding the pigeons in St. Mark's Square. It's THE most touristy thing to do in all of Italy (except maybe for the pictures trying to hold up the Leaning Tower) but we got over it and did it anyway. It's incredible the difference in Venice between summer and winter. There were so few people in the square, the bird feed cost only one Euro, and we were the only ones feeding the birds at that time. So...we had all the birds to ourselves! Ahhhhhh....I was screaming like a baby the whole time! One guy was walking by and said about Kristen, "That's by far the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life." Unless you've done it...you just can't understand. Here's an array of pictures to try to express the experience (believe me, this was being selective...you can click to see the fear in our faces in greater detail):

Kristen was not expecting to be quite so popular!

Me, freaking out.

Seeking refuge in Kristen's bosom!

It was a miracle we never got shat on.

This one was taken by the old weathered man selling birdseed who just laughed at us the whole time.

In my Rick Steves Italy book, there was a section that said if you go to this certain glass shop and present the book, they'll give you a free glass blowing demonstration and 20% off all purchases. Good deal, eh? So we got to go in the back of the shop and up this secret elevator and into their factory showroom to watch an old Italian man make a ball of redness into a beautiful blue cat. He did it in about 30 seconds! It was incredibly impressive.

Other than those two things, and visiting the Duomo, we spent the rest of our day getting lost. Don't worry, that was the goal! We wandered over bridges and through canals, popping in little glass shops and churches...not just for the sights, but for the warmth!

When we happened upon the Christmas market and were flooded with samples of olives, sausage, cheese, and wine!

Gondola Gridlock

The Canal, in all its Grandness.

It was an absolutely lovely day in Venice. I never tire of that city!
And lastly...a surprise...the video of me and the birds:

Kristen's Visit

On Kristen's first day here I made her rise and shine early so we could go to Firenze (Florence). It had snowed for the first time the night before and so the train ride was spectacular! There were snow covered trees and mountains all the way there...bellissima. Once in Florence, we spent lots of time perusing the markets, we had lunch at this secret place called Trattoria Anita where I always go now, and we went to the Ufizzi museum, which houses the best collection of Italian art. At the restaurant we had fun talking with the waiters/owners who are so cute and friendly. Niccola, our waiter, kept saying how he suffered for Kristen who had to eat cafeteria food the whole time she was studying abroad, and he suggested she come back and study in Italy. I agreed. We even took a picture with him...he insisted we take the picture in front of the Christmas tree!

Oh, and at the Ufizzi I got another marriage proposal! I'm pretty sure the guy at the metal detectors just wanted to live in California, but it's a compliment all the same! I went back to ask him a question and said in Italian, "Hey, husband...where do I find the museum pamphlets?" And he answered right quick! In the evening, we went to the Duomo and met up with some of my friends who had come down for the day as well and then we did some more shopping! Finally, we got back on the train for home, ate dinner and hit the sack early!

Christmas in Firenze

Us with the David impersonator

On the Ponte Vecchio

The weird golf event happening off the Ponte Vecchio

Sunday we got up and went to Santo Stefano for mass. The altar was decorated beautifully with roses lining the banister, and it being a small and quaint church, the mass was much more friendly and cozy than the Cathedral last week.

After, we visited the antique market in Piazza Santo Stefano and a cute Christmas store before heading home for pasta al forno, Calabrese sausage, and dolci!

Next stop: Venice!

Birthdays and Dolls and Carolers, oh my!

This weekend, I crapped out on the Dublin trip (where Brittany currently is) but I had a really pleasant time at home. Brittany's in Ireland...Charlotte's in Germany...but I'm still living it up in Bologna! There was a plethora of things to keep me busy! Well, for starters I pretty much just lounged around on Friday, researching for Kristen's trip here (in 5 days!) and such. (That sounded anti-climactic, I realize...but it gets better, hehe.) Then, Ian and Andrew and I went to my favorite gelateria on Via Castiglione for FREE hot chocolate and gelato! They re-opened their renovated shop and had a wonderful little festa to celebrate its inauguration! After that we headed over to Gio's house for her birthday dinner where we ate American-style hamburgers and potato wedges! Mmmm...

