Day Trippin'

So the past week has been pretty interesting!  We experienced our first strike on Wednesday, the metro workers decided to not work from 8:45-3pm and from 6pm-midnight so figuring out how to get places without the metro was fun... haha we were able to get to school using the metro but had to take a cab back and then a few more cabs throughout the day which was annoying and inconvenient.

Friday was a big day.  We had our second Italian exam in the morning and the middle of it, we heard a lot of commotion on the streets.  Naturally, our teacher told us to go look and sure enough right outside our school there was a student protest going through the streets.  It was really fascinating because never in the US do you see this kind of demonstration especially with this much energy.  All the people in my class had their cameras and videocameras out and we were all crammed into the windowsills trying to catch a glimpse.  It was funny, too, because there we were staring out the windows at these students and they were staring right back at us.  They paused outside our school and I thought they were saying something about international students but I could be wrong.  Right after, one of the IES directors came by and told us to shut the windows because sometimes the protesters come into the school and try to get us to join them and end up causing trouble.  So, back to the exam we went. 

After our exam, I stopped at a shop inside our metro station and ended up finally finding black boots!! For 19 euro, too ahhh it was so exciting to finally have black leather boots.  I stopped at home for lunch and then headed to the police station to complete step 2 of 3 for getting my permit to stay.  Luckily I had everything I needed document-wise so now I just have to go back in March to get my actual permit to stay card and then I'll be done!  It was exciting because I did everything that afternoon on my own.  It was the first time I felt really comfortable here, like I was finally becoming a part of the city and not a tourist.  (I think the black boots helped, too haha)  Afterwards, I met with the IES academic person to register for my classes... this upcoming week is our last week of intensive Italian and then the following week we start regular classes, which for me are Italian, Cracking the Code: Leonardo Da Vinci and Renaissance Art, The Political Economy of European Integration (for my international business minor), and Photography.  Registering for my classes was so easy, definitely way easier than it is at home!  It took 10 minutes and there were no conflicts with timing or number of spaces in the class :)  We went out to dinner at Nisida, a restaurant right outside our apartment and it was fabulous!  I definitely want to take my famiily there when they come to visit.

On Saturday, my roommates and I took a day trip to Bergamo, a town about an hour train ride away from Milan.  The train there was only 3.60 euro and left from Garibaldi, the metro station right down the street from us, so getting there and back was really easy.  Bergamo was the cutest town, we loved it there!  There are two parts to it, tall town and small town I believe and when you arrive, you are in small town.  To get to tall town, you take a cable car.  Tall town was beautiful, here are some pictures I took!

In the cable car on the way up

View of Bergamo from the cable car

Walking around tall town

Piazza Duomo

Ann, Mere, and me

Inside the Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore

Inside the Cattedrale di Bergamo

Linds, Anna, me, Kasia, and Ann

My excuse for having to roll me off the airplane when I come home :)

We mostly walked around and ate (story of our lives here in Italy) but it was so cool walking around this place that is a little off the beaten path but has been around for centuries.  One of the cathedrals was built in 1190 I believe, it's amazing that they could build such ornate, huge buildings way back then.  Specialty shops were everywhere which added to the town's quaint demeanor.  I was fascinated by the architecture, detail, and overall ambiance of the town, definitely a great day trip :)

Kasia, Ann, Linds and I went to mass at the Duomo tonight; it was the first time I'd been inside since being here so it was really cool!  It's absolutely huge and stunning.  They allow tourists to look around/go inside the Duomo while mass is going on so going to mass is sort of like being on display which was kinda different and funny.  Afterwards we stopped by a coffee place and had some delicious pick-me-ups and then headed home.  We went out to dinner at a, no lie, Italian/Japanese/Chinese place near out apartment which I've never heard of but it turned out to be a pretty good choice.  Not many places are open on Sundays so our options were very limited haha we are heading to Florence next weekend and the weekend after that we have our ski trip to the Alps from Sunday to Tuesday which we're all super super excited about!!  We all miss home and our friends at school but we really can't complain, life is good.

Praha

So this past weekend my friends and I went to Prague!  It was our first trip and it went so well, no major problems or issues and no delays with the trains or flights.  Actually, getting through the airports was easy, nothing like it usually is in the states which was great.  We had Friday off so we left Thursday evening and got to our hostel around 9.  The hostel we stayed at was really nice as far as hostels go.  It was called St. Christopher's at the Mosaic House and it was part hotel part hostel, which I think was part of the reason why it was so nice.

The lobby area/bar/stage

Mere and me, first drink in Prague at our hostel :)

This was my first hostel experience and it was a good one... the interior and lobby area were really nice, I think it was about 60 euro for 3 nights, the beds were nicer than the ones we have in Milan, our rooms were clean, there was a bar in the lobby, the staff were extremely nice and helpful, and everything we wanted to go to or see was within walking distance.  Anyone else traveling to Prague should definitely stay here! 

