I can't believe it has almost been a month already!

This weekend was a great ending to a rough week. Monday and Tuesday were ok, but I ate something on Tuesday that didn’t quite agree with my stomach, and by Wednesday I still didn’t feel better. Also on Tuesday, I tried to withdraw money from the ATM machine and it kept telling me the pin was wrong. My phone was refusing to call PNC and for some reason it wouldn’t send the text message to mom telling her to call me. On Wednesday, my stomach still hurt and when we went to the synagogue for Holocaust Memorial Day, I got really sick and almost fainted. It was really scary, but I learned there are a lot of very caring people in this program  Our director offered to call me a cab and send me home for the day, but I didn’t want to skip class and there was no one at home anyway, so I stuck it out and started feeling better. After class, I tried to find French classes to fit in my schedule but there were only 2 I could take and neither fit. Teresa gave me some herbal stuff to help with digestion, and it worked, so now I’m totally better. On Thursday, my phone still wouldn’t call PNC and my internet stick said I had reached my volume limit, though I had only used 5/10 hours, so I spent my lunch break at the Vodafone store. Internet key problem fixed, but the phone still wouldn’t call PNC, so after class I called from the CIEE office. I fixed the problem with my debit card—I had been trying to use my credit card instead, and didn’t realize it—and then I went home early. I spent most of Thursday night studying for our final exam on Friday…who wants to do that? But the exam went fine and I could look forward to Verona without any classwork looming over my shoulders. On Friday night, I came home early because no one was doing anything, and to kill some time I wrote post-cards and tried to find something on tv. AND I DID. I watched DOUG in Italian. It was amazing. Then I watched some of The District until it was dinnertime.
Saturday morning I woke up at 5:45 (WAY too early) and met at Hotel Carlton by 7. We caught the train on time, but missed the connecting one. It was ok, because there was a “Mexican” café next door and we got some breakfast. By “Mexican” I mean, it said “Mexican” on the door and there was a clock on the wall that also said “Mexican.” We arrived in Verona around 9:45 and after getting lost for the first 10 minutes, we found our way to some cool really old walls. We tried to go see Juliette’s tomb, but it was under construction, and I got yelled at for climbing into something to get a cool picture so we left. Our first real stop was the Roman Arena and it was the only place we paid to get inside of. We climbed to the top and it was TERRIFYING! There was nothing to keep you from falling hundreds of feet down the stairs to your death, and some of the stairs were very slippery. The view from the top was awesome though, but could have been even better if there wasn’t so much fog. Some little British boys were chasing each other around the top as if they were invincible and it was really cute. Then a whole group of them got on either end of the arena on balconies and yelled back and forth “I am the Emperor!” “NO, I am the EMPEROR!” Adorable.
With sore legs we trekked back outside and saw those statue-people posing for pics, but didn’t want to pay so we moved on toward another piazza. At the next piazza, there was a market going on and some of us bought masks for Carnivale. I didn’t find one I really liked (except a super-elaborate one that I didn’t even want to know how much it cost), so I’ll have to find one next week when we go to Bologna. They also had some cool glass, but I can get that in Venice when I go in a couple weeks. After the market we were starving again so we ate at a pizzeria (I actually had lasagne al forno) and then went to a church. They also wanted us to pay to go in, so we left. Behind the church was a gorgeous view of part of Verona across the river and a nice bridge. Again, it would have been better if it weren’t such bad weather, but maybe that just means I’ll have to go back. Next, we went to another church, left, and went to see Juliette’s statue and house. The wall with all of the love letters was crazy, but we didn’t leave any. We saw the balcony, but didn’t want to pay to get inside, so we just grabbed Juliette’s boobs and left (for those of you who don’t know, you’re supposed to touch the statue of Juliette’s breast and it will bring you luck in love.) We did stick around to read a little about the house and watch other people taking pictures with the statue. THAT I could do all day…some people were really funny about it…especially kids and old men.
Snack time! I got a delicious pastry from a bakery that was 2 sugar-cookie-like cookies, one with a heart cut out of it, with raspberry jam in between and part of it dipped in chocolate. INCREDIBLE. We did some shopping next and though I failed at finding leggings (a new adventure for this week) I did find a cool pair of brown boots that were only 15 euro and look really cute. They’re much more for style than practicality, so I might have to wait to wear them until it isn’t this cold. As we were shopping, we saw a ton of other good bakeries (pasticcerie) and panino places. I would go back just for the food. Unfortunately, I was still full from lunch and snack, so I didn’t get any more food. We got to the train station and I changed tickets because originally a few of us had planned to stay until 9, but we were tired and out of stuff to do so we wanted to go home around 5. We got tickets to Rovigo and then to Ferrara, and ended up saving money by changing tickets. Woo! The first train took FOR-EV-ER because we were the last stop. Finally “home” around 8, and I ordered pizza with some of the apartment crew then went home.
This morning I woke up at 7:30 (since I had been waking up then all week to get my lab hours) and it was snowing!!! I had used the bathroom and when I was going back to my room, Clara asked if I had seen the snow, so I opened my window and there it was!!! Yay! We both went back to bed, but when I woke up again at 9:30 it smelled like HEAVEN and I dreamed of pasticcerie until 10, when I went downstairs and had a nice warm piece of apple cake with apricot stuff in it too. I HAVE to learn how to make that. I also tried doing laundry this morning, and when I went downstairs to get my clothes, there was water in the bottom of the machine. I was really scared I had broken it, but Clara came down and tried to explain to me (this is what I think she said) that there had been too many things running at once, so it blew a circuit and the laundry was only half-way done. I had already taken my clothes out though and gotten the floor all wet, so now my slippers are soaked, but at least I didn’t break the lavatrice!

