Poropizza,

Pizza alla renna, Berlusconi "testimonial"
Juttu tärkeimmässä italialaisessa lehdessä (italiaksi toki).
A story in the most important italian magazine (in italian of course).

"Suomalainen verikosto"
Iltalehden juttu Corrieren jutusta (eli suomennoskonetta ei välttämättä tarvita).
The finnish version on the piece in Corriere.

Google Translator
Myös italiasta suomeksi löydettävissä (ei voi taata luettavuutta).
Also italian to finnish available (readableness not guaranteed).

Hyvää ystävänpäivää,

"In the third century after Christ, Valentine was the bishop of Terni (Italy). He wedded pairs, which were not allowed to marry in Rome at that time. The reasons were that parents did not agree with the connection or because the bridegroom was a soldier, or a slave so the marriage was forbidden. Valentine gave to the married pairs flowers from his garden. That's why flowers play a very important role on Valentine's Day. This did not please the emperor. On February 14, 269 AD, Valentin was beheaded because of his Christian faith. --- The martyr Valentine became the patron saint of the lovers."

Wikipedia

In Italy people seem to be all about couples while Saint Valentines day. Maybe because of the historical reason. It's everywhere... the thought. Except in Finland, for me. In finnish this day is called friends day instead of Saint Valentine's. I adore that idea much more than the day for lovers.

For me this day is for friends and for loved ones. It's still love.. and after all, there's not much that parts friendlove from romantic love. For the sake of that, I share with you a clip from the postsecret-project:

Älyllisesti vajaa, empaattisesti täysi.

Tuntuu, että musta on tullu älyllisesti aivan vajaa täällä. En ole koskaan ollut niin kovinkaan kirjanoppinut tai perustanut niinkään lukemalla oppimisesta, vaikka sekin toki hyvää tekee aika ajoin. Tunneälykkyyttä* tunnistan itsessäni enemmän. En silti ajoittaisesta hitaudestani huolimatta tunnusta olevani tyhmä. Olen aina tiennyt suurinpiirtein kaiken mitä perustallaajan yleistietoon kuuluu. Tänään italian tunnilla puhuttiin Italian suurista menneistä vaikuttajista. Minulta kysyttiin, mitä Kolumbus löysi... vastasin Intia. Hyyyyvä Milla!

Jos nyt siis ei huomioida tuota aivopierua, niin yleisesti täällä ei harrasteta aivoja hierovaa keskustelua. Ainoat aivolliset aktiviteetit mitä suoritan on italian opiskelu (joka sekin tuntuu ottaneen taantumisvaiheen tähän väliin), autokeilailu pyörällä (motoriikka) ja muiden tunne-elämien ongelmien ratkominen. Jos ensimmäistä ei oteta niinkään huomioon, niin täällä ei esimerkiksi opiskelussa ole kauheasti muuta haastamista kuin muistaminen. Toki lukemallakin oppii teorioita ja soveltamaan niitä johonkin pisteeseen asti. Historiaa ja tekniikkaa voi opiskella kirjoista. Silti täällä jo pelkästää opetustavasta ja opiskelutavasta näkee, ettei ihmisiä totuteta samalla tavalla kuin Suomessa soveltamaan taitojaan ja tietojaan käytäntöön.

Kysyin taloustiedettä opiskelevalta serkultani onko heillä harjoittelua, kun kovastikaan ole hänen kanssaan puhunut, saati tiedä aiheesta jota hän opiskelee. Hän totesi, ettei heille kuulu edes harjoittelua opiskeluun, joka oli hänen mielestään erittäin huonoa, koska ei ole mitään käytännönkokemusta opiskelemastaan. "Sen huomas jo viime kesänä. Hyvä et osas mapittaa! :D" Täällä tunneilla tai yleisesti ihmiset ei harrasta samanlaista keskustelua, kuin mihin olen Suomessa tottunut. Välillä on myös ikävä Nilsiä, joka haastoi minua älyllisesti ehkä eniten äidin lisäksi. Yleisesti olin tottunut puhumaan kehittävästi kaikenlaisesta niin tunne-elämässä kuin ammattitaidon kehittämismielessäkin. Täällä on vaikea löytää samanmielistä keskusteluseuraa, enkä edes tiedä mistä hakisin, jos sitä nyt edes voi hakea.