Something that made our visit to Prague a good one was a guide sent to us by a friend of Mere's who had previously studied abroad in Prague.  She listed everything from things to see, places to go, and general tips and directions.  The first night we went out to a club she recommended and had a good time there.  The next day we woke up around 9 and made our way out to the New Town of Prague where we walked around the National Museum and the Charles Square, which has a lot of shops and places to eat.  We decided to have authentic Czech food for lunch and it was tasty but let's just say we all were very grateful for the food we have here in Italy :)  It was heavy and a lot of it is fried, I couldn't eat it day in and day out.  We're glad we tried it, though, and everyone at the restaurant was really nice. 

Standing outside of the National Museum, Charles Square is ahead in the distance

View from charles Square, facing the National Museum

I forget what this was but it was really cool!

Afterwards we walked to the Old Town Square which has Prague's famous Astronomical clock, the Church of Our Lady in the Tyn, and the Jan Hus Monument.  The city offers free tours daily at 2pm so we decided to take one.  Our tour guide was our age but really knowledgeable and pretty funny.  The tour was really well done but we were absolutely frozen so that made it uncomfortable unfortunately... we were fine weather-wise when we were walking around by ourselves but on the tour we would stop at certain places for 10-15 mintues which was when we turned into icicles.  An hour and a half into the tour, he took us to Bohemian Bagel for a break, and although the tour was supposed to continue after, we decided to not continue on because we were so tired and cold and it was getting dark outside.  We went back to the hostel, napped, had dinner there, and then went on a bar crawl our tour guide pointed out to us.  The pregame for the bar crawl was in a Church of all places and it was being renovated so it was pretty... rustic you could say haha but it was fun, we met a bunch of people from all different countries.  There were 3 or 4 bars on schedule for our bar crawl and the deal was that if you made it to the last one, you got a bar crawl t-shirt.  We made it to the last one we think but somehow missed the t-shirts?  Oh well, the bar crawl was a blast and I have to say it's pretty cool to say my first bar crawl was in Prague :)

Old Town Square

The Church of Our Lady in the Tyn

The Astronomical clock

Walking along the streets of Prague!

Bar Crawl time, hello English boys..

Girlssss :) Archana, Mere, Kasia, Me, Linds, Jen, and Ann

The following day (Saturday), we got up later than the first day because the first day took so much out of us.  For brunch, we followed Mere's friend's recommendation and went to this place called The Globe.  It was a really cool place and the food was delicious.  After, we walked to the Charles Bridge and crossed the river to see the Prague Castle.  This area of Prague was very quaint and cute.  The walk to the Castle was steep but we got some cool pictures overlooking Prague once we reached it.  On our way back towards our hostel, we walked through the Jewish Quarter and then did some shopping in the New Town.  We had dinner at a Thai restaurant down the street from our hostel, napped, and then got ready to go out.  This time, at the recommendation of just about everyone we knew who have been to Prague, we went to the five story club called Karlovy Lazne which is apparently the largest club in central Europe.  It was so much fun!!  Each level  played a different kind of music and each had dancefloors and then other places to sit and hang out.

View from the Charles Bridge

End of the Charles Bridge, making our way towards the castle

View of Prague from the Castle area

Me, Ann, Mere, Jen, Kasia, and Linds... we made it!

Kasia and me...taking our usual coffee/hot chocolate lunch break to warm up

Cathedral within the Prague Castle walls

This puts size in perspective doesn't it!

Trying to be artistic... I think this is the view of Prague from the other side of the Castle

Heading back down to town from the Castle

The next morning we had to check out of the hostel by 11 so we got up and out the door by then and stored our luggage at the hostel since our flight wasn't until 5pm.  We had brunch at The Globe again and walked around and shopped in the area close to our hostel.  By this time, we were worn out and delirious from the lack of sleep we had gotten over the weekend so we ended up hanging out in Starbuck's after we finished shopping and at 3, went back to the hostel to catch our shuttle to the airport.

Overall we had a great time in Prague and were really glad that we decided to go here for our first trip.  None of us realized how Americanized it would be, which was actually a really refreshing break.  We also didn't realize how much we had adapted to life in Europe in just the 2 weeks we'd been living here.  It was nice to get in touch with my American self :)  Conversing with locals was painless (Czech looks like an impossible language so almost everyone in Prague speaks English), we got to eat American food, and we could be loud!  I never realized how much it would take out of me to live in Milan and how quickly I would alter my American habits/ways.  One small thing we also noticed was how hilly Prague was!  Or better, how flat Milan is!  I can't think of a single street that's been on an incline here in Milan but we never noticed this until we went to Prague where there are hills everywhere.  Weird!

