After staying with Nina for a few days I went to stay with Olivia, a Canadian from my language class, and her housemates Amanda (also Canadian) and Rossana (an Italian). They have a huge (for Italian standards) apartment right near Bocconi. Technically it has 2 bedrooms and a lounge room but they are using the lounge as a bedroom and rotating every 2 months! They also have 3 couches, and I slept on one for a week. Sounds bad but it was actually a lot of fun - the apartment is easily big enough for 4 (2 bathrooms!), although the kitchen doesn't accomodate even two people very easily! Olivia also had two friends over for a few nights, so we had 6 people sleeping there!
Olivia and Amanda are great company, and they are both from Montreal which was really interesting to hear about. They both speak French really well, and were telling me about the whole French/Canadian thing, they're pretty serious about defending their french over there! Olivia's dad is from Wagga Wagga, and she couldn't believe it when I said I knew where it was - apparently no one outside Australia knows the stereotypical Australian place name! Haha...
One of the funnier things about spending so much time with Olivia and Amanda (and our American (honourary Canadian) friend Jess) has been noticing the differences in pronunciation of words and the phrases we use - it's almost like a different dialect, every few sentences we come across something we say differently. For example, they'd never heard 'Wednesday week' before, and they pronounce 'basil' sounding like 'basal' - I keep telling them it's a different word! Some of the funnier Canadian things include 'sketch', like dodgy ('that was the sketchiest bathroom I've ever seen'), and not pronouncing the 'h' at the start of 'herb' ('Clairol 'erbal Essances'. Seriously). I've also found that a lot of the exchange students who don't speak English as a first language have a bit of trouble understanding my accent (and I don't think I have a particularly strong accent) - I guess they're just not used to hearing Australian accents as much as american and english. There is a New Zealander here who has an incredibly strong accent, I don't know how he can communicate with anyone!
The exchange student organisation arranged a day trip to Venice for us on Saturday Feb 2nd, the main day of Carnevale. As excited as we were, it was very hard to drag ourselves out of bed/couch at 5.30am to make the bus by 6.30 - which left an hour late anyway. Grrrr. After a few hours on the bus we finally arrived, spent ages waiting around in the car park (we don't know why), then at the ferry stop, until everyone finally decided to walk into Venice rather than take the 6.50 euro ferry. At least they gave us lunch (and a free dodgy mask and confetti). On the walk people were throwing confetti EVERYWHERE - a month later we are still finding it in clothes and bags we took to Venice (no, seriously, it's bad). We were really hoping it would be a nice sunny day. Of course, it rained. All day. And it was freezing cold! My shoes took several days to dry out after that!
We took our time to stroll from the top end of Venice (where the bus park is) right down to St Mark's square on the opposite side. We stopped a lot to go mask shopping, and check out all the overpriced souveniers and jewellery we couldn't afford. Most of the masks are pretty generic (like, exciting, but you can buy pretty much the same ones in every shop and stall), but there are some amazing shops who make only masks - expensive, but so amazing! There were people everywhere dressed in amazing costumes (some period, but lots of random things) - even tourists, we heard quite a few speaking English and German.
Apart from the costumes, though, there wasn't much happening, I was a bit surprised. There wasn't much to do apart from wander in the streets and look at the other people and the shops. We didn't make it to St Mark's square until evening, so didn't get to do any sight-seeing inside. I went inside the Basilica when we were in Venice with Sweethearts, but didn't see the Palazzo Ducale, so was a bit disappointed to have been to Venice twice now and missed it!
The main event was at 8pm, when there was a live show on a stage set up in St Mark's Square. Before then there had been a big band playing, and they opened with The Chicken! Exactly the same chart we played in Sweethearts - how funny! The main show featured a DJ who is apparently quite famous, and lots of guest singers who none of us had ever heard of. It was pretty random, suddenly the whole square became almost a dance party (in masks). There were all sorts of people wandering around with strange costumes and masks, and in the middle of it all, somehow, some Hare Krishnas started up a party with lots of singing and jumping around! There was a parade, but it wasn't very exciting, just a whole lot of guys dressed up as geishas.
Eventually we headed back to the bus - took the ferry this time!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Torino (Turin)
The day I left for Torino, I experienced my first public transport strike in Milan, and it sucked. Things started going wrong first thing in the morning, when I went to Nina's place to leave some stuff with her. Getting out of the metro, I took the tram the wrong way, walked down the wrong canal and didn't realise for ages. Then the strike started, and trying to get back to Nina's place was a nightmare, with trams coming only every half an hour or so. I got there in the end but getting back to the hostel was even worse - trains were running, but not often and they only serviced the centre of the city, stopping well before my station. So I tried to catch a bus from that station, but that only went a few stops before that too stopped. In the end I walked for at least half an hour just to get back to the hostel. By then I was 2 hours past check-out time, and I think the staff weren't very impressed, but I was too tired and annoyed to care.
