17 Sept, Day 36, Shopping and Calcio

I woke after a good rest around 11, ate a few croissants, a kiwi, grapefruit, and a cup of espresso for breakfast. I think they may put crack in the coffee here. Although I am trying to resist, I find myself drinking more and more of the stuff. I wouldn’t call it an addiction or dependence at this point, but I can see how it becomes habit forming.

Since the weather was marginal, and I got a late start, I decided to take care of some shopping instead of exploring. First stop was the bookstore. After much browsing and internal debate I purchased Harry Potter #5 (in Italian.) The book cost 3x the other ones I was considering, but at 800 pages I guess I could get my money’s worth if it’s a decent story. Next I went looking for a shower curtain and appropriate hanging materials. I found the curtain and one spring-loaded tension rod. So now I can suspend the shower-head above the tub instead of holding it. This is a marked improvement towards taking a proper shower. In fact I’m considering changing my original plans to build a small frame for the curtain, and instead opting towards a more minimal approach with a couple of suction cups. Next I went looking for lights. I hoped to find one for the mirror in the bathroom so I could do a better job shaving, and one to place near my bead for reading without an overhead light. After stopping in several stores, I ended up waiting for the lighting depot to reopen after their lunch break. Here I found several lighting fixtures costing upwards of 200 Euros. They had an appropriate bedside lamp for 24 Euros, decreased to 20 after a discount. Now I just have to wait 15 days for it to be delivered. I did not find an appropriate bathroom lamp with a non-destructive-mounting, so I’ll experiment with moving the bedlamp back and forth for shaving and reading. After all, I’ll never need to do both at the same time…

Seeing now apartment improvements are adding up, and forseeing the possible desire to buy a blanket in the future, I’m beginning to explore scenarios to approach my proprietaria in an attempt to get her to pay for half of the improvements if I don’t take them with me when I move out. Really, this is better for everyone. I don’t have to deal with shipping or selling things, and she can have a better apartment for less than the cost it would take to restore on her own…

At 6:00 Antonio, one of my coworkers stopped by to pick me up to go to a soccer game. We drove to the metro stop, and then took the train to the stadium. I was surprised by the size of the stadium. Not that it was larger than most I’ve seen in the states, but I was expecting this to be undersized.

I enjoyed watching the game despite not having a vested interest in either team winning. I enjoyed this approach as I felt I was able to appreciate the sport on a higher level as I could admire the talent and skills of both teams. I guess its like watching Jeremy Shocky in the NFL. I wouldn’t cheer for the team he plays for, but since he was a Cane, I can still admire the skills of the player and enjoy when he makes a play even though I would prefer that his team lose.

However, the fans were also quite interesting to watch. I wouldn’t say they had more vim than the student section of any major university of Florida, but the fans are mostly adults, and I am not as used to seeing older people get as vivacious about a sport. I guess with age comes experience, because this group brought a few new tricks to the stadium. I was most impressed by the use of fire. The core section of the Inter-fanbase lit magnesium flares on a number of occasions. For those who don’t know, magnesium burns at close to 3000 Fahrenheit, and is certainly the type of fire to exercise caution about. Aside from the antics of the fans, I was also impressed by the speed at which the game moved. Critics and naysayers of soccer often cite that the game moves too slowly with some games ending after only 1 goal. However they neglect the fact that the sport is free of the TV timeouts disrupt the continuity of nearly all States-based professional sports.


Here's a picture of Monza at night:

16 Sept, Week 5, Fee-fie-foe-fum. I smell the piss of a homeless man.

I’m debating the proper spelling of Foe. I believe one could make and argument for fough, phoe, fowe, or possibly foue if you use a French spelling. Have you ever wondered why homeless people seem to universally smell like piss? Perhaps sleeping on the ground causes incontinence.

I don’t have a whole lot to write about. I finished the second week of work. Things are going OK, although my language development has slowed below acceptable levels, and I am planning steps to correct this. I will buy a book for me to read on the bus instead of wasting time with the newspapers, and will increase my efforts to find an evening practice activity.

