Okay so here's my newest blog post. This is it. Words. Technology hates me so the videos I tried to to catastrophically failed, so enjoy this lovely novel I've written you.
So the last blog post I did finished right before Christmas, so I guess that's where I'll start this thing.
Christmas was alright this year, but was certainly different than it's ever been. First off, the biggest difference was definitely that I wasn't with my family. That was a real weird feeling, spending Christmas thousands of miles away from all the people I love. We had a good time though, we had a Christmas Eve dinner at my Sassolese grandparents' house with the family of my host dad's brother. It was a real nice dinner with my Italian family, but I guess it's kind of an Italian tradition to eat fish on Christmas, which isn't really my thing. Yeah, fish is alright, but I really only like it when I'm in a tropical environment and it's real fresh. Then on Christmas Day, we went to Milan and had a nice big Christmas celebration with the Milanese grandparents and relatives, and of course there was more fish and seafood. The only bad part is that because the day after Christmas was a Sunday, all the stores in Milan were closed, which takes a lot of the fun out of the downtown area. But overall it was a nice Christmas... I skyped with the real family and some friends, but it was definitely a completely new experience for me.
Then came New Years, which was really an interesting experience.
New Years here in Italy was a real fun time this year. Instead of going to a big party and getting drunk with everyone (kidding), I went on a ski trip in Trentino with a youth group that a bunch of my friends are in. So we left real early (too early) in the morning on December 29th and came back late on January 2nd. Somethin' real nice from the trip is that I made a lot of new friends, given that there were more than 50 of us, and I only knew 10 or 15 before going. And there was the part that I didn't speak hardly any English all week, so it really helped me out with Italian. We skied the first couple days which was a real blast, but the first few hours I was having lots of trouble cause, well.. honestly the Alps are quite a bit different than the hills we ski on in the Midwest United States. But then after some friends showed me the right way to ski and I practiced some, I got the hang of it real quickly and was skiing like a champ in no time. For New Years we all went across town to this big ole soccer field, played a huge game of glowstick capture the flag, and then watched fireworks as we toasted with champagne at midnight. It was a pretty awesome way to celebrate! So then on the way back we spent a few hours in Verona which was real cool to see for the first time. It was yet another famous Italian city that I had been wanting to visit, and being there seeing everything was nice. The downtown of Verona is kinda small but it's really a beautiful city. The streets are all brick and stone, and it has a very "small European town" feel to it. We were all pretty tired out by the time we got there but it was still amazing to visit!
I can't remember if this happened before or after the ski trip, so I'm just gonna stick it in right here. Over Christmas break I went for a ride in a Ferrari California with my host dad and brother. That was definitely an exhilarating experience, a ride in a Ferrari in Maranello, the city where Ferraris are made!
In January (No idea about the dates anymore) I had a day trip to Mantova which was pretty much goofing around with friends all day.
So Mantova's a city like an hour north of Sassuolo where a couple of my friends live, and their local chapter organized a trip to the city, so I went. Andrea and I met up with some friends from Australia and Costa Rica at the train station, and we all met up with the rest of the group when we got to Mantova. There were two friends from Mantova there, Shante' and Mario, so it was cool spending a bunch of time with them again. We pretty much spent the day walking around seeing the city, with all its old buildings, and there was even a castle! At the end we played a crazy game of capture the flag at a park and then made our way back to the train station say say goodbye. Quite the fun day with a bunch of friends!
The Leaning Tower of PIZZAAAAA.
Just like Mantova, I can't remember the dates for the life of me, but in late January I went to the city of Pisa with my host parents and Andrea. We went for a couple of days and went all over downtown Pisa, and also went to see the tower of course. One thing I can say is that it seems much bigger in photographs, but it's still very cool to see in person! We didn't go up on top unfortunately, but even if you don't go up, it's quite the unique monument.