Although we enjoyed our stay in Prague, we kept saying the whole weekend that Prague is great but our hearts are in Milan. It was weird, we got homesick for Milan!  I really never expected to say that, especially so soon but I found myself missing Milan the whole weekend.  I love my life here, as frustrating and tiring as it can be to live here because of the language and cultural barriers.  We all agreed that we're so spoiled living here... the food is utterly fabulous, everyone is so stylish, public transportation is at our fingertips, and our penthouse apartment is bigger than my apartment at school.  The only thing about Prague that was definitely an improvement was the peoples' reception of Americans... they were definitely more welcoming to us than people are here.  It can be pretty hit or miss here... some Italians love us and some aren't too keen on having us here.  It's very different for me to be initially not liked just because of where I come from.  If anyone has a problem with me it's usually something that I did to them or a reason they came up with after getting to know me.  But here, they see you and stare at you (according to our culture shock seminar, a common thing for Italians to do haha) and you can tell by their body language that they don't accept you and don't think highly of you.  Like I said, this is not true of everyone but it's relatively common especially in places like the metro or in restauratns. 

Something funny I noticed this weekend was that I have so many "homes"... I have Milan, Penn State, the United States, and Philadelphia/PA.  Obviously everyone asks where are you from? And all of us are kind of stupified as to what we should say... do they mean originally? Where in Europe are we from?  Where in the US are we from?  Do they know we're from the US?  So many questions for such a simple question.

I am absolutely loving this whole meeting new people from all over the world thing.  Just this weekend, we met people from Scotland, England, Germany, Austrailia, Brazil, the Netherlands, and another South American country that I can't remember... how cool is that?  Such a transient state of mind, everyone is so free and eager to experience new things.  I want to meet as many people as I possibly can... everyone has a story to tell, something to share, and something to teach me. 

We got home safe to Milan and have spent the beginning of this week recovering from traveling.  We were planning on going to Rome this weekend and booked a hostel and everything, only to find out that the train workers decided to strike this weekend!  Perfetto.  Today, actually, we experienced our first metro strike!  The workers decided to strike from 8:45am-3pm and from 6pm-midnight.  I wonder what it's like to just say hey, I'm not coming into work today because I don't like how you treat me and there's nothing you can do about it :)  Haha, not having the metro today was actually a huge inconvenience and I found myself having to take 3 cabs which is expesive, annoying, and time consuming.  Welcome to Italy, right?!  Since we couldn't go to Rome, we were going to take a day trip to Verona on Saturday but realized we couldn't because the train workers will be on strike. So, Milano it is!  We actually weren't too upset, it'll be nice to spend a weekend here and get organized and experience the weekend city life.  Milan is such a cool city and I feel like there's so much to see and do that's a little off the beaten path, places you have to discover.  Looking forward to spending the weekend here for sure.

Oh and yesterday I was pretty proud of myself... Linds, Mere, Ann, and I had to exchange our Czech crowns for euros and so we went to the bancomat on our way home from class.  Easy process, right?  Show them the crowns, ask to exchange them for euros, and you're done.  Wrong.  First of all, my two roommates who are really good at Italian were not with us which made me the most proficient of the group (yikes!).  So, when we went up to the teller, she started speaking in English but switched to Italian when I said I could speak a little.  I could pick up certain words and understood enough to realize that we could only exchange crowns for euros at the train station and that they could only exchange American dollars (Linds and Mere had some US money) in the afternoon.  It was a pretty stressful couple of minutes but she said that there was another bank down the way we could try.  We still needed to take money of of the ATM though so on our way out, Linds and I tried doing this but something didn't work and no money came out.  We were hoping that it wouldn't post the transaction even though we didn't receive any money.  We checked our accounts when we got home and luckily this didn't happen.  So, next step was to walk to the other bancomat.  The guy working there started speaking Italian and it didn't seem like he knew any English but regardless, they didn't do exchanges there but he said we could use the ATM.  In the end, we were able to take money out of our accounts and although I didn't do the best job of communicating with everyone, it was still exciting to be able to translate some of what they were saying to me. 

We have Italian class as usual tomorrow and then are planning on doing some shopping after while there are still sales everywhere.  I really haven't bought that many clothes or boots, mainly because I really wanted to get my bearings on what things cost and on the style here.  People here must get out of bed looking like they came out of a magazine, it's so impressive how well-put together everyone is, men especally.  Rob and Larry- pack your best clothes when you come to visit haha I'm wondering when the fashion here will click with me and I can fit in better with the locals... I hope it's soon! 

Hope my friends and fam on the east coast are surviving the snow!  Can't say I miss the weather at Penn State all that much ;)

Stranded at Ikea.... gelato anyone?

So today I think I laughed more than I have in a long time...we had a ridiculous experience at Ikea that was definitely worth noting.  The day sarted off with Italian class at 9am as usual... well mostly as usual, we didn't realize that Mere and Linds slept through their alarms this morning so on our way out to class, we knocked on their door and realized they were still asleep hahah rough start to their morning for sure.

