Back To Italy

Holidays time! I’m back to my Italian home, in Avellino (a little city near Naples). I left from my house in England at 3 o’clock in the morning because my airplane departure was at 6 @_ @!!!

I felt asleep at once as I took  my seat and when I woke up I was landing at Naples airport and my eyes filled with tears… landscape was too beautiful xD! The beautiful seaside, the Vesuvio volcano towering over the city, the Castel dell’Ovo  plunging into the sea… it’s something that takes your breath away.

It’s a thing that usually happens to me when I see something so wonderful that my eyes can’t take it, so I’ve to cry xD  ; I remember that the same thing happened when, during my trip to Paris, I saw the “Love and Psyche” statue in the Louvre museum…I started crying and I couldn’t stop xD (yes, I’m a moaner ù_ù’).

By the way, when I arrived in Naples, the weather was so hot, about 37° O.o””” I believed I could melt considering that in London was about 14° when I left!

So, now I’m enjoying my friends and my family and above all, ITALIAN FOOD!!!  :Q____   Tomorrow, I’m going to have a big lunch with all my friends, and I will take a lot of pictures of dishes 😀 so I can show you why I can’t be fit v.v’  (ahahah I always find an excuse  to avoid to go on diet xD )

Talking about Naples, I want to show you a video with some nice pictures from the city and a very popular song that really gives a portrait of this beautiful but difficult place. I will translate the lyrics for you; they are not written in Italian languages but in Neapolitan dialect.

Enjoy it 😀

  Napule è    

  Napule è mille culure                   Naples is like thousand of colours                                   Napule è mille paure                  Naples is like thousand of fears                                     Napule è a voce de’ criature    Naples is the children’s voice                                         che saglie chianu chianu e         that rises very slowly                                                         tu sai ca nun si sulo.                       so you know, you’re not alone.

 Napule è nu sole amaro                 Naples is like a bitter sun
 Napule è addore ‘e mare               Naples is the scent of the sea
 Napule è ‘na carta sporca             Naples is like a dirty paper
 e nisciuno se ne importa e            but none cares about it
ognuno aspetta a’ ciorta.              and everyone waits to have the luck on his side

 Napule è ‘na cammenata               Naples is like a nice walk
 inte viche miezo all’ato                 throughout the little streets and among places                                                                         crowded with people
 Napule è tutto ‘nu suonno            Naples is like a dream
e ‘a sape tutti o’ munno ma           and it’s famous all over the world but
nun sanno a verità.                         none know the truth about it

I Know What I Am – Band of Skulls

High ho triple salco 
I got a feeling like a tidal flow 
But I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
Gasoline saccharine 
I got no reason for the state I’m in 
But I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
Hotel Taco Bell 
I got the hit that you know damn well 
But I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
Cut teeth better believe 
I got a feeling that I’m underneath 
But I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
But it’s alright it’s ok 
I got the time but the time don’t pay 
It’s alright it’s ok 
I got the time but the time don’t pay 
It’s alright it’s ok 
I got the time but the time don’t pay 
It’s alright it’s ok 
Flick flack no slack 
I got the wit that my enemies lack 
But I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
Trick some just begun 
Giving you more when you only want one 
Cause I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
Hot sweat got debt 
Keep your liquor in the locker cause you don’t know yet 
But I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
Ship shape ticker tape 
Looks to me like a narrow escape 
But I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
But it’s alright it’s ok 
I got the time but the time don’t pay 
It’s alright it’s ok 
I got the time but the time don’t pay 
It’s alright it’s ok 
I got the time but the time don’t pay
It’s alright it’s ok 
I know what I am 
They know what they are so let me be 
I know what I am 

The little princess and the fox

Last week I went in the park near my house with some friends. The weather was very hot (recently it’s always so sunny! I was thinking why English people have always to complain about English weather o.ò, in Avellino, where I used to live in Italy, is more rainy than here at all!) , so we sat on the grass green in the shadow of a huge tree. The rays of sunshine were playing with the tree’s leaves, I was watching ducks and squirrels fighting with pigeons to hoard some food (pigeons are really fierce O.o’ ) and enjoying myself with a fabulous strawberry and cream Frappuccino from Starbucks  (I’m totally addicted to it  :Q___ )  when something caught my attention. I exclaimed: “Look at that dog!  <.<‘…  ò.ò  … :O! It’s not a dog!It’s a fox!A fox!wow!”