A little while after we got back from Pisa it started to snow and didn't stop for days. Everything was covered, you couldn't even travel by car for a couple days, and school was closed for like six or seven days. So it was cool to have kind of a "Christmas Break part II."
canalsandgondolasandcarnevalandpartyingandmorecanalsandboatsandVENICE
Another day trip (this is one of the best ones) took place in Venice, which is tied with Florence as my favorite city in Italy. First off there are no cars in the city, so it has a way calmer feel than any other city I've ever been to. Another cool thing is that when we went, it was the first sunny day in a while, and 50 degrees felt like 70 at that point, which was reeeal nice. So, as usual, we just walked around the city all day, seeing all the sights, walkin' all up next to those canals and in the super narrow alleyways. We met up with everyone and had lunch in Piazza San Marco, which during Carnival is an extremely crazy place. There were so many people wandering around in masks and costumes, but they were legit, like all out renaissance costumes. It really was something you could only see in Venice that time of year.
Then like two days after Venice, we had a weekend orientation. It was only the second we've had all year, and there's really no need to talk about it a lot cause we kinda just chilled and hung out all weekend. Didn't really get anything productive done. I did meet a couple of new Americans that are here for the Semester program though so that's cool!
Football! Calcio? No, football americano!!
So recently there's been nice weather, so me and a bunch of friends have gotten together to play football. Real football. AMERICAN football! It's real fun to just play football, but playing it with a bunch of italians who absolutely don't know how it works is just hilarious. I've got a friend Gabri, who, instead of taking a tackle, either throws the ball in a random direction or falls to the ground into a fetal position and shouts "DOWN!!" It's one of the funniest things you could see. Then there's my friend Carlo who plays rubgy and just comes running at you with a look in his eye that he wants to destroy you. And rugby tackles don't feel too great when you hit the ground!
Roberto the German with an Italian name surprises Jake!
Over Easter break my host family told me that we were gonna have a student from Hong Kong stay with us for a night so we needed to go to the train station to pick him up. I didn't really think anything of it so I went with them to go get this guy, and when the train arrived, I was keeping my eyes open for a guy who seems like he'd be from Hong Kong. Let me just tell you that when I saw my German brother standing ten feet away from me at a train station in Italy, I was beyond speechless. It took me a few moments to realize what happened, and even then my mind was spinning like a top. So when they explained what they had done, it all made more sense to me. I guess my host family talked to Roberto and said if he came to Italy, he'd be welcome to stay with us. So for easter he stayed with his Italian relatives for a couple weeks, and he coordinated with my host family when he'd come, but everyone made sure to keep it secret from me. When I saw him, it was the biggest surprise I've had all year, and one of the biggest I've ever had. So anyway, Saturday night we went to a disco and had an awesome time with a whole bunch of friends, and then the rest of the week we hung out and did a lot of catching up. Then before Roberto had to leave, we went to Maranello and took a ride in a Ferrari and toured the Ferrari museum. Easily some of my favorite few days here, spent with my favorite German!
Firenze, Florence, I don't care what you call it, Assassin's Creed happened there and that's the important thing.
My latest big-italian-city-visit-thing was Florence! And I've gotta say it's really quite the city! So I went there on a class trip, but not with my class, with another, which was nice spending a bunch of time with a class that I'm not used to being with all day. We all piled into a bus at 7:30 am, and headed out to Florence, like a two and a half hour bus right. It was a nice coach bus though, so it was a nice ride. So we got to Florence and went to an art museum for about 15 minutes, which was really boring, but it was a good thing we didn't stay there too long. After that our teacher told us we had pretty much the whole rest of the day free, so we went around exploring the city! The first thing we did was climb a big old tower, with 414 steps. It was pretty tiring but was definitely worth it, because we could see literally the whole city from the top. After that we saw a couple of very confused Brits in search of a supermarket, so I served as a translator to help them find one. It's a cool feeling, speaking two different languages to get something productive done! After our British friends found their supermarket, we went to go have lunch, but before we ate we went on an adventure to find the pizzeria that Jersey Shore worked at. (AW YEAH) It was cool seeing it and what not, but it was totally full so we didn't eat there. Oh and I forgot to mention that there was typhoon-like rain all day, which was actually really cool, it was run running about in the rain! So that pretty much sums up Florence, we had kind of a self-guided tour of the city, and definitely a good time!
So that's my life in Italy for you guys! At least the noteworthy things... So I'm gonna write a whole other blog post about my week in Sicily, cause it'd be way too big to include in this one, so I'll let ya know when I post that one!
