Gyms in Italy: Working Out...Or Hanging Out?

Posted by Julie Hooper, Student, CET Intensive Language and Culture Studies in Catania.

The gym in Catania is different than gyms back home. Our first gym experience in Catania can most closely be compared to hanging out in a university cafeteria. As my Italian teacher puts it, the gym is mondano, a social place.

Italian women arrive in their street clothes. They change into what some would refer to as their casalinga attire (sweats and a nice shirt). They leave their hair down, long and swinging behind them in the air conditioner-generated breeze, like a Garnier Fructis commercial. It seems as though the women spend a total of twenty minutes walking on the tread mill, and as if not a drop of sweat rolls down their made-up faces. They take breaks to hug, kiss, and greet other gym-goers. A smile always lights their faces.

The weight room is a different story. Here, Catanian men are in their natural habitat. They parade like peacocks, muscles out, hair gelled into place, cologne on. At the gym, men are social creatures, always ready to jump in to help spot one another.

Angela, another CET student, and I observe all this from the

cardio section. Although we have taken to socializing on the treadmill, we remain identifiably American in our running shorts and workout tops. We have seen men swarm Sam. His curly blonde hair - blonde by Sicilian

standards, that is - sets him apart from his gelled colleagues.

Here, Sam is the queen bee. In a single day at the gym, he is invited by Francesco to the disco and swaps stories with Simone. No one can get enough of the American.

Post-workout, we head back to the dressing room where we do not shower, dry our hair, or do our makeup, as the Italians do. We opt instead to throw a jacket and pants over our sweaty workout attire.

Exiting the gym we pass the hip-hop and the baby dance classes. We call “Ciao” to our new friends at the front desk. “A domani!” Another day, another workout, another social hour.

Edited by Janet Lawrence, Resident Director.

Our Excellent Language Partners!

Written by Janet Lawrence, Resident Director.

Riccardo Fichera comes from Catania and he studies Political Science. He lives right in the historic center of Catania and is really proud of his city. He loves meeting new people and learning about new cultures, so he wanted to get involved as a CET Language Partner. He was a great teammate for Charades-he knew all of the Sicilian authors that no one else could get! Giuseppe Verga anyone?

Jole Fontana, (pictured here with Julie Hooper, right) a native of Catania, studies Political Science. She loves speaking Spanish, English, and Czech. Last year, she won a scholarship to study in Prague and loved getting to know Czech students. Now, she hopes to welcome the CET students to her hometown and show them what a wonderful place it is. She and the group – and the rest of the population of Catania – turned out to see the fabulous fireworks display in the main square to celebrate la Festa di Sant’Agata!

Gianluca Scerri hails from Catania and studies International Relations. He has loved Americans ever since he studied at Rider College in New Jersey. Gianluca enjoys political films – and he sure sees a lot of them, because when he’s not studying, he works in a movie theatre just outside of Catania. Gianluca likes to wax poetic – in Italian and in English - and he’s a thinker. When asked to describe himself, he said “But how can one ever describe himself. You’ll have to give me a couple of days.” Enough said! We love you, Gianluca!

Chiara Pane studies Global Politics and Euro-Mediterranean Relations too! She loves going to the beach and playing water sports – she is pretty fierce in water polo and an accomplished scuba diver. She is fascinated by North Africa and loves to travel. Her favorite musicians are Ligabue and the famous singer-songwriter from Chiara’s own hometown, Carmen Consoli.

Ornella Urso studies at the University of Catania and is an alum of the Scuola Superiore di Catania. She is interested in global politics. She’s fascinated by the Middle East and hopes to travel there soon. Her favorite film is the Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.





Pamela Valastro is a part of the Global Politics and Euro-Mediterranean Relations faculty at the University of Catania. She loves to sing and travel. Most recently she went to Tunisia, where she loved tasting the exotic foods in the markets.

Our Excellent Italian Roommates!

Posted by Janet Lawrence, Resident Director for CET Intensive Language and Culture Studies in Catania

Claudio De Leo:

(Claudio left, Sam right)

Claudio is 23 and comes from Messina. For his first few years of university, Claudio studied Economics at the University of Messina. He then moved to England for six months and worked in a bed and breakfast to improve his English. When he returned to Italy, he registered at the University of Catania where he studied Foreign Languages. This semester he is taking one course and working at Vodafone. He can’t wait to return to being a full-time student next semester. In his first week as an Italian Roommate, he spent a great deal of time with the American students. They played music and ate dinners together. He brought them on a trip to a shopping mall to find Sam the perfect Italian scarf. Now Sam and Claudio plan to travel Europe together over spring break.