Fall/winter fashions are now in full effect. All the new manikins standing defiantly in the store windows are now dressed in shades of charcoal. I’d like to go to the Alps once before they get snow. Maybe tomorrow if the weather clears…

As I'm on the topic of piss, here's a picture of an Italian public toilet:

Bergamo, 10 Sept, Day 29,

I had hoped to meet up with Vicente, Leonardo, Fernanda, and Tetsuo today, but the plans never came together and I found myself looking for something to do. After consulting lonely planet, I packed a lunch, and strode my way out to the train to see where it would take me. It was another hot and hazy day, so I put off going to Bellagio at the heart of lake Como, and decided to go to Bergamo, an anachronistic city roosted on top of a hill.

Bergamo is really a cool old city. I skipped the funicular and walked a winding stone path to a white marble arch bearing the lion of Venice guarding the entrance to the settlement.

Formula 1, 9Sept, Day 28,

I wanted to sleep in on Saturday because I was feeling a bit drained toward the end of the week, and I woke around 11, and could hear the buzz of the F1 racecars doing practice laps a couple miles away. I spent some time tidying things around the house, scrubbing white film off dishes, and some experimenting with some more laundry. You never quite know what you’re clothes are going to come out looking like…

Around 3 I put on my sneakers, and hit the road in search of a shower curtain at a shop recommended to me -which was on the way to the race track. The shop was closed for the weekend, but from the looks of things, they wouldn’t have a shower curtain anyway.

The autodromo (racetrack) is in the middle of the park of Monza. I would describe the park as a patchwork of hardwood groves and grassy fields segmented by winding white pebble paths. There’s a river dividing the park from east-west, and a number of villas scattered about; with the most notable being the former home of someone important.

I walked north towards the race track against a rather continuous flow of people garbed in bright red, with some carrying large flags bearing the Ferrari insignia of a stallion rearing up on it’s hind legs inside of a golden shield. Formula 1 races are much shorter than Nascar, and people were already leaving after the race.

When I reached the track, I met with a dozen scalpers trying to hawk tickets to tomorrow’s race. I would’ve liked to see it, but was not prepared to pay 55 euros for thw worst seats in the house, or more for a better seat, or take my chances with a bogus ticket from a scalper. Upon trying to enter complex, I was told I’d have to wait until 5 before entering. By 4:45 I was on my way in. After getting rejected by several sets of guards and then being ignored by others, I found myself standing on the asphalt where the cars race. I looked out though the fence, and saw a number of other spectators lined up on the outside looking as though they would’ve liked to be in my shoes. I continued on to the pit area where one of the teams was revving an engine in their garage. It was loud enough that it hurt my ears, but luckily they stopped after a minute. In one of the other bays there was a model shoot with a handful girls posing around the Torro Rosso car. I managed to take a quick movie before my camera battery died. What timing! A number of the guys in orange suits who work at the track were also gathered around with the professional photographers also snapping pictures. None of them said anything to me, but I felt strangely out of place without an orange suit. I cruised along the pits where the other pit crews were practicing changing the tires, or making some small tweaks to their cars. When I reached the BMW pit I felt inclined to say something encouraging to the team, but I was at a loss for words and decided not to disturb them. There were a number of other track workers clustered around the Ferrari garages, but I didn’t see much activity here, so continued on to the end of pit-row and made my way back. Now on the racetrack there were 40 or so models lined up 2x2 across the center of the roadway. I leaned against the guardrail with some of the vested workers for about a half hour before getting tired of watching the girls standing around waiting for the shoot to begin. To be honest I was more interested in the cars than the girls. I’ve probably seen hundreds of model-caliper girls over the years, but this was the first time I was able to behold some of the fastest land vehicles in existence today. I wished I’d forked over the cash to buy a ticket to the race, but I think I got closer to the cars and saw more than all the people that bought tickets and had to watch the race from behind the fence.

My Job and Communism, 8Sept, Day 27

Re-reading this title, I think it’s strange that these two topics were serendipitously paired together. Anyway, first my job.

I’m working on the 5th floor of the Palazio Larice where people sit in small silent clusters of 4 with shoulder-high dividers separating the computers. I would like to know who invented the cubicle paradigm because I think it must be one of the 10 worst ideas of the century. OK: surely there’s a certain context where isolation from the other coworkers is necessary, but not in design engineering house! My only other complaint is that they keep the lights off. Our building has enough windows that one can see with natural lighting, but I think it makes things a bit gloomy.