So finally I got myself to Central Station, and off to Torino. The hostel there is very cosy and only a short walk from the city, and I met a nice Scottish girl sharing my dorm. Torino is a lovely city with lots of snow-capped mountains nearby - it hosted the winter olympics a few years ago, but I didn't go to see any of the sights because I thought they were further out of the city than they actually were - and by the time I realised it was too late!
The centre of Torino is mostly off-limits to traffic at certain times of the day - there is a complicated system of zones and times during which traffic is not allowed, which, as far as I could tell, was largely ignored by the locals. A nice town to wander in, though. Torino is very proud of its chocolate, and the tourist office offers a booklet called a Chocopass, a 15 euro booklet with coupons for freebies and discounts at various local stores. Of course, I bought it. Biggest RIP-OFF ever: most of the things you could get were 10% off a 30 euro purchase or something like that, not freebies as it was marketed. I got as many freebies as I could (most expensive bloody chocolates I've ever had) and a very nice gelato, but was still annoyed at the whole scam.
Everywhere in Italy, there are streets named after Vittorio Emanuele II (even in Milan, the gallerie next to the Duomo is named for him: To Vittorio Emanuele II, from the Milanese people), who was the first King of (unified) Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, who is credited with bringing about Italian unification. Vittorio Emanuele was born in Torino, so they chose a particularly big street to name after him. Street names in Italy are intense, if it's named after someone, it's not just Emanuele street, you get the full name: Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. Very confusing when looking up street directories.
Spent a long time in Torino's Egyptian Museum, rated as one of the best in the world. There were literally thousands of exhibits, from statues, tombstones, and books to mummies and jewellery. It was all really interesting. I get the feeling with a lot of these Italian museums that they're gradually (piano piano) modernising them. The beginning of the museum is very modern and well set out, with clear signs and English translation for everything. As you move along, though, things gradually deteriorate until you're in a plain room with a few shelves and some exhibits randomly placed, with maybe a few sentences of explanation, only in Italian. Very funny. Like everything else in Italy, it's a work in progress.
I had dinner at an English pub on the way home - asked the waitress what something was on the menu and she asked me if I spoke English and explained. Turns out she's from New Zealand, we had a bit of a chat! Random! Spoke Italian for most of the weekend (at the hostel and in shops etc), and managed to get around OK which was nice!
On Sunday I went to the Mole Antonelliana, a crazy-looking building which was built in 1863 as a synagogue, then 'acquired' by the city council 15 years later. It's considered the symbol of the city (it certainly dominates the skyline) and appears on Italian 2-cent coins (euro coins have different designs contributed by different countries - Italian has the Mole Antonelliana, Leonardo Da Vinci's famous picture of the man, the Colosseum, etc. There are also French, German, etc). Inside is a Cinema Museum, which went through the history of cinema (from still pictures and those Kinematoscope things (if you don't know what they are, look it up on wikipedia or something, I can't explain it in writing!)), as well as some exhibits of costumes, props and posters from famous films. There also a lift up the almost the top of the building, which meant fantastic views of the city!
Torino's Duomo houses the Shroud of Turin, which supposedly Christ's body was wrapped in after the crucifixion. The real thing is protected in a box but there is a replica on display, with x-rays. You can't make out much from the cloth but the x-ray picks up amazing, one might say unbelievable, detail. O_o. I find it very funny that the words 'according to tradition' are often used with these sort of relics. Milan's Duomo also has, according to tradition, one of the nails of the crucifixion (there are 11 officially recognised holy nails around the world).
I also did a tour of the Palazzo Reale, the royal residence which is very richly decorated. It was a bit of a fiasco, you can only go in with a guide at certain times, and the guide spoke Italian far too fast for me to understand. Fortunately I had an english audioguide, but he moved us through all the rooms so quickly I barely had time to listen to it!
After returning from Torino I spent a few days staying with Nina, one of the German girls from my language class. She had a spare bed because her housemate had not yet moved in. It was great to spend a few days with her, and particularly to have a kitchen! She lives in a cute little apartment on the 7th floor (no lift), not far from uni which was a nice change!
