DAY 40 : 24 December 2014
This morning we headed to the mountains, to the home in Pontebba, this time bringing the cat, Miki, with us. We listened to the lovely tune of miki's meowing for the whole 40 minute drive, and arrived in Pontebba around 11:30. We ate gnocchi and tortellini for lunch, put the presents under the tree, and did nothing very exciting all day. For dessert, we ate a traditional Italian dessert, known as panettone. I'm really loving getting to experience my very own traditional italian Christmas!!
At 11pm, we went to the local church, along with all of the residents of Pontebba, for the Christmas service. It lasted about an hour, and was really fantastic to experience. I've never been to church before, let alone at midnight, spoken all in Italian, in Italy, at Christmas! It was beautiful despite my lack of understanding.
After the ceremony ended, we headed home, and in the true Italian style, opened the presents at 12:30am on Christmas morning! They loved the presents and cards I got for them, and I was very very surprised (and thankful, of course) when they each gave me a present! Allegra got me a pretty little notebook, Francesca bought me a beautiful shirt from Zara, and Dario got me a leather DoDo bracelet (which is like the Italian equivalent of a Pandora, they're very popular around here). The whole day was just incredible. I'm almost half way through my exchange and they've just made me feel like such a part of the family, I don't know how I'll ever be able to leave!
DAY 41 : 25 December 2014
~ Christmas Day ~
So, it turns out that in Italy, the 24th / early morning of the 25th is definitely the most significant day of Christmas. They use the 25th as a day to just relax and hang around, which is fair enough considering how much work they do! Nobody was out of bed until at least midday, and we went straight to a huge Christmas lunch of stuffed turkey, potatoes and peas, followed by an Italian Christmas chocolate cake and biscuits! The rest of the day consisted of nothing exciting, but was a good Christmas nonetheless. Unfortunately there was no snow, but it was the first completely sunny day we've had in Pontebba!
The view when I woke up..
Here's a picture of Miki under the Christmas tree..
DAY 42 : 26 December 2014
In the morning of our third day in the mountains, Denise, who's Francesca's friend that we met up with in Lignano, came to the house, and is staying for the next two nights. I've moved downstairs and will be slumber partying with Allegra for those nights! Sometime after Denise arrived, Dario went away with one of his friends, so it was an all girls day going around. We first went back to Villach, and had a walk around, then ate Austrian McDonalds for lunch, which was much the same as everywhere else, just had a few German foods added in. After another hour just wandering around, we drove back into Italy to Tarvisio, had some apple juice and did some shopping.
Some photos I took along the way...
Villach, Austria
Tarvisio, Italy
{ quick note - I thought this 1 degree was cold... Trust me when I say that seems warm compared to the -6 degree day we had later in the week }
DAY 43 : 27 December 2014
TODAY WE HAD SNOW! We woke up to about 5cm already on the ground, and lots of snow still falling. It was just so so magical (and absolutely freezing outside) but it made it an almost white Christmas for me!
Francesca had a Christmas lunch party with 16 people at the house eating Austrian food - salami, bread, sausages, potatoes... There were quite a few good English speakers in the group, so I had some new people to talk to as well.
A photo of everyone...
Around 3pm Allegra and I had to go outside for a walk in the (-2 degree) snow. We looped around the whole town of Pontebba, and were the only people out and about. The view was just incredible!
DAY 45 : 29 December 2014
This morning we woke to a completely blue sky, but everything was still white from the snow of the last two days. We did a shopping spree in Austria (it still amazes me that we can just drive to another country for a few hours), and then went a little further north to have lunch.
And we ate the biggest plate of ribs and bread you could imagine!
This is also a photo of their home in Pontebba... ( it's the white one on the right )
DAY 46 : 30 December 2014
Today I am exactly HALF WAY THROUGH MY EXCHANGE! Where has all the time gone??? I can't believe that all these amazing adventures I've had (and still am having) will just be memories in no time at all! And I'm definitely not ready to go back home just yet! I'm excited for what the next one and a half months bring me.
DAY 47/48 : 31 December 2014 / 1 January 2015
The decision was made to spend the end of the year back in Udine, so we drove home (again to Miki's constant meowing). Allegra and I attended a sleepover party at one of her friends' houses, and we ate lots of food and watched movies and the (fairly low key, and probably home made) fireworks of Udine. The girls we were with were lovely, I had never met them before but unlike most of the Italians I've met, they didn't just ask me questions about myself, they included me in on all the talk and spoke lots of English (even to each other, so I knew what was being said). It was nice to spend the end of the year / start of 2015 that way!
And all of a sudden, 2014 was gone and 2015 arrived!
The tradition is that everyone gives/gets something to give them good luck in the new year, so I've been given lots of little pigs/coins/ribbons/clovers. With the amount I was given I should (hopefully) have the best luck to last me all year long!
