Life gets busy

It is a good feeling being busy. Also, one of the positive things about living with a host family is that I personally wouldn't feel as comfortable sitting around all day doing nothing in someone else's house as I would in my own house or apartment. It makes me get out more.

About a month or a month and a half ago, I actually started getting annoyed at myself for not going out and meeting new people. Part of what fascinated me about study abroad was that I was meeting new people every day. Being in a big university city, you makes friends with the friends of friends and so on and so forth and the cycle never ends. Being a teacher and not a college kid though makes things harder. So, when I realized I was getting cabin fever I decided to make a profile on Meetup.com which is a website which tells you "meet ups" that are happening in your city. A couple of the ones that I remember were:

-"Indian dinner" which was a group of people that meets up once a week to eat out at an Indian restaurant because they really love Indian food.
-"Young Professional Women" which is exactly what it sounds like i.e. young professional women getting together to socialize, chat, discuss their experiences

I decided to join a group called "Cheers Milan" which organizes an English speaking night at a local pub every Thursday. The afternoon that I made this decision was actually a Thursday, so I made up my mind to go out that night. Yesterday, I just went there for I believe the fourth time and it is always a good time. Most of the people that show up are Italians who want to practice their English so they always get excited and want to talk to my friends and I. I'm not complaining! As with all pubs, there are always a few characters in the mix and people always have crazy stories to tell that make me die laughing. It is great to get out.

Also, while for the first 2 months not a soul seemed interested in a private English tutor now I'm being flooded with requests. I guess word of mouth has a delayed, but strong response. I actually had my first two tutoring sessions this past Wednesday.

One woman rents out apartments to foreigners so she speaks English for work and wants to become completely fluent. She really takes the reins, knows exactly what she needs me there for, and is full of questions. If anyone who is reading this is in Italy, is thinking about giving private lessons, and wants to know what is a good price per hour you can ask me.  The teachers at school told me what the typical price is and it was actually much more than I expected and much more than I would have ever asked for if I hadn't double checked with them first. Don't sell yourself short!

Anyway, the other lesson was more informal. We just met up for an aperitivo and she paid for my drink, which in Milan can be fairly expensive so it worked out well as a payment.

Berlin

Had a great time in Berlin! Overall it struck me as a city with a lot of personality. I first got there on Friday night and then headed to the airport Monday afternoon for my flight back.

Friday: I got to my hostel around midnight and just went straight to sleep because I was exhausted. The place is called Heart of Gold Hostel and I'd recommend it to anyone who goes to visit Berlin. Free Wifi in the lobby which is spotty but again free, lockers in the rooms, sunglasses you can also rent out if you forget yours like I always do, all-you-can-eat breakfast 8 to 12 each morning for 4 euros, and best of all really catchy music in the reception area which puts you in the mood to socialize with the huge variety of people who you're going to meet there. I was really nervous about staying in a hostel by myself, especially because I chose to stay in a six person mixed room i.e. males and females. 

When I entered the room, it was empty except one guy sitting with his computer and said hi so of course I immediately assume he's a serial killer. Just kidding, well 99% kidding, 1% you-never-know. He ended up being a Chilean-Spaniard and the others who showed up later were Polish, German, and Italian. The funny thing is that I actually ended up inviting the first guy I met out to a bar with us and we spent most of the weekend together. One of my favorite things about traveling is making friends at the drop of a hat. He was even nice enough to accompany me to the airport on the last day. Aww.