On vaikea löytää oikein mitään älyllisesti haastavaa ja virkistävää. Italiaa kun pitää vieläkin opiskella että voisi keskustella jostain enemmän kehittävästi. Kulttuurien eroista olen keskustellut koko sen ajan kun olen vaihto-opiskelijoiden kanssa ollut missään tekemisissä niin Suomessa kuin Italiassa. Täällä se on tuntuu olevan vielä vaikeampaa, koska oman kulttuurin edustajia on todella vähän ja toisen kulttuurin edustaja voi joko loukkaantua tai vain olla ymmärtämättä lainkaan spontaania havaintoa Italiasta. Yritä siinä sitten sanonnan mukaisesti olla kristitty, kun ihmisillä ei tunnu olevan samanlaisia toisen saappaisiin astumistaitoa kun itsellä suurimmaksi osaksi. Kaikki asiat täytyy käsitellä omassa päässä kun ei tiedä mitä uskaltaa tuoda enää julkilausutuksi. Toisaalta se on myös opettavaista. Kantapään kautta on monesti joutunut suovimaan kaikenlaiset väärinkäsitykset läpi, jotta ymmärtää toista kulttuuria paremmin.

Tämä tuo taas minut toiseen asianhaaraan, jolla ei ehkä älylaantuman kanssa ole mitään tekemistä, mutta empatiavaraston kanssa sitäkin enemmän. Olen käyttänyt empatiataitojani viime aikoina todella paljon ja sen kautta moneen otteeseen olen havahtunut siihen miten vähän empatiaa** ihmiset yleensä jakelee. Olen saanut kiitosta myös siitä, että jaksan kuunnella ja miettiä ratkaisuja toisten ongelmiin enemmissä määrin, mutta lopulta jään aina miettimään missä on muiden empatian viilaamisvälineet? Missä on empatia kun minä sitä tarvitsisin? Kiitos on kovin heikko, jossei saa sitä samaa empaattista keskittymistä osakseen kun vastavuoroisesti sitä tarvitsisi. Aina välillä kun ei tarvitse sitä totuuksia töksäyttelevää viereensä, kun ne totuudet tietää itsekin... välillä se empaattinen tuki olisi aika mukava lisä.

*) Tunneälykkyys muodostuu ihmisen kyvyistä tunnistaa, ilmaista ja kokea tunteita. Tunneälykkyyteen kuuluu myös ihmisen kyky käsitellä ja säännöstellä näitä tunnistettuja tunteita, sekä hyödyntää näitä tunteita rakentaviin tarkoituksiin, kuten motivoimaan itseään tekemään työnsä hyvin ja olemaan luova. Lisäksi tunneälykkyys auttaa ihmissuhteiden hoidossa kun ihminen kykenee havaitsemaan toisten ihmisten tunteita ja käsittelemään niitä. (Sanna Keskioja, Tietojenkasittelytieteen laitos)

**) Empatia (kreikan ilmaisusta em pathos, tuntea sisälle) tarkoittaa kykyä asettaa itsensä toisen henkilön asemaan ja ymmärtää toisen tunteita. Empatia on sympatian tapaan myötätuntoa, mutta sympatia on "kanssa tuntemista" (kreikan ilmaisu sym pathos), kun empatia on toisen sisällistä ymmärtämistä. (Wikipedia)

What do Italians generally want to know about Finland - and the answers.

How much daylight do you get in Finland?
Right now (November 11th) it's about 8 hours in Helsinki (rise 8:30, set 16:30) and about 7 hours in Sodankylä (up north in Lapland, rise 8:00, set 15:30). But just in the end of December it will barely be 6 hours in Helsinki (rise 9:30, set 15:30) and - 45 minutes in Sodankylä (rise 11:45, set 12:30)..
So most of the winter the sunrises when you're going to school or work (or even before) and sets when you're getting out of there (or even earlier). The days are sometimes grey and cloudy so even when the sun is up, you might not see it. Then again, the most beautiful winter days are really beautiful. So that time is only for how long the sun is above the horizon.

And in the summer it's all light?
In the middle of June, in Helsinki there's almost 19 hours of light and during the night it doesn't get dark even though the sun is down. In Sodankylä it's 24 hours of light from the mid-June to mid-July. HOW LOVELY IS THAT! Che bello!

