Off topic again...

Our professor asked us to do another experiment to see if we can get a website moved up on search engines. It's a store in the UK called KidsCorner and the keywords are outdoor trampolines chester.

Carnevale!

Carnevale in Italy is like our Mardi Gras. Someone had made a comment on an earlier post and asked if I knew how it all started, and I actually never thought about it. However, I found this site that looks like it gives a pretty in depth history of Carnevale.

I was lucky enough to be in Italy for Carnevale two years ago, and I have to say it was such a great experience!! Venice is the place to be during Carnevale, but we couldn't make it down there in time due to our schedule. Instead, we went to the next best city for Carnevale, Viareggio. Everyone was dressed up as if it were Halloween, and there was confetti and a soapy version of shaving cream flying all over the place! The parade consisted of huge, comedic floats that rolled alongside the beach. Some made fun of politicians and others were made just to make people smile. The parade wasn't like the type we would have here...people are in the streets with the floats and you could be literally inches away from it as it passed! Basically, you run or get hit.

This is Carnevale in Venice.

Foods of Europe

If you're interested in learning about some of the different foods that can be found in Europe, Foods of Europe is a great blog to check out. It talks about the specialty foods of every country. Don't worry about not finding something to eat during your travels, because each country has its specialties!

There isn't anything specifically on Italy yet, but there's some great information on countries like England, Greece, Poland, and Ireland. This particular post describes England and its specialty foods.

Off topic...

We're doing a search engine test in our Technologies Marketing class, so I just have to mention the word "nworbxela" in a post.

An Italian Christmas

Buon Natale! Christmas in Italy is slightly different from that in the United States. Christmas dinners at my house always include baked ziti, baccala, struffoli, and panettone. All of these things are typical foods of an Italian Christmas dinner. Last year, I finally tried il capitone, which is a female eel, and it wasn’t as bad as it sounds!

The Christmas season in Italy begins eight days before Christmas, with a special Novena (eight days of prayer) and church services. The Epiphany, December 6th, is celebrated in Italy more than our Christmas on the 25th. This is the time when the Three Kings were believed to have reached the infant Jesus, and so the Romans exchange their gifts on this day as well.

In the Italian tradition, Santa Clause is replaced by La Befana. She is an old woman who flies on a broom and brings the children presents. Modern Italians may refer to Santa Clause (“Babbo Natale” - Father Christmas) instead of La Befana, and may also exchange gifts on Christmas day.

Capri

Capri is a small island across from the Amalfi Coast. Capri has two main mountain peaks, one to the east (Mount Tiberio) and one to the west (Mount Solaro), and is made up of two towns, Capri and Anacapri. It just takes a short ferry ride from Naples to get to this island, but if you don't have a strong stomach, be careful, because the ride is very bumpy!

The island is gorgeous and the people are so welcoming. There are so many great shops for jewelry, souveneirs, food, higher end fashion, and random items such as scented body oils. If there's one thing you have to do in Capri, it's taste the limoncello! Limoncello is a fairly strong lemon liqueur that is one of the island's specialties, because of the type of lemons they use to make it. I walked around all day to try to find the best price on a bottle, and I found a store towards the top of Mount Tiberio that sold a large bottle for only 7 euro!

Spend the night on the island, because one day isn't enough to truly appreciate it.
Here are some great things to do in Capri.

Isle capri
Originally uploaded by mtsrs.

Restaurants...Tourists beware!

Believe it or not, some restaurants in high-volume tourist areas have two separate menus: one for native Italians and one for tourists! I learned this little trick when I went out to eat with my study abroad group and our director. When we sat down and looked at our menus, our director made a comment to his friend who ran the restaurant that the prices were very high. The man quickly told a waitress to take our menus away, because she had given us the wrong ones. When she returned, she handed us menus with prices that were a few euro cheaper that the ones we had just seen. So, when you’re walking around and you want to sit down somewhere to eat, I suggest comparing the prices of a few restaurants first!

Italian menus can be tricky if you're not used to the culture, so here are a few tips on how to decipher an Italian menu. Also, I found a great article on Italian restaurant practices which I think is a really great resource for first-timers. You'll learn that a meal in Italy isn't just a meal...it's the best part of the day!

Italian pasta, pizzeria
Originally uploaded by Saffanna.