ITALIA, TOLA DOLZA
Pictures
For those that are like me, here are the pictures from my trip!
CBYX/PPP - 21 - Italia, Tola dolzaVenice, Modena, Bologna
I got up all sorts of early on Thursday morning to head to Berlin to catch a flight to Venice. I met Zack in Berlin and we caught our flight.
It was my first time with one of the cheap airlines. From what I've heard, Ryanair is a whole other level of cheap and crazy, but we went with EasyJet and there were some clear differences from the norm. Overall, it was a good flight, and we got into Venice just fine after flying right over the Alps!
Coming in, we could see that every part of Northern Italy that wasn't a mountain was pretty clouded in. Unfortunately, the clouds never broke while we were there (except for a little bit in Bologna!), but we still had great, not cold weather the whole weekend!
Well, we landed in the thick fog in Venice, then jumped on a bus to take us to the island. As soon as we got there, you could get a sense of the charm. Once you leave the parking lot, there are no cars on the island. Just a pedestrian city, which is extremely comforting and unique. Then there are the canals and water. I'm not even going to try and describe it, because it is just so unique and awesome!!!
As I read up on Venice, there were so many people that attested to how much of a maze Venice is. Being there really made it evident that, even with a map and incredible sense of direction, there is going to be times you get lost here. Thankfully, Zack and I had no itinerary or place to be, so we just went with the flow. We even pulled out a coin and flipped for which direction we wanted to go, that made things even better. Well, we walked around through the many small streets, along the many gorgeous canals, and stumbled upon a few squares and gorgeous buildings in our meandering.
Well, we wandered around, jumped on the ferry to go throw our stuff down at the hostel, then wandered back over to the main islands to continue our random wandering. We also headed over to dinner. Well, unfortunately, the place we wanted to go kept their siesta going longer than what it said for their hours, so we did a little searching for a place to eat. Long story short - we got tourist trapped. It was ok, but you could tell they catered to tourists. Either way, the food was still good and we got recharged for a little night time walking.
After dinner, we kept walking around, and stumbled upon a square with an ice rink that was melting away. So what do we do? We have a snowball duel. I lose pretty assuredly, but then we meet two people from Atlanta and the guy joins in. After the fun, they show us this awesome store that would lead to fun the next day. And while we were waiting for the ferry back to the hostel, we met this dude named Jafar from Krakow and got to talking. He was a real chill, nice dude and made for quite the great random encounter!
The next day, we headed to the awesome store. We walked in, and were greeted by a sweet old Italian lady, who was selling 1.5L bottles of wine for €4. How. Awesome. Zack and I both got one as our treat for the day. With our drink of choice in hand, we continued wandering. We stumbled upon a great book store, and then made our way over to the island of Murano, which is known for its glass blowing. Our wandering there led us to a glass-blowing company, which gave us a little tour and demonstration of the process. That was cool. Topped off with some gelato, we then made our way to the train station, and took our chariot up to Modena.
The whole background of this trip was for me to go visit my old roommate from OSU, Luca, and his girlfriend Maria. He's still studying at University of Bologna and they both live in Modena. We met up with Luca at the train station in Bologna and headed up to Modena for the weekend.
As a side note, we rode with Italo, one of the train companies, up to Bologna. This was quite the luxurious experience. And dare I say it, but their train services rival, if not surpass, those of Deutsche Bahn. Craziness.
When we got there, we learned about an awesome cultural difference that Italy has. Well, we were hungry, so we went to a bar, and learned about Aperitivo. Essentially, the bar puts out food and snacks for the patrons free of charge. You go there and drink, and they give you food to go with it. HOW AWESOME IS THAT! And how has the U.S. not picked up on this? It was awesome.
Through the weekend, we got a nice walking tour of Modena, a little insight into the history of the city, got to see the house that Enzo Ferrari started Ferrari in, got a tour of the Ferrari Museum (with a discount off of the discounted price thanks to some new connections at Ferrari ;-) they had some amazing, AMAZING cars on display), and had plenty of amazing food and drink.
Alongside the amazing pizza, tortellini and tortelloni (there's a difference!), and mortadella, Me, Zack, Luca, Maria, and our new friend Stella went to a restaurant and had gnocco e tigelle (unique to Modena) for dinner with some good wine. Oh man was it good.
Sunday we headed to Bologna to check out the city. And, for all you readers out there, the bologna sandwich meat that is infamous in the USA, is a derivation of the same type of meat (called mortadella), that originates from the City of Bologna. Fun fact.
We had some fun learning about the city and its history, along with some history of Italy, climbed up one of the churches and got a glimpse from above from the main square and the mountains/hills in the area, walked through a street market with some very interesting and probably illegal memorabilia, and had some AWESOME pizza.
Unfortunately, Zack and I couldn't stay longer. Luca and Maria were absolutely amazing hosts and shared a lot with us about their city, region, and country. I can't wait to see them again!!!
