01/03/11 NAPLES, NEW YEAR'S EVE AND GUNSHOTS – HAPPY ENDING WITH A MIRACLE

He thought he had been hit with a firework or a stone. But it wasn't true. Darco Sangermano, a 28-year-old guy from Turin, actually had a bullet plunged in a nostril. He was led immediately to the “Loreto Mare” hospital, where a real miracle saved him. As a matter of fact, the boy sneezed and the bullet was miraculously ejected from his nose.

Among all the tragic events that every year occur in Naples during New Year's eve, this incredible story made me believe miracles do really exist. I don't know why, but in Naples gunshots are used to celebrate the coming of the new year. And the first daily news of 2011 made no exception, listing all the victims that were injured or died the day before because of a bullet shot by the crowd. But this time a different news appeared among the others.

Sangermano was parting with his friends in a house in Naples. Just after midnight, he went out for a walk with his girlfriend in the alleys around Borsa square. Suddenly, the girl noticed that his boyfriend had been hit near the eye and decided to call the emergency number. “I believe I was hit by something like a petard, or a little stone” said the boy to the doctors.

However, in the nose there was something more dangerous. The surgeons explained that the bullet had to be removed immediately, but it wasn't necessary. While waiting outside the operating room, Darco sneezed and, under the unbelieving eyes of his girlfriend, the bullet leapt out of his nose. The specialists checked the boy and, as he seemed in perfect health conditions, they let him leave the hospital.

A specialist working in the hospital in Turin where the boy have been admitted explains: “The bullet broke the bone surrounding the left eye and the splinters hit the hidden part. We must remove this pieces, but the retina won't suffer any damage from the accident”. Here I leave you with this question: is it just chance or do miracles really exist?

01/01/11 - ONE PLUS ONE IS ELEVEN

This is the secret of the new year: nothing is as you expected it to be. I spent the last two days in a country house with my friends: nothing special, but I found out that even an old house give you the chance to have fun. We just had to create some new tricks with very common things, such as combining flour and a fireplace, and the party started.

By the way, I'm not here to talk about my short holiday in the countryside. More or less it is the same every year, we always enjoy the days spent together, and that is it. Nothing special to mention, excluding the wonderful firework we bought this year: I have never seen real fireworks from such a little distance, how amazing! However, I won't talk about it. The atmosphere of this holiday gave me a little push to invent a “one-plus-one-is-eleven” story.

This expression comes from a very simple occurrence: when I start to write something, I usually put the date first. I was thinking about a very strange event that had happened only a few hours earlier. To be specific, I was wondering if there is any supernatural law that decides when something has to happen or if it is simply a casual circumstance. Absurd thoughts. By the way, while I was lost in such a freaky wondering, I noticed that the date was freaky too. It remembered me of a typical childish expression that says “one plus one is eleven”. That's why I decided to make up a story with the strange event from which everything had started.

Richy had just put the last log into the fire when it happened. An violent red squirt spattered the glass. And there was nothing near the fire that could have caused it. The boy tried to localize where he was coming from, but apart from the ashes, the fireplace was perfectly clean. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind: what if the liquid came from the log?

He was right. There was a hole in it. And inside, something bright red was bubbling. Shocked, Richy stepped apart from the fire. That was the moment when he saw the most frightful thing of his entire life: the spatter in the glass was shaped like the face of a monster. As the liquid was bubbling, the face was moving too, looking at him with a demoniac smile. Richy screamed, and then fainted

“Where is the heart of the party? Sweety? Richy?Ric – oh my...” Laura ran down the stairs and flung at him, terrified.

“What's up with you Richy?” Shouted the girl. “Do you feel dizzy? Have you drunk too much? Oh, God, please, answer me!”. She started slapping his face and, little by little, he regained consciousness.

“Stupid guy, you scared me! You almost freaked me out! What's wrong with you? Do you feel dizzy?” asked the girl.

Richy shook his head, dazed.

“Are you scatter brained? At least, do you remember who I am? You nut!” Laura laughed at him.

“If I were you, I wouldn't be that haughty. Don't prance around, if you want your life spared.”

“Are you still with us?” said Laura with round eyes. You don't talk this way! How rude! I was only joking.”

“If you think your life is a joke, no problem. You can have your ideas. But normally people want to live a long life. If you want it too, shut up.”

