Italia: Day Six

Since we stayed out so late, I decided not to get up and run in the morning, which may not have been the best choice, but I do need to try and sleep when I can. I got up at nine and packed my bag because today was our last day in Torino. The group met and walked to a local market together to look at their produce. After admiring the large amounts of fresh fruit, Pam, Chelsea, and I met up with Patti (Loredana’s Italian friend) and wandered around the clothing side of the market. I purchased a corset and tank top that were pretty cheap in price. I also found a bottle of white nail polish that I wanted to get because the color is in style. All of the people I interacted with in the market were very nice, although we were warned ahead of time to be wary of pickpockets. It was somewhat difficult to communicate that I wanted to try things on though.

We spent the rest of the day wandering in and out of stores on the Garibaldi strip, a large collection of fashion stores. Everything was pretty expensive though, so we just looked and tried things on. In a cheaper clothing store, we all tried on matching dresses in different colors and took some pictures. Then we went to an underwear store where we tried on fruit-decorated boxer briefs and took more pictures.

Trying on our fruity underwear

After buying postcards from a small, touristy shop, we sat down at a restaurant called Happy Days for lunch. We all got the pasta and it was amazing – possibly the best that I've had so far on this trip. It’s funny though because it was really just shelled noodles in a tomato sauce. The bread at the restaurant was really good too.

We met up with Becky and Loredana after lunch and stopped into a bar to get some drinks and sit on the patio. I got some weird strawberry and vodka concoction that was very strong and tolerable, but not my favorite. It was a little too fruity for me. Pam got a Amaretto and Coke that was really good though, so I vowed that I would try it at our next stop.

We kept walking toward the river and went back to the park in the center of the city that we keep visiting to rent a four-person bike/car (I don’t know what the technical name for them is but they're covered vehicles powered with your legs, like a bicycle, but that look like an old-fashioned car). We had trouble on some of the hills, but we managed by putting our brute strength into it. It helped that four of us were peddling. At one point, we picked up some random guy who spoke very little English and dropped him off at his bus stop like we were a taxi service. We also steered down this massive hill though and spent the whole way down screaming and having the Italians stare at us. At the bottom of the hill there was even an amusement park-style bump that Becky lost her bag on.

Our rental bike/car

 We wanted to go ziplining after we returned the bike, but the stand by the river was closed so we didn’t end up getting the chance. It’s a shame though because the experience would have only been seven euros.

On our way back to meet the group, we stopped for another drink at a different bar. This time I got the Amaretto and coke. I decided I didn’t like it very much toward the end of the drink because the Amaretto is really sweet tasting and not my style at all. I sucked it down though and proceeded to feel a little bit tipsy for the rest of the afternoon. I’m just glad the glasses we got at the second bar were two euros cheaper and double the size of the first.

We met the rest of the group at a chain ice cream shop, GROM, near our hotel and picked up our luggage before boarding a bus to the airport. I’m really surprised by how big the Torino Airport is. I was expecting a dinky little three-terminal airport, but it’s actually quite nice and decent sized. Even our plane is bigger than I expected. We did have to take a little bus out on the tarmac to board though, which reminds me of 
travelling to Ireland.

Boarding the plane to leave Torino

Italia: Day Five

This morning we got to sleep in a little bit so Emilie and I got up to run at 7:00. Since it was just the two of us, we ended up running in circles mostly because we were afraid of getting lost. That is the one downfall to running in a foreign country - it's hard to get lost in the run when you're too afraid of getting lost for real. 

After showering, we boarded the subway to go to a presentation on Systemic Design and how to organize the food system in order to create healthy, cheap options. The man giving the presentation was really animated and interesting, but I couldn’t pay attention because the subject matter was so dry and I am thoroughly exhausted. Every time I sit down for a long period of time, I find myself falling asleep. I really am not used to getting up so early. I think I prefer longer stays in one place so that you can allow yourself to adjust to the time change when travelling and manage to adapt to the culture a little bit more. The one good thing about the presentation was that we were able to admire the building housing the school of architecture while listening to the man speak.

The ceiling of the school of architecture

Following the presentation, we walked to another subway stop which we took to a train station. We then rode on a train to the town of Bra for lunch with a representative from Slow Foods. The train ride was a great mid-day nap, but the three-course meal that followed it only made me hungrier. We had a pasta and meat dish, a beef and tuna dish, and a hazelnut mousse with a variety of red wines that didn't really appeal to me. Even though I didn't eat much, I left feeling full - I think it may be because of how long the meal took.

