17.12.2010

 Today I have been in Italy exactly three months. Well, three months as in it is the 17^th December and I arrived on 17^th September, so actually 13 weeks. I can’t quite believe it. That’s the longest I’ve been away from home continuously in my life I think. And for it to be in a foreign country makes it feel like even more of an achievement. In the last week or so things here have got better, or rather I feel better about things. Seeing as it’s the last week now I’ve automatically started reflecting more on how everything has gone, and how much it has all been up and down, from brilliant to terrible in such short periods of time. It’s crazy how much things can change and how trying to get to know the Italian culture has both challenged and confirmed various stereotypes I had.

Being thrown into another society with completely new ways of doing things has meant that generalisations I made at the start have been ripped to shreds but now I make new generalisations about different things, some good and some not so good I think. One thing that I often wonder about is whether I would have felt any different if I had planned to move to Italy all along and it hadn’t been such a shockingly rushed thing but I’m glad of how things turned out; I’ve got to learn a language that I had no experience of at all, so being able to have a conversation is really good, with very little formal training.

Of course the other major advantage of being here is being able to spend time, get to know, and share things with Jenny and Lydia.

There are plenty of things I would often like to change about Italy, but I know that that will never happen and I wouldn’t really want to, I should learn to get used to things as they are more. Having quite a lot of time to sit and just be and think has been really great most of the time, and I’ve had great conversations about things that I wouldn’t have known or thought about if I hadn’t been here.

Having said all of that, I’m very much looking forward to going home tomorrow for three weeks. To Britain, to Whitby, to my house, to my family and friends, to complete familiarity, to the English language, to a lot of things! And hopefully by the end I’ll want to come back here. We’ll see.

Ciao, Parma

Some very nice violins

The other day I visited Cremona, and the Museo Stradivari, which houses the tools, templates and works of some of the greatest violin makers ever, Stradivarius, Amati and Guarneri, amongst others. It’s so amazing that they still have the actual things used by the masters three or four hundred years ago, and those are the tools that have made some of the best instruments in the world. Suffice to say, I wish I could try any single one of them, but that is more than likely never to happen in my life, but it was a very inspiring afternoon. Cremona is a small town but very pretty with a brilliant Duomo, anyone who finds themselves in Northern Italy should definitely pay it a visit. And obviously let me know if you happen to end up in Northern Italy!

More Christmas markets, lots of lights and our best attempts at bartering

Blagging; something it’s fairly easy to do in Italy, partly because of the lack of rules and regulations for some things and partly because we’re English. Luckily we didn’t have our tickets checked on the train to Florence after getting on the wrong train because it took less time and had no changes and having not validated our tickets seeing as the machines were broken in Parma station.

So, we arrived in Firenze feeling rather smug with ourselves for saving both time and money!

There are so many famous things to see in Florence and the great thing is that they’re mostly in quite a small area so it’s easy to get around and see lots. Another great thing was that Lydia had found us the ‘Queen’s Hostel’ just on a side street off from the Duomo, so basically smack bang in the centre of the city, for only 10 euros a night! It was so sweet, and just looked like a big house with extra beds in, a lovely little kitchen and definitely somewhere I’d recommend. The only drawback was a guy there who sadly didn’t have the greatest social skills especially with non-fluent Italian speakers and who invaded our personal space and time a little too much for our liking, slightly freaking us out a little!

We spent Saturday evening wandering round and seeing things like the Ponte Vecchio where many a couple has got engaged and/or bought a ring, Palazzo Vecchio – which was in the second Twilight film, and had a Damien Hirst exhibition on when we were there – the markets and the outside of the Duomo and the Baptistery. The stall holders at the markets are so used to English speakers, we heard so many American voices over the weekend, and come out with some hilariously bad chat up lines as you walk past. We were told ‘You’ve dropped something…my heart’ and ‘Smile again and I’ll give you a discount’ amongst countless calls of ‘Hi English’ and ‘Hey baby’. Pretty good for comedic value, I’ll give them that!

