Ciao a tutti!

I can't bring myself to just tell one thing about Catania, because there isn’t just one thing that defines it. So, I will enlighten you readers with several of my observations. 

The beaches have jagged black rocks which contrast beautifully with beautiful blue waters. absolutely mesmerizing 

Everyone loves pasta/pizza alla Norma (because it’s just as good as the beloved opera Norma)

 Outstanding architecture, I walked into so many people in the streets because I would be looking up at the buildings while walking.

Scooters thrive here. I wish I had a vespa

The elephant in the piazza duomo is even more magnificent in person

Beautiful churches everywhere

Though dense, Catania is very small. Giulia and I would run into several familiar faces everyday 

Freshest seafood

Skilled drivers that can navigate through even the narrowest of streets

Old men in the streets having lively conversations

lots of pistachios and eggplants

The Sicilian culture is so vibrant and rich, it was amazing being able to witness it as a teenager, even if it was just for a quick month.

This list could go on and on and I would still be missing something because this city has so much character. I believe that someday when I travel back to Catania again, I will find all sorts of other new discoveries. 

To whom it may concern: When people think of Sicily, typically The Godfather comes to mind. I did not encounter the mafia during my time abroad (though I did find a lot of merchandise for The Godfather ). I felt very safe in Sicily, and the fear of the mafia shouldn’t restrict anyone from traveling there. 

Giulia is going to arrive in Phoenix in exactly a week, and my friends and I couldn't be more excited. Before leaving Catania, I asked Giulia to take me to a supermarket so I can buy pasta (I traveled back home with 1 kilo of pasta, which I had to remove from my checked bag to carry on because it was over weight). We decided that we were going to cook (well, I was she said she would wash the dishes) pasta alla norma for my friends back home. I cannot wait to introduce her to my friends and take her to my favorite coffee shops for “American” coffee. Giulia has never traveled to the US before; she told me that she’s excited for the Santa Monica trip because it’s an iconic spot where many American movies are filmed (*cough cough* the kissing booth). Giulia is a little worried about the heat but I assured her that we would beat it with epic pool parties. 

6/23/2018 

While cruising around the airport during our four hour flight delay in Rome, I immediately noticed several different colors of trash cans and thought to myself, it isn’t very common to encounter that many different bins in Phoenix. Back home, I typically come just come across two (If even) trash cans on the street. Here in Sicily it is common to find more than one type of bin. They sort their trash into paper, plastic, glass, organic and misc, which is different from our standard misc and paper/plastic cans. For example, Giulia’s house has five different bins, and I often get confused by some of them. By having several different bins, it makes people think about what they're throwing away. Thus making one more conscientious about their environment. I hope that Phoenix can continue to recycle and achieve zero waste by 2050.

My god I don’t know where to start with this one. My excitement mainly stems from the all the amazing food here. 

 A few things I’ve learned about the Italians and their relationship with food:

1) Italians hold a lot of pride in their cuisine (and darn right they should). The food here is amazing; everything is locally sourced and cooked to perfection. However, unlike America, where you can find nearly any type of restaurant, other types of cuisine are not very popular in Sicily. Italian and Sicilian food is most common, though Japanese food, specifically sushi, is rising in popularity; after all, there is access to the freshest seafood.

2) Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. Not that it’s not important it’s just that the Italian don’t make as big of a deal of it as americans. For example, IHOP ( I don't really go to IHOP anyway... I guess it’s IHOB now, oh well) The whole pancakes, bacon and scramble eggs is overkill. The Italian breakfast is much lighter and consists of sweet foods like biscuits and fresh fruit or a slice bread with Nutella, and is always paired with espresso.

3) Espresso is common to drink through out the day. Typically during breakfast and after lunch. The Italians are not fond of “long” coffee, I've gotten strange looks for even speaking of it. Although there are some little cafes that do offer the “american” coffee.

Personal food notes:

I have tried nearly everything that has been offered to me, the only exception being horse meat. All of which have been phenomenal, even octopus, something I wouldn’t see myself eating.

Fruit is absolutely delicious here. I have never eaten so much fruit in my life.

The Cannolo is the most fantastic thing. 

My counterpart’s impressions of American food:

As I ask Giulia what she thinks of American food, she gives me a deer in the headlights look and says her classic line, “Che schifo” which essentially means “disgusting.” I then asked why she thought that and she replied with, “ It's too sugary, spicy and fattening, Italian food is the best.” I then assured her that food in the US is not all hot dogs and fried things and that I will show her all the good eats. 

