Leap Year Epicness

As you have to know (and if you don't shame on you!), but this year is a leap year, and today is the 29th of February. That's right!!! Today only happens once ever four years, and I must say it has got me thinking about rarities in life in general.

First off, happy birthday to everyone that was born today. How does it feel to be 4 years old and in high school, or 20 and have been retired for 10+ years?? And since Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie, and half of you are guaranteed to be under 7 years old here is your birthday cake!!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

On a slightly more serious note, this day come around once every 4 years. That seems like its not that often, but to be honest, the experience I am having right now is GUARANTEED to only happen once in my lifetime! Its really weird to say that because a part of me obviously never wants it to end. In fact I am actively searching for jobs here in Italy so that after this semester is over I can stay here and work. On the other side is the fact that next week will be our spring break and mark the halfway point of this semester. Last semester when we were half way done I laughed at everyone who was freaking out about having to go home, but now I understand EXACTLY what they are talking about. I will graduate college at 21 just off of spending 9 months abroad and living in Italy. Lets just say I don't think I am exactly ready to stop exploring the world, traveling around, and being adventurous, but don't tell my mother please!!

As much as I want to take the hour glass and turn it on its side I recognize that it is not possible, so there is only one other option;

ANDIAMO A ROTUNDA E BALLIAMO CON PANTALONI ROSSI!! 

Translation into English: We go to Rotunda (a discoteca here in Torino) and we dance with red pants!

It was such an awesome coincidence that this year we are all abroad and this year is a leap year so as a group we decided that we are going to literally dance this leap year away!!

So if you are in America; cheers up, have a great evening, and happy leap year.
And if you are in Italy (Torino specifically); we are going hard all night at Rotunda at 11!!!

The Best Food Fight Ever

Last tuesday was the best school field trip of my life! USAC took us to Ivrea for carnevale there. The city itself is similar to Sienna and many other smaller cities in Italy; it is broken up into smaller districts or neighborhoods that are each symbolized by a certain animal or object. For instance in Ivrea there was the scorpion district, the chessmen, the devils, the crows, etc. For those of you who don't know what Carnevale di Ivrea is here are a few photos just so you can get the feel for it.

The streets of Ivrea

 This was the lady that helped Joe and I get our outfits. Joe decided to fight for the Devils or in Italian "diavoli", and I fought for the "I Tuchini del Borghetto". Our location was a little bit special because not only did we have a piazza like all of the other teams, but leading into our piazza was a bridge that allowed us to get right up against the carriages and throw oranges at a very close range. This was where we spent most of our time, and was an absolute blast!!

The Bridge and entrance into Rione Del Borghetto

Got my picture at our clubs entrance

Our teams piazza

My main throwing partner for the day; the one and only Cierra Anderson

More of my American teammates! Shout out to the girls for going all in with us!!

This was the first carriage that came through our piazza. This was just around 2:30 pm, and we continued to have carriages one after another for the next 3 hours. Each carriage would travel across the bridge (stopping once, and sometimes twice if it was a very good battle, and then travel into our piazza and stop there as well. Because we were not paying players in the carnevale, we were not allowed to grab the oranges straight off of the crates, but rather we had to pick them up off of the ground.






As you can see, there were plenty of oranges on the ground to pick up, and there was never a shortage of oranges to launch at the next carriage that was coming by!

Me kissing my favorite orange of the day

When we first started we were a bit timid (standing in the back and throwing oranges at long range) however, we quickly realized that although it seems illogical, the closer you are to carriage, the less you actually get hit at a dangerous angel. AT A DANGEROUS ANGEL is the key part. Of course if you get right up against the cart which we spent most of our day doing, you would get oranges raining down on your head, but they weren't hitting you in the eye or face anymore.

I am not sure why, but an orange tastes better after it has been chucked off of a carriage, hit someone in the face, you pick it up off of the ground, wipe it off, and eat it!

Side note; there is officially only one way to properly drink Vin Brule' at a orange throwing fight.

1. Rip the top of the orange off
2. Suck the juices out of the orange (if you are super lucky it will be a blood orange)
3. Create a large whole inside of the orange
4. Pour Vin Brule' into the orange and drink the Vin Brule' while squeezing the orange at the same time!

