Troublemakers Loose in the Streets

quotes:

Franco- "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!"

Marco- "See, absinth is good, I am a good teacher no?"

Mason- "Nothing like the old wool jacket (Colin) or two dress coats (Mason) on a hot summers day."

These past few days have been very eventful and have truly been some of the best we have had here in Torino. Our Marketing classes are very fun and casual but with a challenging curriculum. Our teacher has also informed us that next week as a class we will be touring a local chocolate factory to learn about the business. In addition to this, our next project will be the creation of an international business plan. We continue to see Peter and Brandon, although not too often as we are typically off with Marco, in school, or doing our own activities. Regardless, they are good guys who we enjoy having as roommates. We have also discovered a number of great places to enjoy some of our favorite foods including focaccia, kebabs, and of course gelato. Yesterday after class we took a tour with Marco, Marco, Marco, Franco and Caesar downtown where I purchased the “molto figo” skinny jeans as instructed by our language partner. Last night as a group, we went out to Piazza Vitorio to enjoy some of the night life with our new Italian friends and we had a fantastic time. We started off at a pub and then continued on into the night hitting up a few more bars, which also included a token shot of absinth, and the night ended in eating “the best kebabs in Torino.” Today we are visiting an art gallery with some fellow USAC students and tomorrow we will be up at the crack of dawn to go wine tasting in the Piedmont countryside.

Sick of Taking Food Pictures

Quotes:
Mason- "What do they expect us to do? take out the trash everyday?"
Marco- "French people like rabbits... and not have courage"
Brandon- "You having problems?" (Colin) "Yeah we don't know what do do with the washer" (Brandon) "Turn it on."
Mason- "A LOT OF GESTURING DOES NOT MAKE IT EASIER TO UNDERSTAND YOU!"

Today was very eventful. Woke up at 8:00 here and sat around and read mostly. Then after a brief brunch of a croissant and cappuccino for Colin and a shot of a cappuccino for myself we went to the bank to get 130 euros for the Riviera Tour and then went to the train station in Porta Nuova to attempt to buy a monthly metro pass. After a very confusing brush with the "information center" as to where to purchase the tickets, we realized time had elapsed so quickly we had to leave for class. Upon arriving at school we found that, in fact, we were not enrolled in the 12:30 pm economics class and had instead missed the 9:00 am marketing class. We then ran to the computer center to shoot an email of apology and explanation to our professor. Just afterward we ran into Marco again and proceeded to finally buy the monthly metro ticket which he assured us he would help with since our Italian was poor to say the least. After that we kicked the 'palla' around our apartment courtyard and practiced conversing in our non-native language. We then went to the grocery store again to buy more food we seem to be going through rather quickly and then returned home to make up our missed day in Marketing. Brandon and Peter came home and were in better spirits and informed us both that they were bringing over two other USAC girls to which we offered our help in cooking, cleaning, etc. to aid in their endeavors. The girls cooked pasta and a tomato-mozzarella thing which after snagging a couple bites we proceeded to summarize the day and relax leaving them be to talk. Overall good day, Brandon and Peter have booked a trip to Zermatt, Switzerland which we informed them was one our our favorite places. They seem to be ok and we have invited them to play volleyball with Marco and us tomorrow.

School Orientation and Language Partner Introduction

quotes:
Marco- "es sessio, Americans you flirt, stereotipo grasso"
Marco- "we like to cook fast food slow and enjoy it... (Colin) that doesn't make sense"
Colin- "How do you carry around so many coins, we have like 5 in America"
Marco- "cars drive on vias piccolo but not on sidewalks *car drives by* (Mason) I thought you said this is a sidewalk (Marco) Si"

Orientation was good today, we managed to talk to our professor and determine there to be about 3 tests overall with (as far as we can tell) minimal homework. The Italian riviera tour it turns out will cost and extra 130 euros approximately. We purchased a cell phone from 'Wind' but after talking to Marco Muiccio (our language partner) he stated vodaphone is the only cell phone for city use and pretty much everyone has it so we may purchase another SIM card. The purchase of that cell phone was ridiculously difficult because the cashier did not speak Spanish or English at all. Eventually after buying it and a lot of gesturing we went to another 'Wind' store to have a Romanian English speaking girl explain the phone and our minutes to us. Peter and Brandon, our roommates, feel a bit more distant which is bad because we want to be close if we are to be living in the same apartment for an extended amount of time, this is mainly because for the past couple days we have made separate plans including Colin and I today going to a caffe on our own because we were very hungry and did not want to wake them up. Colin had no problems explaining the difference in coffee between America and Italy (America= an actual beverage, Italy= shot of coffee) to Marco. Marco, as previously stated, is our language partner and is quickly becoming a personal friend to both of us as we spent the entire afternoon walking and butchering two languages together while walking, he is a very cool guy or "figo" as he stated. He offered us to come to his small town house to meet his parents and he assured us a good meal and fun time. In return we stated the same and said our apartment is yours and to meet our parents through Skype and a true American meal (a definite challenge Colin and I will have to overcome with only authentic Italian Ingredients surrounding us.) Class begins tomorrow at 12:30 and continues until 3:30. I am personally more nervous over excited as it is a senior level economics class and I am only a sophomore having never taken Econ. before.