The Best Days of our Lives

Now that the dust has settled, you realize that something in you has changed over the course of this journey. You're left with a yearning to learn, to encapsulate every cultural nuance and adapt it to the new you. Inside, there's a new love for travel, to be in a constant state of motion, not letting anything catch up until....well, now. And now you sit and reflect on what has happened and you see that you're different. Little changes, so minute that you hadn't realized them until today. And tomorrow, they'll become magnified. You've acquired strength, in being away from loved ones. You've gained independence unmatched to any you have yet to experience. You have become friends with people who will be with you throughout the rest of your life. But most of all, you have achieved an entirely new perspective on life, your eyes are fresh with new vision. After today, you’ll bring back with you more than luggage and souvenirs. The real souvenirs from this trip will be the memories. The memories of catching awfully early trains, of sleeping in airports, of trying eclectic foods, of Murphy’s, of Jumping Jesters, of late night kebab, of Erasmus nights. You’re full of them, memories. Like Venice and Verona, and eating at the vineyard, of learning how to use those weird public toilets, not to mention bidets (or how to avoid those), of learning a language and hearing the words roll off your tongue, of drinking cappuccinos, of sunny days in the park. These, memories, are what you’re made of. Go home, and hold these tight, and live on in the voracity that you have come to learn in these past four months. And thank you, for being a part of my memories and my experience here to learn each and every one of these things about myself.

Love always,
Brianna

The Final Countdown

The past week, I've been preparing myself. Preparing for finals, which are quite stressful; preparing to say goodbye, and preparing for life back home. They weren't joking when they tell you before leaving that you will have a period of time where you are absolutely unsure about coming home. It will be ground-shaking. My life will be rocked from under my feet.

Yes, I'm scared. But, I'm also strong.

This past weekend was full of fun. Saturday, I went to Cinque Terre REALLY early in the morning. Left on the train at 7:15 AM and arrived around 11. Cinque Terre is a series of five little villages along the sea that are connected by train. You can only have a car there if you are a citizen of the town! These towns are famous mostly for an 11km trail that connects them. The trail winds through the cliffs by the sea and connects to each town and is filled with gorgeous wildlife and lemon groves and vineyards. Beautiful does not even begin to describe it. The hiking part on the other hand, is a whole different story. Think of thousands of steps in 70 degree heat. Then add all the huge chunks of rocks that were poor attempts of steps in centuries past. I apparently started out at the hardest part of the hike at the town of Monterosso. That section took me over 2 hours to complete! And I'm not in bad shape. It included a lot of straight up hiking and letting people pass on the scary path. Halfway on the path, a old man was selling fresh lemons from the tree for 50c and you better believe I bought one! It was so sour but it tasted so good since I'd forgotten to bring water. :) The hike was great the rest of the way, by the end, it was all straight and no hills! I was pretty glad that I started out on the side that was hardest and then went to the easiest. Reminded me of cross country in high school! I took the train home and low and behold, the Italians were having another bus strike! So I had to take a 13 euro cab ride home, which was the bummer of my day.

Sunday, my roommate, Sarah, and I stayed in since it was raining. We had been planning to see the Pope, but it seemed like that was not to be. The buses weren't running again, since it was a huge holiday here. So for dinner, we got pizza's from the kebab shop 2 blocks down from our apartment. We had to run, the rain was so bad! We were missing the food of America so we decided to get french fries on our pizzas! She got hers with hot dogs (wurstel) and I got mine with spicy sausage (salame piccante). Horrid for us, but delicious!

And since then I've been preparing for finals and enjoying the rain. Italy is just preparing me for Oregon! :) 5 days.

Warning: Not a Happy Blog

Recently, I've been feeling like I'm being blamed for a lot of things for being abroad. A lot has been going on back home while I've been here. I don't feel like I've been a good enough friend, and I've pretty much been told as much. It's just been so difficult keeping up with people with a 9 hour separation. I feel that I try so hard, but it's just not good enough for anyone involved. It's been a pattern in my life, me going somewhere and being different from the norm, losing people along the way has become natural. It kills me, to lose people like that. I just feel so stretched right now. I feel condescended upon. I feel as if I'm not strong enough to make the leap back into American life. I feel that too much has changed back home for me to handle it.

Deep down, I'm scared. And tired. And unsure of myself and where and who I will be when I go back. Sorry for the negativity. I just needed to...process.

Lightning!

Today was soooo hot in Torino! And nearing the end of the evening, my roommate and I spotted some lightning in the distance and were wondering if it was just an advertisement light. Then, we realized that there aren't any big stores to put on a light at 9PM. Let alone any stores other than PAM, the grocery store, are open.

This weekend I played soccer (football) in the park. It was such a lovely day and hearing the combination of accents of some the Erasmus people cracks me up. I had a yummy panino that had spicy salami on it and we topped the day off with a Popsicle.

I had plans to try to hike Cinque Terre, but I came down with the 24 hour flu that night and was stuck in bed all the next day. I managed to get out of bed at about 5 and go to the grocery store in search of chicken noodle soup. Just my luck, they don't have chicken noodle soup in Italy, so I grabbed one with some cool looking noodles. Ends up when I got home and pulled out my handy dandy Italian/English dictionary and found out that I bought chickpea soup (aka garbanzo beans). It was garbanzo beans and nothing else! I've never eaten them, but have always disliked their smell. Well, I manned up and ate the can today with my roommate, and it was good! I've been experimenting with some ingredients while I'm here and have become so enthralled with the art of cooking. I've started making creations and taking pictures of them and uploading them to facebook!

I'm just beginning to realize that my time here is coming to an end. I'm going to miss being here, although I'm very excited to go home. I just don't know how to process it all quite yet. I've been thinking about it a lot, and I know I'm going to have difficulties adjusting to the American rush, as I've been so relaxed here. I'm not going to get to travel as much, which will be different, but hopefully work will distract me this summer. Can't say I'm going to miss showering sitting down...lol. But I will miss the meals here, how the people treat you, as though you're family and I'll miss the sense of community with the students that I've met here. The people I've been surrounded by have taught me so much about myself, who I want to be and who I don't want to be. They've made me realize that Point Loma is really a bubble sometimes, although a good bubble to be in in your college years. Overall, my experience here has me on a high, and I'm not quite sure I'm ready to come down from that quite yet, but I miss my family. So, conflict it is for right now.

