Week Three; Gnocchi, Lamingtons and Gelato Gelato Gelato

This week was my first full week of school outside of Alice's Class. Because in Italy the students stay in the same room with the same group of people all day, the timetable is drawn up in a very different way to ours in Australia. And therefore, it is very difficult to create a timetable for someone like me who needs to try and move between different classes. Prof. Dendi (the lovely Vice Principal/English Teacher who looks after me) had been struggling to devise a good timetable, so, on Monday I decided to save her the trouble and create my own timetable using the school's timetable that is on the wall of each classroom.

The school's timetable. It is designed more for teachers than for students, so instead of writing the subject in the time slot, it simply has the surname of the teacher

My new timetable

I received help from the girl sitting next to me, Maria Pia, who was kind enough to translate the names of the subjects for me:)

The new timetable had me spending most of my time with the 4th EU Class, as they are my age, although I would try to follow Italian in a younger class (the 2nd Classico) and English in both the 5th EU Class and 3rd EU Class (Alice's class). After Prof. Dendi saw the timetable and was pleased, I followed her to have English with Alice's class, where they were doing some most difficult work!

English grammar practice; rearranging sentences

That afternoon I left school early as my coordinator Giulia has been encouraging me to find an after school activity. In Italy, schools don't often have clubs, sports or other co-curricular activities and so to get involved Chiara and I have had to search online for organisations in Milan that offer classes and clubs. We found an organisation based near Chiara's office called "Unitre" where a number of different classes are offered and I wanted to trial the theatre class. Beforehand, we asked the administrative staff at the organisation about how old those in the classes were, to which he responded "Oh, it ranges really, but I'm sure you'll find plenty of people your age". You can then imagine the look on mine and Chiara's faces when we walked into the theatre and found a room of about 35 people, all over the age of 75. The leader of the group was very kind and offered for me to "stay and watch anyway", an offer that I politely declined before we walked out the door and burst into a fit of laughter. Well, Giulia, we tried.

Tuesday was yet another day of school which meant more testing for the others students, as they are tested several times a week, often every day and sometimes up to 3 or 4 times on the same day. Here I was amused to find the math teacher, Prof. Visconti enter the classroom with a cardboard box in which the other students promptly put their phones before beginning the test. 

On Tuesday night it was time to watch my first ever film in Italian! We decided to choose one that I had already seen, so that I could follow the storyline, so we went for an old Anne Hathaway favourite, The Devil Wears Prada, which in Italian becomes "Il Diavolo Veste Prada". We watched it with Italian subtitles, which helps a lot as the actors often speak very fast, although unfortunately I fell asleep about an hour in.

In another attempt to find an after school activity, on Wednesday I went with a family friend, Maria Vittoria (Mavi for short) to watch her hip hop class and decide if I wanted to take dance classes here. On the way to the dance school, Mavi asked if we could stop over for a moment because she wanted to have a Gelato, from a nice little Gelato store where she is friends with the owner. Although the owner's english was poor, she continued to offer me a gelato while Mavi was having hers, however I politely declined, having already made a trip to Cioccolati Italani with Alice a couple of hours before. 

At Cioccolati Italiani Alice and I had decided it was time to try something a little different from the classic cone and went for what is called a "colmato", which is basically a warmed sweet breadroll with the Gelato flavours of your choosing put inside to make a gelato sandwich. Suffice to say, it was amazing, however had filled me up enough that I really couldn't imagine having Gelato for another week. 

Cioccolati Italiani

An incredible gelato sandwhich with the flavours Cioccolato al Rosa (rose flavoured white chocolate) and Mandarino (mandarin), complete with the melted white chocolate that is traditionally put inside the waffle cone, drizzled over the top of the sandwich

However, after waiting with Mavi for about fifteen minutes, the adorable store owner seemed as if she couldn't possibly stand to watch someone go without gelato any longer and told me she insisted that I take a "piccolo piccolo" (very very small) one, for free. She also insisted that I try some flavours I had never tried before, and so I had for the first time Pistacchio, Stracchiatello (some kind of vanilla cream with chocolate chips) and Nocciola (hazelnut). And I suppose she reached the ultimate goal of a Gelato Store Owner, because all three flavours have now been promoted to the "Maddie's Top 5 Favourite Gelato Flavours" list.

My not-so "piccolo" gelato. Only in Italy.

Afterwards, we continued onto Mavi's dance school named "Arco Baleno" and with my stomach the way it was I was certainly glad to not be participating. I really enjoyed watching the class though and found it really interesting to hear a class not in english, where the steps are counted out in italian and they have italian names for all the moves etc. Although it seems simple, after twelve years of dancing in Australia, I found it a very bizarre experience!

