EDIT: change of location

So I am not in Rome.  Turns out the tickets were accidently booked  for MARCH 20th.  The woman at the airport had to point that out to us so we wasted to money getting their and back which is a bummer.  

But on the brightside.... on Sunday I get to attend a Battle of the Oranges in a small northern town of Italy.  So excited to throw oranges at people -- that will be a great stress reliever to forget about our Rome misfortunes.  

On a Milanese street.  That blue guy is now on my bedroom wall.

This is the Pollauiolo Market right on my street every Tuesday and Saturday.  

Taking pictures on the metro is only okay when you are with a group of photo students.  Awkward.

He fell from a plant onto my table at a bar.  I think the little guy may have peed himself.

Chasing cats in Stresa!  How many can you spot???

The difficulty of it all....

...and by all I mean how awful I am at updating already.  But alas, I now have my laptop back in my hands, working!  Albeit totally wiped and dataless.  (Not to mention the day before it arrived, I became Ipod less).  The only song I have to listen to is a Tilly and the Wall cover of Outkast's Hey Ya that Ben e-mailed me.  Nothing gets me going in the morning quite like a crappy live version recording playing on repeat.  

Homework has really picked up; Italian teachers are pretty shoddy at conveying what they want to get across in English.  I have no doubt in their native tongue they are respectable and intelligent, but some hardly understand what they are saying to us, let alone how to respond when a student asks a question.  The discombobulation of the Italian culture is also very evident in their teaching styles and impromptu assignment giving.  This may be an interesting semester academic-wise (which has been at the forefront of my attention this week...even before what my next gelato flavor to try might be).  

Well, with that quick update, I leave you with some photos to feast your eyes on.  I have to get up in 4 hours for a flight to Rome for the weekend.  I promise there will be many pictures and stories to tell after the coming three days.  

Some may call it pathetic to be most excited to go to the 1 euro bin at a discount store in downtown Rome my friend Grace has been talking up.  I reply: I have never been much for touristy sight-then-gawk traveling, and my rummage skills are beyond belief. 

Weekend Festivities

So I just finished my first photography class and already am in love. Actually I had a very awkward experience following the class where I was exhuberantly talking about how much i already adore the professor (which doesn't happen that often you know, the exhuberant talking) and he was right behind me listening to the whole thing. Oh well, could have been the exact opposite and then way more awkward. It is digital photo which is a little disappointing because I really want to learn about the dark room and my digital camera is not the best, but I am excited to find interesting things in Milan to take pictures of besides the european architecture.

Yesterday I saw a 6 year old girl drinking from a beer bottle. That would be a good picture. My friend Jake and I went out to get lost in the city by taking random trams to unknown destinations. We ended up at a huge cemetary (250,000 sq. meters...HUGE). Here are some pictures of it, although they do not do the monument justice:



We exited the cemetary on the opposite side and ended up in the slums of Milan. I did not even know such places existed in the city so it was interesting to see. I felt a little uneasy because of the amount of cash I had on me, but I put it in my boots along with my credit cards and iPod just in case. I definitely want to go back sometime when I don't have any valuables besides my camera on me.

This weekend was also full of meeting locals. At the bar right down my street we met a group of 20 somethings who were very good at english. They told us about some local places to visit and also that the beer at the Kebap (think local falafel house, but open late and EVERYWHERE...there are two on my block) is cheaper than at the bar, so they buy it there and then pour it into glasses at the bar to hang out. Haha, so clever. Then the next day there was a guy on the metro with a backpack on so Jake and I asked if he was traveling around Europe. Turns out he is from Milan and was just leaving for the weekend to visit friends. He seemed very down to earth and told us a story about his friend losing his hat in a creek. Facebook is amazing because it is so easy keep connections with random people you strike up conversations with on the metro. Hopefully when Pietro gets back to Milan he wants to meet Jake and I for a beer because he wants to practice his English.

I am so impressed with Italians' English. They always apologize for it being bad, but I just tell them it is much better than my Italian, and it is much harder to learn.

I think I am overly lucky, but one day something horribly catestrophic is going to happen to me. I can feel it slowly approaching. Probably something like falling down one of the metal grates on the sidewalk into the subway system right when a train is going by. But at least people can talk about how lucky I was when I was alive. Saturday night I was eating Hazelnut gelato and was said "I really wish they would just give me one of the actual hazelnuts that decorate the gelato display". Not even a full spoon scoop later, a hazelnut was in my gelato. I am also one of the few IES people not cold or sinus ridden. Also, my hard drive crashed and I lost everything, but now Apple is sending me replacement software that I had on my computer such as Word, Excel, etc...but actually I pirated it before so... free software, wishes instantly coming true, indestructive immune system, living in Milano. So lucky.

Tired Fingers

This is the best tram ever in Milan. It still has those lights on it, not just for holiday....who knows.

Meghan and I cut my hair as soon as I got here, short!!!!!!

The view from my apartment...Via Polliauolo. You can't tell from this picture, but there is sweet graffiti everywhere....especially of Gary Colman's face.

This is the view from the hotel room in Stresa that Meghan and I first stayed in for orientation. Those mountains are Switzerland.

After much deliberation about the pros and cons of blogging about my Milano experience, my fingers finally provided me with a loud YES. It was getting difficult to remember who I had told what, and who I forgot to e-mail, blahh blahh. So here it is - a record of my experiences and thoughts on life abroad. I am computerless in europe, but have access to a lab at school, therefore the blog will be lacking the amount of phots I would like it to have, but oh well.

Ciao.