After class, we decided it was a good day to go to Ikea and get some household items like bedding, lights, etc.  Simple trip to Ikea right?  Take the green line to the red line, take the red to the end, and catch the Ikea bus to the store.  Right.  So, we get to the end of the red line and realize that the Ikea bus only comes every hour and we just missed it.  It's okay, we take a van taxi to Ikea and have a delicious lunch there (who knew?) including small gelato filled cones.  Then we spent about an hour and a half wandering around Ikea and about an hour of that time was spent looking at bedding.  Needless to say, I have never been so flustered and confused about bedding as I was today!  There were about a million options and about a small isle that seemed to fit our needs... for example, after we meticuously picked out which color/pattern we liked the best, we realized we spent the entire time looking at duvet covers instead of sheet sets.  The whole situation was hilarious, I can't tell you how many times we went back and forth between aisles and walls bewildered and puzzled, trying to figure out what exactly the labels said and what exactly would fit our beds and of course what color we liked best/would go the best with our room (at this point, patterns were out of the question -- we were limited to solid colors, much to our dismay). 

Decisions about bedding having been made, we checked out and tried to catch the 2:15 Ikea bus back to the metro stop.  We got to the bus stop at 2:20 and saw that the next bus wasn't coming until 3:15.  Mind you- we were supposed to attent a "culture shock" seminar at 3:30 which we were planning on going to but there was another one at 5... at this point, the 3:30 one was out of the question.  So, there we are, the 6 of us obviously American girls standing at an empty bus stop with giant blue Ikea bags... and what are American girls to do when they need to get somewhere and there's no bus or metro within walking distance?  We call a cab!  Perfetto!  Only the cab company says there are no cabs available and to call back in 5.  What, no cabs, really?!  Literally we are all standing at the bus stop, completely stranded.  Okay, we decide to stay at Ikea and have another gelato cone... we suppose there are worse places to be stranded with giant blue Ikea bags.  So, we go back inside and as we attempt to go upstairs to the cafe, we are promptly stopped by the attendee who says we can't go upstairs with our Ikea bags unless we check them in or something.  We are, however, allowed to hang out at the other cafe that is outside of the check out area.  We decide to go to the bathroom and come out and see Ann with a security guard checking her bag.  Somehow she slipped past us and accidentally went upstairs.  We hysterically laugh because of the ridiculous situation (I think delirium from lack of sleep and overall hecticness of the past weekend had set in at this point).  Ann is cleared to leave the area and we go to the cafe and have our gelato aka our saving grace. 

At 3:10 we mosey on out to the bus stop and Ann steps on the bus via the back doors.  Jen attempts to follow her and gets the bus doors promptly shut on her face.  Hmm, okay we try the front doors.  We are swiftly shooed away by the bus driver with no explanation.  So, Ann is alone and distraught sitting on the bus and we have no way of entering the bus that is idling at the bus stop and not leaving for another 5 minutes.  We naturally burst out into incontrollable laughter at the situation before us.  I haven't laughed that hard in a longgg time... the entire situation was too much.  We had already spent wayy more time at Ikea that we had planned and now we are STILL stranded there with giant blue Ikea bags and an almost empty bus right in front of us.  Eventually, we are cleared to enter the bus and we are on our way back to the metro stop.  When we get off the bus, two other English-speaking Ikea-bag-clad exchange students strike up a conversation with us... we are amused at the fact that it took us 2 weeks to get to Ikea and it only took them 1 day (they arrived yesterday).  More tight pants, but getting used to them.  We FINALLY make it to our apartment after a million metro stops, changing of metro lines, long walk through the metro station, and a walk from the station to our apartment. 

We drop everything off and make our way to the "culture shock" seminar IES put together where a psychotherapist talked about various topics like the stages of adapting to a new culture, how to greet Italians, and why they stare so much.  We especially related to the last topic as we often feel we are either one of 2 strange oddities in Milan: either zoo animals or aliens with 5 heads.  Among other reasons the therapist gave for their staring, she mentioned that sometimes Italians stare because they think you are very pretty and are curious about you.  We liked this reason and now tell ourselves this is true everytime we are being intensely stared down on the metro :)

Another eventful day in Milano down, hopefully many many more to come.  Prague was fabulous, we had a great time!  Next blog entry will be about our weekend there!  Here's a little teaser....

Lost in Milano

So yesterday was an interesting day!   After Italian class, Meredith, Lindsey, Kasia, and I got lunch and went shopping on Via Torino, not too far from our school and right near the Duomo.  Lindsey and Kasia went back home a little later and Mere and I desperately continued our search for black boots.  We’ve been looking for black boots for about a week now and I think we’ve visited every shoe store in this city…well maybe not, shoes stores seem to be endless in number here, but we were literally zig-zagging across Via Torino, stopping in every place that looked like they maybe might have black boots.  Our efforts were in vain and we decided to head back home.

