Traveling With Friends

Yesterday Luke and Lucie arrived here in Rome, and we spent the whole day walking around. We saw 8 or 9 churches, the Vittorio Emanuele monument, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Capodolio (a square designed by Michelangelo), and walked around the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and much more of the city. It was really a great day. I was able to see two of my friends that I hadn't seen in four months, we were in Rome, and the weather was great.

At one point we were sitting on this ledge watching the sun was go down while just looking at the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine and I truly realized what an amazing experience these next two weeks are going to be. I have spent the last four months living with Matt in Torino, and our relationship has grown drastically because of not only living together, but traveling as well. And here I am with my best friend, and another one of my very close friends, or as we joked last night "Lucie, don't get mad... you at least make the top 56 closest friends of ours", and I get to spend two weeks just traveling around Italy with them. I really am excited to show them around, let Luke tell us about churches as we are walking into them, thank you Rick Steves (However, there are some churches that don't get any triangles that we thought were some of our favorites!!), and enjoy the company of two people that are very close to me.

As today is starting (I am up writing this, and they are still trying to adjust to the time difference) and it is the last day of the year, I am making the promise to myself for this coming year not to have a stupid new years resolution of loosing weight, not eating fast food, or anything like that. Rather this year I am going to focus my time on spending it with the people I want, in the places I want, and for as long as I want, but appreciating it along the way. I think that sometimes people get used to things and forget the value of the things they have, but also the people around them, and this is something I don't ever want to do.

This study abroad experience has helped me to realize that time truly is the most valuable asset that we have as humans. And to not recognize that may be the biggest mistake you can make in life. I am not saying that this means go go go all of the time, because some of my best memories have been when I am sitting and relaxing and just talking with people, but rather use your time to your advantage and don't settle with something you don't want to do just because you want to be nice. Rather go out enjoy everyday, and do what you want to do, or at least this is what I am going to do!!

A few more of my photos from yesterday (you can see them all on my Facebook);

 

Rome At A Glance

So I have been in Rome for all of a day now, and there are a few things I have noticed very quickly.

1. There are more Americans, Japanese, and Indians in Rome than there are Italians; the ratio of number of Americans walking around with backpacks to the number of Italians with the shinny puffy jackets is quite drastic. In fact its very easy to fit in and hide from gypsies as an American as long as you are the least American!

2. English is clearly the most spoken language in Rome; for the first time since I am studying abroad in Italy I can communicate better with someone in English than I can in Italian.

3. There are going to be plenty of AWESOME photos coming!

Headed out to dinner, but I will keep updating as much as possible.

Christmas in Italy

I apologize that this is the first time that I have written in the past week, however I have been in Saluzzo, Italy with my professor and his family, and did not have Wifi to write.

Christmas this year was very nontraditional for me; I was not with my family for the first time, but rather I was in Italy, and with 3 boys (I am always with girls during the holidays as I am the only boy on either side). However, I learned a lot about myself, Italian culture, and what the true meaning of family is in the past week.

As I said, I was in Saluzzo, which is a small city south of Torino close to Mount Viso (The Paramount Pictures mountain). I spent 6 days there with my professors family, and it was a great time.

While I was there we did a couple things for Christmas that allowed me to see into the Italian way of doing Christmas:

Christmas eve we went to Julianna's parents house to eat dinner with her side of the family. Her parents live in the old town in Saluzzo and had a great view of not only the rest of Saluzzo, but of 2/3rds of northern Italy. I could see from Milan to Torino and farther all at once!

The hill on the right is actually Torino (hard to see, but it is)

For dinner we had at least 12 different courses of food, three of which were dessert, and plenty of good wine. Ironically, none of the courses had anything to do with pasta, tomato sauce, lasagna, meatballs, or any of the other American stereotypes that we have of Italy and Italians. The dinner was wonderful, but it was the conversation after that intrigued me the most. Everyone talked at the same time, and the moment the children left the room, so did the gloves!

Notice how everyone's mouth is open at the same time!! It is normally hard to understand someone when they are speaking Italian, but if you have 8 people doing it, and then you add in the fact that they are talking fast, interrupting one another, and you have never heard any of the words they are using, then you become a bystander who takes a video like this one to capture the moment;

On Christmas day we spent time at the house with the boys and grandma and grandpa Dastru. I must say although it was sad not being with my family, it was nice to feel welcomed into someone else's and not be alone. It was also fun to go back to my childhood a little bit and help the boys construct their Legos because I used to play with them for hours as a kid.

