Verona.

Ahh. Well. Here I sit, in my room in Favara, Sicily. Exhausted from the intense mental, emotional, physical stimulation of a week of amazing sights, tastes, feelings. As I watch the blue bar slowly move on my desktop, uploading the pictures from the week, and watch the little thumbnails of my photographs, it is so odd to think that I am back in Favara, sitting where I sat 8 days ago looking ahead excitedly to the week ahead. I feel pretty sad.

Verona is a magnificent city. The first time I walked into the main piazza, surrounded on one side by an ancient Roman arena, a massive “comune” building (government), beautiful apartment buildings, and outdoor café’s, I thought to myself: this must be Italy! The people are so fashionably dressed, many riding old bicycles, sitting outside café’s drinking espressos or wine. I instantly fell in love with the city, and throughout the week, this fascination grew and expanded, making it really difficult to leave this morning to return to Sicily.

I really, really, really lucked out with my host family for the week. Parents were Fabio and Roberta, kids were Leo, 4, (eerily similar to Simon, to the point where I got chills seeing a picture of him on the wall, thinking it was my real little brother), and Alessandro, 17, who I instantly made friends with, finding a ton in common. They live about 15 minutes outside of the city of Verona, in a town called Bussolengo, which looks like a normal, Californian, suburban town with a lot more Vespa’s and Fiats. Fabio has a Nuova 500 Fiat 66’, a classic Italian car which is really popular in Sicily, but I had never had the pleasure to take a ride in. Very sweet, very historical car. Upon entering the house, I immediately noticed the collection of cd’s and dvd’s. Some of my favorites: The Essential Bruce Springsteen, Fugees, Pearl Jam, and for movies: Seven, Apocalypse Now, some Begnini films. I felt instantly at home!

Our AFS group was as usual an amazingly diverse: Australia, Turkey, Thailand, Germany, Finland, U.S., Honduras, Brazil, Paraguay, and China. Pretty fascinating, as usual, to see the interactions was very interesting. We had a good time together.

So, what we saw. We spent a lot of time in Verona, exploring the old streets, churches, visiting “La Casa di Giuliette,” the Arena, and visiting the political center, where we met the mayor. We did a day in Milan, saw il Duomo, the actual “The Last Supper,” which is unbelievable, and affected me much more than I ever expected it to, and had a chance to walk around the city a bit. It reminded me at times of Paris. The weather wasn’t being cooperative, but we were all “troopers,” in Abranowicz / Raisfeld terms. Maybe the best day for me was the long anticipated trip to Venezia. I was truly blown away. It is so fun just to walk around the city, which is like nothing I have ever seen in my entire life. We did the touristy but fun gondola ride, and my favorite thing, seeing the Grand Canal, which I have always seen in photographs, Kevin Burger’s paintings, and the movie Casino Royale. So beautiful and overwhelming. I witnessed a strange thing that day as well: I was sitting in a café with some friends, with a view of one of the bridges, when I saw a woman throw her phone into the canal, totally emotionless. I thought, “that’s kind of weird,” and then watched as she threw her umbrella in. She then went on to have a full blown epileptic seizure, which I had never seen before. Very sad and scary. I visited Lago di Garda twice, once with the group, and once with my host family. The second time I went, with the family, we took a ferry across to the other side with the car, to a town infamous for being one of the final Fascist strongholds in WWII. Fabio knows an amazing amount of history, and it was so great to go around with him, because he was such a fountain of knowledge on everything we saw. Dates, history, legends, etc.

That day I ate three gelatos.

So back in Favara. A little (maybe more than a little) sad to have left Verona. I really fell in love with the city, the family, my host brother’s friends, etc. I had a package with tea, a lift ticket from my birthday (!!!) and a twizzler waiting on my desk, as well as a letter from Nana and Poppy, which was wonderful to return to. Feeling tired, as I said before, and am planning on watching a movie later tonight, just relaxing.

Miss everyone so much, and am amazed that it has almost been halfway. It was an amazing week, but every amazing week has to end. It is nice to think that soon I will depart for Romagna for a trip with the school!

Ciao! Zander in Italy

Listening: “The Hazards of Love” by the Decemberists, and “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out” by Yo La Tengo

Reading: L’Uomo Vogue (bought in Milano!)

Watching: “It’s Always Sunny in Philidelphia”

I Love Nutella

Correction: Will someone tell me why I don't eat Nutella at home? It has been brought to my attention that it exists in the U.S. by numerous people. I have lived all my life without this elixir? Ridiculous. 

The Workings of a Good Week

After the difficulties of last week, it is with great joy that I can say with certainty that this was a really nice week. The bike really freed me up, helped a ton, and I have been able to go to the pool a few times. It is truly amazing how the need to "burn off steam" manifests throughout my day. I reach a point sometimes, usually right after lunch, where I am so frustrated, tired, burnt out, sometimes angry, that I know I just need to get myself moving, get myself woken up and relaxed. 

The pool is a really fun experience. Getting the system down, which makes it a lot easier, and am building up in my strength in the water. So relaxing and fun to swim, the best being when my timing works out that the sun is setting out the window of the pool and reflecting off the water. The ultimate! 

