Today was an amazing day. I got up super early to be sure that I made it on time to the Olympic check in location and I was early. I met with a bunch of people who are part of the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) which I’m pretty sure is where I’m going to work someday. There weren’t a ton of volunteers today because it wasn’t a very busy day. The area I’m working in is called Team Processing and it’s the first place that the athletes go once they get off the plane. They pick up all of their uniforms for opening, closing, and medal ceremonies as well as information about Torino, their cell phones, their rings, and other random royalties that they are entitled to.
I did my best to make a good impression on the people in the committee and tried to find out as much information about their jobs as I could: if they liked them, how they got them, and etc. It was very interesting and the group of people in general is incredibly interesting.
I think I also weaseled my way into another job in the Olympics. After the team processing volunteer positions came out, they also made a request for drivers. I thought that it might be a cool idea, so I said I would do it. Well, I talked about it today and they mentioned that the driver coordinator was also in need of an assistant and wouldn’t ya know, I talked myself into that one. I met Jerry, the coordinator, this afternoon and he seems super cool and even willing to work with my school/traveling schedule. I’m pretty pumped. And I think it will be cool to drive a car around Torino. My mom, however, thinks I’m going to get in a car accident or something and thinks I’m not covered under car insurance, but I’m pretty sure they’ve done this enough to know what’s up. Maybe I’ll humor her and ask. :-)
Huh, well, I thought it would take me a lot longer to talk about that, but I think that might be pretty much it. I’m super jealous of all of the cool clothes that the athletes get and I’m pretty excited that I’ll have the opportunity to fit some professionals. Then I can watch the ceremonies and be like, “Yup, I handed that alpine sweater to that guy/girl.” *sigh*
Well, I’ve got some fun and exciting school tomorrow (boo). But then I’m headed back over to the processing area to meet more people affiliated with driving. Oh yes, the Olympic Committee will know exactly who I am in the next few weeks. Days like today always make me want to go out and find a way to get as cool of a job as the USOC people have. I don’t think it’s far out of my realm of possibility though. I found out about internships offered and that the USOC is based out of Colorado Springs… darn, huh? :-)
I am thoroughly exhausted and sleep is crawling into my eyes as we speak. Arrivederci!
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
30-Jan-06
Alright, I’m going to try and get back on the daily writing schedule, I’ve just been super busy the past couple of days.
Sunday was absolutely amazing. Seth dragged me out of bed at the but crack of dawn (this coincides with the hour of 7am) and told me we had 20 minutes to get to the train station. As I was trying to wake up and put my snowboard gear on at the same time, I couldn’t help but think about how good it would be to go back to bed… Had I chosen to crawl back into the covers, I would have made the worst decision of my whole entire life. We made it out to Bardoneccia, which is where they are having all of the Olympic snowboarding events, and it was amazing. They had fresh powder and for some reason no one here skis the trees. It was pretty much like a day at bohemia with runs a thousand times longer. I was so tired that after awhile I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do much walking. The snow was ridiculously nice. I ate it quite a few times and the falls were almost as fun as the fresh tracks… almost. :-) We didn’t get the bluebird skies that we had when we went to Cervinia, but the powder made it a good sacrifice.
As for today, my neck muscles hurt badly from the incredible amounts of whiplash that I apparently survived. Other than that, I feel pretty good. This was definitely the first day that I was completely unprepared for class, and I liked it. I did my presentation for Italian culture during elementary Italian, and needless to say, paid absolutely no attention to anything else. It was marvelous.
The best part of my day was attending my newest class. Italian Cuisine was absolutely amazing. I have a feeling it will be undeniably worth the extra $200 to take. We only meet five times throughout the semester, but we get to cook with our teacher at her apartment and we make complete Italian meals. I feel like the food part of the culture I could completely adopt as my own. The only real downfall is that we definitely cook with meat, so I’ve decided that for class I’ll do the meat thing. Tonight we cooked antipasta, which is equivalent to an appetizer. This was made out of a very thin type of pork and stuffed with ricotta cheese and oregano… I think. The second course was two kinds of gnocchi, one with cheese sauce and the other with tomato. I am going to be practicing both those recipes frequently I’ve decided. We also made a desert and another meat dish that is known as the “second plate,” but I can’t remember the exact Italian translation right this minute. Regardless, it was amazing AND we got sent home with all the recipes. It was funny though, we had to sign a waiver that acknowledged that we might consume alcohol as part of the class. I wanted to keep it so that I could show everyone the requirements for classes in Italy.
Other than that, It’s been a pretty average day. I did decide that I’m going to start carrying around a tiny notebook and take my observations down during the day so I can remember all of things that I want to write about when it gets to be this time of my evening. Oh yeah, I got a B+ on my Italian test! Saweet!
And tomorrow is my first day as an Olympic volunteer! Yippie! Ciao ragazzi! (bye guys)
Sunday was absolutely amazing. Seth dragged me out of bed at the but crack of dawn (this coincides with the hour of 7am) and told me we had 20 minutes to get to the train station. As I was trying to wake up and put my snowboard gear on at the same time, I couldn’t help but think about how good it would be to go back to bed… Had I chosen to crawl back into the covers, I would have made the worst decision of my whole entire life. We made it out to Bardoneccia, which is where they are having all of the Olympic snowboarding events, and it was amazing. They had fresh powder and for some reason no one here skis the trees. It was pretty much like a day at bohemia with runs a thousand times longer. I was so tired that after awhile I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do much walking. The snow was ridiculously nice. I ate it quite a few times and the falls were almost as fun as the fresh tracks… almost. :-) We didn’t get the bluebird skies that we had when we went to Cervinia, but the powder made it a good sacrifice.
As for today, my neck muscles hurt badly from the incredible amounts of whiplash that I apparently survived. Other than that, I feel pretty good. This was definitely the first day that I was completely unprepared for class, and I liked it. I did my presentation for Italian culture during elementary Italian, and needless to say, paid absolutely no attention to anything else. It was marvelous.
The best part of my day was attending my newest class. Italian Cuisine was absolutely amazing. I have a feeling it will be undeniably worth the extra $200 to take. We only meet five times throughout the semester, but we get to cook with our teacher at her apartment and we make complete Italian meals. I feel like the food part of the culture I could completely adopt as my own. The only real downfall is that we definitely cook with meat, so I’ve decided that for class I’ll do the meat thing. Tonight we cooked antipasta, which is equivalent to an appetizer. This was made out of a very thin type of pork and stuffed with ricotta cheese and oregano… I think. The second course was two kinds of gnocchi, one with cheese sauce and the other with tomato. I am going to be practicing both those recipes frequently I’ve decided. We also made a desert and another meat dish that is known as the “second plate,” but I can’t remember the exact Italian translation right this minute. Regardless, it was amazing AND we got sent home with all the recipes. It was funny though, we had to sign a waiver that acknowledged that we might consume alcohol as part of the class. I wanted to keep it so that I could show everyone the requirements for classes in Italy.
Other than that, It’s been a pretty average day. I did decide that I’m going to start carrying around a tiny notebook and take my observations down during the day so I can remember all of things that I want to write about when it gets to be this time of my evening. Oh yeah, I got a B+ on my Italian test! Saweet!
And tomorrow is my first day as an Olympic volunteer! Yippie! Ciao ragazzi! (bye guys)
Saturday, January 28, 2006
28-Jan-06
Ok, so sort of being sick turned into being all out sick. Well, mostly just head cold with some severe nasal drainage… real good times. Between vitamins and anti cold medicine, I took 5 horse pills today. I don’t highly recommend this.
Thus, this Saturday night finds me hanging out in my room and contemplating doing homework. LAME! I know. The weather the past couple of days has been crazy. We started getting some serious snowfall and then it turned to rain this morning. Now we just have a big slushie pit of mess. All my stuff is pretty much soaked. I liked the snow better. I was planning on going snowboarding tomorrow, but I think I might wait for a weather update or at least til I’m feeling a little bit better.
