Diving into a new culture

I arrived in Casteggio almost two weeks ago and have been adjusting to the culture ever since. It is not that it's hard, I have just been homesick a few times. I am having troubles dealing with some of the people's attitudes when I am out shopping or walking around the town. Most of the people don't have courtesy for anyone, no "excuse me" or "how are you", nobody stops to let you across the street. I have been to Pavia and Milan with the Avi's, whom I am getting along with very well, but today was the first day that I went into the town alone. I did not think anything of it until I realized that no one speaks English, and I don't have my translator (Valentina) with me to help. I have also had to adjust my fashion to Itay; the key is to layer layer layer! I also had to buy some boots because my feet were freezing. I left the house and had time to walk slowly and enjoy looking at the buildings and little things that no-one usually notices. I realized that I was doing what I don't do at home; really looking at what is around me and take it in. The street that we live on is very small, only big enough for one pint size European car. When I am asleep at night I can hear every word that is said and footstep that is taken from the people who are walking down the narrow street. Good thing for them, I can't understand anything they say! ( If so, I would for sure be ease dropping) When I stepped out of the door I heard every noise that was made, my footsteps echoed through the street of tall flats with dark green shutters and beautiful little balconies. It was about a 5 minute downhill walk until I got to the middle of the town. There are a lot of little shops and my mission was to get something little for Blair for his birthday next week, the big 27! ( He ordered me not to get him anything, so I figured he wouldn't mind something small but still a piece of Italy) As I walked into the town I noticed there were a lot of older men walking around... being probably the only blonde within a kilometer I was very very creeped out by the glaring and staring. I thought in my head the headline on CNN tomorrow " Young american woman kidnapped on the streets of Casteggio now being held hostage by the Mafia in southern Italy for ransom".. Okay so I tend to over exaggerate but it could happen! I stayed aware and walked for about an hour before I decided to go into a small and cute chocolate shop to get some chocolates for Blair's grandma ( she gets googly eyed over any chocolate!) I went into the store and the man did not give me a second to look, I was nervous because I knew that the language barrier would be crucial; he had a stern look that said, "hurry up, I have something better to do", and would not be willing to cooperate with a foreigner. I was right.. because a minute later after I told him "No parlo Italiano, parlo inglese", he went and sent another woman out. She was not any nicer. I was trying to communicate but she kept talking in Italian and I was confused. I just started pointing to different chocolates (all of which looked delicious) and after she picked a few out I said "basta" ( thats enough). She told me the total which was the only thing that I understood because after playing Italian Bingo I now know all of the numbers. I left and was not happy with my first experience trying to buy something alone, I will never be rude to a foreigner again, it feels terrible! Afterwards I headed to the grocery store to buy some fruit and juice. The fruit it very cheap, for a bunch of clementine's and apples it was just under 2 Euros. Next I went to a beautiful bakery/cafe. I peaked into the window before I went in and it looked like a picture perfect cafe that you would see in Paris. It was dimly lit with tall Victorian couches against the walls that were striped in cream and off white, lined with black decorative wood. The tables were small, black and elegant. I walked in and I hoped that the young man behind the display case spoke English, so I asked, "Parla inglese?" and he responded, "Un poco". I have faith in people who say they know a little bit of English because most of them end up to be pretty familiar with everything that I say... unfortunately he didn't. I tried asking him what his favorite chocolates were by using hand gestures and my brain as a thesaurus for "favorite". Nope didn't work, so I just started pointing and guessing at what things were. I said basta and I ended up with a box that was just as pretty as the shop and a conclusion that I have to learn some basic communication skills, pronto!

