More food & friends (a popular theme)

Food:
Just when I'd had enough pasta & ragu and pasta in broth to last a lifetime, and was ready to shun pasta altogether, I had the most amazing Spaghetti carbonara for lunch today. mmmm. I still could really use a pb&j, cheetos and a dr. pepper, but lunch today reminded me how wonderful Italian food can be too :) Not to mention that I have a powdered sugar croissant for breakfast almost every morning... I don't think that will ever get old.

An unfortunate story of my peanut butter search: I've tried a few places now. It's getting a little frustrating. My host mother drove me to some all-natural-products store and said it would probably be there. It wasn't. I looked around a few other stores, but the only thing I continually find is shelf after shelf stocked full of nutella. Nutella is good, great. Peanut butter is too. I don't understand why some people think because they're both made from nuts they are essentially the same thing, one American and one European, and therefore one may only like one kind or the other. I think they are both delicious and appropriate at different times with different things. Anyway, I go on one last trip to the grocery store and they have ONE JAR!!! I am so happy. Grinning as if it were destiny that I find this ONE jar that is left. But wait...the seal is broken. But wait...there is usually another seal under the cap! But no, it's gone. The peanut butter is not sealed and who knows who opened it or how long ago. Although I was kind of happy to be able to go talk to a store worker about this problem, explain what was wrong & ask if there was more all easily in Italian, it in no way made up for the fact that he said there were no more jars, and then chunked my one jar in and across the back room into the garbage. Fail. :( I guess I'll try again soon.

Social life:
I went out on Wednesday night to celebrate Australia day with my new aussie friends. It didn't mean much to me, but it was still really fun to hang out with people who were so excited for their national day. We of course had appertivi & drinks first, in the middle of which I walked around the corner and got an incredible HUGE piece of pizza from a street vendor for 1,20 euro. Amazing. We went to a few bars that were kind of lame, and didn't stay long at any. The Irish one was nice because it felt more like a bar at home. And Susan introduced me to a new yummy drink... vodka lemon lime. Very good. Overall, a good night, although I was still kind of hoping for another nutella crepe. Hopefully this weekend...
There were also two guys from OU in Oklahoma that joined us this night and it made me SO happy to have some of "my people" there too. It was just so nice to not be the only one looking around the table baffled with confusion when words like "trackies" and "jumpers" were used.


((Susan & me celebrating Australia day... with Australia flag tatoos!))

New Friends & Nutella Crepes

So hmm.. what have I done since the last blog? Well...

First of all last Friday I was able to meet this girl Tiffany who taught English to the family I live with for just a little bit before I arrived. She's from the states but has lived here for 4 or 5 years now (I think... but please correct me if I'm wrong, Tiffany!). She has quite an awesome story. So we had coffee and it was really fun 1)to speak English 2) to be understood 3) to hear her story and share my experiences so far with someone who understands where I'm coming from. Anyway, she's very sweet and I'll see her again tomorrow.

Saturday I was determined to get out of the house and just walk around as much as possible. So I walked around tons of the center. I, of course, did a tiny bit of shopping, but only 8 euro worth so it's okay. I was in H&M and about to purchase this 8 euro, beautiful wool scarf when I heard some English coming from right next to me. I probably startled the three girls when I immediately turned and said "Where are you from?!?" but I couldn't help it, I was just that happy to hear some English. They're from Australia! And I'm so happy I asked because we've hung out a little so far and they are all so very nice and fun and just my age.

Sunday I met up with them and one of their guy friends Luke for lunch. I finally had a SANDWICH..ahhh :)... and it, of course, was amazing. It was some sort of tuna, and egg, and ...idk..lettuce maybe? But a change was very nice. Then we went to this little shop with tiny desserts that are 1euro each and SO freaking cute.

Later just the girls went to an art museum... which unfortunately wasn't too impressive. But I'm terrible at appreciating these kinds of things since I never took an art history course.
Later that night I met up with them again for my first Greek meal ever. I had... svlaki??... and it was pretty good. A couple of them ordered these pita looking things (I'm sorry I don't know the names of any Greek food) and I'd definitely go for that next time, it looked amazing.

