Life as a Luganian

    Classes are going pretty well.  To start the day, everyone meets downstairs and then we leave the Montarina about 30 minutes before class.  We’re still getting crazy looks walking in such a huge pack to class everyday, but we’re getting used to it.  Dr. Brinberg’s class is extremely discussion based but I like it better that way because it keeps us all engaged.   Our mid-term was due this morning, a paper on our choice of social issue and all of the constructs that might lead to it, followed by our ideas for a solution.  We have a lot of discussion about social issues and what causes them, its very interesting to see everyone’s point of view in class.  My Italian teacher, Magda, is a small lady probably in her late 40’s early 50’s and its clear that she thoroughly enjoys teaching us Italian and can’t help but laugh at us a lot of the time.  Our first Italian test is tomorrow and I’m pretty sure none of us are feeling very prepared…. I’m sure it’s going to be an evening of straight Italian in the Montarina for everybody.

and I almost forgot… the chocolate. Seriously words cannot explain how amazingly delicious it tastes (or as Caroline would say “SCRUMPTIOUS!! :)” )  It very well could be the death of me, but don’t worry I’ll bring plenty home for everyone to have a taste.

Things I’ve noticed around Lugano…. 
1)  Nutella is EVERYWHERE, they’ve pretty much replaced peanut butter over here and it’s jars on jars of nutella and one meeeeasly row of peanut butter (I think it’s pretty opposite at home).  Since everything is so expensive here we’ve all gotten used to having either a nutella sandwich or a peanut butter sandwich everyday for lunch… back to elementary school for all the luganians.

Giant Nutella on display near the plaza

2) FUR—every single woman in this town owns and wears a fur coat that is probably worth at least $50,000 everyday….. its outrageous.

3) CARS- here in Lugano the Mercedes, BWM, and Audi are equivalent to the Honda, Ford, and Jeep at home….. they’re everywhere.  Then there’s always at least one Porsche, Ferrari, or Bentley in sight.

4) Everybody smokes cigarettes…. We were all told this would be the case when we arrived but we were all kind of taken aback to see a group that couldn’t have been older than 13 hanging out smoking in the plaza. It was kind of sad.

5) TRUST--- everybody trusts everyone here…. When we went to Interlaken Lindsay rented a snowboard where all she did was pay cash, didn’t sign ANYTHING and was just expected to bring it back on Sunday. When we’re shopping we’ve noticed some women parking their babies in their strollers and then walking throughout the store without a second glance…. I know it used to be this way at home (memama said all the women used to park the babies outside the grocery store or restaurant while they shopped/ate then came back out when they were done) but the amount of trust that still exists here today is amazing.

6) Coffee shops, fast food, etc.—all the coffee shops have liquor bars behind the counter, its quite interesting to walk into our equivalent of Einstein’s (though I have yet to find a bagel here) and see a liquor bar behind the counter.  You can also buy beer in McDonald’s, Burger King, and any other fast food type place, I wasn’t really expecting any of that.

7) TIIIINY elevators—not sure why the Europeans don’t like space but everytime we get in an elevator here we’re literally like a pack of sardines because they are all soooo small

8) Common Courtesy--- we have yet to figure out if it’s because we’re American or if they are always acting this way but no one here seems to have common courtesy… they’re all ready to plow us down on the sidewalk and definitely would if we didn’t move out of the way and even when they actually hit us whether with themselves or one of their bags, no “scusi” is heard, just a harsh look and they’re on their way…