Electrical Fires, Immigration, and Snowstorms

I feel like I've been blogging regularly but still missing some of the fun day-to-day stuff that always seems to be popping up. Here are a few news briefs on happenings at the daily level. Also, I have learnt to use the "Read More" button. This should make things easier.

Electrical Mishaps at One in the Morning

You know those Americans-go-to-Europe movies where the hapless tourist has some kind of improbable experience with the outlets?

Haha.

I was using a clamp-on reading light that Luca’s mother had found for me, and stupidly clipped it to a flimsy bar that wasn’t strong enough to hold it. CRASH, SPARK, SIZZLE! Darkness.
For a second I just sort of went MEEEEHHHH D: and didn’t want to touch anything in case it was live…then I smelled electrical burning. I thought I’d broken the bulb and that perhaps it was burning my covers, so I pushed the bed out of the way and promptly discovered that I’d blown out the electricity of the whole apartment.

Great. One of those days.

After using my laptop as a light, I decided to go back to bed because everyone else was asleep—I couldn’t possibly wake everyone up because of that. But then, of course, Luca’s mother got up 30 seconds later to get some water, and of course she discovered it right away. So then I had to do something about it. She was very nice about it, standing there with her candle while I confusedly explained what I’d done, and she promptly went down to the basement and fixed it on the spot. Problem solved. Va bene. I love that woman so much.

Fun with Immigration

I got my fingerprints taken twice, in two different offices (just in case?). They told me it was for immigration, but Luca’s mother said it was because I was a terrorist. ._. (:P)

Italian immigration seems to be more lax than American immigration, but also a little more disorganized and decidedly less intimidating (isn’t that the way with everything in Italy?), although the experience all boils down to about the same thing wherever you go. Weird though it may sound, it kind of put me at ease because of how familiar it felt. Ah, good old immigration offices.

Snow

So East Coast, I heard you have FORTY INCHES OF SNOW on the ground. Aha-ha-ha! You lucky people.

Yesterday it snowed for the third time since I got here, despite Luca’s insistence that it really doesn’t snow all that much in Bologna. It wasn’t the pretty, white-lacey sort, though. It was dank, grey, half-frozen sleet raining relentlessly down from hell onto the slush-choked pavement. I stupidly wore sneakers, not wanting to dirty either of my leather pairs of shoes, and within minutes it had soaked through two thick pairs of socks, making for a very cold and damp morning in the centro.

The other snowfalls have been nicer. Last week I woke up the sound of wind, and when I looked outside it was coming down like little flecks of cream, gently banking up in fluffy little clouds on every flat surface. Camera candy.

 

The clothesline on the balcony.

Post-snow view out my window.

None of the Italians share my love of the snow. Even in New York, where the snow can fall very thick and get very dangerous on the roads, everyone gets at least a little bit excited about a big snow. I smiled to see Katrina Lord’s Facebook status:

Alyssa is running around with her PJ’s inside out, underwear on her head, listening to Christmas music, spoon under pillow, and flushing ice cubes down the toilet. There BETTER be SNOW DAY tomorrow after this. =)

A well-known snow ritual according to the local Goshen superstitions when I was in school.

On the Bucknell side, Tom Nesbitt reported:

Snowballs + Nerf ball launcher motor + 9v battery (about 6x the standard power input) = PEW PEW PEW!

By contrast, I was out last week when the clouds dared to drop a few snowflakes on us, and Luca’s friend looked up at the sky and shouted “Puttana!” (“You whore!”) Unclear whether the whore in question was the sky, the snow, or just a general state of being, but the expression of hatred on his face said it all.

Must be a city-country thing.

P.S. Going to Carnevale in Venice this weekend. If you don't know it, Google it this instant.