The End is Near

Well, things are starting to wrap up over here! Only two more weeks left of classes that are filled with exams and final projects. Apparently the last few weeks are the perfect time to pile on all the homework and major assignments you can... Anyways, things over here have been flying by as usual.  The weather is still as bipolar as it was a few months ago. Last week it was beautiful and sunny, and actually had me talking about how hot it was;  this week it's been cold and rainy. On the bright side, spring is here and all the trees and flowers are blooming beautiful as ever! There is a picture of a cheery tree blooming and then the lovely "forget me not" flowers! :) Also the other day, Giorgia, the 17 year old girl in the family and I went on a bike ride together. It was one of the warm beautiful spring days of course. We rode through the bike path along the river and made our way up this beautiful bridge that seemed to remind me somewhat of a california pier. Once we got to the top, it was quite the tranquility! The birds were chirping away and the wind was slightly blowing through our hair. The view of the river was pretty nice too. ;) Along with this spring weather, the pet turtle Mimzi woke up from he hibernation all winter! Three baby turtles we also added to the family! The one the right is one of the new turtles, 4 years old and still so tiny!

This photo of the Mole- pronounced "molay" and not like the animal ;), was taken during my scavenger hunt for my Italian conversation class. Instead of having a normal day in class, we met in the center of Torino and were each given sheets of questions to ask the locals and even the workers of many different stores or hotels. It was a lot of fun even if I did run my group all over, being so competitive. We got second place, so not too bad! Anyways, I love this photo because it not only shows a beautiful angle of the symbolic building of Torino, but also displays the antique character of the building in front of me! This is something I truly enjoy about Italy- no matter where you are, there are beautiful antique buildings everywhere with their amazing historical architecture. 

I am just two weeks from being completely done with school the year at this point. It seems weird that within a month from now I will be saying goodbye to it all after so long. Although, I will be excited to have a bit of a break form these continual assignments as well as being home sweet home again. My Italian family that I live with tell me all the time how much they are going to miss me when I leave and of course it's going to be hard to say goodbye- especially to my little night owl buddy Francesca. ;) Of course I will be coming back to visit though! Another plus side to the end of this adventure, I have some wonderful travels to look forward to with Cannon and my mom. Barcellona, Parigi, Verona, Venezia, Milano, Genova, Firenze, Siena, and Roma! The memories made will be unforgettable! 

Spring is Coming!

You know, I never realized how busy living with this family would keep me! It makes time fly even faster, but I am still loving every minute of it! I still can't believe we are already in the middle of March and I only have a little over 7 weeks left of this semester! Unfortunately, because of this, I lack on keeping the blog up to date. There hasn't been many new things going on over here, so you haven't been missing a whole lot! I am just waiting and waiting for Spring to get here so the weather can start warming up a bit! I can tell it's close, because the birds are up bride and early in the morning chirping all day long. So much that it feels like I am in the middle of a rainforest surrounded by birds. I don't know how big the news is in America about the Pope quitting and searching for a new one, but it's something obviously everyone is talking about over here in Italy. There were even a couple candidates from the United States! Anyways, the other day, they found their new guy and everyone seems very happy about it! Jorge Mario Bergoglio, "Pope Francesco I", from Argentina.

8 Marzo 2013

"Festa Delle Donne"

Well, I had no idea until the very day of, but the 8th of March is a very special holiday over here in Italy, and from what I hear, in many other countries as well. I guess just in the United States we don't celebrate it all that much, but it's Women's Day! It even seems just as great as Mothers' Day or Fathers' Day as we celebrate in the States. Apparently, these flowers are very particular on this day and really, the only ones that are to be given to women on March 8th.  It was funny, because not many of the Italian's even knew the reason for this one! Anyways, it seems the main reason for this certain flower is only the fact that it blossoms just the beginning of March (just in time for women's day), and as time went on it became the main symbol for this holiday. Another reason for this plant, is the bright yellow color, which symbolizes life and joy. I saw a lovely quote pertaining to this special day on a website:

"Senza le donne finirebbe il mondo: mancherebbe la dolcezza, mancherebbe l’amore di una mamma, mancherebbe il sorriso di una fanciulla, mancherebbe la voglia di vivere … Grazie Donne! Auguri Donne!" (Without women the world would end: there wouldn’t be sweetness, there wouldn’t be the love of a mother, there wouldn’t be the smile of a girl, there wouldn’t be the desire to live … Thank you Women! Wishes!)

