Alright, this is incredibly delayed, but it’s been kind of difficult to find the time to sit and write…especially since I was a little late submitting my 2 journals to Schneider and Kramer. Anyway – here we go.
I’m not really sure how many details I can get into regarding the preparations for last weekend, so I’ll try to summarize. About a week into my internship I got a folder on my desk that instructed me to do a biography packet on a Congressional delegation. About 10 minutes later, I realized that I was putting together information on a group of Congressmen who were coming to Florence!
Headliner: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Co-stars: Larson and DeLauro (2 Reps from CT! Including Larson from my district), Markey and Capuano from Massachusetts, Pascrell from New Jersey, and Miller and Eshoo from California.
Holy crap.
So I was in the process of organizing a trip to Sicily for the long President’s Day weekend, but I decided to postpone it until the weekend of Feb 27-March 2 so I could make myself available for this. Did they call on me? Yes. Was I about to pee myself? Yes.
The group arrived on Saturday the 14th (Valentines Day for some, Saturday the 14th for most). My first assignment was at their 5 star hotel where I had to put “welcome kits” onto the beds in each of their rooms (included maps of Florence, brochures, info about the Consulate, etc). Alright, Pelosi’s suite? HUGE. Her and her husband could’ve entertained a party of 50 people if they wanted to.
Their plane landed in Pisa and they were brought around to see the leaning tower and a church or two, and then it was on to Florence. Game time. Upon their arrival I was stationed at the top of the grand staircase to greet them and point them into the direction of the “control room” where our Consulate staff was holding the center of operations for the weekend. Picture Leo waiting for Kate Winslet at the end of Titanic, except I’m not dead and Nance is Kate Winslet.
When the arrived, kind of a let down. Paul Pelosi shook my hand, everyone else shuffled by. But still, there she was, it was pretty sweet.
Next job was to go up to their floor and translate between Mr. Livingood (House Sergeant at Arms) and the Italian police who were guarding the area. Livingood? Coolest guy. Talked to him for a little bit and told him I was from CT – perfect timing because Rosa DeLauro was walking right by. I told her I was from Larson’s district and she said well we’ll have to catch up later. Va bene, Rosa.
I couldn’t leave the floor until Pelose walked by. She smiled and said hello as she walked by, but I’m pretty sure she thought I was hotel staff so didn’t actually stop and say anything. Strike 2 for me.
The group took off for Palazzo Vecchio to meet with the Mayor of Florence while me and some of my co-workers headed over to the Consulate to get everything ready for a wine tasting hosted by the Consul General that night. Next task: Stand at the front entrance of the Consulate and (again) welcome them in.
This time, success. The group arrived in separate cars, so they came in little by little instead of all at the same time. First I met the Boston guys, then Jerz (what a King that guy), then Pelose! This time, she said, “Hi, I’m Nancy. Very nice to meet you. This is a beautiful place.” Niiiiice.
They walked up the giant staircase to go into the upstairs parlor where the wine tasting was being held. My job then was to handle the order forms if anyone was planning on buying any wine (which they did, lots of it.) After a few minutes, the CG was walking around with Larson introducing him to some of the staff. She turned to me and goes “this is Giuseppe, our intern.” I shook his hand and told him that I was from his district and BOOM…
Alright, the room – not that big. Larson – pretty loud. “OH MY GOD, HE’S FROM ROCKY HILL! LESLIE (his wife) GET OVER HERE WE HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE, ROSA (delauro) GET OVER HERE HE’S FROM ROCKY HILL.”
Bright red.
After taking a picture with their travelling photographers camera and then mine, he continued to yell “NOW WE HAVE TO GET A PICTURE WITH THE SPEAKER.”
The whaaaat?
I thought my feet were planted pretty deep in the ground but next thing I knew I was standing right next to Nancy Pelosi. Anyway, after a few pictures I thought she was gonna bounce but nope, she actually initiated conversation and talked to me and my co-workers for a good couple of minutes. It was really great to see the real side of her and here stories about her kids studying abroad, etc. No matter what you think of her politically, she was still a great person to talk to regardless.
I heard the same about Dubya – I’m sure sitting down with him, a 6 pack of bud light, and a bag of Lays would be great…
So Saturday night turned out to be great.
Then came Sunday, what a day that was.
I was told my one of my bosses to be at the hotel by 8:15 AM because I would be joining the delegation for mass at Santa Croce. Sunday mass in Italy with Nancy Pelosi. Oh man.
