1. Decide you haven't spent enough time downtown, put sunscreen on, grab sunglasses, fill up water bottle, and put guide book in purse.
2. Tell family that you're leaving, walk to the bus stop, wait five minutes, hop on bus, reflect in the glory that is public transportation
3. Arrive downtown, window shop for a bit, realise you can't afford new clothes, end up at an Indian shop, buy purse
4. Back on the street, look at the obvious tourists, then hastily stuff your guide book back into your purse, feel superior
5. Get to one of the places you've been meaning to go to for months, realise it's closed
6. Continue along the street, before meeting a parked police car and a bunch of tape blocking the way, ask why the street is closed, there's a protest, you're unsurprised
7. Wander around, taking in all the the glory that is the back alleys of Palermo, checking out gorgeous churches, intricate streets
8. Take a swig of water, patting yourself on the back for bringing it
9. Put water bottle back in purse, ignoring your aching shoulder
10. Decide that the map in your guide book sorta sucks, and go to an info point for another, the woman hands you one that is Italian-German?
11. Laugh cause you understand Italian
12. Try to read German part, get confused
13. Wander around some more, realise that there are a lot of Americans there as well, notice that they are all young, with buzz cuts, and bulky, and realise that they're from the military
14. Laugh at how American they seem
15. Look at the clothing you're wearing and realise how American you seem
16. Decide to buy a tshirt, while trying it on you notice that the sunscreen you put on in an attempt to keep from burning your face off has left a lovely white film all over your face
17. Ignore street vendors that call out to you in English
18. Decide it's high time for a coffee and washroom break, wander around until you find a bar free of Americans
19. Continue wandering around, deciding that you feel slightly peckish, and stop for a gelato
20. Laugh with bar owners about the invasion of Americans
21. Hot sun + gelato = drippy, melty mess, eat quickly
22. Feel really stupid for having gelato all over your leg, wash it off
23. Get back to the bus stop, wait five minutes, then hop on the bus, bask in the glory of public transport
24. Arrive at home
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Michelle's Guide to Healthy Eating while on Exchange
I believe this will be most helpful to other exchange students, but I'm sure it shall be applicable to other circumstances.
1. If it's a vegetable, it's healthy, and makes whatever you are eating it with healthy as well, and therefore you should not feel guilty about taking seconds. This applies to pizza or pasta with tomato sauce, despite the amount of cheese on top, as well as any vegetable dishes (even if deep fried).
2. If it's a salad, it's healthy, no matter how much oil or salt is on it. (refer to #1)
3. If it's an important cultural food, do not feel guilty about eating it, or taking seconds. Some Italian/Sicilian/Palermitanan examples include arancini, cannoli, pizza, pasta, cheeses, cassata, and gelato.
4. Anytime you are invited as a guest to a meal, do not feel guilty about eating a lot. Plus, there will likely be some vegetables involved, so the overall outcome will be healthy. Homemade Italian food is too delicious to not take seconds (and Italian mothers will love you).
5. If it's hot out, any efforts to cool yourself do not count as unhealthy, even if you use gelato, iced coffee, etc. (Also, if it's cool out, the sane applies to hot chocolate, coffee, etc)
However, in all seriousness, you did not go on exchange to worry about your weight all year. If it's good, take seconds. Eat gelato. You're only there one year, try everything!
Practical Advice:
Stay active. I struggled with this, lacking my normal sports of skiing and hiking, so I had to find other ways to remain active, running, swimming and walking as much as I could. Even dancing with my friends Saturday nights is a great way to exercise!
Limit packaged foods, even if they fit into the "cultural" category.
I was very lucky to have a family that valued healthy eating, and so the only packaged foods we had were breakfast and snack foods - cookies, cereal, crackers. We also, luckily, rarely had nutella in the house. (Do not think that nutella is like natural peanut butter made with hazelnuts in place of peanuts. It's first ingredient is sugar, second is vegetable oil, THEN hazelnuts (13%), then cocoa, then milk powder.) I also don't buy ice-cream bars, as it doesn't make sense to eat Pre-made ice-cream when you can get house-made gelato around the corner for roughly the same price.
