Author: Merrin Chivers

Me and Madeline hanging out in the snow

The walk home

Snow on cars

Snow on palm trees

Getting the snow off the driveway

My front yard

Fabio making a snow angel

Yeah I’m hips deep in snow

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Kevin after shoveling snow to make a hill for Carola to slide down

Let It Snow

I was warned that it would snow a lot before I came to Northern Italy, so I brought many warm clothes with me. I actually had to buy some warm clothes before I left. I didn’t really have many warm clothes before since I’ve never really needed them. It’s always warm in Southern California. Anyways, I’ve gotten used to the cold, and as much as I miss the California sunshine and being warm all the time, the snow is a nice change. I was really excited when first saw it snow at my host family’s house in Borgo San Dalmazzo. 

It was amazing to see how much it had snowed. Everything was covered in white, and to me, going outside in the snow was like walking in a winter wonderland. I still get really excited when I see snow, but for everyone else, snow seems to be an annoying inconvenience. For example, it’s hard for people to dig out their cars in the snow, and it snowed so much in my area, we had 2 snow days. Snow makes going out hard, so people just stay in. 

The first time I got to play with snow in Italy, it was a sunny day, a few days after it first started snowing. After I built a snowman, I was very content. 🙂 As much as I enjoyed it, I think my host cousin Fabio enjoyed himself the more than I did. He was jumping in the snow and crawling in snow tunnels. He’s a very cute kid, and he helped my build a snow man. When I stood up in the snow, it went up to my hips. My host brother Kevin was shoveling snow so he could build his baby sister Carola a hill to slide down with a sled. It was a very nice gesture and it took a lot of work to build since there was so much snow. 

Overall, I’m enjoying the weather here because it’s different, and I like different. I think everyone should have the experience of living somewhere other than their home. It opens your mind to new things and different ways of living. 

Outside the Castello di Racconigi

This is what the castle looks like inside

Wall sculptures of animals that were hunted

Hercules

Statue of Emmanuel Philibert, the Prince of Carignano

My favorite sculpture in the whole castle

Family Tree

Welcome to my crib

Feasting like a king

I visited the Castello Di Racconigi with my host family, Zia Roberta (my host aunt), Fabio ( my host cousin), and Kevin ( my host brother). It’s one of the most famous castles in the Piedmont region of Italy. It took about an hour to get there from Borgo San Dalmazzo, and it was definitely worth the drive. When we got there, my host aunt thanked me for coming to stay with her family because it gave her a good excuse to visit the castle again. She had not seen it in many years. 

We were a bit early for the tour, so we ended up visiting a bird park nearby. Along the way we saw many trees. My host brother told me they were planted there by the orders of Mussolini. I like learning historical facts like this. Anyways, the bird park was nice. There were many cicogna (storks) and colorful ducks. There was also a lovely view of the alps from the bird park, and there were many professional photographers taking pictures of the birds in the scenery. I keep in contact with the professors from my university, and one of them told me to bring a pair of binoculars to Italy with me to go “birding”. After visiting the bird park, I finally understood what he meant. 

We went back to the castle right before the tour was about to start. I had to have my host brother translate since the tour was being given in Italian. We went to several different areas of the castle that were open to visitors. The hall at the main entrance was filled with Greek columns and wall sculptures of Hercules, knights, and animals that were hunted. It was beautiful and different because Hercules and knights totally do not belong in the same time period. It was an interesting combination of neoclassical and medieval architecture. 

We saw many portraits and statues and busts around the castle. The most notable being the statue of Emmanuel Philibert, the Prince of Carignano. There was a family tree of the Royal House of Savoy, one of the oldest royal families in the world. We were able to walk through some of the bedrooms in the castle, and they were all very beautiful and ornate. The kitchen was pretty grand and there were several sections. The area where they killed the animals before cooking them, the area where they prepared the food, the area where they stored it, the freezer, and the meat box, which was interesting to me because it was behind locked behind bars. The tour guide explained that it was because meat was very expensive and they wanted to make sure no one stole it. 

Overall it was a really great day. I saw my first castle in Europe and I got to spend time with my host family. 

Catching up on lots of blog posts today since I finally have time. I will try to update everything that has happened since my last update because it may be a while until I have time to blog again.