Crema di Caffé

me trying fried calamari for the first time

Pasta alla Norma 

IL CANNOLO (MOST TRIUMPHANT) 

A common question asked to avoid awkward pauses in conversations, or an idea for a blog post. The weather here for me is warm; the day typically stays from the late 70s and can escalate to a whopping 82 degrees Fahrenheit, nothing compared to the crippling heat of Phoenix, but to my surprise the people around me find it to be quite hot. Sure, it is humid here but there is usually a cool breeze to balance that out, and it even gets chilly at night. Its like paradise for me. I often get a question along the lines of “ Is Phoenix really that hot?”. They usually give me some temperature like 40 degrees Celsius then only after looking up the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion (a difference no one really understands) I answer yes. The look they get on their faces is priceless, and I hate to admit I really do enjoy scaring them with the heat, but rest assured I tell them also about the abundance of air-conditioning, swimming pools and of  course that it is possible to live in.

I also noticed that they’re not very fond of the rain. I think I can speak for most Arizonans that when it rains we all get pretty excited, but here nope! The “rain” here is also equivalent to a light sprinkle. Its as if some god washed his hands and is flicking the excess water onto the earth. They think I’m crazy “pazza” for walking around in the rain and refusing an umbrella, but the rain is just so amazing.

a beautiful rainy day in Catania (it lasted like two seconds)

On my 2nd day abroad my counterpart and I woke up early to attend her school. Weeks before my arrival she asked me if I wanted to go and I enthusiastically said yes (normally something I wouldn’t be very fond of). So, 7am I wake up and pick out my outfit for the first day of school (her 2nd to last day), something I haven’t done since elementary school because I have been at a uniform school for almost 6 years. On arrival, I met some of her friends and classmates. They greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and myself a handshake (already knowing I’m American upon entry). The class sizes here are about the same as back in America, about 23-30 people per class she said, however due to it being the end of the school year, many kids opted out of coming to school; it was just the eight of us in her class. There was no lesson plan, so we were free to walk around and socialize. There were boys playing soccer “futbol”,  outside while some kids were painting a mural on the side of the school. My favorite part however was getting gelato from the street vendor, who was strategically parked at the back gate of the school. 

Me enjoying a tasty treat of chocolate gelato + whipped cream sandwiched between brioche bread.

The mural painted by the students; “The only race is the human race”.

Hello, my name is Luiza Monti and I am 17 years old. In about eight days I will embark on a journey that will require me to navigate through three airports successfully. Here are a few fun facts about me:

1) I’m a bit of an audiophile. I enjoy collecting records (I’m trying to expand my jazz collection), listening to music (you’ll usually catch me working on a new playlist every week or at least adding to my several old ones), or experimenting with sounds on my guitar amp. 

How you usually will find me

2) I am a coffee enthusiast, (wow I bet you’ve heard that about 100000 times before) but yes gotta love that cup O’ Joe in the morning- you can imagine my excitement to having some authentic Italian espresso. 

pictured above is a beverage from one of my favorite little coffee shops, called the “espresso tonic”. This drink is perfect for the hot summers here in the valley, and more interesting than your regular iced coffee. On the contrary, iced coffee is seen as taboo in Italy, tasty as it is they might not be as thrilled by it. 

3) Half of my family is from Brazil, though I speak fluent Portuguese I was born here in the states. My family has shaped my identity and one day, I wish to live in Brazil for at least a few months to immerse myself more in the culture. 

From my last trip about five years ago, a view from Ipanema. 

Now that we’re through introductions! let’s get into feelings, thoughts and such.

Although I’m excited for my trip it really hasn’t hit me yet that I'm going. I feel like the reality of it will come when we’re all scrambling through the airport terminals. I gotta say what I’m most looking forward to is the food. My counterpart and I talk everyday and our conversations always circle back to food. She even told me that her parents bought Nutella just for me, which apparently is a rare thing to have in her household. I’m not particularly wary of anything. I think the key to having a good experience abroad is to keep an open mind and not stress about what may happen, of course it’s good to take precautions but I don’t plan on thinking about the worst possible situation every minute.

That’s about it for my first blog post. Hopefully I didn’t scare you away, because there’s more to come!

Catania Cohort roadtrip 2018!

A little video I made to document our first road trip using my mom’s broken digital camera.