A New Leaf?

23rd - 25th September 2016

Today is my birthday! I celebrated it by going to eight hours of lectures! (That is a full time job)
No, no, I'm just kidding. Albeit that I did attend all those hours thinking of what I would do after it was over. I have been in an extremely good mood the whole day. I invited a few of my friends (by few I actually mean all of them) to go out for dinner at an elegant restaurant.

Alla Grotta has amazing food! We took some time to find the place as Google Maps and our location was never quite in sync. On the bright side, that gave us all time to talk to each other even more!

The Quattro Formaggio (four cheese) and the Diavola (basically, pepperoni) pizzas were delicious! I wanted to try a risotto since I have eaten so many pizzas of late and to my surprise, it was exquisite!

(^__^)

It's a new beginning, so they say, but I don't feel any different from yesterday. I mean, how can a mere day actually have a physical presence in your life? Time is an illusion to us after all. Just like how you can be waiting for a bus for what seems like an hour (but it has only been ten minutes) but also have been enjoying with a friend (for what seems like an hour) for half a day. Life is dependent on these moments, it brings us closer to who we are. These moments when we realise how far we have come in life and where we want to go. We change everyday, but we don't see these changes; or we just don't have time to introspect ourselves.

I wonder what it is with us humans, we live a life that we want to but we don't realise that we are doing just that. We feel discontent at every turn, we don't see the diamonds on the street.

(^__^) 

There are many dialects in Italy, which I thought was quite reasonable considering that it is such a large country (it is!). But, it turns out that Italians in the north can barely understand the Italians in the south. It is almost like they don't speak the same language anymore!

I wonder how that can change? How do you work around that? When you're speaking the same language but you still don't understand each other?

The funny thing is that I have heard a lot of Italians say "abit" and "eat" when it doesn't make sense. I found out, a little later, that they had meant to say "habit" and "heat" but they got rid of the "h" just like the French! The Italians don't even have an "ABC" song, I feel bad for the kids of Italy; that was the first song I learnt (I think....but it might have been after making my own nonsensical ones first). They said that it was because the letters were too less (21 alphabets); even the Germans have an "ABC" song! (not that I am inciting anything here)

But, I think that my favorite thing about Italians so far is that they use "spaghetti" (the metaphor, not the actual food) to describe tangles. Which I think is right and just and lawful for an Italian to do so.

(^__^)

Fashion show in my honour :D As expected of Italy!

My first unconditional friend in Trento

Everyone wants a Ferrari but they can't have it

Do you see that wedding car?

I cannot believe it

Green rice (VERDE RISO)

The hills are alive, with the sound of music...

With pockets of houses all around

So, I got lost yet again on my way to a supermarket named LIDL. It is a great supermarket and I was so happy to find it in Trento. I took a bus towards LIDL (but I didn't realise that it was simply going in that direction, not LIDL exactly) and I ended up really far away. By far away I mean, I had gone waaaay out of the city and I could only see mountains and fields. There were small pockets of houses but that's about it; Small pockets.

But, since I made it to beautiful fields and mountains, it was a bonus!

The countryside in Italy isn't exactly 'old school', it is organised every bit as much as the city itself. Because the technology is standardised, it is easy to move around even if you're not familiar with the area. 

"Try not to be in some areas" they said, "it will be easy" they said. But every city has a  'bad' area. Most people just ignore it but newcomers need that special information that everyone shies away from (it's like they are ashamed of it so they sweep it under the rug). I found a sketchy park today that apparently has questionable exchanges of goods and information.

Everything seems inviting when you're new in town! But it is true that new people notice far more than people who have lived in town for a long time.

(^__^)

To understand without understanding, that is the ultimate goal. I felt that today when I went shopping. I understand what the products are without actually knowing what they called in Italian (some of them at least). For the rest of them, Google Translate to the rescue!

