Aftermath.

I apologise for not having posted anything for a long time. Well, I guess I had different reasons not to do so.
However, I returned to Germany on October 4th by train after a month of internship in Venice's emergency room, working in the ER and on ambulance boats.
My time in Italy was thrilling and unforgettable, but I am also happy to be back in Bonn where I have the opportunity to finish my studies now. I have been going back to Italy from time to time and am now writing my dissertation on hand hygiene in Italian hospitals. My bond to Italy will not weaken anytime soon.

Back in Bari.

The trip to Ferrara was awesome! As expected it was quite amusing to travel with Lucrezia and her parents. Her dad is a real Napoletan and could be the main character of some comic or film.
Ferrara is a cute little city, although not as beautiful and lively as Bologna, its nearby neighbour. I stayed at the place of one the numerous people I've met here in Italy, an Italian photographer/tire store owner. I went to a photo shooting at the beach with him and about every evening we went out to Ferrara's main piazza to take a "Spritz", the region's tipical drink. Lu and me also met our friend Elena from Venice and we are going to visit her again soon (from June 5th to June 13th). It's been a great trip and it's too bad that I really have to study day and night now, despite the great weather here in Bari.

A very Italian job offer. And an update.

Good story first: My neighbour (25-year-old Italian from the region, studies pharmacology) just rang my doorbell a few minutes ago (11 p.m.). "Amrei, I need to talk to you. One of my friends needs to graduate from college... can you help him?". What??? Short version: This friend, who studies mechanics, needs to pass only one more exam to graduate: an English language exam. However, for some reason he cannot/doesn't want to take the exam and asked me to go for him. How can I, the incredibly tall and blonde German girl, take an exam for a short, dark-haired Italian guy?? "No, don't worry, they don't controll IDs.". Ahahahahaha. No comment.

Update: I'm doing well. After my crusade of the Italian north and Germany, with some interventions by Eyjafjallajökull, I came back to Bari. I have two new flatmates, both Romanian guys, who are incredibly nice and interesting people. We have been partying a lot together, especially these last two weeks when we were also hosting a French guy. Already can't wait to visit them in Bacau, Romania, and Toulouse, France, once we go back home.
I've been studying some (neurology) and am looking forward to take some more exams this summer (not).
I went to two games of Bari's soccer team and am a big fan now... :-)))))))) Going to the stadium is just such a great experience.
With one of my flatmates, Mihai, I've been going to the gym... need to get fit for the soccer world championship to beat up some Italians, ahahaha, now that I'm such a big soccer fan.

Tomorrow I am re-parting: off to Ferrara with my best barese friend, Lucrezia, and her parents. 800 km by car, and the same back on thursday. Should be interesting.

Away from the virtual world.

Guys, I will be travelling to the north of Italy the next two weeks, so no more blog posts.
Will see Venice, Milan and Bologna (at least). Will tell you more and show some pics when I'm back.

p.s.: My English gets worse and worse as my Italian gets better and better.

Status report.

Just to let you know: I've been busy, moving to my new flat and enjoying life in South Italy.
Until April 8th, two of my best friends are visiting me here in Bari: Anna and Daniel. :-)
I'm sure we'll have a great time and I'm also sure that I won't have much time to write stuff.
I'm doing really well!
Talk to you soon :-)

Moving on.

This morning I passed another exam - studied day and night just to hear once again "So, what would you like to talk about?". I talked for 2 minutes about some nonsense and got the highest mark there is. Sometimes I like being treated better just because I am foreign and nordic-looking, although really it is a form of racism.

And now I am moving to a new flat! I am finally leaving my "never-there, never-talking" flatmates behind and going to a better place to live with one of my friends for a while. The new address is:

Via Emanuele de Deo 19
70126 Bari
Italy


In a few minutes will come a friend of mine with her car to move all my stuff, so talk to you later!
(Óh and I might be without internet for a couple of days)

A new approach to Italian culture.

Completely forgot to tell you, we celebrated my birthday a week ago. It was awesome, I got to listen to "Happy Birthday" in Italian, English, Spanish, Polish, and German. =)

But above all ;-) my friends gave me a wonderful gift: a voucher for Europe's crappiest (and thus cheapest) airline. No name-calling, but their concept is to sell very cheap plane tickets and charging you for every little bit of extra you might need. Example: ticket 10 Euros, credit card fee 10 Euros, one piece of claimed baggage 30 Euros, food 8 Euros, a small coke 5 euros, get a smile from the staff -priceless-, life vest under your seat! please insert 2 Euros, using the bathroom 1,50... and so on (ok, 2 of these I invented). During the flight, you don't get a single minute of silence because they permanently try to sell you all kinds of stuff (lottery tickets, food, duty free items and much more). 
Bottomline: if you don't have any baggage and can psycologically put up with the most aggravating people ever, it's a cheap way to travel.

