Allison's Wonderland

Saturday morning I awoke to find big huge fat snowflakes falling out of the sky. So wonderful! I'm a southern girl at heart, so when I see snow I affiliate it with staying inside, school closings, and the entire city shutting down. Normally snow is seen as a negative thing instead of positive. NOT this year! Although I was a little nervous that we would be stranded in our Chalet for days, but the Italians have got this snow thing down. Not at all like Lynchburg.

Saturday night they had already had the roads pretty well plowed even though the snow was still coming down in big fat flakes. I thought I'd be okay with my snow pants on, snow boots, and big fat ski jacket. As I walked down the hill I slipped three times. The first time wasn't too bad. The second time I pulled a muscle in my left leg trying to keep myself from totally wiping out and the third time I totally wiped out and had an audience of a Dad and his daughter watching from their balcony who started to point and laugh at my misfortune. What's a girl to do? It was nice to enjoy the snow fall in the lobby of Hotel Mondole, sitting back and drinking a cappuccino. We also were able to take a nice little dip in the swimming pool.

On Monday, Mattia and I had a play date with J.Berg and Bibi. We got them all outfitted in their snow gear. So funny! The fog was so bad we could hardly see, and the snow was so high the kids kept getting stuck. There were times where J. Berg and I got stuck too. We're out there only about 15 minutes and Bibi complains she has to pee. Wild PEE! Haha...Mattia and I made a little slide thing while she was doing her business. Just like any good Vermonter would do, J.Berg brought along her Cabot Maple Syrup and we ate Sugar Snow which was so good. We attempted to build a fort but the snow was too soft and flaky. Not the good packing kind of snow. We finally trudged home and made our way inside. Ate some more sugar snow and then of course had to have the afternoon tea. I'm loving this snow though! Maybe this weekend I'll actually get to ski!! YEAH!

Friday night I experienced something very different than what I'm use to...not in a bad way, just different. Simona, Mattia and I headed up to Prato Friday morning. Still no snow on the ground but serious hopes that it was off somewhere in the distance waiting to release it self right over our little mountain! I'm trying to be optimistic here! Its almost February and still no snow. That creates a serious problem for a ski resort. Anyway, after Simona came home I was off to Mondole to meet up with the girls. Come to find out there was a disco going on in the conference room by the pool. Not just any disco...a special disco. :)

Four bus loads of English Autistic, Down Syndrome, and Mentally Retarded kids had come to Prato for the week to ski and snowboard, and at the end of the week they had a disco. It was so awesome to see these kids just shake it like nobody was watching on the dance floor. This one little autistic girl was in the middle of the dance floor just breaking it down. She was so good. The DJ started playing Grease "You're the One that I want" and this one kid John started singing it to Amy. They were going back and forth. It was so funny. Dan, one of the English coach driver's started dancing the Tango with John. That was also hilarious. It was good, because I'm normally the kind of person that tenses up and doesn't know how to act in situations like that. I think I played it pretty cool.

After watching the kids for awhile I went upstairs and had an interesting conversation with one of the Coach driver's named Dutch. Dutch looked like one of those Harley Biker Dude's. During our conversation one of the kids came up and started screaming "2" in Dutch's face. So then he screams back "4". This went on for like 5 minutes meanwhile a group of kids starts surrounding me and Dutch while they're all screaming 2. I'm just standing there wondering what the heck is going on. Amy rescued me from the crowd to tell me that Dutch was the bus driver for bus #4 and the kids were on bus #2. I guess 2 was supposed to be better than 4. I just kind of felt a little awkward standing there being yelled at by the a bunch of kids screaming "2"!! It was pretty funny though.

After the kids went to bed we were all chillin in the hotel lobby with all 4 of us Au Pairs and the 5 Coach driver's. It was so nice to be able to talk to new people in English! I didn't have to try broken Italian. The conversation just flowed. We got on the topic of what Americans and Brits were known for and I almost said that the UK was known for bad teeth. I'm glad I caught myself though because Dutch was probably missing about 5 teeth and the teeth he did have were a nice little shade of yellow. Anyway, it was a good Friday night.

You know how I said everything is smaller in Italy? Well that includes their elevators. People are normally the same size most everywhere you go. I know Americans have a reputation for being a bigger breed of people, but I don't consider myself like huge or anything. If you're living in a ski resort you're going to have skis and big bags packed with winter clothing that will need to make its way to your room with you, no matter if you live on the bottom floor or the top. So why are the elevators so small? I just don't know.

