Boarding in the Italian Alps!

Buongiorno!

Time for the next update! So unfortunately I really didn't do anything this weekend because I ended up getting sick last Thursday :( and I was supposed to go to Brussels but it didn't really work out since I wasn't feeling well. But I am feeling a lot better now and I was feeling well enough to make up for my lost weekend by finally going snowboarding yesterday! I was so stoked to finally be able to go riding in the Italian Alps. I was basically just waiting for some new snow to come before I went riding since it had been awhile since it snowed when I got here.

So I finally got my chance when it snowed last week and I was able to get some nice pow lines in while I was riding yesterday. It was pretty easy to figure out how everything worked here as far as getting to the resort, renting, getting the lift ticket, etc. So I basically caught the 7:20am train from the main train station in Torino to Bardonecchia (the name of the ski resort I went to). It was a one and a half hour train ride from Torino to Bardonecchia and when I got there I first got a little confused. But luckily I saw a sign for skipasses right outside of the train station and I was able to get a 1 day student lift ticket for only 18 euros! Then I figured out the shuttle route and took a shuttle from the train station to the bottom of the mountain. When I got there I looked for a rental place and found one close by where they thankfully spoke English. They hooked me up with a board and some boots for only 16 euros for the day and I was on the first chairlift by 10:30am. When I first reached the summit I could not believe the view. It was a beautiful, partly cloudy day but the sun was out nearly the whole time. The view was incredible and I was able to see just how huge these mountains actually were. I posted some more pics on Facebook and as you can see they are MASSIVE. After getting to the top I really wanted to check out the park there because they have been known for their "boarder friendly" mountain/park. This place is actually where they held the snowboarding events (bordercross and halfpipe) for the 2006 winter Olympics. But yea, they definitely had a nice park. There weren't any rails but they had some decent boxes and tabletops, as well as a couple medium and large sized kickers.

They also had a pipe that was just cut but it was a little rough at the top of the wall, but it was nice to be able to finally hit up some good park runs again. I did a pretty good amount of park runs before doing some more exploring and seeing what the rest of the resort had to offer. They pretty much had the gnarliest rope tows I've ridden so I've got that mastered on the board now haha but the rest of the mountain was really nice. The groomed runs were good but there was one point where I got a little too adventurous and wanted to hit some fresh pow lines and I ended up in a gulch where I had to ride on the wall to stay out of the sketchy-looking bottom that looked like I could fall through. So I had to hike a little to get back on the wall and I ended up riding out of it into these trees, just following tacks that had been made there earlier. At this point I really wasn't sure if I was still in the resort area or not haha so I just followed the tracks I had been following and they thankfully led me back onto the groomed run. There was a moment there where I was a little concerned so I can definitely say that I learned my lesson that time. After that I did a couple more park runs and headed back to the rental shop to return my gear, then headed back to the train station and finally home at around 6:45pm. So it ended up being a really good day and since I brought my own food and I only spent around 44 euros for everything! It was a really good deal and I definitely plan on taking advantage of it more often. Hopefully I can possibly go again this upcoming Friday since there are some more people in the program going before we go to Venice on Saturday for Carnival! I'm really excited for the weekend so I just have to get through my Italian Final tomorrow and I'll be good to go. Time to go study so look for another update on the weekend next week!

Ciao!

Nice/Monaco!

Ciao Everybody!

So this weekend turned out to be quite possibly one of the best weekends ever. It's crazy because I originally had nothing planned this weekend until Friday afternoon when someone suggested Nice, France. I remember just sitting in the student lounge when Nice was suddenly suggested, and since it's been a place I've really wanted to go, I figured, why not? So we looked up some trains and ended up catching a train Saturday morning to start our trip. the train ride was about 4 and a half hours to Nice and back which wasn't too bad. It was a very scenic train ride and the first stop we made was in Ventimiglia, Italy to transfer trains.

The beach of Nice, France

Ventimiglia is a city right on the Mediterranean coast near the border of France and Italy. This place was so beautiful that we had to stay for an hour and a half instead of just catching the next train to Nice. We had a nice meal in Ventimiglia, took in the view, and made our way back to the train station to catch the last train to Nice. The train ride from Ventimiglia to Nice was quite possibly the most amazing and scenic train ride ever. I took a lot of really amazing photos of the landscape on the way to Nice and it was definitely a memorable ride. The towns on the way were pretty much constructed on the side of the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, which made for a really incredible sight. When we got to Nice, we made our way to the hostel which was about a 10 minute walk to the beach. We dropped our things off at the hostel and then made our way to the beach. The beach was pretty incredible, although there wasn't sand but mostly small rocks, however, the view definitely made up for it. A couple of the guys in our group ended up swimming in the ocean which was still cold despite the warm weather. It was hard to leave the beach, but when we did we walked a little more around the center of the city, where there was a neat ferris wheel and a place that sold crepes where I had one of the best food items I have ever had: an authentic Nutella Crepe. This thing was amazing and definitely one of my favorite foods of all time. After exploring a little more of the city, we ended up going to the "Old Town" of Nice, where most of the nightlife is.

The Monte Carlo

We had dinner at a nice restaurant where I had an amazing Beef Fillet with some tasty Gelato and we then made our way to a nearby bar. This bar was pretty cool because they had some live music playing and they would also serve "Meters" of shots, where they would have a meter-long holder lined up with shots, that we split as a group which was really fun. We also met some local French people from Nice there and one of them offered to show us around Monaco the next day which was really cool. From that bar we continued to another one called "Le Ghost" which was neat as well. After that we got some amazing Kebab and then headed back to the hostel, where we barely woke up for some breakfast the next morning. After breakfast, we headed to the train station and met up with our French friend, Olivier, and headed to the second smallest country in the world (next to the Vatican), Monaco. We went back onto the scenic train for about 20min and arrived in Monaco. Monaco is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been to. A soon as we arrived we made our way to the famous Monte Carlo casino and on the way there I couldn't help but notice how clean and nice the overall area was. There are even security cameras all over the country to prevent criminal activities on the streets.

