...Conegliano?

I finally went to another town to tour! It was a really small but beautiful town called Conegliano. We went to the central of the city and visited a few churches and museums, but my favorite part was the castle.

 

It was used during WWII.

 

...Admire Creativity?

Since I arrived in Italy I've noticed they have a large amount of graffiti. Many people spray paint things in the streets and on buildings. Although not all of it is that attractive, I found a couple cool pieces of art.

 

 

...Food Friday #2?

Okay so my computer finally let me on my blog! I don't have as many pictures this week because I've eaten some of the same things, but there were still many new things.

Fish with Italian things on top.

 Fried chicken and zucchini

Tortellini with just oil and cheese

 Pumpkin soup

Spaghetti

Italian sausage and lamb

Hamburgers and eggplant

pasta!

Lasagna

 

So this isn't everything I ate because I forgot my camera sometimes and I didn't want to take pictures of my food at the dinner party I went to. Its all so good, I don't even care if I get fat. I just want to eat all the time!

...School?

Friday night, I went to a birthday party for my host brother in my second family. He turned 18 this year! So the party was at a bar and all of his friends were there. I was expecting it to be really awkward since I didn't know anyone, but I actually had a lot of fun. I really like his friends they were super nice and I hope I get to see them again!

 

Here's a few pictures with two of the girls I met!

I just can't get over the fact that I was allowed in a bar and they didn't even ask for anyone's ID's. It's crazy to think this is how some people live everyday! I just felt so free and mature.

 

 I also started school today. It's really boring because I don't understand anything. I have to take English, Spanish, German, Italian literature, geography, government, economics, art history, religion and math. Wish me luck!

...Vicenza?

Last night, I went to a concert in Vicenza with Rotary. It was a lot of fun because we got to get dressed up really fancy. I even met another exchange student, Ellen from Nevada.

The concert was classical music; The Four Seasons by Vivaldi. It was in the Teatro Olimpico. The theater was beautiful and I tried to get a picture, but the man that worked there yelled at me even though about 50 other people around me were taking pictures and he said nothing to any of them. So I found some online.

...Food Friday #1?

Now it's time for the best part, the food! So about a week into my exchange I started taking pictures of everything I ate. So here are a few common Italian dishes.

Gelato

Meatloaf

Salad

Gnocchi al Ragu

Tagliaielle au' aueiza

Toria di ricotia

(cheesecake)

Minesiza con I tortellini

Cannelloni

Pizza

(yes, those are french fries on top)

My host dad serving pasta

Cappuccino

 

So these are only a few of the dishes I've tried. I few new things I had were duck, squid, anchovies, and lamb. They tell me I will also try many different fish, horse and octopus. Wish me luck!

 

...Drive in Italy?

Today is the last day of summer here in Bassano. Well at least for most people. I don't have to go to school till Monday because they said I'm special. But we celebrated anyways! So my host sister has a small obsession with One Direction ( by small I mean huge). So I told her I would go see the new movie with her.

So Italians drive very fast all the time (especially when they are late for One Direction movies). I think the speed limit is 50 in town, but most people drive about 70. They have warning for stop signs so that they can slow down in time! They go over speed bumps and around the roundabouts at about 30. Also, stop sign are just suggestions. So if its late at night in a quite part of town, they don't stop. Also, they drive three cars wide on a two lane street. Oh! And Motor bikes just swerve through traffic. They don't stop for anything either. If there are people walking across the street, they just drive around them. I know fully understand the no driving rule.

...Be Troublemakers

I live in a house full of troubles makers. Well at least that's what we call each other. The other day my host mom Katia asked Vittoria and me to add some new songs to her iPod. The only problem was that everything on the computer was in Italian. I knew how to add the music and Vittoria knows Italian so we were working as a team. Well something went wrong and we accidently deleted all the song on Katia's iPod and left only three. Normally we could fix this, but all the originals were on the computer that her daughter Marta took to Iowa with her. So she told us we were trouble makers. Then, the next day Vittoria knocked something off the wall and everyone was just like troublemaker! My host dad spilt sauce on the tablecloth, my host mom spilt coffee all over the place, and I knocked over a picture frame. We are all troublemakers!

...My First Rotary Meeting?

So I'm finally up to date with my adventure! Last night was the first time I attended a Rotary meeting in Bassano. It was only a quick meeting so my host mom told me I didn't have to dress up like they normally do (black dresses and heels for women and suits for men). So I put on my nicest pair of jeans and a conservative black top and as I went to put on my flats my host told me I still had to wear heels....I guess casual has a different meaning in Italy. So when I arrived at the meeting I met everyone in the club (almost all men) and listened to the presentation, none of which I understood.