Heading home had been pretty easy and painless for us up until yesterday, as we’d picked up the public transportation system pretty well the last week.  However, we started walking in an unfamiliar area and couldn’t seem to find a metro stop.   So we see a tram stop and decide to get on a tram, thinking that it HAS to run by a metro stop at some point and that it MUST go past the Duomo at some point (we would know how to get home from there) because aren’t metro stops everywhere and doesn’t everything pass by the Duomo??  Our reasoning could not have been more wrong, as we picked the tram that apparently runs along the outskirts of the city.  So Mere and I are sitting on the tram and not seeing A) a metro stop or B) anything that looks familiar whatsoever.  We can tell we are getting further and further away from the city as our surroundings seemed to become more and more residential and rustic.  Eventually we realize that we should probably get off so we do and luckily see a sign with an arrow that says “Garibaldi” which is the metro stop near our apartment.  We follow the sign and keep following the sign but after a while, we stop seeing the signs and decide to call Kasia at home and have her direct us home.  She google-mapped where we were and said, as we had figured, that we had wandered pretty far away but she was actually familiar with the area somewhat because it’s where her music class is.  She tells to follow the cemetery around (there’s a GIANT cemetery there which was actually very helpful as a location marker) and gives us some more directions about what streets to take, etc.   (FYI: we get out of class at 11:30am… it is now 5pm… we are hot/sweaty, tired, shoulders are hurting, and our hair might as well have been standing straight up in a huge ball because of all the humidity and fog)

We get to the part of the cemetery sidewalk where they are doing construction and end up having to wander into the construction site… so the sidewalk has now ceased and we are walking along grass along the road/mini highway.  We aren’t sure whether we can continue anymore because of some roadblocks they had set up ahead so we decide to turn around and try a different route.  We are now officially the laughing stock of the construction workers and I can only imagine how ridiculous we must have looked…2 girls who have clearly been shopping and are dressed up in boots, peacoats, scarves, and tights, balancing their way along a 2-foot wide pathway along a highway, who have just turned around because we think that we can’t get out if we continue, when there actually was a way to get out.  Somehow the construction workers communicated this to us and we went on our way through the site.

We FINALLY start seeing the streets Kasia told us we would see and realize that we are on the right way home.  There is a bar near our apartment, Wasabi, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see it than I was yesterday.  Relief at last!  We are no longer lost, wandering in the industrial outskirts of Milan with shopping bags and large purses J  It was an experience to say the least, and we kept our cool and sense of humor but it was still pretty unnerving to not know where we were, especially since we had been doing such a good job of getting around! 

Saw something pretty funny as we were making our way home, too… we were about to cross a little side street and saw that cones and a sign had been put up at the entrance of the street to block cars from entering.   Apparently they were just there for show, since right before we were about to cross the street, and car blew right through them with no disregard for them whatsoever.  It was so funny and so typical of an Italian driver!  Mere and I were like did that just happen?!

So, after our afternoon expedition, we did some homework and booked our hostel and shuttle from the Prague airport.  The hostel looks nice, we used a website called hostelworld.com which we’ve heard from multiple sources is a good place to check out hostels.  Many comments about the hostel we booked said it’s more like a hotel than a hostel so that’s a good sign.  I’m excited and I can’t believe we leave for Prague tomorrow!  It’s a weird concept to grasp, that we can just casually hop on a plane to Prague for the weekend.  I love it J  Can’t wait to start booking our other trips, too.  Right now, we are planning to go to Geneva to visit my friends the weekend of Feb 25-27 because we have a 3-day weekend then and one of my friends has a week off from school that week for skiing (naturally).  The following weekend we are probably going to go to Venice for Carnivale!  We have a lot of places we want to go but we all agree that we want to spend a lot of time exploring Italy as well! 

Now for the juicy stuff… our date!  This was such an interesting experience, wow.  Haha, Mauro (sp?) and Alessandro picked us up at our apartment which was nice and took us to a restaurant they said was partly owned or managed by their best friend’s brother (I forget the name of the place but it was really cute).  Our dinner was fabulous!  There were 2 choices for everything (2 appetizers, first dishes and second dishes) so we decided to get one of everything for Mere and me and the same for the guys so that we could try everything.  We had risotto (not the Milanese one) and lasagna (the sauce was green instead of red, I think the menu mentioned something about zucchini in it?) for our “first dish” as they call it here.  For the second dish, we had chicken with rosemary potatoes and fish with polenta.  We also enjoyed some nice wine, although I forget the name of it.  All of the food was out of this world!  The actual date was okay, we don’t really like them all that much but it was a funny night because of all the words and concepts that got lost in translation.  Plus, my “date” didn’t speak English too well so the rest of us would talk and his friend would have to translate, which made for an interesting and kind of awkward situation but it was funny nonetheless.  They played a very interesting assortment of English music on the car rides to and from the restaurant including Bob Marley, MGMT, random British techno, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun, among others.  That last one got us, Mere and I were cracking up in the back seat!  Overall it was a very funny night and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner!!

