Loud and Clear

I hope each of you are kicking off 2011 with much joy and good health!

I've already posted some photos of my New Years Eve here in Italy. It was a cool experience to see how a culture different than my own celebrates something. An Italian word I learned my first week here is perfect to describe an Italian New Years, and the word is "casino." It means a lot of noise and chaos and that's exactly what I witnessed. My host family and I had dinner at the hotel Maxims where my host father was the entertainment for the evening (you can see photos in my Photos tab). As soon as people started to sit down for the first of the six course meal I realized that Italians, don't really care if they draw attention to themselves in public. A huge long table with a party of 20 or so stood up making a cheering kind of sound until everyone was participating, then they drank their toast to the new year. This occured multiple times before midnight was even close. Also, there was a little boy who sat at the table next to ours who - to my ammusement, at first - was content to plug his ears and scream an ear piercing scream everytime he didn't get what he wanted, which was quite often. The parents barely seemed to notice and I hardly saw a disapproving look from the anyone at other tables around us. (if I had been that child my father would have put a quick stop to my screaming, haha) At midnight, well just before midnight, the cheering started again and everyone was yelling and clanging as many glasses as they could, it was so loud in the room you had to yell so the person next to you could hear you. Then the count down began and the noise increased (which I didn't think was at all possible at this point). At "one" (or in Italian "uno") each table popped the cork on their proseco (champagne) bottles and toasted everyone a "buon anno" or "buon capo anno".

Then the real ruckus started. I never knew a city could get so roudy, legally. Fireworks were literally being set off everywhere! Inside as everyone was toasting multiple people had sparklers that they were waving around. As I went outside on the balcony with Giorgio every direction I turned I saw (and heard) fireworks. Right in the town between buildings explosions errupted in blues, whites, greens and reds. Fireworks litered the whole coast with sparks and kids lit fireworks on staircases and ran away with their ears covered. I never saw one policeman or police vehicle the whole night. It was quite literally a free-for-all.
An hour later, after all the fireworks had stopped everyone came back inside to dance the rest of the night away. My host mother told me weddings are the same way...my conclusion is that Italians really know how to celebrate! :)

(I have a lot of video footage of New Years and I will try to compile it for you all asap)