My coworkers seem to be a nice crew. They seem pretty accepting of the new, foreign guy, and only mechanical engineer on the floor. We don’t have a cafeteria, but there’s a lot of restaurants nearby where we go out for lunch. I still find it hard to keep up with the chatting (in Italian) unless I’m involved enough in the conversation that I can predict what’s being said. I think being handicapped by limited knowledge of the language places me in a more challenging position, and I hope to prevail over this hurdle by mid-October. I have a 3 step plan: practice, read, and study in that order. So now I need to find a conversation partner(s).

At lunch on Friday, I was invited to go to (if I understood correctly), a communist festival. I didn’t know there was still communism here, but I guess there’s still a small pack of them. If nothing else, I thought this sounded like it was sure to be an interesting experience. So I left the office with Giovanna and her husband Marco Nero, a funny antipode to Marco Bianco. We picked up a friend, and the 4 of us sat in traffic for probably an hour to reach our destination in Milan.

The festival was something like a fair with lots of tents serving as makeshift restaurants. We went to the mushroom house where I had porcini and pasta. The food was good, but the host was a much more memorable character. I’m not sure if this guy was drunk, on speed, or just a very theatrical leprechaun.

After the mushrooms we met another Marco and went to a bar near the fair. The bar’s here are different from home. A typical visit to an Italian bar seems to consist of sitting at a table spaced slightly too far to hear comfortably over the music what anyone is saying, ordering some sort of drink from a long list of varietals that all look about the same, and well that seems to be it. Maybe I’m just used to a more dynamic night on the town. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the company of the group despite feeling pretty tired.

The tiredness is a strange thing. I’m sleeping more than in college, but feeling more tired now. I think there’s a strange inverse correlation to my activity-level. In other words, I’m doing less, but feeling like I have less energy, not more. I’m not really sure how this works. I guess I’d better go to bed…

Contact Information

Well I'm making great strides towards being settled in and now have a cell phone, and address.

I think I only pay 15 cents to receive calls (regardless of duration), so feel free to give me a ring
+39 346 613 1479

I should also be able to get mail at:
Mark Bianco
Via San Gottardo 60
20052 Monza (MI)
Italy

Lake Como, 3Sept, Day 21

I started the day off with a couple eggs in my new 10 non-stick frying pan, but for one reason or another; they stuck, and required a spatula to release them before they could be flipped. But then I chickened out on the flip, and only got them half flipped, and ended up breaking the yoke. Oh well. Then I jogged to the train station to meet Vicente on his way from Milan on the 8:25 train passing though Como on the way to Switzerland. I saw Vicente, jumped on the train, and in a half hour we arrived at Como.

It’s a short walk from the Como station to the lake, but first we explored the city a bit, -wandering the streets around the cathedral and center. At 9:00 on a Sunday morning, it appeared the city was still mostly asleep. A few church-goers passed, an we saw an occasional café patron sipping their morning cappuccino, but there were few tourists or traffic. Eventually we reached the eastern flank of the city, and began climbing a hill towards the villas perched high above the lake. After a short bit we abandoned the notion, and headed back towards the center for our own pastry and cappuccinos before continuing on to the lake. The cappuccino was good. –Neither too hot, nor too bitter, and the croissant with a golden cream filling was much better than I had hopped. I think this is my first time trying an Italian pastry. No, I take that back. I had pastries for breakfast once when I ran out of food. Those were also good, but I think the chocolate croissants they sell in France, and the waffles in Belgium are better. However, this sugary sustenance would do well to augment my eggs-and-cereal breakfast as we had a lot of walking ahead of us.

A short trot took us to the shores of the lake. We paused to behold the dark shimmery waters against the backdrop of forested hills and distant mountains speckled with extravagant villas. I was dismayed that the morning haze and scattered clouds were lingering past brunch, and we were unable to see with the crispness the occasion deserved. Although Como receives a lot of hype for being beautiful, I believe that some of the lakes in the American-West have far more dramatic mountains crowding the shores.

We began to walk the cirque around the docks towards an old man with no shirt fishing with a cane pole. We didn’t see him catch anything and continued our jaunt along the shore until discovering a finicula ascending the nearby massif. 4,10 bought us a round trip ticket and we jammed on to the tram with a number of people that smelled like a particularly unpleasant blend of body-odor.

The trees at the top blocked most of our view, but after a half hour we had crossed through the charming little town perched on the precipice to an outcropping offering panoramic views of the lake, the city of Como, and mount Rosa and the Alps smudged out in the haze.

