cosa faccio?

I've been traveling non-stop for the past month and a half, but now that I'm back in Bologna it's time to update! 

story of my life these past 5 months: constant traveling, 

climbing mountains, and good food. no complaints here :) 

After being offered an internship position with the Human Rights Association in Ankara, Turkey, I gladly accepted and began to plan my summer. Unfortunately, however, I overlooked the risks I would be potentially facing while interning with this NGO--risks of extreme violence from nationalist groups and individuals who are not scared of showing their disdain for the HRA. While I would love to work with them, I value my life much more than the wonderful experience a summer in Turkey would give me, and so after speaking with various individuals regarding the minimal yet very real risks I would potentially be facing, I've decided to not intern with the HRA. Am I happy? No, but I understand that it's the best decision.

With the end of the program quickly approaching in just over a month, I don't know what I'll be doing. I know two things: I need to teach myself ancient Greek (and I have a book from which I'll be studying) and I do not want to go back to the US until August. I'm not too interested in traveling Europe, so I think I'll be spending most of my time finding something to do in ITALY (of course), ISRAEL, TURKEY, and EGYPT. Wwoofing is a legitimate possibility, but backpacking is another (expensive) alternative. We'll see! Until then, I'm going to just enjoy Italy and wing the summer until my money runs out.

the beautiful piazza in Bologna decked out for labor day

In other news, Italy is wonderful. I think I've finally reached the point where I can carry on a conversation with ease and feel comfortable talking to most native speakers. I haven't been to class in quite some time, but as I say to everyone, class is very, very, very easy here. Exams are in the coming weeks, and while I know I should be studying and stressing over them, I'm not. This may or may not end well... :) 

I've spent mostly every weekend away from Bologna and I'm beginning to regret this. This has been my home for the past 5 months, yet I haven't really taken the time to explore it and know it as well as I probably should have. I've enjoyed traveling all over Italy, but again, I should probably be spending my last weeks here...but with trips planned to Sicily, Tuscany and the Alps, that's not happening. Oops. 

I miss the efficiency of the US, but I've come to appreciate Italy, from the very relaxed and slow rhythm of life to the daily pausa where people go home to eat, nap, and drink coffee. It's a gorgeous country with beautiful people, amazing cities, and a charming language (Yes, Robert, you can speak with just your hands here). 

l'Italia contro l'America

multitasking at its best

(1,000 tries later)

*In Italia non si sa quando uno ragazzo è gay e questo rende la vita difficile (davvero); in America è molto più ovvio.

-In Italy you don't know when a man is gay and this makes life difficult (really!); in America it's a lot more obvious.

*In Italia si sa (senza dubbio) che sono messicana perche' parlo con un accento spagnolo (merda!) ; In America tutti pensano che sono dal Giappone o dalla Cina. 

-In Italy one knows without a doubt that I'm mexican because I speak with a spanish accent; in America everyone things I'm from Japan or China. 

*In Italia si paga 650 euro per una giacca di marca, mentre in America si paga $100 per una giacca della stessa qualità (senza la marca). 

-In Italy you pay about 650 euro (850) dollars for a jacket that is BRAND name (oooh la la), while in America you pay $100 for a jacket of the same quality and look (minus the brand name).

*Gli italiani si divertono nella vita mentre gli americani non hanno tempo per niente. Il ritmo della vita in Italia è molto più rilassato. 

-Italians enjoy their lives while Americans don't have time for anything. The rhythm of life in Italy is much more relaxed. 

*In Italia non si fa niente la domenica perche' tutto è chiuso; in America la vita non si ferma mai.

 -In Italy you don't do anything on Sundays because everything is closed; in America life never stops.

*Gli italiani non si fanno colazione come gli americani; si mangiano solo uno biscotto e si bevono uno caffe'.

-Italians don't eat breakfast like Americans do; they only eat a biscuit and drink a small coffee.

*In Italia non si fa niente per prepare per i lezioni; in America si studia e legge per il corso quasi ogni giorno.

-In Italy you don't do any work to prepare for class; in America you study and read for the class every day (ideally). 

*In Italia si fa tutto il cibo con il pane, il formaggio, e il carne; in America tutto e' processato.

-In Italy you make all food with bread, cheese, and meat; in America everything is processed.

*In Italia si fa la spesa un giorno si e un giorno no; in America si va al Costco o Whole Foods e si fa la spesa per la settimana. 

-In America you do your shopping every other day; in America you go to Costco or Whole Foods and do your shopping for the week.

*In Italia non si va al lezione senza vestirsi alla moda; in America si va al lezione in pigiama. 

-In Italy you don't go to class without dressing up stylishly; in America you go to class in your pajamas. 

*In Italia non si porta il computer al lezione per fare gli appunti; in America si porta il computer per "scrivere gli appunti" ma anche per stare su Facebook. 

-In Italy you don't take your computer to class to take notes (unless you want to let everyone know you're a foreigner); in America you take your computer to class to "take notes" but also to be on facebook. 

*In Italia si beve il vino con tutto; in America si beve il vino con meno frequenza perche' e' molto piu' costoso.

