At the beginning of the month we celebrated Easter here in Italy. It wasn't very exciting though... On Sunday we went to mass in the morning and ate lunch at the grandmother's house. The tradition here on Easter is to eat lamb and then for dessert a chocolate egg...and after Easter we had 4 chocolate eggs at our house (and they're huge too!)! The day after Easter is much more exciting, the Italians usually go with their friends in the countryside or to the beach and have a picnic. I went to the sea with my assistant from AFS and my chinese friends. We stopped at thies place by the sea and we were quite high up and there was a tower, at this point you can see the eastern-most point of Italy, so beautiful!
Now we're back at school and life's pretty normal, tomorrow is Labor day so it'll be a "long" weekend of two days... wow! :) Then on Sunday I'm going to see Matera, a city in the region of Basilicata a little further north (this is the city where some scenes from the Passion of the Christ were filmed). Happy May... which me luck because it's starting to get quite hot here.
A Italia!
The flag in the bottom right is where I am!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Exchange Week in Venice
For my own exchange week I got to go to Venice! It was so beautfil and again lots of fun with the other AFS students. We went to see all the famous spots in Venice like Saint Mark's Square, the Rialto Bridge, Bridge of Sighs, a million churchs, and lots more. The sunday and Monday of that week it rained but the rest of the week the weather was really spectacular! I was so thankful. One evening we took a gondola ride, which was really cool. The gondalier was pretty funny, though he wouldn't sing. However, instead the finnish guy sang in Finnish!
Another day, we went to two of the islands of the Ventian lagoon, Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for their glass-making and while we were there we got to see them blowing the glass. In Burano, it was much quieter but there was a street (more like a canal) where all the houses were in bright colors and every one was in a different color.
Another day we spent half the day in Venice and the other half in Padova. In Venice we alkwed to this huge church that was across the water from Saint Mark's Square. It was so beautiful! The church from the outside was really spectacular. In Padova we took a walk around the city, went to this nice park, and saw St Anthony's Church. The church was quite huge and beautiful!
The next day we went to Verona (the city of Romeo and Juliet). In Verona there was this Castle/museum (also connected to a Bridge). At a certain point in the castle you could see the area around Verona including this pleasant river. After that we saw the Arena (which is something similar to the Colesseum) and Juliet's house. Also, during that day we encountered some Americans. However, they were quite airheaded.....hopefully from the long trip, hah!
On the last night we had another dinner party with everyone which was lots of fun. The guy from Finland and another American played the guitar and we sang and of course ate (we're always eating in Italy).
I also forgot to mention the host family in Venice. There was a brother my age and a younger sister and two dogs. There were all so nice and the dogs were really amazing. One was even named Emily...she is trained in agility and knows how to do jumping, racing, and even a bit of basketball. The other dog, Nana awould ring a bell to go outside and knew how to press the button to open the gate. The host brother has decided to go to Brazil next year with AFS and last year they hosted a student from Chile.
The week in Venice was quite great and I learned a lot about Italy as a country. The North was a lot different from Southern Italy: how they talk, the houses, the surroundings, and the way the people interact with one another. In the North the people are more closed, still nice, but just more closed and more similar to the rest of Europe. It was a really great time in Venice and an unforgettable experience.
Another day, we went to two of the islands of the Ventian lagoon, Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for their glass-making and while we were there we got to see them blowing the glass. In Burano, it was much quieter but there was a street (more like a canal) where all the houses were in bright colors and every one was in a different color.
Another day we spent half the day in Venice and the other half in Padova. In Venice we alkwed to this huge church that was across the water from Saint Mark's Square. It was so beautiful! The church from the outside was really spectacular. In Padova we took a walk around the city, went to this nice park, and saw St Anthony's Church. The church was quite huge and beautiful!
The next day we went to Verona (the city of Romeo and Juliet). In Verona there was this Castle/museum (also connected to a Bridge). At a certain point in the castle you could see the area around Verona including this pleasant river. After that we saw the Arena (which is something similar to the Colesseum) and Juliet's house. Also, during that day we encountered some Americans. However, they were quite airheaded.....hopefully from the long trip, hah!
On the last night we had another dinner party with everyone which was lots of fun. The guy from Finland and another American played the guitar and we sang and of course ate (we're always eating in Italy).
I also forgot to mention the host family in Venice. There was a brother my age and a younger sister and two dogs. There were all so nice and the dogs were really amazing. One was even named Emily...she is trained in agility and knows how to do jumping, racing, and even a bit of basketball. The other dog, Nana awould ring a bell to go outside and knew how to press the button to open the gate. The host brother has decided to go to Brazil next year with AFS and last year they hosted a student from Chile.
The week in Venice was quite great and I learned a lot about Italy as a country. The North was a lot different from Southern Italy: how they talk, the houses, the surroundings, and the way the people interact with one another. In the North the people are more closed, still nice, but just more closed and more similar to the rest of Europe. It was a really great time in Venice and an unforgettable experience.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Settimana di Scambio (Exchange Week) Lecce
For a week in March other AFS students came to Lecce for their exchange week. It was really great to meet new people from so many different people from so many different places and interesting to hear about their different experiences in Northern Italy. Whenever the exchange students get together we always have a lot of fun.
During the week I stayed with my assistant from AFS because she lives in the city of Lecce. This way I wouldn't have to drive a long way every day from Cutrofiano.
With the exchange students from this area and the ones from other parts of Italy we went to see the famous spots in Puglia. One day we toured the city of Lecce, another day we went around the coast of Salento and we saw Otranto, Santa Cesarea, Leuca (the point of the heel of Italy), and Gallipoli, and another day we went to Northern Puglia and saw Ostuni and Alberobello. Ostuni is also called the White City because it is on a hill and all the houses at the top are white. It was really beautiful because at the top you could see all around and you could see all the way to the sea. Alberobello was a city in which all the houses are really particular-looking. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I'll put the photos up.
On the last night we had a dinner party with everyone. It was lots of fun and I laughed a lot with my friend from Uruguay. We danced, and we ate. It was a really great way to end the week.
Also during that week my Chinese friend had her birthday and we surprised her with a birthday party. She was so happy she was crying!
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