Living the Italian Lifestyle

I can’t believe it’s already almost November! In some ways I feel like I just got here, but when I think about my first experiences in and impressions of Italy, I feel like I’ve been here forever. It’s still hard to believe I’m here, living in Italy. There are times I catch myself taking little things for granted, but then there are times like today I am overwhelmed by how lucky I am to be here. Today after school I didn’t have much to do and I was in a mood to just take some time for myself. I walked up to a fortress we have in Siena called the Fortezza Medici. It overlooks all of Siena and has a gorgeous view of the Duomo and the tower in the Piazza del Campo. Past the city, you can see suburbs and countryside. It really is a spectacular view. I stayed there for an hour just taking it all in. I’m really going to miss this place.

Living here really gives me a new perspective of Italy and Europe in general, but also of the US. Mentality is so different here than at home. One of the first things I noticed when I got here was how people don’t rush like they do in the US. Of course people have places to go and jobs and errands, but for the most part they don’t frantically rush like you see in city streets in the US. For example, when people go to the bar in the morning to get a caffe (espresso), they stand at the bar and enjoy their caffe. There is no such thing as “to-go”. To Italians, it is such a foreign concept to eat on the go. (I’ve tried it and I got some very strange looks even just eating an apple while walking.) I’m sure it’s so weird for Europeans to go to the US and watch people power-walk on their way to somewhere very important with Starbucks coffee in hand and always a cell phone glued to their ear. (Another thing I love about Siena: there are NO Starbucks! What a concept!)

Of course Italia is not perfect though. Everyone smokes here! Having grown up with Dare, non-smoking campaigns, and an honest belief when I was little that smoking a single cigarette will kill you, it’s shocking to see so many people smoking here. (Anyone who knows the story about Ry and Sam knows what I’m talking about =) The legal age limit to buy cigarettes is 14 and kids do start smoking at that age! I also don’t like how smiling is so misinterpreted here. At home, when you walk down the street, you generally smile or nod at people if you catch their eye. (Or at least I do.) Here, a girl smiling at a guy is translated to her being interested. I definitely learned that lesson quickly. It’s not that people aren’t friendly; it’s just not a social norm to look around at people on the street and smile. Strange, considering how friendly Italians are in general.

One last thing I’m not a fan of is the role of Italian women/mothers. They do everything! My Italian host mother has a full time job, three boys, and me and does everything around the house. She gets up at 6am and goes non-stop until usually around midnight. This is not to say that my mom doesn’t have days like that at home, but this is everyday and it could be completely avoided if the boys helped out! But boys/men/kids just aren’t expected to help out. It’s the social norm. Even if I try to clear my plate after dinner, I get scolded. Every dinner consists of wine, a first plate (pasta), a second plate (meat and veggies), and a dessert or fruit. My host father, my three host brothers and I just sit all through dinner while my host mom clears all of the plates after each course and serves the next course. I feel so bad! But when I offer to help, she always politely refuses. I talked to her after dinner one night and offered to help with dishes and plates, but kitchen duty is just something the mom does and no one else. In addition to cooking, she does laundry, cleaning, shopping, ironing, and putting the boys to bed. It’s a tough life being an Italian mom, but I admire her. But I have to say I definitely prefer the way we do things at home, even if it means doing dishes or chores. I’m pretty spoiled here!

So that’s life here. I’m still enjoying everything here, but now I’m definitely starting to look forward to coming home. I am loving my experience, but I think I’ll be ready to come home in another couple months. (Ask me once I’m home in the US though, and I’m sure I’ll tell everyone I’m ready to go back to Italy!)

Hope all is well at home. Miss you all!

I forgot to add the pictures of my Italian host family last time, so I added them today. One is with my three little Italian brothers and one is with my two dads while my parents were visiting =) The other pictures are of some of the beautiful views of Siena I've taken while here. Gorgeous huh?

Oh and by request, I’m giving a shout out to the UC Davis diving team =) Ciao!

Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii

Last weekend (October 19-21) I had an excursion with my school. My program includes 3 optional excursions and a few required day trips. This weekend half of my class went to Southern Italy to the Almafi Coast. It was gorgeous, but unfortunately freezing cold. On Friday we left Siena at 6:30am, so I had to leave my house at 5 and walk since the buses don't start running until 7am. And to top things off, I had come down with a cold the day before so I was sick and had a fever. Poor Whitney right? =) But things got better once we left. After 6 and 1/2 hours on the bus, we arrived in Sorrento. We got lunch and then had a guided tour of the city. Sorrento is a small town on the coast. It is know for its Limoncello, which is a lemon after-dinner drink (it's delicious!) Sorrento was cold, but the view of the ocean was amazing.

