first night out

friday night. our first night out in colorno. we decided we should stay in colorno instead of parma since we haven't been out and about much here and we'll have plenty of chances to go to parma - also the whole bus/taxi situation - we don't know the other people that well to be crashing there yet. we were invited across the hall for dinner. poppi made a traditional hearty and deliciously warm greek "poor man's" soup made with lentils and veggies. Jules made a pizza with veggies, burrata and anchovy topped on foccacia bread. samara made a kind of chicken marbella with green olives, capers and tomato sauce. there was also a coleslaw (minus mayo) and green salad, slices of mixed cured meats and parmesan, rolls of fresh bread and red italian wines.

then off it was to the Pub. yes, it's just called the pub. it wasn't packed but filled with a scattering of italians - most were watching inter milan futbol in the smoking section - so we grabbed a table and were shortly met by catherine and lauren and then two people who were in the italian gastronomy and tourism master program. ana and cindy. they have been here since november so we asked them a ton of questions. they seemed to have some issues with the other people on the program - naturally we won't be friends with all 25. they didn't think there was much going on in colorno - clearly - and liked going into parma, the "city," but were always happy to come back to colorno. they think that the staff have a couple of kinks to work out as it is a new university: it is most important to be patient. they like most professors but not all and they appreciate honest feedback. the coursework is heavy at times but it's also a graduate program and so i would assume that's expected and said that the work, and the program and life in general, is what you make of it. their program is newer than ours so it might not be so figured out and might be the reason for the extreme variety of people.so they sorta had mixed feelings on their overall experience, but i'm not going to let that affect my perception of life here.

love this pic -->

we drank "local" beer, harp. according to arina if it's not dutch it must be local! we played darts - electronic darts - which i had never played before but it was a good game of cricket once we figured it out! we made friends with the bartender, malo, who gave us all around of jameson shots with pineapple juice chasers. OH and the toliets. oh man - if i never had a full bladder at the pub again i would die happy. i think i might just run home instead. they literally are just holes in the ground. no bars to help you squat, no barriers to protect from splatters. it's just awful. enough said. then arina and i met our first italian friends! actually, marco was from south america but could speak italian, spanish and english. my spanish was really flowing and awesome. i forget his friend's name but he was certainly adorable and barely spoke english or spanish. it was quite amusing the banter and translations between the four of us. maybe, if we ever see them again - how big can colorno really be, we can set up a cambio to learn italian. did i mention they are on the rugby team?

<-- me and james franco/jdjdj