I wasn't sure what to use my voucher on. But yesterday I was convinced by four Italian friends to go with them to Amsterdam. And I booked... with the voucher I paid almost nothing.
Amsterdam is a strange destination. I wanted to use the voucher to travel in Italy and now I am going to a place that's close to my home.
But I thought about it for a while and concluded:
1. I have never been to Amsterdam.
2. I have already travelled in Italy (quite a lot), but I have never travelled with Italians.
3. I would love to spend a few days with those 4 Italians (3 girls& 1 guy), they are my best friends here in this city (well not all 4, two of them).
4. We will probably have a place to sleep (for free). "Probably" is what is making this trip more exciting. I heard there's a lot of nice bridges in Amsterdam that we can sleep under.

So... let's go!
(We're going on April 24th)

The funniest thing.

Bari, Saturday, March 13th:
I went to the university main building because I needed to get some paperwork done. Here they have forms that you have to turn in before an exam, during an exam, and after an exam... and I was in need of a form (modello 100) that has to be turned in during and after the exam... oh well, forget about it.
I entered the building and, after two foot steps, was stopped by a scary looking security guard. "Stop!". Startled and not understanding, I looked at him... how had he discovered the bomb I was carrying with me in order to blow up the university?? No, he couldn't have, so I pretended to be a harmless student.
"I can't enter?". "What do you want?". "Well... this is the university... I'm a student...". I didn't know how to explain myself, the situation could not have been any clearer.
"Well, you cannot enter, it is Saturday.". I looked around. The entrance door was widely open, there were people walking around. "But...." I made a gesture towards the other people. "It is Saturday. Students cannot enter the university today." "I just need to get a form." "Come back monday.".

Hehe... awesome... I found a country where students are not allowed to enter their university! Might stay here for the rest of my life.

Internship part 2

I've been meaning to tell you about the other day that I spent in surgery - the day when I learnt a LOT of new cursewords. The day, when a surgery table crashed with a pregnant woman on it and an old lady (already in spinal anesthesia thus conscious but benumbed) had to wait hours for her surgery because the professor couldn't find his instruments. Oh yes, it was also the day when a woman getting a cesarean (C-section, German: Kaiserschnitt) had her bladder, well, "drilled" (they accidentally cut the bladder instead of the uterus). Oh yea, that day was quite interesting. But if I told you more about it, you might just never step foot in a hospital again - trust me, these things don't happen exclusively in Italy.

So instead I will tell you about today: the day when I learnt a new receipe for lasagna with squash and mushrooms. Food is one of the major concerns of every Italian, if not THE major concern. Thus it happened this morning that two doctors, while carrying on a quite complicated examination (during which the patient was conscious and suffering from pain), started chatting about the receipe mentioned above. A pity I don't have a video of that, but imagine it like this:

Doctor 1: "Soo... what did you have for dinner yesterday?" (Typical beginning of a conversation in Italy, by the way)
Doctor 2: "Oh, I tried this new receipe - lasagna with squash and mushrooms."
D1: "Without tomatoes?"
D2: "Yes."
D1: "But how can you make lasagna without tomatoes?"
Patient: "Oouuuuuch!"
D2: "Well, it's a very good the receipe... even without tomatoes. You should try."
Assistant: "Do you put bechamel sauce in it?"
D2: "No, I don't like bechamel sauce."
Patient: "Ouch, ouch, ouch."
Professor (comes in): "So what do you use as a liquid? You need some liquid to make lasagna."
Patient: "Is my tumor benign?"
D2: "The juice of the squad and mushrooms and some cream or milk, as you like."

and so on...


Another major concern of Italians is their cell phone. Everyone has at least three ;-) and keeps using and playing around with them all the time. In Germany, cell phones are forbidden in hospitals. In Italy, they probably don't let you enter without. At least so it seems... everyone, no matter if doctor, nurse or patient is constantly texting or calling people or they even surf the internet! Openly, without going in a separate room, in presence of their boss or a patient. All that during working hours, of course. Today one of the nurses was even taking pictures of her colleagues with her new iphone while an examination (ultrasound of a pregnant woman) was carried on. Now imagine you're the pregnant woman and someone is taking pics of the people examining you!!!

