Thursday, December 3, 2015

"Ciao! Non parlo Italiano...wanna be friends?"

If you read my October post about school, you would know that when I first started school, one of the biggest challenges for me was making friends. It has been two months since that post, and things have changed quite considerably, to the point where I wanted to write another post about the social situation here. I will be doing quite a bit of name dropping throughout this post because I want to give these people a little shoutout, but also because I always find it interesting to hear typical names in other countries, and I think it makes the whole thing a bit more credible. So here we go.


Exchange students tend to lean on each other for support as we are the only ones who truly understand what each other are going through, and so back in October when the social aspect of things was much more rocky, I was telling my wonderful exchange friend Alida about how it was much more difficult to make friends than expected. She responded with the perfect wisdom that has stuck with me and proven very true. When I told her that people just did not seem to want to open up to me, she asked "Trula, is it just you that they don't talk to, or do they not talk to each other in general?" It certainly didn't make me feel any better to answer "Umm...it's just me....they are all nice to each other", but she replied "but Trula, right now you are a new kid, an outsider. If they are nice to each other, then it's only a matter of time before you are one of them, and they are nice to you too". This has stuck with me, and although I still don't completely feel like "one of them", it is much more so, and it is certainly proving to be a "matter of time".


So why has this magical transformation of friendliness begun to take place?

As I have gotten to know a few of the students in my class better, I have begun to ask them about the beginning, about how they saw me, and about our mutual inhibitions. Through this, I have learned that while there was certainly a degree of shyness involved in the relative coldness of my class at the beginning, there was also, to a large degree, the issue of the collision of the language barrier and "bella figura", the idea that one should only put forth and promote their best self at all times, while avoiding activities/things that might ruin or muddle their image. For my Italian classmates, even though at first I didn't know enough Italian even to basically communicate, speaking to me in their less-than-perfect English put their "bella figura" in danger, and thus was something to be avoided. These days, I can often communicate more or less what I want to say in Italian, and a few of my friends have let their guard down enough to help me out with words that I don't know, but there are still a large number of classmates who do not want to potentially embarrass themselves by using English (never mind the fact that I am publicly embarrassing myself every time an Italian phrase comes off my tongue). On the upside, this means that there are a good number of my classmates who would prefer to speak to me slowly and simply in Italian rather than attempt English, which is good for my Italian learning endeavors. On the downside, I think that this was one of the reasons that it was more difficult to make friends before I had the Italian basics down, because when you can't talk to someone, friendship is a whole lot harder.


In my opinion though, the main reason, which I think is deceptively simple but incredibly important, is that by the time we reach high school, most of us have accumulated a reasonable group of friends through various means, including family, school, and extracurriculars.

Having this comfortable network can cause us to forget how hard life might be if you were suddenly stripped of that network and had no one to call when you had a boring weekend coming up, had no one to make standing in the bathroom line less awkward with, had no one to default to when fragile plans fell through and you suddenly needed someone else to go to an event with.

And upon arriving here, stripped of that network physically, I honestly think that most people just had no idea. Had no idea that when the play finished early, I didn't have a group to join to go grab a coffee with. Had no idea that when everyone was making plans to go see the concert, that I didn't have "my people" to default to that I knew wanted to go with me. Had no idea that in gym class, choosing partners or forming groups was suddenly stressful, not fun, because I didn't have those friends that you could make eye contact with across the room before the teacher had finished speaking, automatically forming your group.

In the same vein, then, I honestly think people had no idea that when Milena wrote "ti voglio bene" on my hand and invited me to go out for lunch, it was the first time, after a full month of school, that I thought I might one day actually fit in with my class. That when Fabiana invited me to go for a walk in Trieste, it was the first time that I had hung out with a classmate and had it just feel like maybe we could be two friends, not the just the weird american girl with an Italian,...the first time that there were conversation topics that didn't start with "so, in California.....", the first time that I thought that I might actually become real friends with people in my class, not just be "that American girl". That when Federica actually responded to my text and agreed to meet me for lunch, it meant the world to me because for that day I had texted 5 different people, and she was the only one who said yes when most of the others didn't even bother to answer me. That when Gaia invited me to her house to attempt a cooking adventure, it was the first time I had been to a classmate's house, the first time that I had been able to reasonably carry most of a conversation in Italian, the first time that I thought I might actually be able to be real friends with someone who I didn't speak in English with.

