Carissima Nonna, questa è per te (Dear Nana, this one's for you)

Nana - of course I miss you every day, but today I especially missed you on account of this experience:

Today I had to go to, as we say here, "fare le spese" (grocery shop) as I am currently preparing to reward myself for finishing (well...hopefully finishing within the next two days) my first ever 10 page academic essay in Italian (on the role of women in the Commedia all'italiana films of the 1960's.  I can assure you I've about had it up to here with Sophia Loren and the rest after this week of writing).  Anyway, so my planned reward: baking a cake.  Yes, you heard it here, I have officially tackled baking in the metric system.  In a "duh, of course" moment, I found a french recipe for a pear cake that looks delicious, not too unhealthy for being pre-holidays baked goods, and - lo and behold - already in metric and celsius measurements.  I love it.  Anyway, the baking part is my reward - the eating will be for my amazing roommate Melli who has agreed to proof read my awful excuse for an academic essay in Italian.

So anyway, I went to the Pam, which I regret to say is more like an American supermarket than those cute macellerie and pasticcerie at which you probably imagine one buying fresh cheese, meat, etc.  Honestly, Pam is the place to go for the basics because yes, it actually is cheaper and has some good deals, and so sue me, I'm on a student budget.

I happened to be perusing the baking items aisle when around the corner came possibly the cutest elderly Italian woman I have ever seen, saying "La pasta c'è?  Signorina, la Barilla c'è qua?" Honestly, I couldn't really tell if she was talking to me, but as there was no one else in the aisle, I felt the need to respond...so I told her it was in the next aisle over.  Basta - done, right?  Not quite...

"Voglio la Barilla numero 3.  C'è un'offerta per il numero 3."  Um, wait.  I think she is asking me to find her No. 3 Barilla pasta because it's discounted today.  Don't think she realizes that I know very little about what shape number 3 Barilla pasta is, much less where it might be in the copious amounts of pasta you find in an Italian supermarket...

So I did what I think anyone would naturally do.  I led her to the pasta aisle, bent down and searched for a good five minutes for that Barilla number 3 (which by the way happens to be generally along the lines of spaghetti), and grabbed two boxes for her.  At which point, of course, she started gushing and laying the type of praise on me that only a nana knows how to give - "Ma quanto sei brava, sei una brava ragazza, che gentile! Che simpatica! Tanti auguri signorina, buon natale!"  And on and on and on telling me how I am beautiful and kind and wonderful and wishing me and my family a merry Christmas, the whole nine yards.  I, of course, felt alternately overly flattered, a little bewildered, and extremely happy with such a sweet interaction.

And most of all - it brought to mind my trips to the supermarket with my own Nana when I was really little, and how we would have eat supermarket lunches together (like rolled up turkey cold cuts!)...

So Nana, I miss you and I love you!  I can't wait to go to the supermarket with you in the (hopefully near) future - you know I'll always get that Number 3 Barilla for you!

Change of address!!!

MY ADDRESS IS CHANGING!  Even if you were just thinking about writing me a letter or sending me something in the mail, please do not do so until JANUARY 7th.  Our office is moving, so I cannot receive mail until they move into the new building on that day.  Here is my new address (new street, new zip code):

Rachel Goodman

c/o Indiana University

Bologna Consortial Studies Program

Via Malcontenti 3

40121 Bologna - Italy

Correspondence will have to continue from here!

In other Bolognese news, I have to say I find myself loving Italy more and more each day.  Actually, that is a blatant lie.  L'amo, l'odio - I love it, I hate it, all at the same time.  But I think there are a lot of people that feel that way here.  It certainly makes the days more emotionally and mentally exciting (or maybe just unstable).  Great example - my walk from my apartment to meet a friend for a coffee generally involves a thought process like this:

Wow.  I have never seen such great Christmas decorations.  They really know how to do it up for the holidays.  I love Italy.  Plus 1.

Oh god.  I just nearly stepped in that huge pile of dog poop.  Why is this city so infested with ugly mean dogs that no one takes the time to neuter and why, someone tell me, WHY does no one pick up their dog poop!?  I hate Italy.  Minus 1.

Oh wait, and now I can't move because I am stuck behind a strike - I think these are the student protesters.  But they could be the communists.  Or probably both.  I actually have no idea.  But it's also probably the reason why my lessons were canceled today.  Rock on Italy.  Plus 1.

That vespa/car/bus pretty much just ran me over.  I think at least the side mirror clipped my shoulder.  For the last time Italian drivers, please stop treating me like part of an obstacle course, or at least stop making me play chicken with you when we are both occupying the same part of the road.  Do you WANT to hit me?  Minus 1.

And so on...so maybe by the time I have reached the caffe, it all evens out and I come out at a total of zero, but at least I can embrace all the crazy, often inefficient, yet always stylish aspects of this place.

Having said that, and although Italy is definitely at the top of its game right now, I cannot wait to eat a huge waffle drowned - I'm talking gallons - in real Michigan maple syrup.  

La mia avventura ungarese (My Hungarian adventure)

Not meaning for this to become less and less about Italy, but this past weekend I traveled to Budapest, where my friend Hannah is studying abroad, with my friends Natalie and Cassandra!  Natalie, Cassandra, and I have a motto when we travel together: "gangbusters".  As in, we "gangbuster it" when we travel.  Really meaning, we have no shame about multiple guidebooks, see as much as we can while maintaining a healthy balance of quality vs quantity, and try as hard as possible to do the most genuine and original things of the city we are visiting.  Normally this just applies to our day trips to Italian towns, but in Budapest we had 3 whole days.  Therefore, our weekend was so packed and we did so many cool things, I am just going to have to list it below:

-Budapest Synagogue:  The biggest synagogue in all of Europe, built in a revival Moorish style, so it has some awesome minarets.  Also, unlike a lot of other synagogues, it is pretty decorated on the inside.

-Buda Var (Buda Castle): Budapest is actually two separate cities divided down the middle by the Danube.  My friend Hannah lives in Pest - this is the flatter side, a lot more city-like.  Buda, on the other hand, is hilly and feels older with lots of twisty historic roads.  So we walked up the hills to reach the castle, which has now been transformed into the Hungarian National Gallery.