On another note, I’m so guilty of being a tourist. I take tons of pictures everywhere I go. I can’t help it. I want to remember every detail, and pictures help me recall places and events. Every picture I take contains a memory, and memories are the best souvenirs. 🙂

School Trip to Torino

Historic Arches

The River Po

Mole Antonelliana

RAI

Reporter for a day

Museo Nazionale Dell’Automobile

Ferrari

History of Racing

Beautiful Car

School Trip to Torino 

I went on a school trip to Turino with my host brother’s class. I’m an assistant teacher at the high school he goes to. There are 5 years in Italian high school, and he’s in his 4th year. The trip was lots of fun. It took about an hour to get to Turino from the school by bus, and it was an entertaining ride since the students were singing on the way to our destination.

Our first stop was RAI – Radio Televisione Italiana. It’s basically a television studio where they film many of the programs for Italian TV. We were given a behind the scenes tour of the different sets. They were actually in the middle of filming a few programs and we got to watch them film. It was pretty cool because we got to get up close and personal with some of the actors and actresses from the programs.

After RAI, we had about an hour for lunch, so we go kabobs. I was excited since it was my first time not eating Italian food in Italy. I love Italian food, but miss the food diversity in California. I had visited Guido Castagna, an amazing chocolate shop, in Torino with Art the weekend before, and since I was in the city, I had to go back and get some chocolates. These chocolates won the gold international chocolate award, and they were sooo delicious.

Our next stop was the Museo Nazionale Dell’Automobile. It’s basically a car museum. I really enjoyed it since we had no tour guide and there was almost no one else in the museum. We were free to roam around, and it was just fun to look at nice cars. There were a lot of older cars like the Model T, classic Mercedes, Cadillacs, Fiats, Ferraris and more. There were quite a few exhibits on the history of cars and racing. Overall it was cool and I liked it better than RAI.

We had about a half an hour before we had to get back on the bus, so the students were teaching me a few words in Italian. Still trying to learn the language, but I find myself being confused because it’s so similar to French and Spanish. I can’t seem to get the intonation of the vowels right, but I’m working on it. I also have trouble conjugating the verbs. I think that’s the hardest part along with masculine and feminine agreement.

Anyways, the students found out I could sing and asked me to sing a few songs for them on the bus. It was cool since I love music, and I got to find out what American songs were popular in Italy. At one point they were singing the Italian version of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. They changed the lyrics from “I love you baby” to “I love Veronica”, and I wish I had got it on video because it was a great memory.

Until next time…ciao!

Me, my host brother, and my students

Buona Fortuna (Good Luck)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Hi Ho Hi Ho

Dragons and Boobies

The float and the clock tower

Penguin Float

My host brother, my host brother’s dad’s girlfriend, and me

My host brother’s dad and his girlfriend

Host family friends

My First Carnevale Experience

I went to Carnevale in Dronero with my host brother, his dad, and his dad’s girl friend. It was a really amazing experience for me because it was my first Carnevale. We don’t celebrate Carnevale in America. It’s a cultural thing I suppose. Before this trip, I thought Carnevale was just associated with Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday as we say in America, but it’s actually a celebration that lasts about a month starting in mid January and lasting until mid February. Each city will have its own Carnevale parade and festival. The first one in my area being in Dronero.

People dressed up in costumes and it was quite nice to watch the different floats in the parade. Some of the people marching in the parade were my students. My students would recognize me and greet me by throwing confetti a me. There was confetti EVERYWHERE. It was fun but a difficult to get off my clothes and hair after the parade was over.

I feel like more people know each other in Italy. Since the cities and towns are smaller, it feels like everyone is familiar with everyone else. It’s a cool thing to be able to go to a town where everyone knows who you are. It’s very different from America. There is much more anonymity in the United States. For example, there are so many people living in my hometown of Fullerton, California that it would be impossible to know everyone.

Anyways, I can’t wait to go to Carnevale in Venice. I’m so excited since there’s no school because of the holiday. I will also be taking a few additional days off to go to the cities of Bologna and Modena to visit some of my host family’s relatives. I’m glad that there are more holidays in Italy. It’s a nice change from having only 2 weeks off work a year. Until I find time to update my blog again…

Ciao!