[I'm having some internet issues that haven't been resolved as yet so I will be posting and updating my posts when I can. Hence, visit my blog often! ;) (see what I did there?) EDIT: I added some photos and some content! Thank you for reading :D]

Honeymoon phase

18th - 22nd September 2016

I think that it quite rare to meet people who accept you as you are without complaint. Maybe it is just a phase though. The honeymoon period as they call it. Should I wait for it to collapse? I think that I will just see how it goes and not give a thought about it.

Talking to people from different countries really broadens your views about how the world works. We sometimes think that we know it all and fail to realize that the world is not scaled down to each country; it is a vast expanse that cannot be understood in one lifetime.

I also think that we believe heresay far too easily. We have come far enough to understand that people are not as perfect as they seem, but we fail to realize that the same concept can be applied to countries. Everyone has their own intricate history filled with incidents that shaped their lives.

Be it politics, religion, marriage, drinking water from a tap, walking on the street as a foreigner, wearing shorts or even terrorism; everyone has a different view.

(^__^)

Today was my first lecture (I finally found the correct schedule). It was an interesting experience filled with peculiarities (mostly because I was used to a certain system in my bachelor degree)

The Italian accent is quite interesting. It is mostly because some words are tough to pronounce in English unless you use and know them well enough. They also use the reference of "Spagetti" when refering to something that is tangled. The Italians should only have the right to say this!

I happened to heard someone say "Some time, Some where, Some when". Theoretically speaking, I think that makes some sense (despite the repetition). It is just nuances like this that make me question my language. If only we could say anything and everything as long as that is what we are trying to express. I sometimes feel like I am restricted by my language; there are certain things that sound better and make more sense in a particular language.

I feel that it quite odd that there are oral exams instead of written exams here. Maybe it is just a question of how you can explain what you know to the teacher. Here they say "You will be asked three arguments in the exam". I think what they are trying to say is "Topic"? Perhaps?

Every Italian I meet writes "M" in a way that looks similar to an inverted "U" but with sharp corners. I have no idea why. One more point to note is that the students take notes on chequered white sheets. The last time I wrote in that type of sheet was when I was 10 years old. I guess the Italians have a note-taking standard? Must I adhere to that? Is this peer pressure?

Google Classroom is widely used as the method to communicate with students. I had no idea that such technology existed! It makes me proud to live in this age!

(^__^)

There are many different dialects spoken in Italy. They also sometimes forget to prounouce the "h" in words. Like "habit" becomes "abit". It is similar to hearing French in that perspective. Although, everytime I hear this happening I think of the "'Amburger" scene in Pink Panther :P

An interesting piece of knowledge about the Italians is that they never grew up with an "ABC" song! They said that it is probably because there are too few alphabets. I feel bad for them, I do. Even the Germans have an "ABC" song!

My timetable so far....

The police are here! run!

That's where I want to live forever...

[Thank you for reading! Don't hesitate to comment or let me know what you think. See you all in two days! EDIT: Added photos and changed the date ]

Perspectives

16th - 17th September 2016

No one would really notice if one or ten went missing I think

 Trento is a town/city where a lot of people use bicycles. The joy of riding down a hill in a cycle cannot be described in simple words, it is exhilarating and risky. The very act of looking at the cyclists speed by as I walk down the hill is terrifying for me (I'd probably break more than a few bones if I did the same since I'm accident-prone).

I had time to see ducks relaxing and just living it up

Today was the day I could meet more people who speak English. The thought running through my head was "I hope that I can make some friends". I have been feeling rather lonely up on the mountain where I live. Although, nature has been a beautiful companion. I wish I could relax and chill like those ducks sometimes. There is a saying that goes "Stop, and take time to smell the roses"; I wonder if anyone found out how to do that exactly. It is like emptying your head and just letting the present become your only world. It will not happen overnight, but I hope I can understand how to do that soon.

