The Road to Rome: 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.