Family time with the Rizzi's!


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December 5th 2011
Published: December 5th 2011
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Chiara and the tree!Chiara and the tree!Chiara and the tree!

This physicist doesn't have to invent ways to keep the tree up!
Hello again from Italia!



First off, there is another Birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma Barbara!!! I really hope you have a wonderful day and I am sending you a Birthday Hug from here in Italy!!!

Yesterday was another wonderful day with Chiara’s family! We got to sleep in again because Chiara’s friends were coming here for lunch and so we didn’t have to get ready to go anywhere!

Chiara, Laura and I had already done our part of helping out with the lunch today by getting the Christmas tree up. Chiara is a master at setting it up, perhaps we should send her over to Nebraska to help my Dad since he has to keep inventing ways to get our Christmas tree to stand straight ever year, hahaha! But the important thing is that it is up…it’s the thought that counts, not the angle it leans at. It was really fun getting to help put the tree up because that is something that I actually enjoy getting to do every year. It’s also helping me to get in the Christmas spirit. I sort of keep forgetting that Christmas is so close, just because it doesn’t really feel
A Little StrollA Little StrollA Little Stroll

The white building is Chiara's old riding school and the mountains in the background are the Alps!
like winter in Cádiz and because I have finals coming up so I haven’t really thought about Christmas, even though I sent gifts home like a month ago, haha!

However it really was nice and it made me feel so much better that they let me help them decorate the tree; I honestly can’t say how much it meant to me. I really miss that sort of family thing. I really like hanging out around the house with Chiara and Laura. I miss having siblings around, which means you, Conor. 😊

However, the sun finally came out so Chiara took me for a little walk around her neighborhood and towards a…well it’s not a forest, but I couldn’t think of the word we use for little forest…grove, maybe? But I think it is bigger than a grove, so I am just going to call it a little forest. But we got to walk by her old riding school and as we turned around all of the sudden there were the mountains over in Switzerland and they are indeed part of the Alps. How cool is that?! No big deal just saw the Alps today. Ah!! 😊 They are really tall!! It actually reminded me of Colorado…only I was in Italy!! We are going to Switzerland later this week, so hopefully I will have more pretty Alps pictures to show.

Chiara’s friends Rosella and Victoria arrived early and Victoria did all of our make-up. I know what some of my friends are thinking, “She lets me nowhere near her make-up!” Well, Victoria did a really good job and it looked really nice, so maybe I will start to let my friends help me with my make-up. I really almost never wear it; not because it bothers me or I don’t like it, but it is quite simply that I am too lazy or I wake up too late to do it.



Yesterday for lunch we had a really special meal called Pizzoccheri. Chiara said it is really good but they can only eat it once a month or once every few months because otherwise it is unhealthy because of all of the cheese and butter. Sounds a little like a dish my Mom likes to call “heart-attack on a plate” or fettucini alfredo if you want to get technical. This however was better. It has
Pizzoccheri!  Pizzoccheri!  Pizzoccheri!

SO YUMMY!
dark pasta, and potatoes and the sauce is lighter than fettucini alfredo. It lived up to its hype.

The meal sort of felt like having another Thanksgiving because the table was full of people and we took our time eating and talking, and like I said before, even though I only understand about ten percent of what everyone says in Italian, I still enjoy listening to it. Plus, Chiara, Laura, and Rosella fill me in on all of the important stuff.

For dessert Chiara’s Mom made a cake that is typical for Christmas time, and Chiara brought some for us when she came and visited two years ago…still yummy. Haha!



I got to meet two new friends of Chiara’s Luca, and Alberto who are at university with her. Lucca is also in physics but Alberto is in civil engineering, I believe. They stayed around to watch the soccer game and play cards with Chiara, Rosella and I. Chiara’s Dad really likes Juventus which is a soccer team that is from Torino, and I think it was Alberto that likes them a lot too. Chiara is a fan of Inter which is a team out of Milan. Juventus was playing today so Chiara’s Dad was pretty glued to the television…sort of like another Father I know with American Football. Well, actually that isn’t fair, because just about all of Nebraska and Clemson is glued to the television when there is a football game on. It was just really cute, because her Dad pulls his arm chair right up in front of the television, which reminds me of how my Dad stands right in front of the TV, only Emilio pulls his chair a little to the side, so at least the rest of us can see the TV too. Sorry Dad, but you know that sometimes you are a better door than a window.

