International Youth Exchange

	Nickname	Alexander
	Birthday	May 22
	Hobbies	Playing piano, learning foreign languages. Also participation in Astronomy club, Outdoors Club, World Cultures Club, the Foreign Language Club, the World Dance Club, National Honor Society, and National Beta.
	Education Goals	Attend college and double major in French and Music ( classical piano)
	Hometown	Fayettevile, AR USA
	Sponsoring Rotary Club	Fayetteville Downtown Rotary Club
	Hosting Rotary District / Club

Notes from Italy...

Tuesday, April 24, 2001 2:32 PM	Carissimi Amici, I feel bad for not having written since Jan. 24. As a result, this letter is going to be really long (as they always are I guess), but I hope not painfully so. I have been so busy with an incredible life I'm leading here and the lack internet at home has kept me from sharing it with you as often as I used to. Anyway, I'll start with the general life activities and how this semester has been so different from the last. Life with my new family has just been heaven. They actually aren't and don't feel anymore like a new family. I feel like I have lived here a long time; it's been about three months in reality. I have so much independance yet there is still such a family feeling. Gianluca (padre) has so much to talk about with me since we are musicians and he has lots of contacts with important musicians around the world. The mother is so dolce (sweet) and serene. She acts like my mammina (little mommy) worrying about me getting sick or getting enough sleep. Mila (the cook/maid) is so brava and jolly. She cleans my room and washes and irons my clothes and is a professional cook. I eat like a king: octopus, clams, filet mignon, quail, swordfish, incredible pastas with different sughi (sauces), cheeses, spumanti (Italian champagne), artichokes, olives, fennel, and great coffee with biscotti. Are you drooling? I am. I can't wait for lunch now! SO, this will always be my second home and family. This semester has been a big change because of my more active life. Last semester I spent mostly being alone except when keeping in touch via internet 'til the wee hours of the night, so I slept in the morning and practicing in the day. Now (partly because of not having internet), I feel fully integrated, assimilated, and acculturated. I get up in the morning and have a caffè and some biscotti. Around 8:30, I take my little bike and head to the conservatory. I'm there by 8:40 but take a twenty minute break before I start (very Italian). By 9:00 I am practicing or in class. I have started several new courses this semester in addition to keeping my old ones. I started accompanying (mainly Opera singers). It is very tough because I had to learn so many new skills. One is reading orchestra scores (which means reducing music for a bunch of instruments at once to playing it on the piano in an appropriate way that makes it sound as much like the orchestra as possible). The other is sight-reading already reduced orchestra scores for piano which are truly humanly impossible because the editor just takes the notes from the orchestra and puts them all on one pentagram for piano making you wish you had a third arm. So you practically have to sight read knowing what to leave out and what to leave in while concentrating on each melody and harmony and using specific techniques trying to match the sounds with those of the original instruments the piece was written for and in the meantime you have to sing the Opera singers' parts (even if you do it with throat voice/bad singing) which are usually in Italian if not French or German and follow the singer(s) you are accompanying. I read an article that said people who do this well use 60-65% of their brain while doing it, the most use of the brain ever recorded (Einstein used 13-17% or something like that). I, however, am a major begginer and struggle a lot with my grey matter to get it to do this task. So, that class is challenging but really fun. We laugh a lot. My other class is Choral Investigation which is pretty much singing antique peices like Gregorian Chants to understand Music History and the development/discovery of music. We even read with the antique writing styles of writing music. It's a good compliment to my music history classes. My Music History I class has finished the history curriculum and we have moved on to acoustics which is like Physics of sound and music. It involves lots of math and makes my head hurt but I really like it and it is helpful in understanding how the sound is produced when you play. I actually have changed how I play the Chopin Ballade No. 1 on certain parts to avoid some acoustic problems My other classes: Harmony and Music History II are going well too but are challenging. I did get a new piano teacher. My old one was too busy to give me lessons once a week and it was inconvenient to meet with her since she was private and not part of the conservatory. So I got a spot with one of the top ones at the conservatory instead of studying privately. Her name is Signora Barbalat. She is Romanian and speaks 5 or 6 languages (our lessons are sometimes in three languages) She has great piano technique, has played all over, and has out several CDs. I started a (modern) Berg Sonata with her. I am very content studying under her. Other than the consevatory, I have many many other activities: I am in the city's pretty well-known choir. We sing Vivaldi, Handel, and Gregorian Chants, etc. I am in a quartet in a Latin peice by Allegri for Choir, Quartet and a Gregorian Male Unison group. We've already had a concert and probably the most famous Italian choir director is coming to direct us. I have also joined the scouts here (which is co-ed and Catholic based). I am teaching piano lessons to three American children and I have a job teaching 3-5 year olds at the bilingual school (they don't speak English yet, but they try). Another thing I am doing is a translation of a small biography that my host father is writing on a famous violinist from Ferrara, Aldo Ferraresi. It's a small booklet but it has been quite challenging mainly because I have been translating lots of quotes and critics' remarks written 50 years ago when they used a very different, more complicated writing style in addition to some different grammar. For the most part, those are the things that are a part of my daily life here, not to forget of course a daily after-lunch expresso at my bar near the conservatory where they know me and what I am doing here, nor to forget going to parties and "discoteche" (clubs) with friends on the weekends. Trips I have taken in the last three months have been to Venice and Cento for Carnevale. Cento is the No. 2 city in the world for Carnevale after Rio De Jenero and the two cities actually collaborate every year and are connected live with Video Cameras. There were so many samba dancers in feathery costumes crowding the streets among the huge floats that threw down soccer balls, blow-up sofas and life size stuffed animals for the crowds to take. Venice was equally chaotic, but more romantic and sophisticated. There were elaborate, classicly Venetian-costumed characters in the streets. I took almost a full roll of film