All but one of the Congressmen went to mass, and most of the spouses took a different bus to the center to go shopping. From the hotel to the church I rode in the Congressional bus, which held about 15 passengers. Sitting behind Rep Markey and across from Rep Pascrell and listening to all of the Congressmen’s conversations was really cool. I kinda had to take a step back (which was hard to do while sitting on a bus…zinggg) just to process what I was actually doing. I heard Larson say “Hey Rosa, try and find the score of the UCONN game and see if they won. Dyson’s hurt you know.” How good.
The church was really nice, but absolutely freezing. It was kind of hard to concentrate a) because it was so cold, b) because it was all in Italian, and c) because I basically staring at them, the church, and all of the people who were staring at us/the police who were guarding each corner of the church – the entire time.
After church the guards who had at the beginning told us that at the end of the mass everyone had to leave no pictures blah blah actually started taking pictures of the group too. A monk-ish looking priest came out and in broken English told Pelose about the toms ob Michelangelo and Galileo that were there blah blah, while a bunch of the Congressmen decided to dip out because it was so cold.
Larson turned to me and said “Joe, where can we get some espresso?” So I walked over with him, Markey, Eshoo, and Miller’s wife and next thing you know, I’m sitting in the piazza outside Santa Croce drinking an espresso with my Congressmen. Life was good.
So everyone headed back and Larson wanted to look around at some of the street vendors who had set up booths outside of the church like they do every weekend to sell their handmade crafts. Basically my job over the weekend when I didn’t have a specific task was to make sure that if they needed anything I could help, so that meant stay nearby – but at the same time if the man’s shopping for stuff I wasn’t about to peer over his shoulder the whole time.
I was pretending to look around at some stuff until I heard him call me over. He was looking at this really nice pictures that a street vendor had painted, and asked me which ones I thought were the best. He asked the guy the price, and was going to give him all of it but I told him to wait before he took his money out so we could haggle with the guy and get a good price. One picture was €65, the other €25, but I got him down to €70 for both. I probably could’ve done better, but he still seemed to appreciate it.
I had kept a look out to see if they were still there while we were shopping, and they were. As soon as we gave the guy the money. The motorcade left. Not to worry, getting left behind with a US Congressmen meant that another bus was called and was already waiting for us with another security guard. The next 2 stops were the Uffizi Gallery (huge art gallery) and the Accademia (where Michelangelo’s David is). From the church to the Uffizi it was just me, Larson, and the guard in the bus together. Pretty dang cool I thought.
We met up with the rest of the group and headed inside. The place was PACKED which kinda sucked because there’s so much to see but with people pushing you out a door it wasn’t really working. One of the coolest things though was getting back into the buses (this time on the staff bus bc the Congressmen had met up with their spouses by now) and driving between the Uffizi, Accademia, and the Duomo. The Pelosi’s and one of her staffers rode in a Mercedes SUV looking thing, and whenever she was travelling with the rest of the pack we were escorted front and back by police cars. One of my life goals to ride in a government motorcade was officially fulfilled.
As we rolled up to the Duomo aka tourist capital of Florence with the loud police siren escort, we drove through the areas that were blocked off to car traffic. This obviously drew a lot of attention, and it was really cool to walk out and see people taking pictures and video and wondering who exactly was getting out.
There was a mass going on at the Duomo so no tourists would be allowed in at the time. No tourists except for the Speaker of the House and a U.S. Delegation. After a private tour of the Duomo (how sick is that?!), we continued on to see the David (also packed) and then onto lunch.
Originally I was supposed to break off from the pack and go back to the Consulate to meet up with the Public Affairs lady to go over to the cemetery (next stop after lunch) to get ready, but my boss told me I was going to stay for lunch. I wasn’t about to object. Lunch was amazing. Several courses, each better then the next. Never in my life would I have thought to try “pâté” aka chicken liver spread on a toasted piece of French bread, or a thin slice of lard also on a toasted piece of bread. Delicious? Ehh, kind of – but still great to try. Best part though, ravioli con tartuffo (truffles)..single best pasta I’ve ever had.
After that it was back in the motorcade (next to which a crowd had gathered to see who was getting in – so cool), and it was goodbye to Florence and hello to the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We arrived at the American Cemetery of Florence where hundreds of American soldiers who died in Italy during WWII are buried. Each of the Congressmen put roses on the graves of a soldier from each of their respective state, then there was a more formal ceremony where a wreath was laid on the main monument. Really incredible. After a photo-op for the people at the cemetery, it was on to Pisa.
The ride to Pisa was about an hour and 15 min from where we were. There wasn’t really any traffic until we got about 10 min outside of the airport. What happens when you’re riding in a motorcade but there’s traffic? Cars move. How friggin insane.
Anyway, we got to the airport and pulled right up on the tarmac where their private plane was waiting. As we were getting off the bus, a member of Pelosi’s staff gave those of us from the Consulate some gifts from the Speaker! Basically cool stuff to hold onto as keepsakes.