Then on Saturday I had volunteered to help UNICEF, which ended up consisting of me and another girl selling handmade dolls on one of the main shopping streets in town. It was really fun because everyone had high Christmas spirits and were happy to help UNICEF by buying dolls as presents. It was really cold, but the main guy in charge bought us hot chocolate and there were cute firefighters who helped us set up and tear down the tables. I met a new friend, the girl I was working with, Maureen. First I found out she's American, then I found out she's from Burlingame, then I found out that she went to high school with Martino (the crazy tall guy who was my punka!). What a piccolo mondo we live in!


After that was finished I ran back home on frozen feet and Ian came over and we ate the rest of the tortelloni I made for him and I before heading off with Sarah to A Christmas Concert at the Evangelical church that our study center told us about. It was outside of centro so we had to take a bus, but the concert was sooo worth it! It turned out the the carolers are from Massachusetts but they were invited here because the pastor started the Bologna Evangelical church branch off of their church back in Massachusetts. So all the carols were sung in English, and the whole presentation was conducted in both languages, and it was just a really neat blend of the two cultures. We met and talked with lots of different people afterwards, while enjoying American Christmas sugar cookies! It was a lovely time...I even met a lady with a newborn baby who's American (from Colorado) but lives here now because she met her husband studying abroad. I told her that's exactly what my mom tells me I'm not allowed to do! Hehe...

So then on the way home, our bus was ambushed by the bus ticket checker police guys which sucked because I hadn't bought a ticket that time and so we had to get off and talk with the guys. However, we ended up getting a really nice ticket checker man who gave Sarah and I a joint ticket (I think it's because we're both short and thus equal only one full person) so we each only had to pay 20 Euro, which is nothing. And so finally we got home and went next door to the boy's apartment for Gio and little Alessandro's birthday party! It was a really good time because I knew about 95% of the people at the party. Unfortunately, our landlady called the carabinieri on us and so we were forced to shut down the party really early, at about 1:30. It made me feel like I was back in the dorms or something. Anyways, so between that and the bus thing, I guess I had a lot of run-ins with The Establishment yesterday!

Today, Federica thawed out one of her mom's lasagne and we ate that for lunch...it was soooo yummy. Later this evening, she, Shawn, Sarah, (try to say that three times fast) and I are going to go to mass at the Cathedral, which I'm really looking forward to. So that's my lovely weekend here in Bologna!

Tortelloni Party!

Last night, at Martino's house, Mikaela hosted a tortelloni party, where we all made our own tortelloni...from scratch! It's one of the coolest, most-Italian things I've done since I've been here...so I wanted to share it with you! First, we made the dough...which was SO messy. Then, while it was refrigerating we made the ricotta and spinach filling...and finally we rolled out the dough and filled them! Sounds easy enough, eh? Um, no. I was exhausted! Especially because Ian and I had a deal where he'd buy wine for me to bring to the party if I'd make his tortelloni, because he says the only thing he can cook is scrambled eggs. Hehe...anyways it took about 4 hours for me because I was doing a double batch. But we had wine, good company, and the prospect of home-made tortellini! So really I was quite content. When I first heard about the event, all I could say was, "Now that's my kind of party!" Here's some pictures from the event:

Everyone kneading dough

I couldn't very well drink my own wine with doughy hands!

Shawn was straight-up pro at tortelloni stuffing.

If you're bored, hungry, and could use a good work out, click here:
Tortelloni recipe, straight from Mikaela's blog!
Her family's Italian, and so she's been making pasta at home for quite a while...she basically just made this recipe up. Plus, you can stuff it with whatever you want...she also made a filling of gorgonzola, pears, and walnuts.

Some of you might have noticed that this was a tortellOni party, not a tortellIni party as everyone's used to hearing. Well, the I implies that it's meat stuffed and the O implies that it's not. We're definitely becoming tortellini snobs living in Bologna, where tortellini was CREATED! This is where I belong.

Now, MANGIA!