ccarp's adventures in italy

umm... RSS feeds?

2009-01-29T00:19:00.001+01:00

I am sorry. I promise I will work on this.

For now, I am trying to learn about RSS feeds, so this is just a test.

Thank you for your patience.

is it wednesday night yet?

2008-12-10T03:46:00.002+01:00

So, TECHNICALLY, it is not Wednesday night. However, it is Wednesday in Italy and IT IS nighttime in America and I have some things I wanted to write down before I forget. Besides, I didn't want to update until all my work was done, but will the work ever really be finished?

Allora, I just walked home from my friend Emily's house in the rain; it is 3:15am.

That sentence right there defines 5 main points I would love to share with you; a little tonight, more in depth, hopefully, tomorrow.

1. Whenever I walk alone (don't worry, that's 95% safe to do here) I think of all the things I would say if I were able to blog. I think about all the things that have happened in my time here, I think about the things I see along the on my walk home, I think about all the events of the day. I blog about everything, in my head. Now, if only I could find a way to get my thoughts to post themselves in the blog, I’d a. save a lot of time, b. save myself a ton of time and give you all a lot more to read, c. have to do some heavy editing for all the potty language running through my mind, and/or d. be considered insane.
2. There have been many late, late nights this semester. It’s been very stressful and hopefully that will all be different this time tomorrow.
3. I have learned many Italian words/phrases that I would love to share with you, Allora being one of them.
4. It rains here, a lot. Oh, and there are strong winds and crazy hail. I’ll elaborate more tomorrow.
5. I cannot wait to tell you about my amazing friends I have; the friends who I have just met and have already become so close with, the friends who have stuck with me through it all, the friends who have more patience than I thought any one single person was capable of having, the friends who are more than anything I could ever ask for, the friends who mean more to me than anything.

I think this should do it for now. More to come...

Oh, and again, comments!!
I may not know who you are, but I know you are reading my blog.

the final countdown (cue the music)

2008-12-09T12:09:00.004+01:00

I cannot wait for Wednesday to come and go. You might question this, especially because I want time to slow down, but here goes:

Wednesday I have a super huge final. It is the final thing I am worried about for the rest of the semester. I still have an exam on Friday and a final for my macro class, but I am not worried at all about either of those. After those 3 finals are complete... (swallows lump in throat) I'll be a college graduate. I have so many emotions to share with you about this, but first I have work to complete and studying to do.

After Wednesday, I want to blog for a lifetime all about things I've seen, things I've done, things I've learned. I will start with my feelings about Christmas and Graduation. If there are any other topics you'd like me to cover first, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know. Otherwise, you are going to have pages among pages to sort through for the details you want.

I also can't wait to load the 3,000 something photos from Italy and other places in Europe. I will be working on that for a few days and posting photos (or links) as I progress.

Back to my intro paragraph: I wish time (after Wednesday) would slow down and maybe it will once all the hard work is over. I continuously feel like there are never enough hours in the day. The past 3 months has gone by so incredibly fast and I am not ready for December 19th AT ALL.

More to come... (PLEASE COMMENT!!)

a five page e-mail to jason

2008-11-24T18:54:00.008+01:00

Allora...

Hello Faithful Followers.

I know I have failed miserably at writing in this thing. I am not sure why I thought it was a good idea, but I thought I would be better at it.

My very good friend Jason sent me my first real piece of snail-mail on November 6th. It is now November 24th and after 18 days, I have finally finished writing him back. For today, I am going to post an edited version of the letter I wrote back to Jason, written in a lighter gray. Maybe it will give you another glimpse at what I do here and why I find so little time to commit to this blog. Thank you, again, to the 3 of your who check my blog every single day... I don’t know who you are but my sitemeter reports that you are out there and I am sorry I have left you with nothing to read. Here goes:

Ciao Ragazzo!

It means “hey boy”, but that's what they say to everyone here, like one of our Italian friends just walked by and I am sitting with my female friend, she said Ciao Ragazze! (Hey Girls!) Before I continue with this letter, I must warn you: nearly months in Italy has really taken a toll on my English Language skills, spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc.

Things in Italia are amazing... for the most part. I am eating so much Italian food, clearly, but yeah, pasta and/or pizza EVERY SINGLE DAY... breakfast, lunch, and dinner... except they don't really do the whole breakfast thing here... MAN! I miss my egg and cheese sandwiches from the snack bar. Actually, I ate pizza for “breakfast” today or whatever you call the first meal at 11 am. (When I first wrote this I said, I am eating some margherita pizza right this minute.) Do you see a common theme? And UGH! I haven't broken any more toilets recently, but if I continue with the pizza/pasta thing, it will probably happen again, haha. (Jason had inquired about this... I broke a toilet seat earlier in the semester by sitting on it while washing my feet in my bidet.)