Some general observations about Italian apartments:
So finally I got myself to Central Station, and off to Torino. The hostel there is very cosy and only a short walk from the city, and I met a nice Scottish girl sharing my dorm. Torino is a lovely city with lots of snow-capped mountains nearby - it hosted the winter olympics a few years ago, but I didn't go to see any of the sights because I thought they were further out of the city than they actually were - and by the time I realised it was too late!
The centre of Torino is mostly off-limits to traffic at certain times of the day - there is a complicated system of zones and times during which traffic is not allowed, which, as far as I could tell, was largely ignored by the locals. A nice town to wander in, though. Torino is very proud of its chocolate, and the tourist office offers a booklet called a Chocopass, a 15 euro booklet with coupons for freebies and discounts at various local stores. Of course, I bought it. Biggest RIP-OFF ever: most of the things you could get were 10% off a 30 euro purchase or something like that, not freebies as it was marketed. I got as many freebies as I could (most expensive bloody chocolates I've ever had) and a very nice gelato, but was still annoyed at the whole scam.
Everywhere in Italy, there are streets named after Vittorio Emanuele II (even in Milan, the gallerie next to the Duomo is named for him: To Vittorio Emanuele II, from the Milanese people), who was the first King of (unified) Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, who is credited with bringing about Italian unification. Vittorio Emanuele was born in Torino, so they chose a particularly big street to name after him. Street names in Italy are intense, if it's named after someone, it's not just Emanuele street, you get the full name: Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. Very confusing when looking up street directories.
Spent a long time in Torino's Egyptian Museum, rated as one of the best in the world. There were literally thousands of exhibits, from statues, tombstones, and books to mummies and jewellery. It was all really interesting. I get the feeling with a lot of these Italian museums that they're gradually (piano piano) modernising them. The beginning of the museum is very modern and well set out, with clear signs and English translation for everything. As you move along, though, things gradually deteriorate until you're in a plain room with a few shelves and some exhibits randomly placed, with maybe a few sentences of explanation, only in Italian. Very funny. Like everything else in Italy, it's a work in progress.
I had dinner at an English pub on the way home - asked the waitress what something was on the menu and she asked me if I spoke English and explained. Turns out she's from New Zealand, we had a bit of a chat! Random! Spoke Italian for most of the weekend (at the hostel and in shops etc), and managed to get around OK which was nice!
On Sunday I went to the Mole Antonelliana, a crazy-looking building which was built in 1863 as a synagogue, then 'acquired' by the city council 15 years later. It's considered the symbol of the city (it certainly dominates the skyline) and appears on Italian 2-cent coins (euro coins have different designs contributed by different countries - Italian has the Mole Antonelliana, Leonardo Da Vinci's famous picture of the man, the Colosseum, etc. There are also French, German, etc). Inside is a Cinema Museum, which went through the history of cinema (from still pictures and those Kinematoscope things (if you don't know what they are, look it up on wikipedia or something, I can't explain it in writing!)), as well as some exhibits of costumes, props and posters from famous films. There also a lift up the almost the top of the building, which meant fantastic views of the city!
Torino's Duomo houses the Shroud of Turin, which supposedly Christ's body was wrapped in after the crucifixion. The real thing is protected in a box but there is a replica on display, with x-rays. You can't make out much from the cloth but the x-ray picks up amazing, one might say unbelievable, detail. O_o. I find it very funny that the words 'according to tradition' are often used with these sort of relics. Milan's Duomo also has, according to tradition, one of the nails of the crucifixion (there are 11 officially recognised holy nails around the world).
I also did a tour of the Palazzo Reale, the royal residence which is very richly decorated. It was a bit of a fiasco, you can only go in with a guide at certain times, and the guide spoke Italian far too fast for me to understand. Fortunately I had an english audioguide, but he moved us through all the rooms so quickly I barely had time to listen to it!
After returning from Torino I spent a few days staying with Nina, one of the German girls from my language class. She had a spare bed because her housemate had not yet moved in. It was great to spend a few days with her, and particularly to have a kitchen! She lives in a cute little apartment on the 7th floor (no lift), not far from uni which was a nice change!
Some general observations about Italian apartments:
- They are usually small and cramped
- They are usually quite old and have unappealing colour schemes
- The buildings are usually square in shape with a courtyard in the middle. You enter through a door from the street and come through the first building into the courtyard, from where there are a number of staircases leading into the other buildings.
- Heating is usually centrally controlled, and usually extremely over-used
- Locks on the doors often have 3 or 4 deadlocks. Nina has to turn the key about 10 times to unlock the door!
