homemade pasta, il camino, churches, and more!

When I woke up yesterday morning, I found Marisa downstairs with pasta dough rolled out on the table. She explained that she was up very late making the dough. She began to roll it up and she cut it into tiny little squares; they looked almost like chicklets. She made an amazing soup or "zuppo" for lunch that contained broth and these little nuggets of pasta. We taught her how to say broth....and her translation was hilarious to say the least. She makes fun of the way Allie and I talk to each other in English, and of course this makes me laugh. In the morning Allie and I wandered around Tuscania and stumbled across a cute little pup who seemed alone. He followed us for quite a while but we eventually lost him. There are so many dogs here!! Everyone has tiny ones, except for a huge German shepherd who likes to bark as loud as he can ever ytime you pass his gate ( I try to avoid that street). After lunch, I got on FaceTime for a bit then we headed out with Marisa to San Pietro (church), one of Tuscania's most famous landmarks. It's building began in the 8th century and it was renovated in the 11th and 12th century. It's so crazy to think about the fact that things in America are so young compared to that! Marisa came with us, and she walked up a pretty steep hill. She was so cute and asked Allie and I to hook arms with her on each side when she got tired. She is our Italian MAMMA! The church was absolutely breathtaking. Check out the pics! Marisa explained to us the history, and I surprisingly got quite a bit out of it. She showed us the Etruscan tombs inside the church and explained that the sculptures on top of them were sculptures of the person buried there, which I thought was very interesting. The tiled floor was assembled piece by piece. When we left the church, Marisa grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side...so I wasn't really sure what she was about to do! She pulled me towards one of the tombs that did not have a head on its sculpture, and she put my head in its place. I couldn't stop laughing! Allie has the picture, but I'll have to put it up soon! After this we went to Santa Maria Maggiore, another famous church. Its murals represented the end of the world and there was also a description of the Annunciation through the art. It was such a treat for Marisa to show us around. We went back home and showed Kelsey our house, then Allie and I went out for our first pizza. We had lots of trouble trying to find a place that was open (strange for a Saturday night). Our advisor told us about the restaurant with the best pizza in the world, but unfortunately it was closed! We started off with the basic cheese and mozzarella pizza, but it was not as we expected. It was more like American pizza. Marisa later told us that it wasn't the best restaurant to go to. Next time....which I'm sure there will be many! Then we met up with our other friends at the "bar" for a drink. It was quite the experience....extremely loud music and lots of Italians! We later went to another bar where people (not me) did shots that the bartender lit on fire and you had to put your hand over the fire to extinguish it and then drink it. It was pretty entertaining to watch....

This morning I went to church with Marisa and Kelsey. On our way...Marisa asked if I played sports. I gestured the motion of shooting a basketball and said the word, thinking she would have no idea what I was talking about, but she nodded with excitement and said "si! si! si!". I also told her that I sing, and she loved that. She asked if I wanted to continue to sing in Tuscania, and she said she will get me in contact with the church choir. I'm excited!!  The mass was surprisingly one of the shortest masses I've ever been to....40 minutes!!! And there was even a baptism! It was neat to hear everything in Italian. I tried to follow along as best as I could, and I did recognize lots of words. After mass Kelsey and I explored some more then I went home for lunch. We had delicious tortellini and believe it or not.....FRENCH FRIES AND CHICKEN TENDERS!!! I was shocked. Allie and I then went for a brisk walk to burn off those cals and discovered the country. There were some beautiful homes. We walked for a long long long long time. We came home and Costantino was making a "camino" which is a fire in the fireplace. That took an extremely long time for me to figure out when Marisa tried to tell me what a camino was this morning. Thank God she is patient. Next.....came probably one of my favorite dinners so far. It started off with homemade BRUSCHETTA! Marisa cut slices of bread, laid them in a little rack, and set them over the fire for a short time to brown them. She took them out and rubbed garlic on each piece, sprinkled salt, and poured her homemade olive oil on them. Best food treat so far!!! We also had shredded chicken with carrots and peppers, as well as salad. During dinner, Costantino came down the stairs and scared us while we were eating. I screamed so loud...not on purpose. Marisa and Costantino, and I....laughed so hard I didn't know if it would stop. Costantino is absolutely hilarious. I don't think I've laughed so hard in a while. After dinner, I sat with Marisa on the couch and watched the news. She asked more about my life and what I like to do. Just a casual night in Italia!!! Well....first day of classes tomorrow. Tough load...only one class and it's not until 3 PM :]. Ah I could do this forever! Ciao!

A couple pictures!

I'm Here!

