A Weekend of Celebratory Acts

The reason to celebrate: I gave my 10-15 minute presentation in class on Thursday (and held an individual celebration by buying a cannoli) and our Intensive Language Program course officially finished on Friday with our oral finals.

The sunset over Bologna from the top of a tower we climbed with our class.

Part #1: A bunch of us Californians got together for a picnic with some other Erasmus friends in the Giardini Margherita (the park near my apartment) on Friday afternoon. We drank wine, ate chips, played soccer (!!), and generally frolicked around for a few hours.

At the picnic! (Me, Maia, Karol, Serena, Daniela, and Larissa)

Part #2: My friends Allison and Maia came over to my apartment and we cooked gnocchi with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella--molto buono! And we split a bottle of wine to celebrate the completion of our ILP course.

Buon appetito!

Part #3: Allison, Maia, and I headed to the center of town (while splitting another bottle of wine) to meet up with the same picnic crew. We danced and socialized at a bar/club for a few hours and then returned home around 3am (I went to bed at 4am after a shower).

Part #4: Woke up at 6am to get ready for our weekend trip to Milan, met Maia in Piazza Maggiore at 7:15am, and woke up Allison with a phone call to see where she was. She got ready in 10 minutes flat and we rushed to grab a taxi to head to the train station. We ate a breakfast of bread and brie on the train and tried to snooze a bit on the 3-hour train ride.

Allison with our bread and brie on the train!

Part #5: Arrived in Milan around 11am (and paid 1 euro to use the train station bathroom)! Walked to our hostel (Zebra Hostel, which seemed to be half hostel/half club) and got settled into our new communal bedroom we were sharing with 5 other people (we knew we wouldn't be showering, but were thankful the bathroom seemed relatively clean). Thank you dorm life for building up my immune system and for habituating me to living in close-quarters with people!

Part #6: Maia, Allison, and I grabbed lunch to reboot at a restaurant near the Duomo (the huge cathedral) in Milan (about a 15-minute walk from our hostel).

Part #7: Ate gelato. (This action obviously requires a whole "Part" for itself.)

Part #8: A) First rejection from entering the Duomo. Allison and Maia were wearing shorts and tank tops (we needed to cover our knees and our shoulders to enter), and I was wearing a dress that didn't cover my shoulders. Time to go shopping!
B) Returned to the Duomo with scarves for our shoulders and Allison and Maia had bought and put on pants. I was rejected because my dress hit JUST above my knees (I guess they're actually serious about the knee thing)...so time to shop again! I bought a long skirt to pull on and we finally made it into the gorgeous church.

The Duomo was HUGE! (3rd largest in Europe according to Rick Steves) 

Pretty marble floor and stained glass windows.

Part #9: Climbed the stairs to get to the roof of the Duomo--amazing view from the top! It was so fun to be among the spires on TOP of the Duomo, rather than only looking up at them from the ground. We hung out for a little while on the roof since we were running on about 3 hours of sleep and our feet were tired. Apparently it's quite the hang-out (for 6 euros) for high school couples.

Spires on the roof!

Allison, Maia, and me on the roof.

Part #10: We headed back to the Zebra Hostel around 5:30 to take a nap. It's slightly disruptive when the walls are paper-thin, there are no doors in the door frames, and people are talking very loudly in the next room. But it was a much-needed rest!

Part #11: We treated ourselves to a nice dinner near the Duomo around 9pm (a very European time!); we ordered pasta and wine, and enjoyed people watching since it was part of Fashion Week in Milan!

Pasta with pesto and vino!

Part #12: After dinner, we grabbed the 2nd gelato of the day and sat on the steps in front of the Duomo. As usual, some weird guys approached us and were talking to us until we told them to go away. Then a young Ukrainian guy who was sitting behind us (and who spoke perfect Italian and a few words of English) starting chatting and joking around with us. He became our mini tour-guide for an hour or so and he showed us some of the things we hadn't explored near the Duomo: the Galleria (a shopping mall right next to the Duomo) and the Castello (a castle a few blocks away from the Duomo). He walked us back to the hostel around 2am and we parted ways. It was great to practice our Italian with him!