of just them because they were so elegant and fantastic (in the sense that they seemed to be from the world of your fantasies, yet they were real). I ended up going to Venice two days in a row to see it all and just enjoy being there. Yes, the gondolas and their drivers with the stripped shirts and funny hats really are real! The architecture of the palazzi right there on the canals blows you away. I took a boat ride along the canals and just soaked in the beauty. I will definitly be going back considering it is only a 7 dollar, 1 hour train ride away. More recently I visited Naples and the surrounding cities. That is, I got back this morning at 7 am after spending the night in the cuchettes of the night train. I think this is going to rank as one of the top three vacations of my life. I completely let go of everything and just did what I wanted to do. I saw so many incredible things, but also just got to soak in the culture and get to know the people of Southern Italy, which are both completely different from their counterparts of Northern Italy (where Ferrara is). I was staying with a friend of Gianluca's who was a pretty well known tenor and the son of Aldo Ferraresi (that violinist whose biography I'm translating). He lived in the center of town and had two great terraces with views of Vesuvius (the volcano near Naples). Although the house wasn't the cleanest I'd ever stayed in, it was probably better than a hostel would have been and it didn't cost a Lira, plus it included free access to the kitchen and the fridge, so I'm really grateful. I was down there for 10 days and I got to see everything I wanted to plus I got a good culture fix. I went to so many churches (about 30)! I went to all the museums in Naples. One was archeological and contained lots of art and the bodies from Pompeii 2000 years ago, one was on the history of Naples and had typical clothes and carriages and jewelry, etc., the last museum was surly one of the best art museums I've ever seen. I saw three castles, two on the ocean, a monastery/castle/chapel on top of a hill in the center of Naples which looks out over the city and the ocean and islands. I saw the catacombs of St. Gennaro which held the oldest Christian Mosaic in history. Plus I saw St. Gennaro's chapel which has his miraculously preserved head (he was martyred by decapitation) and two vials of his blood that miraculously liquify once a year for his holy day. Naples always has a "mega-festa." St. Gennaro is the Patron saint of Naples. Some of the best things to see however were right outside of Naples. Caserta is about fifteen minutes away and has a Palace built in 1775 to rival the one in Versailles. It has 1200 rooms, 1742 windows, and 34 staircases with endless gardens which had a 75m man-made waterfall complete with statutes and the works. Nearby Caserta is Capua which has an amphitheatre like the Colloseum in Rome but in better condition and smaller. In the bay of Naples are many islands, one of which is Capri. I spent a whole day on the island exploring and taking boat rides around the island and into the blue grotto (considered one of the seven wonders of the world because of it's neon blue glowing water. I can't describe the beauty of the island because it is just something you have to see. On the opposite side of Naples is Pompeii and Ercolano and the Vesuvius. Pompeii was impressive. Its story is so tragic. The people were all killed by the explosion of the volcano on August 24, 79 AD. You can still see their bodies complete with teeth and bones and ash that preserved the expressions on their faces and their contorted bodies. One of the houses had the largest painted (fresco) from the ancient world. Pompeii also contains statues, theatres (the oldest amphitheatre in the world), houses, baths, and a brothel but Ercolano to me seemed to give more of an idea of how the people used to live because it is so intact. It doesn't deserve the term "ruins." Exploring the 2000-year-old houses and shops and buildings, complete with frescoes, furniture, mosaics, small sculptures, and even wooden doors, felt like an invasion of privacy. After seeing all the destruction caused by the volcano how could I not go confront Vesuvius himself. This was the most impressing experience of my trip. I got the same feeling of being insignificant and powerless as when at the Grand Canyon. I even begged (and had to bribe with money) a guide to take me (and two friends I'd met along the way from Canada and Norway) into the crater. Starting the climb up to the highest point was really leaving the tourist part. The re were no ropes or rails, just climbing. When we got to the highest point of the volcano and looked out over all the cities it could destroy if it exploded again, we descended into the steamy crater to touch the rocks of 80°C (more than 200°F). The volcano connoisseur who took us in, having ditched her guide-for-tourists-self told us that, with 10 km of hardened lava rock before the magma chambers, Vesuvius is considered the most dangerous volcano in the world because when it wakes up (and it has been way too long since it's last awakening in 1944) it will create an explosion something like the one 2000 years ago that ruined all the cities surrounding it and killed many. They observe it 24hrs a day and they tell the people in the area that they would be evacuated in time because the volcaninsts should know when it would explode 15 days beforehand, but she told us that the volcanists just say that to create security. So that was an experience I will remember for a lifetime. My biggest cultural encounter was the two Neopolitan parties I went to. I felt like I went back in time several hundred years to a country get together. We had freshly caught octopus in a wonderful sauce, Neopolitan bread, and homemade wines and then they spontaneously started some typical neopolitan music with these special tamborines and other strange instruments like this wooden one that had two mallets conected by a hinge at the bottom that you beat against a carved branch in the middle. The music was so interesting. The singer had a sang in dialect with projecting voice and used the same music scales as Arab Rhai music uses and yet at the same time the lute or fiddle or accordian played melodies using the six tone scale. Nevermind, maybe that's not so interesting, but the dancing was really fun. The male and female do this sort of mysterious creeping around eachother without ever losing eye contact (so as not to let another male steal away the female) until the music gets wilder and then they just kind of throw their limbs in every direction and sway back and forth, with still constant eye contact. The whole time they click castanets in the air and grin. The parties were a blast and there were people from all over who came to do this dancing and listen to the music (Northern Italy, Spain, France, Mexico, Japan). The last thing I did in Naples, I happened to run into. They were holding the European Convention for Music Therapy in the Castel Dell'Ovo which sits right on the ocean (it's once everything three years, always in a different city). I attended some amazing workshops, presentations, and concerts and even