Life in Paderno del Grappa

View from my window.

     Before I get into travel stuff I thought I would post a little on the town I am living in.  My school is located in Paderno del Grappa which is a very tiny town about 35 miles northwest of Venice.  You can see the entire town in about 5 minutes and most Italians don't even know where it is.  If you look on a map it is at the base of Mt. Grappa and is pretty close to Bassano del Grappa which is a little more lively/probably on a map.  Paderno sits at the base of the "pre-alps" and reminds me a lot of Colorado.  The mountains are a little greener but they have rocks that kind of resemble the flatirons.  It makes me feel really at home but also makes me realize how lucky I am to live in Colorado.  I forget that not everyone gets to wake up to the mountains every day.  At home I have the perfect view of Mt. Evans and at school I have the flatirons.
     In Paderno there is our campus which we share with an Italian boarding school called Instituto Filipin.  On campus there are three dorm buildings.  One of them is only used in the summer, one is where the Americans live and the CIMBA office is and the last in where the Italians board and all classes are held.  There is a library/computer lab at the back of campus and a church.  There are also a bunch of soccer fields and a gym.  There is an on-campus sports bar which is one of the two places for us to go out.

     Outside the campus gate there are two Tabacchis which are basically like little convenience stores and one of them has the best paninis.  Past the tabacchis there is a small hotel and a bank.  Down the road there is a pastry shop which is absolutely delicious.  A little further down there are some houses and the pizzeria which is the other place we like to go.  They have amazing pizzas that I can actually have (no red sauce!).
     We eat all of our meals in the cafeteria on campus.  The cafeteria is interesting... we literally eat pasta twice a day.  Even Italians only eat pasta 3-4 times a week.  The cafeteria ladies are also very strict.  You can only have meat or cheese and only 2 of 3 vegetables.  It gets confusing and don't ever ask for no cheese or they will be insulted.  The hate some people and love others.  Luckily the scary one likes me.  They are really into serving mystery meat.  They always say it is pork or turkey but nobody ever really knows and most people don't touch it unless they are sure.  The salads are weird too.  You either get a bowl of lettuce which is normal or a giant bowl of shredded carrots.  They only have oil and vinegar to dress the salads which I love but some people have major problems with it.  For dessert there is pudding or yogurt and the occasional piece of fruit.  Breakfast is fairly normal.  They serve breakfast pastries and recently added hard-boiled eggs.  For drinks they have a giant thing of espresso which we all thought was regular coffee for the first week...oops.  They also have hot chocolate and warm, whole milk which is kind of disgusting.  They also have pear and orange juice.  Unfortunately, breakfast is only served from 7-7:30 so I don't make it there often.

My room.

     Living in a small town has actually been kind of fun.  Some people don't like it but it is a good experience.  Up until now I thought Boulder was a small town and it isn't even close.  It is also nice to have a place to come back to that feels like home after a busy week or weekend of traveling.  Paderno is a good place to relax and recover.  I can't imagine living somewhere like Florence or Rome.  They are great cities but I would never get anything done school-wise and would probably sleep even less than I already do.