Ian came into town on Thursday night. We gathered up the housemates and headed to the pub for an evening of fun. Other than that, we did some site seeing yesterday. I don’t think I’ve walked that much since I’ve gotten here. It was cool, Ian and I are on the same sort of schedule “eat, walk, and eating while walking.” If I don’t gain some pounds while I’m here, I’ll be amazed! I dropped him at the train station this morn and he flies out of Paris to go back home tomorrow.
On Thursday I managed to get the exact same tickets that we tried to purchase at the ticket outlet. This time with a 15 euro service charge. I think it was a ploy to get us to spend more money. But we will be attending the men’s freestyle mogul event. Can’t complain about that too much. So far I haven’t mapped out the whole journey for the traveling, but I will be doing that soon. I’m really excited to see more sights.
On Tuesday I get to do my first day of Olympic volunteering. They sent out a “confidential e-mail” and I received my secret duties. Hopefully I’ll be able to use my dazzling personality to score some more time working the Olympics or something. We’ll see how that turns out.
Well, I think that’s it for me tonight. It’s only 7:43pm but I’m pretty much toast. I blame it on being sick! Ciao!
Thus, this Saturday night finds me hanging out in my room and contemplating doing homework. LAME! I know. The weather the past couple of days has been crazy. We started getting some serious snowfall and then it turned to rain this morning. Now we just have a big slushie pit of mess. All my stuff is pretty much soaked. I liked the snow better. I was planning on going snowboarding tomorrow, but I think I might wait for a weather update or at least til I’m feeling a little bit better.
Ian came into town on Thursday night. We gathered up the housemates and headed to the pub for an evening of fun. Other than that, we did some site seeing yesterday. I don’t think I’ve walked that much since I’ve gotten here. It was cool, Ian and I are on the same sort of schedule “eat, walk, and eating while walking.” If I don’t gain some pounds while I’m here, I’ll be amazed! I dropped him at the train station this morn and he flies out of Paris to go back home tomorrow.
On Thursday I managed to get the exact same tickets that we tried to purchase at the ticket outlet. This time with a 15 euro service charge. I think it was a ploy to get us to spend more money. But we will be attending the men’s freestyle mogul event. Can’t complain about that too much. So far I haven’t mapped out the whole journey for the traveling, but I will be doing that soon. I’m really excited to see more sights.
On Tuesday I get to do my first day of Olympic volunteering. They sent out a “confidential e-mail” and I received my secret duties. Hopefully I’ll be able to use my dazzling personality to score some more time working the Olympics or something. We’ll see how that turns out.
Well, I think that’s it for me tonight. It’s only 7:43pm but I’m pretty much toast. I blame it on being sick! Ciao!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
photos...
Hey All,
I'd love to be able to put up pictures with every post, but there just isn't enough time to do it for every post. So, I've updated the gallery, and you can check out all the pictures there. The Gallery
I'd love to be able to put up pictures with every post, but there just isn't enough time to do it for every post. So, I've updated the gallery, and you can check out all the pictures there. The Gallery
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
25-Jan-06
I’ve just got time for a quick update today. I have my test tomorrow, and I’ve been feeling like I’m on the verge of being sick. So I took some Nyquil and I’m waiting for it to kick in.
Today we tried to go buy tickets for the Olympics because we had heard that the prices had dropped yesterday. The line wasn’t very cool and then we got to the computer where we looked for what event we wanted and it took forever to find something in our price range. Finally we found men’s freestyle aerials and the woman helping us showed us to the line where we made our purchases. We got to the front of the line, after a seemingly endless 20 minutes and then they told us when we went to print them that they were not available. So tomorrow at school I’m going to try and figure out the mystery and hopefully get some tickets online instead of dealing with the language barrier.
I also tried the bank thing again today. They people there were much nicer than the other bank, but I’ve still got to jump through some hoops in order to open an account. Apparently I need the equivalent to a social security number for Italy. I hear they are not hard to get, it just sounds like a lot of work. Maybe I’ll just suck up some charges and see how that goes for me.
Ian is rolling into town tomorrow at around 7pm. I’ve already got plans to hit up some appertivo with the French girls at my school. Hopefully we’ll make it in time. Plus, this appertivo is the same one we went to before and it was really good. Not to mention there is a gorgeous bartender ;) j/k Adam.
Speaking of Adam, I got my first package today. I was so excited! When we get mail they put the name of the receiver on the door and you have to go pick it up. I was so happy to see my name that I did a little jump. He sent me a ton of pictures, which might have made my slight homesickness a little not so slight… if you followed that. And my sleeping bag was in there, which just made me happy. Then there were a few other random things that I needed and a cute card with a puppy and chocolate… it doesn’t get much better than that!
Well, I think that Nyquil is kickin in now. Hopefully I can get better before I really start feeling crappie. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow. I’m planning on getting up early to study in the AM… that sometimes doesn’t go so well for me, so we’ll see! Arrivederci!
Today we tried to go buy tickets for the Olympics because we had heard that the prices had dropped yesterday. The line wasn’t very cool and then we got to the computer where we looked for what event we wanted and it took forever to find something in our price range. Finally we found men’s freestyle aerials and the woman helping us showed us to the line where we made our purchases. We got to the front of the line, after a seemingly endless 20 minutes and then they told us when we went to print them that they were not available. So tomorrow at school I’m going to try and figure out the mystery and hopefully get some tickets online instead of dealing with the language barrier.
I also tried the bank thing again today. They people there were much nicer than the other bank, but I’ve still got to jump through some hoops in order to open an account. Apparently I need the equivalent to a social security number for Italy. I hear they are not hard to get, it just sounds like a lot of work. Maybe I’ll just suck up some charges and see how that goes for me.
Ian is rolling into town tomorrow at around 7pm. I’ve already got plans to hit up some appertivo with the French girls at my school. Hopefully we’ll make it in time. Plus, this appertivo is the same one we went to before and it was really good. Not to mention there is a gorgeous bartender ;) j/k Adam.
Speaking of Adam, I got my first package today. I was so excited! When we get mail they put the name of the receiver on the door and you have to go pick it up. I was so happy to see my name that I did a little jump. He sent me a ton of pictures, which might have made my slight homesickness a little not so slight… if you followed that. And my sleeping bag was in there, which just made me happy. Then there were a few other random things that I needed and a cute card with a puppy and chocolate… it doesn’t get much better than that!
Well, I think that Nyquil is kickin in now. Hopefully I can get better before I really start feeling crappie. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow. I’m planning on getting up early to study in the AM… that sometimes doesn’t go so well for me, so we’ll see! Arrivederci!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
24-Jan-06
Wahoo!! There was no class for this kid today and it was wonderful. I made it to the market to get groceries. This was quite the feat because the market opens around 7am and closes around 1:30pm everyday. This makes it nearly impossible to make it to the market when I’ve got classes all morning. The market is very amazing, and very crazy. I wish we had open markets in the US. The produce is super fresh and super cheap. I have had a few “bad apples” (more like oranges and pears) so far, but the low price helps to justify the occasional dissatisfying produce.
For the rest of the day, Casey and I flew all over Torino taking in the sites and the stores. At the mall, we discovered they are building a HUGE indoor sandcastle… or so it appears. I guess that’s just another reason to go back. Last week we know that there was nothing in this place, and now the floor is covered in plastic and “sand artists” are hard at work with the biggest sand toys I’ve ever seen. Casey said it’s their way of making ice sculptures. Of course I forgot my camera today, so no pictures! Sorry!
This morning I did try to go open a bank account. The hardest part, I thought, was going to be learning how to go through the doors… There are two sets of doors on every bank. One will open and the second will not open until the one behind you has closed. This arrangement has made a fool out of me up until today when I witnessed others that knew the system. Well, I didn’t open an account because the lady told me I needed something or another, so I’m going to try the bank where a fellow student went and had little trouble. I have to locate one of these specific banks in order for this to happen though. Cry-key!