My New Best Friend!

Well, this is a picture of Francesca and I, the 10 year old little girl in my Italian family one here! She is just so adorable and sweet and literally glued to my hip whenever we are home together! ;) It cracks me up because she is always so curious about whatever I am doing all the time. Literally, almost every night, after her parents say goodnight and put her and her younger brother to bed, she never fails to get back up again and make her way to my bedroom. She peaks her head in the doorway and her famous lines are either, "Cosa fai?", or "Posso stare con te?" (Whatcha doing?, Can I stay with you?) Lol! She even called us Agent B and Agent F the other day as she was secretly planning on making her way into my room later that night. It's sad because of how fast the time is flying and she continues to tell me how she isn't going to want me to leave! :(  

Dad, this one is for you! This is a bottle of very VERY spicy peperoncino sauce and it reminds me of you! You would absolutely love it and I need to remember to find an extra bottle of this to bring home (I'm sure it's like the stuff you had in your pasta at the Cacio e Pepe restaurant!) It's funny because it's like a 'keep away, danger' bottle in this house to everyone except me and their dad over here. ;)  

Museo Egizio

Last weekend, we all made our way to see the Egyptian Museum. Apparently, this is one the best one in the world, or so I have been told. There was so much to see and if you are one of those people who enjoy reading every description and studying every single artifact, then this would be for you! Usually, I am not one of these people. ;) There was a lot of cool stuff to see though, and some even a little frightening to see up close, (the mummies!) Luckily, the kids were with us too, so we spent just the perfect amount of time here!

Finally, two nights ago, Giulia, me, and Giorgia went to go see the new wizard of Oz movie. "Il Grande e Potente Oz". We took this picture during the 5 minute intermission in the middle of the film. It's interesting they do it this way, because I have never been to a movie theater where they do this in America, but I think it's a great idea! You don't have to miss any parts of the movie this way! ;) Anyway, if you are interested, the movie was great! As you can tell in the picture, we saw it in 3D too, which made it that much more adventurous.

Well, that's all for now. I only have 3 days left to enjoy the rest of my spring break, and then will be back to school. Unfortunately, all my Italian professors don't really understand the concept of spring break or they wouldn't have assigned so much homework to be done. Maybe it's the fact that spring break doesn't exist for Italian schools over here? I have really tried hard not to procrastinate so much, although it's very difficult not to do when you are supposed to be enjoying the days off. ;) Well, I will be back to share more adventures soon! Buona pausa di primavera to all of you in America this next week! Ciao ciao!

Only In Italy

There has been tons of exciting things that has happened in the past almost month! First of all, I got to wake up to a surprise of a beautiful snow storm that lasted all day and night! When you live in a city that basically never snows, these types of things are actually quite fascinating. It was absolutely beautiful, especially when all you see is for miles and miles is white all around you. It's like a simple magical touch! Of course there has to be some downfalls of the snow, I have learned. For one, running to catch buses is bad enough, but when you add snow to the problem, it becomes a whole winter wonderland slipping and sliding every which way! Number two, still related to buses of course, they splash you- with nice slush! Luckily, I was paying attention while waiting for it to pull up, so I jumped out of the way just in time!! This picture on the left is in front of my school, and the one on the right is where I live!

The Beauties of Snowfall... 

Buon Carnevale!

Well, last week was a big holiday for the Italians, which they call 'Carnevale'. It's a huge winter festival celebrated with parades, costumes, music, masquerade balls, and TONS of confetti. Many many years ago, the Catholics started this tradition to hold costume festivals the day before lent. Carnevale comes from the Italian word "carne", which means meat, since during lent, Catholics do not eat meat. This holiday is equivalent to the holiday in New Orleans- "Mardi Gras". 

This photo is of Giulia (Giorgia's cousin), me, and Giorgia before going out to watch the parades here in Orbassano! The three little mice! ;) 

Here is the center piazza here in Orbassano where all the excitement happened!

