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Published: December 11th 2011
Hi everyone!
We have another birthday in the Fam!
Happy Birthday Sean!!! I hope you have a lovely day today! 😊
Well, there is a lot of Italy to catch up on!
On Tuesday Chiara had to get up very, very early to go to school, so I stayed home and slept in. After breakfast, Claudia asked me if I would like to see their garden. I hadn’t even noticed the gate at the end of their drive way. I expected just a small garden with a few veggies and herbs, nope! It’s huge! It’s like a whole other backyard! They don’t just have plants either, they have a little aviary with a few very colorful birds, and they even have chickens and roosters. Now, unlike in Cádiz and in Costa Rica, these birds and roosters do no chirp/crow at ungodly hours, therefore I like them. 😊
After showing me around the garden Claudia took me on a walk around the neighborhood. We walked over to Chiara’s old riding school which is very near their house. The gates were closed and we weren’t able to go in and see it, but from the gate you could
see one of the outdoor arenas and a very beautiful driveway. There was a sign on the outside of the gate, which I didn’t realize what it was at the time so I didn’t get a photo, but it says that this barn is an official Olympic Training Center. (!) How neat is that?! There is another barn about a quarter of a mile away that is also an Olympic Training Center.
I asked Chiara how she chose which barn to ride at, “Well, when I started there was just the one but then they built two more literally right next to the first one. I really don’t know why we have so many.” Well I don’t mind. Walking about two minutes sure beats the ten minute walk, then hour long bus ride, then waiting for someone to come pick me up to take me the ten minute drive to the barn; most days I spend more time in transit than I do at the barn. It’s worth it, though, to be able to ride. I missed out on a lot of years riding because of various reasons including school and other sports, so I really appreciate that I
get the opportunity to ride not only here in Spain, but at Clemson as well. Carlos is a good trainer too. I think my riding, especially my jumping, has really improved a lot here, but he says I still need to work on my confidence. Well, last week I fell off of a horse for the first time in five years, so yes Carlos, I need to work on my confidence. Noted. Even with the falls, I still love to ride.
Claudia showed me all around the little forest and we took a stroll through part of it. We didn’t talk a lot, but we talked some. If Spanglish is English and Spanish then I would say that Claudia and I talk in Italish. I understand a good amount of what she says in Italian, but not everything, and she mostly understands what I say in English so we just piece together what we can with both languages.
The forest was really nice though. It was so wonderful to see all of the leaves fallen on the ground and the crisp fall/wintery air. I love the fall. I miss the fall. Technically it is still fall for
another week or so, so I enjoyed it to the fullest. However, it has been so fun to see all of the Christmas decorations and Christmas markets in the area! Italy is very Christmas festive!
Chiara and I went to Como that afternoon and they had the most beautiful Christmas tree! It was so huge, and it was real! Como was the first of many Christmas markets I have gotten to see here in Italy. I really liked Como. I got to see where Chiara went to high school, which is amazing by the way; you would never guess it was a high school if you were just walking by it. It has these beautiful columns outside and it is right near the center of the city.
Lake Como (or Como Lago as it is called in Italian) is incredibly beautiful and very scenic. You only see a very small part of the lake from the city of Como, and no, we did not see George Clooney or his house. Chiara said he lives in a town about twenty minutes away. Close, but no George.
Wednesday Chiara and I slept in
again, but for the first time, I woke up before she did. Something must be up. Indeed it was. Chiara had a slight fever and wasn’t feeling very well. We had lots of plans for the rest of the week, so Chiara stayed home and rested while and I went into Milan with Laura and a few of her friends. Milan is a really neat city! Lots of people and lots of shopping! Milan is famous for its fashion, but I was with veteran Milan shoppers, they knew where to go if you don’t want to pay $500 for a shoe, but it was neat to get to see Gucci and Louis Vuitton. 😊
Laura and her friends also took me to the Duomo, which is the cathedral in the center of Milan. The outside of it is
so intricate. Whenever I look at buildings like the Duomo or Notre Dame, all I can think of is how long it must have taken someone to shape all of those statues, and all of little depictions and details that surround the entry way or on all of the steeples. The Duomo isn’t small either, and these sculptures look small from
far away, but I am sure that up close they are not. We walked around inside for a while as well. Laura and her friends had actually never been inside the Duomo so we all got to experience it together!
