(no subject)

[arielarena]

I know I should probably just go explore Milan more over the next few hours but I'm feeling lazy and tired. I've been getting up at 7:30 AM to get to my language classes at Scuola Leonardo because of the commute from the hotel. The place I'm moving to is a little closer, or is at least on a bus line that can take me directly there. Now that my afternoons aren't going to be spent with Mum getting shit organized (which, note to self, is not all done yet) I can go on the trips organized by the school. Didn't realize they had those and it makes me really happy because I'm horribly shy and organized events help me meet people. I was not graced with Bri's ability to strike up a conversation with complete strangers. Of course, the people I'm meeting now aren't going to be in the NABA classes with me...

Tomorrow there's a trip to this outlet place that sounds like it might be mall-like. A few girls from my class are going so I figured, why not? My goal for Italy is to find a pair of awesome boots. So far I've seen some that are amazing looking but my ideal pair does not have a ridiculously high heal but maybe two inches max and is a brick-heal, not stiletto. My feet are also very small so we'll see how this works out.

Hotel workers are looking at me kind of funny...it's times like this I kind of wish Starbucks existed in Milan. They don't because Italians are serious about their coffee and Starbucks is sub-par. But really, what I would give for a cafe to sit in and use free wifi whilst sipping at my mug of tea. I had to buy another 24 hours because apparently they don't do free wifi in the lobby like we thought they did. Oh well. Cultural differences and all that (on the lack of Starbucks-y cafe places--cafe's here aren't like the ones at home). We had a long conversation about that with the Rabbi's wife last night. She says you can get anything and everything in the US and that's why Americans have so much trouble adjusting to other countries- their not used to the lack of choice.

I think I'll adapt okay. My first real week here has been pretty good but my mother was here so I don't know if that counts. I want to check out this apertivo thing. It's happy hour with "free" food (say "free" because they up the drink prices so that pretty much covers food) and seems really cool. I need to get some friends to go with me (which brings me back to the "I need to make some friends" portion of this post). I also want to check out the ExPat English movie nights at this nice bar. Signed up for the trip to see The Last Supper with the school. Next weekend (the 13/14/15th) I'm going to visit Bonnie in Florence, which will be fabulous. As long as I keep doing stuff and meet some people to hang out with things will be fine. My real concern is when this program is done and I begin the actual NABA school stuff but let's not think about that just yet.

Ciao ya'll.