<september 13> — Sunday
ciao. wake. late. drowsy. grumpy. crazy. flight. attendants. mean. ladies. great. service. food. plane. sleep. annoying. outside. wind. high. patches. circles. strange. land. all. you. need. is. love. terrorist. bets. narrow. pissy. people. first. class. dreamy. suitcases. broken. light. cramped. seats. bumpy. terrain. flight. nervous. flyers. sketchy. expressions. many. laughs. short. shorts. photos. forget. charger. forget. batteries. forget. life. all. fine. all. well. meet. see. laugh. joke. smile. bus. station. varied. prices. interesting. beautiful. mountains. grapevines. backyards. fall. in. love. family. very. sweet. very. genuine. drunk. people. amusing. people. breathtaking. lighting. bathroom. spacious. au naturale. best. shower. adds. great. touch. walk. see. travel. voyage. fascinating. roads. ala. rural. town. friendly. outlook. parks. wind. breeze. green. antique. ancient. ruins. normal. to. stefania. laughs. at. me. cannot. stop. looking. gazing. staring. enhance. bite. smirk. welcoming. enthusiasm. excitement. speechless. silence. long. walk. fragola. gelato. the. real. thing. sleep. miss. dinner. sleep. forever. 

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<september 14> — Monday
ciao. wake. super. early. cannot. go. back. stupid. time. difference. no. knowledge. no. care. i. wait. cafe. meet. people. italians. eat. nothing. but. sweets. breakfast. too. much. sugar. for. me. coffee. water. strong. cappucino. mocha. expresso. chocolate. croissant. sugar. rush. fall. fail. starbucks. peets. blown. up. but. still. so. adorable. clueless. interesting. looks. strangers. beautiful. people. everywhere. all. the. time. meet. school. disappointing. toilets. some. classmates. different. school. yellow. blue. red. clean. look. classy. flavor. architecture. monotone. engaging. pulchritudinous. bo. die. piacha. clothes. dark. look. sexy. broading. train. station. eye. contacts. museum. sit. lunch. not. too. hungry. but. food. pick. traditional. surprisingly. stranger. comes. very. friendly. teaches. from. pittsburg. night. interesting. night. meets. randomly. group. austria. melts. hearts. make. small. video. great. conversation. speaks. english. love. of. life. fun. great. chemistry. in. fairy. tale. all. walk. home. still. dazed. no. grasp. coldness. of. reality. warm. bed. warm. air. of. italy.

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<september 16> — Wednesday
ciao. cold. no. piacha. ready. today. ready. shop. see. explore. culture. raining. soaked. not. image. model. ideal. depiction. imagined. every. person. a. character. epitome. of. talent. color. very. interesting. castle. would. be. perfect. except. hostile. inclement. piss. rain. attacking. no. umbrella. boat. ride. always. love. boat. rides. love. the. ocean. pretentious. people. need. to. stop. gawd. foggy. drowsy. sleepy. water. dripping. beautiful. lake. go. home. change. thank. all. that. is. good. feels. so. much. better. love. life. again. good. speghetti. get. things. sigh. disputes. long. talks. moronic. dinner. table. favorite. time. unintelligent. words. come. up. from. certain. people. father. finds. funny. love. him. much. respect. his. intelligence. history. teacher. great. homemade. mother. so. sweet. couch. blue. dinner. set. father. sips. red. personally. prefer. white. internet. slow. the. way. meets. brother. for. first. time. absolutly no. words. to. describe. IT. moves. purrr. cat. scratches. shy. then. fiesty. stay. away. gray. white. kitten. carina. sharp. nails. they. bite.  

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<september 17>  — Thursday
ciao. venice. suprise. sunny. not. just. sunny. it. is. Hot. another. boat. so. much. more. enjoyable. people. all. tourists. amusing. such. beautiful. surroundings. visit. many. museums. many. extraordinary. places. stefania. says. medieval. not. too. sure. about. that. art. contemporary. teeth. tougue. emo. people. not. my. preferred. style. absolute. joy. masks. venetian. masks. eerily. beautiful. roads. rivers. bridges. gondolas. shoes. water. floods. lamps. french. people. kids. beautiful. couples. kissing under. bridges. romantically. cheesy. movie. cliches. worth. all. the. skepticism. to. see. firsthand. favorite. museum. so. far. gallery. of. accademia. ancient. surreal. butterflies. daises. bitter. sour. sweet. salty. grainy. slurp. crunch. dry. delicious. disgusting. nonchalant. artsy. amusing. graffiti. smooth. teal. jewelry. black. gold. silver. yesterday. belgium. girl. elegant. aura. very. friendly. church. all. around. roads. paved. crazy. drivers. crazy. limits. funny. policemen. uniform. kebab. spritz. of. home. almost. sandwhich. miss. subway. go. to. bell. miss. bell. fall. asleep. in. car. physically. exhausted. sleep. dreamless.

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<september 18> — Friday
ciao. sports. day. mi. amore. volleyball. basketball. hello. shorts. hula hoops. win. lose. badminton. ping. pong. mark. killer. serve. it. is. on. so. much. fun. interesting. ability. levels. not. what. i. would. have. presumed. underestimate. overestimate. it. is. all. part. of. the. fun. red. green. white. black. and. blue. brusies. on. arm. do. not. even. care. worth. it. have. not. played. for. the. longest. time. so. fun. collaborating. with. the. italians. most. of. them. great. players. gym. bigg. reminds. me. of. middle. school. other. high. schools. bright. stimulate. athletic. competitiveness. people. riled. up. cheer. support. laugh. jog. run. bounce. olivia. gymnastics. amazing. crowd. watches. back. forth. back. forth. apple. candy. chocolate. pears. bread. veggies. lots. and. lots. of. cheese. i. am. so. tired. want. to. sleep. like. horse. on. hay. dogs. cats. bubbles. parties. life. letter. fall. mail. stamp. tricky. tricky. map. lost. fun. to. be. lost. home. scarface. haha. typical. brother’s. favorite. movie. very. gory. father. likes. classic. relatable. 

ciao everyone!

Just got off the plane and feeling extremly jet lagged. Were in the Milan airport waiting for our lugage to come out but it dosnt quite feel like Italy yet. We walk out of the airport, still dosnt feel very  different than SF. Our Italians greet us with warm hugs and kisses ahh now it feels like Italy.

We get on a bus to get to Roverto I find out it takes 3 hours so i use the time to sleep.Anna my twin wakes me and tells me “we have arrived”, I walk out of the bus to the nice warm air of Roverto. My host Mom picks me up in a small car, then brings me to get Gelato. I get into the gelato  place and  em overwelmed with the aroma of sweet creams and cookies. After a lot of pointing the gelato woman figures out that i want mint with a cone. Generaly I dont enjoy ice cream but this gelato is organsmic!

After gelato my host Mom brings me home to a beautiful old style Italian villige home, im in awe. Their house is so different from anything we have in San Francisco. It looks like a real family home, with pictures of their family all around. My host Mom introduces me their neighbors, then sits me down for dinner. We have spaghetti made with tomatos or pomadoros in Italian from their family garden. My host Dad serves me red wine…how classy. After dinner I go to my bed and conk out. In the mourning i awake to the sound of a grandfather clock its 7 whoh iv never slept 11 hours in my life and im still tired.

I walk out of the house with a light blouse and flip flops on, its raining no not even raining its pooring… FML. We go to a cafe to meet some people for breakfest. The Italians order us lattes and chocalte coursants. The waitress comes by to serve us our coffee, the cups are so small, i think to my self how this is not gonna be enough coffee to keep me energied. But after i take a sip i change my mind, the coffee is super strong. Heres a picture of us at the cafe:

So far so good. Unfortunately I have been sick the first two days, but I will get over that soon enough.  So far it has rained on the second day.  The castles perched upon the hills are especially amazing.  I hope we get to visit one or more of them.  My host family’s  appartment is nice, it has two floors and two bathrooms.  The toilets at the schools are just holes in the ground.  squatting does not sound fun. The flushes are buttons attached to the walls and every bathroom in a house has a ba’day, but i am too scared to use it.  I don’t know of anyone who has used one yet.  The keyboards are very different.  The apostrophe/question mark button is way high up, and you have to press shift 7 in order to do a slash.  That is all the time I have for today.