I managed to avoid the "Foreign Fifteen", not thanks to anything I did, but it could be that I was lucky. The Mediterranean diet is relatively healthy - less meat, more vegetables, more wheat - the main problem is trying not to eat a lot because it's so delicious! But your body will figure that out after a while, and you realise how much you really want to eat. And again, as I said earlier, I was very fortunate to be placed in a family that had made of the same food interests as me - local, more veggies, fruit and yogurt as snack food, less meat - they were a great help in my trying to eat well.
And so, my (barely) practical guide to eating well on exchange!
1. If it's a vegetable, it's healthy, and makes whatever you are eating it with healthy as well, and therefore you should not feel guilty about taking seconds. This applies to pizza or pasta with tomato sauce, despite the amount of cheese on top, as well as any vegetable dishes (even if deep fried).
2. If it's a salad, it's healthy, no matter how much oil or salt is on it. (refer to #1)
3. If it's an important cultural food, do not feel guilty about eating it, or taking seconds. Some Italian/Sicilian/Palermitanan examples include arancini, cannoli, pizza, pasta, cheeses, cassata, and gelato.
4. Anytime you are invited as a guest to a meal, do not feel guilty about eating a lot. Plus, there will likely be some vegetables involved, so the overall outcome will be healthy. Homemade Italian food is too delicious to not take seconds (and Italian mothers will love you).
5. If it's hot out, any efforts to cool yourself do not count as unhealthy, even if you use gelato, iced coffee, etc. (Also, if it's cool out, the sane applies to hot chocolate, coffee, etc)
However, in all seriousness, you did not go on exchange to worry about your weight all year. If it's good, take seconds. Eat gelato. You're only there one year, try everything!
Practical Advice:
Stay active. I struggled with this, lacking my normal sports of skiing and hiking, so I had to find other ways to remain active, running, swimming and walking as much as I could. Even dancing with my friends Saturday nights is a great way to exercise!
Limit packaged foods, even if they fit into the "cultural" category.
I was very lucky to have a family that valued healthy eating, and so the only packaged foods we had were breakfast and snack foods - cookies, cereal, crackers. We also, luckily, rarely had nutella in the house. (Do not think that nutella is like natural peanut butter made with hazelnuts in place of peanuts. It's first ingredient is sugar, second is vegetable oil, THEN hazelnuts (13%), then cocoa, then milk powder.) I also don't buy ice-cream bars, as it doesn't make sense to eat Pre-made ice-cream when you can get house-made gelato around the corner for roughly the same price.
I managed to avoid the "Foreign Fifteen", not thanks to anything I did, but it could be that I was lucky. The Mediterranean diet is relatively healthy - less meat, more vegetables, more wheat - the main problem is trying not to eat a lot because it's so delicious! But your body will figure that out after a while, and you realise how much you really want to eat. And again, as I said earlier, I was very fortunate to be placed in a family that had made of the same food interests as me - local, more veggies, fruit and yogurt as snack food, less meat - they were a great help in my trying to eat well.
And so, my (barely) practical guide to eating well on exchange!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Siracusa and New York
Life has been pretty busy lately - it seems all my friends are turning 18 right now, I just got back from a school trip to Siracusa and I've been organising a tour in the north.
I plan on doing a post on Siracusa, so look out for that, but a few random things I noticed: we stayed at a resort-like hotel that caters to French people. As it's pretty obvious that I'm not Italian, they assumed I was French. I've never heard so many "Bonjour!"s, and "bonsoir!"s in my life. We saw two Greek tragedies (in Italian), Filotette and Andromaca - amazing! Also, Italian buffets will be the death of me. Siracusa isn't that far away from Palermo, less than four hours. This didn't stop my friends from complaining about the length of the trip... Oh if only they knew...
Secondly, my classmate just got back from a trip the New York, where she participated in the Model UN program. Other than some language issues (model UN is in English), she said she had a great time, and enjoyed seeing the monuments, museums, parks and streets of New York, as well as meeting new people. She mentioned a few interesting things about the US, though.