Here are a few more pictures, too!  Mere and I have been discovering the city every day after class which has been a lot of fun.  Lots of window shopping, especially as this month there are tons and tons of sales.  Every store has SALDI SALDI written across it because this entire month is when they have all of their sales.  All the more reason to shop shop shop right?!

Cute little street we wandered down in Milan

Our balcony this afternoon, the sun finally came out!

View from outside of my room

Today we had class as usual but instead of doing our usual after school shopping, we all went back home and took naps, we were exhausted!  I took a 3 and a half hour nap and it was amazing!  In an hour or so we’re going to head to Noon Bar for aperitivo (we can’t get enough of these happy hours)!  This was where IES took us for our first aperitivo last Wednesday and we’re going today because Kasia and Anna’s (two of my roommates) friend from the U.S. is visiting Milan for a few days and they want to take her there.  We absolutely loved this place when we went so naturally we’ve been looking forward to it all day!  We all have our first Italian exam tomorrow so tonight we’ll be studying and getting ready for our trip.

When we were all talking about our trip tomorrow and airports, etc it reminded us of our individual journeys to Milan and we couldn’t believe it had only been a week and a half since we boarded our flights here!  Everyone says that time goes by so fast when you’re abroad but honestly it’s been going by ever so slowly and I love it!!  I feel like I’ve  been here for 2 months and it’s so exciting that it’s only been a week and a half J  I spend a lot of time here being curious, like what will our first Italian date be like or which cities we will end up visiting and it’s fun… I’m not used to not having everything under control but I never realized how interesting life becomes when the possibilities are endless.  This place and this experience have been so much more than I expected and I can only imagine what the next five months will bring.  I’ve met so many interesting, exciting people and it’s refreshing to meet people who value new experiences and learning about other cultures in the same way I do.  As nerve-racking as it was to go through this experience without a best friend or even a really good friend, I couldn’t be happier that I did so.  It really forces you to branch out and step out of your comfort zone, which I think is never a bad thing.  This experience and the people I’ve met have made me a better person already and they have opened up my eyes more than I could have ever thought and I can’t get enough of it.

 I miss everyone at home a lot but I luckily haven’t felt major homesickness yet, probably because everything is still so new.  I do wish I could just transport everyone from home here so they could experience what I’m experiencing L  but I guess Skype will have to do for now.   My family is coming to visit at the end of my program in May and I honestly can’t wait.  I know we’ll have so much fun and I’m sure my roommates and I will be running this city by then ;) And now for my favorite part of Milan...aperitivo time!  Ciao a tutti!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

On tap for next weekend.... Prague!

Today my roommates and I booked our flights to Prague for next weekend!  We have off from our Italian class, which happens 5 times during the semester, and we decided to try to go somewhere farther away for those weekends because we'll have more time then.  Prague was the cheapest of the places we were looking to go and we've heard that it's beautiful there so we're so excited!!  I've never been there, either, so I'm excited to see what everyone is talking about :)  We leave Thursday evening and come back Sunday and in the mean time we're going to look up some cool things to do there!

The past two days we've slept in pretty late (finally! this week definitely caught up to us) and spent some time out and about in Milan.  Yesterday, Meredith, Lindsey, and I walked around the area near our apartment and discovered lots of little places to grab food, some cute shops, and a few pubs/bars.  When we got back, Ann and Kasia were back from their adventure in the city and we all headed down to the pizzeria near our apartment.  We all ordered pasta and of course wine and it was delicious!  There was an adorable little kid sitting across from us who could barely see over the table but was drinking wine out of a wine glass haha once he noticed we were watching, he chugged the rest of his glass. It was so cute!  We definitely couldn't believe it though since he was so little! 

Afterwards we got ready to go out and went to a party at the apartment of some Ecuadorians we've befriended  through a mutual friend who's in our program and then we went to a bar called Murphy's Law.  It's funny how much American music they play here!  Even the alternative/more chill music comes up a lot, like Mr. Jones by Counting Crows; I almost fell over when they started playing it at the bar and everyone was singing along! 

The Ecuadorians were a lot of fun and it's really interesting talking to them and seeing the differences in cultures of people our age.  Their lives have been so interesting so far...most grew up in Ecuador, attended school in the U.S., and then are either continuing their education in Italy or working in Italy. It was also funny because one of them has friends at Penn State and when I told him that I go there, he said Oh state college? happy valley? canyon pizza? It was so weird to hear those things because I hadn't heard them in so long and they're such iconic aspect of Penn State; plus I was hearing them halfway around the world  from an Ecuadorian! Crazy.

