Hello everyone!
I made it to Italy! Today is the beginning of day 3 in Paderno del Grappa! The flights went smoothly on our travel day on Monday. We only had a 15 minute delay in Paris which was really not too bad. Once we arrived in the Venice airport we had to wait two hours for a shuttle to campus. It was fun to get to know my classmates who were also waiting for the shuttle. It was at the airport I attempted to speak Italian for the first time. Let me tell you, this task was definitely more of a struggle than I had anticipated. There was a little café that me and a friend decided we would get a little snack from to tide us over until dinner that evening. We carefully viewed all of the options through a glass window and then practiced saying the item we had chosen. It was then my turn at the register and I said what I had memorized from the sign. The woman behind the counter looked confused then began charging me 10€ for a 2,5€ item. I then had to resort to using the trusty pointing system (something I think I will do a lot here). She then understood and everything was resolved. Tomorrow CIMBA is providing a Survival Italian course for all students, so hopefully that will help me learn the basics in pronunciation. Then I think I will have to do some studying on my own using the phrase books people have so generously given me, or through podcasts or YouTube.
The campus here is gorgeous. The campus we are on is called Instituti Filipini, CIMBA shares the campus with Italian kids from kindergarten to high school. We are surrounded by mountains to the North and East and the entire town is very cute. I haven't explored everything in the town yet, but I have been to the local "Sports Bar" as well as the two Tabaccis. I only call the bar a sports bar because that is what the people here call it, but it is a far cry from the American sports bar. There is one tv in the bar and very random non-sports decorations. We visited the "Sports Bar" a few nights ago. It was quite fun because the vino was cheap (only 1€ for a cup) and nearly everyone from our program was there celebrating! I visited the Tabaccis today. The word Tabacci in Italian means tobacco, but in English a Tabacci would be a convenience store. One of the Italian professors told us on a tour that the convenience stores are called Tabaccis because they are places to buy cigarettes. There is a lot more than cigarettes in the Tabacci. They sell food, snacks, notebooks, deli meat and cheese, soap, etc.. However, Italians do like to smoke as I have observed in my first few days here.
The first two weeks of the program are interesting at CIMBA because there are a few orientations and leadership/decision making workshops. I have met all of my professors and they seem very open and friendly. My largest class here is 45 people and my smallest is 8. Going to a larger school like Iowa, it is rare I experience class sizes this small. I am excited to be in such an intimate environment for learning.
Now a little bit about the food. CIMBA serves us Unfortunately, I am already beginning to become sick of pasta... They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. The breakfast consists of croissants or donuts, cereal selections, fruit, yogurt, and coffee. The coffee machine in the cafeteria is all in Italian and every day I have tried pressing a new button. Today I pressed a button that gave me hot chocolate! I have also tried the cappuccino, espresso, and tea. The lunches and dinners have three courses each. They consist of a pasta (or pizza) as one course, the next course is a meat and a vegetable, the third course is a salad. Sometimes they will cook us desserts which are delicious, I had an sort of almond cake two days ago.
This weekend we are planning a trip to Venice! Stay tuned next week to hear about that! Also here are some pictures of the things I talked about!
Here I am with two of my friends Megan and Taylor enjoying some wine at the "Sports Bar." Technically this was my first legal drink, as I am only 20 years old!
These three pictures are of campus. The second picture is of our dorm, which is also the same building we have class and meals in. The third is of the North view from the building. The third picture also shows the front gate to the school.
Ciao,
Carolyn
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