- Bathrooms usually have a bidet. Who uses them?
- Washing machines are usually very small and take AGES (up to 2 hours) to do a cycle
- Hot water tanks are usually very small
- They are usually not very well lit. i.e. not even a ceiling light in the lounge room in some cases.
- There is usually no garden, and people often have little pot plants hanging from their balconies (or just in the corridor)
On the Monday night, Siobhan Stagg (from choir) came to visit me, which was great! We went out for an aperativo, which she really enjoyed, and she told me all about her trip so far. Like Rachel she has been travelling around Europe, mainly in the UK, and getting a few lessons, which sounded really good! She had just come from Venice and was still wearing her mask!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Language Course
The Italian course at Bocconi went really quickly. We did a review of most grammar but I don't think I got enough practice at talking. I still find it quite difficult to think of things I want to say, even though I can understand most of what others say. I think it was easier for those of French/Spanish/Portugese background in our class to participate in the discussions we had in class because the vocab is so similar - my German friends and I found that by the time we'd thought of what we wanted to say, the conversation had already headed off elsewhere!
We did have some interesting conversations, though. The topics ranged from films we liked, sport, and food, to immigration and other more serious issues. Italians tend to eat dinner relatively late - about 8 or 9pm, which for me and the americans and canadians was crazy! But apparently it is the same in South America. We also had plenty of complaining sessions about things that were annoying us about Italy, as we were almost all settling in for the first time. Most of us had at one stage or another been surprised by the lack of customer service here - I had expected it to be good, but it is quite a lot worse than in Aus. Our teacher attributes it to a lack (not necessarily a bad thing) of the 'money-making mentality' - if a waiter wants to watch the soccer match, he won't serve you. People make careers of being waiters or baristas and take pride in their work, but being polite is not a part of that 'work'. There is certainly no 'customer is always right' concept here - which is refreshing and frustrating at the same time.
We did have some interesting conversations, though. The topics ranged from films we liked, sport, and food, to immigration and other more serious issues. Italians tend to eat dinner relatively late - about 8 or 9pm, which for me and the americans and canadians was crazy! But apparently it is the same in South America. We also had plenty of complaining sessions about things that were annoying us about Italy, as we were almost all settling in for the first time. Most of us had at one stage or another been surprised by the lack of customer service here - I had expected it to be good, but it is quite a lot worse than in Aus. Our teacher attributes it to a lack (not necessarily a bad thing) of the 'money-making mentality' - if a waiter wants to watch the soccer match, he won't serve you. People make careers of being waiters or baristas and take pride in their work, but being polite is not a part of that 'work'. There is certainly no 'customer is always right' concept here - which is refreshing and frustrating at the same time.
It was great being in a class with people from such a range of different countries. There were only three or four 'mother tongue' English speakers, we realised, but of course everyone speaks English anyway. The teachers spoke 99.9% of the time in Italian, but when they had to explain a phrase or saying they would tell us the equivalent in English.
Olivia and I really noticed the effects of peoples' accents on the way we speak Italian. For example, the Americans both have really strong accents and somehow hearing them speak Italian was almost like hearing them speak English, it was very funny. The people from spanish backgrounds always had slightly different vowel sounds, the french guy sounds, well, french (as he does when he's speaking English), and the germans always pronounce a word ending with an 'e' as though the 'e' were the german neutral sound. The one thing we could all agree on was that no one could understand what the turkish girl said.
Our class gets along really well and we tend to congregate together when we go out or to a party. At the beginning it was pretty funny to be surrounded by people from such diverse backgrounds, all speaking in English. Now, we try our best to speak in (fairly bad) Italian as much as possible - usually we relapse into English but it's fun. There's nothing quite like watching a brazillian and a czech having a chat in Italian (especially after a glass of wine!).Friday, February 1, 2008
Bergamo
At the end of our first week in Milan there was a trip 'organised' for exchange students to Bergamo, a city about an hour away by train. I say 'organised' because about the only thing they did was buy a group train ticket for us. Bergamo's Citta Alta, the oldest part of the city, is on top of the hill at the centre of Bergamo and is full of cute old buildings. We had a nice walk up there from the train station, and visited a little Chapel, Cappella Colleoni. Within an hour a group of 10 of us, mostly from our class, had been separated from the rest of the group, and we had no idea where they were or what time they were heading back to Milan. Unperturbed, we got lunch and proceeded to wander around Bergamo for the whole afternoon. Half of the appeal in these old Italian towns, I think, is just wandering around, looking at the cute little cobble-stoned streets and the old buildings - and there was plenty of that to see in Bergamo!