Saturday: A few days before leaving for the trip, I signed up for the "Berlin Food Tour" which is a four hour long tour of the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin which my friend called the Manhattan of Berlin.  Basically, it is where you can find an endless amount of cute shops, restaurants, etc. The tour is really legit and has all kinds of reviews on Trip Advisor and the most amazing part is that it is all a one man show. The same guy- Bastian- does all of the tours himself and has it all down to a science. Anyway, we went around to I think about 15 specialty shops and restaurants and tried all kinds of things, including currywurst and local craft beer. My tour buddies were two American couples. One was living in Germany because the guy had some kind of army job there. The other couple basically up and quit their jobs in September to travel around Europe together for a year. How awesome is that? Here is the professional photo our guide took took of us:

We also saw all kinds of street art and someone I met there told me, "You can't talk about Berlin without talking about street art." Here are a couple examples:

Once I got out of the tour I was able to meet up with my friend who is studying abroad in Berlin right now and we took a walk around to see some of the more touristy sites. That night we went to a wine bar where you pay 2 euros, they give you a glass and you can drink as much as you want. There was some food there too so I ended stuffing my face as well. On your way out you leave a tip based on whatever you think your experience was worth I guess. The suggested amount is 2 euros a glass but people pay whatever they want or can. Saving some money and drinking some wine will always make for a night full of laughs. :p

Sunday: Sunday we tried to go to a flea market but it was closed so we headed off to see a palace in a neighborhood called Charlottenburg. Unfortunately, despite a long train ride and walk in the cold non of us really felt like spending the 8 euro entrance fee so I can't say we really learned much about the castle itself! One happy consequence of this wild goose chase around the city was that my friend and I had a huge appetite for an early dinner at a traditional German restaurant. Not touristy at all. In fact, I had to ask my friends to help me out because I didn't understand the menu at all. It was called Wirsthaus Hasenheide if anyone is interested. That night, I ate schnitzel <3 which for those of you that don't know- I didn't know before this weekend- is according to Wikipedia: "a boneless meat, thinned with a meat tenderizer, coated with flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs, then fried." Looks kind of like this:

That night, I got back to the hostel and wasn't at all ready for bed yet so I went on a mini adventure with my Chilean-Spanish buddy to the East Side Gallery, which is a fairly long part of the Berlin Wall which still stands and is completely covered on the eastern side by murals and works of art that were done in 1990. It represents freedom and artistic expression after such a terrible time in the city's history. After seeing that, we popped by Checkpoint Charlie and then headed back to the hostel.

Monday: On my last day, I spent the few hours I had left in the German History Museum which right near "Museum Island," an island full of museums on the Spree river. I guess it didn't fit. :p Anyway, it goes through the entire history of Germany which you probably guessed from the name, but I really only wanted to see the exhibitions about the World Wars. It turned out that that was plenty to see in three hours. Of course, everything was just jaw-dropping and heart-breaking but fascinating at the same time. After leaving the museum, I met up with my friend and went straight to the airport to head back to Italia. I didn't want to leave and I have to admit all I want to do now is hop on a plane to go somewhere else! I missed the feeling of being completely new to a place.

Halloween and more about work

I went to my first ever Italian Halloween party on Friday and the people that organized the party who some of the most enthusiastic Halloween lovers I've seen here. There were all kinds of decorations- the spider webs, little orange candles, orange pumpkin lights, other types of streamers and a fully carved Jack-o-lantern. Plus, everyone was in costume. However, I had to laugh when I saw the types of food that were on the table and I said to one of the guys who did the decorating and who seemed most excited about everything, "This is the best Halloween party ever, but you can tell that it is Italian. I'm not sure how many American Halloween parties have a bowl of mini mozzarella balls and a bowl of olives as appetizers!" He laughed too. Man, was there a lot of food...I haven't been that full in a while...P.S. I dressed up as Cupid and of course took no pictures because I always forget.

Anyway, tomorrow I start my first after-school conversation class. I'm doing three 20-week courses, one that meets every Monday 2:30pm-3:30pm, another that meets on Tuesday at the same time, and another on Wednesday at the same time. I'm already thinking about ways that I can make the class my own and give it structure. I think I'm definitely going to use one of the tricks my first ever Italian teacher used and give each student a little cheat sheet of English expressions that they can use to avoid using Italian in the classroom. For example, I'm going to include how to say, "How do you say _______ in English?", "What does _______ mean?", and "I don't understand, can you repeat that?" You'd be surprised at how often students will revert back to Italian just to say, "Come si dice _______ in inglese?" ("How do you say _______ in English?"). It seems innocent enough, but it really breaks the flow of speaking in English and makes it harder to concentrate on one language. Another thing is that a lot of students use the structure, "What is _______?" instead of "What does _______ mean?". For example the other day a student asked me, "What is 'cuddle''?" and yes it sounded very adorable and all, but I'd rather that they spoke like a native speakers! I hope the cheat sheet helps....