-In Italy you drink wine with everything; in America you drink wine less often because it's a lot more expensive. 

that's all for today, folks.

until next time, here's a photo of me and my hubby.

wedding invitations will be out soon:

Farrar, my mannn!

I’ve been going to the same fruit vendor right outside my apartment for the past month, and today I met Farrar, a Pakistani-immigrant who happens to be a devout Christian with a seminary degree and MBA. He speaks solid English and moved to Italy less than a year ago to find a better means to provide for his family back in his homeland. His idea of “providing” was not working 7:30am to 11pm every day and making the bare minimum to “barely be able to survive.”

The point of this blog post isn’t to lament Farrar’s situation (or to discuss his rather handsome son), but rather to comment on a question he asked me— you study at Brown?! What are you doing here?

To be quite honest, I don’t know. There is no doubt that the caliber of Brown far exceeds that of La Universita’ di Bologna, so I can’t say that I’m here for the academics. It isn’t because I enjoy listening to professors lecture for two straight hours (18 hours a week) in a language that I am still trying to grasp, and it definitely isn’t because I enjoy eating more bread, meat, and dairy than I know what to do with. It definitely isn’t because I love that most food places close at 11pm, that all shops close on Sundays, or that drying machines don’t exist.

Then why?

Well, I want to perfect my Italian mostly because it's a wonderful tool to have when studying the development of Christianity in the first couple of centuries (go ahead and judge me). Aside from that, I really don't know. The only thing that Farrar and I could come up with and agree upon is that Italy is beautiful and full of so much history. It is more than wonderful to visit, but to live? Italians live a slow and relaxed lifestyle, and while I have come to enjoy it this past month, I’m not sure that I could ever live here permanently. Contrary to how lazy I may come off to some people, I consider myself a pretty active and busy person (but of course that's very relative). So...where does this live me?

I suppose I'm here because I want to perfect my Italian and take advantage of all of the traveling possibilities. Those are probably not the best of reasons, but they suffice. I didn't have to take an entire semester away from Brown, but I'm (currently) glad that I did. It's a different lifestyle, one that I've learned to embrace and appreciate—even if it makes me miss home. A LOT. 

il paese di confusione

Thinking of studying abroad or visiting Italy? If yes, please note the following:

• When looking to buy fruit, never grab it yourself...or else. You will most definitely get yelled at
• When lost and in need of direction, skip women and ask men—preferably nice old Italian men.
• Vendors will often try to cheat you of change. I may not be Italian, but I'm not stupid. I know my (basic) math.
• Any Italian man who checks you out will be sure to make it known. Prepare to be stared at directly in the eyes for upwards of three seconds, kissed at, kissed, and/or approached.
• Italians live on carbs, especially bread. You will succumb to it.
• You better know what type of pasta goes with what kind of sauce. If you don't, you may offend the waitress or waiter. Italians take their food seriously. No joke.
• Acqua frizzante is the shizz in Italy. And trust me, carbonated water grows on you. 
• The vast majority of shops and restaurants close EARLY. Good luck finding a late night snack. [[definitely not in the land of fast food anymore]]
• Italian children are so much cuter than American brats. True story.
• All stores will have "saldi" on their windows. They are liars. Not everything is on sale. A sale is not a deduction of 5 euros off of a 300 euro sweater. No. Just no.
• It's Italy. Let's be honest. You won't get any work done. 
• You will spend way more money than you want or think you're spending. Think euros, not dollars.
• The difference in voltage will suck. Having enough converters is a pain in the rear end. 
• Most Italian men are beautiful and/or just plain creepy. Caution.
• Most Italian women are gorgeous. Life isn't fair. Get over it.
• Aperitivo is THE best. Basically, at around dinner time many bars and restaurants will charge a basic cover charge for a drink (5-10 euros) and have an unlimited buffet of food for you to choose from. If you're a smart, hungry, and starving foreigner, you'll take advantage of this and starve yourself all day, only to take advantage of this when the sun sets.
• You'll find it super easy to cheat the bus system. They charge 1.50 per ride, but eh, there's nobody to check the tickets. Be warned: if they do catch you, you're fined something like 80 euro. My solution: run for your life if you see a man/woman checking tickets. That's my plan. :)
• Italians like to drink, and unlike the binge culture back in the states, they drink for enjoyment. That doesn't mean they don't party hard...
• Wine. Wine. Wine. It's Italy, home of the best wine on earth. You're in wine heaven.
• Old ladies are more stylish than you will ever be. Purple hair, fur coats, and snazzy sunglasses. Try to contain the hating.
• Jehovah Witnesses exist in Italy, albeit remixed. There was a ring in the apartment (meaning someone was at the front gate waiting to be let it), and when I picked up the phone to question who it was and what they wanted, I got a surrrrprise! They wanted to come up and give me some enlightenment..... 
• Italians and their hands....they have a gesture for everything. Everything. 
• Useful phrases: ciao. mi dispiace. non capisco. puoi ripetere. sono straniera. non parlo l'italiano. che cazzo! che cosa. 
• Any man who approaches you most likely does not have good intentions. Men are blunt here. 
• Cities die on Sundays. Stores close and people never leave their home! 
• Prepare to walk everywhere (or buy a bike and get it stolen the next day). 

una bella realizzazione

What did Erica do this weekend? Well, let me tell you. She had big plans and was thinking of either spending the weekend at Lake Como or making a trip to Parma and Siena. I agree, it sounds amazing. BUT what did she do instead? She spent 44 of 48 hours inside her apartment, being lazy and stalking people on Facebook—a very interesting life, indeed.