-Fisherman's Bastion: a lot of the sites in Budapest are actually pretty new - this medieval-like wall with turrets and statues is actually no more than 150 years old or so.  But you get awesome views of Pest, Parliament, and the Danube...and also get to feel like one of those French soldiers in Monty Python.  The Bastion was apparently named for the guild of fishermen that defended this part of Buda in the middle ages!

-Vorosmarty Christmas Market: the Hungarian christmas market in the middle of Pest!  Kind of like a German christmas market, with all the cool booths selling traditional food, crafts, bags, etc.  We all came away with a Hungarian souvenir (mine was a traditional blue-dyed apron) and also ate the most incredible kolbasz (sausage) of our entire lives.  Perfect sausage with the perfect dijon mustard.  And then of course we had to drink some hot spiced wine.  And then of course I had to buy some hot-coal-oven-fired dough thing covered in cinnamon sugar, which solidified this meal's position as one of my Top 5 Food Experiences of All Time.

-Rudas Baths: On my other Top 5 list, that being the Top 5 Coolest Things I Have Ever Done.  Budapest is actually a city of baths - they have a ton of these thermal mineral baths, like the Roman baths, that have been around for centuries.  So one night we went to Rudas baths, especially notable because the building was built during the Turkish occupation of Budapest in the 1500's - so we got to bathe like the Romans under an Ottoman dome.  The air inside was heavy and humid and smelled like sulfur and minerals, and the water felt almost thick.  There were 5 different baths of different temperatures - we even made it into the one that was 42 degrees celsius!  I cannot even explain how cool this was.  And no pics were allowed, so search "Rudas baths Budapest" to see where we were.

-Gerbeaud historical coffee house:  Another favorite Hungarian concept: coffee houses!  Apparently coffee house culture was big in Budapest even before it arrived in Vienna and Paris, so Budapest really is THE original.  Now don't get me wrong, I love Italian coffee and bars, but there is definitely a difference between taking an espresso in 5 minutes at a bar and sitting down with a big cappuccino or latte in a coffee house.  Gerbeaud is one of the oldest in Budapest, so of course we had to make a stop.

-Parliament: A seriously impressive building, also on the newer side, but especially impressive because they actually screwed up the building material.  They built Parliament with a really porous material that is literally destined to be dirty until the building crumbles.  I kind of liked it though, it added some quality (and gloomy) character to the place.

-Basilica of Szent Istvan (Saint Stephen):  Honestly, this should probably go on my list of Top 5 Coolest Things too.  Because, while the Basilica itself is just ok, we went there with a purpose: to find the "Holy Right Hand" of Saint Stephen, as in, this sounded like one of the weirdest and coolest reliquaries we could imagine.  So after wandering through this huge church, we finally made it into this little chapel in the back that had a little gold box.  And of course the room was so dark (yes, this stereotype of doom/gloom/greyness in Eastern Europe seemed to hold pretty true) we couldn't see anything at all.  But before we could get too disappointed, the nice Hungarian guard told us to stick a couple coins in a slot off to the side, and a light turned on in the gold box...AND WE SAW THE MUMMIFIED HAND OF SAINT STEPHEN!

-Paprika restaurant:  Wouldn't be a real trip to Hungary without some goulash.  And it was delicious.

And our final act in Hungary before our 4 am departure Tuesday morning?  We went to the movies.  Because in Hungary, they aren't dubbed, at least not all the time.  So we enjoyed Twilight a bit too much, mostly because it was in english and we got to eat popcorn and m&m's.

So we caught our taxi the next morning at 4 am, and it was waiting at our door even though we came downstairs 5 minutes early.  And this was after we had grabbed 3 other phone numbers of taxi companies in our sleepy delirium before leaving.  Obviously, I have been living in Italy too long, because the efficiency of this taxi nearly brought us to tears of joy.  Ah, to be in a country where transportation is actually reliable...

Anyway, pictures are already up on my flickr page.  And I would hereby assess Budapest as one of Europe's most underrated cities - it is totally worth the trip!

Le foto! (Pics!)

Just a notizia - photos of Oxford (and a little bit of Bologna, from when my friend Hannah visited over Halloween weekend) are all up on my Flickr page.

Tè nel pomeriggio (Tea in the afternoon)

In other words, I was in England this weekend.  My friend Abby, who I have known practically forever (we went to elementary school together, and now she is studying at Barnard in New York - we seem to fortuitously follow similar paths), is doing her year abroad at Oxford, so naturally I had to go crash.  

Contrary to the popular belief that England and Italy are actually pretty close, it took me about 12 hours round trip to get there.  After trains and buses to Milan, a flight into London, and more buses, I finally arrived last Thursday night (or should I say Friday morning?).  Funny enough, it wasn't the driving on the wrong side of the road that had me most confused in my zombie-like state on Thursday night, but it was actually the English that gave me the most trouble.  I found myself having to catch my Italian words before they left my mouth, and I was even struggling for words while talking to the Oxford Tube driver.  Really, really weird feeling.

So anyway, after a little sleep Abby and I headed out the next morning to the Ashmolyan Museum, where we had an appointment in their print room.  As in, we got to go sit in the private print room for free where the print curator literally placed original sketches, studies, and prints done by Michelangelo and Raphael in front of us.  I have to say, I think seeing the practice rounds for the Sistine Chapel figures is actually cooler than the real thing.

The rest of the day we spent walking around Oxford and seeing the different colleges.  In other words, I felt like I was in some strange combination of Boston and Harry Potter.  And speaking of which, one of the trip highlights was definitely the hall of Christ Church college, which was filmed as the Great Hall of Hogwarts in the movies!  And students actually eat there, and eat in halls like this.  I was a guest at Abby's formal dinner on Sunday, where I really did have to dress up and there were actually teachers who sat up at a high table at the end of the hall and some students were actually wearing these scholar's robes which looked a little too much like Harry Potter wizard robes (I swear this wasn't just my imagination).

So anyway, rather than a play-by-play, here are things that were fantastic about England:

1. NATURE.  Thank god they love gardens and "grounds".  A couple of the colleges had these beautiful grounds with paths, and so we went on tons of walks.  Abby's room is actually right on the Thames, which with the fall leaves and wildlife was so gorgeous to walk by.  Also, they have animals: ducks, cows, deer, geese...you have to understand that Bologna is a city without grass and only pigeons and dogs.  Seriously, not even a squirrel.  Needless to say, thank god I finally could see some grass and breath some fresh air.

