Ciao a Tutti e Benvenuti! I plan on documenting my travels throughout Italy and Europe on this blog from time to time. Please feel free to check it out!
Mi Dispiace (I'm sorry) for not being able to post an entry sooner, but a lot of things have come up, so I will make this entry very long to try and catch up for the time I've missed. I arrived in Italy on January 20th. It was a very very LONG flight. I believe the total flight was about 18 hours. I arrived in London not knowing what to do or if my bags had transferred to my connecting flight to Milan. This was very stressful. Everyone in Heathrow Airport in London wasn't that helpful either, trying to point me in another direction and I was afraid I was going to miss my flight. In the end, it ended up working out ok. I arrived in Milan at 10:30 am and was greeted by my cousins. We then left Malpensa Airport and went back to their place, which is where I had my first real Italian meal. Italians, like other Europeans, like to eat their large meal for lunch and a smaller meal for dinner. I then went to my other cousin, Gloria's apartment and stayed there since she had the guest room. It was a long day.
For the next week and a half I had went around a lot of the Piemonte e Valle'd Aosta Regioni. The first day, we went on a trip to Valle D'Aosta, a small region in the Northwest of Italy very close to the French Border. I saw many things, such as how the wine in the region is grown, which is on the side the mountain on stone pillars. We had went on a day trip to visit the mountain Monte Rossa, which is the second largest mountain in Italy. Near the mountain, there was a ski resort, but we didn't ski. Instead, as cold as it was, we just walked around, enjoyed the scenery, took pictures (which I will post a link to) and went back home. Overall, it was a productive day, and I got to see a lot of the countryside. On our way home, we had stopped at a small village near the mountain for lunch and to just look around. I had my first bowl of Polenta in Italy (which is like a cream of wheat soup, and can be made with many things, such as lots of cheese). It was very delicious.
My cousin Gloria then took me to visit around the City of Biella and then to Oropa, which was a moastery that was located in the mountains. The legend goes that a monk from the 3rd century had been given the statue of the black madonna and was told to take it as far as he possibly could. The monk reached the Alps and said he could not travel any further, and so he stopped on a large rock and said "this is where I will build my church" and so the church was built around the giant rock. The view was amazing and I really enjoyed it.
I then on my own took the train for the first time and traveled to Milan to do some exploring for the day so I would know the area when I arrived. I arrived in Milan and was going to take the metro on the green line to go see the university, but the green line had been shut down for repairs for the day. I then took the metro to Cadorna, which is the large train station for the city trains and tried to find the university from there, as it was supposed to be fairly close, but I couldn't find it. So I decided to go see the Duomo, which is the Cathedral for Milan, for the day. It was an amazing sight. I remember walking into it for the first time and was just stunned by the size of the church.
After the day trip to Milan, I returned by train to Biella. The next day, My cousins took me to go see the King of Savoy's old palace, which is very famous in the Valle D'Aosta region. It was like a small town with the palace on the outside and a church for the King himself (the village had their own church). The inside of the palace was amazing, but I wasn't allowed to take any pictures, and they were very strict about that also. From the road, we then took pictures of the outside with the courtyard and the fountain in the center from the gates. Apparently, this palace was used in a famous movie from Italy many years ago, but I don't remember the name of it.
On February 4th, I then bought train tickets to go to my orientation for my program Eurolearn in Rome. I took the fast train, called the Frecciarossa. It was very nice. It had places under the seat where you could plug in laptops, etc. From Milan, I got into Rome in about 4 hours, which would be about 7 hours on a regular train. Rome was amazing. It was filled with so much culture that I will definitely plan another trip back before I leave, as I obviously didn't get to see everything in 2 days. The food was the best food I had had since I had arrived in Italy. we stopped at a restaurant called the Veccia Roma (Old Rome), which is where I had my first southern Italian meal. It began with an antipasto, which is usually something light. We had some prosciutto (ham) with some flat bread. Then I had an amazing potato dish, followed by the best pasta carbonarra I have had since I have been to Italy. The next day we visted the Colliseum and that was a sight to see. In the evening, our program coordinators had bought us tickets to a play in Italian. I then returned to Biella by train the next evening.
I then returned to Biella, where my great aunt cooked me my first homemade polenta I had in a very long time. It was amazing. Polenta is a dish that is mainly cooked in northern Italy, in the colder regions. It is like cream of wheat soup, but made with butter and lots of cheese (all the good stuff). My next few days were just easy going until I started classes at UCSC in Milan.