And just because it's gotten better doesn't mean that my excitement about people reaching out has ceased.....it will never stop making me feel accepted and unbelievably excited and when someone says hi, shares a joke with me, invites me to do something, or says in some other way, "Hey there, I know that your Italian isn't great, and neither is my English, but I don't really care and we can be friends anyway".


I have recently switched my schedule such that I now visit different classes throughout the week, and this has given me the opportunity to meet even more people that bring a smile to my face every day. I am so thankful to Ilaria, Diana, and Claudia from one of my new classes, 5H for showing me that not everyone is too worried about their bella figura to open up to a new person right away by creating a group message with me that makes me laugh every day. I love that Debora and Giulia from another new class were willing to bring me to try a special holiday street food, fritelle, even though they don't really know enough english to have a conversation, and I don't know enough Italian to have a non-awkward conversation.


Though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I feel like it is always a good time to be thankful. I am thankful for how much better its gotten with my friends, and on the other side of the coin, I am thankful that it is still difficult, because every time that someone reaches out to me, I am filled again with an indescribable joy, a small child's giddiness that just makes you want to jump up and down for the sheer fun of it. And if it weren't for the hard times, I wouldn't be able to appreciate the good times nearly as fully....I wouldn't be over the moon with excitement every time I was invited to do something. And I'm sure that some people think I'm crazy for getting this excited about things that are just a regular part of everyday life for everyone else, but honesty I don't care, because I've always said that the best people in life are a little crazy. Plus, if you could live every day with soaring excitement over little things, why on earth wouldn't you? 

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

5 Things that No Longer Surprise Me about Italy

So I have been here for two months now....some days it feels as though I have been here forever, and some days it feels as though I just got here. Almost every day, though, there is some little moment that makes me just step back for a moment and realized "whoa....I'm actually LIVING in ITALY for a whole YEAR!".

Since I have been here for two months, I am slowly starting to adapt to the Italian way of life, and things that seemed strange when I first got here are now things that I barely notice are different. Because of this, I wanted to share a few of these things because a) I don't want to forget how amazed I initially was at them and b) because I love reading lists and maybe you do too.

Here we go, in no particular order:

1) Phone Plans: In Italy, I have a fairly normal phone plan that gives me 3 Gigabytes of data, 3000 texts, and 300 minutes of call time. What is so strange about this, you may ask? Well, this phone package costs me just 12 euros a month. 12 euros. 12. I'm pretty sure I'll be spending less on my phone plan for the whole year than some people in the USA spend for one month.

2)Sweets: Maybe its just me, but in the US, its just not really socially acceptable to eat sweets for breakfast. Yes, the occasional doughnut or breakfast pastry, but not really cookies or cake. Enter Italy, where cookies and cake are a totally normal part of breakfast, and its not uncommon for me to come downstairs in the morning to find the family snacking on a pack of chocolate cookies. Also if it's breakfast time(or really anytime) you should definitely cover that bread/cake/cookie in jam or Nutella.

3)Which brings me to Nutella, and on a related track, hazelnuts: First of all, if you find something in Italy and looks like it is chocolate flavored, there is a very good chance that either the chocolate you see is actually Nutella, or there are also hazelnuts in the chocolate dessert, and chocolate+hazelnuts=Nutella. I'm not complaining. Don't get me wrong, regular chocolate exists, but it is quite overshadowed. Also, I guess hazelnuts just aren't a very big thing in the USA, but in Italy, you can find anything in hazelnut flavor. Some hazelnut things that I've tried so far include gelato, cake, and yogurt. Hazelnut yogurt? Mehhh.....but hazelnut gelato is nothing short of heavenly(but isn't all gelato?).