Traveling: let's see how well I can do this, my memory is going blank right now, I have so much to think about. First off, when I say we, I usually mean my two best friends here, Christine and Caitlin. They are my two closest friends in this program and we travel almost everywhere together. I have been to: Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Geneva (Switzerland), Brussels (Belgium), Milan, Zurich, Luzern (both Switzerland), Venice, Paris, and then a few other towns close by, you probably wouldn't recognize the names at all. I loved almost everywhere we’ve traveled so far, minus Milan. We went to Paris for my friend Christine’s 21st birthday because she is obsessed with France and all things French. She was so happy to spend her birthday eating baguettes under the Eiffel Tower.

We (Christine and Caitlin) are going to Germany and Austria this “weekend”. We leave Wednesday afternoon on an overnight train to Munich. We will then take a short train to Salzburg, Austria to sing “Sound of Music” songs with the Von Trapp family for Thanksgiving Day. Then we will head back to Munich for some great beer, yummy gummy bears, and the world famous Christmas markets. I am sad that I will be missing Thanksgiving, but I guess I can’t complain that I will be in Europe instead. The following weekend we are going to Barcelona, Spain for my friend Caitlin’s birthday. I am really praying that our next two trips go smoothly, transportation wise. We have had quite the share of missed flights and transportation strikes. UGH! I will have to keep you updated on this.

I would love to tell you more about each trip, but that would take days. I will have to tell you more when I get home. I guess I will quickly tell you about Rome. (Jason specifically asked about this.) We went to Rome one of our first weekends here, so basically, 7 or 8 years ago (it seems like that, anyway.) We went for just the day: saw the Colosseum, the Forum, Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. We didn’t do the Vatican and such because it takes a whole day to do that trip. Besides, I went there in 2004 and my family wants to go there again in December, so I thought it’d be better to hold off. A few weeks later we went to Rome just to go shopping at the mall, since there are no stores around here for inexpensive clothes. It’s crazy how living here I think going to Rome is no big deal. People are like, “Are you crazy?!?!?!”, but you have to think, it’s just like going to Boston or New York City for the day or something.

(Jason wrote: How are the discos (bars)? They should just call them bars.) The "discos" are pretty fun, but usually full of drama... reminds me of SNHU but add in a language barrier. It's AWESOME! (not.) We (all the USAC kids) usually go to this one disco called TRY. Everyone dances to the really crappy music. There is a fine selection of 50’s to 80’s American tunes that we find impossible to dance to, or weird Italian music that we don’t know the words to. The last time I went, they played “Jitterbug” (wake me up before you go, go) twice- that I know of. It’s crazy. There are lots of creepers that we need to look out for. When I finally post pictures you will see what I am talking about. They usually lurk around and LOVE hopping into our Kodak moments. (side note about weird music – we went to a house party the other night and attempted to show them what we like to listen to at the bars at home, someone selected “Soulja Boy” and we proceeded to teach them the dance. They thought we were crazy and could not comprehend the madness.)

I usually "pre-game" before going out at night. (For you old folk, this is the term used for drinking before going out to drink.) It's like 2 euro for a bottle of wine at the store, and the discos charge MINIMUM 3.50 euro for a mixed drink with less than a shot in it. NO THANK YOU. If I do get a drink, I usually just get a sex on the beach. They don't understand much of the other drinks I enjoy from home. However, I recently discovered a mixed drink that kinda reminds me of a mojito but strawberries instead of mint leaves. Sometimes we get shots called Tequila Boom-Boom. It's Tequila and seltzer water and the bar tender bangs it on the bar to make it really fizzy. It's fun.

They call it a disco because they have bars here... they go to the bar to get a caffè, aka a shot of espresso. They stand up and drink it really fast. It's DISGUSTING! I usually get a cappuccino con cioccolato (cappuccino with chocolate) straight from the vending machine. It's actually good, but it is also the size of a shot, maybe a double shot, definitely Dixie cup sized. They don't have regular coffee here and there is NO WAY they have iced coffee/caffè anything. So, when we (only Christine and I) went to Zurich we went to Starbucks to get some frappacinos. Yeah... $6.20 (USD) for a TALL. I am embarrassed that I stooped to that level. Oh well, I needed an iced caffeinated beverage, we were desperate.

Back to the subject of traveling: I went to Geneva on my own while most people went to Florence and around Tuscany with USAC (the school program that I am here with.) I went to Geneva to visit some old family friends from NJ. I didn't want to go with the group because it was like $450 and it's all the exact same places I am going with my family and BOBBY! (so excited about this) in December.