Francesco working on his Star Wars Space Craft

Carlo and I working on his Space shuttle

Playing with their completed Legos

We also spent a day and went up to a valley right before Mount Viso, where I was able to take some really cool photos. We spent the afternoon just conversating about life, Christmas, and Italy. It was a good time for me, because not only was my view absolutely magnificent, but I was also able to talk about my family, my Christmas traditions, and how Italy was treating me! To be honest at that moment I recognized that my time here in Italy, and life in general, has been greatly enriched by the people that have surrounded my life. For instance, I would have been alone for Christmas if It hadn't been for such nice people here in Italy welcoming me into their family and home.

 

 

I also had the privilege of a free day to explore Saluzzo on my own, and walk around the old town for almost 5 hours. It was a really good time to just get away from things and step back into an older and historical part of Italy.  While I was walking around I ran into some interesting people, awesome places, and ate some delicious food. It was a unique experience to be able to talk to a few elderly men hanging out at this local cafe. Although I was only able to understand half of what they were saying, they held a conversation with me for 30 or so minutes over a cafe, asking me about life in America, what brought me to Italy, and lots of other funny things.

In fact at one point I had said that everything in one way or another is better here in Italy and the one guy stood up called me a liar, and proceeded to say that the only things that are better here than in America are the "'e donne e i cibo" or in English "the women and the food" (I must admit that this is a true statement, however I would add in many other things such as fashion). I also came across a house with a great view of Mount Viso, and being the American that I am, I of course rang the buzzer. This kind older lady came out and after explaining to her that I wanted to take this one photo, and how I was an American studying here in Italy, and how I am traveling to Rome, Naples, and Florence the next two weeks,we had a lovely conversation about where it is that I should go when I go to Florence!

As I continue to travel, experience different cultures here in Europe, and dive into the culture of Italy, I am finding that I couldn't have been luckier to have a family that is caring enough to be without me for Christmas, but never forget me. Furthermore, I can't talk about my Christmas here in Italy if I don't also talk about what Christmas was like back home. Although I have no idea what Christmas was actually like, I do know that my mom took the time to make special Christmas cards this year so that I was included and also took a few photos on Christmas eve and Christmas with our family that I wanted to share!

Christmas Card #1 - featuring Mom, Dad, Kortney (my older sister on the motorcycle),  Kelsey (my younger sister and the soccer player), and yours truly all the way here in Italy!

Christmas Card #2 featuring all of us again

Christmas Photo of the family

Cousins on my dad's side

Cousins on my mom's side

My sisters and I

Christmas to me has always been more about spending time with the people that you love, rather than the presents that are under the tree, and being away from those people this year gave me reassurance in this. I recognized that regardless of in the same room, or on opposite sides of the world, your family is your family, and they will always be there for you! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great new years!

This year instead of sipping on sparkling grape juice or something stupid, I will be in Rome with two of my closest friends having an absolute blast here in Italy, and regardless of where you are I hope you do as well!

Dear USAC Torino Fall Semester Students,

I want to start off by saying this is a letter to all of the students that I studied with here in Torino this semester, and just play the music and keep reading (it really sets the mood just right!).

Dear USAC Torino Fall Semester Students,

As I am sitting in my apartment alone and a tad bit lonely right now as you are all on your ways home (I am actually burning Gabe's candle, listening to Matt's music, eating the peanut butter that Jill, Chelsey, and Haleigh gave me, and wearing my Lulu Lemon headband from Kelly) I am writing this as a final way to say a few things to you all. I  hope that you are all having safe travels and enjoy yourselves being back together with your family for Christmas and new years. I hope that none of you got stuck sitting next to the guy who not only slobbers and snores when he sleeps but is the guy that does it for the entire 15 hour flight. OR my personal favorite, sitting next to the lady with the 7 month old baby who has an ear infection or something and cries the whole flight!