She said it was more difficult to eat healthier. A street hotdog, or fast-food hamburger, large fries and a pop was a few dollars, meanwhile a good sandwich, salad or soup would be double that. She also complained that bottled water cost way more. She didn't have a problem with the tap water at restaurants, the hotel, wherever, but when you're out in the city, and want something to drink, it would be way cheaper to buy pop than water. And she noted that pop was far larger. In Italy, bottles are usually 250 ml, cans maybe 330 ml. A "party" or "family" sized would be 1.5 litres. I haven't encountered fountain pop. (But then again, I can count the number of times I've had pop here on the fingers of one hand, and haven't gone to any fast food places). Compare to North America where bottles are 560 ml, 2 and 3 litres, even the cans larger at 355 ml. And of course, fountain pop larger than my water bottle. And she said that the people of New York were always in a rush, never slowing to say hello, and she didn't hear many "excuse me"s.
I liked hearing her perspective on America, and I sympathised with her language obstacles, and it sounds like she had a lot of fun on her trip.
That's all for now!
UPDATE: McDonalds here does, in fact, have fountain pop. I was out with my friend and her brother and they were hungry, so we went to McDonalds for some chicken nuggets and fries. It seems that McDonalds is more expensive here, but I wouldn't really know as I never eat I at home either. They have a €1 menu, where you can buy a small hamburger, "toast" (think: grilled cheese), and you can get a double cheeseburger for €2. But a Big Mac meal is nearly €7 - for that money I could get a good sandwich, fruit from a stand, gelato, coffee and a bottle of water. Obvious which I prefer.
My friend and her brother split chicken nuggets and fries, so I tried a nugget. Sorry, I still don't like them. I was then made fun of for not liking fast food.
I plan on doing a post on Siracusa, so look out for that, but a few random things I noticed: we stayed at a resort-like hotel that caters to French people. As it's pretty obvious that I'm not Italian, they assumed I was French. I've never heard so many "Bonjour!"s, and "bonsoir!"s in my life. We saw two Greek tragedies (in Italian), Filotette and Andromaca - amazing! Also, Italian buffets will be the death of me. Siracusa isn't that far away from Palermo, less than four hours. This didn't stop my friends from complaining about the length of the trip... Oh if only they knew...
Secondly, my classmate just got back from a trip the New York, where she participated in the Model UN program. Other than some language issues (model UN is in English), she said she had a great time, and enjoyed seeing the monuments, museums, parks and streets of New York, as well as meeting new people. She mentioned a few interesting things about the US, though.
She said it was more difficult to eat healthier. A street hotdog, or fast-food hamburger, large fries and a pop was a few dollars, meanwhile a good sandwich, salad or soup would be double that. She also complained that bottled water cost way more. She didn't have a problem with the tap water at restaurants, the hotel, wherever, but when you're out in the city, and want something to drink, it would be way cheaper to buy pop than water. And she noted that pop was far larger. In Italy, bottles are usually 250 ml, cans maybe 330 ml. A "party" or "family" sized would be 1.5 litres. I haven't encountered fountain pop. (But then again, I can count the number of times I've had pop here on the fingers of one hand, and haven't gone to any fast food places). Compare to North America where bottles are 560 ml, 2 and 3 litres, even the cans larger at 355 ml. And of course, fountain pop larger than my water bottle. And she said that the people of New York were always in a rush, never slowing to say hello, and she didn't hear many "excuse me"s.
I liked hearing her perspective on America, and I sympathised with her language obstacles, and it sounds like she had a lot of fun on her trip.
That's all for now!
UPDATE: McDonalds here does, in fact, have fountain pop. I was out with my friend and her brother and they were hungry, so we went to McDonalds for some chicken nuggets and fries. It seems that McDonalds is more expensive here, but I wouldn't really know as I never eat I at home either. They have a €1 menu, where you can buy a small hamburger, "toast" (think: grilled cheese), and you can get a double cheeseburger for €2. But a Big Mac meal is nearly €7 - for that money I could get a good sandwich, fruit from a stand, gelato, coffee and a bottle of water. Obvious which I prefer.