For the next few minutes I got to say goodbye to each of the staff, security, Congressmen, and Mr Pelosi individually which was awesome, got a hug from Larson, his wife, and Rosa DeLauro haha, and then as I was headed back to the bus felt a hand on my shoulder and who was it? NANCY PELOSI. One of her staff members basically ripped my camera out of my hand and said “One more picture!” – which I wasn’t expecting but was really happy about.
After that, they all boarded the plane and we stayed on the tarmac and waved goodbye. Our jobs weren’t officially over until “wheels up” aka when the plane was in the sky. We waited several minutes and then they were off.
After getting back into the cars we headed out of the airport. Remember that traffic that moved out of our way on the way going? Well on the way back they greeted us as if to say WELCOME BACK TO REALITY SUCKAAAAAS.
No matter what, it was a still an amazing couple of days.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Working for the Man - Week 1
Sorry for the lack of updates this week.
On Friday I officially completed my first week of work at the Consulate, and it was great. I've been assigned to the Consular section for right now, so my work revolves primarily on the creation and renewal of American passports.
All of my co-workers are great, and have a ton of patience to deal with my asking a ton of questions. Actually, from the first day they told me that they'd rather me ask the same question a hundred times then just think I know what I'm doing (and potentially screw something up big time...). I've been getting really positive feedback about how I'm doing so far from the people I work with so that has calmed my nerves a lot!
On the homefront, the apartment is going well so far. There's some personal BS issues in the house regarding the other roommates but I'm not a part of any of that. I don't really hang out at the house, it's more just a place to eat, shower, and sleep.
Regarding the shower, still gross. Regarding the bed, need to talk to New Lloyd about getting me a new one because the one I'm on right now is more of a cot and it's really really uncomfortable. We'll see what happens with that.
Last night (Saturday) I spent the afternoon and evening with Federico and his friends Michelangelo (what a great name) and Dario, and had a a great time. It was a lot of fun to just walk around and spend the afternoon speaking Italian and making new friends. Oh, it was also great to be able to walk into a café and order a beer without anyone asking for ID!
In the evening we went to a place which I don't remember the name of, but it was like nothing I had ever been to. It was basically a much nicer version than the place that New Lloyd brought me to on my first night in Italy. These places are everywhere in Florence and really cool.
The concept of the place is a place to go before going out either to a discoteca or anywhere else. You walk in and seat yourself and a waitress gives you a drink menu. After you get your drinks and pay her right away, she tells you that you can go and help yourself to the buffet. This is no Hometown Buffet - there are trays upon trays upon trays of pasta, meats, cheeses, fruits, bruschettas, olives, etc etc etc. This place is labeled as an appetizer bar, but it's really dinner.
Again, ordering drinks was great. Long Island Ice Teas are great in Italy too, just FYI. The guys wanted me to try a Slalom Strong (Scottish) beer, and I'm glad I did. Really good.
After hanging out there for a while, Michelangelo asked me if I wanted to go to a discoteca with them. Federico had worked the next morning at 6:30AM, but I wasn't not going to go just because he wasn't. This would be a great time for me to go out with new people which I didn't want to turn down.
Well, as the night progressed the plans fell through so we decided to postpone it for another night. Better anyway for me because I was dressed like a tourist and not like someone ready to go to a discoteca on Saturday night in Italy. Damn. It was still cool that they asked because it showed that they thought I wasn't too big of a freakshow and actually wanted to take me along with them!
Well, today's Sunday which means lots of sleep. Back to the old (but awesome) grind tomorrow.
On Friday I officially completed my first week of work at the Consulate, and it was great. I've been assigned to the Consular section for right now, so my work revolves primarily on the creation and renewal of American passports.
All of my co-workers are great, and have a ton of patience to deal with my asking a ton of questions. Actually, from the first day they told me that they'd rather me ask the same question a hundred times then just think I know what I'm doing (and potentially screw something up big time...). I've been getting really positive feedback about how I'm doing so far from the people I work with so that has calmed my nerves a lot!
On the homefront, the apartment is going well so far. There's some personal BS issues in the house regarding the other roommates but I'm not a part of any of that. I don't really hang out at the house, it's more just a place to eat, shower, and sleep.
Regarding the shower, still gross. Regarding the bed, need to talk to New Lloyd about getting me a new one because the one I'm on right now is more of a cot and it's really really uncomfortable. We'll see what happens with that.
Last night (Saturday) I spent the afternoon and evening with Federico and his friends Michelangelo (what a great name) and Dario, and had a a great time. It was a lot of fun to just walk around and spend the afternoon speaking Italian and making new friends. Oh, it was also great to be able to walk into a café and order a beer without anyone asking for ID!
