YA-11: end of the Italian course and San Gimignano!

Today marks my one-month anniversary in Italy and I cannot believe time has gone by so quickly! Feels like it was yesterday when I was dragging my bags through the narrow cobbled streets to reach my airbnb…

I was going to wait for Welcome Week to be over before updating the blog, but since I’ve had some free time today and next week is going to be mega-busy in comparison to the rest of my time here, thought I might as well post now and save you an unnecessarily long post in a week’s time.

I’ve only done a few interesting things in the last week and a half, not much to say. I’ve had to run a couple of errands like getting my Codice Fiscale, which was a fairly easy process. I only had to show up at the office and fill in a form and it was over pretty quick considering bureaucracy here takes forever… Also, I went on a Post Office quest. My parents had sent me a registered parcel and the tracking number stated it had arrived but in reality it was nowhere to be found. My knowledge of Italian post doesn’t really involve great reviews so I decided to enquire. Turns out there’s like five or six different post offices in Siena, each for a different thing, so from the one near my house I was sent to one in Via Mazzini where parcels arrive. And then from there I was told the parcel was in Florence and would arrive earlier the following week. I was, of course, not home when they delivered it, so I was left an invoice in the letter box and had to go to yet another post office to pick it up. Fortunately, the post office was right opposite the Università degli Stranieri and I was surprised by how, even though it took longer than to the UK, the parcel arrived without any problems. Got to trust them a lil’ more next time. I literally felt like a kid on Christmas day though, because I got things I really needed plus a lovely pendrive full of films I’ve been wanting to watch for ages and also the OST of La La Land – guess what’s on repeat on my iPod now?

I’ve also signed up to the gym now, which automatically seems to give me an excuse to eat pizza and gelato without feeling guilty. I’ve gone for Dentro le Mura which is conveniently just down my street. Megan and I have signed up for a month test combination of classes and access to the gym. So far I’ve tried Power Pump last Monday, after which I was hurting so bad with sore muscles for the following three days, and Crosstraining on Friday which I really liked. I must say, I have no strength on my upper body and they made us do squats with 16kg – insanely hard -, but the group is made of four girls including us so the exercises are tailored to our needs. Really enjoyed it. Next week I’ll be doing both again and I’ll try to go run too. However in the long run I think I’m only going to sign up to the group sessions because I can run in the Fortezza and I’m not really one for going to the gym on my own…We’ll see, still have three weeks to decide.

We’ve also been meeting to enjoy the sun and fill in our free time. Chilling in the Piazza has become one of my favourite past times and we also figured how to reach the Fortezza Medicea, which is close to my house and a great running and panoramic spot. I’ve also now explored nearly all of Siena. We were missing Porta San Marco which I went to with Megan on a little tour of the city. The views of the countryside from outside the Porta are amazing! That day I also tried ricciarelli which are some Tuscan sweets from the area made with almonds and flour – tasted like marzipan – and we discovered a hidden art gallery near Megan’s new place. Not bad for a simple stroll around the city.

Another great discovery has been apericena at Morbidi, which is a fancy buffet in Banchi di Sopra. The deal is great – you pay for your drink and have as much food as you like so Megs, Jess and I had mojitos and wine and tried pretty much everything on offer. I will definitely be going back. That same night Megan and I decided to go out but by the time we were done in Morbidi it was still too early so we watched ‘Godzilla’ completely in Italian on TV while we waited for an acceptable time to hit Bellavista. The night was alright; a couple creeps and not as full as the previous week, but we had a nice time dancing and talking to people.

This week was also the last week of Italian course. I had a test on Thursday for which I did no revision because I had no pressure to do so - I didn’t need the credits and the test was optional, so no real need to make an effort. I had given up on the whole course by that point to be honest. The quality of the course left a lot of room for improvement and I definitely made my opinion clear on the feedback form. Anyway, we had the written test on Thursday morning – a 250 word (min) pro and against essay on social nextworks, 2 and a half hours to write it plus access to a dictionary. I don’t know if it’s because we’re used to such high demands in Bath or what, but I cannot believe that was the test for C1 level… I also managed to do my oral test the same day because I couldn’t (and wasn’t) going to come on Friday just to do that. Since I finished the written part so early the teacher agreed to do the other half before the lesson of the day (yep, we actually had a lesson after the test…). Overall, only happy because it did actually ease me back into Italian but I’m pretty disappointed with the overall quality of that course. So glad it’s now over.