I heard that tomorrow the tickets for the Olympics are going to be going down. I am going to try and get some for Al and I since he will be here for the Olympics. He and I agreed that we wouldn’t go to too many events but instead spend the two weeks I have off traveling. He has an open ticket so he doesn’t have to go back until he runs out of money. Kind of a cool thing I think. Well, this day has been exhausting, so I must depart to bed. I have to recite a memorized composition for my Italian class tomorrow. Funny, I can’t carry on a conversation but I sure am getting good at reciting stupid compositions. Grrr…
For the rest of the day, Casey and I flew all over Torino taking in the sites and the stores. At the mall, we discovered they are building a HUGE indoor sandcastle… or so it appears. I guess that’s just another reason to go back. Last week we know that there was nothing in this place, and now the floor is covered in plastic and “sand artists” are hard at work with the biggest sand toys I’ve ever seen. Casey said it’s their way of making ice sculptures. Of course I forgot my camera today, so no pictures! Sorry!
This morning I did try to go open a bank account. The hardest part, I thought, was going to be learning how to go through the doors… There are two sets of doors on every bank. One will open and the second will not open until the one behind you has closed. This arrangement has made a fool out of me up until today when I witnessed others that knew the system. Well, I didn’t open an account because the lady told me I needed something or another, so I’m going to try the bank where a fellow student went and had little trouble. I have to locate one of these specific banks in order for this to happen though. Cry-key!
I heard that tomorrow the tickets for the Olympics are going to be going down. I am going to try and get some for Al and I since he will be here for the Olympics. He and I agreed that we wouldn’t go to too many events but instead spend the two weeks I have off traveling. He has an open ticket so he doesn’t have to go back until he runs out of money. Kind of a cool thing I think. Well, this day has been exhausting, so I must depart to bed. I have to recite a memorized composition for my Italian class tomorrow. Funny, I can’t carry on a conversation but I sure am getting good at reciting stupid compositions. Grrr…
Monday, January 23, 2006
23-Jan-06
It’s just another manic Monday… in Italy. Today was a great day, mostly because our 3.5 hr class switched to just 2 hours, but just so happened to double the amount of homework. We have another test on Thursday to prepare for as well. Yippie. Tomorrow I don’t have class at all, which will be a regular thing after the Olympics, but I still have another week of it to go.
The most amazing thing that happened today was that I found out that I would be able to volunteer for the Olympics. I am really excited and looking forward to it greatly. I was informed that I would be receiving more information about the job this week. The first day I volunteer is the 31st of January and then on the 10th of February. I am hoping to make such a good impression on the 31st that they just won’t want to let me go.
Kyle’s roommate, Neva, was at the market on Saturday and helped some people who looked clueless. Turns out they are the catering crew for the USA and Canada house. They asked her if her and a few friends were available to do some work (and get paid). They got to bartend for a party and it sounds like they will be doing some jobs for the next few weeks. I’m jealous. I would love to be able to make some euros. It’s so weird for me to not have an income. But maybe I’ll run into something like that.
As for the rest of my day, I decided that I would allow myself to purchase some running pants if I got into the running groove. Well, I went running tonight and I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it again. The mix of gasoline, cigarette smoke and just plain smog clogged my lungs so bad that it was ridiculous. I’m sure we can attribute some of it to the fact that I am out of shape, but it really was the most disgusting exercise I’ve ever done. Luckily, I didn’t buy the pants yet. I suppose I’ll have to stick to sit ups and crunches with a little bit of synchronized swimming. Ok, just kidding on that one.
Turns out my friend Ian is headed down this way in the next couple days. I talked to him today and he’s on a train to Rome right now. His next stop is Torino so it will be cool to have someone to hang out with. Hopefully we’ll be able to see some sights and have a good time.
Well, I’m going to play some ski resort tycoon since I haven’t in a very long time and avoid more studying. Ciao!
The most amazing thing that happened today was that I found out that I would be able to volunteer for the Olympics. I am really excited and looking forward to it greatly. I was informed that I would be receiving more information about the job this week. The first day I volunteer is the 31st of January and then on the 10th of February. I am hoping to make such a good impression on the 31st that they just won’t want to let me go.
Kyle’s roommate, Neva, was at the market on Saturday and helped some people who looked clueless. Turns out they are the catering crew for the USA and Canada house. They asked her if her and a few friends were available to do some work (and get paid). They got to bartend for a party and it sounds like they will be doing some jobs for the next few weeks. I’m jealous. I would love to be able to make some euros. It’s so weird for me to not have an income. But maybe I’ll run into something like that.
As for the rest of my day, I decided that I would allow myself to purchase some running pants if I got into the running groove. Well, I went running tonight and I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it again. The mix of gasoline, cigarette smoke and just plain smog clogged my lungs so bad that it was ridiculous. I’m sure we can attribute some of it to the fact that I am out of shape, but it really was the most disgusting exercise I’ve ever done. Luckily, I didn’t buy the pants yet. I suppose I’ll have to stick to sit ups and crunches with a little bit of synchronized swimming. Ok, just kidding on that one.
Turns out my friend Ian is headed down this way in the next couple days. I talked to him today and he’s on a train to Rome right now. His next stop is Torino so it will be cool to have someone to hang out with. Hopefully we’ll be able to see some sights and have a good time.
Well, I’m going to play some ski resort tycoon since I haven’t in a very long time and avoid more studying. Ciao!
Last week's article :)
Also, this is Lynn Czarnecki's first week as the student writer for A
Student Abroad. She'll be studying in Italy this semester.
Student Abroad. She'll be studying in Italy this semester.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
22-Jan-06
Ok, so here’s the spelling correction, we went to Cervinia (pronounced chur-vain-ya). It was a very spur of the moment trip and I didn’t even know who exactly was going to be there until we got to the bus station before we left. In all nine of us went, it was absolutely awesome and exactly what I needed.
On Friday we left for Aosta, which is about 1.5 hrs north of Torino and we did a little sight seeing. The game plan was to tour a few of castles that Aosta Valley is known for, but our time was not abundant enough to see much more than the lovely little city. Aosta is kind of like how I had Torino pictured in my mind before I had arrived. It’s definitely got some years to it, but it’s clean and the mountains are very close. After a three-hour tour, we headed to the bus station and caught a half hour bus to Chatillon.
The bus ride was rough. There were a ton of people and we ended up being some of the last people on. My friend Kevin who was seated in the isle across from me was sitting with a guy who looked like he was in rough shape. About 10 minutes into the 30-minute ride, he started shouting something in Italian on this crowded bus. Kevin, obviously concerned, turned to the few of us sitting around him and asked what he was saying. We had no idea but a girl sitting behind us translated that he was drunk and might throw up. Kevin was extremely concerned at the thought of this and kindly asked the girl to quickly relay to him any words that sounded like “get out of the way.”
In Chatillon we hooked up with the final bus of the day to Cervinia and made the hour and a half journey up the mountain through a never-ending passage of switchbacks. We had set up a hotel while waiting for the bus and called to have them pick us up from the stop once we got there. Hotel Furggen was absolutely adorable and they treated us like royalty. They offered free transportation into the small village (the hotel was located a little way up the mountainside) and back if it was before 11:30pm. We headed down to grab some food and made our way to a gelateria before heading back up and hitting the hay.
In the morning we ate our complimentary breakfast and hit the slopes. It took us a little longer than I wanted for us to make it out onto the hill, but it was worth it all. The views were amazing and everything was just awesome. We bought the pass that would allow us to ride in both Italy and Switzerland, which was completely worth it. We spent most of the day in Switzerland, which turned out to be the best riding and headed back towards Italy at the end of the day. When we rode in Italy I felt like I really was riding on top of a glacier. I think I would have done better with ice skates but it was still an awesome experience. We made it back almost exactly to our mountainside hotel and then rested up before hitting the small town once again.