The elevator in our apartment complex in Prato is just plain scary. There are no windows and no indicator light of what floor you're on. You just kind of arrive with a sudden jolt. The worst is when you go from the top floor to the bottom. It hits the bottom so hard that my feet have been like injured several times. Okay maybe not injured. That's over exaggerating just a wee bit, but kind of slammed to the bottom. Mattia thinks its hilarious to make me take the elevator. I try to make him take the stairs when he's wearing ski boots for his ski lessons, but than I realized that's a little cruel making him walk 6 flights of stairs in those terrible boots. So I cave and take the elevator. His new favorite thing is getting into the tiny box and wiggling all around to make the elevator shake. I think he learned this maneuver from his Dad. TEYIBLE! I'm trying to get use to it, but its proving to be difficult. We live on the very top floor of the building but most times I haul myself up a ton of stairs just to avoid the death box. My biggest fear is getting stuck in that thing, pushing the Emergency button and getting a strictly Italian speaking rescuer who doesn't understand a word I say. OH that would be just teyible! Maybe I can talk Mattia into taking those stairs a little more often. :)

So Simona has been gone for the week and I think the Airaldi family does not trust me with making their family food. I think its an Italian thing. :) Which I guess is fine because we end up eating at different family members houses every night. Mostly just Anita's though which is Gian's Mom. So last night the three of us went over to Anita's for dinner. I started off with a salad and then went to the main course of Palpetta (meatballs) and zuppe (soup). I finished my salad and didn't notice anything odd in my bowl. After dinner was finished I took a kiwi from the fruit bowl and started eating it. Once I got to the end of the kiwi I got the worst tasting thing ever. The after taste tasted like I just ate a piece of rusty metal. Really weird. I didn't think anything of it until I was putting my dish in the sink to get washed. I looked down in my bowl and there was a little baby maggot looking worm wriggling around in there. I was horrified! Did I just eat a piece of that worm? Was that the nasty metallic icky tasting thing?!? I don't know. I probably never will, but I don't think I'll be eating any kiwi any time soon. YUCK!

You want to know why Sundays are the worst? Here in Italy EVERYTHING closes on Sunday. You can't even find a place to eat! The train schedules are completely cut down...there's just nothing open AT ALL! The last day of Jess & I's little weekend, we ended with Nervi and Genova. Nervi was pretty sweet. We ended up walking forever, but it was so cute. When we got off th train stop we were greeted with Orange trees and the smell of the ocean. There was also a cute little pathway that went right along the water. LOVED IT! So Jess was craving Focaccia and I wanted one of those specialty coffees that I've been obsessed with over the weekend. So we started to walk to the closest train station from Nervi. Which seemed like forever. We finally arrived in Genova to the Il Mile Train Station that's just right by Simona's parents house. Well because it was Sunday we had to wait for an hour for the next train. So instead of just sitting around, we bought some Clementine's from a street vendor, sat by the water, and then had to take some jumping pictures. We took probably 40 and the people that were also sitting out there just kept looking at us, like "Oh, stupid Americans." :) That's okay though, cause we had fun. Caught our train and made it to the main stop in the middle of Genova. During the week this place is normally hopping but there were probably 3 out of 75 shops open. We treked and treked for the precious focaccia and specialty coffee. I finally found a cafe that was open and sat and drank my Nutella Caffe to my hearts delight. While I drank, J.Berg was on a mission to find focaccia. To no avail. Niente! (Nothing). Poor girl. So disappointed but what can you do? Its Sunday, and like any good Catholic would do, they close the shops. Once we made our way back to Mondovi we were greeted with about 20 Hot Air Balloons in the sky. It was pretty cool, but it was distracting to say the least, and Jess almost ran us off the road twice. HAHA...Anyway, it was a spectacular weekend. I love how its like 70 degrees in mid-January. Just plain nuts!

Jess and I had high hopes as to waking up early and making a big breakfast. Did that happen? No. Although, we did wake up pretty early in order to have an early start to the day. We left the house at 9 and headed to the market square of Sestri. This place was packed with vendors all over the place. I'm kicking myself for not buying this sweet scarf for only 3 Euros. I did however get two bracelets and a turquoise necklace for only 20 Euros. After the guy haggled the price down he asked me where I was from. I answered with Stati Uniti and he just rolled his eyes. I think he was mad he didn't charge me more after the fact. Whoopsy!



After our stroll through the market we headed to grab a cup of Joe. The coffee here in Liguaria is also out of this world. I got this awesome Niccolato which had Nutella, whipped cream and a biscotti on top. SO good! Afterwards we were going to head to the bay so I could get a better picture when Jess is like, “Let's take the Sestri walk.” I didn't really know what she was talking about, but she just starts heading down this alleyway. We make a left, and start up this red brick path that was absolutely beautiful. If I wouldn't have been with her I never would've found it. She said it was just a short walk, but an hour later we were almost to the next town of Ravi. I had no reason to complain though because the view on the walk was absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it in my life. We were walking on this path between olive groves and the rocky coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Perfecion. It's January in Italy and it is so warm. I was sweating. I might have had five layers on after leaving Prato, but still. I had to start stripping some of them off on our way. It was interesting as we made our way to this awesome view how few young people we saw. Most of the people on the trail were older Italians. Not that that's a bad thing, but at the same time it was just different from back home. I loved this trail. Everything about it. I was so glad that Jess suggested we do it because it was the highlight of the weekend. While up on the trail we came across these rock castle like ruins that Jess and I decided to climb and take pictures on. Of course. I'm pretty picture happy and when there are views like this around...I just can't help it.



