The Day in Verona!

Verona was a really great place for a day trip because it is only an hour from Padova by train, with no transfers. There were six of us on the trip to Verona, which I thought was a perfect number, very comfortable for getting around and eating, etc. We took the train into Verona around 10:00 am and got in around 11:00, which was perfect timing. Unfortunately, it was a blustery and rainy day, but We made the best of it. Katie had read in her Italy for Dummies book that there was a deal on something called a “Verona Card” which allows someone, for 8 Euro, to have free public transportation for a day and get into a list of about 15 attractions for free. We made the very wise decision to invest in a Verona Card and we were off. The first thing we managed to do right was take the bus into the center of town. We didn’t know exactly where we should get off but we knew the Attractions we were most interested in seeing and aimed ourselves toward the historical center. The first place we went was the Castelvecchio, which we chose mostly because it was raining really hard out and we wanted the attraction to be inside. When we got inside the Castelvecchio museum, we realized it would have cost us 8 Euro just for the admission to this one museum, which made our Verona Card that much more worth it. There were a lot of really cool artifacts in the Castelvecchio, and the building itself was antique and an important place in Verona, so the combination of those two things was really great. The art was pretty standard Italian religious artwork, but there were a few pieces that stood out. The best part of the Castelvecchio to me was the beautiful view it provided. As you move through the museum you weave in and out of the castle, and when you reach the top you are on the roof with access to a bridge over the river, where you can see the whole city and the mountains beyond. When we got there, it had stopped raining, and the view was absolutely stunning. I took lots of pictures and really enjoyed just basking in the beauty that is Verona.

After we were done in the Castelvecchio, we were pretty famished. By this time it was around 1:30 I believe, maybe even later, and we were ready for some food. As we exited we split up to two little side of the road places. The one we went to was dynamite! It was a little kebab place, and we had “Kebab Panini” which is where they have a rotisserie of lamb (I think it was lamb) and they shave pieces off and put it in a pita with pickled cabbage, lettuce, tomato, onion, chili sauce, yogurt sauce, ketchup mayonnaise and they top it off with French fries. Oh my god it was the most amazing piece of food I had ever had at that moment.

So calorie-licious. So after we scarfed down our food, we decided we wanted to head over to La Chiesa di San Zeno. This church was pretty grandiose, and it was on the other side of town, but thanks to people who have a better sense of direction than I do, we managed to navigate our way over there in the rain. (Keep in mind we had six people and only three umbrellas.) Along the way we got a cool tour of the ins and outs of Verona: we walked along the river and through some of the neighborhoods. When we arrived at San Zeno, we found that it would have cost us 5 Euro to enter if it weren’t for the Verona Card (Score!) so they gave us a little pamphlet in English and let us in. It was stunning inside. The size of it was probably the most overwhelming, but there were so many different areas to see, it was just breathtaking. The art inside was intricate, and the aura of the whole place was very spiritual (As I suppose can be expected in a church). San Zeno is the Patron Saint of Verona, and he came from Africa I believe, which is kind of an interesting tidbit. There was a really jolly looking statue of him in the church as well as his body, which I guess is standard in Patron Saint churches (I also have visited Saint Anthony’s in Padova and Santa Lucia’s in Venice where both of their bodies lie).

After San Zeno’s, we decided to head in the direction of Juliet’s House. Because Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet in Verona, it has become sort of notorious for that reason, and although Juliet is NOT A REAL PERSON… yeah… they have this house where supposedly the Cappelato family lived which is supposedly the family that Shakespeare based the Capulet’s on… it was all sort of strange. Anyway, we had a little trouble finding it and we waited quite a while for a bus that only ended up taking us a few blocks, but finally we arrived at the Casa di Giulieta. It was packed with tourists in the walkway, which leads into a little courtyard where there is a statue of Juliet. I guess it is customary to write your name and the name of your love on the wall of the walkway, or on a piece of paper to tape to the wall, or on a piece of gum (ew) and there was a wall covered with all of this stuff. The courtyard was packed full, but to get into the house you have to pay 5 Euro (Unless you have the Verona Card!) so the actual museum in the house was not that crowded. It was pretty lame though, because again, Juliet is not a real person. Basically the house was full of memorabilia about the play, and there was a room with the actual bed and actual costumes from the 1968 movie version of Romeo and Juliet, but for the most part, it was sort of silly. We were able to go out on the “balcony” where “Juliet” might have been if she were real, but it was all sort of a joke thing. I definitely would not have paid 5 Euro to see this stuff, but since it was free it was fun to enjoy. There was a silly machine where you could send a free email with your picture and a picture of Verona, so we all did that in the lobby, and then the piece de resistance. In the courtyard, the statue of Juliet is much like the statue of Saint Peter in Venice. You’re supposed to rub Saint Peter’s foot for good luck and you are supposed to rub Juliet’s boob for good luck (yeah, ridiculous I know). So we took a few pictures of that and then we were off to the center of town again.

