My first week or so in Italy has been good, pretty chill and mostly unpredictable.
The basic highlights were
*Aperitivo (happy hour) that actually started at 8pm and we stayed till 11, drinking delicious calabrian (a southern italian region where some of the best agriculture takes place) white wine, eating modestly marbled cured meats like speck and salami, ripe and tart umbrian cheeses, artisan breads topped with only the freshest and most aromatic tomatoes and basil from the courtyard garden....all this cost a shy 8 euros. In a group of 5, we each had about 3 glasses of wine and plenty of "appetizers" to suffice for dinner. Plus it was outside, with a perfect briskness, overlooking the seemingly candlelit Umbrian countryside and a pretty descent live band. 8 euros, which is about 11 bucks. In Seattle, 10 bucks would have been just for the entrance fee! I am constantly reeling over how affordable some luxuries can be. Oh and a light heavenly cappucchino and a buttery sweet croissant is a mere euro1.50. Caffe Vita, you can keep my 3 dollar americano and 3 dollar obviously-trying-too-hard-to-be-an-edgy muffin and the obligatory tip and give it to some other shmuck. And half the time Vita doesn't use direct trade/organic for their espresso/ coffee of the day. But hey, my classes will probably teach me that 1euro cappucchino is laced with poor free market exchange policy. Until then....=)
* I actually did some reading for my classes ahead of time and I am pumped about the course content, in otherwords i'm pretty excited to start learning this quarter and to do my homework.
* Went to Bologna (more northern Italy) and went to Ferrara (about 45 min. away) to see a festival of International Journalism hosted by a pretty cool weekly magazine called Internazionale, a weekly raccont of the worlds most pressing political developments and issues. I sat in on a talk with 5 international journalists discussing the new revolution that is certain to come in Iran. The most compelling point made is that this revolution will differ from the last because the feminine movement will guide its succession where as the last was driven moreover by masculine ideals. I saw 2 documentaries called "The Yes Men Fix the World". Well, they fix the world by hacking corporate websites and impersonating CEO spokespeople and create a whole sort of media attention for those companies that they feel lack corporate responsibility/liability for their business as usual practices. In a very hysterical way. Example, the BBC contacted one of the sites, supposedly DOW, and these Yes Men actually went on television for the Bhopal disaster anniversary and declared all responsibillty to clean up and fix the pesticide explosion site that occured and compensate the victims, as DOW had merged with the company, Union Carbide, that created the disaster. Basically in the hour the world believed in corporate responsibility, the DOW-Carbide stocks plummeted as stock holders did not see incentive in this act of pentinance. Please look them up!
Another doc i saw was by this awesome director Petr Lom about Iran called Letters to the President. It was illuminating how Ahmandinejad is seen by his supporters and gave us a sense of how these people see him and see the western world. And also see how the poor really have struggled at the hands of his inadedequacy but still remain faithful. The general consensus nonetheless seemed to blame Ahmadinejad for its massive Inflation, one woman filmed reported saving money for 3 weeks just to buy a pack of strawberries from the government run discount store for her son, meanwhile waiting on a response to her plea for help in one of these "letters". I also reccomend. I also got to see a concert of Ascanio Celestini who song pretty moving politcal satyrical rock music. Perfect way to end the mild autumn day in Ferrara after a days worth of intellectual mind candy.
And monday i start school and move into my apartment. I have never been so excited to start school. I can't wait to do my homework. Is there something wrong with that?
I'll post back after i settle in Rome, Probably after the honeymoon with school wears off=)
A dopo! Ciaooooooooooooo!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Boy o boy, do I have things to say about the said revolution. However, this too is an interesting aspect to consider:
ReplyDelete"The most compelling point made is that this revolution will differ from the last because the feminine movement will guide its succession where as the last was driven moreover by masculine ideals."
I'll be looking up Letters to the President. Seems interesting...I should be able to fit it in between two episodes of the office!