Facciamo un giro?

After a long weekend of studying, also known as watching movies and eating pasta in Mallory Warner's "dorm" room, I made Maried get out of her (Mallory's) house to take a giro with me.  This concept is completely foreign to all Americans.  At any time of day you will find hundreds of Italians roaming the streets taking a "giro" or a walk.  It doesn't matter if it is a weekend, a Tuesday morning or a Thursday night.  There is no predetermined destination, no ending point and most of the time nothing at all get accomplished.  No errands, no shopping, no buisness deals, nothing. But why would you just go walking around the city you ask? Why not?  Most of the time when I would go for a walk at home with my mom our destination would be Starbucks.  A reward for making it the few blocks at a slightly fast pace.  Here in Italy, they just stroll, look in a few store windows, maybe bump into a friend also taking a giro and share a few words or perhaps a cigarette, or sit on a bench or pause in a square to watch the other people taking their giros.  While most of the time people in giro infuriate me while I am running to work or a class late or trying to get to the store before it closes at the ungodly hour  of 8:30pm, I decided that I needed to start participating in this cultural phenomemnon and see how it feels.  

Maried and I started our giro in Piazza Maggiore, the main square in Bologna.  It had been snowing all day long but still there were people everywhere just enjoying the outdoors and walking under the portici and looking at the snow.  Apparently when it snows in Italy it is perfectly acceptable to walk around with an umbrella so we giro-ed back to my apartment to grab one.  After we slowly meandered the streets we found ourselves seated at an outdoor cafe, gaurded from the snow by the portici ,sipping on a spritz and munching on a few chips.  Now I understand exactly why these Italians are so into their giros! Cheers!

Baci xx

Giorni della merla

So as most of you know, I tutor a little boy, Brando, here in Italy.  I have to take the bus to the bottom of their street and then the mom or grandpa picks me up and drives me up into the hills of Bologna, through their gated street to their mansion where they feed me juice, fruit and amazing snacks like nutella and bread.  I know, hard life.  Anyways the reason I am boring you all with the details of my fabulous life is that each day on our drive to the house I get to have a nice conversation with the family.  Today I was talking with the grandfather and he told me something really interesting.  The last three days in January, the 29, 30, and 31, are called "i Giorni della merla" and are said to be the coldest days of the year.  This translates as "Days of the Blackbird".  

According to a legend, a white bird and her chicks were cold during these days and took refuge from the cold in a chimney.  When they came out three days later on February 1st, they were black.  That is how the blackbird was created and from that day on, all blackbirds were always completely black.  Another thing people day about these days is that everything turn black like the blackbird because the fire is always going and the smoke turn everything black.  That was the version that Brando's grandfather told me. 

Baci xx

Spain, where even the homeless and taxi drivers are hot.

Spain almost started off and ended in disaster.  Mallory had a few friends in from Florence the night before we left.  We were going to take them out for a while but be back home by 1:00am at the latest.  Well....1:00am turned into 3:00am and then that turned into about 4:00am before we all got into bed.  I set three alarms for 7:00am the next morning.  I slept through them all.  At around 7:15 I was literally shaken awake by the prostitute screaming "GET UP! YOU HAVE TO GO TO MADRID!"  So what did I do? Did I run to the cab station? Did I call Mallory and Maried to make sure they were up? No, I got in the shower.  Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.  Then as I am getting dressed I was frantically calling the two of them while brushing my teeth.  Maried and I had a conversation that went like this:

Me: Maried are you awake?

Maried: Yeah, whats up?

Me: We have to get on a plane in an hour an a half.

Maried: Yeah, I know.

Me: What are you doing?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Maried: Nothing, is someone brushing their teeth?

Me: I AM! WE HAVE TO GET IN A CAB NOW!!!

Maried: Okay, someone should call Ellen.

Me: THIS IS ELLEN!

Maried: oh, I will see you at Mals in 5 minutes.

