Dove? I'm in a small city ("small" being defined as some 200,00 people) right near Venice called Padua. Or Padova, if you, like me, have a hard time making the "d" sound just right in the first pronunciation. It's known as "the city without" since they are famous for having a saint with no name, a cafe with no doors, and a piazza with no grass. None of which is actually true now, I've found. The piazza called Prato della Valle has plenty of greenery, the cafe Pedrocchi has since 1916 added glass doors to their establishment, and the mysterious "il Santo" has been dubbed Saint Antonio. I guess it was back in the good old days when Padua was "without". All in all though, it still seems to be a place with lots of hidden treasures, not nearly as touristy and flashy as Venice or even Florence and Milan, but full of wonderful things once you take the time to look around.
Quando? I'll be here for 4 months, beginning at the very end of January and lasting all the way until May 30th. Or maybe longer, if summer plans let me stay longer. And if I'm not broke! (Unlikely.)
Con cui? I'm with the Boston University in Padova program, which includes students mostly from (you guessed it!) Boston University, but also from a variety of other great schools like Columbia, WashU, Northwestern, Princeton, Tulane, and maybe some others that I'm forgetting. I'm the only one here from Tufts, which is pretty cool. We all live with host families, which is, in a word, FANTASTIC. I'm housing with another student named Nicole-a Creative Writing major from Columbia-and we're staying with a single mother (Maria) and her two daughters (Sofia, 19 and Elena, 16).
Per che? Because I've taken four semesters of Italian and want, BADLY, to become fluent. Or as close as possible. And classwork just doesn't do it for me at a certain point. I've always had this fantasy of living in Italy later in life and who knows if it'll happen, but it's probably a good idea to test drive the place beforehand, right? Also, being obsessed with everything art, I think I'm going to love being in a hotspot for culture and the arts. Plus, proximity to other European countries means room for lots of exploring. I chose Padova because it's small, a little unexpected, and forces me to become more immersed in the culture. Which brings me to my next and ultimate point of this first post: the meaning of this blog name.
My host mamma uses the word "particolare" a lot to describe certain funny situations and people. The first day when we arrived, she told us between laughs that we would soon learn that her little family, and Italians in general, are "particolare", a word she said meant "bello, ma un po' pazzo" (beautiful, but a little crazy). I liked that a lot, because I've found that often the most worthwhile things and most wonderful people turn out to be the ones that are beautiful in a quirky or unexpected way. Thus, the name of this blog, "Un Posto Particolare", means "A Particular Place". Padova is "particular" in the sense of being the specific site of my program, but also in the sense of being what its residents might classify as uniquely beautiful. I can't wait to see what surprises I find in this place.
Here's to seeking out the "particolare". Read on!
Can't wait to hear more!
ReplyDelete