4)Hand gestures: I'm sure that you have all seen some sort of video or such that makes fun of Italians and their hand gestures by depicting someone who looks like they may or may not have completely lost track of their arms. While the whole hand-gesture thing is absolutely a stereotype, it is an absolutely true stereotype. When an Italian gets worked up about something, the results, hand-gesture-wise, are nothing short of hilarious, in my opinion. Someday I will get a video of this amazing spectacle, and you too will be able to understand the hilarity(I'm looking at you, Sara). On the upside, it generally makes it much easier for me to understand conversations that I otherwise would not understand when someone is practically half-miming the conversation, and it also makes it much more socially acceptable for me to communicate through gestures when I can't use words.

5)Dinner time/the general concept of the afternoon: In the US, 2 or 3 PM was "mid-afternoon", getting into 4 or 5 PM was "evening", and 6 PM was getting into "dinner time". When I first got here, I tried to hold on to that concept of time, but it was quickly uprooted for a new and improved afternoon timetable. On a normal weekday: 3 PM is "lunchtime", 4 or 5 PM is "mid-afternoon", 6 or 7 PM is getting into "evening", and around 8 or 9 PM is "dinner time".

Was this surprising to you? Or maybe not? Is there something else in particular that you would like to know about? Let me know...I would love to hear from you!



Tuesday, October 13, 2015

First month (and a half?) in Review

So I'm trying to stick mostly to themed posts or posts of specific function because I think it gets a bit boring if every post is just a chronicle of my daily happenings....then it becomes more of a diary, which I don't really intend this to be.
But for the sake of documentation, I do want to do a little review with some fun pictures of my time in Italy thus far. I know that some of you have asked me copiously for more of a general overview of what I've been doing, so here ya go. This is obviously quite abbreviated, and I know that I've forgotten a lot or simply omitted things for lack of time, space, and attention span, but you can sit back with some popcorn since the words will be few, and the pictures will be many(hopefully). I'll try to go semi-chonological here, but..........

Inbound Orientation in Bassano del Grappa...all of the exchange students from my district in Italy(about 20 of us) gathered for a few days of bonding and instruction at a historical war site...we got to visit trenches, caves, and other interesting reminders of the past.

We go to raise flags of all of our countries!

The whole group...my best friends in Italy!


 Grocery shopping... the stores are much smaller than the "supermarkets" that we have in the USA, but they are packed to the brim and I love it!

This was a small store, and THIS IS JUST THE DAIRY SECTION.

The meat counter.


Castello San Giusto in Trieste



Piazza Unita at night....it is the largest seaside piazza in Italy, and it just happens to be in my city!


We went to a  Slovenian castle(yes, another country...it took about 15-20 minutes) for the gorgeous view of Trieste! 




Hiking with family friends!


The second inbound orientation was with almost all of the exchange students in Italy, over 80 of us, and it was in NAPLES for 4 days!! The bus ride was almost 14 hours, but it was with the other exchanges students, and it was absolutely worth it. Needless to say, it was gorgeous.
The view from our hotel...hello Mt. Vesuvius!

A fountain in Naples

Streets with the flags of the world!

More Naples!

This is in Pompeii...the famous ancient city destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. We visited on  our Naples trip.

Ruins of Pompeii.
This ancient resident of Pompeii is pretty famous, so it was amazing to see in real life...you might have seen pictures of him before.


We also visited the royal palace in Caserta, which was also beautiful.

The royal palace.

Another quick trip to Slovenia! This time to meet the wonderful and enchanting white horses of  Lipica and to go to a dog show.
Well hello there!

Judging of St. Bernards!

 Trieste is host to one of the largest sailboat regattas in the world, so several other exchange students came to Trieste to witness it. 
It's hard to see, but every single one of those dots is a sailboat, and there are many that are too small to see.

There has been so much more that I haven't written about here...I have taken over 1000 photos so far, so it is impossible to share them all. As always, thanks for reading, and if there is something that you want to know more about let me know!!

Sunday, October 4, 2015

School, Italian Style.