I am finally in Italia! The first two days have been full of excitement and curiosity. I flew out of Syracuse around 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon after a tearful goodbye with my parents. As I settled into my seat on the plane and buckled my seatbelt, it finally hit me that I was REALLY going to Italy for a whole semester. Allie, Kelsey, and I flew together from Syracuse to Washington Dulles, where we maneuvered through the airport to catch our next flight directly to Roma. We coincidentally had seats next to each other. After my last and only prior trip to Europe, I knew I needed to SLEEP at some point during the flight, because we arrived at 7:45 AM in Roma. The woman sitting right next to me was from Italy, so I enjoyed chatting with her about my expectations. I asked her what I really needed to do while I was there, she replied, “EAT EVERYTHING! EAT! EAT! EAT!” (in her Italian accent of course). We also were able to discuss the gross airplane food. It was funny to watch her face and she stuck her fork into her rosemary chicken. “Che scifo!” as the Italians would say, meaning, “gross!”. I watched Bridesmaids on my laptop and later slept intermittently for the rest of the flight. I also stumbled upon several other students who were attending Lorenzo de’Medici, the university. Allie, Kelsey, and I were worried that we would be the only students, because we knew that Tuscania is typically a very small program. But to our surprise, the group ended up being much bigger than expected! When we arrived in the airport, we went through passport control and got our stamps, then proceeded to baggage claim and luckily all of our baggage was there! We met other LdM students and went to go through customs. Strangely, we didn’t have to do anything to go through customs. We went to walk through the gate and it closed so that I was the only one left on the other side. The officers pointed at me and gestured for me to come back to them. Great…I thought I was in trouble with the law already. They told us to leave, even though we were very confused that we didn’t have to do anything at all. Crazy Italians. I went through a lot of blood sweat and tears for that visa so I really wanted them to take a good, hard look at it J. We then went to a café in the airport because we had to wait until 1 PM to be picked up on our private bus to go to Tuscania. We were disappointed that we had to wait 5 hours, but we ended up meeting tons of great students. Our table at the café grew larger and larger with each hour. We soon took over basically the entire thing. There were about 20 of us in all. Most of the students are spending the whole semester in Tuscania, while others are doing what is called the Three Cities program in which they study at 3 of the LdM campuses throughout the course of one semester (Tuscania, Rome, and Venice). Friendships have already been formed and I can’t wait to get to know everyone as the semester progresses! The students are from all over: Nebraska, Texas, Massachusetts, Trinidad & Tobago, NYC, Washington state etc. We all enjoyed getting to know each other….for several hours of jet lag. We also encountered an older man who was hilarious. He was most likely drunk and he proceeded to stretch his legs in the middle of the airport while we waited to leave….

Massimo, one of our student advisors arrived at 1 to pick us up. We loaded the bus with our luggage and made our way to Tuscania. We dropped everyone off to their respective homes. Lots of students are staying in their own apartments, but Allie, Kelsey, and I are all staying with host families. Allie and I were towards the end of the drop off, and this is when I really started to get nervous! Mei, our other advisor, called our names to get off the bus and we were quickly greeted by our host mom Marisa. She is such a sweet woman! She speaks absolutely no English, so Allie and I have been working very hard to keep up and communicate to the best of our ability. She as been impressed with what we know so far, and she is constantly encouraging us. Her husband was waiting for us when we arrived. He is very funny and is always making us laugh. Marisa gave us a tour of the house and let us pick out which rooms we wanted. Both of our rooms have balconies that look out into the countryside. E BELLA! She then walked us to our school to show us how to get there, less than a ten minute walk. The town is very small, which makes it very warm, welcoming, and safe. It is “antico,” as it has been around for many many years. When I asked Marisa how long she has been in Tuscania, her response was “sempre,” meaning “always.” She said it so affectionately that I knew I would feel at home here.

Next we went out to dinner with the entire group to a restaurant, Palombella! We has a delicious meal including pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms, pork and potatoes, and a pastry dessert with nutella and a lemon cream. And of course…VINO! I was able to get to know the young man sitting next to me, Brian, throughout the course of the meal. He studies at Ithaca College and plays the guitar, so Mei suggested that we sing/play together. Hopefully I will be able to keep my singing up while I am here! I also got to know Mei. She is extremely helpful and made it a point to ask her ANYTHING. She loves Tuscania.

After dinner, probably the funniest moment happened. Allie and I made it back to our house safely around 11:30, and Marisa had given us keys to use. Keep in mind that these keys are SUPER old school. However, we were LOCKED OUT. We tried both of our keys over and over again, but were unable to open it. We freaked out, then decided to reluctantly ring the doorbell. No answer. Uh oh. Eventually Marisa came to the door and opened it. Of course I blanked on how to say sorry in Italian, but Marisa did not look too worried. She smiled, said goodnight, and went back upstairs. Allie tried practicing the lock, and of course it worked on the first try….we made a great first impression, right? Dumb Americans.