I was really excited, I never saw one before and it was so close to us, I think it was looking for food! I rushed to search for my camera (I always bring it with me) and… -.- I realised to have forgotten the camera’s memory card inserted in my laptop  that was obviously at home ;_; . While I was consumed with grief, the red fox vanished through the bushes. I promised myself to find it again and.. to tame it! 😀

This event reminded me of “The Little Prince”, the most famous story by  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.  During his adventure, the kid meets a fox and I think this is one of my favourite book’s passages, it really explains  the meaning of friendship.

The fox:  […]”Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me . . .” […]

 […] “My life is very monotonous,” the fox said. “I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . .” […]

 […] So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near– “Ah,” said the fox, “I shall cry.” – “It is your own fault,” said the little prince. “I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you ” – “Yes, that is so,” said the fox. –  “But now you are going to cry!” said the little prince. – “Yes, that is so,” said the fox. – “Then it has done you no good at all!” – “It has done me good,” said the fox, “because of the colour of the wheat fields.”  […]

❤  so sweet! I left a lot of friends in Italy, but there are some of them that have a special place in my heart. They tamed me 🙂 but my hairs are brown so the wheat will not remember them of me xD!!! perhaps the chocolate! or meatballs <.<”’!

That’s all! I’ll show you some pictures of Bromley, the city where I live. Byeeee!

     
     
     
     

Bromley South, un set su Flickr.

Italian web death

On 6th July, in Italy, a law  about the safeguard of copyright on Internet is probably going to be approved by our government. The problem is that this task (but above all this huge power) will be given to only one controlling body, the Agcom, that will be allowed to censor national or international websites  without the need to pass on a regular trial. 

I’m really really really annoyed. Let me introduce you the situation of the Italian media-communications.  As you certainly know, the Italian prime minister is  Silvio Berlusconi.

I’m not here to talk about the ins and outs of his affairs because a post on a blog would be too short (perhaps I will face this argument later..) but the only thing I want to say is that, after his party lost local elections in some big cities of Italy (Milan, Naples and Turin) and a Referendum (to abrogate water privatization, the use of nuclear energy and a law written to allow Berlusconi to stay away from the several trials he’s involved in), he accused Internet and some television shows of having helped opposition (In his opinion, to be involved in a lot of scandals, like underage prostitution aiding and abetting  is not a good reason to lose elections..but this is another story  -.- ).

In Italy we’ve 6 main television channels, Mediaset, whom Berlusconi is the owner, has 3 of them; the other 3 are government channels: RAI …and let’s guess who’s the prime minister? Oh, yes, always him.  So the main sources of information in Italy are controlled by him. For this reason to have “objective” news is very hard in Italy. The programs accused to help the opposition are spending very hard time to try to renew their contracts for another season. One of the most popular Italian anchorman, Santoro, has been chased away from RAI even if his program had a huge audience in the last season. (And it’s not even the first time it happens)

I think this law is a clear sign: government is scared by  the web-people, that now with the help of social network or sharing sites, like you-tube, are more able to be brought up to date on what is really happening in Italy and they are finally reacting.

I signed a petition against this law, here the link to participate: http://www.avaaz.org/it/it_internet_bavaglio

😉  Let’s hope for the best  >.<!!

o.o ò.ò’ ._. è_é! @_@ *_* XD

Like I said in my last post, let’s introduce you in the wonderful word of the emoticons, so that my future posts will be easier  to read  ^_^.

Positive emotions:

🙂  ,   😀  ,   😉   ,   ;D   ,   😛  ,   ;P  -> these are standard, very common, even my granny knows them.