In the evening we went to a place which I don't remember the name of, but it was like nothing I had ever been to. It was basically a much nicer version than the place that New Lloyd brought me to on my first night in Italy. These places are everywhere in Florence and really cool.
The concept of the place is a place to go before going out either to a discoteca or anywhere else. You walk in and seat yourself and a waitress gives you a drink menu. After you get your drinks and pay her right away, she tells you that you can go and help yourself to the buffet. This is no Hometown Buffet - there are trays upon trays upon trays of pasta, meats, cheeses, fruits, bruschettas, olives, etc etc etc. This place is labeled as an appetizer bar, but it's really dinner.
Again, ordering drinks was great. Long Island Ice Teas are great in Italy too, just FYI. The guys wanted me to try a Slalom Strong (Scottish) beer, and I'm glad I did. Really good.
After hanging out there for a while, Michelangelo asked me if I wanted to go to a discoteca with them. Federico had worked the next morning at 6:30AM, but I wasn't not going to go just because he wasn't. This would be a great time for me to go out with new people which I didn't want to turn down.
Well, as the night progressed the plans fell through so we decided to postpone it for another night. Better anyway for me because I was dressed like a tourist and not like someone ready to go to a discoteca on Saturday night in Italy. Damn. It was still cool that they asked because it showed that they thought I wasn't too big of a freakshow and actually wanted to take me along with them!
Well, today's Sunday which means lots of sleep. Back to the old (but awesome) grind tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Phone Number Correction
I posted the wrong country code for my phone...you'd dial 011-39-327-17-08-419 (I'd originally said 001). You can commence the phone calls. Thanks.
Monday, February 2, 2009
FIRST DAY!
This morning I woke up around 7:15 and showered. The shower is absolutely disgusting. The nasty shower curtains that you need to pull down surround you, and drag on the floor. There's no plate thing, so water goes EVERYWHERE. It's disgusting. My towel was hanging up on a towel warmer thing that's up against the wall, and when I got "out" of the shower it was wet, so I kinda started off on a bad note.
I had a nutella sandwich and milk and then got dressed. I had borrowed Nicoletta's iron last night so my clothes were all ready to go. She said to wear a sweater over my button down shirt because here when you wear just a button shirt it looks really casual, so she recommended that I wear something over it. She was right.
I left here around 8:15 and got there by 8:25. I wasn't sure what to do, because the packet said "be there no earlier than just before 8:30, and wait at the front door." So that's what I did. At 8:30 there was a line outside the door, and I couldn't figure out if they were workers or just people who needed to go to the Consulate. I saw a few people ring the door bell on the door and then guards would open it and let them in. After a few minutes I saw a lady come out and I asked her in Italian if she knew what I should do. She was really nice and put down what she was holding and led me to the door, told the guard, and he asked me for documents. I gave him my passport (which I brought just for the first day) and after about 5 minutes a man named Tomasso came out then led me in.
Immediately he started introducing me to all of these people. They were all really nice and friendly, but I was bombarded with new faces and names so I just smiled and kept saying "Ciao, piacere, mi chiamo Giuseppe" and repeat. They brought me to the ACS (American Consular Services) section which is where I'll be working for now. I have my own desk/area, but everything is still out in the open. I was then set up with my very own STATE DEPARTMENT (state.gov) EMAIL ADDRESS (I was smiling like a little school girl when I got it)!!!!
After about a half hour this woman named Maria led me around the ACS and NIV (Non-Immigrant Visa) section, and told me all the passwords to the doors, which was pretty ballin’. She said: it doesn't matter who asks you, even people that work in here, never give anyone any codes. She said that codes to open doors are on a need to know basis only, and so if people need to know then they should already been given them! After an hour of being there a guy named Paolo who is the I.T. person brought me to the conference room where I had to take a 2 hour course on "cyber security." It was my first reality check of what exactly I was going to be dealing with.
After the course I met the two Johns, one who is the actual Consul (you should see his office!), the other who is the Vice Consul and in charge of interns. There’s also a woman who is the Consul General (boss lady) but she travels a lot and acts as the face of the US in the Florence area. Anyway, I found out now that the three of them who are considered "Foreign Service Officers" have to change posts every 3 years! I don’t know if I could ever move my someday family/only me and my dog somewhere every 3 years…
The Foreign Service Nationals is a cooler job. These can be Americans (unlike FSO which HAVE to be Americans) or Italian or any other nationality. There are I think 16 FSN's at this post, and they're all from either Italy, the US, and 1 is from the UK. Like I said, today I worked in the ACS unit so I got to work with passport renewals and the creation of emergency passports (for people who lose them or get them stolen). It was really cool and a lot to take in. Anyway, 2 American kids came in who had already lost or gotten their passports stolen (after a week)! Sucks for them but cool for me because after watching the first one, I got to process a new passport for this kid on my own!!!! (With the British girl watching but still!) It was awesome.
