Boots & Wine

9/17 BOOTS!

I only had class til 2 today which was awesome! The 9am −5 or 6 is getting old fast. 

Met up with Ariel and we went on a shopping spree!  We both have been scouting the town for the perfect leather boots, going into every store, trying on 3 or 4 pairs in each.  It's been a process.  But today was the day!  We actually ended up buying both our pairs of boots at the same store.  They smell so delicious.  They are actually making my whole room smell like leather right now, it's lovely.  After doing some serious shopping we went to our new favorite cafe/bar/caffeteria for wine.  It is absolutely amazing wine and our 7ft tall Italian bartender (He is more than unusually  tall for here, at 5' 6'' I tower over my whole host family) charges us 5 Euro for 2 glasses.  We're becoming regulars, its fun.

There is some horrid screeching noise coming from the apartment right now.  Like fingernails on a chalkboard, only rhythmic.  Its making me have goose-bumbs.    

I got my 1st Italian test back today, got an 87%. Not bad. Would have been better if I hadn't had a total moment during my test with the Uno/Una/Un/Un' section.  Who knows what I was thinking at the time.  I am learning more about the language everyday in class, but I feel as if my conversation has come to a standstill.  Dinners are sometimes very quiet because it is always an effort when they are trying to explain things in Italian and I don't understand, but they don't know the words in English, so then we come to a halt and have to give up the topic.   Tonight's dinner was especially quiet.  

Tomorrow we have an Italian cooking lesson at the culinary school right next to ours! I'm so excited!!  AND, a few of us plan a trip to London for a long weekend coming up!!  Should be a good day. 

Calcio, rabbit, and TV

Calcio! 9/16

I went to the Siena football game today (soccer, Calcio)! They have a huge stadium pretty close to where I live, and my host mom Cinzia and her son don't miss a game.  My goal for this week is to find out what the fans chant and sing at the games. They get so into it and I have no idea what it means.  We stood with the rowdy section of the fans which was pretty entertaining.  Its kinda neat, they bring these HUGE flags to the games and wave them around while they cheer, it looks awesome.  I bought a A C Siena shirt today too so I'd be in the right apparel; their colors are black and white.  I bought it earlier before the game and when I came home with it the whole family was SO excited that I had the team shirt! 

Before the game I was very frustrated.  My host mom had bought me and one of the other girls our tickets earlier this week and that was before everyone else from school decided to come to it. She had said she was interested so since my host mom was going to get them I had her get both of ours.  But then after everyone else got their tickets, she decided she wanted to sit with them instead, but didn't really confirm with me that she wasn't going to be meeting up with me ahead of time.  So anyway I couldn't get ahold of her today at all and my host mom couldn't understand that I didn't think my friend would be meeting me, so we walked to the piazza and she kept asking where my friend was and I couldn't figure out any better way to explain that she wasn't coming with me anymore.. GAH. I want to be able to speak so badly! broken Italian is so frustrating when confusing situations come up.

On a different note, I ate rabbit today. Coniglio.  It is actually really tasty.  I've been bold and have been willing to try everything my grandma Carla cooks for me, and I haven't found anything I don't like yet!   She also made this amazing giant plum torte/ cake thingy today as well!   I seriously think she slaves away in the kitchen all day while I'm gone, and then today Cinzia told me that Carla is worried that I don't like her food!  I don't know how she can think that, she and Loriano are constantly pushing more and more food at me and I eat PLENTY at every meal, but when I start to say "basta" (enough) they look at me like I don't like it haha. 

I got excited today because my grandpa was watching Top Gear UK on tv!  I love watching that show back home with Kaleb. Unfortunately, however, it is not very funny when dubbed over in Italian that I don't understand : (   That is something they do all the time over here.  They take all these American or British shows and dub over them in Italian. It always sounds like the same guy's voice for everything.  It reminds me of having a narrator or something for a play.  Its kinda weird.  

On that note, Italians like very strange game show type programs.  Every night I ate dinner at Cinzia's house they watch some kinda dance competition show, but its like a bunch of women dressed pretty slutty sorta just shaking their asses.  And as far as I can tell, no one seems to ever really win anything.  There's also some strange guy always coming out on stage wearing wigs, dressing like a woman, and singing obnoxiously.  The host then smashes random items over the man's  head and he walks off stage.   