Laura opened her mouth in an upset expression. She didn't know how to behave, of course. She had known her friend since they were at the kindergarten. Never, never in her whole life she had seen that look in his eyes. He was a cheerful boy, who always laughed: She had never seen him annoyed, or sad. She saw a glimpse of wickedness in his eyes, and a shiver ran down to her spine. Then, she suddenly shook her head. “You are going mad” thought the girl. “He is Richy. Probably he is only joking, as usual. If he's not, he could have drunk too much, or he just hit his head and the blow drove him mad. Go to bed, he will do the same. I'm sure tomorrow he will Richy again”. So she turned, said goodnight and went upstairs.

“Wonderful. I just chose the perfect body. This is the perfect moment to start my job. It seems like everyone human being loses his wit on New year's day – how couldn't she notice that I'm not his friend! It will be easier than I'd expected” said Richy.

Night fell upon the country house. Everyone was sleeping. All silent.

A girl screamed.

11/27/10 - ISTANBUL IS TO THE CAPITAL OF TURKEY AS “STUDIO APERTO” IS TO HIGH LEWEL INFORMATION

“I love Turkey and Budapest, its capital”.These are Charlize Theron's words, that in an interview released to promote her last film gave to her fans this pearl of geography. “When I travel I love to empathize with the culture of the place” keep explaining the brazen-faced actress. Unfortunately, she confused the capital of Turkey, Istanbul, with that of Hungary.

Ladies and gentlemen, you understood well. But this time it's not my fault: This terrific review comes from a very famous Italian national TV newscast which, apparently, doesn't know that the capital of Turkey is Ankara. A notorious one, let's say. The general style of Italian TV is well-known around the world, thanks to all the programmes in which shallow girls are happy to demonstrate to have more boobs than brain. But when it comes to current news, the shock turns into disdain.

I will report some parts of the most hideous reports I have found on Youtube. I added the links too, but as they are in Italian, it would be better to translate them. I think that people from other countries must know what our TV, which belongs to the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has showed for 20 years, day after day, to the audience. That's why people don't notice anything strange in a report from Studio Aperto: we are getting accustomed to trash programmes. And this is the worst part of it.

Here is the top 5 of the most stupid reports. Enjoy it!

• Here is the superhero in action. He has watched over Milan for days. We caught him in broad daylight near the pinnacles of the dome: “let's trust in each other. We need the commitment of everyone. Let's go for it" says the hero.

He climbs over the monuments of the city to protect people, affirms to be on the weak's side. Better not to ask for it's name, or he gets angry. But everyone knows how to call him. From the columns of San Lorenzo, the hearth of the night life (“Don't drink. Too much bad breath in Milan”Spiderman says) to the main square, piazza Duomo: he is everywhere. “Spiderman, everyone is looking for you” “Maybe that's because there are a lot of people there are looking for their own superhero in their hearts”. Police cooperate with him too: “he is a good boy, helps the citizens in their lives”.

Anyway, he really believes to be a superman: “you have to believe in yourselves, care for your soul”. Soon or later we will find out who he is, we are working on it. In the meanwhile, we can only look at him in action.

• The printer doesn't work, he gets pissed off, a “colourful” message left in the answering machine, and Lugarese, the attendant of a petrol station in Cesenatico, becomes the hit of the summer.

And guess what? His call was uploaded on the internet, and now it is played in bars and bathing establishments. It has been converted in a ringtone, even discos use it as a track, everyone loves to dance when the new hit is played. “I'm not loutish” says the man. But his call is a growing mass of censured insults: he even menaced to close the station.

People would kill to have a photo with him, or simply an autograph. Anyway, getting angry was a successful idea: now the printer works.

• “Round strike, arched strike and...?”the reporter asks to a man.

“....And strike...simple strike” the man reply.

The priest, the mayor, the butcher, the baker, the hairdresser, the customers of the local bar...there are all the characters for a good story, you could say. Still, in this beautiful hamlet, something doesn't quite fit or, better, it fits into a square.

Yes: ladies and gentlemen, the bowls are squared. And people comes from all Europe to try the lucky strike.“The parish plays too”says a man. “And how is he?”asks the reporter. “A very good player, actually” he replies. Everyone plays at squared bowls in Castellinaldo, the young and the old, up on a hill or down on a decline, as long as legs can walk – or “it depends on how much wine we have: more is the wine, more lasts the match. Hamlet's stories, people's stories...squared stories.

• A kick to school book and let's party! Before holidays start, a great party is fundamental. This is an high-school prom-like party, the first one organized by the “Liceo Parini” of Milan, the most famous high school of the town. “How did this project start?” asks the reporter “We wanted to have fun, this is a way to know new people”replies a girl.