After we made our way back to Sestri we were both pretty famished. We decided to walk to the train station first to see when the next train was to Manarola which is part of the five fishing villages that make up the Cinque Terre. We had about 20 minutes before the next train so we went into this little sketchy fast food restaurant and quenched our hunger. It wasn’t the best, but it was okay. On the train ride to Manarola, while Jess was in the bathroom, these three Italian guys passed me as I was eating my sandwhich on the train and one after the other says, "Buon Appetito" I don't know why but I was really freaked out. I felt like a little kid on the train because I kept asking Jess, "Is this the stop? Are we there yet?" and she'd just answer with a polite "No."


We finally made it to Manarola after about a 45 minute train ride and passing 3 of the 5 Cinque Terre villages. The train ride was absolutely gorgeous though so it went by pretty fast. The town of Manarola is so quaint and cute. It seriously is built on a cliff side. Unfortunately this year there has been a lot of flooding in the Cinque Terre but Manarola was not really affected. I took probably a million pictures of the same view, but I didn't care. That's what the delete button is for :) While we were there we met two girls from California who were just sitting by the seaside drinking some wine. We also saw the most beautiful sunset ever. I guess it had to make up for the one we saw the night before. We were there for about two hours and then we had to hop back on the train to Sestri.

Once we arrived back in Sestri we met up with J. Berg's previous host family where she had an apartment right on the bay. They owned a restaurant right on the beach as well. J. Berg really had a sweet set up this past summer. So jealous! They gave us free food and drinks which was sweet. Afterwards we went home and watched some more Housewives of Beverly Hills. It was another perfectly sweet day.

Thanks to La Befana, Jess and I were able to get off the mountain for a couple days. Her family lent her the Zom Mobile, as she calls it, and we drove down to Mondovi Friday morning to head for the seaside. I was able to go because Mattia's Nonne were in town and Simona graciously allowed me to go. We thought we'd get up early to catch the market, but half way down the mountain we realized its Friday and they only have the market on Saturdays. We felt like idiots. So instead of waiting in the sketchy train station we decided to get a brioche and coffee. SOO good. I got a cream brioche which was out of this world. We caught our 11:15 train and headed to Sestri Levante. During the year, Jess's family lives in this quaint little seaside town, and fortunately for us, they let us use their place to crash for the night. This was also my first time riding a European train. Actually any kind of train for that matter. I have ridden subways, but never a passenger train. It cost us 10.40 Euro each which wasn't too bad. You definitely couldn't drive on the Autostrada and pay gas for that cheap. We switched trains in Savona and from Savona onward we paralleled the coastline. It was absolutely beautiful. All of the colorful houses were on the left and then the Mediterranean on the right. I couldn't help but stare out the window. I put the theme song to “Chariots of Fire” on my iPod and felt like I was in a movie. It was pretty sweet.

We pulled into Sestri around 3:15 and headed straight for the bay. Of course before getting there we had to stop and get some Foccacia. If you don't know what Foccacia is, it's probably one of the best things you'll ever taste. Supposedly it started in Genova so we were right in its birth place. I got two pieces of it which were tomato and onion. YUM! Jess and I sat on the beach and ate to our hearts delight. Now this gets me to the bay. There are not enough words to describe this place. The colorful buildings, the picturesque water and the Italian lifestyle were all around. It was perfection. While we ate our little treat this random Italian man in his whitey tighties just starts swimming in the sea. Weird. After we finished, Jess and I walked up to the top of the hill and went in the courtyard of this church where we had the best view. It was breathtaking. I seriously felt like there could not be a more beautiful place on this earth. Then the wind started. In Prato Nevoso the wind has been absolutely terrible and I guess it followed Jess and I to Sestri Levante. It was blowing so hard and getting sand and dust in our eyes even with sunglasses on. We wanted to stay in the little bay area to see the sunset, but the wind just wasn't allowing it. So we started walking towards the house. We walked right next to the port though with the wind at our backs and were still able to see a pretty decent sunset.