Another idea I might use is one that I learned from several of my professors in college. I think it would probably be best to have the students sit in a circle during class, especially because there are only 12 of them in each course. The idea is that if you are standing in front of the class and they are all facing you listening, it isn't the ideal environment for encouraging conversation between the students. Furthermore, in Italy students are much more used to the "You lecture. I listen." format of class and it can be hard at times for them to participate in a discussion-based classroom environment. Yet another reason to avoid making them feel like that is what this class is about!

Last update: my advisor didn't really know anyone who needed private lessons but she helped me make some mini flyers that I'm going to put up today when I go to town. The other American assistant also mentioned that she could hook me up with some potential clients which is great.

Updates

Since I last wrote, I been busy. Last weekend, Giuseppe came to visit and we spent the entire day in Milan Saturday seeing new sights and getting more familiar with the city. A friend of mine is currently doing her Master's here so she was nice enough to bring us around. One of the cuter places we saw was a church that has a sort of optical illusion inside. It is called Santa Maria Presso San Satiro. Essentially the back wall is painted in such a way that when you walk in it looks like this:

but when you walk further into the church and look from the side, you see that all that is painted above is actually painted on a single almost completely flat wall:

I thought that was awesome. Besides that, we mostly just saw the more touristy parts of Milan. This weekend, Giuseppe came back along with my beloved friend Katherine and a few of her buddies from Andorra. We did the touristy run through again but also made some useful discoveries about public bathrooms. 

(Bathroom side note: Just so everyone knows, there is a *free* public bathroom at Sforzesco Castle and one that costs fifty cents in the Burger King in Piazza Duomo. It prints out a little voucher so you can get your fifty cents back paying for a coffee or something.)

On Sunday, we went to Lake Como which was beautiful as expected and surrounded by mountains. Apparently, George Clooney's house is nestled further back from the part of the lake that you can actually see from the town of Como. Sadly, it isn't there for everyone to see. Anyway, here are a couple of the pictures I took. As you can see, northern Italy may not have anything on New England but the trees still get colorful here in the fall. 

I'm really liking the gym and the other day, I saw the hot tub for the first time and I think I fell in love. I also understand now where the high membership price comes from...It is a dream. Huge. Jets upon jets upon jets and neon lights under the water. Having access to something like this during the fall and winter time is just wonderful.

School is going well so far. I feel bad that I still haven't learned very many names, but I have 16 classes total and I don't think I'm going to be able to keep them all straight! This week, obviously I'll be talking about Halloween in a few of my classes as well as the books Gulliver's Travels and the Great Gatsby. Luckily I just watched the movie because the teacher for that class asked me to show some scenes for discussion this Friday.

Soon I'll be teaching three afterschool conversation classes probably Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 2:30-3:30pm. In this case, I'll be the teacher and not the teacher's assistant so I hope that the kids are respectful...Anyway, for each of those classes I'll receive a stipend at the end of the year. It obviously won't be like the salary of someone with a real full-time job but it will be a few hundred euros at least. Yay for big pay days on the last day of school! I also asked my advisor about doing private lessons because that is the main way that people like me who are doing assistantships make extra pocket change. I love my free time here but I still think I could manage to fill more of it up and still have plenty of time to relax.

School and more...