September 16th

Today we went to a massive lake, Lago Del Garda, where we saw a castle and got heavily rained upon.  At the top of the castle was the biggest rifle I have ever seen, at least ten feet long.  we also saw a museum full of dead beasties.  then we strolled through the city and had pizza and coffee.  at first everyone tried to stay as dry as possible, but by the end everybody was soaked. all in all it was nice, and the lake was huge.  we went there by bus, but it was a short trip.  attie finally bought an umbrella after scouuring the town for one under €5.

September 17

today we went to venice. it was super crowded and we spent a lot of time following the tour guide around while she explained the significance of various landmarks.  we also saw a museum of medieval and renaissance paintings, some of which i recognized and new the significance of.  we saw th FEAST IN THE HOUSE OF LEVI  and other similar paintings.  we also walked through the slighlty less crowded shopping districts, where we found lots of gaudy masks and silk ties.  it was really hot in the morning, but towards the end we had cooled off significantly.  the best part of the trip to venice was crossing the bridges from one little block to another and walking through the winding streets and finding the road come to a dead end in the water.  venice was nice, but i would not want to live there, it is wasy too touristy.

September  19

over the weekend we went on a trip to the mountains, and we stayed at a hostel.  we hiked four two hours only to find that the hostel was easily accessable by car.  why we hiked when we could have walked is beyond me and especially beyond atticus.  we stayed in the hostel, and it was nice, and we got to hike some more the next day.  we saw some pretty large waterfalls, but there was not much there that you could not easily get in yosemite.  the mountains were a lot closer though.  we had really goodd food at the hostel, some amazing, really large gnocci and pasta with bacon.  the entire area was really nice, but on the way home we decided to wait two hours for no particular reason to go back to civilization.  we had a really nice dinner when we got back to rovereto at a fancy resturaunt named the house of wine.  it had some really good food, but there was soooooo much of it that i only had a few bites of each course.  of course the italians eat like pros, and for every half dish i had eaten they had already cleaned their plates and were talkin for about an half hour.  then it rained and we rushed home and slept ahppy and full.

September 21

we wentt to trento and saw a castle full of renaissance works that were fairly impressive.  we got to wander the streets and find some food for ourleves, and then we got to run to the train station.  at the castle there was a plethora of historical nuggets.  we found out that the castle was built over six hundred years and that it was the home of the bishop prince of trento, which was an unusual position to hold at the time.  we learned all about the seals of trento, such as the double lion, the double headed eagle of the emperor, and the single headed eagle of the bishop.  we had luch and then we was all happy and we went home for even more food.  such a ridiculous amount of food in this country.

A chillax morning. We were in the computer lab today and worked on our project, which is to write a reflection in our days here in Italy. I had saved one journal in my email and I posted that. I wrote every night and saved it in my usb stick, but unfortunately I didn’t have it with me. So I’m going to have to copy and paste tomorrow.

In the afternoon we went to Marzadro. We got to taste a couple different types of alcohol. Don’t worry. This was just tasting, not drinking. I bought one bottle of apple flavored, i-dont-know-what type-of-alcohol. It will be my gift to my dad. I still need to get my mom a rosary, and I think that’s for shopping. I still want to buy shoes!! Scarpe!

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

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September 21 2009

Today we went to Trento. Mr. Corea said that this is really the home of the Catholic Church. They decided pretty much what the Catholic Church was going to do. I went inside to I think the biggest church there in Trento. Beautiful. Solemn. There was also a primitive church under it and I went there. There were tombs there. I was kind of creeped out by that.

After lunch we went to the castle. 12^th century and it has another part of renaissance. Now that was awesome! Iove seeing renaissance structures and art. Something about that time just makes me feel like “I should belong there!” I think it is more of the fashion that attracts me to that time. However, women were still cinched with corsets at that time, which was painful. I still loved their dresses though and it was very conservative. After that we went back to Rovereto and I got to do some shopping! Yay!

One amazing thing that happened tonight – I finally won in poker! Muwahah!

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

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September 20 2009

Went to church today. Laura told me it starts at 10am. So I woke up at 9 to get ready. I walked there and found out it had started already. The order of the mass is the same in any catholic church. When I got to the church I speculated it was in the middle already. I checked their bulletin board and it started at 9:30am. Mamma Mia! 30 min. late! It’s ok. However I didn’t receive the host (body of Christ) because I wasn’t there for the whole mass. I don’t know if that’s tradition or just my logic. Though I didn’t understand the mass, I could make out which prayers they were doing and I muttered them in English. What really captivated me was the choir. Belissima! Voices of Angels. Such great harmony!

Tonight we went to Casa de Vina. “House of wine.” It was near Laura’s house. Walking distance. Seriously like 30 second walk. Hm. The food was nice. Interesting. Fancy. Too bad I was pretty full before that dinner because I went to a birthday party before that, which brings me to another beautiful experience. I got to taste southern (sicilian) food. We played soccer in a circle – something I always saw in shows and movies.

Oh. I got to do some homework today! I’m still behind though. Im going to have to cram it all in when I get back to San Francisco.

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

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September 19 2009

I slept at 3 am Friday night (technically Saturday morning). Laura said I could sleep in because there were no plans the next day. I turned off my alarm. I slept soundly. Next thing I know, Laura wakes me up saying, “Oy! Wake up! It’s 5 o’clock! You want to sleep for one month?” hah. I slept for 14 hours! Just goes to show how tired I really was.

After I got ready, we went to the usual place where they get caffe. Then I really really had to use a computer to send my homework to my teacher. Since Laura doesn’t have internet, we went to her friend, Gennaro’s house to use the internet. Then we went to Filipo’s house for dinner. Her boyfriend cooks so good! Hah She told me, “I stay with him because he can cook.” Haha. Then we played texas hold ‘em poker. Err I never win. I’m always close to winning though. Went home at 3 am and slept.

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

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September 18 2009

A chill day. All we had to do was go to gym class. But for 4 hours! Aah! Well we played volleyball. They got to see my skills .  Heh. played volleyball and middle school and was co-captain. I haven’t played in a long time. Everyone thought I was good, but really I was rusty. I was very tired after that. I don’t exercise regularly so I have a feeling that I’m going to be sore tomorrow.

We were supposed to visit the MART today. It is their museum of modern art. But I was so tired that I fell asleep and Laura decided to just let me sleep and not go. Although I didn’t go to this museum, I feel like I didn’t miss much. I would’ve seen similar artworks from our SFMOMA. Still, it would have been interesting to see how the inside of that museum looked like. The architect that built this building is the same one that designed our SFMOMA.

After lunch at Filipo’s house, I slept from 1 pm to 7pm. Haha. Then we ate dinner at Laura’s house. Since it was a Friday night we were planning to go to disco. Unfortunately, it was closed. So instead Laura and her friends took me to Lake Garda. Although I’ve been here, it was different because this was at night. We walked around and then we were going to get some gelato, but that was closed too. So we went to get brioche. It was awesome! It is croissant with nutella! Ah! I love nutella!

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

Dream come true!!

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September 17, 2009

VENEZIA. A day in Venice. Dressed warm for the warnings of rain. We get there and it’s the perfect weather for flip flops and shorts. Sucks that most of us dressed warmly, some even wore rain boots. But Venice is so beautiful you forget all your worries. We went to the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia. Full of paintings all religious themed. It was amazing to think that they painted this on wood.