The group included two germans, Anne and Lydia, Jenny from the US, Bastien from France, Andrea from Lima, Iiris from Finland and three norwegian guys. We had a lot of fun wandering around and getting to know each other a bit better. We think we counted about 4 bell towers (and we don't THINK they were the same), which seemed like a lot for a town of that size! We saw the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a nice church beautifully decorated with paintings and tapestries (and an enormous organ!). We also ended up in the gardens of a fort, which was fairly high up and had great views of the surrounding area! We thought about going to the Castle in Bergamo, but decided instead to stop for a coffee/cioccolata (it was getting really cold). We headed back to the train station when it got dark and, funnily enough, ran into pretty much the whole exchange cohort waiting for the next train! Most people had spent the day doing their own thing, as it turned out. Classic Italian organisation.
While we were in Bergamo we decided to try something from a pasticceria. For those who have never been to Italy, sometimes it seems like there's a pasticceria on every block. They make pastries, anything from crossaints to tarts and everything you can imagine inbetween. For the first time we saw a polenta cake (didn't look too appealing), and I tried a crostata di cioccolato, basically a sweet tart with nutella as the centre. SO GOOD. Nutella's huge over here, it's a really common ingredient in most pastries and they sell it in enormous packs in the supermarket (like, 1kg jars). Obviously I don't go shopping for nutella all that often but I don't think I've ever seen a jar that size in Australia. It seems to me so far that people tend to snack on sweet things, like these pastries, quite a lot.
I've also never been in a place which (a) lists the pharmacies that are open 24 hours per day in the paper, or even (b) HAS 24-hr pharmacies.
The group included two germans, Anne and Lydia, Jenny from the US, Bastien from France, Andrea from Lima, Iiris from Finland and three norwegian guys. We had a lot of fun wandering around and getting to know each other a bit better. We think we counted about 4 bell towers (and we don't THINK they were the same), which seemed like a lot for a town of that size! We saw the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a nice church beautifully decorated with paintings and tapestries (and an enormous organ!). We also ended up in the gardens of a fort, which was fairly high up and had great views of the surrounding area! We thought about going to the Castle in Bergamo, but decided instead to stop for a coffee/cioccolata (it was getting really cold). We headed back to the train station when it got dark and, funnily enough, ran into pretty much the whole exchange cohort waiting for the next train! Most people had spent the day doing their own thing, as it turned out. Classic Italian organisation.
While we were in Bergamo we decided to try something from a pasticceria. For those who have never been to Italy, sometimes it seems like there's a pasticceria on every block. They make pastries, anything from crossaints to tarts and everything you can imagine inbetween. For the first time we saw a polenta cake (didn't look too appealing), and I tried a crostata di cioccolato, basically a sweet tart with nutella as the centre. SO GOOD. Nutella's huge over here, it's a really common ingredient in most pastries and they sell it in enormous packs in the supermarket (like, 1kg jars). Obviously I don't go shopping for nutella all that often but I don't think I've ever seen a jar that size in Australia. It seems to me so far that people tend to snack on sweet things, like these pastries, quite a lot.
I've also never been in a place which (a) lists the pharmacies that are open 24 hours per day in the paper, or even (b) HAS 24-hr pharmacies.
Aperativo
There is a wonderful thing in Milan called Aperativo. I believe it is a Milanese tradition, but it is gradually seeping out into other parts of northern Italy. As the name implies, it is meant as a pre-dinner appetiser. From about 6pm most bars offer a 'Happy Hour' (which usually last about 4 or 5 hours), and if you buy a drink (usually 7 euros), you can help yourself to the buffet of finger food provided, which can include anything from cheese, ham, mini pizzas, salads, fruit salads, pasta salads, hot pasta, polenta, bread, fish fingers, chips, bite-sized chicken pieces, and even at one place, waffles with chocolate sauce. The Italian thing to do is to grab a small plate or two, have your drink and then head out to dinner (by about 8 or 9pm). The thing exchange students do is eat enough to make it dinner. Naturally it's cheaper to cook for yourself - but if you were going to have a drink anyway, it's basically a free meal. There are aperativos (aperativi, I guess) at most bars, and we've figured out the good places to go by now. You could easily go to a different one each night for several weeks!
