Abbie Abroad

Primo Maggio

May 1st 2020: Buona festa! Today is Mayday in Italy so that meant no school for me! It also marked the beginning of Phase 2 in Tuscany so we were allowed outside! Lots of restrictions are still in place; masks must be worn in public, 1.8 meters between people (but I have my mom’s metric skills so this confuses me!!) and most businesses are still closed. Individual sport means running, walking, and biking so the streets were full today!

It was my first time out of the apartment in 2 months so I was insanely excited. Hopefully the joy is evident in the photo even with the mask! Obviously I went to the Palazzo Vecchio, just to check in! I did 8.7 miles today and can’t wait to go back out tomorrow!

One of the rules is that your exercise has to start and finish at your front door, you can’t drive to a different neighborhood or downtown to do it so there were not many cars out. This meant the streets were full of little kids riding bikes and playing!

As I walked downtown, a guy stopped and started talking to me (from a safe distance!!) and I was just smiling. I realized after he definitely couldn’t tell that I was smiling and I just kept walking. Blaming it on no social interactions!!

A school update: we’ve been doing a lot of fun activities lately to practice our conversation and use the different tenses. One that was particularly fun for me was planning our dream dinner party. Who would you invite? What would you serve? Mine was pretty awesome! I invited RBG, Malala, Michelle Obama, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Meryl Streep, and Kevin Cox. My thought process was if everyone was bringing a plus one, Barry would get an invite without an invite 🙂 My classmates didn’t know who Kevin Cox was even when I said the scientist from Hartland! I possibly cheated and declared my party a potluck. But oh well there were no rules!

In other news: as I was walking on the Oltrarno, a man was riding a bike towards me with a kid in a seat in front of him. From afar, I could see that the man’s hand was covering the kid’s face but I assumed that it was serving as a mask. Once we got closer, I could see the kid was sound asleep and his dad was holding his head up. As someone who can fall asleep anywhere I laughed soooo hard!

About Me

April 21st 2020: I have learned quite a bit about myself during quarantine. Some of these are things that people have told me and I never accepted and others are totally new!

I love spoilers. My sister, mom, friends (anyone who has ever watched a show or movie with me) would always tell me to stop asking questions during the viewing because they didn’t know what was happening either. I’ve been known to bribe people to tell me what happens in movies and then once I know what will happen, I finish it! Maddie and I used to watch movies together and at the beginning she would say to me “Abs, this is my first time seeing this too, I don’t know anything about it so don’t ask.” I thought everyone in my life was exaggerating but on Day 40 something of quarantine I was scrolling through my search history trying to find a recipe. Without anyone here to answer my never ending questions and with all the time I have to watch bad tv, my search history was full of ‘what happens in —-, do Lola and mark get together, what happens in season 6.’ Once I know what will happen I have no issue with watching it….as evidenced by Mamma Mia!
I love people. In class we had an exercise about ‘le nostre priorità’ and mine were all about family and friends. I’ve also learned that my people help me to hold myself accountable. Setting up a Skype workout helps me to actually do it at a certain time and check it off. Teaching my friend how to cook over FaceTime forces me to make what I had planned to do and not use up all our groceries trying things out.
Reflection helps. I saw this awesome idea online where you make two lists and add to them each day. The first side is things you are grateful for during this time and the second is things you took for granted before. I add two or three a day and am loving it! Some examples: FaceTime Hallmarks with my mom, a cup of tea, laughing on the phone with a friend. These are all on my grateful side. On my for granted: making s’mores and laughing at the campfire, singing in the kitchen while cooking with my dad (Babbo!!!), driving my friends (of all ages!!) in the Mamma Mia Mobile. This has been a really fun way to remember very specific things that made me happy and I will have this list once I am able to do them again so hopefully I will enjoy them so much more knowing that I thought of them during quarantine. I encourage everyone to try this!!!

In other news: during class we learned the four tenses of the Subjunctive! To help us understand the difference, the teacher asked us questions and we had to respond in the chat. All of my answers were about mamma mia! because that’s how I understood the tenses. At the end of this activity, my classmates answers were also about mamma mia! and the teacher decided we should all watch mamma mia! together in Italian some time. My work here is done.