My friend and her brother split chicken nuggets and fries, so I tried a nugget. Sorry, I still don't like them. I was then made fun of for not liking fast food.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Photos from Spring
Italy celebrated 150 years of unification!!
Rockin' the red Rotary jacket.
Kinda really pretty here.
Spring = very very green.
In the country. Pino in the background.
Watching the cows. Pino knows them all.
Old palace.
Artichokes, they love them here.
Palermo.
Me and Palermo. This is before a RYLA dinner.
Katelyn and Palermo.
Meeting the president of the region, like it's no big deal,
Photos from Florence
As promised!
Locks to signify love. The key is thrown in the river.
Limited cars in centre = more bike use.
For Epiphany, a witch brings candy and chocolate to good children, and coal for bad children. This, however, is candy coal. AKA cheating.
Carnevale!
I was definitely excited about carnevale. Normally there's a school holiday during this time, but since we occupied the schools back in November, our principal said no. That didn't stop us from taking Saturday off and going with the host parents of another student to Sciacca, a small city pretty much directly south of Palermo, on the other side of the island. We spent the morning enjoying the beautiful weather in the country, before heading into town
Sciacca
We spent the evening seeing the carri and dancers. I had never seen anything like it - great structures of paper mâché and wire, massive moving arms, eyes blinking. As this year is the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, some of the carri were especially grand. They showed important people from history, politics, and the news, as well as key places and things. There was one representing Sicily that had key parts of the economy and culture shown, such as agriculture, and fishing, and gave out tiny cups of fresh squeezed orange juice (I then held on to my tiny plastic cup for twenty minutes as I couldn't find a garbage can and I refused to do what any normal Sicilian would to and just throw it on the ground. And I wonder why I stand out.)
Carnevale in Sciacca reminded me of Rossland Winter Carnival in a few ways. There was a very friendly atmosphere - though crowded it was not uncomfortable. Locals and out-of-towners mixed, everyone dressed up and dancing.
Costumes and masks are a huge part of carnevale. Some people dressed up as specific celebrities or characters (we saw a lady gaga, as well as many movie characters), others wore silly socks and tights, men dressed up as women, and many wore masks and lots of makeup. Katelyn, Kaley and I bought masks from one of the vendors (though I wasn't really thinking and bought one that was both difficult to see out of and made me look a little like a cat), and enjoyed the events making several new friends.
We got back home around 4 am, ears ringing and feet sore, and slept preparing ourselves for a day of... eating..
We were invited for lunch by some friends of Kaley's host family and I'm not sure if I am capable of describing just how much I ate. A normal dinner or Sunday lunch with guests includes (usually), a pasta course, a meat/bread/vegetables/salad course, fruit, and dessert. We ate homemade lasagne, sausage and pork with a lemon/mint/garlic sauce, potatoes and salad, bananas, oranges and cedri, and a massive dessert course. We had homemade almond/orange cake, chiacchiere (cookies of carnevale, usually fried, they are called Galani in Venice, and Cenci in Florence), cannoli (from Piana degli Albanese, a key place for cannoli, according to everyone here), sfincie di San Giuseppe (think a cream puff filled with cannoli filling), as well as many cookies (I had run out of room before these).
Dessert from top: sfincie di San Giovanni, almond/orange cake, cannoli, chiacchiere, cookies.
After coffee we went back into town, hoping to see some of the historic centre by daylight. Sciacca is sort of the Sicilian town I thought of in my head before I knew what Sicily looked like, it's all winding streets that end at random, steep and narrow, with stone everywhere. We saw more of the carri as the struggled around corners (many of them being three storeys high), as well as stopping in at this church.
We entered quietly, stepping off the loud street and into the cool interior, where members of the church softly sang and listened to the priest.
Back outside we saw a bit more of the city, then came back to Palermo, our weekend of carnevale finished.
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