ended up acting as traslator for one of them. That was an intruiging experience. Well, being in Naples definitly allowed me to see the obvious differences between the South and North of Italy In the South, they speak dialect more often than they do Italian and is almost considered a differant language rather than a dialect. Second, there is a lot more povery because many people choose not to work, but they are much happier and freer people. They have a zest for life that the more reserved Northerners don't have. And finally, the food has a completely different taste, but is just as delicious (Pizza was created in Naples). Anyway, now I'm back to Ferrara and back to studying. Things I'm looking forward to in the near future are my parents coming for two weeks in June and then my summer plans. When my parents come, we are going to Venice, Florence, to see the relatives together near Trento, and to relax on the beach in the Cinque Terre. This summer I am going to Spain with two Italian friends, to Poland to visit a Polish girl I met in Corsica three years ago and haven't seen since, and then finally to Freiburg, Germany for a piano masterclass with Jura Margulis, his father, and Martha Argerich. Then I come back to Ferrara for a while to say my goodbyes to my host family, my friends, and my Italian hometown itself before returning to Fayetteville to start University. I feel like the end of this fabulous year is getting too near, but these last four months are going to be filled with many more experiences and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to be here. I thank all of you for having supported me. I hope your lives are going well too. I'd love to hear news from you and would be delighted to respond. Spero di non avervi rotto le palle con questa mia lettera. (I hope I didn't bore you to death with this letter of mine). Baccioni dell'Italia, Alessandro
Wednesday & Thursday, April 11-12, 2001	Hey Guys, Hope things are going well back home. I am great. ... every this is benissimo! ... Italy has shut down for a couple of weeks. I leave for Naples tomorrow. I am going for a little vacation for a week down there to see Naples and Pompeii and Capri etc... It should be a ball!!! I'll let you know all about it when I come back. Ciao! Alexander
Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 9:57 AM	Carissimi Tutti, It has been way too long since I last wrote and as usual, a ton of things have changed and many events have taken place since then. I will start with what I did one month ago. Firenze: a city of every era in my opinion. I was there for af day weekend visitng some American friends who are going to Art School there. It felt weird again to be with Fayettevillians in Italy (they had come to visit me a month before here in Ferrara). It was interesting to see what other exchange students were doing. They had an apartment, so they were independant and lived a student life. I pretty much spent my says there seeing as much as I could. I visited all the touristy stuff except the museums (don't worry I am saving all of them for the next trip which should be soon). Florence is beautiful. My favorite thing was the gardens that overlook Florence and the Tuscan countryside. It stayed there for five hours trying to see it all, but it was impossible and it got dark before I could. However it was magical. For some reason, I still prefer Rom to Florence Maybe it's the "Southern Thing" or maybe the ancient part of Rome that intruiges me, or the Vattican, or maybe all the English in Florenc (It was impossible to speak Italian), or maybe just that I need to spend more time in Florence. However, it is still one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It definitly makes my top 5 list, at least. I can't wait to go back for the art and more wandering the streets just discovering. When I came home to Ferrara, I was again shot in the face by the problems with Rotary here. I still had no family to go to and my current host family (Marco) said I wouldn't able to return to his house after winter vacation for personal reasons and since he had told me from the beginning he could only help me by hosting me for a month and I had already overstayed my welcome by an extra month. At any rate, there had been talks of moving me to a small town outside Bologna, which is already 30 min. from Ferrara, meaning I would have had to travel an hour and a half every day to school and another 1.5 back. There was even the possibility of me having to return to America. I had given up and "turned it over" at this point. I was tired of played the marrionettist with the situation. I had already asked all my friends, teachers, and even practical strangers to help me find a solution. I considered putting up signs in my school and conservatory, but Marco (host) said it would be too weird. So, without any r eal help from Rotary here, I planned my vacation, trying to be away as long as possible to give them time and room to maybe find something. On the day I was destined to leave for Christmas and New Years vacation, I got a call from one of those "practical stranger." It was a girl I had briefly talked to at a Roteract party. In our 10 min. conversation, I had of course slipped in a mention of my dilemna as I had been doing with everybody at that point. She was calling because she said she had found me a family. I couldn't bring myself to believe it. I had found a family. In shock and disbelief, I skipped class just so I could make sure this was real and to set up the situation for when I returned. I went to their home, which is downtown by the castle, and talked to them, getting to know them and the house. They were very nice, which to me was more than I could ask for since I was just trying to keep from sleeping in the Piazza del Cathedrale. After figuring out the logistics, I rushed directedly to t he train station to catch my train. I was on my way to Arso (the 50 person town, inhabited mostly by my Italian relatives). After many hours on the train, I arrived at midnight and went directly to my cousins house and to sleep. The next morning, I woke to espresso, panetone (Italian Christmas cake/bread), and while mountains all around the valley. It was great to see Uberto and Rita (the distant cousings) and Michela (Rita's daughter). She is in her early 20s and is studying in Spain this year (she also speaks German so we really got along jabering about languages). While I was there, I got to eat luch at all of the aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relative's houses. I really got to know them well and even their dialect (which I undertand now after hearing mostly just it for the whole time I was there). One of the aunts even showed me the Neiderjaufner family tree and was so pleased to point out all the paths that lead back to my G.G.Grandpa Florian the first. It was so special for me to see that handwritten family tree and to hear, first-hand, about my roots and how history evolved through the life of my grandpa Florian (number III), to my mother, and then to me. On Christmas eve, there was a night mass at 10:00 at St. Maria's Church on the top of the hill, where my Great Grandmother was baptised and which she was