Luke posing next to the oddest container/pitcher for wine I've ever seen...
But best thing of the whole day... ending it with a massive chocolate crepe :)




Other thoughts... I've been told there are many awesome easy day-trips from Bologna. Any suggestions (more a question for the Italian readers)??

Seeing Bologna the Right Way

Yesterday I finally got a great tour of the center thanks to Martina! (and thanks to Raffa for getting us in touch!). She knew the name of everything and its history and all these little secrets about everything :) We went so many places, and I know I should remember more names than I do.. but it's difficult. First thing we did was climb the Asinelli tower (500 steps) and looked out over the city... beautiful!! Unfortunately the weather recently is terrible all the time... so it was sort of foggy... but I still could see quite a bit.

The stairs going up to the Asinelli tower. I was thinking of you, Mom :)


View from the top!


Piazza Maggiore


That's the tower!

We got some really good food to go and went to a really old Osteria which was basically just this cute little room with tables and chairs. You can buy wine & bring food. Super cute. We also went to the Library which was huge and really nice... and Martina showed me that when you look down while you're walking you can see through the floor and underneath is some of the remains of the old city of Bologna. SO cool. And there were little walkways going through it so I really want to go back sometime and go down there. We also shopped for a while on Via Indipendenza and I bought a beautiful leather purse, 39 euro down from 95! ah, I love it.


oo! and we also stopped for coffee & I had an amaaazing Cappuccino :)


Seeing Bologna with Martina was wonderful because she's awesome and so bubbly and knows so much, and just being with another person made everything so much better. I hope I can continue to find people who have free time and wouldn't mind hanging out with me :)

Later last night I did my first English lesson with the 15 yr old boy in the family. It's difficult to make up lesson plans because I don't know what the kids already know or really what order you're supposed to do everything in when teaching English. Plus we never learn anything as far as the tenses of our own verbs and how they work, so it's a challenge. But luckily with him I think we'll mostly just do conversations because his writing is already very good.

It's raining quite a bit today, and I think tomorrow and Saturday there is a chance of snow. Listening to the rain last night I was really missing Texas thunderstorms. They're so incredible and thrilling. In the book I'm reading, Villette, the narrator Lucy Snowe describes the a thunderstorm in the most beautiful way: "I could not go in[side]: too resistless was the delight of staying with the wild hour, black and full of thunder, pealing out such an ode as language never delivered to man-- to terribly glorious, the spectacle of clouds, split and pierced by white and blinding bolts."

oh, most exciting thing of the week... I'm pretty sure I found an Italian version of my favorite English yogurts. Oxford people will know... the one's that fold over. Well Toffee hoops was my favorite, but I don't think I can find them. However I did see one with chocolate balls in the grocery store the other day and as soon as it stops raining I plan on going back to get some :)





so much cheese & meat!


Tortellini!...Bologna's specialty


What? Haven't I mentioned I'm a cleaning lady by morning?.. at least I get to listen to my Glee music while I clean my room :)..not the other rooms though. (and please excuse my just-rolled-out-of-bed self)

The Ups & Downs

Living in Italy seems to make Italy a totally different country than the one I visited a few times before. Or maybe it's just what they call culture shock. I feel like I've definitely encountered the difficulties of being thrown into a culture very rich with customs and history that I, up until this point, have been completely foreign to. It's definitely a daily challenge. And since I am not a guest or a tourist, but rather someone working for and living with a family, I feel like I'm less likely to be forgiven for any slip-ups that occur...which are a lot. And I feel as though my social status, or position, as a well educated, middle-class person quickly has taken a dive to merely ...well.. A Jane Eyre type figure (although, oh! how I do love Jane Eyre :) ).

On the upside I did get to see some of the Centro on Saturday and it really is beautiful. Lots of stores, cafe's, bars, restaurants, and gorgeous buildings. I hope I am able to go there with other people often.





Today I went with Coco-- the very sweet, aforementioned girl who I met because she works at the grandmother's house where I first stayed-- and we went to San. Luca, the beautiful church on one of the hills in Bologna. It was beautiful, but unfortunately there was so much fog that we were practically walking in a cloud, and therefore could see nothing of the city's panorama. However, it was still wonderful to spend time with someone closer to my age and who is also foreign to Italy. Even though she is from Romania we find we have many things in common in our lives, beliefs, and homes.