We returned to the village, and had lunch in a little café overlooking the lake though the pine trees. Today they were serving lasagna or vegetable risotto. I had the lasagna, Vicente had the risotto, and we split a flagon of perfumey red wine. After resting our feet for a bit in the shade, it was time to go back down to Como, and eventually take the train back.

Once home, I tided some things up around the apartment, read the manual of the washing machine before dinner. It has 17 modes, 4 soap trays, 3 buttons, an analogue temperature dial, and I bet my clothes are going to come out of it worse than they would if I washed them back home.

Moving in, 2Sept, Day 20

The move went surprisingly smoothly. I lugged my luggage down to the curb and waited for a taxi that Rosella had called for me. 30 later, I was outside my apartment in Monza, met the proprietaria, and lugged my baggage upstairs. I think there is a reason the airlines do not like you to take more than 100 pounds of luggage. –BECAUSE IT IS 50 POUNDS TOO MUCH! We packed for this trip as though I was going to the moon, and as a result I have a sore back. With 18 dress shirts, 16 T-shirts, 14 long-sleeve shirts, 5 dress-pants, 4 sweaters… I don’t think I’ve worn a sweater 4 times in the last two years. If I wear each dress shirt twice, I should be able to hold out until mid-late October before going to the dry cleaners.
After starting unpacking, I walked across town in search of a few household items. My biggest concern is that this apartment has a tub with no shower curtain. I’m already drafting a simple structure to build with my pocket knife that will support the curtain without damaging the apartment walls.
Here are some pictures of my apartment:

Alps, 31Aug, Day 18

Today was a particularly clear day, and I decided it would be worth climbing the Duomo again in hope get a better view of the city before moving. I packed a lunch, and began the climb. It was indeed worth the exertion, and I was rewarded with a splendid view panoramic view of the city and Alps in the distance while I ate my ham sandwich.

The Fruit of the Loom and Other Short Stories, 29Aug, Day 16

A new guy moved into the apartment on Saturday after Rosa left. My first impression was that he was polite, and well educated – he claims a PhD in physics although he now works in a bank. He’s also appeared rather finicky and effeminate. I did not think his arrival was significant enough to merit a mention until more recently.

However, since his arrival 4 days ago I don’t think he’s worn anything more than underwear indoors for more than an hour. It’s honestly all that this guy wears. If this was college, someone would’ve surely pantsed him by now, and he’d probably have a few welts from a towel/rat-tail. Seriously, who walks around in their underwear all day?! This guy will come back from work, and within 5 minutes he’s walking around in his underwear! (And I’m sharing the apartment with 2 girls.) I’m sort of reminded of Sir William from WT12 though I won’t make any speculations about what happens in his room. I’ve been careful to lock my door and sleep with my back to the wall….

But it gets worse. He’s moving into my room after I move out, but the girl moving into the room where he has been staying until I move out has begun to move some of her things in, so he’s been displaced into the living room and is quite huffed about it. So the living room is pretty much off limits, and now they’ve asked me to agree to let him move into my room a day early and live in the living room my last night in the apt. Maybe if I can find a new apartment tomorrow I can get out of here out a day earlier than planned and curtail this standoff.

It looks like we ran out of toilet paper today. I’m not really fazed by this because living in 23K conditioned me pretty well to this situation. (I always keep a spare roll in my room for situations of this type, but I’m curious to see what the others will do.) Will they just rely on the bidet, continue using the napkins from the kitchen until they to are depleted, will we begin to see newspaper left in the bathroom, or maybe there’s some other European cleansing medium unbeknownst to me? Only time will tell…

The refrigerator now smells like a burp after someone went to an all-you-can-eat buffet of pickles and Chinese food. I don’t understand where this stink comes from, but when you open the door -for even a second, the whole kitchen needs to be aired out!

Speaking of Chinese, we reshuffled language classes this week. I was promoted to the next level, but the class time is not as rich. The class is now pretty big at 11 people, and it’s dominated by Asians. I like Asians, in fact one of my best friends is Japanese, but some of these kinds are pretty hard to understand with their accent.

