Week One in Milan!!
I have officially moved into an apartment (by myself, yikes!), started an Italian language class, been to La Scala, seen the Duomo, gotten lost, had fun, and learned so so so much! All in just one week!
My arrival was Sunday May 8, 2011, and I arrived by train. I learned the lovely fact, afterwards of course, that the train station has elevators...because my trip is for 9 weeks, I have two huge suitcases, and well...I tried to carry them down a huge flight of stairs. I quite literally fell on my behind, BUT managed to keep my legs together. I was proud of myself for the ladylike manner in which I took it.
After walking around trying to find my driver, I enjoyed the lovely air conditioned car ride to my apartment (Via Cezanne). In this apartment I have my own room, share a bathroom, and eat dinner with the owner Bruna. I have a "neighbor" (he is across the hall, not 20 feet away, so neighbor is a loose term, but roommate would be too close a term), Eder from Brazil. And there is a man, Bacia, who lives upstairs. It is a nice group of people in this apartment, and we all get along quite well.
Scuola!!!!!!!!!!! On Monday I walked to my first class and started Italian language!! My insegnante (teacher) is Simone, a nice young man who wears Converse, has a pierced ear, and draws the Simpsons to teach us a new word.
Class was a little overwhelming the first few days, but eventually, after study and patience, I have almost caught up with the rest of the class! I am getting to the point where I can listen to someone talk in Italian, and understand so much more of it now. It is a neat experience that I can't really put into words.
My classmates are huge part of why I like my class- I love learning, and I love having someone to help me out when I don't understand. I am the only American in my class, but it is so neat to me that I am in a room with so many different nationalities: Russia, Australia, Taiwan, Slovakia, Brazil, Korea, Columbia, Germany, etc! Thankfully for me, everyone mostly speaks English as a second language (which amazes me, because that means that Italian is their third language!!). We all help each other out, and make a blend of languages with English-Italian-and various hand motions. I had a lovely time bonding with my classmates outside of school when the school took us to "Old Fashion Cafe" to celebrate International week. The night we went, Wednesday, was American night! That means, of course, that they played crummy American pop music for dancing. But we made the most of it and had fun talking and dancing (I never did get around to the food). It was a neat experience that I had never had before.
Friday I had to go downtown for my music composition class (voice lesson was the day before, also downtown), and afterward, because the school had arranged a tour of it, I walked to the renowned opera house: La Scala!!! I loved it so much!! I was giddy like a school girl seeing all the music, costumes, chandeliers, etc.
They wouldn't allow us to take photos of the inside theatre/performance room, which stinks because that had the hugest chandelier and lovely red seats. Oh well. I can't wait to go back again and maybe catch a show!
On my walk back, I went a different route, through one of the gallerias (a mall with amazing architecture) and at the exit of the galleria I saw....the Duomo!!!!
So cool! And......big!! Bellisima e grande!The second oldest church in Europe!!!!!!!!!!!!
This has been a pretty good recap of my first week living alone (ever) in Milan (so cool!). Three more weeks here! Then....off to Arezzo for Oberlin's Italy program. In the meantime I am attempting to learn Handel's Radamisto, in the role of Polissena. I'm quite excited to be in a show again!! My life is so blessed. Grazie mille!! <3
Ciao ciao.