On a better note, this Friday we're taking a trip to wine country as a big group. We're going to a winery of a family and having lunch there with the USAC kids. I'm glad they planned a trip for this last weekend that we all can go out with a bang and get in a few last words.

Roma Ro-ma-maa

Whew!! A few crazy hectic days, and I got a chance to find a place that has internet and let you all know how its been. I apologize for the following typos and/or grammatical errors, as I am on an Italian computer and the keys are all crazy!

Day 1
This also includes the night before, since I spent it on the train. I got to the train station in Torino and bought my first overnight ticket for a train. It ends up the lovely first class that I could have gotten for the same price as first class was already filled, so I ended up in a coach with 6 seats, with two Italian ladies. They showed me how you could lean the seats down, pushing them together into a makeshift bed. So I slept. Well, attempted to sleep that is! The coach was FREEZING and one of the ladies was a chain smoker, common in Italy. She kept getting up to get out, and on top of that, I ended up putting my Pj's over my jeans to stay warm! Definitely not a comfortable or fufilling sleep. I arrived in Rome at around 8 AM. I found my hostel near the train station and dropped my stuff off and began my own tour of the city. I visited so many places and walked sooo far! (not so enjoyable with heeled cowboy boots and clothes that I had slept in) But all this comes with short term traveling. I went to the Vatican, saw Sistine chapel and everything was just plain gorgeous! Before I even made it there though, I stopped at the church of Saint Mary of Angels and Martyrs. The sheer beauty of this church made me cry. So much so, that I texted my dad back home that I was in tears and I hadn't even reached the Vatican! I lit two candles for my grandparents there, one for my grandpa, whom I never knew, and the other for his wife, my grandma who is soon going to join him... I saw Trevi Fountain, more like stumbled across it and vitited many other famous sites. That evening, I got back to the hostel and passed out before dinner, grabbed some free pizza, and then headed right back to bed.

Day 2
Woke up slightly early, nine, and went to the breakfast at my hostel. I have to rate this hostel with at least 4 stars out of 5. They had CEREAL!! and rolls that were yummy. I headed out and did the Colosseum and everything that surrounds it. Lots of walking! My feet were so sore that I gave up at around 4pm. Everything in the area is on such a grand scale. The buildings and columns and just everything is so big and grand and amazing. It's absolutely breathtaking.

I'm headed to grab some dinner, then off to the train station for another night train for me then class in the morning and a presentation! Talk about a long weekend.

Buona Pasqua

When I realized I had 5 whole days to go wherever for Easter Break, I went berserk trying to find a place to enjoy hopefully good weather. The easiest and cheapest vacation I was able to find in a short amount of time was to go to Nice, France and to Monaco/ Monte Carlo. The train ride is quite long (4.5 hours) with a few stops in between to change trains. I've become used to traveling by myself, although I definitely would not recommend it. It's boring and quite lonely with no one to share the experience with. Plus, I go through books like fiend, so I always have to pack several, which is slightly annoying when you're traveling with only a single backpack for 5 days. I got off the train in Nice and realized that there were some girls who were from my program getting off too. We ended up staying in the same hostel and they let me tag along with them. The first thing we did was grab some delicious Chinese food for lunch. There actually isn't that much Chinese food in Italy, so it was quite the treat, and cheap! Then, we headed to the beach. The beach in Nice is unlike any that I have ever seen in my life. It was completely rocks! Not little pebbles like some of the beaches in Oregon, but actual ROCKS. Granted, they were smooth rocks, not poky ones, but these babies were quite large and not comfortable to lay on. We gritted our teeth, determined that even though there was wind, we were going to get tan from the sun. After a few hours, we made our way back to the hostel, and changed for dinner. For dinner, we ate at an all you can eat tapas restaurant. It was the coolest thing ever! They bring out your dinner in a boat shaped tray. The first set is chosen by the chef, then, you're free to choose from the list. We got our ten euros worth, then headed to the movie theater. Earlier, we'd seen that they were showing a movie in English! It was Alice in Wonderland in 3D in English :) there were subtitles in French, but it was still worth it.
The next day, we went to a pastry shop for breakfast. This little shop was so cute! The ceilings had cloud decorations, and the pastries....unbelievable! I had ratatouille quiche, a chocolate eclair and a brioche (croissant) with Nutella inside. Next on our list to do: hike an old Celtic Medieval castle and get a panoramic view of the city. It began to rain as we made our way through a vibrant flower market, which dampened our hiking spirits. We finally made it to the top, got our pictures, and I skedaddled off towards the train station by myself to catch a train to Monaco/ Monte Carlo.

Monaco and Monte Carlo are only about 20 minutes away by train, and the ocean view is delightful to watch fly by. When I arrived in Monaco, the station opened up right onto the port. That, my friends, is where it finally hit me that this truly was a rich, rich town. The yachts towered over me and were completely decked out! They were from everywhere, and surrounded the entire port. The water was the prettiest blue, as it always is in the Mediterranean. I felt soooo under dressed compared to even the tourists in Monaco! Everyone seemed to be in nice shoes (compared to my Converse) and nice pants (compared to well worn jeans). All in all, I was terrified to even walk in the dress coded Casino. But I did take some pretty pictures of the outside! The buildings in Monaco were so crazy! They were built on odd angles, and the decoration was from an interesting time period. I heard a rumor that in order to live there, you have to have an income of at least 1,000,000 euro a year! After touring the city, walking through a few malls with a minimum item price of 100 euro, I took the train back to Nice. I grabbed a baguette for dinner then went out with some friends for a bit.

The next morning, I planned to have a long day ahead of me. 16 hours worth of trains, and I would be in Bern, Switzerland. I began my journey at 9:20 and ended up in Torino a little after 14:00. To make international transfers, you have to actually go into the ticket office instead of going to the self service kiosks. Also, the prices of tickets aren't listed on the trenitalia website, so initially I had no idea what the cost would be, but since it was only a few hours away, I was hoping for a cheap ride. Well, that was not the case. It was 70 euro one way! And I'd have to pay for the way back AND for skiing. There was no way I could afford that for a single day of fun. It would be about... $200 just for travel. Ouch!

