La Mia Famiglia

I apologize that I have not written anything in the past week and a half to two weeks. I have been incredibly busy with last minute activities, and sucking up the last bit of my life here in Italy. With that being said, this blog post is going to be a bit out of order (still need to write about Prague and my last couple weeks of school), but its super important and really exciting so I hope you will let it slide!

Wednesday morning my family arrived in Torino for what is the start or our two week journey around Italy. I had not seen them but through Skype for over 8 months and to be honest it was a tad bit weird when I first saw them. It was sad that they were as tired as they were because they could only last for about 5 hours in Torino, but in that time I was able to show them around the heart of the city and take them to all of my favorite places in the city that were open.

Picking the family up from the bus stop.

We had lunch at what potentially became my favorite place to eat in Torino; a panini shop named I Love Panino. In the last 3 1/2 months that they have been opened I ate there a lot (I was actually their first ever customer) and I have my own panini there! I also took them on a nice 3 hour tour of the city. We stopped off at all of the main piazzas and buildings in the city as well as my favorite gelatoria and visited the river Po. It was nice to show them the city that I had lived in for 9 months in person rather than just through photos or behind me in Skype.

Myself and Claudia and Max.

Showing the family around Torino (Piazza Castello)

Eating at my favorite Gelateria in Torino one last time!

It was a huge teaser to have them show up for 5 hours because after that they left for Milano to go to Venice the next day. I on the other hand had to stay back in Torino to complete my last couple of exams for school. We ended up meeting back up Saturday in Deiva Marina (a small beach town west of the Cinque Terre).

We happened to find out that from Saturday night at 9pm to Sunday night at 9pm there was going to be a train strike and for me it was in some ways a comical way of introducing them to Italy! Either way we managed to get some time in at the Cinque Terre, and made our way to Florence today. I will be going back through once I get back to America to actually blog about these separately, but I just wanted to give a quick update on what all has been going on!

The family in the Cinque Terre

Mom and Dad enjoying themselves!

Boats in dry dock in Manarola.

Aunt Gail and I both on the walk of love... lonely and wishing our better halves were with us!!!

Today we spent the day traveling between the Cinque Terre and Florence, but we were lucky enough to be able to stop off in Pisa and have a look around at the leaning tower as well as the Duomo and baptismal house! Before I had gone to Pisa I had heard a lot of mixed reviews; "stay for 1 hour, take that classic tourist photo and go home." or "Pisa is really cool. You can hang out on the lawn and just soak up the sun and people watch." I must say that it was more like the second to me. I really enjoyed the time we spent there, and in fact after we left I could have spent another 2 or so hours more!

Sibling fun with the tower!

On top of the tower.

The angle on the first floor looking out towards the Cathedral.

I will be writing another blog post when I get a chance. Right now it is 12.17am and tomorrow we have a tour starting at 9am from our hotel. We are going to do a private tour of the Tuscany countryside as well as a vineyard.

Winter In Torino

The last two days has been the first real time that it has snowed here in Torino since I have been here. We once thought that some "frost" we saw at the beginning of December was our first glance into snow here in Italy, but we later found out it was pollution in the air freezing overnight and falling onto the ground. However, what has come down in the last day and a half is unmistakable and beautiful. Dmitrij and I spent about 4 hours walking around the city yesterday just checking out the snow, the piazzas, and going anywhere the snowy trails took us!

I have to be honest in saying that it was the single most beautiful "picture" of Torino that I have seen yet. I have been living here for 5 months now, and the city has never looked as pretty! Although I had a long debate with myself about bringing out my nice camera because of the weather I am very happy that I did because I was able to get some really cool photos!

Vibrams, A Book, and Lunch In A Park In January?

Thursday it was suprisingly warm here in Torino; it actually hit 58°F. At 3am when we were coming home it was absolutely freezing, when I went to school at 8am it was still cold, but when I left class at noon it was warm. In fact I went home, made lunch, changed into my Vibrams, and went to the park for the afternoon.

Our local deli guy is an awesome man, and him and his wife are always very nice to us even thought our Italian isn't always the best. In fact, one of the things that he does that I really appreciate is that when you go in and order any sort of meat or cheese he will always help you match it with something else that would complement what you are already getting. Great marketing?: YES, but the way that he cares about taking care of you makes it special and worth the few extra euros you will spend.

Peanut Butter and Pretzels

It is always nice to have an American moment every once in a while. For instance Thursday when I went to the park I brought my peanut butter and pretzels to the park, and almost ate half of it! Although the food here is amazing, I sometimes miss certain types of food that we have in America that you cannot find here. Big League Chew Gum, Skyline, CHIPOTLE, peanut butter, cinnamon rolls, etc.

Another thing that I enjoyed was not just how warm it was outside, but also the book that I am currently reading; Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Although I don't normally like reading, I have been reading this book for just over a week and I am 294 pages into it! I really enjoyed spending time in the park just reading and relaxing. In fact, I am looking forward to when it gets warmer so that I can spend more time in the park relaxing and enjoying my time here in Italy.

My New Roommates and A Day At Superga

As this semester (my second here in Italy) is just getting started, I recently returned to Torino from traveling. I had the privilege to be invited to the welcome dinner with the new students as well as a few other of the year-long students the first night that everyone was here in Torino. I am excited to say that this group of students seems to be a great group; over the last few days (our first few days here) I have been able to hang out with a number of these students, and am looking forward to getting to know them better.

Also, my new roommates have moved in to our apartment. Although last semester I lived with one of my best friends, Matt, and also one of the coolest guy I have met here in Italy, Gabe, I am very pleased with my new roommates.

This is my roommate roommate Joe (and his gf)

This is Joe. He is from California, and is rooming with me in our apartment. Although I have only known him for a few days, he seems like a really cool guy who will make a great roommate. Ironically, Joe will be the first random guy that I have ever roomed with. Before coming here to Italy, I had always lived with my parents, and when I got here I lived with Matt (He went on vacation with me so he definitely doesn't count as a random person).

This is Marcus

This is Marcus. He is also from California. Sadly for him, this is the only photo I could find of him without a bunch of friends or a girl, so this is what he gets. From what I can know so far he has great taste in music and seems to be a down to earth guy.

After the guys moved in to the apartment I took them for a decent tour of the city. We saw all of the main locations in downtown, we went to a few open markets here, went to Parco Valentino, and even headed down midtown for a while. It was cool for me to recognize that my worst nightmare with new roommates was not true, but rather I had gotten lucky AGAIN with awesome roommates; I had always worried that because of my personality I would be set up with two Bros from somewhere who only wanted to get drunk and try and pick up girls 24/7, and I am relieved to now know that these guys are here, but not for that.

The next day (Sunday) we decided to take a trip up to Superga. Superga is a Basilica on the top of this hill and overlooks all of Torino. Ironically after living here for 4 months, I still had never been to Superga, so it was exciting for me as well. Unfortunately it was potentially the single foggiest day so far here in Torino, and by the time we got to the top is was almost impossible to see Torino, but we made it work and had some fun at the same time.

I am excited to see what this semester brings me. The other students here seem to be a good group of kids, the classes I am taking are good, my Italian is getting better by the day, and the one thing that helps tie it all together is living with 3 guys that are good, fun people.