Coffee Tour

Two nights ago I went on a coffee tour with a group of people from the Student Village. I had a mocha with pizza, hot chocolate, and a cappucino with some chocolates. I was rather full and high on caffeine by the end of the night. But I had heaps of fun. We played mind games too. One with forks that involved numbers and one with a spoon called Umbrella. I met a few new people, including Vicky.

Second Day of Classes

Today was the second day of classes and the first day of tutorials. I was a bit terrified with the tutorials. I had very little idea of what to expect or what was going to happen. But it’s basically a more interactive class like back in the States.

I met up with Thomas again; a German guy I met a few days ago who looks strikingly like my French teacher (who was ALSO named Thomas). It’s really cool meeting people from Germany and Norway. But I wish I was meeting more Australians (Chris, if you’re reading this, anything advice?).

The world, and I mean that literally, is getting a whole lot bigger. My perspective of the US is changing. I am seeing a whole new perspective of America; one from the outside. Apple has been used as an example of a successful company in most of my classes so far. I feel proud.

I noticed myself pronounce the word “I” differently today. I’m also using the European spellings of words like “centre” and “globalisation”. And today’s date is 29/7/10 (the day is written first here, then the month). I’m not resisting any of these changes; on the contrary, I welcome them. My only concern is that my reverse culture shock is going to be strong when I return to the US.

Speaking of returning to the US. The job hunt has commenced. Or rather it commenced last Friday when I got my class schedule. I have resumes printed; they do things differently here. Resumé first, then application if you get called. Several have already been distributed and I have other leads to look into. I will update here with many exclamation points when I get a job. Getting a job makes possible me staying here another six months. I have a goal of having a job by the end of next week.

Tonight I talked with Tom (one of the norwegian guys) online. I was typing in Norwegian (with the help of a translation website) and he was typing in English. I’m also attempting to learn a little Norwegian when I have the time through a podcast. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be attempting to learn Norwegian on my own, I would have laughed at them.

So for now, I’ll say goodbye in Norwegian, Hadebra.

1st Aussie haircut

So I got my first haircut here today. Yes, I’m writing a blog post about getting my hair cut. It cost $20. But if you do the conversion and subtract what you would usually tip from that amount it comes out about the same. The woman who cut my hair did a great job in my opinion. She used these clippers to hold my hair in place so she could cut certain parts easier. It felt strange at first; I think I startled her and the other hair cutter next to us when I started reading in the back to feel what was there.

I plan to go back the next time I need a haircut. It’s the little things that make all the difference.

On speaking Norwegian

A conversation online early today with one of my best friends, Ameris:

Me: Rosetta stone doesn’t offer Norwegian.

Ameris: Haha. WOW. You wanna learn NORWEGIAN?

Me: So I can talk to the Norway guys! 🙂

Ameris: They don’t speak English?

Me: Well they do…But if they can learn English, then I can learn Norwegian.

Ameris: You’ll use the language ONCE…with two people…

——————————————–

Clearly, she missed my point.

I’m going to reiterate what I said on twitter when I was coming to Australia and I encountered some german guys: the fact that Americans are only taught one language during childhood is one of the worst parts of the American education system (in my opinion). I would have praised my parents if they had encouraged me to learn a second language while I was growing up.

Ørjan

Tonight was another party for Re-O Week. There was pizza and garlic bread to eat. Everyone at Chiffley played a social Bingo game; then went and hung out around the volleyball court. I met three people tonight: Ørjan, Tom, and Flo. All of them are guys, Ørjan and Tom are Norwegian and Flo is Austrian. The best way I can describe pronouncing Ørjan is “Ur-e-on”. I’m not sure that I’m pronouncing it right though.

Naughts and Crosses

Take a moment and think what “Naughts and Crosses” might be.

If you are an American you probably will have no idea what it is.

Hint: it’s a childhood game.

Still don’t know?

Neither did I. It’s a culture difference I found out today. Below is the answer.

Summer Heights High

I took the Epping train to reservoir station to meet chris. We went to the local mall and bought some food. At his house he cooked something which I can’t remember the name of and my garlic pizza. We had lunch then watched a show called southern heights high. It’s an Australian mockumentary about three individuals at a high school. There is an American version coming out soon apparently.

Tales from Italy ch.14- Last Exams and the Beginning of the End

It’s been almost a month since my last update and I’ve fallen behind on my entries. These last few weeks have been the busiest in the semester so far, and it has left me little time to write. Fortunately, my poor memory has been saved thanks to the little “Italia” notebook Adrie bought me at the end of fall semester; I’ve been recording my days with bullet points each day (or most, really) and that will really come in handy right about now.

So anyway- the point of my journal entry:

The beginning of June left me with 3 exams to take and plenty of trips to look forward to before heading home. My ceramics exam went well (a 27/30) and I was so happy to not study for it anymore once it was finished. In the weeks leading up to it, I had spent most of my free time studying for the exam. It got to the point where I would respond to my friends with “Sorry, but I have to study for ceramics” so often that the response became its own expression as a response for not wanting to do something (used by everyone, not just me). For example:

“Do you want to go out with us later?”

“Oh sorry, I can’t. I have to study for ceramics.”