Urbino e Rimini

Yesterday we took a group day-trip to the hill-town of Urbino and then to the bigger coastal town, Rimini. Urbino was by far my fav...it's gorgeous and intact from when it was built hundreds of years ago. The mountains all around it are incredible and the Palace of Duke Ferdinand was really cool too. It's a really really small town, but its the birthplace of Raffaelo and the Duke was pretty important during his time. We got a tour of a couple places and the palaces, then we went straight to lunch. We had pasta with tomatoes, gnocchi with ragu (meat sauce), pork, salad, coffee, dessert, and of course lots of wine and bread. My end of the table managed to finish off 4 bottles (between 6 of us...) and after lunch we spent at least 20 minutes using the bathroom. There are pics on facebook!
Rimini was cool too, but we weren't there for very long and it was a lot more modern. We saw an arch built by the Romans, a Roman house (with bones in it!), and the courtyard of the castle. There was an art-exhibit going on inside the castle, but I was more interested in the Roman stuff, so we didn't go inside the castle. We DID however go inside the Duomo in Rimini, which was beautiful of course. I think ours here in Ferrara is better though :) I think next weekend some of us are going to day-trip to Verona...woohoo!

First week in Italia

It's official; I've survived my first week abroad without getting serously lost, hit by a car, sick, or having killed anyone! Woo hoo! I have, however, gotten somewhat lost a few times getting to class, had another near-collision accident with my casa-mate, been literally sandwiched (or panino-ed)between 2 cars with less than a foot on each side, and might be coming down with a cold (because it's FREEZING here). Class is really good though...my teacher is hilarious and really nice but we always have a lot of homework. Living in a home is still wonderful. I LOVE my host parents and the cooking is getting even better. We had lasagna and pizza tonight--never have I ever had lasagna that was so good. It was very different than what we eat back home, but I'm not quite sure why. I have to ask what all she put in it because next to cappellacci, it might be my favorite.
Last night was Jenna's (a friend in the program) 21st so we had cake in the apartments then hit the bars. It was super cold outside already and I didn't want to bike home in any way inebriated (since I can't drive straight in the first place) so I only had wine. Next time however, I might ask for the "bibite femminile e dolce con frutta" the girly drink the bartender created which tasted really good. I also got to meet some more italians last night! I met Francesco, Bolsha (who's actually Serbian), and another guy that I didn't like much bc he never took a cigarette out of his mouth. They're all friends of the students who were here last semester. I'm really excited to get a conversation partner too, and hopefully we hear about that soon. Also, we're going to Urbino this weekend!!! I'll post more on Sunday and try to figure out how to add pics.