From Bra, we took a city bus to the town of Pollenzo where we visited the University of Gastronomic Science. It was weird being inside the university of a foreign country, especially since a large amount of the school’s students were also from the United States. We took a short tour around the castle-like grounds and were able to see their tasting room before the outdoor portion of the tour was cut short by a drizzle that felt like cold pinpricks on the skin instead of rain. It was such a sunny day that the weather didn’t really make sense.

Once we saw the library, our tour guide took us to a brief presentation on the importance of memories in collecting food culture and traditions. It was boring and I doodled most of the time, but my reward for sitting through it was a trip to the school’s wine cellar where they preserve some of the countries wine in the proper way – an appropriate temperature room, stored in wood boxes. Our “wine guide” told us a little bit about wine, such as why some are called dry (only red wine can be deemed dry because of the skin of the grape it comes from) and how all wines are the same except for their pH level. It was a rather interesting lesson and we even got to take a walk through the complete cellar while we were tasting a sample of their local red wine. A snack of bread, cheese, and salami followed.

Some of the students from the university picked us up from the wine cellar and showed us their community garden that is maintained entirely by students. It was actually the most boring part of the day though because their English wasn’t very good, there was no interpreter, and the main speaker kept rambling.

I was glad to finally leave Pollenzo via a bus back to Bra. We stopped for gelato (Chocolate of Ecuador) before jumping back on a Torino-bound train. Once we got to town, we hopped back on the subway before dashing into the hotel for a quick change.

I ate an apple on our walk to a local club on the river. Typically a private club, we found out soon after entering that our search for a Wednesday night party had resulted in stumbling upon gay night in celebration of PRIDE week. We didn’t get this knowledge though until after we filled out entry forms and received cards for admission. Luckily, it was free and we still had a great time dancing in a circle in the middle of the dance floor. The whole night was a rather fun time. The club played a mix of American and Italian music that was great for dancing. 

The inside of the club

Our group posing after Pam caught the bouquet

Italia: Day Four

This morning I had to roll out of bed way too early. The alarm went off at 5:45 so that we could meet the group at the bus stop by 6:30 and head into Lanzo again. This morning we went to a cheese-making demonstration in a production factory. I was kind of surprised by how mechanical the whole process was. I guess I expected it to be a small hands-on place where almost everything was done by employees, but instead there were huge machines. I have to admit, the cheese was good though. We had a tasting afterwards and I couldn’t stop eating the cheese that we saw them make. The other two samples weren’t really my favorite though.

The demonstration was actually pretty boring, but all the same, I wasn’t glad when it was over because then we had to participate in a 5K walk to the town of Nole for lunch. The whole walk was put together by a fitwalking team, which is kind of like speed walking only with less speed. There is a whole method to it, but none of the team members spoke English and the translations were kind of off, so we could only pretend to know how to do it.

The lunch at Nole wasn’t very good. We had this weird cracker with cream cheese as an appetizer. I just ate the cracker and left the cheese. After all, by that point I had already had more than enough cheese for the day. Next there was a pasta dish with vegetables. I ate all of the pasta from mine and then swapped with Emily who had eaten all of the vegetables from hers. It worked out because I didn’t end up liking the main course of beef and tuna or the zucchini that came with it.

We went to a conference in Lanzo afterward with some of the teachers we met yesterday. It was incredibly boring and half of the group fell asleep while the other half spent the three hours coloring. 

We took our bus back to Turin and went out for dinner at this dining hall style place. It kind of reminds me of Smith Hall because you just walk up to the various counters and order your food then pay for it at the end. We butchered our way through and I’m definitely glad. The chicken breast was some of the best that I’ve ever tasted. It was amazingly juicy. I ate too much though. We got some gelato at a shop on the plaza afterward. All they had was giandju, so I ended up with that again, but it was okay.

Italia: Day Three

We got up super early today so that we could take the bus and then the train to Lanzo Torinese for our first health presentation on the contributing factors to obesity. Only four members of our group presented the condensed version and then we showed a video of what life is like in Delaware, OH. The students presented some information they had found as well. I found it adorable how they were trying to speak English for us, albeit a little bit hard to understand. Parts of the presentation were a tad boring because we were sitting for so long, but I also learned some things. Apparently, they don’t eat very many apples over here. I find that rather strange. Also, they aren’t fans of pineapple. They hadn't even heard of eating it on pizza.