This morning, I woke up around 7 and had my first shower experience. The house is quite cold, because heating is extremely expensive in Italy because they purchase their energy from Germany. So, the heat is only on for certain hours during the day. I decided to go for the shower instead of the tub/shower, and it was successful, even though I was cold in between. Marisa had breakfast waiting for us which included a special cake-like bread to dip in cappuccino which was delicious! We went off to school for our first assignment: an Italian placement test! We then had to have a brief interview in Italian with the academic advisor. We had an orientation to discuss rules and sign many forms, then we headed back to the house for il pranzo, lunch. We had of course, pasta with a little sauce, fennel with olive oil, prosciutto, salami, and mozzarella. Amazing. Maria was their, Marisa and Costantino’s daughter. She is older but speaks a bit of English so she helped to translate a few things. She told us that this house is our house now, which was so sweet! Marisa wanted her to ask us if there was anything we wanted to ask or needed in terms of food, housing, etc. We tried to ask for a garbage can in the bathroom to throw tissues and stuff which resulted in a little confusion and laughter. We then took our siesta and made our way back to campus to make some copies. We explored the town a bit even though it was dark, then came back to the house for la cena, dinner. I asked Marisa if we could help her, and she had me stir an egg and flour into a bunch of cut artichokes. We asked Marisa the words for each thing we touched. We had lots of trouble with the word for artichokes, and I honestly still can’t remember it. We ate salad with delicious vinegar and olive oil, a fried artichokes, and little balls that were filled with meat (again, not sure of the name, pretty sure it’s poltata). Costantino and Marisa asked us if we wanted to play cards after dinner and it was quite the adventure. We still don’t know how their cards work, but we played in teams so they helped us. There was tons of laughter, and I enjoyed seeing our host parents interact with each other. 

More updates to come....we are supposed to get Internet at our house today, and I'll put up some pictures too!

My Visa Adventure, and Other Last Minute Preparations!

Now that I finally have my visa in my possession...I think I can tell my story. I was told right after Thanksgiving break (in writing) that students who live in New York State can apply for their visas in person at the NYC consulate or by mail. Obviously I wanted to apply by mail in order to avoid a hectic trip to NYC. So...on December 22rd, we shipped out my materials in an overnight FedEx package to the consulate. The next day, as I was visiting my grandmothers with my boyfriend Michael, I received an angry phone call from a woman at the consulate. She explained that it was against the consulate's policies to accept applications for visas by mail. This information was obviously news to me, so I was unsure how to react. To make a long story short, my dad had to make an appointment to go down to NYC. Luckily, Allie, Kelsey, and I were able to get appointments on the same day. However, the process of getting the correct paperwork was extremely stressful. We were all so nervous that we would be denied after traveling all the way down there.

Our adventure began at 4:30 AM on a Thursday morning after my plane arrived the night before from Orlando after visiting my grandfather at 10 PM. Kelsey and Allie stayed over at my house so that we could get an early start. My dad was kind enough to drive us the entire way (obviously he didn't trust me to drive in the middle of Manhattan). It was a dark, rainy ride and we stumbled upon several delays and accidents, but we managed to arrive by 10 AM. My appointment was at 11, so it's a good thing we arrived an hour early, because the consulate also stressed the fact that if you were only a couple minutes late for your appointment, it would be cancelled. This only increased our stress! We found a parking garage and made our way to the consulate building....well the tiny door that led to the building. You had to be let in by a buzzer...so I buzzed in and explained that I had an appt at 11, but the woman on the other end proceeded to tell me to come back at 11. So....we struggled to find a place with a bathroom because we were all dying. We had to ask a native, and we eventually came across a tiny diner with the smallest bathroom I've ever seen. Major struggle. Then we made our way back to the consulate, and I made my way downstairs to the "holding tank." I sat with my ticket # until I was called up to the plexiglas. I'm still not quite sure why they needed to see me in person, because all I did was pass my materials through a little slot to the woman that worked there. She then handed me a receipt and said it would be ready on the 19th. Luckily....they were ready in time. What a whirlwind of an experience!

I can't believe that tomorrow is my last full day at home! My mom cooked one of my favorite meals tonight for dinner: sirloin steak, garlic smashed potatoes, salad, bread, and a special jello/cream cheese/pretzel treat! SO GOOD! I've been trying to strategize with my packing and figuring out how to make everything fit without going overweight. Packing/unpacking is probably one of my least favorite tasks...so attempting to pack for 3.5 months is rather challenging for me. So far so good...everything is falling into place. Tonight, my packing was interrupted by an incredible GIANTS game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Giants have been my family's team for as long as I can remember. I realized at the end of the victory that I'm going to need to find an Italian pub where I can watch the Super Bowl on February 5th (I hope the Italians won't mind my intense loyalty to the Big Blue).

Well....I'm off to bed. Stay tuned!