Modena and Genoa
It's crazy to think that I have been living in Reggio for a whole month now. It seems like just yesterday I was home preparing for this crazy adventure. Where did the time go?
On Friday it was pouring in Reggio; to the point that we were soaked just walking home from class. I have never really noticed how much rain effects people's moods. In P town, the rain doesn't stop long enough to notice a change in people's attitudes, but here, it was like night and day. Everyone was grumpy and in a sour mood just because it was raining. It was one of the weirdest things. That afternoon we went on a program field trip to Modena, Italy. Modena is about 15 minutes by train from Reggio. We went on a walking tour of the city, saw a bunch of fresco paintings from the Renaissance, and got some delicious gelato (yes, in the rain :)).
Every time we meet a new Italian friend, they ask us where we are studying, and their response to Reggio is almost always, "Oh. Why do you live there? There's nothing in Reggio." So we have been under the assumption that Reggio is a sleepy little town that has very little night life. But Friday night our friend Ricardo (he works for my program) wanted to take some of us out for drinks and to meet his friends in the city center. We had so much fun bar hopping in Reggio, there were so many little bars and restaurants to visit. Contrary to popular belief, Reggio has a night life, and it was so fun!
Saturday was dedicated to some homework (I sometimes forget that I live here for school), grocery shopping, and experiencing Reggio. Update on school: classes are going well, my Italian still sucks, oh, and everyone in my advertising class dropped, so it's just me and the professor for 3 hours. So that's fun, kinda. Not really. My roommates and I have also started a list of "Weird things Italians do". Some of my favorite include: 5 separate trash cans and if you throw something away in the wrong one, you get a fine of 150 Euro, milk is 1.6% fat and that's the only option at the store, all the doors are backwards, meaning when you think you should push, you actually have to pull. You can't get coffee (or anything for that matter) to go, and you can't get cappuccinos after 10am. So ya, there's a little taste of Italy for you.
On Sunday, Emily, Lauren, and I went to Genoa, Italy. We caught the earliest train out of Reggio and made it to Genoa in a couple of hours. After first arriving in town, we grabbed a croissant and a cappuccino and headed out on our way. Now, we chose to go to Genoa for the day, because the weather predicted rain in Reggio and sunshine in Genoa, but as soon as we walked out of the cafe, it started to pour. Just our luck.
Genoa is known for 3 big things: 1. It's a major port for European cruise ships. 2. It's the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. And 3. It's the home of pesto! Genoa is a larger city that sits in the gulf between Cinque Terre and Nice, France, so one of the first things we wanted to do was get a view of the Mediterranean. We started hiking up this weird staircase in the pouring rain looking for some sort of view of the bay area. On our walk, we happened upon this castle that was covered by palm tress and what felt like tropical plants. Walking through the trees felt like we were walking in a tropical rainforest. It was so cool! We were exploring the property to find out that this castle was a museum of some sort. I honestly still have no clue what kind of museum it actually was. We are guessing it was a museum of westward expansion of some sort. Every culture was represented and it had interesting inventions and artifacts from China, the Incan Empire, South Dakota, Australia, and of course a statue of Christopher Columbus. It was a very strange museum, but a nice place to dry off and warm up while it rained.
After leaving the museum, we just started walking, and happened upon a community garden. This older man named Dominico came up to us, introduced himself and offered to show us around the gardens. He was so sweet. He told us a lot about the history of Genoa and the importance of many of the buildings in the surrounding area. When we asked about a place to have lunch, he called his favorite restaurant across town and made "the three beautiful American girls" a reservation. He even offered to walk us there, but we were determined to explore the city a little more, and find it on our own.
When we got to the restaurant, we opened the door and the waiter looked at us and said "aww the Americans are here..." Like I've said before, this isn't new; this happens daily. Anyway, we sat down and ordered a local bottle of wine and of course, their famous pesto. Lauren ordered what she thought was 3 beef patties with pesto, but apparently in Italy, it isn't custom to cook beef. So she got 3 raw beef patties with pesto on top. The look on her face was priceless, and she said, "I think I'm going to be vegetarian after this." In her own words, "It looks like someone killed a cow 5 minutes ago, put it through a meat grinder and slapped it on my plate." Needless to say, we all tried it, but she eventually sent it back saying she didn't realize the patties were going to be completely raw. It was culture shock at its finest. Note to self, don't order beef in Italy..
After that ordeal, we had to treat ourselves to gelato. The best part of Italy is eating gelato (even when its 30 degrees in early February). We walked down to the pier, got some yummy gelato, sat to people watch, and just hung out in Genoa. We ended up finding a nice bench to sit and watch the sunset before heading back to the train station. We had so much fun in Genoa, that we decided we need to go back at some point, but hopefully when it's warmer and not raining.
On Sunday night/ early Monday morning, we went to watch the Super Bowl at the only American Bar in town. For us, the game started at 12:30 am and luckily the bar agreed to show the game as long as at least 10 of us showed up and bought food and drinks. Our entire program showed up, it was crazy! All 40 of us were squeezed into this small room in the basement of this bar, eating hamburgers and fries, drinking beer, and watching the Super Bowl in Italian. It was so fun!
