And here it is!

Finally, the internet is up again!

Here are some of the pictures I took on my weekend trip to Tuscany:

View of the Duomo from the Campanile (bell tower)
Oooh, aaah, Tuscan light!
The veiw from the hotel room I shared with my little sister

Blue sky! It rained and was completely overcast for most of the weekend. This too is the Duomo
Inside of a church built in 700. No, not 1700, 700.
Man with pigeons.

I'm posting this picture, because there's a semi-ironic story that goes with it: my host family and I went to their friend's house for dinner Saturday night, in a small town in the rural area just outside of Florence. We had a very traditional Tuscan meal, so of course we had pasta, with some kind of meat. It was really good, but I couldn't recognize what kind of meat it was, so I asked Margherita, the daughter of the family. She spent 6 months in Las Vegas on an exchange, and speaks English. She replied "pigione" but I didn't make the cognate connection. So she said it in English: pigeon. The image that popped into my head is the one shown above: the cute old Italian man, feeding the pigeons. And the pigeons in Florence are polite, they're not noisy, don't fly too close to you, and there isn't pigeon excrement everywhere, like you would expect. My little sister was a little shocked that we were eating pigeon, too, but hey, it was good.

Since I took the pictures below on Saturday night as well, I'll contine describing the day. We spent Saturday afternoon in Florence, then drove out into the Tuscan countryside just as the sun was setting. By the time we got to the friend of the family's house, it was completely dark. The friends of the family are named Simonetta and Luca, by the way. We went into the house, chatted for a little bit, and then all piled into my family's car, and went to a vineyard. It was dark, so we didn't actually see the vines, but the owner of the vineyard showed how they make wine, and where they store all of it. It was actually pretty interesting, although I don't remember much of what she said. I was too busy thinking about Poe's "Cask of Amontillado." All of the barrels are stored underground, in windy hallways and caves under the villa.

These are the grapes they use for Vin Santo. According to the owner of the vineyard, the Vin Santo produced at her vineyard was judged by the wine gurus to be the best in the world. She let me taste it. It was the first time I tried Vin Santo, and it was really really sweet, but good.

My host parents being photogenic.
Ponte Vecchio! I knew that Ponte Vecchio existed, and that there were little shops on it, but I didn't know they were all jewelry shops!
My host father in the last stretches of a Marathon that he ran while we were in Florence

I have SO, SO much to say about the trip to Florence, but we're having dinner soon! Soo, I'll just write about the highlights.

Friday morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and were out of the house earlier than we expected, only to run into traffic. My host parents decided to drive to Florence instead of taking the train, which was fine by me! Taking the train to Florence takes about 4 hours. When my host father drives, it takes 3. We got to Florence, parked the car, and took a taxi to our hotel. Our hotel was in the Piazza Signoria. It wasn't really a hotel, though, it was more like a bed and breakfast. Without the breakfast. There were only 6 rooms, and we had 2 of them. We put our things in the hotel room, then went to the Piazza Santa Croce, where there's an old, important church. I don't remember details, and you really cant blame me, considering there's an old, important church on every corner in Florence. I remember that Michelangelo was buried there, and that it was the first Monastery for the Franciscan monks.

We saw several other statues, etc, and went to dinner at Florence's oldest trattoria. A trattoria is a small, small restaurant, with home cooking. The place we went was so well known, my host father made reservations a month ago! You can't eat there without reservations. I sampled several typical Tuscan dishes, including a specific kind of bruschetta, which I ate several times that weekend, only to find out later it was chicken innards all mashed up, blended with vegetables. We did some window shopping, and walked back to the hotel, and went to bed.

Saturday, we went sightseeing, and I saw Michelangelo's David. The real one. Made by Michelangelo himself. That was probably the highlight of my sightseeing, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. After all the sightseeing, we returened to the hotel, to rest. I wasn't tired, so I wandered around the city by myself. Of course, I got lost. I asked a random guy for directions, and he asked me out to dinner. Really, mom, I think it might be a good idea to dye my hair brown. Anyway, I got back to my hotel just fine, my host family and I took a taxi to get our car, and drove to Luca and Simonetta's house. A funny thing about Tuscans is they don't have a hard C sound. Instead of saying Kuh, they say Huh, so Luca isn't Luca, he's Luha. I found the phrase "che cos'è" particularly entertaining, because when Tuscans say it, it sounds like "Hey, José."