Our Italian friends

Overall this experience was an absolutely awesome experience. I found it very interesting that something like this would never work in America, but is so popular in Italy. To put it in perspective; 140+ people were taken to the hospital just on Sunday alone. It was interesting to me because if something like this was to happen in America everyone would have to sign a waiver, only a certain number of people would be allowed to play at the same time. It ironically is a good representation to me on the differences between American and Italian society.

Carnevale di Venezia

This past weekend we went on our weekend-long USAC planned trip. Last semester was our trip to the Genoa, Santa Margherita, the Cinque Terre, and Portafino, and this semester it was Venezia and Verona. Before this weekend I had been to over 25 cities in Italy, and I must say that Venice was my absolute favorite!

Best Sign in Venice

Everyone always talks about how difficult it is to get around Venice, but I was surprisingly happy with how well myself and Marcus did at directing ourselves around the city. We really only got lost one time on Saturday night, but besides that I really felt like I knew where I was going. My favorite part were the signs that directed you to the main Piazzas and canals; they allowed you to follow the paths that were correct and then branch off when you needed to so that you didn't get lost. This one to the right is my absolute favorite sign in Venice! It literally tells you to go in opposite directions to get to the same place!

It is however very difficult when you know you want to go straight, but the road ends directly into a canal without a bridge. It was frustrating because you knew where you wanted to go, weren't lost, but couldn't get there! Rather you had to turn around and take a left, then walk down three or four blocks, to then take another left across a bridge, then walk back the three or four blocks you walked up and you were where you wanted to be (and that was if you were lucky). This happened a couple times when we were following music through the canals to get to places that might potentially have a dance floor that we could go dancing at. Ironically the joke was on us because the music just echoes through the canals and we were listening / following the music of a private party while walking in a circle around Venice.

One thing that is interesting about Venice is that there is not a single discoteca, nightclub, or anywhere to dance at night time! However, we didn't let that stop us; we ended up finding a piazza that had a DJ playing some music and everyone standing around, drinking, and being social!!! At that point we decided that if we couldn't go to a party, then we would start one... and start one we did! Because it was so cold in Venice, we felt that grabbing a bottle of wine each wasn't such a bad idea. Half the bottle was to keep you warm, and the other half was to "get the people goin"!!

1 Italian DJ playing music in a Piazza, 16 Americans, WHITE PANTS, and 16 bottles of wine = PIAZZA PARTY IN VENICE

PANTALONI BIANCI DANCE!!!

The piazza party that we started!

On the downside, parties like this one stopped just after midnight because everyone in Venice is old and wants to go to bed!

Ellie and I walking around (not photoed Marcus and Erica)

Because everything was closed around 1am at the latest in Venice we spent our nights just walking around the city and checking everything out. It was honestly my favorite part of our trip to Venice. We were able to see a lot of the city without all of the tourists around.

I enjoyed just having that Italian style of life for a little bit of each day; walk around slowly, enjoying the people you are with, the place you are, and the fact that you are privileged enough to be there.



Because it was the beginning weekend of Carnevale in Venice it was absolutely packed with people. When we arrived on Saturday we took a walking tour of the city and then had the night to ourselves. The walking tour was really cool! We saw some really cool buildings in Venice, learned about all of the specifications and regulations that comes with living in Venice, and also some history of the city itself.

Sunday was the official start to Carnevale and we went to Piazza San Marco and watched "The Angel of Carnevale" fly from the tower to the main stage for the start of Carnevale. Piazza San Marco was absolutely packed with people the whole weekend and was THE place to be during the afternoon to experience everything that was Carnevale.

Piazza San Marco

Angel of Carnevale

I am very pleased because I was able to get some really cool photos of some of the people dressed up in complete costume while at the piazza and also while walking around the city!

All of these costumes were absolutely awesome, but I must say there was one group of costumes that beat all of those! Ok, I might be a bit impartial, but as we say in Italian; NON IMPORTANTE!!

AWESOME PANTS PARTY CREW!