It is a good week for sports because Juventus won their game, 2 to 0. Don’t ask me who they were playing because I really am not sure.

Playing cards was really great too. I don’t know, I just really, really enjoy doing regular things with Chiara. I like just going to get hot chocolate or appetizers, or driving around in her car, or playing card games. I think it’s because when I ride in a car in Spain someone is giving me a ride as a favor, and I feel sort of like I am bothering them, whereas here it is like I am just riding around with one of my friends, like I would any day of the week at home. My friends and I like to play board games and go out for hot chocolate and just talk. In a way Italy really reminds me of home, well, Lurate-Caccivio reminds me of home, Milan does not remind me of Nebraska.



Today I got to go into Milan a bit with Chiara to go to school with her! She doesn’t study in the center of the city, but a little bit outside in the northern part. Chiara usually takes the train into the city for school, but today she decided that we should take the car. However, in Milan every-so-often, they stop cars and when they enter the city they have to pay a fine for pollution; today was one of those days. 😞 So after many phone calls and trying to figure out what to do Chiara finally found a place to part and we took the metro the rest of the way into the city, a small sacrifice to avoid a 300 euro fine!

The area where her university is has all of the science subjects like engineering and her area of study physics! So I got to meet all of her physics friends, she said that they were all really nice, but a little louder than her high school friends, haha! They were all very welcoming and I had a lot of fun getting to know them!



Chiara had class in the afternoon, but her friends took me with them to where they like to study so that I could get some work done for my finals that I have coming up the day after I get back from Italy. Yes, I didn’t exactly realize that my exams would be the day after I got back, but it works out nice that while Chiara is in class I can study too, so it’s not so bad. And after a long day of studying we got to go out for “aperitivos” which are appetizers. They are actually really similar to Spanish tapas; you go out and buy a drink and then you can go up and get some food,
Soccer game is no JokeSoccer game is no JokeSoccer game is no Joke

You can see Chiara's Dad sitting in his arm chair infront of the TV
sort of like a mini buffet.

I got to talk with all of Chiara’s university friends, but one in particular, Quadro, and I talked a lot and he is SUPER funny! He is from a smaller town in between Milan and Torino and he plays rugby there. “I get that American football is, “Ahhhhhh,” holy in the States, but I love Rugby. Football is also very confusing, but I learned the rules from PlayStation.” Quadro spoke very good English and wasn’t shy to talk so that was nice! I told him he spoke good English, “Oh, well I learned English from watching ‘Pimp my Ride’ and my second course in English was the game ‘Grand Theft Auto’ and it is perfect when I can use the name of a song in a sentence because that is another way I learn English.” Not to worry though, he taught me the Italian hand gesture for “What are you saying?” It’s like you touch all of your forefingers to your thumb and wave them towards and away from your face. Good lessons learned in Italy.

Some of Chiara’s friends also really like basketball so when she said that she
Quadro!Quadro!Quadro!

The guy on the right is Quadro. Sorry the picture is so dark, I was trying to be inconspicuous.
spent time in Nebraska, they were pretty sad because we don’t have an NBA team, I explained that we really don’t have much in Nebraska. “So I imagine that in Nebraska it is like, one house, 2km, then another house, 2km then another house. Is it really like that?” Ok, well we have stuff just not that kind of stuff. “That’s ok; Julia here is from Bergamo which is like Sparta. Violent city!”



All in all I really enjoyed meeting more of Chiara’s friends! They are really, really nice. However I am pooped! And tomorrow Chiara has to get up at 5:30 to get to classes. Thankfully I do not have to get up that early, I will be staying here and spending time with Claudia and doing some more studying before Chiara gets home!



Whelp, off to bed!

Love all of you lots and lots 😊

Love always,

Devin 😊


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Christmas Tree!!Christmas Tree!!
Christmas Tree!!

Quite the nice looking tree if I do say so myself!
Boun Natale!Boun Natale!
Boun Natale!

Merry Christmas!
Claudia :)Claudia :)
Claudia :)

Master Chef!
AlbertoAlberto
Alberto

Just after his celebration when Juventus scored!
Nebraska!Nebraska!
Nebraska!

I got the Nebraska cup for tea :)


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