We walked and walked around Venice. Very tiring. Stancca! I promised myself I would get a mask in Venice, so I did! Black mask with feathers with the stick. A lot of other people also got masks. How could you not when you’re in Venice? We didn’t get to ride the gondola though. It was expensive, but we found a guy who would’ve gave it to us for cheap, but we didn’t have the time. Tomorrow is gonna be a chillax day I think, and then disco at night!

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

Venice =D

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September  16 2009 24:58 (Italian time)

Ayyy. So tired. Long day. We took a bus to Lake Garda and then took a ferry boat to Melcesina. Got a bit sea sick but fortunately I didn’t throw up. I never throw up anyway whenever I get sea/air/car sick. I just go as far as getting dizzy. We visited a castle. All of this would have been beautiful if it weren’t for the rain! Danatzione stapio vendo! I feel really bad for Laura. She had to go through this with her period. Bleh. I still didn’t find any shoes that I can wear in the rain, like sneakers or something. Mark  bought two pairs! Expensive though. But he worked over the summer, and still has a job, that’s why he has money. I’m excited to go to Venice tomorrow! I don’t have a lot of money to spend though. I’m very conscious of my money ever since I got here because before I left my dad said, “Don’t buy unnecessary things.” Err what am I supposed to buy? If I buy shoes, he’ll say that I already have a lot of shoes. So what’s considered ‘unecessary?’ Whatevs.

Hmm I really need to start doing homework, but I don’t have the time because the earliest we get home is 11pm. Laura and her friends are always at Filipo’s house playing poker or just hanging out. I don’t want to be rude and tell her to go home so I can do my homework because I like hanging out anyway.

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

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September 15, 2009 22:30 (Italian time)

Wooh. What a day. I’ve had 3 cups coffee today. That’s the most I’ve had in one day here in my time in Italy. Culture of Italy – coffee coffee coffee. In the morning we shot small clips of Italian and American pairs in the school of Depero. Then we went to this place with a little waterfall and houses above it. Beautiful. I saw the aroma of Italy in this place. At night we went to the biggest bell. It was awesome. The bell was really loud, well duh we were standing right under it. This bell is supposed to remind people of the peace that we should have in this world. It commemorates the dead soldiers from World War II.

For the past two days I’ve been playing texas hold ‘em at night with Laura and her friends. It’s pretty fun. Something that we all understand.

Well I’m gonna do  homework now.. ughh one thing that is a hindrance here in Italy.

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

Ah.

Majestic Bell

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September 14 2009

Second day in Italia.. Very beautiful!! I love the streets. Small. Cozy. Intimate. I love the whole vintage feel! With the old houses and everything. I always take pictures of the houses that have balconies and they hang clothes on it. It’s so cute. Whenever I see it, I feel at home. There’s something about it that just it feel home-y.

Yesterday, September 13 I arrived in Milan airport and Laura picked me up and we took a 3-hour coach bus ride to Rovereto. Her boyfriend picked us up and I saw my temporary house and her mom. All I could do was smile. I saw their little house. It’s awesome. Very fresco. So after I got settled at her house, we went out to meet her friends. They are crazy cool! haha. Bellos and Bellas. We went to a cafe and experienced my first italian coffee (espresso). I felt very European hanging out with them. As Laura said, “This is Italy, we drink coffee and then smoke.” Heh. I dont smoke though. I would say that the only thing that kinda bothers me is the smell of cigarettes, but I’m learning to get used to it because it’s part of the culture. I tasted the Rovereto pastry from this little “fiesta” they were having. I forgot  what it was called, but its like their donut, but it’s not one whole it’s like split up into thick strings, like fat pasta connected.

Laura’s boyfriend said, “Rovereto is western.” He meant that it is like the desert, not many people. Yes there arent many people, everyone seems to know everyone, saying “Ciao” to everyone. I saw some cute guys but it seems like everyone has a boyfriend. Haha. It’s so cute though because all the couples I’ve seen call each other ‘Amore’ <3

Ciao Bella,

Alyssa

CAFFE!

Rovereto Specialty!

My trip here to Italia. Too much too be described. After the trip on the horrendous planes, we finally arrived in the Milan airport. Looking out the window, I thought that we were going to arrive in a very busy airport full of people, cars, and very modernized. It was very different. Though it was busy and full, there were more countryside than buildings. Then meeting my Italian twin, who I never met before, was very different then me, a city kid. He is very nice, and fun to be around. When entering in Trento, the way I saw city life was the opposite of  what I thought. They live in such small communities, in which practically everyone knows each other. I would love to go shopping, and also take pictures. Also, to buy a new pair of shoes. Damn sandals, and damn rain.

Sept. 15, 2009

We did something very interesting today. We had to do a little skit with our Italian partner, and it had to be in a way of introducing each other, and having fun at the same time. We did a pretty good job. The Italian schools are very different from our schools. Especially the bells. Anyways, I had a great time last night, too! We went SHOPPING!! I was all thrilled, until I stepped in. It can be described as a Wal-Mart, but no offense, I was really disappointed. So in order to actually buy something, I’m going shopping tomorrow. After the trip to the mall, we had a bit of free  time. The really memorable part of today is when we had to visit a very famous bell in Rovereto. It is called “Bell of the Fallen,” which was forged from the cannons of the World Wars. When hearing the bell ring, it had almost an apocalyptic sound that made me think of how many died for the sake of their country. It gives a message of learning from people’s from their own mistakes. It was a very moving scene to see the bell toll. This day is very fun!

Sept. 16, 2009

We went to the famous lake, which is considered the biggest lake in all of Italy. Though the weather is not working with us, we still seem to find the grandeur of Italy in the landscapes. The boat ride is a bit lengthy, but we are able to go through it with the rain. As we stepped out and walked towards the castle, we had to walk through the uphill side walks, which had now turn to streams. After walking to the castle, we are able to experience two sides of this region: a museum to explain the nature within the region, as in plants, and animals. The other side is the castle that is built on top of a hill, and by the time one would reach the top of the castle, a bell has been placed on top. After visiting this particular place, we were able to have some free time, and after a long search of time, money and effort, I finally am able to swipe that card though the reader and finally bought myself, not one, but TWO pairs of shoes! It felt so good that I was able to buy something today, and I finally bought something I needed. I am really looking forward to the trip to Venice, though it is rain tomorrow. I got to get more things to buy!

Sept. 17, 2009

Venice is wonderful! I just had to be that tourist that had to buy the Venetian mask. In the beginning of the trip, I was extra excited because Venice is a special place to me. It is special to me because as the patron saint is St. Mark, of whom I am named after. Also, I have artists and painters in Venice of whom has work that I simply adore. As we went to Venice, I was in a really good mood. Riding the boat was pretty fun, as we were able to see Venice from the sea. The buildings held an aura of such a magnificent past that I could only imagine. I felt really bad because the place was packed with many tourists, and that it had become a place for tourists, and not the authentic Italians. Walking around had really made my feet hurt! Also, we were lucky to have been given the weather that we had since it was supposed to rain, but it turned out to be very sunny and warm. There were many shops that had many different things. I bought so much souvenirs for my family and friends.

Sept. 18, 2009

We had to go to the school, but not to learn. To sweat while playing in the gym! At first, I was not into the whole sweating, and then I slowly started to have fun while playing volleyball. I was pretty good because my older cousin played volleyball, and she needed someone to play with, so it was me. We had matches within the group, and it was pretty fun. Until, the other gym class came in, and wanted to have a match with us. I was ready, and the match was pretty intense. Balls were flying! This one particular girl served it with such fierceness, and she was aiming  her ball at me. After the whole match, the Italian gym group “won.” Anywho, after we went to the museum, and the artwork is abstract, and many of the artwork were very bold. Most of the artwork were made from Italian artists. After, we had the afternoon to ourselves, so we with my friends, tried my first Spritz, and Italian drink. It came with finger food, and it was DELISH! Tomorrow, we are going to the mountains!

