Why Study Abroad Is Important - Video

After a week of break, here I am again. 
Today I show you a video about my American Year (4 years ago). I loved to study abroad and I'm trying to do it again, so I believe that studying abroad it's very important and it's worth to invest money on it, if it's possible. 
Enjoy the show.

Dopo una settimana di pausa, eccomi di nuovo.

Oggi vi mostro un video che ho realizzato sul mio anno in America (4 anni fa). Ho amato studiare all'estero e sto cercando di poterlo rifare, quindi credo che studiare all'estero sia veramente importante e valga la pena investirci del denaro, se è possibile.

Buona visione

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Museums, What A Passion! Palazzo Madama Edition

I can finally write the first post of the section "The Turinist", a mix of two words Turin and tourist. I'm very excited because I'm in love with Torino since I was a little girl and I'd like to share the places, the museum, the streets I know with who have never seen this city before or just arrived to live here. 

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Posso finalmente scrivere il primo post della rubrica "The Turinist", un neologismo creato da due parole Turin e tourist. Sono molto emozionata perchè sono innamorata di Torino da quando ero bambina e mi piacerebbe condividere i luoghi, i musei, le strade che conosco con chi non ha mai visto questa città prima oppure è appena arrivato a viverci.

 

Today I'm gonna tell you about Palazzo Madama a huge building in the center of Turin (Piazza Castello) that hosts Ancient Art collections. There are two paths to follow: the rooms and their ambiance first of all, and the works of art then. Medieval lapidary, Baroque rooms, 17th and 18th century paintings and sculptures, ceramics, ivory, goldsmith's art, textiles... The most part of the works are from the region of Piedmont. These works are displayed on 4 floors. The underground one hosts (in the outside) the Gardens where several types of Medieval and Ancient garden are shown. When you reached the 4th floor, in a corner behind a door you find an elevator that brings you up to the top of the Siege Tower to see a beautiful scenic view of Torino.

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Oggi vi parlerò di Palazzo Madama un grande edificio proprio nel centro di Torino (Piazza Castello) che ospita le collezioni del Museo Civico D'Arte Antica. Avete a disposizione due percorsi: le stanze e la loro atmosfera prima di tutto, e le opere d'arte di diversi periodi poi. Lapidario Medievale, le ambientazioni barocche, le opere del Sei e del Settecento, le ceramiche, gli avori, le oreficerie, i tessuti... La maggior parte delle opere provengono dalla regione Piemonte e dintorni. La mostra è disposta su 4 livelli. Nel piano interrato possiamo trovare all'esterno i Giardini Del Castello dove sono mostrate diverse tipologie di orti e giardini Medievali. Quando, invece, avete raggiunto il Quarto piano, in un angolo dietro ad una porta troverete un ascensore che vi porterà alla cima della Torre D'Assalto del Castello per vedere una bellissima veduta panoramica di Torino.

 

 

The "Sarà l'Italia" exhibit concluded Saturday. The reproduction of the first Italian Senate House was built for the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy, occurred last year. Many events and conferences took place here and 236.839 people visited it in 9 months.

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La mostra  "Sarà l'Italia" si è conclusa sabato. La riproduzione del primo Senato italiano è stata creata per il 150esimo Anniversario dell'Unità d'Italia, avvenuta l'anno scorso. In questo particolare spazio hanno preso parte molti eventi e conferenze; ed inoltre 236.839 persone l'anno visitato nel corso dei 9 mesi d'apertura al pubblico.

 

Unavoidable stop: Caffé Madama (First Floor). You can have few moments of relax in front of Turin specialties. Glass windows let the light come in smoothly and it remains a perfect atmosphere to share with your friends.

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Tappa inevitabile: il Caffé Madama (Primo Piano). Qui potete trovare un po' di relax di fronte alle specialità torinesi. Le vetrate lasciano entrare la luce dolcemente creando così un'atmosfera perfetta da condividere con gli amici.

 

WHAT YOU ARE WAITING FOR? DISCOVER IT!

COSA ASPETTATE? SCOPRITELA!

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Go Veg&Veg

Hello hipsters! Today I thought to you!
"Hip To Be Square" is the section dedicated to the Geek Chic philosophy or if you prefer we may say 'it's cool to be uncool'.
The subject of this odd department today is VEGETARIANISM.

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Buona sera a tutti voi, Hipster! Oggi ho pensato a voi! 

(Come potete notare la novità del giorno è che inizierò, da oggi, a scrivere sia in inglese che in italiano, così che tutti potranno seguire il blog con piacere invece di fare Harakiri con l'inglese.)