Not sure if you, readers, are aware that my family is coming to "pick me up from school." My parents, brother, grandmother and boyfriend, Bobby, are coming out on December 19th, my last day of class. We will spend the night in Viterbo, pick up our rental cars, and head to Tuscany for the next week or so. Just so everyone knows, Tuscany is not a specific location, it is simply the region within Italy. Major cities in Tuscany that you may have heard of include Florence, Sienna, Luca, Pisa, and Volterra [shout out to my fellow Twilight lovers]. We will, then, head back to Viterbo, drop off the rental cars and head into Rome to finish up our trip visiting all the most important things: Colosseum, the Forum, the Trevi Fountain, the Vatican and St. Peter's. We return back to the States on December 30th. Christmas in Italy! How exciting?! I am so happy that Bobby found a way to come with my family. It is so special that my family is willing to have him come with and a huge step forward in our relationship. It also means a lot to me having him come. You may think, "What? You are going to be home right after your parents come out, what's the point, can't he wait a few more days, he already waited 3.5 months". Well, I found it important that he come visit me for a few reasons. First, Bobby is Italian. In fact, he has family here. We recently found his uncle on facebook and have even started to make plans to visit them. If Bobby weren't Italian, or if he didn't have family, I probably wouldn't have found it so necessary for him to come. Same as if I were studying in a different country. Also, I wanted him to see where I have been living for the time we've been apart. I wanted him to be able to actually visit the places I've told him all about. Ok, on with the letter.

So... My living situation is decent, not amazing. I live in the dorms. Rent is amazing, something like $200 (USD) a month, so $800 for the semester. I have a single room with my very own bathroom, bidet and toilet seat included. I say toilet seat included because all the public bathrooms are like 110% against toilet seats. So anyway, there are only 7 USAC students living in the dorms. Caitlin and Christine live across the hall from me, so I just leave my door open and chat with them. There is another group of study abroad students in the dorms called ERASMUS. It stands for something... not sure what, but it is a European exchange program. It's ridiculous; they get PAID to come study in Italy. Rough life, huh? There are kids from Spain living down the hall from us. They pretty much never have class, so they are up ALL night. They love to make tons of noise; it's really annoying. The most annoying thing they do is roll their chairs down the hall. They will put the stuff they want to transport on the chair and roll it. Clever and convenient, yes, but obnoxious as hell, a bigger yes. They also love to call each others' phones (grammar check please.) They continue to let the phone ring several times, hang up, and call again, because maybe, just maybe, the person might now be there. UGH!! There aren’t RAs or whatever so there is no one to ask them to be quiet, and of course the language barrier isn’t helpful. There are quiet hours posted, but I guess since it’s in Italian they don’t understand. I mean, why would you assume a sign with the hours of 23:00-9:00 and the word “silenzio” means BE QUIET from 11 PM to 9 AM.

As for amenities in the dorms, I am a little annoyed. We have wireless that works like underneath dial-up speed. You need a password to log-in, similar to SNHU, and it's wicked annoying because you get logged off like every half hour or so.

The kitchen situation is crappy. We aren’t allowed to have any kitchen appliances in our rooms, so we have to use a communal kitchen. There are two fridges and an industrial freezer. The freezer REEKS like fish. The fridges are jam packed, to the point where we can barely close the door and I can’t quite place a comparison for the foul smell. It sucks because people have taken my food a few times. GRRR! As for the ability to cook... there are 5 hotplates. That’s it. It takes about 45 minutes to boil a pot of water, so cooking anything is pretty much out of the question. It’s not terrible though because right down the street is the “cafeteria”. We can either get a pizza, which is so big I can barely eat half, or a meal for 2 euro (today this is about $2.52.) The meal consists of a pasta, meat, side or salad, piece of fruit, bread, and water. You get the last four with a pizza too. ONLY 2 EURO!

Then there is the laundry situation. There is ONE machine for the 130+ students. You can MAYBE fit 2 pairs of pants and 3-4 t-shirts in at a time. The loads take 2 hours, no joke. It's really awesome. Then, there are no dryers here. So, you have to plan to wash your clothes in advance so that they will dry in time and all my clothes are stretched out and "crunchy" feeling. Sweat pants are no longer "comfy clothes". I guess with that comes the phrase, "you get what you pay for." Overall, the dorms are pretty nice, just very different from SNHU. Check the pix on my facebook (or the hyperlink above). Speaking of... I really need to get on top of adding facebook pix. The ones I have posted are from... like the first two weeks.