^_^  -> smile!

xD -> the “x” is like 2 eyes winking when we laugh out loud and the “D” is obviously the opened mouth

:> -> to be overjoyed

:Q  -> to be mouthwatering

:Q___   -> quite similar to ” :Q ” , this one it’s used for something so delicious or so beautiful that make you drool  ahah

:3  ->  sweety happy face … very hard to explain xD ..it’s like when something good happened and you ask me: “Are you happy today, aren’t you?”  I could answer: ” yep :3 “

❤  -> this is a heart

*_*  -> bright eyes to say that something it’s really fantastic!

:.) ->  to be moved to tears

Negative emotions

😦  -> sad face, very common.

:C -> very sad face ahaha

:.(   -> starting to cry

;_;  -> crying face, where points are the eyes and commas are the tears.

T_T -> to cry a lot

D:  -> to dislike

😡    -> to be angry

è_é ->   to be really angry; the  “e” are the eyes and the accents are the eyebrows.

._.  -> to be taken aback.

o_ò  -> to raise an eyebrow, meaning that something doesn’t quite fit.

O.o  -> when something really strange happens

é_è  -> to be worried or to be sorry

 :S  -> to feel sorry for something or someone. Sometimes it means to be scared or worried.

-.-  -> delusion

Neutral emotions

ò.ò -> something that catches your attention

<.< -> to see somebody out of the corner of your eye; I use this really often… sometimes it means you’re lying too.

>.< -> a lot of meanings.. I use it to mean I’m concentrating…or to really excuse myself with someone or well.. I don’t know xD

o_o  -> astonished 

:X -> it’ s like as you’d like to say something but you can’t! 

ù_ù ,  v.v  , u.u  -> closed eyes meaning wisdom ahah

Composed emoticons

Every emoticon I used above can be enriched with something, to slightly modify its meaning.  In order to emphasize, we can use a “!” near the emoticon, for example:

:D! <- to be really happy     >:C  !  <- to be really angry

My favourite is “ ‘ ”  .   <.<‘ -> to be embarrassed   ù_ù’  -> pretend to kno

w something even if you don’t know it.  The “ ‘ ” is inherited by Japanese anime culture, the classical bead of sweat representing embarrassment or fear.

I think that’s all xD …. and now, only for you a little rebus:

<.< ..  ‘>.>   .. o.o  .. ò.ò’ .. ù_ù ..  xD!!         (yes, I’m stupid ahah)

Excused Absence – Kookaburra’s dilemma

I’m sooooooo sorry! It’s been ages since I wrote my last post. However I’m here to start writing  again, almost regularly (I hope).

I’ve been very busy; preparing my FCE exam took up a lot of my times. It is divided into 2 main parts: the oral and the written exam.

The oral one is the “Speaking test”.  I arrived to the Speaking test one hour early and I was very nervous because I usually forget  the grammar rules when I speak :D. I met some nice people (2 Brazilian girls, 1 Spanish boy and 1 Sweden boy.. It sounds like a funny joke 😀 “Have you ever heard about an Italian, a Spanish…”, in Italy is very common). It was a good thing, because I realised to know everything was going to happen during the exam, while they didn’t know it at all. I explained them everything so, I gained a little of self-confidence :D!

It’s always good for me, meeting someone who’s more scared than me, because it comes natural to me calming down people :p  . Nunzia, my best friend’s mother, always says that I’m like a tranquillizer, that’s why I get on well with his daughter even if  Milena (her name)  and I are very different.

By the way, let’s get back to the topic! When it was my turn I went into the room with Viviane (one of the Brazilian girls I met before), there were two people, one of them was there only to listen to us, the other one had the task of doing questions.

