Saturday, May 24, 2014

La Mia Parola (la – me-ah – pa-roll-A) – my word.

            ….when I started this blog it was to find my word….and after blogging and exploring for the past 4 months abroad, ive decided….no one havs one word to describe their whole being, mind body and soul…its impossible….one word that may describe you one day may not be anything close to describing you the next…if we are living our lives right we are constantly learning, changing and evolving into the next greatest form of ourselves….so I tried to find my word and it turned into this blog, a dictionary of words that each describe a part of me…..its like a song I used to listen to…..im 32 flavors and then some….there is no one word that could ever describe every part of me…..i am a work in progress, constantly trying to reinvent, adapt and evolve into the woman I want to be…..so then, how do we end this? Easy….we turn the page…..we travel on….we find the next adventure….we grow….this is life, its hard and changing and nothing is cut and dry…..its my word…..essere continuato….to be continued….



            (thank you for traveling with me….out of 2400+ photos here are about 400 in 23 minutes, my slideshow of my trip, a little bit of everything and an overview of the best 4 months ever…)

Tempo di cambiamento (temp-O – dee – cam-Bee-ah-men-toe) – Time of Change


            …well, I have now been back in the united states for a week, home with my parents, back in little ol’ st. maries….and as great as it feels to be back home where I understand everything, can talk with anyone, everyone knows me, there are dryers and fast food and big coffees…..but I am aching for Torino…..it will forever be my second home, there is no way now for it not to be…I wake up every morning and before I open my eyes, I listen for Ely getting Giacomo up for school..but instead I hear the cars (not honking their horns) at the gas station across the street and my mom leaving for work….my whole world has shifted….
            ….as much as everything was different when I first got to Italy 4 months ago and I thought I would never understand it or get used to it all….its the same coming back….the other day I went out to dinner with a friend, and the check was brought to our table, split for each of us and we had to tip…..it was like getting into Chicago and understanding everything around me and getting the anxious tightening in my chest because of the difference…..im still in that great time period of first being home that’s filled with giving people the gifts I brought them home, telling stories, and seeing everyone that I missed….but at the same time I can feel the reverse culture shock that they preached so much to us, in little things every single day…..
            …I miss my family most of all…our little apartment that turned into being so cozy for me….I miss them so so much….everyday it seems that there is something that happens and I spend the next hour or so thinking in my head of how to say it to Ely when I get home and then something happens like an American siren, or I eavesdrop on an English conversation and I realize that I wont be able to tell her but rather I will have to write it all to her on facebook at night….I miss rough housing with G on the couch at night or watching Frozen on my computer….seeing Simone when he comes home late at night…..soooo. many. Things. There are to miss…..I am so grateful for that amazing family….I think the family that fell out 2 days before I left for Italy was supposed to so that I could be put with the Olivatis….they needed me and I needed them….for them, I think I was a prep for the daughter they have coming in September….I think I was a companion for Ely when she needed it….I think I was a bit of a key for opening Ely a bit after Pietro…opening a bit for the little girl that is coming……for me they were my comfort…they were my safety, they kept me going…..they are what made me so so comfortable and ok with living there….I owe them more than I could ever repay……I became great friends with ely and I truly love them all so so much….i miss them every hour of of every day…..seriously waiting for a date they will be moving to Chicago so I can start my countdown chain….
            ….as much as it is exciting and happy but still sucks to be home, I know it was time….it was time to come home….i was truly tired of missing people....i mean I am thankful that I have people to miss terribly, but after a while it can just become tiring…..it was also time to move onto the next adventure….torino taught me so many lessons, exciting and irritating….i had amazing adventures, saw incredible things, went to wonderful places, crossed things off my bucket list, and grew a little bit every single day…..this will be something that I talk about for years to come, I will think about it everyday and use lessons learned in my everyday life….but it was time to leave….i don’t know what made me think it, but there was one day about a week and a half before I left that something just clicked in my head and I thought, “I have accomplished what I was meant to, made the relationships I needed to, learned the lessons I was supposed to, and had the experiences…now its time to go home and find the next adventure…” and I messaged that on facebook to my mom….and from then on, as much as it hurt to leave, I was content with what I had accomplished in Torino, the woman that I had become….i still cried just as much of course…..but now I have returned to the US to find my next lesson, next experience, next adventure….
            ….everyday that passes, I miss Torino and want to be back even more than the day before….just as everyday the newness of being home and seeing people for the first time rubs off…..thankfully I will take off for boise soon and I will get to do this again, go through giving away the rest of the gifts, and seeing people that I have missed so terribly…..but then it will wear off and I think the new adventure will take shape….living my first summer away from home, in my first apartment (with my sister), finding a job, buying my first car…..it will be an amazing time and I am so excited for it….but no matter what these next months and the rest of my future holds, I know that these past 4 and a half months have truly changed me in ways I never saw but can look back on….
….although I know there will be amazing days still to come in my life, these past weeks and months spent abroad were the best so far….thank you for coming along with me on this journey of blogging….truly I am so excited that I kept up with it and cant wait to send this in to be turned into a book to have as a journal of my trip entirely….thank you to those of you who faithfully read every post and lived my adventures with me…praying and sending good thoughts my way, your support carried me through the tough times when I was missing home…and those that read the occasional post they saw pop up on their facebook news feed, the fact that you took the time to just look through and see what I did that day….it all meant more than you thought….this blog started out as solely for me to record my travels, but turned into more, a lifeline for my parents to feel connected to every adventure, a way to tell everyone what I was always doing and so much more…..thank you for coming with me on the best 4 months of my life…..that was the best game……I love you torino, I always will…..