2. Tea.  Or more specifically, High Tea.  Seriously, who invented this?  It's completely brilliant.  First of all, I think I drank more cups of tea a day in my weekend at Oxford than I have in my whole life.  But the highlight was certainly when we actually had tea time and went to High Tea on Saturday afternoon.  Where, for about 5 pounds each, we each got a pot of tea with milk and sugar and two huge, soft, warm oatmeal scones with butter and strawberry jam.  Honestly, Italy really misses on the warm, gooey baked goods thing.  But England knows what's up.  Therefore, I have decided I am bring tea time back to the US with me.  I will not be stopped...and of course you are all invited.

3. "Cheers".  This is such a great expression, and is surprisingly applicable to so much.  And it makes an already excessively polite group of people just seem more polite, and also extremely charming.

4. Campus.  So ok, this is slightly more Oxford specific, but that is one thing I really miss and that I don't have here in Bologna.  The colleges of Oxford not only have lots of college pride, but they are close with each other and actually DO things that the college offers (like formal dinners, etc).  Plus Abby's college, Hertford, had this amazing study room and tea room with fire places, cushy chairs, newspapers, and (of course) tons of tea.  Perfect place to study, hang out, hold events, the whole nine yards.  And at a school as big as Bologna, which is also a commuter school and doesn't have this same sort of built campus, I have to say that I do miss campus life a lot after seeing the coziness of the Oxford halls.

So overall I had a fantastic weekend, though in some ways it felt a bit like an American escape - English-speakers, Starbucks and take-away coffee...it certainly felt closer to home.  Which makes me realize, and I think appreciate more, just how different Italy and the culture here is to me.  

One final anecdote - I caught the Oxford-London coach this morning at 3 am, and though I was definitely bleary-eyed, I had one of the best solo travel experiences yet.  It happens that a large part of the trip to the London train station is actually IN London - meaning that this morning I got a full and unexpected tour, in which I saw Hyde Park, Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, and the ferris wheel on the Thames.  So I think I'll have to go back and see it all in broad daylight.

Pictures to come soon on flickr!  Cheers!

Padre, Perugia, Pazzia (Dad, Perugia, Craziness)

It's been a while, and it has certainly been eventful...

A couple weekends ago I had the best treat ever - my dad came to Bologna!!!  It was so great to finally see someone from home, and it was so great to show someone from home what my life is like here.  And since the Bolognese care above all about two things, those are the things I had to show to my dad: food and sports.  This meant that Saturday was literally a day of eating, Italian style (see former September post for the Italian food schedule).  In between meals we walked around Bologna and I got to show him where my classes are held, where I live, etc etc.  Like I have said, Bologna is not a tourist city - so what better to do than walk and eat?  That night we went to dinner at the restaurant where I work tutoring the little Italian kids (and now the proprietress as well) in english.  Of course, unbeknownst to us, there was a "fiera" - as in, some sort of business convention - in town, so the place was absolutely packed.  And yet, the family still came out to me and Dad while we were waiting for a table with two glasses of prosecco on the house.  Not that I think he remembers who was who, but almost everyone I know at the restaurant came over to say hi while we were eating - they really gave us the royal treatment, it was so sweet. 

Surprisingly waking up on Sunday despite my own food and wine-induced coma from the night before,  I joined my dad for breakfast where we ended up meeting an American sports journalist who happened to be writing a piece on basketball in Bologna.  This seems extremely strange, I know, but Bologna is actually really well known as having two star basketball teams.  Regardless, we found out from this guy that there was a soccer game at the stadium that day, which of course led us on a 10-mile trek (who knew you needed your passport to buy tickets? Your name is literally recorded in some database, thanks to actual hooligans they need to keep out of games...so half the walk was the return for my passport).  It was well-worth it, though - Bologna stomped Lazio 3-1!  A rare sight - Bologna is actually pretty awful at soccer.  Everything they say about soccer fans is true, by the way - I would repeat the cheers and insults that I heard coming from the stands (including the 6 year old sitting behind me) but I wouldn't want to offend...

Overall it was a fantastic visit, and the ultimate bonus was that it resulted in two massive jars of chunky peanut butter for me.  I wish everyone could have seen the face of my Italian roommate Giuseppe when he tried his first bite - affirmation that peanut butter is a thing that can be loved by all.

Now, on to this past weekend - I went to Perugia!  My friends and I, being as clued into Italian culture as ever, of course figured out within the first week that Perugia is host to the largest chocolate festival in the world - Eurochocolate!  Obviously, this trip was planned almost immediately after this was realized.  So last Friday my friends Cassandra, Natalie, Katie (a friend of Natalie's who was visiting from Ireland), and myself hopped on the train to Perugia.

Except - we actually didn't go to Perugia.  The thing is, all of the Perugia hostels were booked.  Like I said: Biggest.  Chocolate.  Festival.  EVER.  You can only imagine how many people (or at least how many girls like me and my friends) this sort of thing attracts.  So we booked this hostel in a place called Torricella, which, according to the website, was only a hop skip and a jump away from Perugia's city center.  No problem with that - but this hostel, "La Casa Sul Lago" (The House on the Lake), actually was just that - it was situated on Lago Trasimeno, a pretty large body of water, and it was legitimately in the countryside of Umbria.

So we arrive at the train station in Magione, a neighboring "town," at which point I was supposed to call the hostel guy, Giangiacomo, to have him pick us up.  So I call, and he quickly explains that he is actually not there at the moment, but no worry, his friend will come and get us.  It's important to go with the flow on these things.  So the four of us end up piling into some Italian guy's car, no problem, and he drives us through the hills of Umbria alongside this lake from Magione to Torricella, these two villages that are probably 5 minutes apart.

