Last Day in Italy

Today was our last day in Italy, and we began packing as soon as we woke up. When we were finished, we went upstairs for breakfast and had some tiramisu and orange juice. Valentino’s parents went out to shop for the lunch they were going to make us. While they were out, Valentino took us around Vanzaghello, the city he lives in. He took us to the town square and we went in some stores and then into his favorite bar that he always goes to with his friends. We had a type of orange soda and then left. He took us to see his basketball arena because he plays for the city. He also coaches a children’s team and is a referee. After that, we went back to his house where his mom was preparing spaghetti. First, we had ham sandwich things, and then we got the spaghetti with pieces of ham in it. At first, it was embarrassing to eat the spaghetti in front of Italians because they are so much better at twirling. We got the hang of it, though, and his dad kept saying “bravo!” when we successfully twirled the pasta. When we finished the spaghetti, his mom brought us some meat, bread, and parmesan cheese. Last but not least, they brought us more tiramisu. Finally, we were off to the airport. We had to wait a while until we could check in, so we went to a café in the airport. I got hot chocolate and Tiffany got tea, which is spelled “the” here. Tiffany has been coughing a lot, so Valentino’s dad went to the store to buy here some cough medicine. Valentino’s mother gave us the recipe for tiramisu so we can try to make it at home. They walked us all the way to security and watched until we went through. They’re really nice and I’m going to miss them. If Valentino comes to America I am going to show him around and take him to see Lebron James in a basketball game because that is his favorite player. They said any time we come back to Europe we can stay with them.

Dinner and a Car Crash

We went out to dinner with Valentino's friends. One of his friends works at the restaurant we went to, so we got a few complimentary items. The restaurant is part of a hotel and is really nice. We got so much food though. First, they brought bread, an alfredo pizza, and raw meat balls on top of lemons. We didn't eat the raw meatballs though. They also brought us all a glass of champagne. We ordered our food and I got steak and fries and Tiffany got a pasta with fish and caviar. Both were really good and Valentino asked to waiter to bring us a whole extra plate of fries because we are American. After eating the meal, the waiter brought us a plate full of desserts. There was almond biscotti, strawberries, and apple cake. We ate some of it and then they brought us some chocolates to eat. I'm sort of getting used to being full constantly. After dinner, we met with more of Valentino's friends and they wanted to go to a pub. We found one, but they said it was empty and wanted more people in it. I told them that it's empty now, but if we go inside it will be full because together we had about 8 people in our group. They agreed and we went inside and ordered drinks. We all left after one drink but it took us forever to get in the car because they all talk so much to each other. Finally, we were going out of the parking lot and Valentino's friend was going really fast to look cool. Because of how fast we were going, we almost hit a pole but he dodged it and ended up hitting a stop sign with his front right tire instead. I could not believe he knocked down the stop sign. The tire cover flew across the street, part of the bumper came off, and his tire became flat. Valentino, Tiffany, and I had to get home, so his other friends took us. I hope that his other friend's car is okay though.
Tomorrow we leave Italy, and I'm really sad to go. We've had so much fun here, and Valentino's family has been really nice.

The Mall and Town Center

Yesterday at dinner Tiffany was too full to eat her tiramisu but was upset because she really likes that dessert, so when we woke up this morning Valentino said he had a surprise for her. His mom made Tiffany homemade tiramisu in a huge container. We had that for breakfast. The orange juice we have for breakfast is really good too, but we only saw a container with a pear on it, so we asked what kind of juice we were drinking. Valentino said that we were drinking orange juice that his mom squeezed herself. I was really surprised, and it’s really good orange juice. Today, Valentino told us we were going to an authentic Italian market. We wore warm clothes because we thought it would be outside. When we arrived, we saw that it was a shopping mall. He must not have known the right word for it, so I told him that it’s called a mall. They have a grocery store in the mall, and it’s huge and 2 floors. Because of this, you can take a shopping cart through the whole mall if you want to. And since people push around shopping carts, their escalators are like moving sidewalks that are ramps to go to the second floor. I’ve never seen anything like it. Tiffany and I found this store that had really good sales. We bought jeans for about 10 euro and shirts for about 6 euro. Valentino also took us to what he called “Italy’s first technology store.” The store was like a best buy because it had any electronic you needed. I guess they are just starting to get stores like that. He also showed us a store like Dick’s, but called Decathlon, that had all kinds of sports material. After the mall, we went to lunch at his Aunt and Uncle’s café. It was really cute and all the furniture and napkin holders were covered in snake skin, and Valentino said that his family did that themselves. I had lasagna and Tiffany had a sandwich. Both were really good. Afterwards, we had chocolate croissants. Next, we went to the town center that we went to last night to do some more shopping. Valentino took us to the Euro store, which is kind of like a dollar store. There were some fun things in there. We met some of Valentino’s friends at a café there. We got hot chocolate, but it came with a spoon. I asked how to eat it, and Valentino said to scoop it with my spoon. I told him that in America, we just drink it. When we scooped it, it was more like hot pudding than hot chocolate. It was really good though. One of his friends drove us back to his house and later we are going to his friend’s restaurant for more Italian food.

