My New Home Away From Home

 

If you ask me what studying abroad is like there is no easy way to describe it. Imagine packing up your life into a single backpacking backpack and moving to another city. However, this city is completely different then what you are used too.  For instance, there is a complete climate change, your diet consists solely of carbs, carbs, and more carbs, and walking becomes your main source of transportation. For the first two weeks you are in your new city you have no means of technology. You literally have no phone, and no internet to Facebook, email, or skype. You have no radio, and no television. Then for fun you can only “speak” to people by playing charades.  That is my new situation. Italy is my new reality. It is more than I could have imagined and nothing like I expected.

I have been in Italy now for six weeks… yes I realize it’s a tad late on the blogging update but believe me when I say internet access has not been easy to come by here. A lot has happened that I cannot possibly update without writing a novel. So I will be really brief with the main points I have learned thus far.

1.       Control is an illusion --- there is no system. Whether you are waiting for the bus, the train, trying to figure out the school system, or dealing with the government, you will always have to wait on someone or something. Not only will you have to wait but it is not uncommon to find out that no one has a clue what to do or the process in which to get something done.

2.       Pizza or Pasta --- because those are your main choices. It’s literally carbs all day long.

3.       Carry a dictionary on you at all times--- whether you are using it for decoding the menu , figuring out if the laundry detergent has bleach in it, or interpreting the latest insult you here on the street you will be glad you have it.

4.       People do drive INSANE in Italy --- end of story.

5.       If you don’t like walking don’t come to Europe.

6.       Coffee is the main pastime of Italy--- and if you tasted their amazing cappuccinos you would understand why.

7.       Don’t call home and hint for a package --- you will pay out the wazoo in taxes for it.

8.       If you see Americana on a menu, do not buy it! I repeat: DO NOT BUY IT!!! For some reason everything in correlation with America in terms of food is disgusting weather it is in regards to coffee, burgers, pizza just resist the urge.

9.       Hot water for showering is a luxury, not a guarantee.

10.   Forget washers and dryers and learn to do laundry the old fashion way – washers and dryers are expensive and really rough on our "high-quality" American clothes. Oh and if you live in a collegio you have to make an appointment to use the washer that services 90 plus people.  

11.   People do eat at specific time periods--- forget late night Dairy Queen and Sonic runs because fast food does not exist.

12.   People in Italy love life, and enjoy living it. Time is very important in Italy, but only in regards to leisure. For example, if I just finished lunch and its one o’clock I know I have another hour to order and drink my cappuccino before meandering my way to class (which will of course start 15 minutes late).

I could go on for more, but I feel that is a good start. In the amount of time I have been here I have made it to Milan, Pisa, Florence, Venice and Verona. However, before I jump into those amazing places I feel I should tell you a little bit about Pavia. I am studying at the University of Pavia in the Lombardy region of Italy. For those of you who are rusty on your geography just think Northern Italy. How to describe it… well first of all I should inform you that the University of Pavia is one of the oldest universities in all of Europe. It was founded in 1361, and is therefore celebrating its 650^th anniversary this year. How do I like it and what is it like to study in a different country? Well  I will have to answer that in a different blog because there is too much to tell.

Besides the university itself, the actual climate is super cold. Now after a couple of years in Flagstaff I have learned to deal with the cold and I can’t say I mind it that much, but here it is different. I have never been so cold in my life. Due to the humidity, the cold seems to seep into you. It was foggy, gloomy, overcast and rainy for the first couple of weeks I was here. I realized just how much of a spoiled “zonie” I was when I would wake up, slink to the window and as if scared for what I would see I’d squint out the window, hoping and praying for just a touch of sun. The weather didn’t make exploring any fun, but I hear now is the time of year it starts to get nicer.



Rainy



and Fog

Despite the weather I have still been able to explore a little here and there. If you ask the university kids here not many say they like it, and say there is nothing to explore. They claim there is not much to do here, and in many ways that is true. It has a small center and only one club pretty removed from town. However, I actually like it. It is a smaller town with around 70,000 residents, and to the foreigner like myself I find it much more fascinating.

For instance when I first arrived and lived in my first collegio, I got into a sort of routine. I would wake up in the morning and go to a bar (in Italy cafés are called bars and bars are cafés, so no I am not drinking alcohol in the morning). The same man would wait on me and it got to the point where I just walked in, sit down, and he would bring me my cappuccino. This became my morning sanctuary. While the man didn’t speak any English, this was oddly one of the few places I felt welcomed. It got to the point where I would go to his bar in the morning, sip my cappuccino, eat my cornetto, and write. Every now and again a local would sit by me and strike up a conversation. In broken Italian and a lot of charades we would get our points across… or at least I think we did. It was obvious I was a foreigner, but that didn’t make a difference. He treated me the same as everyone else, well almost. I doubt he gave many of his regulars lessons in Italian but I got a few. One day I didn’t know the name of something I ordered. So I went to the case of pastries and asked “Come se dice… in italiano?” (How do you say this in Italian?) He followed me over to the counter and very patiently pointed to each one and had me repeat after him. The whole family got a kick out of it, and I am sure the rest of the on lookers did too; however, everyone knew I was trying and that they respected. Not only did I learn a little Italian here, but I was also able to watch and pick up on some subtle customs.  For example you pay after you eat here. I tried to pay right after ordering and I got ushered to a table and told “dopo, dopo!” (after, after!) Not only do you pay after, but it is completely on the honor system. Sometimes the man didn’t see or remember what you had specifically gotten and you had to tell him. Once he repeated back an order to me and because my lack of Italian skills I thought he had charged me for everything. However, when I looked at the receipt I realized that he hadn’t and so I went back and repaid. A few days later he only charged two girls for two coffees and two croissants. They laughed as they told him that they had in fact eaten four croissants because they were extra hungry that particular morning. I was amazed at how lax he ran his business… oh and did I mention that he kept his money drawer out in the open where it could be accessed without much difficulty. Plus when you hand money over you never directly hand it to a person. Instead you place it on the counter and they place your change there. I think the idea of taking money directly from a person is considered rude if it can be avoided. And I digress, how I love my little coffee shop.

Anyways after getting my cappuccino, I would walk thirty minutes to the center of town to the University for my language class. I would walk under the train station and down one of the main streets. Sounds boring right? Well what if I told you that I walked streets made by the Romans… cool right? I have since moved to another Collegio (dorm) on the other side of the tracks, and while I don’t get coffee at the same shop I still walk the same Roman Streets every day. Plus now when I go to the grocery store I walk by a castle. A huge castle still stands to this day and everyone walks by it like it’s no big deal… but it’s a castle. Call me a dork but I think that is so cool!   

Cobblestone Streets





 

Castello







Pavia actually has a pretty unique history if you read into it. What a lot of people don’t know is that this small town is also home to Italy’s third largest dome after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. There was a tower standing next to it until 1989 when it collapsed, killing five bystanders. This not only had an impact on the town of Pavia but it prompted the main efforts to restore the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I have been informed that Wednesdays are University nights. Meaning all the students go out and hang out in front of the Duomo. The weather is just now getting nice enough, and I can’t wait for it start up.