A Better Italy

January 29, 2007

On Friday, Ben and I took the train to Torino. It is a great city and much more tourist friendly than Milan. The city, first of all, is set up like a grid, which always makes thing easier. The buildings are clean and bright. It's a pretty big city and you can see the mountains and hills from it. When we arrived, we walked around and realized that while we were there, it was the Winter University Games (like a university level Olympics). So there was tons of stuff going on and we went to an outdoor concert that night. Also, there at this time was a light art show going on around the whole city. So on each major street, there were different designed lights covering each block. We went to the big Egyptian museum there, which has one of the biggest collections in the world. It was very well done and we saw huge statues, human mummies and mummified cats and crocodiles. Torino just had a relaxed, but orderly vibe and I enjoyed it very much.
After that we took the train to Aosta, which is north of Torino on the border of Switzerland, in the Italian Alps. The train ride was beautiful the whole way as we watched the rugged landscape become snow capped mountains. The town was very nice and full of Roman ruins, which was neat to see. They were having a local festival that day and we saw lots of wood workers selling their furniture designs and also a huge tent of cheese, chocolate, wine and grappa. It was great to see parts of Italy that we prefer to Milan and to appreciate as an observer, rather than trying to integrate into a culture that is so different than our own.
This month has seemed so long, and I am glad to be moving into February.

2007 Begins

January 17, 2007

Well, the new year is here. And what has it brought us??
Firstly, it has brought us to say goodbye to Michelle and Melody, which set me into a couple days of sadness.
But then it brought us our friend Daniel to us from New York for men's fashion week. He has been for castings for the runway shows and we have been so blessed to have another visitor from home. He has been staying with us and making fast friends with Kato. He'll leave this weekend for Hamburg and Paris, and then be back with us at the end of the month.

Secondly, Ben got to do some great cycling in the first week of January (see pictures above). They rode to a place around Bellagio (near Lake Como) where there is a church dedicated to the patron saint of cycling. He had a great time with his friends, Patrizio and Jorge.
Since then, he's started school again, and is happy to find that he has 2 American professors, which seem to have it together. His classes this term include, International Business Law, Business Ethics, Managing People, and Corporate Finance.

Also, this month, I, Melissa, have been dancing everyday with a modern dance company called Corte Sconta. They invited me in December to take company class with them and I started to do that. This week, they invited me to start learning some choreography. They said that they don't have any contracts open right now, but the future is open. So, there is a possibility that I may get to perform while I am here. That was very encouraging, but in reality, so far, working with Italians is such a pain and the language barrier is awkward. But I am grateful to have this opportunity.

The one thing that 2007 hasn't brought has been letters. Our mailbox has been empty, except for one awesome letter from my Mimi. So please send us a letter or a card or something, please. Because we miss our friends and our family a lot and knowing you care means a lot to us.