I made 2 trips to Monza today to look at potential apartments. Yes, I know that’s 4 hours spent traveling back and forth, but the second trip was last minute. I’m starting to run out of time, and I certainly don’t want to stay in this place any longer with fruit-boy walking around nearly naked, our burping refrigerator, and an impending TP crisis. I’d say 1 of the places I saw today could be acceptable, though a bit more than I was hoping to pay. Tomorrow I will see 3 more, and then it is time to start the paperwork.

I’ll be up before 7 tomorrow to get a train to Monza, so had better call it a night…

'Adjustment Issues’, 27Aug, Day 14

I woke early to go to the cathedral for mass, as I had planned the night before. The city was barren of any activity except for an occasional tourist until I reached the plaza del duomo. Here the asian tourists were lined up taking pictures. I wish I could’ve captured the moment, four or five men in that funny half knee-bend posture, making squinty faces while trying to fit the towering cathedral into their camera lenses. But they didn’t enter the cathedral with me. I found the church to be mostly empty with service already in progress (because I was about 10 minutes late.) The service was in Italian so I had a bit of trouble following, but I was pleased nonetheless.

I exited the church to find the piazza much more alive. The pigeons and their feeders created a backdrop for the street vendors, performers, preachers, beggars, and waves of tourists all mulling around the square. I sat on the steps for a few minutes to watch the commotion and try to decide what to do today. I had planned to climb to the roof of the cathedral if it was a clear day in hope of seeing the white peaks of the Alps on the horizon. But it was not exceptionally clear, and the Alps would have to wait for another day. My backup plan was to go to lake Como today, but again the clouds made me reconsider my plans. I hadn’t thought of a third option, and now I sat bewildered on the steps of the duomo wondering what I could possibly do today?!? In the end I decided to break my protocol of avoiding museums and visit the Pinoteca of Brera.

I’d heard that aside from the Cenacolo, this museum houses some of the most famous paintings in Milan. So I paid my student admission, (I’m a student of Italian), picked up an audioguide -in Italian of course, and wandered the 20-some auditoriums of the museum. Most of the art turned out to be religious in nature, which is not my favorite style because after the 7th painting of the Madonna, they begin to look the same. I was on the tram back to the apartment by 2, but paused to check another monument or two off the list.

After lunch I walked down to the phone booth to try to call home again, but missed them once again. Now I was pretty much at a loss for what to do next, and was feeling quite unsettled about it. I always get antsy when I feel like I’m missing out on something fun for no reason. I believe trying to adjust from gradschool where I always had list of 20+ items that I should’ve finished last week to having nearly nothing that I have to do has been harder to adjust to than the language, environment, etc, of Italy. I probably shouldn’t worry too much because I can make a list of apartments to try to visit tomorrow.

Today Rosella helped me call a few apartments, and I’ve concluded that mentally stable potential-roommates in Monza are a commodity. For instance, one guy we talked to has a place with 5 or 6 people sharing one bathroom, but it’s no problem because he only allows 8-minute showers. I think I’ll probably opt for a single…

I saw a movie tonight in an open-air thearter. The movie was very artsy, and hard to follow, but I enjoyed the atmosphere. I met a guy who studied at UCon on my walk back.

End of the List, 26Aug, Day 13

With the help of my earplugs I slept in until almost 11, ate some cheeros for breakfast, threw some laundry in the machine, and then hit the road. Today I wore my new shoes instead of the old black nikes because my left foot has been hurting a bit and I don’t know if it’s because the shoes are old, or if it’s protesting to walking so much.

I worked my way out to the northwest quadrant of Milan to see the cemeteria monumental: a somber collection of monuments behind an impressive marble façade tribute to Milan’s deceased. In a way it reminded me of the cemetery in Buenos Aires, but the monuments appeared more ornate, and the large trees planted in gravel cast shadows making me glad I was there in broad daylight. After a brisk walk to the end and back I was ready for a new genre of sightseeing and headed for the other main park in the city.

The Giardini Pubblici is a large wooded area with a few duck-ponds, a playground, and various other delights -including pony rides, the museum of natural history, and a planetarium. However, by now I was more interested in finding a gelato than watching the carp swim aimlessly around the pond or the teens kick a soccer ball back and forth. I headed south and found myself in the marrow of the fashion district for the second time. I discovered via della spiga last Friday on a different promenade which began with the questura office.

Della Spiga is a street closed off to traffic and lined with the most in vogue. Here one can find shoes priced over 350€ and garments carrying tags approaching 1000€, and I don’t think they would respond positively to an attempt at bargaining for a lower price... It’s amazing to think that someone will buy a pair of shoes for more than I could sell my car for. Man those kids got one heck of a deal on the car!