Sept. 19, 2009

Well, Saturday was so fun!!! I was getting ready to go to the mountains with my Italian counterpart, and also my friends, too. When I was packing, I never really thought of what I needed, so I literally came unprepared. The drive to the mountains was very relaxing, and we made a stop to Louis’ house in Spiazzo, which is close to the mountains. His house was beyond amazing! It was huge, and he also had a studio to paint. I loved his artwork, and I was willing to pay for one particular painting! As we left for the mountains, we had met up with   our friends. Then we had a time for a break, and we all ate. Then we all drove to the designated area, and waited for our guide. Our guide was really cool, and we set for our trail walking. This is the grim part. I started to sweat. I came so close to quitting, and the whole hour and thirty minute walk almost killed me!! The great part though was that I had sculpted my legs, and they look FABULOUS! After the hellish walk to our bed and breakfast, we were able to sit and relax, and eat cake (which I didn’t by the way, empty calories)! We had such a fabulous night, hanging out together, and having such a fun night.

Sept. 20, 2009

Sunday, waking up, sleeping in a bed full of blankets, and pillows, and it was FREEZING! I had to wake up ten minutes before breakfast was served, so I was rushing my butt to get ready, and by the time I got downstairs, everybody was eating. I had a slice of bread, with cherry jam, and a cup of coffee, and it was DELISH! After breakfast, we were waiting for another guide to show us the mountains, and the scenery. I was in awe since I don’t really do much mountain things since the terrain is really hard for me, but this was really worth it. Many things to see, and I was also able to take so much pictures to bring home. After, we went back to the cabin, there were some people who began to sing since it was some kind of mini concert. It was fabulous, and made me think of how I’m going to miss Italy. After this whole trip to the mountains, we had to attend the dinner party at night, with all the teachers, and parents. It was FIERCE, gurl!! At the end of the night, I was full, and a bit tipsy!

Sept. 21, 2009

Monday, was a very lucky day for me. I was able to sleep in, and wait at the train station around nine in the morning, because the group was going to visit our home town, TRENTO!! It was not all that new to me, though I was able to find new, little gems, about the town. I was able to visit the cathedral, or duomo, in the  town square, hoping to get some rosaries to bring home. In the end, I didn’t get the rosaries, but was able to see what’s inside the cathedral, and also under. It had a basilica, and had tombs of the bishops that were from Trento. The artwork was flawless, and I loved everything. After the visit to the church, I got hungry, but gurl, I had to get a Spritz. After the Spritz, we went to a castle, that was in Trento and it had such nice views. Again, it had artwork that were spectacular. Trento was FABULOUS!!!

Sept. 22, 2009

Today wasn’t the greatest day. I started to feel sick, and at times, feel like I wanted to pass out. It’s probably all the things I did, and all this walking and stuff (Mr. Lightweight). Well, today was a pretty chill day. We stayed in the computer lab to type our blog, and it was pretty fun seeing what people had to say about our trip. After, I went with friends to eat in a restaurant, and it was pretty good. I had spaghetti, others had pesto, and I also tried the nutella krepes. Delicious! We hen had our time to ourselves, but I didn’t do much. After, around four, we visited a grappa making factory. A difference was that it was full of history, as the tour guide is the grandson of the founder, who is still alive. I personally did not like grappa, but had to buy some stuff for some people. It was exciting to see how it is made. After, I didn’t feel good, so I slept, for God knows how long.

When I first arrived to Italy, I loved/hated it. The food was good, and the family was good, but I felt like a third wheel or something. The first two days were really hard for me because I’m so used to routine and being in the same environment. I felt really uncomfortable. I assumed that all the Italians were going to do everything so drastically different and they were going to think I was a freak or worse, a “stereotypical” American because of how I eat (I barely use utensils) and I don’t have the same manners as them. I take really long showers (Italian showers are like three minutes, if that). I also felt that me and Greta weren’t connecting much. We didn’t really talk when I first arrived (big language barrier). The first two days I wanted to go home really badly. I was beyond the point of not even unpacking my clothes and go back home to America.

Thank God I got over that.

Random shitty thing that happened to me in italy:

My shoelace got caught in the escalator at the millenium center .

VENICE was a mess! I will never go there ever again in my life. It is hell on earth for me. So first of all it was raining cats and dogs the day before we went to VENICE so we assumed it would be cold, raining, and flooded. We brought rainboats, umbrellas, and jackets. It ended up being 91 degrees. Thankfully we were able to leave some stuff on the bus. I can’t imagine anyone ever living there. It doesn’t seem realistic. There are no cars and no streets just people and pigeons. It’s like living at Marine World or something. The only good thing about VENICE is their beautiful mask, I bought four.

We leave for Milan from Newark, New Jersey at 6:30 EST… I HAD NO SLEEP ON THE PLANE!!! I stayed awake doing work and just watching our progress on the little TV screen. As we flew over Ireland and saw little towns all lit up underneath us, we got excited and people began waking up for the last 3 hours of the flight… Upon arrival in Milano, we were surprised by the italian students and their teacher, Susanna… The bus ride to Rovereto was long and for the most part felt like a drive from Sacramento to San francisco because the scenery was pretty familiar looking… When we hit the mountains and vineyards, however, we all had a sense of being in a foreign country. The castles we passed were amazing and the towns were adorable… I met up with my Chanti and we went to walk around the town. We got some gelato and saw some beautiful houses that made the walk something special. The houses are all exactly what you would picture on the cover of a puzzle box! Flowers and clothes in every window!! The experience so far has been amazing… except for not knowing the language as well as I had hoped, but hey, I can still learn

[as soon as we get into the Milan airport... really italy? REALLY??]

Ok so today we went to the MART Museum… ehhh not really feeling the abstract art… Kim and I kinda tried playing around a bit and started random stupid little interpretations of the art… fun stuff… But the photography was nice… anyways, after kinda chillen there, we went home… haha that night, Keiara and i went to a bar… ooo that child cannot handle anything … i ended up drinking her martini and my own Bacardi and coke… mmm… deeelish… haha sorry mom… but yea, it was kinda fun even if we were only out for an hour or so…. catching up and girl talk with a friend you havent seen much the past week is always fun… =] anyways, signing off…. until next time… later bruhhh…

[Pretty moded]

Coming to Italy was one of the best decision I made! This trip is worth the money that I paid, even though it was pretty expensive. The flight from San Francisco to New York was not as great as I thought it would be. It was not a comfy flight. The ride from New York to Milan was okay. I like the whole seating arrangements; it was quite roomy. Yesterday was the first time I meet up with my Italian “twin”. It was awesome. Another thing that is awesome is just the whole entire place! It is so pretty here! Just like tv, but better! I can’t wait till I can go visit this whole entire country.

The pizza and pasta here is GREAT. I love how they make it. The authentic way. I also had home made tuna pasta; that was really good too. Gelato WAS THE BEST! It was really rich and good. I wish I can bring some home and have it for dessert everyday. The water fountains they have around is cute. The paintings on the wall are so spectacular! People here are so talented. The old house here are very beautiful. The streets even look nice! I want a vacation home here! One downside to this trip is the rain… I hope it will stop raining so we can walk around! But other than that, this trip is going pretty well! Hope to see more of Italy! XD

Laura, Yvane, Me, Arianna  (our first real Gelato :] )

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Today was such a good day other than two things. Me being really jet-lagged and my camera breaking. I can’t believe that it broke right when the trip started! Food… well today,I tired more new food. For breakfast, I had this yogurt thingy that has some crunchy chocolate things that you pour into the yogurt. It was good. For lunch, I had this kinda of pasta that had chicken and walnuts or something like that. That was good too! And then there was salad…. one of the best salads that I’ve ever tasted! it had pears and strawberries! For dinner, we ate different kinds of sausages and french fries.