After we high tailed it home it was time to think about food. So we walked down to this little Pizzeria where they had so many different kinds of pizza. What did I get you may ask? The usual...Margherita. It was so good, but I think I need to expand my pizza loving horizons. We ran all the way back home so our pizza wouldn't get cold. After our day of traveling, Pizza, the movie “Secret Life of Bees” and the show “Housewives of Beverly Hills”, it was a perfect ending to a most perfect day.

The actual holiday takes place on January 6th but we had the celebration on La Befana Eve. The ski school did a torch light ski with all of the kiddies down the one slope that was open. It was cool to see all these lights flickering on the mountain. I don't know how the ski instructors do it, because number one you're in the dark and number two there's like 60 inexperienced kids coming right down behind you who are either falling all over the place, or just don't know what they're even doing. J. Berg played the part of Befana this year and skied down the mountain wearing this really ugly mask. I took over watching her charge, Beatrice, for the evening. She was so cute and kept trying to ride the Milka Cows that the ski school set out. Beatrice started screaming her head off and clinging to her Dad when she saw Jess's face. It was so funny! After that we headed up to Hotel Mondole to meet up with all the other Au Pair's. They had a kids thing going on in the main lobby and then Mondole's Befana comes in. Seriously I was scared. She was walking all slowly down the stairs, hunched over and looking like death. I don't blame Beatrice for screaming and crying because if I was 4 years old I would've been running for the door too. Like I said weirdest holiday ever. When I woke up the next morning I had neither coal or candy in any of my socks. I guess Befana was just as scared of me as I was of her. :)

2011 Has been an absolutely wonderful year. I definitely can't complain. Although its been a great year, there have been negative points along the road. Last year I posted 5 things that I wanted to accomplish in 2011. They were:
1. Move out of my Hometown 2. Lose weight 3. Finish my Master’s Degree 4. Make the trek to Ireland. 5. Land a job I actually enjoy. I must say I've done pretty good. I accomplished 4 out of 5. The only one I didn't accomplish was finishing that Master's Degree. I was only three classes away, but when you feel like you're just wasting your time, well then, you might as well quit.

2011 was wonderful for many reasons. I got to go to Ireland, Italy, Bermuda, Texas and Mississippi where I saw some of the most beautiful antebellum homes. I was also able to see Britney Spears, Katy Perry, One Republic, The Legwarmer's, Josh Radin, Pete Yorn, Jason Derulo, Sara Bareilles, Jack's Mannequin, and Matt Kearney in concert. I was able to take my best friend to see Niagara Falls for the first time for July fourth which was so flippin fun. I quit my job and moved to Italy. I had some amazing times with my best gills where we ran around and jumped in fountains and had Finer Things Club. I also had a wonderful girls weekend with my family on Bald Head Island. I also got to see the show "Wicked" for the first time in Richmond which was OUT OF THIS WORLD although I kinda had crappy seats. I went White Water Rafting down the Lower Gauley which was also on my Bucket List. My favorite and most exciting thing for the year was meeting my brand new niece Raeleigh. She's probably one of my most favorite people in the world besides my Grandmother.

On New Year's Eve me and a couple of the other girls here went down to Mondovi and got supplies for dinner from La Famila. We then made dinner in my apartment which consisted of lots and lots of veggies. Two of the girls are vegetarian so that's what we decided on. I like vegetables, but I need some meat in my life! While turning on the oven, something flipped and we blew a fuse. I hit the little button to make everything return to normal and that didn't work. So I ran upstairs to try and find someone who knew what to do and I ran into Ronaldo (Simona's Dad). He came in and did the exact same thing I did. To no avail we were still in the dark. So we get some candles from upstairs and start cutting up veggies by candlelight. So romantic. Ha! After about 45 minutes in the dark Gian stops by and fixes the lights. YEAH! After dinner we got all dressed up to go and headed down to the Conga. We ended up welcoming the New Year right by the Pist in a side parking lot watching the fireworks with a beautiful view of Cuneo's lights in the valley. It was pretty sweet. AUGURI we all shouted which in Italian means "Best Wishes". I will admit that I might have stopped to pee on the side of the mountain. Hopefully no one saw me from their balconies! Yikes! :)

The Conga was having a big concert, so all four of us girls headed that way. We got into the middle of this like mash pit type thing and were jumping up and down to the music. It was pretty fun. I started getting that claustrophobic feeling though in the pit of my stomach being stuck in a wall of people. I was kinda of glad that Jess G. started feeling sick because she pulled us all out of there to get a breath of fresh air. Whew. Relief. There's been some type of terrible sickness going around Prato that consists of vomiting and diarrhea. Not fun. We ended up dancing the night away at Snow Fever and it ended up being a pretty sweet night. No complaints here.

Happy NEW YEAR! Hopefully this year will be as great as the last. I'm still working on my New Year's Resolutions for the year, but I'm not quite ready to commit to a few. We'll see. :)