My parents got back from a 7 day cruise to Mexico/S. America today. They had a really great time, made lots of friends, ate wonderful food, toured intersting places... but I was so happy to hear their voices again that I cried when I got off the phone. This time in Italy is a great but difficult experience for me... and so to finally again be comforted by my parents was wonderful.

Sometimes I think that the saying "you'll never know what you had until you've lost it" is kind of stupid. I just hate the thought of not appreciating everything you have. Unfortunately this saying is often true. It's wonderful to travel, see the world, learn about other people and other cultures, but right now I think I am very blessed to be an American, and to have a home there to go back to in April.

<3


p.s. I must just add that I took a break before posting what I had written here to go eat pizza (they ordered delivery). I have two things to say: 1) This was my first lunch or dinner meal so far that did not consist of pasta and 2) They used scissors to cut the pizza!

Week 1

Hi everybody! I'm back to life (the internet!)...yay! I stayed at the family's grandmother's house for the first week since the eldest son who lives in NYC was visiting for Christmas. She did not have internet access, so I only had limited access when I came over to the family's house during the day. But now I'm living in the room the son was in and I feel much more at home... always having access to the internet, and being able to fully unpack all my things and place them around me in a way that feels sort of homey. It also helps that all my things are pink, so I feel like I'm in my room at home :)
The family I'm staying with is wonderful. The mother and daughter (age 10) speak quite good English. I still have to speak a bit more simply and slowly, but often they understand. It is not at all as cold as I'd imagined here. It does feel cold at night when you walk far... but then the walking also heats you up, so with my two long coats (thank you Cristina & Brett!) I'm fine.
I don't think I've ever eaten so well in my life. Almost every day I've had pasta for both lunch and dinner... the most incredible pasta each time. And of course bread too. But all the ingredients are so natural that I've actually lost weight!
Two biggest surprises to me so far: 1) The mother told me that Italians drink beer with pizza. When I said we always drink wine with pizza and think ourselves so Italian she made sounds of disgust and said pizza is too filling to have with wine..wow!
2) Almost all Italians (I have been told) have people who constantly help them in the house. They cook all the meals, clean everything, do laundry, wash dishes, walk the dogs...everything! It's so strange coming from a home where I've done my own laundry since I was like 12, and always do all my dishes, and I clean my room/apartment, and I cook all my own food.
I met the girl who is this person for the grandmother that I stayed with and she is very very sweet...and bright! She is from Romania and just finished her masters in Economics but cannot find a job right now. She is very busy but I hope we'll find time to hang out. It's very fun because she speaks to me in Italian and I speak to her in English, but we understand each other.
I haven't explored the town as much I would have liked to yet. We've had slightly dreary weather and so I've been enjoying a good book. Plus I'd really love to have a friend to explore with. But it's kind of hard to meet people, especially who I can talk to easily... so I may just start exploring more tomorrow.
Unfortunately I haven't taken many pictures yet. But when I do I promise to post them!
Italy is wonderful, but I really do miss home too.

Italy tomorrow...

((There have been many people who have asked me to send emails, pictures, updates, etc. every once in a while, so I hope this blog will function as a way to keep everyone updated as much as possible with all my new adventures.))


I can't believe it's already time for me to go to Italy. Sometimes big ideas are so big they always seem far off. But suddenly my ((quite large)) bags are packed and at 4:30 tomorrow I'll be on my way to Bologna via Frankfurt. Of course I'm very excited and grateful to have this experience, but I can't hide the fact that I'm also pretty nervous to be gone for three months...so far from the people I love and everything that is familiar to me. I'm almost homesick already as I sit in my room and type this.

Graduation was great, but sad as I had to leave my friends and school. My brother Christian came for the weekend which was very special. Then my other brother Justin flew in for Christmas with one night overlapping Christian's visit and then Brett flew in Christmas night, that night overlapping Justin's last. So it's been a whirlwind of visitors since graduation, but all my favorite people so it's been wonderful.

((Brett & I made an awesome dinner))

Italy stories to come... :)
Ciao!