I wish I could explain the amazing experience that was our night at this hostel - it requires a certain understanding of Italian culture that I am not sure I can do justice.  The truth is, the farther south you move, and the more into the country you go, the warmer people are.  Sure, this is a pretty good generalization to make.  But the difference between being in Bologna, a university town that isn't even as cosmopolitan as Florence or Milan, and this tiny town of Torricella, in this hostel run by people who have been there for their whole lives - the difference is really unfathomable.  Giangiacomo was this boisterous, younger guy with such a lust for life that I haven't seen in many people - he was so warm and open.  The hostel was huge, but there were only 20 people staying there at the time, so he gave the four of us our own private room for the cheapest price.  Then (and remember, this is all in the first five minutes of us arriving), he tells us "Ok, at 8:30 we prepare dinner together and we eat at 9!!!  If you help cook, you don't pay, you just eat!!!  And we give you wine!!!" (Seriously, everything this guy said was followed by a few exclamation points).  So what we really found ourselves in was not a hostel, but a college co-op.  I am serious - at 8:30, we all had a glass of wine together, and then we rolled up our sleeves with a few of the other guests and we cooked up a pretty awesome feast with Giangiacomo and his friends.  It was simple, but it might be one of the best meals I have eaten in Italy - spaghetti with a veggie tomato sauce, salad, some gnocchi, and a neverending supply of red wine.  It was such a happening joint - I honestly think we were this town's party, because people just kind of kept showing up.  I ended up talking for a solid hour with some Italian friend of Giangiacomo's about pasta shape and its importance in relation to sauce type for a solid hour - meanwhile people seemed to just keep handing out grappa and limoncello.  Needless to say, we slept like babies.

We got up early the next morning for breakfast before grabbing the train at 9 from Torricella into Perugia - of course, we didn't even pay for this train because there was honestly no place to even buy a ticket.  Which means our entire 24 hours of housing and food and train cost 18 euros a piece.  Not too bad, I think.

So we make it into Perugia, which I would really love to see sans chocolate festival too - it's beautiful.  And of all things, they had escalators that took you up into the city center because, like most cities in that region, the centro storico is at the top of a hill (and when I say, I really mean more of a mountain by all Midwestern standards).  So to make a just metaphor here, I swear these escalators were honestly the path carrying me up to heaven, because I think I encountered the closest thing I might ever find to paradise in Perugia - the city was literally filled with chocolate.  Leave all ideas you might have about this confection behind, because any American idea we have of chocolate is, quite frankly, WRONG.  American does not understand chocolate, or certainly not in all its forms.  These quaint Perugian streets were covered in every kind of chocolate imaginable - white, milk, dark, all kinds of nuts, nougats, covered fruits, popcorn, sacher tort, liqueurs, the biggest Toblerone bar I have ever set eyes on, hot chocolate (and no, this is not Swiss Miss, this is literally liquid chocolate so thick it barely slides down your throat if you take too big a sip).  So of course we all bought the necessary 5 euro "Chococard" which got us tons of free samples and discounts - and in the words of my friend Cassandra, who wisely said at our first bite of chocolate, "Girls, remember, it is a marathon and not a sprint," I came home with awesome amounts of chocolate and not even a hint of a stomach ache.

A final few words on Perugia: this city is awesome even without the chocolate festival.  In the duomo, there is the coolest relic ever: the Virgin Mary's wedding ring!  We didn't see it, because they keep it under lock and key, but it was there!  They were really into Mary in Perugia - she was all over the place.  But we saw an awesome Etruscan wall too, and this street with these massive spikes on the walls - in the middle ages they impaled the heads of excuted prisoners on the spikes!  How cool is that!?

Finally, really, finally - PICTURES!  Check out the link to my Flickr page on the right side of the page.  I'll update as much as my 100 MB quota a month allows.

Missing you all - baci da Bologna! ciao!

Mamma mia, ho diventato un'insegnante (Oh my god, I became a teacher)

I will tell you all this, it is awesome to be paid in euros.  It is glorious to think about the fact that there is no exchange rate involved, much less international debit charges on my card, despite the fact that the exchange rate was pretty good today ($1.36 to the euro, not bad).  In other words, I have a job!

Through a long string of people and connections, I somehow landed a gig as a, for lack of a better job description, native-english-speaking-friend-slash-conversationalist for what seems to be a family that owns a pizzeria.  Except, oh wait, what I was actually expecting a pizzeria is instead a huge trattoria (aka nice restaurant) with Roman ruins all over it (they have a glass floor in a couple places so you can see a Roman well.  History nerd or not, I think that's pretty sweet).  Basically, the mother Marzia told me that she wants me to come by twice a week at lunch time and have fun, relaxed english conversation with her daughter Michelle, who is 8, and her cousin Martin (age 10), and on occasion her younger brother (age 5).  And before I knew it, I was sucked into this family affair and am slowly getting to know all of the relatives and people who work in this restaurant.

I was expecting just some regular sort of tutoring job, right?  But as we have all learned, expectations in Italy, in general, are absolutely useless and futile.  So I show up at 1:30 on Friday (American punctuality may never leave my system, we'll see after a year), and am ushered back to a table with these 3 little kids.  The best part, I quickly realize, is that I can understand what they say in Italian - woo hoo!  Obviously this means I will be able to maintain some semblance of order...just in case things get out of hand (you never know, what if they were wild?).  Of course they are all completely delightful, and naturally really bright.  Kids are amazing with how they learn language.  In fact, they understood so much of what I said, even if they continued to respond in Italian, and then we would just practice the responses together.  So I pull out some markers, paper, and m&m's (never underestimate the power of candy) and we spend 2 hours talking, drawing, counting, and so on.  But wait - it gets better.

Obviously I should have expected the food, and I did...but not quite so elaborately.  I mean literally, they brought over a pizza for the table, then lasagna (yes, with homemade pasta and meat sauce and this cheese that was just spilling over the side), and then wait, obviously I needed dessert, right?  The tiramisu...I can't even get into it.  So after a successful day, I assumed that would be it.  Except for when I showed up today to tutor Michelle and was subsequently brought fresh tortellini with pancetta and mushrooms and a little creme filled puff drowned in chocolate sauce, etc etc etc...you get the picture.  I cannot believe I am basically getting paid to eat this stuff (and ask about favorite colors in english).  Life could obviously be worse.

Yet I seem to be becoming a teacher as fast as (or faster than?) I am becoming a student.  You see, both times I was talking with these kids, two different family members (aunts, I believe) came up and listened, then asked me if I would tutor them as well.  Which means that I have another two hour date for Saturday morning at this trattoria in addition to my two lunch dates there, though I guess I'll leave the markers at home for that one.  And I think this also means I need to learn how to teach english grammar at the same time I try to perfect my italian grammar.  Interesting how the tables turn, no?  