"Hip To Be Square" è la rubrica legata alla filosofia Geek Chic o se preferite potremmo tradurlo come 'è bello essere differenti'. 

L'argomento di questa insolita sezione oggi è il VEGETARIANESIMO.

I state beforehand that I'm not a vegetarian and I usually eat meat, fish and dairy products but since a dear friend of mine became vegetarian on her own accord I started to care about it. From then on many times we tried veg restaurants, veg aperitifs, veg stores and veg food (Tofu, Seitan, etc). I think it's an interesting choice to make and it always fascinates me.

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Premetto che io non sono vegetariana e di solito mangio carne, pesce e derivati del latte ma da quando una mia cara amica è diventata vegetariana per scelta ho cominciato ad interessarmi all'argomento.

Da allora molte volte capita di provare ritoranti e aperitivi vegetariani (e/o vegani), botteghe bioetiche e cibo specificatamente veg come il Tofu e il Seitan.

To be honest I wouldn't like to renounce to meat and fish for my whole life but once in a while I do my 'personal' Vegetarian Week and I try to be Veg.

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Ad essere sincera non rinuncerei a carne e pesce per tutta la vita ma di tanto in tanto faccio la mia personalissima settimana vegetariana e provo con tutte le mie forze a non mangiare carne di nessun tipo.

So, in one of these discoveries we went to a VEGAN APERITIF (6€ first drink) with sought background music (vinyl only) at IL MOSCHINO, Via Vanchiglia 2/b, it is held every Wednesday from 7.30 p.m..
The food is extraordinarily great. There's a lot of variety and you won't go away feeling hunger. The music, oh the music. I really loved that musical genre: old style, dreamy, transporting and maybe a little bit 70s.

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Quindi, in una di queste scoperte siamo andate ad un'APERITIVO VEGANO (6€ la prima consumazione) con sottofondo  musicale ricercato (solo vinili) al bar IL MOSCHINO di Via Vanchiglia 2/b, che si tiene ogni mercoledì dalle 19.30.

Il cibo è straordinariamente buono. C'è moltissima varietà e non si va via affamati. La musica, oh la musica. Mi piace proprio tanto quel genere: retrò, sognante, trasportante e forse un po' anni 70.

HIPSTERS, COULD YOU ASK FOR MORE?
PIU' HIPSTER DI COSI SI MUORE!
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London For The First Time

Today for the Travels Column, I'm gonna tell you about a short trip I did last November with my friend Flavia.
At the end of the summer Flavia and I were wondering about going somewhere in the fall but we didn't want to spend too much money. 

London was the perfect destination: it is served by Ryan Air, in the fall leaves are all colored, I had never been there before and she was already in love with London. 
We were doubtful only about the hostels and the cost of living.
We booked our flight one month and a half before leaving and the hostel only 2/3 weeks before. We found several hostels cheap enough but we chose The Warlus Waterloo even if it is not the cheapest one because it's very close to the metro station "Lamberth North" and if we wanted to walk it's near by Westminster Abbey, London Eye and Big Bang Tower. If you are thinking about going to London for the first time this is the best hostel you can book because it's simple to find and you have the chance of walking through the streets of a very nice area. Moreover, the hostel is upon an unique pub. Just few further information about it: it's clean enough, every room has personal lockers, free use of the kitchen and of the wireless.

We spent our first UK day accommodating in the hostel and looking for Maurizio, a friend of us who arrived the day before and he would have stayed a couple of months. After finding him and taking a look around Westminster Area, all together we went to dinner in a Chinese restaurant in Leicester Square where we found an all-you-can-eat buffet at 9 pounds. After no long we faint in the hostels' beds.

 

DAY 2: We walked since the early morning and we saw the House Of Parliament, Westminster Abbey (remember to do not enter if you want a low cost trip because it's very expensive the entrance fee), Buckingham Palace, Green and St. James' Park and then Harrods (You can look on the map how much we walked to see all this). For lunch, Hyde Park Corner is perfect! Many little restaurants are here, most of all there is "Pret-A-Manger" (actually you can find it everywhere) a restaurant chain that sells cheap healthy food, and it is such a pretty area, very relaxing. I noticed that people there were frenetic 24/7, they're always darting one way or another, so it's pretty difficult to find a quiet place.
The afternoon Flavia and I visited the British Museum but none of the pieces was British. A lot of ancient Greek ruins but it's a must-see of London (free entrance).

Maurizio, Flavia and I spent the evening in Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Trocadero that offer a lot of night life. And remember cinema is not an ordinary proposal but musical theater is.

