School / Internship / Milan / Craziness!

So it has been a while since I have blogged about how everything is going here in Italy, and I have to apologize.  The problem is that, although I might have the same amount of hours (maybe more because sleep seems to be optional here), but I am finding that my time is more filled than it ever was in America. We don't watch any TV, but rather spend our evenings cooking and eating dinner as a group.

One of the cool things that happened since the last time I posted on here was that I spent last weekend in Milan.  Ironically it wasn't on purpose, but it just so happened that way, and ended up being and amazing weekend!... I went Friday, directly after class to Milan with another student from America with the intention of spending the day shopping and checking out the city. The problem was that since there was so much in Milan, and the conversation was good, that we didn't really do any shopping on Friday, so returned early on Saturday and spent a whole second day in Milan.  Milan was an amazing city with tons of beautiful architecture, awesome elephants (like the designed pigs you can see all around Cincinnati), and good shopping!

Today was also my second day at my new job here in Italy.  I am working with Tom Tjaarda (the man is responsible for the pantera!). In just the few short times I have worked with him, it has been an amazing experience for me, and I am really excited to spend the next four, and hopefully nine months working with Mr. Tjaarda.

Over all everything else is going really well. I am slowly adjusting to the differences of society here, the extended length of time that classes run, and taking care of all of the household chores I didn't have to worry about back in America (hanging clothes to dry, doing dishes by hang, etc.) I will be in touch with you all soon as I am hiking the Cinque Terre this Saturday, and will hopefully have plenty to tell you all about that experience!

Ciao,
Nate

The Flirt and Fail in Italian!!

Rose and my dialog today in Italian class... Translate using google!

Guido: Ciao Bella!!!
Rose: Buona sera. Come stai?
Guido: Molto bene perche parlo con te. E tu?
Rose: Cosi cosi perche parlo con te.
Guido: Come ti chiami?
Rose: Mi chiamo Rose. Vai via perfavore.
Guido: Mi chiamo Guido. Ti piacerebbe venire a cena con me?
Rose: No grazie. A mio marito non piacerebbe.
Guido: Telefonami!!
Rose: No grazie. Ciao!
Guido: Grazie mille!! Ciao bella!!
Guido: Telefonami!!

Italian class is much more fun when you are able to take something like a dialog project and make it something of your own! As long as we continue being able to learn and use our own imagination this will be a much more interesting learning experience.

Talk to you all soon!

Ciao,

Nate

Il Mio Italiano Non è Buono

So today I took my first Italian test and to be honest it was not very fun at all!! To be honest I have enjoyed just going to class and then spending all of my free time checking everything out around the city, AND NOT STUDYING!!! Truthfully though; coming into this experience I thought that I was going to really enjoy learning another language, but as of right now, the only thing about that class I like is my teacher (who is amazing) and the people in my class!  I actually enjoy going to my business classes here very much, and I find my teachers for the first time ACTUAL specialist in the field that they are teaching me about.

School itself has been a really cool experience.  Although the weekly layout of classes is a little bit different and more spread out, I am happy to say that for the first time since my freshman year of college, I actually look forward to going to class to explore the potential of the things I might be able to learn!

Because of how crazy our schedules are, I am actually done for the rest of the day now (and was since noon), so we are going to go out and check out the city, maybe throw some Frisbee at President Abe Lincoln park (not actually the name.. the statue just looks just like him), or go eat as much gelatos as possible!

Just a heads up to everyone on my upcoming events; this weekend (Friday) I will be going to Milan with someone to go shopping… It will definitely be very fun and potentially even a very interesting trip.  Next weekend I go on a 3 day long trip to the Italian Rivera and the Cinque Terra, and the week after I believe that we will be going to Oktoberfest in Germany.  So keep an eye out for information, blog posts, and pictures of those experiences!

Ciao,

Nate

Aosta, Italy

Yesterday nine other students and I traveled to the city of Aosta, Italy. Aosta is north of Torino, in the heart of the Alps. We spent half of the day on top of the mountain either hiking around, eating lunch on the top of a grassy knoll, or even playing around on the kid’s mini zip line!  Throughout the day I found myself just stopping to appreciate the situations that God and my parents have helped place me in. I feel really blessed to have the chance to see the world like most people do not.  We have officially been in Italy for 9 days, and I find it funny to say, but I don’t know if I have ever felt more alive!

We spent most of the day up on the property of the Pila Ski Resort in Aosta. The view from this region of Italy was absolutely amazing.  The 10 of us walked around the small resort town at the top of the hill for a little bit before stopping to eat lunch on what we found out later was the roof of some of the condos at the resort.  The view from here was one that I have never experienced anywhere else.  As we sat eating lunch you could just look out and enjoy the view; A view that seemed to be endless as well as amazingly natural. 