Cheers mates!
So the last blog post I did finished right before Christmas, so I guess that's where I'll start this thing.
Christmas was alright this year, but was certainly different than it's ever been. First off, the biggest difference was definitely that I wasn't with my family. That was a real weird feeling, spending Christmas thousands of miles away from all the people I love. We had a good time though, we had a Christmas Eve dinner at my Sassolese grandparents' house with the family of my host dad's brother. It was a real nice dinner with my Italian family, but I guess it's kind of an Italian tradition to eat fish on Christmas, which isn't really my thing. Yeah, fish is alright, but I really only like it when I'm in a tropical environment and it's real fresh. Then on Christmas Day, we went to Milan and had a nice big Christmas celebration with the Milanese grandparents and relatives, and of course there was more fish and seafood. The only bad part is that because the day after Christmas was a Sunday, all the stores in Milan were closed, which takes a lot of the fun out of the downtown area. But overall it was a nice Christmas... I skyped with the real family and some friends, but it was definitely a completely new experience for me.
Then came New Years, which was really an interesting experience.
New Years here in Italy was a real fun time this year. Instead of going to a big party and getting drunk with everyone (kidding), I went on a ski trip in Trentino with a youth group that a bunch of my friends are in. So we left real early (too early) in the morning on December 29th and came back late on January 2nd. Somethin' real nice from the trip is that I made a lot of new friends, given that there were more than 50 of us, and I only knew 10 or 15 before going. And there was the part that I didn't speak hardly any English all week, so it really helped me out with Italian. We skied the first couple days which was a real blast, but the first few hours I was having lots of trouble cause, well.. honestly the Alps are quite a bit different than the hills we ski on in the Midwest United States. But then after some friends showed me the right way to ski and I practiced some, I got the hang of it real quickly and was skiing like a champ in no time. For New Years we all went across town to this big ole soccer field, played a huge game of glowstick capture the flag, and then watched fireworks as we toasted with champagne at midnight. It was a pretty awesome way to celebrate! So then on the way back we spent a few hours in Verona which was real cool to see for the first time. It was yet another famous Italian city that I had been wanting to visit, and being there seeing everything was nice. The downtown of Verona is kinda small but it's really a beautiful city. The streets are all brick and stone, and it has a very "small European town" feel to it. We were all pretty tired out by the time we got there but it was still amazing to visit!
I can't remember if this happened before or after the ski trip, so I'm just gonna stick it in right here. Over Christmas break I went for a ride in a Ferrari California with my host dad and brother. That was definitely an exhilarating experience, a ride in a Ferrari in Maranello, the city where Ferraris are made!
In January (No idea about the dates anymore) I had a day trip to Mantova which was pretty much goofing around with friends all day.
So Mantova's a city like an hour north of Sassuolo where a couple of my friends live, and their local chapter organized a trip to the city, so I went. Andrea and I met up with some friends from Australia and Costa Rica at the train station, and we all met up with the rest of the group when we got to Mantova. There were two friends from Mantova there, Shante' and Mario, so it was cool spending a bunch of time with them again. We pretty much spent the day walking around seeing the city, with all its old buildings, and there was even a castle! At the end we played a crazy game of capture the flag at a park and then made our way back to the train station say say goodbye. Quite the fun day with a bunch of friends!
The Leaning Tower of PIZZAAAAA.
Just like Mantova, I can't remember the dates for the life of me, but in late January I went to the city of Pisa with my host parents and Andrea. We went for a couple of days and went all over downtown Pisa, and also went to see the tower of course. One thing I can say is that it seems much bigger in photographs, but it's still very cool to see in person! We didn't go up on top unfortunately, but even if you don't go up, it's quite the unique monument.
