I’ve seen worse things…

Lets go with a riddle… What do you get when you combine the Alps, a Lake, Villages, and Blue Skies? Here’s a hint: It is not a Monster made of large, wet, mountains, with people living in his blue hair, however, that would be totally logical. Rather, you get a great day up at Como…

The definite highlight of my past two weeks, which included returning to school and the departure of my best friend here in Italy back to South Africa, would be taking a day trip up to Como. After a short 30 minute train ride, myself and 3 friends arrived in one of the most beautiful places in the world, at least thats what they say in the book Frankenstein. (Those of you that have gotten the opportunity to enjoy such a literary classic in 12th grade English, you know what I am talking about. Or you will when you Sparknote it the night before the test…)

Beautiful Lake Como

Anyways, be the judge for yourself! Just have it be know that this is nothing yet!!

Not only was it Lake Como, but despite the smoggy, cold weather in Milan, we got blue skies and a 50ºF day… Mother Nature knows how to make me smile. We decided to make the most of the day and started out by going out on the water on a boat. No, not a nice little speed boat or yacht, but a paddle boat. Ya know how the always say that paddle boats really aren’t that fun? That phrase still holds true, especially when the the thing is a rusty mess, but when you are with friends, it is pretty easy to derive humor from the situation!

Rusty Racecar Paddleboat!

At least it was only a half hour!!

After adventuring around the Lake, we made our way back to the docks with the need to stretch out out legs and fill our stomachs. Good thing we were in Italy and the food is absolutely incredible just about wherever you end up! We found a little place right on the water, enjoyed some pasta and made our way around the little village. We debated the change of horoscopes, bought coffee, played with the souvenirs in the shops, and stared at beautiful things: Lakes, Mountains, Cars, People, etc. In short, we were living the good life.

We did have a mission to tend to, though. On the train into Como, you can see a steep scar up the side of one of the mountain. We figured it must be some sort of gondola, but we couldn’t be sure unless we saw it for ourselves. We walked and walked until we stumbled upon the ticket booth. YES. We are presented with this San Francisco style trolley that is about to go up a 50 degree incline. We were said it was gonna be safe, so we blindly trusted the man speaking a different language and went about our day. He was right, so that was cool. We are still alive.

The 50 Degree Incline....

The Tram...

Exchange Students: 1 Janky, Old Tram: 0.

Of all the decisions I have made so far, getting on this led us to a Great day. See what I did there? I capitalized the G. That means it was really great. Now that we are all up to speed, let’s talk about beautiful things. At the top of the mountain, there is cute little village on one side. On the other, there is a cute little view. It is the worlds visual representation of the Emmy’s. A whole lot of beautiful in one place. Lake up close, little villages all over the hills, foothills of the Alps up close, jagged, snow covered Swiss Alps in the back. All the while, under a blue sky. Although pictures don’t entirely capture the experience, you will have a better idea of the hardships I deal with….

Yeah?

a

Not bad...!

 

Gettin' Alpy

 

 

It’s pretty hard to imagine this could get any better, but it does. The little restaurant seen in the first picture gave us quite the experience. We happened to bump into the owner of the place and he decided it would be a good time to provide with a few little gifts for are sitting pleasure. As we sat there enjoying the Italian way of life, Mother Nature did it again. As light fog pooled into the valley, the sun began to set…

Good for Mother Nature!

Well, now that words won’t do anything justice, this might have to be the appropriate place to end it. Hope everyone is enjoying their first weeks back at school and life after the long weekend!!

-Charlie

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

 

Buon Natale!

‘Twas the night before a Blog Update and all through the country

Craziness was happening you would think prisoners were free!

So I now sit at my computer, typing with care

Expecting this post to cover all the excite ment and flare….

 

Here we go!

Lets revery back a few days, and by days I mean weeks… Despite the most recent post, it was not a white Christmas in Italy. It was wet, however. That is correct, rain in which Santa and the Reindeer had to fly. Let’s hope Rudulph upgraded to a fog lamp nose…

Anyways, when the rain began to fall, we headed over to my “Host Grandma’s” house. It was me and the entire family, most of whom I knew, however, there was a good handful I had never seen before. It was quite the experience, to say the least. Most important things first… Food. There was a pretty impressive smorgasbord of food out for snacking. Thinly sliced meats, cheeses of varying varieties, breads in all shapes and sizes, drinks of many different percentages, and a few other miscellaneous  delicacies. It is often hard to complain about Italian food, but I did miss all the christmas cookies from back home. However, there is a fix, but you will have to keep reading to see what that is!! (This is me hoping that you haven’t already giving up and an incentive to keep going…) Apart from the food, there was a lot of the classic Christmas party socializing and gift giving. That is definitely one tradition that has caught on around the world!