I haven't written in a while because I've been super sick...Before I got sick I had my first proper night out in Milan last Thursday. An Italian guy who interned at UPenn a few years ago- and came to several of the Bryn Mawr Italian department's events- invited me to an aperitivo at his office. If you don't know, an aperitivo is basically like a buffet of appetizer-like snack foods you eat along with some kind of alcoholic drink. Anyway, this was more specifically an art exhibit/aperitivo. I didn't really know him too well before going but after a few minutes I was shocked to hear that he was 28 years old. His friends, who met me at the subway and walked with me to the event, were 29 and 33 years old. I thought they were only a few years older than me and definitely felt a little self-conscious for being the baby of the group, not to mention the only one without a Doctorate or Masters degree or a full-time job. Everyone else at the exhibit was in their 50s and 60s and whatever age you were, you were dressed nice so it felt like more of an elegant event. There was unlimited wine, like always, plenty of little triangle sandwiches, other snacks and also some dessert. Aperitivo is one of the best parts of Italian culture.

Anyway, the moral of the story is coming up. After the aperitivo we went out for more food and drinks at a nearby bar and while I was talking to the ex-intern, he brought up a very good point. I was asking him about his experience in America and how it was and he said something along the lines of, "Being in a different country in an entirely new city is a life-changing experience. Whatever you are invited to, you say yes. You do things you wouldn't normally do, you spend time with people you wouldn't normally hang out with...Would you usually be out drinking with 30-year olds?" I had to laugh because when I got his invitation to come to this event, I said yes, yes, yes. I had school the next day and I should have spent more time planning the lessons, but again, "Whatever you are invited to, you say yes." I love that line because it really captures the essence of the experience.

Anyway, I should probably talk more about my experiences at the school. I have my hours finalized and therefore, I'm starting to settle in and fall into a routine. I'm in several different classes and I see each one either one a week or every two weeks. Each week, my hours in the classroom add up to 12.

I should explain one last detail. In Italian high schools, the students stay in one room all day and the teachers move around. Each class is labeled with a number- 1 for first year students, 2 for second-years, 3 for third-years, 4 for fourth-years, and 5 for fifth-years. The only reason I listed them all out was to draw attention to the fact that in Italy, students do five years of high school and then three years of college. (side note: If you do law or medicine, you do more than three years.) From there each class is labeled with a letter. So there's 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H...and I haven't heard letters beyond that. So apparently depending on your group, you're with the same 20 or so kids all year or for all of high school. I have to ask someone about this..Anyway, here is my schedule. I want to write the teachers as well to give an idea of how many different people I work with. The names are made up as you will probably notice.

Monday:         9:10am-10:10am with Mr. Michelangelo's 1B class

                      11:20am-12:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 2A class

Tuesday:        10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1D class (every other week)
                      10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Loren's 1E class (every other week)

                      11:20am-12:10am with Mrs. Loren's 2H class (every other week)
       
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1G class (every other week)
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Loren's 2G class (every other week)

                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 4D class

Wednesday:   9:10am-10:10am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3C class

                      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Loren's 1H class (every other week)

Thursday:      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Maria's 1F class

                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3E class
                   
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3A class

Friday:          12:10am-1:05pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 5D class
     
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Angela's 4A class (every other week)

Next month, I'll start teaching a class for Trinity College London's test on spoken English. From the sounds of it, if you do well, it is a nice certificate to have under your belt around here. For our program, we are technically supposed to do 12 hours of teaching and 13 of "related activities". I'm still trying to figure out what the related activities are. The only thing I'm sure of is that the Trinity test classes count. The other American assistant who works at the school is also teaching classes after school for the teachers, but I think that's her thing. She also does private tutoring for teacher's kids, but no one has mentioned that to me either.

I'm the newbie. It is definitely a little strange being the new one here where everyone already knows and loves the returning assistant. Today, when I was walking down the stairs with her we ran into another teacher and he started talking to her about some dinner he had planned with a few other people. After I introduced myself, we small talked for a bit, and finally he was like, "I should probably invite you too..." Another teacher randomly came up to me today and was like, "and who are you?" The getting oriented process is a little awkward, but I like to think that I'm friendly enough and will eventually be part of the community. All of the teachers I work with personally have been great and super welcoming and encouraging for the most part. For example, it was seriously cute of Mr. Michelangelo is offer to take my picture after my first official lesson to commemorate the moment. When he emailed it to me, he labeled it, "Natural Born Teacher"...Here it is:

Updates

I've met a few of my classes and now I'm waiting to start another. Although I haven't really gotten to know my students all that much, my first impression is a positive one. They seem like good kids that will participate and make the classes interesting. More on that later.

