Venice to Paderno

Adjusting to the time in Italy was certainly made easier by getting lots of sleep that first night in Venice, but that sleep did not come easily. After waking up at 930, and then again at 3am, it was pretty hard to go back to sleep until I needed to get up at 7. It also didn’t help that somehow my travel clock had become about 35 minutes fast, which had me far too early for hotel breakfast, but I was prepared for the rest of my trip. It took awhile to figure out the train schedule, and the train station in general, but I was on my way to Bassano del Grappa, a short distance from my final destination, after a bowl of delicious “fruit yogurt” at my hotel and terrible Italian coffee, which I still can’t get used to (more about that later). I somehow babbled out some Italian to get the correct train ticket and made my way to platform 12 for the train to Bassano, when I met Jason, also going to CIMBA, from Texas. He too had spent the night in Venice on his own and had some pretty interesting stories as well. He was the first friend I met going to the program, and has probably also been the best. It was definitely nice to meet up with someone, especially when we got to Bassano. After the hour and a half train ride, we made it to Bassano about 3 hours before our bus was coming to pick us up. Both hungry and tired of carrying around our luggage, we finally found a restaurant with pizza, but since it wasn’t even 11am, they weren’t open yet. The owner, however, was very welcoming and insisted we leave our bags inside while we waited for the kitchen to be ready. We checked out the few shops next door and went back for our first Italian pizza. The Quattro formaggi didn’t disappoint, even with the extra thin Italian style crust and the olive oil puddle in the middle. After lunch we went back to the train station and waited for our bus, at 1.

Before long, we saw a small group of people come out of the train station with significant amounts of luggage. Their response was to quickly walk across the street towards us as we were the only other people around with a bunch of bags also. Soon after, another group came and finally our bus came to pick us up, and we were the first 25 people to make it to Paderno del Grappa, where we would be spending the next 3 months. The bus ride was about 30 minutes towards the mountains, and away from the city. The Istituto Filippin was about as I had imagined, as unloaded our bags and checked out our new home. We received our room keys, internet info, and books, and headed up to check out our rooms. In the days that followed, more people arrived and the number of friends grew exponentially. There are 17 people from the University of Oregon and I knew 0 of them prior to this trip. Not only have I made many friends that I will be able to see even after this program is over, but also friends from all over the country that are not soon to be forgotten. We have spent the last several days getting to know each other, playing basketball, lifting weights in kilograms (which has been pretty interesting), doing the low ropes course yesterday, and spending most of the nights at 1 or more of the 3 local bars, having a great time. Most people have gone for the cheaper wine option, but I still haven’t acquired much of a taste for wine, only having the bianco a time or two. However, the local creation, prosecco, which is similar to champagne is much more tasty, and a 10euro bottle of it here can cost up to 100$ or more in the states. Beer, my favorite, which comes in the light or dark variety around here, is much more expensive, which is part of the reason I have limited my intake of alcohol, while others certainly have not. The pizzeria does have some German Hefeweizen that is very delicious, especially once I got the bartender to put a slice of orange in it.

The locals have been pretty friendly and most will work with us between our terrible Italian, and their terrible English.  This first week, as well as next consists of a few orientations and programs to familiarize use with Italy, introduce us to the optional Kepner-Tregoe certification, as well as the intensive 2.5 day LIFE leadership training, and the low ropes course that we had a lot of fun with yesterday. We’ve only had a small experience of our classes so far, but they start on the 21^st. Next, weekend we’re going up to Interlaken, Switzerland for some outdoor extreme sports. Today some people hiked up Mt. Grappa, and others rode to the top for paragliding. I caught up on some sleep, went to the huge Sunday market in nearby Crespano, and have relaxed after a tough week. This first week has been so busy, it has felt more like a month or two in content. The friends I have made are some of the most interesting, friendly people I have ever met. I am extremely happy with coming here and having the opportunity to meet people from all over the U.S.