I scratched the museum of archeology and a few more churches off my list while enjoying a chocolate and coconut gelato. I have promoted coconut gelato to my new favorite flavor, displacing straticcheli and tiramisu. Meanwhile, my list of tourist attractions and historical monuments is getting short unless you include museums and other indoor activities. However, I’ve been reserving the museums for winter, or a rainy day.

Finally I returned to the Duomo to check the schedule of Sunday masses because it would be downright sinful to miss a service there when I’m living within walking distance. I entered the cathedral to find a mass in progress, but I’m going to try to return tomorrow morning when there should be less tourists taking photos as they roam the periphery.

I bought another sirloin to cook in my frying pan, threw some noodles, salad, bread, and called it a dinner. I thought I might be able to season the meat with pesto, but it didn’t really work out.

I went to bed gazing at the flashes from lightning illuminate the city.

Farewells and a New Staple, 25Aug, Day 12

I cooked some pasta with pesto for lunch, but added a new element. Sardines! All these years eating sardines on crackers, I don’t know why I never tried pasta instead of crackers. It was remarkable!

After lunch I headed for the Castello Sforzesco and adjoining Parco Sempione. To my delight entrance to the castle museum was free, and I had an hour to look at some artifacts, paintings, and furniture. At 17:30 I was ushered out, and headed towards the park. They were having a festival of sorts out back, with a bunch of old people doing some form of Italian line-dancing under a large white tent. They appeared to be having quite a time, but I soon lot interest and began to meander the many paths of the park. This is a pretty large patch of green near the center of the city, and you can hardly hear the external traffic from the center. Eventually I reached the arch at piazza sempion, and headed back by a different way stopping briefly at the comic exposition in a municipal museum.

Friday night I went to the Navigli with four of the girls from the scuola –three of which would be returning home and wanted to go out on their last night in Milan. Katerina, would be going to class a bit more before beginning at NABA here in Milan. We started off with an apertivo at a place that reminded me a bit of Miami playing some of our local favorites like Ricky Martin and Shakira. After the mosquitoes chased us inside and I’d had 4 plates of food we decided to go for a walk. Before long the girls were feeling ready to go, and I was getting a bit tired so we exchanged emails, said our farewells, and went our separate ways.

On the way back I stopped at the lemon truck to try their spiked lemonade. It must’ve been good because I talked to one of the bartenders for about a half hour. When his dad/boss heard I was from the US he excused Fabio to practice his English. It turns out he spent 2 months last summer in White Plains, NY. –A nice kid.

Dinner at the Brazilian’s (in Vercelli), 24Aug, Day 11

After class I went with Leonardo and his wife Fernanda to eat a pizza before meeting Vicente and Tetsuo at the central station to go to their apartment in Vercelli. Vercelli is a smaller city/town in piedmonte, about half way to Torino, and an hour by train. We arrived, got a gelato, and began exploring the city. The city center is a quaint square, and the tree-lined streets leading up to it where old people crowded cafes made for memorable images. We looked at some photos and drank some matè, (a regional south American tradition) while fernanda prepared a delicious dinner.

I really enjoyed this dinner with my classmates because I’ve mostly been eating alone. I hope that we can make this a more common occurrence, maybe alternating between venues.

Tomatoes, 23Aug, Day 10

I purchased a tomato today. Those who know me well should recognize that this was a revolutionary event in my culinary history because I have abhorred raw tomatoes for the last 24 years. However, I found the salad last night to be quite edible despite the presence of some tomato wedges. And lacking of my usual baby carrot salad-garnish, I felt obliged to settle for the local fare, -the tomato.

I have little else to report today. It appears that some of the real estate agencies will open on Monday, so my apartment search has been stalled until then.

The Mosquitoes: 5
Mark: 3

Organ Concert, 22Aug, Day 9

After class I went to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread, meat, and cheese to make lunch. There are so many different cheeses, and I don’t recognize many of them, but provolone dulce is a pretty good one. (Not very stinky.) I also picked up the cheapest bottle of wine, 750ml for 1.09€. I figure I could work my way up from the bottom.

After lunch I went back to school to look at some apartment listings online. Several hours, and 6 websites later I had my list of options and it was time to go for dinner before the organ concert later that day.

