Kevin was a great host, he showed us all around Cremona the city he is teaching in, and then even to Parma another larger city a short train ride away. Our first night there we were able to experience aperitivo. So the Italians do the same thing as the Spanish they have this crazy siesta aka "nap time" for like 3 hours in the middle of the day, I might have already said this but they do it because in the summer it gets too hot to be outside or something. Anyway aperitivo is like happy hour where if you go and buy a drink (we had alot of wine) it comes with some kind of snack/appitizer. The snack is usually olives, chips, bread, veggies or something like that. It was pretty awesome cause everyone comes out. We went to this plaza sat and had a few drinks then headed to the bars to see some locals. We walked around grabbed some gilato and went home. This was what most of our nights were like since the place where we were getting wine was also the best place to sit and get wi fi for the internet. On the day we went to Parma the weather was pretty nice (compared to what we were used to in Berlin) it was a Sunday and we spent the day exploring this city, viewing churches, downtown, and ocne again aperitivo. The next few days were pretty much the same, relaxing, washing clothes oh and lots and lots of rummy. We probably played rummy like 1000 times I am aweful at the game and lost all the time. We also enjoyed playing rummy and listening to MTV which was one of like 10 channels Kevin got. It was American MTV obviously but only dubbed in italian. Some of the music videos were in English (most of them actually) we heard a great deal of "Sexy Bitch" Akon and DAvid Guetto, Mika an english singer.... then some Madonna, lots of blackeyed peas "tonihgts gunna be a good night.. that song". There were some Italian singers and spanish singers thrown in, along with Miley Cyrus and Jay-Z. I also enjoyed a ton of bread, crackers, and bre while I was there. We were continually shocked at how cheap the grocery stores were. Twice I went and mentally added up what I had thinking it was about 40 euro and it came out to be 18 euro. No joke.
Lets see... Oh I almost forgot, while in Cremona we went to dinner (twice) at the home of the Principle/friend of Kevins school he is teaching at. His name is Gabriella (sp) and was really a great guy. He invited us to dinner and also brought some veggies over on another occation. When we were at their house it was a cultural experience in a half since we spoke no italian, they spoke hardly any english and therfore Kevin was the only one who could communicate both ways. They made us the most fabulous meals however the first night we had palenta, my favorite meal, the next time we went there we had pasta with mushrooms, then a type of cheese with squash. Which there is a funny story about the cheese, while he was cooking it he told us that its a smelly cheese when cooked but good when eaten, yet we were unable to smell it at all, they however could and thought it was aweful smelling. The best part was the desert...biscotti with a raisin liquor that you dip the biscotti into. Gabriella introduced us to a variety of desert liquors the first night we were there and so this one he got especially for our last night in Cremona.
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