I arrived In Milan by car at Malpensa Airport and was greeted by the housing people who were to take me to my apartment. I arrived at my apartment and thought it was nice. I have a nice view of a Porsche dealership from my window that I see everyday. The next few days were welcome days at Cattolica (which is what the locals call Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore). We were given all the necessary paperwork for the Permesso di Soggorno (Residency Permit) to fill out and return at a Poste Italiane (post office) with the 58.50 euro fee. I went and did that, and was annoyed by the Italian Bureaucracy that prevented me from getting it done. First it was, "we don't have any more forms". I went to another one and they were "about to close". I finally realized that there was one right down the road from my apartment and spent the time to get it done before class one morning. However, that was not the end, as I still had to meet with the local police to get my fingerprints done and be asked a bunch of pointless questions. I got that done a week ago and now don't have to think about that anymore.
I had enjoyed the company of my cousins and my great aunt a few weeks ago. We had a "dual party" for my great and I, since her birthday was on the 2nd and mine was on the 14th. It was a lot of fun. We went to Piedicavallo for the day and had lunch there. The next day on Sunday, we went to mass and then had Dinner (our lunch) at a restaurant which was very delicious. It was an Italian buffet full of all kinds of food. We then returned to Gloria's apartment where we had cake that she had made, which looked and tasted fantastic. It was a fun weekend to spend with my Italian family.
My first few weeks here were kinda of stressful because of trying to get settled in, trying to find where everything was, and get the Permesso done. At Cattolica and in the Milano area there are two major international student groups that do many activities, such as plan trips and go plan events during the week. one is ESEG (Erasmus Student Exchange Group) and ESN (Erasmus Student Network). Erasmus is what everyone in Europe calls study abroad, which is also common to do also. These groups have planned many interesting things. I went with ESN to a tour of Milan's historical district, as well as the modern art museum, and the planetarium where I saw an interesting show of Dante's Divine Comedy. I went on a trip with them to Torino, which was amazing and have enjoyed the events they have put on so far. With ESEG, I go to their program called Language Sharing, which is every Wednesday night where different groups of people split up and speak Italian, and just have a conversation. Last weekend, I went with them to Venice during Carnivale, which is similar to Mardi Gras (of course, the original). It was pretty much like an Italian version of Halloween (which Europeans I found out don't celebrate; It's only an American/Canadian thing). Everyone was dressed up in costumes and with masks of many designs. There was a big festival in Saint Marks square. I have really enjoyed my stay in Italy so far, and will plan out many more things hopefully before I leave for home.
Ok, I think I've gotten you caught up for now on my experience in Italy. I will start making regular posts on what goes on and if anything exciting happens. As far as pictures go, I will post the links to the ones I've uploaded so far (I really couldn't imbed them here because there are too many).
Well, I went to the bank yesterday and exchanged U.S. Dollars for Euros. The Euro is an interesting currency. It almost is too hard to believe that it is actual money. Euro bills are much smaller than American Dollars and are designed very differently. They have an holographic boarder on one side of the bill which is something the American Dollar doesn't have and of course they have watermarks just like U.S. bills also. The currency itself is spit into bills of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100. The 1 Euro are not bills, but coins. I have seen these before, but as of right now, I do not have any. I received 5, 10, and 20 bills, but I will post a picture of one anyways just to show what they look like that I found from the internet. Each 1 Euro coin has a different picture of a country within the European Union on it, but they are accepted anywhere within the European Union.
5 Euro Bill
10 Euro Bill
20 Euro Bill
1 Euro Coin
I had also purchased some outlet adapters online so the American plugs will be able to fit into European outlets. I purchased a few of these for Continental Europe and some for Great Britain if I decide to go there. Compared to U.S. plugs, European plugs are very small and have two thin prongs. Plugs from Great Britain and Ireland, however, are very large and look very monotonous. They have three large prongs.
That's all for this post. Until next time...Arrivederci!
Well, this is my first post on my first blog I have ever created. I am very excited about my trip I will be taking for my study abroad experience to Milan, Italy. I have so much to do and so much to look forward to. I will be leaving in 11 days. The wait is really going to bother me. I have already obtained the essentials for any traveler (i.e. passport, student visa) but have a lot more to do. I am planning my schedule while at my stay at UCSC (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) which stands for the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. So far, my schedule is looking pretty good, and of course, NO FRIDAY CLASSES!!! which I am really looking forward to.
UCSC Courtyard
My flight journey will be a long one. I will be going from San Antonio to Houston, Houston to London and then London to Milan. I can't wait to see my great aunt Zia Laura and my cousin Michele, who I haven't seen since I was five years old. They live in Biella, which is a town about an hour away from Milan. I will be staying with them until my classes start on February 1st. Hopefully I will be able to go see their mountain homes in Piedicavallo, which is a small town about 3-4 hours away from the French Border. I have memories of that village from when I last visited them as a five year old. Even after fifteen years, I can still remember it very clearly.
The Town of Piedicavallo
I will try to figure out how to post additional pictures and I will put up some of UCSC and Piedicavallo to show what they look like. I will definitely put up some more pictures when I actually get to Italy of the real thing. I might be experimenting with the blog outlook also so don't be alarmed if it looks differently the next time I post.
Well...until the next post, Ciao a tutti e buon fine settimana!!!