One thing that I was very excited about today was that Blair is almost 100% sure that his Uganda trip is canceled and he gets to come here instead ( I kind of feel bad that I have been asking him to come here instead of helping people with Aids in Africa.. but I think that he served his humanitarian time with the 3 months he spent in Ethiopia.. so I am ok!). He will be able to come for a week and I am going to try and get everything straightened out for where we want to go and book it within the next 2 months so that everything is cheaper and in place. We are going to go to two places besides being here in Milan, flying basically anywhere in Europe is only 20 Euros! He really wants to go to Paris, and of course I would not mind. The other place is hopefully going to be Sardinia. I did not know of it until today and it is gorgeous!
1 day in Milan, 2 days in Paris, 3 days in Sardinia, doesn't sound too bad! We will see how things go.










Alice is very sick with a virus and has been throwing up for 24 hours, she has barely slept and the doctor said that we could get the virus too :( I am studying a lot, there is a ton of busy work through online classes. Hope that everyones cold January is going well!

Ciao

Lecco, Barzago e Milano

Ciao!!

I have traveled to Lecco and Milano in the past two days, unfortunately it was very foggy and cold! Yesterday morning we walked through Anita's hometown of Barzago; it was beautiful and neat to see the old villas and the way that they live. It is simple and quiet. We walked to the supermarcado where we bought two baguettes and a loaf of bread. It was much cheaper than the US, only 2 euros for all of it! We then went to the local "bar" and had a briosche and cafe. They do not look anything like you would imagine, just a small room with the locals reading papers and drinking cafe. I am trying very hard to learn as much Italian as I can in as short as time as possible. She said that I am learning fast, yesterday I learned the numbers, alphabet ( which is only 21 letters!!) and some verb endings. Not alot of Americans come to Barzago so everywhere that we went I was stared at... very bizarre! The people are very nice; when we were at the bar a couple heard me trying to say italian verbs and were laughing... it is definitely entertaining! The local church is very very pretty.

In the afternoon we traveled to Lecco to go to the shops and meet up with her friend Gigi. When driving there we were surrounded by mountains, she calls them hills but they are mountains to me!! It is very surreal to be surrounded by such great masses of nature. Again I was stared at.. I guess I look obviously American, haha. While walking I learned how to pronounce all of the store names, it is harder than I had thought it would be. They have an outdoor mall, it is similar to Clay Terrace in Carmel. We walked alot, which I loved. We then went to a very nice pub and I had tea. Her friend Gigi met up with us, he studies Agriculture and I told him about American colleges. He was stunned at the differences! I talked about fraternities, sororities, student loans, highschool "school spirit" ( which they don't have) and how some of us work during school. Italian highschools are more like colleges, you go to a school that specializes in what you want to do. Not everyone goes to college and the people that do mostly live with their parents and take the train to school. The tuition is very cheap, only 2000 euros per year. They can study abroad anywhere as an Erasmus student and no matter how exspensive the school is they pay the same that they would in Italy. Lucky!! We went back to Barzago and had pesto pasta for dinner, it was very good! Afterwards we went with her friends Ela, Monica, Annalisa, Valeria and Allesandro to go Ice Skating. Some of the girls were scared so we tried to help them. Her friends can understand English if I talk very slowly but it is hard for them to respond. I found that after hanging out with them I talk slow and have an Italian accent with my english! It is from listening to them all talk in English. We then went to a very very nice pub where I had my first experience with Gelato. All I have to say is.. oh-my-gosh, malta buena!!! America needs to adopt this food! Blair bought me a book as a joke to take with me, it is called "talk dirty in Italian", it has the curse words and such in it. I brought it to the pub and it was the entertainment for the night. Most of the words and phrases they never use, but I told them that it was just for fun.