So, instead of going to Switzerland, I went home on my lovely bus 35. We've become quite good friends over the past 3 months. It's crazy to realize that I've already lived here for 3 months! But, I'm ready to go home. I love it here and all, but I miss my friends and my family. It's one of those things that initially seems like you could live here your whole life and be fine, but then once you settle down, you see how much it isn't really in your future, how it feels more like a vacation than really living. The freedom is unbelievably scary too. Same with having to go grocery shopping. If you don't go, you don't eat, and that's your decision, up to you.

On a better note! I went out to Easter dinner (since it was Sunday) with my roommate at a local kebab shop. It was all that was open, but my kebab pizza was amazing. They should introduce more kebab shops in the States. Then yesterday, Monday, I spent the day with her and some of the Erasmus kids and a few of the other USAC kids playing football (soccer) in Parco Valentino. There were so many families out and it was like an amusement park. There were rides going and so many people were out!

I'm off to go grocery shopping :) we are in dire need of toilet paper. Never thought I would say this, but I'm glad that our break is over and the stores are open! No way am I using the bidet.

Good Morning!

Ach! My last blog just erased itself when my computer froze up. Anyways, today is a beautiful day! The sun is shining and I'm sitting on the communal balcony, which is not really a balcony, listening to Daughtry and eating stale bread. I keep forgetting that I have to be prepared to eat an entire loaf of bread in 2 days to keep it from going stale. Guess I'm just enamored by the fact that I can get an entire loaf of bakery fresh bread made just that morning for less than 60 euro cent. It's so nice to wear shorts again without tights. For the first time in three months, the weather is warm enough to wear them and a tank top! I was quite spoiled with Point Loma weather. It is a perfect gelato day.

Last night, I cooked spaghetti alla carbonara and cheesy potatoes with my friends, then we went out. I met an English rugby team! They were super nice and they hung out with our group of people. They were so relieved to hear people speaking English. Then, we went to the Murazzi and danced. The Murazzi is a huge wall that was constructed in order to hold in the overflow of the river in the winter when it floods. There are rooms there that were originally used to store wares. They flood along with the river and were made to withstand large amounts of water. But, recently, those rooms have been transformed into a bunch of dancing clubs along the river. They open as soon as the weather gets warm enough and the river is no longer flooding. The atmosphere is so thrilling! You get to meet many of the Torino locals there, as it's not a place frequented by Erasmus students. We got home around 4 in the morning and I woke up to the sun shining gorgeously into my window.

I decided not to go anywhere this weekend. I had originally planned to go on a Mediterranean cruise that was decently priced starting on Monday, but I was notified that I have a meeting with the authorities to get my official permit of stay this Wednesday, so that I'll officially be legally in Italy. But, I found out that it is really cheap and a short trip to Monaco, Nice and Monte Carlo. So, next weekend, I'll be on another train for a warm, sunny place!

Mykanos

Not a cloud in the sky, sand in my toes, and the sun shining. It was the perfect middle of my spring break. My roommate, Sarah, our friends Drew, Kelsey, and Katie joined me on Wednesday in Athens to finish out our last remaining days of freedom. The next morning we woke up SO early to get down to the port of Piraeus to catch the ferry to the island of Mykanos. The ferry ride was about 6 hours long including the stops at two islands before we got to ours. On the ferry, we took pictures for a bit, then promptly fell asleep for the next stop almost to the island. I tried this really good pastry on board called a cheese pie. It was like a flaky pastry with feta cheese melted in the middle. It was warm and melted in your mouth and was so rich that I had to share!
We arrived on the island and the lady who's hostel we were staying at picked us up! It was so lovely. Most hostels we're on our own trying to find. She gave us a little overview of her island and let us into the cutest little rooms we've ever had since being in Europe. And the view....I thought Point Loma had a good view! Just wait till you see the pictures at the end of this blog!
The first moment we got, we changed into beach clothes and headed down a few steps to the beach. It was too early to be tourist season so we practically had the island to ourselves. After freezing on the beach (the wind was quite strong, but the sun was still out) we decided to make the half hour walk into the main town. It took us about an hour because we kept stopping to take pictures and to admire the ridiculously pretty view. Once in town, we picked up some snacks and drinks, and perused the storefronts, only to find out that shops don't open unless it's late or if a cruise ship comes in. So, we went to look at the famous windmills of Mykanos and watched the sunset in their shadows. Then, we made the grueling, cold walk back to the hostel and ordered food in.
Day two was a bit better. The weather warmed up and we walked into town. We rented 4 wheelers and had a blast riding around the island. We all agreed it was MUCH better than walking. We picked up some food and had a picnic on a beach called Paradise Beach hidden away on the other side of the island. Apparently in the high season, it's a nude beach! Good thing we were the only ones there and nobody was naked. The 4 wheelers were definitely worth the money that we spent. We ate dinner at a lovely little restaurant and I had chicken slovaki which is basically a kebab stick. Then, we passed out early after playing a few card games in our rooms.
The last day of our trip, we returned our vehicles and went back to our beach and successfully got our tan on. We were sad to be leaving since the weather had become so warm. But, as 13:30 rolled around, we had to head back up to our hostel, check out and hitch a ride with the owner down to the port and wave goodbye to Mykanos. It was a sad farewell, but we have sunburns in memory of the beautiful island.

Hope everyone else's spring breaks went well :)

Spring Break!

I'm currently sitting in the airport in Athens, Greece waiting to pick up my roommate, two girls, and one guy and save them from discovering the city the hard way. I've been in Athens since Sunday, and I must admit, it is definitely VERY different from what I expected. In fact, just this morning on my way to the airport, the bus I was on got caught between a riot. Well, I didn't actually SEE the riot, but there were several roads blocked off and riot police with their screens were running through the street towards the parliament building.

I was expecting white houses and the ocean and donkeys. No such thing! At least not in Athens. It's quite dirty and a lot more scary to be out at at night. So, I hung out a lot in my hostel (which wasn't much better) and got to know the girls that I was staying with. Both of them were from Texas, one had been studying in Paris and they were just continuing on doing a Eurotrip. I tagged along with them my first day and we ended up on an island. The ferry was a lot of fun! Same with the different foods that we tried.