I also learned a fun/scary fact: about 70% of all the cases of stolen passports in Florence come from the train station.
At 1pm we have our lunch hour til 2, so I walked the 10ish minute walk home and made myself a sandwich. It was a nice and relaxing break, and then I walked back. The afternoon was slow because the Consulate is only open to people in the morning. The afternoons are for the most part spent processing visas, passports, responding to tons of emails, and answering phone calls. I did a lot of waiting around while they put my name into all of the systems, but by 5 the Vice Consul told me "YOU'RE IN THE CLUB MAN, YOU'RE ONE OF US!" That was one of the best parts haha.
Everyone was really great to me and I was really happy about how my first day went. I'm excited to see what the rest of the time has for me, and they seem happy to have me...especially because I'm working for FREE.
Oh, while I was leaving I made a huge moron out of myself. I was leaving the main exit and usually there are guards there who open the door for you, but for some reason they weren’t. Andddd for a good minute I couldn’t figure out how to open the door. So I had to walk back inside and ask for help on how to get out. Moron. Anyway, an interesting day had to end in an interesting way.
.Nicoletta's BF Giuseppe (what a name) came up from Palermo (Sicily) to bring her vespa (18 hour boat ride to Livorno from Palermo, then an hour in the rain on the vespa...must be love). He got here last night and is flying back tomorrow. He's really cool. They're both really interested in speaking English so they're helping me learn Italian while I teach them English. I took some pictures with 2 of my roommates and Giuseppe tonight so you should check them out on facebook. THEY SELL INDIVIDUAL CUPS OF NUTELLA HERE. WELCOME TO HEAVEN.
Giuseppe is a computer guy by trade so he helped me set up my phone and stuff whichhh…
FINALLY WORKS! Unfortunately I can’t make calls to the US with it, but ya’llllllllll can call meeeeee. For those interested: 001-39-327-17-08-419 – those are all the numbers you need to type, including the country code. I wasn’t really sure where to put the dashes because there are so many numbers.
I’m hoping to set myself up with skype or something in the near future, but a) the internet is still slow and b) I’ve downloaded skype twice and it freezes my computer. I don’t know, I guess I’ll try again.
OH – SIDENOTE: According to the girl roommates, New Lloyd is supposed to be kind of a douche. He’s away for the week so I haven’t really gotten to know him. But guess what? He told me that their names were Nicoletta and Giusy. FALSE. Nicoletta and “Nelita.” Uhhhh. I’ve been calling this chick Giusy (pronounced Jew-zee) for a week and she hasn’t said anything. I wonder if he even knows her name.
Another sidenote: I just figured out there are comments on my posts haha. THANKS! KEEP THEM COMING! At least I know someone is reading this!
OK, night cha’ll (said in the Paula Deen accent. I miss her).
I had a nutella sandwich and milk and then got dressed. I had borrowed Nicoletta's iron last night so my clothes were all ready to go. She said to wear a sweater over my button down shirt because here when you wear just a button shirt it looks really casual, so she recommended that I wear something over it. She was right.
I left here around 8:15 and got there by 8:25. I wasn't sure what to do, because the packet said "be there no earlier than just before 8:30, and wait at the front door." So that's what I did. At 8:30 there was a line outside the door, and I couldn't figure out if they were workers or just people who needed to go to the Consulate. I saw a few people ring the door bell on the door and then guards would open it and let them in. After a few minutes I saw a lady come out and I asked her in Italian if she knew what I should do. She was really nice and put down what she was holding and led me to the door, told the guard, and he asked me for documents. I gave him my passport (which I brought just for the first day) and after about 5 minutes a man named Tomasso came out then led me in.
Immediately he started introducing me to all of these people. They were all really nice and friendly, but I was bombarded with new faces and names so I just smiled and kept saying "Ciao, piacere, mi chiamo Giuseppe" and repeat. They brought me to the ACS (American Consular Services) section which is where I'll be working for now. I have my own desk/area, but everything is still out in the open. I was then set up with my very own STATE DEPARTMENT (state.gov) EMAIL ADDRESS (I was smiling like a little school girl when I got it)!!!!