I am FINALLY in Ferrara, and finally have somewhere to plug in the computer. It was NOT fun getting here lol…My flight from Paris to Bologna got delayed, and after sitting for forever, they took us downstairs to a shuttle, where we stood for another half-hour, and then finally got onto the plane to sit for another hour (I used this to sleep, since someone kept whistling through the night during the overnight Toronto to Paris flight. I’m with Sheldon here on the anti-whistling campaign). I was supposed to get to Bologna at 4, and we landed right then, then waited half an hour for baggage. I figured no on e from CIEE would still be at the airport, so I tried to find some way of calling and letting them know I had arrived and was stuck in Bologna. My US phone didn’t work at all. The pay phones didn’t accept American credit cards or my calling cards, and the place to buy international calling cards in the airport was closed. My Italian phone had no money loaded onto it, and when I went to go add money, I was told it was “invalido.” Stuck. I figured I just had to get to Ferrara on my own, so I asked the woman at the info desk what bus I needed to take to get to the train station, and she told me (in English, thank goodness!) Got on the bus, and was probably the most scared I’ve ever been in my life, because I was alone in a foreign country, with no means of contacting anyone, and no one knew where I was. Fortunately though, there was a nice woman on the train who told me when to get off for the train station and showed me how to get my ticket there. Let me point out that only experience with train stations is reading about platform 9 ¾. I had a ticket and didn’t know where to go with it, so I asked someone else who pointed out my city on the departures schedule. I tried my best to find the platform (which I quickly learned is called a ‘binario’) and ended up missing the train because I didn’t understand the number system. Back up and down stairs to buy a new ticket—I can’t imagine if I HAD had 2 checked bags—and found out I could just use the one I had for a different train of the same genre. This time success. Found the right platform, got on the train, sat next to someone who just happened to be going to Ferrara, and she even took me to where I could pick up a taxi. Taxi to the hotel, dropped the bags in my room, and we left for pizza.
Halfway through the meal, 2 more people arrived—there HAD been someone at the airport but I had missed him. However, they left their bags at the airport and only just got them back yesterday, so I’m kinda glad I didn’t see Ricardo there waiting. Pizza was amazing…and I ate the whole thing! Then I went back to the hotel to crash because I was EXHAUSTED. The next few days all run together at this point. We’ve gotten to see our classrooms, done a scavenger hunt of the city, gone out to eat a couple more times, taken a real tour of the city, and got to move in with our host families!
Mine is AMAZING :) I’m sharing a family with another girl from the program who was here last semester too (Theresa). I am SOOOO glad she’s here. We’re very similar and get along well…and while I can speak Italian well, I have a lot of trouble understanding our host family and she can help translate. I live with a couple who’s in their 60s—Clara and Paolo—and their son is around a lot too (Alessandro). They are the sweetest people! I have my own bedroom with a beautiful view, and Theresa and I share our own bathroom. Their house is outside the city walls so we have to ride a bike about a half an hour to get to the center of Ferrara, but once I get comfortable on a bike, it won’t be bad at all. The first night we rode to town, we rode on the main road and I couldn’t go in a straight line…which is bad when you have a sidewalk on one side, and cars on the other. When we got back and told Clara how terrible I was, she recommended another path, which was a billion times better. I can’t wait until I’m used to this though, because the learning process is painful in more ways than one. Plus I’m the only person in Ferrara who wears a helmet.

Since you all know me relatively well, it shouldn’t surprise you that about 30 seconds after waving a final good-bye to Mom and boarding the tram I realized that my boarding passes weren’t in my hand. I managed to hop off the tram right as the doors were about to close and hustle back to security where someone had set them on a table for me. Phew. At that point I turned back to the tram, dropping Eggbert, who was retrieved by a cute old lady and given back to me. Finally on the plane (which was about the same size as the Bahamas trip plane from Lee’s Airline), I spilled my entire glass of water onto the table and subsequently onto my pants, Eggbert, and my scarf, which was, fortunately, on top of my carry-on bag. Arrived safe, sound, and damp to Toronto, and wandered aimlessly around the airport with a nice German woman until people told us where to go. Then they told me to go wait somewhere (didn’t say where, just pointed) because they couldn’t have me waiting in the terminal for more than 6 hrs. So I wondered around US-Canada flight baggage claim, with no food or internet. And here I sit.

domani! (tomorrow)

Heeeey!
17 hours before my 1st flight leaves :) I'm going from Pgh to Toronto to Paris to Bologna, where I'll meet CIEE and they'll take me to Ferrara! 2 days from now I should be there! Still don't know if I got a host family or not, so keep your fingers crossed. While I'm there, I SHOULD be able to use skype, facebook, pitt email, and do this blog to keep in touch. We'll see how internet access is over there. If you want to send me letters (NOT packages!) you can send them to the Resident Director of the program and he'll give them to me. I'll put the address in my next blog. Or you can send an old-fashioned email to Kas208@pitt.edu. Or facebook message. Don't text me though, bc my cell will be in Pittsburgh with my parents :) I have an italian cell for over there. Next time I post I'll be in Europe! Woooooo! Ciao for now,
Kristen