My roommate Marcus and I

Tomorrow we are all going to Milan to celebrate Sara's 21st birthday, and Saturday we will be headed out here in Torino for Cierra's birthday. It is going to be a busy weekend, but I am really excited. Cierra's boyfriend Chris is coming into town (he is studying in Spain) and I am excited to meet him as well as help these girls celebrate there birthdays! PS - Sara if you are reading this DON'T FORGET YOUR ID!! We decided that because it is her 21st birthday, even though in Italy, she needs to be carded for her first couple drinks! After this weekend (next Tuesday) we are headed to Ivrea for Carnevale there for a fun day trip! O and next weekend Joe, Sage, and myself are going to go to Budapest for the weekend. As you can tell we have been super busy with all kinds of random, fun things going on here in Italy, but I will try and do a better job at staying up on my blog and keeping it up to date and current.

Aperitivo

Something that is a cultural norm here in Italy, and something that I haven't talked about yet on my blog is aperitivo. Aperitivo is something that you can go out to on any night of the week. I personally like to go to aperitivo on Sunday nights because after not doing anything all Sunday it gives you a good chance to get out, see your friends, and have fun. The premice behind apertivo is that you go to a restuarant, bar and order one drink of anything you would like; mixed drink, glass of wine, beer, or coca-cola if you are lame. At the same time there is also a buffet of small Italian (or American) appetizers out for dinner. After you get your drink you are allowed to go and eat as much of the buffet food as you would like (this turns into your dinner). Therefore you end up having dinner and a drink WITH FRIENDS for just around 8 euros.

When Dmitrij came into town Sage and I took out not only Dmitrij but also all of our roommates to their first apertivo experience. Although I have been to many apertivos since I have been here, that night in particular was a lot of fun for me.

Aperitivo with the boys from Via Mazzini, the girls from Via Nizza, and Dmitrij!

In the past week I have recognized a few things about this semester that I either didn't recognize last semester or didn't have to deal with last semester. Last semester one of my best friends, Matt, was here with me, but beyond that, I formed friendships with many of the people here; Matt and I would go out and hang with different people almost every night. However this semester I have spent most of my time with my roommates and just a few other people. Is this a bad thing? I would say no. In these three weeks I have built solid friendships that are stronger than friendships I formed in all of last semester. At the same time, I recognize that it can be a bad thing if I allow those people to rule the things that I do in my free time. I am only here for another 4 months. Yes, this has easily been the best trip of my life, but that has been because I have done what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it, and not allowed others to tailor the things I do for me.

I am not saying that adjustment is a bad thing or even having a smaller group of friends with much stronger friendships than lots of acquaintances, but what I am saying is that staying true to who you are and the things you want to do is absolutely key. If I am honest with myself, I have changed a lot while I have been here in Italy, and I am sure there is more change coming in these final few months. However, what I do know hasn't changed, and never will change, is the fact that I am here to experience the things that I want to experience, and do the things that I want to do.

Budapest, Hungary

So one thing that I have become very used to is adjusting my plans regardless of what they have to do with. For instance, right now we have not had hot water or heat since Sunday. This means that I have had to shower at friends houses, and wear jackets, pants, shoes, and scarves in our apartment. Also, today my roommate Joe was searching for places to traveling to this semester and came across a flight to Budapest, Hungary!

Budapest had been on my list of places to go, but because I thought it was too expensive to travel there I had just written it off as a place I wasn't going to be able to go to. However, when Joe was searching today he found a flight to Budapest for 20 Euros round trip! YES!!! We are now going to travel to Budapest for 20 Euros!!!

Heores Square in Budapest

The Chain Bridge in Budapest

The Parliament Building in Budapest

I am really excited because Budapest is an absolutely amazing city! It is built around history, art, and great architecture. Because Marcus, Erica, Sara, Ellie, and Cierra are all going to Amsterdam to meet up with some of Ellie's friends for her birthday, I will be going with Joe and Sage! I am excited because it should be a fun (and cheap) trip.

On a side note, I am headed to Venice this weekend for Carnivale. Going right now to buy a pair of awesome RED PANTS as well as a red mask so we can look absolutely AWESOME!! I will keep you all updated as much as I can on what else is going on here in Torino.

Not so smart when you are trying to hide from bullets, but for a fashion statement in Europe.... YES!!