Sunday morning, we slept in a little, got breakfast at a little bar, and walked around a bit. I went to Mass while my host mom and sister did some shopping, and my host father ran a marathon. After I found my host mom and sister after Mass, we waited and watched for my host father, to cheer him on. Finally, after changing our position a few times, he passed us. He had run about 24 miles by the time we saw him, but he was still able to smile and wave and yell at us. My little sister ran along side him for a bit, too. He kept running, and my host mom, sister, and I went in search of a good restaurant for lunch. We found a little trattoria, where the tortellini were homemade, then we went and climbed the campanile. The timing was just right, we got to the top just as the clouds were clearing, and the sun was beginning to set. The veiws were completely breathtaking, better than any of the art or sculptures I had seen all weekend. It was the perfect way to end my stay in Tuscany, but I know I'll be going back, hopefully more than once!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. I enjoyed every moment of it, but I wished my family could have been there too. Perhaps the best part of the whole weekend was when my parents introduced me to people: they would explain that I was the American girl staying with them, but then my host father said to someone "but she speaks Italian." Aha! According to my host father, I speak Italian! Woo!

Thanksgiving is coming..

..And I'll be in Florence!

So I won't be able to post anything for a couple of days.

But in the spirit of the holiday, I figured I'd mention some of the things I'm thankful for.

1. I'm thankful for my Mom and Dad. There's no way I can write just how grateful I am to them without being sappy, so I'll just say that they rock. They're probably the best parents in the world, honestly. Mom and Dad, thanks for EVERYTHING!

2. I'm thankful for Italy. It has taught me oh so much, and I'm sure it'll teach me more in rest of the time I stay here. Plus, Italy has great food.

3. I'm thankful for Rotary, who sent me on this exchange!

4. I'm thankful for the Cuccirelli family. They are incredibly generous, nice, funny, and a great family to be living with. I'm SO glad that they're my host family!

5. I'm thankful for friends. I'm thankful for the ones I left behind, and the ones I've made so far.

Whoops, I have more to say, becuase I'm thankful for a heck of a lot of things, but the bell just rang! (I'm at school.)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Coming Soon...

Really, I promise I'll post about Florence, and everything else!

But my internet at home is down. Again. I'm in the school's library right now.

In the mean time, here's the recipe for Pasta Frolla, a traditional Tuscan dessert:

125 g. Sugar
125 g. Butter
1 Egg
1 Egg yolk
300 g. Flour

Top with any kind of jelly or jam. Strawberry and Apricot are my personal favorites.

Bake at 150°C for approx. 20 minutes.

A real Tuscan woman gave me this recipe, but my host mother says she uses a little more sugar and flour, and adds another egg yolk.

Hope everyone had a very thankful, blessed, and delicious Thanksgiving!

Mass at the Duomo, part Deux

I had a very productive Friday. I cleaned my whole room, folded 2 loads of laundry, reorganized my armadi (closets), cleaned my bathroom, and cleaned out my purse and backpack. Everything's clean and organized, at least for the time being.

Friday evening, my host parents were "having some friends over for dinner." My host mother bought a lasagna for my sister and I, and we had dinner in the mother-in-law suite, with my host father's mother. As we were carrying in the food (it was a catered dinner) my host mother made it kind of clear that my host sister and I were to stay out of sight. My little sister and I were eating dinner as the friends arrived, some 25 of them. After they had all gone into the dining room, I snuck across the foyer into the computer room. After about half an hour, Marta came up and told me my host mother wanted me. I was wearing a grimy hoodie and running pants, so I ran to my room, changed my clothes, brushed my hair, and put on some makeup. I went into the dining room, and stood by my host mother, who was chatting with some other women. After a minute or so, she turned to me, and said "You have to try everything!" The dinner was all finger food, and my host mother litterally dragged me around the table by my arm, insisting I try one of everything. The food was pretty good, but there was too much effort put into the presentation rather than the flavor. I decided to stick around for dessert, which was fantastic. There were little apple pie squares, which surprised me. Apple pie supposedly doesn't exist in Italy. I ended up going to bed pretty late, probably 12:30ish.

Saturday, I left school at 11 to pack, as I was going to Milan, to stay with Kristen. I packed everything I needed for the weekend into my backpack, and walked to the station to catch the 12:40 train. There was a couple making out in the seat right beside me, which I found rather rude. I moved seats, and ended up sitting next to a guy who was listening to his iPod, singing. I've ridden the train 3 times, and each time, there's been a singing man somewhere on the train.
Kristen and I met at 1:30, as planned, in front of the Lindt store in the station. Another American student, not with Rotary, came with Kristen. Her name is Sasha, and she's from Anchorage, Alaska! We got along quite well, but sadly, she's leaving in December.

