Dinner, Italian Class, Battling Jet Lag, etc.

As the jet lag becomes increasingly more mangeable, I become more and more in awe of the city that I am living in. When everyone told me Milan was an industrial city I was expecting lots construction cranes, chain fences, factories, power plants, etc. Although there is quite a bit of construction (like right on our block in the way of getting to the IES center), I haven't seen anything else that would mark this city as partiuclarly industrial. It is very urban in that there are lots of people working and in commute and there is an extensive public transportation system including trams, buses and a metro. Unfortunately it stops running at midnight. But the buildings in this city are beautiful. Many streets are stones, not paved. The cars are tiny and even high school kids ride vespas. There is a high school just across the street from where we live and in front of if its a long line of parked vespas. I cannot wait to ride one.

Last night I went on a couple tours of the city. In the morning we went on a tour of the center of the city including the Galleria (which has a McDonalds of course), the Duomo, La Scala, fancy expensive stores, various old buildings, and just general beauty. We ate lunch at this place called Luigi's that is on the side of a small, small street. They serve this food that is simliar to a calzone but not as large and doughier. You could get ricotta and spinach, tomato and mozzerella, and then various cheese and pruschetto(sp?) meat types. We sat on the curb to eat them. Here are some pictures of the Galleria:

of course there is a McDonald's...

After that we saw the Sforza castle. The last two pictures up above are from this castle. After this, we saw the church of San Amborsia. This was really cool because it is a medieval church with frescos, mosaics, and relief sculptures. It also has a crypt.

Last night my Italian RA made me and two of my other flatmates dinner. We sat around after that and talked for a few hours about everything from the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to Catholic Missionary Nuns to what our college cafeterias are like. With a 2 euro bottle of wine. Fantastic.

Italian classes started this morning and I am so grateful. It is so hard to get around Milan without knowing Italian. I just feel so isolated and embaressingly American. So I think I'm going to work really hard in and outside this class to learn the language. I really like my teacher. The class is small, there is only 14 or 15 of us in this 100 level section of Italian. Our regular non-language classes will start at the very end of September. After class we walked around the city a bit more on a quest for school supplies. We came back to the apartment for lunch and a siesta. Hopefully tonight we will go out for apertivo and a discotheque. Tomorrow I am going to try to go the market and then Pavia for a festival (it is another city about 30 minutes away by train).

Time for siesta!!!