My cinema exam was not nearly as pleasant. Janelle, Laura, and I arrived at 9 with the hope to be the first 3 for our exam at 9:30. This was not the case since our professor not only arrived late AND took an hour lunch break, but decided to go alphabetically starting at ‘P’. Of the three of us, Laura went first which was good since she had another exam that day. Janelle and I were stuck waiting for hours before we got in. Our professor wasn’t that nice either. Normally the professors take it easy on foreign students because they know there is a language barrier that can hinder how well we learn, but she expected the same of us as she did the students who could speak Italian fluently. This was topped off with sighs and rolling of the eyes, not to mention she didn’t look at us while we spoke- she went through papers and other things on her desk, only making eye contact once every two minutes or so. At the end of my exam she pointed out that she could see there was most definitely a language barrier and gave me a look that told me she thought I deserved a lower grade than what she was giving me. While all her gestures were rude and uncalled for, rather than return the favor in this entry, I will be the better person and end my discussion of her here.

My last exam was the best of them all not only because it was for my favorite class, but because it was with my favorite professor: Musica per Lo Spettacolo (Music for the Show) with Professor Festa (“It’s a festa with Festa!”). Laura and I were two of his three students and by far the most frequent. When we arrived for our exam, he let us take it in the same room together. I went first. The exam was like our classes: awesomely philosophical, but this time we did most of the talking. This guy is like our Socrates; we could sit and have him explain to us his thoughts on how music relates to life and space all day. The class –and our exam- were the greatest, not to mention we both came out with 30/30 🙂

With our exams finally over, we had to find other ways to occupy our time. While most of my time is occupied by the work I’m doing for my online summer classes at New Paltz, I did manage to join the others much more often once studying for my finals was finished. One evening, we all played a game of Never Have I Ever, and it lasted so long that we stopped keeping points. It was a very educational game into the lives and experiences of one another. While we didn’t get the chance to play the card game, Bullshit (or “Bull Sheißa” as we called it in German) in this last week, I think this would be a good place to point out that this game holds many memories from the semester for me. So many times we would just sit around and pass the time playing near the bar in Tridente or upstairs in the Sala Studio. I will miss these evenings very much.

Also during this last week, Ryan and I had our last radio show of Independent Carrots. We left the theme as a surprise for most our friends because Ryan and I had something special planned. We decided a great way to end the semester would be to make a playlist that encompassed all our favorite songs from the semester and songs that highlighted our experiences. In the end, we came up with these songs:

  • Fly Away”- Lenny Kravitz (to signify ‘flying away’ to study abroad)
  • Stereo Love”- Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina (THE song in Urbino, and a favorite of Judith’s)
  • Me and Julio”- Paul Simon (Laura and I put together a great harmony to this and some sweet guitar playing with ‘Pattie,’ my guitar)
  • King of Spain”- Moxy Fruvous (Introduced to us by Laura in the beginning of the semester)
  • Rocket Man”- Elton John (this song has 2 meanings: 1- “Rocket Man” was easily replaced with “Moroccan Man” in reference to the attractive Moroccan boy Laura is friends with; 2- I had never seen the “Rocket Man” rendition by William Shatner (I had only seen Family Guy’s parody of it), so Stefan sent me the video)
  • My Life Would Suck Without You”- Glee Cast (Glee was really popular to watch together this semester. Every Wednesday or Thursday, Laura, Monika, Sonja, Ryan, Janelle, and I would sit in my room and watched streamed episodes online. The title is also pretty self-explanatory for the strong friendships we formed ^_^).
  • Friends”- Flight of the Concords (The title needs no explanation with how it relates to us. We also find Flight of the Concords to be absolutely BRILLIANT).
  • With a Little Help From My Friends”- Across the Universe Cast (self- explanatory)
  • Mr. Sandman”- The Puppini Sisters (Countless hours spent on the terraces above Tridente playing chess, having tea and cookies, and soaking in the sun while listening to the Puppini Sisters).
  • Mama Ist Stolz”- Sido (A German song about pimps and mom’s being proud; introduced to Ryan by Stefan on their trip to Cinque Terre. Sonja also raps this pretty well lol)
  • Countries of the World”- Yakko Warner (We had the goal to learn this song by heart. While that didn’t actually happen, it was fun to try).
  • We Like to Party”- Vengaboys (While explaining 6 Flags Theme Park, and the dancing old man from the commercials (who Laura hates btw), Monika pointed out that this was the song in the background).
  • Just Around the River bend”- Pocahontas (We had the pleasure of watching Disney’s Pocahontas this semester)
  • Can’t Tell that to the Administration”- Rob Hanlon & Nick Petrasino (An Urbino original, written and performed by two Villnova students)
  • Freedom”- David Hasselhoff (The previous radio show (an 80s theme), we meant to play this for ze Germans but ran out of time. Because David Hasselhoff sang this in a lit-up leather jacket at the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, our German friends have taken to calling him their hero).
  • Good Riddance”- Green Day (This song is one of the first songs Laura taught Monika and I on guitar. It is also a beautiful goodbye song reminiscent of our experiences).

We hope that we left the radio program well prepared for future students. We always had a blast.

The night of the 10th, Judith and Mike had a dinner with all of us in town because they were leaving the next day. Sonja, Janelle, Ryan, Matthias and I were also leaving, but only for a short while. The next few days we would spend in Rome before heading back to Urbino for one last week 🙁

Holding the Man

This is a book I recently read that several people recommended to me. This is a book that all (mature) audiences can connect with and be moved by. It’s a true coming out story by the author, who is Australian. I would especially recommend it to anyone interested in learning about Australian culture from the perspective of these topics. There are a lot of words and phrases that are unique to Australia. Contact me or leave a comment if you want a word explained.

Click the link below to view the book on Amazon:
Holding the Man

One Week Left

There is one week left until I leave for Melbourne, Australia. That’s pronounced Mel-bun, NOT Mel-born. I’m getting nervous….worried that I’m forgetting to do something, that I’ll leave something important behind.

Buckle up. This is going to be quite a ride.