At my grandparents house, Loriano watches more of a game show type thing where they answer questions for money, but that also has really weird characters involved.  They dress up all creepy and come out on stage and ask the questions.  I don't even know if it would really help if I understood Italian better, it would still be weird either way… 

Saturday 9/15 10th Day

We went to the beach today as a school group. It was an hour and a half drive from Siena.  I realized while driving through Tuscany that I was in one of the most beautiful places in the world, that I was living here, in this prime vacation paradise for the next four months.  But at the same time, the country really reminded me of Montana. Everywhere you look there are long stretches of crops and tilled up fields that are ready for planting and are surrounded by hills and mountains.  I had this little moment while listening to some Bon Iver and staring out the window, and I thought to myself, I was already living in a vacation paradise, people come from all over to see the countryside that is my backyard at home.  It was just an interesting little feeling.  

And then I swam in the Mediterranean. Ahhh!

I can count how many times I've been to an ocean on one hand, so I'm like a little kid when I'm there.  The water was so nice, but the saltiness always gets me at first.  

The concept of big public beaches is strange to me and not very appealing.  There are just rows and rows of little tables with umbrellas for those who want to pay to sit there. In between the long stretches of umbrellas were these very tiny roped off areas for those of us just looking to pop a squat in the sand.  I guess I'm used to going to the lake at home where you have kinda primitive areas, no tables, and lots of room to spread out.  People bring music and lots of food and kinda make a party out of it.  Being at this beach at the sea just felt too organized.  

So of course, first chance I get, I'm headed down the beach to this rocky point way off at the end.  It may have had a fence sorta blocking it off, saying something like "dangerous footing, no access". So I just went around the fence in the water.  The rocks had made little tide pools and I entertained myself poking at the little anemones or whatever they are.  

Our group is 55 students, so it is really nice to kinda get away from everyone for a while.   The local people will not approach you if you are in a group of more than 5, so when we can break off in twos or threes we actually get to talk to some Italians!  Unless they don't know English, then the conversation consists of lots of Si! Si!, no's, no capisco's , and laughing.  I think I say something either really inappropriate or foul whenever I try to speak the language here.  There are many cases where if you are trying to say a word that is spelled with a double N, but you don't put emphasis on that second letter, you usually end up saying some body part you shouldn't be talking about in public.  

My grandma made me what looked like a mini meatloaf today for dinner. If thats what it was, it was the best dang meatloaf I've ever had.  All of the food she makes is sooo flavorful and amazing.  I refuse to hold back and regulate myself on what I'm eating here because everything is so good.  I'm in Italy for pete's sake! I will be coming home 20lbs heavier probably, but pfff, I have the rest of my life to work out, right??

I'm going to bed at 10 30 tonight. I am so excited to just sleep.  It has been very go go go for these last ten days.  

Day 2

The night before, Cinzia asked me at dinner when I wanted breakfast.  I had to meet my group at nine, and I found out I only live about ten minutes from the old city wall area where we were meeting.  So I said  maybe around 8? and I thought she told me, no thats when the grandparents wake up. So I was like, well, whenever then.  Wake me up at 8  guess?   I was under the impression that since we lived ten minutes away that we would leave around 8 45 or so.  I was trying to get dressed and pull my hair back and the Grandpa comes to my room looking very impatient and stern, tapping his watch and saying something that I only assumed meant you HAVE TO COME EAT NOW!  So I ran out of there to eat breakfast, ( Warm soy milk that the Grandma doctored up with a spoonful of instant coffee and two spoonfuls of sugar, and biscuit type things, they look like mini slices of bread but crunchy, with nutella.)  But they didn't eat with me, they just stood there staring at me.  More awkward.  

In a hurry I scarfed my food down and ran to my room to grab a purse and shoes and hurried out of the house at 8:30  because the grandpa kept tapping his watch.  I hadn't unpacked my suitcases at this time (and they got dumped out at security, so they were all kinds of jumbled and messy) so I couldnt find my makeup or anything really so I was a hot mess for my first day of school. 

The Grandpa took me to meet my group.  We started walking and he turns me around and points to his eyes and back at the house and then to the area around us. Pretty sure he meant "use your eyes to remember! Don't get lost!"    

I almost got hit by a bus/van thingy (I don't know what they're called exactly) on our walk.  It didn't even seem to phase the Grandpa.  Busses and vans don't exactly stop for you if you're in the way, the expect you to move.  And if you don't they will finally slam on the breaks about an inch before they hit you. (There will be more on the driving in this city later).