We went to a Turkish Kebap place for lunch, then bought hot chocolate, because it was so cold. Taylor, another Rotary exchangee who lives in Milan, met us in front of the Duomo. We went to a Vodafone store, and Taylor bought a phone. After that transaction was done, we were going to go shopping, as I need a winter coat! Then, Sasha saw a girl wearing a coat that she really liked, and she asked the girl where she bought it. To make a long story short, we went on a hunt for said coat, found it, and Sasha bought it. By that time, it was nearly 5:30, which is when Mass at the Duomo starts.

We all went to Mass, which was beautiful, as usual. It was especially nice, as they had an actual choir! All the Masses that I've been to here in Italy have only had one cantor. The choir was really good, too, and we sang the same Alleluia and the same Sanctus that we sing back in Virginia! But we said the Creed in Latin, which I've never heard before. After Mass, we went to a McDonalds, for coffee and cannoli. Taylor got hot chocolate, and spilled it all over the floor. I went to tell someone, and it took me at least 5 minutes to explain what had happened, as I don't know the verb "to spill" in Italian. I kept repeating "My friend bought hot chocolate, and now it's on the floor." The girl behind the counter gave me a funny look, and when she finally realized what I was trying to say, she pointed to someone, and said "Talk to him!" A man with a mop was standing right behind me. I began to say "Hot chocolate" when he said "I already cleaned it up." We left McDonalds, and Kristen and I returned to her apartment.

The family had made plans to have dinner at a friends house, Kristen, her host parents, siblings, a cousin, and I all piled into a station wagon, and headed for the friend's house. The friend's were nice, and had 2 sons, one was 14, named Alberto, the other was 19, Umberto. There were seperate tables for the adults and the children, so the two boys, Kristen, her host sister, Benedetta, host brother Paolo, cousin, Giuseppe, and I ate in the kitchen. We had lasagna, which I thought was funny. I've been in Italy for almost 3 months, hadn't had it for the whole time I've been here, and now I've eaten it 2 nights in a row! We managed to carry on a conversation in Italian the whole night, which made me happy. And, I found out Umberto likes President Bush! He's probably the only Italian who does, though. At midnight, Umberto suggested we go out for coffee, so we went to a bar, drank a coffee, then walked around Milano a bit. Kristen and I didn't get back to her apartment until 1:30ish, and we were exhausted.

This morning (Today being Sunday) Kristen and I got up at 8, to make the family pancakes. The pancakes turned out alright, but we put chocolate chips on all of them, and the chocolate burned. After breakfast, I realized I was still in my PJs, and we were leaving in 10 minutes for a Rotary concert. I managed to be washed, brushed, dressed, and packed in under 10 minutes! We went to Milano's auditorium, and met the rest of the Rotary exchangees there, along with some of the Italian kids who went to the US last year, and Silvia came too. The concert was good, Mozart, but a little long for my taste. After the concert, we all went out for pizza, then went bowling. It's always good to see the rest of the Rotary kids, we all get along really well. My host family told me they were going to try to come for the bowling, but they weren't able to make it, so I got a ride home from Alberto.

While we were in the car, he told me that in December, all the Rotary kids are going to another concert, in the Duomo, and we have front row seats! Then he mentioned that December 10, he and I are going to go into Milano again for another Rotary meeting, only this time, I'm going to be the one giving the presentation. I guess I'd better get started on that, then!

It's getting late, and I'm exhausted, so I'm heading to bed!

Oh, I changed the settings on the blog, and now anyone can comment!

In Piemonte, si mangia da Dio!

In Piemonte, you eat like God.

That is, if God likes to have 4 hour meals!

Today, my family and I went to a place near Torino, in Piemonte. Every year, around the time of the Day of the Dead, they have a family reunion. They meet at the cemetery, honor the dead, and then go eat until they can't eat any more.

I'll start by describing the meal: we arrived at the restaurant at about 12:45. There were about 30 of us, alltogether, 10 people at 3 tables. At each table were 2 platters of bread, like the one below. Only the picture below is after we had eaten most of the bread, if you can believe it. Each table went through 4 platters of bread!!

And at each table, there were 2 bottles of wine. Everyone had a glass of red and a glass of white. I don't remember how many bottles of wine each table drank, but I assure you it was more than 2.
After everyone had sat down, eaten their fill of bread, and sipped some wine, the appetizer came. Well, one of the appetizers.

