Whoa so I'm in Italia right now!! How crazy is that. The city I'm in, Bologna, is an awesome location too - I'm an hour away from Florence, 2 hours from Venice, and 2 hours from Milan. If I plan enough in advance I could get some super cheap tickets to Sicilia or something, so hopefully I'll get a chance to go there this semester.
So I guess I should introduce the blog a little bit. I'll start with the name! Last semester was Morocco, so this semester is Italia time, hence ciao time. But most people I've told about my semester in Italy have told me to make sure I EAT good food, so I figured in tribute to everyone who wants to make sure I'm tasting the best of Italy (and because whoa it's just so fun), instead of doing a "Word of the Day" section I'll have a "Food of the Week" section. Hence, 'chow' time. Corny? Maybe. But I think it's cute.
I should tell you a little bit about the living situation too. So I'm living in the dorms this semester, but apartment style. I'm in a double with a girl from the south of Italy, and there are two other girls in a double next to me. We have a kitchen, common room-ish area attached, and a bathroom (I'm also a spoiled brat and have a washing machine in the bathroom). It's cool to finally be able to cook for myself, especially since it can be super cheap! But it's also kind of daunting that... I have to cook for myself all the time now. Oh well, it'll be a semester of experimenting.
So I don't know about the rest of you, but I really didn't know that much about Bologna before applying to the program (we all know Rome, Florence, Venice, etc. But Bologna? Definitely not talked about much). But whoa! Bologna is so cool!! I knew I'd be living in a city but figured it would be relatively small, St. Louis-feeling at best. But this city is alive. There's a lot to do at night and just a lot of people walking around all day. It's very clearly a college city, with tons and tons of young people that are actually pretty easy to meet. And it's also kind of refreshing - the college students are pretty active in the city. I've been here for about 2 weeks and have already seen several protests, and people passing out pamphlets and everything. It's one thing to hear people complaining about problems in our society all the time, blah blah, but to see people actually taking an active stance and protesting about it? Ahh I could get used to this.
Ahh yeah and the whole bologna thing. There is a type of meat here that our precious Oscar Mayer bologna is based off of - it's called "mortadella" here. It was pretty good but not my favorite. But I'm not a huge bologna fan to begin with. You'll find below my new obsession though, at least as far as meats are concerned.
Last thing before I wrap this up is class situation - I've got to figure out what I'm taking soon! I think I'm taking 2 classes with my program - Modern Italian Art History and a poli sci course (figured that I've never taken one, won't have the time once I'm back at Vassar, and it's focusing on an interesting time period so why not). Then I'm taking a class through Unibo, Universita di Bologna. It's between a Religions of the Classical World and a couple art classes, so we'll see what ends up happening. Gah everything is going to be in Italian though. Scary. I think it'll take some time but it'll be good.
So, plenty happening this week so more to come soon!!
FOOD OF THE WEEK
Prosciutto
Alright, I've been bad with taking pictures and haven't loaded them on my comp yet, so I'm cheating this week with the picture. And sorry to all the vegetarians out there for this week's pick. But doesn't that just make your mouth water? God I'm hungry now. Anyways, PROSCIUTTO! I knew it was good but I've been obseeessed ever since I got here. How can you go wrong? Prosciutto literally means ham, so you have to specify either cooked or dry-smoked. I've been getting the dry-smoked, or 'crudo' kind. For those who don't know, I adore bacon. And this definitely gives me that salty, chewy-ish meat fix that bacon does. It's so good. Most bars (more of a little cafe than American bar) that sell little lunch things and pastries and coffee sell these types of sandwiches, or you can get them on little 'crostini,' - toast with prosciutto. So simple. And so delicious