DAY 3: November, 5th. Reaching the London Bridge by subway, we spend there the morning and we also visited the National Gallery. I loved the NG but just like the British Museum there are few national paintings. Worth it anyway. We had lunch in Trafalgar Square and we shortly had a look to Covent Garden (for those who love shopping it's the perfect place to stop) before coming back to the hostel, changing clothes and going up on London Eye during the celebration of Guy Fawkes Night, with fireworks. Then, we headed for Camden Town (another very good place to do some hipster and grunge shopping). Must-do in Camden Town besides shopping: eating fish and chips of course!
We ended up our third day cruising in Baker Street (just for real shopping lovers).

The last day we slowed down. We were tired and we decided to see only Notting Hill Gate for brunch and Baker Street until the moment of leaving by bus. Then, we spent the whole night in the airport and we came back to Italy. It has been such a good experience! I will come back someday because there are still many things I'd like to see.
Here it is the map and the subway map we used during our trip. You can see that I circled the most popular attractions (but I didn't see all of them).

 

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FSRR Thursday Night

Hello everybody! 
The weekend is gone, the parties are over, during Sunday you recovered from your weekend efforts but you are probably not ready for the week to begin. 
There's no need to despair, in these couple of days you can already schedule your weekend plans and smile about it!
Thursday was the International Women's Day. 
Almost every year I forget about it and a boy remembers me (usually in the morning) that there's need to celebrate. Here, I can open a debate: some girls (or women) want to party and to make some noise, some others don't like at all this day and few others just take it as it is: a celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women. 
On March 8th I often think how much women did in the past to guarantee my freedom and my independence now and how many girls and women are still living in painful and cruel situation due to their gender.
Pure curiosity:
1.The first National Women's Day was observed on 28 February 1909 in the USA
2.It isn't only the celebration of women's rights it is also of world peace
3.In the 2011 it was the 100th anniversary and Australia issued a commemorative coin
4.In the whole world it is customary for men to give flowers and small gifts

Let's talk about the event of the week now. It was already a couple of weeks that my friends and I we were talking about going to the APERICENA at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, a project of 10XPrinceLAB, and we decided that March 8 was the perfect day!
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What's APERICENA?

For those of you who are not Italian Apericena may seem a funny word. It only is something more that an aperitif and a bit less than a dinner. You grab food by yourself from the main tables and you eat while standing or sitting around not set tables. It doesn't happen in restaurants but cocktail bars or unusual places. Like this time.

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FSRR is a foundation born thanks to Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 1995. Her goal was, and still is, to enlarge the knowledge of international trends in Contemporary Art. Here it comes the idea of 10XPrinceLAB. They want to approach young people to art in a smart way, in an unusual way: dress up, drink and eat, laugh with your friends and visit the exhibit!
There was a lot of food, in quantity as much as variety, and the drinks were perfect. I really enjoyed the pizza that was yummy. The people were all well dressed and the age group was very wide (I'd say from university students to forty/fifty-year-old people); this is a good sign because if art touches more people the goal may be easily reached.
The location is awesome (I'm biased I love art and museums) and also the exhibit is interesting but I didn't like several things: there wasn't enough space to sit down for everybody (few uncomfortable big pillows on the ground), the hall and the main table were very crowded, the music was great but it was definitely too loud. On the other hand, the external side of the building is majestic and the photographers are very talented. I published here a picture of mine made by Marcello Cassano. 

In few weeks, when it will get warmer, this apericena will be the perfect place to stay with friends while listening some good music and taking a look to some good pieces of art.

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The Rapture Concert

Hello Wednesday "rubbernecks"!
On Monday 7th November after coming back from London (I will talk about that very soon) I went to Milan at Tunnel Club to see performing the indie rock/dance punk band "The Rapture".

One of my favourite.

The concert ticket cost 20€ and the location was very easy to find. 

They started at 10:30 p.m. and the show finished after only 2 hours but it was worth it.

The club was crowded but still livable.

I suggest them to anyone who didn't listen any of their songs before and to the people who already know them I recommend the live concert because the performance was excellent and the use of instruments made it vibrating.

There's one more curiosity, this band plays the theme song of the series "Misfits".

Scientists Just Like Travellers?

Hello Globetrotters!
For the first post of "News From The World" I was wondering what I could tell you to get some reactions from you. Then, while I was having dinner, on TV started a program I used to watch all the time: VOYAGER.

