Sunday, 9 March 2014
the erasmus exchange.
It's still somewhat fresh in my mind, 3 days ago I was still in chatham, moaning about how lovely it is to be back in the dodgy town and now, 3 days on, I'm in milan. It's almost surreal. I've made it. I survived the last minute, overwhelmingly stressful days of trying to get a visa, accommodation and flights sorted and I've survived the little flight and journey to where I'd be calling home for my next four months.
I'll admit, the first two days were a tad rough, trying to figure out where to go, things to sort out, getting a phone sim, attempting to get directions from the locals who didn't understand me and likewise, I obviously didn't understand them either. But once past those, I don't even know if I can find a word to describe 'beyond amazing'. Mind blowing? Even though, ha, I've still got the permit of stay and codice fiscale to deal with, how very evil.
So anyway, once past all the initial boring paperwork, it should all be well. Classes start on monday and unfortunately, as much as I was hoping for a pretty relaxed schedule, looks like it isn't going to quite happen. It's pretty much full days from Monday to Friday, 9 to 6 with additional Italian language classes on Tuesday and Thursday till 8. And there I was back in the UK complaining about the 10-5 hours. What a joker.
The past 2 days, I've taken a nice little stroll around Romolo, the area near the university which is about a short 15 minute walk. The weather has been absolutely amazing so far too which really doesn't give me too much excuse not to head out to explore the lovely city.
It's all sunshine and warmth here, miles and miles away from the grim wet and cold weather back in the UK. Lovely old buildings and streets everywhere with the rows of shophouses and balconies above. It's strange too because even after a 30 minute stroll down the streets, it definitely felt more like a 10 minute walk. It is possible to take the metro, trams and buses (though I haven't quite had the guts to attempt the trams and buses yet) but walking, especially in this amazing weather, it just makes perfect sense. With all the streets connected to one another, all the amazing things to see on both sides of the street, it's easy to forget how long that you've been walking for.
The university's about a 5-7 minute walk from Romolo station though it is possible for me to take a 25 minute stroll from halls. I attempted it on the first day, leaving myself 40 minutes for travel time knowing I would get lost. Naturally, of course, I did. Like all the places in Milan, the campus is absolute stunning too. It's shared by two other schools in there, I think, though NABA takes up the majority of the buildings. It's lots of open space, lovely cobble paths, sunshine, benches and picnic grass areas inside in between each building.
The buildings are named from letters A to R, again, I think. Each building's no higher than about 2, 3 floors and in the middle of the campus is a massive empty space, a courtyard with stone benches and lots of sunshine. Basically, it's a great atmosphere and environment, definitely miles away from the grim view I got of Rochester/Chatham back at university in the UK. And unlike back "home", it isn't too much of up and down the stairs and attempting to navigate yourself from one floor to the other without getting lost (yes, I still get lost at times even after a year and a half!). At NABA, it's pretty straightforward with the building letters and floors. Easy stuff. Or least I say so now, we shall see tomorrow when I officially start day 1.
One thing I realised about Milan too is the amount of graffiti around the city. Literally, they are everywhere, every blank wall you see, it would be covered with all sorts of graffiti or street art. Makes it all the more interesting though, arsy fartsy.
More pictures. One thing I loved about the little "city centres" (not the main ones but the ones around Romolo) are the small areas, parks or just open space they have with benches for people to chill, or lie down and relax on a lovely sunny afternoon. Perfect scenario: under the warm sunshine, having an amazing ice cream while relaxing in one of those parks. Speaking of ice creams, third day in, I took a little stroll with a friend and ended up buying two scoops of gelato at this tiny local gelato store on one of the streets. Absolutely, heavenly.
I had yoghurt and chocolate flavour. The chocolate flavour was beyond amazing. And considering that Milan is a pretty expensive city (I realised, after it's pretty much burning a big hole in my pocket each time I need to take some cash out for something!), the prices of the desserts weren't too expensive. It was about €2.50 for two scoops, obviously not mad cheap but I wouldn't say it's too expensive either. It's a fairly reasonable price, especially since they tasted that amazing.
So that's just the end of my little update on milan for now, I've still got about 50 over photos to edit before they can be posted up next. In the meantime, I shall be jumping into everything, two feet in! And exploring the city.
ttfn.
Labels: milan, travel
lol'd, 03:47