Saturday, May 17, 2014

Mia casa (me-ah – cah-saa) – my home

            ….well im sitting at my gate in Chicago after spending the last 14 hours here, and the next flight will board in about an hour and a half….time to go home J….this has been one of the most amazing rides of my life…absolutely the best 4 months I could have ever dreamed up….now its time to go home and start the next chapter….that although, whenever I get home…
            …my flight plan from Torino to home was a long, to say the least….1.5 hour flight from Turin to Munich, 2 hour layover, 9 hour flight from Munich to Chicago, 14 hour layover, now a 3.5 hour flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City, 1.5 hour layover and finally a 2 hour flight from Salt Lake to Spokane……last night thankfully was a cinch J….i took the flight from Munich to Chicago with two other girls from my program who live here….because I had chosen to take the group flight which was round trip from Chicago, I had made another reservation for roundtrip from Spokane to Chicago, unfortunately the group flight got into Chicago last night at 6:30 and when I was booking my tickets the last flight heading west to Spokane was at 7:20 and seeing how there would be no way to do customs, passport control, recheck the bag, and change terminals in 50 minutes so I had booked the next flight which happened to be at 8am this morning….so well I hung out all night with my nearest and dearest friends to fly out this morning…..
            ….yesterday was so incredibly hard to say goodbye….i never wanted to stop hugging my family and leave…after a lot of tears leaving Giacomo at school then MORE tears at the airport saying goodbye to Ely, I told her I loved her and yelled Ciao Mamma as I was heading through security…that was one of the hardest things that I have done….what a gift that family was for me….there were so many times that I can remember think before I left the US, what if I don’t like them, what if they don’t like me, what if im not comfortable….there were so many worries…but once I got there, I knew I had no reason to be scared….even back when Ely and I couldn’t really even communicate I knew I would love living there….
            …and I did, I truly truly did….i now have two homes, one in America and one in Italy…and as I was leaving all I was thinking is how soon can I book a flight to come back and see them….I miss my family so much already and I cant wait to see them next…..but its looking good for them moving to Chicago soon J….thankfully the crying passed after I spent a few good minutes bawling my eyes out silently in the bathroom before going to meet up with my friends flying to Munich….and ive been pretty good since…
            …although I am missing A TON of sleep so who knows I may just break into tears at any given moment ….Not only will I be jetlagged by 9 hours when I get back to Idaho today, when I land at 12 PST it will be 9pm Torino time…which will mean I will have been awake for 39 hours straight….the struggle is being felt a lot right now….because my flights last night were a different reservation from todays, I had to leave security with all of my bags all night….so I felt that I had way too much with me to sleep at all…..so basically I am just forcing myself to stay awake long enough to get onto my flight to Salt Lake and then I can pass out for 3 hours…..I cant wait…..

            ….then it will only be one more flight until I am home!!! I am so so so excited to see my parents and be with them again….now that I have been back in the states for a half a day I am just ready to be back in Idaho…..but in 8 hours I will J I totally cant wait to go home…

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Non Ho Capisco (non – hoe – cap-E-ss-co) – I don’t understand

            ….how in the world is 4 months over….wasnt it just the other day I was saying goodbye to my boyfriend and friends in Boise to go home for Christmas….wasnt it last week that mom was telling me what I needed to pack to go to Italy and I sat back thinking there was no way I was only taking two shirts….wasnt it the other day that I was literally shaking and bawling my eyes out in Spokane Airport afraid of every experience that was a head…wasn’t it yesterday I was meeting Ely for the first time, neither of us speaking much of the other’s language and she was taking me to go pick up Giacomo from school….
            …how is it even kind of possible that it is time to go home? When I look back at all that I have done, seen, and learned….it makes sense….4 new countries 23 towns and cities and literally 1000s of pictures….this has absolutely been the best adventure of my life, but it just doesn’t seem like it is time for it to be over…..i know that it just means that something more is coming…that its time for the next adventure to start…..but it just is so surreal…           
            ….today I packed up my room….all the pictures, gifts, clothes and other things that I had bought along the way….i cleaned….and then went over to say goodbye to my friends….it just didn’t seem real at all…..like im not going to wake up tomorrow morning and see them when we go to school together….i did however make it through the goodbyes with my friends without crying so I counted that as a little vicotyr…
            …this morning I went to Eataly and to the panino shop for lunch….literally started crying on my walk to Eataly just because I was thinking about how much im going to miss this place and this life….and then when I went to the panini shop and told them I was leaving, the panini lady started getting teary saying goodbye….then I had to come home and say goodbye my nonnas Louisa and Paula….and well the flood gates opened…
            ….if you had told me when I graduated high school that I would have been studying abroad in Torino Italy and have this amazing family, and life that I adore….I would have called you crazy and wishful….but its truly I actually have it here…saying goodbye to those two amazing women was so terribly hard…..Louisa gave me a sweater that she literally knit for me…its so wonderful and so loving of her J….I said goodbye and completely lost it….today has been quite the day of tears…and I can only imagine what tomorrow is going to be…..
            …I really really really do not want to say goodbye to my mom tomorrow…this is going to be so incredibly hard….one of my friends today posted a picture of their dinner tonight with the caption “youre gonna miss this, youre gonna want this back, youre gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast…” and I started listening to that song….and holy cow its so true….i don’t understand how my time here just flew by so fast…and I will miss all of this, all of the routine that I have gotten into, all of the ins and outs of the Italian life….im really truly excited to go home tomorrow and see my parents and all but i just don’t understand how this can be over…..