That evening I watched Moana while I waited for my new flatmate Dan to arrive. He had a nightmare of a trip but eventually made it. On Friday we had our landlady over to finish with the paperwork and bring a couple of things for the flat, and then after lunch Megan came over and we had a small cinema session watching ‘Allied’ which was not what I’d expected. Not a fantastic film tbh. After crossfit I got ready and then from ten on we had pres at our house. Brit gathering since most students from Bath had arrived and there were also a couple from Bristol and a friend from Manchester on a visit. The weather that whole day had been absolutely horrible and it was pouring down with rain outside but we still had a nice evening – Southwest students unite. We did make it to Bellavista, soaked nevertheless. This time it was an alright night because we were all together, but the club was so, so empty all the weirdos stood out – and there were a lot.

Finally on Saturday Megan and I decided to go on a day trip to San Gimignano, which is not too far away. Another walled medieval Tuscan city, this particular one famous for its numerous towers. We took a bus at around twelve which went through various different towns on our way to San Gimignano. The weather was sunny and lovely, not like the day before, so it was bearable. We didn’t have any set plans so we wandered around the town. It is so tiny it didn’t take us long. We had lunch at Antica Macelleria Trattoria just off the main street: lasagne, wild boar tagliatelle, grilled veggies and roasted potatos. The food was really good. We then decided to get a ticket for the museums (mainly to go up Torre Grossa) and climbed the numerous steps up the tower. The views from the top were definitely worth it; you could see the entire city and the rest of the towers, all the way to neighbouring towns and even the Apennines in the horizon. Included in the ticket were also the Pinacoteca, the rooms inside the Palazzo Comunale, the Museum of Modern Art, the Archaeological Museum about past civilizations in San Gimignano like the Etruscans and Romans, and the ancient Spezieria di Santa Fina which used to be an old pharmacy in the 17^th , 18^th and 19^th centuries. Oh, and before leaving, we obviously had to try some gelato in Gelateria Dondoli in Piazza della Cisterna which claims to have the best ice-cream in the world. It was really good I must say – perhaps not the best but my choice of Nocciolina and Tiramisù did not disappoint. We then decided to return to Siena, and that was an Odyssey in itself. Apparently, there is a direct bus to get to San Gimignano, but no bus to get back. We had to take a bus to Poggibonsi and then wait for an hour for the bus to Siena. We went to Coop and wandered around for a bit, but there was not much to see in that place. And the bus was late too. Quite annoying. We eventually got back, after a solid three hours of travel back from that place. I’d recommend visiting San Gimignano either as part of an organized tour to smaller cities in Tuscany, or maybe if you have a car or another private means of transport. Going there by public transport was do-able but not ideal.

And today I slept in, did some house chores and chilled in the Piazza with some other students. The weather has been lovely and there was music in the Piazza since there was a marathon going on. Not bad at all for a Sunday.

Tomorrow is the start of Welcome Week and I’m pretty pumped. I have a few inductions to go to and a few events lined up during which I hope to meet new people. Might not be the same as Freshers’, but I’m looking forward to it anyway! I’ll let you know how I get on.

A presto!

Zoe

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YA-10: settling into Siena and day trip to Florence!

Long time, no see. Life in Siena has got quite hectic and I haven’t even started the semester yet… So grab a cuppa ‘cause this update is a long one.

First things first, I know have an Instagram account (yeah, I know, I should’ve made one earlier but better late than never, right?). Go follow guys! Lovely pictures of Siena and my trips to come!

https://www.instagram.com/zoeamz/

Now, to what it’s been like in Siena thus far.

