Non PoSso Decidere!!!!!!

OK so I had an appointment this week with my friends mom who happens to be a study abroad advisor who was born in italy! So we somewhat narrowed the list or so I believe to
Roma-Sapienza/roma 3
Bologna
Urbino
Universita di Bocconi

But I still cant decide....so she gave me a few tips.... 1) weight the positives and negatives of each university! 2) Each day pretend like you are going to that university (take milano for example) and all Day I pretend I am going to Milan and record my feelings. To me this is a really important decision because this is my small step leading me to the big step of living in italy! I really want to intern while i'm there as well so hopefully I can work for an italian company. SHe told me that often with a visa you can't get a "permisso di sorgerno( i know i spelled that wrong!) Is this true? How did you all decide what city you were going to move to? Next week I will be chosing a city everday and I want you to let me know what you guys think ok??
Baci & Abbracci
Lisa

Upon the Miles of Silence...

*pierangelo and I in Roma a year ago.....

Ok so I know that long distance relationships don't work, well especially those involving an ocean. My ex boyfriend (Pierangelo) was from lecce and even though we talked everyday on the phone--it just didn't work. I just don't like the fact that he never wanted to talk or still be friends afterward but maybe it was better that way. Then I met a gorgeous bo my Francesco who was really sweet and one of the nicest most sensitive guys I ever met. But one day when he told me "credo che io e te nn saremmo mai insieme" That basically we would never really be together--i decided it was over and that I didn't want him to come see me this summer. Well then I met Federico--he was completely different than any of the other guys I'd ever met...he was studying in England and spoke perfect english. He had lived in California for a few years and now lived in Siena. When he went back to Siena we couldn't talk as much because he didn't have a computer at home. So we we would write text messages and send messages online but little by litte we got more and more distant. ... so with all that I Truely learned that long distance relationships on the computer don't work. BUT i do believe you can be interested in someone you me on the computer but it wont work if you only talk on the computer going months without seeing them. Somehow i feel ok about all this....

Amici

As you know by now, I'm interning this summer, which helped me realize that it's not what I want to do with my life. But I was very fortunate to find a few tesori (treasures) along the way. I work with 3 other interns and I can honestly say that if it wasn't for them I would have quit. I don't think I've ever met 4 people who get along so well! Good friends like them are hard to come by... especially since they put up with me talking about Italy all the time!! I am going to miss them in a few weeks when my internship ends but I know that we will always stay in touch.

Jobs In Italy....

Since I spend most of my day infront of the computer screen at a fairly boring internship aside from the fact that this is a European Company and they do have offices in Italy! :) I often look for what sort of jobs are in demand in Italy--

For any of you guys who are in the IT world, there are lots of jobs listed on

http://www.monster.it/

There are job listings for all over italy and for different sectors as well.

A few terms to help the job search:

stage-internship
CV-your resume
madre lingua inglese- Your native language is english
Sede di lavoro-The city where the jobs office is

Buona fortuna!

Baci&Abbracci,
Lisa

Ma Cosa e?!

Last Summer When I was in Firenze, I decided to buy a painting. I love street paintings and I have several from Paris. I love many of the statues that are in firenze, so when I saw a very unique painter who painted pictures of the statues--i thought it would be great to buy one of those! This artist does a very unique style too where he writes backwards on the painting in italian. I was having a hard time decididing between the 2 of them. I loved the medusa but I thought it was a bit much so I opted to buy a painting of this statue:

I wasn't really sure what it was but I thought it looked nice. Later on I turned over the painting and it said Rape of the Serpetines in Italian. Great! I bought a fabulous painting of a rape for my bedroom! I will post a finished product of the framed painting as I am getting it framed this week... I just hope no one asks what it is ! ciAO

baci & abbracci,

Lisa

The things I miss most.........

"I can honestly say that if I was told at this moment that I was dying, not my first, not my second, but certainly my third thought would be that I should never see Italy again"--Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett

There are certain things that I always miss when I'm not in Italy.....

