Sept. 4, 2011
Sunday we had another family dinner using leftover pasta, new pasta, and some tomato sauce that we hadn’t used Friday night. The dinner wasn’t the interesting part, however, the weather outside was. A thunderstorm came in around 8pm and lasted throughout the night. There were cracks of thunder and lightening striking constantly all over the sky. The summer thunderstorms I’ve experienced in Wisconsin pale in comparison to this behemoth of a storm. We huddled together by a semicircle of windows at the end of our fourth floor hall for a half an hour mesmerized by the impressive display.
Sept. 5, 2011
Monday the rain continued in the morning as we dealt with our permosso di soggiorni (residence permits), led by our wonderful Italian teacher/guide Ilaria. But that was boring and tedious so I’m going to tell you about my dinner instead---which is always more exciting. Becca and I bought fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, crusty Italian bread and wine earlier in the day and decided to have that for dinner (along with Patrizio my pet basil plant). So we prepared our simple meal and crawled out my window to enjoy a rooftop cena complete with a gorgeous view of the city at twilight. Then we met up with the other girls in the city center in search for a pub that was highly recommended by a German man they had met at the cafeteria. Suddenly, we found ourselves in an new part of the city where the streets are even narrower and the cobblestones aren’t flat, but are instead round and slightly raised. The pub that we ended up at I can definitely see myself going to quite a lot this year. It had forty types of beer, the bartender was friendly, and the other bar-goers were Italians my age. But most importantly, they weren’t playing the euro-crap music that is normally heard here.
Sept. 6, 2011
Today….man oh man what a day I had today. In the morning we met up with Ilaria at Café Pedrocchi, a bar in the city center (in Italy a bar is where you grab coffee and pastries although they do sell alcohol as well). At Pedrocchi they make espresso from an old recipe that continues to blow contemporary coffee drinkers’ minds. It’s a steaming espresso with a dollop of cold mint cream and cocoa powder sprinkled on top. No sugar. No stir. It’s perfect as is. I can’t even express how balanced it is… the hot bitter espresso paired with the cold refreshing mint cream…. It’s ridiculously tasty.
The second amazing experience I had today was the purchase of my new bike! I found a used bike shop with prices around 30-60 euros. My bike is called “wind bike.” It’s a blue mountain bike that I paired with a lil’ black basket for the front of my handlebars. All together the bike, basket, and chain/lock were only 50 euros! Not a bad deal, especially since the only other used bike shop was selling only a bike for 60-70.
Padova is a bike town and what I find most interesting about it is that riding is so universal. Students, old ladies, businessmen, middle-aged couples, and even nuns ride their bikes all throughout the town. Now that I have my own bicicletta I finally feel like I live here. Pre-bike, I had just moved into a sterile dorm single and explored the town with eight other Americans, but now, now I live here.
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