named after. It seats about 50 people, but it was full of about 150 people and animals when we arrived. Half of the group was dressed in authentic costumes from Jesus' times (knickers, lambskins, the whole bit). The church has elegant, but simple frescos and the alter is gilded with a mary and child and a crusifix in the center. It was cold but people were still singing, prasing, and just being joyful about the birth of Christ. It felt like Christmas should, without the commerciality (there is minimal gift giving for Christmas in Italy). Before the mass began, I heard Uberto talking with one of the villagers in Nonnes. She was nonchalantly searching for a lecteur for the mass. She didn't seem to care that mass was about to start and they didn't have one yet. The mass itself was so powerful. It meant so much to me to be in some way tying myself back into my roots. Near the end of the mass, the priest said we all were going in search of baby Jesus, just like they did 2033 years ago. So that's why everyone was wearing bears furr and sheep skin, tec. We all walked to the bottom of the hill (the village's other city limit) and there, in a field next to another church, was a stable with a manger and a baby inside with Mary and Joseph surrounding Him and soothing Him. The trees behind were full of little glittering starts and one huge star high above the whole scene sparkiling with minature lights. They started putting the cow, goat, sheep, and donkey in the stable and having them lay down beside Mary and Joseph. We all circled around and watched as a group played guitar and harmonica and sang. All of a sudden, three kings came up to offer their gifts to baby Jesus, then came the shepards, and the whole Christmas Sotry unfolded before our eyes as if baby Jesus really had just been born that very night. Around midnight, the mass was ended and we all gathered around 4 bonfines in the field or went in the church for Italian traditional Chrismas sweets and brulee (boiled red wine with cinammon and sugar). I stayed up late with all the younger people from around the valley. And we danced and sang to all these Italian songs and just had fun being silly. We sat around the fire and talked (They spoke in Nonnes while I spoke in Italian, attracting all kinds of attention). I went to bed late and the next morning we woke to snow everywhere. We had Christmas lunch and just relaxed. It was a very calm Christmas. I stayed a couple more days and went to the discoteca with Michela and some other cousins. (Michele and his sister). Then, I was off to go skiing in the French Alps. When I got there, I could not formulate one sentence in French. It was like every new thing I had learned in Italian had replaced everything I knew in French. I was astonished because I was used to going long periods of time without speaking it and being fine, but the new Italian language had made my brain a wreck. I was just quiet, depressed, and tired for the first few days. All my friends laughed at me and wondered what happened to my once fluent French. I still enjoyed being with them though because I still understood everything, and after about 5 days, my French started inching back into my brain. I mainly was around people while I was there, going to parties and boites (clubs) so I had fun. There was a great little intimate New Years party and I got to see all of the people I knew. So, on the 11th, without having skiied since there wasn't enough snow, I returned to Ferrara. It was a good visit all the same. Coming back to Ferrara was so refreshing. I was home again, but I felt this replenished feeling like I had a new life to begin. I have been back a week now and am leading a completely new life than last semester. I get up early to practice and go to bed early. I am stay off the internet instead of being up until 2 every night and waking up in the late morning. I just want to feel more "fully here" and not so attached to home. I am being more active with my friends, inviting them out and even starting a club with them (Concerto Club) for us to meet regularly and practice performing in front of a group (just friends though). I have a new, but small job teaching English several hours a week at a bilingual gradeschool. I am really going to love that I can tell. The biggest thing that has changed my life here is that I am in a new host family. It actually feels like my first family. Before, I was living with Marco, a very nice bachelor pianist. But it was temporary and I was always feeling like I was living for "whenever a new situation came up." Now, I have a mom (Camilla), dad (Gianluca), a dog (Kelly) and cat (Micia), two host brothers (Daniele and Ricardo), who only come to visit because they study in Milano, and a very kind-hearted and joyful-souled cook/maid (Mila) I have a clean room with a bathroom that is in the basement, separate from the house. It's very cozy and comfortable and has everything I could ever need. (lots of storage space, big bed, shelves for book and my Discman and speakers, hooks for coats/scarves/bags, I could go on, but I would be the only one thrilled). I have a door down the hall to the outside courtyard, which is charming and keys to all doors. It's kinda like I live in a separate apartment except I am a part of the family, always with them. They said they want me to feel like I live in the major part of the house not my room, so I have a study up there, where I do my homework and listen to music. The father, Gianluca, is always letting me borrow his CDs because h e is a violin technique expert and has about 500 classical music CDs. He also wrote a book, which was translated into English, about vionlin technique. I have great conversations with Camilla, the mother, about the differences between family and school and so one here in Italy versus in America. She is very interested. I also eat with the family at every meal. I have been eating like a king in gastronomical heaven. I can't wait to gain back all the weight (10 lbs) I had gained the first months here and lost when I went to France this holiday. We have had fresh clams from France, sea perch from Spain, tripe (a delicacy which is actually the cow's third stomach yummmmm), and of course, home-handmade tortellini, capellaci, and pasta. So, there it is! That's how I've been doing and where I've been the last month or so. I am a very happy camper and grateful to be having this life-giving and life-changing experience. I have friends, a family, great teachers; I.am speaking Italian without even thinking about it, improving rapidly at my conservaotry, practicing piano 6 hours a day, and starting every morning eating biscotti with my espresso. What more could I want? Well, I would love to see some of you I guess. You're all invited to visit (hehe) Luckily, my mamma and maybe my pop are coming in June, but as far as the rest of you, I miss you dearly and send you my love, "Italian style": with baci (kisses). Vi Saluto, Alessandro P.S. I do not have unlimited access to internet anymore so please be patient with me if I do not respond to your e-mail for several weeks after you send. I promise to do so eventually. I really appreciate and enjoy all of your personal e-mails.