First of all, apologies...this post isn't going to be one of the pretty picture posts, simply because I don't really have photos of school, but I'll give a quick description instead: my school is a fairly large brick building with 4 floors, I am on the 4th floor, but if you were to ask an Italian, I am on the 3rd floor since in Italy, the ground floor is not floor 1, but floor 0. I go to school Monday-Friday from 8-2 with two 15 minute breaks. I don't have school on Saturday, which is very lucky, and the other exchange students are jealous ;). And for those of you in the USA who are about to go down the "no fair" road with the fact that I get out at 2:00 instead of 3:00 or 3:30, just remember that I don't have a lunch break, and I don't really have the whole "5 minute passing period" thing, so I actually have class for almost exactly the same amount of time each week as you do.

In Italian school, the students stay in the same classroom while the teachers change classrooms. Because of this, the classrooms are very plain...in the USA, teachers tend to decorate their rooms according to their subjects or personal preferences, but teachers in Italy don't exactly have a classroom of their own to decorate.

So anyway, I stay in the same classroom all day with the exception of Spanish(we have to move to a bigger room since more students join us for that class), French(I'm not really sure why), Art History(for some reason that teacher has her own room), and PE(that should be obvious). Because of the same classroom thing, I am with the same group of about 22 students all day every day. This is great on one hand because it allows me to get to know the people in my class better, but it also limits the number of people that I meet...people don't really seem to socialize outside of their class at school unless they happen to have a friend in another class, which obviously I do not. I definitely find myself wishing that it was a bit easier to meet a wider swath of people, but I think I will get used it it.
Let's talk a bit about meeting people for a minute here. From the day of my arrival until the day I started school, every day my family mentioned in some way or form that the people in Trieste were not exactly the most outgoing people in the world. Because I had this warning in some way or another constantly, I was expecting the worst on my first day of school, and was absolutely ecstatic when my seatmates said hi and helped me out with some translation as I was utterly confused about everything.

(side note...that is literally my most constant state of being....
"Hi Trula, how are you today?"
" Oh, I'm pretty confused."
"How was yesterday?"
"Yesterday was definitely confusing."
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"I literally have no idea. I think someone said something about tomorrow, but I'm confused about what they told me.")

Ok! Back to our discussion on meeting people. So I was very happy that the people sitting next to me said hi...it was a great start to the school year (thank you Ana and Sara!!!). Unfortunately, however, while the constant warnings weren't completely true, they weren't completely false either. My limited Italian absolutely has played a large role in some of the difficulty, but it has been proving a whole lot harder than I expected to bridge the gap between the "saying hi and how are you" friendship to the "hangs out, does things, and has actual conversations" friendship. I definitely think that it will get easier as time goes on, my Italian improves, and I spend more time with my class, but it's definitely a shock going from a situation where I know almost everyone and am friends with everyone to a situation where I know nearly no one, and making friends is challenging.
For now my best friends in Italy are the other exchange students, but none of them live in my town. While this is a bit sad, I'm actually very thankful, since it is really forcing me to put all of my effort into making Italian friends. So hey! If you are reading this post and you are one of those Italian friends and you want to get together after school or something, let me know! I would love to hang out!

The actual school part of school is mostly irrelevant for me at the moment since I don't understand anything the teachers are saying. When I am having a slow one-on-one conversation with someone, I can hobble along if they are willing to help me out, but when teachers are rapid-fire lecturing about Italian government systems, it's a lost cause for me. For me to understand anything at all, I have to throw my whole and entire attention at the speaker, and try very hard. This kind of super-active listening is exhausting, and thus I must choose when to pay attention for short burst, and then I must give myself breaks. For most of the subjects, I simply let the Italian wash over me, with short burst of the "active listening", since it is nearly impossible for me to do the school work when I can't understand the lessons. Several things that I have noticed, though:
1) The relationship between Italian students and teachers is much more formal...you stand up when they enter the room, you speak formally to them, and the teachers are just your teachers, not your friends.
2) To dovetail on number 1, school is really just about learning. In the USA, school definitely has a fun element, with dress-up days, special events, homecoming, prom, and the like. However, in Italian school, you go to school to learn, and that's about it.