Now, I don’t want to be rude..but, the woman that interviewed me was sooooo old!!! I guess she was about 90 years old :D, white and short hairs, two wonderful and smart blue eyes. She spoke to me with her gentle and trembling voice so sweet that I wanted to hug her and ask her to bake some biscuits for her new adopted granddaughter!! (me ahaha)

Firstly, she asked me few questions like “Where are you from?What do you like about your city?”  and I answered that I was from Naples (I’m from Avellino..but I don’t know why I can’t say it xD It’s because of my origins, I really belong to Naples 🙂  ). I added that in my city there is a beautiful seaside and that it’s a very artistic city, for example, every time you turn a corner, you can find a beautiful old church.

Then we had to describe and compare 2 pictures. I don’t know why but my mind goes blank when I have to describe pictures <.<‘ . However I managed to do it almost successfully: in the first one, there were some athletes running a marathon, in the second some people running to catch a train. The question was: “How important is to know how to run fast?”  Funny question for me… I never liked running ò.ò’ ..even when I was a child, I always hated sweating, I kept watching my friends playing and running everywhere and asking myself: “Why they’re enjoying it??They’re sweating!!SO DIRTY!!”   <.<‘ that’s why I’ll never be fit.

Then was the turn of Viviane with some pictures about people painting in two different environments. Next part was about discussing with my partner on a butch of pictures showing some ideal part-time jobs for students of a secondary school. We had to choose the three ones, in our opinion, more interesting.

After that the examiner made some random questions, I remember of one in particular, about the importance of money in having fun. I said that for me, it’s not so important because I’m not used to go in pubs so often and I don’t really like dancing, so no disco for me thanks! I added that I prefer to visit museums or watching movies with my friends at home (here in London the prices of cinema tickets are crazy!!!). Then I finished with :” Money are not the most important thing in the life”, and she smiled to me saying: “Oh my darling, you don’t know how true it is”. It’s strange <.< I felt so guilty..of course I was unashamedly lying. A very famous and wise Italian actor of the past, Eduardo De Filippo said: “Money don’t give you happiness, not talking about misery!” and I totally agree with him.

Of course when I went out from the room I realised that I made a lot of grammar mistakes but I was very talkative and I made them laugh that is a very good thing in an exam xD  (I hope at least 😀 )

The writing part of the FCE was easier for me. I found a little difficult the “Listening” part, when we had to write some words extracted from an interview. The woman in the recording was talking about an exotic bird named Kookaburra…kooka-what????

I’m going to know the results of my tests in July, now it’s time to think about a job 😀  !!!!  I’m so sad, because I left Avalon school! I really enjoyed the time I spent there! ;_;

So..Wish me good luck for the continuous of my fabulous adventure here in Londonland  :p !!

P.S. : I will write a post about the meaning of the numerous emoticons I used xD I know that for someone less “nerd” than me they would be incomprehensible!

“Idiocracy” introduction – the future of human evolution

Although this film is not that great ( yes, it’s funny but really stupid 🙂  )

I  find this introduction a stroke of genius  😀  I venture to say that it’s almost an universal truth  ahahah     

“The Inhabited Woman” – Gioconda Belli

Last week, our new teacher Sam, asked us to think about “the best book you ever read” in order to write a short essay . The task, at least for me, was very difficult, because I’ve tons of books I prefer 🙂

Somehow, the first one that came into my mind was “The Inhabited Woman”, by Gioconda Belli, so I decided to write about it. I think it’s a very interesting reading so I’ll share my essay with you. 

“The Inhabited Woman” is basically a story about three women: Lavinia, a rebellious and independent woman of upper-class, living during the dictatorship of her country; Itzà, an indigenous woman of the past, who died fighting the Spanish invasion and that lives again in an orange tree in Lavinia’s garden; and the author herself, Gioconda Belli.

This sentence could sound a little strange, because the writer doesn’t appear in the book as one of characters, but it’s obvious that the story of the first two women is strongly related to Gioconda’s life, almost identical to the Lavinia’s, regarding some choices like joining the Liberation Movement to fight the dictatorship ruling Nicaragua; and similar to Itzà that like her, first of all, had to fight a society rife with male prejudices that didn’t allow her to be both a woman and a warrior. 