Classes? First off, there is so much history and art here. (I told Jason he'd be going nuts, since he's a History major.) There are so many courses based on this stuff, however I skipped out and took the classes I needed to finish my major, including Macroeconomics online, barf. Classes meet once a week, except for language. It’s kinda crazy and annoying because we always meet on different days, at different times, in different locations. It really makes me miss the structured life in America.

Ok, so I just finished taking Italian language. It was split into two-eight week sessions. In the first 2 months I learned more Italian then I learned Spanish, in 3 years. This could be because we had class for 2 hours 3 times a week. I have learned sooooooooo much! But, yeah, sorry if my grammar is really bad, I have been speaking too much Italian lately, which I guess is a good thing, but I really start to get sick of it sometimes, especially when I am tired. (Oh man, look at my terrible run-on sentences.)

Then, I am taking a culture class. We learn about the Italian culture and its history, obviously. We talk a lot about culture stereotypes and basically it’s a disaster of a class, like most of them. I really don’t feel like explaining right now.

Another class I am in is called “Italian Cities: History through Architecture” or as I like to call it, Rock Class. It’s really stupid. Our teacher only speaks Italian and so we have a translator and it causes class to move soooooo slow; it takes twice as long as it should. All we do is go on field trips and look at church, after church, after church. Then we are expected to memorize the many rocks of the church and spit it back out to him. And to think, SNHU is accepting this as a history course. What would Coop-a-loop and Reeds think of this? (These are the nicknames I use with Jason for the two main history teachers at SNHU.)

Next is my cinema class. This class is... interesting. We watch clips from movies and learn about their styles or what not, then we watch a movie in whole. The class is 4 hours long! We’ve watched 1 or 2 good movies, but mostly they are just WEIRD! It’s crazy how differently people can use a camera to capture completely different things and with entirely different techniques, telling such unique stories. The only bad part about watching the movies is that you have to read all the subtitles. This makes it very hard to follow along and it also makes it very difficult to stay awake. Sitting in a dark room, reading a movie, after staying up late the night before, not good. SNHU is accepting this course as a literature course? I guess it makes sense, since I spend so much time reading the movies and not so much watching them.

Now, I saved the best for last. My final class is a cuisine class. We have this class only 5 times, which is so, so sad. It’s my absolute favorite. We go to class and give a report on a certain region that we are assigned, for example Lazio, the region Viterbo is in. We talk all about the history, foods and wines of the region. We then get washed up and begin the fun: cooking! We usually cook a 5 course meal, but really we watch the teacher cook, sometimes just helping with cutting and mixing. We did get to roll our own pasta and make our own raviolis a few weeks ago. The reason we don’t get to help more in the kitchen is because our class takes place right in our teacher’s home. I am in class with 10 other people and we just have the best mix of personalities that mesh well together, it makes for some amazing dinner conversations. I am so lucky to be in this class because there is another section of the class and I guess it is just full of awkward silences...

Then there was a bunch of silly memories and salutations, and whatever. So, when I wrote this e-mail for Jason, it was 5 pages in Microsoft Word, single spaced, Arial font, size 12. It probably took me over 3 hours to write in total (which includes time for re-reading his letter, bathroom breaks, etc.) and over three weeks to complete. Anyway, I must be off, I have tons of homework to do. I really don’t like the STUDY in study abroad. It’s really just getting in the way.

I will try my very best to update this again soon, maybe expanding upon some topics mentioned above. Is there anything you would particularly like to know about? Let me know.

Ciao for now!

a glance at my never ending "to-do" list

2008-11-07T04:04:00.003+01:00

This all started as an away message for AIM, but it became way too long, so here it is, a semi-descriptive blog post or maybe a quick glimpse at my everyday life, more specifically my Thursdays. This "to-do" list is a combination of my original to-do list for today and all the things I ACTUALLY did today. It makes me look like I was semi-productive. TRUTH: I was not, at all. It also has been slightly altered to be appropriate for most audiences. I chose to include some things from Wednesday night, but please be aware that I only go out to the bars once a week... this first part is not a usual routine. Some of the items on this list have been here since this summer... pathetic. Where does the time go?