After hanging out with the extended family, we made our way back home to Seregno to open gifts. Good thing Santa, or Baba Natale, had arrived while we were out. The time was about 1:30 AM, but that didn’t cancel any of the excitement of giving and receiving presents. The most frequent gift was underwear. I think everyone got at least 3 different sets… Italy. Other than that, people were very satisfied with their gifts. For my family, I got Oscar a Chocolate Wine/Liqueur with edible cups, Donatella a Slang Dictionary, as she is working on her English but apparently Valerio and I use some not-so-proper phrases, and a little silver charm, and for Valerio, a Ansel Adams book. He is at an art school and loves photography and if regardless of a photographic passion, Ansel Adams’ works are incredible! Personally, I have a new best friend. My Amazon Kindle. It is wonderful for a student with lots of time on their hands, such as myself. If you have and Must-Read books, let me know!!

For the next big Holiday, I found myself in Milan. For New Years Eve I went with my friend Jackson, another exchange student, to a party at the house of his host family’s friend’s daughter’s friend which equates to Jackson and I knowing just about no one… Oh well. However, as I was being introduced to everyone, there was one guy that started freaking out. As it turns out, he was my  “host cousin!” He and I had gone out to dinner once in the past and coincidentally wound up at the same party.We did our best at making friends and a few people were quite intrigued with our English and sat and listened to us for a while. Other than that, he and I mainly just hung out talking with people as they came by. At Midnight, there was no ball being dropped, no decorations or noisemakers, but there was a mosh. The clock struck 12 and a mosh pit brock out in the family room. This was quickly followed by 45 minutes of nonstop fire works in the streets all across Italy. Anyone familiar with CNN’s continual war coverage could have sworn we were just deployed to a mine field.

All in all, the Holidays abroad are quite the experience, but I did find myself missing my family and friends quite a bit. So, it was great to see two of them the days before Christmas!! Jason Mooty and Nick Jefferson, EP Grads in 2008, are both studying abroad in Europe, so we all met up for a few days. (this is the cookie part, by the way) We kept ourselves busy with seeing the sites, going up to Como, watching a show at the Scala Theatre and baking Christmas Cookies!! Even the Italians were impressed with out baking talent!

To everyone back home, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! You will be happy to know that one of my resolutions for 2011 is to update more regularly, but just like the reoccuring resolution of getting in shape, who knows how honest that will really be! Also, I promise I will post pictures… Soonish.

-Charlie Crocker

 

“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent.”

 

Italy+Snow=Confusion.

My apologies… I have been extremely absent on my blog for the past moth or so, but I was thinking that I wouldn’t want to bore you with stories of my inactivity. Not that I have been inactive in the sense of a coma, but I have been not travelling the world. To make up for it, this will be the firs of a Holiday themed Blog Series. It will go something like this… Snow in Italy, Holiday Decorations in Italy, Holiday Traditions (which you can expect to feature me eating my weight in more delicious Italian food), Holiday Break Activities and anything else I can think of that would be worthy of a blog entry.

Here it goes!!

It has been getting progressively colder here and the Italians all think I am insane for disagreeing. Their idea of it being brutally cold is usually around 30 or so Fahrenheit. I am more than happy to be outside with my Minnesota roots being proudly displayed. When I go out in just a light jacket**, my host mom is convinced I am gonna freeze to death… I then explained to her the idea of -40 with windchill and she seemed to come around. I can only imagine what a shock it is to the exchange students going to Minnesota.

**I find myself buying light jackets quite often here… First jacket: I thought I should fit in right away in the fall so I bought a lighter Peacoat. Also, not a bad deal where I found it. Second jacket: I saw a deal in a store for a black Euro Swag winter coat. A little puffy, but the cost of fitting in. Also a great deal. It came with headphones!! Why? Who knows. Third Jacket: I went to Boggi in Monza. Think of a store that would fit in quite nicely in Macy’s along with Ralph Lauren and the likes, but more European Swagger. Really nice clothes that are all over priced. I was angry with their prices so we went to the Boggi outlet. 300 Euro jacket marked down to 40? Try to convince me not to buy that. (Dad, your deal loving style must be genetic.) Fourth jacket: I want to ski here, so I bought a ski coat. These are the only clothing items I have bought here so far, with the exception of scarves and gloves that combined cost less than 5 euro. I bargain well. Really well.

Moving along. For those of you at school in not snowy states or have lived elsewhere than Minnesota, you will know exactly what I am talking about. When it snows, it might as well be a Nuclear Bomb. The city stops. People are more rattled than Brett Favre’s retirement fund manager who should have been more convincing this off season… We have had 3 snowfalls so far. None of it has stayed for more than 24 hours, but the 24 hours where there was snow you would have thought the entire country heard about the end of Olive Oil.