Today we decided to go to the Duomo area (the center of Milan) and do some shopping.  We all feel like we need so many things because everyone here is so stylish!!  The Milanese take their shopping very seriously and it's pretty overwhelming at first.  There were so many people in the stores and the stores themselves (at least the ones we could actually go into and possibly purchase something from) were huge!  We each ended up getting a few things and then decided to get dinner at a nearby place. The menu had pictures which was great, since we spent about a half hour deciding what we wanted the night before because we didn't know what the names of the different dishes meant!  We're learning, and trying each other's food so we can explore it all!  After our meal we ordered hot chocolate because it looked delicious, and it tasted even better than it looked!! It was by far the best I've had and I'm so glad my roommates share the same affection for chocolate as I do :)

Here are some pictures of downtown Milan near our schools; I took them after our Italian class on Friday when we walked around the city!

And here's one of us after the tour we received of the Duomo area

On another note, Meredith (one of my roommates) and I have our first Italian date on Tuesday night!  Haha Mom keep breathing it's okay, nothing to worry about.  The Italian guys we met on Thursday night want to take us out for some good food and wine on Tuesday, how could we say no?!  We're excited, it should be interesting!

Tomorrow we begin another week of our intensive Italian classes.  It's hard to believe that tomorrow we'll have been here for only a week!  We decided we were going to celebrate our one week anniversary with some wine :)  Any excuse to drink wine is a good excuse. 

Ciao!

Wait, you mean I have to take classes here?

(I wrote this Friday but forgot to post it!)

Today we began our Italian classes and mine went well, although it was two and a half hours long which I’ll have to get used to since classes here (and I’m assuming other countries in Europe) are much longer than in the U.S.  The class is small, about 15 of us I would say, and our teacher is really nice and very patient.  She speaks only in Italian unless we don’t understand something or need help with meanings, which is intimidating and difficult but I know that it will be better for me in the end.   She also said at the end of class that her objective is to teach us modern, conversational language; essentially she wants to teach us words and phrases that we can actually use in daily life which is really cool.  Also, we had a little field trip in the middle of class!  She gave us directions in Italian and we had to find our way to La chiesa di San Maurizio (the Church of San Maurizio) and then answer some questions about it.  Here’s a picture of the inside, it was beautiful! 

The field trip was cool and really struck me because when we stepped out of class/the building it felt like I was in a movie…for so long I was used to walking out onto the regular Penn State campus after Italian class and when we had Italian today, I think I forgot where I was momentarily so when I realized that I was in Italy, it didn’t seem real!  It was pretty cool how we could learn Italian and then practice it immediately.  I hope this all makes sense, it’s hard to explain!

After Italian class, my roommates and I went to lunch and had fabulous mozzarella panini’s at a cute place near our school.  Then we walked around the area for an hour and a half to explore the area; it was funny how exciting we found grocery stores to be!  You can really tell what Italians value by walking into a grocery store…aisles of wine, cheese, bread, and pasta are standard which is awesome.  Half of my roommates went grocery shopping yesterday and I think the rest of us will go tomorrow or Sunday.  Afterwards the 3 girls I was with had to get their permit to stay like I did yesterday so I took the metro back to our apartment.  Yes, first time using the metro by myself!  I considered it a milestone :)

One thing that will never get old here is hearing the church bells from my apartment, they’re beautiful and it’s so sweet to hear them throughout the day. 

Today we noticed 2 more paradoxes/inconsistencies about the Italian way of life haha one is that although lines seem to be an artifact of the past for Italians and they seem to prefer chaos to order, when you take the escalator after getting off the metro, you stand on the right side of it and let people walk past you on the left.  I guess we don’t do this in the U.S. because walking up escalators is frowned upon? Haha it’s just amusing to see such an orderly process take place in a typically unorganized culture.  The other funny thing is that although a lot of emphasis is placed on eating together and enjoying in the experience of eating, many Italians eat on the go particularly for lunch.  You’ll see many people eating a Panini or panzerotto (like a calzone) standing up or walking around.  It’s just interesting because you’d think that you’d see a lot more of that in New York and big American cities because they are so much more fast paced and not as focused on eating but I don’t recall seeing as many people eating on the go there as I do here.

Oh when we were walking around today we saw the FUNNIEST thing.  A cop car went by us with its lights flashing and sirens buzzing and we look up and see that the policeman in the passenger’s seat was waving a paddle out the window!   We guessed it was another way to alert people that they were coming but it looked so silly, a cop waving a paddle out of a window when they already have sirens and and lights going – like who is the paddle for?? The deaf? Isn’t that the reason they have the flashing lights? Hahaha wish we had our cameras out so we could have snapped a picture!