Yesterday, I said goodbye to the girls and headed out on my own discovering the Acropolis. It had such a beautiful view! Just to think that these buildings are still around today after thousands and thousands of years just blows my mind!
The plane is about to arrive and I need to get to the gate. I promise to post lots of pictures and blog a little more in depth soon.

Spring Break

It's been a tough couple of days for me, but things are looking up. 

I want to officially state that I'm making the rest of this trip a dedication to God and for what He's done for me in my life.  He's my one true love and always will be.  He's always got my back no matter what and His hand is always in my life.

Today begins my spring break and my first plans are to take a bath and watch a movie at once.  We'll see how that goes with our small bathroom!  The next couple of days, I'm planning on just hanging out in Torino with my next-door neighbor, Kelsey until I have to pack for my big vacation.  Tomorrow, something exciting is happening though!  Today, I got a request to do a job in which my voice will be recorded for a GPS system or English teaching material.  It pays 23 euros an hour, which is about 34 US dollars!  I'm planning on using the money to pay for a cruise that I'd like to take over Easter Break in the Mediterranean.  

This weekend, I'm headed to Greece to hopefully lay out on a beach and relax and not worry about life for a bit.  Maybe I'll even get my tan back!  Hopeful thought..lol.  I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance.  I have tons on my camera from the past weeks when my computer was broken!  They'll be the first ones on this new hard drive of mine. 

Technology Buzz

I found out this weekend/week that fixing a computer in a foreign country where you don't fully know the language is quite the hassle. My MAC hard drive failed last Thursday, so I've been computerless (except for this school lab) and without Skype. The second part is the worst because I miss seeing my friends and family during the little bit of time that I already have. BUT, today we got it into a shop to fix it up and it should be good as new in 5 days. Without any of my files on it that is...

I'm headed to see my roommate from Fall at Loma, Elissa Jackson in Florence, Italy tomorrow! I'm excited to see someone from home and see how she's been enjoying life so far in her city.

Ciao amici!

Mom

Since being here, I've realized that there are many things that I miss about being home. But one thing has stood out the most. I miss being able to just pick up my cellphone and call my mom like I used to do every day at college.

My mom and I had a tough relationship throughout my high school years, but once I moved to college, we became so much closer. She always has the best advice, and always worries about me constantly to the point that I get upset, but in the end, I realize it's just because she cares so much about me. Not being able to just pick up my phone and ask her about a problem that has come up, or to tell her how much I spent on groceries and what I got, or talk to her about a test. I miss those silly short chats. I do. Mom, I miss you.

An Insight into My Life

Weekend in Turin

This weekend was quite uneventful, yet I had plenty to do. I only had one class on Friday, and it happened to be a field trip to the Accorsi Foundation on Via Po. It was the personal collection of a famous designer and a replication of his house. We saw some beautiful pieces of furniture, glass, and other design materials from the Rococo era and a few from the Baroque period. My design teacher helped me ask our tour guide if there were any positions open for a intern, and one might open up in about a month! I’m hoping to get an internship somewhere in one of the many historical buildings in Torino. The Tornio population has been trying to become a tourist community since the Olympics, so my hope is that I’ll be able to be hired as an English guide in a design museum.

Friday evening, I went with my friend Will, from New Jersey, to scour Via Po for the famous Italian puff jackets. They’re these shiny, puffy feather jackets that you can find on people of all ages, both male and female. We call them “guido” jackets. We price shopped for quite awhile until we found one that is normally €250 but was on sale for €35! The transit was on strike (something that happens quite often) so we were stuck downtown for a few more hours. By this time, it was late evening, so we decided to just catch an aperitivo. The place we stopped at on Via Po had delicious food and we enjoyed just sitting and relaxing after walking all day. There was still an hour to kill after finishing our meal, so we headed out in search of a gelati place. I had my favorite flavors, frutti di bosca (in season fruit, mixed berries), and limon. Once we got home, a group of us went out and adventured along Fiere Po (River Po) to learn what there was to do. There are so many discotecas along the river! Once it gets warmer, more will open up and we’ll be able to dance along the river in the evenings.

Saturday we headed up to the Superga, a church on the hill of Torino. The church has a gorgeous view. The Savoy Royal family crypt is housed within the church. That was creepy and not worth the money to visit! I got a few panoramic shots of the Alps that I’ll put at the end of this blog. It was so beautiful to see the city from above and see the streets that I travel on daily.

Sunday was a lazy day. We kind of just walked around the city in search of Italian jeans at a good price, but realized that all of the stores were closed, since Sunday really is a day of rest except for cafés and restaurants. The streets are so full of people though! Everyone window-shops and simply enjoys spending time with family members and friends walking, no matter the temperature on Sunday afternoons/evenings. I found a pair of jeans, which I’m stoked about, since I’m quite the collector of jeans. They were less than 15 USD! We tried so many sweets also. I had a doughnut-like food filled with Nutella; popcorn from a street vendor; and bicherin, which is a mixture of Nutella, coffee and whipped cream. Delicious! I went shopping at PAM for my weekly groceries, minus veggies since they go bad so quickly. Then, to finish of the day, I made something OTHER than pasta for dinner! Chicken quesadillas!

Tomorrow, I’m going to try to get up a video blog of my apartment and my walk to school.



A Bridge over the Po at night


River Po at Sunset on the Superga Hill

Mi fritella con Nutella



In front of the Superga


Via Genova, where I live. I live in the building on the right, right past the horse.