Me with the Duomo.

Part #13: We slept! Finally. Of course, our drunk roommates decided to come back at 6am and talk loudly, but we slept until 9:30 and then got up to eat breakfast. The hostel provided breakfast, but it consisted of toast with jam (not bad, but good luck finding a plate) and cold coffee (without sugar). Needless to say, we at lunch soon thereafter. But hey, the hostel was an interesting experience, and we were only there for 1 night, so it wasn't too bad!

Part #14: We ate lunch at a cafe next to the Duomo (we ordered coffees and panini!). We were finally ready to explore a bit before heading back to the train station.

Part #15: After lunch, we headed to a Ferrari shop we had seen the night before and wandered around looking at all the expensive souvenirs. Our Ukrainian friend had told us that inside the Castle walls there was a big garden/lawn area, so we made our way over to the Castel and rested on the lawn for about 15 minutes (I realize in writing this down that it seems like we rested more than we did things, but it had been a long weekend and we did A LOT of walking around Milan).

Part #16: We forced ourselves to get up and walk to the train station (took about 45 minutes), got on our train, and headed back to Bologna!

Inside the castle wall.

And thus concludes our 48-hour celebration of finishing our ILP course! It was such a fun weekend with my girls and we were the perfect travel companions for each other! :)

Balance

A few days ago, as I was riding the bus home and looking out the window, I saw several vespas and bikes squeezing between the moving bus and parked cars. I marveled at the drivers' abilities to maneuver between the side mirrors of parked cars and the side of a moving bus. I thought, "Wow, that takes a lot of balance and control." Yet they seemed to do it with ease and I thought that I would have DEFINITELY hit something if it were me driving! Then I realized that balance and control are exactly what I've been trying to find in these last 4.5 weeks.

The vespas drivers and bike riders have to know how to drive slowly in a lot of traffic and not hit anything, swerve too much, or fall over (all obstacles that I have so far fortunately avoided on my bike), but also know when to drive with a purpose and move along with traffic and not hit a pothole on the side of the road when the side of the road is the only space available to drive/ride (also an issue I haven't encountered yet, but it seems very probable that I will at some point). These last few days, I've been thinking about my balance in life. I haven't hit any metaphorical parked cars or potholes, nor have I fallen over, but I feel like I'm swerving a little.

The rhythm of my life here so far fluctuates between a slow, calm, meandering "go with the flow" attitude and a fast-paced, intense, stressful state of mind. I guess the same balance is needed when I'm at home in California, but it has been harder to find that balance and to stay in control here because I'm in a new place with new people, a new culture, a new language, and a new rhythm of life. I don't feel like I'm in danger of breaking down and losing all control, but some days have been harder than others. It's definitely lonelier here because I'm not surrounded by all my friends in the dorm hall, or have the easy access to a car, or have my dad's amazing meals. My brain is a bit overwhelmed with all the social and academic input it has received these last few weeks. I know I will find my balance at some point during the year, but change is always hard at the beginning, and I wish I could have control over my life and mental/emotional state just like the vespa drivers and bike riders have over their two-wheeled vehicles.

Backpacking this summer--I guess I found the balance to cross the river! Friends and family are my current safety ropes to keep me sane. 

Just Keep Climbing

Climb #1 = On Monday afternoon, Allison, her friend Kourtney, and I climbed up one of the towers here in Bologna. Bologna used to have over 100 towers dotting the city (which wealthy families built to show prestige--the taller the tower, the wealthier the family--and to provide lookouts to protect the city). Now, many have been destroyed, but there are still a good number dotting the horizon when looking out over the city. There are 2 main ones in the center of Bologna called "le due torri" (the two towers). One is half destroyed, but for the other tower, people can pay 3 euros to climb up to the top for a great view (stairs only...they don't believe in elevators here unless they're really slow or really small). Needless to say, it was some good exercise (especially after a night of eating a whole pizza...see previous post).

Looking down the spiral staircase (this was only about halfway up).

Looking down at the half-destroyed tower from the top of the tower we climbed.