Is it cold now in Finland?
According to people and forecast around zero, sometimes a little below, sometimes a bit over. It's been snowing but the snow doesn't stay on the ground. Anyone anything to add?

Is Finland actually in Scandinavia?
Wikipedia answers you: "Scandinavia is a historical and geographical region centred on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe which includes the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The other Nordic countries, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, are also often included because of their close historic and cultural relations to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark." There's also a point that the countries alltogether are nowadays just Nordic countries, because of arguments about that.

Is finnish language alike to swedish, norwegian, danish, hungarian, italian, english...?
Finnish is not really like any other language. It belongs to the same language group with hungarian, but we cannot understand each other at all. We can understand only a little and only some words here and there of Estonian.

Is english your official language?
NO!

So why do you speak so good english then?
I don't know. We learn it in school at least 8 years. I've learned it for 13 years now. And our tv is not dubbed.

Do you swim in the sea, also in the winter?
Yes we make a whole to the ice and swim in it after sauna and before sauna. (More: Wikipedia/Ice swimming)

Suomalaisia joulurunoja,

Yritin etsià netistà suomalaisia perinteisià joulurunoja, joista jonkun voisin lausua ehkà tai antaa jonkun muun suomalaisen lausua joulukonsertissa. En lòytànyt hirveàn monia.

Kertokaa, jos tiedàtte jonkun?

What's up here...

Today I've read a lot of online newspapers on the Jokela massacre and the murder of a britist girl who was in exchange in Perugia, Italy. Sad.. so sad.

research: Italy

Belongs to series about research: mind, Padova, Veneto, Italy. Here's what I found out through some serious researching about...


Italy


capital city - Rome
currency - euro
time zone - GMT +1
president - Giorgio Napolitano

Italy is a republic on the peninsula and its several islands in the Mediterranean sea. It has 301 000 km² (Finland: 338 000 km²) of land and about 59 million people (Finland: 5 million). The neighbour countries are France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The country includes two very small independent states, San Marino and The Vatican City.

The capital Rome lies in the middle of the country with another important city Naples, while the rest of the most important ones are in the North: Milan, Turin, Florence and Venice. Milan is probably the most important city of the country if viewed on the point of business. The official language is italian, though near the border there is other languages used too, mainly french and german. The language is also highly affected by dialects of different regions. Some people say that in the area of Florence people speak the most pure italian.

Italy's biggest religious group is catholics (87,8% of population, Finland: 0,08%).

(Wikipedia: Italy, Dino, Walter and Mario)


HISTORY

It became a republic in the year 1946 after being a kingdom for almost a century. The some of the most markable historical events of the country are:

962 - Otto the Great was crowned emperor, marking the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire
1796 - Napoleon Bonaparte conquered most of the northern Italy and established Italian republics.
1861, The Kingdom of Italy was formed, encompassing the entire peninsula except for Rome, Venice and San Marino.
1871, Rome becomes the capital of Italy.
1922, as Italy had entered World War I allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Mussolini became prime minister and rapidly assumed dictatorical powers.
1940-43, Italy entered World War II having previously formed an alliance with Germany in the end having to surrender.
1946, Italy became a republic by vote.
1952, Italy became a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would eventually become the European Union.
1984, Reflecting the diminished influence of the church in Italian life, Roman Catholicism was de-institutionalized as Italy's state religion.

just to mention a few. (Chronology of Italy's history)


POLITICS

I'm not too interested on this part, so I'll keep it short. The republic is represent by a president, who is currently Giorgio Napolitano (elected 2006). The prime minister is Romano Prodi who won the place from Silvio Berlusconi, which if you ask me isn't such a bad thing.. after all he mocked finnish food ;)

Italy is one of the founders of EU and NATO. (Wikipedia - Politics of Italy)


CULTURE

Italy is world famous for its cultural and natural heritage, which can also be noticed at the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites it has. More than any other nation in the world. Aside from that Italy is known from its cars, beautiful women, eating culture and cuisine, wine, pasta, cheese, pepperoni, though some say that italian cuisine is just a mix of several others.

Visual arts

One of the reasons why I wanted to this particular country is the cultural heritage. In visual arts, the country has impressive list of artists and their achievements. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Botticelli... The country has lead Europe to many artistic and intellectual movements like Renaissance and Baroque.