The informative session that I went for felt like answer to my cry for help. Only six people managed to make it for the hour long session; this was a good thing. With such less people, the inevitability of talking to all of them was plausible. The first person that I met was an American! According to him, there are very few Americans who are studying in this part of the world. It felt good to speak in all the forms of English, I did not realize how much I missed speaking with a native English speaker.

After the session, there was a tour of the university buildings which we cut short (since we were starving!). Four of us from the tour decided to eat lunch together. I cannot explain it but we seemed to click immediately! Two Americans, one Czech Republican (can we call them that?) and an Indian (me, if you didn't already realize).

I felt like life was presenting me with a gift of understanding people. I did not realize it at the moment because we were laughing a lot but, life is unpredictable (and I love that fact!).

We agreed to meet up with each other very soon and I was ecstatic!

(^__^)

I saw a man walking down the street with gelato. I thought that it was very odd, do grown people eat ice cream for themselves? I also thought it quite rare to see a local Italian eating it. I guess the Italians love food just as much as the rest of us love Italian food!

Do you want to dance? ;)

Friday called everyone outside!

I have been to the Piazza Duomo (the main square) many times this week and it has been quite empty. But today, there were far too many people! I guess that the sun and Friday make an excellent combination. I even saw many old ladies (by old I mean in their 50s or 60s?) okay, ladies who were 50 or 60 years young ;) I love how everyone is living their lives to the fullest!

(^__^)

The center is rich with people this Saturday. I wonder if it is to do with all the events happening around here? Today there were many sports events, including tai chi, rugby, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, some form of fencing, and archery (there were more I'm sure!).

My friends (who I met yesterday, I cross my fingers and say that!) and I played volleyball for about two wonderful hours. It is amazing how sport and smiles unite people to have fun!

I met more people from many different countries today, Hungary, Vietnam, Portugal and France (so far). With so many students in one city, it is inevitable that we find people who are looking for people to talk with!

I also met some Italians who speak English, finally! They are rare jewels and they want to talk to us.  I felt appreciated :)

Giovanni (Pokemon's final boss) and my battle zone!

Finally I saw a Ferrari in Trento! It was very late in arriving!

Today's words!

SONO QUA - over here! (during volleyball)
POSIZIONE - position (also during volleyball)

[Thank you for reading! See you in two days!]

A New Horizon

14 - 15 September 2016

I feel like I'm doing something wrong, I mean, at least three women have looked at me with disgust. I'm still confused. Is this some sort of racism?

(=__=)

I found out that my classes can start at 9 and end at around 8pm; which is a bit sad and surprising. Some schedules even have lessons for three hours which is so very confusing. Unless of course they are talking about practicals. "VIETATO FUMARE" is something I see everywhere. Using context, it is easy to guess its meaning, especially with a universal symbol next to it. Have you guessed yet?

It means "Smoking is prohibited". So now I stop to read any other signs that contain "VIETATO". "INCENDIO" means fire, I learned that while standing next to a lift ("Do not use the lift in case of fire" sign).

I did not realize that shopping would be so confusing since everything is written in Italian. I tried my best to buy what I needed by sight and for the rest I used Google Translate. "OLIO" means "oil". I was searching for olive oil and found it as "OLIO D'OLIVA". Can anyone guess what "POMODORO" means? [""You say potaytoe, I say potaatoe, you say tomaytoe, I say "pomodoro"!""]

(^__^)

I went to the library today and found out that there are a lot of books written in English. Honestly, I was a bit surprised considering all the Italian speakers and the number of Italian courses. So, I suppose that everyone knows English but they just don't speak it much?

One library card gets me into all the libraries in Trento! Smart city huh?

I thought that my classes were starting today. So, I found the room where is was supposed to be held and I listened at the door. I thought to myself "If the speaker is speaking in English, then it must be my course!"; I was wrong. I ended up sitting in a conference regarding surveillance and wildlife crossing solutions. I stayed since it was interesting (and in English thankfully) but, I guess my classes will start later....