I mentioned that I wanted to take a Spanish class here and until now, I've been looking at a few schools but they haven't gotten back to me. Today, in the teacher's room, I met one of the Spanish teachers here and we're going to do a language exchange. Conversation- something like a half hour in Spanish and a half hour in English. Apparently, she used to be an English teacher but realizes she's forgotten some of the "beautiful words" she used to know. I told her I took Spanish courses for 5 years and can't say more than a few words. I'll let you all know how this goes...

The gym is great so far. I mean, this place is just decked out. A women's volleyball team from Brazil was actually practicing there the last time I went.My host sister says we should take a picture soon to put on the blog. Yesterday, I used the swimming pool which is amazing. Luckily for me, there are slow, medium, and fast lanes so you don't have to share with Michael Phelps.

P.S. Niki (the pitbull) had her first birthday yesterday. :)

First days at the school

So far I have a really great impression of the school I'll be working at, even though I've only actually been to the school a couple of times for meetings with my advisor and with other teachers. The program officially started October 1st, but depending on the needs of your school, you might start later. This Monday the 6th was the first time I was in a classroom and I just observed a couple of group presentations about the Anglo-Saxons. From what I heard, the students speak really well and probably have a better vocabulary than most Americans! During their break, a bunch of the kids came up to me and were asking me all kinds of questions- "Where are you from?", "How old are you?", etc. I'm happy they were curious and wanted to get to know me, instead of being shy or just not really caring.

Tomorrow i.e. Wednesday the 8th will be my first day actually up in front of a class. Just to clarify- I am not in charge of teaching classes on my own. I am a teaching *assistant* and will be assisting various full-time teachers in the school. Anyway, here is how the rest of the week looks:

Wednesday: Meet and greet with a class.

Thursday:    Meet and greet with another class.
                    Meet and greet/English language lesson about how to describe people
                                            e.g. "He is tall and skinny."

Friday:         Meet and greet with another class.
                    Meet and greet/History lesson about the American Revolution                                                  
                                            and the Declaration of Independence
       
To sum that all up, I'll be in five different classes this week and most of the time I'll just be getting to know the students. I'm a little nervous because this is it- it's finally starting! Sadly, I can't quite get settled in yet because it is not guaranteed that I'll be staying with all of the classes I'll be in this week. The final schedule for the school still hasn't been ironed out yet, but it should be by this time next week.

"Niki"

 

My host dog

First time at the gym

I went to the gym with my host sister for the first time yesterday and just like she assured me, it is amazing. It is huge, with a giant pool, saunas, showers, and all kinds of machines, including treadmills with built-in fans you can turn on if and when you get all sweaty. I decided to get a three-month membership and after paying that price...let's just say I will NOT be allowing myself to go to the gym any less than three times a week. As I said in a previous blog, you need to find ways to fill up your free time so I think it is worth it. Check out my lanyard:

Unfortunately, after I got home from the gym I was nauseous for hours and ended up throwing up like a maniac. I think my body is just getting used to being here and adding exercise to the mix straight away didn't work out so well. Oops I just realized that I made an exercise pun...

Permesso di soggiorno

Only people that plan on doing the SITE program will have a reason to read this post. I think it could really be of use. Unless of course you are super interested in the boring details of Italian bureaucracy.

The post office gives you the application for the permesso di soggiorno along with a guide on how to fill it out. I was actually pleasantly surprised with how detailed and easy-to-follow the guide was. However, there are a few things that are unclear anyway and in order to figure out certain parts of the application I wasted some time and energy that I didn't have to. I actually had to fill out two copies of the application for a stupid reason that was my fault so if you have any questions about it, I'm going to keep a copy and can answer anything you want to ask.