I went to Da Willy, -home of the enormous pizza, where I ordered a respectably colossal calzone and insalada mista before rushing off to the metro to meet the other students going to the concerto. The concert was in a beautifully decorated baroque-style cathedral, but the music was pretty heavy to listen to for an hour. I think that organs can play too may notes at once, and it can cause it to sound dissonant.

After the concert we went to Valintina’s house for some pasta. The linguini with wine homemade by her uncle was superb, and the conversation that followed equally enjoyable. Her home is decorated by many art peaces made by her boyfriend, and has the feeling of home rather than a transient/student residence. I wonder when will be the next time I live in a place that also feels like home….

A couple of pictures of the concert, dinner, and the apartment I've been staying in

Found a New Sport, 21Aug, Day 8

After class I went to lunch with 3 of my Brazilian classmates. We didn’t have to look far to find an open café today. The city is really starting to come back to life! For 8€ I had a nice lunch of pasta al ragu (meat sauce) a cutlet, salad, and water.

After lunch I went back to school to answer some emails and begin to look for an apartment listing online. By 4:30 I felt tired of the computer lab, and decided to accept an invitation from a few of my classmates to go with them to watch Garfield 2 in the theater near the duomo. Of course it’s a kids movie, but I was pleased by how much I found to be understandable.

I watched the setting sun’s rays paint the eastern side of the Duomo salmon-pink while enjoying a vanilla/strawberry gelato before beginning the walk home. I walked home via a more westerly route today and discovered a park behind two churches called the parche delle basilliche where some of the locals were out walking their dogs in the shaded grass. I popped out near the plaz. 24 Maggio where there was an old timer in a grey suite with an orange tie and a Yankees cap playing the guitar. It was quite comical, but charming at the same time.

I returned to the apt and chatted with Rosella and her friend for a while before retiring to my room. I ha planned to do some studying but was being hit pretty hard by the mosquitoes and decided to fight back. I think I killed more than a dozen in my room. Tomorrow I will begin to keep score. How many bits I have vs how many mosquitoes I kill. I’d say right not it is a draw.

The Hinterland Part 1, 20Aug, Day 7

Today I put some laundry in the machine her, packed a lunch, and walked to the train station to begin exploring the area north of Milan, near work. Since Italians like to vacation in August, the busses and trains have rather limited service, and it ended up taking quite a while to get to Vimercate. However, I enjoyed talking to the buss driver for the entire half hour bus ride from the metro station to torre bianche. He even offered me his phone number. However, once in Vimercate I realized I had forgot my printout, and after walking around for a bit I decided to go back to the bust stop to wait continue on to explore Monza as a possible place to live. On the way though the torre bianche mall, I was distracted by a bookstore and bought an English-italian diccionary.

I waited a while for the bus next to an Egyptian guy with rotting front teeth who didn’t know where Miami was, but thought it was a country. Monza is a smaller city with a cute and pretty well preserved center. I think it could be a nice place, but Emiliano’s advice seemed true- That it is a city of old people. I would imagine the median age was about 71. But this brings me to question if all the younger people are still away on vacation. –Especially since everything but the cathedral and gelaterias were closed.

I took another bust to Sesto, where I could pick up the red metro back to Milan. Sesto feels more like Milan. –More like an extension of the city than a separate tow. Compared to Monza, it doesn’t have a traffic-free center, has less old people, and I would guess is about 15 minutes closer to Milan, and 15 minutes farther from work. I’ve also heard that it’s cheaper. (And it’s believable.)

I took the red line back pretty tired after my gita today and crashed an apertivo buffet for a 6€ dinner of pasta, ham, and salad.

A couple other pictures of Arona

Arona, 19Aug, Day 6

I woke about 8 to go to the central station to meet some of my classmates to catch a train to Arona, on the shore of Lago Maggiore.

We spent the day exploring the little city, enjoying views of the lake, and spent about an hour in a museum featuring Picasso and other pieces of abstract art. From this I’ve concluded that you don’t necessarily have to be good at art to be considered good at art….

It was a nice trip. Here’s a few pictures.







When I got home, I pulled my wash from the machine to find it looking dingier than when I put it in. There are now mysterious brown stains on my towel, and a few other items. All the white socks have turned grey. The cloths that were already grey fared pretty well.