Most Recent Adventures: Venice, Verona, Cooking Class and Barcelona

Wow! Talk about a couple of hectic and crazy weekends! I’ve been so wound up in traveling that I haven’t had a chance to write anything down, even in my journal. So, instead, I’m going to try to force my eyelids open a bit longer and write as much as I can about what’s been going on before I pass out from exhaustion.
Last weekend, our study abroad program had scheduled and arranged a trip for the group to Venice and Verona. I caused all sorts of mischief on the canals of Venice. Just kidding ☺ It was carnivale there, so everyone is dressed up in decorative costumes and some of the most beautiful and original masks. I bought a purple one with feathers on it.. Behind each mask, there’s a story and a character. None of us had had a chance to look up the meanings beforehand, so we were at a loss of which to choose and finally decided on just choosing which ones appealed to us the most. The whole aura is difficult to describe. They stay out late and dance in the palazzas and generally have a good time. Super Bowl Sunday was that weekend, so we flocked towards a pub that would have international games on. The one our director leaded us to was WAY too crowded, so my group of friends and I headed on our own way to discover another place to sit. (The game BEGAN around 11PM or something our time). We ended up finding the Hard Rock Café Venice! The best part about the night was probably having nachos for the first time in months! My girlfriends from Mexico and I headed to two islands off the coast of Venice the next day. Murano, which is famous for it’s glass, and Burano, which is famous for the lace making. Each of the islands had an unique atmosphere. We watched a man blow a glass horse and a vase on the first island, and then gazed in wonder at the bright colored houses on Burano. I had my first ever fish with bones in it on Burano, and the girls had a blast watching me struggle to not get a bone in ever bite (it was sole). On the way home from Venice, we stopped at the city of Verona, famous for the balcony of Romeo and Juliet. When entering the courtyard of Juliet’s house, you can see tons and tons of love letters on the wall, written in hopes that Juliet will seal the love between lovers. It’s heartwarming to see all that love in one place. It’s tradition to rub the breast of the statue of Juliet outside her house.
As for school, I had my first-ever cooking class last week. Overall, it was a great experience, until I lost my phone in her living room that is. We learned what Italians use for ingredients (always fresh, never preserved), different kinds of cheeses used for cooking, and how to use the funky coffee maker that I discovered in my kitchen (a money- and lifesaver. We began with an antipasti dish of ricotta cheese and a special type of Prosciutto that had a lemon and pepper sauce drizzled over it. Then, for the second course, pasta, we made gnocchi from scratch. Gnocchi is essentially a peasant’s dish of potato pasta. Two sauces were made to go along with the gnocchi, a cheese sauce and a basic tomato sauce. Then for the third course, we had meat and a veggie, chicken alla Milanese and fennel. A few weeks ago, I accidentally bought fennel thinking it was an onion, so I was excited I could finally put the one in my fridge to good use! Lastly, we finished off the class with a chocolate and coffee pudding, two of the most common Piedmont region products.
Whew! Now for this weekend, and I’ll finally be all caught up. My friends headed to Barcelona on Thursday night, and I was planning to follow them after my class on Friday afternoon on the train. Well, long story short, Eurorail ripped me off. I ended up booking a flight Thursday night and since I didn’t have a phone, texted my friends from my roommates phone. Mom, I know you’re going to freak out over the next part, but at least you know I’m home all in one piece, although very very sleep deprived. Keep in mind that my flight from Bergamo Airport in Milan was at 9 PM. Here’s how it went:

• 4:40-Train from Turin to Milan: 2.5 hours. I planned for 1.5 because that’s what it normally takes, but my luck had it that someone had a medical injury on the train, so we were very delayed.
• 7PM- Arrive in Milan, buy a train ticket for Bergamo, with 5 minutes to catch it. Followed a Moroccan girl around and ran the station twice, ended up not finding the platform and missing it. So, I try an airport bus instead, and take a shot to my wallet. 12 euro+4.50 euro for the train ticket I never go to use.
• 7:45- It takes an hour to get to Bergamo. I’m on the bus, there’s traffic.
• Over the course of this I’ve taken about 2 stress assist vitamins and had about 7 mini heat attacks. Still by myself. No phone.
• 8:50- Sprint into the airport and find out that my flight has been delayed an hour. Good thing I’d been praying the ENITRE way on the bus. After going through security, I try to call my friends and let them know that I made it to the Milan airport. Ended up taking about 20 mins. To figure out how to work the phone.
• My ETA in Barcelona is now around 11:30 PM. I’m too nervous, and don’t want to spend money on dinner, so I get on the plane quite hungry. On the plane, I meet a nice guy who works for the airline that I was on and he spoke English, another godsend, and offered to show me where the bus station to get to downtown Barcelona was.
• Midnight: Manage to take another hit in my wallet for another 12 euro. But I’m on the bus.
• 1:30 AM- pulled into the bus station. Take another 30 mins trying to call my friends and since it’s an international call (Spain to and Italian phone), I end up spending 5 euros for a minute of talk with a vague explanation of where to meet.
• Find the metro somehow, ask another guy in English how to get to Diagonal, he lets me in the Metro for free!
• Get to Diagonal and meet my friend at one of the four exits. Of course, I got out at the wrong one. By this time, it’s about two. I go to the house we’re staying out and drop of my stuff and find out that this is when Barcelona nightlife actually begins. So, I was off again. We got home at 6 AM and then slept.

Mom, I know you’re probably freaking out at this point and possibly very mad about my traveling by myself, but I’m still in one piece! I promise!
The Barcelona life is completely different than that of Italians! I guess they eat dinner around 9 PM and then begin their nights. They then don’t come home until the metro opens up at 5:30 AM! We spent a few nights like this, completely exhausted and barely managing to sight see during the day once we got up. We visited Gaudi’s house! I was so excited. We also went to the top of the highest hill/ mountain in Barcelona with the most gorgeous view! We hiked for so long and I was in heels, such a bad idea. Lastly, we also saw a church that has been under construction for 150 years and won’t be finished until I turn 60! We went up the lift there and got another wonderful view of the city. So, since the nightlife starts so late, we ended up deciding to just stay awake the entire night, as we felt we’d overstayed our welcome at our friend’s house. I had to leave on the bus for the airport by the latest of 4 AM. We ended up stopping at this place and playing pool, since it was open until 3 AM. Then, as a group, we headed to the airport, even though my friends’ flight wasn’t until 10 something; they wanted to go with me to the airport. My knee has been bothering me all weekend, to the point that I could hardly walk at some points. So I’m about to go and lay down for a well-deserved nap. I left my friends curled up in the airport fast asleep and made it all the way back here on my own definitely only semi-conscious, but I’m safe and sound. Love you mom! ☺

20 Things to Know About Italy

I already wrote a blog today, but as I was journaling, I made a list that I wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!