Buona Pasquetta

April 13th 2020: Happy Easter Monday!! The celebrations continue in Italy! My celebrations came in the form of a day off from school and a lot of Mamma Mia! Our Easter weekend was a ton of fun! It started out with a big birthday bash, thank you to everyone who reached out! As my sister explained to me, turning 18 doesn’t strip me of my dancing queen title, it just extends my reign! An absolutely delicious torta was delivered to us, it was amazing! And I got to watch mamma mia! with my friend from class. We had lots of fun explaining the tenses and why they were used to each other. By the way, I am pretending the reason I can understand mamma mia! so well is because my Italian skills have developed so much….not that I can quote the movie! Saturday was spent hard at work in the kitchen. 6 hours and many FaceTime calls and even more frantic google searches resulted in a ‘masterpiece’. Sunday brought a fantastic Easter feast made possible by Casa Ceccatelli and a viewing of mamma mia! here we go again. Danielle and I watched it in Italian and had loads of fun trying to guess the lines before they came…it’s harder than it sounds!

Sunday was also the first annual Tatarczuch-Koff-Lowry Carrot Cake Competition, also know as the TLK CCC. You’ve probably seen it all over Food Network and ESPN, yes it belongs on both channels. Food, competition, and trash talk are staples of all our family gatherings so this event brought us all together. Don’t ask about the winner, the competition was too fierce for one to be decided! I will say that the Lowry’s produced the best decorated and the T-Koff’s the best presentation. Out of New Hampshire we got quantity! Nana has some very lucky neighbors!!! Montreal proved to us that college students need to work on time management! Everyone please let Madelyn know that 1 pm EST means 1 pm EST. I would argue that Florence definitely worked the hardest with the materials given and definitely deserves the participation award I gave myself. I made a carrot cake with lemon syrup and lemon icing. Seems pretty simple right? Well it was gluten free and nut free (let’s keep Nonna and Abbie alive and well!) there was no brown sugar or baking powder, there was not the right amount of carrot, and I made my own confectioners sugar. I’m proud of me too! Can’t wait to drop off this cake for you, Gered!

Important note: the cake at the top is NOT mine!

I found out today that I am moving up again this week! Here comes level 4! Now when I sit outside, I can understand what the neighbors are saying to each other! Of course, I pretend that I don’t so they keep talking!

In other news: I did a HIIT workout today via Skype and as I lifted my leg to prove I didn’t have shoes on, I absolutely wiped out. I fell over before the video even started! Many many laughs were had!

Party Party!

April 9th 2020: Happy Birthday Nonna! Last week I threw a hugeee party! We had polenta with ragu al carne and tremondous brownies that I did not follow the recipe! With everyone that came, I am so glad we were able to keep the noise down. This is not an easy feat when the Koff crew gets together!!! (obviously this is a joke and everyone is complying with quarantine guidelines!!!!) but actually we did have lots of fun celebrating Nonna’s birthday and the sky was a beautiful blue.

In school, I have learned so so much. I am now at 8 tenses and have written a couple stories about my family/childhood. This week our ‘culture’ aspect has been on food and family traditions (two of my favorite things!!) so it has been a lot of fun to share and learn about my classmates. Last night we had to write about our family Easter/Passover traditions using the imperfect and the preterite to show the difference between ‘abitudine e una volta’. Today, she filmed us reading them so I might be plugging a video for you all to watch next week! Could be an Academy Award!

This dancing queen is finally putting the dancing into her name! I learned the dance to my favorite song in mamma mia! here we go again….(name it!) So obviously I have been using this time in quarantine productively.

In exciting news, the numbers of new infections are still declining so we are hopeful that the first phase of ending lockdown will be soon. This way I can share my newfound Italian skills AND dancing with the world!

Buona Pasqua and happy belated Passover!

Day ????

March 31st 2020: I think it is Day 25 but I’m actually not sure!!! As everyone keeps saying, the days really do blend together. I am so so so glad/thankful that I have my class. Even though it is only two hours in the morning and maybe ten minutes of homework, it truly makes all the difference.

If I forget all of my Italian (which I hope won’t happen because I’ve learned so so much) one phrase I will never ever forget is ‘Abigail/Danielle non ti vedo più.’ Our teacher says this alllll the time!! For some reason, she can’t see all of us at once but it is constantly changing who she can see. So every few minutes she interjects and says I can’t see you anymore!