I want to start off by saying thank you for being apart of the best four months of my life to date (we will see how cool the next group is.... they have A LOT of catching up to do!!). Although most of you left last night, I was lucky to have another half day with Matt today, and while we were just relaxing, eating kebabs one last time, and just enjoying our last couple of hours we had together we skyped for a little bit with my dad. It was a cool way of saying goodbye, but the funny part was that at one moment my dad asked Matt what his "favorite memory was". Ironically neither Matt or I could answer this question, and proceeded to just start listing off everything we did here, because the truth is that this whole four month period has been filled with unique and special memories that I will carry with me forever!

I would agree that people make experiences special, but I think that it is the people's personalities that make you want to stay in those special experiences as long as you can.

I chose this song because I have spent a lot of time with you all, and i feel as though I have tried to be an open book that you are all welcome to read. I hope all of you feel as privileged to have met me as I am to have met you. I would like to think that I am a nice, caring, fun, incredibly dashing guy, but that isn't always the case. Although sometimes we had our differences, I will always be there for you if you needed anything. I try and make myself available to all at all times (sometimes why I accidentally double book myself), but it doesn't always work out the way that I envision it. Having spent the last four months getting to know you all, I hope that this will not be the last time our paths cross. One thing that I will say is that if you are ever in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, or anywhere close, you are more than welcome I INSIST that you come and visit me in Cincinnati (This excludes residents of California... turn around and drive back west!!). 

I had the privilege of traveling with a lot of different people this semester, and it allowed me to get to know some of you on a really awesome level. One of my favorite memories would be the overnight trip to the Cinque Terre that we went on. That was an awesome long weekend and I enjoyed being able to hang out with you all during different times (special shout out to the early birds who hiked with me). Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures of all of us doing some fun things from this semester.

Hiking in Aosta

Skipping rocks, drinking a couple beers, and hanging out on the beach after hiking the Cinque Terre

Half of the boys and zero of the girls on our trip to Alba for the Truffle Festival

Brussels for an amazing excuse to get out of class for two days! (Delirium Bar in Brussels)

Ice skating with the Cowboy!!

This next song is in my opinion the song of this semester here in Italy. Not just because of how awesome the song is in general, the fact that we listened to it ALL the time, but also because of the lyrics.

Walking on a dream
How can I explain
Talking to myself
Will I see again

We are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill
Searching for the thrill of it
On and on and on we are calling out and out again
Never looking down I’m just in awe of what’s in front of me

Is it real now

I know that personally there were times when Dr. Nota was talking to us about how awesome it was that we studied abroad, and that we were in that 1% of students in the world, and how we should feel proud of what we were doing, and I would just play it off. This is mainly because I always thought studying abroad was just part of the "college experience", but as I sit here and think about the people that make up the 89 of us, I want to just say that although we have spent the last 4 months just loving life and living it for the thrill, don't stop just because you are going back to the states. The strong desired to be more than expected, stand out (in a good way), and still have a blast was what made you all unique. I want to encourage you all to continue to do this because this is exactly what has made this trip one to never forget.

Thank you all for being absolutely awesome and helping me enjoy my time here in Torino. Also, I would enjoy staying in contact with you all, so message me on Facebook, tweet at me when you feel like it, or skype me (nate.borowitz) if you are feeling like you miss my face!! I will miss you all and wish you the best! 

Ciao e grazie mille per tutto,

Nate

PS - To everyone from Chico - pester Emilio Dimingo until he creates a 1990 Villians shirt in Roman Numerals and has the word UFFA or ALLORA on the back of it, AND THEN SEND ME ONE!

A Few Of The Things I Have Learned

Since I have been here in Italy for 4 months now, I can confidently say that I have learned a good bit of stuff. Some of it is more fun to talk about than others, so here you go;

1. I have learned how to cook - Matt and I cook lunch and dinner everyday... AND IT'S ACTUALLY GOOD! Ironically, Matt's and my cooking has gotten exponentially better... At the beginning there were nights where we were half crying and half hating ourselves for eating the disaster of a meal that we were calling dinner. And then we thought we knew what we were doing until we were informed one night that not only have we been using pizza sauce for pasta sauce, but the way we cook pasta is actually over cooked pasta. After that day our cooking has gotten drastically better!!! Now we are taking recipes that we know, and adding our own twists to them, experimenting with food, and for the most part (87.43% of the time) It turns out quite well.

