When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Welcome to my new summer project–a blog about the cultural differences between Italy and the United States. Ever since I returned from studying abroad, I knew I wanted to start something like this because I found the topic to be fascinating, but I never really had the motivation (or the time). This is actually an interesting title for my blog, seeing as although I’ve been to Italy once before I never made it to Rome (a lot of people yelled at me for that one–that’s just why I have to go back, duh).

The main basis for this project will be two of Beppe Severgnini’s books–the first is “La Bella Figura” (although some may know it as “An Italian in Italy”) which is about exactly what you think it is: an Italian’s hilarious observations of his own country. The second, “Ciao America!”, is the same author’s observations about how Italians perceive American culture. I started reading the first last summer but never finished it, and I intend to read both cover to cover this summer to report on his observations and compare them with my own from my time abroad. I will also be supplementing the information from the books with commentary from my Italian friends, American friends who studied in Italy, and what I consider to be my second family (Maria and Luciana).

I hope you enjoy it! Also, if you have some time, feel free to check out my actual blog from my time abroad below.

Ciao!

Holly

2010
05/30
CATEGORY
Cultural Observations
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Arrivederci to Piazza Ariostea, the nightmare at customs in Bologna, missing baggage in Chicago, and finally going home

Lodovico Ariosto, the namesake for Piazza Ariostea

Maria arrived home (finally) on Monday afternoon after spending a month in Greece. The first comment she made was that I had gotten skinnier, and I explained it was because she wasn’t around for a month to cook for me. I finished laundry on Monday night and slowly started to pack away all of my things. On Tuesday, I went to the center in the afternoon to take some pictures and say goodbye to my program directors and the two lovely owners of Caffetteria Spisani. I had plans later to meet Vassilis in Piazza Ariostea, and wanted to go home to shower and change first, but we ended up running into each other in the center right as I was about to head home (I think we were both really surprised that this happened). This was nice though, because we were able to spend another hour together before I had to go to my last aquagym class. He also gave me a really cute necklace so I would have something to remember him by.

When Wednesday arrived it seemed surreal. Read more

2009
07/30
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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A rainy (and semi disastrous) Notte Rosa + sleeping in train stations + Mirabilandia day trip = my last weekend in Ferrara

Caffetteria Spisani in summer

I know this is a late entry, but now I can give you my perspective about what it’s been like to live back in the United States for almost a month. Actually, my dad asked if I was ever going to finish my blog, because my sister caught me reminiscing earlier by reading my old entries, and she said two things: “He’d rather you type out everything in a blog entry so he can just read it on his computer instead of actually talking to you,” and “It’s also called ‘My Semester in Ferrara,’ not ‘I’m back in the United States–FML.’” The extra two months I spent in Ferrara were certainly worth it language-wise (I spoke a lot more Italian without my American friends around), but dealing with the intense ninety degree heat (and no air conditioning) was not ideal. The last month, I joined a water aerobics class with Luciana, and that was the most amazing thing ever, and of course so far I haven’t found anything even remotely similar to it in the States–it was like some kind of high intensity cross between dancing in the water and kickboxing.

My last weekend in Ferrara was certainly memorable. Read more

2009
07/29
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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English lessons, Monday morning market, farewell to some CIEE students, and learning how to take public transportation

Corsa Porto Reno in Ferrara

Today, despite the extreme heat, I had one of the best days I’ve ever had during my stay in Italy (and it’s not over yet, still has the potential to get better!) I woke up early (like before 8am–the sun was already filling my room anyways), because I had plans to skype with a friend from school (but she forgot, and apologized), but I was able to stay awake and have breakfast before 8:30, when I started english lessons with Maria. This morning, I found a great website to help her with grammar things (because incidentally, I’ve forgotten most grammar rules because they’re just… embedded in my brain, I guess). This site, meant for Dutch students trying to learn english, had these verb worksheets that we worked on today for 2 hours, and at the end of the lesson, Maria was like–this was really good! Which made me happy, because I didn’t have to deal with her silly english books like last week, and made her happy, because I think she actually learned something instead of me just having to supervise her pronunciation as she read out loud. Plus, she totally was like, “hey, I learned this verb from listening to Hotel California,” and proceeded to recite a line from the song… she told me previously that by listening to that song, she learned english. I guess if I had to suffer through her playing it continuously, and she learned one verb…