I have discovered the cappuccino. I like them better than espresso's, and have had one a day, at school. Want to learn how to make them right, so I can have them at home!

Some very good news: My school is taking a trip to Emilia Romagna for a week, and for some reason I assumed I couldn't go, but yesterday I mentioned it to my mom and she gave me the greenlight, so on April 21st I will be taking an overnight ship from Palermo to Rome (so cool), boarding a bus to Romagna, and spending a week exploring that region  of Italy, including the Republic of San Marino, Urbino, Ravena, Bologna, Rimini, and more. So excited about that! 

On Saturday I go to Verona! I am leaving early morning and spending a week. AFS organized it all, and I am really excited. Am going to see Milan, Venice, and I'm sure a million other amazing places. 

At school yesterday a teacher came in to our class room and smacked a kid on the back of the head much harder than I expected. Then he did it to another kid, and another. Italian punishment! Hilarious and fascinating. 

I'm off to work out and then later later go to see "La Matassa,"  an Italian comedy with two Sicilian actors. We're seeing it really late, and I am expecting it to be really funny. Ciao!

Zander

P.S. 

Reading: "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis (Loving every word), and "Fiabe Italiane" by Italo Calvino

Listening: "All Songs Considered" NPR Podcast (Free, and awesome music, new and old)

Watching: "Weeds" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"

Three Signs of Old Italy

On Monday I saw three beautiful signs of old Italy. 

1. As I was sitting at my desk at school, looking over at the hill across from my school, I saw an old man in big rubber boots moving slowly around, stopping to pick something from the ground. I asked my classmate what it was, and they replied "funghi." An old man picking mushrooms. 

2. I was riding my bike right near my house, and saw another old man stopping to pick something from the side of the road. I stopped and asked him what he was looking for, and he said "verdura." Greens. And old man picking greens on the side of the road.

3. I rode my bike farther, and there was a big commotion ahead of me on the road. I rode past the traffic, and came across a frantic shepherd trying desperately to get his goats off the road. The goats were jumping on cars, getting chased by guard dogs, and running into driveways and off the road as the shepherd (pastore) yelled in his guttural goat language to no avail. A goat-induced traffic jam.

Speaking of bicycle, I forgot to announce that I officially am in possession of a really nice mountain bike, generously loaned to me by my friend Sergio. It frees me up so much, allows me to go farther and faster than on foot. Thank the lord! The week has started off really well, went to the pool yesterday, and the beach today! Had a cappuccino while sitting on the deck of a beach cafe watching the waves. Perfection. 

I go to Verona on Saturday!

Zander

The Sky is Really Nice Here

This Week is Over / This Week Begins

I knew at the start of this week that it would be an odd one. My new friends from AFS departed from Sicily on Sunday morning to their various homes around Italy, Ditte, my good friend and Danish exchange student who lives near Favara left for her week exchange in Parma, Ulriche, the German exchange student in Favara left for Rome for a week, and Kaja, my English speaking buddy, and Canadian exchange student in Favara left on Monday to go home to Vancouver. I mentally prepared myself for a strange and possibly lonely week. 

I decided that the only way to keep my mind off it all was to stay really busy, and to make sure I always had things lined up to do after school. It turned out to be not as bad as I thought, maybe because I was battling other, more immediate challenges that manifested this week. 

Since I haven't been able to run because of the shin splints I have depended mostly on just working out in my room, which is great, and I love being able to listen to music and having the ability to do it whenever I want, but it certainly gets boring. I need something where I am really moving, where I can just burn off the steam that builds up so high here sometimes. I had been hearing a lot about the local pool, famed for its cleanliness and nice water, but had never gotten around to checking it out. The problem is it is too far to walk, and my family can't always take me, so it is not the perfect situation. I got rides a few times this week, and it was wonderful when I could go.

The pool is surprisingly clean, and wonderfully wild. While I swim laps kids are doing cannonballs over my head while the swim instructors are chasing them around with a whistle. Just to get in the water is enough to make me feel relaxed. I am trying to figure out a more surefire way to get there- possibly the bus system, but I was told there is no bus to the pool. 

The Italian is coming all really well. This week, since I couldn't speak English with Kaja, I really spoke in Italian the whole time. I even refrained from reading my English books, (until yesterday when I couldn't resist, bored in school). I am fascinated at the complexity of the verb conjugations in the Italian language- it is amazing how many different situations warrant different verb forms. "Napolean had two wives" translates as "Napolean ebbe due mogli," while "I had a weird experience when I was three" translates as "Avuto una esperienza strana quando avevo tre anni." All forms of "to have": Ebbe, avesti, avessi, avevo, ebbero, ho, avete, abbiamo, etc. etc. It's pretty amazing. I see a lot of beauty in it, while those who are learning English are fascinated by the simplicity of our verb conjugations. " I had a cramp," "Napolean had two wives," "I had a coffee this morning." We're lucky! 

Well, I think this will be a lazy Sunday. I slept until 11:30, and just ate a massive lunch: 1. Lasagna with spinach, 2. Salad, 3. Pork, 4. Fresh bread, 5. Pineapple with honey. We always eat pineapples on Sunday, I find that funny. 

Ciao!

Zander

This Week's Photography