Wed, 10 Jan 2001 09:42:19	I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. Anyway, I guess you haven't heard anything about what has happened with me and I don't remember which event was the last you heard about, but the bottom line is I HAVE A FAMILY!!! On the day I was planning to leave for vacation (without a family), a friend of a friend called me and said she had found me a family. I thought it was too good to be true but she set up an appointment for me to go to their house and check out the scene. So, the day I was supposed to finish school and leave for Trento and then the French Alps, I told my teachers I wouldn't make it to class and I went to the house. It is perfect. They are a middle-aged couple with two boys (18 and 20) in college at Milano. Anyway, they have a huge house in the center of town, two blocks from my school. Their balcony has a view of the castle downtown. They have a dog and cat and lots of antiques. The father is a violinist and wrote a book about violin technique that got translated into English. They have a Signora who cooks and cleans for them. I will have my own room and bathroom that is completley separate from the house with my own key and everything. They said it was their guest room but I would still be completely part of the family (eat with them, etc.) It's just for sleeping more of less. it was funny because the Bologna member in Ferrara/my counselor called me when I got home, just before leaving for the train station and he told me that when I returned I would go live with the original family in Budrio which is in between Bologna and Ferrara but still a 2 hour train ride everyday to Ferrara, so not the best situation. The whole time he was talking and I kept trying to get a word in and finally I just blurted out, I found myself a family, he was silent. I started laughing and anyway we hung up and he said he would talk to them and send me and e-mail confirming that they are okay. I still haven't received anything, but I am not worried. So there is the happy ending I think to this adventure story. I want to again thank you so much for putting out so much effort for me. I am very impressed by and proud of the Fayetteville Club. If you need anymore info, let me know. Tanti Auguri di Buon Natale e Felice Anno! Alexander P.S. I am in France (skiing) right now, not Poland, in case you wondered. I wrote that on the 5th. Since then, I have gotten a call and an email from Bologna Hosting Club Pres and all is well. He said in the letter that this family has agreed to host me until school is over in June. Isn't that incredible news?
Wednesday, Nov 29, 2000 1:07 PM	Carissimi Familia e Amici! Life goes on here in Ferrara. I now feel in me that this is home. I am still awestruck though, at the same time. I still remind myself several times a day that I get to stay here for 9 more months. I just can't believe I get to live here. I even say now "my house" and that I'm from Ferrara if someone from another city asks where I live. Well, I am going to try really hard to keep this e-mail shorter, but bear with me. School is finally happening for me. The last month, I have just been in one Theory and Solfegge class and having one lesson a week and practicing the rest of the time. Now, in the larger, public conservatory here in Ferrara, I am taking Music History, Harmony and Counterpoint, Theory and Solfegge, and Chamber Music (which is like duets, trios, quartets, etc.. with other instruments). They say that I have the best teachers in town if now in the region for the subjects I am taking. I would completely agree because they are really hard. Yesterday, I got my first piece for chamber music. Schuber Introduction and Variations for piano and flute. It is 23 pages long and is so hard. But I am excited and motivated to learn. The other classes are very interesting and challenging too. I now have about 3 hours of class a day, including Saturday. However, the emphasis of attendance is not like it is in the states. Today, I went to my theory classes (which is supposed to be a 2 hour class) and there was o nly one other girl in the class, because everybody else had meetings or were practicing (the teacher said). Then, after the minutes, the teacher got up and said he had a meeting and the class would resume sometime between noon and 2, but he didn't know when, just whenever his meeting was over. It was crazy. I made two batches of chocolate chip peanut butter cookies that were a major hit since they have never had anything like it. I have been giving them away as gifts. Christmas is coming up too, so I am thinking of making ginger bread men and other famous christmas cookies (we make 10 different kinds in my house). For chrsitmas this year, I am going to be with my relatives up in the Dolimiti mountains in Northern Italy. These are my Italian relatives that I met for the first time 2 weeks ago. Then, around the 29th of Dec, I am planning New Years in Poland and will hopefully stay at a Polish friend's house for a couple of weeks. (don't worry, Paul, Rotary approved). She lives near Warsaw. I just had a four day weekend in Rome and was convinced after 2 days that it is the most beautiful city in the world. I have never been surrounded by so much beauty and such ancient history. My host down there was a bookaholic and I am convinced he has a photografic memory. He knew the exact history, the exact measurments, and who commissioned the construction of everything in Rome. I mean, not just that the dome of Saint Peters Basilica is the exact same diameter and height as the Pantheon, or what every ruin used to be and who built it in what month and year, but also the story of every saint and king and pope's life, when they were born, died, and what they did in their life. We saw Travestere, all three Arches of Triumph, the Farnese Villa, the Piazza Venezia, Campidoglio, the Forum of the Roman Republic, Cesar, Trajano, and Augustus, the Colosseum, the church of St. Peter with Michaelangelo's Frescos, St. John's Basilica, Campo de Fiori, Palace of the Chancellory court of the Vattican, Piazza Navona, Madama Palace, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Quirinale