This morning we traveled to Milano by train; it was about 40 minutes. When we got out we walked out and the Duormo was right in front of us. I have never seen such a beautiful building! It is more than I could have imagined. We went inside and there was so much art that it was unbelievable. I now understand why Italians are so passionate about Catholicism; they have all of this history to look at and realize why they believe in what they do. People put so much work into their religion because it is what they lived for. In the 1400's art was used as a mean for communication; to tell stories. Art was seen before any language in Cave-art. I believe that the sculptures in the church were made so that we can forever look at it and see what people went through for their beliefs. There were also two Cardinals in caskets that you could see in. One of them still had the original skeleton, it was very neat! I realized that after taking a lot of pictures that I left my memory stick in Barzago and I had no internal memory :( I will be back to Milan soon though. We then went shopping, it was crazy busy. It was very hard to get in and out of shops. The people kept pushing through and hitting you, I kept saying scuzzi (excuse me/sorry) but no one else ever said it; I found it rude. Everywhere had 50% off so I bought a few sweaters for $10. I did not bring enough and it is very cold here! We took the train home and are about to eat dinner.

Ciao until later!!

First days in Italy

Ciao!

Blair and I left Chicago around noon on tuesday and with traffic we did not arrive until 4 thirty. I had a hard time getting my ticket, but they let me get it without a ticket back as long as I get a visa within the next 3 months. I feel lucky to have such a nice boyfriend that drove me all the way there. I cried alot saying goodbye, everyone around me looked at me like someone had died and a security guard came up to me to make sure that I was okay when I was going through security. It took him four hours to get back to Indianapolis, bad traffic!! I arrived in Milan on Wednesday around noon, the flight went well. I did not sleep much but the flight was not as hard as I had imagined. I was going to write and write this until tomorrow but I woke up because of bad dreams and could not go back to sleep; it is three thirty in the morning here. I arrived in Munich for my layover, the flight was short but we were over the Alps the whole time, it was breathtaking! When I arrived in Milan I accidently skipped over immigration, and Anitas family was there to pick me up. We drove to Barzago, talked with her family then headed to the Alps for the night. We drove about 30 minutes and then took a hour long bus ride. I have never seen so much snow! We arrived to her friends cabin where there were about 25 people. Only a few knew any english. We ate some dinner and drank sambuca and heniken. I quickly learned some survival phrases in Italian.

Parlo inglese. ( I speak english)

No Parlo italiano. ( I do not speak italian)

Parla inglese? (Do you speak english)

Dove el bano? ( where is the bathroom)

Una chica, per favore. (A piece of gum please)

Ferme! ( I am hungry)

Bravo! ( Well done)

Ole! (yay!)

No fumo. ( I do not smoke.)

Buon anno. (Happy new years)

Gratzi, prego. (thank you, your welcome)

Scuzzi ( excuse me, formal)

Scuzza (excuse me informal and i am sorry)

I think that was alot for one night!! As the night went on the people tried to speak English more and Improved. Once politics came up I realized that no one here knows what is really going on in America. They have heard that our economy is bad and we are in a recession but they were all stunned about no one having jobs, the big three bailout, the housing market and the stocks. I explained to them what an important role that Obama is going to be for America and for the world. We did not stay out too late but at midnight we went outside, there was champagne everywhere and people were all in the small streets surrounded by thousands of feet of mountains. It was snowing and everyone was laughing and yelling. We slept on couches and woke up early. We went to breakfast at a local ristorante. I had tea and a croissaunt with marmalada. I was looked at funny alot, apparently I do not have the right gear to be in the mountains... I will have to work on that. It took four hours by bus and trains to get back to Barzago. By the time that I was back I had severe jet lag, so I slept for four hours. Anita woke me up for dinner, her Aunts, uncles and cousin were there. The food was bueno! We had four courses. Ravioli soup ( cheese tortellini in a broth), two types of lasagna ( it is nothing like ours, there is no red sauce), rabbit, pig legs with lentil, fruit then an italian cake (it is like a sugar bundt cake). After dinner we played the Italian version of Bingo with Euros. I did not win more than I put in but I learned ALOT of Italian numbers! I then had to be the caller and exhaustingly pronounced all 90 numbers somewhat right. After that her parents went to bed and I called my mom, dad, sister and blair. We went to bed and I just woke up with bad dreams so decided to write this!