Urbino, lezioni, e dentifricio (Urbino, classes, and toothpaste)

Finally - I am officially a student of l'Università di Bologna.  And you thought it would never happen, right?  But Italians don't really care much for time, anyway, things just sort of happen when the happen.  So I guess it's sort of nice to know that my 9 am class will never really start before 9:15 - we're talking 15 extra minutes sleep, right?

But I digress - time to back up a little bit.  This past Saturday I went to Urbino, which promptly won me over and has taken a place among my top 3 Italian cities.  Urbino is in Le Marche (this is very cool - I had never been to this region before!), which is on the Eastern side of the boot.  But here is the kicker - Urbino is literally impossible to reach by train.  As in, it is built into the "hills," which are actually more like mountains to a midwesterner such as myself (let's face it, these "hills" far surpass any black diamond run I've ever seen east of the Rockies).  So I think if you ever felt the strong urge to make it to Urbino, and you didn't have a car to drive there, you would have to go through some complicated process of taking the train to Pesaro, then a bus from there, etc etc...you get the idea.  So we drove 2 1/2 hours to this walled city, built into a mountain, and I slowly came to realization throughout the day that I never would have even known of Urbino (much less made it there) had I not been doing this program.  To think I never would have seen this place!  Urbino is incredible!  First of all, the city really is walled, and you need really climb to get in centro - in this way, it reminded me a lot of Siena, with lots of little winding, climbing streets.  In the morning we toured the Palazzo Ducale of Federico III da Montefeltro (this is just a fancy way of saying "that one really rich Duke who practically owned the place during the Renaissance).  This was a special treat as well because it holds a Raphael work (if not more than one) and also "La città ideale," a famous Renaissance painting that shows the ideals of perspective and linearity (I suggest searching on google images for this).  

And oh yeah, did I mention that Raphael was born in Urbino?  How cool is that!?  So we took a little trip to his house, which is now a museum, and we wandered through his hallways that afternoon.  However, since we were obviously famished after the Palazzo Ducale, we went to lunch at a cute trattoria where I ate, I think, some of the best food of my year here yet.  The best thing about these Italian restaurants is that they are so unassuming - they often look so modest inside, and they are not trying to be something grander than what they are, and yet the food always takes your breath away.  The quality of this food was simply amazing.  First we had two different types of pasta, one with a red tomato sauce and the other a wheat pasta with veggies.  Simple, but pure and tasty.  Our secondo piatto was even better - "stinchi di maiale con rosmarino".  Basically, we were given mini crock-pots of what was pig shin meat, and it was made with oil and rosemary.  I have never loved pork more in my life - this meat was so tender and the rosemary was the perfect flavor to add to it.  This was served with patate fritte also made with rosemary.  Afterwards, along with lemon cake (which I actually didn't like, sadly), they gave us little glasses of cherry wine and espressos.  And thank goodness my friends made the right decision to order a slice of WARM flourless chocolate cake.  In short, it was heavenly.

After our meal and before Raphael's house, we walked up to the top of the hill that Urbino sits on and got a view of the surrounding countryside - it was beautiful, especially with the trees and grass beginning to change colors for autumn. Pictures really do not do it justice.  However, since I have been sans camera and have been unable to show you all what I have seen, here is my latest suggestion: go to http://www.bcsp.unibo.it - click on "Events" on the side bar.  Then to see the updated albums of my class, you can look at "Villa Ghigi" and "Ravenna" (Urbino isn't updated yet).  

Anyway, to continue this long and arduous post, I finally had my first italian university class yesterday.  This class is called "Gli stati uniti nel mondo contemporaneo" - yes, I am taking US history.  This is actually sort of my extra class, the one I don't really need, but the professor is really great.  He is interesting and clear, and I am mentally thanking my American profs for directing me toward taking US history abroad.  In my two days in the class, I can already tell that it is going to be a really different experience.  The past two days have really been all about religion and politics, and the difference between a catholic vs. protestant/separation of church and state nation.  Really fascinating stuff, and so far the Italian hasn't been too hard to keep up with.  We'll also be following the election, which I am grateful for - this is a historic year! VOTE!!!!

And now, I am libera - completely free.  My next class doesn't begin until October 8th.  So I have a few days to putz around.  Maybe I'll go to Florence?  We'll see what happens.

And oh yeah, toothpaste!  So I ran out of my american Arm&Hammer toothpaste - a sad day, but obviously I'm not in England and this isn't the middle ages, so dental hygiene exists here.  So I go to the store and decide, "Hey, I am adventurous.  I try new things.  I'm not going to buy Colgate or Aquafresh...time to try some Italian toothpaste."  So I pick up some sort of Italian natural looking toothpaste, figuring it will be pretty good and kind of gentle like my Arm&Hammer stuff.  Well, I don't know whose idea it was, but "Mint and Eucalyptus" as a toothpaste flavor is...interesting, to say the least.  I still haven't decided if you could call it refreshing.  And I also haven't decided if it tastes like hand lotion.  But who knows, maybe I'll love it after I go through this first tube...

For now, arrivaderci!

Una spiegazione di Bologna (An explanation of Bologna)

Allow me to explain.  Many of you who read this have been all over the world and seen many, many places (or perhaps have not...it doesn't really matter).  The point is, I think I need to explain exactly what Bologna is.  Let me start with what it is not: it is not Florence.  It is not Rome.  It is definitely not Naples or Milan.  And though I joke about all these Italian cities sort of melting together in a "seen one, seen 'em all" sort of way (and this statement does have truth), Bologna is really una cosa diversa - something totally different.

I realized this the other day when I was walking down a little side street and happened to see a record store.  So I obviously went in, only to find myself in a little Italian "High Fidelity" situation (John Cusack movie, centering around this type of record store, highly recommended).  And as I was flipping through the 99 eurocent records with my friend Veronica, both of us musing about how we should just buy lots of records to decorate our rooms, and as I leafed through a free schedule of music and culture events in Bologna for September, I couldn't help but think: huh.  This feels a lot like Ann Arbor.

And then I realized that this is exactly where I am.  I am in an Italian Ann Arbor, or any other sort of university town.  The population of Bologna is around 150,000 people, and nearly 100,000 of that is students.  I feel pretty slow on the uptake, but I think it's because the students still haven't really come back yet (after all, classes don't begin until September 29th at the earliest...and even that's being optimistic.  Two of my courses don't begin until October 13th!).  

