La Vida Loca

Well the computer thing is definitely going to take longer than 5 days. And probably 10 too since I'll get back from SICILY and they will have passed. Damn Lenovo and IBM...

Right now I'm in Sicily on the hotel's free computer in the lobby. Don't feel too badly about the computer thing because RyanAir is ridiculously strict:
1) ONE piece of carry-on luggage (this includes your purse...)
2) it cannot measure more than 55 x 40 x 20 cm (and they make you measure it several times in their little metal bins... if it doesn't fit they make you pay 60£)
3) it cannot weigh more than 10 kilos (about 22 pounds)... reasonable, but if it weighs over, you again have to pay 60£ to check it.

So bringing a computer (if I had one) would mean walking around Sicily in no clothes or the same clothes for 5 days... neither of which is a very compelling choice. It's also pretty chilly here too. I mean, nice enough to not wear my peacoat, but not so balmy that I can go sans-sweatshirt. At least today was... tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid-60s!

Sicily is really nice, but also really crazy. Although I have to say this computer is more up-to-date and functions better than the computers at the University of Ferrara... smh, that thing won't even let me check my Verizon email because it uses a "newer" browser. And I think the desktop is from like 1999.

But my computer problems could be solved temporarily by my friend's really awesome, really really sweet host mom (the Italian lady she lives with) who offered to lend me her son's old laptop (that you have to use plugged in because he dropped it off his bike, but who cares? It has a keyboard, screen and I have the Internet key to plug in).

Hopefully this means more blog posts on the horizon! Although they will continue to be picture-less because I do not have my photo software to download onto the borrowed laptop and I'm not sure what is already on it... Nor do I want to lose any of the photos which are currently on my camera. Can you blame me for being cautious?? ;)

In conclusion: I will probably be extremely run down in Sicily-- about a million cities in 5 days, but I might be able to post and/or be online more often when I get back to Ferrara!

The Anti-Midas Touch

Apparently my new (under 4 months old) laptop is just as much a p.o.s. as the last one, I am now sans laptop in Italy. And have to send my new (still a p.o.s. though) laptop away to Milano for them to fix it (unless of course anyone knows how to fix a Lenovo laptop that refuses to turn on... or charge... ).

I thought about throwing my laptop against a wall in frustration or trying to find a sledgehammer in this town... but I'm not sure those are the best choices in terms of future computer usage for the next 3 months.

So, until further notice, this blog is on hiatus. Or not on haitus, but with infrequent posts at odd hours without pictures. (I'm saying haitus to not raise your hopes that I will be able to post all the time or give you amazing pictures of Italy. Believe me: no one is more pissed about this than me, so please no frowns or tears people. I will be back as soon as the Lenovo workers in Milan fix my worst-than-my-HP laptop... which fingers crossed they will be able to do.)

No computer = no way to upload photos = no internet = Anna has to sit in the CIEE office when she doesn't have class only on weekdays, only during business hours and only when some other not-as-poor soul (in comparison to me, the computer-less girl) needs to use the computer = this love-hate relationship with techonology isn't really working out in my favor (I seem to get dumped way too often and without any sort of prior hints) = my life sucks right now.

As a (fun) sidenote that you won't get to hear about until some point far in the future, I'm going to Venice this weekend for Carnevale.

Hmmmm... maybe I should start a new blog: life without technology. Except that would be rather hypocritical considering that I would need technology to share my story. Well, I could always do it the old fashioned way: pen and paper. Maybe I should go all out and find a quill and some parchment...

Italians on Snow: "The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling!!"

Because it has snowed, snowed, melted a bit then turned into ice overnight, snowed, been completely frigid, been so windy I thought my apartment would detach and travel to Oz, and snowed some more, I have not had the chance to have any fun adventures in the past two weeks. You know it's bad/unusual when Italy makes it on The Weather Channel top stories:

The Weather Channel on Italy's worst (and snowiest) winter in years
(For reference, it usually doesn't snow this much... ever... in Italy. Usually never in Rome.)


It also doesn't help that Italians don't believe in shoveling. There is a pick-up truck with salt in the flatbed which drives around and two guys get out to put salt down occasionally. So, once the snow melts a little bit, this is what sidewalks look like once the temperatures drop at night:

Oh, also, when a snowstorm hits, Italians act like it is the end of the world. Everything shuts down. Trains stop running, (clearly nobody drives because the roads are awful), and stores don't open. It's a bit ridiculous, and the reason why I haven't been able to leave Ferrara for two weeks now.

They also don't believe in digging out their cars until the last minute.

(about 3 days after the storm)

I guess because they don't like to clean their cars off in a timely manner, they do everything they can to prevent ice from forming. I've never seen this done before, but people put cardboard on their windshield to keep the ice off.

