Day 12 – Saturday August 21st

Today is my epic travel to day to Venice. I got up at 7:00, mildly hungover, I got back last night around 4:00. I finished packing and then Fabi dropped me off at the bus station. I took a bus to Modena and Umberto picked me up on the other end. He took me to their house, with Greta and ChiChi, and we had tuna spaghetti. I felt a tad homesick being with a family and not knowing any Italian. It was the first wave I’ve felt so far. After lunch, Umberto took me to the train station and rode with me to Bologna where I had to transfer trains. We found my new train and he said goodbye. I then rode the train to Venezia Santa Lucia train stop.

Once we arrive I grab my bags and start walking towards my hotel. I should have printed a map but I didn’t and I ended up going to the wrong way out of the train station. After walking around for a half hour I found an info desk – she said that I just go to the right of that white building (the one I can’t see) and then go over a bridge and go left and I should be there. Yeah right, It took me another hour to get to my hotel. I’m sweating like a banchee with jeans and a cardigan on, carrying heavy ass bags. I’m walking up the stairs across a canal and an Italian man asks to grab my bags – like way to go Jillian – I say yes, and then he asks me for money DUH. I’m looking for some money and thinking the whole time how I’m about to get pick pocketed or robbed or something, but I give him 1 euro and move on. Could I BE any more naive?

I get to my hotel and press the doorbell, the door clicks and I walk into this walkway with even more stairs. I leave my bags at the bottom and climb the stairs, check in and grab my bags, strip off all my clothes and lay down on the bed. I was overheating. I unpacked my purse, finding a little green stowaway. I was carrying around a glass liter bottle of Heinekin all day without realizing. I'm just having major issues today. I watched bbc cnn on phone applications and then on google, and fell asleep until 7:30 the next morning.

Day 11 – Friday August 20th

Today we woke up at 10:30 and packed. Its my last day in Italy with the Galli’s! Matteo is coming over for lunch at 1:00. Tomorrow I get on a bus for Modena, get picked up in Modena by Umberto and then I’m having lunch with him and Chichi and great. After lunch they’re taking me to the train station so I can grab a train to Bologna with Umberto and then transfer in Bologna onto a train for Venice. I should get into Venice around 6:00 and I booked an extra night on the hotel so I’ll be there. I’m hoping I can be independent and grab dinner and stuff by myself but we’ll see. Then I’ll catch up on my blogging and everything and sleep. My mom arrives on Sunday at 10:00 so hopefully we’ll get some coffee or something and wait for Allyson and Denise to arrive around 3:00. I’m so excited! Interesting fact, pieve used to be a lake – hence pievepelago – it dried up and then a town was built. We went to lunch a town near flimalbo with Matteo, I think it was the best meal I’ve had so far. I had gnocchi with mountain herbs and risotto with mountain herbs, and also had this creamy stuff pasta lasagna thing. It was the best meal thus far.

We went to Flimalbo after lunch and walked around the flee markets. When we got home, Tat and I went to the Internet café and Matteo brought over Olivia. We went to visit Matte and then hung out. Tat and I bough tomatoes, mozerella and breasticks for dinner, we got ready and then went out with Matteo and Matte to have drinks. We went to the new bar and ordered mojitios, and ended up getting home around 4:00, it was a fun last night in Pieve!

Day 10 – Thursday August 19th

We woke up at 12:00, ate lunch with chichi and umberto – we had spicy pasta with pancetta – called matricana. After lunch we went to the fume and I played around on the rocks, fell in and got soaked but it was fun. After that we went up to the internet café and went shopping – not allowed to touch anything. Tat wanted jeans so we looked for some. We got ready, after we bought some beers, then matteo and paqia picked us up and we headed to riolunato to eat pizza at Margharitas house with serena and matte and Fabio. We had pizza with pancetta and patate fritte, which is French fries, a pizza with mushroom and a pizza with proscuito. We then went up to the bar up the hill and hung out until we headed to the piscine back in Pieve to meet up with Tasso – Matteo’s friend - and hang out. It was cold so we left early and went to bed.

