Having grown up in Oregon, which is a nice place, but a long way from anywhere, one of the things that I really like about Italy is that it is very definitely somewhere, and it’s very close to a lot of other somewheres. It may no longer be the center of the world as in…

Last year, I asked Ilenia to marry me, and she said yes! I think if we knew what we know now, we might have considered running off to get married on some tropical isle, accompanied by a few good friends and relatives. Getting married in Italy is not easy for a foreigner, or at least…

Sometimes it’s the little differences that you notice. Sure, Venice is 40 kilometers down the road, and I ride my bike over roads originally built by the Romans on my way to work, but you get used to that to the point of almost forgetting about it. I’m talking about the little things that you…

After some sad news from home, I needed a bit of calm and quiet, and being a crisp, sunny February day, I took my bike and went for a ride in the Colli Euganei. It was a wonderful day out – although it hasn’t started to get warm yet, if spring isn’t in the air,…

One of my favorite traditions of Padova is getting together with friends in the early evening to drink “spritzes”, an aperitif made from fizzy water, white wine, and either aperol or campari (actual recipes change from bar to bar). While one may imbibe a spritz in most bars in Padova (and Venice), to do things…

Scioperi, “strikes” in Italian, are a fact of life here, but they are quite different from strikes in the US, maddeningly so, at times. When we read about workers going on strike in the states, it’s usually a fairly big deal, at whatever level, whether it’s the local teachers’ union going on strike for better…

On Sunday, I went to Verona to see the professional world cycling championships. One of my favorite things in Italy is how popular cycling is. In the states, the sport is doing well because of Lance Armstrong, but there is nowhere near the same level of interest there is in Italy. You could put together…

“Il Camping” in Italian is not an activity, but a place – what we would call a campground in English. And the linguistic difference is just the beginning. The most apt way to describe it is that camping in Italy is a far more civilized experience than back home in Oregon, for better and for…

Greece recently pulled off quite an upset to win the European soccer championships. Italy, on the other hand, got knocked out of the tournament pretty early and never really lived up to their expectations. Not that I care too much, I’m a big cycling fan, and am not too interested in watching matches drag on…

I recently had visitors from the states, which is always a good opportunity to go see some of the more “touristy” sides of Padova that I don’t normally see. One of the most interesting things about Padova is its university. It’s apparently the third oldest in the world, after the nearby University of Bologna, and…