Day Sixteen -- Torino

Today we went on a field trip to Torino.

We woke up early and got on a bus at 8am. It was snowing pretty heavily but it wasn't sticking to the roads so no one was worried. It was very pretty, though. Continued for the whole day. I forgot my camera in the apartment.

When we got to Torino, we walked down the main roads, passing many very upscale stores (Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, and Hermes were just some I can remember). Then we headed into the RAI (National Television Channel) Radio and Television Building. The museum part was pretty boring with a few display cases of old radios, telegraphs, and TVs showing how the technology progressed. It seems like Italy was a little behind in both technology and design as the items they had looked to me to be older, clunkier models of what I think America had at the same point in time. Can't be sure, though.

After the tour of the museum part, we were taken into the studio section that is in use today for Northern Italy's television. First we went behind the scenes to the set workshop of a popular children's show. We got to see the sets being built and painted and designed and then got to go on the set of the actual show. It was very fantastical.

Then we went upstairs in a huge elevator (as large as the one in the Anchorage Museum--tallest in Alaska!) upstairs to a news studio where we got to sit behind a news anchor's desk and play with the cameras. The tour guide was very generous--I'd never let a group of American teenagers near that stuff. There was no mention of the lack of free press. Surprise!

Afterward we headed towards Torino's public university. It was a hideous and huge building in the middle of the city covered in dirt, grime, and graffiti. I wouldn't want to go to college in that old warehouse but there were a lot of people there and apparently it's a very large school (Italians don't pay to attend pubic university).

When we left the university it was time for lunch so we were given a meeting place and set free for 2.5 hours. My usual group (Kate, Jordan and Erin) ditched me by abruptly crossing a street so I tagged along with Kiki and Laura. It was pretty frustrating because since they are usually by themselves together, they sort of just made decisions by consulting each other so I could either go where I wanted and be alone or go where they wanted and not be pathetic. Yay...

We ended up in a little gelataria that also served lunch and we all got the penne pomodoro pasta which was really good--probably the best pomodoro I've had here in Italy and that's saying something since nearly all of the pasta sauce is pomodoro. Laura and Kiki were full after that so we didn't stay for gelato even though I really wanted to. I feel like if I speak up, everyone thinks I'm an annoying bitch. I'm not usually a passive person--I speak my thoughts and opinions quite freely--but I don't want to get into fights with these people because then I won't have anyone...

After lunch we walked around looking for a dessert that would satisfy Laura and Kiki. Apparently they didn't want gelato so we stopped in a chocolate shop and ordered two pieces each. One was a square of layers of chocolate and hazelnut creme and the other was not very good. Then we stopped in a pastry shop to have cake. Mine was chcocolate cake covered in almond pieces and Laura and Kiki each got a rum cake. It was ok but wasn't what I had been craving. Oh well.

We met back up with the group at 2:30pm and walked to the municipal seat of the Region (like a state). We watched a movie in their main office and were given a backpack, informational booklets in Italian, and a hat. Then we walked to the Presidential (Regional President--not National President) offices and saw where the regional council meets and got to go into the Presidential office (or at least the office where he receives visitors).

After that we boarded our bus and went home, arriving back in Alba around 6:30. I hung out in the apartment and didn't go out to dinner because I was still moping and didn't feel like walking in the cold and snow anymore (it was freezing and really snowy all day as we were walking around). I had some food that I bought from the grocery store and I'm currently downloading a movie to watch.

There's no class tomorrow (we have Fridays off) so I can sleep in and go to lunch somewhere tomorrow. Hopefully VinCafe because it's been closed all week and we miss it. I think there were plans for something in the afternoon but I completely forget them. It'll probably be a slow day.

I was going to put pictures in this post but Blogger isn't letting me so I'll try later. In the meantime, there are more photos on Facebook courtesy of Erin since I forgot my camera: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149487&id=504487681&l=dc4e411a58