Overall, though, I don't mind school. The biggest challenge in school(other than making friends) is not falling asleep....it is incredibly difficult to stay alert when you are sitting in one place for 6 hours with two short breaks doing absolutely nothing and understanding absolutely nothing. However, my doodling skills have definitely been getting a workout, which has been fun.

Did I fail to talk about an aspect of Italian school that you wanted to hear about? Is there something else random that you really want to hear about? Let me know in the comments!
Ciao for now!(hehe...that just never gets old ;)




Thursday, September 17, 2015

Why I Will Get Fat in Italy

First of all, Aj, if you are reading this, I'm totally copying your blog post subject, just switching up the country a bit. Hehehe.

If you have been following my first two weeks in Italy, you may have noticed the rather strange lack of food-related pictures in my social media and blogosphere presence. "What's this?", you may ask, "Is Trula starving to death in Italy, the land of food?".

Of course, I have been doing anything but starving to death, and in fact food is such an important part of my life that I have been refraining from posting about it so that I could dedicate a whole blog post to it. Quick warning: while I chalk it up as devoting a whole post to food because it is special, it is also because I have a lot to say about it. Just letting you know that you're in for a long haul here. There will be pictures, there will be descriptions, there might be salivation, there will be weird sentences that make you question my validity a bit, but if you've gotten this far you might as well plough ahead. Also, all of my generalizations and experiences truly are my generalizations and my observations of my experience, and I'm sure other people have experienced otherwise. If you have experienced something completely different, I would love to hear about it so that we can piece together a quirky picture of Italy. Grazie.

While I am not one to promote stereotypes, the whole hype about Italy's food is 100% spot on. I have very, very quickly become a stranger to the "slightly picky eater" part of me, and I will try nearly anything. Now why are my eating preferences fading away so quickly? Because almost everything that I put in my mouth is delicious. Whether I though I would like it or not, or whether I had tried it and hated it before is completely irrelevant. There are literally no consequences for trying anything and everything since the odds are ever in my favor that it will be great. I'm pretty sure my brain is actually re-wiring it's opinion on trying new foods with each bite that I take.

So good food is one thing, but why exactly will I get fat in Italy?
Before I left I read of Italians and their food that while the food certainly may be rich, carbo-loaded, or something we may generally think of as unhealthy, the Italian portions are much smaller and thus it actually balances out. For example, while they may eat gelato an alarming number of times per week, the scoops are small. Or while there may be pasta for every meal, it is a much smaller plateful than Americans are used to.
I am so sorry to all of the people on the internet that wrote these things, but they are wrong. So wrong. Indescribably wrong.

Let me walk you through a recent(although isn't everything pretty recent? I mean, I've only been here for two weeks) lunch with my host family and extended family.
        We are all sitting at the table, when a large basket of different breads, along with many spreads, meats, and fish are brought out. Of course I have no idea what most of the stuff is, but everyone is swooping it up so I have to try it before it's all gone. At this point I'm no longer hungry. Not full yet, but not hungry either.
        Next, homemade gnocchi smothered in red sauce is brought out, and of course it is delicious. I take a smaller portion than everyone else, but I am still quite full when I am finished. At this point I assume this is the end of the meal.
The freshly rolled and cut gnocchi, courtesy of my host mom.
        Just as the internet writers were dreadfully wrong, so was I. I had barely finished my last bite of gnocchi when a large dish of eggplant parmesan was brought out. And of course, I'm here to experience Italy, and what better way than through the food, so I have to try it. By the end of eggplant parmesan I am absolutely stuffed and very grateful that the meal is over because I am convinced that I would not be able to eat another bite.
The eggplant parmesan in all of it's tomato-saucy, cheesy glory.
        I think at this point you might guess that again, of course I was wrong. Dessert was brought out, which was a delectable chocolate thing(I'm sorry, I really have no idea what it was) which was like chocolate fudge, but much less heavy and less sweet. Still dense and very chocolate-y, though. It was explained to me that it was made with water instead of milk, so that may be why I found it less heavy.