Then, Maria and I left around 10:30 with Giuseppe and Luciana (who were going to the office) and they dropped us off in the center, where we stopped by the Monday morning market–I’d never been before, imagine… I’ve been here a semester and had never been to the market! I’d always been meaning to go, but I either had class or didn’t want to get up super early. Read more

2009
05/25
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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Spring break with my family, final paper disaster, and the beginning of an epic Ferrarese summer

Vernazza, the fourth Cinque Terre town

This blog entry is going to be a doozy. I will try to remember everything as best as I can, because apparently I can’t stay dedicated enough to my blog writing to update once a week.

The second week of April, I picked up my family in the Venice train station, and we returned to Ferrara for 2 days, then went to Florence for a night to meet up with Dad’s second cousin Kelly and her family, where they own a really cool bed and breakfast right in the middle of the center square. On Easter morning, we watched a really old Florentine tradition that involved blowing up (okay, not really… there were just a lot of fireworks coming out of it) a 400-year-old “cart” that was pulled into the center square by oxen that didn’t look too pleased. I also got to meet my 5 year old third cousin, Alessandro, and we bonded. We then left that afternoon for le Cinque Terre (the “five lands”), which are five small, picturesque fishing villages on Italy’s west coast on the Ligurian Sea. Read more

2009
05/24
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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Earthquake update and first experience with Verona

Piazza Bra in Verona

I’m fine, guys. Just so you all don’t have to worry. The earthquake hit in L’Aquila, which is probably over 200 miles from me. I didn’t feel or hear a thing (although some of my classmates swore they did), so everything’s good in the city of Ferrara. Just to give you all some peace of mind. I didn’t think it would worry everyone this much. (Just because I knew where the earthquake actually was… silly me for thinking you all knew Italian geography as I barely know it myself)

I’ll update more later–I went to Verona on Sunday, and it was amazing (although I didn’t get to touch Giuliette’s boob…) but I have a presentation tomorrow and another one Wednesday that I need to finish–and then my parents come!

Ciao!

2009
04/06
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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Cute old Italian men, the infamous Archibugio story and overcoming communication barriers

Cappellacci di Zucca (all'aceto balsamico) from Archibugio

It’s only 10 days until my family arrives, and I’m so excited (I’m making them let me meet them in Venice… something my father doesn’t particularly like but I feel is a necessity because Venice is a labyrinth and they do not speak any Italian… and of course I miss them that much!)

This past week, our house pretty much fell apart. Why? Maria left for London on vacation on Tuesday. Luciana also almost kicked Giuseppe out of the house at least twice (I know only about these times because they were when I was home… but there very easily could have been others). Not that I was home much anyways, because Kelsey’s friend Leah was visiting from the states this week, so after going to Bologna to pick her up last Saturday, we took her to Archibugio to get the best pumpkin pasta in Ferrara. Unfortunately, I don’t ever want to go back to that restaurant… but that’s a different story entirely.

This past week was just the usual: classes, gelato after classes, walking around, biking around, buying clothes I don’t need but that look really amazing, etc. I discovered on Tuesday that I pulled off a B+ on Luke’s exam (the one I thought I failed). How I managed this, I’m not sure… Read more

2009
03/29
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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Wine tasting and six course meals sotto il sole toscano (under the Tuscan sun)

Italian child chasing pigeons in Piazza del Campo

I am sick. Again. It’s just this nagging little cold like thing that comes and goes occasionally.

Anyways, quickly about my trip the previous weekend to Siena: We left at 8:30am on Friday morning and arrived around 3 hours later at Le Rocche di Vagliano, the place we stayed in for 2 nights. It was literally in the middle of nowhere–but that added so much to its charm. We all stayed in little villas that were clustered together, only the one that Kelsey, Rachael, Abby and I shared was two stories, had a kitchen, living room, and 2 bathrooms/bedrooms. Other people were not so lucky. Later, we arrived in Pienza–a cute little hill town of about 2,000–where we ate lunch and had a quick tour of the city. Unfortunately, we barely had any free time here, except to sample some pecorino cheese (not my favorite), but that was a group thing. I got bus-sick on the way to Montalcino, where we toured Castello Banfi, the main winery in Tuscany–and the most famous. Naturally, after the tour we got to taste some of the best Tuscan wines–if we’re going to be honest here… I still prefer the 6 euro bottle of Chianti–I’m definitely not the wine connoisseur type. Read more

2009
03/09
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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Carnevale Venetian style, singing gondoliers, Renfe, and cappellacci di zucca

Gondolas at Piazza San Marco

I really suck at this. Actually, I don’t… I’ve just gotten really busy with school and everything. That being said, I’m going to try and update this weekly… hopefully more than that though. For this entry, I’m going back to last weekend, the one before Mardi Gras.