Drinks in Italy, both at aperativo and elsewhere, are very strong - shots are not measured, the bartender just pours however much they feel like (usually at least half the glass). Be warned. And don't believe anything anyone tells you about Italians not drinking to excess. If you believe what you hear, the presence of wine at family meals from the age of 12 means that Italians only drink alcohol to enjoy it, don't have a culture of 'getting drunk' and should be held up as a shining example of tolerance creating an mature attitude in society towards alcohol. In Milan, at least, it's blatantly not true.
Drinks in Italy, both at aperativo and elsewhere, are very strong - shots are not measured, the bartender just pours however much they feel like (usually at least half the glass). Be warned. And don't believe anything anyone tells you about Italians not drinking to excess. If you believe what you hear, the presence of wine at family meals from the age of 12 means that Italians only drink alcohol to enjoy it, don't have a culture of 'getting drunk' and should be held up as a shining example of tolerance creating an mature attitude in society towards alcohol. In Milan, at least, it's blatantly not true.
Language course and second week in Milan
My pre-semester Italian language course started on Monday and so far has been really good. I'm in the lower advanced class - there are two advanced classes, but classes were allocated on on-line test scores, so they combined the two on the first day so that they could divide us based on our speaking/comprehension skills. So, on the first day everyone had to get up and introduce themselves, and talk for a bit (in Italian, obviously). There are lots of people who have lived in Italy, or who have Italian parents, or who have been learning Italian for 5 or 6 years so the standard was pretty high......
At the end of the class the two teachers went through everyone and decided, in front of us all, whether they would be in the more fluent Avanzata 2 or less fluent Avanzata 1. It was pretty intimidating, and the teachers certainly have no qualms about putting people on the spot or evaluating them in front of everyone else! I was considering going down a level to the intermediate class because I didn't think I could keep up with the pace the teachers were speaking at - I've never heard anyone speak that fast! I couldn't understand anyone talking that fast in English, let alone Italian! Now that the classes are separate most of the people are about my level, although most are more competent speakers than me! We cover the same material as Avanzata 2 and have the same two teachers who switch halfway through the day, but our level of fluency is more even so we can have better discussions (but most of us don't talk all that much!).
My class includes 2 german girls, Anna and Nina, who are very friendly, Olga, a Russian who is a big fashionista and goes to all the catwalk shows, a couple from Brazil, girls from Mexico, Peru and Argentina, 3 americans, 2 canadians, guys from Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, France and the Netherlands, a girl from Sweden, and a whole mix of other people. The Brazilian guy introduced his girlfriend as his 'fidanzata' - which I (and a lot of other people) had learnt as fiancee! In Italian, apparently, it just means long-term boyfriend or girlfriend, but we spent quite a while under the impression that they were engaged! They are a sweet couple though, they finish each others' sentences in class which is very cute.
Somehow, amongst all these people with such varied backgrounds, being Australian is quite a novelty. In my class there is, for example, a girl whose parents are Spanish, but she lives in the Dominican Republic (never met anyone from there before!) and studies in the U.S. - and the first thing she said to me was 'I LOVE Australian accents! You have to introduce me to lots of Australian people!'. Very funny.
We all get along pretty well so far and have been out for a drink a few times. Had my first Milan clubbing experience at 'The Club', which Olga informs us is the place to be on a Thursday night. Haven't yet been kicked out of anywhere for not dressing well enough, the places we've been to have been pretty relaxed so far and a lot less dressy and fashion-conscious than I expected. There are certainly plenty of activities arranged for exchange students, including a trip to Bergamo tomorrow, apparently a really beautiful town with a medieval centre.
Organising my Italian permit of stay was a PAIN - Italian bureaucracy at its worst (and most expensive). The whole process involves filling out an 8-page form (and much more if you're a worker), which is only in Italian (seems a bit stupid given that only foreigners have to fill it out, you'd think they'd have one available in English at least!), and requires really specific details about where you're from, how you came to Italy etc etc.
It's supposed to be done within 8 days of entry into Italy, and, not realising what a ridiculously long process it was, I only went to get the form from the post office on my eighth day. Following the directions from Bocconi people I tried to find a nearby post office which, as far as I could see, didn't actually exist, and was subsequently sent to 3 other post offices: the first 2 had run out of forms. I tried at first to do it on my own but just couldn't get it all sorted out, and not being able to get any help on the phone or over the internet I decided to risk staying for an extra day without the permit and go to the Bocconi-run session the next day. It's Italy, no one cares.