We were planning to eat at a restaurant which we had heard was good, but when we got there we found out it didn’t open until 7, and we didn’t want to wait that long, so we thought we’d see if we could get inside the Arena. Unfortunately, the Arena was closed for the day because they were doing a live outdoor opera of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (HOW COOL!!!). I was sad that we couldn’t see inside and even sadder that the Opera didn’t start until 9:30, otherwise I totally would have wanted to stay and see it, but it was still cool to see the outside of the Arena. After that we decided to have a gelato and head back to the train station to go home.

Our train left a little late, but we got back in one piece and decided to find a place to eat in Padova. We ended up at this place called Fly, an American Bar (whatever that means) and we stopped there for some grub. It was very delicious, I had a pizza with prosciutto crudo right on top, and one of the other girls Katelyn had a fabulous looking calzone. Plus, there were lots of cute guys watching soccer there, so that was fun too. I was really cold so I ordered some hot chocolate, but it turns out that hot chocolate in Italy actually means heated up chocolate pudding that you eat with a spoon (who knew?). So that was a new and interesting experience. And that was my day in Verona

Trip to Venice! (Pictures Added)

Venice was a great first trip to make. It was the whole group plus Maria Pia, one of the coordinators of the program, and Ester and Elisa the two language teachers. We took the bus to the train station to meet at 9:15, and the train left at around 9:25 I believe. Padova public transportation is a little confusing at first but mostly it is convenient, and we were able to get to the train station with plenty of time to spare. When we did get on the train we had a little trouble finding seats so we just stood for the first 10 or 15 minutes. Eventually we realized were just in the wrong car so we walked through the cars and found seats. It is about the same distance from Padova to Venice as it is from Evanston to Chicago, which definitely makes me look forward to possibly going back again. The train station in Venice opens right out to the canal so you really know that you’re there as soon as you get there. It was a beautiful humid day when we arrived, and we met our tour guide right in front of the station. I don’t remember his name, but he was pretty funny and spoke to us both in Italian and English. The first place we headed was to the Famous Jewish ghetto in Venice, where I guess we arrived a little late for our scheduled official tour, so our general tour guide gave us a little background information. Then to kill time/ because there are no boring attractions in Venice, we went to the Chiesa Di Santa Lucia, where the Body of Saint Lucia is kept. It was a beautiful church, modest by Venetian standards (Think San Marco) but still beautiful and breath taking. It is interesting that despite the fact that I am not religious, I always feel some sort of special something when I enter all the churches in Italy. So after checking out the body of Santa Lucia (Who is the patron saint of eyes, so there were lots of pictures and notes of people who wanted to improve their vision) we headed back to the ghetto area.

We took too long at the church and so we were kind of late again, but the tour guide at the Ghetto museum sort of reluctantly took us to begin our tour. On the tour we went through 3 different synagogues two of which were no longer in use and one that is used in the winter after Passover (You’d think maybe there was some specific religious reason for this, but it is because that building has heating. Hah). The other Synagogue in Venice was currently in use so laypeople are not allowed in. It was interesting hearing about the history of the Jews, and it turns out that the word Ghetto doesn’t even mean neighborhood but actually means Metal refinery, which is what happened in the area in Venice previous to them housing the Jews there in the 16^th Century. All of the information was interesting but our tour guide was kind of impatient because we were late, and it was boiling hot and everyone was hungry so it could have gone a little smoother.