After about a half hour this woman named Maria led me around the ACS and NIV (Non-Immigrant Visa) section, and told me all the passwords to the doors, which was pretty ballin’. She said: it doesn't matter who asks you, even people that work in here, never give anyone any codes. She said that codes to open doors are on a need to know basis only, and so if people need to know then they should already been given them! After an hour of being there a guy named Paolo who is the I.T. person brought me to the conference room where I had to take a 2 hour course on "cyber security." It was my first reality check of what exactly I was going to be dealing with.
After the course I met the two Johns, one who is the actual Consul (you should see his office!), the other who is the Vice Consul and in charge of interns. There’s also a woman who is the Consul General (boss lady) but she travels a lot and acts as the face of the US in the Florence area. Anyway, I found out now that the three of them who are considered "Foreign Service Officers" have to change posts every 3 years! I don’t know if I could ever move my someday family/only me and my dog somewhere every 3 years…
The Foreign Service Nationals is a cooler job. These can be Americans (unlike FSO which HAVE to be Americans) or Italian or any other nationality. There are I think 16 FSN's at this post, and they're all from either Italy, the US, and 1 is from the UK. Like I said, today I worked in the ACS unit so I got to work with passport renewals and the creation of emergency passports (for people who lose them or get them stolen). It was really cool and a lot to take in. Anyway, 2 American kids came in who had already lost or gotten their passports stolen (after a week)! Sucks for them but cool for me because after watching the first one, I got to process a new passport for this kid on my own!!!! (With the British girl watching but still!) It was awesome.
I also learned a fun/scary fact: about 70% of all the cases of stolen passports in Florence come from the train station.
At 1pm we have our lunch hour til 2, so I walked the 10ish minute walk home and made myself a sandwich. It was a nice and relaxing break, and then I walked back. The afternoon was slow because the Consulate is only open to people in the morning. The afternoons are for the most part spent processing visas, passports, responding to tons of emails, and answering phone calls. I did a lot of waiting around while they put my name into all of the systems, but by 5 the Vice Consul told me "YOU'RE IN THE CLUB MAN, YOU'RE ONE OF US!" That was one of the best parts haha.
Everyone was really great to me and I was really happy about how my first day went. I'm excited to see what the rest of the time has for me, and they seem happy to have me...especially because I'm working for FREE.
Oh, while I was leaving I made a huge moron out of myself. I was leaving the main exit and usually there are guards there who open the door for you, but for some reason they weren’t. Andddd for a good minute I couldn’t figure out how to open the door. So I had to walk back inside and ask for help on how to get out. Moron. Anyway, an interesting day had to end in an interesting way.
.Nicoletta's BF Giuseppe (what a name) came up from Palermo (Sicily) to bring her vespa (18 hour boat ride to Livorno from Palermo, then an hour in the rain on the vespa...must be love). He got here last night and is flying back tomorrow. He's really cool. They're both really interested in speaking English so they're helping me learn Italian while I teach them English. I took some pictures with 2 of my roommates and Giuseppe tonight so you should check them out on facebook. THEY SELL INDIVIDUAL CUPS OF NUTELLA HERE. WELCOME TO HEAVEN.
Giuseppe is a computer guy by trade so he helped me set up my phone and stuff whichhh…
FINALLY WORKS! Unfortunately I can’t make calls to the US with it, but ya’llllllllll can call meeeeee. For those interested: 001-39-327-17-08-419 – those are all the numbers you need to type, including the country code. I wasn’t really sure where to put the dashes because there are so many numbers.
I’m hoping to set myself up with skype or something in the near future, but a) the internet is still slow and b) I’ve downloaded skype twice and it freezes my computer. I don’t know, I guess I’ll try again.
OH – SIDENOTE: According to the girl roommates, New Lloyd is supposed to be kind of a douche. He’s away for the week so I haven’t really gotten to know him. But guess what? He told me that their names were Nicoletta and Giusy. FALSE. Nicoletta and “Nelita.” Uhhhh. I’ve been calling this chick Giusy (pronounced Jew-zee) for a week and she hasn’t said anything. I wonder if he even knows her name.
Another sidenote: I just figured out there are comments on my posts haha. THANKS! KEEP THEM COMING! At least I know someone is reading this!
OK, night cha’ll (said in the Paula Deen accent. I miss her).
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Un Giro di Firenze
This afternoon I took a walk around Firenze. After being around a ton of people in the apartment, I was happy to just get out alone and take a way along the Arno River and see what that area has to offer.
About a half a block up from my apartment is a rotary and then Ponte Vittoria (or Ponte della Vittoria, I’m not sure yet). After crossing that bridge, I’m already on the road that is called Lungarno or “along the Arno.” This particular avenue runs along the river and every few blocks changes names. The part that I was most excited about was seeing Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci which is home to the American Consulate!
