Oggi ho fatto qualcosa italianissimo (Today I did something really Italian)

First of all, pictures from my Cologne/Brussels trip are up on my Flickr page if you feel the urge to see a photo of a leige waffle with a massive bite out of it.  And you know, some other cathedrals and art and stuff.

On a different note, I have to be honest.  I am pretty bored.  There are the mildly bored days, and then there are the bored-out-of-my-mind days, which in general averages out to a lingering boredom over all days.  I know, I know, you are all scoffing at this, thinking "What are you even saying!!??  You are in ITALY!!!"  This is true.  I am in Italy.  But I am also waiting around for a few things:

1.  To take my last exam, which is still two weeks away.

2.  For the weather to get better.  I am so done with winter.

3.  For my friends who are studying abroad for the semester to get here.  And get settled.  And then get traveling with me.

4.  For my new classes to start.  Again, a couple weeks away.

5.  For the weather to get better.

So I hate to say it, but I am in a quasi-state of limbo, where I want a little "pausa" from traveling, where I do need to spend some time studying (though I work best under pressure so that won't really happen until a few days before my test), and yet even with tutoring, studying, and doing crossword puzzles, I have a liberal amount of free time on my hands.  (Note: who would have ever guessed that there is such a thing as too much free time?  I almost - dare I say it - can't wait to have homework again next year.  Or at least to be busy).  So with this free time that I don't know what to do with, I found myself doing something so Italian, it's almost embarrassing.  I looked out my window.

Alright, go ahead and scoff again.  This probably makes no sense.  However, Italy is a country of looking.  Appearances count.  I even was taught in my Italian film class about the "strong tradition" of not just looking out the window, but looking AT people.  Think of the little old woman who sits behind the shutters of her second floor apartment and watches the street below.  Or even think of the old Italian men who sit on park benches or at cafes, watching the people go by.  And though it might be a stereotypical image, it is certainly based on truth, and continually my friends and I lament about how we can never walk outside in sweatshirts and pj bottoms as we do in the US because we would be more or less ostracized.  Get the idea?

So today, I suddenly found myself standing at my window, staring out and watching the street below.  Not to be anticlimactic, but the only thing I really concluded was that the people riding bikes must be freezing their butts off.  And yet, I had my "woah" moment when I found myself then actively looking into the windows of people's apartments across the street, at which point my imagination started to run wild with what sort of people live there and what kinds of situations might be going on behind their shutters.  At which point I freaked out at my own ability to participate in this nutty version of people watching that is such a "tradition" here.

So boredom and free time breeds transformation into an Italian elderly woman.  Good to note.

Up next - the dreaded oral exams.  And not the dentist kind.

Quando la mia vita è odorato di waffles (When my life smelled like waffles)

Ok, so this is slightly overdue...mostly out of my own laziness.  So I figure it's about time I let you all know that, first of all, I made it back to Italy in one piece after a whirlwind tour of the States, and secondly, that I fill you in on what I did just two days after getting back to Europe.  I took what I would consider to be my first really solo trip and went to Cologne, Germany and Brussels, Belgium.  And to preface - only an hour before going to the airport I was on the phone with my mom, contemplating the prospect of moping around Bologna all weekend (it was a pretty lonely place when I returned) versus getting out and taking this trip that I had planned (even at the cost of no internet communication for a few days).  So a definite thanks to mom for lighting the fire under my butt.

The first thing about Cologne - how do the Germans make it so damn easy to get around?  Thank you, Germany, for your impeccably timed and reliable public transportation.  I seem to appreciate this more and more every time I leave Italy.  Upon waking up in Cologne the next day, I set out to do what seems to be the one skill I am really cultivating this year (besides learning to control my blood pressure while trying to purchase fish in Italy): really seeing a place in a very limited amount of time.  So, even though I knew I was going to freeze, I set off for downtown Cologne, determined to take it by storm.  And I have to say I am pretty proud of myself, because I checked a lot of cool stuff off my list (which again is just easier to list, for brevity's sake):

-Cologne Dom (Cathedral): This is literally the first thing you see when you leave the train station.  And it definitely hits my list of top European churches.  It's the most perfect gothic cathedral, and what's more, is gorgeous inside too (those arched groin vaults...thank you art history for making me appreciate them so much).  Then, since I had the time, I decided to climb up the south tower of the cathedral.  But oh yeah, it was 509 steps (and I mean real steps, not wimpy ones) - and it was so worth it for the view at the top.  Plus I then got to see "Fat Peter" - the biggest free-swinging bell in the world!