(^__^)

I feel like I only have a certain amount of courage in a day. Sometimes I use it all up in the morning. I need refills now and then. I was tried trudging up the hill so I took a water break at a beautiful water fountain by a stream (my stronghold)

I found some stuff that my friend had made for me back in India and I immediately put it on my wall! I think of one of my favorite songs when I look at it (Hayden Panettiere - I Fly)

La lai la lai

My view

My backyard! That is La Marzola. I will climb it! 

From my balcony (this green house is very easy to identify)

Beautiful, it is. I am blessed to be in Povo

The streets of Trento city (more on that later!)

(^__^)

I decided to venture out into the wilderness of the mountain around me. I found a path that was hidden from Google (those are my favorite!) I kept climbing and I suddenly felt like I was being watched. I thought about being a prey to some animal and I almost ran to a clearing with the adrenaline rush from the fear. I must just be paranoid. But, I probably scared the animal away (what if it was human?).

I see a path, would you venture in?

I had to look back to see how far I've come (a few meters?)

More path...this is where I felt a presence...

Anyway, I reached the top of something in the clearing and I took a breather as I became aware of my surroundings. The beauty was magnificent! This feeling of accomplishment is worth the fear I felt earlier!

The view from the top! (of something)

I wish I had an orchard...

See that green house? So close to home, yet so far

This mansion reminds me of old movies

Now, to infinity and beyond! (basically till it gets dark)

Here is the love, here is the love...

Oh sun, how we miss you (it's getting chilly now)

It was only dark on one side :P

Such fleeting beauty, a fragile existence

Only in Italy would you find a date in roman numerals (Do you know it?)

And thus, my rejuvenating little trek ended with impending doom (darkness). It felt amazing to know that I know more about the place I live. I hope that I can learn something new every day!


[Thank you all for reading! Please let me know what you think. Remember, I'll be posting every ALTERNATE day now. So, I'll see you soon!]

Home Alone

12 - 13 September 2016

Today was the day that my family left. I still don't feel the pinch, the little warning that is telling me that I'm on my own.

Can you feel the emotion?

I left the train station with an indescribable feeling. I felt that it was natural for me to be on my own, like this was my time to find and carve my path. I kept my mind clear as I made my way back home.

Maybe CocaCola is mourning?

This is my sidewalk

Wanna sneak a bite?

Today was the day I met some of the students from my faculty. The science faculty is located on a mountain in Trento. The building is called Povo Ferrari and I am quite proud to have come here. I hope that my classes will be here as well (just so my location will have the word Ferrari in it). It is unfortunate that there is no sign of a Ferrari here...

No Ferraris in front of the Ferrari building!

I met a lot of people today from different countries.  Everyone has their own problems and difficulties. One of the students had a nomenclature problem. His four names were not classified into either first or last name. Some of his names were just names; which of course, the European system has trouble understanding. It is quiet here in the mountains. But the students are bursting with life, vitality. Smiles mean the same thing in any culture and it is the best way to approach anyone new, or old for that matter.

Some people clicked with me right away while some just shied away I guess. Maybe the experience of meeting new people was just overwhelming for them.

My stronghold for now. Google brought me here.

(^__^)

I really thought that I could just go to the apartments in my building and say hello to those on my floor. I was looking forward to meeting new people and getting to know them. Maybe they weren't used to being in coed residences because some of them opened their doors underdressed. I mean, do they not understand the use of the magic eye? or did they do that on purpose? Some people on the other hand were just shocked to have a girl standing in their doorstep.

It is sad to say, but no one really clicked with me. Maybe it's because I was searching for a woman, and I found none apart from the ones staying in my house.

 Women are few here and required.

I think that every time we talk to people especially new people, we give them a little of ourselves and when we don't receive something in exchange, it becomes draining. Which is what happened to me I think. I rang about four doors and I was done for the day. Maybe I just had that much courage. Four doors, four bursts of courage to ring the doorbell.
To be fair, it is quite late now, 8 o'clock, and I guess people didn't want guests?