Having realized this, it all makes sense now - there are organic-fair-trade coffee shops, independent record stores, music festivals, and obviously tons of bars geared to a college crowd.  In fact, the number of pizzerias open late into the night should have been the most obvious tip-off (name one college campus that doesn't have late-night food).  It is for this that Bologna feels different to me - it's actually more familiar than I thought.  I can't really send postcards that show off some well-known monument or a famous church, and it's not like the city is known for marbled paper or leather or gold (no, it is fortunately...and unfortunately for my pant size...known for food, but I can't exactly ship that home).  In fact, I hardly knew anything about Bologna before I came here - it's no wonder I wasn't expecting something like this.  But frankly, I am still not surprised that people don't put this on their list of places to go (although they should, since this is truly some of the best food of Italy).

So yes, I will take pictures, and I will send letters, etc etc.  But I now I realize - and I want everyone else to understand - that what is so special about Bologna is perhaps not quite as tangible as the Trevi Fountain or the Duomo of Milano.  But this is what makes it such a great place to shack up for a year.

Ho comprato il pesce (I bought fish!)

This was, in all honesty, a huge adventure.  And as we have now learned, going from A to B is never so straightforward here, yet after some slight stress and panic (all beneath my cool facade of feigned understanding) I succeeded in buying a fish fillet to cook for dinner.

Let me explain.  Like anything else in Italy, to buy fish, you need to go to the pescherie - the fish guys.  This is really the only way to do it - there is no "get out of jail free" card because you literally can't buy fish in any of the supermarket type stores.  So I realized I had to go for it when I felt like I was going to burst open with ragù sauce - I needed to eat some fish.

Like any secret agent, I began by scoping out the scene.  So I discreetly wandered around the three pescherie (of course they are all right next to each other) one afternoon, trying to make sense of the place and, obviously, form a plan of action.  The problem was, I couldn't make any sense of it - it was absolute mayhem.  At every pescheria there was a huge crowd of loud civilians standing outside the shop, gathered around all the fresh fish, shrimp, and prawns, conceivably yelling at the one big Italian guy in the fishmonger apron, and this guy was throwing all of the fish people wanted into newspaper before sending it up to worker behind the counter, who would then ring up the order.  Simple, right?  Obviously not.  Here was the major problem I had with this process: all of the fish outside had EYES.  And scales.  And bones.  In other words, it was all whole.  

Now don't get me wrong, I will always try new cuisine and am not terribly picky, but I definitely do not know how to clean and gut a fish, much less remove the eyes, much less remove the legs from prawns, etc etc.  And the worst part was that I saw all of these delicious-looking, cleaned fillets sitting inside the store in the counter.  But how to get at that holy grail of a whitefish fillet, not to mention get past the huge Italian fishmonger with his scary newspaper hands, was completely beyond me.

So enough scoping.  Plan of action totally out the window.  I decided to bite the bullet and dive into the scene.

I walked inside and realized I had to grab a number from one of those deli tabs.  Number 10.  Ok, I could deal with this.  So far so good.  Until the next obstacle presented itself to me - the big guy who was working outside was yelling "Sette! Sette! (Seven! Seven!)", while inside a screen above the counter read "2".  My heart started beating slightly faster - dear god, I do not want any of that crap with the legs and eyes and scales, I will seriously go hungry, and how I am supposed to explain this situation to this huge fishy man and in front of all these Italian grandmothers who just want to get dinner for their kids and grandchildren and friends and friend's kids and friend's grandkids.  And what is going on with that number 2?  Why is it not number 7?  Am I the only one who is confused here?

I sat there for a minute in a moment of zen, willing my language skills to their maximum power and potential, as my number approached.  Finally, the moment of truth: "DIECI! DIECI!"

"Ah, sono io, that's me!"  And before he could say anything else to me, I proceeded to explain in hurried Italian that, no, I don't want any of the stuff outside, I just want something from inside, and what do I have to do to get my one stupid whitefish fillet?

This guy looked at me for a second, and then said in the kindest voice, "Cara, stai tranquilla.  Aspetta per il tuo numero qua."  This basically translates to "Dear, just relax.  Wait for your number here." And he pointed to the mysterious screen (which now read number 7, those tricky tricky fishmongers).  So it turns out, he was just ahead of the game and getting people ready to pay.  And so I waited for number 10 to show, told the guy behind the counter that I wanted "un filletto di quello" with some strategic pointing, and paid my 1 euro and left.  And you wonder why that had to be so stressful, right?  It all makes so much sense in retrospect.

However - I am still not entirely positive what type of fish I had for dinner that night.  But I know it was the cheapest, and it had no eyes.

Da Bologna a Ravenna, accessori sono necessari (From Bologna to Ravenna, accessories are necessary)

Alright, this post involves two important things in Italian culture: Ravenna, and accessories.

I should begin with Ravenna, because this is where I was for all of last Saturday.  As part of my pre-session course that I am taking right now, we have a cultural aspect - meaning every Wednesday I get to sleep in instead of going to grammar class, and then I get lectured by the brilliant (and terribly stereotypical) art history prof, Dottore Benvenuto.  So we took a little class day trip to this city, which is about 1 1/2 hours north of Bologna.  I'm going to be honest - after a while, these cities start to look pretty much the same (even one of the program directors said this to me).  Ravenna is no more picturesque than any other little Italian town, and you can tell why it's not at the top of the tourist list.  However, I loved this city so much because it was such a diamond in the rough.  The thing is, Ravenna is most famous for all of its incredible Byzantine mosaics that are in the churches there.  It was a capital of the Byzantine empire, meaning it is a pretty unique place in terms of its art.  There is this crazy juxtaposition between your basically average Italian baroque decoration and then these entirely unique (and OLD) Byzantine mosaics.  And the coolest thing about Byzantine art is that you can see the incredible influence of the East on it - slides and pictures just do not do this stuff justice.  There is just no way to represent the exoticism and lushness of the colors and shapes that these mosaics have.  So we trekked around this fairly normal city with Dottore Benvenuto, going in and out of churches that continued to amaze once you got through the door.  