Today, we sightseeing was really nice. Italy is gorgeous! At night, we went to the bell tower place and we watched and heard it ring. It was something that can never be recreated by another bell. It holds so many symbols to the Italians and also the entire world. All in all, today was a WONDERFUL day other than my camera breaking.

Mmm… Insalate….

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Mercoledì, September 16, 2009  :

Today, we went to Malcesine. We arrived at this town by boat. It was pretty crowded on the boat too because it was raining and no one wanted to be get wet, so we all crowded together inside the boat. Today would be so much better if it wasn’t raining. Everyone’s feet and shoes were soaking wet! Very uncomfortable.

Other than that, today was my first time going to a REAL castle! The castle we went to is called “Castello Scaligero.” It’s pretty there, but the part that we spent the most time in was in museum part of this castle. Walking around the castle was tricky. The floor was all wet, making the floor all slippery. Thankfully, I didn’t fall! After, this trip, we went out for lunch and went window shopping! I didn’t know that the prices here are so much more than the US. A pair of Converses here costs around 60 euros, but the shoes in the USA cost only 45 dollars! The prices here are pazzo!

The Castle

____________________________________________________________________________________________ Giovedì, September 17,2009

Venezia! I finally got to come to Italy to visit Venezia! Although we did have to wake up early to come here, Venice is one of the most prettiest and unique places I have ever been to! I cannot think of any other place where transportation is by boat or by crossing over bridges. Come to think about it, I don’t even think that cars are allowed to drive around most parts of Venice. Thankfully, the day we went was a nice and sunny day, which made the day even better! (It was raining the previous day.)

While we were at Venice, we went to a few museums. The art work and the architecture of the buildings we spectacular! Even the pillars were very nice. I love how the designs are never repeated. All the pillars, at this one building, had different designs. Each of the pillar has a story to it. One thing that I was not too happy about was the time restriction that we had at Venice. I wish that we had more time so we can walk around and shop. I also wish that we had time to ride a gondola. I mean, you have to ride one when you’re at Venice right?! Well, at least I got to take a picture with the gondola and then people who ”drives” them! Next time I come to Venice, I’m definitely going to shop and ride a gondola!

WHooo! Gondola people!

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Venedì, September 18, 2009

Today was an intense day. I never thought that I would be going to the school gym in Italy and play sports. Well, that’s what we did today. All the Americans and Italians were at the gym and were either playing sports or watching people play sports. I  played one game of volleyball today, and my team lost… It was fun though. After the break we had from playing, people were all hanging around the gym or playing other sports. It was quite interesting watching people mess around in the gym.

After the gym, we all went out to eat lunch. We ate pizza! After our pizza, we went to the park and hung out. It was pretty fun. We were just sitting on the bench and the swings and just chatting. While we were sitting there, a whole clump of mosquitos were traveling around the park. It was quite scary. I’ve never seen such a big group of mosquitos flying together! Well, soon after we saw the mosquitos, we walked our way to the MART museum. The Mart museum totally reminds me of the SFMOMA, even though it was designed by the same artist. The art work there was pretty different. There was a lot of abstract art. Trying to interpret it was fun.

Ewww…. bugs

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Martedì, September 22, 2009  : 9.33pm

Today was a fun day! We didn’t go sightseeing though. We went to school and we went to Marzadro, a grappa factory. At school, we learned how to post up our blogs onto this blog site. I think this blog site is ending up looking pretty good! That was fun because it wasn’t like regular school stuff. After school we went to eat lunch. Because all the Italians were still at school, only us Americans went out to eat at a restaurant. The food and location of the restaurant was very nice and chill. I ordered pesto pasta again! :] After lunch, we meet up with the Italians and just chilled untill four o’clock. At four, everyone meet up and we all went to the grappa factory. The location of the place was perfect! It is so pretty there! At the factory, we learned about how the factory runs. I’m pretty sure that we all enjoyed going to the factory. It was a new experience for many of us.

The Grappa Factory

13. SETTEMBRE 2009

Madre Rafaella and Laura.

From my house to SFO. From SFO to Newark. And From Newark to Italy. Touchdown, my head was hurting, I was happy to be in Italy, but it really didn’t hit me yet. “I’m in Italy.” Yes, I was finally  in Italy, but it still felt so surreal. To be honest, since I’ve gotten used to most of my trips being in the Philippines, it felt like I was in the good old Philippine airport. When we passed through Italian immigration it still didn’t hit me. After finally getting my luggage and walking out the door to arrival pickup, it still didn’t hit me.  I saw our Italians and heard them speaking their language that I wasn’t familiar with and, it still didn’t hit me. I met my Italian, we were speaking through sign language and a phrasebook, and surprisingly it still didn’t hit me. We were on the road passing by places and the scenery outside the window just reminded me of the Philippines, it really hadn’t hit me. So there we pass by towns, vineyards, and medieval castles, you’d expect me to be hit by now, but no it hasn’t. Okay, now let me fast forward to my Italian’s mom picking us up, having gelato at Rovereto’s best gelateria in a typical beautiful Eureopean style building and then this peak with a priceless view. And the fact that I’m in Italy. Still. Hadn’t. Hit. Me. Now let me double fast forward, we arrive at my Italian, Laura’s house, I step into her modern Italian home, with a beautiful garden at the bottom of a mountain, in the town of Bolognano and a miracle happened. And then it finally hit me – I’m in Italy.

14. SETTEMBRE 2009

Our second day in Italy. Its the first day of school for our Italians. 6:30 am, we walk to the bus stop. A rainy day, but not too bad. Walking through the alleys of Rovereto totally reminds me of my mom’s province back in the Philippines. Just this walking through the rain at this time of the morning in this this type of weather reminded me of the Philippines so much. We wait at the bus stop for some time. A bunch of my Italian’s fellow schoolmates take the same bus as well. It turns out almost every kids in town commutes at least 45 minutes every morning just to go to school. Now that. That is totally Filipino. Back in the Philippines my cousins live in the rural Liliw, Laguna province far away from the city which is why they take jeepneys every morning and pass by mountains and yeah, just like here in Italy. We finally arrive in Rovereto. Our Italians take us Americans to some café for breakfast. I order an Arancia and a cioccolato croissant. One of my first observations of that day was the fact that the cafe didn’t have already made chocolate croissants. They just added separate chocolate syrup on top of the croissant.

So that day was pretty much a tour of Rovereto’s landmarks. We walked in the rain. All of us underneath umbrellas. But since we’re tourists and we’re not here in bellissima Italia forever, the rain isn’t going to stop us from taking pictures and videos even if it means risking our gadgets getting wet.

Didn't expect to bring Baybayin to Italy.

That night a few of us Americans and Italians got together and had a movie night at one of the Italians, Arianna who was hosting Kimberly. When we arrived to the top of their four story house I was amazed by the view. One thing that caught my eye in Arianna’s home was the Chinese calligraphy hanging on the wall. And since Kimberly is Chinese, I asked her if she understood the three paintings hanging on the wall. Then Arianna’s dad, got interested into my question and requested for Kimberly to pronounce the Chinese characters for us. “Sigh ma,” said Kimberly. Which translates to small horse. Then Arianna’s dad tells us that the Chinese characters hanging on their wall is their family’s Italian last name, Cavallini, meaning. It was so funny since Arianna’s brother even recorded Kimberly’s voice on his phone. All of us we’re trying to pronounce it correctly and it was hilarious. Since I found out Arianna’s dad was interested in language, I asked him if he wanted me translate his name in Baybayin, the ancient Filipino script. And he was really into it! Its so funny how something small like me translating Cavalini in Baybayin is part of reviving the dead script that some Filipinos never heard about.  He even asked me for my autograph haha. But anways yeah we watched something called Dovemericano Pie. It was stupidly hilarious. The Italians had funny American reactions that made us Americans laugh out loud. Our favorite one was “estoopid”.