Parco Della Resistenza

Ai Caduti “To The Fallen”

Hanging out in Torino with the Greenheart Travel crew. 🙂

20 Euros for one night. Not bad if you ask me.

One of the churches Art and I visited in Torino

Museo Egizio Torino

Museo Egizio Torino

During one of my longer breaks, I went to see the Parco Della Resistenza. It’s a short walk from my school, maybe only 5 minutes away. A teacher at the school had told me that there was a monument at the park that symbolized the resistance against the Fascist government during WWII. I must say that the monument embodies the feeling of a resistance. It’s dynamic and there’s a sense of beauty in the struggle, order in the midst of chaos. 

Another monument I visited was in the comune of Borgo San Dalmazzo, the area in which I am living for the first 2 months in Italy. It says “Ai Caduti” which means “to the fallen”. It’s a tribute to the soldiers that fought in the war, a solemn reminder of the lives lost in battle. To me this monument was stricking because I’m not used to seeing historical landmarks or sites like this, especially ones from WWII. California just doesn’t have the same history as Europe. It’s very modern apart from some of the old missions.

On Friday afternoon I went to visit my friends from the Greenheart Travel program in Torino. It was raining when I left Cuneo, and it was my first time taking the train alone. I met two English speakers at the train station who were very friendly. Both of them were students at a University in Torino, and one was also an English teacher. It was nice to talk to them on the way to Torino. Since my stop was at Porta Susa, it took almost 2 hours by train. I had to switch trains in between, and I had a 20 minute stop over.

I met up with Molly and Mario when I arrived in Torino. We got gelato while waiting for everyone else, and it was amazing. I don’t think I can ever get tired of gelato. We went walking around the city as more people arrived, and we met up with the rest of the group at a place called La Drogheria for Apericena, which is a mix between Aperitivo and dinner and drinks. It was nice being able to spend time with the crew, and I enjoyed meeting and hanging out with their host siblings. There was a guy there celebrating his 18th birthday, so our group sang happy birthday to him in English. After a few hours, we went to an absinthe bar for a few drinks. We almost ended up going to the discoteca, but we left because we were tired, a girl in the group was sick, and it was cold and wet from the rain. 

I ended up spending the night in Torino because I wanted more time to explore the next day. Also because the trip is a bit long, I wanted to make the most of my time there. The hotel I stayed at was only 20 Euros a night. If only a decent hotel in America could be this cheap. 

The next day, I wandered the streets of Turin with Art before meeting up with Molly and Mario. We stumbled upon a church and took a few pictures there. The architecture of the churches in Italy is so beautiful. It’s unreal. I’m still amazed every time I go. It’s interesting because the people here are so used to historic buildings. They are unfazed because they see them all the time. I wonder if they would be amazed at how modern the United States is. Perhaps they would be, just because it’s different than what they are used to. We were lucky because the caretaker of the church closed the gates as we were leaving. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Art and I talked about how everything happens for a reason. I feel like this whole trip was fate. For me being able to travel and to teach is a dream come true, a total life changing experience or at least I feel like it is. I’m a bit of a romantic in that sense. I’d like to believe in destiny. That every experience shapes you, teaches you something and brings you closer to being the person you are meant to be. But I digress … .

Anyways, we met up with Molly and Mario at the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum). This museum has the second largest collection of Egyptian artifacts. The largest being the Egyptian museum in Cairo. My host brother highly recommended it, so I had to see it. The museum really had an extensive collection of statues, mummies, and ancient artifacts. I really enjoyed reading about ancient Egyptian history while I was there. 

After finishing up at the museum, we went to eat at a restaurant called Eataly for lunch. It was delicious. Me and Art shared a big plate of salumi and fromaggio. We had carne crude for the first time. It’s a famous dish in the Piedmont region of Italy, and it’s basically raw ground beef served with a little olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper. I gotta say I really liked it. It tasted like sushi only with beef instead of fish. The quality of meat is so much better in Italy. It’s definitely something I will miss. ‘

That’s all for now. More coming up soon. Ciao!