1. the people....just the friendliness and the energy
2. The sound of vespa's ah.....
3. Casino--it makes life more interesting- yes in america everything is fast and efficent, but does it really always make life better? I like to take my time, have funny stories and meet people along the way in life.
4.Pizza from Pizzeria da Michele in Napoli (best pizza ever only 5 euros!)
5. Capiroska alle fragole--they just don't make this drink here!!
6.Lido--the italian beaches are fantastic--much better than the jersey shore where you have to pay 15 dollars to sit on a dirty beach.....in italy i don't mind paying 10 euros for a chair in sorrento....
7. Being able to buy La Perla swimwear--they don't ship to america!! And its much more expensive here.
8. Architecture--In italy even the smallest street can be magnificent because of the old architecture. You can stumble upon hidden treasures!!
9. Italian Music on the radio.....sure i download it...but it's not the same thing as listening to Radio Kiss Kiss.
10. BEING ABLE TO WALK TO THE PIAZZA ! (Sorry this should be number one! I loveeee going to the piazza --sitting down and having gelato, espresso, un panini, granita......)
11. FARE UN GIRO--when there is nothing to do.....you fare un giro! its simply not the same thing in america--everyone always has somewhere to go.
12. Pasta with pepe e pecorino cheese- As served at Boccadivino ristorante in Roma
13. People on the street painting pictures.....


Basically everything execpt for not so nice italians and Venezia . (not so friendly the venetians!)

Alla prossima

Baci & Abbracci,
Lisa

ma parlate italiano?

One of the most difficult things about learning Italian, is that they don't speak it! I'm sure everyone has had that experience where you are sitting at a cafe and the people next to you are italian but they aren't speaking italian! They are speaking "dialetto". I find myself wondering why even bother learning italian if I can't understand what people are saying!

Since I have a lot of free time at boring office internship, I started learning dialetto. Here's a view from my cubicle which probably looks like the view from all of your windows!!!!

Wikapedia has a great Napoletano dictonary--http://it.wikibooks.org/wiki/Corso_di_napoletano/Verbi It has great phrases like :

Sì brutt’ comm’ 'o ddébbit’/comm’ 'a famma 'e notte! =Sei brutto come un debito o sei brutto come la fame a notte!

Although other phrases are more practical like "statte bbuono" which means arrivederci!

Sicliano I think is the most interesting however--since even they themselves say it sounds like chinese. "ku' fu' ka ma'mutto" this means "Chi e che mi ha spinto? "

Leccese--as seen in the songs of the famous music group "Sud Sound System" has a song called "lu sole lu gente lu mare" lu= 'il' and they say things like "non mi lassa" for 'no mi lasciare.'

Dialect is such an interesting thing ,because obviously each regione has it's own. It also has alot of the surrounding influence of the city. For example when I went to napoli I realized how much spanish influence was there and my friend who speaks no Italian understood napolitano because it has spanish influence.

Statte bbuone !!

Baci & Abbracci,

Lisa

l'inizio...

Hi ! Welcome to my page, I saw so many inspiring blogs of other people who moved to Italy, that I decided to create my own! I first went to Italy when I was 13, after that I decided to learn Italian online in chat rooms. Now I am fluent as I know the basics as well as dialect. I'm in college right now, and will be studying abroad next spring in Italy after that I hope to move there. I know it will be a difficult process--but I know that I should follow my dreams!

So my first question for all of you is where should I study!? I want to do direct enrollement into an italian university...My options are:

• La Sapienza-in Rome
• Roma 3
• Universita Di Bologna
• Univerista di Urbino (Marche)
• Bocconi in milano

Maybe someone has some insight to help me out, but based on cities what do you think?

Everyone tells me Milano fa schifo! Roma obviously is beautiful but I don't want something too turisty. Urbino is lovely but a very small town--hard to access trasnportation. Bologna is a beautiful city but it's been a few years since i've been there so I don't rememeber too well.

My italian dilect/slang word of the day= "casino". Vai alla piazza, c'e un casino. It means that there is alot of people or it could mean confusion. I tuoi cappelli sono un casino! your hair is a mess!

Let me know any ideas!

Baci & Abbracci

Lisa