            ….tomorrow morning, Ely will take me to the airport for me and I will fly to Munich, then Chicago for the night, then Salt Lake and home…..40 hours of traveling….a full adventure just to get home…so many emotions im feeling right now….this has truly been an amazing adventure and I wouldn’t trade a second of it for anything….this is one of the best decisions ive ever made…..i have learned so much in these past four months…ive seen amazing things….i have fallen even more in love with traveling, Europe and Torino….i will definently return to Torino as much as I can in my life, and I will have to come back to see my family….I don’t understand how it can be over, but there is one thing I do understand…studying abroad has been an amazing blessing that has truly changed me for good…. 

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Montagne (mon-tah-nn-ay) – Mountains

 
          ….today was definitely a beautiful adventure….can I just say I absolutely adore Ricardo? He just wanted to show me everything today….i woke up before most everyone else for some reason so I took my time getting ready for the day and did some studying I brought with me until everyone woke up….we all had breakfast together, will pretty much….while we were eating Ricardo was practicing piano – “doing his lesson”…plugged into his headphones into his keyboard….so cute J while Loradonna literally offered me everything in her kitchen to eat for breakfast….
            …then we were off, we all piled into Ricardo’s car and drove for about 30 minutes or so through a million switchbacks to a walking path in the woods…..literally I never realized how much the smell of a few pine trees and being surrounded by mountains covered in pine trees could make me feel so at home….and it’s probably a good thing this was my last weekend trip because it kinda made me feel homesick too…but the walk was about 10 minutes to a completely cool and totally scary panoramic bridge of sorts….it was over a ravine with a river in the bottom and a view of the valley leading into the border where Mont Blanc is….we took tons of pictures and then were off….
            …we dropped off Loradonna at the house to prepare lunch while Ricardo too me up towards the Swiss border to show me a cottage his some amount of greats -grandfather built in 1600….his dad sold it without telling him or his sister so we couldn’t go in it unfortunately but it was cool to see J..
     


       …when we got home lunch was ready and when Ely said I was going to eat a lot here she wasn’t kidding….we came home to breads and Fontina cheese and vino set out for antipasti….then for primi piatti we had pasta with a broth sauce of the sauce from the meat we had for the secondo…it was a wicked good meat cut up into small pieces with lots of onion…which I thought I wouldn’t like but I actually ended up loving it!!!...it was so good…we also had Barbera which is my favorite wine so I was a really happy girl J
            …we stayed at home for a while before heading out to show me around Courmayeur….unfortunately it had just started raining, but we went anyways…we all grabbed hats and umbrellas and were off…we just walked through the pedestrian only streets, stopping here and there for me to take photos, or to look in a shop window or for Ricardo to explain another monument or mountain to me J….we stopped at a bar for cappuccinos but they also had gelato, so I had to get my daily cone (only have 6 more left after all)….when we headed back out, it had stopped raining and the sun was trying to shine too J



            …we kept walking and stopped at a cheese shop and Ely bought me some Fontina (which we later found out I would be able to take home with me thank goodness) and then tried to go the Tourist Office, because Ricardo really wanted to take me but we got there 15 after it closed so we headed back home…
     …when we parked back at the flat, there was one more place Ricardo wanted to show me…the neighborhood next to his, the perfect old Italian mountain place….







...I can’t even describe it ….it was just all as it once was….we walked in through an arch filled with old tools….wandered our way around to an old church...seeing so many cool doorways and cute view along the way 




....ending at a water fountain/bath/basin that they women used to use to wash their clothes…Ricardo showed me J….even had a little place for their soap and to hang the laundry after….i loved it….


            …afterwards it was home again for a little bit of hanging out before dinner…a bit of leftovers and a bit of new….a great chicken broth with peas and rice soup….warm and delish….and of course more fantastic cheeses and breads and a new wine from Valley d’Aosta….I seriously wasn’t even hungry, I was just eating to make people happy haha (I know I live a rough life here) …

            …after dinner we all relaxed for a bit before we headed off to sleep….Ill truly miss Ricardo…although we couldn’t speak so well together all the time, we always communicated perfectly J….Love him J….tonight as I was writing this by hand in my notebook on my bed…he brought me some strong wine (almost grappa but not) to try….a really special one from here in the Mt Blanc valley….it’s an extremely top of the line vineyard because its 1400 meters above sea level….he wanted to buy me a bottle of it to send home with me (but I can’t because im still under age in the US)….so he explained it all to me, gave me a catalog of the company…and we drank the rest of the bottle together so I could take the empty bottle home with me J….I adore him….I’ll miss my Italian Nonno so terribly…..still so hard to believe only 6 more sleeps in Italy….tomorrow we are heading back to Torino…unfortunately we couldn’t go up to the glass balcony on Mount Blanc since it was in a cloud the whole weekend L I guess that’s what happens when you’re 4810 meters tall…..the tallest mountain in Europe….no big deal J

Courmayeur (coo-er-may-air) – Small town nestled in the Alps, at the base of Mount Blanc

            ….this place is stunning, simply stunning, it took us 2 hours by car but it is so amazing here, I will miss these Alps so terribly…





            …today im in Courmayeur, it’s a tiny little town, literally nestled in the Alps and sits right at the base of Mount Blanc…..Ely’s dad, Ricardo, who I completely adore to no end because, let’s be real, this man is simply adorable J he owns a flat here…..it’s the first floor of a house his father built here in 1960 and is now split into 3 flats, (the others are owned by his siblings)….          