So then I called Mallory, who hung up on me and rolled over and went back to sleep.  As I am running out the door to try and wake up Mallory, my roommate Stefano stops me and asks me where his shoe is. Really? Could he not see that I was leaving? So then I found myself on my hands and knees in my roommates room looking for a shoe, that wasn't even mine, under their beds at 7:00 in the morning. Apparently he HAD to find that shoe right then.  But no worries, we found it.  

Meanwhile, Maried and Mallory woke up and we got into a cab at 8:10 for our 9:20 flight out of Bologna.  I still have no idea how we did it but we made it on the plane with only one casualty, my gloves.  And we got the first row on the plan and promptly passed out even though Mal thought it was the most turbulent flight she had ever been on but somehow managed to sleep through the entire flight. She only woke up to grab my arm and tell me how scared she was. Senza problema. 

Madrid turned out to be amazing.  I had no idea what to expect but it was awesome.  Maried booked us a hostel right in the middle of Madrid on an adorable street close to Tapas bars, discos, and the main attractions of the city.  The first day we strolled down Paseo de la Castellana which led us to Real Madrid's stadium, Santiago Bernabeu, where Maried got her Real Madrid jersey and we picked up the tickets for the following day.  

After that we went out and got Tapas with our roommate at the Hostel.  She turned out to be a 35-year-old Australian who lived in London and acted like she was 16.  Not fun.  But the food was sent from heaven.  Well thats what I was told.  Most of it consisted of meat but the potatoes and bread with cheese was delicious.  We also got our first pitcher of Sangria.  

Later that night, we grabbed a drink at a bar before we headed out to a disco called Kapital, a seven floor disco with go-go dancers, lights, and tons of different lounges.  Needless to say, it was crazy and the night was just starting when we got there at 2:00am.  Unfortunately, our heels we all wore ended our night a little early and we crawled home.  

Standing in Plaza Mayor

Note: Every single Spaniard from the ages of 18-42 were beautiful.  Not joking.  None of us saw one bad looking man the entire time.  Hence the title of this post.  If you are looking for a place to study abroad purely for the eye-candy, Madrid is the place to go.  It even made me rethink my choice of learning Italian.  Okay, not entirely, but for a moment I was praying that I could remember even one word that I learned in high school Spanish.  All I could remember was adios.  So therefore, I didn't meet one of these beautiful men because I couldn't even say Hola.

Plaza Mayor

The next day we just wandered around being lazy, seeing the city and eating bocadillos, a spanish sammie (aka sandwich).  Then we went and saw REAL MADRID play Mallorca.  It was sweet, but a lot more tame then the first soccer game I saw in Italy.  Spaniards are a lot more civilized when it comes to soccer.  Real won and we celebrated by getting paella and another pitcher of sangria.  The next day we went to the market, Mercado San Miguel, and ate lunch and then headed to the huge park in Madrid, Parque del Retiro.  It was beautiful. We were so in awe of the park that we lost track of time and realized that we had about 2 hours before our flight took off.

Maried and Mallory at Palacio Real

  

We literally ran through the park and jumped on the metro only to get off at Terminal 4 at the airport when we should have gotten off 2 metro stops earlier at Terminal 1.  At Terminal 4 Mallory bitched out a metro lady for not understanding her while Maried and I just watched.  Mallory thought that the only way she could communicate with the woman was talking to her in English with a Spanish accent:

Metro Lady: You don't want to understand me.

Mallory: I want to understand you, but you don't want to understand me!

After paying her off, aka the ticket machine, we made it through to Terminal 4 only to pay again to get back on the metro to terminal 1.  Just FYI, Ryanair flies out of Terminal 1 in Madrid.  So now we were running through the airport HomeAlone style and checked into our gate at 4:00 for out 4:20 flight.  Again, I have no idea how we did it.  So we ended out trip how we started it, me almost in tears, running  for our flight and passing out the plane.  Senza delirio.