 So, I'll energise myself and come back to knock more doors tomorrow!

[I will be posting my next post every ALTERNATE day from today. Please check out the additions to my Milan, Italy blogpost. Thanks for reading!]

Back to reality

11th-12th September 2016

We reached back to Trento on Sunday. To our surprise, we found that most of the shops had closed early. We wanted to buy bus tickets but the main bus ticket station was closed. I remembered that someone told me we could buy tickets at a TABACCHI (small shop with candy and magazines), but the TABACCHI  didn't have tickets unusually. Everyone I spoke with seemed to be annoyed or just didn't want to work. It was very unusual.

We finally went to get some pizza from a shop nearby. After conversing with them for some time (well, they progressively started getting ruder), their answer was "It is Sunday". We were very confused with their behaviour and rudeness.

(-__-)

Today we were supposed to apply for the stay permit in the Post Office. Yes, you read that right, the post office. The Italians have an interesting system that centers around their post office (Poste Italiane).

For those of you who do not know, the Italian government asks for an application to stay (stay permit) when a non-EU national enters Italy (apart from the tourist visa of course). This is in addition to the Schengen visa which covers 26 countries. This permit must be applied for within 8 days of arrival in Italy and therefore today was the perfect day.

All the administrative payments to the Italian government are done through the post office, even the national health insurance payments.

The application was submitted quite fast and the actual process was just two or three minutes at the post office so I was very impressed. I had read about the government system in Italy and expected it to be less efficient than I found it to be (then again I guess I will find out the reality later) but, I will be happy for now.

(^__^)

We went around the town until the end of a bus line thinking that it was going in my direction. Eventually it did, but I had no idea. I wonder if this is one of the perks of not knowing a language? We saw some great sights though!

At least smiles and dogs are the same everywhere. I met a dog named Rolf and he took to me (I luckily met a kid who was playing with the dog and I asked him "CHIAMI?" which means name). I felt elated to have a canine friend so far away from home.

We often don't realize how much information is being exchanged around us. Only when we are without information do we seek it and when we do have some information, we rely on it completely and fail to gather more information. When we got lost, we learned to look around and observe our surroundings, which was enlightening.

(^__^)

It sure is funny when the driver gets temperamental after you press the buzzer for a previous stop; well, everyone has bad days. We must be more understanding. I had no idea that the bus stop name is shown in an LED screen inside the bus, it is brilliant!

(^__^)

It is funny when I tell people that I know a little (POCO) Italian and they start speaking Greek to me. I have henceforth decided not to say that unless I learn at least A1 Italian. It is amazing to me that there are so many different combinations and permutations of sounds that we don't understand.

It is very hot in the morning when the sun is up there brightening the sky, but so very cold and chilly in the evening as soon as the sun's light has left. One interesting point to note is that there are so many Africans here who speak Italian and it is very confusing for me. I wonder if they all migrated here after crossing the Mediterranean Sea?

I will get the answers to these questions eventually but for now, I will just observe and learn.

[Since these are thoughts that randomly come during the day, they will definitely feel out of sync and I will try harder to make it flow (later though). Also, I know that I was supposed to add some more material for the previous posts and I will, soon. Thank you for reading and commenting! A DOMANI! (See you tomorrow!)]

Venezia, the land of canals

I inevitably think of the movie "The Italian Job (2003)" when I think of Venice and its canals. I personally kept imagining the boat pursuit scene in the "highways" of Venice!

My Italian Job! (taking photos :P)

9th September 2016

See that? It is not a building. Give it a guess!

This could easily be any harbour in the world (I could be fooling you lot ;))

Haha if I fell in the man hole it would splash in Venice. Cities so different, odd lives, different worries and fears. Most of the houses look uninhabited. I am unsure why though, I have heard that the waters of Venice are rising and also that the structures are close to collapsing, maybe those are reasons for abandoning houses?