           …we left the house in Torino this afternoon about 4:30pm when Giacomo got out of school and started our drive…shockingly enough G was out in about 4 minutes….seriously that child cannot stay awake in cars to save his life…Ely and I had a wonderful 2 hour drive the rest of the way….it literally was one of the MOST beautiful drives ever….and really cool too because we got to pass by some little towns I’ve already visited, like Ivrea  (the orange throwing festival) and Aosta…it was just amazing….also because it was gorgeous outside so you could see everything and as we climbed higher and higher into the Alps….i literally saw at least 50 castles or ruins of some….i think I told Ely a million times how much I loved Italy and could never get tired of the alps…..and how much I will miss them both in a week…..
            …Ely and I talked a ton too, which is amazing really when I sit back and think of how much I can speak and understand, and really just with what ease I can communicate….it’s truly amazing when I think back to that first afternoon….meeting Ely, seeing the house for the first time and having no idea what was being said around me, going to get Giacomo from school for the first time….thinking to myself, “what have I gotten myself into?”….it’s amazing now, I adore Italian and knowing another language….we had a great drive….i will miss Ely so so much, we have really become great friends, chatting in each other’s languages, laughing hysterically at each other and what mistakes we make….

           ….after two hours and a million tunnels later, we were finally in Courmayeur….and by is it the most picturesque town in the world….we wound our way up the hill of the town to Ricardo’s house and got settled in…..literally you look from the front lawn, and Mont Blanc is right in front of your face, it was amazing and breath taking….Ricardo immediately took me outside to start telling me what all the mountains were….which were Italian, which were Swiss or French….he is so adorable….when we came back inside, he immediately pulled out a book and started showing me clear pictures of them all (it was pretty cloudy most of the time)….
            ….when we got settled in, Ricardo’s wife was making a delicious dinner of chicken, potatoes, salad and this great risotto with veggies frittata…sooo delish!....with of course some great wine J definitely going to miss that in a week…..after dinner, Ricardo was off, he had to go sing in a church choir for a funeral (I think) so he was gone and G started watching a movie which left Ely, Loradonna and I to chat which was fun….and so much easier than the last time, I had dinner with them……starting to notice now how much Im not having to translate in my mind, I just know it….that was pretty amazing…

            …after a bit, Ely was tired so we all decided to head to bed….this flat is super cute too may I just add….the perfect little cabinJ….a living room, kitchen, dining room, their bedroom and 2 bathrooms….also (my favorite part) in the living room and also in the dining room there are two bunk beds built into the wall (almost like the Pinehurst house) for guests, so Ely & Giacomo are in the kitchen and im in the living room J….tomorrow is going to be a big day of mountains I do believe….hopefully it will be nice enough to see blanc J

Friday, May 9, 2014

Negozio di Panino (ne-got-zee-O – dee – pan-E-no) – Sandwich Shop

            ….ooh the panino shop, so for a couple months when we first got here a couple of the USAC kids found this shop about a block away from school where you can make your own paninis, choose the bread, grab a tomato and hand it to the lady for her to wash and slice it, then pick your meat and cheese from the deli and you only pay like 2 euros for all of the deliciousness….so I kept hearing, and meant to go over and over again and just never did….im not quite sure why because, if its 1 block from the school, its only 1 block from my house J…but I finally went about a month ago and have been simply addicted to it ever since….
            …this morning I had my last actual class of the semester….our review class for Italian…all that now stands between me and the end is 2 finals in italian and culture on Wednesday….which is a crazy thought truly….i think because I have been in such an easy semester, in comparison to if I were home this semester, I don’t feel like I should be on summer yet….that probably also has something to do with the fact that the end of school means the end of Italy, and that is pretty sad too…..
            ….but then after class it was to the panini shop to pick up some lunch J all my favs today, prosciutto crudo, tomato and pecorino cheese with black pepper …totally yummy….and the panini shop also has plain potato chips that taste like Tim’s Cascades so that was another bonus…then it was home for lunch….and a much needed nap before studying….i swear, I thought that I would one day grow out of getting sick everytime some big change was happening, but I don’t think I ever will…..i always get sick, gradutation, going to college, leaving for Christmas, then home for summer, then back to school then for Christmas again this time because I knew I wasn’t coming back for spring, and again when I left the US….and now Im pretty sure im getting sick again….poor little baby immune system….oh well that’s why god made naps J…….also fun fact about Italian and naps…..in the Italian language, you don’t “take” a nap, you “make” a nap J….always makes me giggle when I tell Ely J….
            ….after my nap it was off to work, so I planted myself out on the balcony to start Italian…sheesh, tests are dumb….but thanks to Spotify, the Italian sun, and the sounds of the street below it was able to get a good study session in for a few hours, at least enough time to get all of my notecards made…still so many hours of Italian and Culture studying left between now and next Wednesday though that is for sure….
            …at about 4:30, Ely and I were off to her friend Linda’s, she gave us massages which was amazing and soooo perfect right before finals week….I told Ely to do it for Latizia before her finals week everytime and she will be the most loved mom ever….it was so so nice and relaxing…especially because the most recent of the werid sickness symptoms is body aches….but moral of the story, I now was massages before every finals week…or just every week, that would do too J….
            …afterwards we all went out for Chinese food….a fantastic evening….Linda is crazy, she literally introduces herself that way…she only speaks Spanish and Italian but knows how to say, hi im linda and im crazy, in Italian…so even though she speaks to fast and in a million different voices, and is sometimes also speaking Sicilian so I literally have NO idea what the heck she is saying, she is so freaking funny….literally I just laugh at her all the time J….but it was a great relaxing evening…..

