innevato

my roomie arina and i took the bus into parma to try to find some decorations for our house and to pick up some things as the airline never put her second bag on the plane and it is currently being transported across europe via coche. we didn't have any sort of direction when we got there, were just wandering, checked out the vodaphone store, bought english-italian dictionary, and then the snow started coming down pretty hard. weaving in and out of the little side streets, trying not to slip on the cobblestones, and the snowy wind whipping into our eyes, we stumbled upon a little chocolate/coffee/wine bar. we needed something to warm us up so the bartender suggested a red wine from tuscany and brought us out a plate of parmesan chunks drizzled with balsamic vinegar (above). just what we needed. we thought we had the bus schedule figured out, but just as we arrived, we saw the bus turn the corner a block away. we tried, miserably, to run after it without slipping on the snow, but it just kept driving away. when we managed to get on the next bus, it didn't go all the way to colorno so we had to get off and go into a little wine and cheese store to stay out of the snow where (0 degrees!!), although the guy wouldn't let me take a picture of all the ham and salami hanging on the wall, we bought a bottle of local lambrusco, some pepper jelly he suggested (well he didn't speak italian) to go with creamy soft cheese that tastes like sambal, and some crackers. back at the apt, we had our first dinner - cheese, crackers, tomatoes, salami, leftovers from the night before (it's so funny that arina has never heard of taking food to go from a restaurant and was so embarassed when we asked to take it home, but she definitely realized how great it is when we ate it again :)) and of course the wine. italian tv shows are a riot - they are so cheesey and overly dramatic. very amusing.

view from our balcony

apparently, the snow never stopped overnight and we got a knock on the door this morning from one of the teachers saying that our orientation was postponed until tomorrow because of the snow!! a snow day already! we assumed in northern italy they would be able to handle the snow, but apparently not!

down the street.