A little while after we got back from Pisa it started to snow and didn't stop for days. Everything was covered, you couldn't even travel by car for a couple days, and school was closed for like six or seven days. So it was cool to have kind of a "Christmas Break part II."
canalsandgondolasandcarnevalandpartyingandmorecanalsandboatsandVENICE
Another day trip (this is one of the best ones) took place in Venice, which is tied with Florence as my favorite city in Italy. First off there are no cars in the city, so it has a way calmer feel than any other city I've ever been to. Another cool thing is that when we went, it was the first sunny day in a while, and 50 degrees felt like 70 at that point, which was reeeal nice. So, as usual, we just walked around the city all day, seeing all the sights, walkin' all up next to those canals and in the super narrow alleyways. We met up with everyone and had lunch in Piazza San Marco, which during Carnival is an extremely crazy place. There were so many people wandering around in masks and costumes, but they were legit, like all out renaissance costumes. It really was something you could only see in Venice that time of year.
Then like two days after Venice, we had a weekend orientation. It was only the second we've had all year, and there's really no need to talk about it a lot cause we kinda just chilled and hung out all weekend. Didn't really get anything productive done. I did meet a couple of new Americans that are here for the Semester program though so that's cool!
Football! Calcio? No, football americano!!
So recently there's been nice weather, so me and a bunch of friends have gotten together to play football. Real football. AMERICAN football! It's real fun to just play football, but playing it with a bunch of italians who absolutely don't know how it works is just hilarious. I've got a friend Gabri, who, instead of taking a tackle, either throws the ball in a random direction or falls to the ground into a fetal position and shouts "DOWN!!" It's one of the funniest things you could see. Then there's my friend Carlo who plays rubgy and just comes running at you with a look in his eye that he wants to destroy you. And rugby tackles don't feel too great when you hit the ground!
Roberto the German with an Italian name surprises Jake!
Over Easter break my host family told me that we were gonna have a student from Hong Kong stay with us for a night so we needed to go to the train station to pick him up. I didn't really think anything of it so I went with them to go get this guy, and when the train arrived, I was keeping my eyes open for a guy who seems like he'd be from Hong Kong. Let me just tell you that when I saw my German brother standing ten feet away from me at a train station in Italy, I was beyond speechless. It took me a few moments to realize what happened, and even then my mind was spinning like a top. So when they explained what they had done, it all made more sense to me. I guess my host family talked to Roberto and said if he came to Italy, he'd be welcome to stay with us. So for easter he stayed with his Italian relatives for a couple weeks, and he coordinated with my host family when he'd come, but everyone made sure to keep it secret from me. When I saw him, it was the biggest surprise I've had all year, and one of the biggest I've ever had. So anyway, Saturday night we went to a disco and had an awesome time with a whole bunch of friends, and then the rest of the week we hung out and did a lot of catching up. Then before Roberto had to leave, we went to Maranello and took a ride in a Ferrari and toured the Ferrari museum. Easily some of my favorite few days here, spent with my favorite German!
Firenze, Florence, I don't care what you call it, Assassin's Creed happened there and that's the important thing.
My latest big-italian-city-visit-thing was Florence! And I've gotta say it's really quite the city! So I went there on a class trip, but not with my class, with another, which was nice spending a bunch of time with a class that I'm not used to being with all day. We all piled into a bus at 7:30 am, and headed out to Florence, like a two and a half hour bus right. It was a nice coach bus though, so it was a nice ride. So we got to Florence and went to an art museum for about 15 minutes, which was really boring, but it was a good thing we didn't stay there too long. After that our teacher told us we had pretty much the whole rest of the day free, so we went around exploring the city! The first thing we did was climb a big old tower, with 414 steps. It was pretty tiring but was definitely worth it, because we could see literally the whole city from the top. After that we saw a couple of very confused Brits in search of a supermarket, so I served as a translator to help them find one. It's a cool feeling, speaking two different languages to get something productive done! After our British friends found their supermarket, we went to go have lunch, but before we ate we went on an adventure to find the pizzeria that Jersey Shore worked at. (AW YEAH) It was cool seeing it and what not, but it was totally full so we didn't eat there. Oh and I forgot to mention that there was typhoon-like rain all day, which was actually really cool, it was run running about in the rain! So that pretty much sums up Florence, we had kind of a self-guided tour of the city, and definitely a good time!
So that's my life in Italy for you guys! At least the noteworthy things... So I'm gonna write a whole other blog post about my week in Sicily, cause it'd be way too big to include in this one, so I'll let ya know when I post that one!
Cheers mates!