            ….this morning it was up, shower, packed and now I’m off with Ely and Giacomo (Simone is off on some “guys weekend” with his buddies to celebrate all of their 40th birthdays or something, I just kinda laughed at him trying to explain it to me and then was dying of laughter at Ely’s commentary J)  to meet Ely’s dad, Ricardo at his flat in Coermayeur…..a little Italian town in Valley d’Aosta at the base of Mont Blanc….im so excited….when Ely tells you to go on a diet 2 days before we leave because you are going to eat so much this weekend, you know its gonna be a great weekend….we are off this afternoon after we pick up G from school and will be there until Sunday morning…..G has a birthday party during the day and then dinner for Mother’s Day….it should be a great last weekend…..so crazy that I will be in Munich waiting for my flight to Chicago 1 week from right now…..4 months went by so fast…..

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Gelato (gel-ahh-toe) – the greatest creation known to human kind (or Italian Ice Cream)


          ….ok so this post has obviously been a long long long time coming….seeing how I eat this stuff almost every single day for the past 4 months…but mainly I kept forgetting to get a picture with Gianni….our gelato man…..and I totally can say that because this man is “our” gelato man….we discovered him, rather decided we should try his shop one of the first weeks here because its on the way to the metro from school, which means its on the way to the metro from my house too…..and it is THE BEST GELATO KNOWN TO MAN!!
            ….seriously…this shop, Pianeta Gelateria (planet gelato) is owner by Gianni and his wife, Gianna (I kid you not) and Gianna makes all of his gelato everyday in shop….he has the best hours too…right after class until late, everyday, even Sundays and rainy days too…..since I found out how good his shop is I literally have gone almost every single day….it has gotten to a point that when I walk by and haven’t gone in yet that day he will call me in, ask if I have finished my classes for the day, and then I can have my gelato…
            ….one time, it was pouring and I was out getting medicine from the pharmacy for Josh when he was sick here, and I saw Gianna walking into the shop so I decided it was the best lunch ever, so for the first time I ordered some gelato to take away with me….this was odd for me so Gianni asked what I was doing so I told him my boyfriend was here but was sick at home, so he upped the size I wanted and added extra biscotti….
            ….also he wont ever give us our gelato until we have ordered it correctly in Italian, we even have to have entirely correct pronunciation….posso avere un cono piccolo da due gusti di ciocolato biano e violetta…..can I have a small cone with two flavors of white chocolate and violet?....every time….and over the days and weeks and months our “small” cones have gotten bigger and bigger J….he is really the best….
            …today I FINALLY asked him if I could have a picture….i just kept forgetting truly and then I didn’t have a camera anymore, ahh I remember when I could take pictures whenever I wanted, when I had an iphone…those were good days J…..anyways….i finally remembered to ask when we went in today….it was the best days….

            …this is will definently be one of the things that I miss most of all about Italy….gelato….you just don’t get it until you have tried it because I cant even tell you what is different truly about it except that it truly is just sooo much better than ice cream….its got better flavors, its creamier, its sweeter, its just everything…..i want to eat it for the rest of my life truly…..but since I only have 9 more days of it, I will just continue to eat it everyday….its the best thing ever…gah I love gelato…..love love love….mmmmm…..great now I want to go get some……well Gianni is open for another hour tonight J….

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Mamma (mah-mma) – my mum mom mommy momma mother

I started writing this blog post under the words “emozioni” emotions because I have literally been feeling like at any given moment I have every single emotion under the sun covered, but as I got to my second page, I realize this was less about the emotions I was feeling and more about how I was dealing with them, how and who I was dealing with this whole experience…