Day 9 – Wednesday August 18th

Today was mushroom day. I ate mushrooms at lunch, 2 kinds – porccino and another mushroom sauce with pasta. Matteo picked us up and we went to visit Matte at Il Mulinaccio. We grabbed an apertive and then headed out for the night. We drove forever through the mountains, past Pavullo to Valus (or something) to eat dinner at a restaurant known for having the best mushrooms. We started with polenta con ragu, two different breads with mushrooms sauces, then we had tortellini with mushrooms, gnocchi with mushrooms, fried mushrooms, grilled mushrooms, grilled meat and boiled meet with sauce, then we had mascarpone and drinks. We tried Mirtillino, a raspberry drink, grappa, and limoncello. After drinking, we went back to Margharita’s and hung out. At like 4:00 Matteo brought us home and we went to bed.

Day 8 – Tuesday August 17th

We had lunch with Tat’s Uncle Mark and his five kiddies. After lunch of mashed potatoes, meat, peas and gelato, and after Tat and Matteo talked again, we went to the Lake on Monte Cimone to meet his friends. We sat around for a bit and then headed back so we could all get ready. We got ready and Tat and I went to Il Mulinaccio and had veggie pizza and French fries and a spritz. Then Tat’s dad drove us to Riolunato – where Matteo and his friends have houses - and we hung out at Margharita’s. Then we decided to come back to Pieve and to go the piscina. We tried shots of mint vodka and had some rhuma di coca’s. We went to bed early tonight – around 1:30.

Day 7 – Monday August 16th

We went to the market today. After the market we went and had lunch at her grandma’s house with her mom, grandpa and her uncle Mark’s mother in law. We had polenta with mushrooms that her grandma’s friend had found earlier. I had a lot of mushrooms. Matteo picked us up and we went to Margharita’s for an aperitve. Then we drove to the neighboring town of Costella to go to Matte’s house and to a festival in town. Every town in Italy has a saint who represents the town, and they have festivals in honor of the saint. We went to their festival. We got to here a classic Italian band, sounded a bit like polka or like an Italian band stuck in the 80’s, even the performer’s clothes were silly. We ordered pasta fritte with proscuito. It’s funny that their fast food is like polenta and meet and pasta fritte and cristintine. I ended up drinking a ton of beers and spent the night talked to some of Matteo’s friends – Kino and his girlfriend Alicia – all night. We ended up getting home around 5:00 – a very long night.

Day 6 – Sunday August 15th

Today is Fair Augusto or fair of August. It happens over the weekend. Tat’s Mom told me that it is the celebration of the ascension of the Madonna. They celebrate by having a procession through town, like a parade, and line the street with candles and have decorative windows and such. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to bad weather.

We took a little walk/shopped around town for a bit. The stores are just not really my style. Some stuff is cute, but a lot of it is a bit too kitschy for me. Her cousin Melissa wears a lot of glittery tee shirts with Disney characters and such on them. It’s different than I would have imagined. They have a ton of jeans, all skinny and some of them are all right but most of them have a different look to them even though they’re 80+ euros. The shoes are pretty typical too. Some of the tennis shoes are cute in a European sort of way.

At 1:00 we had lunch with everyone. It was a special lunch because ChiChi, Umberto, Melissa, Sergio, and Greta are all leaving to go back to Modena and it is feraugusto. We started off the meal with tortellini, which traditionally is made stuffed with meats, not cheese like in America, in broth. Tat’s aunt – Zia – Lucana – made each tortellini by hand and made the broth out of the meatloaf drippings and such. It was very good. After soup we had meat; I had some meatloaf, some other type of beef and then I tried Zomboni – which is bratwurst type mixed meat. It is very gelatinous and cased in fat. I had to try it but I wouldn’t eat it again. It just helped solidify my theory that America is not fat due solely to food consumption, but to lifestyle. We’re lazy and entitled and don’t walk and don’t care. We also had salsa verde, mashed potatoes, pepperonato, which is a mixture of yellow, red and green peppers with some juices. There was also homemade mayonnaise, which they eat by the spoonful.

After lunch Tat and I walked around and she showed me some of the town and then we sat in the park. Tomorrow is the marcato. The town closes down from 1:00-4:00 for a break time, known as siesta in Spain, is a time for them to rest after lunch and slowdown and enjoy life. The market subsequently closes down at 1:00 too but for good. I really have learned how much music is an international thing. They play American music all the time. Greta was signing and humming Mamma Mia all through Lunch and she’s 6. It is funny to be walking around and hear people singing “Hey Soul Sister” but not know exactly what they are saying or understand maybe. It really shows you how Music is an American thing that the world had adopted to a degree, we have yet to see a universal non-English singer/star.