A guideline to understanding what I have written here: The time at the beginning is the time I am/was supposed to start a task. The (optional) means I could do/ did do this instead of what I am/was supposed to do. Chances are that these optional items were not on my actual to-do list for today. I will use GREEN as a way to highlight the items on my to-do list that have actually been completed.

november 06, 2008 to-do list: (starting from midnight)

drink wine
go to the disco
receive a free drink for being blonde
dance like an idiot
go to sleep by 4am
10:00 wake up
(optional) hit snooze until 10:45
shower quickly
(optional) get the worlds worst charlie horse
10:30 walk to school
(optional, 11:15) gimp to school
11:00-3:00 cinema class
(optional, 11:50) arrive late to cinema class
watch a 2.5 hour mobster movie in italian
(optional) understand the concepts of the movie so you can talk about it next class
check mail
read ridiculous letter from jason
reply to letter and send... ok, begin to reply
work on macro discussion board response.. ok, read the db
5:00 international gathering aka. ERASMUS feast
(optional, 6:00) arrive in Italian time
eat yummy chili and delicious pumpkin pie!
macro discussion board attempt #2
(optional) facebook for the 12944th time
e-mail bobby... or start to at least
7:30-8:00 take the long walk home
(optional, 7:44) two minute train ride home
settle down
SERIOUSLY DO WORK
2:00 talk to kappas/listen in on pledging!
get a good night sleep

[the rest are either things i did in the time i was supposed to be "seriously doing work" or items that have been on my continuous to-do list]

take adderall
suffer from an extreme case of ADD
make a list of things you did/meant to do today
blog – seriously, and with good details of everything
post a phony blog, i.e. the letter i wrote to jason and this silly to-do list
talk to sorority sisters – bettina, shannon, and kerry – ON THE PHONE!
imagine kerry in a towel
talk to THE sierra gomes.
eat candy corn and jolly ranchers
be wasteful: drop a piece on the floor
help others with their homework, instead of doing my own
talk to pledges/now sisters (CONGRATS!) about pledging
talk to the wifey
eat grilled cheese
italian cities research for class tomorrow
send 2 page e-mail to bobby 5 hours later
organize e-mails
organize notebook
respond to various facebook messages from the past month, oops.
practice Italian/make a vocab list of good words to know
pack for day trip to bagno vignoni and weekend trip to venice
watch an amazingly beautiful lightening storm off in the distance
love bobby every minute of every day

Clearly you see where my priorities are... I haven't even packed for tommorw's trip, bus leaves at 9am. Maybe this gives you a little hint as to why I have slacked on this whole blog thing. It also really doesn’t help that I don’t have real free time, I just seem to find things to do when I should be doing work and blogging never makes it in there. Actually, nothing on my continuous to-do list ever fits into that procrastination period, unless I were to add FACEBOOK to that list. Honestly, “blog” goes on my to-do list EVERYDAY! Alright, well, the little clock at the end of this entry is NOT lying to you. It’s 4am here and I think I should get some sleep... or maybe pack? I have a big weekend ahead of me. In case you missed it in my list, I am going on a class trip to Bagno Vignoni tomorrow and then we’re taking the overnight train to VENICE!! I am excited for so many reasons, but especially because I can finally find some gifts for people, it’s been so difficult to find anything that a person would really enjoy.

I am so sorry and thank you all who continue to check in, I will get to it. Really. I will. The more you bug me about it the faster I will get to it. I’ll be like OK! BASTA! I’ll do it! (basta means ENOUGH! STOP IT! THAT’S ALL!)

*EDIT: The items in bold red are things that have been done since the original update. It is now 7:30am and I still have not gone to sleep.

come si dice "EPIC FAIL"?

2008-10-26T12:07:00.003+01:00

I am still alive, I promise. However, this Blog = EPIC FAIL.

I am so sorry everyone. I know I promised you a blog entry almost a month ago, but things have been crazy here. Life in Italy is AMAZING! I am so busy with classes, traveling, waiting for the internet pages to load so I can actually upload pictures, and all sorts of other miscellaneous activities that I have neglected this thing. If it makes you feel any better, and I'm not quite sure why it would, I write blog entries in my head while I walk 1/2 hour (each way) to and from school... I just never remember to actually type them up.

I could/should partially blame my faithful readers for not pestering me to update. I know you log on, I get e-mails informing me that some of you log in EVERYDAY! Anyway, this week I have a huge project and two final exams. Between those, I will try my best to update a little bit. Please, don't feel bad bugging me about it, otherwise I will forget.