Palace (the palace of the president and the italian republic), Barberini Palace, Spanish Steps, St. Clement's Basilica (the oldest church in Rome), Vattican Museums, Pyramide of Cestio, City Wall of Aureliane, Mouth of Truth, St. Sabina's Basilica (oldest door in the world, carved orange tree wood), Garden of Oranges (view of Rome), St. Maria's Church, Parlament, St. Peter's Basilica (walking through the holy door, which they only open every 25 years), The Maximum Circle (where Ben Hur gladiator sports happened), Mass at St. Maria's where there are three painting by Rubens, St. Angelo's Bridge, Sistene Chapel, St. Paul's Basilica, the Cap puccini's Cript (a church/cemetary made entirely of bones, there are 4000 monks skeletons there), and finally the Pope's mass (I got to see him from 10 feet away. This weekend was the most packed weekend of my life, yet we didn't rush. We just did a lot. We did tourist stuff all day and then at night we went to concerts, one in a basilica that isn't open to the publica but is all painted by Raphael. This guy was really nice and invited me back. When I go back (probably in the spring), he said he will take me into the Sistene Chapel without the public (we didn't do it this time, because if we had, we wouldn't have been able to see the museums). He also said that next time I will get a private meeting with the Pope in his apartments in the Vattican and walk with him in his gardens and go to his private mass. He said the Pope will give me a Rosary that you can only get from him with his emblem on it and blessed by him. I can't wait. This host was a part of the Vattican somehow so we didn't have to wait in any lines, we just walked up to the front and walked right in. It pays to have connections. All else I have to add is that I am feeling very confident with my Italian now. I understand 95% and am fluid when I speak. I don't have to think about my grammar anymore, it just comes out. My only major problem is Vocabulary. I still do a lot of pointing and jumping up and down and screwing up my face, but it is getting better every day. I am becoming pretty fluent in talking with my hands too. Well, I have said enough for this time. I could go on forever, but I may have already lost some you guys's attention. I miss you all and have really enjoyed your e-mails. Keep 'em comin' Ciao! Alessandro
11-19-00	I just had my weekend in Bologna, which ended up being a benefit party for UNICEF that the young Rotary Club (Roteract) put together. It was pretty fun and I spent the night at one of the members houses. I made a few accuaintances and was invited to some more parties in Modena and also in Ferrara so it sounds like that will be an opportunity to meet people. After going to bed at 5 am. and then waking up at noon, I got to meet Giorgia's famliy. We went to a really really local restaurant and they kept the food coming having me try all these Bolognese dishes. I had the best lasagna I have ever had and I had tortellini with meat and cheese inside (both very different from in the states). Then, I had this dolce called latte something because it is only made with milk, sugar and eggs. It was so good. Anyway, then they showed me a little bit of Bologna, but only enough for me to really need to come back. There is a really famous leaning tower here (like pisa, except two or three times as tall). There are actually several towers right next to eachother because over the years the kings tried to outdo eachother. A also saw many piazza's, one with an church that is only half finished because hundreds of years ago they didn't have enough money to continue with marble, so it just has brick. It is very interesting looking. Then another piazza had a little area called Sete Chiese, because there are 7 churches there. Each one was built in a different era so they are all really different yet right next to each other. It is very interesting. Anyway, when I got back to Ferrara, I got a call immediatly from Serena, the girl I met at the private music conservatory. I was late coming back from Bologna so we didn't have time to go to a discoteca. We just made a gira around the centro and went to a little bar. It was fun cause we talked and she is very interested in America of course. She was very nice. She invited me over to her house for Pizza one night (she lives with her sisters), and out to a discoteca, and to a party at her house. It is obvious she is interested in me, but this isn't going anywhere (so don't worry, Mom). =) Anyway, I am getting excited about this week. There are a lot of things going on. I have a meeting with a Bologna Rotary member who can maybe get started on helping me with my Rotary needs. I am going to start some classes at the Public Conservatory (the larger, more active one where I hope to meet more young people). I am only starting Chamber Music and Accompanying and the president said "we'll see how that goes and then maybe you could take some other classes." I hope I will be able to take Harmonia and Music History. Anyway, then on Thursday I am going to Rome for those concerts, to see the sights, and hopefully meet the Pope face to face. I also have another lesson which I am very excited about this week because the Chopin Ballade I started about 2 weeks ago is almost finished. I have really made lots of progress on it and I hope my teacher is pleased. Well, that's all for now. I hope everyone is well. I love you all! Ciao! Alessandro