Today we got about 2 inches of snow. People were walking around with umbrellas which blew my mind and partially offended me. I spent the day in Milan, however my train in the morning was delayed 20 minutes. I guess there was bad traffic on the railway…? In Milan, some stores closed up. Some buses cancelled there schedule. Some street vendors retired to their homes. Some Minnesotans were wondering what might be going on. The time came for me to get back to Seregno so  I could attend my much needed Italian lesson. My train was at 1:08. It got cancelled not because of a train wreck, not because of a power shortage, but because of the snow. IT WAS ONLY TWO INCHES. No worries, there is another train in a half hour, but when I consulted the screen I learned it was delayed for 45 minutes. Is the snow really that tough to deal with? But Charlie, what about your Italian Lesson?! It also got cancelled. My teacher wasn’t out sick. The school didn’t burn down. There was snow. I don’t see the logic.

All in all, snow terrifies these folks. So be proud Minnesotans, they may out cook us but we have far superior snow handling capabilities… Well except for our Stadiums. Too bad.

Look for the next entry on one of the after mentioned topics!!

Ciao Ciao!

Charlie

Also, sorry about the lack of pictures. My camera was not with me to capture the snowy confusion…

“The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show.”

Time flies when you’re having fun!

First and foremost, I want to apologize for not updating in quite sometime. If this is just a fragment of my imagination to think that people follow this and care when I update, I also apologize for my pretentiousness. However, there is good reason for my digital absence. We all know the pain of college applications and I had to apply to college… Again. Long story short, Boston University had a horribly expensive deferral price. I got to re-write me essays and CommonApp. That wasn’t time consuming at all…

Okay, back to me being in Italy and all my explorations.

A few weekends back, I got the opportunity to exercise my english (because I am great at Italian……….)with some family friends, Steve and Betsy, in Florence. (If you happened to stop by my grad party, she was the one the did the cooking… ) Valerio and I got on our train and made our way at around 11, arriving at out glorious 1-star hotel at about 3.

The 1-Star!

It may not have the fluffiest of pillows, the largest of bathrooms, a TV or much of anything, but it did give us a great deal and a place to sleep. After putting our things away, we started our adventure through the city.

Thanks to the reccomendations of Caitlin Kelly, another family friend, I knew all the hot spots. We went to a great little sandwich shop for lunch and essentially walked the entire town until 1 in the morning. There are many gorgeous Piazzas to be seen, many little shops and many different open markets all with the smell of fresh leather. Florence is known to be the home of some of the greatest leather in the world, which is why I got my new wallet there! We thought it would be best to wait to do the touristy things once we were with the whole group so, after a few gelato stops,

How I love gelato...

a meal or two, we headed back in the direction of our glory home in the middle of Piazza Aldobrandini.

We got up at what felt to be the crack of dawn, 8:30, to go eat some breakfast before meeting up with Steve and Betsy. Despite the pictures and specific directions that Steve had sent me, we still managed to go to the wrong bike rack before finding them… Anyways, they came equipped with a few American treats for us such as Kraft Mac & Cheese, Sour Patch Kids, a few books and some Halloween decorations. We packed all of it away at our hotel and went through the city before going into the Uffizi Gallery. As far as art museums go, this one was pretty impressive. My favorite piece was the Birth of Venus. HUGE!! If it was punishable by execution, I would have taken a picture, but decided not to deal with the surely Italian-speaking Polizia.

After the museum, we made our way to go see David. Not some random dude, but the sculpture that is worth more than anyone is willing to pay. However, under strict instructions from Dennis, S&B’s friend from Rome, we didn’t have time to go see the real one, so the fake

Fake David

one outside would have to suffice. We spent a couple hours in various churches, which seem to be more prevalent than public bathrooms here. I guess that is what you get in the country that houses the Pope and more or less invented Catholicism.

Florence Duomo

We finally made our way to a little pizzeria for lunch, found a gelato shop and did some more walking before going our separate ways. It was nice to see some familiar faces while abroad, but it was back to reality and life in Italy for me, which is always quite difficult to complain about.

The next week past by with a few stops down to Milan, but overall nothing too exciting. Then the weekend hit. Halloween Weekend. If I were at university, this would be a huge event, however, Halloween is more of an American event that an international festival. We weren’t going to let this stop us from having too much fun.

Darcy, one of my good friends from Australia, Kenny, another friend from Nevada, Jackson, a third mate from New York, and I all met up in Milan on Sunday night to celebrate Halloween. We made our way around town and found ourselves playing the best game ever: How Low Can You Go. Darcy and I will go up to street vendor selling some useless toy or what-have-you and we check the price. No matter what, we assume that it is way overpriced. We bargain down as low as possible, our record being a 60% discount, and then proceed to walk away. With luck they will knock off another euro, but we are still not interested. You wouldn’t believe how much fun we can get out of this! Before Darcy heads home we have a goal of getting something down to 50 cents… Not an easy task!