PS - Bachelor night tonight!!! Emily better figure it out or she is going to be going home tonight!

Skyline After 5 Months: A MOMENT!!

"That was a moment!!"  

This was the only thing that I could say after having Skyline last night for my first time in 5 months. This weekend both my roommate Cesare and Marcus are out of town, and a lot of the other USAC kids have gone traveling too, so Joe, Sage and I had a chance to spend some time just hanging out. Last night I decided to make them Skyline chili as a special Cincinnati treat. To be honest I was looking for a small group of people to test it on, because I didn't want to make a lot of it and then no one like it!! However, by the amount of skyline that was eaten in the shortest amounts of time that I have ever seen, it is safe to say that they enjoyed it!

 To be honest I was pleasantly surprised at how similar to actual Skyline it tasted! I know it has been 5 months since I have had it, but it was absolutely wonderful last night, and I am looking forward to making it for my friends again!

Italian version of Skyline... the only differences are that the cheese is worse but the pasta is better!

Joe ate his faster than I did

My skyline!!

Sage really enjoying her first Skyline moment!

Me licking the last bit of Skyline off of the spaghetti spoon!

 The other thing that Skyline did for me last night while at dinner was allow me to put together a list of all of the special restaurants with specific people that I go and eat at all the time back in Cincinnati. In fact in 4 months I am going to have a lot of rounds to make including Chipotle at least 5 times in the first week I get back!! My list includes some overall classics, but to be honest, the ones I am looking forward to the most are the Cincinnati specials like Skyline and Graeters!

It has been an absolutely awesome weekend just hanging out and relaxing for a change! The super bowl is on tonight, and although I haven't watched much football this year because of how difficult it is here in Italy, I must say that I am rooting for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots; this is mainly because of the photo that Kelly and I took that looked soo much like Tom and Gisele, but also because Tom is just a straight G!!



On a side note, I have been reading The Hunger Games books (right now I am 289 pages into Catching Fire) and if you have not started reading them you need to get on it!!

A Weekend (and some) with Dmitrij

For the last couple of days my sister's boyfriend Dmitrij has been visiting me here in Italy. As I wrote before, he brought with him the greatest care package ever, but also it was just nice to have someone from home here with me even for a short period of time. Last semester I was here with Matt and for that reason I didn't get very homesick. However, this semester I am somewhat on my own. Yes my new roommates are AWESOME, and we have met some really cool people that we hang out with (shout out to the girls on Nizza), but it has been different than last semester. Ironically, I think that this semester may actually end up being better for me because it is forcing me to create relationships.

The best pasta restaurant in Torino - Pasta e Basta

With that being said, it was great to be able to spend some time showing him around Torino and giving him a glance into what my life here in Italy has looked like for the past 5 months. Because we only had 3 days here in Torino, and one day in Genoa, I took him to only the greatest places in Torino for each meal. My lovely parents sent him with some food money, so we were able to eat some things besides just kebab! Of course we had kebab too, but not eating completely like a college kid the whole time was a nice change of pace!

We also went out one night, had dinner at an Italian friends house, took a few fire absinthes shots, and way too much fun. I am positive that will be the first and last time that he ever takes one of those! (photos not coming soon!)

Spacconapoli for our neighborhood pizza followed by a cafe at Caffe Tiberio

Bella E'Poque Kebab (the best kebab EVER!

We also took a day trip to Genoa. It was very nice for me because although I had been to Genoa before (when we went to the Cinque Terre) I had not spent a whole day there and seen the things that I wanted to see. We justified eating focaccia four different time, Sicilian oranges, three cafes, and a huge dinner of gnocci and pesto, Italian sausages, salad, and dessert.


























The only downside to this trip, besides the short length, was that I wasn't able to introduce Dmitrij to gelatos. I showed him true Italian style pasta, pizza, beer, wine, focaccia, gnocci, oranges, and all things wonderful, but wasn't able to show him gelatos. However, we decided that because that was not possible this time, that there is only one solution; he must come back!! I really enjoyed having him here, and would welcome him back whenever he feels like checking out Italy again... or maybe Greece for spring break (cough cough).