Mi dispiace. Vi voglio bene e mi mancate. (Literally, this means "I am sorry. I want to you well and you lack to me", however, Italians use this phrase to say I love you all and miss you!)

baseball in italian is baseball

2008-09-29T17:30:00.003+02:00

Exactly one month ago today, I got on the plane to start the most amazing adventure of my life. I am sad to remember that it has been a month since my last real hugs and kisses, but I have made so many new friends and memories; it's almost an even trade-off. (I said almost) I apologize I have been slacking big time. So much to do, so little time-- and internet. I PROMISE I will update this week. Until then, I am STOKED to know that the Red Sox have made it to the playoffs. I am certainly going through withdrawl and praying to the baseball gods that the internet is fixed in the dorms by Wednesday. If game day pitch by pitch is the best I can get, then I must have it! Then again, you guys thought staying up to watch playoff games in LA from Boston was bad... 10pm starts (Boston Time) will be 4am games here... hmph. Let's just hope for games in Boston. Sox(Red, to clarify)-Cubbies World Series would make me so excited. I would actually cheer for the Cubbies, but obviously if the Sox win, I won't be disappointed. So, with the Yankees out of the game, I leave you with this...

more at NiceBeluga.com

2 weeks later...

2008-09-16T01:56:00.002+02:00

There are many excuses I could give you for not posting a single update in the two weeks that I’ve been here. The list would include:

- Lack of Internet connection. We finally got set up for the dorm Internet but it’s running at a snail’s pace. You may think I am being facetious, but we ran tests. Dial-up speed confirmed.

- A whole week of boring orientation made me want to get out and have some fun.

- I am in love with Italy and can’t force myself to sit in front of a computer for long enough to tell you everything I should be telling you.

- There is so much for me to tell you, I am struggling to collect all my thoughts and post them. (This is probably the most accurate)

I will try to make this post as short and to the point as I can. Unfortunately, for those visual learners, this entry will be photo free. This entry alone will probably be more than the connection can handle. So, now I guess I will begin.

The Flight: Oh, Alitalia. There was no delay at the airport and we departed right on time, beginning the most uncomfortable plane ride of my life. The seats were even smaller than usual; this must be due to the body figures of Italians. There was a lack of air vents; this must be due to the lack of air conditioning in Italy. I struggled to get comfortable to sleep, so I sat in silence for most of the flight, since the video they were showing was on a 10x10 inch screen, 4 aisles ahead, with no English subtitles. There was a little boy sitting next to me. He found it hard to sleep too, as he wanted to keep chatting. It was, in a way, adorable. He was from France and probably 14-16. He had just spent the past month visiting his friend who is doing an exchange program in Boston. Knowing the French attitude towards Americans, I was amazed at how much he enjoyed talking to me. He was eager to learn some new English words; most vividly, I remember trying to understand what he wanted to learn, the word was runway. There were two terrible plane food meals and before I knew it, we had landed in Rome.

The Arrival: I can’t believe I arrived in Italy over two weeks ago! I am still having trouble processing that I am here for 4 months. Maybe after this week it will feel more like home, since 3 weeks would be way too long for a vacation. I still forget that I need to learn Italian and actually use it; I still speak in English, hoping they can understand me. Sometimes I use both languages; the other day I ordered un water naturale… oops. Ok, so my flight got in around 8 AM. I zipped through the passport line and rushed to get my bags… where I waited for almost an hour. The good news is they both arrived without problems. I continued to go through customs… somehow I ended up to the taxi curb. No customs? Oh well, I had nothing too exciting in my bags anyway.

At this point I was exhausted and so ready to get on the bus to school, but of course, since it was the group flight bus, I had to wait for the group flight. Their flight was delayed and a few people arrived without their luggage. After about 3 hours at the airport, we were off to Viterbo. I slept for the majority of the 2-hour bus ride. I figured I had 4 months to enjoy the scenery and needed the sleep more. We arrived to Viterbo right on time, where we proceeded to check into a hotel. I think it took me 15 minutes to settle in before I crashed for another 3 or so hours.

Around 7, the group gathered for dinner, where we met everyone else who was along for the journey of this amazing experience. There are about 30 girls and 10 brave men. Great ratio for them I guess. We had an amazing custom Italian dinner that night: pasta, chicken, salad, and some sort of dessert.

Some of the girls who are in the program with me have been to Viterbo before, so they decided to take us downtown after dinner. We went to this little bar/lounge where I had my first Limoncello. It’s a crazy nightlife downtown. There is no one out before 11PM at night. Around then there are just crowds of people. Unfortunately, I was way too tired to stay up to experience it. We headed back to the hotel where I proceeded to become “dead to the world” until the alarm went off the next morning.

Orientation: Sunday morning, we gathered for some traditional Italian breakfast: croissants and Nutella (side note: I love chocolate, but I am not sure I’m a fan of it on my breakfast foods). Afterwards, we gathered into a room to receive our housing assignments, where we would be spending the next four months of our lives. Stefano, the program director, had a hard time spreading the news that there weren’t enough spots in the dorms for everyone who wanted them and that they tried to make the best placement for everyone. All I could do was pray that I was one of only 8 who had been placed there… I was. “Phew.”