After the tour, we stopped into a very authentic Venetian restaurant for lunch. All 27 of the people in our group sat in the same room at 4 different tables, and it was definitely one of the points at which I felt most typically American. Generally speaking though, because there were so many tourists in Venice I felt less American than normal speaking some Italian. It’s tough to speak Italian with the other Americans though because it is so exhausting speaking Italian all the time with the family. Anyway, lunch was a lot of fun. Our table was very boisterous and some people maybe had a little too much wine, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The first course, the antipasto, was three typical dishes from the Veneto. There was polenta, which is basically really salty grits but more yellow, and there was baccala, which is basically fish paste made with cod and oil and milk (like on Molto Mario). The last dish many people were not super fond of, but I actually thought it was pretty good. It was onions, nuts, and raisins with whole sardines all marinated in Balsamic Vinegar. The sardines were very fishy looking and were meant to be eaten whole, skin bones and all. I had no problems with this and other people found this a little strange I guess, so I caught some flak for it. Then the next course, a primo piatto, was a shrimp pasta with fresh made pasta and a light sauce. It was quite good, especially the fresh pasta. Finally, we had dessert which was, of course, tiramisu. By this point I was ridiculously stuffed, and I only managed to eat around half of the dessert (I guess sharing is not widely practiced in Italy).

Post lunch, we headed over toward San Marco Square. As we were walking, everyone noticed the fact that the sky had darkened considerably. At first we thought it was just cloudy, but it got increasingly ominous as we approached San Marco. By the time we got there it was clear that it was going to rain any minute. There were some black colored clouds and the wind picked up, and just as our tour guide was letting us roam free for the rest of the day, it started pouring down rain. We waited out under some arches near the chiesa. It wasn’t a very long storm but it was pretty dramatic. Lightning lit up the sky and the thunder was booming like cannons. There were spigots that funneled the rain water into powerful streams, and if you accidentally got caught under one of those it would be drench city. When the rain stopped, a few of us who had been separated from the group met up with some other people and we started what I would call wandering. We wandered quite a bit, saw a lot of pretty views, and ended up at the Arsenal, a historical military base in part of the town. We sat there for a while and admired the area, and then we wandered a little more. We sat right on the water’s edge for a while and took in the beautiful views, the huge cruise ships and the waves lapping up on the stairs. The ultimate goal of the day in Venice was to find this Jazz club where two of the students from Tulane in New Orleans knew a guy who was going to be playing. On the way, we stopped and took a few beautiful pictures from the Rialto bridge and saw some different parts of the city.

When we finally did find the jazz club, there wasn’t really anywhere to sit and there were probably 15 of us trying to find spots, so some of us decided to try finding another Jazz club that someone had seen on the way called novecento jazz club (900 jazz club). It turns out, this “Jazz Club” was just a restaurant which played jazz music on its speaker system. So in other words, it was not at all a jazz club. In any case, it was still a nice dinner, there were 8 of us sitting at 2 different tables and it was the relaxing part of the Venice trip. It was a little frustrating to hear that the other groups of people had gone inside San Marco and seen museums and done other things while the group that I was a part of mostly just wandered around, but the great thing about Venice is that it is really close, so I feel like I will definitely be back. It is comparable to a Metra ride from Evanston to Chicago except way more Italian.

For the perfect end to the Venetian day, there was a live band playing right outside the train station when we were headed back there to catch a train back to Padova. They were really cool and upbeat, and everyone was dancing and having a good time. The band was from Scotland I think, and we talked with one of the guitarists briefly after they had finished their set. The name of the band was Isosceles, or at least I think that is what he said, so if you are interested you could look them up.

After we got back to Padova we had to wait for a bus for quite a while. We thought there was a certain number coming at a certain time but we had read the schedule wrong. We met a nice older women who helped us figure out what would be the best bus to take, and then debated over taking a cab before finally deciding to just stick it out. We met an Austrian guy who had studied at the University of Padova but graduated. He talked in Italian with Peter, the person who is most fluent of all of us, and then he asked all the girls in the group if anyone wanted to Marry him. Then when he got on his bus, we said goodbye to him and he said “Who’s coming with me?” Katie, one of the girls in our group yelled out “Nessuno!” which means no one, which was hilarious because he was right there. That was the comical end of our day in Venice.

Daily life in Padova

My experience with Padova so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Since the moment I arrived, there have been exciting places, things to explore, and people to watch. Although we did a lot of general sightseeing when we first got here, I have already found the places I will frequent most. The Prato Della Valle is probably my favorite place in Padova. It is a huge square (The biggest in Italy and I think second only to the Red Square in Moscow, in the world!) which is surrounded by 72 statues of famous Padovanians. There is a moat around the inner part of the square with 4 bridges leading to the center, where there is a beautiful fountain. The grassy areas in the Prato Della Valle are perfect for relaxing, doing homework, and people watching. We saw someone there who was moving around slowly holding a scarf, watching it flutter with the wind whenever he changed direction. He was doing this for an hour while a few of us sat nearby doing homework.