It has been an amazing month in Reggio, and I can't wait for the many adventures to come. Ciao!
On Friday it was pouring in Reggio; to the point that we were soaked just walking home from class. I have never really noticed how much rain effects people's moods. In P town, the rain doesn't stop long enough to notice a change in people's attitudes, but here, it was like night and day. Everyone was grumpy and in a sour mood just because it was raining. It was one of the weirdest things. That afternoon we went on a program field trip to Modena, Italy. Modena is about 15 minutes by train from Reggio. We went on a walking tour of the city, saw a bunch of fresco paintings from the Renaissance, and got some delicious gelato (yes, in the rain :)).
Every time we meet a new Italian friend, they ask us where we are studying, and their response to Reggio is almost always, "Oh. Why do you live there? There's nothing in Reggio." So we have been under the assumption that Reggio is a sleepy little town that has very little night life. But Friday night our friend Ricardo (he works for my program) wanted to take some of us out for drinks and to meet his friends in the city center. We had so much fun bar hopping in Reggio, there were so many little bars and restaurants to visit. Contrary to popular belief, Reggio has a night life, and it was so fun!
Saturday was dedicated to some homework (I sometimes forget that I live here for school), grocery shopping, and experiencing Reggio. Update on school: classes are going well, my Italian still sucks, oh, and everyone in my advertising class dropped, so it's just me and the professor for 3 hours. So that's fun, kinda. Not really. My roommates and I have also started a list of "Weird things Italians do". Some of my favorite include: 5 separate trash cans and if you throw something away in the wrong one, you get a fine of 150 Euro, milk is 1.6% fat and that's the only option at the store, all the doors are backwards, meaning when you think you should push, you actually have to pull. You can't get coffee (or anything for that matter) to go, and you can't get cappuccinos after 10am. So ya, there's a little taste of Italy for you.
On Sunday, Emily, Lauren, and I went to Genoa, Italy. We caught the earliest train out of Reggio and made it to Genoa in a couple of hours. After first arriving in town, we grabbed a croissant and a cappuccino and headed out on our way. Now, we chose to go to Genoa for the day, because the weather predicted rain in Reggio and sunshine in Genoa, but as soon as we walked out of the cafe, it started to pour. Just our luck.
Genoa is known for 3 big things: 1. It's a major port for European cruise ships. 2. It's the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. And 3. It's the home of pesto! Genoa is a larger city that sits in the gulf between Cinque Terre and Nice, France, so one of the first things we wanted to do was get a view of the Mediterranean. We started hiking up this weird staircase in the pouring rain looking for some sort of view of the bay area. On our walk, we happened upon this castle that was covered by palm tress and what felt like tropical plants. Walking through the trees felt like we were walking in a tropical rainforest. It was so cool! We were exploring the property to find out that this castle was a museum of some sort. I honestly still have no clue what kind of museum it actually was. We are guessing it was a museum of westward expansion of some sort. Every culture was represented and it had interesting inventions and artifacts from China, the Incan Empire, South Dakota, Australia, and of course a statue of Christopher Columbus. It was a very strange museum, but a nice place to dry off and warm up while it rained.
After leaving the museum, we just started walking, and happened upon a community garden. This older man named Dominico came up to us, introduced himself and offered to show us around the gardens. He was so sweet. He told us a lot about the history of Genoa and the importance of many of the buildings in the surrounding area. When we asked about a place to have lunch, he called his favorite restaurant across town and made "the three beautiful American girls" a reservation. He even offered to walk us there, but we were determined to explore the city a little more, and find it on our own.
When we got to the restaurant, we opened the door and the waiter looked at us and said "aww the Americans are here..." Like I've said before, this isn't new; this happens daily. Anyway, we sat down and ordered a local bottle of wine and of course, their famous pesto. Lauren ordered what she thought was 3 beef patties with pesto, but apparently in Italy, it isn't custom to cook beef. So she got 3 raw beef patties with pesto on top. The look on her face was priceless, and she said, "I think I'm going to be vegetarian after this." In her own words, "It looks like someone killed a cow 5 minutes ago, put it through a meat grinder and slapped it on my plate." Needless to say, we all tried it, but she eventually sent it back saying she didn't realize the patties were going to be completely raw. It was culture shock at its finest. Note to self, don't order beef in Italy..
After that ordeal, we had to treat ourselves to gelato. The best part of Italy is eating gelato (even when its 30 degrees in early February). We walked down to the pier, got some yummy gelato, sat to people watch, and just hung out in Genoa. We ended up finding a nice bench to sit and watch the sunset before heading back to the train station. We had so much fun in Genoa, that we decided we need to go back at some point, but hopefully when it's warmer and not raining.
On Sunday night/ early Monday morning, we went to watch the Super Bowl at the only American Bar in town. For us, the game started at 12:30 am and luckily the bar agreed to show the game as long as at least 10 of us showed up and bought food and drinks. Our entire program showed up, it was crazy! All 40 of us were squeezed into this small room in the basement of this bar, eating hamburgers and fries, drinking beer, and watching the Super Bowl in Italian. It was so fun!
It has been an amazing month in Reggio, and I can't wait for the many adventures to come. Ciao!
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