In exciting news, I’m a level 3 now!! This is the big leagues! In level 1, we learned the Passato Prossimo, but now we are learning the trapassato prossimo! It’s crazy all the different tenses I now have! In the beginning of online classes, we just did grammar for the whole time but now we are starting to change things up. Last week we did a virtual cooking lesson all together. The teacher instructed us to make Pappa al Pomodoro using one form and we responded in another. Unfortunately, mine wasn’t amazing because I used gluten free bread and it was store bought packaged….the lack of gluten made the bread disintegrate into the soup but oh well!! We also have been doing more conversation mixed in to practice the different tenses. Being in quarantine has helped us come up with lots of examples for the desiderio impossible….I would like to go get ice cream but I can’t leave my house. I would come to the beach with you but I can’t leave the city. I would go to the country but the government said I can’t.

My class is now the woman from California, a woman from Poland who is currently in Geneva, a super cool young woman from Vermont who loves Mamma Mia! and our teacher. It’s interesting how after two weeks of just the two of us with the teacher we formed a routine together. The last two classes have been very different with the inclusion of the new student.

Now for the exciting news….my aunt knows me so well! She shared with me some quarantine pick up lines so if you get them from me, blame her! Well actually thank her because they are amazing and I crack up every time I read them! If COVID-19 doesn’t take you out…can I?

I have been watching lots of Netflix and such to pass the time. There’s this cool movie called Mamma Mia! that I highly recommend!!! I’ve seen it several times while in quarantine. But I started watching The English Game with Team MacVeagh (hey evil twins) and it is super interesting. It is about how soccer/football came about in England and has succeeded in making me want to go out and play!!!

Today I baked snickerdoodles for Nonna and they were amazing!!! I didn’t technically follow the recipe all the way because quarantine! My mom always told me that baking is a science but I strongly disagree. Ingredients and amounts are just guidelines…especially when it comes out amazing! Also Nonna finds it hard to believe they are actually called snickerdoodles so if anyone wants to assure her that I am not crazy that would be greatly appreciated. I also made a fake lasagne this weekend that was so so good!! If you are wondering what a fake lasagne is, take a lasagne (bolognese sauce, besciamella sauce, and lasagne noodles) and take out the lasagne. Yes, I made a lasagne without lasagne and it was great. We had some GF pasta that was similar to penne size wise but a different shape that I added instead. Nonna says this dish is actually baked pasta but I think fake lasagne is much more fitting.

In other news: as I was taking the photo above (using self timer!) there was an older couple standing on their balcony across the way who were laughing at me. When I tried to wave (Vermont charm) they laughed harder and went back inside their apartment. But it was finally sunny and warm so I stayed out there laughing so hard you probably heard me in Quechee!

Chef Abbie

March 24th 2020: You may now exclusively refer to me as Chef Abbie or ABBA. I have taken this time to perfect my craft! All of the gluten free goodness! Nonna is seriously lucky to get to experience lockdown with me, the rest of you should be jealous. Cookies, salmon risotto, fresh guac, and turkey burgers have all been on the menu recently.

This weekend, I made arepas! I first had them in Ecuador (plot twist, they are traditionally Venezuelan) and loved them! I made them with the Language Club at Hartford and had them again at a street market in London. As you may have noticed, the picture at the top of this page is NOT arepas! That is because they were not pretty, but they were delicious! I didn’t have most of the traditional fillings so I used chicken, bresaola, and cheddar cheese. It was lots of fun to make and I’m super excited to make them again once I can get all of the necessary ingredients. Just before I came to Italy, my dad and I did make llapingachos which are the Ecuadorian version and they are made from potato!

I’ve been doing a lot of yoga and while it doesn’t substitute for ‘putting the biscuit in the basket’, it is definitely fun to do something active. I have even figured out the best way to do yoga: follow instructor on phone with headphones, play Mamma Mia! in the background on computer, and be on the terrace or in front room near the window in hopes of getting some sun!

I am so so happy that I have class every day. This whole ordeal would be much harder so I am very glad that we are healthy and have some structure! I thought I would share what I learned today! We are working through the various uses of the condizionale…while it is similar to Spanish it has many more uses-tenses. One of the things we went over today was Futuro nel Passato (yes that means future in the past and no it doesn’t make any sense!!) I was very, very confused about this but then the teacher asked me for an example and I said “mio babbo ha detto che mi avrebbe telefonato oggi.” And somehow that was correct. The class is entirely in Italian, since we have gone online, I can count on one hand the number of words we have spoken in English. All of them have been tech words because our teacher and Skype are not friends 🙂 Being surrounded by it has taught me so much more than I could even imagine. I had no clue why that sentence made sense, or how it followed that particular rule but I was able to formulate it! Also, my homework over the weekend was to write a story and I wrote about what soccer means to me and what role it has played in my life. I have tried to send it to many many people, many many times and it won’t go through. So please know I am trying to share my progress as many people have asked but I am not good at technology!!!