Another thing I've noticed (but if you're not a medically inclined person you might not find it exceptional): In Germany, every 2 metres there's disinfectant, and you use it... a million times a day. After every little move you make, you have to disinfect your hands. Here, I haven't seen any disinfectant. Nowhere. Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere.
I asked for it yesterday, and was shown where I could find a sink to wash my hands (there was soap, at least), but no disinfectant - and we all know washing your hands is not the same as disinfecting them. Even in surgery they don't have disinfectant (liquid), just disinfecting soap.

Everyone, keep praying that you and I will never get hospitalised in bella Italia.

How to make coffee:

"Screw the coffeemaker and place on low heat."

(Instructions in English on the package of a coffee machine).

For picture click here

Flat hunting and internship (Part 1)

These days I have been really frustrated about my flat situation, once again. My flatmates are never at home, and if they are they barely say hi. To them I am basically someone who helps lower their rent, nothing more... but after 2 years of living with 12 awesome housemates I hate to live alone (practically, that's what it's like). I need people around me to cook with, to talk to, to go out with, have fun with... so I've started to search for a new place. I know one or two people who have a free room in their flat, so maybe I'll find something soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

As you know, I started my internship at the department of gynecology. I would like to make a movie about it, it is very hard to put in words what I see and experience there every day.
First of all, it resembles a train station. All the walls of hallways and staircase are full of writings written with permanent marker. For example, you can find "Today Giulia was born! 14.05.1999". !!!! Appearantly those walls haven't seen any fresh paint in a looot of years. Another writing would be "Waited for 8 hours and still didn't see a doctor. I am in pain. 12.3.2005". Hahaha. Or "Thanks professore Primavera** 3.9.08". As I said, all the walls are full of writings. In March I might add one "Finally finished my Internship. Ciaociao! 10.03.2010".
Next (remember we're still at the hospit.. um train station) there is always a loooooot of people waiting - they even bring their own foldable camping chairs to be more comfortable!. According to the doctors, there are so many people waiting because for every patient, there are 5 relatives/friends waiting to support the patient. According to the patients, it is because you have to wait forever in order to see a doctor. (see wall writing above)
Which leads me to the next point: if you have to wait or not, depends only on your Connections (Vitamin C  we call that). If you know some doctor, you don't have to wait at all. And everyone commits it without blushing.
For example, they have different types of rooms in my department - single, double and triple rooms. In Italy, all people have the same governmental health insurance (there are NO differences or private insurances), so I was wondering according to which criteria they put people in a single or double room. The answer is simple: "If you know a doctor or professor, you will get a single room. Of course it's best to know a professor.". Italy, what can I say.
Of course there's much more to tell... check on my blog these days to know more.

**all names have been changed by the editorial staff.

What's going on...

News. After passing the psychiatry exam and celebrating that for 5 days, I will now start to study for my next exam on March 3rd. Tomorrow (monday) I will start an internship at the department of gynecology, thus the party time is over for real :(
We're having 10-15 degrees with some occasional sunny moments... I am hoping for spring to come soon. :-)

How I passed my first exam in Italian.

Today I left the house at 9:30 in the morning with one very special mission: to pass my first oral exam in Italian. Subject: psychiatry.
I hadn't really slept the night before, so I was really tired. Too tired to be nervous though, and that was a good thing. I arrived in the psychiatry building (as always a strange feeling somehow), there are always security guards at the entrance who ask you what you want. Well, I guess it's much easier to get in then to get out though. :-)
I went to the professor's office where the exam was supposed to be held: as always, the hallway was crowded, although most people appeared to be patients rather than students. Hard to say who looked more afraid.
PUNCTUALLY at 10 a.m., professore Bertolino and professoressa DeCaro arrived and asked EVERYONE (!) who had to take the exam to enter. Well, we were 4 students total. I became a little insecure here... there had been many more people at the lectures. Oh well.
So, the situation was as follows: 4 students and 2 professors in a small room. Each of the professors was asking questions at one of the students, so basically 4 people were talking at the same time. As if this wasn't enough noise, both doors of the room were widely opened and noises from the hallway and from another office added to the hectic athmosphere of the exam. For me it was really hard to concentrate. Verbalizing complicated matters in Italian is still not easy to me, and in this athmosphere it seemed impossible.
Well, this was my exam:
Professoressa DeCaro: "Ok, so tell me what you know."
I: "Uuuuuhm..."
DeCaro: "Just tell me something about clinical psychology that you have read."
I: "Ok... " I talked for 3 minutes about very simple matters and the abuse of alcohol.
DeCaro: "Ok, you can proceed to Prof. Bertolino now."