A view of the Monaco port

When we got to the area of where the Monte Carlo was I was blown away. This place was an extremely rich area and I saw more expensive and luxurious cars then you would even find at a car show. There were cars made by Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Maserati, Porche, Mercedes, and even more. They were all congested in this one area and I couldn't believe it. Unfortunately we weren't able to go inside the Monte Carlo because you need to be wearing at least a suit, but it looked amazing from the outside. So we got cigars at a shop nearby and walked behind the Monte Carlo where we got a beautiful view of the ocean. From there we walked down into the port of Monaco and had lunch at a really good restaurant with a view of the port from where we were sitting. We had our cigars shortly after and I must admit, I definitely felt like a celebrity there. I could not believe how beautiful and luxurious this place was and it is definitely one of my favorite places I have ever been to. After lunch, we headed back to the train station and went back to Nice, got our belongings at the hostel, and caught a train back to Torino. I cannot believe we did so much in only two days! It was a really incredible trip and there is so much to see there. I really didn't want to leave but I am that much more excited to travel now and I hope I can go back there again before I head back to the states. It truly was an incredible place. I have many pictures of Nice and Monaco on Facebook and I encourage everyone to take a look! I am really glad that a potentially dull weekend turned out to be one of the best weekends ever and I'm looking forward to the future! I can't believe that I have been here for 1 month so far. It's been a pretty amazing month and I'm looking forward to the next 3!

Ciao!

Visiting the Sacra di San Michele

Ciao everyone,

So this weekend turned out to be another eventful one. With a trip to one of my favorite sites so far, the Sacra di San Michele (a.k.a. Saint Michael's Abbey). This is basically a giant church situated on top of Mount Pirchiriano, overlooking the villages of Avigliana and Chiusa di San Michele.

A view of the Abbey from about halfway up.

We ended up taking a 30min. train from Torino to nearby Sant'Ambrogio and we basically hiked from there to the top of the mountain. The hike was a little strenuous and it took us a good hour and a half to get up there but it was well worth it. We were also able to see Torino in the distance since it was such a clear day! The weather here has been nuts. It's like Spring conditions in February which is really nice, but it is also the reason why I haven't made it up into the mountains for some snowboarding yet :( I think a storm is forecasted to hit next week though so I'm looking forward to that. But anyways, this place was pretty incredible, offering some of the best views I have ever seen. The structure itself is really impressive as well. There is also a number of ruins around the church that I was able to get pictures of. All in all this was a pretty good trip and I had a really good time. Check out more pictures on Facebook, there pretty impressive!

My Weekend in Switzerland

Ciao Ragazzi!

So this past weekend was definitely one of the best ones so far. I had the chance to spend the weekend in Locarno, Switzerland with my good friends Scot and Vera. It was an incredible time and I had a lot of fun. I first started my journey on a train from Torino to Milan.

A view of Locarno.

Of course, this being my first time experiencing the train system in Europe, I purchase my ticket for the fastest, most expensive train to Milan haha. I believe it took me just under an hour to get from Torino to Milan which is definitely FAST. When I got to Milan, it was easy to understand how this place is the second largest city in Italy. The train station was packed and I must say that it was quite an amazing station as well. This place was HUGE. I'll have to take some pictures of it next time I'm there, which I definitely plan on doing soon. I had a short layover in Milan when I then took another train to Bellinzona, Switzerland, then from Bellinzona to Locarno.When I arrived in Locarno, I was greeted by Vera and Scot and we then went out to dinner. This was the beginning of the feast that would take place during my stay in Switzerland. I ate SO MUCH that weekend! When we got to the restaurant, I had the opportunity to meet some of the locals that Scot and Vera are friends with and I tried some "Tartare." It's basically raw beef mixed with some spices and herbs. I would take a piece of toast with some butter and then spread the Tartare onto the toast and man IT WAS GOOD. This was my first taste of Switzerland and I was loving it already. After that awesome dinner I was pretty stuffed and we headed to Scot and Vera's house in Lodano (about a 15-20 min drive from Locarno).

A view of the village of Lodano.

They had a really nice house and even had a guest room with a queen sized bed I slept in! It was really nice and I couldn't believe I was actually there. On Saturday, they showed me some of the sites around Locarno. Unfortunately the weather wasn't too great and it was cloudy for most of the weekend, as you can probably tell in most of the pictures I took (check Facebook). But the village Scot and Vera live in is really cool. It's like out of a movie as it depicts the classical small European village at the base of the Alps. On Saturday night we went to the neighbor's house to have dinner and this place was MASSIVE. These people are good friends with Scot and Vera and their family partly owns the village, so they inherited the largest house there. This place was definitely big enough to get lost in and I could not believe I was there. The dinner was amazing, as usual, and I had a lot of fun that night. On Sunday, I got the opportunity to play Tennis with Vera's brother and that was a really good time. We played at a really nice indoor facility with a "carpet-like" surface that tends to be pretty popular there. I never thought that I would ever play tennis in Switzerland and I can't believe I got that opportunity. After that, it was time for me to go and I headed back onto a train (that was much cheaper), and after a little delay in Milan, I was finally back in Torino. This was a truly incredible weekend and I had an amazing time there. Scot and Vera were great hosts and they welcomed me back whenever I wanted. I would like to hopefully visit there during the Spring or Summer time when the weather is a little better and from the picutres I saw, the town looks pretty amazing during that time. You can check out all of the pictures on Facebook as usual, as I also have a couple posted here as well.

Until my next adventure,

Arrivederci!