Wee week

2. 19. 10
Quite possible the most useless day day of all time. No class, no buses, no nothing. I got up ridiculously late and had trout for lunch. I think this might be the first time I have eaten a fish that still had a face. Then nothing. I was supposed to go out with Alice and Ellie, but my phone was being insanely useless (aka refusing to send texts) and I was getting fed up. Then I hit the slump. We are all supposed to go through this elaborate acculturation process, part of which is the downward curve of life sucks and I just want to go home. That’s what happened to me Friday night. I had been toeing the line a few nights before, but it was in the dark of lonely night, so it didn’t seem that unusual. Suddenly, I was tired of everything. Tired of having to speak in grunts and gestures, tired of not understanding things that were said to me, tired of useless cellphones, tired of wearing the same shoes and jacket every day, tired of not being able to be with or even regularly communicate with people I care about… my list of grievances was growing rapidly. Then Matt invited me to meet up at a free concert. At this rate, I was never going to be able to communicate with Alice in order to make it to the club, and I was no longer in any mood to go, so I met up with Matt. I wondered whether this would manage to revive my spirits, or whether I would just bring him down into my funk. I showed up, timelyly, at intermission. It was, in fact, a great concert. It has been a long time since I had been to an orchestra concert, and it reminded me of a lot of good times. I played my usual game of finding interesting things to observe so I could occupy my wavering attention span and keep enjoying the music. I was very impressed by the fact that not a single person tried to clap between movements. My cloud turned a little less dark gray. The concert ended and we started wandering. We walked over to Garibaldi, looking for a café or some such place. We had no real destination, and consequently ended up doing a lot of walking. We ended up at the main square and went into one of the few places that seemed open. I had pistachios for the first time. An employee came upstairs to smoke, and then turned to us and said Ciao. Ciao, we replied. No, no, no, they were closing. Oh, ciao as in go away. Good night.

2. 20. 10
I met Matt around three, first stop, gelato. Next, second museum site. I tried avoiding the main streets I am walking a rut into, and while we took a lovely detour, it inevitably led to the usual paths. This part of the exhibit was a collection of fashion drawings and pieces, and for the most part I found it unremarkable. There were some drawings by Armani and other big names, and some small-scale dresses made by someone named Adelina. There was also a DIY-type video, essentially about making clothing out of squares of fabric, and one such iteration managed to make it into my dream. Other than that, not much of note, in my opinion. We took a little break and sat outside and did some people watching in the sun. Sun! It was the first time I have been outside in only one layer, and comfortably so. We headed to the third and final exhibition site. This one was all about architecture and design. Sound dry? It was probably my favorite. While the main exhibit, which I saw a few weeks ago, was presented in a thought provoking way, this was just fulfilling. There were some architectural drawings for fantastical buildings I doubt were ever realized, but I could have stood in front of them forever. I just wanted to breathe them in. They made me want to get my fingers charcoal-black again. There were these silly objects like ‘portable’ TVs and crazy ashtrays. There were design plans for things like silverware and pots and pans, things we don’t often think about thinking about making. Also, the exhibition space had a great character, interesting in a way that added to the feel of the exhibition without distracting from it. After dinner we were supposed to go to Veronica’s, a small club where my host brother DJs, but prontobus was not having any of it. I got hung up on twice and the third time they said, nothing we can do for you, good luck. So we just stayed in and hung out.

Also, today I put my own advice to good use, and tried wrapping my scarf Italian-style. Interesting. I usually go for maximum coverage, but this was also definitely quite warm.

2. 21. 10
The kind of day I had been needing. I woke up early to catch the train to Colorno, but apparently I didn’t wake up early enough. Or rather, I forgot that my time of arrival depended on the esoteric schedule of the six, which today was once every half hour. There was no way I would make it in time. Maybe I had the right music in my ears, maybe it was the sun that was warming my back, but I didn’t even worry about it. I would take the next train, whenever that might be, and catch up with the group when I could. So the six came and I got on, thinking I was headed to the train station. Instead, as we traversed Parma down streets I rarely travel, I saw some people going into a church. Could it be that mass was starting? I got off on the next stop and headed back to investigate. I briefly wondered whether I might inadvertently be going to a non-Catholic service, and then I remembered that I was in Italy. I have yet to see any place of worship other than a Catholic church. I can’t remember the exact number anymore, but there are over 50 churches in Parma. So, finally, I was in a church and it was for mass, not for tourism. Finally, I was in a church full of people who wanted to be there and understood what it meant. With the train gone and no one waiting for me, I felt no hesitation about being an extra hour late. I have sometimes tried to imagine the translations of certain prayers, but now I would finally know how they really go in Italian. I couldn’t always understand anything, but I could recognize the scriptures and I followed the sermon, and of course I know the order of mass well enough to know what was going on even if I were unfamiliar with some of the words. Mass! Sun! What a wonderful start to my day. Mass ended and off I went to the train station. I debated waiting for the illusory six, got on the one, realized that it wasn’t really going where I ultimately wanted to go but got off a few stops closer and continued on my way. At the train station, I learned that the next train wasn’t for another hour, but that it was only fifteen minutes from Parma to Colorno. Fair enough. My iPod and people watching made the time go quickly.