15. SETTEMBRE 2009

Today was a really good day, both weather and experience wise. What Depero had in store for us was an on camera skit-like vid with our fellow Italian twins under the supervision of Nikola, the media teacher. Stepping into the Cinematography room was no doubt amazing. It was purely legit. I was impressed by the fact that Depero, a school whose building is a medieval castle in rural Italia, had something like this. So our task for the day was to create a short and fun ten seconds of fame teaser with each of our Italians. Everyone went up in pairs, and as that was happening I was what you call the “clapper” for each pair before they got on camera.

A Clapper for the First Time

Although I do have my own clapperboard back at home, this was the first time I’ve actually ever used one. But yeah, anyways my twin, Laura, and I ended up singing Quando Quando Quando for a short skit and it was pretty cool.

In the afternoon we had a more laid back tour around the town of Rovereto. Passed through a bunch of allies, was astonished by the architecture of buildings, and took a bunch of photos that captured the beauty of Italia.

Riva del Garda, was our main stop later that day. The locals call it Riva for short. A town dedicated to tourism at the end of Lago de Garda. What I love about this town is the fact that it isn’t your typical tourist site. Unlike other places, I was actually able to stop and smell the roses since we weren’t rushed and it wasn’t packed with foreigners.  I don’t know if you guys know, but here in Italy they’re big fans of sparkling water, also known as “frizzante“. In they’re what we would refer to as ‘corner stores’ in the middle of the streets (allies), they more frizzante than naturale. I got so thirsty in Riva, that I bought some water, there were two similar bottles of different colors. And because I can’t read fluently in Italian, I just assumed that they were two different brands.  I opened the bottle and all of sudden carbonation is happening. I took a drink, and was all like, “Uwwww…” It was Sprite without the flavor. So that day I learned a great lesson, in Italy take a look at the water bottles first before you buy them, there’s a good chance its not natural water.

16. SETTEMBRE 2009

“Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, you’re always a day away.” That’s how I felt today. Lets face it, Italy is BEAUTIFUL. But when the rain comes into the picture, it sucks. Today’s destination? Malcesine. To be more specific Castello Scaligero, Malcesine, Lago di Garda. Castello, is Italian for castle. To get to Malcesine’s castle we had to take a ferry across Garda Lake from Riva. Although it was raining, it was fun. But if only it was a beautiful day, it would have been a million times better. The weather made it hard for all of us Americans and Italians to explore the exterior side of the castle.

Before we left Malcesine and returned back to our homes that day Ms. Francis gave me a poncho, yes you heard me a poncho. It was very stylish as you can see below. Haha. I hadn’t worn one of those in like ten years.

Malcesine

On the ferry ride back to Riva a couple of us Americans were sitting at one small table with one of our Italians, Linda. To liven our ride I suggested we play some American icebreakers. It started with five of us playing the haha game and then Big Booty. If you haven’t heard of Big Booty, well it’s pretty much a concentration game involving rhythm and groove, and involves one person to be called Big Booty. We started off with five people; four Americans and one Italian, and by the end of the ferry ride it we got another four Italians plus Hermano, our Italian host teacher for the day. What really cracked up us Americans was the fact that Hermano was confused with the name of the game, Big Booty. He was wondering why I was Big Booty and he thought it was because I had a “big bottom”. After a while he figured out that anyone can be Big Booty.

17. SETTEMBRE 2009

“Its a beautiful morning,” the Young Rascals. Annie’s, “Tomorrow” was a charm. The sun finally came out and the sky was no longer bursting out tears! A perfect day for Venezia. And before I continue I’d like to greet my cousin, Ate Lesli a happy

Venezia

birthday! So yeah, hello Venice! It was a three hour bus ride from Rovereto so I just fell asleep the majority of the way. When we arrived in Venice, we weren’t in Venice Venice, we were just in Venice. We still had to take a ferry to get to our destination. Because I wanted to get a lot of Italy as much as possible, I decided to sit outside to get the beautiful sightseeing. I learned from one of the Italians that boats serve as buses here in Venice because of the fact that its made of a bunch of little islands. If you want to get to another island in Venice you have to walk across bridges or take the bus, I mean boat.

Finally on my fourth day here, I was finally able to use my up to date Fujifilm polaroid  and my Holga film cameras. My vintage like cameras felt like it was at home. And what’s funny is that all the Italian students were amazed by my instant camera. I went through a tape of instant film full of memories of Venezia.

Being in one of the most famous tourist spots in the world felt so damn good. I enjoyed the buildings and walking down the bridges, but I felt that our six hour stay there just wasn’t enough. Everything was pretty rushed. Which is why one day I’m going to come back to Venice, and that’s a promise.

The name of the neighborhood I grew up and still live in

18. SETTEMBRE 2009

Although we’re not at school back in San Francisco, guess what we had to do today? Physical Education. Yeahyuh. The moment I heard that we were going to have a sports day I was overjoyed. The fact that we go to an arts school and not have P.E. in our daily schedules kind of sucks, which is why I loved the fact that we got some time here in Italy to play sports.

We all go downstairs to the gym floor. The gym teacher comes to our circle of Italians and Americans and tells us we have to change. So there I go thinking yeah lets go to the restroom, but no. We got to the locker room. (Well thats what we Americans would consider a locker room, except there was no lockers. They were fully complete on showers though.) Compared to our locker rooms back in the states, it was beautiful. The gym itself was grande. Full on out bleachers, equipment, and they even had those ropes and ladders that I’d only seen in Hollywood movies. It was pretty cool finding out that they had a better gym facility than any other school in the San Francisco Unified School District.

So first we stretch with the gym teacher in one gigantic circle. Their warmup exercises were different to our American stretches, and in my opinion better. All of us Americans were surprised and laughing (in a very good way) at the way they warm themselves up here in Italy.

Volleyball was what we were warming up for, but I spent the majority of my gym time playing basketball, it being my favorite sport and because I hadn’t played in like two years.

Bene means good.

What’s funny is that, during my summer job I came across some Italian visitors and told them I’m visiting their homeland so they asked me where I was going. I told them Rovereto. And since I work at a museum, they mentioned Rovereto having a museum called Mart. Guess what happened today? We visited a museum in Rovereto called Mart.

So what’s cool about Bulognano, the town I’m staying in, aside from it being beautiful, during my two week stay here its the town’s four day fiesta. This event was one of the events that totally reminded me of the Philippines. This night my Italian took me to the fiesta. It was awesome.

My fellow Bulognano town citizens and bus mates.

19. SETTEMBRE 2009

Bus rides and being tired. A combo I have encountered every single day here in Italia. Here in Italy people commute at least 45 minutes everyday by bus for their job, school, and what not. And don’t get me wrong though, the only reason why I’m tired is because I’ve been having too much fun. Although it may be the weekend, today I still got a little bit of both.

Welcoming Waterfalls

To get to Dolomiti we had to take the usual 45 minute bus ride to Rovereto. Then we took the train to Trento. After arriving in Trento we took another bus to one place, another bus to this other place, and another bus. To be honest I lost count of how many buses we took since I was so tired that morning. All I remember was using the bus rides as nap time, so that I was energized for the hike.

Okay, fast forward to the actual hike. I really didn’t know what to expect. When we arrived in the national park, I no longer felt like I was in Italy. Being in Dolomiti felt like I was in some Californian mountains. That’s how similar they were.

So we hiked up and down the rock, mud, and grass pathways for about an hour and a half. Because it rained for a short moment the majority of the ground we walked on was somewhat slippery. Crossed bridges, passed waterfalls, and took water breaks at the Italian fountains I can never get over being so damn awesome. It was a decent cloudy day, no sun whatsoever. But after a while I was a human towel, sweat was pouring down my whole body. I’ve never sweated so much on this trip, and believe me we’ve had a lot of burning hot days.