Here are two clarifications might expedite the process of filling out your forms:

1) On Modulo 1, it asks you for the number of your permesso di soggiorno. If you don't have one yet, obviously you can't and aren't expected to write the number.
2) Also on Modulo 1, it asks for your "codice fiscale" and if you don't have that either, it is okay to leave that part blank. Once you get your permesso di soggiorno, they will give you a codice fiscale.

I just have one more appointment where I give them some more stuff, including 4 passport-sized photos (Get these done in America so you have one less thing to figure out once you get here!), they take my fingerprints, and then I just have to wait for the permesso di soggiorno card in the mail.

BOTTOM LINE: I am almost finished all the beaurocratic stuff!

Rest of the week

Not as much to say in this blog. I went to the city center yesterday for the first time since I arrived. I met up with another American from the program and while I was waiting for him to get there, I did some quality people watching. Let's just put the rumors to rest. Lots of people in Milan are quite stylish and from what I saw many of them are just plain sexy and confident. One of the first sightings I made was that of two super made-up girls in skin tight dresses and sky high heels were taking pictures in front of the duomo, posing like they were at a professional photo shoot. People just kept streaming by wearing suits and leaving behind their cologne scents in the air. I also saw a couple making out passionately on the steps and doing that whole I-love-you-so-much-I'm-just-going-to-stare-at-you-for-minutes-on-end-and-smile thing. I had to laugh though when I saw some serious party animals pedaling by on this contraption blasting music and engaging in extreme merriment:

Complete with beer, table, and stools with pedals attached.

It turns out that getting to the city center from my house using public transportation is super easy. I just hop on the tram stop really close to my house and ride until the end of the line. It drops me off basically right in back of the duomo. The duomo is this for anyone who has no clue what I'm talking about:

Sweet.

P.S. I don't have to be at the school again until next Monday, so I guess until then I can just relax!

First time at school

Today I went to the school to meet my advisor and see the school. As I walked there today, I wasn't really sure what the meeting was going to be about exactly. Even after the meeting, I'm not sure what it was about. I think it was just to get a short tour of the school and to start becoming familiar with the people I'll be working with. During our tour, I saw the staff room- where I met all of the English teachers and teachers from other departments, the main office, the computer labs that we'll have access to, and the principal's office- where I met the principal obviously. Everyone was really nice , but the first thing out of everyone's mouth was "You look so young!" and at one point, "You look like a student!" People tell me that in 10 years I will love these comments, but for now the last thing I want is to look exactly like one of the students... I also met the other American teaching assistant who is returning for her second year at the school.

The daily schedule is supposed to be finalized by this Friday, but I was told that even after it is finalized it might change anyway. Either way, I won't know which classes I'll be in any earlier than this Friday.

Anyway, besides meeting people I got my own personal code for the school wifi and a 2014-2015 calendar for the school year. For anyone who wants to visit me or invite me to visit them in their various luxurious European cities (just kidding...unless you want to?), here are the days I have off:

Dec. 8
Dec. 22- Jan. 6
Feb. 19- Feb. 21
Apr. 1- Apr. 7
Apr. 25
May 1                                  

Apparently last year there was also an October vacation but when the other American teacher asked the principal if there would be one this year as well, he said that they haven't decided yet...I repeat: Italian flexibility! You have to just go with the flow.  

Updates on previous blogs: Gym buddy confirmed. I'm going with my host sister tonight. The membership is for nights and weekends. She has been great so far and even offered to teach me how to drive stick shift. That should be hilarious. I'm not even sure it is legal for me to drive here..Anyway, I'm slowly but surely figuring out how I'll be spending my free time. Beside school and the gym, I'm really interested in taking a Spanish class and I've already found one on groupon but my advisor said that I might actually be able to take one at a local university. Other than those things, I will probably be going to Ferrara most weekends. One of these days, Giuseppe and I will take a little trip to Bologna. I miss it. Last piece of news: My phone works. Message me for my Italian number!