We celebrated in Milan til about 9, the time at which a few people had to make it home. I took the second to last train back home and got off at what I though would be Seregno. False. One stop early.There wasn’t another train for an hour. I sat in the cold, rainy weather for an hour waiting… Talk about a lousy end to a fun night. Nonetheless, a great time was had!

You may be thinking that I would be tired for school the next day, but here in Italy, it is a holiday on Nov. 1 and 2. This made it a great time to crank out the final touches on my applications. With a little bit of luck, I think I will be a college student one day!

Once again, I had to participate in the school part of life. Not exactly the most exciting event. However, it was only a two-day week for me! On Friday, Kenny and I went up to the mountain house with my host parents for the Festival de Ciuga… Translation: Sausage Festival.

Ciuga!

We stopped at Oscar’s sisters house in a gorgeous little lakeside town for lunch on the way up to the Alps. However, the combination of a heavy lunch and windy mountain roads had me tossing my cookies on the side of the Alps. We can now check that off the Italian To-Do List!

Finally, we arrived at the mountain house in San Lorenzo in Banale. If I were to use one word to describe it: Overwhelmingly-Gorgeous.

Not so ugly, eh?

We went to a pizzeria for dinner and then hung out around home. On Saturday, we went to expereince the Festival. It was all in this little village and had many shops, bakeries and other places to spend money. I enjoyed a few meat sticks, sausages, strauben (funnel cakes), apple pastries

Apple Pastry!

and apple chips. Moral of my Italian life: I love to eat. We went home after a few hours in the village and made our way up a mountain with Lady, the resident mountain dog at some hotel. There were some stunning views up there!

Wonderful Views...

We went back, had some dinner and took in the cabin life. Lots of playing cards, reading and chatting. Kenny and I went to the pub to watch the soccer match, as good Italians should and went back for bed at around 11.

We got up the next morning, closed up shop, and made our way home. All in all, a beautiful weekend!! All you have to do is visit and you can experience it too! Let me know when! Speaking of visiting, a few people have asked for my address so they can stop by… Maybe it was to send me letters. Or homemade cookies. Or whatever the heart desires to send! So for those of you that were wondering, here you go!

Valerio Vavassori

ATTN: Charlie Crocker

Via Buonarrotti n.8

Seregno 20038

MB, Italy

Congratulations! You made it all the way to the end! Hope you enjoyed it!

Ciao Ciao!

Charlie Crocker

 

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.”

 

Cinque Terre

After a long week at school, most of which saw me not having any clue what was going on, I got the opportunity to hop on a train with 20 other exchange

Exchange Students!

students and make my way up to Cinque Terre, which translates to Five Towns. It is a collection of five small villages, including Monterosso where we stayed, right on the Mediterranean Sea. After about a three-hour train ride, awe and astonishment set in. Cinque Terre ranks in the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I can prove it…

Pretty Ugly, eh?

We arrived at about 6ish and had about an hour to get to our hotel and get settled in, which included a dilemma of picking straws to figure out who had to share the big bed. With my luck, Luca and I got the short straws, accepted our fate, but soon found out the bed split it two, however, the sheet issue wasn’t our favor. We survived. Following this whole bit, we made our way to a little place to eat where Roberto, the Rotary Youth Exchange Coordinator, had a preset menu for us to enjoy. Like always, there was a superfluous amount of bread on the table and the choice of fizzy water or natural water. I find bubbles in my water to be a terrifying experience, so I stick with the normal H₂0.  The first plate was some of the best lasagna I’ve ever experienced. My usual issue with it is that there is that unwelcome layer of spinach that no one actually really likes, but most everyone insists on making it the same way that the recipe says. Not the case here. This was all cheese, tomato sauce and about 10 layers of noodle. Yum tum in my tum tum. Up next we went as Italian as it gets… French fries and one seriously overgrown chicken finger. No lies, it was a standard breaded chicken finger the size of my face. This group of somewhat homesick exchange students all seemed quite pleased with Roberto’s choice. To end things up, we enjoyed some sort of fancy dessert and a glass of champagne to celebrate the birthday of one of the Rotary Chaperones.

The night was ours to explore the town and explore we did! We journeyed up the many paths through the mountains on the seaside, went into the old village and got a feel for the place. We got back to the rooms at about 11:30 and hung out in our rooms talking until we fell asleep.

Great Running Path!

Swimming anyone?