ITC Bonelli (aka the High School I am teaching at)

Outside view of the school

Apperitivo with the English teachers 🙂

Ottocento (800)

The Via Roma in Cuneo is beautiful at night

Amazing architecture everywhere

My beautiful host mom

Mercato

Shopping in Cuneo

My host brother 🙂

My First Week of Teaching and Exploring Cuneo 

The high school I am teaching at is called Instituto Technico Commerciale (ITC) Bonelli. It is a high school specializing in languages and economics. I think the school is a good fit for me because I have experience in business. In Italy, there are three different types of high schools Liceo, Instituto Technico, and Instiuto Professionale. 14 year olds get to choose which type of high school they go to based on what type of career path they would like to pursue. For example, a Liceo may focus on subjects like “the Classics”, humanities, science, or art; an Instituto Technico, may on subjects like the economy, humanities, administration, law, technology, tourism; and an Instituto Professionale may focus on subjects like engineering, agriculture, gastronomy, technical assistance, handicrafts. 

ITC Bonelli is located in a city called Cuneo. If you look Cuneo, Italy on a map, you will actually see that Cuneo is also the name of the comune. It’s a beautiful city and I will probably be posting many pictures of it so stay tuned. The city is famous for Cuneese al rum, rum chocolates that were so good Hemingway came to Cuneo just for them. I found the chocolates to be good but strong. 

My classes have been good so far. The students seem very interested in learning about American culture, and they seem excited to have a native English speaker from America teaching them. I’ve learned that American music, movies, and television seem to be extremely popular in Italy. If I turn on the radio for example, there will be songs in both Italian and English. It’s nice to hear American music even when I’m miles away. It reminds me of home. 

On my first official day of teaching lessons, I went to Ottocento (Eight Hundred) for aperitivo with the English teachers a my school. We met up at the school and walked over to where the restaurant/bar was located. On the way we saw the Via Roma, which is one of the main streets in Cuneo. It’s very beautiful at night because the street is decorated with lights. It was nice to walk around and have aperitivo with the teachers because we got to know each other. Aperitivo includes appetizers and a drink. For example, we had many types of salumi (salted meats), olives, formaggio (cheese), frittata and bread. I also had a sweet red wine. As I’ve said before, the food here is amazing. 

During my first week, I also went to the Mercato (market) in Cuneo’s town square. It was a very large market with many vendors, and everything seemed like it was on sale. This is the season in Italy where everything is on sale. I came at a good time. My host mother bought me a scarf and some slippers at the market. She is very kind. I really like my host family. They have been very welcoming. 

I feel like there is still so much to write about and I am a bit behind on my posts. I’ll try to update the blog again soon, but in the meantime follow me on Facebook to see pictures from my travels. After all, they say pictures are worth a thousand words. 

At the entrance of Ciciu del Villar

Chilling with my host brother. 🙂

My host brother and his father. 🙂

Mushroom rocks!

About Ciciu Del Villar

The view from the top of the hill.

My first gelato in Italy! 🙂

My first football game. I went to see my host brother play. His team won! 🙂

My first week in Italy

It’s been a great first week in Italy. I’ve been tired, but I find it hard to sleep sometimes. Maybe it’s because I’m still so excited to be in Italy.

Last Wednesday I flew from Los Angeles to New York where I met many people from the Greenheart Travel crew. My first flight was 5 hours. I found it hard to rest on the plane because I was so anxious. I was able to sleep for a few hours on my second flight from New York to Milan. The second flight was 7 hours. The airline Emirates was very nice, and the flight was more enjoyable better because I sat near people I knew and talked to them during the flight. I sat next to a fellow teacher who’s name is Mario. He is an Italian from Canada and we spoke about the times he visited his family in Italy. We met an American girl who had previously served as an Au Pair and was going back to in Milan to become an Au Pair for another family. She gave us some good advice about getting around in Italy for example using blablacar to find a ride if we needed to go somewhere. 

When we arrived in Milan Malpensa, we met with the rest of the Greenheart Travel volunteers. Some of them were from Canada and Australia. It was nice finally meeting everyone in person. We had been talking on Facebook for weeks, so it was nice to put faces to names. We took a bus “pullman” over to a Hostel in Turin. It took about 2 hours, and I was able to fall asleep on the bus. 