I had to wait for another girl to finish her exam with Prof. Bertolino. She seemed very hectic but talked and talked and talked... about things I didn't quite understand. In the end she broke out in tears and left the room. What had just happened? I didn't understand, but she clearly hadn't passed. Now it was my turn. Well, at least I wouldn't cry... but my respect for Prof. Bertolino had just immensely grown.


Prof. Bertolino asked questions, very simple but specific ones. (What is a hallucination? In which diseases do hallucinations occur? Describe a maniac episode and its treatment...). I could answer most of that, just with that maniac episode treatment I had some problems.
Finally: "What is the sistema di igiene mentale?" (translation would approx be "system of mental hygiene"). I had never heard of this. He started laughing. "Surely you have heard that there are not just psichiatric clinics in Italy but also a system of ambulant services?". Well I clearly hadn't and it was soooo embarrassing... this question was like asking "What is an ambulant practice?" and I couldn't answer it. Everyone in Italy would have known the answer to this question, and thus all 5 persons in the room started laughing at me.
Bertolino with a very harsh voice: "Va bene. The exam is over.". Oh my God. I failed.
He started "discussing" with DeCaro. After 10 seconds: "Okay, you get a 25". That's actually not great but quite good, 25 of 30 points is like a 2 in the German grading system.

So now I'm really happy and will celebrate big time tonight before starting to study for the next exam! :-)))

How I bought a light bulb.

My favourite store in Bari is a tiny hardware store (home improvement store, that type) right next to my house. Whenever I pass by, and I pass by daily, the owner (Sergio) is standing outside the shop, chatting with some natives who don't seem to have anything to do but pass the whole day there, talking about the weather and Barese gossip.
This is the place that I chose to buy a new light bulb after my old beloved light bulb had ceised to function. Just that I wouldn't have thought it's not quite easy after all to acquire a light bulb.
I confronted Sergio with my problem ("I would like to buy a light bulb."). He looked at me, not understanding, indicating that this was not as simple a matter as I thought.
"Of course. But where would you like to put it?". None of his business, but perplexed I said "In my room.". "In your room, hmm. And what kind of lamp are you using?" 100 questions later ("Where is that lamp? Where exactly? How high is your ceiling? Are there other lamps? What colour are the walls? .....) he excused himself. "You have to know, I don't want to intrude into your private sphere, but I have to know all this to make sure I'll sell you EXACTLY the right light bulb... there are so many different kinds!". Well, after he had  received all the desired information, he pulled out 5 light bulbs and installed each of them in a lamp so that I could decide which type of light I liked best. (Warm light, cold light.....).
I picked a light bulb and was jumping for joy when I finally left the store, after an eternity, with the object of my desires in my right hand. I immediately put it into my lamp at home and am very content with the result. I call my light bulb Willy and treat him with love and respect. Every day.

Please note.

The link to my pics is not working anymore, I set all photo albums on "private" and you can only see them if you ask me for a new link.
I hate to do this, but I found out that you can find all of my pics when googling my name.

Other than that, not much going on: cold weather (rainy, windy, grey) and spring is not in sight yet. I have been studying for exams (I now know they will be on February 10th and March 3rd) and will do an internship either at the department of neurology or gynecology in Feb/March... depends on when the Italians get that organized. I could probably get the papers signed that I need without doing any internship, but, you know... after all it will be interesting somehow I assume.

You know you have studied abroad in Italy when...

Here's a (stolen) list that points out a lot of the cultural differences... everything's true! Enjoy!

1. When you go back home, people ask you why you move your hands so much when you talk.

2. You have to explain to your friends visiting from Germany that the public transportation schedule is an "approximation".

3. You know the best place to get a gelato, and you go there. Every day.

4. You're used to having to walk home every now and then because of all the strikes. "Sciopero" was one of the first words you learned.