Warning: For those of you who don’t take surprises well, I would suggest moving to the next paragraph of simply buckling in for this next bit… Five of us decided it would be a fun to go for a run through the villages and hills at about seven o’clock. Let me clarify, I actually tied on a pair of running shoes and went for a run. We ran through the streets, overgrown mountainous paths, slippery slopes, up grassy creeks and just about anywhere we could find. After about 45 minutes of this expedition, we decided cooling off in the sea would be a great idea. It was. The water was surprisingly warm and made for a great way to replace the salty sweat with salty water. Not to beneficial in cleaning up…

We trekked back to the hotel, showered and enjoyed an Italian breakfast consisting of brioche, toast and jam, espresso and juice. We began our day with the rest of the group by going out exploring the town together and eventually made our way to this very, very, small castle. Seemed more like a pile of rocks on the edge of the water with a small tower in the middle which provided a great vantage point for looking around and taking pictures. After this stop, we made our way to an Italian Navy aircraft carrier consisting of no aircrafts. Minor disappointment, however, we still got the grand tour of the ship. No Royal Caribbean cruise ship but probably more expensive. We got to see the “brains, eyes, and heart of the ship.” As fun as walking around this ship was, seeing really expensive computers (all of which ran Windows… Upsetting.), places where they send off missiles, steer their way around the world, the best part was definitely the miniature banquet at the end of the tour. So many little delicious finger foods!

We returned to the hotel to change out of our damp clothes caused by the seemingly continuous rain and went to dinner. Once again, we had a preset menu, but this time it was a bit more culturally appropriate. We had a plate of pasta, of course, then a plate of calamari and some sort of fried sardine type fish. Not the best Italian meal, but couldn’t complain. Dinner found me sitting with one of the more multicultural groups. Of the 20 or so students, about 15 are from the states, however, I got the chance to sit with an Australian girl, a South African girl and a girl from Colorado who is ranked 15^th in the world for mountain climbing. It made for a very fun night of exchanging stories from our respective parts of the world.

Oh, so citrusy!

The next day we spent mostly walking around the town and through the hills. One of our stops was after a 45-minute uphill trek to a small fruit farm. The trees were mainly citrus trees, which make for great smelling air and very tasty theft. We weren’t sure of the rule on snagging lemons and limes of trees so we decided that we might as well live on the edge. Apart from the citrus, we saw a whole mess of olive trees. Its no surprise that there is olive oil on EVERYTHING as there are olive trees all over the place. After out little fruit adventure, we had time to walk around the village before catching our train at about 5. We ate some very yummy focaccia, subsidized by Rotary, drank lots of espresso and I even purchased some Euro-Swag. I had to figure out the proper technique of putting it on, but I am now a proud owner of a scarf.

It was a great weekend getaway for all of us. We were all in need of burst of English and some easy friendships, not to mention experiencing some of the more gorgeous things the world has to offer. It relieved some of the stress of learning a new language, but like all trips, it was nice to get back into my own bed and have some alone time.

Also, I have posted all my pictures of the weekend on my Facebook. (This is the previously mentioned “proving it”) I think there is about 120 of them… If you like things that are gorgeous check it out! You don’t even need to be on Facebook to see it! Facebook Pictures!

Ciao!

Charlie Crocker

 

“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”

 

Grade 13: Day 1

All your questions can be answered! Yes, I finally started school. Well, sort of, but more details on that bit later.

Monday found me waking up more than is safe or appropriate at around 7:30, so I can go get showered and what not before making my way to school.

Really Awkward First Day of School Pictures!

Donatella insisted on me having breakfast, but anyone that has seem me in the morning, I am not much of a breakfast person, unless it happens at around noon and consist of eggs, bacon, waffles, pancakes or french toast. Long story short, I don’t do that meal. “But, Charlie, that is so unhealthy and bad for you!!” Yeah, it happens.

She drove me to the school and I met with the principal type figure who showed me where to go first. An english class. Figure that! I was top of the class right away. This might not be so hard after all. I have about 15 kids in my class all of whom are guys that seemed to be much more artistically talented than I when it comes to a pencil and paper… Following English we had math. We worked on percentages. It came as not much of a challenge and it gave me another opportunity to impress the class. I might try and see if I can get into a bit more challenging class.

This next part came as a shock to me and might to you, as well. 10 minute break which directly translates to Smoke Break for about half of the students. A very strange phenomenon. Kids would take out their cigarettes out in class then make there way outside and it is all totally normal. No worries, I will not be coming black a smoker.

Now comes the artistic classes. I went to a drafting type class in which we were to draw a birds eye view drawing from a different perspective line out to a horizon line. I needed a bit of help to get all my lines figured out for this task. However, this was no problem as my classmates were all more than willing to help me out. Seems like quite a fun class, at least after my first try.

I went to a computer class and worked with a program called Edicad. Thats about all I can tell you about that class. Some combination of watching the teacher do stuff, not getting it and not knowing what to do next. Maybe in good time it will make sense.

