A Russian Abroad: January 2014

As you can probably see, I have finally found a number of different ways to fill my time to once again be as busy as possible as this has contributed to the sudden absence of blog posts. As a result I have an unusual amount of thoughts and experiences I would like to share with you, however, I will keep them short and brief - I'm hoping to gain readers, not lose them. I must also apologise in advance for grammatical errors or spelling mistakes which might appear - it seems that as my italian gets stronger, my english gets weaker - one would wish to be able to speak at least one language without difficulty!

I last updated in November after the chocolate festival which came to Bologna. From December 1st I decided to stop communicating verbally in english and watching english programs (after a quick phone call to my brother asking him to sky plus a few programs for me so I could watch them when I got home). The timing, however, wasn't ideal as on the 1st I went up north with a friend from Bologna to watch my dad's concert in a lovely town, of about 6,600 inhabitants, near Venezia called Gradisca d'Isonzo. A charming little place which, with it being winter, was basically deserted and I loved it. Beautiful countryside, nice weather, and nice hotel for the night made it a welcome break from Bologna. I hadn't seen my dad perform in concert for a while and hadn't seen him in three months so it was great to see him and show him how much italian I have learned! We then (with the other musicians) went to spend a day in Venice. I had been there only once before when I was much younger and had ended up being ill for much of the trip so this time I felt like it was my first. The weather was beautiful and the lack of tourists for the winter season meant we were able to go straight into Basilica di San Marco without queuing or fighting with the crowds. We also went to one of the smaller islands to see the graveyard containing the tombs of Stravinsky, Diaghilev and Brodsky - a stunning place with a great view of the sunset over the city.

Getting into the christmas period I was interested to learn about the differences in holiday tradition between an english and italian christmas. I introduced my group of friends to 'Secret Santa' and tried to convince them how that the only thing you can eat at christmas is a roast - all this business with a pasta course and a fish course doesn't do it for me. We had a christmas dinner at my house and I also ordered some christmas crackers - another foreign thing for them - and they were thoroughly entertained by the english game of guess who which the crackers supplied. Phoebe and I were surprised and also overwhelmed to discover that the italians had bought us small gifts to celebrate our time here which included printed out pictures of all of us during this term - a lovely gesture with some great memories.

Going home for a mere 8 days was a very surreal experience. I almost felt like I hadn't been away at all - you often forget how life is going on in the same way as it always has when you are having a completely new and different experience abroad. I found that certain phrases seem more natural to say in italian rather than an english (having not spoken english for three weeks) such as secondo me (i think), dai andiamo (come on, let's go) and fammi sapere (let me know) just seemed to flow more naturally in italian - maybe I am finally becoming slightly italian? On the other hand, maybe not.

Coming back to Italy in time for new year, I had the realisation that I have only just over four weeks left in this wonderful country before I have to move and do it all over again in a language I now feel has almost completely left me! I was lucky enough to be invited to stay with a friend in Puglia, near Gallipoli, to see in the new year so I took a ryanair flight down to the heel of the boot that is Italy early on the 31st of december full of excitement to see a new part of the country. It is very beautiful - contrary to well-known stereotypes about southern italy - and my friend has a charming house in the countryside near a small town called Taviano from which you can see the see and the great numbers of olive trees. I sat down to lunch on the first day with my friend and his mother and was immediately taken aback by the speed with which she spoke - by the time I had processed the first sentence she had started a whole new story! However, I quickly adjusted and she was telling me about how beautiful it is in the summer and how they collect the olives from their twenty or so trees and are be able to make about 100kg of pure olive oil which will last them about 1-2 years! I was taken to see the city of Gallipoli which is a port right on the sea with the old part technically being an island which has since been connected to mainland and the new part of the city. Only in the south of Italy will you encounter a meeting of about ten older gentlemen who call themselves The Society of Fisherman of Gallipoli who are drinking and smoking around a big table and talking about nonsense. I was also lucky enough to encounter the pinnacle of an italian stereotype in the form of an old auntie (la zia) of a friend who we found sweeping the pavement and who then proceeded to start sweeping the street. The actual street, where cars go and she was sweeping it with a small house brush. Unbelievable. She then came over to us and started speaking in a flow of dialect (salentino) and spent about ten minutes trying to figure out the family tree of my friend Giulio - with whom I was staying - to see if she knew a grandparent or auntie or uncle and if she knew of news (or gossip) about them. The smallest woman I have ever met and the perfect way to sum up the feel of this small italian town in the south with everyone knows everyone and most people seem to be related in some way or another. Absolutely brilliant.

Sorry for going on slightly longer than expected. I now have a busy few weeks left before I go full of researching for my year abroad essay, desperately trying to learn as much italian as I can before I go in the hope I won't forget it all immediately on my arrival in France and visiting the last few places I haven't yet been to in the city.

I leave you by sharing my excitement that as an avid sleep talker as I have been told my housemates and dorm mates at school, a few weeks ago I was told that I once again was sleep talking, however, this time I was sleeping talking completely in italian - maybe I am indeed on my way to becoming italian after all :-)

Buonanotte ragazzi,

xxx