Baci xx

Old Friends

So this past week some old family friends, Cally and her mom Kim, were visiting Italy for the week.  I met up with them in Florence for the night and it was amazing.  It came at a really good time.  I had just been getting a little homesick from all my friends coming back to Bologna and seeing their families, so getting to see Cally and Kim was great.  We met at the train station and stopped by their hotel (which had an amazing view of the Duomo) to drop off some of the goodies they got from the leather market in Florence.  Then we just took a casual stroll around Florence to the Ponte Vecchio and snapped some pictures and caught up with each other since it had been so long.  All in all Cally and Kim seemed to be enjoying their vacation with minimal jet-lag.  Then we made our way to the cutest restaurant right by the Ponte Vecchio that was situated below street level.  It was called Buca dell'Orafo and only had enough room for about 30-40 people.  They specialized in Tuscan food and it was amazing.  Their house wine was great and the food was fabulous.  Over dinner we shared a few stories about crazy ex-boyfriends, college friends and how Cally and I have changed over the years.  It all ended with the most fabulous desert ever.  I forget what the actual name of it was called but the waiter called it "surprise".  And it was a wonderful surprise.  Then we strolled back to the train station where I caught a train back to Bologna.  It was such a nice evening and I was so glad to see a few familiar faces.  Kim and Cally were about halfway through their trip when I met up with them.  I hope the two of you had a great rest of your trip and made it home safely!

Baci xx

This one's for you dad!

So me and my friends are poor.  Well not really, but kinda.  Not poor in the sense that we have to come back to the United States (much to our family and friends dismay) but poor in the sense that we want to go places like Madrid, Spain and are pretending that we have no money at all to spend.  So today, after a long day of studying we decided to make dinner for a break.  We realized though, that we had absolutely nothing to eat at all.  So we dug to the bottom of our purses and got together €7,50 for our dinner. Mallory wanted a snack, I wanted bread, and Maried wanted to eat.  So Mal and I set out to the local grocery store COOP (pronounced "COPE" not "co-op" how you Americans would think).  Excited about our little challenge, on the way out the door Mal exclaimed "I kinda like being poor!"  Maried and I quickly agreed.

Armed with self-control and only the money we brought, we settled on pasta (€0,64), sugo arrabbiata (€0,99), and popcorn (€1,12).  Then we didn't know what to do.  We came with more money. Could we spend it?  With our future health and girlish figures in mind, we decided to grab some fruit and got two apples (€1,05) and two oranges (€1,50) our biggest splurge.  For all you math majors out there our grand total came to €5,30.  And for all you English majors, I did not mess up all the periods.  We use commas to write our numbers over here! Sneakily, I tried to convince Mal to let us buy peach tea juice boxes, "They're only 48 cents Mal!" but she had more self-control that I did and firmly set her foot down. So now we have a snack, fruit and dinner for €1,76 a person.  And with our remaining €2,20 we might even be able to eat in Madrid!

Note: We are working on a paypal account for all of you readers to donate money so that we can eat in the future. Updates coming soon. :)

