Worldly women

Kelly Styron / Columnist

For such a docile country, where a policeman getting killed holds all the newspaper headlines for a week, a lot has happened over the past month. By a lot, I mean things relating to weather, the Olympics and the festival Italy is famous for—Carnivale.  Therefore, I could not come up with a way to better express all of these topics than to have a little random session of thoughts dal mi cocco (from my head).

Weather Forecast

According to some of my stateside friends, I have heard that the weather  in Elon has been doing the regular North Carolina limbo with days of 70 degrees and sunny and 30 degrees and flurrying, I have to admit that I would rather be experiencing that than the lower 30s with freezing gusts that seem to accompany almost every day here.

However, no matter how finicky Elon weather seems, I must say that Perugia comes in first for the strangest day of weather I have ever experienced. On this particular day, I woke up to cloudless blue skies, then experienced torrential downpours around lunchtime, then blue skies in the afternoon, followed by flurries and hail in the evening.  Try to plan an outfit for that day.

The Winter Olympics

On a more important note, the Winter Olympics that took place in Torino, over the course of February have officially ended, but there are still Olympians hanging around Italy. In fact, this past weekend I was having dinner with my roommates in Bologna and an athlete in her Olympic gear was dining nearby. I was glad to see that the participants were enjoying the country and its food as much as I do.

 The Olympic Games were not only important for the athletes and for Italy, but they also seemed to stir interest in several of the students studying in Perugia. Many of them decided to make the trek north toward the Alps to battle the cold and the crowds, but as for me, I watched the games on a fuzzy 12-by-12 inch television with Italian commentary just like I would if I were in Elon—minus the language barrier. It was strange to see the American flag flying after an event, since I have not seen it for so long, although I did see one embroidered onto a pillow in a home decorating store.

While I remain a full-blooded American, I could not help but notice that I also felt pride for the Italians who won. I guess this is what you would call a "win-win situation," when you are equally thrilled for both countries. This must also be another step in the culturalization process that the Isabella Cannon Centre prepared us for, but it really is a concept that takes some getting used to.

Oh yes, and for those of you who are wishing that you too could have gone to the Olympics in person, from what I have heard, it was poorly run and some people could not even find a place to buy souvenirs.

Personally, I am glad I chose to experience the Olympics on a snowy television. Can you imagine the chaos?

Carnivale

Another major event that I must mention is the festival of Carnivale.

While Elon students were celebrating Mardi Gras with plastic beads and parties, the Italians were dressing up and playing pranks and partying for close to two weeks straight!

Carnivale is most famous in Venice, where they have the major parades and something comparable to Chapel Hill's Franklin Street on Halloween every single night, but it is also celebrated all over the country.

For the occasion, people wear elaborately-painted masks adorned with feathers and jewels and stay out until dawn drinking and being merry.

Just think of a Halloween to its maximum capacity, and you have Carnivale. Even before the official start of this festival, I saw children dressed up as princesses and animals walking around during the day with their parents.

I was also fortunate enough to experience the children without their parents, who were playing up more of the prank side of the celebration with shaving cream and confetti, but it really is all in the name of fun here in Italy.

Contact Kelly Styron at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.