Mingling in Milano

This past week I was fairly busy.  Monday was a crazy day but it ended up working out for the best.  I woke up early to go to a class that ended up being cancelled.  But I didn't know that it was cancelled until I got there.  Then I ended up joining another class called International Business and Management.  It is a bit difficult but I know half the people in the class and it is taught in English.  Yay!  A class I can probably pass. :) There is a project coming up for it about fixing a hypothetical problem in a company.  I guess the company is an American company and they are actually coming to hear what we are saying in the class.  Hopefully I'm not the one that has to present! Then later in the evening my friend Ali and I wanted to go get something to eat which became a huge freaking task.  First we decided to get kebabs because we weren't starving. But then he said noooo I know the best Lebanese restaurant.  So we walked all out of the way and then we got there and it was closed because it was Monday.  Not only are a lot of places closed on Sundays but also on Mondays.  So then we decided ok lets just get a pizza to split.  And then we decided we didn't want to go to pizza and we wanted to try something new.  Then we went to this restaurant and it was all very hippy California vegetarian and stuff.  It reminded me of the Living Room in San Diego because they had games and stuff you could play there as well.  But Ali didn't like it so we didn't go there.  Then we decided to go to this one restaurant and then they said oh if you wait a half hour there is a buffet for 7 Euro.  Then we decided to wait.  But then we decided if we were going to go to a buffet we should just go to the most well known buffet in Pavia.  But that one was going to be another half hour.  So we decided to walk there since it was a bit far and to take up some time.  But when we got there almost every dish was pork and seafood....so not meant for Kellie so much.  So then he said no I know the best one in Pavia we will go there!  And then we walked back towards where we started and we were searching and searching for it but couldn't find it.  There weren't any signs for it anywhere and he said "Noooo I swear it was here!"  But then it turns out that they were also closed on Monday.  By this time I was starving and starting to get really angry.  Kellie + Hunger is a very bad combo.  But then I remembered I heard about this really good Japanese restaurant.  So then we decided to go there and we were praying that it was open and it was!  So then we sat down inside and we each ordered a dressed up rice and a meat dish.  We were the only ones in the restaurant until one couple came about 10 minutes after we ordered.  They were there about five minutes and they brought them curry chicken rice which is what I ordered.  I was thinking Oh Helllll Noooo they did not bring my rice to them.  But it was too late because they started eating it already.  So then they brought Ali's food and mine about 5 minutes later.  While I was not a happy camper about the situation it was well worth the wait.  DELICIOUS curry rice and spicy chicken.  MMMM  So about 8 restaurants later I was finally satisfied.  And now I know where one of the best restaurants in Pavia is....funny that it isn't Italian though! Then on Tuesday I went to class for International Business and Cinema.  After cinema I went to lunch with my friends Ali, Greta, Lara, and Paulo.  We went to a restaurant called Jumbo.  It is a burger restaurant.  It was pretty good for an Italian burger.  I was so happy to find somewhere with barbeque sauce.  At least I can have barbeque sauce somewhere if I can't have ranch. The one thing they are missing though is cheddar.  They all think that mozzarella is an ok replacement for mozzarella but it is definitely.  I love mozzarella but it is not meant for a burger!  After the burger place I went to the book store.  I like to go look at the children's books because I can actually understand most of the words.  I can read the adult books but it takes soooo much longer because I would have to look up a ton of words.  I've moved up from the 3 year old section to the 6-10 year old section.  I'm a big girl now!  Now I can read all the Disney books.  Plus it helps when you already know the story because then you can figure out what some of the words mean. Afterwords I went home and rested a while.  Then at night I went out with my friend Jess.  We met a group of about 10 -15 people.  We went to this bar/lounge and hung outside.  I really liked it because it was a calm atmosphere.  Jess wanted to go out to the club later but I didn't feel like walking so I came back home with a group of people that live where I do.  They were all people that went on the trip to Torino with me.   Then on Wednesday I went to class and then I went to lunch with a group of about 10 people at the mensa.  Luckily it is my favorite mensa that is nearest to campus. I don't really remember what I did the rest of the day on Wednesday....obviously it wasn't to exciting of a day.  On Thursday I went to class and then some of us went to the University Store to buy sweatshirts.  But there sweatshirts are ridiculously expensive!  The sweatshirts are 70 Euro.  And then they said Oh yes thats because its "Champion Brand."  And I wanted to tell them Champion is a U.S. brand and it DOES NOT cost that much, you are just trying to rip every one off.  I hate when schools rip their students off!  The students are the reason for the school stupid university people.  