Ivana Pulvirenti:

(Tess left, Ivana right)

Ivana is 23, comes from Catania and is interested in languages, history, and sociology. Last year, she spent a semester studying in Spain where she learned to love cultural exchange. So far, Ivana has been showing her new roommates around Catania. She has introduced them to the active night life, the delicious, homemade culinary inventions of her mother, and made up silly nicknames for everyone in the Residence – basically showing the Americans what la vita siciliana is all about.

Festa di Sant'Agata

Written by Janet Lawrence, Resident Director

for CET Intensive Language and Culture Studies in Catania. Photos by Tess Raser, student for CET Intensive Language and Culture Studies in Catania.

What a way to start the semester! Last weekend was the Festa di Sant’Agata, Catania’s patron saint. Sant’Agata, or Saint Agatha, was martyred here in 251 AD. In her honor, nearly one million tourists and Catanesi filled the streets for her annual Festa. Our students, Italian Roommates and Language Partners were there to see it, in all its crowded, messy, chaotic glory!

And what a spectacle it was. Thousands of local devotees wore white robes and black caps and helped to cart the Saint’s relics and effigy through the streets on a gilded caravan. Together residents pulled on a thick white rope to lead the Saint throughout Catania for 48 hours.

Other Agata devotees trailed the caravan with burning candles perched on their shoulders. The candles were the size of tree trunks. Their wax drippings left such a sticky residue that sanitation workers were out the next day with blow torches to remove it. Until the wax comes off completely, the sound of tires squeaking against the waxy streets fills the night air.

And the purples, golds, and dazzling silver fireworks on Friday night in the Piazza del Duomo were, as they say down here, folcloristico, which can mean colorful, eccentric, and traditional, all at the same time.

CET Sicily: Welcome Spring 2011 Students!

Sam, Ariel, Julie, Claudio, Angela, Ivana, Tess, May, Janet (left to right)

Written by Janet Lawrence

, Resident Director for CET Intensive Language and Culture Studies in Catania

Greetings from Catania! Only one week has passed and the group has already begun to enjoy la bedda vita siciliana - local dialect for living the good life, Sicilian-style!

For our Welcome Dinner we chowed down on some Pizza alla Norma -- yummy thin-crust pizza topped with tomato and eggplant, a Sicilian delicacy. Then during Orientation, the students traversed the city for a Caccia al Tesoro (treasure hunt). They interviewed residents, i Catanesi, to learn about local sites like the Roman Amphitheater, famous citizens like composer Vincenzo Bellini, and what exactly is an aperitivo (a pre-dinner snack or drink). Photos to come!

To top off the first weekend in Sicily, the group took in the long-faced portraits of Modigliani at an exhibit in the Castello Ursino (built in the 13th century!). Claudio and Ivana, the group's Italian roommates, came along. The show's organizers were excited that American students visited and snapped the above photo as a memento!

More to come!

Palermo

This is Palermo's Cathedral in which we all visited (look in the bottom left). It is characterized by the presence of many different architecture styles. The cathedral was built in 1185, but alterations continued until the 18th century.

Our last week in Catania!!!!!!

On Sunday, July 18 we first went swimming off the rocks in Aci Castello. Then we had dinner with Alan, Ayrton and all the Italian families. Everybody came! We ate al fresco and it was a lovely -- although very warm -- evening. The families have been so welcoming and gracious to the Ellis girls during our stay here in Catania, and it was a real pleasure to dine with them.

Here are the pictures of the Ellis girls with their Italian families.

Here is a picture of Marina L. with Irene S., her parents and her little brother.

The next picture is of Nina N. with her Italian sister, Loriana, and her parents.

Bridget K. with her sister, Elisabetta D. and Elisabetta's mom.

The next picture shows Zoe M. with her sister Frederica F., and Frederica's parents.

The final picture shows Hannah M. with her sister Giorgia and Giorgia's brother.