So that’s why I think that the author herself, is the most interesting character, because in her, the stories of the women she writes about are melted.

In other words: Gioconda Belli is the inhabited woman.

I know..you are burning with curiosity now!! Read this beautiful book! I’ll give no more spoilers sorry 😀   

See you!

University Photo lab

During my career as a student at the university “Orientale” in Naples, I had a chance to go through an awesome experience.

I started attending a photo lab with a dear friend of mine, Francesca, and our teacher was Mario Cresci (only after the exam we found out he was a quite famous Italian photographer :D)

In his opinion, he was going to have no time to teach us about photography techniques (because the course duration was very short), so he decided to let ourselves be carried away by our imagination.

Each student chose a topic and started taking pictures. Francesca and me, worked together for our tasks, we had so much fun that I will never be able to forget this experience and that’s why I want to share it with you! 🙂

The most difficult thing was to find a topic in order to create a logical sequence for pictures. I remember Francesca telling me that, while she was self-torturing to find a brilliant topic, his mother, Grazia, came with a great idea: Francesca was studying languages, so let’s start taking pictures of tongues! (In Italy, this is a pun, because we use the same word “lingua”, to mean both “language” and “tongue”).

We spent more than 2 weeks asking to unknown people on the streets, at university, in the station and at the airport, to stick out their tongues to let us photograph them. We had different reactions: someone was happy, amused and excited to cooperate with us; others were more shy and reluctant to be immortalized (we had to pay the little gypsy girl xD ); then there was a beautiful African woman, dressed like “Mamy” from “Gone with the wind”, that scared, ran away from us, thinking we could be agents from the immigration bureau!!!

Unluckily I don’t have all the pictures, because I was young.. and stupid ..and after we had printed the photographs, I…well I’m ashamed to say it.. I deleted them -_- (I’m still so sorry Fra’Fra’ !!! >.< ). The people names and the places of origin were written under each photograph, I will try to ask to Francesca to give me these informations in order to add them in my album. I’d like to start this task in London xD there are so many eccentric people that it could be an awesome work!

About my work: Francesca gave me the idea! In Italy we’ve a lot of beautiful songs dedicated to women, so I decided to make them “real” , in other words, to give them a “face”. Each photos was followed by a part of a song’s text. A lot of my friends posed as models for me: I had to dress up and put make up on them! I had so much fun! (even if I still don’t know if they had xD, thank you Milena, Daniela, Tiziana, Lucia, Gabriella, Ilaria and Adele!! )

What else? Enjoy the pictures 😉

Overturn the table!

He who dies (Ode to life) – Pablo Neruda

Slowly dies he who becomes a slave to habit,
repeating the same journey every day,
he who doesn’t change his march, he who doesn’t risk
and change the color of his clothes, he who doesn’t speak to he whom he doesn’t know.

Slowly dies he who makes of the television his guru,
Slowly he who avoids a passion dies, he who prefers
black on white and dots on is rather than a togetherness of emotions
exactly those the make the eyes shine,
those that make the heart beat
before error and feeling.

Slowly dies he who doesn’t overturn the table,
he who is unhappy in his work,

he who doesn’t risk certainty for uncertainty
to follow a dream,
he who doesn’t permit himself at least one time in his life
to flee sensible counsels.

Slowly dies he who doesn’t travel, he who doesn’t read,
he who doesn’t listen to music,

he who doesn’t find grace in himself.
Slowly he who destroys his own love dies,
he who doesn’t allow himself to be helped.
Slowly he who passes his days lamenting
about his own misfortune or the incessant rain dies.

Slowly dies he who abandons a project
before beginning it,
he who doesn’t ask questions about topics he doesn’t know,
he who doesn’t answer when he is asked something that he knows.

Let’s avoid death by small doses,
remembering always that being alive
requires a much larger effort
than the simple act of breathing.

Only burning patience will bring
within reach a splendid happiness.