2. I can speak Italian... sort of - I can confidently say I can sort of speak it!! Honestly though, I am happy I am not studying in Florence or Rome. While they might be the more typical image of what Italy looks like to people, I wouldn't trade the experience of going to the open market and trying to buy things, and only being able to speak Italian. The level at which you learn a language when your hunger depends on it as a college student is as exponential as your cooking skills!!

Speaking Italian with Cristina! (she is Italian)

     Its always fun to try your Italian, and then you go somewhere and try to buy something and recognize that you have no idea what you need to say (rather you turn into cavemen and start saying words that you hope work and just start pointing). This is what Matt, Jill, Samantha, and I did on Saturday!

We finally got them!

This is us... DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT MOM!!

O Clocks (trend started by Gabe and embraced by all!)

 
For real its harder than it looks, but we make it look good!!! Shoes, watches, purple pants, sweaters, scarves... Eventually if you can get it out you can have a blast, and we did! If you can accept the fact that it is going to be frustrating and difficult it will be fun, and you will look awesome!

I know we look Italian, but we aren't... Ok well sort of we are! (Dark Purple Corduroys!)

3. What college is like (relatively) - This seems like a stupid one to put on, but really the first three years of my college experience was not really "college" as it is depicted everywhere in life. I went to school only two days a week and worked 4 days a week. This also means I never went out, I didn't really drink before I came (I still don't really), but most importantly, I didn't understand what people where talking about when they were referring to "The best four years of your life". Now, I can say that sometimes going out on a Tuesday night because class Tuesday afternoon sucked can be fun! Going over to a friends house on a Wednesday just because you can is a good time! Not having to be in bed by 12:30 on a Friday really helps your social life! Ironically I say this when I am studying abroad in another country 1/4th of the way around the world, with a language I can barely speak, but whatever!

4. Spontaneity can be fun - If you knew me before I came to Italy you would know that I would have considered myself a spontaneous person. However having been here now I would laugh at myself. Really my "Spontaneity" came from not ever having plans; I was good at being able to drop nothing to do whatever on a dime! And the other half would be immaturity.  Doing crazy things just because something thinks it would be funny doesn't always make it spontaneous... IT MAKES IT STUPID!!

Its still fun though...

 But being here has allowed me to really see what adjusting plans that you have to accommodate other plans that have surfaced, cancellations of plans, or double bookings (something that I am bad at). In fact, I have gotten way too used to asking Matt what plans we have that night because to me it has turned into lets make some plans and then we will figure it out later! Italian spontaneity is a little bit different; it actually means lets all meet for dinner at 8pm at this place (I dont know why Italians then hear 830.. still haven't understood that part), and then "Spontaneously" we will chose what bar we go to one after the other depending on what drink we want next! (STILE CESARE CIAMPI!!!)

Angelo, Lorenzo, and Cesare "Rumeria.. Perche' no!"

This experience really has taught me a lot about being able to manage going to school, working, having fun, traveling, and everything else that might just happen to show up in your life! There are better ones that I could have probably put, but to be honest these came with the best pictures and stories!!

See you guys again Wednesday after finals, but while you wait check out the left side of my blog and insert your email address.. you can now get an email notifying you whenever I post something!!! I know, it's super!

Sometimes You Just Have To Wake Up!

So since tomorrow and Tuesday are our last two days here, we have finals these next two days. With that being said, today 7 of us got together to study for our Economic Institutions of the European Union exam that we have on Tuesday. The only bad thing about the whole morning of studying was that I had somewhat of a slap in the face "o crap" moment in the middle of studying.

Tom Brady and Gisele (They have absolutely nothing to do with this post at all, but he always makes me feel better, she is gorgeous, and I bought a sweater like that yesterday!!)

However, before I talk about that, I want to talk about this crazy thing that is Google Docs. Today was the first time I had ever heard of it, and obviously ever used it. I will be honest in saying it has its positives and negative. For instance; the fact that 7 people can work on the same word document together all at the same time was awesome. I know that for most of the time we were all able to be writing on different parts of the document at the same time! BUT.... This also means that for someone like me who is slightly OCD about the format of documents that I work on, you can get people mad at you very quickly. This includes when you are going through a paper and deleting all of the extra bullet points to make it less cluttered, EXCEPT when you delete the bullet point that someone is about to write on! It was similar to this, but not exactly:

Jillian Marie Blandino

On a more serious note, after everyone figures this out you can also write each other fun notes when someone is researching something, so that when they return to write it says something like "Tric Trac Trac Fran Fran Troc!" (if anyone can translate this I will buy you Bella Poque Kebab!)