I took a trip to Venice with Kelsey and Rachel on Saturday. We left Ferrara on the 10:30 train, and barely made it because the line for the ticket machine was so long. We stood the entire train ride (2 hours) because it was so crowded, and we ended up stopping just before the S. Lucia station so it looked like we were stopped on the water–if I didn’t have to stand the entire train ride it would have been cool looking, but by the end I was claustrophobic and warm and just wanted to get off the train.

When we got off the train, we bought our return trip tickets just so we’d have them and not have to worry about it later, and then exited the station with the mass of people. Venice, honestly, was still incredible, despite the thousands of people there (I hate crowds). After wandering for a little bit, we found a cute place to eat lunch–we thought it would be cheap, but it ended up being 40 euros for all three of us to eat–including a 4 euro bottle of water? Sad. The food wasn’t even that good. After lunch we wandered the narrow streets of Venice, occasionally stopping in mask shops to get masks for ourselves and in Rachel’s case, for souvenirs. After about 3 hours of walking, we finally reached Piazza S. Marco, where the party really was. There was a band walking as they played, people dancing–it was great. As we got further through the Piazza, we stopped to watch a comical play, but didn’t stay long, because we didn’t understand much of it.

The Venetian people must get a kick out of Carnavale each year, because all of these tourists come, and they get to dress up in elaborate and amazing costumes and get their picture taken about a thousand times per day. Read more

2009
02/26
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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Caffeine overdoses, fascist buildings tour, cute Italian children and Nutella crepes (yum!)

The old Fascist Aqueduct

Today wasn’t too horrible. I discovered that in the instance that I leave extremely late from my house, I can get to the CIEE office in about 13 minutes. I left at 10:45 today for my class at 11. It was the fastest bike ride of my life, I think. Thankfully, the traffic was forgiving. I was the second one to arrive to class, and had to explain to Michaela that yesterday (when we were at the Pinoteca for Art History), although Caroline had brought my homework packet to give to me, she had to leave early and even though she left it on the table, she didn’t mention it to me and therefore I didn’t see it and I didn’t get it. And wasn’t able to complete my homework. After asking me about the rest of my weekend and how I felt after being sick on Monday, she declared that she could write a book about my life.

I didn’t have much for lunch today, because I only had an hour and a half (to read and eat), so I had cinnamon hot chocolate and a pastry from Spisani–because that normally will fill me up. Apparently, not if I have coffee, which I did in order to stay awake during contemporary history today. This was a mistake. I had a cappucino right before class, and a caffè macchiato at the break we had at 4pm. I didn’t start to feel like I’d had an overdose of caffeine until we took a tour of facist buildings built around Ferrara, about an hour before class ended. Class actually wasn’t that bad today, because two students had about 35 minute presentations each–and it’s definitely easier to understand the material when our peers talk about it rather than when she does. After the presentations, we read aloud about two cases of facist censorship of novels, which was pretty interesting, and then went on the facist buildings tour, which included the post office and the old aqueduct. The old aqueduct (aka the monument) is now a “family center,” which I think means daycare. Anyways, all of these parents were hanging around while their kids were running every which way in the plaza and on the monument. We were walking up the ramp to see the building, and this one little girl, about… 4 years old, I’d say, just looks up at us from about 10 feet away, jumps up and down while waving her arms, and shouts, “Ehi! CIAO!” It was the cutest thing I’d seen in my life. (We all of course responded back with “Ciao!”)

After class, I called Kelsey to meet me in the center to go in search of food to help with my caffeine overdose–and we ended up purchasing crepes… with nutella. While easily the messiest snack I have ever eaten, it was totally worth it. They were absolutely amazing. Read more

2009
02/18
CATEGORY
Semester in Ferrara
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