I took a bunch of pictures along my walk, and was really intrigued by the amount of security around the Consulate. Already at the top of the street, car traffic is limited to residents of the really expensive looking apartments that face the river. The block that houses the Consulate is blocked off to all cars, and even pedestrians can only walk past a certain point before getting yelled at by the carabinieri (police). After months of anticipation I was finally there, so I had to get up close. I was taking a picture of the name plate on the door when a cop from about 30 feet away yelled SCUSI!! NO!! Chill yo, just takin’ a pic.
Can’t. Wait. For. Monday.
I kept walking along and looking at all the different people who were along the river. There were people of all ages and speaking all different languages. I passed a few groups of American girls, some with shopping bags and some with maps. I got the Ponte Vecchio and took in all of it’s ballin-ness, crossed the bridge, and then headed back towards the apartment.
I decided to go to the supermarket to get some groceries before going back home. It was really intense to say the least, but at the same time really fun. When buying fruit, you need to wear a plastic glove, put it in a bag, then put it on a scale that weighs it, press the button with the corresponding label, and tag the barcode that it prints out so then the cashier can ring it up. Pretty innovative.
I got some good stuff and even ran into some Americans. One girl looked at me and said “Oh scusi” to get by – maybe she thought I was Italian? Or maybe she was just really focused on getting by. Who knows?
My biggest obstacle was buying milk. They sell milk room temperature and cold here. I bought the cold one, but couldn’t figure out the difference between all the colored labels. I bought the one that looked the most normal, a blue one that said “interro” which when I got back one of my roommates told me is “whole milk.” Kinda gross, but I guess I’ll deal with it for a few days.
Sorry that I hadn’t updated for a long time but the internet connection in this apartment is terrible and New Lloyd said he’d fix it after he got back from his ski trip – next week. Psh. Don’t be offended if it’s a while before I post pictures or more blog stuff, but I’m using a “very low” signal. Oh, and if there are any spelling mistakes in all my posts...deal with it. (Brad).
Miss you all and hope to talk to you soon!
About a half a block up from my apartment is a rotary and then Ponte Vittoria (or Ponte della Vittoria, I’m not sure yet). After crossing that bridge, I’m already on the road that is called Lungarno or “along the Arno.” This particular avenue runs along the river and every few blocks changes names. The part that I was most excited about was seeing Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci which is home to the American Consulate!
I took a bunch of pictures along my walk, and was really intrigued by the amount of security around the Consulate. Already at the top of the street, car traffic is limited to residents of the really expensive looking apartments that face the river. The block that houses the Consulate is blocked off to all cars, and even pedestrians can only walk past a certain point before getting yelled at by the carabinieri (police). After months of anticipation I was finally there, so I had to get up close. I was taking a picture of the name plate on the door when a cop from about 30 feet away yelled SCUSI!! NO!! Chill yo, just takin’ a pic.
Can’t. Wait. For. Monday.
I kept walking along and looking at all the different people who were along the river. There were people of all ages and speaking all different languages. I passed a few groups of American girls, some with shopping bags and some with maps. I got the Ponte Vecchio and took in all of it’s ballin-ness, crossed the bridge, and then headed back towards the apartment.
I decided to go to the supermarket to get some groceries before going back home. It was really intense to say the least, but at the same time really fun. When buying fruit, you need to wear a plastic glove, put it in a bag, then put it on a scale that weighs it, press the button with the corresponding label, and tag the barcode that it prints out so then the cashier can ring it up. Pretty innovative.
I got some good stuff and even ran into some Americans. One girl looked at me and said “Oh scusi” to get by – maybe she thought I was Italian? Or maybe she was just really focused on getting by. Who knows?
My biggest obstacle was buying milk. They sell milk room temperature and cold here. I bought the cold one, but couldn’t figure out the difference between all the colored labels. I bought the one that looked the most normal, a blue one that said “interro” which when I got back one of my roommates told me is “whole milk.” Kinda gross, but I guess I’ll deal with it for a few days.
Sorry that I hadn’t updated for a long time but the internet connection in this apartment is terrible and New Lloyd said he’d fix it after he got back from his ski trip – next week. Psh. Don’t be offended if it’s a while before I post pictures or more blog stuff, but I’m using a “very low” signal. Oh, and if there are any spelling mistakes in all my posts...deal with it. (Brad).
Miss you all and hope to talk to you soon!
Parma!
The first night in the new apt. was…loud. I’m not at all used to living in a city, so hearing cars and people yelling outside my window is kind of new. Before going to sleep though I got a chance to talk to 2 of my new roommates, Nicoletta and Giusy. They’re pretty cool and Nicoletta especially is eager to help me better my Italian which I’m really happy about.