The Italian language course started quite well. My class is made of around 15 students and we have two sections throughout the morning: more grammar/vocabulary with Cecilia before the break at 11am and then a more cultural lesson with Letizia afterwards. I usually meet with Megan and Jess to walk up to the Università degli Stranieri each morning, which is good exercise and means I can mentally wake up on the way. Everybody in the class is really nice and there are students from all over the place: Russia, Ukraine, Santa Lucia, Suriname, Greece, Japan, Korea, China… I believe I’m the only Erasmus student doing C1 at the moment, but that’s ok, I’ve still met new people. At this point, however, I have realized that the course isn’t as great as I expected it to be. I thought it would be more efficient and, given that Italian lessons in Bath were actually really intense, I feel like this course is quite slow and we don’t cover much in four hours… Don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s helped me adapt back into Italian and I can definitely follow people when they talk, but I don’t really want to spend two hours reading a text about social media – the content-time ratio could be improved. I don’t know if it’s because of the level I’m in or what, but I can’t wait to finish the course next week and start doing more interesting things.

We’ve also been meeting up with the people we met when doing the Italian test. We’ve tried out a couple different clubs with different experiences depending on the night. There aren’t a lot of options in Siena but I don’t really mind. It reminds me of La Laguna, where you go to a bar to dance and have a drink but mostly to socialize. I kind of missed that. Bellavista on a Friday has offered different experiences. First time it was Jess, Étienne and I who went there and we definitely arrived troppo early so we had a couple drinks and, although by midnight the place was filling up and we were joined by Vero and two other Spanish girls, we were quite tired so decided to head back home. The second time we went was last Friday - Jess, Megan and I, this time proper late Italian/Spanish style. I must say the girls were clearly outnumbered in the club that night and we experienced a few awkward situations in the dance floor. I mean, feeling like a prey is not a particularly enjoyable experience. It was fine though, and we ended up chatting to a group of Italians outside and sharing mandarines with a very drunk student. It was quite funny. Another club we’ve been to is Al Cambio on a Wednesday which seems to be a popular student night. They play tons of Spanish music which was great the first time but gets repetitive quite soon. It was jam-packed last week but I really had a great time.

Another cool place to go is MeetLifeCafé  which is a café in Via Pantaneto I’d probably describe as hipster but where you can actually get an English sized café to drink whilts having a nice conversation. Jess and I went there with Étienne, Suzanne and Vero and I had the largest coffee ever – literally a cappuccino in a pint glass. It was insane. That same day, which was a Saturday, I came back to the airbnb to find that someone had moved into the other room and it was no other than… Megan! I mean, the world is so small but it was hilarious because Jess and I had assisted her in the trip to Siena over the phone and suddenly we were flatmates for two nights! Out of all the airbnbs in this town, we both ended up in the same one. We went out for dinner at Trattoria La Cellina and had some pasta (hadn’t had carbonara in ages) and caught up on our Year Abroads – it was lovely!

That same night, I was already in bed ready to go to sleep when Vero messaged me and said she was going to the Erasmus party in Contrada dell’Onda with some Spanish girls in case I wanted to join them. I was so tempted to stay in bed but if I’ve learnt something in the past couple of years it is to grab opportunities and I thought this one would be a good occasion to meet people, so I got changed and joined them. We went to Piazza del Mercato and Via Dupré for a couple drinks before going to the party. This is usually my favourite part of the night, when you can actually talk to people. I love to dance too but I like to be able to have a conversation also… Vero and I didn’t have tickets and we were planning on buying them on the door but apparently they had full capacity already. We did, however, manage to get in by sheer luck. So, Vero borrowed Elena’s ESN card to get discount entry and the bouncer asked if we were on the guest list, in which Elena was. While the guy was trying to find our names, a bunch of people pulled up at the door causing utter chaos and the bouncer literally went “Oh well let them both in they’re on the list”. We weren’t actually but thanks a lot! Free entry for the night! The party was good – there were tons of people but we were so late that rather than dance we ended up chatting in the smoking area. Believe me, all the people I meet are either Spanish or Italians who speak Spanish. Quite convenient for me but not ideal for language improvement! I ended up having a really great night so I’m happy I got out of bed!

