Three summers ago I happened to be in South Italy at the same time as our Italian teacher Remo. We decided to have a lunch together at his parent's house in Malvito. In a few hours me and my two musician friends were starting our journey from Cosenza to Remo's place - to enjoy a day with the real Italians! This lunch was amazing - one to remember! We got to see the real way of enjoying a meal. I guess we met most of Remo's relatives, neighbours, friends, who just popped in to say ''Hi!'' or to have lunch with us. There was so much talking, laughter .. and of course, in the end we had a long photo session overlooking the valleys of Italy. A place, where you long to go back to..Laura Remmel – Studio Lingua Project Manager

Loves

REMO GRAMIGNA

YogaTeachers as well as students - they have to work quite hard. Especially when you want to achieve something. There was a moment when I was sitting a lot at my desk, working, eating a lot of pizza and spaghetti. This kind of nice stuff. Also, the lifestyle in Tartu as a student can be pretty intense. I realized I had to move my body as well. I decided upon going regularly to the gym. Then there was also this yoga. In my mind I had a preconception that - what is this yoga? Sit and do Ommm...This must be some kind of mambo-jambo thing.. Anyway, I decided to give it a try.

What happened?I clicked with the teacher, although I didn't have a clue what she was saying – I had just arrived in Estonia. It came out that I felt very good after the session. It became a sort of addiction. Nowadays I do it regularly. I started with two times a week, then three.. now I do it almost every day. And in the morning starting at 6.15!

What does it give to me? It is a physical and mental cleansing. By doing the practice your mind calms down. The purpose isn't reaching a goal, doing any weird contortion of the body, but focusing on yourself through deep breathing. Yoga is not a theory. It's 99% practice. I guess experience really matters.

No more pizza? It's easy to fall in a sort of a fanaticism. Well, yoga deeply affected me and my lifestyle. Obviously, I didn't quit eating pizza and my Italian way of making and enjoying food. But at the same time I made some decisions, which are quite radical. For instance, eating less red meat, fish. Trying to control the intake of animal proteins, which can be very tough in Estonia. At some point it just became natural to eat things that my body really needs.

Tartu It's a young city and city of young people. I don't like huge cities. There you can feel quite anonymous. I personally prefer small towns.

La Dolce Lingua

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WeatherSometimes it can happen that I deeply dislike it. I love sauna though – it keeps me warm. At home (in south Italy) we don't have sauna – it 's a constant sauna there.

Cooking classes for Estonians!Food and culture are interlocked..linked with each other. What is different perhaps is the amount of time we (Italians) spend on cooking or enjoying a meal. The whole family is linked together by cooking and eating. We usually sit at the able for several hours, especially during festivities; this is normal for us. Spending an incredible amount of time dealing with food! Eating in Italy, at least where I come from, the South of Italy, it's more about ''eating the company''. It's a feeling of sharing and conviviality. This can be a little different here in Estonia. I hardly find the occasion in which I can organize a dinner and spend a lot of time on cooking. Estonians say: ''Oh my god – you cook so much!''. Maybe I should really step into the cooking business and start organizing pasta making workshops! Just to have some fun!

Plans for the yearI would like to learn to dance properly. Maybe start with Latin American dances like salsa and merengue. Another challenge would be to learn another language, which I think I should do (Estonian he probably means..?!). I also would like to write a book. I want to write a novel. It has to be done as soon as possible. One very good friend of mine has said that there are two ways to write a novel: either you have a story or you have the character. I have the character and I should just start writing.

La Dolce Lingua REMO GRAMIGNA

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Mr. Lotman Before coming to Tartu I was in Ireland and England for a while. So after that I went back to Italy and wanted to go back to my studies, but I didn't want to take another MA in Italy. I did some research and found a Master at Tartu in semiotics. Since I had studied semiotics before in Rome, then I had a strong interest in this field. And I figured that it is the school of Jüri Lotman! Tartu looked kind of interesting and I didn't think twice. This is how it started. A bit randomly and a bit by choice.

MusicI always regret the fact that I didn't properly train myself as a musician. My father played the bass. I have music in my family and blood. The shelves of our house were filled with the music of Led Zeppelin, Santana. I play guitar. I consider music a talent – you pick a song and you can start playing it while you listen to it. This kind of a talent either you have or you don't have it. One person that has musically influenced me is my best friend ever, who moved to Italy from the States when he was a little boy. He played Jimi Hendrix and Metallica perfectly when he was already 14 years old.

Newcomer of 2015Me and some other Italian fellows are about to make a band. We are discussing right now upon which genre to start playing. One option would be to have an Italian music band and play covers of Italian pop music, which I think Tartu would need. Just to shake it a bit! Passionate Italian music! Another option would be to play soul music. Ka Moosiga was the name of my previous band!

Best part of the day ..in Italy is lunch or dinner. For the reasons I pointed out before: being with friends or neighbors. Eating pasta of course. And there is always a cup of coffee. It's a nice break. But in Tartu I like more the mornings. After the morning yoga practice, I go home and make a nice fresh juice and have breakfast. This would never happen in Italy. In Italy breakfast equals just a coffee. Every time I had some friends over from Europe or Estonia, at my place in Malvito.. we were eating salty breakfast.. cheese .. ham.. My mom was looking like ''Mamma Mia!''.