The following afternoon (Wednesday) Federico and I took TrenItalia to Parma to spend 2 days with his uncle who lives there. I couldn’t turn down the offer to go because I’m hoping to see as many cities in Italy as I can while I’m here. Before leaving for Italy, I constantly thought about all the cities in Europe I want to go see. But now I realize that Florence is in such a great location that I can spend my weekends travelling to see all the awesome places Italy has to offer before going anywhere else.
Anyway, Parma was amazing. Home to the Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese and famous Prosciutto di Parma, I ate so much great food it was insane. Zio Antonio (Federico’s uncle) lives in an apt. with a Napolitano (guy from Naples) named Gaetano. He’s really crude, but absolutely hilarious. He operates (doesn’t own) a pizzeria in Parma, and on the last day we were there made us this grand feast for lunch that was out of this world – pictures on facebook.
Also: I bought a cell phone! The Italian cell phone system is better because it's contract free. You just pay for a phone and a basic plan. Mine is 120 free minutes a month to call within Italy. If I go over the 120 minutes, you just "fa una ricarica" which is basically recharging the phone with more purchased minutes. I can't make international calls with my phone, but people from the U.S. can call me so as soon as the phone is activated (Monday) I'll post the number and you guys can call me! :) In order for me to call home, I had to buy a calling card and talk from a phone booth near my apt.
Now, I’m back in Firenze and eager to start the internship on Monday. It’s so soon, I can’t believe it’s really about to happen!
The following afternoon (Wednesday) Federico and I took TrenItalia to Parma to spend 2 days with his uncle who lives there. I couldn’t turn down the offer to go because I’m hoping to see as many cities in Italy as I can while I’m here. Before leaving for Italy, I constantly thought about all the cities in Europe I want to go see. But now I realize that Florence is in such a great location that I can spend my weekends travelling to see all the awesome places Italy has to offer before going anywhere else.
Anyway, Parma was amazing. Home to the Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese and famous Prosciutto di Parma, I ate so much great food it was insane. Zio Antonio (Federico’s uncle) lives in an apt. with a Napolitano (guy from Naples) named Gaetano. He’s really crude, but absolutely hilarious. He operates (doesn’t own) a pizzeria in Parma, and on the last day we were there made us this grand feast for lunch that was out of this world – pictures on facebook.
Also: I bought a cell phone! The Italian cell phone system is better because it's contract free. You just pay for a phone and a basic plan. Mine is 120 free minutes a month to call within Italy. If I go over the 120 minutes, you just "fa una ricarica" which is basically recharging the phone with more purchased minutes. I can't make international calls with my phone, but people from the U.S. can call me so as soon as the phone is activated (Monday) I'll post the number and you guys can call me! :) In order for me to call home, I had to buy a calling card and talk from a phone booth near my apt.
Now, I’m back in Firenze and eager to start the internship on Monday. It’s so soon, I can’t believe it’s really about to happen!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Italian Kids are Intense
After getting dropped back off at Federico’s, we were greeted by an apartment full of 20-something year old Italians, all either co-workers or friends of the guys who lived there.
We ordered some pizzas (delicious) and just hung out which was awesome. For about 4 hours people were coming in and out. Although it got kind of tiresome having to keep introducing myself and them asking me a thousand and one questions about what America’s like and telling me how much they want to go, I realized that in order to make new friends I’m going to have to keep an open mind.
Some of them were really interested and eager to talk to me, but I could tell that a few were apprehensive because either they didn’t know if I could speak Italian or just didn’t know what to say. I may have aided their apprehensiveness by letting a sort of bewildered look come across my face, but hearing about 5 different conversations in 5 different Italian dialects can really play with your heard.
Luckily, Monday night’s are “Grande Fratello” aka Big Brother nights in Firenze, so that provided a good hour of just watching, laughing, eating, drinking, and smoking (not me) with new friends.
We ordered some pizzas (delicious) and just hung out which was awesome. For about 4 hours people were coming in and out. Although it got kind of tiresome having to keep introducing myself and them asking me a thousand and one questions about what America’s like and telling me how much they want to go, I realized that in order to make new friends I’m going to have to keep an open mind.
Some of them were really interested and eager to talk to me, but I could tell that a few were apprehensive because either they didn’t know if I could speak Italian or just didn’t know what to say. I may have aided their apprehensiveness by letting a sort of bewildered look come across my face, but hearing about 5 different conversations in 5 different Italian dialects can really play with your heard.
Luckily, Monday night’s are “Grande Fratello” aka Big Brother nights in Firenze, so that provided a good hour of just watching, laughing, eating, drinking, and smoking (not me) with new friends.
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