People-watching is one of my favorite things to do anywhere, but especially in the Prato. On Saturdays, the Prato Della Valle is transformed into a huge market, selling cheap clothes, shoes, vegetables, and all other things. I walked through a little bit the first Saturday we were here but I hope to get pretty familiar with all the deals that must be found there.

Another place that I imagine I will frequent is along the Via Roma. This street changes names a whole bunch of times, but I think it is probably most widely known as Roma. There are lots (and I mean lots) of shoe stores, so I think I am going to have to find a dynamite deal before my time in Padova is over. There are also restaurants and cafes all along the street, and it is very near where the Boston University Center is so it is quite easy to pop over and hang out for a bit with an espresso and a brioche. Of course there are many other great places to go in Padova at night, one of them being the Piazza Delle Erbe. Wednesday in Padova is “La Notte Degli Studenti” as my host mom called it. The Piazze and the streets are crowded with young people having a good time. This Wednesday we saw a band of people about our age playing live in the Piazza Delle Erbe. They were playing awesome oldies like Elvis and Chuck Berry, and the crowd was loving it! Plus, the lead singer and guitarist were pretty darn cute. Hopefully, as I get more familiar with the city I’ll be able to figure out how to best take advantage of the nightlife. Also as University starts up in October, even more people will be around to meet.

My host family has been really great so far. They are very friendly and helpful when I don’t understand or when I am having trouble communicating something. All four of the family members know English fairly well, so if I get in a real pickle with expressing something in Italian they are usually there to save the day. My host mom Monica has been great to converse with, and when we watched an Italian movie together she and I talked over what was happening in the plot so that I could better understand. She is very caring, always patient, and there to answer all my questions. My host Dad Carlo is really funny. He makes a lot of jokes that I don’t always understand, and we’ve had (or tried to have) a few conversations about history and politics. We talked the other day about McCain and Obama, and then recently World War Two came up and we discussed how it was taught differently here and in the States (and also in Germany). He has helped me navigate the bus system, and is always ready to chime in if there is a word missing from my vocabulary. My host brother Paolo just turned 19. His birthday was Thursday and he had his friends over for a party, which I was going to attend but then I fell asleep accidentally. He seems very bright and funny, and travels a lot which must be fun. He just took his test that finishes high school, and Monica explained the results to me but I’m not sure I really understood exactly what was going on. Anyway I think he is headed for University of Padova when it starts up in October. My host sister Elena seems like a very funny and social girl. She is full of enthusiasm, does a lot of traveling herself, and has a really funky sense of style. I think she is about to start her second year of licea (high school) and she speaks very good English, although I have not spoken much English with her because I am always trying to speak in Italian.

Dinners with the family are definitely a high point of the home-stay experience. Although technically the program only provides for three dinners a week, Monica (and the whole family) is very generous and have offered to cook for me whenever I would like to be home for dinner. Also, they have offered me there internet and lots of other things that they wouldn’t normally give, which makes me very thankful. Anyway, dinners are great because it is a good time to listen to conversation and try to get as much out of it as I can. Usually I catch most what is being said but can’t contribute much to what is going on. The other night two of Elena’s friends were over and many different people were talking at once. I was totally lost and Monica saw me with this perplexed look on my face and just started laughing. It really is a lot of fun, and it has also been incredibly delicious. Miraculously, cheese has not once been a problem since I’ve been here. It’s a miracle! The first night we had fish (Sgombro, which I just looked up in the dictionary and found out is Mackerel) with potatoes and zucchini. The next night we had barbecue ribs with chili sauce and corn and salad. Another night we had rice which I think was basically risotto (no cheese) with red and yellow peppers on top and then a sort of omelet torte with spinach (yum). Then on Thursday night we had pasta with Tonno (Tuna fish like out of the can not like seared Ahi) with olives and mozzarella. Everything has been delicious so far. The one thing that aggravates me a little is that there never seems to be enough water. They drink water out of these small glasses and only a little bit at a time. I just always want a huge tall bichierre that I can gulp down after I’ve had something salty.