On a fun note! We had pasta making lessons Thursday night. We learned how to make capellacci from scratch.

Then we got to eat the biggest meal of my life--basically a 5 course meal, when you count bread and the apperitifs (with snacks) which we had beforehand. I even finally got to eat the traditional bread of Ferrara, coppia.

 

These are actually the miny ones. The regular ones usually look like this:

But the final product appearance tends to depend on the baker.

Course 1: salami

Course 2: real capellacci con zucca (pumpkin capellacci)

Course 3: some sort of meat dish (I think it was pork) with mushrooms and roasted potatoes

Course 4: dessert (a sort of really thin, not as gooey brownie).

The restaurant was in the super medieval section of town, so the walk home was kind of fun.

I am hoping for good weather next week because we are going to Venice for Carnevale on Saturday (with a possible trip to Cento for their Carnevale on Sunday if we can find the proper transportation). I don't know if they have a Carnevale celebration in Ferrara, but they do have these awesome pastries for the season. This one is a type of fried raisin dough with cream inside, topped with powdered sugar.



Hodge-podge kind of day

Because I have been most neglectful in posting, this one is a bit of a hodge-podge. (Blame Rutgers football and its craziness this past week for my negligence. And now that NSD is over and all the LOIs have been faxed, I can relax, breathe, and wait for the next shoe to drop on this program... Oh, wait... PJ Fleck just got a job at NIU... nevermind. I can... uh, wait with anticipation for the rest of the assistants to be named?)

[To everyone who doesn't know what NSD or LOI is: National Signing Day and Letter of Intent. It's for college football recruiting... if you didn't know you most likely don't care. So carry on!]

So basically, I was glued to my laptop for the past 6 days often feeling like this.

 [Kind of like Randy in It's a Wonderful Life...]

Anyway, last weekend I went to Parma with a bunch of my new friends. Yes, Parma as in the place where Parmesan cheese comes from. It's actually called Parmigiano-Reggiano here, because it's from Parma and Reggio Emilia. In Parma you can buy Parmesan cheese like this... if you're willing to sell that nice arm of yours.

Of course in the States, it would cost you that nice leg you use to get around as well...

Parma was pretty cool. We started out at the market. Two highlights. Highlight #1: I got wool socks, so now my ankles aren't cold and my toes don't freeze in the 5 inches of snow we got today (more on this later).

Highlight #2:

Yes, those are bras. Strung up like a banner... in a street market.

We also got to see this really amusing statue.

This week we started content classes. I am taking: Contemporary Italian History, Italian Cinema and Dare voce al silenzio (Women Writers in Italian Literature... trust me, not my first choice...). They are all taught in Italian. So far, so good.

Of course, I still had time to go to my new favorite restaurant in Ferrara and grab pizzas with the girls.

This one is bufalina. It's a more concentrated form of mozzarella. And pretty tasty I must say. I love Slurp!

Today, I decided to do some baking because it was so snowy that I couldn't even get you a picture from the apartment window...

... and you have to dress like this

...to survive out there. My roommate thinks it isn't that bad outside... but she's from Minneapolis, so her opinion on winter weather almost doesn't count. I would be here to experience the coldest Ferrarese winter in 27 years. -__-

What an adventure baking in Europe is! No spatula or baking sheets in the apartment and no baking soda or chocolate chips to be found in the supermarket. All about improvising. Although something just doesn't seem right if I have to work with stuff like this...

In place of (from left to right) baking powder, packed brown sugar, chocolate chips, sugar, and flour, but I can find things like this in the supermarket instead.

You can buy Scotch tape!! Something seems wrong with this picture... "Toto, I don't think we're in the Kansas [or the US for that matter] anymore.") Oh, I almost forgot the vanilla extract--actually, it's vanilla "aroma." Teehee!

This plus my little kitchen ingredients scale make me feel like a mad scientist making crazy chocolate chip cookies with only half a recipe, no Kitchenaide and these huge casserole dishes in place of baking sheets.

They didn't come out half bad, though. Not my usual quality, but they taste like chocolate and cookie, so maybe all my wishing paid off!

The super-secret Sandberg chocolate chip cookie recipe had a few more outstanding ingredients that were impossible to find in the baking aisle, so don't feel too jealous that you're missing out on this batch. My roommate has taken to calling me mom since the cookies were warm and gooey when she got home. She thought they were good. And threatened to eat all but two by morning when I said she could have some more if she wanted. So I guess they weren't all bad.

I will leave you with this gem from the train to Parma.

I understand the message... I just don't get the image. Diagrams are not the Italians' strongpoint apparently. Although they do provide entertainment for us foreigners!