        After dessert I really, truly did think that the meal was over. I mean, usually dessert signifies the end of a meal, right? But of course I was wrong, and ten minutes later a towering platter of fried fish was brought out. It smelled delicious, and absolutely was delicious, but it was all I could to to eat two pieces when everyone else ate far, far more.

Of course this type of thing is not an every-day ordeal, but it's not uncommon either. Far more ordinary are daily happenings such as,
         "Hai fame, Trula?"(are you hungry?)
         "No, non ho fame, grazie"(no, I'm not hungry, thanks)
         3 minutes later..............
         Here, eat this delicious pastry which is huge and rich and definitely filling!
The wonderful pastry in question...the filling was something along the lines of butter+cream+sugar, but.......
Or another one that happened recently,
        "Trula hai fame? Do you want a cupcake?"
        "No, non ho fame. We literally just ate lunch."
        "Ok then, let's go to the Gelateria and eat delicious gelato!" 
I got my host dad to hold my gelato so that I could get a decent picture...and yes, that chocolatey stuff is most definitely large amounts of Nutella. They have the container of gelato, and every 5 scoops or so, they pour more molten Nutella on the top of the gelato container so that each scoop has a ridiculous amount of pure Nutella in it. Heavenly! 

As you might be able to tell judging by the last two pictures, Italy has been very kind(or should I say dangerous) to my sweet tooth. Italians are not afraid of sugar, and it is all too easy to get a sweet snack. Speaking of which, on to breakfast!

Before I left for Italy, the one meal that I knew would be very different was breakfast. This is absolutely true, but I am quickly adjusting to it and I love it.
Since Nutella is so popular in Italy(it originates from Italy), let's explain this using Nutella. If you're anything like me, you like to read food packaging, and you might have noticed that funny little illustration and description on the back of a Nutella jar that says something along the lines of "Make Nutella part of a delicious and balanced breakfast!" and it pictures Nutella on toast, some fruit, and I think coffee? Anywho, in California I scoffed at this, as chocolate on toast seems like anything but a balanced breakfast. But as soon as I walked into the kitchen on my first morning in Italy, I discovered that Italian breakfast is very nearly the back-of-the-nutella-jar-breakfast, just Italian style (which is so much better!)

Breakfast in my house consists of some sort of bread-like-thing. Often this is Pinza, a locally made bread which is reasonably dense and slightly sweet, sometimes it is Brioche, which is what Italians call Croissants (confusing, I know), and sometimes it is other random sweet breads. Also small cookies. Anyway, upon these sweet bread canvases we spread Nutella or jam, creating a delicious if not completely balanced bite for breakfast. Breakfast is served along side tea, and sometimes we eat yogurt as well. Breakfast is without a doubt smaller than in the US, and I was a bit concerned as to how that would work out for me, but in just two weeks I have absolutely learned to love it! Like I said, my sweet tooth is happy :).
Pinza Triestina....the perfect breakfast!

Of course Nutella! Also it's in glass jars here instead of plastic. How sophisticated.

Apple jam....delicious on Pinza.

Brioche...when I bought this one, (for €1) it was warm, and I know I'm not in France but it was without a doubt one of the best that I have ever tried (although for my family: the ones in Laos were pretty darn good......).

Yes, there is a lot of pasta. Of course the pizza is amazing. I am absolutely in love with Italian food and I look forward to enjoying every bite while I am here. I'm sure that I've forgotten something that I wanted to say in regards to food, but that's what future blog posts are about, right?
Ciao, and enjoy the delicious food wherever you may be!






   






Thursday, September 10, 2015

Touring Trieste

My first week in Trieste has been an absolute joy. My wonderful Italian family has taken me to see many of the defining tourism features of Trieste, and every day I love this city even more. Of course this can only be explained through photos (plus, who really wants to read a bunch of words without pretty pictures anyway), so here we go. I have been taking far more photos than I ever have in my life, and I am lucky to have a family who loves photos just as much as me, so they have taken quite a few photos as well. There are A LOT of photos here but most just have short captions so hopefully you don't fall asleep.