I missed the woodshop class that I was looking forward to most as I was sick just about all week, causing me to miss Tuesday and Wednesday. Starting school in style. Let me inform you that being sick in Italy is just as awful as being sick in Minnesota. Between the chills, headaches and tiredness, life was not fun. No worries now, though, as I am off the 7-Day DL and back in the game, much unlike the Twins…

The kids in my school seem very nice, even if they are a bit wild in class. More often than once the teachers need to remind them to be quiet and when that doesn’t work, they just let the kids keep talking. I have also seen chair jousting more than a few times. The act that tops them all: Kid jumps out the first floor window and runs around on the grass for a bit. I am not too sure if there are any rules at this school, but I guess we will see in a few weeks!

There are many perks of being an exchange student at this school such as not having to take part in the full 6-day school week. Yes, they go to school on Saturdays, but not me! I don’t know if I would have been able to handle it! Also, one of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays is an Italian language lesson at a school not too far away. I leave at 1:30, make my way to the other school and take my lesson with Kenny, another exchange student.

Things are off to an interesting start here in Italia and I am very excited to see how they all play out! To all the Canadians: Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy the turkey for me! And to the Minnesotans: Say hi to Randy Moss for me! And to all you college folk: I hope you enjoyed your midterms! If you need any tips on a great espresso, I know a few now!

Ciao!

Charlie Crocker

“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”

 

Day in the life…

In the past week, I haven’t done anything too incredible so, I thought that now is as great of a time as ever to fill you in on what I do every day. I will have to rewrite this entry once school starts… Monday is that day for that event! I am pretty excited to start, for the first time in my life. (Past teachers, please take no offense! It was always great once I started…) I am hoping that it will help me learn Italian and get a bit more of a social life.

However, for the past month, I have had quite a bit of time. Most days start with me waking up at around 10:30, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. From there I go drink some coffee, but this is no “dirty water” that “you Americans call coffee.” This is the real deal. Straight up espresso. Let me tell you, that alerts the senses at the early hours of the morning. Yes, 10:30 is early. I am sure most people my age will understand what I am going through.

From there, I usually get me knowledge on. I read. You heard me right, Dad, I, Charlie Crocker, reading. I think at this point, I have more knowledge of the Twins than most members of their front office. Also, it is more than possible that I have read a majority of the Wikipedia articles available. Don’t get me wrong, I have by no means given up Facebook with all this reading. It is a good way to check in with whats going on at home, proving that the world really is quite small. (More on that later…)

We, Valerio, often Roberta and myself, usually have lunch at around 1 or 2. More often than not, its pasta, but you can’t say your surprised as this is Italy. This is one of my power hours of learning Italian. There has yet to be a meal where the TV isn’t on which means I get to listen to hardcore Italian with images, making the understanding much easier.

After lunch, we drink more coffee and usually relax for a while as getting things done is quite difficult. The stores here all close from about 1 until 3 so if you don’t make the early hours, which we never do, you need to wait. Easy enough! For the past month, we have been working on getting all of my forms taken care of, such as my medical, residence, bus passes, pictures, etc. Now that all of these are taken care of, who knows what the afternoons will hold! Possibly more exploring of the town and reaching my goal of trying every flavor of gelato! I will let you know how that goes when you see me at the end of the year!

There has been a couple days where I have decided to journey to either Milan or Lecco to meet up with a few exchange students. Both are extremely easy to get to via train, something that would makes life much more economical in comparison to driving. Lecco is downright gorgeous. I forgot my camera that day, so its quite difficult to show you picture but, take my word for it! Small town, on the lake, in the valley of the Alps. Its like looking at myself in the mirror every morning, simply gorgeous.

Dinner is usually around 8 or so and seems to go on forreevverrr! Not a bad thing at all, however. The table is usually covered with bread just sitting out, a bottle of water, a bottle of wine and it isn’t strange to see green tea or coke. The first round of food hits the table. Valerio and I are give the largest portions and usually end up finishing much before everyone else. It’s that good. So good that it is widely accepted to use your bread to clean the plate. Then there is salad. Forget about Ranch, Italian, and Chunky Blue Cheese — it’s oil and vinegar on strange looking lettuce. It is usually pretty good, too. We don’t stop here. The box of cheese makes an appearance. I usually go for the parmesan with little pieces of bread. Also, really good. You may be thinking, “Charlie, thats a lot of food!” Yes, it is. We are not done! Want some fruit or nuts? Well, you don’t really have a choice. Peaches, grapes, and some strange fruit with a lot of seeds are common, alongside a bunch of walnuts that are cracked on the spot. Might as well wash that down with some yogurt. Yep, yogurt after all of that. Then, the best part: Dessert. So many homemade cakes and pies, its no wonder that I am loving it. Done.

After dinner, its usually some more relaxing. Maybe a movie, maybe some reading or whatever else one chooses to do until we fall asleep. However, don’t go to bed before tea! Donatella makes tea every night that is just incredible.

That is pretty much my day when I am not out on expeditions like the ones you have read about already! Tomorrow I am going to another Rotary event with all the exchange students to meet the Governor. Should be a good time! I will try to update soonish with my expereinces!