One thing that I need to put pictures of are the toilets!! I was embarresed when I saw two toilets right next to eachother and didnt know what to do. One is for washing, that is where I was confused. Also, everywhere you go the button to flush is somewhere different. It is never on the toilet, it is usually a round button somewhere on the wall, either above the toilet or near the floor. At one place it was a square metal box that you pushed in. At the train station the toilet was in the ground.. but still modernized with a lid and flush. I do not know why I was so amazed by toilets.. but it is so much different!

I will post a couple of pictures, I have about seventy more but I am using Anitas computer and I cant upload all of them on here. My converter is not working so I cannot charge my laptop. Tomorrow I will go to buy a new one. This is enough for tonight!

Ciao!!

Getting closer!

Ciao!

Only 6 days until I leave the US! I just finished my school semester and my two jobs. School went really well, I got the best grades that I have ever had. I am excited but also nervous to leave so soon! I have been relaxing and spending alot of time with my family and Blair, as I will miss them both. Today the roads were terrible; in a matter of minutes the roads went from fine to being covered in pure ice. It took me almost an hour to get from 86th to 96th street on Michigan road. I can't believe that Christmas is two days away! This year it means so much more than gift giving and receiving. I am appreciative of the time spent together more than anything. I have to move out of my apartment by next Tuesday... which I haven't started. I also will have to pack for 6 months in 2 1/2 suitcases. I am really really happy to see Anita after almost three years and meet her family before I go to live with my Au Pair family. I am trying to see all of my friends before I leave, it doesn't seem like enough time!

My first bold move.

I have been determined to experience something other than Indiana for awhile now, after high school I stayed in Indianapolis, disappointed that I didn't move to go to a college out of the state. I accepted the idea of living in the city and had a great time while doing so... but I had and have the urgency to experience something bigger. Anita, our Italian exchange student in high school is traveling all over the world; living in three different countries by the age of 20. This leaves me thinking.. why can't I do the same? So I am. I looked into options of studying abroad and quickly found that the cost's were outrageous and I am not planning on having to pay off 100,000 dollars in student loans when I graduate. I love kids, I have been a nanny for a couple of years.. thinking about it the perfect opportunity came to mind; to be an au pair. I researched it for a couple of weeks, looking at different agencies and reading about different countries/cultures. I talked to many different families and found one that seems to be a good fit. They are a young couple in their 30's with a two year old daughter. Alessandro is a graphic designer while Valentina is working on her second bachelors degree in psychology. They live 20 minutes from Milan, where they both commute to for work. Their daughters name is Alice, they would like her to learn English at a young age. They live in a small house with a garden in a city called Casteggio which is in Pavia. They would like me to have a cultural experience rather than a job. I will be watching Alice 2-3 days a week while teaching her English... I am sure she will be teaching me Italian as well. I will be living with them for 6 months starting January 1st, while I continue taking classes online through Ivy Tech. I figure, I am only nineteen once.. I only have this opportunity now. I am not tied down to anything, my opportunities are endless. I am ecstatic, nervous, anxious and happy.

I will miss my family, friends, puppy and Indianapolis but I can't wait to experience more of this wonderful world!

After getting over the initial excitement I had to start working on the technical stuff to actually go overseas. I will have to get a residential visa ( for this I am required to take a language class in Italy during my stay), learn about international banking, converters for all of my plug-ins, and most of all learn some Italian as quickly as possible! The first few months are going to be hard, it will be exhausting to get around knowing little Italian and translating all day. I figure that being in the country will at least force me to learn it quickly.

It seems surreal that I will get to experience so much, but here are things that I would like to do during my stay:

Go shopping in Milan
Mass at the Vatican
Be able to walk from town to town
Eat real Italian food.. ( they don't actually have bread sticks, that is American Italian, crazy huh?)
Travel to France, London, Greece, Switzerland and Spain
Meet Anita's family

I am sure that my list will grow with the weeks.