5. Eating spaghetti every day is no big deal

6. You're not surprised when someone tells you he ate a whole pizza by himself.
7. You have breakfast at a bar, and you're not an alcoholic.
8. A church in every corner looks just about right.
9. Taking an oral exam in a surrounded classroom with people chatting and minding their own business has just become a commonplace.
10. Seeing an "Ape Triciclomotore" doesn't shock you anymore (these are the little bike with three wheels and a booth).
11. You consider civil engineering as a part of your street, and you can't imagine how it was, back in 1992, when no noise was waking the neighbourhood.
12. Giving an exam up to 8 times just seems possible to you.
13. Talking to a teacher about a major law concept while he is talking too, on the phone, with a friend of his, telling you to keep on going by waving his hand.
14. You’re able to tell your friends, back home, if the couple you matched a few meters away from you in that street, are Italian tourists (you can sometimes even spot the clues: brand sunglasses, “Invicta” back bag, and this specific tan…).
15. You want to buy hair wax again.
16. Food has become one of your major concerns.
17. You wish you were a fair haired girl with big boobs so that all of your oral exams would go nicer.
18. “Vespa” has replaced “scooter” in your vocabulary.
19. Going in motorbike is not so much a shame as it used to.
20. Neither is yelling for your friends in the street
21. You’ve understood that the dumb smiling tanned man you’ve seen so much time on TV is in fact head of the country.
22. You’ve forgotten that there were actual shows on TV (and not only ads and naked girls)
23. You sing “Sere Nere” (di Tiziano Ferro) under the shower from time to time.
24. Wearing :

- if you’re a girl, trousers with written “Juicy” on your butt

- if you’re a boy, a t-shirt “D&G : Damela e Godi”

is fun to you.
25. Listening to RDS (“Radio Dimensione Suono: 100% Grandi Successi”) has become a pleasure.
26. You’ve understood that Italy was homeland of the eighties, and you enjoy it.

27. You realise that, back home, the “mercato” is not so cheap it was back there.

28. You want to discuss everything, back home: from the price you pay your food to the price you pay your entrance in the night club.

29. You’ve robbed a bike, driven in the wrong way, been arrested, and managed to walk away without a single fine to pay.

30. You’ve experienced driving fast, in the wrong way, downtown.

31. You have the number of a guy whose job is to steal bikes, in your phone.

32. Road signs are a joke to you, too.

33. You’ve experienced “Grappa Premium” and “Limoncello” the same night, and you didn’t throw it all up.

34. You ask for extra “mozzarella di buffala” on your pizza.

35. You realise that “alternativo” doesn’t necessarily means “penniless”.

36. You’re no longer shocked by the political view generally referred as “Partito Cristiano Communista” (Cristianist Communism).

37. You explain to your room mates that your exam is at 9 in the morning so if everything is fine, you’ll see them at around 6 in the evening. And they are not shocked.

38. You have a different relationship with the term “being late”.

39. You are surprised to see, back home, teachers on time.

40. You know someone who knows someone who can do what you want to be done.

41. It takes you 2 hours to hang up your phone (ciao... cia-ciao ! ... si, si...ciao! un bacio...cia-ciao... mmh... ciao bella... etc.)

42. It takes you less than 15 seconds to drink a burning hot espresso.

43. You're not shocked that a 60 year old wears mini skirts.

44. You're not shocked that a 6 year old wears mini skirts.

45. You're not shocked when a carabiniere hits on you.

46. You're not shocked when a carabiniere starts drinking with you at a party, while he was intially there because of the loud noise of your party.

47. You're not shocked to see a woman wearing old sweat pants, lousy shoes, a dirty shirt, and... Prada sunglasses.

48. You think French administration is efficient and prompt.
49. It physically hurts you to see someone putting ketchup in his spaghetti.

50. You think paying 9 euros for a pizza is expensive.

51. You know that crossing a street in a pedestrian crossing is only marginally safer than jaywalking.

52. You look both ways before crossing a street (even if the street is one-way).

53. You jaywalk fearlessly anyway.

54. You're used to being surrounded by old ladies with giant fur coats.

55. You had to wait over a month for Telecom to install your phone line.

56. During the wait for the phone line, you leeched the neighbor's wireless connection.

57. You end up paying for two modems.

58. When you call to complain, they either suggest you switch companies, or hang up on you after you waited on the line for 40 minutes.

59. You hate the "Questura" because they made you go, waste a whole day and pay 60 euro (if you're not European), you NEVER got your "Permesso di Soggiorno" even after staying for 6 months in Italy and realising you could've stayed in the country as an illegal resident and nobody would've given a damn anyway.