Ponte Vecchio

Strangely we found it really hard to find somewhere that had a varied menu with pasta, pizza and salads etc. and apparently in Florence if it’s not a Pizzeria it does no pizzas at all! After searching we came across a really nice place and sat in the cellar room, lovely and cosy with candles and red walls, and to our delight a family on the next table with the most adorable kids! Working our way through our litre of wine we chatted about many a thing, including lots of reminiscing about childhood toys and odd things like what lunchbox we had, and lots about our parents. The closer it gets to Christmas and going back to England the more we talk about home and how much we cannot wait to get back, even when we’re having fun!!

We ended the night in a bar called ‘Shot Spot’ unfortunately with a pretty rankly strong White Russian, then chatted to some Australians and a Brazilian travelling Europe for their summer back at the hostel.

My description of Sunday will be quite short because if I expand any more than saying ‘Christmas shopping’ all surprises will be ruined! Had a brilliant breakfast of sausage and egg bagel to start off the day and then we caught a bit of a service in the Duomo. Turned out not to be as grand inside as we had thought, and although it’s huuuge it’s quite plain with just small stained glass windows and one painted ceiling, definitely more exciting from the outside! Then the shopping commenced…the day included

-          hilarious haggling skills

-          a ‘genuine handmade, I should know, I’m a designer’ leather jacket breaking on Jen; the guy’s face trying to sell it was a picture

-          many hours spent deliberating over what to buy for who, who to give things to and finding excuses to buy for ourselves at the same time!

After a rather materialistic day we were treated to one of the little wonders of nature…stood outside the station we saw groups of small birds (not sure what kind) all fly around and split off in waves then join back up again, making different shapes in the sky and following each other, like a shoal of fish when they all suddenly turn the same way again and again. After a while they started to settle on some trees near to where we were stood then really suddenly all at once emerged back into the sky with a burst of noise of beating wings and squawking. None of us understood why they were doing it…if anyone can shed some light on that please do…but it was amazing to watch!

Feeling rather exhausted we went out for an aperitivo tea and a non-alcohol cocktail and then an early-ish night. Paranoid hysteria set in for a few minutes after we found out the aforementioned creepy guy in the hostel was getting the same train as us the next morning, before we calmed down and got to bed! 

A successful second weekend trip in a row and another planned for next, the last weekend left in Italy before Christmas holidays…Erasmus life is good!

Lakeside Ramblings

So instead of a weekend in Verona and Lake Garda, we ended up in the less touristy versions; Bergamo and Lake Iseo. A brilliant alternative it turned out. Although it was in some ways a weekend full of small failures - not being able to go to the originally planned destination, missing buses, therefore missing other buses, and getting on the wrong bus – it was still brilliant! Some things we did/liked/loved…

·      Got very excited on the train travelling northwards and seeing snowy topped mountains and frosty fields!

·      Got even more childishly excited at the Christmas lights all up the street outside the station in Bergamo and the Christmas market. To our great delight there was also a stall selling mulled wine, a perfect addition to the evening.

·      ‘Città alta’, the old city on top of a hill looking down to the rest of Bergamo. So nice to wander around the little streets, all decorated with lights, and look in the cute shops and restaurants, and eat scrumptious pizza.

·      Got up very early to get the bus to Sarnico at the Southern end of Lago d’Iseo. Unfortunately the timetable we had wasn’t actually when buses to the centre ran, so we missed the one we needed and therefore missed the one to Sarnico. However, managed to get one to Lòvere at the North of the lake instead. It was a lovely bus ride, through lots of little towns and villages and then alongside the lake for a while, so nice to see lots of water and some actual scenery! Typically, the tourist information office was shut for a holiday so after consulting a very basic map we set off walking…

·      At the next village up the lake, Costa Volpino, we started heading upwards and just carried on ascending for a couple of hours on roads, cobbled pathways, muddy trails and snow covered tracks. Amazing to get past the height where the snow had settled and stayed on everything, and the views over to the other side of the lake and downwards more then made up for the fact that we had cold wet feet! We met a really cute old woman in one of the churches on the hillside who chatted to us for a while about how it’s great to be young and what a great age 21 is, and how she had grandchildren our age and that we should make the most of everything. Wise words from a wise little lady.