The Opicina-Trieste Tram+Trieste Exploration
Trieste has a historic tram that is used for transportation from the hill town of Opicina down into the town of Trieste, so we took it into town to explore.

The tram at the station in the center of Trieste.
Canal Grande!
Selfie Time! This is with my dad and my aunt.
My mom and I near the Canal Grande.



In the days after the Trieste tour by Tram, my wonderful zia(aunt) Raffaela has taken me, my sister Alice, and my cousin Greta on several tourist adventures which have been so much fun, and a great way to explore the area.

First up: Castello di Miramare, a 19th century castle in Trieste.





The next day we visited Grotta Gigante---the worlds largest tourism cave...it's even in the book of world records! Luckily for me, it happens to be very close as well.
A humorous sign warning tourists about the fact that if you have to walk 500 steps down to enter the cave, you also have to walk 500 steps back up. 

The largest stalagmite in the cave.

The pictures don't do it justice, but the inside was absolutely fantastic!


The next day, we visited the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale......Trieste's natural history museum. It was filled with impressive creatures large and small.
Giant lobsters.

A replica of an ancient giant bear.

Spooky scary skeletons.





And finally today we went to a quaint town quite near Trieste, Muggia, as well as the Temple of Monte Grista, which has an excellent view over Trieste.

A beautiful church in Muggia.

Boats boats boats!

Isn't Muggia cute?

Transition time....this is the top of Monte Grista. I love the pattern.

And the view! The closest city you see is Trieste.
Hope you enjoyed the little virtual tour of some of what Trieste has to offer. I have plenty more to tell you, but this post is already far too long as it is, so see you next time! Ciao!


Saturday, September 5, 2015

Sono in Italia!

After 26 hours of travel (32 if you count the drive to San Francisco), I finally arrived in Trieste. My journey was largely uneventful...though I did not meet any other RYE students along the way, I got to watch the unexpectedly entertaining Delta in-flight safety video, became best friends with a five year old whose mother was an exchange student in Italy, and bonded with my seat mate on my Detroit to Rome flight over the five times in a row that I got offered bottled water without him being offered even once(and of course, once he got his water, he was kind enough to offer it to me...hahaha).

I was more than ready to be done traveling by the time I reached Trieste, however, and it was to my great joy when I was greeted at the airport by a fantastic welcome party consisting of my first and second host families and two rotarians from my Italian club...my counselor and a youth exchange coordinator.
Part of my welcome committee!


Ever since my arrival I have been thoroughly enjoying Trieste! 

Yesterday my wonderful host mom and I ventured into the city center of Trieste in an attempt to get my Permesso di Soggiorno--my residence permit. It has been a bit of a headache, and we spent two hours working on it yesterday, as well as an hour or two today to send off the application packet in the mail. Apparently in October we have an appointment that has something to do with the Permesso di Soggiorno? Who knows.

Trieste is an absolutely beautiful city and I think that pictures say this better than words, so here are a few that I have taken so far:


Please ignore the fact that this is really sketchy and a truck is mysteriously vaporizing (it's a panorama). This is the view from my host mom's office window! 




Roman ruins? I think?

The town center.

Mail flaps for sale in a hardware store!


In the town center.


This is my host dad's scooter shop!
The language is definitely a struggle...I had underestimated how difficult it is to stay awake when you are seated at a table for several hours with people talking nonstop Italian...that you can't understand any of. It also is a little bit terrible to just give anyone who talks to you a blank and slightly apologetic stare...especially when it is your host parents who have to deal with you 24/7! But even in the 2.5 days that I have been here, I can feel myself picking up words. Of course they are no help when trying to understand people, but still...every word counts :). However I have realized that studying Italian while in Italy is SO much more effective because right after I study a word I suddenly hear it everywhere and it is immensely reinforced. So I am doing my best to continue studying so that some day I might hopefully understand a few words at the table.

Ciao for now! (no matter how terrible, cliche, and tacky that is, I just can't help myself).