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
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.
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