Sorry for not keeping up with the blog posts recently, I have been super busy!! A ton of new exchange students came this past week because unlike my school in the U.S., their schools actually told them the correct dates to get here. But it is good that I got here before because then I can show the new exchange students around. :) The day after I went to Nirvana I didn't do very much. I played foozball with some of the people in my residence hall during the day. I watched some of a movie called Benvenuti al Sud. Welcome to the South. It was really funny. The film was about a guy from the North of Italy that gets transferred to an office in Napoli. They have a ton of stereotypes in the movie which makes it very funny. Everyone in the North is afraid of Napoli. They think that everything is the mafia. For example, in the film when the guy was first moving he wore a bullet proof vest under his suit. But maybe it isn't as funny if you don't understand how people in the North think of Southern Italy. Anyways, after the movie I was going to go the Piadineria with Ali because he had work there but he was running late so I didn't go. Instead I went with the Turkish guy on my floor, Tomas(?? everyone is a bit confused what his name actually is...) to go out to dinner. On our way there we met my Greek friends Costos and Villius ( goes by Bill to make it easier) and some new people. The new people were from Wales and Poland. We talked with them for a bit and then made plans for the next day. They were just coming back from Milano. Then we walked around the center. I took him to a kebab place and he was really happy because the owners were Turkish so they all understood each other. I think it must be very hard here for him because neither his Italian or his English is very good. But at least he trys! :) After the Kebab we walked over to eat by the church. The church here is so beautiful, as are most things in Italy. Following, our meal we went to the Piadineria for dessert. MMMMMM I love piadinas! (Just in case you couldn't tell, since almost every time I post a blog the Piadineria is usually mentioned.) Everyone that works there knows me now because I go so often. Plus my friend works there so he introduced me to everyone. After the piadinas Tomas and I walked back to our residence hall. A bit of a walk from the center. I'm glad I am meeting so many people because now I don't have to be in my room at dark every night since now I have people to walk with. Then I came home and skyped for a bit with Brian. :) I love skype. It is the best thing ever!!!!! It makes it much easier to not get so homesick. After I skyped with Brian I got to go on my first Vespa ride! I was so excited. Everyone on my floor was making fun of me for how excited I was. They were all really surprised that I had never been on a vespa or motorcycle. But the vespa was so fun! I only got to go on a short ride though because I guess that tags on the vespa mean that only one person can go on it so we could only go on the residential streets. But when Pierro, the owner of the Vespa and Ali's friend who works at the Piadineria, changes the tags he said that I could go out on it more around the city. Yay Vespas!!!!
On Sunday I went to lunch with a group of about 7 people. The guy from Hungary, the Greek guys, the Welsh girl, a Turkish girl, and the guy from Poland. It was nice that we could all go together to the mensa. But still, most of them don't eat there every meal like me. One of the Greek guys is really obsessed with the gym, so after the mensa we went to the really nice gym to take a tour. I felt like I was back in America. It was huge and very clean and very spacious. They also had 4 pools just like SDSU! But two were inside and two outside. Unfortunately, the price for American space is extremely steep! Between 80-100 Euros a month. I would never pay that! After our tour at the gym we saw one of the other residence halls. It is brand new and soooo nice. It also has a proper bathroom. After seeing other residence halls I am convinced that I live in the worst one. But although the facilities are the worse I hear that the freedoms are the best. We can have parties and do whatever we want and invite over whoever we want. The other dorms you have to sign people in, no parties, and just a ton of rules. I will just count my blessings though and be happy I can do what I want. :) After seeing the other dorm, we came back to ours for a round of foozball......a very big thing here. Then that evening Bill and Jess (Welsh girl) and I went out for a quick dinner. Then I returned home and just kind of stayed in for the night.
Yesterday was the first day of classes for my faculty. It isn't like in the U.S. where everyone's classes start on the same day. Most students don't start til March 5. But Jess and I are in the same faculty so we went together to try to figure out the classes. They are soooo not helpful here. So we went to some different offices to try to figure out what to do. We also met Jess' friend Amy, also from Wales, so we could all try to figure it out together. We sort of figured it out. We are all taking cinema together now. Which is good because now we can help each other out. After our cinema class we spoke to the teacher just to introduce ourselves and ask what is the best so that we can pass the class. Then we met the other students. There is one American guy in the class. He does the same program as me so he eats at the mensa every meal too. Yay!! So after class Andrew, the American, and I went to lunch at the mensa. He really reminds me of my friend Aaron Rosenbaum. Then I showed him a little bit around the city. It took a while though because I ran into my friend Nicolo and then I ran into my friend Pierro. Living in a small city is kind of nice because you see people you know everywhere you go. The new people think I'm really popular but it is more that I just have met a lot of people and its a small town. We went to my favorite park. Andrew left but I stayed and read for a while. I started a new book called Let the Great World Spin. It is really good so far! Afterwards I came home and then went to the gym. There are 6 buildings at my residence but my building is the best because it has a common room and the gym. All the others just have study rooms. Booooring. After the gym I took a quick shower and went to eat really quick. I rushed everything so I could get ready to go to Nirvana. Amy, Jess, and I were to supposed to go to a party before at my friend Mira's house but it was a very far walk so we decided to just have a drink in the center instead. We hung out there for about 30 minutes and ran into some other people that I knew so the chatted with us for a bit. Then we went to Nirvana. We were going to walk but then I saw a taxi and I decided that would be better. Jess and Amy were saying no we can walk its fine, but then when we were in the taxi and they saw how long it was they were happy that I convinced them to take the taxi. When we got to Nirvana we met a bunch of my friends there. We met a group of about 5 other girls that I know. I also ran into my friend Pierro there as well. Small towns, you really see everyone! Especially at the club since it is the ONLY club in Pavia. We got home this morning around 4 and then we had class at 11. We went to class and they were going to have us watch an Alfred Hitchock film - Rope but Jess, Amy, and I left. They are ridiculous here. They dubbed over the film! It is terrible watching a film where the mouths don't match up with the sounds. So we decided we would rather just rent the movie and watch it in its original language- English. :) We all thought it was very strange they would just dub it over because the three of us have taken film classes before where we watched foreign films but we never dub it over! We just read the subtitles. We think the Italians are lazy and we now know why they have an economic crisis. They never work hence shops are almost never open meaning that they are not making income. They open sometimes around 9 or 10. They take two hour lunches here around 1-3. They close everything down rather than having shifts for lunch so the store can remain open. They open again sometimes on time around 330 or maybe 4. And then they close again at 9. And forget about Sundays! Never open. Even the main supermarket is only open for a few hours sometimes on Sunday....even though there website says that they are closed. Its a hit and miss if they are open. Anyways, I have to go try to go to the market while it is still open because tonight I am cooking an American breakfast for dinner. I think maybe 15-20 people are coming. What can I say? I'm just like my Mama feeding the world. ;) My only problem for breakfast?? Where to find syrup in Italy. I guess I will be going on the hunt for syrup now....or making my own! :)
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