Fall Break

I finished my mid-term exams this week! So much writing though, my hand was so sore after the first day.

Now I am packing for my big fall break adventure :) Kristen and I will be traveling in Prague and around Poland, here is what our schedule for the next week looks like:

18:00 22/10 - 12:15 23/10 = Florence to Prague by bus
21:30 26/10 - 6:30 27/10 = Prague to Krakow by train
15:09 - 18:08 28/10 = Krakow to Warsaw by train
12:35 - 19:55 31/10 = Warsaw to Pisa by plane, Pisa to Florence by bus

Yep, we have an 18 hour bus ride ahead of us. Fuuuun. But it was cheap! We are visiting a friend in Warsaw, and can't wait to see her again! Last time was when we were about 13 years old in Verona, she took a 24 hour bus ride to see us.

On Monday, the 1st of November we have school off for All Saint's Day. That day, we are hopping on a bus to go to Lucca for the Comics and Games Convention. So excited, according to Wikipedia: "With almost 140,000 visitors a year, it is the second most popular fair in Europe (after the Angoulême Comics Festival, in France) and the third in the world (the first is the Comiket in Tokyo, Japan)."

I won't be able to post for the rest of the month, but I will have PLENTY to write and show you when I get back!

Until then,

Caitlin

   

Linguaggio Giovanile

In one of our Italian classes last week, we talked about slang that young people use. It was interesting to learn about the slang of another language, and I recognized some of it! Here are some translations (figuratively and literally) of a few good ones:

• Fighissimo/figo/ganzo/forte = cool/awesome, forte literally means strong
• Essere fuori (come un balcone) = To be crazy, literally to be outside (like a balcony)
• Che sfiga/sfigato = what a shame or how unfortunate
• Fare forca = to skip school, literally to use or make a pitchfork
• Palestrato = a guy who is very muscular and not so smart. Derived from palestra which means gym.
• Andare a palla = to go strong, literally to go to a ball
• Imbroccare/rimorchiare/abbordare = to "conquest" a guy or girl, literally to guess/tow/board

There are variations from North to South and in the different regions.

Many expressions are formed by che + a word (che sfiga, che pazzo).

Many English words are also used here, such as weekend, gay, OK, club, babysitter, shopping, and jeans. Computer, internet, and popcorn are others used that don't even have an Italian equivalent. Some words are derived from English words, like the verbs chattare, cliccare, and faxare.

Italians also commonly pronounce abbreviations like words, and I think it's kind of funny. So U.S.A. is pronunced oo-za.

I've also learned quite a few curse words here, from my host family, Italian movies, and other Italians while I'm out and about. I won't repeat them here, but if you are interested, I'll let you know.

That's all for now,
Caitlin
 

EuroChocolate Festival

We took a train for the first time since we've been here to Perugia for the EuroChocolate Festival! Getting there and back was an adventure itself (including a misprint on the ticket telling us to get on the wrong train and a huge crowd waiting for the minitram to get back to the train station, which someone told us the wrong stop to get off at). No worries though, cause everything worked out and we got to enjoy plenty of chocolate, yummm

The train was so full, we had to sit in the space in between cars. We had a lovely view of the bathroom.