Incidentally, I have been sighting much ridiculous hair of late. The other night I saw a guy with a short, wide mohawk, or maybe just a fat racing stripe, shaved sides of his head, and sideburns. Another guy, a redhead, had a buzz cut and a crop of dreads shooting out from the back of his head, a good seven or eight inches long but seemingly immune to the effects of gravity. I saw a girl with bangs cut at a severe diagonal to cover one eye but allow her to see through the other. At the train station, I saw a guy with a rat-tail gone mullet; all of his hair was normally short, and only the bottom edge of his hair wound wavily down his back. I gagged while imagining a transposition of this look onto an assortment of my guy friends. I also saw several men who appeared to be on some kind of sports team, muscles straining under their clothes and heavy duffel bags in tow. I saw a ton of people whose Milanese-ness would have been unmistakable even without the impending departure of a train thence bound. Call them stylish, call them metro, call them frou frou, but they were Milanese indeed. In the midst of all of these people, I spied some familiar faces. Two girls fro Boston College and more of their cohorts were getting tickets. It turned out we were all going to Colorno for the rugby game. I had been looking forward to a train ride alone, albeit a 15 minute one, but it was nice to feel like I had a safety net.
In Colorno we met with Giulia and Matt and Isabella and Sky, who had finished a tour of the Reggio palace and a subsequent lunch. How timely. We walked across town to the ‘stadium.’ Field with bleachers would be more accurate. I got a huge meaty sandwich and feasted. Meat. I was happy. The game started and I realized I knew absolutely nothing about rugby, and considering the number of friends I have who play, this seemed like a small crime. I managed to figure several things out, but much remained that I couldn’t quite work out. Regardless, t was really fun. I might say it is my new second favorite sport, or maybe that while nothing can replace football, my life is certainly better with rugby on the horizon than with neither.

After the game, seeing as how there is in fact nothing to do in Colorno (though there is a forested park I hope to come visit one day), we went back to the train station. I overheard some students voicing a desire to at least go back via a different route and, secretly agreeing, I voiced this suggestion to Giulia. A lovely little detour. The thing was, we still had almost an hour to wait before the next train. Matt suggested a game and it was really fun, even if some of the people were cranky incompetent bad sports (to put it nicely). Either way, the time passed quickly and soon it was time for our short little jaunt home.

Ellie had been in Imola all day, so she messaged me and Matt to see whether we wanted to hang out tonight. We did, so after dinner with our respective families, I took the 4N and we all meet up at Garibaldi. Ellie’s host sister came too, and suggested Mastiff, a nearby pub. I tried a ‘red’ Belgian beer, Leffe, that came in a goblet. Interesting, worth trying, but I still haven’t found a favorite here.
All in all, a good day.

...
2. 26. 10
This is the first time I have been a week behind in my journaling. It would seem that as I settle into the routine (but never boring) life here, I feel less compelled to write every single thing down. Here are some snippets and highlights:

My accomplishments after a month in Italy:
Learning how to cut bread such that the soft bread in the middle is not mushed together and leaves a hole in my slice.
Pouring milk slowly enough that it doesn’t come out in dollops and splash everywhere. (Of course, as soon as I wrote this, I jinxed myself and have been dolloping and splashing worse than ever. But I did learn how to open a carton the right way.)
Occasionally understanding speech whose clarity is impeded by food, yawning, or other such things.

Words I learned watching millionaire:
Seppia - cuttlefish
Struzzo - ostritch

Apparently I was starting to get a little complacent in my bus travel, and needed to be reminded that it is never quite so simple. The other day, already hustling to catch a bus that would get me to class a little late, I saw a little bus coming to my stop from the opposite direction it normally does. Since there is only one bus line that comes to this stop, I thought it was weird, but didn't think much of it. I got on and waited for us to get going, debating whether I should ask the driver where he was headed. As a larger bus pulled up behind it, I wondered whether I should get on that one instead, but figured I would stick with this one. We start going and we start going away from my intended direction. Crap. What now? I push the stop request button and get off on the first possible stop, now farther away than where I started. I walk back to my stop, and as I am arriving I see the little bus returning to the stop as well. What? Too embarrassed to stand there and have him see that I got on the wrong bus, despite what now felt like glaringly obvious indicators, I continue walking until the next stop, which is around the corner, and catch the right bus in the right direction.

Sights and activities:
The unexpectedly beautiful interior of the baptistery, art history lectures in three churches, the National Art Gallery, an amazing wooden theater

I learned that Italy's best forensics team/lab is housed in the police station in the Parco Ducale, and they get called out to go all over the country to solve crimes.

If I recounted my days as the words that I learned or tried to learn, this week would be:
finocchi - fennel
liquorizio - licorice (I learned this courtesy of sampling a licorice moonshine from southern Italy)
??? (coccinella, but I cheated and looked it up) - ladybug (I saw one, and apparently they bring good luck)
snaturare - distort
barbabietola - beet
tuorlo - yolk
albumen - albumen (white part of the egg)
picchiare - fight/hit
incubo - nightmare
luce?? (lucertola, but more cheating) - lizard
anice - anise
fango - mud
lische - fish spines

Today, I saw a da Vinci at the museum, learned how to de-bone a fish, and am headed to the park in Colorno to enjoy my afternoon off.