We took the recommendation of our super awesome hotel dude and headed down to another awesome restaurant and then made our way to the discoteca which coincidently belonged to a guy that we rode the bus to Cervinia with. The place had live music, which was absolutely amazing, and the atmosphere was incredible. A few of us called it quits early, but I stayed out to hear the rest of the band and enjoy the evening.
This morning we got up and started the journey back to Torino. I met a guy at the bus station who was totally awesome and we pretty much talked through the whole trip. A psychologist from Liverpool, Scotland who just started snowboarding. It was completely great. Once we got back it was a little disappointing to be out of the snow and back into the smoggy haze of the city. But it’s only four more days until my next weekend.
On Friday we left for Aosta, which is about 1.5 hrs north of Torino and we did a little sight seeing. The game plan was to tour a few of castles that Aosta Valley is known for, but our time was not abundant enough to see much more than the lovely little city. Aosta is kind of like how I had Torino pictured in my mind before I had arrived. It’s definitely got some years to it, but it’s clean and the mountains are very close. After a three-hour tour, we headed to the bus station and caught a half hour bus to Chatillon.
The bus ride was rough. There were a ton of people and we ended up being some of the last people on. My friend Kevin who was seated in the isle across from me was sitting with a guy who looked like he was in rough shape. About 10 minutes into the 30-minute ride, he started shouting something in Italian on this crowded bus. Kevin, obviously concerned, turned to the few of us sitting around him and asked what he was saying. We had no idea but a girl sitting behind us translated that he was drunk and might throw up. Kevin was extremely concerned at the thought of this and kindly asked the girl to quickly relay to him any words that sounded like “get out of the way.”
In Chatillon we hooked up with the final bus of the day to Cervinia and made the hour and a half journey up the mountain through a never-ending passage of switchbacks. We had set up a hotel while waiting for the bus and called to have them pick us up from the stop once we got there. Hotel Furggen was absolutely adorable and they treated us like royalty. They offered free transportation into the small village (the hotel was located a little way up the mountainside) and back if it was before 11:30pm. We headed down to grab some food and made our way to a gelateria before heading back up and hitting the hay.
In the morning we ate our complimentary breakfast and hit the slopes. It took us a little longer than I wanted for us to make it out onto the hill, but it was worth it all. The views were amazing and everything was just awesome. We bought the pass that would allow us to ride in both Italy and Switzerland, which was completely worth it. We spent most of the day in Switzerland, which turned out to be the best riding and headed back towards Italy at the end of the day. When we rode in Italy I felt like I really was riding on top of a glacier. I think I would have done better with ice skates but it was still an awesome experience. We made it back almost exactly to our mountainside hotel and then rested up before hitting the small town once again.
We took the recommendation of our super awesome hotel dude and headed down to another awesome restaurant and then made our way to the discoteca which coincidently belonged to a guy that we rode the bus to Cervinia with. The place had live music, which was absolutely amazing, and the atmosphere was incredible. A few of us called it quits early, but I stayed out to hear the rest of the band and enjoy the evening.
This morning we got up and started the journey back to Torino. I met a guy at the bus station who was totally awesome and we pretty much talked through the whole trip. A psychologist from Liverpool, Scotland who just started snowboarding. It was completely great. Once we got back it was a little disappointing to be out of the snow and back into the smoggy haze of the city. But it’s only four more days until my next weekend.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
19-Jan-06
Ok, a lot has happened today. Tomorrow we are headed to Transvania, spelling correction coming soon, to snowboard. We are headed out tomorrow at 10:30am. Hopefully a one-way ticket will cost around 9 euros. That sort of price I can definitely handle. This kind of all got thrown together last minute after the Switzerland trip was cancelled. I think there will be about 10 of us going. I am so pumped to go snowboarding that I can’t even think straight. Even if I hadn’t been able to go snowboarding at all while I was over here, it’s still comforting to have that stuff here so I can look at it and remember all of the good times that I have had while riding.
Today was our last day of three-hour classes until the last week before the Olympics. We got our test back today and I got a B- which I feel is respectable for the rate that we have been flying through the material. We do have a lot of stuff due on Monday, which will suck not be great if we are gone for most/all of the weekend. Also, I have to write my next article for the MTU deal. I probably need a bigger list of topics to write about so that I don’t get too incredibly boring. I think planning a lot of trips while I’m here will help out.
Casey and I hit up the mall for a while today (don’t worry mom, I left empty handed) and we saw a ton of people decked out in the Olympic games wear. I’m bummed that I haven’t been able to score a volunteer position to help out. It would have been really cool to be a part of. But I do think I will be getting some tickets early next week since my friend Al will be flying over to hang out and travel during the games.
Well, it’s late and I’ve got some packing to do before our departure tomorrow. I’m not taking my computer so I suppose I’ll just have to do my best to remember the events of the weekend and report on Sunday when I get back. Ciao!
Today was our last day of three-hour classes until the last week before the Olympics. We got our test back today and I got a B- which I feel is respectable for the rate that we have been flying through the material. We do have a lot of stuff due on Monday, which will suck not be great if we are gone for most/all of the weekend. Also, I have to write my next article for the MTU deal. I probably need a bigger list of topics to write about so that I don’t get too incredibly boring. I think planning a lot of trips while I’m here will help out.
Casey and I hit up the mall for a while today (don’t worry mom, I left empty handed) and we saw a ton of people decked out in the Olympic games wear. I’m bummed that I haven’t been able to score a volunteer position to help out. It would have been really cool to be a part of. But I do think I will be getting some tickets early next week since my friend Al will be flying over to hang out and travel during the games.
Well, it’s late and I’ve got some packing to do before our departure tomorrow. I’m not taking my computer so I suppose I’ll just have to do my best to remember the events of the weekend and report on Sunday when I get back. Ciao!
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
18-Jan-06
Well we had our test yesterday. Not sure how I did, but we should get our scores back tomorrow. In the past two days are teacher has gone bananas about our homework load. We’ve probably had double the amount we’ve been having, so it’s kind of a bummer. I think she might have found out that we were behind the other classes and decided to speed it up a bit.
I got an email about my “a student abroad” article being published in the tech e-newsletter. Speaking of which, I do believe that I could do all my articles on the strange and different bathrooms they have here. Yesterday Casey and I went across town to go to the Ikea store (apparently we have these in the US, I’ve just never been to one) in order to get a comforter cover so that the gross bedding on my bed doesn’t sneak up on me while I sleep. Regardless, we also found this mall in which I decided I had to use the bathroom. So I go in, do the whole maze thing and get into a stall. I notice, as I’m walking in, that the toilet seat is up. Not a big deal, whatever, I’m sure the women who used this before me had a good reason but anyways, I grab some TP and go to set it down. When I do set it down, the thing springs back up. Now seriously, what is the point of that? So I’m trying to sit down on this seat and the thing is spring loaded, there can be no hovering… It was absolutely ridiculous.
Another thing I haven’t mentioned until now is how I am having some sort of allergic reaction to the air over here. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been itching and scratching, mostly my arms but sometimes my legs, like there is no tomorrow. I think I caught whatever my dog had this fall. I brought a lot of lotion with me and didn’t think I’d be able to use it all up, but at this rate, I don’t think I’ll have a problem.
My most recent observation is that the tap water is not wet. I know that sounds moronic, but I kid you not. When I drink tap water out of my water bottle I become thirstier than when I started. I really do feel like I’m not drinking wet water. Today I heard that if you drink too much tap water that you develop some sort of problem with your liver because there is an unusual amount of lime in it. I think I’m going to go buy some big bottles of water when I’m done writing this.
My next large concern is how much I’m being charged when I get money out of the ATM. It isn’t even fair. With the conversion rate and then two ATM or bank charges, I have to assume that for every 100 euros that I take out, I will lose $25 in the transaction. I’m pretty sure I need to open a bank account here, but I have a feeling I’ll look like a raving lunatic when I walk into the bank speaking English.