VOYAGER is an Italian broadcast that explains mysteries, unknown facts and unsolved issues on RAI2 Channel every Monday. This broadcast is recorded in Torino and one of their motto is 
"Until the borders of knowledge".
Here it comes the idea.
Scientists and travellers have many features in common: usually they are both dreamers, curious and you can't stop them until they got what they wanted.
Time Travel is always an important matter in scientific field but why don't we analyze it as the best journey for a traveller?
Tell me what you think after watching the video (Italian language only) or after taking a look to the story of John Titor. True or fake?

Appointment Calendar

From now on I will write no more about my American exchange program but if somebody wants to know something in particular just ask, I will be glad to be useful!
Now, I'm going to show you the topics I plan on doing weekly:

GLOBETROTTER MONDAY

Travels Column

or

News From The World

PRYING WEDNESDAY

Bright People Room

or

Hip To Be Square

or

Going Wild With Music

REVELER WEEKEND

Event Of The Week

or

The "Turinist" 

On Monday we are always sad. We have to go working/studying and the weekend seems so far away, so why don't think about travels or foreign countries where we would like to go by reading trips or tours taken in different places or odd news coming from the rest of the world?

On Wednesday we are in the linchpin of the week. We have stuff to do, business to arrange, events to join and people to see. We are charging up for the weekend and that's why we are more friendly and snoopy. 

On this special day I prepared for you three sections: the first one (Bright People Room) is about people I already know or I might encounter who are smart and brilliant; the second one (Hip To Be Square) talks about trends or society, something that used to be uncool and now it's awesome or it's going to be very popular soon; the last one is about music (Going Wild With Music), this is a very important section to me because I can share with you a song I listened lately, a concert I joined or something related to the music universe.

On the weekend we spend day and night being wild and thoughtless. We usually don't have specific plans and we just want to have fun! That's why I thought about all of you revelers and I dedicated this day to you! 

For what concerns the topic "Event of the week" I may talk about: a specific event happened during the week, a club/wine-cocktail bar/restaurant that impressed me for some reason, a personal occurrence. 

The "Turinist" is a new word that I coined blending together two words: TURIN + TOURIST. My purpose is to describe something about Torino (as museums, streets, places, fairs, exhibitions, etc.) to give the chance to the people who don't know it to discover how much Torino is beautiful.

The Reverse Culture Shock: A Personal Disorientation

Now, you are back home. You can hug your family and your friends. You can sleep in your bed. 

You come back to your old life.

But you feel something inside, it’s strange. You feel disorientated.

What is it?
It is called Reverse Culture Shock (a.k.a. "Re-entry Shock", or "own culture shock"). It may take place returning to one's home culture after growing accustomed to a new one. This results from the psychosomatic and psychological consequences of the readjustment process to the primary culture. The affected person often finds this more surprising and difficult to deal with that the original culture shock.

What kind of emotions you may be going through?

You may have a reverse homesickness-missing people and places from abroad. Boredom, insecurity, uncertainty, confusion, frustration and need for excessive sleep. Your goals or priorities changed. Feelings of alienation and of resistance toward family and friends.

Everything seems okay but deeply inside something is not right.

You may feel stuck: you don’t like the same things anymore, the most part of the people you used to know is probably not interested to understand your 

new personality, you may feel misunderstood.
Last but not least, be careful not to drop your travel tales into too many conversations. Nobody (almost) cares about your travels, so be sensitive and choose carefully who you share your experience with.

How long this disorientation last?

It depends on you.

You don’t have to think <<This will never be a problem to me.>> because it will happen anyway. You have to be wise and get ready to face family and friends before leaving the foreign country.

Moreover, there are many tricks to emerge victor:

1. Staying in touch with fellow study abroad students and sharing your re-entry experiences;
2. Get involved in cultural or international activities in your community or on your home campus;
3. Stay connected to the world through global news networks and newspapers with an international/global focus;
4. Journal your thoughts and emotions;
5. Share your experience through writing contests, photo contests, being an active alumni, etc.;
6. Plan your next abroad experience;
7. Have more than one welcome back party;
8. Be grateful to be home

To be specific Reverse culture Shock is usually a path of 4 stages that you can find here well described.

In my story, every step happened by the book.

Boredom, confusion, frustration, misunderstandings, feeling stuck…

Thankfully I had some good friends who help me out. Listening a million times my American tales, spending much time to know me better also if I was the same girl they used to appreciate, making me feel loved.

But I unavoidably changed a lot so I lost some friends and habits I had before, sometimes intentionally.

For what concerns the advises described before I realized all of them except one (#2) and I guarantee they helped me to face my new life.

IT’S NOT BETTER, IT’S NOT WORST, 

IT’S DIFFERENT.