On Saturday, we left early and took a boat to the island of Capri. Unfortunately it was really really windy and cold, but the island was incredible. There were views from all directions of the mountains, the ocean, and the villas. There were beaches with clear water, but it was way to cold to swim. It was so cold and the ocean was so rough that boats stopped running during the day. We had planned to take a private boat around the island to see all sorts of coves and caves, but we found other things to do. Like eat =) The first pizza ever made was in Napoli which is close to the Almafi coast, so the pizza all weekend was amazing. New York pizza couldn't even compete.

Then on Sunday we packed up, left the hotel, and drove to Pompei. We had the worst weather of all three days on Sunday, but Pompei was definitely my favorite place we saw. We had a guided tour of the Roman ruins and it was incredible. As I'm sure you all know, I'm not a history buff nor do I usually like the subject, but I have never been so enterested in history as I am here in Italy! I had no idea so much of Pompei was preserved. And there's much of Pompei still covered. Since it was raining in Pompei, we saw it snowing on Mount Vesuvius. Pretty awesome. After the tour and after we had eaten lunch, it was time to head back for Siena. While we all stood out in the rain waiting for the bus, we got some bad news. Of course no traveling can ever just go smoothly. Turns out the bus driver had parked our bus in a parking lot and the parking lot owner had locked the lot and was not going to open it until the next morning. Just our luck! We honestly thought they were kidding when they told us that. Long story short, the police were called, it took a few hours to figure everything out, and after we all had gotten hypothermia, the bus finally came. I have never been so excited so see a damn bus. So we got back to Siena a little late, but everything worked out. (And I got to add a story to my collection of travel mishaps =) Overall a cold, but great weekend!

Football Italiano!

I'm sure some of you already know about this because I was so excited about it, but last week the Italian National soccer team came to play in Siena against South Africa. As soon as I heard about it, all of my friends and I bought tickets. The game was amazing. The line-up was obviously different, but this was the Italian team that WON the World Cup last year. The team had never played in Siena because the stadium in Siena is relatively small, but for some lucky reason, they decided to play here. They beat the South African team 2-0 and we sat directly behind the goal where both goals were scored. It was freezing cold, but the crowd was roudy, the beer was cheap, and Italia played a great game. And (I think this is almost as cool as the game) one of my Italian host brothers got to be out on the field carrying the flag, leading the Italian players onto the field. He is 9 and is on the Siena soccer team, so he was chosen to be on the field. He was stoked and did a great job holding the flag. I realized I never posted pictures of my Italian family, so I added a few: one with my little Italian brothers, Federico (9), Edoardo(7), Francesco (3) and one with my host father, Giacomo. Carmen is the mom, but she wasn't there when we took the pictures.

Anyway, so possibly more exciting than the game was what I got to do the day before the game. (drum role....) I got to see the World Cup. The actual gold trophy cup the Italian team won last year. It was incredible! It was in Siena for two days prior to the soccer game. There were two guards next to it and a picture of the Italian team receiving the trophy behind it and I got to stand 3 feet away from it! (Maybe I'm a little over-excited, but how many people actually get to see that?!) Italians are so proud of their soccer and it's really cool to be here during this time that there is so much Italian nationalism. So of course I added a picture of the cup =)

Pisa, Arezzo, and Perugia

Last week we had finals on Wednesday and Thursday, so Thursday after class in the morning, a few friends and I decided to take a day trip to Pisa. I posted a few pictures in Pisa, including my goofy friends making to leaning tower of Matt =)

Then on Saturday, I went to Arezzo with some friends and then to Perugia from there. We were planning on going to Perugia for a magnificent festival know as Eurochocolate! It's a chocolate festival! (These Europeans are smart people.) The actual festival was great, but the travelling there was a complete disaster. (But a pretty amusing story.) So to start off, when we left Arezzo, we got onto the wrong train. It was the right track and right time, but wrong train. We were on a international train going to Napoli! Luckily we were informed of this mistake when the conductor came around to check tickets. It is the worst feeling ever to be told you're on the wrong train and have no idea where you are. So we got off on the next stop, figured things out, and realized we had gone 177Km in the WRONG direction. Fantastic. So we finally got to Perugia late only to find out our hostile was full. Evidentally, they had given away our places. Every single hostel and hotel was fully booked in Perugia because of the festival. Long story short, we got the number of a hostel owner outside the city, and although they were full, the owner said he could definitely give us a warm place to sleep. What an angel he was! We got there and the staff set up cots in the hallway. Not the ideal situation, but we could not believe the generosity of these people. And they refused to let us pay! I am still overwhelmed by the selfless and friendly hospitality of the owners. What wonderful people. After a VERY cold night and not much sleep, morning came and we headed back to Perugia. Finally chocolate!! There were so many people there it was packed! They had every type of chocolate imaginable and Sunday was chocolate sculpturing. It was amazing and definitely made up for all of the hastle getting there. Or so we thought.... We had planned to take the bus back to Siena that evening and the station workers told us to buy tickets later on the bus. We arrived at the station that evening only to hear that the only bus to Siena was completely full! Another long story short, we took a bus to the train station, took 3 trains and 2 buses to get back to Siena and finally arrived at 11:30 that night. It was SOOOO nice to be back! It was the first time Siena really felt like home to me. My bed felt great after all that chaos. Crazy, but memorable weekend. I added a few pictures from the Festival and from Arezzo.