The trip to Switzerland this weekend has all but been cancelled. We had enough people, but this trip wasn’t organized by USAC so it was really hard to get any help. We could get phone numbers to bus companies, but no one on the other end of the telephone speak enough English to help us out. Looks like I’ll be going to the Egyptian museum on Friday and I think our friend Ian might make it to Torino soon. BTW, Ian is a guy we met when we flew out of Chicago to Paris. He studied in France last semester and went back to take his finals. Now he is traveling around Europe until he heads home at the end of the month. I think he’s in one of the pictures I’ve already posted.
Alright, this was more depressing than anything else. I think I’m going to go work on my boatloads of homework and think about gelato.
I got an email about my “a student abroad” article being published in the tech e-newsletter. Speaking of which, I do believe that I could do all my articles on the strange and different bathrooms they have here. Yesterday Casey and I went across town to go to the Ikea store (apparently we have these in the US, I’ve just never been to one) in order to get a comforter cover so that the gross bedding on my bed doesn’t sneak up on me while I sleep. Regardless, we also found this mall in which I decided I had to use the bathroom. So I go in, do the whole maze thing and get into a stall. I notice, as I’m walking in, that the toilet seat is up. Not a big deal, whatever, I’m sure the women who used this before me had a good reason but anyways, I grab some TP and go to set it down. When I do set it down, the thing springs back up. Now seriously, what is the point of that? So I’m trying to sit down on this seat and the thing is spring loaded, there can be no hovering… It was absolutely ridiculous.
Another thing I haven’t mentioned until now is how I am having some sort of allergic reaction to the air over here. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been itching and scratching, mostly my arms but sometimes my legs, like there is no tomorrow. I think I caught whatever my dog had this fall. I brought a lot of lotion with me and didn’t think I’d be able to use it all up, but at this rate, I don’t think I’ll have a problem.
My most recent observation is that the tap water is not wet. I know that sounds moronic, but I kid you not. When I drink tap water out of my water bottle I become thirstier than when I started. I really do feel like I’m not drinking wet water. Today I heard that if you drink too much tap water that you develop some sort of problem with your liver because there is an unusual amount of lime in it. I think I’m going to go buy some big bottles of water when I’m done writing this.
My next large concern is how much I’m being charged when I get money out of the ATM. It isn’t even fair. With the conversion rate and then two ATM or bank charges, I have to assume that for every 100 euros that I take out, I will lose $25 in the transaction. I’m pretty sure I need to open a bank account here, but I have a feeling I’ll look like a raving lunatic when I walk into the bank speaking English.
The trip to Switzerland this weekend has all but been cancelled. We had enough people, but this trip wasn’t organized by USAC so it was really hard to get any help. We could get phone numbers to bus companies, but no one on the other end of the telephone speak enough English to help us out. Looks like I’ll be going to the Egyptian museum on Friday and I think our friend Ian might make it to Torino soon. BTW, Ian is a guy we met when we flew out of Chicago to Paris. He studied in France last semester and went back to take his finals. Now he is traveling around Europe until he heads home at the end of the month. I think he’s in one of the pictures I’ve already posted.
Alright, this was more depressing than anything else. I think I’m going to go work on my boatloads of homework and think about gelato.
Monday, January 16, 2006
16-Jan-06
I didn’t write yesterday because I was busy writing the article that I have to write for Tech. I’m not sure if I mentioned that before, but I am getting paid to write articles every week about my experience in Turin. They are then published in the parent e-newsletter. I’ll add the link when the first one is published.
I started a new class today. Italian Culture seems like it will be a very valuable class to take. There will be a few papers and presentations, but those don’t scare me, so I’ll be all right. My professor talked about culture shock today. I didn’t really take the Tech study abroad people too seriously when they told us about it but now I understand. Casey, Jeff and I were pretty frustrated yesterday. Now that we know some of the words in Italian, we try to get around the city, through stores and stuff, but our accent is so different that still no one understands us. I’m hoping it gets better soon.
this is where the olympic medals ceremonies will be held... at the end of my street :)
tests, so this is fairly key. I’m not guessing it will be too difficult. I feel I am keeping up fairly well with the pace of the class. I should probably be studying right now, but I wanted to get some thoughts out first.
At 7pm I am headed to the Internet café to talk on skype with the family. Speaking of the Internet café, I can finally say that I accomplished all of my goals. I bought a map yesterday for 7 euro (holy expensive) and it’s in Italian. Not as cool as I wanted it to be. So I definitely need to set some new goals… I’ll work on that.
This weekend one of my roommates, Jeff Simpson, is trying to put together a trip to Switzerland to snowboard and just see a different area. We figured there would have to be at least 30 signed up to make the price reasonable and after just 6 hours today, there were 36 people on the list. Hopefully the trip will work out. I would love to use the snowboard that I lugged half way across the world.
I started a new class today. Italian Culture seems like it will be a very valuable class to take. There will be a few papers and presentations, but those don’t scare me, so I’ll be all right. My professor talked about culture shock today. I didn’t really take the Tech study abroad people too seriously when they told us about it but now I understand. Casey, Jeff and I were pretty frustrated yesterday. Now that we know some of the words in Italian, we try to get around the city, through stores and stuff, but our accent is so different that still no one understands us. I’m hoping it gets better soon.
this is where the olympic medals ceremonies will be held... at the end of my street :)
tests, so this is fairly key. I’m not guessing it will be too difficult. I feel I am keeping up fairly well with the pace of the class. I should probably be studying right now, but I wanted to get some thoughts out first.
At 7pm I am headed to the Internet café to talk on skype with the family. Speaking of the Internet café, I can finally say that I accomplished all of my goals. I bought a map yesterday for 7 euro (holy expensive) and it’s in Italian. Not as cool as I wanted it to be. So I definitely need to set some new goals… I’ll work on that.
This weekend one of my roommates, Jeff Simpson, is trying to put together a trip to Switzerland to snowboard and just see a different area. We figured there would have to be at least 30 signed up to make the price reasonable and after just 6 hours today, there were 36 people on the list. Hopefully the trip will work out. I would love to use the snowboard that I lugged half way across the world.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
14-Jan-06
Yet another day of Torino fun has been concluded. Tonight was my first real night out on the town. At least I feel that it was. One of the USAC girls celebrated her 21st birthday so we played some “wine pong,” similar to beer pong, and hit the winery before going to a popular bar called Frogs. By the time we found the place, Casey, Jeff and I were all freezing and hungry so we headed back to Via Dalamazzo and made some scrambled eggs. It was excellent.
Earlier in the day, I accomplished one of my goals. Brad, the newest roomie, took me to find the old Internet café that he used to frequent. The place will work out nicely I believe. The charge is two euros for an hour of Internet. I’m not sure how that works out considering I have to pay to use skype (an internet phone service) and pay to use the computer, but it’s not everyday that I frequent Europe. I do believe I will be stopping by the Internet place often.
This morning I made my first real trip to the open market. All the rumors are true. There is some very inexpensive produce with more flavors than I can describe in a paragraph. It was difficult to cross the language border, again, but every little bit helps. Casey, Jeff and I walked around for a while and then they headed off to do some cell phone shopping while I stayed at the market. I met two nice Italian guys who helped me with buying eggs (ouvas) and cheese (formaggi). They didn’t speak much English, but they did help me with my Italian. As it turned out, I think we decided to meet up again at five PM for this thing they call “apertivo” in Italian. This is a nightly occurrence from 5-8 pm where you go and pay a flat fee, usually 7-10 euros and get one drink with unlimited appetizers. I’m pretty sure that’s what was decided but low and behold, I was at the Internet café so long that I missed the engagement. Hopefully I didn’t make my first Italian friends too angry, but a girl has gotta talk when a girl has the Internet… yeah, I made that one up.