20. SETTEMBRE 2009

Day 2 of Dolomiti. For me, not as much sweat was involved as day one. Today was a beautiful morning, and the aftermath of that led to a beautiful day perfect for hiking. Saturday was mostly about backpacking to our bed and breakfast, today was more about hiking to meet with nature. Tasted wild berries and flowers, came across interesting looking bugs and plants, and learned a lot about some of things Dolomiti had to offer. One of which was that the ants were protected by the law. Ants played a big roll in Dolomiti’s ecosystem, so if you tried to kill them, you’d get fined.

After leaving Dolomiti, we all had to take the bus back to Trento. Luis’ mom and dad were very kind enough to squeeze nine of us into their two station wagons. And because eleven would have been a little too much, and Luis was in his mother nature, he and Mark stayed behind and were picked up later. We were dropped off in the town at the bottom of Dolomiti, called Pinzolo.

Unlike San Francisco’s Muni, Trentino actually has an on time bus schedule, with two differences, Muni is a city line while Trentino’s is a region line, and some Muni lines run every ten minutes while Trentino’s follows a strict schedule where buses run around once every hour, which is why if you miss the bus here in Trentino, you miss the bus.

So back to Pinzolo, Because we had just missed the bus back to Trento, We had a little less than two hours to stall, so we went to the center of Pinzolo and had some gelato. I’d say this was the best gelato I’d had on the trip.

I had a combo of Straciatella (Cookies and Cream) and Fragola (Strawberry). Linda, one of the Italians was surprised with my cream and fruit combo. She thought it was like having “milk and juice”. And because I loved my “milk and juice,” I decided to get another one. This time my combination was Ciocollato (Chocolate) and Ache (a mix of citrus fruit). Since I ordered another unusual combo to Linda, she had the funniest look on her face and said, “Americans…” It was hilarious.

21. SETTEMBRE 2009

Trento was our target for today. I was pretty excited to go there because of the fact that a co-worker of mine studied sculpting in this town during high school for one whole year. Its amazing how our foreign exchange programs landed in two rural Italian towns sitting next to each other.

It turns out Trento played a huge role with the start of Catholicism. Being a Roman Catholic, I was really into what we had in store for today, which was a trip to Trento’s castle. So after we all take the train from Rovereto, and walk a few blocks to the castle, us Americans and Italians are standing there in scattered lines, our teachers figure out that our group reservation time needs to be rescheduled. Out of nowhere Mr. Corea tells me that he wants me to go with the Italian teacher to reschedule the time of our visit. And since I really didn’t know what was going on my reaction was, “What?” And then he tells me that yeah, he wants me to have the experience of being with the Italian teacher to reschedule the time. Of course I was surprised, that out of all of us I was randomly chosen to go. So me and my Italian go along with the Italian teacher to reschedule the time, while the rest of the group goes to some nearby park to kill time.

At first I was surprised why Mr. Corea chose me to go with the Italian teacher, but by the end of those 15-20 minutes of rescheduling I felt very fortunate because I got a one of a kind visual tour of most of the Castello museum and the offices doing some amazing stuff behind the scenes. I got some time to take pictures, and was able to tell everyone that today’s castle was an actual legit castello, it wasn’t just a castle converted into a museum. The history was still living on the walls.

So after the three of us have rescheduled the time of our visit we go back to the park where everyone is at. Surprisingly its now our lunchtime. Because I had to exchange some of my $ dollars into Euros € I went with Mr. Corea and Ms. Francis to go and find a bank along with Nancy as well. Unfortunately the Euro was low that day so I only got € 195 for my $300. But its all good since that lasted me a long way.

The four of us had lunch at this one cafe in the center of Trento, and it ended up being pretty well. I had a sandwich with speck and a sprizz. Mr. Corea/ Ms. Francis, I forget, treated us with some potato chips. And you know how us Americans invented potato chips, well these Italians make our own snack better than us. They were the best plain potato chips I’ve ever tasted.

22. SETTEMBRE 2009

After a little over a week we finally got Ciao SOTAcad! going. Yeahyuh. All of us are updating this site for all of you staff, students, and last but not least parents (and siblings). So yeah, we’re here in Depero’s Mac Lab and staying here for about 4 hours so we can share our stories from Italia with you guys. Obviously I have not finished my long journal entries by now, so I will have to continue when we get back to San Francisco.

Well anyways after our Ciao SOTAcad! time, us Americans had an hour of free time just to ourselves since our Italians were still in school. Since it was just about lunch time and most of us were hungry we all decided we wanted to eat. Susana, one of the awesome Italian teachers, wanted to make sure we didn’t get lost so she took most of us Americans to a restaurant called Buon Appetito.

After we’ve settled down in our tables, we were all wondering where the menus were. Then we find out we’re not a some typical restaurant. It turns out here at Buon Appetito, the menu changes everyday so they have to recite the menu to their customers every single day. Since none of us Americans spoke Italian, we needed an English speaking waiter. The waiter we ended up getting did an excellent job reciting the Italian menu in English. I ended up ordering lasagna in a spaghetti like pasta form and a peach iced tea. As we they, it was Buon Appetito.

Later that day we visited the Marzadro Wine Factory. We saw how the process of grappa happened. As a person who isn’t a wine drinker or any other alcoholic beverage that can maybe get you drunk or tipsy, I thought I wouldn’t really enjoy this field trip. Surprisingly I loved it!

The factory was beautiful and had a lot of history to it. It even had some vintage vehicles on display. And I ended up tasting a lot of different types of wine, liquor, and of course Marzadro’s specialty: grappa. From the majority of the American group, they were telling me that grappa was too strong for them or they hated the taste. Since I wasn’t a wine drinker I expected my reaction to be the same as the rest of the group, but like I said earlier surprisingly, I loved it! And I don’t want to sound like I’ve been drinking wine for years because believe me I haven’t. (And according to the law, I’m not even old enough to drink yet.) But grappa wasn’t even that strong for me. After trying out grappa I tasted around five other Marzadro liquors and wines. Before we left, I bought some limoncello and apple liquor for my dad.

What a good day!

23. SETTEMBRE 2009

So today’s our last official day waking up to go to school in Rovereto because tomorrow we’re visiting Verona and on Friday us Americans are leaving for Milan. As I type these words, I’m already in San Francisco, but I remember feeling the sadness of leaving Italia. I couldn’t believe two weeks had already passed. It went by so quick.

Since it was technically our last full day with our families the only thing planned for us was working on Ciao SOTAcad! in the morning. After 12 we were dismissed. Today my Italian and I went home for lunch and I know I overuse this word, but it was: awesome. Delicious. Homemade lasagna and a fruit salad. If only I could bring some of that lasagna back home.

My Italian Family

Earlier this morning I asked Laura if I could take a picture with the whole family later that day. She said yes after lunch and I was just like alright. I didn’t realize they really meant right after lunch. After I finished eating Laura asked me if I was ready to take the photo and I said yes. Then her whole family starts getting ready for the picture. They really did mean right after lunch. How awesome was that?

We took one inside in the living room and took another one outside with the grandmother. Since I wanted to make sure everyone was in the picture I needed to find a platform where I could set my camera on the ten second timer, something that would substitute as a tripod. So Laura’s dad starts searching for something in the family farming tools and points at the Rubbermaid bin and looks at me – signaling “Is that alright?” Since he doesn’t speak English, I nod, smile, and say “Si.” But in my mind I was thinking, “Perfect.”

Afterwards Laura and her mom Rafaella took me and Olivia to the castle of Bulognano’s neighboring city, Arco. What I loved about this castello museum though was the fact that there were English translations for the guide boards, so us two Americans were able to understand what happened to this castle back in the day. It was definitely the bomb-diggity. The view up there was priceless. I was literally at the top of the world.