·   Hot food and drink was needed when we had got back down to Lòvere and coffee and waffles fitted the bill.

·      Next transport error – no thanks to the complete lack of information at the bus stop we got on a bus that went past but didn’t stop in Bergamo and just went straight on to Milan. Nightmare. Thanks to a nice young man we managed to get off at the stop nearest to Bergamo and told us how to get back, very kind of him.

·      After expending more energy in a day than we have in a while we were perfectly happy to get a nice warm shower and read back at the hostel, then seeing as it was Sunday there were no buses to the city and no places to go out, so pizza order was on the cards. They weren’t brilliant but filled us, and I definitely took advantage of the coffee/tea/hot chocolate machine.

·      Met some cool people at the hostel, a Syrian medical student living and working here in Italy, and a classical guitarist from London who travels and busks all over the world. It was kind of nice to chat to a stranger with a ‘real’ English accent, and he picked up on ours as soon as we walked in! Delightful end to the evening when he started playing quietly in the common room type area where we were sat reading on sofas. Made for the best relaxing ending to a tiring but exciting trip.

An Inter-European Love Manor reunion

Three weeks ago, thanks to Easyjet and good Italian trains, I got to go and visit Heather in France! The first excitement was the flight, and although it was under an hour (yes, I feel bad about my carbon emissions for such a short journey) it had some of the nicest views I’ve ever seen from a plane. Flying over the alps at sunset, not much can beat it! Having managed to use my limited French skills to get a ticket and find my way out of the airport to the tram link I arrived in Lyon Part-Dieu station, the location for the joyous reunion of two Love Manorettes, ie. Heather and I. We had a walk around the city centre and ended up near Bellecourt for tea, on the area between the two rivers that run through the city, the Rhône and the Saône. After missing the train we had intended to get to Villefranche where Heather lives, we decided to be sensible and look at a map to plan a route to the other train station in time for the next departure. Intentions were good but unfortunately we mistook a tram line for a metro line and consequently our plans were ruined, and we missed another train! Third time was lucky though, and eventually we got back to Villefranche. The high street looked really pretty with lots of lights along it, and a beautiful church in the middle.

Friday night was almost a night out but by the time we had gone out to look for a bar they had all closed, so it turned into to just a night in.

A breakfast of eggs on toast was served by the lovely Heather on Saturday morning followed by a great cappuccino in town. We’d planned to get the train into Lyon around three, but thanks to our brilliant luck, the only hour without a train to go at ten past was 3pm. Thankfully there was a bus setting off just after we got to the station so not all hope was lost! We spent a few hours visiting the old favourite, H&M, and some other shops in Lyon centre then ate at a really cool and quirky internet café/comic book shop/café.

There was more promise of partying on Saturday night, and after a few glasses of Calimocho (a Spanish drink made by mixing Coca-Cola and red wine…surprisingly tasty!) and a bit of coffee to try and re-energise slightly, we headed to the club, La Storia. The French clubbing experience is almost as strange as the Italian I’ve had…funny rules about leaving your bag in the cloakroom and having to take in money and phone in pockets or hands, very odd! Drinks were also hideously expensive, just like here, but the music was pretty good and it was great to have a good night out with Heather, like the old times in Newcastle!

Having learnt our lessons, we checked the train times before setting off on Sunday, and headed straight to Vieux Lyon. Like many old towns, there are lots of little streets with cute cafes, creperies, and places with rows upon rows of tiny little cakes and pastries in the windows, all very enticing and so pretty! Lyon Cathedral lies in the old town and has amazing stained glass windows with such bright colours in so many patterns. I could spend hours wandering round the old town, drinking tea and coffee here and there and taking so many photos…so I may well be inviting myself back Heather!