First days with the Program!

The second day on the trip was the day I moved into my apartment. I got the chance to wake up at a decent time, pack my things from the hostel and call a taxi. I correctly pronounced my new Italian address and the taxi driver dropped me off out front. I had forgotten that in Italy you do not tip but luckily the man was nice enough to remind me and give me full change back. 

Also "luckily", I was the first one in the apartment. Score. Well, this was after I knocked on the 4th floor IES apartment and had to be directed down one more floor. Midly awkward. But moving in first meant that I got the chance to scour the rooms, (pick the one with the balcony and bathroom attached) and settle in for a bit without having to worry about introductions for about an hour. My roommate was the next to arrive, a Dallas girl that goes to UT Austin named Katie. Her luggage had gotten lost on the way over and seeing her first-day jet lag, I was happy that I planned to get to the city a day earlier. Next to arrive was a Miami girl named Marissa and the fourth, a Minnesota girl girl named Anni who left to spend time with her parents before they left. 

Because Katie was pretty out of luck with clothing we headed to the Duomo shopping area to find basic necessities and grab lunch. After quick stops at Zara and the coolest bathing suit/pajama store we found a restaurant through the Gallerie Vittorio Emmanuelle II (see the last post for picture of this beautiful mall). 

At the restaurant I ordered a margherita pizza. Here, that is what we would consider "cheese". I asked the waiter what size it was and he said "personal". When I got it, it was definitely not personal. I left with only finishing about half of it and already started hating the taboo to-go box concept. We went back to the apartment so that we could have our "orientation lessons" with our Italian CA where she taught us how to use the 6 recycling bins, where the electrical box is, how to take out the trash to the scariest basement I've ever seen in my life, etc. Oh, and she informed us that we did have air conditioning (but it was broken) so that was a nice surprise. 

Our Italian CA is a 25? year old named Titi, short for Tiziana. She has short and wild curly hair and smokes cigarettes out her bedroom window. She is one of the nicest people I think I've ever met in my life and she has been super helpful in telling us places to go around the city for food, music, groceries, etc and she's started talking to me in Italian!

Overall the apartment was way nicer than I would have ever expected. I truly had imagined my bedroom as two twin beds pushed together at the feet and no closet. I had no idea that we would have any kind of a living room, especially one as big as ours. I did not imagine that there would be air conditioning, a washer and drier, dishwasher or even wifi. I also did not expect that we would be living in one of the nicest areas of the city, Brera. This area is known to be pretty "uppity". It's the artistic area full of boutiques (that I could never afford), beautiful restaurants and cafes and several theaters and art galleries. The Marc Jacobs cafe is only a few steps from our apartment. This is good and bad in terms of food prices and even grocery prices but luckily I learned that early on. (Photos of the apartment to come). 

View from the kitchen window

Continuing on, we had an orientation aperitivo that night at 7:00 and we were supposed to meet at the Duomo to walk to the restaurant which was set in the courtyard of the Piccolo Teatro. This meant that on Italian time, all of the other groups showed up at 7:30 and we eventually started eating at 8:00. I've come to find that these dinner times are completely normal and often don't even start until 8,9,10 at the latest. Titi, urged me to try the Spagliato, an Italian drink that was the strongest thing I've ever tasted. The alcohol was Aperol, an Italian favorite. Not an Emily favorite. It's very bitter tasting and also bright orange, two downfalls. We picked at the food provided at the aperitivo which was a variation of nice cheeses on fancy crackers, piled pieces of sliced meat, corn salads in tiny bowls and grapes on a stick. The presentation was very nice but even the Italian CAs were complaining that there was not much food. This definitely wasn't a meal, for Americans or Italians. (After trying new places for Aperitivo we've come to learn that it is god's gift to Italy, this was was let down though.)

Aperitivo

Our "meal" ended and the Italian CAs were ready to go down to the "columns". None of us had any idea what this was but also few people wanted to be left out. We lost a few members of the group due to jet-lag and over socialization on the first day, but otherwise we walked about 7 blocks to gli Collone di San Lorenzo. It's essentially a large open block, that does indeed have large historic columns through it, but also has small bars tucked in the bottom floors of the building that sell drinks for 2euro. Everyone sits around the large square and socializes. It's a really neat atmosphere if you're prepared for the mosquitos. 

Two roommates at the Columns

Our group, the girls in my apartment and a few from the apartment upstairs, ended up staying for about an hour or two then wandering back. "Wandering" here would be the appropriate word for trying to use google maps on spotty internet and making gut decisions on where we were in the city. We ended up finding the Duomo which meant that we could locate our apartment off of that, and we also came across an Amersterdam frites store along the way that ended up being our dinner for the night. 

Walk back through Brera - crappy iPhone photo

Walk back through Brera

The second day was filled with orientation meetings with a large group about "Italy" and "the culture" as well as navigating the city. (These meetings were held in a classroom with no air conditioning and desks that were fixed in rows and we could hardly move out of.) It also included individual meetings informing us of our schedules for the next few weeks. (These rooms had air conditioning). Katie and I both had later meetings after our sessions ended earlier in the morning so we both went back to the apartment to take a nap. On our way back (we successfully found Universita Catholica and stopped for gelato along the way).

This is where our classes are. Italian is the second door on the left and up two flights of stairs. And past the BMW.

Girls on our walk back

We went to the grocery that night and got a few things to fill our fridge for the next few days but my Italian CA along with the CA upstairs, Elena, prepared us a dinner of two different pastas which was absolutely delicious. 

Two apartments at dinner

We headed back to the columns that night and ended up making the trek a few more blocks from that to the Navigli. I didn't know this until after researching Milan, but Venice isn't the only city with canals! We sat along the Navigli and swatted mosquitos before again heading home for the night.