Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I have just been really busy. I had a great week this past week! I hung out with a lot of people and met some new people as well. I also went around the area of Pavia a little bit more. On Monday night Ali, Fabrizio and I cooked pasta with pesto. It was delicious! But I got so full so fast. They use so much olive oil here that it gets heavy. I definitely know that olive oil will never be the same. I am already dreading the olive oil back in California. Even the cheapest olive oil here is delicious. Same with the wine. It is all so delicious. Then on Tuesday I went to class in the morning and then ate at the mensa with some of the other study abroad students. There are so many of us it is hard to keep track! It But it is nice that there are so many of us because then it usually means you always have someone to hang out. Although then I am not getting as much of the Italian culture. It is good that I know some Italian people to share their culture with me. For example, Nicolo, one of my friends on my floor, is from Sardinia. He teaches me about Italian culture. :) Also, he shares some of his delicious Sardinian food with me! He let me try some amazing cheese, bread, and desserts. My favorite was the cheese. I thought of Bear when I was eating it because she would have loved it! The dessert was very delicious as well. It is made with something called "must" which is the grapes that have been smashed up and are going to be used for wine. Or something like that.... They taste similar to figs. On Wednesday Nicolo, Ali & I had dinner. We had American, Sardinian, Lebanese dinner. Strange mix! I made mashed potatoes....which is difficult without a masher. Try mashing potatoes with a fork....not so efficient. And then we had hummus, cous cous, and something else like hummus but made with fava beans. And then from Sardinia we had bread and dessert. It was a nice dinner! But before we went to the Egyptian market so that we could put tahini in the hummus and they had a whole cow head for sale. It was disgusting! It still had the eyes, and some hair, and everything. It was so sad. :( But after dinner with Nicolo and Ali I went out with some of the girls from study abroad. Jess & I walked to Karolina and Paulina's house for a party before. Then we went out to Nirvana (the club) after for international women's day which I guess is like a big holiday in Italy. They have a ton of events and when you go to eat they give you little flowers....even at the mensa! Its basically like a second Valentine's day. It was fun at the club but we didn't stay out to late. Jess and I left around 3 because we had a loooong walk ahead of us. Almost all the way back though we ran into Piero and his friend. Piero wants to date Jess so bad! It is so cute/funny. But Jess is skeptical, like she is considering but doesn't want to so much. Also, this week I got to play the piano!! I was so excited. I didn't have a lot of music to play from but something is better than nothing! I was sooooo happy to play the piano. :) Then on Thursday I woke up and went to class and a big group of us went to aperitivo in the center. They have so many aperitivo deals! It was 7 euro for two drinks and unlimited aperitivo. At the aperitivo we all discussed the upcoming weekend to Torino. Originally there were only three of us and then somehow it turned into 11. It was a nice compliment that everyone wanted to come but also a bit more work. I found a hotel for everyone which was the biggest task. Almost all the rooms here are for 2 people and they are also all single beds. I found a hotel that had four single beds in it so we ended up booking three rooms there. It was a bit far from the city but it was a nice room and there was free breakfast. So everyone loved that! When we arrived in Torino we went to the hotel and checked in. We rested for about 20 minutes but then we went into the city. The architecture is gorgeous! But I'm finding that that is common for pretty much everywhere in Italy. We walked around the large piazza for a bit and got lunch. Afterwords we walked down the main road to the Chocolate festival. I guess Torino is fairly well known for their chocolate and we happened to be there on the weekend of the chocolate festival. There were about 20 different stands of chocolate shops. They had fruit dipped in chocolate, chocolate waffles, really thick hot chocolate, like as thick as chocolate syrup, chocolate liquor. Everything! Everyone else really enjoyed. I enjoyed the white chocolate part but as far as the rest of chocolate went I wasn't extremely impressed because I am not a big chocolate fan. After the chocolate festival we walked to the end of the street to the Po river. It was the perfect time of day because it was sunset and the sun was hitting everything in such a beautiful light. There were also mountains in the background with all these cute little buildings on it. I wish cameras could capture the beauty! At the end of the road there was a dome shaped building. Some of us went inside and there was mass going on. We didn't stay for the whole mass, just about five minutes, but it was nice to see it. Afterwords we walked to this place that was supposed to be one of the best bar/restaurants in Torino. It was called La Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, like the one by Dante Aligheri. We wanted to get a table but every table was booked for the entire night. But luckily one girl that worked there spoke Greek and we had some Greeks with us so she was excited to speak with them and then she said we could all eat at the bar if we wanted. We stayed there for about 2 or 3 hours. Their drinks were delicious and so was their food! I had a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella di buffala, and basil. Then some of the people wanted to buy alcohol and drink in the room. But luckily since there were four of us to a room and four of us wanted to go sleep right away, it worked out perfectly. We went to sleep around 2 am while the others didn't go to sleep until 430. I'm glad I went to sleep early! That way I wasn't miserable the next day. On Sunday we woke up and all ate breakfast together and took the tram to the main train station. Some people checked their luggage there so that they didn't have to carry it around. I had a backpack with my stuff and a purse so I just decided to save some money and keep them. After the train station we all went to a restaurant and sat outside for lunch. It was really nice! And the waitress was so excited about all of us because she wants to learn how to say thank you in every language so she was happy there were so many cultures. Polish, Turkish, Welsh, Greek, and then me....but she already knew English. While only some people get excited that I speak English people are always excited that I am from California. After lunch everyone wanted to go to the cinema museum but Jess & I wanted to go to the ancient egyptian museum so we split off from everyone else. I really enjoyed the museum. Mummification is so strange when you actually see it! It is so interesting to look at all of the ancient artifacts. After the museum Jess and I had some time so we walked for a bit to the shops and stands. I got a leather bracelet and they carved an Italian phrase on it for me. It reads "Non e' mai troppo tardi per andare oltre" which is translated into "It is never to late to go beyond." I think it is a nice phrase. And now I can also say I have official Italian leather! After we went to the stands Jess & I went to Eataly! It is a market with restaurants inside. The only other one I have ever seen is in New York City. It is very fresh food and they have 11 restaurants inside at the one in NYC. This one wasn't as big but it still had a lot. I bought some different Italian sauces there to eat with pasta. I bought a pesto rosso, a variety pack of sauces, and lemon risotto. I am excited to make them! I also bought one of the grocery store bags that says Italy is Eataly. I wish we had an Eataly in San Diego!! I would go alllll the time. After Eataly we took the train home. It took longer then we thought because there was a half hour layover. I read a lot of my book though. Which is very good. If anyone is looking for a good book I definitely recommend Let the Great World Spin. Anyways, now I am back to the regular week of class and eating at the mensa. Hopefully some other fun things though. I think I will be planning a trip to Parma this weekend. Parma....the home of parmesean cheese. Mmmmmm can't wait!
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