Sailboats in Slovenia

Yesterday we exchange students from district 2060 had quite the adventure! After school on Saturday (hmpf. The 6-day school week here is taking some getting used to) we boarded a train to Trieste for a sailboat race and festival called Barcolana. We ended up taking the wrong connecting train from Venice to Trieste: we took the regional train that stopped at every town along the way, so the ride lasted an extra two hours. Despite this setback, though, we had a great time listening to music and hanging out in the train car that we had all to ourselves! The conductor was very friendly and we had a good conversation with him as well. Finally we arrived in Trieste, which is a gorgeous seaside city, all lit up at night, and joined the others for dinner at a pizzeria. After spending the night with a Rotary host, we got up early the next morning and drove to Slovenia (about 20 minutes away, isn’t that convenient!) to board a boat. That day was one of the most beautiful days I’ve ever experienced! The sunrise over the Slovenian sea was breathtaking. The air was fresh and salty, the sky was clear and blue, and the ocean sparkled in the sun. We sat on the deck of the boat, watching the multi-colored sailboats and occasionally spotting white and pink jellyfish in the sea. In the afternoon, the sailboat race began, which was incredible to watch! Teams of sailors had to maneuver their boats to turn at three different points during the race, and a big crowd of people in smaller boats had come to cheer them on from a distance. Helicopters flew above and policemen rode around on jet-skis, yelling at the spectators to move their boats so the sailboats could get by. Many people were just lounging in the sun on their boats and enjoying the perfect weather. I sat on the deck and took turns staring down at the ocean, over at the sailboats, up at the blue sky, and out at the mountainous coast of Slovenia and Italy. It was the first time I had seen the ocean in years, and I realized how much io amo il mare! At the end of the afternoon we had to leave the boat and catch the train back to Vicenza, but it was an unforgettable day. I went to school today (Monday) pretty tired but I didn’t mind. Right now I am considering switching schools, which would be a big deal, from a scientific high school to a linguistic school. At the moment I have lots of science and math classes that don’t really interest me, and at the linguistic school I would get to take five languages, with limited math classes! The only problem is that I get along really well with my current classmates- they are so helpful and friendly (and patient with me when I don’t understand what’s going on) so it would be tough to switch… we’ll see how it goes. I’ll have to decide this week. Until then, ciao!

Hiking at a lake near Vicenza with my little host brother :)

On the train on the way to Trieste!

Our boat in the morning

The racing sailboats, from afar

Americans on the boat!

I took this picture of a sailboat and then edited it!

Weekend trips

What a beautiful past couple of weeks! I don’t have time for a long post but I’ll post lots of pictures. The past two weekends have been full of sightseeing and meeting new people!  Last weekend I went to a Rotary orientation in Brisighella along with 108 other exchange students, where we got to know each other and attended orientation sessions. This past weekend Ellen, Brock and I (the Rotary students here in Vicenza) joined a group of Rotarians from Tuscany on a tour of Vicenza and the surrounding area. We toured lots of beautiful villas that are very historically significant- for example, we saw the room where Hitler and Mussolini met for the first time, and a bedroom where Napoleon slept when he visited Italy.  Standing in the rooms, it was strange to think that Hitler and Mussolini had been in the exact same place years ago…   It never ceases to amaze me how old Italy is! I love it! Being in Italy makes me want to be a photographer because I want to capture the beauty of it all. The only downside to the tour was that it was raining almost the whole time so we were pretty wet by the end of it. However, we got to eat at some amazing restaurants (in the past month I have eaten the best food I’ve ever tasted in my whole life- pasta, zucchini, cheese, potatoes, all kinds of roasted meat, tomatoes, tiramisu, and so much more)! Adesso devo andare, ma ecco le foto J Ciao a presto.

All the exchange students in my district! 

In front of the beautiful view on the hillside of Brisighella

Stone statues

Red-head exchange student buddies :) 

The ancient "teatro olimpico" in Vicenza!

A beautiful church in Monte Berico (near Vicenza)

Napoleon slept in this bed. No big deal

A ballroom in one of the villas- beautiful detail

A little snail I found on a leaf :)

One of the rooms in the villas

Rainy day

Brock, Ellen and I at one of the estate gardens 

20 giorni!

Well, I have now been in Italy for 20 days! Everything here is becoming more familiar to me- I can feel myself adjusting to my new culture (and language). There have been many moments where I’ve felt confused and frustrated because I don’t understand something, but also many times where something just clicks, and I get it. I am definitely becoming more patient (because I have to be) with myself as I learn how to live in Italy.  At first I got angry with myself every time I made a mistake, but little by little I am seeing my mistakes as 1) funny and 2) an example of how not to do things. Making mistakes ends up being a good thing because I always learn something about the language. The other day I was trying to tell my host family about the factory farms in the US, and when I said, “i mucci en la farmacia” (what I thought meant “the cows on the farm”) they burst out laughing! Apparently “la farmacia” means “the pharmacy” and the plural of “la mucca” (the cow) is “le mucce,” not “i mucci”. I started laughing too, because I realized how weird "the cow at the pharmacies" must have sounded! Now every time I make a singular word plural I remember to get the gender right.