Yesterday I went to Milano with Jess & Angelina.   It was a very interesting day.  After we arrived at the Milan Central Station we decided to walk to the Duomo.  It was supposed to be a 15-20 minute walk.  But everything is really pretty now because it is beginning to be spring and there are so many beautiful trees. Well we decided to walk through a park and when we were walking some old lady said something to us that I didn't catch.  So we stopped and turned around and then she started talking to us.  She knew Angelina was from Greece before Angelina told her.  Then she asked where Jess was from and she told her Cardiff and the lady didn't know where that was so she ignored Jess the entire time we were with her.  Then she asked me where I was from and I told her I was from America and she started getting kind of mad.  She started saying you Americans bombed Italy.  You Americans are all about making war!  It was superrrr awkward.  What do you say to that?!?  It wasn't my decision bomb people and what she talking about before I was even born....even before my mom was born!  But then she was talking a lot to Angelina and then Angelina asked her which way it was to the duomo.  And then she said Oh I will take you there!  Which was really nice of her but she took us this really long way and was showing us everywhere that she was born, her bank, her school.  It was cute but at the same time frustrating because we wanted to get to our shopping! It took us almost an hour and a half to get there. I was surprised because even though she got mad at Americans she talked to me the whole time.  Plus I was proud because I was talking to her in Italian and she stopped halfway through our conversation and said "Wait you're American?!?  I can't even tell you have an accent!"  So I was really excited about that.  Finally when we reached the Duomo we decided we needed to sit and have a drink.  They have this store that is like Nordstrom but it has 11 levels.  On the top level they have a restaurant and it is right next to the Duomo outside on the rooftop terrace.  It was beautiful!  If you go there you feel very posh and special. Hahaha.  Too bad my wallet isn't posh and special as well.  We only had one drink there and then shopping!!  I have a new favorite store in Milan.  It is called Bershka.  It is kind of like a Forever 21.  It is super annoying though because you are only allowed 6 things in the dressing room and if you have more they won't even hold it for you.  What if you wanted to buy it?!?  Luckily Jess held some of my stuff so I could switch it out.    After shopping for a few hours we were going to head home but Jess and Angelina wanted to eat so we stopped at this pizzeria/ristorante.  We looked at the menu outside and it wasn't too expensive so we decided to eat there.  We sat down and we all ordered pizzas which the waiter wasn't too happy about.  After that he was pretty rude.  But they had bread on the table for us as well.  And then we ordered a bottle of water.  We ate and we were in a rush so that we could make the 9:30 train.  The waiter was really rude and inattentive so by the time he brought us the bill we were going to be stretched for time.  When he brought the bill they charged us 13.50 for a cover charge.  We were so angry!  And then Angelina started saying "Eat the bread! Eat the bread!"  They charged us that for some bread and a man putting our order in.  And then when we went to finish the bread he had taken it.  We were soooo angry.  So then we decided to walk back to the station again instead of taking the subway since we had spent our subway money on some freaking bread.  We were so angry that it became funny.  And when we got outside Jess was like I feel a little better because I got a napkin!  And then she pulled the cloth napkin out of her bag.  The whole situation was not funny but funny at the same time.  So that was my eventful day yesterday.  Today is Saint Patricks Day and a bunch of us are going to go to the Irish bar in town...and I am going to wear green shoes. :) Gotta represent the Irish