And so..here they are! Austrian invasion in Strossmayera 78!!!Last night, after the three of us had a huge big pizza feed, Magdalena's friends arrived from Austria and I really feel like in the soap opera "Family Matters" as we are 8 people now at home (in Italy it's translated "8 sotto un tetto" - 8 under the same roof -, that's why this situation reminds me to that series tv!).
They have brought with them so many food-stuff!! really, we were totally surprised abouth the quantity of food and drinks they have given us for our hospitality!! I guess we will survive until our next EVS!!! :-P
And..and..I couldn't belive..they gave Madara and I two personal presents..Madara got two long chocolate sticks (as she loves chocolate!) and I got a bottle of Aperol!!!! ok ok, hold on people!! I am not an alcohol-lover, you need an explanation now! the point is that everytime I go abroad I would like people to taste the traditional aperitif of the regiong where I come from (Veneto), which is made out of white wine, carbonated water and Aperol. But, whenever I cross the border nobody knows what Aperol is and there's no chance at all to find it in the supermarket..that happened last year in England too..
Actually I have been speaking about "spritz" (this is the aperitif's name) since I arrived, I guess!!! I wanted to prepare it for my Italian National Evening too but, as I have already said, no way for finding Aperol out! So, can you imagine my face last night when they put a bottle of Aperol in my hands??!!! look at the picture we took!
So now I will be able to let my house-mates try this great drink at least!
In Italy we usually have it before dinner..people go to the centre of our cities in Veneto (such as Padova, Treviso, Verona, Mestre..although you can now find it in other regions of Italy..but the best are in Veneto where it was originally born!) and match a glass of spritz with some chips, salted peanuts and sometimes other kind of salty food such as small pieces of pizza, cold cut and bread an so on!
Hence you can have a talk with some friends during the week (after a stressful day at work) while sipping spritz in one of our medieval squares, or during the weekends before you start your Friday or Saturday night!
Ok, I know, I shouldn't have been so specific..I think you are willing to try it now..;-)
The first night altogether has gone really fine, maybe we were all very tired, but everything seems ok right now. People were sleeping everywhere..one in Magdalena's room, me and two friends of her in my room; Madara, Magdalena and her boyfriend in Madara's room and other two people on the couch in the kitchen..well, somebody may think we are living in a sort of manor house or in a huge modern flat but..those who are having these thoughts are completely wrong!!! our small house is perfect for the three of us..for 4 people would be great too but not for 8 people!!! and we are sharing one toilet and one bath!! but never mind! I am really glad they are here!! it's funny to experience this kind of situations!!! you really get close to those persons, although you don't know them because you are sharing everything! I love to get to know new people and first of all if they are from other countries as they always have something new to teach me and if this is the "price" to pay, I mean leaving for a few days like in a refugee camp, I definitely agree!
Actually I am used to that as I had the chance to do other experiences where lots of people shared small spaces and one toilet!!! when I went to Bosnia, we were 30 people leaving (=sleeping+eating+playing activities+so on) in one room and sharing one toilet (I let you imagine what was the toilet's destiny after only the second day we were there..well I hope this won't happen again at home now..!!!). But we had a great fun and we felt like brothers and sisters after only a few days!
And I was so glad for Magdalena last night, when she saw them on the other side of the road she went running to them! I can understand perfectly her feelings as it happened to me too. It's so good when you hug someone whom you really love and are close to after lots of time! You feel like a huge wave of emotions as soon as you see that/those person/s for the first time after some weeks or months..and it's such a nice climate!
Now it's time to go back to work..bring to a conclusion our research on smoking!! Yes, Federica! it's time to make some comparisons between Italian and Croatian smokers!!
Actually yesterday I was checking the questionnaires and I found out some interesting differences concerning the average of age or amount of money people usually spend for cigarettes in both countries..Croatian people seems to start smoking earlier than Italians and also the former spend more than the latter..I guess it's a matter of rules. I really do believe the smoking ban, Italy put into force in January 2005, has been very useful. Now your hair and clothes don't smell when you come back home from a pub, restaurant or a club and the air inside is good, you don't feel breathless.
Although I am an occasional smoker, I don't like breathing others' smoke and I don't like smoking inside.
So all in all I think Croatia should comply with this ban. It has been useful for Italy and other countries in order to reduce cigarettes' consumption.
Even if the smokers' number is still high, it's getting smaller among youngsters, this means we are getting a positive response. Moreover the law makes people aware to be more respectful of non-smokers, children, people with health problems and so on. It might sound obvious but it's not. If once I thought that non-smokers had to move if someone wanted to lighten a cigarette up because everywhere you could smoke and feeling this way "I am a non-smoker, I cannot ask for the smoker to move because it's not polite and I do not want to bother him/her"; now people know that if you are a smoker you have to be respectful of a non-smoker and understand how much he/she hates smoking.
In conclusion I am happy with the smoking ban and I hope other countries will soon follow this ban in public places.
And conclusion n.2...I must resume the research!!!!!!!!
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