The only thing that this party doesn't offer is a real ball: “I wanted a real American ball, with long and elegant dresses” explains a girl with a sad expression. All Parini students have been invited. And they are not alone: everyone is here, a lot of people crashed at the party. Not so like the real prom.

• This news will cheer up all UFO's fans : ONU is just about to elect a special ambassador that could entertain peaceful relations with aliens. We don't know where this peaceful exchange will take place yet, nor who will translate them. But everything is ready for the nomination of the first interstellar ambassador. His/her role? Coordinating the relation with any alien people that wanted to peacefully communicate with us. Apparently, all Earth's problems are not enough for the European Union, that is now looking at other worlds, trying to make contact with living organisms from other planets

I hope you had a good time reading (here below I leave the links too, for those who wants to watch the original video from the news programme). I'm sorry to inform you that I tried to find a very funny report I watched some months ago, but I didn't succeeded. It explained a very important theory: a potato chips must crunch. I apologize, but it seems that Italian censure also worries about all the trash TV puts on air, as the only video I found had been removed “due to a violation of R.G.T.'s rights. What a mystery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyS2j3hOClc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2rePyajdNc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XngT402o1TI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmTZHLuyJhE&playnext=1&list=PLFAF8B62BA13F6DF2&index=4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4MD9ew1KyA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpBdURG8FCw

12/22/10 - LEAKED INTO (A.K.A. HEART IS A FUNCTION)

8 a.m. The clock alarm does not stop ringing. Where on Earth did I put my clock?? And why did I set it? Oh, god. It is true. It is the engineering day.

The day started this way. It is almost impossible for me to study at home. I always end up staring at startling beauty of the white ceiling, until I decide to do something a little more useful, like playing with my cat, as it seems that studying is out of question.

That's why I decided to go to the engineering university of Ancona with my boyfriend, and see if the lessons in double-Dutch would eventually inspire me to start studying. Actually, it did work. A miracle! It seems impossible, but when I am listening at something totally unknown, my attention fades very soon. For this reason, the only effect an analysis lesson has on me is that watching at all those people studying makes me want to do the same.

It was an interesting experience, really. I have never felt so inadequate in my whole life, but actually enjoying it. Nearly every boy from Ancona aged between 20 and 28 was there. No girl, or at least almost any. If a girl passed in the hallway (a supernatural occurrence), a sudden head movement spread among boys, and it made me think of a documentary I saw about woodchucks. I clearly remember a sequence showing of a huge group of woodchucks swiftly turning their head while they all pointed at the same prey. Stunning correspondence.

The most hilarious scene of the day lasted a whole hour: as I arrived late to the mathematics lesson, I had to sit at the bottom of the classroom, alone. Never again. Shame on me. All the boys sit in front of me passed the entire hour whispering “funny” things at each other's ears and staring at my directions with vacant eyes and a naïve smile. Like there were no women alive in the entire world except of me. How absurdly does a boy's head work!

I think that if a scientist had to led a psychological survey among men, about how they behave and what they spend their life talking about, he would just have to walk through that university and listen to them chatting. If they weren't studying, the most discussed subjects would be...football and sex, of course. From time to time you could even assist to a talk about current politics news, but it would not happen so frequently. I really felt as I had leaked into another world.

Eventually, at the end of the day I succeeded in catching a little glimpse of what happens in a man's head. That is, I understood why they can possibly understand something like “to major a function with a power of T”, or enjoy studying in a cube made of glass and steel and define it “structurally fascinating”, or even celebrate when the solution of an expression is an “I” with a roof. It happened when my boyfriend showed me an I-phone application which transforms functions in 3D graphics. The largest and most impossible expression I had ever seen, once put in a graphic, had the shape of an hearth. How different do we are.

Note: ask to Coke sellers why on Earth do they only put Light Coke in engineering vending machines.

19/12/10 - BACK TO BASICS (LUXURIOUS BASICS)

Here I am, at last! It is always very sad (mournful, let's say) to say goodbye to some good friends, but at least it is not a farewell. That's why, looking at the pros and the cons, I have to admit how wonderful is to be at home again, as there are a number of advantages I dreamed about for three months.

First, heating. I forgot what is like to really sense my toes. It is a strange sensation: imagine you lived for three months knowing you have a pair of feet and something like ten toes stuck at the end of this feet, but you did not feel them. One fine day you start sensing them again: it will be as if someone has added another pair of legs and you are some creepy kind of mutant. However, it is amazing to enjoy a shower without wondering if, actually, there would be any difference if I was under a waterfall in Iceland. Pretty relaxing.