            ….the past two days have pretty much had every single emotion I have had in the past 4 months….literally I was happy, stressed, sad, mad, scared, relaxed, accomplished, proud, sappy….it was soo werid….i didn’t really do much today, or yesterday as far as going out and doing things but I was really productive at home….im pretty sure that Ely and Giacomo think im becoming a hermit…because all I have done is stayed in my room for a few hours then come out and talk with them a bit and play with Giacomino before going back into my hole haha….yesterday I literally went to class, came home, put together a 18 page group paper, repaired a hole in my jacket, superglued a hole in a pair of shoes (no not my boots mom), skyped sammie, and cleaned cut and painted my nails….then was so exhausted (and truly a little sicky feeling) I went to bed really close following dinner….then today I got up, finished proofing the paper, wrote notes for the presentation tomorrow, cleaned my room, packed a bit more, took down all my pictures and put them and other things in my smash book, made note cards for my Italian final,…seriously…I haven’t been that productive in weeks…
            …yet I did all that the past 2 days while my brain worked was I kept desperately trying to figure out what the heck is going on inside me….i am so completely heartbroken that I am leaving Italy in 10 days….poor little Giacomo, he has been getting prepped apparently by ely that I am going back to my house in the United States, but I don’t think he really gets it….he walked into my room today and asked what my bags (the packed one in the corner) were for, and I told him to go back to the US….he asked when I was going and I told him in 10 days…..then he asked when I was coming home, “una settimana?” (one week ?) poor thing thinks im just going on another trip….not that im going home home, not that Italy isn’t my home……
            …its so werid because at one moment I am choking back tears about leaving this amazing adventure, im leaving Italy, and this incredible family…..and one moment im excited out of my skin to go home….i mean literally 9 days before I left the states, I was playing with my neice gracie and trying to help her figure out how to hold herself up when she was learning to crawl and this morning I saw a video of her taking some of her first steps…and my oldest nephew looks like a little boy not like an infant like his little brother, who was literally born 2 weeks before I left…..the world is passing back home as well and I am so ready to get back and to not be missing my family and friends…its just so weird….people ask me how I am feeling and I don’t know what to say….
            …I switch hourly between counting down the sleeps til I get to go home, and trying to make the minutes pass slower so I can hear more of the Italian kids outside playing under my balcony…..its funny you can see everyone going through it at different paces too….everyone is slowly getting sad to leave, happy to go home, and figuring out what our reasons truly were for coming here…what we have learned, what life and experiences that we got here taught us….for me it’s the things I knew I wanted to accomplish here….the biggest? To prove to myself that I could do it….that I was brave enough….and I have done it, I AM doing it….im truly living the dream…. like the other night I was listening to Defying Gravity for probably and quite literally the 17 millionth time….(what can I say I really really really love wicked, if my blood could run green it would…) but anyways I was listening to it….and finally I got it…. i have always connected a song from that show to something at that time in my life….i.e. The Wizard and I was Dyw an learning what I was capable of , For Good was my entire senior year and all the triumphs and battles that came with that……but I didn’t have a connection to the most popular song of the show to my life…..until at almost 1am as I was going to sleep I got it….i immediately wrote this to my mom….

“....its about so much more than a girl standing up for what she believes in, its about a girl standing up for herself and becoming what she and no one else truly thought she could be..........”something has changed within me, something is not the same....too late for second guessing, too late to go back to sleep, its time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap".....that was me leaving....remember when i was so scared because all these things i had said i would do were actually becoming real and there was no turning back?...."i think ill try defying gravity" i think ill try something totally scary that few people can do...something that doesnt even seem like i should be able to do it....something so unfathomable and unexplainable like picking up and moving to another continent and country.....or being green.....or flying......."im through accepting limits because someone says theyre so"....cancer scare one week before getting on a plane......"somethings i cannot change but until i try ill never know"....thinking i could leave getting cancer in the past and i tried, but god reminded me i dont control that, he does....."too long ive been afraid of losing love, i guess ive lost, but if thats love it comes at much too high a cost"...anytime i was in a relationship i was always afraid of doing the wrong thing and losing them, and until josh i never truly believed that i shouldnt be constantly afraid of losing someone because of something i do, thats not healthy or the kind of thing or plan God would create for me, His plan is someone who tells me im beautiful when my make up is off, im wearing my glasses, and sick in bed...."kiss me goodbye im defying gravity"......."unlimited, my future is unlimited, and ive just had a vision just like a prophesy, i know it sounds truly crazy, and the vision is hazy, but someday ill be defying gravity".....after doing this wiht all its triumphs and fear, i can literally doing anything....this was the scariest and most amazing and difficult and best time of my life....and i dreamed it and it came true....i can do anything...fly.....survive anything....cancer - my "verdigree"....and dream anything ....to see the wizard......"so if you care to find me look to the western sky"....if youre looking for the girl who left the US in january you wont find her,,....look to the western sky....shes different and cant come back to be the same as she was....."as someone told me lately everyone deserves the chance to fly".....thanks mom...for pushing me to fly, out of st maries, away from the shelter of my friends in boise, out of reach of the safety of my sibligs....to somewhere new, that no one else could dream of....to do something no one knew was possible....to cast my own spells, make my own mistakes by turning a few people into tin.....thank you for telling me that there was more than what the wizard told me....for telling me that "no one can bring me down.."


….see, im at that point, where I know its all coming to a close and its time to make sure that it was worth it and look back at the girl who came here in January and see how she has changed and grown into who she is now…..and to be honest, its become sooooo apparent in the past two days that even though I am 5500 miles away, that evolution is still being molded by my mommy….my dad, siblings, friends, and boyfriend…they’ve all been there for me during this trip when I needed their love and support, but mom has been my life line….the one who validated my fears, told me I was missed but that being here was worth every missed moment, that what I was doing was making me so much richer than the money I was spending could ever be….mom has gotten me through the past 2 days and definently the entire last 4 months…ive talked to her almost every single day, shared every experience, good and bad, every excitement, fear, worry and tear…..so with mother’s day coming up….thanks mommy….there is absolutely no, possible. Way. I could have done this with out you….when we were little you told us we were “robin’s eggs” your baby chicks that would one day have to fly the coup….and now that I am older, your still told me i deserved the chance to fly the coup, just now im feeling it in a bit greener style…..