Kourtney, me, and Allison at the top! (If we look a little tired, we were.)

The view... che bella!

Climb #2 = On Wednesday, Allison, Kourtney, and I woke up early (6:30am), met on the south-west end of the city, and then walked up to San Luca--a church at the top of a hill just outside the defined "center" of the city. There's a road going up to the church (google maps says it takes only 4 minutes to drive), but we decided to get in our morning work-out and walk the portico path. Porticos are the arches over all the sidewalks here in Bologna (which provide shade when it's hot and shelter when it's raining!), and there's a string of them going up the hill to the church. From the base of this portico path, we made it to the top in about 25 minutes (google maps told us it would take 35 minutes...I guess we walked faster than the average person). It was such a gorgeous view, and we were glad we went early, so the light was beautiful and it wasn't too hot yet. There was a nice breeze at the top, and the three of us relaxed for a while on a wall and took in the view of the church and the surrounding hills.

Going up!!

Looking back down through the porticos.

The view from the top :)

Ohhh sign translations...  Thank for clarifying.

Me admiring the church and enjoying the cool marble wall.

Ciao ciao!

Pasta and Pizza and Gelato, Oh My!

I've had some pretty amazing dishes and meals so far in Italy, but this weekend I had 2 of the best meals I've ever had (only a few I've had in Italy prior to this trip make the top of the chart).

Meal #1: On Saturday, our program had a field trip to Ravenna. You might be thinking "last time she was in Ravenna, she was partying on the beach" and this is true. However, this trip to Ravenna was for educational purposes and I didn't even see a beach. We visited Dante's tomb, Basilica di San Vitale (with gorgeous mosaics!), the tomb of Galla Placidia (a really powerful woman in Medieval times), and the Mausoleo di Teodorico and everything was explained to us in Italian. Needless to say, by lunchtime, we were tired and hungry. We had made reservations at a restaurant that serves typical Ravenna dishes and you could watch women making fresh piadina (a type of bread that is thicker than a tortilla, but similar in shape), which was later served to us with meat and cheese. But our first course was the one everyone fell in love with. We were served this incredible pasta with a light, creamy tomato sauce and cooked cherry tomatoes that burst in your mouth. It was all we could do to keep from shoveling it in our mouths because we were so hungry but we knew that we had to savor a dish like that. It tasted like heaven...there are no words to describe how happy that one dish made us! We all wished that the next few courses would just be more plates of that pasta.

Mosaics on the floor of San Vitale...

...and mosaics on the ceiling of Galla Placidia's tomb.

Our delicious pasta!! Makes my mouth water just looking at it.

Snack: That afternoon, before we took the train back to Bologna, we stopped to get gelato (naturally). I'm sure by the end of the year, I'll be a gelato snob and know where to get the "good" gelato and where to avoid the "not-so-good" gelato. But right now, most of the gelato I've had has been quite delicious, including this one in Ravenna!

Maia and Natalie in front of the gelateria.

Meal #2: Sunday was another long and tiring day. In Bologna, there was a children's festival in a park where there were all these booths and tables set up with activities for children and organizations directed toward children learning English. I volunteered for one such organization (P.A.C.E). Several of us in my program volunteered to make "instruments" (water bottles with colored rice inside and drums made out of cardboard cylinders with a balloon top) with the kids. We were instructed only to speak to the kids in English (and a lot of parents want their kids to take extra English classes or have a babysitter who speaks English), and so for the 4 hours I worked at the table, I must have said "Do you want to put the bluuue rice in the bottle? The bluuue rice? Or the greeeen rice?" hundreds of times. It was really fun to feel like a part of the festival and it made Bologna seem more like a community since there were families with little kids running around all over the park. Ok, so now here's the food part. That night, Allison, Allison's visiting friend Kourtney, and I went out to dinner with my cousins (Claudio, Luciana, Elio, and Anna). We went to a restaurant that serves typical Neapolitan pizza (which is some of the best pizza in the world). And I ate a whole pizza. Granted, the crust is thin and everyone else also ordered their own pizzas and finished them, too (because they were so incredibly good!). But wow, I woke up this morning and was STILL full. Then, of course, we had to have dessert. The dessert I ordered was fried dough covered with white and powdered sugar and topped with Nutella. So I basically ate 3 donuts for dessert. After eating an entire pizza. I probably should have gone on a run this morning...but I was too tired and needed my 10 hours of sleep. Oops... Maybe tomorrow...!

