Sono Arrivata!

Sept. 3, 2011

After my five day incubation period at the Fava’s household outside of Rome I’ve finally made it to Padova. I say “incubation period” because during that time I conquered my jet-lag, got comfortable speaking my broken Italian, and fell into the relaxed Italian life-style.

Yesterday I arrived at the train station with Giorgia and Tess, and thank god for Giorgia! With two bags each, Tess and I were in dire need of an extra hand with both our luggage and travelling advice… We took a seven euro taxi ride to the dorm because, let’s face it, there was absolutely no way that we three scrawny girls could’ve gotten those huge bags on and off a public bus, much less lugged them all the way to the dorm.

Once there, Tess and I signed a little paperwork and were promptly handed the keys to our single rooms! They proved to be spacious abodes with a closet, desk, bed (sheets and pillow included) and a bathroom shared with an adjacent room. I only managed to unpack one suitcase before getting antsy and heading out to explore the town with Giorgia at my side.

The cobblestoned streets are narrow with arches lining the sides. There’s a balance between modern and old stone buildings, usually two or three stories, with little garden boxes overflowing with flowers outside the windows. Needless to say, the whole town is adorable. There are five or six main piazzas but my favorites so far are Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Frutti where, as the names suggest, there are produce vendors stationed everyday (except Sunday, of course). Yesterday I walked there with my new UCEAP friends and bought a gorgeous white-streaked dark purple eggplant, an enormous green red and yellow heirloom tomato, five zucchini, garlic, onion, and a basil plant. With these ingredients we made our epic first “family” dinner: a pasta primavera with an addition of pancetta (basically Italian bacon) for some more flavor. It was a very pleasant dinner, with box wine (don’t judge, we’re on a budget) and great new friends.

After dinner most of us went to a park where there are free world music concerts and theater during the summer. Sainkho Namtchylak from Tuva was performing. She proved to be very interesting. At first she just sang, first in a crystal clear soprano and then, all of the sudden, she dropped to a baritone that you couldn’t believe was coming out of her. Then she played a little jaw harp and managed to sing whilst playing. Unfortunately, we didn’t stay for long because the venue was full, but what we did see was impressive.

With no show to go to we wandered for a bit until we fell upon Piazza delle Erbe which was almost unrecognizable without the cloak of produce and cheap clothes kiosks. We sat down for a beer and people watched for an hour or two until we decided to find our way home before the beer got to our heads.