60. When you finally receive your "Permesso di Soggiorno" it has already expired

61. You visit a "negozio" between 1 and 3 pm and find it odd that they're open at that time.

62. You never wait for a seller if on the closed shop doors is written “torno subito”.

63. You've paid a "supplimento" on a train even though you checked the damn schedule 8 miliion times and bought your ticket from an actual person at a counter and asked about the supplimento.

64. You know that the expressions "Ci vediamo in giro, ci sentiamo, a dopo, a piu tardi" mean "I’ll see you when I see you".

65. You are not shocked anymore when the teacher, trying to slip away from you, asks you not to tell anybody that you have seen him before the lesson.

66. You are not shocked when you see some students breaking a drinks dispenser, trying to catch an almost fallen Coca-Cola somebody before them had already paid for.

67. You are not shocked anymore when you hear different prices for the same gelato.

68. You are nor shocked anymore when asking the way to the supermarket, you find yourself on the highway.

69. You've tried to find an open post office for a week - and failed.

70. Trying to end a contract with any company for months just seems normal.

71. You understand the concept that for every law there is an equal and contrary law.

72. You're not surprised when a tramp asks you for 5 euros to "watch" your car.

73. You pay the tramp.

74. You're not surprised there is no one watching when you get back to your car.

75. Your idea of a parking spot is definitely not the same anymore.

76. You're running late for class, and have to wait 20+ minutes for the bus. Then 3 buses show up at the same time.

77. When you don't know something, you say "boh" way more often than you used to.

Today's success.

I am back in Italy. After coming back I've tried every single day to find out when my exams are, but noone knew: no info on the internet (as always), other students didn't know, the professor's secretary didn't know, and the professor couldn't be found.
Today I finally caught him in a hallway and asked him when he intended to hold exams. He looked at me, in surprise: "Oggi.". Today. What???? The stupid exam is today and noone has been able to tell me the past weeks? Startled, I asked him if there was another date for the exam because I clearly couldn't take it today. "Sure. 12th February. But come back here and ask me again in february, just in case there should be changes." We're in Italy, so I'm pretty sure there WILL be some change... in date, time, place... who knows.

Then I went to psychiatry, my second exam. Same story here: noone has been able to tell me when the exam will be held. Today, the secretary (very nice young lady who already knows me by name hahaha) smiled widely and told me proudly: "I cannot tell you the exact date, but I found out that it will be in february!".

Great. Success. I now know exactly when my exams will be - well, this is as exact as it gets in Italy.

Comin' home for Xmas.

Going home today, returning to Bari on January 6th.
I am looking forward to two weeks without being asked "Where are you from?".
And of course I am happy to spend Christmas and New Year's at home. At the same time it's a very strange thought to leave Italy, I hope I won't forget all my Italian in those two weeks.
Probably won't write anything until January 6th.

A very merry Christmas, happy new Year and happy holidays to everyone!

Floods and Christmas lights.

There are two things I'd like to talk about today:
1) Bari's inexistent canalisation.
We've had some really bad weather these last days, it kept raining and raining and raining.... Well, okay, as a German from Bonn I can't really say I haven't ever seen any rain before, so I took my umbrella and wanted to go out. I hadn't quite expected the catastrophe that was awaiting me outside: my street was flooded. There weren't just puddles but at least 20cm of water everywhere in the street. This was the first time I noticed that I had never actually seen any gullies here. Since I needed to go to the supermarket I made may way out of the street anyway. There weren't any people in the streets, some cars were trying to make their way through the streets that had turned into rivers (it seemed). State of emergency. I actually got to the supermarket (it was deserted, not even the beggar who is usually always outside was there) and when I came back to my house, I was completely soaked from head to toe.
For the rest of the day and night, I stayed inside. The next morning, it was still raining and the circumstances hadn't changed much. By now, the streets are accessible again, but I am praying everyday that we won't get anymore heavy rain.
This explains why Italians don't understand how we can put up with our -much worse- weather in Germany. Yes, we have more rain and it's much colder in GER, but we are much better adapted to these "harsh" conditions - we have heatings (yup, in many houses here there's no heating), canalisation systems and much more...

