Ciao amici! Rather unbelievably, I’m now writing to you all from my
third and final year abroad destination; Trento, a city hidden in the depths of
Northern Italy.
To all the haters whose faces fell when I told you I was coming to this
part of Italy, the joke is on you my friends. I’m 40 minutes away from Lake
Garda in the car, less than an hour from Verona on the train, two hours from
Venice, and an hour from Austria. I can be in Rome in three hours on the train
and can get other direct trains to Munich, Florence, Bologna and Naples. So HA.
The city itself isn’t at all what I was expecting. I’m not really sure
what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. It’s a beautiful place, its so clean
and everything is very grand and surrounded by mountains, which, let’s face it,
makes everything better. When I first arrived I was concerned that I would
freeze to death, but in the week that I wasn’t here, things warmed up
considerably- by nearly 15 degrees in fact. It’s almost too warm to wear a coat
in the mornings, but the mountains mean that after around 2.30 in the afternoon
the temperature suddenly drops. I’m so glad I brought my thermals with me
because to begin with we spent most of our time in the clouds.
So, first impressions. I think I’m going to have to make a considerable
effort to speak Italian here. It seems to me that Trento is the go-to
university for Italian students who want to study English. The majority of the
lectures here are taught in English, which makes life quite difficult. And
people that I’ve met who are just starting their second semester here haven’t
spoken any Italian because they haven’t needed to. So, looks like I’m going to
have to be as keen as I was in Aix! So far that hasn’t been a problem. I’ve
found two tandem partners and I’m going to au pair every Friday (hopefully!) so
I should be doing around the same amount of extras that I was last semester. You also
get many more hours for your ECTS credits here. But I was determined to keep
the four day weekend for travelling, which means my 18 hours a week are packed
in from Monday to Wednesday. So if I go incommunicado on those days, it’s
because I’m probably in some kind of Italian induced coma.
My modules all take place in the sociology department, and include
studying theories of European integration, the formation of
international organisations and their true purposes, and political science. Lectures so far, all conducted in Italian, are
going a lot better than I expected because I actually understand what’s
happening. And in sharp contrast to France, whenever England is mentioned it’s
in an amicable way and depending on whether the lecturer has caught on to my
nationality, I often get a smile whenever my country is mentioned. Problem is,
I think the next stage of this is being asked questions relating to our political
system or Eurosceptic views, rather than nodding in confirmation to the
lecturers’ statements. I’m going to have to brush up on the difference between the House of Lords and the House of Commons or things could get
embarrassing.
Accommodation. Let’s just say that I knew that I didn’t go through the
trauma of Eastwood for nothing and that I would be rewarded in some way eventually.
Halls are great. I’ve met lots of great people, from all over the world-
Vietnam, Russia, Hungary, Thailand, Germany- and, of course, many Italian
students who have offered to correct me whenever I make a mistake. Everyone is
really friendly, we have a cleaner that comes in EVERY DAY and I have a
stonking great mountain greeting me when I open my curtains every day. It won’t
be hard to believe that every morning of the first week all I wanted to do was
throw my curtains open, leap out on to my balcony and start singing the opening
number from the sound of music. I decided that this might have been slightly
inappropriate, seeing as I share a balcony with an Italian guy who has no idea
what he’s living next to.
Best part about accommodation so far has been our international eating experiences (obviously). Living with people from the Far East means that the kitchen is always full of amazing food. We even had an international dinner for which I made afternoon tea and cake- with pre made cakes. We have no oven and the hob takes 20 minutes to heat up, so I was rather restricted. I would have made a Yorkshire pudding and gravy but it wasn't going to happen without a magic wand.
Culture Shock is even worse here; I have two countries to compare everything to now!
1) Italians don’t
use duvets. To all of you that will be snuggling down under duvets tonight,
make sure you properly appreciate them. I have a top sheet and a blanket. It’s flabbergasting to me that I live in the mountains and duvets
aren’t an option. Things have gotten so drastic that I’ve even contemplated
whacking out the dreadful fleece onesie from M&S.
2) Italian food is
great. This is common knowledge. Less recognised, however, is the incapacity of the Italians to make decent bread. The amount of times I’ve woken up wanting to stroll down
to the boulangerie is overwhelming. This is what France has done to me. Never
again will I take baked goods for granted. It’s not all bad though, seeing as
we’ve found a curry house in the centre of Trento which more than makes up for
the lack of baguettes.