Well I suppose. “It’s three am and I wanna go to be-e-ed. Thoughts of you, are running through my hea-a-ad.” And I’m out. Ciao!
Earlier in the day, I accomplished one of my goals. Brad, the newest roomie, took me to find the old Internet café that he used to frequent. The place will work out nicely I believe. The charge is two euros for an hour of Internet. I’m not sure how that works out considering I have to pay to use skype (an internet phone service) and pay to use the computer, but it’s not everyday that I frequent Europe. I do believe I will be stopping by the Internet place often.
This morning I made my first real trip to the open market. All the rumors are true. There is some very inexpensive produce with more flavors than I can describe in a paragraph. It was difficult to cross the language border, again, but every little bit helps. Casey, Jeff and I walked around for a while and then they headed off to do some cell phone shopping while I stayed at the market. I met two nice Italian guys who helped me with buying eggs (ouvas) and cheese (formaggi). They didn’t speak much English, but they did help me with my Italian. As it turned out, I think we decided to meet up again at five PM for this thing they call “apertivo” in Italian. This is a nightly occurrence from 5-8 pm where you go and pay a flat fee, usually 7-10 euros and get one drink with unlimited appetizers. I’m pretty sure that’s what was decided but low and behold, I was at the Internet café so long that I missed the engagement. Hopefully I didn’t make my first Italian friends too angry, but a girl has gotta talk when a girl has the Internet… yeah, I made that one up.
Well I suppose. “It’s three am and I wanna go to be-e-ed. Thoughts of you, are running through my hea-a-ad.” And I’m out. Ciao!
Friday, January 13, 2006
13-Jan-06
Oh no! I missed a day already!! Ok, I really have no excuse; I’ve just been busy. Tonight was the first Friday night in Torino. I’m not saying that a lot of partying was done by me, but I did bear witness to some good times. Plus, I got to hang out with more of the University Study Abroad Consortium (USAC) kids. Hopefully those bonds will tighten over the next few months.
Yesterday I experienced Torino shopping. It was quite the experience. I don’t think anything went overly bad and I even bought some goodies from the pastry shop. I went with my two new friends, Andrea and Kim, who both go to Idaho State and live about three blocks away.
andrea and kim in front of the giant angel statue
In addition to all the shopping, I got to meet my 6th roommate yesterday. His name is Brad and he’s an interesting fellow. Thankfully, he’s vegetarian too and I’m hoping he can show me some of the ropes for cooking without meat in a foreign land. We went out to grab a bite to eat last night and he seemed real cool, but when we came home he kind of morphed into super defensive kid with a desire to create conflict. Weird vibes, hopefully they will pass.
Today we took our first italiano quiz. It was about the verbs that we have learned so far. I made a few stupid mistakes, but other than that, I feel fairly confident about the written part of this new language. When I try to speak, that’s an entirely different story. Tomorrow is Saturday and we will be visiting the biggest open market in Europe… coincidently a few blocks down the street. There I hope to improve my skills. It is somewhat remarkable to think about how far we’ve already come. I can recognize a lot of words, and say most of them semi correctly, but a lot of Italians don’t understand me because I don’t have the accent down yet.
This evening I started with Seth and a pub down the street called Migillicuddy’s. This was my first pub bathroom experience as well. FYI, all pub bathrooms in Europe are coed and consist of stalls without a toilet, but instead a hole in the ground. This bathroom was rather clean, and I was told not to expect that everywhere… scary. We’ll see how conditioned I can get my bladder over the next five months.
After that we met up with the rest of the USAC kids and then two that I sort of knew, Neva and Kyle, sort of got separated because a group of indi rockers stopped us on the street to ask for directions in English. It was amazing, turns out there was a band playing on that block and Kyle was ecstatic about a band, so we ran in there and soon left because there was a 5 euro cover. Once we finished that adventure we were pretty far apart from the rest of the group, so we just went back to their place (about five blocks away from my apt on Via Dalmazzo) and watched Out Cold while eating french fries. I haven’t watched any movies since I’ve been here so it was a welcoming and relaxing evening. Kyle is going to try and go snowboarding tomorrow. We have all heard that the snow is more like ice, so it might not be a good time. Therefore, I’ve decided to visit the market, catch up on rest, do some homework, and see more Torino over the weekend before I go hog wild everywhere else.
Well, I suppose that’s all I can manage right now. I am pretty tired from all the activities and I’m sure tomorrow’s will be even more fun and exciting. Ciao!
Yesterday I experienced Torino shopping. It was quite the experience. I don’t think anything went overly bad and I even bought some goodies from the pastry shop. I went with my two new friends, Andrea and Kim, who both go to Idaho State and live about three blocks away.
andrea and kim in front of the giant angel statue
In addition to all the shopping, I got to meet my 6th roommate yesterday. His name is Brad and he’s an interesting fellow. Thankfully, he’s vegetarian too and I’m hoping he can show me some of the ropes for cooking without meat in a foreign land. We went out to grab a bite to eat last night and he seemed real cool, but when we came home he kind of morphed into super defensive kid with a desire to create conflict. Weird vibes, hopefully they will pass.
Today we took our first italiano quiz. It was about the verbs that we have learned so far. I made a few stupid mistakes, but other than that, I feel fairly confident about the written part of this new language. When I try to speak, that’s an entirely different story. Tomorrow is Saturday and we will be visiting the biggest open market in Europe… coincidently a few blocks down the street. There I hope to improve my skills. It is somewhat remarkable to think about how far we’ve already come. I can recognize a lot of words, and say most of them semi correctly, but a lot of Italians don’t understand me because I don’t have the accent down yet.
This evening I started with Seth and a pub down the street called Migillicuddy’s. This was my first pub bathroom experience as well. FYI, all pub bathrooms in Europe are coed and consist of stalls without a toilet, but instead a hole in the ground. This bathroom was rather clean, and I was told not to expect that everywhere… scary. We’ll see how conditioned I can get my bladder over the next five months.
After that we met up with the rest of the USAC kids and then two that I sort of knew, Neva and Kyle, sort of got separated because a group of indi rockers stopped us on the street to ask for directions in English. It was amazing, turns out there was a band playing on that block and Kyle was ecstatic about a band, so we ran in there and soon left because there was a 5 euro cover. Once we finished that adventure we were pretty far apart from the rest of the group, so we just went back to their place (about five blocks away from my apt on Via Dalmazzo) and watched Out Cold while eating french fries. I haven’t watched any movies since I’ve been here so it was a welcoming and relaxing evening. Kyle is going to try and go snowboarding tomorrow. We have all heard that the snow is more like ice, so it might not be a good time. Therefore, I’ve decided to visit the market, catch up on rest, do some homework, and see more Torino over the weekend before I go hog wild everywhere else.
Well, I suppose that’s all I can manage right now. I am pretty tired from all the activities and I’m sure tomorrow’s will be even more fun and exciting. Ciao!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
11-Jan-06
I enjoyed today more than yesterday. I broke away from the group and explored Torino on my own a little bit. I could hardly be alone with the other 500,000 people of Torino all over.
As far as my goals went, I didn’t make it to the map store in time, but it’s on the top of my list for tomorrow. Jeff Simpson aka Jefferino, one of my roommates, and I made it to school by taking two different buses instead of one, and it saved time. Tomorrow I will be getting up at 7am or 7:10am, either of which will be wonderful. Tonight I will be going to sleep early since I am still not adjusted from the jet lag. I had never believed that it would have this much of an effect on me. Wireless was another trick entirely. I’m starting to believe that they don’t have wireless here in Italy, or at least in this city. I think this search will take a lot of effort, but I’m up for the challenge. So I guess I went one for three today, but I feel like a lot was accomplished.
Seth and I went to look for a cell phone for me. I was nervous about the whole ordeal, but it worked out ok. We pieced our Italian together and it helped that the woman selling me the phone spoke a little bit of English. After that we grabbed some frechetta pizza and had real gelato. It was very exciting.
seth eating pasta with sugar cuz we don't have any spices...
