Post date: May 01, 2014 11:14:0 PM
Week 2: Day 1
During my walk to school this morning, I stopped to pet a dog. Like any other city, there are lots of dogs in Genova. However, unlike America, the majority of dogs you will see are never on leashes. They run alongside their owners, exploring the streets free and happy. Another thing I noticed that none of the dongs were spade or neutered. This I found to be particularly strange because this makes dogs more aggressive. More aggressive dogs have a greater need for leashes. This being said, it was rare to see dogs barking at each other in Genova. Why this is, I do not know, but the majority of dogs I saw in Genova were happy and approachable.
Today in class we had a surprise presentation from an accordion player. He is from San Francisco and came to Italy to teach English. He is a professional accordion player whoplays all over the United States at festivals, concerts, and priv
ate parties. He began by playing a couple of slow Italian songs, explaining how the accordion works and where it came from. The most interesting part of the instrument is how you have to play the keys and complicated buttons on both ends. When he was finished playing and explaining, he let a few people play it. When I first lifted up the accordion, I was surprised by how heavy and bulky it was. As I slowly slinked the loose arm back together I was also surprised by how powerful it was. With just a simple movement, despite its weight, you could make as much noise as an organ.
For dinner, we walked down to the local grocery store near the bus stop. The store is small and pretty straight forward. There’s fruit and veggies, wines and oils, cereals, and everything else. In the back corner up a little ramp is the deli. There they have olives,
breads, meats and cheeses. The woman who works behind the counter is in her 30′s. She helped us choose Genovese Salami and Portofino Cheese with bread. The Genovese Salami is amazing! Unlike other salami i’ve had, this salami is less ground, meaning it has thick chunks of pepper, meat, and fat and is thinly sliced. The cheese I got was Portofino cheese. It came from a big wheel with a large sticker on top. The rind on the cheese is gray and extremely moldy, but the cheese itself is light yellow and extremely flavorful. Everything we got was local and amazing!