The pizza...ahhhh soooo good!

Allison, Kourtney, and I in front of the restaurant.

Baci e abbracci per tutti!  :)

Ravenna and Personal Space

This past Saturday, some friends in my program and I were planning to go to a coastal town called Rimini. However, our plans changed when we heard about a pre-organized trip to another nearby coastal town called Ravenna. We went with an erasmus organization (erasmus is the European foreign exchange program, but anyone from overseas can join it), and we paid only 15 euros for them to bus us to and from Ravenna, spend the day on the beach, and the evening at a bar that functioned as a club at night. We met a bunch of other Erasmus students (from Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Spain, etc.), and the day on the beach was beautiful and it was fun to get our groove on at night!

(random guy), Maia, Allison, and me during Happy Hour at the beach.

Whenever we Americans/Californians start dancing, we basically put a target on our foreheads that say "American." And here, "American" is almost synonymous with "Hey, I can't drink in the U.S. yet, so I'm probably pretty drunk, and I'm not used to getting attention from ALL the guys, so I'm probably pretty easy, too." When that is paired with Italian men who take a firm "No." as a "Oh hey, keep trying!" things get interesting (and not really in a good way). I think part of it is the Italian men just want to see how far we let them go--it's a game to them. And then they're also showing off for their buddies (so when you refuse them, they have to look cool and keep trying, or just call you stupid for not being attracted to a 30-something, ugly guy). The thing I find very interesting is that my apartment-mate, Elena, told me that Italian girls/women rarely experience this because the Italian men would get nowhere with them. The women here don't tolerate it at ALL, and so the men usually don't try. So when the naive, foreign kids come along, life gets more interesting.

This all ties into a cultural difference I've noticed here: the amount of personal space. There are two types of personal space, I now realize: physical and visual. Both are invaded here compared to in the U.S. Since everything here is smaller and closer together but with a lot of people, your physical personal space bubble extends only to where the air meets your skin. On the bus, standing in line, walking on the street, moving through a crowd, etc. are all contact activities and the most striking part that I had to learn is that people rarely say "excuse me" or "I'm sorry" either before, during, or after they touch/hit you. At first, I was taken aback and was thinking "gosh, people are kind of rude here...." But then I realized that the cultural value and concept of personal space is different, and that in the U.S. people are sometimes overly polite and sensitive about it. The same goes for on the road with cars: what would almost be an "accident" and involve much honking and stress in the U.S. is a normal "I need to pull out halfway into the road to see around the illegally parked car before I turn into the street." Most driving rules are suggestions. The confusing part is Italians seem to instinctively know when it's appropriate to break a certain rule and when it's completely inappropriate.

The second invasion of personal space is the visual bubble. In the U.S., it's considered very impolite to stare at someone. Definitely not the case here. Men check out women (in very obvious ways, which sometimes includes a "Ciao bella") and women check out women (and then judge their outfit). Everyone dresses up much more here (including the men). Fashion and looking put-together is very important and you feel judged negatively if you don't put in some effort. This might be a slight problem for me in the winter on days that I just want to wear my sweatshirt and comfy jeans.... Then again, I'm American and it's obvious already (even before I open my mouth to speak), so some days I just won't care!

Allison and I on the roof of Elio and Anna's apartment before dinner with them last Thursday. It was a gorgeous 360-degree view of the city!

The first rain on Sunday! It was refreshing, and fortunately I was planning to stay home that day anyway :)

Some porticos and apartments on the walk back to my house.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to pick up the bike I bought from an American girl who was here last year. I'm excited to be able to use it! It will save me bus money and walking time. I've been trying to watch other bikers to see what the dynamic between cars, bikes, and vespas is on the road. Hopefully I'll learn quickly...!