Some people say that they love Venice but I feel like I missed the memo. How do you fall in love with a city or a country? How do you decide that you want to stay in a certain culture? Is it instant? Or does it aggregate with time?

The polished pretty boats are the expensive water taxis

Venice is filled with foreigners, it is truly an international city. Meeting different people, hearing from all parts of the world. Exploring architecture, art, fashion. Dogs, cats and animals behave differently here. I would say that they are very well behaved here; well, to be fair, most pets in India are not trained (I doubt that the owners know what that even means)




For some odd reason, I always seem to be thirsty. The water here simply cannot quench my thirst. I have a feeling that it is lacking some basic minerals and therefore we don't retain the water and it just passes through us like a canal! I wish that I had a portable microscope...

NO MAFIA! VENICE IS SACRED!

Boat travel is very slow, it is amazing that I had so much patience. And by consequence, everyone is very laid back. More than a few times I have heard the gondola drivers (can we call them that?) singing Italian songs that remind me of the Disney movie "The Lady and the Tramp" (Bella Notte song). The gondolas are extremely expensive for only half an hour so we decided not to ride in them this time.

Every station has a rather large history book I bet

The system of boat transport is quite interesting. There are many lines (much like bus lines) which is why this system is called the water bus. There are many stations and there are no lanes in the water, but since everyone is extremely laid back, I guess that it doesn't really matter to them much.

There is a famous bridge of Rialto, though I do not know exactly why it is famous. It was being renovated and was very crowded. I think too many people put me off now. Well, coming from a city with 100,000 million (which is expected) to a crowded place anywhere else in the world (unexpected for me) I simply stay away from crowds naturally.

I always wonder what were in the minds of the people building structures like this

Were they thinking of paying their bills with the money from this? Were they thinking of how many people will use this structure? Were they hoping that it will not rain while they are working? Were they singing while they worked?

Accademia

The place for the academics maybe? I did not venture inside but I will come back to this city and explore it thoroughly (when there are no tourists hopefully)







We happened to see two couples who got married on the day and were travelling by the water to come here and take photos. Both of the couples even wished each other and, as expected of Italy, the couples looked like they had just come from a Hollywood set.

The building moved! 

It is amazing to me that very large cruise liners go through the lanes of the waterways here. It feels so surreal.

(^__^)

We got lost many times (as usual), we didn't buy a map (expensive) so it was a given I suppose. When we finally found food, we rushed and ordered pizza! I had read that most restaurants give a bread basket when you sit at the table even if you don't ask for it. I had also read that they charge extra for this so when a basket of bread arrived on the table, I was extremely suspicious. But, we were starving so we indulged (there was no butter to come with the bread, that was really strange for us).

The pizza came just as we were dying of starvation (almost). They were not cut into slices, we were quite surprised. I guess that the pizza cutter was not invented here but across the Atlantic Ocean in the Americas. I feel like we were paying to cut our own pizza. Or was this vengeance? Or just tradition?

I knew how to ask for the bill when we were done! "IL CONTO PER FAVORE". The R's are rolled a lot in Italian, it is fun to say "PER FAVORE", which means "please". They had charged us for the bread basket, no surprises there. It was only after we indulged did we realize that on most of the tables around us, the bread baskets had been left untouched. Well, my stomach was happy.

(^__^)

I missed my chance to speak Japanese and I regretted it immensely right after doing so. But moments that pass never come back. The opportunity was perfect for it, but I still did not take it. I could not take advantage of the fact that were extremely diverse people in this city. I will not hesitate next time (I hope).

(-__-)

Just a few more nights with my family and then and I hope that I feel the "I'm going to live here far far away". Am I scared? I brush these thoughts aside as we wander through the canals of Venice and inevitably get lost.


[Since I just found the pictures that I took while I was travelling, I will be adding some more photos to my previous posts (apart from some points that I forgot :P) so, if you are interested please check it out after my next post]