Literature

Poet Dante Alighieri with his greatest work, the Divina Commedia, is ofter considered the foremost literary statement in Europe from the Middle Ages and also on of the greatest works in the world literature. Other very famous and appreciated writers and poets are Boccaccio, Giacomo Leopardi, Alessandro Manzoni... and from the philosophic side a famous name: Machiavelli.

Science

In science, Italy has again an impressive list of names who made advancements towards scientific revolutions. Galileo Galilei and Leonardo da Vinci as leading men, Italy has been home for many scientists and inventors: the physicist Enrico Fermi, one of the fathers of quantum theory; the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini; the physicist Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery; the mathematicians Lagrange and Fibonacci; Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio; and Antonio Meucci, inventor of the telephone.

Music

From folk music to classical, music has always played an important role in Italian culture. Having given birth to opera, Italy provides many of the foundations of the classical music tradition. Instruments associated with classical music, including the piano and violin, were invented in Italy. Italy's most famous composers in the world are Vivaldi, Puccini and Verdi.

Sports

Italians are renowned for their love of sports, from the Gladiatorial games of Ancient Rome, to the Stadio Olimpico of contemporary Rome, where football clubs compete. Popular sports include football, basketball (2nd national team sport since the '50s), volleyball, waterpolo, fencing, rugby, cycling, ice hockey (mainly in Milan, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto), roller hockey and F1 motor racing.

(Culture of Italy, Italian literature, Music of Italy, Sport in Italy, and Cinema of Italy, List of Italian painters)

GEOGRAPHY and TOPOGRAPHY

The country is divided administratively to 20 regions (regione), which divide to 110 provinces (provincia) and these to 8 101 communes (comune). The provinces are often named after the administrative cities. The regions: Abruzzo, Valle d'Aosta, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friulia-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria, Veneto.

Because of country's shape, it's also called the boot country. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone; the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest of its many northern lakes is Garda; the Po, its principal river, flows from the Alps on Italy's western border and crosses the Lombard plain to the Adriatic Sea.

The climate in Italy is highly diverse and can be far from the stereotypical Mediterranean climate and "land of sun", depending on the location. The inland northern areas of Italy (Turin, Milan, and Bologna) have a continental climate, while the coastal areas of Liguria and the peninsula south of Florence fit the stereotype. The coastal areas of the peninsula can be very different from the interior, particularly during the winter months. The coastal regions, where most of the large towns are located, have a typical Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot and generally dry summers. Between the north and south there can be a considerable difference in temperature, above all during the winter: in some winter days it can be -2 °C and snowing in Milan while Rome gets +12°C and it is +18°C in Palermo. Temperature differences are less extreme in the summer. (Geography of Italy)

Research: mind

Let's see how my story changes in the end of the stay, but - I had to answer quite a few questions for an assignment to get my scholarship from my school. One part of the tasks was to find out about the target city and country. There will be 4 entries. Before I tell you what I found out about (1) Italy, (2) Veneto and (3) Padova, (4) I will show you some pictures of my first impressions and tell what I knew before. This is the part where I tell about the first impressions and what I knew before.

I have been in Italy for 2 weeks with my parents and my brother in the summer of 2002. I had just signed up for starting to learn italian at highschool, which made me sad that I didn't know any before going there.

Back then I didn't know much about Italy. Basicly I knew what the nature was like, because we had visited Greece several times before. Much less greener than in here. Buildings are painted with white and everything looks a bit sunburned, including people who mixed our plans with their bloody siestas. I didn't care for old gorgeous churches and fresco's. I was there to holiday and swim a lot. I also remember that mom got heart pulsation of the strong coffee, they sold.

Later on, after attending to the italian classes, I got to know what the coffee was like.. and all kind of varieties of it: caffe, caffe lungo (in finnish laiha kahvi), caffe macchiato (with just a little bit of milk), caffe corretto (with alcohol), cappuccino, caffellatte.. and our teacher also told us that if we want a finnish kind of coffee, ask for caffe americano.

Of course, I knew to combine Italy with pasta, parmesan cheese, wine, vineyards, olive trees, calcio (football), ferrari and formula 1 races (how could I not because of the little fanatics in my family), fashion and art.

The italian professor showed us once a music video of an italian band called Gemelli Diversi. I have no idea of what their image is in Italy, but I fell in love with their song Mary.

Pictures from our stay in 2002 (all pictures are taken by Arja Tulonen - mom):