Mavi's hiphop class

Mavi's hiphop class

At the end of Mavi's class we met up with Alice, Carletto (Mavi's younger brother) and Allegra (another family friend) and all continued onto the Massetti's favourite pizzeria where I had had my first pizza, to enjoy dinner with both Mavi's family and Allegra's family. You can imagine that my stomach wasn't feeling its best after the afternoon's debarcle and I struggled to finish even half of my pizza, although it was a most incredible kind I hadn't yet tasted; Margherita with buffalo cheese!

If you ever make it to Italy, THIS is the pizza flavour I recommend

I was even further impressed by this Pizzeria when dessert arrived, arranged in a both creative and practical fashion!

Friday was a long day at school, mostly due to the fact that it began to snow again! After school, Alice and I were going to see a show at a theatre in Milan with some of Alice's friends, Elena and Gaia, as well as Maria Vittoria. But, the show didn't start until 9.30, so we had time to get dinner and a gelato beforehand!

Snowy afternoon streets in Milano, although unfortunately the ground was already wet from the earlier rain, so as the snow hit the ground it melted instead of lying around prettily

Afternoon gelato of the flavours Pistaccio, Rosa al Cioccolata and Variegato Nutella

The show we saw was held at the Leonardo Theatre in Milano, a theatre I found to be just like the old cinemas you always see in the movies, and I was slightly surprised to find that almost all of the audience members were under the age of twenty as in Australia teenagers don't often go to the theatre on a Friday night...what cultured teenagers Europe has! The show was called "Quasi Perfetta"; a one-woman show about anorexia and thanks to Mr. Ruddy and Year 12 Drama in Australia, I understood that it was an absurdist piece.

Throughout this week I have also been finding that I understand more and more Italian, however it is as if I can choose to switch my brain on and off to listening/translating/understanding. And when I am wanting to understand something (a teacher of an interesting class, a film, etc), I can sit and translate and understand for about half an hour before my brain decides that it has had enough and I simply fall asleep. I have heard many other exchange students in the past say that in the first month or so of their exchange they would have several naps during the day and I think it's a hilarious response of the brain! And so, throughout the two hours of the show I probably watched half of it, alternating listening and sleeping.

My view of the stage

The Leonardo Theatre

At the end of the show, we waited so that I could take some photos

From left to right; Mavi, me, Elena, Alice, Gaia

Just like an old fashioned cinema!

Because we had stayed back, the director of the show let us go up on the stage!

After the show, Elena's mum dropped Alice, Mavi and I off at a restaurant near the popular Milano shopping centre called MilanoFiori, where Chiara, Massimo and Filippo had had dinner with Mavi's family. By this point it was just after midnight, however in true Italian style there were many people still in the restaurant and the kitchen was still open, so I was encouraged to eat something. Looking at the menu, my eyes were drawn straight away to a dish called "Australiana". When it arrived I found a toasted sandwich with cheese and proscuitto and some kind of sauce. And I can safely say in my eighteen years as an Australian I have never ever tasted anything like it before.

The "Australiana"

After feeling as if I had not stopped since arriving in Italy, Chiara nominated Saturday as a "Pajama Day" for me! I was very very pleased to spend the day lounging around in pajamas, video calling home, watching tv and catching up on some blogging, stopping only for pasta and snacks of fetta cheese.

Pajama Day!

Saturday's Australian-style breakfast!
Earlier in the week I had taken my first trip to a grocery store in Italy and was very proud to find myself some weetbix! The Massettis have never seen or heard of them before, so on Saturday for breakfast when I had them, Alice had a taste and is now a big fan!

Sunday was beautiful as the snow decided to visit and it fell the hardest and fastest I have yet seen it fall, quickly filling up the backyard. For lunch family friends Francesca and Beatrice came over and I had for the first time in Italy...wait for it...Gnocchi!

Home made gnocchi!

After lunch and my newest discovery that I am able to braid Alice's hair despite its length, it was time to go and enjoy the snow!

Alice's hair

The backyard

Alice and I

Fra and I

The next week coming, Alice's class has even more tests at school than usual and on Friday they were all telling me how very stressed they were. So I organised with Chiara to buy the ingredients without Alice knowing and when Alice was upstairs studying on Sunday night I made lamingtons to take into school on Monday to cheer up Alice's class. Although I think there was a mix up with a few of the ingredients from English to Italian, they still came out tasting great and Massimo is a huge fan!