The name of the first appetizer escapes me, but I know it was raw ground veal. Not bad, but not my favorite, either!
The second appetizer was tartufi with melted cheese. Tartufi are like radishes, and I think the cheese was Fontina, I'm not sure though. The bump in the middle is a boiled egg, with a runny yolk. You're supposed to break the egg, and mix the yolk with the melted cheese. This was better than the raw veal, but not as good as the rest of the meal!
This is how parmeggiano is served: grated fresh! Delicious!
Finally, we were finished with appetizers, and started on the first course. These were spinach and ricotta filled ravioli.
And after the ravioli, we had gnocchi in cheese sauce. Done with first course, on to second!
Veal in some kind of sauce, with an unrecognizeable vegetable. I was full by then, so I didn't eat much of it. And to continue the pattern of 2 parts to each course, we kept eating!
Can you guess what that is? It looks kind of tasty, doesn't it? They're called "lumache" in Italian. I ate one, and then someone said "In French, it's called 'escargot.'" I didn't eat any more.
My favorite part of the meal! Dessert! Budino, gelato, and cream puffs with chocolate sauce!

And because you can't have just one dessert, we had little platters of pastries, too. Thankfully, the meal ended there.
That's me, between my nonna and nonno. I love them!!
My Aunt Chicca (pronounced "Kika") and older sister, Camilla.
Again, Nonna and Nonno.
Monte Rosa, Italy's tallest mountain! I think.

The views were breathtaking. My camera cant capture the light, and the smells, and everything else! It was a beautiful, comfortably cool day, too.
View from the car!
This is what Italian cemeteries look like.. Everyone has a family tomb.
Another view of the cemetery
Last night, Saturday, my other nonna (Paolo's mother, not Giovanna's) had an art exhibition at the local museum. This is one of the pictures I took. Part of the exhibition was a really big room, filled with pieces of cloth. The idea was to take a piece of cloth, cut off a bit, write your name on a tag, staple the tag to the cloth, and use a clothespin to hang it up on a wire. You could do whatever you wanted with the rest of the cloth. I saw a lot of people leaving the museum with bundles and bundles of cloth! I didn't qute understand the concept of the exhibiton, but it was fun!

I have to cut this post short, my host mom needs the computer. A domani!

This is how they learn English

None of them have any idea what they're singing about.

It's Been a Long Time

From October 25 to November 5, I stayed with my second host family as my first host family went to NYC. A lot happened! I spent a weekend in Milan, with Kristen. We had Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off, (November 1, 2, and 3) so on Friday, Ellen came to see Gallarate. She stayed until Sunday.

Monday of this week, I went to a Rotary meeting in Milan. At Rotary meetings, we have lunch or dinner, then there's a presentation. I went to the meeting with the past Youth Exchange Officer of my Rotary district. He was giving a presentation on Youth Exchange, and he asked me to go with him, just to say a few words about my exchange so far. Only, he didn't tell me I had to say anything, so that was a bit of a shock. There was an Italian girl there as well, Silvia, who went to a Rotary summer camp in Sweden. Silvia had a very bubbly personality, and was very nice. She lives in Milan, and offered to show me around, to the non-touristy places. I'm planning on taking her up on her offer! The food was good, too. We had risotto milanese, then vitello con pomodori e formaggio, and patate, and carciofo. Risotto milanese is rice with saffron, it's really good, but not one of my favorite Italian dishes. Vitello is veal, which we ate with tomatoes and cheese. That was delicious! We also had roasted potatoes, and I think a carciofo is an artichoke, but I've only ever eaten artichoke hearts. Whatever it is, it's tasty. Finally, for dessert, we had some kind of cake, with coffee ice cream inside, and whipped cream on top. Fantastico! After dinner, Alberto gave his presentation, then asked Silvia and I to come up and say something. Silvia had prepared a powerpoint, but unfortunately it didn't work! So she talked. She's probably the fastest speaker I've ever met. Alberto whispered that I didn't have to say much, then handed me the microphone. I told them where I was from, where I was staying, who I was staying with, and what kind of school I attend. I also mentioned that I arrived two months ago, without knowing very much Italian. It was all fine, until they started asking questions. Now, I understand 90% of what people say to me, but old Italian men tend to not ennnciate. At all. They were really difficult to understand! Thankfully, Alberto would repeat what they had said, and I would answer the question to the best of my ability. At the end of the meeting, everyone came over to Silvia and I to say goodbye. Many of the people complimented me on my Italian!! It was very flattering, and it's nice to know that I'm making progress!