On Sunday I literally slept, packed my stuff in order to move out of the airbnb the following day, and then went to the Consorzio Agrario Siena to grab some pizza slices with Megs for lunch. I must say they were so good. Jess joined us later to go for a walk around Siena to show Megan around: the scenic views, our faculty… And then we did some work trying to figure out our modules for the semester. I had to change some of my options and have finally settled on Lingua Francese, Storia e Critica del Cinema and Retorica e Linguaggi Persuasivi. They seem quite interesting so I’ll see how it goes…

I moved into my flat on Monday 6^th in the afternoon. Leaving the airbnb was crazy because I rung up Simonetta to give her the keys and she showed up randomly an hour before I left. Megan and I were just working in the kitchen in the meantime and she sat at the computer and put on some garbage TV until a couple arrived and they closed the door. I’m assuming she’s a doctor and gives private appointments but I swear the whole thing was so strange… Anyhow, I took a taxi to my new accommodation and met with my landlady to sign the contract. I had to share the flat with the previous tenants – three Portuguese girls – for the first couple of nights until they left. It was fine since they were really nice although didn’t speak much Italian nor English. Mornings were a bit awkward since I had to wake up early to go to my lessons but it was fine and I got to meet some other Portuguese people who came over for dinner before the girls left. All really nice! I’m super happy with my flat; it’s the perfect size for two people and has pretty much all I might need for the next six months. The views from the balcony and my room are amazing and so is the location: central, near the bus station and taxis, the supermarket and the gym. Really cannot complain. I will be sharing with another exchange student who actually happens to be studying French and Italian in Bristol (what are the odds?) so I hope we get along, he seems really nice.

The views from my bedroom window.

These past few weeks we’ve also had to run quite a lot of errands. We’ve had to go round the Welcome Office a few times to sort out Erasmus paperwork and module choices as well as find out how to print and get our Learning Agreements signed. That was definitely an adventure because we went to our Erasmus Coordinator’s office – which took us a while to find that alone – and then he wasn’t there but in the other faculty building on the other side of the city so off we went. Took us ages to find the place and had to wait for him but he seems really nice and we got our paperwork sorted. I’d say that by now we know more or less our way around the different buildings of the University. Our faculty is San Niccolò but we didn’t manage to find our library and the lack of working space struck us. I mean, they have the space but no tables? Idk, I guess once we have the Welcome Week with someone actually showing us around the buildings it will be much easier… We also tried the mensa or canteen which is a really decent option for lunch – you get a lot of food for 4 euro. Ok, it might not be the best food ever but 4 euro for a first, second, dessert and drink is really good… I’ve also found out Italian administration and bureaucracy is even slower than Spain. It took me nearly forty minutes to get stamps from the post office – I must say, that place might be called post office but it looks like sending things is not a priority but rather paying bills and working as a bank… I also had to go to the Agenzia Estatale to get my Codice Fiscale for my contract. Fortunately the process is quite easy as you only need an ID and to fill in a form on the spot, but the office is only open in the morning which meant I had to skip class.

Another adventure we went on was that of trying to find the Complesso Universitario Sportivo which is outside the walls. We had to take a bus and when we arrived it pretty much looked deserted. Just as we were leaving we ran into the secretary who gave us the information on fencing and volleyball. Fencing sounded really promising but too much hassle to be bothered to take the bus so, instead, we looked for gyms in town and I’ve joined one down my street with Megan for a month to try it out and see how it goes. I am keen on doing a few group sessions as I’m lacking physical exercise that is not walking… We’ll see; I have high hopes. I also want to go jogging one of these days. I’ve found out that the Fortezza Medicea is the only flat place around so it’s the best spot to go running and I actually live quite nearby so I will be heading out soon for a run… The views from it are amazing. Over the past days we’ve actually found a couple sweet spots with great views – can’t wait till it gets a little bit warmer and we can just chill outside under the sun!

On Saturday the 11^th we decided to go on a day trip to Florence. We left quite late since we’d been out the night before and we were in need of some sleep. We took the midday bus and arrived in Florence around an hour later. The coach trip reminded me of the excursions we used to go on in school, it was quite nostalgic! Once in Florence the day was sunny and gorgeous and we basically walked around and saw the main monuments: Santa Maria dei Fiori with Brunelleschi’s Cupola, the Arno River, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, the outside of the Galleria degli Uffizi and we climbed up to Piazza Michelangelo for the view of the city while the sun was setting. It was amazing! We had lunch in Ditta Artigianale, recommended by Lexi. We had to wait for a table but it was definitely worth it as the food was really good. Jess and Megan had croque monsieurs while I had some avo-salmon toasts. It was so yummy! We also ate some great gelato in the train station at Don Nino’s. Mine was coffee and nocciola flavour and it tasted wonderful! We also attempted some shopping but need the new season to arrive… We’ll be going back there for sure – in my case to visit the Duomo and Galleria, and in their case to do some more shopping!