The session took about an hour and a half (!!) but I finally got the form filled in and handed in at the post office with all the required photocopies (including a copy of EVERY PAGE of my passport!!!), and Italian Stamp Duty (which you can buy from corner stores), and about 80 euros later I am finally in posession of a temporary permit of stay. The full one is confirmed (in theory) at a later appointment at a police station where they review all of the original documents we had to photocopy for the application... ugh. Olga, who was here last semester, tells us that after 4 months she still hasn't had her appointment, so I have a feeling that I just wasted a lot of time and money for something that really isn't necessary. Oh well. Also had to pay 130 euros for the language course, and buy some textbooks, so money withdrawl fees are pretty nasty at the moment.
Did a stupid thing with my travellers cash card - didn't realise before I left that I would have to complete a 100-point ID check before leaving to use internet re-load. Obviously I can't do that over here so I can do nothing to load my card, and have to get Dad to do it from Australia. Bah.
It seems like everything here is incredibly inefficient. Every receipt for a major payment I've had so far - permit of stay and the language course, for example - has to have your name and address on the 3 or 4 copies, and it's all handwritten. It's funny, Australians (as far as I'm aware) don't tend to think of themselves as being particularly efficient, ordered or technologically advanced, but compared to the Italians..... well, it's like we're some super-advanced alien race.
Supermarket shopping in Italy is an experience. The first thing I noticed is that they charge for plastic bags (and I have no objection - but I don't see many people bringing their own, it seems like most pay the 4 cents or whatever it is anyway). The second thing is that they really, REALLY don't like giving change, and will always ask you if you have the 68 cents or whatever. They are very unimpressed if you don't have it (often they don't have enough change themselves. In a SUPERMARKET!). You can also make yourself very unpopular if you try to pay by card in a supermarket. Bizarrely, though, they have embraced these self-service petrol pumps, where you can buy petrol just by putting your money in, no servos needed. Smart idea. Can't pay by card though.
Had a lonely planet day today, following the good book to a few interesting things west of the city. Spent almost half the day in the National Museum of science and technology - lots of interesting exhibits from air & naval transport (including lots of actual boats, planes, and a submarine), production processes and recycling, to musical instruments, astronomy and time. They also had a series of models based on Da Vinci's sketches, lots of things from revolving bridges and war ships to experiments for testing the strength of wire. Amazing mind, even just the bredth of stuff here is amazing to see, without taking into account the paintings and everything else he did. Would like to find out a bit more about him while I'm here, he spent a fair bit of time in Milan and there are a few exhibitions and things about him. I also went to the War Memorial, and the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milan. They keep Ambrogio's remains underneath the altar, dressed up nicely and sealed in a glass case along with two martyrs. I think I could see a bit of his skull. I've always found this business of preserving peoples' remains a bit bizarre. All of the 3 guys in this church had been buried once or twice before, then been dug up and moved somewhere else.
I'm still staying at the Youth Hostel, which is fine except that it's a long way out of the city and it takes about 40 minutes to get to uni. It's also frustrating not to have anywhere to cook! At least breakfast is included - I usually manage to take a few bread rolls away with me for lunch too!
At the end of the class the two teachers went through everyone and decided, in front of us all, whether they would be in the more fluent Avanzata 2 or less fluent Avanzata 1. It was pretty intimidating, and the teachers certainly have no qualms about putting people on the spot or evaluating them in front of everyone else! I was considering going down a level to the intermediate class because I didn't think I could keep up with the pace the teachers were speaking at - I've never heard anyone speak that fast! I couldn't understand anyone talking that fast in English, let alone Italian! Now that the classes are separate most of the people are about my level, although most are more competent speakers than me! We cover the same material as Avanzata 2 and have the same two teachers who switch halfway through the day, but our level of fluency is more even so we can have better discussions (but most of us don't talk all that much!).
My class includes 2 german girls, Anna and Nina, who are very friendly, Olga, a Russian who is a big fashionista and goes to all the catwalk shows, a couple from Brazil, girls from Mexico, Peru and Argentina, 3 americans, 2 canadians, guys from Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, France and the Netherlands, a girl from Sweden, and a whole mix of other people. The Brazilian guy introduced his girlfriend as his 'fidanzata' - which I (and a lot of other people) had learnt as fiancee! In Italian, apparently, it just means long-term boyfriend or girlfriend, but we spent quite a while under the impression that they were engaged! They are a sweet couple though, they finish each others' sentences in class which is very cute.
Somehow, amongst all these people with such varied backgrounds, being Australian is quite a novelty. In my class there is, for example, a girl whose parents are Spanish, but she lives in the Dominican Republic (never met anyone from there before!) and studies in the U.S. - and the first thing she said to me was 'I LOVE Australian accents! You have to introduce me to lots of Australian people!'. Very funny.
