My Story in Italy #7 - Visit to Leaning Tower, Pisa

09:57 Jia Ying 0 Comments

3 main sights in Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa

3 main attractions in Pisa are all in Piazza dei Miracoli.  It's include famous Leaning Tower (Torre Pendente), Duomo di Pisa and Battistero.

My story in Italy #6 - Study @ Genoa, Italy.

06:00 Jia Ying 0 Comments

Italy, my 3rd European country, 3rd university to stay for my Master study,
It's also my last semester with classes and exam, as my next semester will be internship.
This Master course give me opportunity to study in 3 countries, to experience the culture of 3 European countries....
As this is 3rd semester, I'm more familiar with the adaption to new environment. It's easier for me to get use of everything.
Every semester have their difficulties and challenges; and yes, nothing come easy.
This semester the university is Universita degli Studi di Genova, one of the largest university in Italy, founded in 1481.
The unique thing about this university is that each department and faculty are located in independent campus and located in different part of Genova.
For example, the building for all my classes are situated in 3 different locations. While the International Student office and registration administration office is in another location.

So, like my previous post written about study at France and Poland, first to show is definitely the student card. Tadaa~~~




A glimpse of moment of class... Lecturers mostly speak an English with strong Italian accent. Sometime it's hard to understand their explanation.





I have 2 classes in Faculty of Engineering, which located opposite the sea. Find out this scene during lunch break. It's seem enjoyable to eat and revise in such a wonderful scene, maybe~~~ ( I haven't try yet..)


Some classes are in Department of Physics. It's taken during fire drill session.


Genova is definitely a good place to stay, with nice weather, sun, hill and sea. This city gave me more than what I expect. I had not regret choosing my 3rd semester in Italy. In addition, Italian people are mostly friendly, although their English proficiency might not so good, they are willing to help you as they can.

Genova is not famous like other city like Rome or Milan. It's not a big, busy city. Genova don't have complicated metro line ( lrt ) or tram.



Piazza de Ferrari in city centre of Genova,Italy.



Check out my previous posts.....
1st semester : Study@France http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2012/11/study-paris-france.html
2nd semester: Study@Poznan, Poland http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/04/study-poznan-poland.html


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My Story in Italy #5 - About Genovese food

03:58 Jia Ying 0 Comments

Anyway, I just realized that I haven't mention about the city I live in Italy in my blog.
Genoa ( in Italian : Genova),  historical port city in northern Italy.
Not as famous like Milan, Rome or Venice, but definitely is a nice city to stay and travel....
There are so many famous food that is originate from Italy, and of course origin from Genoa.
Thanks to my lecturers and some local Genoa people, I had tried some local Genovese food.
Here gonna introduce some Genovese food.


1. Farinata
Typical food in  Ligurian sea coast, unleavened pancake which mainly made of chickpea flour
Taste of farinata-- oily, salty...
It is worth to try this food, which is quite unique as a street food .

Farinata sold in stall opposite of Port Antico, Genoa,Italy.

2. Panisette
This snack use chickpea flour too, with some pepper, salt, water.
The special about this snack is it's look exactly like french fries.
However, when you taste it, it's totally different, a bit taste of seafood...( I suspect maybe the stall I tried panisette, selling fried seafood too, maybe the taste a bit mix,  I will try again to confirm the taste...)


3. Cuculli
The ingredient used for Cuculli is almost similar like panisette and Farinata. The only special ingredient added is yeast and a herb called maggiorana
Anyway, the shape and overall look made me think of Jemput pisang ( a popular street food/ dessert, mashed banana fritters in Malaysia)  


The main ingredient of 3 Genovese food above use chickpea flour ( ceci in Italian )
Ceci is popular bean used in Liguria region for cooking. Flavor of ceci depend on the way it's used. Anyway, taste is smooth and pleasant. 
When I searched more information about this kind of flour, there are benefits to our health, 
 "Very high in protein, iron ; good for stabilizing blood sugar, preventing digestive disorders,  lowering your LDL cholesterol and lower the risk for heart attack. " 

Source: http://passionandcooking.com/tag/taggiasche-olives/

4. Focaccia
It's a type of bread, very popular in whole Italy.
It is typically rolled out or pressed by hand into a thick layer of dough and then baked in a stone-bottom or hearth oven.
The unique about this bread is the dotting on the top of bread. This creates multiple wells in the bread to poke the unbaked dough. As a way to preserve moisture in the bread, olive oil is then spread over the dough. Therefore, the bread is sometime oily, especially if keep it for few days...( The best is to eat it fresh) 
I like fococcia.... even the taste is plain.


I will write more about food in Italy... I love it so much~~

That all for today


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My story in Italy #4

18:00 Jia Ying 0 Comments

ahaha, it's small electric car....
Anyway, I curious about it and check about the information about this electric car.
It can travel up to 50km, with "zero emission" while delivery of mail.
This environmentally friendly car model has it's name "Free Duck Ducati Energia"
There have hybrid version too, which can travel longer distance up to 200km...
Anyway, I like the idea of reducing emission of carbon dioxide.


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Malaysia food that you will introduce to foreigners...

20:00 Jia Ying 0 Comments

Hmm, Yes, I wrote 2 blog posts before about Malaysia foods.
I had introduced 18 Malaysia foods that I miss the most.
Recently, my Italian language teacher gave us a task, to cook your country food, and wrote the recipe in Italian ....
It's a difficult task for me, as I'm not a good cooker ( but I'm a good eater !! haha ~~)
To all Malaysian, which Malaysia food first come into your mind?
Which Malaysia food you will introduce to foreigners?