2) Christmas in Italy.
Of course I won't be here for Christmas, but I have been observing Italian Christmas "customs". Everywhere there are lights - bright, coloured, blinking lights (not very classy to my mind!). You can see an army of Santa Clauses climbing almost every balcony of the city. There's tons of "living" wannabe-Santa Clauses who are strolling around in the city (also decorated with bright blinking lights), some playing Christmas songs on a trumpet or flute that make your tympanic membrane explode.
In the supermarkets people wait for hours in loooooong lines to buy some "Panettoni". A panettone is a kind of cake that you buy in a huuuuuuuuuuuge box, and according to Jan Weiler ("Maria, ihm schmeckts nicht"), it's just disgusting. Well, I tried some and it really depends on the sort of Panettone. Last time at the supermarket I saw a man with two shopping carts full of panettones waiting in line. I counted them, he bought at least 60. I was so vexed I hadn't taken my camera with me, the sight was too amusing... an old Italian, barely noticeable in between those two huge shopping carts with piles of panettones.
After seeing "A Christmas Carol" yesterday I am finally somehow in the christmas mood. Although, without the traditional German Christmas market, I'm not quite there yet.

Merry Christmas, happy new year and happy holidays to everyone!

Chaotic cartoon nights.

Yesterday, we went to a concert. At least I thought so. My friends told me to come, it would be great, blabla... I went in and was shocked: there was a huge monitor displaying cartoons for children, accompanied by loud childrens' music. I turned around to ask my friends if we were mistaken in that place, but they were already enthusiastically dancing. To childrens' music, the type of "Heidi, Heidi, Deine Welt sind die Berge...". Sorry I don't know any English cartoon songs, but imagine really annoying childish music with a very simple repetitive chorus.
So finally the "concert" started. 4 girls and guys dressed up as cartoon characters jumped on a stage and started to play "rock" versions of those stupid childrens' songs. I felt like I was put in a really bad movie... I couldn't believe at least 200 grown-ups were enthusiastically dancing and singing those songs. I mean, come on... at first I found it fascinating, but after a while it got boring. This kind of music is exactly the reason why people in Cologne get so drunk at Carnival... you can't put up with the music without alcohol.

Back in Bari.

Well, what can I say, Siena was great! It made me realize what I miss here in Bari: some socially active flatmates who are there to talk to you, have a beer with you, watch tv with you, cook with you....

Here are some peculiar things I noticed about Bari:
1) Very often, you see someone talking to a door. After a while, you realize the person has rung the doorbell and is now talking to someone inside the house through an intercom system (Gegensprechanlage). It's very common to do so, ring the doorbell, say who you are and then chat for a while about the weather, how you are, blabla. I find this very strange. Even if you only talk for 5 minutes, why don't you just go in? If you don't want to see each other, then call the person!

2) Yesterday, I went to the cinema to see "picture of Dorian Gray" (which is very disappointing after having read the book by Oscar Wilde). The cinema was packed. I have noticed this before, but the crowded cinema just made me realize it much more: Italians don't just watch a movie quietly. Every single scene needs to be commented. In some especially peculiar scenes they cheered and shouted. Example: Dorian tells Sibyl that he loves her - everyone clapped and cheered. This resulted in a noise level that made it very hard to understand the movie. Although it's also quite funny.

3) Forgot about it. Tomorrow.

Off to Siena!

Going to Siena this weekend to visit my ex-flatmates and the two English I met in September. Very excited to go there! I caught a plane to Pisa and back for only 10 Euros, can you believe it? Well, thanks to Ryanair.
I'm in a rush so I will only tell you on a short note that I saw a Shaggy concert last night - the first concert of this sort I've ever seen, and it was very disappointing. He was there not even for an hour from 1 to 2 and shook his hips and all his bling-bling. But the Italians loved it. Oh well... gotta go, have a nice weekend!

Culture and routine.

Long time no blog entry. Partly because I have a lot to do, had a visitor (my dear mother) :-)) and every day life is getting a hold of me.
But I do have something new to post: I am amazed by the amount of cultural events that are organized here in Bari. There seems to be some different kind of film festival every week, at different places, about all kinds of topics. Last week I went to "Balafon film festival" for two days and saw movies from Malawi, Egypt, South Africa and Camerun. Have you ever seen any movie from one of these countries? Probably no, because Hollywood makes us blind for the rest of the cinematic culture on this planet. Another day I went to see an old Italian movie which was also part of some film festival, and last week there was another European film festival... and for students it's all free!
I don't think we have this variety of authentic interesting films even in Cologne. Maybe in Berlin, I don't know - but who would have thought I'd find it in Bari, city of 400.000 people in poor southern Italy?
And there's more: literature sessions on women's role and oppression in Iran, English-Italian cineforums, Spanish music...
Bari surprises me more and more, it has much more to offer than I'd have thought.
Tonight, by the way, we're having a Turkish dinner at my place. :-)

Surprise!