But really though, today when we were working, I looked around and realized although these are my closest friends here right now, they are not going to be here after Wednesday. In fact, I have made some really cool friends here, and they are all leaving, with a real chance of never seeing any of them again. Its always very nice to say something like; "We will see each other next summer" or "In five years we need to have a USAC reunion", but the reality of this is that I have spent the best four months of my life with some really awesome people (whom in my opinion made it the best 4 months of my life) and I will probably never see them again.  People go home, get girlfriends or boyfriends, get a job, grow up, get married and life moves on.


But after isolating myself from them because I couldn't listen to the 6 of them talking about leaving (I was being a small baby), I recognized that sometimes you just have to wake up! I have to rather than dwelling on the people I met here, the relationship I have built, and the experiences I have had, understand that this is a part of life. If I see these people again AWESOME, but if I don't, ITS BEEN AWESOME!! As of 4 months ago, I didn't know any of them, for some of them, I met them just in the last few weeks, but IT HAS BEEN AMAZING!!!! In fact, here are some photos from last night (our last night out together).

Kelly, Hannah, and Matt

Gabe, Jill, and Juliet

Juliet and I

Kelly and I (Tom Brady)

Jill and I trading shoes

Best Christmas Light Part EVER!!

Its been an amazing 4 months, and I would rather have met all of these people and have to deal with the goodbyes that comes with it, than to have never met them at all. It has been awesome, and I am excited to meet the people that I will be spending next semester with as well!

PS - TO ALL THAT I STUDIED WITH THIS MORNING; WE ARE GOING TO ACE THIS TEST AND GET GELATO AFTERWARDS!!

The People I Met This Semester: Part III

Although most of the students here are from America, we have some students whom are international students from all around the world. This post is designed specifically for them because there is a lot of them that I have become friends with. I appreciated being able to learn different aspects of their culture home, talking to them about the differences in life, and just having a good time with them!

Yu Jin Kim and Seowon Hyun

This is Seowon Hyun (right) and Yu Jin Kim. They are from Korea, and were studying here with us in Torino. I can honestly say that they are some of the nicest and most caring people I have always met. Seowon was always happy to spend time talking with me (listen to me talk) about how everything was going and what was new! Yu Jin is one of the funniest women I have met!! She always made me laugh, and told me about a really cool Korean artist named something close to Turtle but I can't find him!

Joakim Sylvan

This is Joakim Sylvan. He is from Sweden, and was studying through erasmus here in Torino. Him and the three other Swedish guys were super cool, and I enjoyed working with them in e-commerce class. Joakim in particular was always very nice about talking to Matt and I and helped us drastically when we went to Stockholm!

Stella, Tom, Keren, Petronille, Katha

This is the Stella, Keren, and Petronille from France, along with Katha from Germany. I always enjoyed it when we went out and ran into these girls. It was also fun to introduce Stella and Katha to pane con mascarpone e nutella!! Because Matt and I had class with Katha and Stella we got to know them a little bit better, but they are all nice and fun! We need there help tonight crossing #3 off of The List.

Minsonica, Maudee, and Laura

This is Minsonica, Maudee, and Laura. Minsonica is also from Korea, Maudee is from the lovely country of Canada, and Laura is from England. These girls are an absolute blast, and always were really fun. I will never forget when we were in Brussels at the EPP meeting when someone bashed England, and looking down at the crowd and everyone clapping but the British reporter who asked the question and Laura! Also, next time I go to Canada I am going to visit Maudee because she said I can!!!

Ed, Petronille, and Tom

This is Ed and Tom, the two British guys we had this semester in our program. Although I didn't have any classes with Tom, we saw each other all the time on the weekends, and I actually did my first absinthe fire shot with Tom! Ed was in my European Union class, and I enjoyed talking to him about the Euro Crisis and the situation here in Europe. It was good for me because he had a British view which was very different than anything else I hear here in Italy.

I apologize if I missed anyone (this is becoming a tad bit more difficult than I thought) but I am glad I had the chance to meet this group of people. It was awesome to learn a little bit of side information about their life styles and how they differed because of where they were from.