3) Here’s one that
is just downright concerning; after 1am, traffic lights in this part of Italy are switched
off. OFF. This means that late night road safety is left to the average Italian
driver. Crossing roads in the early hours of the morning is treacherous. The
Jaws music is playing in your mind, just waiting for a vehicle to appear out of
nowhere and mow you down. You’ve got to laugh though, because Italian driving
is every bit as reckless as they tell you. I was in a taxi yesterday and the
driver was doing 140 kmh on a busy motorway. And he wasn’t even overtaking
anyone…
4) In Trento there
is a rather unorthodox method of letting the locals know when it’s midday.
Picture this if you will: first week of the intensive language course, Megan and I were
sat blissfully unaware enjoying the glorious weather in the main piazza,
tramezzino in hand, having a great time. Suddenly, an air raid siren goes off
at earsplitting volume. I jump straight up off my bench and immediately look
for somewhere to take cover, ready to shepherd the locals to safety.
I was the only person in the piazza to do so. Can they not just use a clock
tower? Seriously. I don’t need any other opportunities to look stupid (please
see final section, it’s a corker).
Aside from this, I’ve been
cruising around Italy over the last few months with my main girl Megan. So far we've visited Verona and
Venice. Verona is really lovely, not as big as I thought but full of lovely
buildings, Fiat 500s and lively piazzas. It is, of course, better known for its
affiliations with Romeo and Juliet. Visiting Juliet’s balcony was really great.
The walls of the courtyard are absolutely covered in post-it notes and heart
shaped locks, and they have Michael Buble playing on the overhead speakers. Of
course, as soon as I walked in to the courtyard, the lyrics “I just haven’t met
you yet” blared out. It’s cool though, I had a word with Juliet and she’s going
to sort things out for me. Reading some of the messages was surprisingly
emotional, for several reasons. Firstly because there are so many lovely happy
messages, which are both poetic and cheesy. Secondly because there are people
who post letters to loved ones who have passed away or who have not yet
appeared. And thirdly because there are people that leave notes to 5SOS and One
Direction there- when I say emotional, I’m including disgust. I’m ashamed to
say that after visiting the courtyard, we unexpectedly stumbled upon a significant Roman arena- just
goes to show how aware I am of my cultural surroundings. So Verona- well worth a visit!
Venice was a step up from Verona though, as was to be expected. I was like a child on the train there, mainly because the seats were divided up into carriages just like the Hogwarts Express, but also because I get very excited visiting places I’ve never been before! We got there in the cold and the rain, and it took us over an hour to walk to our hotel which wasn’t great, but it was well worth it. The hotel was right on a canal very popular with local gondoliers and every morning we were woken up by velvety tones of O Sole Mio and the occasional accompanying accordion. We went up the campanile (the Venetians thought ahead and installed a lift) hopped on and off boats, and even went and had a Bellini at Harry’s Bar, which was a complete rip off but justifiable as an important cultural experience. Venice can't really be explained- no words or pictures do it justice!
Language Blunder
I’ve missed sharing my
shame. And I don’t know how, but I’ve managed to outdo myself once again. I
didn’t think it could get much worse than being a creepy diner, but my language
skills have recently led to me partaking in criminal activity.
Last week, Megan and I went
to our favourite restaurant (well, not anymore!) for some lunch. At the end of
our meal, the boss of the restaurant, who is usually always present, had popped
outside for a smoke, so we went up to the till to pay and the very young waiter
said to us that we didn’t need to pay because we’re always there and they
wanted us to spend our money doing other nice things around Trento. I
immediately thought that this was odd, but he insisted that we didn’t have to
pay. As I walked out the door, he said, “No, really, you can go! Have a nice
day!” Of course when we headed back there this week we were informed that he
was kidding about giving loyal customers free food and that we had broken the law. Awkward
is an understatement. Seriously though, why would you joke with English people
who look at you blankly every time you speak to them at speed in Italian? Do
the math buddy. I reckon the boss just told him off, but it meant that we had
to fork out for two meals when we went back. We won’t be going back there in a
hurry!
So all in all, things are pretty fantastic. This year abroad business is excellent. Just a shame that it's not long before I head back to England. So I'm going to continue making the most of my time on the continent and therefore gloating about it online. Until next time!