Another cool part of the day in Aosta was the Roman ruins that we were able to look at.  There were a few churches in the town that we went to, and inside / under neither the church was the remains of what was once a roman underground town system.  It was amazing to walk the halls of this underground society and just think about all of the history that was lying between those walls.  This was a really cool experience as someone who enjoys learning about history and what things have shaped society to be the way it is today.

Ciao,

Nate

Italian Culture

Today is the third official day of school here in Italy for me. I am finding that I am enjoying my time here, because I am enjoying some of the differences of culture here in Italy.  Having only spent less than a week here, I can already see a more simpler approach to life as a whole (not feeling the need to strive to be the greatest thing; or even feeling that your life has to be go go go all of the time), but rather living a simple life that is filled with family, friends, and happiness.

Our apartment is a pretty nice place, we are in a great location right in the heart of downtown, and we have a good bit of room! Because of this we have had friends over a couple times for dinner or drinks and good conversation.  Last night we had some friends over, and I found myself talking to one girl for almost an hour about the amazing differences between the approaches to life here in Italy and back in America. It was amazing conversation, because in such a short time we can see the obvious differences and the beauty in a simpler and more satisfied life.

Italian Culture (as I have seen it so far) is beautifully simple: the people seem to be content with spending their evenings with friends at a local cafe rather than spending their time worrying about whether or not the have the best of everything, or the newest and greatest.  After spending my whole life being caught up in the hustle and bustle of the way Americans spend their time, I am finding it refreshing to relax (relatively speaking) and stop to enjoy the things around you. This has not been something I have ever been very good at; in fact it has come in between me and relationships I have had with friends in the past. 

I am excited to see if this is just a short observation of a culture, or if it is a way of life that Italians cherish, rather than the desires of wealth and success like Americans often do!

I will keep you all updated as things on this journey change.

Ciao,

Nate

Ciao

Ciao,

I am writing for the first time on here since Matt and I have arrived in Europe, and just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know how things are going!

As we speak it is around 2:10 here in Torino, and we are supposed to wake up at 7:00! The hotel we are staying in tonight is absolutely miserable; it is very very hot, we are the only room without a balcony (which I would sleep on right now if I could), our beds are literally 6” apart, and the wifi has cut in and out at least 15 times this evening.

With that being said, I did want to take a second to talk about how amazing Paris was, but also officially release “the list”.  Paris was absolutely amazing, our tour guide Adrien (my ex-international buddy) showed us the amazing monuments and tourist stops, but we were also lucky to see some off the map spots in Paris that most tourists don’t get to see! Matt and I were very appreciative of him and his family for allowing us to stay with them for three days and showing us around! Although the Arc de Triumph was my favorite place in downtown Paris, I would have to say that anyone that visits Paris is very stupid not to take a day to visit the Palace of Versailles! The gardens there were unbelievable and I really enjoyed them!

With that being said, “the list” is something that matt and I have been working on for some time now. Some of them are funnier than others (although the mean serious things), but others are some of our true desires that we would like to accomplish while here in Italy.

25 things to do in Europe

1.       Walk down the streets of Torino with gelato in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.

2.       Hit up the Vatican.

3.       Kiss a random French girl under the Eiffel tower.

4.       Gladiator fight in the coliseum.

5.       Wine tasting in the Italian countryside.

6.       DASSSSSSSS BOOOOT!

7.       Get Oktoberfest outfits.

8.       Look up relatives in Germany and Italy.

9.       Visit the Cut in the Mountains in Norway.

10.   Go to a professional soccer game [Juventus].

11.   Go to a sweet concert somewhere in Europe.

12.   Pay dues to “The Don” in Sicily.

13.   Go to the Lamborghini factory.

14.   Ride in a gondola with a man that looks like Fabio.

15.   Get an A to make mom and dad happy.

16.   Travel to the Palace of Versailles.

17.   Learn how to cook.

18.   Visit the Cinque Terra.

19.   Go to Amsterdam…..

20.   Visit Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and the London Eye in London, England.

21.   Hike the entire Trail B in one day on the Cinque Terra.

22.   Learn Italian.

23.   Go to a TECHNO / RAVE / HOUSE MUSIC party!

24.   Hold a complete conversation in just Italian.

25.   HAVE THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!!

Although I doubt that we will be able to cross all of these off before we leave, let alone before we die, I hope to cross as many of these off the list as possible because these are things that I am passionate about completing.

Tomorrow (aka today) we move into our apartment and really figure out what type of situation we are actually in.  I am living with Matt and two guys that we have never met before, but to be honest I am 5x more excited about this than nervous! I will try to keep you all updated on everything, but also remember to check out my facebook page to see what is going on!

Ciao,

Nate

PS – if you can help me with #3 or #21 please let me know ;-)