The Bruschetta Fraud, Valentino's Dad, and Strange Toilets

We ended up going out to dinner tonight with Valentino and his parents in the town where he goes to school. We drove there in his dad’s Mercedes. His dad always goes really fast in that car and it’s a lot of fun. In Italy, you also get points deducted you’re your license for traffic violations, only here you start with 20 points. Valentino said his mom only has 4 points left so she hardly drives now, but his dad has all 20 points even though he always speeds through red lights, makes U-turns, and drives too fast. The town we went to for dinner had a lot of stores in it, just like the ones in Milan. His parents had some errands to run, so they told us to go to the restaurant and get a table. The people at the restaurant told Valentino he needed a reservation, so we went back outside to call his dad. In Italy, it’s rude to be on the phone inside of places. Valentino always steps outside to take calls or he walks away from where we are. So his dad came to meet us, and Valentino explained the situation. Even though his dad is short, he’s really tough. He said “no, no” and winked at Tiffany and I and then went into the restaurant to yell at the workers. In about 2 minutes, he came out and said “viente minutos,” which means 20 minutes, and then we went to a café to wait. Tiffany and I just had to laugh at that. Valentino says that his dad is the boss of Italy because he always tells other people what to do. The café we went to was really cute, and we got bruschetta and cute little fruity drinks. So all this time, America has misled us when it comes to bruschetta. Bruschetta doesn’t always have to be hard bread with tomatoes and onions and olive oil and cheese. Bruschetta just means “little bread” and can have almost anything on it. We got about 6 different types of bruschetta at the café. One had salami with another vegetable on it, one had shrimp and a sauce on it, another had ham and a vegetable, one looked like a sandwich, and another had something like a salad with dressing on it, and the last one looked like it had salmon on it. They were really cute. I wish that they had different bruschettas in America. We went to the restaurant, and Tiffany and I spotted gnocchi on the menu, so we had to get that. We got 4 cheese gnocchi, which was really tender and good. We were so full from the bruschetta that we hardly ate anything, but Valentino said not to worry about it. He and his family ate everything on their plates, though. Valentino and his dad got spaghetti, which they twirled like pros, but his mom got just vegetables. Valentino said that she had a lot of food from the holiday so she is trying to eat light now. During the meal, Tiffany had to go to the bathroom. When she came back, though, she told me she didn’t go because the toilet was in the floor. Literally, the floor was flat and had a porcelain dip in it which was the toilet. They also had 2 places for your feet to go so you don’t slip and fall in. Valentino explained that it was cheaper to have that kind of toilet. I didn’t get to see it, but it sounds really strange to me. Even though Tiffany and I were stuffed, they insisted we get tiramisu. Tiffany didn’t eat any, so I ate the whole thing because it was so good. Valentino said that Tiffany can have tiramisu tomorrow since she was too full today. We watched some Italian TV when we got home, which were American shows with Italian voice over.

Milano

Today, we went to Milan to see some sites and shop. You have to be 18 to drive here, so Valentino, Tiffany, and I went by train and subway into the city. First, we stopped at an old castle, where the King and Queen of Milan used to live. It was old and looked very medieval. It was a huge building though, and when we exited the back, we saw people skiing. The funny thing about it, though, was that there was no snow in Milan, it was all fake. And the hill was fake too, it was set up kind of like those tall slides in the IX center that you use a potato sack to ride down, only they put fake snow on it and people skied down, I've never seen anything like it. Next, we started to shop. All down the streets to the town center (which is kind of like a Plaza Mayor from Spain) there are shops. Some of them were the same as American stores, others the same as Spain, and others were totally different. All the stores are having sales now for the holiday, so it was nice. The only problem was that since Milan is one of the fashion capitals, a lot of the stores sold designer things so they were even expensive on sale. We got to the town center and there was a huge white church in it. The building was really intricate and so was the inside. There were a lot of sculptures both in and outside the church. There was also a Christmas tree in the town center that was really tall, and it was surrounded by Tiffany blue boxes, but we did not see the Tiffany's store. To the right of the church were a bunch of giant pink plastic snails in front of an art museum. Valentino said that the snails were supposed to be a work of art. We found a European store that I really like, Zara, and spent most of our shopping time there. We went in their department store too which is called La Recinante. It had seven floors and all types of designers. We saw stores like Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. They also had a perfume called Aqua di Parma, and I explained to Valentino that Parma is my home town. He thinks that I am just from Akron because that was where my whole group went to school when we met in Spain. Valentino told us that eating can be expensive in Milan, so we went to a Burger King in the town center so it was packed. We waited in line for about 30 minutes to get our food. We also had to pay 10 cents for each ketchup packet! The cashier asked me how many packets I wanted, and I didn't know what to say. He kept repeating himself because he thought I didn't understand, but really I am just used to grabbing a handful and getting more if I needed it. We ended up getting 5 packets and it worked out well too. Luckily, we found a place to sit quickly. We went home by train again, and when we arrived at his house, a bunch of his grandparents and aunts and uncles were there, so we had to greet each one of them with kisses on their cheeks and awkwardly stand there because we don't speak Italian. We took a nap and now we are waiting for dinner in about 2 hours. After dinner, we are going out with Valentino and some of his friends. Tomorrow, he said he will show us around his town.