Weekend in Ferrara

My first night's sleep was a little strange. I started getting sleepy early and dozed off on the couch with the dogs for a few minutes before going to bed. Then I was up from 4:30am to 6:30am twiddling my thumbs, reading, and finally surrendering to being completely awake and straightening my hair. A couple more hours of sleep and it was time to head to Ferrara. I rode a motorcycle for the first time ever that day because my host dad offered to give me a ride to the train station on his. It took about 10 minutes, and even though the house is in a very city-like neighborhood, it is all fields and farms after a couple minutes drive in the car. Plus, it was a beautiful, sunny day so that was a plus. I loved it but I was still a little nervous and had jelly legs at the end. The next time I go to the station though I'll probably have to take the tram, bus, etc. From where I am, it is apparently a little more complicated to get to that particular station (Milano Rogoredo) than it is to get to the main station (Milano Centrale) but it's worth it. The prices are a lot lower from Rogoredo.

Milan is in Lombardy and Ferrara is in Emilia-Romagna, so the trip isn't so bad. The map shows all the regions of Italy. Just to give you some context, Venice is in Veneto, Florence and Pisa are in Tuscany, and Rome is in Lazio.

Anyway, Giuseppe was there waiting at the station and since we were both starving we went straight to an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant for lunch where tiny plates of food come by on a little conveyor belt that never stops. 10 euros per person. We went out with a couple of his friends that night but other than than we didn't really go anywhere else this weekend. I'd been to Ferrara before, but this time I couldn't get over the crazy amount of  people riding bikes on the narrow, cobblestone streets and passing by from behind and in front with inches to spare. It kind of gives the city character though. Lots of people on foot, on bikes, and only a few cars. One last adventure we had was getting an Italian Sim card. I was told it would take 2 hours to activate and we are going on about 36 now...I asked around and apparently results may vary when it comes to activating phones. I might still have to wait a couple of days. If you haven't heard from me that was why. Also, I didn't really have internet access over the weekend. Soon, it will be all set though and you can reach me easily through Whatsapp. Message me if you want my Italian cell number.

Tomorrow, I've got some more of the paperwork that needs to get done before I can technically legally live and work here and then Tuesday, I'm meeting with the advisor at the high school to talk about my schedule this semester. She said I'll probably start teaching next Monday the 6th instead of the 1st as we'd originally planned. Italian flexibility! Sounds great to me because by then I will be over any latent jet lag, have a better idea about the classes I'll be helping out with, and will have had time to get some lesson plans together. In the meantime, hopefully I'll get to know Milan a little better! My host sister is actually taking me to the phone shop again tomorrow at the mall and I actually plan on asking her to be my gym buddy because apparently she goes every day. For those of you who know me, yes, I know I never go to the gym but I figure it would help me get a routine going here. Teaching is definitely time-consuming, but I still have quite a bit of free time and I'm trying to think of ways to fill it..I know Facebook makes it seem like trips to Europe are all traveling, but if you are actually here to work you kind of need to construct a real life!

First day

My flight flew into Milan ahead of schedule and my host mom was waiting there to pick me up with a sign that said "Cindy" so that made things easy. She offered me a coffee right away but sadly, despite being in one of the most coffee-loving places in the world, I don't like coffee so she just got me a "latte macchiato" instead, along with a chocolate brioche. The literal translation of "latte macchiato" would be something like "dirtied milk", which ends up just being a drink that is mostly milk with a spot of coffee.

The first order of business before relaxing was heading to the police station to quickly fill out a form called the "dichiarazione di ospitalità". If you are a foreigner living and working in Italy, you need to go there along with your host family or landlord and basically declare that they are providing you with a place to live. My host mom is super charming, so in no time the young police officer was using his own personal machine to make photocopies of the form and our ID's. It really is helpful to have a veteran of Milan expedite some of these annoying beaurocratic things that I might have botched on my own.

After getting that out of the way, we headed home and I got to check out my room and bathroom. I don't have to share either of them, which is heavenly. My host mom's daughter is actually doing a high school exchange program in America during my entire stay here, so I am in her room. I've been told that the only restriction is that I can't take down any of the pictures of her and friends that are taped to the wall. I can live with that. 