Second, mum. And it is not because I am lazy, or childish, or mother-addicted (I could be, but that's not the point). Getting ill is one of the first dreary experience you make when you decide living alone. A bad flu can make you wish your mother was with you, preparing hot soups and cups full of milk and honey. Walking like a freaky ghost around an empty house in search of something that could make you feel better, and returning to bed only with an higher temperature. That's when I miss mum. Pretty horrible.

Third, car. I am not saying I did not enjoy walking through Castellón, breathing fresh air and watching at people's actions, manners, expressions – I love it, it makes me think about life. Most of all, it is really funny to know all Castellón taxi drivers: actually, we are close friends. If you thing that an Erasmus student's day usually ends at 4 a.m. And that buses stop circulating at 10 p.m., and that my friends live very far from my house, it's easily understandable why I'm often in a taxi. I usually end the night talking with a taxi driver, debating about the Madrid – Barça match, listing the differences between Italy and Spain or singing a Camarón's song with him. Pretty expensive.

Fourth, beloved. I shall say that this is the “last but not least” point. Each day I spent in Spain I dreamed about staying there forever, and the only thought that stopped me from actually decide to move to Spain for the rest of my life is that I would miss my family, my friends and my boyfriend. And now that I am home again, I wonder how could I survive for three months without them.

Pretty wonderful.

11/28/10 - A GIRL, TWO FRIENDS AND SOME ORANGE TREES

Amazing, thought the girl, just amazing.

She had always dreamed about going to Cordoba, and she was there, at last. Reality had not cheated on her imagination: the city was the most wonderful place she had seen in her whole life. She was young, for sure. There were a lot of places missing in her world-tour puzzle, a huge number of cities, it is true. But she could swear that few cities would stroke her as much as Cordoba, and, above all, she was there with her friends. The perfect combination. Just amazing.

She looked at them with a big smile lightening her face. Who could possibly desire to have two friends more special than hers? Their friendship was the same, wherever they were. Look at us, she thought: we are walking through a city far away from our house, and it seems like we have always lived here. It was as easy for them as visiting Ryanair's website, check out which was the cheapest flight that better suited to all of them, and that was it. They were all together again.

However, she had to admit that this time there was one reason more to organize a reunion: visiting Lucy in Cordoba was a more desirable occasion than usual. She admired the Arabic style of the houses while they strolled past the little streets of the city. And as the girl listened to her friends chatting, she looked at the buildings: it was only imagination or the sun really shone stronger around them? They spread a wonderful, positive energy in the surrounding area and this sensation made her feel in peace with the whole world. I am a lucky girl, she thought.

Lucy was talking about her new experiences in the city: historical buildings she had seen, pub she had been into, Spanish friends she had just made. She had been living in the city for three months, but it was like she almost knew everything about it. The girl's friend was just explaining a code of weird names used between different cities of Andalusia to insult each others' typical behaviour. For example,

The three friends finally ended their walk in the breath-taking Alcazar, a huge park with beautiful and rare plants built in the medieval age to entertain the king and his family. The place clearly had some strong magic in it. It had been created to make you enjoy each detail without losing the big picture. Step by step, a huge amount of statues, fountains and colourful bushes surrounded them in a sort of choreographic, tidy dance in which every single dancer seemed to say “Hello, I am wonderful, admire me! I am here to entertain you, so have fun!”. And they really had a good time there.

As the sun began to set off, they sat in a bench near a great pool with dozens of water streams crossing the surface: a relaxing view, really. Bianca, who loves photography, started taking pictures of the enchanted place, while the girl and Lucy watched their friend having fun with her Nikon.

“I wouldn't wish to be in another place, or with other people, in this moment, for any reason. This is just perfect”

“Nor would I” Elisa said.

And I meant it.

10/11/10 - THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS!

Hi everyone! Here is my personal blog - at last, I should say. It was difficult to decide what I would talk about. In fact, people can talk about everything and nothing in a blog , isn't that true? It is very easy to find plenty of blogs full of images, songs, few words about the news of the day, and that's it. And I don't want to say it is useless: I mean, what is the aim of a blog? What its purpose? Are there rules that tell people not to use all their imagination to create a blog?

Someone decides to talk about daily news, someone else prefers to explain a bit about himself/herself. There is also who simply starts discussing about all kind of discovery that stroke him and made him/her reflect. I would like to put a little bit about everything. And add some personal experiments too. This blog is about me: why should not I express part of myself in it? I hope you won't mind some artistic intervention in it :) Enjoy this blog...and...of course....

That's NOT all folks!