When Ellen came, we went out Saturday night, for dinner and coffee. We went to a couple different coffee bars, and at one, I asked the barrista if he could make coffee with chocolate. He said he could try.. and I ended up with this:

It's a packet of instant hot chocolate, but instead of water, he used coffee. Italian coffee is much stronger than American coffee, and the amount is smaller. So the "caffè al cioccolato" was the consistency of pudding. It was quite.. interesting.


Going to Milano was quite an adventure. After school on Saturday, my host father dropped me off at the train station. I bought my tickets without any problem, then went to my platform to wait for the train. A train arrived, but it was a good 20 minutes early. Before I got on, I asked if it was the train to Porta Garibaldi, and the person I asked said it was, so I got on. The train to Porta Garibaldi takes 35 or 40 minutes, and it doesn't make any stops. After the train started, I realized it wasn't the direct train to Porta Garibaldi, it was the train to Piotello. The train to Piotello stops at Porta Garibaldi, but it also stops at every other station in between.. and it takes an extra half hour to get to Milano.

When I finally got to the station, I called Kristen, who was waiting at the station to meet me. She told me where she was, and I went to find her. Only she wasn't there. After 20 minutes and several phone calls, we found eachother. Kristen had made plans to meet Dorisanne and Meredith, two other Rotary Exchangees, for lunch. We didn't have time to stop at Kristen's house to leave my luggage there, but that was fine, it wasn't too heavy. We went to the Piazza del Duomo to meet them, and we saw this:

It was a huge parade of bagpipes. There were also drummers, and tambourines, and big gold horns shaped like the Loch Ness Monster. The music was fantastic, but I have no idea why they were in the Piazza del Duomo. Kristen and I listened to them while waiting for Dorisanne and Meredith, who, living up to the Italian standard, were 45 minutes late. When they finally got to the piazza, we went out for panzarotti, which is dough filled with mozzerella and tomatoes, then fried. Think calzone, only more doughy, and more fattening. After lunch, we went shopping, and then Kristen and I went back to her house to drop off my things. When we got back to the Piazza del Duomo, I decided to go to Mass in the Duomo. It was pretty fantastic. After I went to Mass, Kristen met me outside the Duomo. By then it was 6:30, and Dorisanne and Meredith had gone home. Kristen and I went out for gelato, then went strolling through the streets of Milano. We stumbled upon something that resembled a Renaissance fair. There were tents selling handmade jewelry, etc, and people dressed in costumes. It turned out to be Cappodanno Celtico, or the Celtic new year. It was a lot of fun, looking at the jewelry and swords, etc, but Kristen and I got hungry, and decided to go on a Mexican Food hunt. We ended up in a small Tex-Mex restaurant, with a waitress who must have had a bad day, because she was pretty grumpy. And the food wasn't that good, either. Afterwards, Kristen and I walked through the streets, window shopping. We got sundaes, too.

Sunday morning, Kristen and I made pancakes for her host family. They must have really liked them, although they put apples on them, and then maple syrup. After making pancakes and cleaning up, Kristen and I returned to Piazza del Duomo. We went shopping again, but didn't buy anything. Dorisanne and Meredith agreed to meet us at the Duomo, so Kristen and I started on our way, when we encountered another parade. The Celtics from the fair from the night before were marching through the streets, along with Romans. Again, I have no idea why, but it was entertaining!

The romans were chanting something as they walked, and their gladiator shoes made a lot of noise!
Here are the people from Cappodanno Celtico, who followed the Romans in the parade. There were horses, too.

After watching the parade, Kristen and I decided to go to the top of the Duomo. We bought tickets (4 euro to climb 300 stairs) and started the journey up. I counted the steps out loud, although I don't remember exactly how many there were. Kristen kept yelling at me good naturedly to keep quiet. We got to the top of the Duomo, and sat under a tower, talking. We waited at least an hour for Dorisanne, and then had to go, because we hadn't eaten, and I had a train to catch. We ate at McDonalds, then took the metro back to her house, picked up my stuff, and went to the train station. I barely caught my train, but even if I had, a train leaves every hour for Gallarate. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. I really enjoyed being able to carry on an actual conversation, and Kristen is probably the best travel companion ever.
Kristen sitting in a nook on top of the Duomo.
The golden statue of Mary at the very very top of the Duomo!