Last night we had fun!  We tried the pizza place down the street from us for dinner and it was delicious.  We got take out for the pizza and while we were waiting for it outside, these 2 really skinny, tall, stylish guys walked by and were speaking English so naturally we said something and started talking to them.  One of my roommates saw that they had small portfolio-looking things in their hands with “Model” and then numbers written on the front so she asked them ‘are you guys models?!’ And they, embarrassingly, said they were!  It sounded like they were from the U.K. and they said they were in Milan for the weekend for a model casting!  One of my roommates said that the men’s fashion week is next week or coming up soon so that’s probably what they were here for.  It was so cool meeting actual models.  After dinner we went home and Meredith, one of my roommates, and I went to a bar called Frida down the street from our apartment.  We met some Italian guys, surprise surprise (Mom- it’s ok I didn’t fall madly in love with any of them haha) and we had so much fun talking to them.  I got to practice and use my Italian as well which was really cool; it’s in these situations when you really learn the language, especially the everyday use of it.  Something that was funny too was that one of them guessed I was from PA when he realized we were from the States!  I didn’t think people thought Pennsylvania when they saw me haha but maybe they do?  Who knows!

One more thing - I’ve noticed that as I learn more and more Italian, I lose more and more English!  I feel like my grammar and sentence structure has changed because my brain is so overloaded with not only another language but another way of using English, as hearing Italians speak English has thrown off how I use it.  It’s weird, I didn’t expect being surrounded by another language or surrounded by another form of English would really affect my writing and speaking of English but it did! 

Va Bene

The past two days have been pretty tiring, lots of orientation and meetings to attend but it's all been really useful and I've learned so much!  Yesterday after orientation, my program organized for us to go to Noon bar for "aperitivo" which is a tradition popular among the Milanese; it's sort of like happy hour in the U.S. except you pay for drinks and then the appetizers are free.  It was so much fun! The bar was two levels and IES reserved part of the top level for us so we ordered drinks and then waiters brought around trays of an assortment of cheeses (including brie!!), meats like proscuitto and what looked like salami, and bread including foccacia bread and pizza-esque bread.  It was delicious and we had a blast, this is such a cool ritual that younger Milanese people have and I think the U.S. should adopt it as well :)  We went out to our first "disco" after that which was fun, too!

Today we had a 2 hour guided walking tour of Milan which was really interesting.  We got to see many different parts of the city, including one of Giorgio Armani's houses and Via Montenapoleone which is basically the holy grail of shopping.  This street, as well as the area around the Duomo, had pretty much every high end brand you could imagine and many of the stores' headquarters or main offices are also located here.  Of course we couldn't go in since they were "shop by appointment only" but it was so cool to see them. 

It's funny how many inconsistencies there are in Italian culture.  For example, the interiors of many places including our apartment are so bright and colorful but everyone walks around in black; our tour guide explained that many homes and green areas are not visible from the city (they are behind walls) because Italians don't like to flaunt their wealth, yet they drive around in ferrari's and BMW's and wear Armani suits; Italians can be very 'touchy' in an endearing way, yet they just about run you over every time you try and cross the street (I am 100% certain I will get hit at some point across these next 5 months haha).  It's been really interesting noticing these differences as well as the differences in American and Italian culture.

After our tour, we had lunch and my friends and I had some gelato for the first time!  It was delicious and dangerously close to where we'll be taking classes ;)  We had a few more seminars afterwards and they also explained the field trips we have this semester which include a ski trip, a cuisine field trip, and a day trip to the abbey's.  After that we had to go to the post office to start the process of getting our "permesso di soggiorno's" (permit to stay).  It took 2 hours for about 10 of us to sign 3 sheets of paper and pay 30 Euros - Italian bureaucray at its finest.  This was also just the start of the process, too, as one of the IES staff directors said that we'll also have to make 2 trips to the police station before actually receiving our permit to stay card, perfect. 

We're all pretty tired but still running on adrenaline so I think we're finally going to the grocery store near our apartment soon and then maybe aperitivo part two after that :) Oh and this was pretty cool,  Milan is listed as #5 in the top 41 places to go in 2011 by the New York Times! Check it out at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09where-to-go.html?_r=1

Side note: the Italians really know how to enjoy life!  No one works too hard, they drink wine all the time, cafe's and gelatteria's are everywhere, most shops are closed on Sundays, we have "quiet hours" in our apartment from 2-4pm which I'm assuming means that this time is reserved for rest during the day, and eating and drinking wine are integral parts of daily life :)

So far I've met some really interesting people, people from all over the world and people pursuing really interesting things.  Everyone has been so friendly and our program has been incredibly organized and helpful to us during our first frantic days here, which is great.  I still feel pretty helpless here despite learning so much in my first few days and I can't wait to not feel like a foreigner anymore.  When we went back to the cafe we went to the first morning, the two guys inside laughed but they love us... we plan on being regulars there :) 

And now some pictures!!

 The hallway of the spa!!

view from our balcony

view from the other side on our balcony

our living room

hallwayy

littttle kitchen

my room!

what I wake up to every morning :)

our favorite cafe close to our apartment on our way to our school!

a group of us at aperitivo!

Duomo

Giorgio Armani's house

Benvenuti a Milano!