V is for Verona

Verona is AMAZING. Before Meghann and I got off the train we were smiling. We felt relaxed. And able to enjoy we're we were. It's old. Looks like Italy. And beautiful. Ahhhhhhh.

I told her that I might have to get out of Milan every weekend. She agreed. Milan is... Nice. The duomo and some of the center city is pretty. The castle too. But the rest is... Meh. I'm not a fashion lover so all the fashion stores kinda aren't as interesting as is might be to someone/anyone else. 

Verona - though only been seen for dinner and the opera- is my kind of Italian town. We found our b&b - and conversed all in Italian thanks to meghann - and then walked to dinner at a pizzaria. This place was not some dinky pizza joint. no. This was a courtyard with candles in glass jars in the grass, lovely buildings, and delicious food. It was marvelous. 

We then headed to the opera - rigoletto - which was performed in the 3rd largest coliseum in Italy. Arena di Verona. Roman of course. And amazing. And more amazing to see an opera being performed in that venue. No microphones. Just human voices (and a full orchestra). Simply wonderful. Perfect 75 degree weather with a light breeze. Waiters continuously asking if anyone wanted "fanta, coca, berra, vino!" I had played in this opera's orchestra before and seeing for the first time in verona, Italy made my week. 

Tomorrow, we sight see Verona then 2 hour train back to Milan. 

-Elizabeth 

The first of Settembre

On the first of September...

Meghann and I decided to be tourists. So we went on a walking tour starting with the Castello Sforzesco. This was pretty memorable to me since my dad and I had been there years ago during a long layover. Kinda fun to be there again!

We continued walking and ended up at the cathedral of Milan, the Duomo di Milano. It's the largest gothic cathedral in the world and the largest cathedral in Italy. Construction began in 1386 and the last finishing touches were done in 1965. Loooooong time.

The next location on our route was on a mystery path but we eventually found it, and lunch. The house we sought after was one built in the Renaissance and the oldest house in Milan. And.. we found it. it looked.. like a house. We took a picture and left. I cooked some pasta with home made sauce and steamed zucchini.

On the second of September...

We checked in at Bocconi - which meant that we took a number (common in Italy) and sat down to wait for our numbers to be called. And we waited. (luckily I have a Kindle and an interesting book). Soon enough (30 min later) a lady came out and asked how many exchange students were waiting to check in. There were at least 7 of us out of the 10 in the hallway. She apologized and said that if we went to another building, we could be helped with no wait at all. We went, and sure enough, took less than 5 minutes.

Did a few other housekeeping things like paying for a tour of Milan.. found lunch and we parted ways - Meghann to purchase an Italian phone and me to an Italian crash course. This proved to be yet another example of Italian inefficiency. I went to where an instructional email had told me, the volunteers there didn't know where I needed to be, sent me to another desk who said the same thing, and I went back to the general help desk (where they had sent me to location #1 which correlated to my email) and a different volunteer told me what room to be in... in that exact building. Sigh. So then after 30 min of not having an instructor and being in the wrong room, I found where I needed to be. Except I had gotten placed in a higher level than I needed to be in and will have to fix it tomorrow. Whew! Long day.


Buona Notte!

~Elizabeth

Longest sleep for a short day

After waking from 17 ish hours of sleep, Meghann and I walked to University Bocconi which is about 2 miles from our apartment. Once we got there, we just walked around and orientated ourselves with some of the buildings. Then found a bookstore (where I bought an italian cookbook .. in italian... 'Cucina bene e spendi poco' which is 'cooking well and spending little'. We'll see how this goes. :)

Then we found a little place for dinner and came back to the apartment. Short day! (up at 3pm and back at the apartment at 8pm) Tomorrow has a big list of getting things for the apartment, finding a bank, etc etc.

~Elizabeth

We are here and here we are!

This will probably be the shortest post of all.

We made it to Italy!! Customs was unusually easy, got all our bags quickly and got a taxi before we even walked out the terminal. Made it to apartment in 20 min and with a short delay of trying to get into the apartment complex, we met our landlord and saw our AMAZING apartment! Wood floors with tile in the kitchen area, comfy couch, lots of storage (for all the clothes we brought. ha. ha) oven, huge balcony off the living room and a small one off the bedroom.

This is going to be legen... wait for it...  dary!

~Elizabeth and Meghann

One handed countdown

Italia. It's actually becoming reality! I mean.. this is not just a distant dream or exciting possibility. This is real life and it's happening. We are going to Italy! It didn't quite start hitting me until about a week before our departure date (Wednesday).

I haven't started packing yet (should get on that). It helps that I've already packed up most of my belongings in storage in Dallas so I basically just include everything that I have here in Dallas and hope that it fits in my suitcase(s).

Starting Tuesday I'll be using only wifi and therefore no normal phone calls or texts will be answered. I will be using the 'Viber' app for text and calling (using my US phone number). I don't think all phones can download that app, so I'll also use Skype (user name: elizabethabauman) and GTalk (elizabethabauman@gmail.com) when needed.

Meghann and I will update our mailing address if you're interested in sending mail.

That's all for now. Of course, I'll update as often as I can!

~Elizabeth


5 days until departure - it's a one-handed countdown.




Follow @ElizAnnBauman