11-17-00	I am thouroughly excited about what is in store for me the next two weekends. Tonight, I am going to Bologna for a Roteract Party (for young Rotary people). It starts at 10 and probably goes until 5 am. I thought I was going to an actually meeting with the Rotary club there, but I'm not. That's okay because I have an appointement with a Rotary member of the Bologna club who is like my counselor or something. We are going to meet in a Pizzeria and talk about host families and stipends, etc... Anyway, tomorrow, I have that date with Serena. I guess it's a date. Anyway, we are going to a discoteca with a bunch of her friends. The other thing I am really excited about is next weekend. I am going to Rome on thurs afternoon. Marco's friend, Rudolfo, will be there to take care of me when I get there. And geez is he taking care of me. On Thurs and Fri. nights, we have concerts. During the day, Marco said that Rudolfo has reserved the Sistene Chapel just for the two of us so there won't be any other tourists. I can't believe that. Then, another day, we are going to the Vatican. Marco said he talked to Rudolfo who said he is trying to make an appointment for me to meet the Pope!!!! Rudolfo is friends with him or something! Is that not incredible! Rudolfo said he was trying to set it up, but if the Pope is too busy, we will for sure go to his mass on Sunday mid morning. I am so excited about the whole trip. Rome of course is supposed to be amazing, but I feel really lucky to get this private showing of everything by Marco's friend. Well, I just wanted to update! Salve! Alessandro
Monday, Nov13, 2000 8:35 PM	Dear Everybody, I have been in Italy for two weeks now. How I have changed already in the last 15 days (as they say to imply 2 weeks). I have a whole new Italian wardrobe, I can play a new piano piece (Chopin Ballade No. 1), I have discoverd my roots, and I really feel like I am speaking Italian. The last two weeks have been full of adventure and learning. I have been to some great classical concerts, have had a few classes, been asked on a date, practiced a lot, eaten a lot of great food, and met lots of people. To start out, I have been going to Marco's parent's house several times a week for lunch. We always have home-made pasta, like tortelini with pumpkin, which is a speciality here. Every time on the way back home, Marco shows me a new place nearby. I saw a 1000 year old castle on the Po River last time and have seen many many churches. In addition to that, I have been going to my one and only class at the moment. It is called solfege and theory (music stuff) and is very interesting. I am learning a lot. The teacher is good and there are only 7 people in the class, ranging from age 10 to 60. The last two times, there has been this one girl named Serena who has asked me out on Sat. night. I have been gone on the weekends but will go with her this weekend to the discoteca. Besides that class, all I have been doing is practicing (5 to 7 hours a day) and having lessons once a week. I had my first one last week and it went very well. I really like my teacher. She is very talented. She has played all over the world and loves to travel but has decided to settle down to help young, aspiring musicians. We are like friends but in my lesson she still runs the show. It's perfect. Also, I am going to be entering the other conservatory here, I recently found out. I am going in to meet the director this Thursday. At that school, I will be taking accompanying, chamber music, harmony, and some other classes that I haven't chosen yet. I really can't wait for that. I also just found out that in April I will play Carnival of that Animals for two pianos or four hands (which means on one piano). I am looking forward to that, but I don't know who my partner will be. Other than music, there is Rotary. Well sort of. Actually, everything is so much better than I ever expected it possibly could be, except for Rotary. They are just as disorganized as I thought they would be judging from my experiences with them while I was in the states. I went to a meeting at one of the Ferrara Clubs (there are two) and they didn't know what school I was going to, how long I was staying, if I was in a dorm, or if I was in high school or almost done with college. They also didn't know I needed host families. It is quite a mess. I spoke to the only Rotary guy I know here who lives in Bologna and he said he doesn't know anything about it either, but he is at least trying to help. I am going to his club for a meeting this Saturday. The meetings are nice. They consist of 3 or 4 hour fancy dinners. The members are very polite. When I first walked in, though, and saw everybody talking to eachother and being extra nice to the more important people (using "Lei" with the presidents of corporation s and "Tu" with the private lawers), it made me think of the Mafia (just kidding, PAUL). But really, I think it will all straighten out after a little of my "Alexander Manipulation Magic." (haha). It just needs time, maybe. Patienza! I am still loving my living situation though. My host father is very nice, but he can't host me forever as he had only planned on a month or so to help out. But we are getting along great. He is actually at a Communist meeting now, isn't that funny? I didn't believe him for about ten minutes, but he kept telling me that he is part of a communist music association. But it is just communism as it applies to music, or something, not some kind of reformist party. Anyway, he is funny, always making sure I am okay. All of his friends make fun of him because he is always asking if I want more food, more to drink, if I am sick, tired, cold, hot, bored, etc...He is very concerned with making me comfortable. I just had the most incredible weekend ever in northern Italy. It will be the most memorable experience I have had from my entire stay in Europe so far. However, I will start with Thursday when I saw a another city here in my region. I visited Vicenza where Marco teaches at the conservatory (in addition to being president of the conservatory of Ferrara). I walked around all day and just soaked up everything I saw. I went to museums and churches, but my favorite thing was the Teatro Olypico, because it was an inside theatre from the Roman era with statues of Roman gods and steep stone seats that curved around the stage looking down on it. The backdrop was of little roman streets that went way back into the distance. You couldn't tell how big the stage was because of the optical illusion. Anyway, that was Thursday, but the really incredible part started on Friday. We drove up to Trento where a friend of Marco's lived. It was stunnin just to drive up there. The mountains seemed to grow before my eyes the farther we went and castles sprouted up out of the mountains like weeds. The castellos here