-Charlie Crocker

P.S. Sorry about the lack of pictures… Just consider it a chance to practice using you’re IMAGINATION!!!!

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can. “

It’s a ROTARY exchange… I have proof

Good news. I met people my age!

This may seem odd, but it was a big day. The reason this post is so long after my last one is becuase, well, I haven’t been too busy. School hasn’t started, I didn’t really know anyone and that would make for a relatively depressing entry… Then, this weekend happened.

On Saturday I was forced to wake up earlier than most would find acceptable, 9 o’clock. (You have to remember that with my no-school life thus far, I can sleep until whenever I want…) However, it was worth it. I finally got the chance to meet my host club. They were wonderful. It is a very young club, most obvious in that the President is only 37. That seemed to be about the average age, which makes it very easy for me. On the docket for this meeting was to see “The Last Supper.” I guess its a relatively famous painting by some guy named Leonardo da Vinci. It was truly incredible. Leonardo has techniques to do the most impressive things imaginable. For example, if you stand far enough away, it appears that they disciples are moving in the painting. From this same distance, it appears that Jesus is the smallest in the picture from the way he made all the focal lines lead to him, however this is all optical illusions painted into the masterpiece. If I were allowed to take pictures without being sent to an Italian prison at which I wouldn’t understand a thing, I would show you what I mean… I think there were more people there making sure we didn’t take pictures one can only imagine that W. got his security ideas in airports from the Leonardo security.

After we paid our bill for the Last Supper, we headed over to see some other guys work in a castle. Michelangelo? Pieta Rondanini? From what I heard, this guy was a pretty big deal as well. This was quite the visit. It is pretty amazing to see works done from possibly the two most intelligent men in history. With that being said, this Pieta was unfinished so there was definitely some branding help with its publicity.Don’t get me wrong, there is no way I could have done it, but still. While we were at the Castella,  I got the chance to talk with some of the Rotarians. One man I spoke with for a while was a 35 year-old heart surgeon. He and I talked about everything from skiing to weather to university. It was fun to have a interesting conversation in English with a new face. The club meets once every two weeks so I will do my best to make it to all their meetings… Worst case scenario is I get a free meal!

Apart from my Rotary adventures, Saturday took me to a whole new experience. Some enjoy theatrical performances of the comedic nature, some enjoy dramas, some enjoy musicals… Well, I was going to go enjoy and opera. That’s right, I was at an old school, Italian Opera.Donatella, Valerio, Roberta and I hopped on the train to Milan, went to the Teatro alla Scala, went into our box seats (which only made me think someone I was sitting with was about to get shot by John Wilkes Booth IV, should he exist), and enjoyed the performance of many extremely talented musicians of all sorts perform as we followed on our digital lyric screens. A true Italian adventure!!

Sunday… Finally, I got to meet some people my age. All of the exchange students in District 2040 met up to go over everything we need to know. It sounds like I am in for quite the year of adventures. Every month, we are planning on going on different adventures, the first being a weekend at Cinque Terre. It is said to be stunning. Throughout the year, we end up in all the big cities on little day trips and the first week of June we go on a big final trip, however, the details are yet to be worked out. All the students seem really fun. There are 14 from the states, 2 Canadians, 1 German and 1 from Sweden. It was incredible to be around a bunch of kids that spoke English, were going through the same things and well, were just like me. After being challenged with Italian for a couple weeks, this was a great break. I am hoping to spend more time with a lot of them in the next couple weeks.

Lastly, I still have not started school, but we are hoping it will start this week. Donatella is on the phone with the school right now… Also, if you could all do me a favor and watch those ALCD Champion Twins! I am feeling a bit of Twins homesickness. Reading their articles doesn’t quite suffice me baseball needs. But, hey, its Italy! How bad can it be!

Ciao!

Charlie Crocker

“I don’t mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I don’t understand.” Edward Appleton

Euro Swag

Swag: [swag] noun

1. The style in which one dresses and/or accessorizes

synonyms: style, appearance

Now that we are all up to speed, let me tell you about the swag in Europe. It is much different than anything back in the States.

This was most obvious to me when I went to Vogue’s Fashion Night Out: Milano.

Donatella asked if I wanted to go and I thought that being the fashion capitol of the world, it couldn’t be a bad idea! I was astonished. There were people there wearing suits worth more than my entire wardrobe. Be it Prada, Gucci, Versace, you name it, someone was wearing it, or shopping in it. Yes, thats correct, there were all those stores and more. I have never seem more unaffordable stores in my life! (Mom, I may be needing a thicker wallet in the coming months…) Some of these stores even had two locations, such as the two Prada stores in less than 2 km. Apart from the shopping, this event was quite the ordeal. Each and every store as serving champagne, martinis, beer, and/or hors d’oeuvres. There were small cocktail parties happening in the streets and any other open spot, all of which were completely packed with people enjoying the free drinks. The people weren’t always your ordinary shoppers. The daughters of Versace were in attendance, one of the most famed European architects was there, many actors and actresses and anyone else that felt like opening up their wallet on stuff that well, only they can actually afford.

