Why is it Tee Arr Ellay, but not Em Tee Vu?

I am sitting in my spotless living room, watching MTV and drinking coffee that Ingrid made by boiling water in a pot, adding coffee grounds, and then moving the brewing coffee back and forth between two pots until it was brewed and all the coffee grounds were in the other pot. This is an ingenius plan, born of desperation when Ingrid thought we didn't have napkins (we usually use a napkin as a filter over a handheld strainer, and pour boiling water over the coffee grounds in our 'filter' into a pot). The Jonas Brothers are on MTV right now. It upsets me, but not as much as seeing that not only does Italian MTV have The Hills, but they paid money to Italian men and women to DUB THEIR VOICES. I'm not saying they paid a lot of money, God knows that show mostly consists of them vacantly staring at each other while some horrendous pop/mock alternative song plays in the background to smother the silence of stupidity.

Let me give you a little run down of Italian MTV. We watch MTV all the time here. It's the only chance we have at seeing television in English. We rejoice when "Made" or "Room Raiders" comes on, because they don't dub the voices, they do subtitles, thus being both a learning tool as well as pure (albeit pathetic and cringe-worthy) entertainment. Stef and I found South Park (in Italian) on late at night. I think we find it frustrating to watch television here in Italian because it's alllll American shows (CSI, The Reaper, Will and Grace, Friends, the Simpsons, etc.) but in Italian. It's getting thisclose to something that reminds us of home, only to have it masked in a language we have only a beginner's grasp of. So, MTV is our saving grace. Sort of.

We spend hours dissecting their music video lineup (yes, in Italy MTV, or Music Television, plays actual music videos!) and laughing at the Italian songs and artists that make it into the mix. They have a list of about 10 songs that get played over and over and over, every hour. This includes 'Hot and Cold' by Katy Perry, 'If I Were A Boy' by Beyonce, 'Primavery Anticipo' by James Blunt and an Italian artist, whose name I am forgetting, and some Hilary Duff song that makes me want to slit the throat of whoever told her she had a future in the entertainment industry. The Italian music videos that are lucky enough to make the cut usually if not always feature the band, clad in black or white, on the roof of some building in a city that is either in northern Italy or not in Italy at all, as they sing their song, arms spread, eyes closed. They are very serious when they're singing, and the same sepia-like tone masks the video.

I never thought I would appreciate American music videos until I spent a month here watching Italian MTV. American music videos, despite the generally substance-free song lyrics, usually present well-choreographed, intricate two and a half minute stories.

The best song we've heard so far here? Is from the Adidas commercial. It's 'Beggin' by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, remixed by Madcon. Stef downloaded it, and we listen to it on repeat.



I feel guilty that I don't write in here more often. And that when I do, I give the lowdown on Italian MTV. This week was midterms. they went fine. Jen and I are desperately trying to find a way to Zurich that costs less than 200 euro, so we can visit Michael and his family before he goes to Hamburg, but it's not looking good right now. It's frustrating, since he was able to visit us from Colombia, and we're now on the same continent and we can't find a way to see him.

In other news, Micah visits in less than two weeks! I'm so unbelievably excited for this, it's hard to even focus on the fact that it's spring break right now, and we're going to Ibiza, Spain tomorrow.

mmm. Well, I'm mildly hungover after last night's debauchery - finally got a hold of some vodka (not wine!) and that was a bad idea. We went to a club called 21 - very American. But the dancing was fun.

Good day friends,
Sara