But what would a day be without pranzo (lunch)?  And god knows how the Italians love their food.  So we stopped for "lunch," which turned out to be a beautiful three-course meal of pasta ragu, pork with potatoes and zucchini, and creme caramel for dessert.  And needless to say, I didn't eat dinner that night (but somehow found room for some candied almonds before leaving Ravenna...somehow...).

So I think I can safely say, and especially having studied middle eastern history, that I saw my favorite church of all time in Ravenna - totally blows all others out of the water.  It was just so unique. Here is a picture from my friend John at the top, one of the churches we saw.  As soon as I can get pictures of the mosaics, I will put them up.

Anyway, on to another reflection on Italian culture: accessories.  Seriously, these people love their accessories.  I realized the other day that the reason why vespas are so widely used here is because they are the perfect excuse for another accessory: helmets.  Why wouldn't you want the zippy helmet to match your red motorcycle?  In fact, while we're at it, why not make that a Hello Kitty helmet (yeah, don't ask me why, Hello Kitty, Abercrombie, and Uggs are suddenly things they go nuts for...I'm kicking myself for having outgrown that at the age of, oh I don't know, ELEVEN).  And you know, now that you have the Hello Kitty helmet, may as well get a keychain to match.  And please, for the love of god, don't even start the ignition without your leather jacket - that's just a given, you do NOT leave home without it.

The Italians just like...things.  I mean, life can be as inefficient as possible, but it doesn't matter because you have on three-inch heels that look pretty damn good while you ride your BMW bike (yes, bicycles from BMW exist) home for lunch.  And god knows you probably cannot see the road as you pedal slowly down the strada, because you have on some pretty thick Dolce&Gabbana sunglasses, but no worries, you'll make it there eventually.  That is, if you don't get hit by the girl in the Hello Kitty helmet along the way.

So here's my resolution - perhaps I will just start wearing every piece of jewelry I own at once.  Sans bike, vespa, motorcycle, and leather jacket, I think its the best I can do for now.

Non posso (I can't...keep up, that is)

So my internet is spotty at best - for some reason the Italian ethernet cord does not seem to like my American Macbook so much - but here I am typing away in my new luminous room.  I have completely moved in!  After a long and arduous trip to Ikea (which, let me tell you, if you think its stressful in the US, try doing it in a country that in no way supports making useful information obvious, such as where buses pick you up), my bed is at least ready for sleeping.  As always - how does this always happen to me in Italy? - I schlepped my suitcases up 5 flights of stairs.  But, that's what I get for wanting the top floor with the terrace, the killer view, and the cool exposed wooden beams in my ceiling.  Vale la pena - it's totally worth it.  My camera is disfunctional at the moment and the pics I took on my computer just don't do it justice - so pics will have to come in the next post.

So right now, my days involve grammar class with the other people in my program from 10-12:30...and that's about it.  Of course I do have homework and I really need to do a lot of work - I find that I can understand basically anything people say to me, but being able to produce those words is another story.  So I definitely need to work on my language a lot more.  However, now that I am finally all settled in, I feel I can really start to see Bologna in a different way.  I'll have my afternoons to go see churches, go to museums, and that sort of thing.  Bologna has such an amazing history, and the university is literally the oldest in Europe (founded in 1088!  I am literally in the company of Dante and Galileo!).  The thing is, I realized that I have seen Bologna really only through one perspective so far...and that is through the lens of FOOD.

Yes.  Bologna is known as the "grassa," or fat.  As in, it is known as the place in Italy where you will literally eat the best food of your life.  And that is saying something, because, let's face it, it's Italy, and I can't imagine eating poorly anywhere.  But no, Bologna has this awesome reputation for being awesome at food.  And it has taken me only two weeks to realize, dear god, I cannot keep up with these Italians.

Really, I just need someone to explain how 45 year old Italian women can have 4 children, live in Bologna (where it is impossible to hate food), and literally be a size 0.  It makes no sense.  But not only are my taste buds constantly accosted by course after course of rich and beautiful food, I have to drink too.  I don't just mean alcohol, I mean in general, I need to drink all beverages possible.  Example of the days when I follow the true Italian schedule (NB: feel free to throw extra espressos in whenever you feel so moved):

Breakfast - cappuccino or espresso (duh), and bread/croissant product.  Fruit?  For breakfast?  What?  No, ok, maybe some dates, a hard boiled egg, dry dry dry toast, jam, or straight-up whole milk.  I think we all know that this spells constipation.  So maybe 2 espressos to start the day off right.

Lunch - Panino with cheese, tomatoes, eggplant, maybe prosciutto.  Search arduously for a fruit vendor to battle the carb overload.

Aperitivo, around 6:30 - well, this is just great.  By a drink for 5 euros, get a glass of wine and unlimited buffet of all types of crostini, antipasti, pasta, etc.  Basically, this could be dinner.  In fact, sometimes it is (on my faux Italian days when I can't adhere strictly to the schedule).

Dinner, possibly at 8, but really the later the better (perhaps 9 is ideal) - And seriously, one plate is more than enough.  Pasta ragu, e finito.  But if you are really Italian, you have a primo and a secondo piatto (pasta, then meat dish), often preceded by antipasti (think bruschetta).  Obviously, more wine.  Espresso post-dinner equally necessary, desirable, and expected.

Dolci - oh yeah, it continues.  Just go for it.  How good does tiramisu or panna cotta or mascarpone con frutta or even gelato sound after all that?  No don't worry, you are not ready to puke yet, its all those espressos, they just do the digesting for you.  Plus, consider dessert an opportunity to fit in your second helping of fruit for the day.  Easy.

Then, after dinner and dessert, and if its a weekend, head out to a bar and have drinks with friends.  Perhaps it will help to postpone your FOOD COMA that is almost fully onset by that final bite of panna cotta.  Because lets face it, if an espresso can't cure it, then alcohol probably can.

Seriously, there is no way real people can do this.  I mean, merely ignoring the fact that this diet includes more bread and carbohydrates then even I can process (and I certainly love carbs), never did I expect to be so violently accosted by, of all things, food.  This is practically a sport.

I mean really, my life has revolved entirely around meals.  Luckily, now that I am settled, I will have more control over this seemingly impossible schedule of gastronomic activity and perhaps won't feel so peer pressured by all of the trattorias and caffes.  At least I have hit the point where I can accept the fact that my American body, mind, and stomach just cannot handle - or rather, truly embrace - every aspect of the Italian food system.  Which is why I ate Indian food for lunch the other day (and while the naan was a bit like foccaccia, it was quite a nice break).