Zack and I caught our train back to Venice, then our plane back to Berlin. We got in super late, so we met up with Katherine and Pat at a bar and watched the tail end of some NFL Playoffs. My train wasn't til 5am, so we wandered around Berlin, tried to find a bar, and ended up going to this empty 'club' and had some drinks. Yes I may have been falling asleep at the table, but it was still a great way to kill some time, and meet some random British dudes.
Overall an awesome, beautiful, culinary weekend. I can't wait to get back to Italy and explore it more!!!
Venice - Thoughts
As most travelers, websites, gurus, and whathaveyou will say, Venice is an absolutely gorgeous city! The pedestrians-only atmosphere paired with the gorgeous canals and constant water influence really creates a unique place to be, and I'm extremely happy that I got to see it before it goes underwater...
I really loved it when we were just wandering around with no goal. It's an easy city to get lost in, and when you have a target/time constraint, it's going to lead to some frustrations. But, I am not sure I'll be going back any time soon.
It is pretty much based on a tourist trap, and in a way, feels like every other European city. I am extremely glad we visited in the winter because there was barely anyone there. I overheard some Gondolier saying that there's about 50-60,000 people that live in Venice, and there are around 25 million people that visit it every year. Imagining it in the summer season is terrifying. And honestly, it can really be seen in a day.
That said, that is MY opinion. Everyone has different tastes and different ideas of beauty/relaxing/enjoyable/etc. I encourage you to visit it and let me know how wrong I may be. And hey, who knows. Maybe I visited it at the wrong time or just didn't truly appreciate it. That's entirely possible.
Italy - Languages
I've never taken Italian before. Although I have some background in Spanish, that's a whole different language with some similarities to Italian.
Well, I find it crazy how I can come to a country, not speak the language, and still communicate so well with new and old friends because of their prior language training. It makes me feel good that I can converse well with new people from another country. Meeting new people with such a variety of backgrounds really helps to shape people and expose them to new cultures, which I am EXTREMELY thankful that I have the chance to do this.
But I feel bad that I can't speak their language... Granted, as long as communication lines are there and working, there isn't really a problem. But I felt like a) a fish out of water and b) a little ignorant because I had absolutely no clue what was going on when there was Italian being spoken. Long story short, it's added to my list of languages to learn next.
English - My Reservations
When I'm in public, I feel self conscious about speaking English, and essentially about being an American. I feel like our 'culture' is so distributed in the world, and with the stigma that American tourists usually give a bad impression, I feel self conscious that I might be roped in with those. Granted, sometimes it is the easiest or the only way to communicate with others, but I feel like I shouldn't be speaking it.
I feel like this is a very irrational reservation, but I have it.
America - Progress
Lately, and through lots of great conversations with Zack, I've been expressing my doubts about my country. Granted, I am not the most informed or knowledgeable person there is. But from the things that I know, and what is going on in our country, namely our government, I am not pleased or optimistic. And doing this with a history major and someone well versed in our country's past is a tough thing.
Zack's go to saying is 'Americas not the best, but were getting better!'. And honestly, I probably should feel that way too, but with what is going on and the status of our government, I have a hard time believing things are on the up and up.
No country is perfect, as I am learning. Every country has their downfalls and weaknesses, that is guaranteed no matter when and where you are in history. But I'm not optimistic about the USA, and that saddens me.
Beards - Leadership
So Zack and I were boarding the plane in Venice, and somehow we got to the topic of beards, and if there is a correlation between the facial hair status of a leader and their positive impact on their role and on the world.
Long story short: Beards won.
Argument - A First Stand
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I've never been one to argue. I'm just learning that taking a stand and having an opinion different than others is healthy, constructive, how it should be, and a good thing. Well, I think I had my first action of that recently.
Something came up where the other person felt strongly about something that happened and the beliefs/ideas/motives behind it. After having to think about it for a bit (I hate not being good at thinking on my feet), I assembled my ideas and presented them to explain my reasoning/motives/ideas/etc.
It may seem trivial, but I am really proud of myself for this. I showed myself that I can a) have my own opinions, b) keep my own opinions, and c) present them in a reasonable way. Go me.
Up Next
The internship search CONTINUES!!! These exclamation points are points are for emphasis, not excitement. A couple small developments here and there, but nothing is final yet. I'll be calling more companies here in the next couple days to hopefully get some kind of decision. But other than that, it keeps going and going and go....
Next week we've got a seminar in Frankfurt, where everyone from the program will be meeting up! I'm really excited for this. There's a ton of people I haven't seen since before we left for language school, so I'm excited to catch up with all of them. That paired with being in Frankfurt, and having evenings to ourselves, I think we're gonna have a great time.
Beard Update
I'm only like a week and a half from a year-long beard!
Original Publish Date: January 14th, 2014