The house is really nice. It is off in a nice suburban neighborhood but is still not too far from in centro. There are I believe three other apartments, possibly four in the building that we live in. We are on the third floor and have a nice view of our street below off the little balcony overhang. There are four bedrooms and an office, with a really nice sitting room/living room with a couch/TV area and also a little work table. Then there is the kitchen, which is open to the sitting area but is also its own separate area. The office is on one side of the house with Monica and Carlo’s bedroom and also Paolo’s bedroom. On the other side closer to the kitchen is the bathroom I use, the laundry room, Elena’s room and my room. Everything is very compact but at the same time there is plenty of room and everything is really well laid out. Nearby is the Chiesa di San Giuseppe which is I guess what our neighborhood is named after. A little beyond that is where I walk to cross the river into In Centro or to take the bus on Via Eugenia. The timing of the walk is not bad and the neighborhood is pretty beautiful so it is nice to walk slowly and enjoy the fact that I’m in Italy.

One good specific story from my time here so far is the time when I got lost. It sounds a little scary but in reality it was really enjoyable and a great experience to prepare me for the future. One day I was walking home with a few of the other girls to see how far it was from where they crossed the river to where I did (The river separates the main part of the city from the suburbs to the west of the city). Well When they crossed the river I headed north expecting to have to walk about 15 minutes to where the bridge I crossed would be. The walk along the river is beautiful, with lots of historical buildings and scenic bridges along the way. I was enjoying my walk, people watching and checking out interesting architecture when I decided I should probably check out the map to see where I was headed. I figured I was still pretty far south of where I should be so I was looking down on the map for the cross street I was near: Corso Milano. Now I found the street that I was on, a street called Via A. Mussato, but I couldn’t find the cross street anywhere. So I kept walking and walking, and nothing was really looking very familiar, and I felt after a while that I definitely had gone farther than I needed to. I started looking around for landmarks and I realized that I was near the Train Station which is at the very north end of town. I looked at the map again and I finally saw Corso Milano: it was 8 blocks north of where I should have turned. So it turned out I had walked probably a mile and a half to two miles farther than I needed to up river. I was proud of myself though that I eventually figured out what was going on and I never panicked. I just turned around and backtracked and eventually found the right spot to cross. I saw a whole bunch of the city and improved my navigation, I got a whole lot of good exercise, and got some great memories out of it.

The Last Few Days

Things are moving quickly into academic mode here in Padova. Although we are only taking one class, I spent the afternoon yesterday working on homework. Granted there were several distractions because we were working in the Prato della valle, one of the largest piazzas in all of Europe, where there is always a lot going on. While we worked there was a guy with a scarf listening to an Ipod and dancing around watching the scarf blow in the wind for hours. Hard not to watch someone do something sort of crazy like that. Also, a very strange possibly drunk or possibly drugged up women in a very skimpy outfit kept walking by, she took a weird seated nap near us and then drunkenly ate an apple and wandered around some more. It was un po strano (a little weird).

Then tonight a few of us ate at a really nice restaurant for dinner, I had clam pasta, and then we went to the Piazza delle Erbe. There was a band of students, probably a little younger than my age, playing all these oldies, Elvis, Queen, Chuck Berry. They were so funny, because it was not clear whether or not they understood the English words that they were saying, and the Italian audience seemed to love it. They were all dancing around and cheering "bravo." Definitely a fun experience.

Tomorrow we're headed for Venice, so I'll probably update about that next time.

Ciao Tutti!

First Day of Classes

Today we sterted class, our intensive language month. We ate in the mensa, University of Padova's cafeteria, and it was fantastic. they have beer, red wine and white wine in the soda fountains, which is sort of ridiculous but funny. I had gnocchi and a fried chicken type thing with potatoes and green beans. Also, we had coffee afterward, and it all cost only 4 €. Last night I watched War of the Worlds with my host parents and went to bed early, but I'm hoping I can figure out a good way to get out and hang out with people without having to walk places alone. I'll find a way eventually, hopefully soon. It is a lot of fun to just explore, but now that classes have started I will have to do my homework. Getting it done early is probably a good idea. I haven't really had too many super Italian meals... I had rice and vegetables last night and barbecue pork the night before. All in all I am enjoying myself a lot and can't wait to learn more.

Ciao Tutti!

Day 4

This is just a quick update to see if everything is up and running. We took our placement test today and we start the intensive month of language classes tomorrow. I will update with more detail later.

Ciao Tutti