And then it hit me. I’m in Italy. ITALY. Not in America, but Italy. It’s full of so much history, so many beautiful cities, so many beautiful people men, and of course, food. After telling a friend back at Brown that I hadn’t left bed, she told me, “girl you are in Italy, what is your life?” Greattttt question.

This got me thinking and I realized—perhaps a little late—that I needed to hit the pause button and reevaluate:

1. I’m in Italy and I should be taking advantage of it. Time to get my travel on.
2. My time spent on social platforms needs to be reduced tenfold. At its core, Facebook is silly. While being able to follow people’s lives from thousands of miles away is nifty, I would say a good 80% of what I see on FB is stuff in which I am completely uninterested (though I admit that I am equally guilty at posting the same sort of things that I criticize). For the sake of preserving friendships, I won’t go into detail… My point is that I know that I can be so much more productive (and perhaps smarter?) by limiting my time spent on the Internet.
3. Food is the devil. Anyone who remotely knows me knows that my self-control level is close to zero, but I realize that this needs to change. It won’t be easy, but I’m going to jump on this baby and make it work! 
4. I need to introduce manners into my vocabulary. Yeah. 

It really shouldn’t have taken me this long to realize these very elementary points, but eh, it is what it is. I’m 4 days short of being here for a month, and with classes beginning next week, I’m going to use my time here to work on bettering myself—well, I’m going to try.

I suppose that I could leave FB altogether, but it would complicate my form of communication with friends and family back in the USA. That being said, I’m still going to use it to post photos to keep my family and interested friends (?) in the loop. I might also throw some leisure (stalking) time in there, but it will be very minimal relative to the past. As for the blogs, it's a requirement for the program so these babies aren't going anywhere. 

I hope you're proud of me, mama and papa!

Quick update on Italy: everything is great. I think my speaking skills are improving quickly, but I guess we'll see when classes begin on Monday! Italy has been invading all aspects of my life but I liiiiike it. :) 

che cosa!??

I arrived in Bologna on Monday, Jan 07 after three fast-paced days of flying from Cali to Boston to move things into storage, pack, and fly to Italy—all of that on less than 10 hours of sleep within the span of three days. Four days have passed and much progress has been made. I’ve managed to break my month-old iPhone5, settle into and somehow make the power go off in the entire apartment, and get yelled at by an Italian shopkeeper.

Bologna e' bella! I miei coinquilini are wonderful and our apartment location is perfect. We’re a quick ten minute walk from the due torri (two towers—yes, Lord of the Rings style), aka the city centre. All of the buildings within the walls are amazingly preserved, something that you don’t really see throughout Italy. To top it off, all of the university buildings are swaggity old medieval-aged buildings decorated with lovely and huge portici. I will say what most wont: I absolutely cannot wait to start classes. yes.Yes.YES.

Like I said before (and will say forevermore), i miei coinquilini sono meravigliosi! Matilde and Anna are from Prato, a town near Florence, and they have been amazingly helpful in explaining Italian shenanigans, parolacce (no-no words), and of course all things related to living a safe existence in an Italian apartment. It isn’t as easy as one would think, as I’m sure my two American roommates (Gregorio and Kaitlin) can attest to. I may or may not have somehow made the power in the apartment go out…and with no idea how to fix it, we waited for the wonderful Monica to come and fix it for us. Yes, Italians are nice. :)

Food. It goes without being said that it’s scrumptious, enticing, beautiful, savory, mouthwatering, delectable, luscious—basically any positive adjective that exists. PANNA COTTA. Prior to delighting in this dish, I thought I had lived a decent existence, but boy was I wrong. Words cannot describe it’s essence, and so I won’t even try. What I will say is this: if you make your way to Italy, you have a free place to stay with me on the condition that we go out (and you buy me) this orgasmic dish. It’s that good.

We’ve been doing a lot of walking and sightseeing as a group, and I’m praying to all of the gods that this somehow offsets all of the food that I will be eating. It has to, right? After all, all these Italian ragazze are skinny….. On a serious note, there are nice trails outside of the city to run on so all should be fine…too optimistic?

I don’t have much more to say at this point. Only four days have passed in this beautiful city and I am all too content to be here. My body is finally adjusted to the time change and my Italian is coming along quickly! Tomorrow we’re heading to Ravenna and I couldn’t be happier. The last time I was there a bird let it rip (poopoo) all over my pants and shirt. Can’t wait for what awaits me this time!!

Oh. Mom, I’m writing all of this for you. Robert, you too. Papa, you too. I’m alive and well. Will post photos soon. Love you, miss you mucho! Send me money. Ciao!!