Italia!

Well, so much for being good about keeping up on my blog.  Now is the time I really need to though.  Today was the end of my first week in Italy! I haven't had consistent internet until the last couple days, so instead of blogging onto here, things had to be written down elsewhere until I could post.

*Flight & 1st Day in Italia (Sept 4/5)

I figured I have to start documenting this after the day I just had.  I began my trip in Bozeman where I was flying to Denver.  I started out my day long airport journey by tipping over my suitcase and smashing the top of my foot.  Its a lovely shade of blue now.  I got to Denver just fine, met up with Ariel Tange and departed for Toronto.  

Every time I turned around in the Toronto airport, someone was yelling at me to Come! Hurry! Wait over there! Stop! They are very pushy impatient people up there in the Frozen North. 

Finally up in the air from Toronto to Rome, I get seated next to a tiny, cute old Greek lady who was speaking English to me in such a gruff, deep voice I couldn't understand her and just kept nodding my head and smiling.  She seemed happy enough at my response.  

We touched down in Rome around 9:45 on the 5th.  So glad I still had Ariel with me because it would have been a little nerve racking to be wandering the Rome FCO airport by myself looking for my bags and such. We were under the impression that we had to go through customs after claiming our bags, so we carefully follow all of the signs that send us the last one which said "<- Declaring Items,  Not declaring any Items ->" so we go right and realize we are heading out of the security area, so we panic and run back to look at the sign again.  Meanwhile, we are the laughing stock of the locals working the customs area that we did NOT need to be going through, while we ran around carrying and wheeling 3 bags each trying to maneuver in the crowd of people heading for the exit.  

We waited for a bit with other members of our Siena Italian Studies group and left on a bus for Siena.  The driving tactics in Europe are a touch different than the states.  Busses are just allowed to drift in and out of lanes, sometimes riding with one set of wheels in each lane… And lots of honking going on between crazy drivers.  

It was a 3 hour bus ride to Siena where we were meeting our host families for the first time. (we didn't get to know anything about who we were with until that time)  I had been talking with some of the other girls about how some of the students that went last summer were with families where only the mom or dad spoke ok English and the other spoke broken, if any English at all.  

Well, I get picked up by a very well dressed lady named Cinzia (Cheen-sia) and her mother Carla.  We greeted each other with "Ciaos" and introductions in Italian.  Everything seemed good as I grabbed my bags and started towards the car with them, and thats when Cinzia turns to me and in very broken English asks if I speak Italian.  I said no, and gave her the only a tiny tiny bit sign, and she kind of falters and says, "Oh nooo…"  

Turns out Cinzia can barely speak English, her mother cannot speak it, her son speaks very very limited words and phrases, and the grandfather is in about the same boat.  

Holy shit.  I have never felt so helpless in my life.  I can barely understand any of their Italian and thats all they know how to speak to me.   

Also, everything here looks and works a little different than in the states.  Well, for one, the outlets are different and I haven't gotten an adaptor yet, so I have about 10% left on my phone charge and about 1/4 on my computer which i'm using sparingly.  Cinzia showed me where the bathroom was at the grandpa and grandma's (that is where I stay, not with Cinzia) and just sorta pointed vaguely to everything like ya ya thats what you use and walked out.  Well there is a toilet, which looks different than what we're used to in the states. More of what I would think of in a camper trailer or something.  Next to it is what looks almost exactly like the toilet, but has no seat on it and a regular sink faucet with a drain and plug.  I didn't know what that was at first, but someone said its sorta some kind of bidet. Except instead of spraying up at you, you fill the bowl with water and sorta sit in it I guess? I don't know.  Sounds unsanitary to me.  

And then there's the shower.  It is a bathtub with a shower hose, the kind you can take off and move around, but no curtain. Or glass, or door.  Nothing.  So my first shower I find myself sorta squatting in the tub spraying water over myself, feeling very uncoordinated and awkward.  It was not a glamorous moment.  And I still got water all over the bathroom.  Ay. 

I finally got to bed around 10:30 or so.  I forced myself to stay up til then and not sleep when I got there so that I would adjust to their time more quickly.  Oh, but I showered right before bed and was trying to say goodnight to my grandparents, when the Grandma noticed my wet hair and had a fit insisting I dried it and could not understand that I was going to braid it instead. So she got out her dryer and made me use it. Wouldn't take no for an answer.