baci xx

New Years Resolutions

So I know I am a little late on this one but that's because I haven't made any yet.  I am sure some of you have and have already broken them.  All the normal resolutions ran through my head this year: drink more water, run faster, eat healthier, do more for yourself, blah blah blah.  But this year I cannot think of anything that I really wanted to do until I came across a little article about Brazil.  Each year people in Brazil celebrate nine resolutions: renovation, prosperity, peace, happiness, friends, family, love, Brazil and the future.  I really liked these probably because they were not actual actions to take part in like losing weight but things to celebrate and appreciate in life.  Obviously I made one change to these resolutions, I replaced Brazil with Italy.  OBVIOUSLY!  I remember when I was younger I would always make resolutions like "Be skinny" or "Don't let my sisters use my things".  But this year I am really embracing the idea of celebrating and enjoying life.  I don't know where these deep feelings or ideas are coming from.  Probably due to the fact that I am writing this at 4:00 am because I can't sleep and have had way to much time to think about these things.  I think that everyone could benefit though from taking a step back from their lives and enjoying a cup of coffee, or take a walk, snap a few pictures, or just spend time with the people that you care about.  I am going to try to do just that.  I am only here in Italy for a sure 6 months more.  That scares me to death. I want to be able to enjoy my time and soak it all in before I leave because who knows when I am coming back.  I know, I know. I said that the last time I was in Italy and two years later I am living here for a year. But sooner than I know it, I am going to be shoved into the real world and I am going to have to get a job like most of my friends already have and start living a real life.  No more bunk beds, going out on Thursday nights, waking up at 9 or 10 every morning, and no more tests (thank god!).  That is what really is scaring me. The real world. So until I enter that real world, I am going to enjoy my fake life in Italy by celebrating it.  Come join me if you can!  

Baci xx

La Torta

 Yesterday was my friend Sarah's birthday.  Since you can't make your own cake on your birthday I offered to make it.  No one knows why. I have never made any sort of cake or anything in my life without a box.  Brownies? No. Cake? No. Pie? Absolutely not!  The closest I come to baking in Italy was the time when I made a box of Funfetti for our American party. The word "funfetti" has now become my roommates favorite word. Luckily for me though, Fabio was home.  I have seen my roommates make a cake before and they even made one for me on my own birthday so it couldn't be too hard. Right? If 8 guys could make a cake, why couldn't I?  So I set to it with the help of Fabio.  He sent me to the store to get the ingredients that we didn't already have: cacao, milk, eggs, and the best ingredient Nutella.  So I was already a little relaxed, if the cake itself sucked, maybe the nutella would save it. Then I got to the store.  There were 3 kinds of cacao. Which one did I want? I went to grab my phone.  Perfect, I forgot it it home.  Smart. Now I just had to guess. Later I would find out that I picked the right one.  Then after waiting in line at the check out for about 15 minutes (anyone who has been to COOP, the local cheap grocery store, can relate) I realized that I might need a pan to cook it in.  But Fabio didn't mention anything.  Did that mean we had some at home left over from the last time someone made cake?  I bet.  But then images of the 

morning after New Years Eve came flashing through my mind.  Okay, Ellen.  They threw away picture frames, lamps, chairs, a television, pictures that used to be on the wall, clothing and even a garbage can itself.  What made me think that a tin baking dish would have been left behind?  Just to be safe I got out of line, walked all the way to the back corner and grabbed a tin.  Just in case.  When I got home Fabio was very proud that I had remembered to get the tin.  Lets just say, after New Years we are a little short on supplies.  So for the next long, drawn out 5 minutes, I measured.  I thought this process was going to take me hours.  But literally 5 minutes later, I was stirring away and was done!  Easy!  For those of you who would like to replicate what later became a masterpiece (see picture below) here is the recipie:

250 g of flour

150 g of sugar

75 g cacao

300 ml of milk

1 packet of lievito (16 g of baking powder)

Jar of Nutella

powdered sugar

After I mixed it all, Fabio had put butter on the pan and I poured it in.  Then I just shoved it into the over at 190 degrees Celsius and let it cook.  Thank god Fabio set a timer or else it would have been doomed.  I promptly went to my room and started studying (aka watching Sex and the City season 2) and completely forgot.  Fabio must have known that was going to happen when he left and set the timer. It was perfect.  I took it out (without oven mitts because we are currently without those too) and let it cool so that I could slice it in half and add the nutella.  Let just saw that my first cake was a hit!  Everyone loved it.  The only thing missing from the top of the cake were candles.  So after we sang happy birthday to Sarah we held a lighter over the cake and had her blow it out! Overall, it was a success.  And now I know how to bake!  Julia Child, watch out!

Another photo in the red room.  This is becoming tradition every dinner party.