Assissi, Milan, Turino, and Italian swears...

Ciao Ragazzi,

I apologize for the length of time it has taken me to write another post but classes have started and most of my free time has gone to planning trips and filling out scholarships that are do within the next couple weeks.

Two weekends ago I traveled with my school to the city called Assissi, which has the patron saint of St. Francis. We visited his basilica, which has his body and numerous artwork done by Giotto, and saw many Franciscan monks with their weird haircuts that are supposed to symbolize halos. Assissi was pretty small but cool, and described by our tour guide as the Berkeley of Italy because it is fairly politically active. That Saturday I stayed in Firenze.

Classes have been going great, despite the fact that I begin class at 8:45 am everyday and am normally still drunk from the night before. However this excess alcohol in my system does improve my Italian in class.

This past weekend I took a train up to Milan to meet my friend Stefano, who I went to high school with. Stefano showed me around the city, which is the fashion capital of Italy and arguably the world. Every where we looked their were models. We climbed the Duomo, went to a castle, and several shopping centers. On my way down from the Duomo I said ciao to a military officer, which Stefano quickly advised was not proper as ciao is too informal. The officer did not look pleased. So far though, this was not my most interesting language mistakes as I accidently said the word bitch (stronza) for strong, and yelled Buon Formaggio (which means good cheese) instead of buon pomereggio. My nonna was very confused.

Later that night we took the train back to Stefano’s house and I ate with his family, a very loud and hilarious Sicilian group. His mom made great food and his dad owns a vineyard so the wine was incredible (much better than the 2 euro - 2 liter bottle that I buy daily on my way home from school). Stefano then showed me around Turino that afternoon, which is the city where the winters Olympics were held in 2006. Turino was great and I think I liked it better then Milan, still both cities do not come close though to the beauty of Firenze. Later that night we went to Stefano’s uncle’s night club which is one of the best in Turino and right on the river. I met his Italian friends who were all pretty crazy. Then on Saturday it was his dads 60 birthday party and I attended the party with his extended family. They were all nuts, and Stefano assures me most Italian families are not like his. Most of the gifts given were joke gifts, numerous sex toys and offensive items, and then only one real gift. We had great food again, and loads of wine. Then Stefano his brothers, Andrea and Davide, helped me learn every possible Italian swear word, probably the most important vocabulary I will learn during my stay hear. I took the night train home Sunday.

Today I met with my internship boss, who doesn’t speak any English, and will begin working at the ARCI political organization on Thursday. I was also asked to write an article for the school newspaper, which will be my first written piece that is published.

There are more pictures I uploaded on my photobucket site so take a look.

In addition, here are some of the cultural insights I have noticed:

Gun Control: Handguns are illegal here, and you can get a rifle for hunting but it takes about 5 years. In no surprise Italy has one of the lowest gun death rates (2.27 per 100,000 people) whereas the US is 13.47 per 100,000. Link to source. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=175376

Health Care: My roommate got the flu and had a fever of between 101 and 102. We called the tourist hotline and within 45 minutes there was a doctor at our house. She stayed over an hour, wrote prescriptions, and cost only 50 Euro (about 70 dollars). Just think if foreigner phoned to get a house call in the US for a fever. According to my mamma Lily it is mandated that if someone has a fever over a certain amount a doctor has to come.

Politics: Firenze is known as being all communist whereas Rome and some of the northern cities are stereotyped as fascists. No one likes any of the politicians and believe they are all corrupt.

Transportation: The Government builds the roads but for some reason, which I still cant understand, a private individual can some how place a toll on the freeways and highways. Stefano said it costs about 40 Euro to drive road trip to Firenze from Turin, which is only a two hour drive. This money does not go to the government but to the pockets of a private citizen.

Food: Breakfast is very small, lunch is mostly just a sandwhich but dinner is huge and can last for several hours at restaurants. It is polite to keep your hands on the table at all times, which stems from the olden days when they were worried that people were trying to poison each others drinks. This is most likely why Italians talk with their hands so much. Napkins are not placed in the lap.

Words: The word for money is soldi, the word soldier is derived from this which literally means one who fights for money.

I am sure there will be many more cultural insights as my trip continues. Until then, Arriverderci (This is the more formal goodbye that I should have said to the military officer)…