1. It’s truly not as civilized as I first expected in the way of internet and communications.


2. Be prepared to cook. A lot. Nothing is really simply microwaveable, and food doesn’t stay good for very long.


3. Expect to lose weight. Portions are smaller, enjoyed longer, and lacking a ridiculous amount of preservatives.


4. Don’t expect to shower standing.


5. Drinking coffee will become normal, even if you’re not a coffee drinker. It’s amazing, addictive, and cheaper than water. You’ll become a coffee snob.


6. The above is the same with wine.


7. Eat tons of cheese. Even if you don’t know what exactly it is. Sometimes the scariest looking ones are the best.


8. Prosciutto. Enough said.


9. Pasta is not like Olive Garden. Pizza is nothing like Pizza Hut. There isn’t alfredo. You get a whole pizza, thin crust for 7.50 USD with fresh, real ingredients.


10. Enjoy the culture involved in apertivo. Sit, sip, and snack.


11. If in Torino, or visiting Torino, spin on the balls of the bronze bull outside of Café Torino, in Palazzo for fertility. Torino is named after the Italian world for bull and it’s the city’s “protector.”


12. Hot water isn’t an always.


13. Be prepared for snow.


14. Yes, they really are fashionable.


15. Scarves. Lots of them. And match them with your shoes.


16. Be prepared to get lost. And to call a taxi early in the morning.


17. Public transportation: easy, accessible, normally reliable, provides some interesting entertainment.


18. Quiet hours between 10 PM-8 AM. You can get arrested.


19. Learn to love walking. You’ll be doing it a lot.


20. Bar means café in American terms. Pub=bar in American terms. The millions of Bar signs will leave an intimidating first impression.

Registering With the Police

I apologize for not writing for such a long time, but as I finally get into the swing of things, I'm realizing that I'm finally out of the "honeymoon" phase. Things are finally starting to get on my nerves, I'm tired of showering sitting down, of our hot water heating not working half the time, of how I've been acting.

Yesterday we went to the police to finalize our registration of permit of stay. We left our apartment at 8 AM and met the rest of the USAC group at Porta Nuova in the midtown area. By 9, we were at the station. The first step was copying our passport and waiting in line. I didn't get to the next step until about 12 PM. Once we entered into the antechamber, we had to give them all of the paperwork and have our fingerprints scanned in a laser thing. They had to do my pointer fingers about 3 times each because it wouldn't register for some reason. Then, we were led into a sitting area that was elevated in the same room, but caged up. Once we entered the antechamber, there were no bathrooms and no places to get food, not even a vending machine. The only thing I'd eaten since the morning was a single chocolate brioche (croissant). By 4 I was finally called up. I'd probably had to go to the bathroom for about 4 hours by now. I was led into another room where my fingerprints were scanned again, this time including my palms. I was then measured for my height and they checked my eye color. After all this was done, there was nobody left to travel back with, so I was on my own getting home. I missed my entire Italian class in which we were reviewing for a test that I just took this morning. I got back just in time to have 15 minutes to go to the bathroom and pillage my kitchen for some type of food to take while walking to class. This is not an easy task when many things must be prepared and not much of the food can be thrown into a microwave (not that we have one anyways).

I made it through my next class, and went home to study for my test last night. By the time my head hit the pillow, I was out.

This weekend, I'm headed to Venice and Verona. I'm really excited to see the canals and possibly ride in a gondola. There's a carnival going on there right now, so the atmosphere will be intense.

Please pray for me as I go through this period of homesickness and struggles with the culture I am in. Numerous times this week, I've just wished to go home.

Everyday Life

I didn't really have a whole ton today to do, so I came into school early to connect to the internet and blog to you guys. I think that it's about time that I explained a little bit of everyday life in Italy.

Grocery shopping is a good place to start. As I look back today on my first grocery trip, I'm relieved that I went with a small group of friends. First off, you have to buy your bags, so we brought some ahead of time so that we wouldn't have to pay. There are only the baskets to carry your groceries in, no carts. Everything is in a different language, obviously, so figuring out what is what and how it might taste is mind boggling and overwhelming. There are SO many different types of meats and cheeses! Prosciutto is probably the most amazing thing invented in the world. At first, I was scared of it because it looks like uncooked meat. Apparently, it's just very very very thinly sliced deli meat. The cheeses melt in your mouth and are dirt cheap, same with pasta. I went to buy body wash and that was an adventure. I couldn't figure out the words for lotion, body wash, and bubble bath, and they were all next to each other. I probably spent about 15 minutes just staring at them all. Overall, shopping at the supermarket is a great experience and so much cheaper than eating out every night.

The cafe's and most of the stores close down between 12-4 ish by custom for lunch. It's common here to take a nap after eating, and to take your time eating. The people are so skinny and tiny and beautiful! I think that it's because they truly treasure their time with people and take joy and time with the simple pleasures of life.

I think I explained apertivo already, but to enforce the definition...
You buy a drink and it comes with many different finger foods that you fill your plate up with. The one I went to had pizza bread, cheeses, several quiches, and a few meats. It's a great experience, sitting there sipping and eating and chatting with people.

Off to Class!

Genova (Genoa)

I've been quite the traveler lately!
This weekend, I traveled with the most awesome group of people ever (Barbara, Lullo, Will, and Matt) to Genova by train. It's about a 2 and 1/2 hour ride. The entire way was snowy, which scared us all, as we were supposed to be traveling south and towards the ocean. We went through about 3 tunnels, and at the end of the last one, there was SUN! It was the first time I'd seen the sun in 2 weeks!
We spent the weekend perusing the shops, cafes, and enjoying the weather. On Sunday, we spent the day going through 3 different palaces that doubled as museums: the Red Palace (Palazzo Rosso), the White Palace (Palazzo Bianco), and another one that I didn't catch the name of. We saw paintings from the 16 century, some older, some newer. There were coin collections and original metric measuring things.
Genova was really the Italy that I dreamed of. There were cobblestone streets, buildings so cramped together that only a single car could pass through (which happened when we thought it was just a walking road). On buildings, there were random icons and there were tons of beautifully decorated churches. The cobblestone roads wove up and down crazy hills, and everything looked like one giant puzzle. Overall, I'm currently wishing that I could live there for the rest of my life. It was gorgeous.

