Bora and Barcolana

Although the word 'bora' is used quite often in Trieste, I didn't really expect to find it in an English Dictionary. However, the lovely little 'dictionary' application on my computer has exceeded my expectations:

bora. noun. a strong, cold, dry northeast wind blowing in the upper adriatic.

Because Trieste is situated between hills on one side and a gulf on the

other, the warm air coming from the sea and the cold air coming from over the hills mix and the product is a very strong, very cold wind. At least I think that's how it works. La bora is pretty infamous in Trieste, much like Chicago is famous for being The Windy City. I thought I had felt la bora a little bit one day, but it was during the summer and it was on a sunny day, and the fierceness of the wind as I leaned into it felt like heaven. This weekend, I truly experienced la bora in all of its glory, and I now know that it is not heaven. It was evening, and it was cold, and the wind was whipping my jacket open and my scarf was trailing behind me like a kite and I had to lean almost 45 degress forward just to walk! I now understand why people always grumble a little bit when mentioning this infamous wind--although I'm used to Minnesota-cold, la bora cuts you and chills you to the bone. And while I may grumble a little bit come winter, la bora really makes me love Trieste even more :]

Another word that has been used extensively throughout the past month: Barcolana. This one's not in the dictionary. Barcolana is a sailboat race that takes place in Trieste every year. When it was first mentioned, I thought it would be a small local event, but it turns out to be the largest sailboat race in Europe. So basically it's on about the same level as the Defeat of Jesse James Days back in Northfield :] But this was definitely the most crowded I have seen Trieste. There were cars, scooters, and so many people EVERYWHERE that it took me quite a bit longer to get places that normally take only a few minutes. There were tents everywhere that were selling pretty much everything, from candy to eco-friendly mo-peds to scarves to books about Barcolana. There was a Barcolana Music Festival in la Piazza Unitá. And I even saw a man with a Vikings hat on--speaking English, although I couldn't tell if he had a Minnesota accent or not. But I felt that this was true proof that tourists come from everywhere!

The harbor was absolutely crammed full of boats, all tied up and looking quite fancy. There were a few really huge ones that had so many sails and ropes that I don't even know how many people were needed to sail it! All in all, though, despite the high level of excitement that was evident throughout Trieste, the Italians remained pretty relaxed, as always.

Since this weekend was such an important one for Trieste, the Rotaract Club invited the other exchange students from the district to come spend the day on Saturday, eat a lovely Rotaract dinner, and then, on Sunday, watch the race from the hills of Muggia, a small village near Slovenia (although technically Slovenia's always near; it's only about thirty minutes away from my house). So I met up with the three other exchange students in who are living in Trieste: Camille from Quebec, Mary from Iowa, and Sofia from Argentina. And we were joined by Misha from British Columbia, Anna from Louisiana, Patrick from Florida, and Alex from Colorado. I'd say the American Continent was pretty well represented! We spent the afternoon eating gelato, walking around the harbor and looking at all the boats, seeing the main piazzas of Trieste, and talking. And later, the Rotaract dinner was at a German-themed restaurant that somehow still managed to have eleven pages of its small-print menu devoted to pizza although the waiters walked around in leiderhosen. Then, we walked around the Harbor, listening to the music coming from Piazza Unitá. There was so much energy in the city, it made me feel so proud to be living in Trieste! I've decided that I want everyone to come visit me, so I can show people what a beautiful, great city it is. All in all it was a great day, and it highlighted something that I love about Rotary: it brings together all these people from so many different cultures who are united by their common interests. All of us girls from Trieste got along really well with the other exchange students even though we had never met before, and I know that we're going to have tons of fun this year, visiting each others' cities, planning trips around Italy, and, most importantly, having 'Lord of the Rings' movie nights :]

The actual event of Barcolana took place yesterday, the historic 10-10-10 Sunday, and it happened to start at 10:00 in the morning :] Instead of watching the race with Rotaract, I went to a sailing "society" right on the shore, at the starting and ending point of the race. It was sort of like a Yacht Club, but minus the yachts and not quite as fancy. I was there with Checca and her parents-in-law, my host-grandparents, Nonno Elio and Nonna Giulia. In addition: Marta and Pietro, Checca's college-age children who study and live in Genova along with the rest of Checca's family, came for the weekend with their cousin Tommaso and Marta's boyfriend Pedro, since Marta is a sailor and was participating in the race. Pedro's parents and younger sister also came to visit, so the house was quite crowded and festive for the entire weekend! So Pedro's family joined us at the Sailing Society to watch the race. I felt a bit like I was with a celebrity, because Nonno Elio, an avid sailor himself in his youth, had written a newspaper article about Barcolana, and with his expertise on the subject of sailing everyone was coming up to say hi and give him the typical two-kisses and a hug. Once the boats began to gather in the gulf in front of us, he kept explaining different parts of the race to me, with the occasional interejection that "you HAVE to go to Rome" or "did you know that Italy has 80% of the world's art?" I think he's trying to get me to change my nationality :] As for the view: it's pretty difficult to describe the sheer amount of sails, and seeing as we were right on the sea rather than up in the hills, we didn't have the best panoramic view. But here are a few pictures of the day:

Me being very happy right before the race started.

La nonna Giulia!

Il nonno Elio!

Unfortunately the pictures that I took of Checca were in a format that can't be uploaded to the internet...silly fancy camera with all those silly buttons :] And Peter, my host dad, was also participating in the race...and came in 17th out of over 1,600 boats, first in his small-boat group! Yay Peter! So no pictures of him either. But I will have a new post up soon (I hope) and hopefully by then I will have taken some more pictures so that you can meet my host parents! And if you want some really amazing pictures of Barcolana, just google it--I have to say, they're much, much better than my pictures, and they actually do it justice :]

Sorry that it took me so long to write a new post! I have so many things to tell you all, but I guess it's easy to get caught up in life here too. I'm actually very excited about this week, because I shall be returning to my homeland: not the U.S., but SPAIN!!! After living there for a year with my family when I was 13, I absolutely fell in love with it, and now I'm going to Barcelona for three days to meet up with the lovely lovely people that I met at the Rotary camp during my first two weeks in Italy! I'm so excited not only to see Spain again, but also to see my new friends from all over the world! I'll be gone from Thursday until Sunday, so it will probably not be until next Monday that you'll get another post out of me.

Until then, I hope that everyone's doing well in Northfield or wherever you happen to be right now. Enjoy life and embrace everything! Ciao e baci grandi :]