Also this weekend was amazing because I convinced my dear mother to FaceTime me and then ‘forced’ her to watch a Hallmark with me. I love love! In this very confusing and changing world, sometimes all you need is a little mediocre acting and predictability to make it through the day! I, (the daughter of someone who worked in a medical school therefore making me a doctor) prescribe to you a strong dose of hallmark viewing. Depending on the person, it will either create extreme joy and happiness and cause you to forget the situation for two hours (or less if you fast-forward through commercials) or it will make you angry and you might even lose some respect for me as a person for loving them but at least you forgot about the virus for a bit! Sounds like a gagner gagner to me (Uncle Mikey!!!)

Thank you mom for making my weekend!

Lastly, I clearly have lots of time! If anyone is stuck for something to do between hand washing routines, give me a call! I promise I won’t spend the whole time discussing the endless pros and nonexistent cons of Mamma Mia!

In other news: I watched another of my favorite movies recently… “Oh we’ll just throw him in the wash. It’ll be grand.” Anyone know what movie? And who ‘him’ is? Hint: I watched it so there was at least a tiny bit of love.

Learning and Sunshine

March 20th 2020: Buonasera ragazzi! Questa settimana era molto rilassata e buona. Ho studiato con la mia classe ogni giorno da Skype. Ho imparato molto, come il futuro semplice e il futuro combinato e i due tipi di futuro ipotesi. A ora, posso parlare con il mio amico o con Nonna e i suoi amici. Io so molto (HA! always) ma voglio imparare più. Anche, ho imparato cambiare la mia tastiera cosi posso scrivere in italiano!

Good evening! This week has been relaxed and good. I have studied with my class every day via Skype. I have learned a lot, like the simple and combined future and two types of hypothesis future. Now, I can speak with my friend or with Nonna and her friends. I know a lot(!) but I want to learn more. Also, I learned how to change my keyboard so I can write in Italian (without every word being underlined..)

The weather has been lovely here!! It’s like the sun wants to tempt us to be outside. I have been spending lots of time on the terrace trying to soak up the sun. Every day I do my homework out there, for some reason grammar worksheets are a lot more manageable outside! The past few days have been in the high 60’s and low 70’s which is amazing! but then I come inside and still have to wear a sweater in the apartment…

Cooking has been fun, I’m ready to challenge people in July. I made a rice dish with alllll the vegetables that was amazingggg.

In other news: my sister told me about Netflix Party so if anyone wants to watch Mamma Mia! with me, let me know! Also blame her if you get annoyed with my many many requests to watch Mamma Mia!

Life in Lockdown

March 16th 2020: This extrovert is getting tired of isolation! What a week. I’ve taken advantage of this time and tried to be productive. I’ve watched Mamma Mia! many, many times. I’ve listened to Mamma Mia! as I read, did core exercises, and lounged on the couch. I’ve enlightened myself on the history of each song performed by ABBA, especially the ones featured in Mamma Mia! For anyone who doesn’t know me super closely and this blog was shoved in your face by a proud parent, this might be the time to say I LOVE Mamma Mia! I’m sorry if you feel like you were missing something through my previous posts, but now we are all on the same page!

While I am missing people, I have actually had fun! I started: doing yoga on the terrace, setting goals, reading books by the Obama’s and other leaders, learning about financial literacy, cooking, studying the US Women’s National Team’s fight for equal pay (#equalpayforsuperiorplay) and finally talking with loved ones via FaceTime, Skype, Hangouts, and WhatsApp. It’s true, I have too many communication mediums.

Today was a veryyyy special day for a couple reasons! First off, I’m back in school! Not IN school physically yet..sad! But we have moved our courses online…hence all the communication mediums! It was a small group today, just me and one other student but we learned a lot! Here comes the future tense! Andro’ a Perche No presto! (statement is Nonna approved!)

Nonna is hard at work on her book. I keep telling her that the people want to read about her spectacular second grandchild, so if any of you want to second this, be my guest! This lockdown is really speeding up the current book so I’m hopeful that if the interest is there, she can have a series about Adventures with Abbie out by mid April!