Today, for the first time since being here, it's officially snowing and sticking! I bundled up to go to class and here I am, sitting in my second class of the day until 2:15 pm.

Here's a few pictures that I think you guys might like.



This is my little apartment living room/kitchen/closets.



A view from the top of the Lingotto Fiat testing track. This photo ALMOST get's my apartment in view.



The inside of the Duomo church in Milan.

Adventures of the Bus System

Ciao!

It's been quite awhile since I've written and I finally have a chance to sit down and write and to actually have internet! I can only get internet at school, which is why my blogs have been few and far between.

This past week, I've been getting into the swing of things, moving into my apartment, getting used to the public transit system (a nightmare), and starting difficult Italian classes. We finally have heat and warm water! It was touch and go at first, but having a warm shower was amazing! Probably the most interesting thing I've had to do so far is learn how to shower sitting down while keeping the shower head between my knees to keep warm water running actually over me. Probably not a pretty picture, but definitely an experience.

As for the public transit transit system....I have sworn to myself to never take Bus 101 anywhere! On the sign, it says it stops at our crossroads, but TWICE it hasn't and we've ended up way out of the Torino city limits. At first, we were with a group of 5 and we ended up having some Italian guys on the bus use my phone to all us a taxi, which only fit 4. It was after 1 in the morning and nobody else was driving for the night, so I had to duck down and sit at everyone's feet so that we wouldn't be pulled over by the police. It cost us 36 euro to get home. Good thing we split it 5 ways! The next time I got lost was actually just 2 days ago. I was downtown with a few of my friends, and Will, one of them wanted to go home. It was a school night, so I asked if I could go with him. Once again, we got on bus 101....mistake. Again, it didn't stop where we thought it would and we ended up over 15kilometeres out of the city. We walked for awhile, hoping that a bus would pass us and that we could flag it down, but to no avail. Will joked that we should hitch hike our way home and I said, "ok". As soon as he said he was joking, I stuck out my thumb, and immediately a car pulled over. We'd been walking for about 20 minutes in 0*C weather. I was in boots, tights, a dress, and a polyester jacket. Needless to say, I was FREEZING! The guy that pulled over drove us for about 5 minutes then dropped us off at the metro, which was also closed. We began to walk again, looking once more for a bus. By this time, we had already been traveling for an hour. A second car picked us up. When I stated where we were trying to go (home via Genova i Millefonti) they didn't understand us. So, when we got in the car, we said the Lingotto (which is a huge mall two blocks from our house). They understood this and we headed off. Knowing that many Europeans speak several languages, I asked the couple if either of them spoke Spanish, since they didn't understand English. The man spoke Spanish! My friend Will doesn't speak another language, so as I was talking to the man, I had to interpret for Will at the same time. I explained to the driver that we were in Torino studying Italian and exploring. I also explained why we were out so late on the road. I was SO blessed! He drove us all the way home (15K) which was at least 13K from his own home. When we got out, Will and I had decided to give him 5 euro for gas, and while I was putting the money in the driver's hand, he said "NO NO NO" and kissed each of my cheeks. He then turned to Will, kissed his cheeks, then mine again and wished us a good night. :D Best experience ever. We arrived home at 2AM with no feeling in our freezing bodies at all!

This weekend, we went to Milan and visited one of the biggest churches in the world! The Duomo. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend that you look it up on the internet and google photo it. We stayed in a very very interesting hostel. Apparently, you even have to have your passport to stay in ANY hotel within Italy or outside of it. We hadn't thought to bring ours. The room didn't have any towels. There wasn't any heat, and it was COLD at night. There were only sheets on the bed, no even a blanket. There was dry rot in the bathroom and the ceiling leaked. Needless to say, we're definitely not staying in a 2 star hostel again!

Well I have to get back to class! Have a good day everyone!

Culture Shock!

I have so much to tell you guys! The past couple of days have been so hectic and trying to find internet is proving to be quite difficult. How about I start at the beginning of the beginning? Sounds good to me.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 4 AM to get ready to fly out of the Portland, OR airport. My boyfriend had to do the awful duty of dropping me off at the airport and saying goodbye, as he had class up in Portland for the weekend.

Saying goodbye was the hardest thing ever. ☹

My flight from Portland to L.A. took off at 6:55am. I landed there around 9:35 and picked up my baggage from the claim and walked my way to the international terminal only to find out that the airline that I was supposed to be traveling with didn’t even open for another hour. There was nowhere to sit in the International terminal, so I sat myself on the tile floor and people watched. It was amazing to simply listen to the many different languages and see all the different outfits. When it was time to check in, I met two other girls going on the group flight. As we waited, we met another girl right before we were to board.

The flight was strenuous and oh so long! I had a window seat and the foot space was definitely quite limited. I only got up twice the entire flight! They served us two meals, which was definitely a shocker as all national airlines only serve peanuts even if you are flying during a mealtime.

We met up with the rest of the group in Frankfurt for a super quick layover, since our first flight had been delayed due to snow in Europe. The second plane we were on was going to be small, so they told us that we had to check our carry ons. Little did we know, we’d regret that forcible move later on.

Getting to know the other people in my group was awesome! There are some from the East Coast, and some from the West. It’s an eclectic mix of people for sure. The plane ride was short and sweet. In Turin, we went to grab our baggage and get through customs. As we watched the turnstile go by, and people dwindled away after getting theirs, we realized that all the carry ons that had been checked weren’t coming around. It ends up that the airline lost 40 carry on bags from the gate at the Frankfurt airport to the plane in Frankfurt. We ended up waiting in line just to report the missing bags for over 2 hours. One of the USAC employees ended up having to come backwards through customs in order to save us and speak to the airline in Italian, as none of them spoke English. It was definitely an eye opener for what was to come. Unfortunately for me, my missing bag contained 2 of my 3 pairs of jeans, my only textbook, and my makeup, as well as my camera cord. So I apologize for the apparent lack of photos. I swear to you, I’ve already taken over 200. Oh, and my battery charger was also a victim to the baggage. UPDATE: The luggage was procured today (Tuesday) but won’t be delivered to our school until tomorrow.