She has another daughter who is around my age and lives in another part of Milan. She's offered to show what night life here is like, so I'm all set in that department. Finally, she has a son who is in his last year of high school and lives with us. He's a boxer so I'll probably go see a match one of these days. We've got two dogs- a 1-year old extremely energetic pit bull named Niki and an old and fragile beagle named Lola. Niki can get really persistent when she wants to play and that makes me a little nervous sometimes because her body is 99% muscle, but I am really looking forward to having dogs for a year.

I'm really sleepy so the order of events here is getting a little jumbled, but at some point I gave my host mom her gifts that I brought from America- peanut butter and jelly, brownie mix, and a cookbook called "America's Favorite Food". I got the pb and j and brownie mix because those are typical things you'd find in a lot of American houses and even though you can find all that stuff here, it is not too common and always much more expensive than it should be. Therefore, people barely ever buy them. The recipe book is great because my host mom likes cooking. Lucky me. ;)

She also helped me out with getting my train tickets to Ferrara and signing up for a Cartafreccia which makes ordering the train tickets online a lot easier. I think most of my friends know this, but my boyfriend Giuseppe lives in Ferrara and I'll be heading down there a lot of times over the weekend. So the sooner the route to get there via public transit becomes automatic for me, the better! Finally, we took a walk so we could print out the tickets and so my host mom could show me how to get from the house to the high school I'll be teaching at. It is less than a 15 minute walk and is basically a straight shot. That's about as convenient as it gets. 

Other things that are near her house: 

*A huge supermarket so if I ever run out of any toiletries or if I want to stock up on snacks, I just have to take a 5 minute walk and I'm there. 

*A dorm where there are a bunch of foreign students studying abroad in Milan who apparently pop up all the time in the grocery store. I might have to accidentally run into one of them and makes friends...

*Stops for the tram and metro.

Good first day. Tomorrow, I'm off to see Giuseppe for the weekend and then Monday I have to be back to get my health insurance and "permesso di soggiorno" all squared away. For those of you who will never plan on studying or working in Italy, don't worry about what that is. Just more paperwork I've got to get it done within 8 days of my arrival, so sooner rather than later is best. Tuesday, I meet with my contact at the school. Wednesday, I am told that I'm going to start teaching. I'm just going with the flow! 

Getting my visa

I'm writing this first blog mainly as a resource for future applicants to the SITE program or students that have been accepted to the program and are wondering where things go from there. It is kind of boring and purely informational, so if you're one of my friends or family members you're probably not going to find this one very interesting.

I've gone to my Visa appointment and will be picking it up in a few days. I'll be leaving on the 25th. Potential applicants to SITE should know that if you are accepted you won't be able to head to Italy until late September. Here is a snippet from one of the emails we were sent at the beginning of May:

"Contact the Italian Consulate at the very beginning of August. Please note that you must call the Consulate which pertains to your jurisdiction and make an appointment with them for 10 -15 September (not earlier, as the immigration quota are not published until end August/beginning of September, so the Consulate is not ready to issue visas before the beginning of September. Keep in mind that you cannot travel before being issued a visa, which will not happen before September. We suggest booking your flight for the 25-29 September, not before. ALSO, remember to book a roundtrip ticket (you need to have a return flight in order to get the visa, and a return for Christmas is considered a roundtrip)."

My visa appointment went great, mainly because I asked SITE to put me in touch with other people in the my area who had been accepted to the program as well. We made sure to double-check with each other which materials we were bringing so none of us showed up with an incomplete application.

Note: If any of you out there are reading this in preparation for your own visa appointments, I just thought you should know that the employees will be speaking to you in English. I know it is the Italian consulate, but this is really dry, bureaucratic stuff and no one expects you to have the vocabulary to talk about it in Italian! Also, the appointment from start to finish probably lasts about 5-10 minutes. You will be in and out. I should also mention that I'm talking about the Boston consulate and don't have any experience with consulates in other cities.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

aka

Home of the Consulate