This night also gave me my first chance at seeing Milano. Great architectural swag. All you that have been to Europe know exactly what I am talking about. The architecture is simply stunning. Everywhere you look there is another old, beautiful building. Even the roads are old and amazing. The Duomo di Milano, a huge gothic church that took over five centuries to complete, had my jaw on the ground. I was told that you can go in and go up a few of the spires and look around… Clearly planning on doing this in the near future!

Driving Swag: Europe makes the worst drivers at home seem like angels. People here drive around at ridiculous speeds, pass people at will and somehow know where they are going. On the highways people consider the speed limit but, trust me, its only a consideration. With that being said, on the city streets, they dont even have speed limits posted, from what I have seen. You might be thinking, well at least you are in a big, safe car…? Not at all. Every car here is small than my Bug. Never before have I seem more tiny hatchbacks! Seeing an SUV is unheard of! They are definitely doing there part in keeping the planet green!

Soccer Swag: WILD! European soccer is everything its cracked up to be, despite the fact that soccer players are a bunch of actors falling all over the place looking for a call. (Valerio and I learned not to say these kinda things around British folk, as the respond in quite an angry, upset tone, even if they are listening to their iPod while eavesdropping across the train…) We sat in the wildest section of the stadium. It was complete with about ten guys upfront leading a bunch of chants and cheers at random. They were quiet for maybe 43 seconds the entire game. The stadium itself was ginormous! Made for a really fun crowd! My favorite part about the stadium was the fenced-off visitors section complete with 50+ police and security guards to prevent fights between the two fan groups. If you ever get the chance, go to a European game!

People Swag (other than those at VFNOM): It seems that if you’re not bald you have really long hair. There are lots of people with classic haircuts but, there are more bald and long haired people than at home, thats for sure! Most everyone is very fashionable. Lots of scarves, manpris, tight shirts, polos, tight jeans, brand names, and EVERYONE has Ray Bans (maybe because they are made in Milan…). With a little but of luck, I will fit in eventually with true Euro Swag, but until then, Ciao!

– Charlie Crocker

P.S. Check my Facebook for more pictures!!

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”

Getting used to things…

First things first: Language still really hard, food still really good.

Not that that’s out of the way, lets get down to business. I am starting to feel much more comfortable in my new surroundings, despite all the differences. The second day I was here, Valerio and Roberta, his girlfriend, showed me all around the town. Just about everything is two minutes away on foot. The flat that I’m staying in is less than 100 meters from the town center.

It is filled with little shops, gelato places, coffee shops, pubs, etc. At each place we go in, Valerio seems to know half the people in it which often makes for a great opportunity for me to listen in on some Italian to hone my skills… Or something like that. My favorite place that we have stopped in so far is the bread shop… It smelled incredible and has more bread than you can imagine and for someone who definitely is not, will not, and doesnt see any sense in the Atkins Diet, this will be a frequent stop. I’m excited to start to really know my way around!

Other than figuring out the town, we have been doing a lot of just hanging out since the weather has been less than ideal. It has been raining for the past couple of days, which led to us canceling our plans to go visit Lake Como, the same place where George Clooney lives. (No, all you moms, I will not take a picture of him for you…!) One thing that I did do, however, was join Valerio in his kickboxing class. Wow. I haven’t sweat that much in a long time. It was wicked tough, but lots of fun. I had to learn by example as no one spoke English, but I picked up quite a bit. I can tell my Italian is improving, though! I think that I am gonna start going more often so that I can stay somewhat in shape given all the food that I am being “forced” to eat!! 🙂 Another way that we have done some working out is at these little parks around. Its essentially a big open field, a concrete track around the outside for running, biking ,blading, etc. Quite the little place for people to hang out.

My host family is great. I am loving spending time with all of them. Donatella is quite insistent on learning English. She and I get quite a few laughs teaching each other the respective languages. Oscar and I communicate in few words but lots of hand signals. Valerio, like usual, is great with the English, but everyday teaches me quite a bit of Italian. Roberta, who spends quite a bit of time here, speaks all Italian, but is fluent in Spanish, so when I am really stumped, she feeds me the Spanish which I can often figure out due to my 4 years at EP in spanish. Boss, the little dog is lots of fun. No more than 15 pounds, he walks around like he owns the place. He hops up on all the furniture, everyone’s laps and is a great friend to have around. (he and i communicate on just about the same level when it comes to italian…)

From what I am hearing on Skype and Facebook, sounds like everyone is doing well! Feel free to send me an email here and there! I will be sure to update you on all the other exchange students that I am to meet this weekend! Miss you all!

-Charlie Crocker