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

Parties, Piano, & Torino

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I have just been really busy.  I had a great week this past week!  I hung out with a lot of people and met some new people as well.  I also went around the area of Pavia a little bit more.  On Monday night Ali, Fabrizio and I cooked pasta with pesto.  It was delicious!  But I got so full so fast.   They use so much olive oil here that it gets heavy.  I definitely know that olive oil will never be the same.  I am already dreading the olive oil back in California.  Even the cheapest olive oil here is delicious.  Same with the wine. It is all so delicious.  Then on Tuesday I went to class in the morning and then ate at the mensa with some of the other study abroad students.  There are so many of us it is hard to keep track! It But it is nice that there are so many of us because then it usually means you always have someone to hang out.  Although then I am not getting as much of the Italian culture.  It is good that I know some Italian people to share their culture with me.  For example,  Nicolo, one of my friends on my floor, is from Sardinia. He teaches me about Italian culture. :)  Also, he shares some of his delicious Sardinian food with me!  He let me try some amazing cheese, bread, and desserts.  My favorite was the cheese. I thought of Bear when I was eating it because she would have loved it! The dessert was very delicious as well.  It is made with something called "must" which is the grapes that have been smashed up and are going to be used for wine.  Or something like that.... They taste similar to figs.  On Wednesday Nicolo, Ali & I had dinner.  We had American, Sardinian, Lebanese dinner.  Strange mix!  I made mashed potatoes....which is difficult without a masher.  Try mashing potatoes with a fork....not so efficient.  And then we had hummus, cous cous, and something else like hummus but made with fava beans.  And then from Sardinia we had bread and dessert.  It was a nice dinner!  But before we went to the Egyptian market so that we could put tahini in the hummus and they had a whole cow head for sale.  It was disgusting!  It still had the eyes, and some hair, and everything.  It was so sad. :( But after dinner with Nicolo and Ali I went out with some of the girls from study abroad.  Jess & I walked to Karolina and Paulina's house for a party before.  Then we went out to Nirvana (the club) after for international women's day which I guess is like a big holiday in Italy.  They have a ton of events and when you go to eat they give you little flowers....even at the mensa! Its basically like a second Valentine's day.  It was fun at the club but we didn't stay out to late.  Jess and I left around 3 because we had a loooong walk ahead of us.  Almost all the way back though we ran into Piero and his friend.  Piero wants to date Jess so bad!  It is so cute/funny.  But Jess is skeptical, like she is considering but doesn't want to so much.  Also, this week I got to play the piano!!  I was so excited.  I didn't have a lot of music to play from but something is better than nothing!  I was sooooo happy to play the piano. :) Then on Thursday I woke up and went to class and a big group of us went to aperitivo in the center.  They have so many aperitivo deals!  It was 7 euro for two drinks and unlimited aperitivo.  At the aperitivo we all discussed the upcoming weekend to Torino.  Originally there were only three of us and then somehow it turned into 11.  It was a nice compliment that everyone wanted to come but also a bit more work. I found a hotel for everyone which was the biggest task.  Almost all the rooms here are for 2 people and they are also all single beds. I found a hotel that had four single beds in it so we ended up booking three rooms there.  It was a bit far from the city but it was a nice room and there was free breakfast.  So everyone loved that!  When we arrived in Torino we went to the hotel and checked in.  We rested for about 20 minutes but then we went into the city.  The architecture is gorgeous!  But I'm finding that that is common for pretty much everywhere in Italy.  We walked around the large piazza for a bit and got lunch.  Afterwords we walked down the main road to the Chocolate festival.  I guess Torino is fairly well known for their chocolate and we happened to be there on the weekend of the chocolate festival.  There were about 20 different stands of chocolate shops.  They had fruit dipped in chocolate, chocolate waffles, really thick hot chocolate, like as thick as chocolate syrup, chocolate liquor.  Everything!  Everyone else really enjoyed.  I enjoyed the white chocolate part but as far as the rest of chocolate went I wasn't extremely impressed because I am not a big chocolate fan.   After the chocolate festival we walked to the end of the street to the Po river.  It was the perfect time of day because it was sunset and the sun was hitting everything in such a beautiful light.  There were also mountains in the background with all these cute little buildings on it.  I wish cameras could capture the beauty!  At the end of the road there was a dome shaped building.  Some of us went inside and there was mass going on.  We didn't stay for the whole mass, just about five minutes, but it was nice to see it. Afterwords we walked to this place that was supposed to be one of the best bar/restaurants in Torino.  It was called La Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, like the one by Dante Aligheri.  We wanted to get a table but every table was booked for the entire night.  But luckily one girl that worked there spoke Greek and we had some Greeks with us so she was excited to speak with them and then she said we could all eat at the bar if we wanted.  We stayed there for about 2 or 3 hours.  Their drinks were delicious and so was their food!  I had a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella di buffala, and basil.  Then some of the people wanted to buy alcohol and drink in the room.  But luckily since there were four of us to a room and four of us wanted to go sleep right away, it worked out perfectly.  We went to sleep around 2 am while the others didn't go to sleep until 430.  I'm glad I went to sleep early!  That way I wasn't miserable the next day.  On Sunday we woke up and all ate breakfast together and took the tram to the main train station.  Some people checked their luggage there so that they didn't have to carry it around.  I had a backpack with my stuff and a purse so I just decided to save some money and keep them.  After the train station we all went to a restaurant and sat outside for lunch.  It was really nice!  And the waitress was so excited about all of us because she wants to learn how to say thank you in every language so she was happy there were so many cultures.  Polish, Turkish, Welsh, Greek,  and then me....but she already knew English.  While only some people get excited that I speak English people are always excited that I am from California.  After lunch everyone wanted to go to the cinema museum but Jess & I wanted to go to the ancient egyptian museum so we split off from everyone else.  I really enjoyed the museum.  Mummification is so strange when you actually see it!  It is so interesting to look at all of the ancient artifacts.  After the museum Jess and I had some time so we walked for a bit to the shops and stands.  I got a leather bracelet and they carved an Italian phrase on it for me.  It reads "Non e' mai troppo tardi per andare oltre" which is translated into "It is never to late to go beyond."  I think it is a nice phrase.  And now I can also say I have official Italian leather! After we went to the stands Jess & I went to Eataly!  It is a market with restaurants inside. The only other one I have ever seen is in New York City.  It is very fresh food and they have 11 restaurants inside at the one in NYC.  This one wasn't as big but it still had a lot.  I bought some different Italian sauces there to eat with pasta.  I bought a pesto rosso, a variety pack of sauces, and lemon risotto.  I am excited to make them!  I also bought one of the grocery store bags that says Italy is Eataly.  I wish we had an Eataly in San Diego!!  I would go alllll the time.  After Eataly we took the train home.  It took longer then we thought because there was a half hour layover.  I read a lot of my book though.  Which is very good.  If anyone is looking for a good book I definitely recommend Let the Great World Spin.  Anyways,  now I am back to the regular week of class and eating at the mensa.  Hopefully some other fun things though.  I think I will be planning a trip to Parma this weekend.  Parma....the home of parmesean cheese.  Mmmmmm can't wait!