Saturday, May 3, 2014

‘pino [Giuseppino] – (pee-no – jew-sep-pee-no) – Little Joseph

   
        … today was simply fantastic…started super early getting up at 7am to skype sammie at 11pm her time…but it was good J miss her and cannot wait to move in with her and be roomies J….but after about an hour it back to sleep for me for another couple hours and then up for a nice slow morning…took my time getting up, having breakfast, and getting ready before finally leaving the house at about noon….
            …took the bus down to the Porta Palazzo Market….gah I love that place…the largest open air market never gets old….got my shampoo and conditioner, some Tupperware to bring breakables home in, a couple more gifts for people…a new 10 euro duffel to bring home as my second carryon to my backpack…and then just as I was leaving I found a La Stampa to get my Italian comic books.
            …we learned about them in my culture class, Italians really love their comic books, or I guess they are more like graphic novels….but when we learned about them someone said “those would be a really cool thing to bring home, like a cool coffee table book from our travels” and I thought that was brilliant! So that’s just what I did….i got a copy of Topolino (translates to little mouse) which is their word for Mickey Mouse, its all the characters on their adventures, but its set in Italy so some of the cartoons will have the Duomo in Milan in the background or the Palace in Florence….and then I also got Julia, its one about a Criminology professor from New Jersey, but the drawings for her are based on Audrey Hepburn, I love it….
            ….after the market I headed down toward Via Garibaldi (the main shopping street that leads into Piazza Castello) mentally adding up the amount of money I had just spent and heading towards H&M (try to contain your surprise) when I happened upon this table of really cool metal rings and a little man behind the table making them (I totally wish I had a camera for this!!)…they were rings exactly like the one my mom got me last summer in Piazza Navona in Rome, they were big enough to be proportional to my finger size and so cool….so I stopped and looked and started talking to him, and started picking up ones I really liked, and asked how much they were….of the 4 I loved, 3 were 5 euros each and 1 was 8…so I told him I wanted them all (and figured I skip H&M today, this was wwwaaayyy better)…one of them fit right away….then another he was able to just stretch a bit out for me,…and then I told him rings were hard for me to find because I have such big fingers…to which he responded oh that’s no problem, I can make these any size, they are my creations J….the other two rings I loved he actually took apart for the beads, then cut new wire and remade them to fit my fingers!! It was so so so cool, I loved him J…..
            …as I was leaving I asked his name, he said “Pino”…I said, like the wine, Pino Grigio?...he chuckled and said yes but more like Giuseppino, his name is Giuseppe (Joseph) but he was always called Giuseppino (Little Joseph) because he was the youngest of his brothers, and it got shortened to Pino….gah!! I loved it!!! Now I need someone to name their son Giuseppe so I can call them Giuseppino! J
            …after that excitement, I grabbed some focaccia for lunch and took the bus to Eataly to grab some chocolate to bring home and then it was back to flat…and in perfect timing, within about 15 minutes of getting home the hugest thunder clapped (literally I couldn’t figure out what it was because it was gorgeous outside, and it was so loud and long I thought a building was collapsing or something!) and then about 10 minutes later it was pouring J

            …im loving these days of just doing things that I either haven’t done yet, or have wanted to do again…too bad dead week starts this week, then finals next week and then its home we go….hard to believe that this adventure is actually coming to a close, but there is an end to everything….something great is waiting at home I just know it…but for now, there are only 12 more days to make the last few memories, remember some from the very beginning and fully take in how much ive seen, done, experienced, and grown into a new person…

