My SYA Italy Adventure

I have eaten out with my own family in Carmine's or Maggiano's several times to enjoy a lovely family style meal. Not going to lie, it led me to have some expectations on what it meant to eat "family style" like Italians do. Well, big surprise that I headed out to Nonna's with the family for the biggest home cooked meal I'd ever experienced. So, based on my expectations and what actually happened, I'd like to clarify what Italians consider family style: 1) You don't serve yourself if someone older than you wishes to serve you. When Nonna comes around with the pasta, you let her put it on your plate. 2) When you think the portion you want has been served to you and you say " basta, per favore! ", you're too late. Start by asking for un po'  and think ahead because after "stop" more ALWAYS comes. 3) If you finish something on your plate, it's license to get served more. If you're not that hungry, even if it's...

I am honestly the happiest girl in the world at the moment. Today was incredible. I had the lucky Sweet 16 ora- everywhere I went people were happy, and I think everything was perfect. I would like to acknowledge all the love I received today in the most amazing video ever ever ever!!! It was funny- I received the email early on today (about 10:15 here), but the internet was down at school! I finally viewed it later in the afternoon and was moved to tears. I didn't know whether to love you all for sending it and putting time into wishing me a happy birthday or hate you for making me miss you all so much! However, I reached a conclusion with the wise words of my Resident Director, "I think that's what love is; can't live with 'em and can't live without 'em." Allora , thank you all SO MUCH and please know how much it meant to me. When I got home from school today, I was not expecting anything more. As a matter of fact, I had no clue my birthday coul...

Wow. What an AMAZING past couple of days. As a school, we left Thursday morning on top of a huuuuge double decker coach bus to begin our orientation beach trip. We took the scenic drive to Sermoneta, a medieval city built in and on top of a cliff that is just as I could picture a medieval Italian city looking. There are unmarked streets and the pavement doesn't line up. There is a huge castle that is the city's #1 destination- but unfortunately it closes on Thursdays :/ However, Mr. Sanmartino, my Ancient History teacher, gave us the scoop. The official name is Castello Caetani , named after the Caetani family. Their rivals, the Annibaldi family, were actually the ones who built it in the 13th century. It was built as a fortress, and housed Pope Boniface VIII and even Pope Gregory VIII over the years. Napoleon's troops once used it as a prison! Pretty cool stuff. Following our pit stop in Sermoneta, we went to perhaps the coolest  giardino  known to man- Ninfa ! Ninfa...

My mom was concerned I would not gain any weight here, and to that I must laugh. As much as the Mediterranean diet is healthy and delicious, I admit to only eating that way about 50% of the time....if that. Just to give you an idea, here are some of the delicious foods I am consuming. Colazione: The breakfast table complete with cereal, cake, better-than-Nesquik, and of course bread. No need to write about the awesomeness of the above substance from heaven. The average mug of chocolate cereal topped with "goody cao". Dolci: I could upload MANY more of these pictures.... I cannoli imagine your jealousy torta da gelato con biscotti otherwise know as ice cream cake

A cappuccino a day keeps the Zzzzz's away!

So as classes get underway, I'm really enjoying myself even though there is a tooon of work to do. Our small school is in a building hundreds of years old- with the same doors! They weigh three times as much as I do, but luckily for me I buzz in every day and it clicks right open. My school has three  terrazze  and every day around lunch smells like fresh pasta...does yours? Every Friday is a different and shortened schedule. Sometimes we will go on trips, others we only have Italian and AP classes so we can spend the afternoon focusing on either more work or cultural things- It's a schedule I won't complain about :) On that note, we had our first round of Friday activities and it was great. There were 3 destinations all around Viterbo, and I loved getting this opportunity to explore more of the city my classmates and I now inhabit. We stopped at a church to study a fresco from 1469 that was bombed in WWII, The National Etruscan Museum, and il Giardino Prato . I love t...

This weekend, I got to experience la spiaggia  of the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. It's beauuuutiful and clean! Not to mention going to a beach filled with Italians is just pleasant. Tarquinia has several clear differences from the Jersey Shore. For one, there is no boardwalk although there are burgers and fries. Also, there are men who walk all around selling you anything from a phone case to scarves....even offering massages! Although they are sometimes annoying since they are quite persistent, it was nice to have a store come to you right on the beach. I enjoyed the Sunday morning flea market that was fun to shop around. Italians are lively bargainers, that's for sure. My family and I took a nice bike ride along Le Saline di Tarquinia at sunset. It's a national reserve where salt collects and is very scenic in the evening. Fun fact: there used to be a (very high end) prison on the reserve where the inmates worked on the salt. My last weekend of estate  ...

It's amazing how everyone who has cooked for me here really knows what they're doing... This past week, my host family brought me to the house of their grandmother, Nonna. She lives in the countryside about 45 minutes from where I live in Viterbo. After a mesmerizing drive, I was left speechless, in awe, stunned...you get the idea. It was beautiful. Simply bellisima . Not only did we get to take a lovely stroll around the coastal town, but we did the most important thing to do at any grandmother's house (particularly Italian, but my own can attest to it's importance): EAT, and A LOT! It doesn't get much better than an Italian grandmother making tagliatelle  from scratch with fresh homemade ragù  sauce (NOT from the jar...)! I can no longer eat Barilla! Oh and I mentioned she lives along a coast. I actually meant she looks over Lago Borsena. We did the touristy thing and ate gelato with our toes in the water. It was breathtaking.