24. SETTEMBRE 2009

So I put on this old school plaid shirt, a pair of cargo shorts, and my Jack Purcell Converse. I leave the house with no jacket since like my Italian mom said, its going to be “bello”. When we step out of the house, Laura says that she’s cold and asks me if I’m cold in my attire. I tell her no and ask her back the same question, and surprisingly she replies with a yes. I was shocked because it snows here in Italy, my Italian host family is a family of mountain climbers, and yeah, wouldn’t you be surprised yourself? I have a confession to make, I’ve never been to snow, and the coldest place I’ve been to is San Francisco where supposedly its never even close to cold compared to other parts of the world, just unpredictable weather.

What’s even funnier is that when we get to the bus stop I notice our everyday fellow bus mates are looking at me not in a bad way, but in a different way. Hint: all of them are wearing jackets and pants and pretty much have their whole bodies covered up, while me I’m look pretty touristical, especially with my cargo shorts. And then one of our bus mates asks Laura something in their native language. And then she translates to me, “Is it hot in San Francisco?” And then I smile. I say, “No, well yeah, kind of. It might be. In the summer it isn’t hot, but during this time of the year its not that cold.”

My Sharona! I mean, my Verona! Haha. Today’s destination is Verona! So yeah, me and Laura took our usual 45 minute commute to Rovereto and there we met up with the group at the train station. While we were waiting in line to purchase our train tickets today’s Italian teacher-tour guide kindly asked me, “How are you feeling?” And because she asked me in English and she was Italian, I felt that since I was American I should answer back in Italian. So I said, “Stronza.” And then Arianna, one of the Italians, starts smiling and says, “Stronza?” And the other Italians start laughing along too. (Even I’m still laughing as I type these words to recall that moment.) After a couple of seconds I’m all like, “Wait, stronza?” Wake-up call. I just realized I said, “bitch” right in front of the teacher. So I try to recover myself and explain, “No! I mean stanca! Stanca!” (Stanca is the feminine version of tired in Italian.) As you can see I was so tired that morning that I confused stronza (bitch) for stanca (tired). It was all good though since the teacher and the Italians surrounding me, who overheard everything, especially Arianna, laughed out loud about it along with myself too. Around ten minutes later when we’re at the boarding port of the train, the Italian teacher who I just accidentally cussed in Italian at, asked me with a smile, “How are you feeling?” And I said, “Stanca, stanca.” And we laughed.

There was just so much that happened this day that I can go on forever. Unfortunately its too much for this blog entry.

25. SETTEMBRE 2009

Today’s the last day-or morning I should say, with our host families and it sucks. I really can’t believe we’ve already spent two weeks here in this beautiful land of people, architecture, and culture and now its all about to end.

Since my Italian dad had some chores to do he couldn’t come with the rest of the family to drop me off at Depero. We hugged and beso beso’d. I repeatedly told him, “Grazie mille.” Then once I hopped into the car with the rest of the family I rolled down the window and we were waving to each other until we were no longer in sight. “Ciao!”

he said.

On the way to school, Laura tells me that her mom’s asking if I’d like to go back to the view that we went to on the first day that I arrived. Without a doubt I answered, “Si.” It was perfect that one of the first places that they took me to was also the last.

Arriving at Depero and seeing the private coach and my fellow Americans with their suitcases and travel bags was a sad sight. I wasn’t ready to leave yet, but we had to.

Soon all of us Americans and Italians were hugging each other and delivering farewells in Italian and English. Unfortunately the Italians were incomplete, some of the them had to go to school. Luckily I was able to say ciao to them yesterday.

Because I’m a big fan of culture and traditions from all across the world, I made sure I learned a nursery rhyme during my stay here in Italy. On the day of Malcesine, Linda and Elisa taught me the Italian’s equivalent of Ring A Round the Rosy called Giro Giro Tondo. During my stay here I made sure I perfected the pronunciation of Giro Giro Tondo. And today the three of us did a round of Giro Giro one last time before I left.

So before us Americans are finally separate from our Italians, I give all the Italians tight hugs, beso’s, and ciao’s. I give my family, the Zanga Family, a long farewell and many thanks. They’ve really defined the meaning of hospitality.

What I love about the Italian language is the fact that they don’t have a word for goodbye. They only use “ciao”, which means farewell. I gave my happy yet sad ciao to everyone who watched to see us go before I hopped onto the bus.

One of the first places they took me to was also the last. Ciao Italia.

The time now is 12:23 pm. Monday September 14. It’s pouring.

Ciao San Francisco,

I am here in Italy. I don’t have any internet access in Elisa’s house. That’s why I have not written yet. I am in the school’s computer lab. Italy is as wonderful as you see in the pictures. Rovereto and Arco are beautiful. The city looks like a mixture of Yosemite and Italy. It is a small town with huge mountains right next to it. Elisa’s family is wonderful. Her mom is as tall as me. haha. Her dad is hilarious and her sister and brother are great. Elisa will not let me pay for anything. I have not had the opportunity to shop for anything but food that Elisa insists on buying for me.

Love,

Olivia

We were walking down the street not knowing where we’re going

Following the Italians while the wind was blowing

Our feet were wet visiting Scaligero

It didn’t cost that much, only 2 Euros

Another castle we went to was in Trento

That’s were Mucca lives not in Rovereto

The castles were beautiful with bella vistas

Taking pictures of everything looking like touristas

Tourista means traveller’s dirrehea that we aint got

We got some pizza in Italia  that is really hot

We here walking down the street in Rovereto

A word in Italian you should know is Bou

The time now is 9:13. Wednesday September 23

Italian Food

The food here in Italy is amazing! I have had all of the typical Italian foods that you think of when you think of Italy;

• Tiramisu
• Pizza
• Gelato
• Spaghetti
• Lasagna
• Pesto
• Polenta
• Cheese

All of it has been amazing. When you eat in Italy you have a light breakfast, a medium sized lunch, and a humongus dinner, sometimes up to three courses. Italians here don’t really seem too big on dessert. You usually eat your gelato before dinner as a snack. It’s different but I don’t mind. As long as I get to have gelato.

The pizza here reminds me of how my dad talked about New York pizza. I have never had New York pizza but it’s what I imagine it to taste like. Thin crust with a lot of flavor. When you eat pizza here, it’s perfect. An equal amount of cheese and sauce that tastes perfectly in your mouth

I have had polenta in San Francisco and enjoyed it but was not crazy about it. On Thursday night I found out that I wasnt crazy about polenta because I didn’t try the real thing. Elisa’s mom made polenta for dinner and it was amazing!!! I am now fully in love with polenta.

I have figured out that one of my life goals is to cook like Elisa’s mom for my family.

The time is now 11:00 am. Wednesday, September 23,2009.

Elisa’s family

When I first saw Elisa’s family I knew we were going to get along. The first time I met her parents I was greeted with a big hug. Elisa’s family consists of her dad, Claudio, her mom, Lydia, her older brother, Luca, and her younger sister, Chiara. I share a room with Eliza and her sister. I have dinner with the family every night. That’s where I really get to talk to the family. Every dinner we have a wonderful meal made by Lydia. We all finish our meal around the same time. I am usually satisfied after my first serving but Claudio always offers me more food. I say “no thank you” but Claudio keeps offering. Finally the family starts to yell in Italian “she said no thank you”. After the meal I always talk to the family about San Francisco, circus, my family, and vice versa. I learned that Lucca plays football also know as soccer in Europe and he also knows how to juggle! Claudio fishes and likes to bike and run. Lydia also works out a lot with Claudio. One day I was at home and they had come home after a 50km bike ride!!! Crazy! Elisa’s family is very kind and always making me feel at home. I hope to keep in touch with them for years on end.