 

After, we all headed to dinner at a small restaurant in the town center. It was sort of like a buffet, but all the food was on the table. We had bread (always), cheese, speck, mini pizza, polenta with gorgonzola cheese on top, quiche, zucchini wrapped in bacon, onion rings, calamari, and cookies to top it all off. So when they told me I was eating calamari I kind of freaked out and was like what this is octopus and they were  like no no no, its fish. And I kept thinking to myself I'm pretty sure calamari is octopus in the US. So when I got home I looked it up and it's squid not octopus, but they're close enough! Everyone just kept saying no no its just fish. So when I told my host mom this story she told me that she is going to cook octopus just for me to try. So from this I learned that next time I should just eat and stop asking questions.

That's me giving the Columbus Sunrise Rotary club's banner to the president of my host Rotary club!

...Compare Animal Sounds

On Saturday I went to lunch with my host family at a restaurant at the bottom of the mountain. At the restaurant, we order our food and waited. It was a really nice day so we sat outside. From our table we could see people gliding from the top of the mountain. It was really cool to watch because it looked like hundreds of birds flying around. After we finished our food we got another dish and then after that, another. Finally, we ate dessert and decided to take a walk. As we walked we ran into a little farm with cows, donkeys, pigs, goats, and a rooster. One thing I want to point out is that no matter what we think animals say in English and what people think they say in other languages, it's the same. Animals sound the same everywhere (well at least in the USA and Italy).

...Want S'more?

Ciao! Before leaving the USA I went shopping for typical American foods to take with me. A few things I got were brownies, peanut butter and marshmallows. When I arrived I gave these foods to my host family and thankfully they were all new to them. So the other night we decided to use the marsh mallows and make s'mores. My host family loved them and we had a lot of fun in the process. Here's a few pictures of our night!

...Have Sleepless Nights?

The other night after dinner, my family was telling me a little bit about Italian. One thing that scared me was when they told me they had a spider family that lives with them. Why? You may ask. Well, Italian believe that big spiders bring lots of money. I thought they were just joking until I saw this the other day...

 

 

I'm not aloud to kill this spider, so I guess I just won't sleep again.

...La Bella Vita?

On Friday, I went to a carnival like thing with my host sister Vittoria. It was a lot of fun riding the rides. But, I will say its a lot more dangerous here! I rode a roller coaster that had no safety belt! I mean it was really small, but still, that's not something I've seen before. I also rode this ride which was like swings, but you grabbed a partner in front of you and held onto their chair and tried to throw them towards this hanging ball and they would try to grab it. The boys on this were crazy! They threw each other so hard it was kind of  scary the way they were swinging around. But even though I was shocked by the rides, I still had a lot of fun.

These are some tickets for the rides!

 

 Oh! And let me tell you, Italian boys are even more beautiful than people say. I really haven't seen many unattractive people. I guess Italy is just a beautiful country full of beautiful people who speak a beautiful language and live a bella vita (beautiful life).

...Bassano Del Grappa?

Okay, so when I found out what town I would be living in this year, I did a little research. From what I found on the internet, it seemed like Bassano and Columbus were pretty similar, but I couldn't have been any more wrong. Bassano is HUGE!!! Although everyone here calls it a little town. I'm kind of scared to see what they think a big city is.

This is the bridge, Ponte Vecchio.

This bridge is in the center of town. There are tons of shops and restaurants here and every Thursday and Saturday morning there is a huge market with hundreds of booths full of clothes, shoes, purses and jewelry. It is absolutely "bellisimo"! I went to the market with my host mom and grandma and had cappuccinos while we shopped. 

Though the town is incredibly beautiful, it also has it's ugly parts.

 

 

There is Graffiti everywhere here!

 

 

...Decide Between Ice Cream and Gelato?

So when I was in Indiana, I worked at an old ice cream parlor called Zaharakos.

This is me and the other Soda Jerks on my last day.

Okay, so because of this I ate a lot of ice cream weekly. So when I ate my first gelato in Italy I was surprised at how similar they tasted. No one believes me when I say they are exactly the same. Coming from someone who has had as much ice cream as I have, gelato is just good ice cream. Now if you are used to eating Dairy Queen or McDonalds ice cream then yes, gelato is different, but in comparison to good homemade ice cream, I couldn't tell a difference.