I am also working on the virtue of patience at school. Most of the time I have no idea what’s going on… but today I finally had an “aha” moment where I could understand what the teacher was saying and participate a little bit in class (don’t get too excited, I only was able to get out about one sentence)! In history we were discussing the difference between colonialism and imperialism, and the teacher asked me what I had learned about the topic in the US. I’m pretty familiar with the history about the English colonization of America, so I told her about the colonies that later became the US. Unfortunately we weren’t really learning about the US so what I said wasn’t exactly relevant, but my teacher was happy that I was trying, and it was still nice to feel like I at least was grasping the main idea of the lecture. The problem is, my school is very academically prestigious, and sometimes I understand the words being said but not the material. For example, in philosophy we are learning about the theories of famous philosophers Kierkegaard, Kant, and Hegel. Since we learned these same philosophies in my AP Literature class back in the US, it’s safe to say that I never really understood them in English, so even though I can sort of comprehend the Italian vocabulary, I’m pretty lost when it comes to contemplating the existence of humankind in Italian. Oh well. There are some classes where I’ve just accepted that I’m not going to know what’s going on (such as Latin). The kids in my class have studied Latin for 4 years and during class the teacher reads ancient Latin literature aloud for almost the whole hour. At first I was trying desperately to figure out why I didn’t understand ANYTHING she was saying, but then I realized that she wasn’t even speaking Italian! Ha! I really don’t have any intentions of learning Latin this year, so during that class I study Italian.

Outside of learning the culture and language and other such things, I have been having lots of fun living in Italy in general! There’s a yoga studio in the hotel right next to my house, so I’ve been doing yoga on Monday nights. On Tuesday nights I have church choir, and this Saturday I went to a really fun birthday party where we dressed up and danced. This weekend is my first Rotary event- all the exchange students are going to a city near Bologna for three days, so I’m really looking forward to that.

Here is a video of what it’s like to walk through the center of Vicenza, my city… Dovete guardarlo, é bellisimo J

La Scuola Italiana

Last week I started school at the Liceo Quadri science school in Vicenza! Even though we go to school on Saturdays here in Italy, I really enjoy school so far J The kids in my class are all very friendly, and my teachers have been patient with me as I learn. School lasts from 8:10 am until 1:00 or 1:40 depending on the day. There are five years of high school here, so I am in the fifth year, in class 5ALG. At the beginning of high school each student is placed in a class with a group of kids they stay with all day every day during high school. They are placed according to interest (my class, 5ALG, is a “linguistic” class). Each school in Italy specializes in a certain area, and my school is a science school. However, there are also other subjects besides science offered at the school, and after talking with my school counselor, she decided to place me in a “linguistic class” (one that takes foreign languages) because of my interest in German. Quindi (therefore), I stay in the same classroom with the same kids for the whole day, and the teachers move from room to room to teach us the different subjects! My schedule includes English, Math, Physics, Art History, Religion, History, Italian Literature, German, Physical Education, and Latin. I don’t really understand the schedule yet, but my classes rotate each week. The lectures are often very difficult to understand- not only because the Italian is spoken VERY fast but also because the material is advanced! I try to listen and understand as much as I can, but for now I end up either jotting down random words that I recognize or ones that I look up in a dictionary later. In art history my teacher kept saying the word “flamboyant” (it sounded kind of French when he said it) but we were studying a painting depicting Dante’s Inferno, which doesn’t really match my interpretation of the Inferno… so that’s about how much I understand at this point! I know I’ll improve in the weeks and months to come, so I’m patient with myself. (Also in Latin I’m completely lost). Ah well. I like my classmates a lot, many of them are interested in music, theatre, and languages just like me! On Sunday I went to church with my host mom, and after the service I talked with the choir director there and signed up to be in the church choir! Tomorrow is my first rehearsal.

Sidenote about Italy: the bus system is very different from the US. There are too many students for the buses, and there is no “maximum capacity” for any of the buses, so people just pile in until the doors can no longer close! It’s crazy! Also, this week I ate the best food I’ve ever tasted in my whole life. I know I tend to exaggerate but this is no exaggeration. In Italy there are restaurants called “agriturismo” which is a farm/restaurant that produces its own food and then serves it at the restaurant. We went to one of these restaurants and I had pasta with carmelized onions and ham, tomatoes, potatoes, and chocolate cake!

Here are some pictures from this week:

     This is a picture of the hotel my family owns! My house is right behind it. I took this picture while sitting at the fermata dell'autobus, the bus stop.

                                               Look at this chicken! LOOK AT IT! :)

                                         Eating at an "agroturismo" restaurant with my family

A typical bus in Italy- I don't know if you can see from this picture but the people are crammed in there pretty tight

My little host brother with the ukulele I brought :)

Observations about Italian culture, by Anika.

