Busy yet amazing month of Carnevale!

Hello Everyone :)  

I'm good and I hope you all too. It's been almost seven months in Italy. Seems as if I was here since my childhood as I have adopted the Italian culture so deeply into my mind and body. I used to think that there was nothing interesting in India but now I have realised how much love I have for my country and also how much respect the others have for India. When I look in the mirror I find a better Grishma which would have not been possible without me doing this Exchange to ITALY.

I just noticed one thing few weeks ago that it is difficult for the people here to drink water without having a mouth contact with the bottle. Is it confusing? Ok, look at the picture below--

 This is how people drink in India if we are borrowing it from someone as they may not like to drink the same water if we have a mouth contact. But I got to know that it is difficult for Italians to drink like this so they drink with a mouth contact. It's such a little difference but it was still a small cultural shock to me I guess. 

On the 3rd of February, we went to Rome for three days. P.s. WITH DIFFICULTIES 'cause it was snowing real hard and all the trains were cancelled but ours. Fortunately, we reached Rome safely. It is said that it had snowed after almost 27 years in Rome. I was lucky in short :)

So many people have asked me if there is snow in India or not. Ofcourse we do have Snow. Everyone knows about Himalayas then it is a common sense that we have snow in the Northern part of India. I had seen snow but I had never seen it on cars and houses. It was beautiful but funny at the same time as it seemed like lil' toys..    

The Colosseum, something too good to be missed! :)

If you see a bit carefully, you can see the Pope above the red-cloth. He is the pope (Joseph Ratzinger) called as Benedetto XVI. He gave a beautiful speech in 5 languages- Italian, English, French, German and Spanish. 

Having finished the speech, everyone left free their balloons in the air. It was beautiful and it reminded me of one of the Indian festivals "The Kite Flying day" :)

On the 12th, I went Scouting.
This time it was tough. We had to reach a destination named
Concordia which is 12 km from
Cordovado............ON FOOT! We walked all the way to Concordia with our heavy bags and in the freezing temperature. I needed to walk anyways as I'm gaining kilos haha..We had fun. :)

This was the man whom I saw while we went scouting. He was not even jogging and he was wearing shorts in this freezing cold. When I saw him I was like---wait, wait, wait! A photo please! lol

Finally there's snow in Cordovado.  I couldn't play with my friends as I was scouting but there was good enough to play the next day. 

 

On the left is the front view of my house and shop.

The lake of Cordovado, lake 'Paker' was frozen like after so many years. My host dad told me that it was his first time in his life that he had walked on that lake. I couldn't believe I actually was standing on a frozen lake! :)

                                           

                                     

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So here's the Carnival!

Lets have an insight of the history of Carnival.

Venice was fairly corrupt in the olden times, means I'm talking about the 1300s and masks provided wrong-doers with the ability to avoid recognition, such as gamblers avoiding their creditors at casinos, or to change their identity altogether, such as the men who dressed as women in order to sneak into convents. (This was just an example.) 

Whatever the distinct purpose a carnival-goer had for donning a mask, all were essentially looking for the same thing. They were all hiding their faces, the most obvious and recognizable marking of their identity. Whether a commoner seeking to party above station, a nobleman wishing to forget the rigidity of his class, a public figure looking for anonymity or perhaps someone simply trying to live another life for short while, all those in masks were allowed a chance to create themselves anew. Believe me, this was one of the things I always wanted to see. Like "Things to do before I die". Carnival- Done! :)

The Carnival of Cordovado.

Though the town is quite small, there were so many enthusiastic people who made the carnival much more beautiful than I thought of.

During the Carnival many people designs their face with face-art. I kinda did that too. I told them to write Cosa Guardi?! which means what are you looking at? and then a Smile.

   

Now comes Carnevale di Venezia!

It is so amazing to see people dressing up whatever they feel like and move along the streets as if it's not a big deal just 'cause it's Carnival. I'm so in love with this! :)

I had a professional tattoo painted on my face!

It was a nice day with the other exchange students of our district! :)

 The last day of Carnival- Martedi Grasso (Fat Tuesday/ Shrove Tuesday)~

This is a time of merry-making, masquerade processions, masked balls, parades, pageants, jugglers, magicians, stilt walkers, elegant costumes and opulent masks, singing and dancing, fireworks, and outdoor feasts in the weeks prior to Ash Wednesday. The festivities of the last days of carnevale are the most intense as they culminate on Martedí Grassodolci (sweets) distinctively associated with carnevale, including fritelle, crespelle, sfingi, frappe, castagnole, cenci, nodi, chiacchere, bugie, galani, frittole, berlingaccio, sanguinaccio and tortelli, among others..

That evening I went to a discotheque with my friends. I was dressed like a cat. You know, when I went dressed in front of my cat, it got so scared of me that it ran into our neighbour's balcony. Oh poor cat! haha I love love love love love love my cat!! :)

 

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On the 26 of February, we had a party of one of my friends Ynam who completed 18 years. He is from Vietnam but was born and brought up in Italy. He speaks English pretty well and he's one of my best Italian friends. For his birthday, we had to dress something different as it was the month of Carnival. I dressed myself with an Indian Saree (I'm getting better at handling it now..lol). Unexpectedly, I and one of my other friends were given prices for wearing something different..Thanks Ynam, we had a great time in your party!

 On 29th February, we had a class trip to Praglia (province of Padova). We saw a Monastery and we had a guided tour with one of the monks- he was a bit crazy, honestly but it was interesting to learn about the monks! :) 

On the 3rd of March, it was the birthday party of one of my classmates, Sandra. She lives by me and she is one of my very good friends too. And she is so tall and pretty, Omg! Had a great time in her party too.


Lastly, the last night I went to see a presentation on India in 3D. It was sponsored by a travel agency. It was a great feeling seeing the presentation! :)

One more thing, I've started dreaming in Italian nowadays. Infact, I've started thinking in Italian. It's kinda crazy but I'm loving it! :)

I should probably wind up now. Sorry for this novel but this month I had been really busy and I need enough time to write my blog (to make it more interesting..you know that very well, don't you?). Thanks for spending your time, would love to get your feedbacks. Hope to see you soon. Till then be happy, be healthy!

Ciao :)