All'inizio, c'erano appuntamenti (In the beginning, there were appointments)

So, finally...hello from Bologna!  To explain a bit, this blog is in lieu of writing the same email 30 times each time I want to tell you all about my experiences abroad, whether it be my life here in Bologna or the trips I plan on making throughout the year.  Since this is, for me, just another form of correspondence, I strongly encourage you all to write me back so that I can be updated on your lives too (come on people, this is a two way street, here).

I won't lie, the move was harder than I expected it to be, especially after such an incredible summer at Watervale.  In fact, I can't imagine a stranger transition to make.  As usual, though, these things never really hit me until they are actually happening...so this didn't even seem completely real until I was actually on the plane.  And even then it didn't seem entirely real since I flew Lufthansa, and a German flight is probably as different from an Italian one as you can get.  Literally in Bologna was where it all truly began.  Checking into my hotel, meeting my program directors, buying a cell phone...and somehow I pulled my (terribly grammatically incorrect) Italian out of the back of my lazy, sun-soaked summer brain.  

In all, my program consists of about 25 students, all from different universities across the states.  For these first couple weeks, being together, it's a little hard - we alternate between English and Italian, but it's obvious that we all make mistakes (not to mention that it still feels strange to get to know each other in another language - you can only go so far in your non-native tongue).  The amazing part is, we have an fantastic group of people.  Everyone is incredibly different, but the group seems to click so well.  I love that this program is so independent, but as for this first month, it's great that we can all bond with each other.  We joke that each time one of us makes a foreign friend, they get 25 Americans for the price of one.  Frankly, I am amazed that we all share the same sorts of priorities for the year - we want to be friends, but we don't want to live together.  Even though doubles are easier to find than singles, none of us would think of being roommates.  So, what am I trying to say here...it's great to have this security, this circle of friends who you know will understand you in an American way, but it is in no way a group that inhibits your experience or your immersion abroad.  I knew I picked this program for a reason.

But before I bore you all to death, this is where the real adventure begins...

I was homeless.  Yup, I can officially claim this.  Thank you BCSP, for putting me up in this little hotel with air conditioning and free breakfast, however, even little Nutella packets cannot quell the uncertainty and reality of homelessness.  So despite the fact that my first instinct was to drown this fear and unhappiness in mountains of gelato (which I only sort of did), I started apartment hunting almost immediately.  The thing is, Bologna is a college town - sort of a medieval Ann Arbor, sans college football - and therefore, everyone needs to find housing.  One would think it would be a painless process, and it sort of is, but the Italians are not exactly known for their efficiency and organization.

So basically, I spent an afternoon running up and down Via Zamboni (the main street that the university buildings are on) pulling flyers down off of bulletin boards, walls, and trash bins, all of which try to convince me that I would be so excited to pay 300 euro a month plus utilities to live in this "doppia luminosa" (yes, luminous double) only 10 minutes from the Piazza Maggiore.  After accumulating maybe 10 of these flyers (and after seeing those same 10 flyers still posted up on my walk back to the hotel), I finally got up the courage to call the first one and make an appointment to see it.  Typical exchange was something like this:

"Ciao, sei Stefania?" (Hi, are you Stefania?)

"Si, chi e'?" (Yeah...who's this?)

"Sono Rachel, una ragazza americana.  Posso vedere la tua stanza se e' libera?" (I'm Rachel, an American girl.  Can I see your room if it's unoccupied? -- this sounds way more inappropriate in translation)

"Si si si certo, blah blah blah blah lots of incomprehensible italian blah blah blah alle 6, ok?"

"Ok, so you want me to come at 6?" (in broken Italian)

"No no, blah blah blah blah blah alle 4, va bene?"

"Ok, alle 4?"

"No, blah blah blah 15 blah blah blah 3"

"Wait, are we in military time now?"

And the confusion continues, but somehow a time is always decided on (usually within 2 hours of the call) and somehow you figure out how to get to the apartment, hope you choose the right name on the buzzer, and generally huff it up 5 flights of stairs only to breathlessly explain in Italian to the roommates that you eat too much gelato, ha ha ha, yes un caffe' would be great even though you have heart palpitations from being offered 3 other espressos that day, and is heat cost included in the rent?  Ok, well grazie, and I have some other appointments, but I'm interested, so I'll call...oh, you'll call me?  Oh we call each other, ok...

Honestly, I'm amazed I found a place at all, but its official - as of yesterday, I am homeless no more.  My apartment is absolutely fantastic.  I'm on the top floor of an old building, so we have a huge terrazza with an incredible view of Bologna.  The kitchen is small, but obviously functional.  My room is...wait for it...luminous.  There are these great big windows that look out onto the rooftops of Bologna and onto the trees that line my new street, Via Righi.  However, the most important part of my new house are my roommates.  Giuseppe, the Italian, is in one room, and Mellie, a German girl (but who has lived in Italy for 4 years) is in another.  I currently have no roommate for my double, but I met the two French girls, Anna and Annais, whose room I am taking.  The vibe was perfect when I went in - everyone seemed so relaxed and laid back.  It was way too reminiscent of L'Auberge Espagnole (if you haven't seen this movie, definitely check it out) - a truly eclectic mix of people.  Of course the language of the house is Italian, since Giuseppe doesn't speak anything else and the other girls are fluent.  When I walked in, I had such a good feeling about the place, and I knew that was where I wanted to be.  I'm actually pretty sad that the French girls are moving out - Anna and I have been hanging out, so maybe I'll try and see her in Paris.  

I don't move in till the end of the week, but there you have it - I officially have a house in Bologna.  And if I thought this was difficult now, imagine what it must be like when the students actually come back to Bologna mid September.  I'd probably end up drowning in a sea of annunci and Italians looking for the same luminous room that I am.  Thank god I beat that rush...

Pictures (and more) to come soon enough!  Ciao ciao!

Mailing Address!

Though my living situation is currently uncertain, my mailing address is not!  All year, you can send mail to me in Bologna at:

Rachel Goodman

c/o Indiana University

Bologna Consortial Studies Program

Via Val D'Aposa 7

40123 Bologna - Italy

I would love to hear from you, and I always write back!