A lot of them smoke too. We went on a short coffee break in the middle of the presentation and I swear everyone crowded outside to smoke. And they’re high schoolers! It was kind of strange. What was even weirder though was that they were serving martinis at eleven in the morning. I don't think this was a typical day affair, I found it difficult to believe they were serving alcohol so early in the morning. I guess that’s how the Italians do it though. They have such a different mindset toward alcohol consumption than we do in the United States.

After the presentation concluded and we showed our video of a tour of Delaware, we sat down to a formal lunch with the students. I’m not sure what most of what we ate was, but I poured down a lot of the wine. I think I had four glasses of white wine and two glasses of this really good desert wine that I need to find called Moscato D’Asti. It was amazing. I also had some really dry red wine that I didn’t like very much to wash down our food. The meal lasted three hours in total, but I didn’t really enjoy it because the Italians were difficult to talk to and the room was too noisy, which only added to the misunderstandings.

The delicious desert wine, made in the region

Once lunch was over, we got a short tour of Lanzo and saw the crowning of a new mayor. Surprisingly, it was a woman taking over for a man. We took pictures with her and she gave us some key chains. Afterwards, we wandered over to the scenic Devil’s Bridge to take some photos with the Italian students. It was really difficult to walk on the cobblestone pathway and I’m glad that I brought flip flops to change into after the presentation because it would have been impossible in my heels.

The winding streets of Lanzo

Devil's Bridge

I think the most relieving thing of the day was that the restroom at the school had an actual toilet, albeit one without a seat, but still. I’m glad I didn’t have to squat to pee in another hole. You would think that Italy would be a little more advanced than that.

It was late by the time we got back from the school and most everyone was full from lunch still, so I went out with Pam, Chelsea, and Becky to wander around and get some gelato from a bar on the main sidewalk we take to the plaza area. After getting the ice cream, we tried to see if there was any nightlife near the clubs we had spotted on Sunday. Unfortunately, the area was completely empty so we continued on to the park, which was a little bit creepy in the dark. We got lost on our way back from the park and ended up wandering the streets of Italy until I was able to get WiFi on my phone and get us back.

Italia: Day Two

After taking a nap yesterday, we meet Loredana who is a master’s student that goes to school in the area. I’m not sure how we came in contact with her, but she had arranged a tour for us. We ended up walking to a cobblestone park area with many fountains to meet some other high school students from Lanzo, a town we will be visiting soon. The fountain park area seemed to be the center of the city with many street salesmen targeting the small tourist population.

The students took us to a cinema museum. Somehow half of the group (me included) ended up buying the wrong ticket to the museum though and while we were exchanging them, the rest of the group went up in a lift to see a panoramic view of Torino. Once we got the correct tickets, we walked around a portion of the museum that was really weird. We were just getting to the cool part when the other part of our group showed up and told us we needed to get in line for the lift if we wanted to go. It was annoying that we barely got to see any of the cool part of the museum. Lesson learned, always make sure you're buying the correct ticket when there's a language barrier.

Views from the top of the lift

We met Dr. Fink and Kimberlie back at the hotel once we were done with the museum and walked to a small pizzeria for dinner. The pizza was alright, but it was thin crust, so definitely not my favorite. Before our meal, they gave us complimentary fried dough. It was actually really good. I’m not sure how to describe what it tasted like but it was both crusty and salty. We got desert at a gelato shop called Grom afterwards. I had the giandju, a specialty of this region, which we’ve decided is like a chocolate with hazelnut. I liked it alright, but I wouldn’t get it again. I think the hazelnut made it taste kind of funky.

I was really tired, but the group wanted to keep going, so annoyingly we returned to the same fountain park area as before because a woman Dr. Fink knows really wanted us to see it. She apparently didn’t know that we had already gone. I led the group who went back to the hotel though and the minute we got back, I passed out. Jet lag sucks.

This morning, I got up early to go for a run with some of the group. The route took us alongside the river that runs through the center of the city, so the views were gorgeous, and being a Sunday morning, there weren't many people out wandering the streets. I felt as if we had a private viewing of the city. I love running in a new place early in the morning, it's like a breath of fresh air. Too bad I'm not a morning person in the slightest.

