During one of my longer breaks, I went to see the Parco Della…

Parco Della Resistenza

Ai Caduti “To The Fallen”

Hanging out in Torino with the Greenheart Travel crew. 🙂

20 Euros for one night. Not bad if you ask me.

One of the churches Art and I visited in Torino

Museo Egizio Torino

Museo Egizio Torino

During one of my longer breaks, I went to see the Parco Della Resistenza. It’s a short walk from my school, maybe only 5 minutes away. A teacher at the school had told me that there was a monument at the park that symbolized the resistance against the Fascist government during WWII. I must say that the monument embodies the feeling of a resistance. It’s dynamic and there’s a sense of beauty in the struggle, order in the midst of chaos. 

Another monument I visited was in the comune of Borgo San Dalmazzo, the area in which I am living for the first 2 months in Italy. It says “Ai Caduti” which means “to the fallen”. It’s a tribute to the soldiers that fought in the war, a solemn reminder of the lives lost in battle. To me this monument was stricking because I’m not used to seeing historical landmarks or sites like this, especially ones from WWII. California just doesn’t have the same history as Europe. It’s very modern apart from some of the old missions.

On Friday afternoon I went to visit my friends from the Greenheart Travel program in Torino. It was raining when I left Cuneo, and it was my first time taking the train alone. I met two English speakers at the train station who were very friendly. Both of them were students at a University in Torino, and one was also an English teacher. It was nice to talk to them on the way to Torino. Since my stop was at Porta Susa, it took almost 2 hours by train. I had to switch trains in between, and I had a 20 minute stop over.

I met up with Molly and Mario when I arrived in Torino. We got gelato while waiting for everyone else, and it was amazing. I don’t think I can ever get tired of gelato. We went walking around the city as more people arrived, and we met up with the rest of the group at a place called La Drogheria for Apericena, which is a mix between Aperitivo and dinner and drinks. It was nice being able to spend time with the crew, and I enjoyed meeting and hanging out with their host siblings. There was a guy there celebrating his 18th birthday, so our group sang happy birthday to him in English. After a few hours, we went to an absinthe bar for a few drinks. We almost ended up going to the discoteca, but we left because we were tired, a girl in the group was sick, and it was cold and wet from the rain. 

I ended up spending the night in Torino because I wanted more time to explore the next day. Also because the trip is a bit long, I wanted to make the most of my time there. The hotel I stayed at was only 20 Euros a night. If only a decent hotel in America could be this cheap. 

The next day, I wandered the streets of Turin with Art before meeting up with Molly and Mario. We stumbled upon a church and took a few pictures there. The architecture of the churches in Italy is so beautiful. It’s unreal. I’m still amazed every time I go. It’s interesting because the people here are so used to historic buildings. They are unfazed because they see them all the time. I wonder if they would be amazed at how modern the United States is. Perhaps they would be, just because it’s different than what they are used to. We were lucky because the caretaker of the church closed the gates as we were leaving. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Art and I talked about how everything happens for a reason. I feel like this whole trip was fate. For me being able to travel and to teach is a dream come true, a total life changing experience or at least I feel like it is. I’m a bit of a romantic in that sense. I’d like to believe in destiny. That every experience shapes you, teaches you something and brings you closer to being the person you are meant to be. But I digress … .

Anyways, we met up with Molly and Mario at the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum). This museum has the second largest collection of Egyptian artifacts. The largest being the Egyptian museum in Cairo. My host brother highly recommended it, so I had to see it. The museum really had an extensive collection of statues, mummies, and ancient artifacts. I really enjoyed reading about ancient Egyptian history while I was there. 

After finishing up at the museum, we went to eat at a restaurant called Eataly for lunch. It was delicious. Me and Art shared a big plate of salumi and fromaggio. We had carne crude for the first time. It’s a famous dish in the Piedmont region of Italy, and it’s basically raw ground beef served with a little olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper. I gotta say I really liked it. It tasted like sushi only with beef instead of fish. The quality of meat is so much better in Italy. It’s definitely something I will miss. ‘

That’s all for now. More coming up soon. Ciao!