  1)   Italians change clothes more than Americans do. We have three main sets of clothes here: the school outfit (casual but not too casual. Example: jeans and a pretty shirt, but not a dress), the at-home outfit (something comfortable like shorts/leggings, and a t-shirt + house slippers), and the night outfit (fancy clothes for going out in the evening, like a dress and nice shoes)

  2)   Italians do not like going barefoot. They almost always wear shoes.

  3)   At meals, Italians eat each dish separately- for example, first they will eat pasta, and when they are finished they will eat some meat, and afterwards they will eat a salad. You don’t put all three things on the same plate at the same time.

  4)   As a greeting, Italians either kiss each other on both cheeks, shake hands, or both. I haven’t quite figured out exactly when to do what yet, but I’m working on it!

  5)   Italians can eat a whole pizza by themselves! When you order pizza, each person orders a whole pizza (one that would normally be for 2-3 people in the US). Also, a popular pizza topping here is patate frite (French fries)!

  6)   At school, Italians stay with the same people for every class. Because of this, the students know their classmates really well and are comfortable together. I think this is great because then everyone feels comfortable asking questions and talking in class discussions, even the shyer people! There don’t seem to be as many cliques or exclusive friend groups, either. I was delighted by the positive atmosphere in my class- everyone is so friendly!

   Of course these are only a few things I have noticed in my first week here in Italy, some of them are probably generalizations that aren't always true.. maybe in a few months I'll be able to edit them! 

  

    For now, here are a few photos! These are some of my fellow exchange students.

                                                shopping with Ellen- crazy hats!

                                              ho trovato una tartaruga piccola :)

                                    Ellen, Brock, Giuseppe and I enjoying the view from the hilltop

                                                           touring Vicenza

In Italy nobody gets murdered in the shower

Yesterday morning I was in the shower and was about to turn on the water when I noticed a chord hanging on the wall. It was attached to something on the wall that I couldn't really see, but I had never seen anything like it before. Curious, I pulled on the string and immediately a loud noise (like a doorbell) rang throughout the entire house! I shrieked and almost fell out of the shower because it had startled me so much! My host mom thought someone had rung the doorbell, so she went downstairs to answer the door :) I came out of the bathroom and explained what I had done, and she laughed- it turns out that in Italy there are alarm systems in the showers (in case of emergencies). I guess this is a good thing because if you were to have a heart attack in the shower you could pull on the alarm and get help... but immediately I thought of those dramatic movies where a murderer creeps into the bathroom, pulls back the shower curtain, and the woman inside screams. Well, now I know this will never happen to me! If a murderer comes I can just pull on the alarm! Italian showers are the safest I guess :)

Anyway, here are some pictures I forgot to post with my last entry:

                                           The older part of the city of Vicenza

                                 Ellen (a fellow exchange student) and I in front of the Vicenza sign

                                     Marta, Davide (my cousin) and I at the lake in Verona

                                               Beautiful buildings in Vicenza

                                                                     pomodori fresci :)

                                                                  Downtown Verona

Me in the arena in Verona!

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…

Ogni giorno imparo piú di Vicenza e di Italia- today is my fourth day here in Italy and so far I love everything I’ve seen! My family keeps asking me, “ti piace?” (Do you like this?) and all I can say is “Si si si, é bello, bello, bellisimo!” Bello is the word for beautiful, and I’ve been saying it so often I had to ask Marta (my older host sister) for synonyms! When I get tired of repeating bello, fantastico is my new word of choice :) Yesterday we went into the downtown area of Vicenza for the first time, with Ellen, an exchange student from Nevada, and her host family (who are close family friends with my family). It's the most beautiful city I've ever seen! Vicenza is a very old city (it’s even a UNESCO world heritage site), and I love the cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, and stone churches and monuments. As we were walking towards the city, I could vaguely hear music from the main square- and guess what kind? A VOCAL WOMEN’S TRIO! For some reason this really made an impression on me. It was so perfect that the first time I walked into the city, my favorite music was welcoming me –it seemed like a sign that I really am meant to be here in Vicenza. We ate at an amazing pizzeria outside, and afterward tasted gelato (which I have decided will be a daily ritual) and wandered through the city at night. I got my touristy –but necessary- picture taking in of course, see for yourself!

Yesterday my sister Marta, aunt Luisa, uncle Gaetano, and cousin Davide took a day trip to Verona, land of Romeo and Giulietta! Of course as soon as we got into the city I took it upon myself to recite the entire prologue of the play, which I had dutifully memorized in eighth grade. Verona is also a gorgeous city- we got to go into the ampitheater and see the town square from above as well! As we walked through the streets, passing stores like Gucci and Prada, I felt pretty underdressed in my shorts and t-shirt because everyone was dressed really nicely. I'm going to have to buy myself some fancy Italian clothes!  In the evening I ate at my zio and zia (aunt and uncle's) house, and then we all went into the cittá (downtown Vicenza) to eat gelato, meet friends, and walk around. Davide, who is my age and goes to my school, explained to me that on weekend nights all the young people in Vicenza walk around the city to socialize. Marta also took me to visit her university friends and they were all very excited to meet me! Some of them had studied abroad in the US and wanted to speak in english with me. I'll post pictures as soon as I can!