are all medieval, and rustic-looking with towers and such. I loved how the Europeans just look right over it. "Oh yeah, I forgot there was a castle there, it's pretty cool I guess." So nonchalant they are. So, Trento was stunnning when we got there. It has supposedly the most beautiful piazza in Europe. There is a huge fountain in the middle showing cherubs rising up into the air, with a gigantic church on one side and a castle on the other that both rise up into the sky. There were also beautiful frescos on all of the other buildings around it. They told me that in the winter they freeze water over the piazza and you can ice skate around the piazza for the equivilant of like a dollar. After a wonderful meal, I went to bed. The next morning we went to Merano and Lago Garda (which is the largest lake in Italy). Both breathtaking. After the sightseeing, Marco's friends took me up into the Dolimiti mountains where my distant Italian relatives whom I have never met have lived for generations. This is what I was really excited about this weekend. I have been raised hearing all about my Italian history, so you can imagine the impact this reconnection with my roots had on me. Up on into the mountains, there were several feet of snow. Once we reached the top of the mountain though, we came back down into a large valley called "Nonn" valley, where the dialect is Nonnes. My friends were driving and talking and I couldn't even pay attention to them because I was so mesmerised, trying to grasp the fact that I was coming down into the valley that Floriano (my great grandfather), years ago, had left destined for America. When I saw the sign for Brez, I stopped breathing. I was straining my neck to see it all. We passed on through Brez and a few mintues later we passed by a church that immediately I recognized as San Floriano's. I interupted Flavio and Paulo who were talking and screamed out, "Guarda, questa e La Chiesa di San Floriano!" Of course they were surprised that I recognized it, but I had to explain the story of my great grandfather, Floriano, coming to America, of my Grandpa being named Florian, and of my saint's name being Florian. Well, after another curve around the mountain, we saw the sign for Arsio. I had arrived. We stopped in the little piazza where the fountain is and Paulo was going to try and call Uberto and Rita (my uncle and his wife) on his telefonino, but I told him that it wasn't nessecary. I got out and asked an older woman if she knew where they lived. She smiled at me and looked me over and then got really excited to help. "Abitano qua, dopo il Castello." We only had to drive about 10 meters before Rita was waving at us furiously from her balcony. There I was. WOW! And what a beautiful house they have, very old, but all restored by Uberto. After Flavio and Paolo had chatted a little with them while I was just looking at everything and everybody with wide eyes, they left. I was there with Uberto and Rita. We had a great provincial dinner with Michael, Uberto's nephew, and talked on and on about the history of Floriano, Arsio, and Brez. I showed them pictures of Fayetteville, my whole family, my school, and my life back in Fayetteville. They were very interested. It was so incredible to be talking to some Italians who were related to me. We both share Floriano and his story. After talking into the night, we headed for bed. The next morning, we had breakfast and off we went, Uberto and I. We walked up to San Maria's church . Everytime we ran into somebody, they would give me a puzzeled look and then ask about me in Nonnes, the dialect. One family was making Succo di Mela (apple juice) and the father ran inside and got two bottles of it. "Una bottiglia per Arsio, e una bottiglia per l'America!" he said with a smile. There are apple orchards all over the hillsides. When we left their hillside, we headed back down toward San Floriano's Church. It was so peaceful to be up there where the mountains were snowcapped and the valley was full of lined apple trees. When we arrived at San Floriano's, he showed me the graveyard. He showed me all of his relatives, the older ones, Niederjaufners, and his parents, Niderjaufners (because when they were born in Brez, they mispelled it on the birth certificate). It was so powerful to be at the church where Floriano had gone to so many times. It was so old and had so much history. On the way back, he showed me the castello and the building and room where Floriano was born. After eating lunch, we headed back to Trento. It is amazing how I feel this peace and feel complete now that I have reconnected and seen where I come from. Next time I go, I told them they have to only speak Nonnes, since that is what they are used to, and I will respond in Italian that way I can learn a little. It is quite an interesting dialect. Well, this e-mail is getting really long again, but I just have so much I want to say. But I will try to wrap it up by finishing off that day. The afternoon and evening we spent in Verona. I saw the arena, Juliette's supposed balcony (even though she is fictional), several tombs of roman leaders, and another stunning piazza with towers and fancy buildings with frescos 4 or 5 times as old as the discovery of America. It is such an enchanting city. I plan to go back for an Opera in the Arena, which Verona is famous for. The last thing I want to say before I end this e-mail is that my Italian is coming along better than I expected. I feel really comfortable speaking Italian now. It feels natural, like it is what I am supposed to be doing. It just comes out of my mouth when I wake up in the morning. I can already look back on two weeks ago and see progress. Anyway, I still can't express my deepest, most complex thoughts, but I can say what I want to and can understand everything but a couple words here and there. Well, I have a lesson tomorrow, so I better get to bed since it's almost time to get up (just kidding, mom). Hope you enjoyed this e-mail even though it was almost endless. Saluti, Alessandro
Castello in Ferrara
Duomo in Ferrara

Notes from European Trip...

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