My language class is going very well, however, I am a little bit nervous to start speaking to Italians. I tried a little bit today when I was walking around on my own. I saw a pet store and walked in, when a sales associate came up and spoke to me, I tried to tell her I was just looking, but that backfired. We tried to understand each other for a while, but after that we gave up and I just looked around quick and left.
It’s been really strange not to have a pet around. There are dogs all over the place and they are allowed everywhere. I’ve seen them on the bus, in restaurants, and laying outside stores (off leash even) waiting for their masters. These dogs seem to act like Italians; they keep to themselves and don’t make a lot of attempts to be friendly. I still need to figure out how to ask if I can “pet the dog” but I have a feeling I could mess that one up badly.
I hope tomorrow is as good as today was, I felt a little less homesick when Seth and I went out and tried to communicate. Once I get my map, I plan to do a lot of research so I can start traveling. There is talk of going to Switzerland next weekend to do some snowboarding, which would be awesome. I hope we manage to squeeze a lot of riding in and I hope I don’t run out of money!! Ciao!
As far as my goals went, I didn’t make it to the map store in time, but it’s on the top of my list for tomorrow. Jeff Simpson aka Jefferino, one of my roommates, and I made it to school by taking two different buses instead of one, and it saved time. Tomorrow I will be getting up at 7am or 7:10am, either of which will be wonderful. Tonight I will be going to sleep early since I am still not adjusted from the jet lag. I had never believed that it would have this much of an effect on me. Wireless was another trick entirely. I’m starting to believe that they don’t have wireless here in Italy, or at least in this city. I think this search will take a lot of effort, but I’m up for the challenge. So I guess I went one for three today, but I feel like a lot was accomplished.
Seth and I went to look for a cell phone for me. I was nervous about the whole ordeal, but it worked out ok. We pieced our Italian together and it helped that the woman selling me the phone spoke a little bit of English. After that we grabbed some frechetta pizza and had real gelato. It was very exciting.
seth eating pasta with sugar cuz we don't have any spices...
My language class is going very well, however, I am a little bit nervous to start speaking to Italians. I tried a little bit today when I was walking around on my own. I saw a pet store and walked in, when a sales associate came up and spoke to me, I tried to tell her I was just looking, but that backfired. We tried to understand each other for a while, but after that we gave up and I just looked around quick and left.
It’s been really strange not to have a pet around. There are dogs all over the place and they are allowed everywhere. I’ve seen them on the bus, in restaurants, and laying outside stores (off leash even) waiting for their masters. These dogs seem to act like Italians; they keep to themselves and don’t make a lot of attempts to be friendly. I still need to figure out how to ask if I can “pet the dog” but I have a feeling I could mess that one up badly.
I hope tomorrow is as good as today was, I felt a little less homesick when Seth and I went out and tried to communicate. Once I get my map, I plan to do a lot of research so I can start traveling. There is talk of going to Switzerland next weekend to do some snowboarding, which would be awesome. I hope we manage to squeeze a lot of riding in and I hope I don’t run out of money!! Ciao!
2nd day of language
Well, as the hours go by, my italian is progressing. Hopefully I'll be able to communicate fully sometime in the future. Right now my words are very choppy, and I can hardly order off a menu. But at least we found a supermercado (grocery store) so i'm not starving anymore.
Currently my big problem is that they haven't even heard of wireless internet in this part of italy.. Ok, i may be exaggerating, but that is what I feel like. From what I can tell, in order for me to use my own computer to connect to the internet, I have to do it from school with a connection that is currently broken. yippie. Other than this tribulation, I haven't found too many other things to complain about..
Big Differences:
-- I can't find any symbols on the keyboard (they have either moved or left altogether)
-- The vending machines don't give back change... (ie I hauled home 4 bottles of water)
-- The bathrooms at pubs are coed AND consist of multiple holes in the floor. I kid you not.. it's sort of third world, but it is only like this in the pub.
That's all for now, if you want to mail me real snail mail, you can get the address from my mommie, and other than that, ciao!
arrivedarci
Currently my big problem is that they haven't even heard of wireless internet in this part of italy.. Ok, i may be exaggerating, but that is what I feel like. From what I can tell, in order for me to use my own computer to connect to the internet, I have to do it from school with a connection that is currently broken. yippie. Other than this tribulation, I haven't found too many other things to complain about..
Big Differences:
-- I can't find any symbols on the keyboard (they have either moved or left altogether)
-- The vending machines don't give back change... (ie I hauled home 4 bottles of water)
-- The bathrooms at pubs are coed AND consist of multiple holes in the floor. I kid you not.. it's sort of third world, but it is only like this in the pub.
That's all for now, if you want to mail me real snail mail, you can get the address from my mommie, and other than that, ciao!
arrivedarci
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
10-Jan-06
Today was the first day of real class. Three and a half hours of Italian was amazing. I feel like I am a big sponge. I do believe my teacher will turn out to be a great implanter of knowledge. My only worry now is that I won’t be able to find an Italian that will want to hear me squawk words that sound half right. Oy vey. Well, today I did fix the computer converter problem, turns out my computer has it’s own converter in the power cord and all I needed was a European plug to make it work. Now if I could only figure out where I could locate the wireless Internet, I would be in good shape. If you’re reading this online, then apparently, I found it.
I start writing for “A Student Abroad” (Tech’s parent newsletter) on the 16th of January. I really need to figure out everything by then. Plus it would be great to be able to post pictures on the Internet of stuff that I was seeing and doing.
this is the tallest viewing point in Torino... we are up at the top about 15 minutes after this was taken :)
This morning I got up so incredibly early, I couldn’t believe it myself. I hit the shower at 6:30am so that we could catch the bus at 7:45am in order to make it to school in time for the 9am class. Does that not sound a little psychotic? I think so. Tomorrow we need to leave at 7:30 am because we have found the shortestt bus route to school, but are too nervous to try and change it just yet.
Tomorrow I have two goals. I am going to find a map of Europe and decide what places I really want to see. Second, I’m going to ride around in the bus until I find a better route than the one I will be embarking on at 7:30 tomorrow morning. (Shoot me now.) Ok, maybe I have three; hopefully in my journey across the city, I will discover a wireless Internet café. What a big day I have. At least I learned how to count today.
I start writing for “A Student Abroad” (Tech’s parent newsletter) on the 16th of January. I really need to figure out everything by then. Plus it would be great to be able to post pictures on the Internet of stuff that I was seeing and doing.
this is the tallest viewing point in Torino... we are up at the top about 15 minutes after this was taken :)
This morning I got up so incredibly early, I couldn’t believe it myself. I hit the shower at 6:30am so that we could catch the bus at 7:45am in order to make it to school in time for the 9am class. Does that not sound a little psychotic? I think so. Tomorrow we need to leave at 7:30 am because we have found the shortestt bus route to school, but are too nervous to try and change it just yet.
Tomorrow I have two goals. I am going to find a map of Europe and decide what places I really want to see. Second, I’m going to ride around in the bus until I find a better route than the one I will be embarking on at 7:30 tomorrow morning. (Shoot me now.) Ok, maybe I have three; hopefully in my journey across the city, I will discover a wireless Internet café. What a big day I have. At least I learned how to count today.
