Viaggia a Verona!: 2012

I have found that my favorite time of day here is at night when I come home from school and eat dinner with my Italian mother & brother (speaking solo in italiano). We always have the best conversations, and I have learned so much about the Italian culture just by sitting there and talking to them.

One of the greatest things I have learned since I've been here is how to cook the Italian way. Before I came here, the extent of my "cooking" was making mac and cheese out of the box. Pretty sad, I know. The second I got here, I fell in love with how fresh the food is here, and now cooking seems fun if its with fresh ingredients straight from the backyard. Every night I sit at the table while my Italian mom cooks dinner, writing down recipes and tips.

This is what I ate last night ~
Trofie al pesto

homemade pesto made with a little parmesan & pecorino cheese, basil, 1 clove of garlic, olive oil, and pine nuts (about 2 tablespoons)
trofie noodles

the ingredients

The finished project.
Trofie al pesto with my mother's homemade bread.

My mother started out by boiling water with "sale grosso" or coarse salt, and then adding the trofie noodles for about 5 minutes. After draining the noodles, she added the pesto and stirred it in. It was so quick and easy, but so delicious!

She said every region in Italy cooks dishes a little bit differently, and in the summer, she cooks this dish the Legurian way (the region where Cinque Terre is located) by adding cubed potatoes (steamed) and string beans to the sauce.

After dinner, my mom and I talked about Italian music and she introduced me to a bunch of Italian artists of all different genres of music. I was surprised at how much I liked them all! Today, she brought home some of her colleagues' CDs for me to listen to.

Here's a song that has been stuck inside my head all day! It is molto poetico! :)

Buongiorno friends! Hope you all are having a beautiful day! :) So before I get into all the happy and exciting in my life (there's been a lot) I must share with you the tragic story of my bicicletta. So everyone in the program were given these new, bright green bikes when we first got here.

Here is me all happy to be riding mine around the first week of classes, in Piazza Erbe -

We didn't realize this at the time, but they are just bright green targets. 3 of my friends here so far have gotten their bike stolen, and they had to pay 130 euros to reimburse the bike shop for it. Luckily, (well, not really luck) I only had the seat stolen off my bike, so I didn't have to pay near as much for it. Now my bike is tightly locked inside the garage under my apartment, only to be taken out if necessary. Although a sad story, not having a bike to get around forced me to learn the bus system here, which I'm so thankful for during this harsh winter.

the view from the bus on my way to school in the morning! pretty cool, right?

The other weekend, I went skiing for the first time EVER in the Italian Alps! I was a little nervous at first and imagined it going horribly, but I had such a great time! Usually after being outside for 20 minutes during the winter, I’m ready to go inside, but not this time! I didn’t want to stop! I couldn’t imagine my experience skiing for the first time to go any better. There would be times when I would stop concentrating on skiing so hard and remember where I was. I had the most beautiful view of the mountains from our hill! I stopped halfway down to take this picture -

excited to get started!

natural pros.

our ski instructor!

warming up by the fire

Such a great day - on our way home, I was able to snap some shots of the Veneto region from the bus! It was beautiful!

After my day trip to the mountains to ski, Alec, Laila, Alyssa, and I decided to do a day trip to Venice Sunday to explore it before we went during the craziness of Carnevale! We had so much fun exploring this seaside town!

Since everything in Venice is on a waterway, we got into a water taxi to see the sights and head towards Saint Mark's square! It was beautiful seeing the city by boat!

the four of us!

Once we finally arrived in the square, we went to see the Doge's Palace, which was home of the duke. It was the most powerful half-acre in Europe for 400 years. Very extravagant! Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures inside.

St Mark's Square

Laila and I in front of the Clock Tower

The Palace's courtyard

The most powerful people walked this staircase to meet with the doge.

The Bridge of Sighs - connecting two wings of the Doge's Palace, leading to the prisons.
Supposedly, a condemned man would be lead over this bridge
on his way to the prison, take one last look at the glory of Venice, and sigh.

St. Mark's Basilica

making an offering at the basilica.

Correr Museum

One of the highlights of the day was when we went to a Venetian glass-blowing shop to look around/get a tour. I read in my Rick Steve's travel book that if you show the book to the owners, they will give you a free glass-blowing demonstration and tour. It turned out the shop was closed when we got there and no tours were being given. Remembering what the book said, I pulled the book out of my purse, and all of a sudden, the attitude completely changed. The guy we were speaking with called someone on his phone, and said "Bruno, I have 4 people down here. They have the book." A man greeted us on the other side of an alley behind the shop and lead us upstairs to see a demonstration of Venetian glass blowing! It was SO cool! The guy then gave us a tour of the shop that housed the most beautiful glass plates, sculptures, and jewelry that I have ever seen. Thank goodness for Rick Steves - he hooked it up for us that day, and also for Tommy and Ashley for getting me the book. :)