We all get along pretty well so far and have been out for a drink a few times. Had my first Milan clubbing experience at 'The Club', which Olga informs us is the place to be on a Thursday night. Haven't yet been kicked out of anywhere for not dressing well enough, the places we've been to have been pretty relaxed so far and a lot less dressy and fashion-conscious than I expected. There are certainly plenty of activities arranged for exchange students, including a trip to Bergamo tomorrow, apparently a really beautiful town with a medieval centre.
Organising my Italian permit of stay was a PAIN - Italian bureaucracy at its worst (and most expensive). The whole process involves filling out an 8-page form (and much more if you're a worker), which is only in Italian (seems a bit stupid given that only foreigners have to fill it out, you'd think they'd have one available in English at least!), and requires really specific details about where you're from, how you came to Italy etc etc.
It's supposed to be done within 8 days of entry into Italy, and, not realising what a ridiculously long process it was, I only went to get the form from the post office on my eighth day. Following the directions from Bocconi people I tried to find a nearby post office which, as far as I could see, didn't actually exist, and was subsequently sent to 3 other post offices: the first 2 had run out of forms. I tried at first to do it on my own but just couldn't get it all sorted out, and not being able to get any help on the phone or over the internet I decided to risk staying for an extra day without the permit and go to the Bocconi-run session the next day. It's Italy, no one cares.
The session took about an hour and a half (!!) but I finally got the form filled in and handed in at the post office with all the required photocopies (including a copy of EVERY PAGE of my passport!!!), and Italian Stamp Duty (which you can buy from corner stores), and about 80 euros later I am finally in posession of a temporary permit of stay. The full one is confirmed (in theory) at a later appointment at a police station where they review all of the original documents we had to photocopy for the application... ugh. Olga, who was here last semester, tells us that after 4 months she still hasn't had her appointment, so I have a feeling that I just wasted a lot of time and money for something that really isn't necessary. Oh well. Also had to pay 130 euros for the language course, and buy some textbooks, so money withdrawl fees are pretty nasty at the moment.
Did a stupid thing with my travellers cash card - didn't realise before I left that I would have to complete a 100-point ID check before leaving to use internet re-load. Obviously I can't do that over here so I can do nothing to load my card, and have to get Dad to do it from Australia. Bah.
It seems like everything here is incredibly inefficient. Every receipt for a major payment I've had so far - permit of stay and the language course, for example - has to have your name and address on the 3 or 4 copies, and it's all handwritten. It's funny, Australians (as far as I'm aware) don't tend to think of themselves as being particularly efficient, ordered or technologically advanced, but compared to the Italians..... well, it's like we're some super-advanced alien race.
Supermarket shopping in Italy is an experience. The first thing I noticed is that they charge for plastic bags (and I have no objection - but I don't see many people bringing their own, it seems like most pay the 4 cents or whatever it is anyway). The second thing is that they really, REALLY don't like giving change, and will always ask you if you have the 68 cents or whatever. They are very unimpressed if you don't have it (often they don't have enough change themselves. In a SUPERMARKET!). You can also make yourself very unpopular if you try to pay by card in a supermarket. Bizarrely, though, they have embraced these self-service petrol pumps, where you can buy petrol just by putting your money in, no servos needed. Smart idea. Can't pay by card though.
Had a lonely planet day today, following the good book to a few interesting things west of the city. Spent almost half the day in the National Museum of science and technology - lots of interesting exhibits from air & naval transport (including lots of actual boats, planes, and a submarine), production processes and recycling, to musical instruments, astronomy and time. They also had a series of models based on Da Vinci's sketches, lots of things from revolving bridges and war ships to experiments for testing the strength of wire. Amazing mind, even just the bredth of stuff here is amazing to see, without taking into account the paintings and everything else he did. Would like to find out a bit more about him while I'm here, he spent a fair bit of time in Milan and there are a few exhibitions and things about him. I also went to the War Memorial, and the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milan. They keep Ambrogio's remains underneath the altar, dressed up nicely and sealed in a glass case along with two martyrs. I think I could see a bit of his skull. I've always found this business of preserving peoples' remains a bit bizarre. All of the 3 guys in this church had been buried once or twice before, then been dug up and moved somewhere else.
I'm still staying at the Youth Hostel, which is fine except that it's a long way out of the city and it takes about 40 minutes to get to uni. It's also frustrating not to have anywhere to cook! At least breakfast is included - I usually manage to take a few bread rolls away with me for lunch too!
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