In my opinion, I think about Nasi Lemak ( Coconut milk rice ).
Seriously, I miss Nasi Lemak a lot...
It's the typical breakfast for Malaysian, ( It can be served as lunch or dinner too)
I remember once I told foreigners that Nasi Lemak is for breakfast, they are surprise!!
WHAT!? such a heavy, big breakfast ?! ( of course for breakfast, the portion will be smaller if compare to Nasi Lemak served as lunch or dinner)

Nasi Lemak in Seapark, KL,Malaysia.

I read an article, about how much would you pay for a taste of home,
They compared the price of Nasi Lemak all around the world.
In Malaysia, you can get Nasi Lemak as low as RM1.20, up to RM5.00 ( depend on the side dish you choose)
However, outside of Malaysia, the price of a plate of Nasi Lemak is few times multiple than the price in Malaysia.
In fact, I believe in Europe, beside UK, it's hardly to find restaurant serve good Nasi Lemak in other cities.
I ate Nasi Lemak in Scotland before, the price is really around 7- 8 Pounds .
It's expensive, but in the same time, I agree that taste of home is priceless.

Source credit : https://ringgitplus.com/en/blog/Funny-Money/Nasi-Lemak-how-much-would-you-pay-for-a-taste-of-home.html

Anyway, I gonna learn how to cook Nasi Lemak, as I plan to introduce this dish to foreigner.
( but I can't find anchovies, pandan leaf in Italy, plus I don't know how to make a good sambal sauce.... Hmm.... I guess the Nasi Lemak I cook will be a brand new version..)

* If you don't know what is Nasi Lemak , refer my previous post about introduction of Nasi Lemak :  http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-malaysia-food-that-i-miss-most.html


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My story in Italy #3 - Beauty of Venice

05:52 Jia Ying 0 Comments

There are many nice places in Italy, in fact, many tourist attraction spots.
I went for few cities in Italy. Venice is definitely my favorite.
It's is one of my dream place to go ( Sometime,I though I might go to Macau first in my life to experience eastern Venice before experience the REAL VENICE)
Yes, I'm lucky, able to see the beauty of Venice in Italy.
The REAL VENICE ( why I need to emphasis REAL? because there are too many fake, imitate Venice all around the world)
Venice is a must to visit if you come to Italy.
A place where you will lost even with your map,
A place where you will keep on crossing a bridge
A place where you can't find any pollution coming from road vehicle (In historical centre, only form of transport is on water or on foot )
A place where you will find most people are tourists instead of local people.


I wish I can go again.... in fact, the time I stayed in Venice is too short....
Venice is also a place for couple, as I saw many couple came here, taking Gondola...
Gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat. The gondola is propelled by a person (the gondolier) who stands facing the bow and rows with a forward stroke, followed by a compensating backward stroke. 
As we saw in some travel documentary or video, the gondolier will sing Italian song, and some people may drink wine while in Gondola, enjoy the wonderful scenery of Venice. 



Anyway, It's fucking expensive to have a gondola ride. Really really expensive...
A ride around 15-20 minutes, it's cost 100 euro (RM440.00 !!!) .
We met a good gondolier, who let us share the ride with 6 people ( the maximum a Gondola can take)
He even told us some story about Venice. He is funny, as you can see his look on the photo...
(Haha, he is very professional to pose and let us took photo)

It's definitely worth to stay in Venice around 3 - 4 days .


Some photo I took in my trip to Venice.
Met a painter, who draw the beauty of Venice.



A city with water....


Sunset in Venice


Oh, such a cute resident who hang their clothes in this way.... ( even hanging the underwear...opps!!)


Mask in Venice ( It's now selling everywhere in Italy). Usually, mask is wear during the Carnival of Venice, which is held around February-March annually.


Piazza San Marco


 Last but not least, ME with VENICE~~~ ( I want to go again !!!! )





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My story in Italy #2

04:35 Jia Ying 0 Comments

Stamps in Italy

Ermm, in my opinion, it's a very simple design than I thought..
and the most important thing is
EXPENSIVE!!!
It's the most expensive postcard postage fee I ever paid, even more expensive than Norway, UK. (average postage fee is about 0.80-1.20 Euro per postcard )
WTF~~ to send back to Malaysia ( in standard fee) , it's cost 2.00 EURO( RM 8.50) per postcard!!!!
I would like to see how fast, how efficient the card will reach ....(It's still on the way)
Anyway, I just have budget to send one postcard from Italy.
Forgive me if you don't receive my postcard from Italy.
I promise I will send postcard in other places of Europe beside Italy in the future.....


# That all #


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My story in Italy #1

03:27 Jia Ying 0 Comments

I decided to make a series of blogpost about funny,ridiculous stories in Italy.
In fact, sometime, because of my stupidity and blur, many funny stories created by myself.
So, for the 1st post, I would like to share about my Italian Language class.

For those who know me well, I'm not talent in learning language.
So, I still can't speak or understand much of French and Polish, even I went to class for a semester.
and now, new semester in Italy, I need to learn another new language- Italian.
2 classes a week, each class last 1.5hours

So, in evaluation test on my 1st Italian class, I just guess all the answer...
circling without any grammar knowledge in Italian.
( well prepare to go to Level 1 Italian beginner class)


I'm so surprise when my Italian teacher tell me that I did this evaluation test with above 50% correct answer, which persuade me to Level 2 Italian Class...
WTF, LEVEL 2!?!!?
Is it mean Italian grammar test is easy to guess the answer and get it correct?? or am I too smart on Italian??
Anyway, It's about a month I attended the Level 2 Italian class. So far, still can catch up...
Pronunciation is not so hard like French and Polish, but Italian grammar is quite complicate...
and also vocabulary, which is hard for me to memorise so many new word in a short time.  

Lesson learnt : Next time just leave it blank if don't know the answer.... ==!!



Stay tune for next post : My story in Italy #2
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