-EL-DE Haus: so slightly more sobering, but very cool nonetheless - EL-DE Haus was a gestapo prison during WWII, which today has been preserved and also has a memorial/museum on the upper two floors.  To be honest, I didn't last very long - not exactly the happiest of places - but the best part was the jolly old beret-wearing German guy at the front desk who talked with me for a solid 20 minutes.  I swear, this guy was so excited that I was just an American with German roots, and he was even more excited to tell me about the incredible history of Cologne (which was a capital of the Roman empire at one point, did you know?  In fact, they just have Roman and medieval walls kind of lying around in the middle of the city). 

-Schokolad Museum:  Ok, obviously I needed a pick-me-up.  So I walked along the Rhine down to the Chocolate Museum, which I think is owned by Lindt, because not only do they have three floors of exhibitions to bring you through the history of chocolate and how it is made, but they have a legitimate factory in there where you can watch women in white lab coats (sadly, not oompa loompas) bag little milk chocolates that start as mush at one end and somehow end up in little gold wrappers in about 30 seconds.  And yes, there were samples.  Duh.

So I was pretty content with my sightseeing and felt that the next best thing to do, after a quick coffee warm-up, was to grab a pretzel (I mean, I was in Germany after all) and walk around some of the roman ruins.  Since it was cold and dark at that point, I made it back to my hostel - and here is the beautiful thing about solo travel AND hostels - where I ran into Liam.  Liam, an Australian guy about my age, strikes up a conversation and before I know it we are making dinner at the hostel and enjoying multiple liters of koelsch (THE beer of Cologne, which is absolutely delicious).  So I made a fast friend, and now I have someone to visit in Sydney if the moment arises!

The next day I caught the train to Brussels, which turned out to be a blast (as only high speed trains through the Belgian countryside can be), and I arrived there midday.  I was so determined to hit the Beaux-Artes museum (it was a Sunday, and since all museums close on Mondays, it was my only shot!).  Well, I have to say, Brussels turned out to be a bit trickier to maneuver than expected.  So I trekked all over searching for this place for a couple of hours, and when I still hadn't found it, I decided it was time to throw in the towel.  Which is when I had the most heavenly experience of my weekend - for, there in front of me, in this huge plaza overlooking the city, I saw my very first waffle truck.

Now, it is important to note that there are actually two types of waffles in Brussels.  And I am wholly unconcerned with the inferior, but more famous Belgian waffle (the rectangular, deep dish type that is way too crispy for its own good).  No no no - there is another type of waffle in Belgium called the Liege waffle, and this one is what you get when you go to the waffle vans.  So, frustrated with my futile museum search, I go up to the truck and ask for a waffle, completely unaware of how amazing this is about to be as I hand over my 1.50 euro.  Seriously, I have never had such an awesome waffle - they warm it up, so the edges are a little bit sticky and crispy, but the waffle itself is really dense and - get this - has sugar crystals inside it.  I ate 4 in two days.  Though I feel totally justified because I won't get to eat waffles for another 6 months.  I should have just bought myself a waffle truck and stayed.  But seriously, the most amazing thing about these trucks - and really all of Brussels - is that, I kid you not, it smelled like freshly made waffles at all hours of the day.  Who wouldn't want to live in such a place?

I did some good sight-seeing in Brussels too, though it is definitely a bigger city so it was harder to figure out in the limited time I had.  But I went to the Museum of Musical Instruments (mostly because it was in this incredible art nouveau building), saw some Tin Tin comics, saw Mannekin Pis (the peeing boy statue!), the Grand Place, ate some more waffles, and got my own personal tour of the European Parliament (life really is all about the people you know)...but I'll spare you the boring details (instead you got to read in too much detail all about waffles, hooray!  Obviously I have my priorities straight).  I'll post my pictures as soon as possible!

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!