Today, 2 out of 2 professors came on time. My jaw dropped to the ground, and I am having trouble fixing it back into my face.
If this happens again, I might just die out of surprise.

The infinite chaos of Bari's Policlinico.

It all started off with a simple question - I asked the girl sitting next to me in class how I could find out in which group (afternoon course) I am and where this class would take place.
What followed was an odyssey of the clinical setting (which is as big as a middle-sized city itself!).
The girls in my class, at least the ones I talked to, were convinced that I needed to go find some professor and sign something/subscribe to sth... but they weren't all that sure. One of them accompanied me to the central information to ask if I had to do anything special to subscribe to that class (I thought that had already happened). They told us to go to some professor who was supposively  responsible for our year. Went there, after 20 minutes walk got there, found out after asking 3 different secretaries that this guy is not responsible or at least said he wasn't responsible. Went back to info centre to ask for the right name. Got another name, but, surprise, noone knew where we could find this new guy. They knew the rough department which has branches in different parts of the clinical setting, walking to all of them would have cost us at least 2 hours. We spent at least an hour searching for this person, but noone had ever heard of him. (And he's not just some nobody but our class coordinator...).
Went back to class. One of the other girls told us she thought that I was already on the class list and didn't need to subscribe to anything else. Someone else said there was no need to subscribe, I could just go. Went back to info centre to ask for group lists (this was my original question, in which group I belonged and where I had to go later). Well, group lists don't exist. A couple of phone calls later, they mysteriously found out I was in group 14.
I spent two exhausting hours running around in Policlinico, for nothing. Well at least I got to know another person of my class who was really nice and helpful.

And now the biggest surprise of all: of course, no professor appeared in the afternoon. Today afternoon class also didn't take place because the professoressa is out of town. For the rest of the week, there are no more classes scheduled. Can you believe it??

University. Workout. Routine.

I'm afraid I'm writing a bunch of nonsense now, but life isn't always exciting... I've been in Bari for 5 weeks now and normal everyday routine is starting to get a hold of me...
News: Today some special classes were supposed to start, and I was very much looking forward to them - practical stuff in groups of 5 students, actually in the hospital and not in the lecture hall. But, we're in Italy, so it was no big surprise that these courses were postponed and are now supposed to start next week.
When I came to lectures today, I was expecting our psychiatry professor, instead there was another lady who I'd never seen before. It turned out that some witty university employee had had the brilliant idea of changing our complete schedule this weekend, and noone knew about this.
Well, at least I'm not the only pinhead here who never gets any information before it's too late. When I return to Germany one day, I'll be a much calmer person. I don't think anything will be able to possibly upset me after a year in this chaos-country. (You might think now "Poor girl, she needs to come back home...", but hey, this is fun - imagine living in a place where nothing works... then you don't have to work either! Perfect, isn't it?).

On a less funny note, I'm getting serious about my workout plan. Of course, my running partner wasn't very reliable (he's Italian, what can I say...), so I needed to find some plan of my own. Let's just say that I'll be a completely different person in four weeks if I stick to my workout plan (and I will stick to it). If you're interested in seeing me running around like a horse in a circus in Bari's only "park" (more like a playground), come by and visit.

Today was a warm day. Wore only a t-shirt at lunchtime, at night it's quite cool and there's a strong wind coming from the sea.

Ok - let's see what surprises await me tomorrow! It sure never gets boring in bella Italia ;-)

Pics, once again.

I reorganised the pics section. I now have an album for every place I went to. If you become a fan of my pictures, you can follow changes more easily and will get e-mail alerts whenever I upload new pics.
Ok?
Once again the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Amrei.in.Italia

Bari nightlife.

Went out with Lucrezia and the other girls last night (those who I go out most frequently with).
We went to "Über alles", supposively a German pub - it's run by Italians and has a Bavarian theme to it that seems to appeal to Italians and makes them pay more money for beer. Oh well.
In fact, the pub does look very Bavarian, the interior is completely made of wood and there's a lot of blue-white ribbons and Oktoberfest posters. The first thing that didn't fit in was noticeable from the outside: really loud hiphop and reggae music, which just doesn't suit at all that rather rustic ambience. It was really funny seeing a bunch of Italian hiphoppers (another antagonism that just cannot exist, it's so absurd) going crazy in a tweedy Bavarian pub to reggae music, dancing next to the picture of Cologne's dome (yup!).
I don't think there's any place in Germany that is similar to this one.