oranges, bruises, and fulfillment.

oranges. oranges. oranges.
these are the only words that can truly describe my experience at the carnivale d'ivrea yesterday. i headed over to ivrea by train with two afs volunteers and two other intercultura students from the valle d'aosta. we met up with a bunch of other afs students from the piedmont and liguria regions, where i finally got to see my girls emilie (stati uniti) and cami (paraguay). they gave us a brief tour of ivrea, and it was so beautiful. i loved all the water and bridges and everything, it really made me feel like i was in italy. living in aosta is amazing, but at home i live in the mountains as well, so it was nice to go somewhere different for once, and experience a different part of italy. after that, we got to kind of explore on our own, and cami and i got seperated from the rest of our friends, but it didn't bother us. we got some candy and pizza and started exploring ivrea, where we ended up by the river, which was absolutely beautiful. below are some pictures of my fellow afs friends, ivrea, and the carnival before everything got messy.

afterwards we met up with emilie, ingrid and another year exchange student from america and then went over to the piazza, where there was a procession of horses and the carnival princesses and everything. then i gave maria my bag, kept my camera, and cami, ingrid, emilie, and i got ready for the best two hours of our lives.
it started slowly, with a carriage drawn by horses carrying about ten italians wearing pads and helmets into the crowd. then it all went down. oranges were flying every which way, and people were bleeding, holding their black eyes in pain, and having the time of their lives. i figured that i didn't come to italy to hold back, so our badass group of four americans and one paraguayan joined in the madness. we were sloshing through about two inches of oranges, getting hit everywhere, running after the carriages and yelling italian explitives that i won't be including in this blog. emilie was pretty badass, and ended up with a bruised eye and bloody nose, and another girl had a bloody nose. this went on for about two hours, and it was amazing. literally, i have never felt more alive in my entire life then when i was dripping wet from orange juice, with bruises everywhere and an eye that had been hit straight on by an orange when i was taking a picture with a crazy italian man. which is another thing that made this carnival so amazing. while we were waiting for more carriages to arrive, men were congratulating us on our courage and battle wounds. they'd ask us where we are from, we'd reply "STATI UNITI!!!!!" and roar with excitement and adrenaline. they wanted to take a picture with us, and during said picture an orange appeared out of nowhere and socked me straight in the left eye. no bruise has appeared yet, but it hurts. below are some pictures from the madness.

all in all, it was the best day here so far. the adrenaline i felt and the fulfillment throwing oranges at complete strangers was the most undescribable, most inspiring thing ever. i will be coming back for this carnivale again in my life, there is no doubt about that. even though the 2011 has put 4,000 people in the hospital (so far) it has been the best day of my life.
this post was just to cover the carnivale d'ivrea, but i will post on other things a little later, maybe tomorrow. there are some things i need to discuss. until then, i have to go rub ointment on my bruises. ciao.