Monday, January 09, 2006
09-Jan-2006
Today our mission was to meet at 8am so that one of the program directors could show us how to take the bus and get to school. The students who live in the downtown are the furthest away from the campus and thus have the longest bus ride. We made it there a little after 8am and waited for Daniele, our favorite Italian boy thus far. Italians are definitely on a much more relaxed schedule, he made it by 8:30 and we headed to school.
close to home... Via Garibaldi
From 9:30am til 12:30pm we had to sit through orientation, which we thought would never end. Most of the information was valuable; it just seemed very long-winded. Then we met our teachers and broke for lunch. During this time, Casey and I decided to run to the mall to get some things done. We managed to get an important stamp we needed and get locked in the ATM room.. It was kind of freaky, but we made it out alive. Then we made it back to meet our Elementary Italian teachers. Our teacher is female and sort of acts like a headmistress, but not like the one from the movie Matilda. She is almost that scary but not quite. Who knows, its only been day number uno of school, there is much left to be decided.
close to home... Via Garibaldi
From 9:30am til 12:30pm we had to sit through orientation, which we thought would never end. Most of the information was valuable; it just seemed very long-winded. Then we met our teachers and broke for lunch. During this time, Casey and I decided to run to the mall to get some things done. We managed to get an important stamp we needed and get locked in the ATM room.. It was kind of freaky, but we made it out alive. Then we made it back to meet our Elementary Italian teachers. Our teacher is female and sort of acts like a headmistress, but not like the one from the movie Matilda. She is almost that scary but not quite. Who knows, its only been day number uno of school, there is much left to be decided.
bonjurno!
I've made it to Italy!! it was an amazing trip.. the plane ride was not fun, and very crowded, but we got here. oh man, this was quick. i've got to go to orientation!
ciao!
ciao!
Sunday, January 08, 2006
08-Jan-2006
Being well rested, I managed to be a bit friendlier than I was the previous evening with all of the other students. We got our roommate assignments and would soon be moving into our apartments for the next six months. I asked to live with Casey and Jeff so we naturally assumed there would be four students in our apt, on the contrary, there were six of us to be sharing a place. I knew one of the other guys was from Michigan Tech, Seth, but the last two I had not met. Turns out, one of them is a yearlong student, which will be a very good thing to have around. He doesn’t arrive until next week and his name is Brad. Jeff is the other student I did not know, he lives in Nevada and goes to school in Reno. He seems very nice and social; I think our house will get along fine. Seth and I hit it off faster than you could say “pasta.” Not just because he was from Michigan Tech and a snowboarder, but we think the same and just have personalities that are very similar.
Our apartment was not very far from the hotel we were staying in. Unfortunately, we had to carry our bags there. What a bum deal. Regardless, we made it and got all settled in. The bedrooms are good sized but the kitchen and bathroom is a wee bit on the small side. The big disappointment is that there isn’t a living room. Other than that, as soon as we can get our drain unclogged, we’ll be in good shape. Our landlord, Deborah, seems very nice and she’s even a travel agent. We are hoping she can get us some good deals to see some different sights and parts of Europe.
Our apartment was not very far from the hotel we were staying in. Unfortunately, we had to carry our bags there. What a bum deal. Regardless, we made it and got all settled in. The bedrooms are good sized but the kitchen and bathroom is a wee bit on the small side. The big disappointment is that there isn’t a living room. Other than that, as soon as we can get our drain unclogged, we’ll be in good shape. Our landlord, Deborah, seems very nice and she’s even a travel agent. We are hoping she can get us some good deals to see some different sights and parts of Europe.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
7-Jan-2006
Arrived in Paris at 9:30am to make a connecting flight to Torino. The Paris airport was not designed very well and pretty crowded. On top of that, our flight was delayed an hour which wasn’t much fun when we’d just gotten off an 8 hr flight. We just wanted to be done with flying. I am taking this trip with two of my friends, Casey and Jeff, and plan on meeting many more cool people.
While driving to our hotel from the Torino airport, we saw a lot of squatter settlements. That made me nervous, but there was also beautiful scenery. The mountains surround the Torino area and are just beautiful. I was disappointed that there was not any snow on the ground when I arrived. After all, with the winter Olympics on the way and being so close to the Alps, you would think that there would at least be some fluffy white stuff. We met the rest of the students studying in our program at the hotel and headed out for dinner. Carrying luggage was a rough time. I had just enough bags to have everything be really awkward. My snowboard bag through me off kilter and I managed to embarrass myself whenever I was carrying it.
Our first dining experience in Torino was interesting. The program covered the bill and we had a choice between pizza and pasta. I chose four-cheese (formaggi in Italian) pasta and it was good. I didn’t feel that the restaurant was overly generous with the sauce, but I managed.
After dinner our bodies were exhausted from the flight, so we headed back to the hotel and slept like logs. Sleep was a very good thing.
@ the airport
While driving to our hotel from the Torino airport, we saw a lot of squatter settlements. That made me nervous, but there was also beautiful scenery. The mountains surround the Torino area and are just beautiful. I was disappointed that there was not any snow on the ground when I arrived. After all, with the winter Olympics on the way and being so close to the Alps, you would think that there would at least be some fluffy white stuff. We met the rest of the students studying in our program at the hotel and headed out for dinner. Carrying luggage was a rough time. I had just enough bags to have everything be really awkward. My snowboard bag through me off kilter and I managed to embarrass myself whenever I was carrying it.
Our first dining experience in Torino was interesting. The program covered the bill and we had a choice between pizza and pasta. I chose four-cheese (formaggi in Italian) pasta and it was good. I didn’t feel that the restaurant was overly generous with the sauce, but I managed.
After dinner our bodies were exhausted from the flight, so we headed back to the hotel and slept like logs. Sleep was a very good thing.
@ the airport
Thursday, January 05, 2006
To Torino
Unwritten Lyrics
I Am Unwritten, Can't Read My Mind, I'm Undefined
I'm Just Beginning, The Pen's In My Hand, Ending Unplanned
Staring At The Blank Page Before You, Open Up The Dirty Window
Let The Sun Illuminate The Words That You Could Not Find
Reaching For Something In The Distance
So Close You Can Almost Taste It
Release Your Inhibitions
Feel The Rain On Your Skin
No One Else Can Feel It For You
Only You Can Let It In
No One Else, No One Else
Can Speak The Words On Your Lips
Drench Yourself In Words Unspoken
Live Your Life With Arms Wide Open
Today Is Where Your Book Begins
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
Oh, Oh
I Break Tradition, Sometimes My Tries, Are Outside The Lines (yeh yeh)
We've Been Conditioned To Not Make Mistakes, But I Can't Live That Way (oh oh)
Staring At The Blank Page Before You, Open Up The Dirty Window
Let The Sun Illuminate The Words That You Could Not Find
Reaching For Something In The Distance
So Close You Can Almost Taste It
Release Your inhibitions
Feel The Rain On Your Skin
No One Else Can Feel It For You
Only You Can Let It In
No One Else, No One Else
Can Speak The Words On Your Lips
Drench Yourself In Words Unspoken
Live Your Life With Arms Wide Open
Today Is Where Your Book Begins
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
I Am Unwritten, Can't Read My Mind, I'm Undefined
I'm Just Beginning, The Pen's In My Hand, Ending Unplanned
Staring At The Blank Page Before You, Open Up The Dirty Window
Let The Sun Illuminate The Words That You Could Not Find
Reaching For Something In The Distance
So Close You Can Almost Taste It
Release Your Inhibitions
Feel The Rain On Your Skin
No One Else Can Feel It For You
Only You Can Let It In
No One Else, No One Else
Can Speak The Words On Your Lips
Drench Yourself In Words Unspoken
Live Your Life With Arms Wide Open
Today Is Where Your Book Begins
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
Oh, Oh
I Break Tradition, Sometimes My Tries, Are Outside The Lines (yeh yeh)
We've Been Conditioned To Not Make Mistakes, But I Can't Live That Way (oh oh)
Staring At The Blank Page Before You, Open Up The Dirty Window
Let The Sun Illuminate The Words That You Could Not Find
Reaching For Something In The Distance
So Close You Can Almost Taste It
Release Your inhibitions
Feel The Rain On Your Skin
No One Else Can Feel It For You
Only You Can Let It In
No One Else, No One Else
Can Speak The Words On Your Lips
Drench Yourself In Words Unspoken
Live Your Life With Arms Wide Open
Today Is Where Your Book Begins
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
The Rest Is Still Unwritten
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