It ends up that customs was simply walking through a door. They didn’t even check our passports! We drove through the city to stay in a hotel for the night near the center of the city. Once we arrived, we got rid of our bags and bee lined it for the pizzaria that we were going to eat at. The pizza is spectacular! Of course ☺ how could it not be? Fizzy (or carbonated) water is very popular here, and ice is never used. At all. Drinks that you would normally expect to be icy or like a smoothie are instead like juice, but are somehow magically always cold. Oh, and breadsticks, Amerians have it all wrong in this department. The doughy, bread-y parmed sticks you think of are actually quite the opposite of what Italians view as breadsticks. We were served skinny, long, pretzel-like bread.

The next day we were told our housing arrangements and a few of us had the chance to explore the city for a bit, as we live near the school, so we were the last that had to leave to be dropped off at our housing. That day, we ate at a caffeteria, which is a crazy mix of food that you choose from, just like our cafeteria and then you pay for the items individually.

Then, we moved into where we will be living for the next four months. I live on Via Genova in the outskirts of Torino. Our apartment is in the attic on the 4th floor, or the gables of the building. We have 5 skylights. I’m truly bummed that our apartment is one of the two of the 20 apartments that didn’t get a balcony. Most of them have more than one balcony. Apartment living in Italy is drastically different than what is expected in America. Our sloping ceiling is getting in the way of my designer chi with all the wasted space! But hopefully I’ll slowly get used to it. I’ll upload pictures as soon as I get my cord tomorrow and have internet. I’m going to try to do a video of the apartment and upload it for you to watch. Our water heater broke when our landlord came to turn it on. The USAC lady that had helped move us in had already left, so we had no one to translate what he was trying to tell us, and he couldn’t speak English. So the afternoon passed with him calling the USAC office, telling them the info, handing his phone to me, and me then listening to the translation and going back and forth like so. We were unable to get it fixed yesterday, so we had no hot water until later today. Also, our toilet seat is unattached and falls off when you sit! The tub/shower is a sit down one, so you sit and hold the showerhead above yourself. A skylight is right above, and construction is going on next door, and the scaffolding looks right into our bathroom…there isn’t a shade on the window…we’re trying to get that fixed. Oh and the metro rail car goes right below our window. Needless to say, it’s been very interesting. My favorite part of the apartment is probably the heater in the bathroom that looks like a grid of pipes and duals as a towel warmer!

Phew! Now onto today. We met at our school, which is only two blocks from our apartment and had breakfast in the café at the school. Espresso here is delicious! You order what you think would be a regular coffee, and they serve it in very tiny glasses, not the American idea of a coffee portion for sure. But, it has the kick that you need and the flavor that makes your mouth go wild. The school is small; because I guess in Italy they separate the university because there isn’t enough space for the school to be in one place. The school is strictly business and architecture and design. There are about 200 students including us I believe and other international students as well. After the orientation, my friends and I went out to lunch at a ristorante. I ordered, faltering, in Italian adding many gratzis and ums. When my food came, I was stunned. There was so much pasta! It was filled with fresh oregano, whole baby tomatoes, and a sweet garlic butter sauce. It could have fed at least 3 people. All this for only 10 €, which is about $14. It was a pricey place, but now I have leftovers for at least three meals, which is a plus since we haven’t had a chance to go grocery shopping or found a great open air market to frequent.

On a better note, we bought cell phones today! I found out that I can receive calls and texts for free, and that it doesn’t charge me, but the person who calls or texts has to pay. I’ll have unlimited service in Italy so that I can get in touch with people in my program easily which is nice. I can also send free texts all day after the first one, including emails. So I’ll try to figure that out ASAP for all my friends and family back home.

Tomorrow, I start my Italian class. This weekend, I’m headed to Milan (Mee-lahn) with some friends to explore on our own a little bit.

Feel free to ask any questions. I feel I haven’t covered even half of the past couple of days and I’d love to answer anything that you wonder about. I just don’t know what to talk about and what to omit, there’s so much! My roommate bought a little internet hub for one computer and we’ll be sharing it in our room and I’ll just use the internet at the school as much as I can.

My Mom the Superhero

Throughout these past few weeks, my mom has come to my rescue on many occasions. She's reminded me of a million things that I'd forgotten to do, and things that I hadn't gotten around to doing. She bought me last second items. Although it was a bit stressful at times, I realize now that I woudln't have been able to get much done if I hadn't had her help.

And today, she had to leave, three days ahead of me for a business trip in Texas. The goodbyes were difficult, as she's quite worried about me going so far away and her inability to just fly over and help me out if need be. I love my mommy and I'm going to miss her a whole lot. Mom, just for you, I was strong and didn't cry. But the moment that door closed, I broke down. I love you.

It's Time for Time to Change

The countdown is dwindling down and things are beginning to get a bit tense. I was just informed this morning that due to the recent terrorist attack attempt on Christmas day, my luggage allotment is one piece due to heightened security measures for overseas travel.

Now lets think....

A girl+one suitcase+four months+shoes+clothes= one sticky situation.

Not to mention a lot more needs to be packed than just clothing. Lets add in a textbook, school supplies, and a converter, etc. Needless to say, my super ultra woman packing skills came out today as I rolled and stuffed and configured. I was determined.

Tonight, I've come to pity those I'm leaving behind. Not because they won't be with me, but because it will be a royal PAIN to get in touch with me. I've had to make calls tonight about a Eurorail pass that I ordered and shipped to my program in Italy...let me tell ya! There's a nine hour time difference, and businesses open at nine. So, here I am, making calls at midnight, trying to figure out how the whole calling out of the country thing works. Good thing I'm learning early!

I have a wonderful home church family who blessed me this Sunday with prayers and blessings over my journey. Everyone seems super excited to hear about everything, and I plan to keep them well informed throughout my journey.

I forgot to mention in my last blog that if you have any questions, feel free to ask! I would love to answer what I can and to try and figure out those I don't have answers to. Be curious :)