My favorite part of Milan though is La Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, or just La Galleria. It has this amazing glass ceiling and with all of the Christmas lights it was unbelievable! La Galleria has lots of shops, including the Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Our stop in La Galleria was the McCafe in the McDonalds so everyone could get a coffee. Italy doesn’t have Starbucks, but I think it may be the only place in the world that can make a McDonalds look half-way classy; don’t worry though, this time I stood strong and did NOT get anything from McDonalds. 😊
When we got home dinner was waiting and it was pizza!! Claudia made me my first Italian pizza and I got my own personal pizza all to myself!! It was
delicious. So yummy! Italy has good food, and Claudia makes Italian food very well, therefore the food here is just…just awesome. I took my time
and ate it so slowly that we had to re-heat it before I finished haha!
Claudia has made lots of typical Italian foods this week like Risotto, pizza and polenta. Polenta was really interesting because the actual polenta is a bit like grits. Actually I think it might be grits, only the Italians prepare it differently; they do not put a large spoonful of lard on a skillet…they are aware of the ongoing cholesterol problem.
The polenta comes out a bit thicker too, they put it in sort of a cake shape and then you spoon it out and Claudia made different sauces to put on top. One was an egg sauce with cheese and another was a more tomato sauce with meat; both were delicious, but you know me and meat.
I really enjoy just hanging around the house and meal times with Chiara’s family, it actually feels a lot like being at home. When I was skyping with my Mom she even said I looked more relaxed. They sit around and talk and joke at dinner and watch a little television or the news, pretty much exactly what I do with my family at dinner,
so that has been really nice.
Thursday Chiara and I got out of the house again and went ice skating with Rosella, Luca and Alberto! I was SO excited to go ice skating! I have only been once when I was ten and I don’t really remember how it went, but I always think it looks so fun! And indeed it was!! Chiara is already a pretty good ice skater and Luca had been before as well but Alberto, Rosella and I were pretty much level zero. Poor Alberto, I don’t think ice skating is really his sport; don’t worry though, all the girls still love Alberto! Haha! I wouldn’t say it’s really mine either; even clinging to the wall made me nervous because all the people that aren’t good cling to the wall, and eventually you come up on someone clinging to the wall and you have to go around them which just wasn’t fun, so I bit the bullet and just left the wall and tried to imitate what I saw everyone else doing. You know what? Ice skating is awesome!
Dear my friends back in the States,
We need to go ice skating more often.
Love, Devin 😊
About half way through they called everyone off the ice and we got to watch the Zamboni clean the rink, and then we got to skate on fresh ice! Although, you know, as a beginner I was not a huge fan of the clean ice…it’s a bit slipperier. I didn’t’ fall, but I had to go reeeeally slowly for a while until it got roughed up a bit more.
Now, what goes better with ice skating than hot chocolate? Probably nothing. So Chiara made Rosella and I homemade hot chocolate, but this hot chocolate is not just boil some water and add powder, this is an art. The hot chocolate here is much thicker and you add an egg and some flower and maybe some other stuff…I will get the recipe from Chiara one day, but it was really good and kind of filling. Mallory would be in heaven, so would Dad. Chiara didn’t have the right kind of cocoa powder for the hot chocolate so she just used Nesquik. Rosella asked, “Do you have Nesquik in the States?” I think Nesquik is one
of the maid ingredients in my Father’s diet. Not to worry, I explained to her all about chocolate malts and 9 o’clock.
Friday Chiara and I tried to rest again a bit because Saturday we had to get up really early to catch our bus to Verona. So, we went into Milan to do a little more shopping and see the Christmas market there called “Oh Bej, Oh Bej” (pronounced “Obey Obey”). We had a little trouble getting off the train; as in we were too slow and the doors closed and locked us in the train. Thankfully there was an Asian lady standing there who saw us knocking on the door and went and got help. I couldn’t help but laugh. Who gets stuck on a train? Apparently Chiara and I do. Haha!
Oh Bej, Oh Bej was a very, very large market that went all the way around the Castello Sforzesco, which is literally a castle near the city center. We got back from Milan early so that we could get some rest because the Verona bus left at 6:30 the next morning.
However, there was still one more Italian treat I had
Gelato
SO GOOD! I got a chocolate flavor and an almond flavor.to try before I leave Monday which was Gelato! I hadn’t even had gelato yet! We went to the same café that Laura and Julia took me to the first night to get some gelato. Little did we know it was karaoke night at Bacio. Oh, dear. Rosella kept telling me, “Oh gosh, this song is from like the seventies. These are old Italian songs and they are not in tune!” Well, at least the delicious gelato was a distraction from the horrible karaoke. Haha!
It’s really fun going out with Chiara’s friends. They are all so nice and so welcoming! Even though I just met them I will actually miss them a lot because they are really fun!
I will leave Verona for tomorrow’s blog because there were a lot of neat things to see there!
I love you and miss you all!
Love always,
Devin 😊
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