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.
1 comment:
So much interesting information! I can't wait to see all the places you talked about. Wonderful details. And the photos are great. I love the way you can click on them and they expand to take up the whole screen!
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