After settling into the hostel with my two roommates, Madeline and Tracey, we took a walk around Turin and had dinner. We saw some of the Luci d’Artista, Lights designed by different artists. We also passed by the Egyptian museum, the Mole Antonelliana, and the beautiful Piazzas. We had some time to ourselves to explore Turin and some of the girls and I went to a Bar and got cappuccinos. 🙂 Bars in Italy serve espresso, “cafe” not alcohol like bars in America. The espresso here is amazing. I don’t think I can go back to drinking regular coffee. I love how elegant and historic the city is. There are many old buildings and statues, which I am not used to in California. Being in Italy feels like a sweet dream, and I don’t want to wake up any time soon. 

We ate at a pizzeria, and it was so much better than the pizza in America. No comparison. Everyone got their own pizza. Although every bite was delicious, I couldn’t finish the entire pizza since I’m not used to eating such large portions. The wine and the desert were great. The panna cotta was heavenly. I don’t know how I’ll go back to eating American food. I may change my diet and cook more instead of going out so much when I return to the states. By the time dinner was over, we were all very tired. We took a bus back to the hostel and I slept very well that night up until 6:00 in the morning when I woke up because it was freezing. We discovered later that we had a heater, but we didn’t know there was one and we didn’t know how to turn it on.

We had orientation the next morning where they informed us about what we should expect as a teacher’s assistant. The WEP program coordinators talked about the cultural differences, as well as our responsibilities as student teachers, and the procedures in case something happens to us over here. At the end of orientation we finally met our host families. My host brother, host mother, and teacher went to pick me up. The program coordinators gave us flowers to give to our host families. It felt like we were all getting adopted that day, and in a sense we were. 

My host family is very warm and friendly. I have two host brothers and a host sister who is only one year old. Only my oldest host brother speaks English. I am just starting to learn Italian, but I can speak French. It helps that my host family knows a little French. 

During the weekend, my host brother and I went to the Riserva Naturale Ciciu Del Villar. It’s a nature reserve with natural rock formations shaped like mushrooms. We did a short hike and saw great views of the mountains. It was breathtaking. After the hike, we went to a Bar. It was hot, so I had gelato. My first gelato in Italy. It was nocciola hazelnut flavor, my favorite. It’s the simple things like good gelato that make me the happiest. Perhaps I’m just easy to please. 

After the Bar, we went to get fresh meat to barbecue. Dinner that night was amazing. The main dish was wild boar. My host brother and his dad cooked. I tried different types of wine that night and everything was good. One alcoholic beverage I tried was homemade with alcohol, sugar, and fresh herbs from the mountain. It’s supposed to help with digestion. 

On another note, in Italy, you can actually see all the starts at night. I don’t think I’ve ever seem them this bright. Since California has so many lights it’s hard to see the stars. 

The next day I saw my first “football” match. My youngest host brother is an athlete and we went to go see his game in Carmagnola. It was fun to watch him play since I’ve never seen a football match before and the audience seemed very enthusiastic about the game. His team won! I feel like my host brother looks like a mini Christiano Ronaldo. 

We went to visit my host grandparents after the match. It was great to meet them. They talked to me about Piedmontese, which is the dialect of Piedmont. It’s similar to French, which I like because I speak French and it’s easier for me to understand. My host grandfather talked about how he visited the United States and went to San Diego, Sacramento, and Las Vegas when he was younger. I enjoyed listening to them speak. It made me miss my grandparents. The food we had for dinner was great. My favorite was the homemade pasta with a creamy meat sauce and the gelato of course.

There is a 9 hour time difference, and I’m still getting used to it mostly because when I call my family and my boyfriend during the afternoon in Italy, it is morning in the states. I’ll keep you updated on how school is going soon! 

Having dinner with the Greenheart Tavel crew

Luci D’Artista

Planets, Starts, and Moons light up the sky.

Here is my room in Borgo San Dalmazzo. I like my room very much and I’m blessed to have my own floor. There is a bathroom, kitchen, living room, piano, and large dining table on my floor.

I got a very inexpensive Italian cell phone plan. Wasn’t able to unlock my phone, but my host mother was kind enough to loan me one and pay for the 3 month service.

Espresso all day everyday.

Greenheart Travel Orientation in Turin. Getting ready to meet our host families. It felt like we were all getting ready to be adopted, and in a sense we were.

About to give a rose to my host mother.