We had breakfast at the hotel and I realized their milk tastes rather weird. I was surprised to find cereal on the complimentary table because I know it's not very popular here, but I don’t think I’ll be getting it again during our time here. The flavors are very dull and you can tell the Italians haven't really branched out with their cereal selection like Americans have. It's probably a lot less sugary and somewhat better for you though. I did have these really yummy pound cake type sweets called Plum Cakes. They remind me of something I used to eat a lot as a child, but I’m not sure what.

Loredana came back to the hotel and took us on a shopping/walking tour of the city and surrounding park afterwards. We ate lunch at a sandwich shop in the park that sold ham, turkey, and vegetable sandwiches. It was alright, but not really my type of ideal place. It didn’t help that we had to eat outside and it felt really buggy. I hate when I can’t eat without shooing stuff away from my face.

Dumpters near the outdoor clubbing district along the river

Picturesque view of Torino's city park

The afternoon was full of shopping, but sadly I didn’t buy anything because it always seemed like people walked right on by the stores that I wanted to go in. I don’t get why they want to spend a fortune on chocolate and not clothes or shoes. There are more interesting and lasting things that can be purchased in Italy other than food.

The whole day seemed like kind of a waste to me because there was a lot of waiting around. Our group of sixteen plus a guide is too big to travel together with, but they insist on it so we end up constantly waiting on people, whether it’s because someone needs to go to the bathroom or someone ended up stopping in a shop that no one else was interested in. Kind of aggravating.

For dinner, our Italian guide Loridana took us to a funky bar that served appetizers and alcohol. This is apparently quite common in Italy and normally takes place before the traditional meal time of 8-10. We went around six and all ordered a drink, I got a sex on the beach, and then we indulged in the bad tasting appetizers. I had a pizza tasting thing and some bread. There were some chicken bit looking things though that tasted the best. Sadly, after my first small helping there weren’t any left. I got a little bit tipsy off the one drink because of the lack of food. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a hole in the wall gelato shop and I ordered a milk chocolate flavor. It was pretty good, but still not my favorite.

Italia: Up in the Air

Yesterday, I boarded the plane from the Columbus airport to fly to Atlanta. I didn’t even finish a magazine and the flight was over. We wasted time at Atlanta eating lunch. I was really impressed by the fact that they had a Qdoba in their airport. I can barely find a Qdoba in Columbus, yet here we walked right past one when we were trying to find our gate. Of course I had to have some. It was probably the most expensive Qdoba that I’ve ever eaten. I paid just over $7 for my burrito (chicken and cheese only) and a mandatory side of chips and salsa.

The plane ride over to Italy was really long – just over nine hours. The food wasn’t very good either so it’s a good thing that I indulged in Qdoba. I sat between two blonde girls on the flight over, neither of them said much. I tried to sleep during the flight, but it wasn’t happening so I ended up working on a journal entry that I needed to make for Ohio Wesleyan's PE 200.9: Obesity and Prevention in Italy and the United States. Right before we left the States, professor Fink gave us a huge packet of reading materials and a notebook for us to reflect in. I didn’t realize we would be doing work beyond our presentations during the trip...

My first thoughts regarding Italy though are that it isn’t exactly my cup of tea. It seems a lot more rustic than Ireland was - something I definitely wasn't expecting from all the praise people have put upon it. Even though we’re staying in an actual hotel with twin beds, an elevator, and private bath, it seems as if the buildings are closer to falling apart and the people are less friendly. Maybe it’s just the fashionista edge they give off, but everyone seems to be looking at us and I would say our travel group looks a lot less American than the Girl Scouts group did in Ireland.

Stairway of the elegant Hotel Dock Milano in Torino

I slept on most of the bus ride to Turin though, so I might have missed some key details between here and Milan. All I know is that I saw some rice fields and was thoroughly disappointed to find that they don’t drive on the other side of the road here like they do in the United Kingdom. I thought that was all of Europe, but I guess I’m wrong. Their steering wheels are even on the same side of the car. The only difference was the kilometer reading instead of miles, the manual transmission instead of automatic, and the diesel fuel instead of regular.

The town of Turin or Torino seems fairly nice though. There’s a pizza place on even corner and a lot of bars that look like little casual restaurants, the trattorias that Italia is famous for.