{"id":3527,"date":"2019-01-13T15:05:32","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T15:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/?p=3527"},"modified":"2022-04-13T15:42:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T15:42:21","slug":"the-hostess-with-the-mostess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/the-hostess-with-the-mostess\/","title":{"rendered":"The hostess with the mostess"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love<\/strong> being hostess. Having people come and visit me here in Verona has excited me since before I came out! The first visitors I hosted were my mum and sister when I had been in Verona just over a month and was, in all honesty, still finding my feet a bit. In this short time, however, I had found a \u2018favourite\u2019 restaurant and bar which I was able to take them to. These places were more tailored to locals and not tourists, so I was able to show off a bit of Italian, albeit ordering an Aperol Spritz in Italian is a pretty easy thing to do..<\/p>\n

I also took them to Venice as I had now mastered the trains of Italy\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My mum and sister visiting was really lovely, but since they had already been to Verona before, I couldn\u2019t really show them things they hadn\u2019t already seen. But having my friend who\u2019d never seen Verona to visit was the perfect time for me to show off my<\/em> new city and all the new Italian I\u2019d learnt.<\/p>\n

Reality check<\/em>: I have very limited knowledge of \u2018my\u2019 city, and even less knowledge of Italian \u2013 not that she knew if what I was spouting was correct or not. Hand gestures are universal\u2026<\/p>\n

I have (very, extremely, horrendously) poor navigation skills to say the least. But, thanks to this, we occasionally got lost and I was able to show her cute little streets that were uninterrupted by tourists. This was an experience for me too, and I felt like I was discovering new parts of Verona to show my next wave of visitors.<\/p>\n

One place I knew embarrassingly well was the main shopping high street in Verona, full of niche boutiques as well as the big boys like Armani, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, places I have not even dared to venture into with my student loan.<\/p>\n

I of course took her to the main landmark of Verona: the Arena amphitheatre. Even though I walk past this on most days, I try desperately not to look like a tourist, even rolling my eyes as a sign of unity with the locals at the hordes of tourists who crowd the narrow streets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As students, obviously we were looking for the cheapest way to enjoy the city. Luckily, my friend came for the first weekend of December, and, unbeknown to me until a few weeks ago, in Verona most of the tourist attractions cost only \u20ac1 on the first Sunday of the month (October-May) as opposed to a ridiculous \u20ac7-\u20ac10 at any other time.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Arena di Verona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Torre dei Lamberti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I loved showing my friend the real Verona and I even enjoyed being a tourist in my own city for the weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I love being hostess. Having people come and visit me here in Verona has excited me since before I came out! The first visitors I hosted were my mum and […]","protected":false},"author":1632,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[268],"tags":[368,340,369,371,372,370],"class_list":["post-3527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","tag-arena-di-verona","tag-italy","tag-torre-dei-lamberti","tag-tourist","tag-venice","tag-verona"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4QQbz-UT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3520,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/a-helping-hand\/","url_meta":{"origin":3527,"position":0},"title":"A helping hand…","author":"Phoebe Grinter","date":"December 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Before I chose to study at the wonderful Universit\u00e0 degli studi di Verona in Italy, I went through the arduous process of the deciding what to do for my year abroad. When you first start the process of deciding what to do and where to go it is a very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3544,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/in-fair-verona\/","url_meta":{"origin":3527,"position":1},"title":"In fair Verona…","author":"Phoebe Grinter","date":"February 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"As I prepare for the start of my second semester at the Universit\u00e0 di Verona, I thought I'd talk a bit more about the city itself. It is best known for being the home of Shakespeare\u2019s star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Although history states that this couple were 100% fictional,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2019\/01\/275-2-300x450.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3539,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/its-all-fun-and-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":3527,"position":2},"title":"It’s all fun and games","author":"Phoebe Grinter","date":"December 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"At Verona university the Erasmus society is highly regarded, and rightly so. They organised a freshers\u2019 fortnight specifically for Erasmus students which included meals, nights out and aperitivo evenings where we could meet new people from all over the world that we were going to be sharing this experience with.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2018\/12\/43419388_10213111583330130_2875051107942400000_n-2-360x450.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3572,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/settling-back-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":3527,"position":3},"title":"Settling (back) in","author":"Phoebe Grinter","date":"January 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Coming back to Verona after four weeks at home for Christmas to be greeted by exams is not fun. After all the comforts of home, the excitement of Christmas and all my friends being home for a few weeks, I have to say settling back in to life in Verona\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4566,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/lucy-hilton\/","url_meta":{"origin":3527,"position":4},"title":"Lucy Hilton","author":"GO Student Ambassadors","date":"January 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"School of Modern Languages Erasmus+ study and traineeship placements Where did you go? I spent one semester in Austria, as a language teaching assistant through the British Council and I spent the 2nd semester studying in Italy. What were your top three highlights from your year abroad? Travelling! My year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2020\/01\/Photo2-1-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2020\/01\/Photo2-1-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2020\/01\/Photo2-1-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2020\/01\/Photo2-1-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2020\/01\/Photo2-1-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3522,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/studying\/","url_meta":{"origin":3527,"position":5},"title":"StuDYING!","author":"Phoebe Grinter","date":"December 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Before I start this post I just want to make it clear that my aim is not to put you off doing a year abroad at all, but I feel I need to be brutally honest about my experience here so far. Bear in mind I have been here just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3527"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3595,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions\/3595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}