Life in Jyvaskyla .

I stopped writing for a while. It's not because my life wasn't interesting enough. I didn't feel like sharing my life experiences, mainly because I spent the last two months organizing this life I'm living right now. My Erasmus life.

I left Italy last Monday, January the 4th. I was already packing through Christmas holiday and that is also why I haven't done posts regarding presents and other christmas related stuff. After December the 25th time passed by and few days after New Year's Eve I already was on a plane.
From Rome to Helsinky, 8 hours waiting, from Helsinky to Jyvaskyla. I arrived at my apartment at 2 a.m. and I was completely shocked by the weather. It was -26 (Celsius degree). The days after it also dropped to -33. Even my eyelashes became white, covered in ice. It was a real trauma, I even asked myself ''Why the hell did I choose to come here instead of Spain?".

However, I managed to survive and I'm still alive ! After this life-threatening experience I decided to start writing again, in order to let everybody know that I'm fine and Alive.
Just kidding ;) I boughed myself a good pair of woolen socks (for way too many euros, but that's another story).
Truth is that I found myself having a lot of spare time. My life is actually bounded by bus's time tables and the few hours of light they have here in Finland. Yes, I wrote light because sun is pretty rare to experience. I'm still trying to synchronize my biological clock with the local one. I need to admit that I appreciate their over-spiced food. They use ginger and cinnamon on everything ❤

I met many new people, surprisingly a lot of Italians. All students here in Erasmus with who I daily share many adventures, difficulties, experiences and discoveries. I'll slowly try to talk with each one of them, but after a week I obviously know my neighbors an flatmates only.

I already noticed that in my luggage I managed to take with me my clumsiness and  bad luck.
- I locked myself out of my own room on the 2nd day. The doors in the different apartments lock themself automatically both from the inside and the outside. I took my shower and discovered that the wind closed my bedroom. The maintenance guy came over after 2 hours I phoned him, opened the door and asked for 35 euro. 35 ! -.-
- I broke my iPhone's screen. I was just sitting on a chair, scarf on my knees and phone over the scarf. I moved a little bit forward and the scarf fell. The phone fell. It happened many other times but last Friday...the screen was composed of black and blue bars. I still don't know if it's all about the chrystals inside or if there's any damage on the internal mechanisms. I'm hoping for the best, which is the screen replacemente only. I don't want to buy a new phone, mostly because I know that mine was perfectly working !

I hope you enjoyed this update, hopefully more will come :) 

Have a nice week !

Fede

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Scout in class

Good morning !

More than a month ago, Giulia, a friend of mine, asked me if I wanted to be involved in something interesting. Her mum works as a teacher in an elementary school, not far from where we live. 

This year they're working on a project where the children discover more about community, help, friendship and many other topics that could easily be connected with scoutism. 

I can't precisely remember the day, but in March our leader Luca, Giulia and I visited the class and met the children. Throughout the year they read the ''Jungle Book'' by Kipling, on which the activities for youngest scout are based. They already knew names, stories, traditions and many other things, it was a pleasure to work with them. On this first meeting they welcomed us singing ''Strade di Coraggio'', a song written for the national event we had last year, and ,while singing, they were holding a draw of the official logo. We than taught them a couple of songs for scout of their age and we spoke a little bit, discovering what they thought about scoutism and we answered their questions. 

This morning we had the second and last meeting: when we arrived they were still in the gym, doing activities connected with music. After that, we taught them another song and than we moved the activities outside. We played a game outside and they has do much fun ! When it came the time to say goodbye, in order to thank us, the children started singing ''Up'' by Olly Murs and Demi Lovato and they also danced !

After this ''last goodbye'' I felt emotional: it was hard not to cry a little bit but I managed to hold back the tears. Those 9 kids were so sweet, I really do hope the best for them.

This is it for today. This afternoon I'm going to cut my hair (rare event...for which I'm so so so nervous) and tonight I'll probably go to the cinema, because I won free tickets ahah 

Have a nice weekend !

Fede

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@Update 4 - May and June, many events plus exams

Good morning, or as they say in Australia ''G'day !''

I'm not in Australia right now, just saying ! 

More than a month has passed since when I published something. 

May is one of the busiest month of my year; the lessons' end coincides with the medieval festival in my city (that we won this year, for the 3rd consecutive time) and many other local events. For example, this weekend there's going to be ''Cantine Aperte'' (Open Wineries): you pay something like 10euros for the transport, usually a small bus, so that you're completely sure that the driver (who's not one of your friends) won't surely get drunk. Than, when you arrive, you need to pay 5euro for the glass of the even, that you can refill as many times as you please, throughout the day. Unluckily, this same weekend, there's going to be the election of the new region's president. I was selected to work at the polling station, where I'll spend Saturday afternoon and the whole Sunday...obviously sober ahah.

At the beginning of June there's the first part of the summer exam session, than every school's theater goups is going to performa  certain play, every sports club will perform a final exhibition and so on. I'll try to take part to as many events as possible, but in the meantime, I'll have to study. 

