My SYA Italy Adventure

If you've been missing my blog posts recently, I apologize for my lack of updating this week. I think you might forgive me when I tell you I've been travelling Northern Italy and have finally come home after one of the most exciting weeks of my life. Monday, we did a lot of driving, but we did have some time to stop in Parma to visit the museum for  Parmigiano-Reggiano  which you must not confuse with "parmasean". That's not cheese; it's Kraft's cheap supplement. We learned how much time, labor, and care goes into the preparation of one wheel of cheese, and how expensive it is! Well, at least when I buy the good stuff, I can say I saw where it comes from and know the difference. There was a tasting and discussion regarding the  Slow Food Movement , and I highly encourage a look if you're not familiar. Tuesday, we went to Ravenna to meet up with a group of students who toured us around their historical city. They took us to a crypt, a church, and ev...

What is Italian food without olive oil? Well after my experience here so far I can tell you it would not exist. Olive oil is not only a very important part of the diet here, but the olive oil industry is a large part of the Italian economy. As a school, we went to see the olive oil making process first hand from tree to table.  Of course, we always make multiple stops in one day. Before heading over to the grove, we saw La Chiesa di San Pietro in Tuscania, and had lunch with spectacular views. It was a lovely way to anticipate our busy afternoon. When we arrived to start picking the olives, we were greeted by a lovely family that has been working in Canino ("little dog"- how's that for a town name!) for years. They offered us many ways to pick the trees including with a rake, by hand, or more conventionally via machine. It was so much fun to go after the trees as a group, and if I do say so myself we were very successful. I was climbing on top of o...

Yesterday and today, my school sent me over to a Liceo Scientifico here in Viterbo. It is called a " Liceo"  because in Italy, teenagers go to specialized schools where they offer classes that are specific to a certain subject. Other examples are  Liceo Classico or Liceo Linguistico  where students study closely The Classics or Linguistics, as opposed to Science like the school I visited. When I first walked past the crowd of Italian students who looked at me as they gathered outside the school building yesterday, I was greeted by the school English teachers. They appointed students to show me to my assigned classroom. I was initially puzzled by what they meant when they sent me to one classroom, and one only. In Italy, students don't actually change rooms! The professori  come to them. I did not walk past lockers or a cafeteria, for students leave things at their designated seats and finish school by one o'clock, so they eat lunch at home or at their own expense a...

So the other night, some friends and I were walking around after dinner when we decided we should say goodnight with a nice gelato. We walked across the whole center of the city until we nearly decided to give up after passing every potential gelateria and not seeing a single one open. We could have decided against the gelato, but we were quite determined for a cold treat. What did we do? I am ashamed to admit it, but we went to the only place we knew was open: McDonald's. We also could have spoken in Italian, maybe even kept quiet and attempted to blend in with the crowd eating their Big Macs and McPasta. Of course we didn't; we're loud American teenagers! The whole place knew exactly who we were and, as Italians take every opportunity to people watch as possible, stared at us place our orders. Even the cardboard cutout of Ronald McDonald was eyeing us. I have to say the soft serve will never, ever compare to the gelato artigianale that I buy all over this country, but...

..me getting discplined admist an argument as per usual

I got a letter today :D

Friday's gita  was to yet another historical Roman city! We went to Cerveteri- famous for the Etruscan tomb site- and wow was it cool to compare to our last trip to Tarquinia ! These tombs resembled more of a "city for the dead" because it was actually set up with roads, intersections, and the like. Everyone had neighbors and families were put to rest together. It was a truly amazing experience to crawl in and out of the tombs, even if we were warned we might encounter snakes and scorpions... Before I get into more detail about that aspect of our day, I'll include our time looking at ancient grave offerings left in the tombs we saw in the town's museum. It was in an old castle and so beautiful. We got some fresh pizza for lunch and roamed the beautiful old town. Our homework was to get the family involve as well to see how the Etruscans lived and their beliefs- and they believed everyone needed to party! Besides being there to observe the history, we were t...

The Monday after I left for Italy, my loving parents sent me a package full of my winter clothes- things like sweaters, sweatpants, and even my backpack wound up in there. When Dad went to the post office, he notified me I had around 10 days before I should expect it. Well about a month went by with NOTHING. I finally asked my host mom to help me out and try and track it on the Italian Postal Service's website-- only to discover it actually came to Viterbo but I addressed it wrong! I did not put "care of" down as part of the address, and therefore nobody brought it to the house. I was freaking out because it left the Viterbo area and was in Milan! My host mom sent an email, but nobody responded. Before we knew it, it was back home in America. Finally, my parents gave it a second run and it arrived with no problem! It needed a second box, however, because it was so well traveled the first one was troppo morbido. I now have all my winter clothes! Yay sweaters! Woooooo...

"Andiamo a Roma; L'ho deciso io!"  said my host sister about a month ago. She was determined to get a weekend in Rome for her 14th birthday. So, ea rly Friday morning (because there was no school for All Saints Day here in Italy), we packed up the car and the whole family got ready for a Roman adventure. I must say Rome is simply beautiful. Just getting into the city makes my jaw drop. If you've been reading my blog, you might notice this was not my first trip to Rome, but I took the train in, not a car, so it was far less scenic. Without a car and in a group of people who were in the same position as me not knowing a thing about navigating where we were made it hard to do too much in one trip. This time, there was no shortage of things to see and do; my family and their friends led the way and I just ooohed and awwwwed. Friday, we walked over to  Piazza di Spagna  and the stairs were full of people. It was not a very appealing climb, so we continued on our way to...