First Day in Italia

Today, Tiffany and I arrived in Italy. It was not an easy trip, though. Chris’ friend was supposed to drive us to the airport, but he was out of town so Tiff and I had to walk all the way to the train station in the snow with 5 bags! We also had to switch to 3 different trains. People helped us along the way, but it was no picnic. When we finally got to the airport, we were relieved and got a suit case cart. We checked in, had a nice lunch in the terminal, and waited for our flight. We had a lay over in Zurich, Switzerland and then had a delayed flight to Milan because of the weather. I was worried because I told Valentino that we’d arrive at 9:20, but we didn’t get in until 9:50. He and his parents were waiting, though, and we greeted each other traditionally, with a kiss on each cheek. His parents dress really fashionably, I think it’s because they live near a fashion capital. His mom has red hair and was wearing all black and super high heels. She is really short though, and so is his dad who wore ripped jeans. They told us they were taking us out to eat a traditional Italian dinner. The city we drove through reminded me a lot of how Spain looked. At the restaurant, Valentino’s parents ordered us 4 big pizzas because they wanted us to be able to try the different types. They were all thin crust and really good. His dad got some pasta. Afterwards, they insisted we have dessert. They didn’t have tiramisu for Tiff, but we got chocolate gelato instead. They also made us eat a warm apple cake with chocolate dipping sauce. It was different and also really good. At his house, Tiff and I have almost our own apartment. We’re downstairs with a bed, TV, table and chairs, our own kitchen, and our own bathroom. It’s really nice! Tomorrow, we are all going to Milan to shop, I can’t wait!

Happy German New Year!

Today, we woke up early for Chris’ “big surprise,” when we find out that we were going to go to a castle but it is closed for New Years Eve. That was kind of a set back, but we took out the map of Landsberg and planned to go to a castle-like building that we could walk to. We went into town to recycle some bottles; you get a quarter for like each bottle you return here, and eat and go to the bank. Then, we climbed some stairs until we were at this tall castle tower. We took a lot of pictures at the top of the hill and went around to little shops. Tiff was getting cold so we stopped at a bakery for hot tea. It was hard to find a place to go into because a lot of shops were closing early for the holiday. We went home to wait to go out to a restaurant to eat, but the Bavarian ones were closed too. I guess a lot of places are closed for New Years Eve. Instead of going out, Chris invited 4 of his friends over and made us all dinner. We had cheese tortellinis with tomato sauce and pizza. I really like their pizza here, the sauce is sweet, not salty. Then, we went over another one of Chris’ friend’s house. At the house, the kid covered all the walls and ceiling with metallic wrapping paper and then put on a strobe light so it would bounce off all the walls. They played music called “electro,” which to me sounded the same as techno, but they insisted it was different. A few minutes before midnight, everyone goes outside and brings fireworks with them. Then, at midnight, everyone begins to set them off. They don’t just set off little fireworks that you would buy at Walmart, they set off real professional fireworks right in the middle of the streets. It’s kind of scary to be really close to them and it’s really loud. While we were walking, a firework set off and something flew into Tiffany’s eye. She rubbed it a little bit and she was fine but it was kind of scary. After all the fireworks were done, we went home. On the way, a lot of fire trucks and ambulances were going through the streets. People must have gotten hurt. The fireworks are really close to everyone and to houses. It was crazy over here, but I couldn’t imagine if people in the US were aloud to set off professional fireworks in the streets. It would probably be a mess!