There are so many things to write about that I lost count and that I didn't really wanted to describe that much. I preferred to live the moment, enjoy the experience and not constantly think about pictures to upload on the blog to show you, and other things. I realized that I enjoy writing in order to create a sort of journal, something that I'll update whenever I have something that is truly worth describing. 

I said everything and nothing in this post, hopefully I'll soon update, but I'm not sure. Living summer as it comes :) Have a nice weekend !

Fede

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@Update 3 - Albania, Easter, Erasmus and more

Good evening !

Well, I have to admit that I needed to check what was the last update I did on this blog. 

The end of March and April were pretty busy, and for what concern April and May...there's going to be a lot more. 

But let's follow the chronological order to make a sort of summary for this period.

From the 28th of March until the 4th of April I was in Albania. Being on my last year of scout it's highly recommend to take part in a ROSS, a Route of Observation of Strada (Walking) and Service.

Truth is that this translation is not that accurate, and neither this small summary will be. My experience in Albania was really strong and amazing, I'll probably dedicate a whole post about that week, and I'll write about all the things I've done and the amazing people I shared this travel with. 

When I came back, on the day before Easter, a long travel was waiting for me, 3 different trains from Bari to Assisi. When I was having a last breakfast with the group I reconnected internet after a week, and checking my email I discovered something extraordinary !  At the end of February I applied at my University to go in Erasmus. My choices were, in the following order of preference; Finland, Belgium or Austria. I can't describe how excited I was to discover that I was selected to be the only one who's going in...FINLAND ! Next February I'll leave and join the University of Jywaskyla, where I'll study for 5 months. At the moment I don't know that much, but as soon as I'll know more I'll involve the blog as much as I can, making it my ''Erasmus Diary''.

Back on the beginning of April, the 5th was Easter and I had the pleasure to have brunch and dinner with my whole family. The relatives from Venice decided not to join us because a family's friend is getting married in Assisi at the beginning of May, and they prefer to take only that trip to Assisi in this period. That evening I met all my friends in the central square and together we head to an invent know as ''The iPod Battle''. The different groups of the two parts that compete in the local medieval festival (the Calendimaggio) had the opportunity to take part at the battle sending to the group, who organised the event, a number of songs that wasn't going to be longer than 10 minutes. This means that we sent over 3 songs that globally played for 10 minutes, others used 4 shorter songs, or 2 longer ones. Although it was the first year, we ended up 2nd, winning nothing but GLORY !

The day after, also known as ''little Easter'', it's a day in which you spend a day at the seaside eating sea food, or in another city that you've never visited before...it's a day you use to visit some places around and have a nice relaxing day. I went in Orvient, a lovely city in Umbria. I uploaded, literally,a couple of pics on Flickr !

This period (since last week) in my city we are preparing our medieval festival, the Calendimaggio. THIS is the official website of the event, if you're interested check it out. My part is  working to win again, obviously. As a citizen of Assisi, since when I was 3 months I took part at this festival. Yeah, my mum made a cute little medieval dress for me, and I took part at the ''show''. I really like this time of the year, it's probably the only one in which I enjoy spending some time in my city, which usually is pretty boring and empty, not of tourists but I'm talking about events. 

I wish I could write more about this period, but instead of constantly updating this blog, I prefer enjoy these months and after try and summarize what happened. To remember them because I had the chance to properly live these moments...it's the best thing. Have a nice weekend everyone :)

Fede

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LIBERA 21.03.15 - Against Mafia

Good morning everyone !

On Saturday I woke up at 4.30 am, and at 5.15 am I left with a bus for Bologna. I traveled with my my scout group and with some students from the high school I used to go to.

The 21st of March was the day of Memory and Commitment in memory of the Mafia's victims.

When we arrived in Bologna, we took part of a 3h march in the city's streets, and we all ended up in a giant square where there was an amazing speech by Don Luigi Ciotti. Walking the last big streets, you could hear all the names of the people killed by this system, names that were read by people on the main stage, located on the square where we were heading to.

I think that it's not necessary to talk about the Mafia as wrong system, as you may and should already know much about it. If not, if you'll ever get the chance, try to inform you as much as you can.

Italy is often called the country of ''Pizza, Pasta and Mafia'' as stereotype, but, for how cool it may seems in ''The Padrino'' movie, believe me that this system is ruining our country, creating strange circulation of money and dividing even more the South from the North.

Libera is the association  that organized this event and many others. It works against every kind of Mafia (Camorra etc.) and that try to reuse territories and buildings taken from these systems in the society. It also does different events to help people think about this situation, that seems so far away from our routine, but in truth it is not.

If you wanna learn more, click HERE, it's Libera's official website. It should be easy to understand, although it is in Italian because, if you are using Google, it should ask you, at the beginning, if you want the entire page to be translated.

The following are some of the very few pics I took. I tried to live the experience, instead of just portraying it: like talking as much as I could with the new people I met there, such as a really nice girl who was over-hearing a conversation I was having with a friend of mine. I recently sent out to the secretarial of my Uni a request for Erasmus, for next year obviously. This girl turned around and asked me what my choices where, and she described me very kindly her experience, giving me tips and advises.