Afterwards, we went for a grand tour of the town to see where all the key locations are, and where other students’ apartments were. It was so long ago that I don’t even remember where we went or what we saw. I just remember thinking to myself, this is nuts! I’m never going to remember where I am or how to get where I am going. Two weeks later, I could walk the town with my eyes closed. However, I think I will keep them open, the cobblestone roads are dangerous as are the Italian drivers! After a long walk in the hot and humid town, we headed back to the hotel to get our bags and head to the dorms. We had to walk about a 2/10 of a mile to the dorms, rolling our suitcases along. I was the first to be given a room assignment. Room 259. I will stop here with the dorm description and wait for a later post con fotos. I am finding it hard to remember how the rest of the day went, but I know I went out with some ladies for pizza for dinner. Not really hard to remember that, since I had a 50/50 chance to guess what I had.

Monday we trekked, all 1.25 miles, to the school’s campus, where we began or official orientation, you know, the rules and regulations BS. There was a short break for lunch and many of us opted to go for pizza (again!) We made our way back to the school just in time for Italian class to begin! So, I have been taking Italian for about two weeks now, and I still feel like I know very little. I’ll save the greater class details for a later time.

Tuesday, we continued with orientation and more language, as well as obtaining our permits of stay, which was an all-afternoon affair. After obtaining a student visa, one must register for a permit of stay. All 40 of us headed to the post office and one-by-one filled out a packet, then paid 60 something Euro to mail the sucker.

Wednesday, we traveled to the other university campus, which is much closer to the dorms. Unfortunately, none of us have classes there. We went to visit the USAC office and computer labs in this building. While there, we were also given a short presentation of Italian culture. It was very interesting to learn some new things, but only so much can be taught in 45 minutes. I am really looking forward to my Culture class… again more to come on this. Wednesday afternoon we had to ourselves due to a huge town holiday called Santa Rosa; again, more to follow.

The holiday continued Thursday; school was cancelled and most businesses were closed. There was a huge open-air market downtown; it was bigger than anything I have ever seen. This market fit every person’s needs from pets, to guns, lingerie to hardware and home goods. Who knew you could sell pets on the streets. The collection ranged from ducks and chicks to tiny turtles and guinea pigs. I am shocked that I didn’t make a single purchase: no pet, no purse.

Friday, we had another day of Italian class in the morning. The afternoon was spent on our first program field trip. We traveled to a little town called Cività di Bagnoregio. The town is on top of a hilltop overlooking the Tiber river valley. It is in constant danger of being washed away, so there are only 10 or something residents of the town. It is mostly just a tourist attraction with cafés and shops. The town is very old and very beautiful, with a gorgeous church in the center. Pictures will be included in a post very soon. Again, I can’t even recall what I did this evening, as everything in these past two weeks has been such a blur.

This concludes an update of week 1, minus a few points. I would love to continue and go into week 2, however it is 2 AM and this entry is already 3 pages in a Word Document. Plus, I feel like I have neglected many of you, so I want to get this up right away. Please check back in a few days for more updates, hopefully including photos.

Also, I would like to introduce my future entries. There is so much I can tell you, but you’d be reading for days, and I really don’t want to spend all day in front of the computer. You, my readers, will inspire my future entries. Please let me know what you want to hear about and I will tell you all that I can. This way I can focus on what you want to know, not about every little detail.

Ciao da Viterbo

2008-09-01T12:42:00.001+02:00

I am here. I am safe. I don't have very much time to update, but I should have internet very, very soon.

XO.

Leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...

2008-08-29T19:04:00.003+02:00

This is it! Bags are packed - what a hassle. They both weigh 50 lbs to the dot. I had to repack probably 20 times. I got to spend my last night with the best of friends: Bobby, Carolyn and Kimbo! (My family and Tyler, too). For dinner, Bobby made my favorite pasta dish (like I needed pasta before going to Italy!). We then headed out for some dinosaur crunch ice cream ( wasn't sure if they have this flavor gelato). Bobby also made me chocolate chip pancakes (with REAL maple syrup) for breakfast. I sure am going to miss him, and his cooking.

Well, I guess I should shut down the computer, put it in my carry on, then weigh it. I'm pretty sure that it will also be way over the weight limit. Crap! Oh well.

Ciao!

PS. I forgot to mention in my last post that even though I gave you my address - I LOVE to write letters too. E-mail me your address and I'd be more than happy to send you a postcard or something.

Letters & Stuff!