Another reason today is special: one month in Italy!! The time is flying by, not in the way I expected, but it is still crazy! I can’t believe it! I’m excited for life to return to normal so I can do all of things that I have been planning while hanging around the apartment! But I am so impressed with how much Italian I have learned in my short few weeks of classes!

We are about two weeks ahead of all my people back home in the sense of corona measures so I prescribe to you all: some serious Mamma Mia! time. But actually, wash your hands and practice social distancing! Schools and workplaces are putting measures in place for a reason so hopefully it doesn’t get as drastic for you all as it has here.

In other news: today is also special for a third reason! I made lasagne this weekend, with béchamel sauce and it was amazing. But like Pad Thai, it is better the second day! When I was younger, Nonna’s nickname for me was Madame Lasagne because I always requested it when we were together and I could eat more of it than some would expect out of a five year old. Finishing class today was that much better because there was lasagne waiting!

Get ready for my return, more gluten free Italian food than Vermont can handle.

My City!

March 11th 2020: I rule the streets!! Normally when I am walking to school or Perché No (the places I visit regularly) it is a dance on the sidewalks. Depending on who is coming at me, I step off the sidewalk, cross the street or continue on. Today I went on a big loop walk to investigate and I stayed on the same side of the street for the entire walk. No one was coming at me. Driving on Route 4 at 11:30 at night, you are likely to see 5 cars maximum; until I got to ‘the heart’ of downtown today, I saw 9 people. I’m pretty much back in Vermont! In the smaller shops, they will only take 3 people at a time to ensure the meter rule is followed so people have to wait their turn outside.

I know many people are wondering and it is with a heavy heart I share that Perché No is closed until further notice. While this is upsetting news, I am confident that I will get through this trying time with my global support network. Also my bakery is closed which is sad but gelato is the real loss 🙂

In all seriousness, I am still very happy to be here and am enjoying myself! I am in Italy(!!) and am having the experience of a lifetime. Yesterday I went for a run (don’t worry, I didn’t enjoy this part) and found a fun park I didn’t know existed and today I explored the Centro della Città. The photo above is of course of the Palazzo Vecchio but the Piazza is so empty!!!

Nonna and I are both healthy and taking the necessary precautions. We appreciate everyone who has reached out to us!!

In other news: As I was walking today, I saw an Italian woman who was yelling at some tourists in the street because they greeted her with “buongiorno” and it was 4 pm. Florentines are very particular about their customs! The proper greeting for that time of day would be “buonasera”.

Pink Floyd

March 9th 2020: We Don’t Need No Education! Unfortunately, my school closed this morning and classes will remain suspended for at least a week. So the teachers will definitely be leaving us alone! The government had a press conference at 2 am that outlined more of their plan to contain the virus, so when I got to school this morning, I found out there was no class. That means that this week I will be learning through the city!! Going into shops and talking with friends here has helped me a lot. Mamma Mia! is on Netflix so I am watching it in Italian, it helps that I know the story…I may have seen it once or twice!

Nonna and I walked downtown yesterday to go to the Palazzo Vecchio. As has been previously described, I loveeee that place! Inside, the gates were down with notices that the museum is closed until April. But no fear here, Perché No! was still open so we popped into say hello and get some delicious gelato. On the walk home, Nonna showed me the Paperback Exchange which could be my new hangout now that school is closed. It is an Anglo-American bookstore that has everything! Textbooks to novels to travel guides to children’s books! I spent the best 9 euros of my life getting Mamma Mia: how can I resist you? the inside story

(I will accept cash and venmo to be spent at PapEx!!)

Since I didn’t have school today, Nonna and I went to the grocery store to pick up some things. Not that it is a competition or anything but we did get the last hand soap and paper towels so that’s a gagner gagner (for you Uncle Mikey! for you non french speakers: win win!!) The store was packed even though it was the middle of the day on a Monday. Many shelves were bare, sadly a lot of the good gluten free stuff was gone from the main section…but I know where the second section is!! That’s right, I got GF gnocchi and I am very proud!

In other news: here, bicyclists can be both cars and pedestrians. It is an interesting freedom that I am occasionally envious of and usually angry about. One minute they are waiting in traffic at a red light and the next they are pedaling up the sidewalk and cruising through the crosswalk. Vespas have this same capability except you can hear them behind you!