''Mafia fears culture more than justice. Let's invest in culture''

 I hope this blog post, which was different from the others, will intrigue you and that inspired you to try to learn as much as you can about this topic, and maybe take part in a movement like Libera, if they exist in your area. Have a nice weekend :)

Fede

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Turning 20 !

Good evening everyone !

After (almost) a month from my birthday I decided to write down a proper blog post on how I spent the 17th of February and what I've received as presents.

On Monday 16th I had an important exam. It went really well, so the following day was going to be really relaxing and perfect anyway! 

When I woke up I decided to take a bath, thing that I rarely do. For this special occasion I decided to use for the first time ever...a bath bomb. 

I've never really use one of them before and, in fact, I was so excited when I received one for Christmas. This one is called ''Granny takes a dip'', and it turns your water in dark pink, almost burgundy in my opinion. It smells delicious, a mix of ginger, pepper and lemon (as it says on the description of the product).

Than I decided to treat myself...again. Although I'm terrible when it comes to cook, I tried to make myself some pancakes, and they turned out pretty good. I honestly don't think that the recipe  I used was the original one, in fact I found it on GialloZafferano.com, an Italian cook website. If you have any suggestion, please comment below and let me know. 

The rest of the day I was busy doing different things, it was Tuesday after all.
I properly decided to celebrate my birthday on Thursday the 19th, inviting over in my country house few friends. It was a really pleasant evening ! I was wearing a simple plain blue dress (although in the pictures it seems purple), with long sleeves and that turned out to be a little bit too short for me, after taking it to the seamstress.

In order: Andrea, Giacomo, Federico, Davide, Gioele, Mario, Andrea, Giulio, AnnaMarta, Ilaria, Sara, Sofia, Valentina, Giorgia, Lucrezia, Chiara, Lorenza, Elia e Guido.

As I previously wrote, I'd like to show you the presents I received. I'm not doing this to show you what I've got and brag about these things, I'm only trying to give you some ideas if you'll want to make a gift to someone.
I have no idea about the prices because, as I sad, they were presents. I also apologize for the multiple location used to shoot the pictures, I took them in different days, whenever and wherever I could, so that's why.

Stockings and socks from Calzedonia. 

I'm obsessed with Adidas' classical model. I've been buying a pair of this since when I was 8, and luckily this year they released that old model I love, and I was so happy to finally find my number ! - Adidas Stan Smith

Bracelets from DonnaPiù

Plain basic grey and black tshirt - Fortini Sport 

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Clémént Chéroux (Contrasto Editore) - Grazie Leo :)

Lighters with letters on - Diddi was the surname I used to introduce myself when I was a child, because it seems like Federica was quite a long word for me to pronounce !

Hope you enjoyed this blog post, I wish you all an amazing week end! 

Fede

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Skiing in Madonna di Campiglio .

Good evening everyone !

I wasn't around for a couple of week. Last time I posted something was few days before an important exam, and I'm glad to announce you that it went really good.

That same week was my birthday, I turned 20, yay ! Next week I'll try to write a blog post, in order to show you my birthday presents, so that maybe you'll find an inspirantion for when you'll have an occasion in which you would like to buy something special for someone. 

On Saturday 21st I left with my parents and brother and the four of us went skiing in Madonna di Campiglio. I came back on Saturday afternoon and since Monday I restarted having lessons at Uni. Basically that's why I've been doing lately !

Today I'd like to show you some pictures I took while I was in the North skiing. Since when I was 4 years old, my parents taught me to ski, as it was a huge passion for both.

As I previously mentioned, I went in Madonna di Campiglio, a really nice place located on the North of Italy, that has several skiing areas around it, being on the Alps. We booked an apartment that was so close to the sky slope that once I almost arrived at my house's door still on my ski, because there was a lot of snow and they hadn't yet removed  from the roads. 

I'll leave you to the pictures that can describe that week better than my words. 

This is Madonna di Campiglio, lovely ! 

This is the starting point used for skiing races. In fact, the 3-Tre is an amazing ski slope where they often have huge ski competitions, even world championships. 

 And I think that these two are the only one pictures I have of myself ! In both I had to face a sort of  storm; it was snowing, cold and windy !

These are some goods I bought to take back home. The infusions have vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, orange and other thousand spices that I adore ! I probably picked the worst bretzel of the 4 I bought, but I can assure you that it was delicious! The beverage on the right, that is the same contained in the small bottle, is the Bombardino. It needs to be drink while still warm, I had mine with a little bit of cocoa powder on top, although usually it's served with whipped cream on top. It tastes amazing and is a mix of Vov (an egg-based liquor, or ''egg flip'') with rum (pirata), coffee (calimero) or whisky (scozzese - scottish).

I hope you liked these pictures and that one day you'll have the amazing opportunity to taste the Bombardino ! Have a nice weekend !

Fede

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