Carnevale D'Ivrea

On Tuesday (actual day of Carnevale), our advisors from school put a nice field trip together for us students to see for ourselves and experience how Ivrea (a town about and hour away from Torino) really celebrates their Carnevale. Well, little did any of us know, it gets messy! This tradition has been going on for many years and it's something that all the people from this little town look forward to ythe most!! I was just amazed by it all! This was definitely something you would NEVER see in the United States for sure! The best part was watching all the Italians getting so into it! The Italians truly cherish their history and background, so the amount of passion put into all of it was amazing! Truly a cultural experience. Unfortunately, I didn't know just dow dirty I would really get during this experience, otherwise I would have dressed accordingly! The photo below says "Historical Carnival of Ivrea, 1947 and the history continues..." They surely take pride in this cultural event!

If you can't tell by this photo, our hair was absolutely COVERED with orange juice! Maybe you can tell by the orange juice stains on the jacket?

This is what the teams are pulled on by the horses, while launching oranges down to the people wearing specific jerseys! Absolute craziness!!! 

And the Aftermath... oh how I just LOVE being covered by the fresh sent and juice of oranges!

See for yourselves just how crazy it gets! You can even hear me at the end almost getting slammed in the face by a pelting orange! Even though this was totally messy and even quite frightening at many moments, this was something we were able to look back on and laugh about. We couldn't believe what was happening during the the moments of the battles, hugging tightly along pillars, just to avoid getting knocked in the face by a flying orange! Who would have thought something like this actually exists! 

New Experiences

Well, I am back here in Italy once again with a whole new experience. I am living in a house with a family in a whole different area! Orbassano! This is a little city barely outside of Torino and basically still considered part of the city. Instead of being in the actually city center, I would call it the suburbs. Well, so far, so good. It is a family of five, the two parents with three children. They aren't young children either. The youngest is 8, then there is a 10 year old and a 17 year old. The two oldest are girls. Francesca, Giorgia, and then Nicollo. This family is so loving and I am grateful I get to stay with them. The kids are already attached and I have only been here for two weeks! So cute! Their English is very minimal, given one of the main reasons I am here with them. What a great experience for us all really! I noticed on their calendar, they marked the day I was going to be arriving along with "the adventure begins!" How cute! They are all very excited and I feel very welcomed!

These are some photos of my room, my picture wall, and the view of the courtyard outside my window! The pink building across the way is their garage!

Francesca and her 4 year old cousin Beatrice. Also, me and Francesca! :)

My Italian is definitely improving because of this. Compared to last semester, I went from only really speaking Italian in my language classes, to now waking up and speaking at least a little Italian every singe day! I have already watched so many movies in Italian and I can really noticed me being able to understand a lot more. I don't get nervous at all when someone speaks to me in Italian any more! Another wonderful thing about my experience here is that I get to look forward to home-cooked Italian meals every night! Homemade pasta, gnocchi, pizza, desserts, crepes, etc.! Every day their schedule is usually the same. Wake up, breakfast- and remember, Italians don't do much of breakfast. Every morning it is the same exact thing, they have their bowls of tea and I have my little bowl of hot milk with chocolate powder in it! Then for the food, we have slices of bread with nutella on top of them! When everyone is home from school and work, we have "merenda"- which means "little snack". Well, guess what this is? Little bowls of tea and hot chocolate milk for me along with our slices of nutella bread! I am not kidding when I say this is what they do every single day! Something that was absolutely surprising to me, no one in the house has ever had pancakes before! What? They are missing out. Or what about biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon, or even french toast! Nope, only nutella bread. Anyways, merenda is at 4pm and then dinner is usually around 7-7:30. 

The first snow since I have been here! It's been VERY cold lately! I am looking forward to the warm weather to come back to me again. 

Classes so far are going very well! I have a lot of Italian this semester! Intermediate one and two, Italian conversation, and Italian culture. I have already had my first exam in my intermediate class, so I'm hoping that went well. The conversation class is quite beneficial! My professor only teaches us and talks with us in Italian, and she says we must do the same. It's interesting, but a great way to learn! I have only had one class of culture so far, but I think that will be interesting. Learning all about Italian culture, how wouldn't it be?

This is a photo I took a few blocks away from school! (while on the bus) Very cool graffiti wall! 

Haha! Niccolo showing off his dancing skills! 

Overall, I like it so far- despite of the distant bus rides to and from school. (about 40-45 minutes). Oh and sprinting to catch the buses is really getting old! Why can't they just be predictable and come on the time is says it will? Who knows, but it's definitely a true stereotype about Italy! Take a look at this video! Most of them shown on here are completely true, from experience and seeing it first hand, I know. ;)