2008-08-27T20:41:00.008+02:00

Well, I am almost completely packed up. 3 days to go!! I am getting so stoked, but am also very sad to be leaving everyone. I guess I will just have to meet lots of locals to keep me company - maybe they can teach me some Italian!! Anyway, I just wanted to update you all of my school address, just in case you wanted to send me a letter or something. FYI: I heard they don't have Reese's PB Cups there.

So here it is:

Miss Carla Carpenter

c/o USAC - Stefano Pizzetti

Università degli Studi della Tuscia
Facoltà de Agraria - DAF
Via S. C. de Lellis
01100 Viterbo, ITALIA

I guess I should get back to packing if I want to have fun the rest of the week. Bobby and I have plans to go to the beach tonight. Gotta get some Tripoli's pizza before I am converted to Italian pizza and will find everything else repulsive upon my return. Tomorrow we are going to the New England Aquarium in Boston, then FiRE + iCE for lunch. I hope it's just as yummy as everyone says it will be. Look for one more update before I head out. Ciao!

Well, seeing as I embark on my next journey in just 8 days...

2008-08-21T18:11:00.007+02:00

I suppose I should begin the pre-departure updates; or maybe I should just begin by filling everyone in on what's going on and where I'm headed.

First, let's recap the summer, which has flown by:

In May, I went on a service trip to South Africa for two weeks with my school. We brought used computers to some schools in a town called Newcastle. We set them up and then proceeded to teach the teachers how to work them. Most of them have never even seen a computer. They were so grateful and they also taught us many new things. When I came home, I began working in the Marketing Department at Charles River, yes, the place where Mom is BMOC (big man on campus). The rest of the family left for NJ, while Bobby* and I stayed home to take care of things around the house.

*Bobby is my (temporarily live-in) boyfriend of 3 years. He goes to school with me and will graduate in May with a BS in Accounting. He is currently interning at Caron & Bletzer, an accounting firm, where he hopes to land a job after graduation. He also is looking forward to graduate school and becoming a CPA. He has come so far since we met and I am so proud of him. Ok, enough bragging about his accomplishments, let's get back to me.

In my spare time, hahahaha, I have been busy, busy, busy. I don't think I can recall anything from June except for the week of the 26th. Dad's family (PB, John, Sandy and their kids: Samantha, Alyssa, and Hailey) all came out for a family reunion. It was so much fun to see them, the girls are growing up so fast. The rest of the summer has consisted of a trip to see Bobby's family, in Maine, for 4th of July; hanging out at the Rockingham Park Mall - mainly the Apple store - to spend as much time as I can with Carolyn, my (ex)roommate spending time with Bobby <3; cabing with the coolest cats I've ever met; road-tripping to NJ to see the family, jumping out of planes to celebrate my 22nd birthday (it's been an adventurous summer, first the lion 10ft from our Safari vehicle, now this), giving Julius (mom's cat) as much attention as possible (so mom doesn't think she's been neglected all summer), and of course preparing for the "BIG ADVENTURE".

Let's see. For those who don't know, I am a second semester senior at Southern New Hampshire University. This means I graduate in December. So what am I doing for my last semester? I am going to "vive la vita" in ITALIA! I will be going to Viterbo for 4 months to learn the language and culture. I will be taking some (hopefully) awesome classes. I am required to take Intro to Italian, which I guess is good, since I don't know much more than "Ciao, Bella!". I am also taking Italian Cinema, Italian Culture, Italian Cuisine (yum! yum!). I am really excited to be going and have been researching extensively, but I know that I have so much more to learn. Let me share a little bit of information about Viterbo with you...

Viterbo: Just south of Tuscany and about 60 miles north of Rome, Viterbo is a medieval city of 80,000, rich in historical, artistic and monumental legacies, while offering plenty of social and recreational opportunities.

I will be attending Università Degli Studi della Tuscia through a program called USAC, which is run by U. Nevada - Reno. I should be living in the dorms there, but won't exactly know the whole story until I get there... comforting.

I am really getting excited for my trip, but am sad to go. I am not sure what to expect and a little nervous that I don't know any Italian. I am looking forward to learning so many new things, meeting new people, and of course, the gelato! I just wish I could bring Tyler, and maybe Bobby, with me. I'm sure at this point mom is wondering why she's not included in the list... Honestly, I wish I could bring everyone with me. I know this is going to be a life changing experience and I can't wait to share it all with you. I will try to update as much as possible, but like I said, I won't exactly know my accommodations and internet accessibility until I get there. You can always try to catch me on AIM or Skype, my name for both is ccarp816.

This has been quite the introduction to my trip. I would now like to open the floor to questions and comments (suggestions). Please feel free to comment below. You don't need to register to leave a comment, but make sure you sign your name so I know who you are.