Other than crazy travelling, everything is going well. I am oficially finished with Italian 1 and my Italian Opera class. Did well in both: got A's =)I can't believe I'm already in Italian 2. It is so fun to really see myself improve in the language. It is so much easier to learn language being fully immersed in the culture. I can already tell it is going to be strange to back to the US!

Hope all is well at home. Miss you guys!

Mia Madre e Mio Padre Qui!

The last couple weeks have been so crazy! I have so much to tell, I think I'm going to divide it into a couple of blogs... I'll start off with my parents coming to visit. They left last weekend, which was sad, but I had such a great time with them. I am so glad they came. It was a very special and unforgettable experience. The first night they came to see me, I went with them to spend a night in Sogna. It was this tiny cottage in a very piccola (tiny) town with only about 10 other cottages. It was adorable. The next day was my mom's birthday, so we toured a few hilltowns my mom wanted to see. Then dinner back in Siena in the Piazza del Campo. The only person missing was Ry! During the week I had school, so I didn't see to much of my parents, but they came to pick me up for their last night in Sogna. We toured Chianti and wine-tasted, which was awesome. I am getting so spoiled with amazing wine here. Then I made dinner in the tiny kitchen in Sogna. I made a dish I learned from my Italian mother. I love learning new recipies! The next day, we picked up my friend Michaela and headed to Cinque Terre. After a LONG, windy, scary drive, we made it to Vernazza, which is one of the five cities of Cinque Terre. We stayed in a cute funky apartment and had a blast. We experienced a huge thunder and lightning storm and of course had to go out to dinner at a restaurant at the highest point of the city at the very top of a cliff. But we had a great view of the lightning. We were worried about the weather the next day, but it turned out to be perfect! (Even a little hot.) Michaela got sick =( but my mom, dad, and I hiked all of the next day. It was definitely a day I'll remember. The views were amazing and we had a great time. Finished off the day with a boat ride back to Vernazza. Truley a magical day I'll never forget. My parents stayed in Cinque Terre for a few more days while I headed back to Siena. They stopped by to see me before leaving to go back to the US last Friday. I'm so glad they came to visit and I think they had a great time. Next time my brother will have to come!

As for the pictures, the top four are in Cinque Terre and the bottom one is my favorite of my parents in Chianti. I think it's good because I took it! The second picture down is Michaela and I talking to the an Italian man and together trying speak Italian and get directions to our apartment in Cinque Terre. It was pretty hilarious, but we eventually found it =)

Sono in Italia

Ciao!
So last week I was sick all week, but I'm officially healthy now. Guess it was just a nasty cold. So my parents are in Italy! They flew into Rome, spent a couple days there and then made there way towards me in Siena. Turns out they're staying a little further from Siena than we thought, but it's worked out. We met in Siena on Saturday and it was so great to see them! I got to show off my new city and they love it. My mom called it the "Carmel of Italy" because it's a typical Italian city, but so charming! I agree. I stayed with them on Saturday night in the little cottage they're staying in. It's adorable. Then Sunday was my Mom's birthday, so we went to a couple of small hill towns she wanted to visit. It was a great day. My mom took pictures, so I'll have to upload them when I get them from her. Since Sunday, I've been back in Siena because I have school. Bummer, but I hey, I guess that's why I'm here.

School is going well. Definitely getting hard. But I've been going to tutoring once a week just to make sure I'm keeping up. (And because it's free and all college kids take advantage of anything free!)

The pictures I posted are: the top one is the beautiful "porta" I enter every day into the city. The middle picture is of Michaela and I at the beach. And the bottom picture is at the Milan-Siena soccer game.

Tomorrow my parents are going to pick me up and we're going to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a series of five small towns along the coast. There's a hike connecting all five towns and gorgeous beaches. Hopefully the weather will be nice!