Pioggia Battente (pee-O-j-ah – bat-ten-tay) – Pouring Rain


          …today was absolutely divine….well actually the past couple days have been absolutely divine….the perfect last few days off before dead and finals week begin and then heading back home….i, thankfully, did all of my homework for this long weekend on Thursday (I was supposed to be with my family at the sea this weekend, but little Giacomo got the chicken pox so we are in Torino, its been great to have one last weekend here, next weekend we will be traveling together again)….but back to today…..
            …actually today was just down right crummy outside….well actually I loved it…I wanted to just sit inside and do nothing but watch tv all day long and nap, but I figured I can do that in america….so I slept in, took my time getting ready for the day and went off to the National Cinema Museum….i don’t know how I haven’t made time to do this until 2 weeks before I am leaving, but I finally did….and it was really super cool….that is after I spent over an hour waiting in line…in the pouring down rain….that was an adventure….also, I realized that I have earned a hole in my Hunter Rain Boots….really just a slit, so its fine as long as I don’t step in any really deep puddles….but its kinda ok, those boots have literally survived everything and been all over Europe JJ…..
            ….but once I got inside it was wicked cool….the whole first level was just the history of how people got from making shadow puppets to film and absolutely everything in between….it was really interactive too which was fun…it really explained everything from how they use different pictures moving a certain way to trick how your brain sees things to how certain types of lenses can flip a picture….everything even how certain colors must be made by lenses not put in the images because your brain wont see it….it was incredible….
            …the funny thing is after they got to making actual films they kinda just moved you to the second level which skipped right to the golden age of Hollywood….it was kinda funny, no evolution of film really….but what was cool is they had old movies playing on big screens in the middle of the floor with tons of lounges to sit back in and watch all around the central lift going up to the top of the Mole J…it was really great….but then all around the outside of this floor was broken into sections…horror, animation, romance, sci-fi, comedy…with each section looking further into the biggest movies and the evolution of those genres…then after walking up a spiral exposed staircase, there was an entrance to the next floor which briefly explained the basics of putting a film together, shooting, sounds, editing…then there was a costume section with some really cool costumes, like the darth vader helmet from one of the episodes and scarletts hat from gone with the wind…and tons of other stuff…then there was also a hall of old posters…super cool J it was fun to try  to translate the ones in italian to figure out what it was J….and then finally was the exhibit that changes throughout the year, from may to august it’s the “Oscar for Best Actress”…
            …this was my most favorite part actually….it was on this walkway that spiraled around the whole outside of the central great room, it just went up and up and looked at all the great female actresses in chronological order…it was really cool too because after 7 or 8 women that they would have inscriptions about there would be a tv with clips from the movies they won the award for….soo cool everyone from Audrey Hepburn, to Jane Fonda, to Haley Berry (who was the first black woman to win Best Actress or even receive a nomination, which I didn’t know) to the great Meryl Streep to Jenifer Lawrence and everyone in between I spent a good hour to an hour and a on this exhibit alone, it was great….then it finished downstairs with some of the dresses from the different women….loved it….
            ….then afterwards, I had wanted to also go to the automobile museum but by the time I got back to this side of town, I was cold and wet and tired…so I came home, grabbed some lunch, and relaxed for an hour or so and then started to pack…because well I need to make sure all of this stuff is gonna get back to the states J ….so I packed up all of the gifts for people back home, and everything I didn’t think I would need for the next couple weeks and already got one back to 49.4 pounds…..
            …when I didn’t think I could pack anything more, I went out to actually hang out with my family and ended watching Frozen with Giacomino before dinner J…dinner was nice tho last night too because Simone was home for it and they made me only speak Italian at dinner…because when Simone is home I usually just speak English to him because he speaks so well, that he says that I never speak Italian at the house thankfully Ely spoke up for me the other day and told him that I pretty much always speak it to her J….but they made me last night so that was good J….perfect ending to a cozy full day J


Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Pensiero (pen-see-err-O) – Thinking



thanks for the assistance today :) cant wait to see you in 2 weeks :)
So since I am facing the last 17 days here in Torino….(I know I am excited to go home and see my family and friends, but I am totally and completely heartbroken to be leaving here…..) I decided the blog needs as many more posts as possible….so I am going to try to post everyday (I say try because well finals are coming up and they require studying…bllleehhhh)  about something or anything that occurred…..

So Today…. I sat down to work on a paper for my Italian Culture class….the topic?

“You have been given 10 million euros from an unknown source…the only catch is you must use the funds for the betterment of Italian society, particularly Torino.  Explain in detail what you would create, its main focus, clientele, and why you chose it.  How does it positively influence Italian society? Why does it work here? What do you see as the future of you creation? Turin in a paper carefully researched and referenced, including a basic budget outline.”

I originally was planning that I would add another line to the metro system (we only have 1)…but well when I started that “careful research” I found out that there is no way I could ever afford it…..so I sat and sat thinking, wanting to start my research,…watched a talk by the man who started Humans of New York…..still couldn’t come up with anything…..so how did I clear my head?.....i went for Gelato and shopping J….

…which of course just meant a bee- line for Gianni’s for some gelato…..seriously it’s the best in the city, he has finally opened the whole case and filled it with soooo many flavors! Yesterday I had violet (yes the flower! One of the best flavors ever) and Apple Pie…..those are my new two favorites…..but I needed to try the Pear so today I had pear and strawberry J love loved it….i will miss my daily gelato so so much…
            …and afterwards I was off to H&M….thinking thinking the whole time…..thought of a Juventus shuttle, because lets be honest, the bus to get there is ridiculous to try to get on to go there and back…but then I thought, I don’t know really how well that could do but it is an option…..then I was passed by some English speaking tourists, and like always it jarred me to hear it (seriously going home is going to be so hard to hear so much english haha) and then I remembered the talk I had with Ely last night about how both of us were going to have to keep up our languages when I went home and she was telling me about the Tandem partner over skype which apparently is a very popular thing here….you pay 5 euros an hour and have a tandem English speaking partner over skype…..and then it dawned on me….what about a tandem program here in Torino…..
            …lets be honest…no one here speaks conversational English, if they understand it at all….it jars me to hear it here because I know pretty much all the English speakers in this town of 1 million I think….since there is so little tourism to Torino (which I don’t understand because there is so much here!) no one has reason to learn it….especially because most people were born, and raised here, and then married and had kids of their own here…so people don’t speak it….which is great for students studying here because we have to learn how to speak it in order to survive…..
            …but I also have found that many adults I have met here wish that they could speak more, or kept it up after what they learned in school….so I thought, Tandem program, like the one we have at the school!....now how do I spend that 10 million euros on starting this program…..hmm….looks like I have more research to do……but see shopping pays off! If I hadn’t decided to go, I would’ve stayed home all day and never heard those tourists, and then never gotten the idea…..thanks mom for the help in getting to go get great ideas, and some new leggings J