On Friday I had lunch at Fa Lu’s house with some other girls from the course. It was a lovely sunny day and we made home-made pizzas and apple crumble. The food was really good and we sunbathed and played football. I then had to go back to the Piazza because I was meeting for coffee with Maureen, a girl from Belgium, to practice some French. It took me a while to switch to the other language but fortunately I haven’t forgotten as much French as I think. She gave me some tips on Siena which was great and we will be meeting again in the future.

On the 15^th I had an awfully long day with the Italian catch-up session in the afternoon which meant I had 7 hours of Italian. We attended a lecture in the Liceo about Elsa Morante’s novel Menzogna e sortilegio which I found quite interesting. We hadn’t read the novel but the feminist and psico analitical point of view offered in the lecture was really interesting and I found I could follow all of what was being said – all in natural speed Italian. On my way back home I met with Megan to buy Jess’ cake since it was her birthday and we took it to Il Pomodorino, a nearby pizzeria with some pizzas that are to-die-for. The girls, Vero, Jess and Megan, came over to my place before dinner and we surprised Jess with a couple of presents before heading to the restaurant. The place was packed and the pizzas delicious. I went for a Quattro stagioni but I really want to try the white pizza with pear and cheese- it sounds great! The waiters were super nice and we surprised Jess again with the cake (despite them taking a while to bring it out!). After that we came back to my house to have a couple drinks before going to Al Cambio. We had fun and met a few people, including one of the waiters from the restaurant!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the blog post. I’ll try to post regularly but can’t make any promises as I’ve been fairly busy and it’s just going to get busier. The next few weeks are looking promising with the end of the Italian course, Welcome Week and the start of the semester! I’ll keep you lot updated.

A presto!

YA-9: first week in Siena!

Ciao a tutti!

I have moved to la bella Italia for my Erasmus study exchange and, let me say, it looks promising. I will be here until July, whenever it is I finish my exams, and I plan on making the most of it: travelling, speaking the language, meeting new people and eating as much Italian goodness as I can whilst attempting to keep my figure (wish me luck on that!).

I moved on the 26^th of January. I had to be around for the 1^st of February since I was going to take a preparatory Italian course before the start of the semester. I thought it’d be a good idea to bump up my Italian before I started the other courses, rather than wait around at home. So, on the 26^th I woke up at crazy-o’clock again to get the 7am flight to Madrid. Mum and Dad dropped me off at the airport and it was emotional as always, but I think I’m getting better (if that is not the case, then the anxiety of moving definitely held me up). I slept the whole trip to Madrid and then grabbed some food during the short layover before my flight to Florence. It was so strange to hear Italian people on the plane. I was sitting next to a Spanish tourist couple, but there were also a lot of Italians aboard. The airport at Firenze is super small and I was lucky enough to get both of my suitcases – I was worried the big one wouldn’t make it through the layover and I’d be stuck with the cabin bag for a few days, but phew! Getting the coach to the train station was pretty straight-forward and, given that I haven’t practiced much Italian over the past six months, I was quite proud that I understood what I was being told and that, in turn, I was able to make myself understood. Italy reminds me a lot of Spain- the centre of Florence is beautiful but the outskirts are quite dirty and run-down, like the bigger Spanish cities. I had to drag my suitcase to the autostazione to get the bus to Siena; good thing I’d googled the location because it was quite hidden away! I bought my ticket at the office and the driver helped me open the baggage hold because I couldn’t do it myself (what? I’m sometimes useless…). The trip through Tuscany was long but alright; it was lovely to see the sun shining over the hills and it’s nothing like I remembered/imagined. When they say Tuscany is hilly, they really mean it. I arrived in Siena earlier than I expected, just as the sun was setting. I’d googled the way to my airbnb and it was supposedly only ten minutes away, but I hadn’t counted on the cobble stones. I gave up within two minutes and took a taxi instead. The city looked like a labyrinth at first (now I’ve more or less found my way around) so a taxi was a good decision. The driver took me to the wrong place at first but then he corrected himself and dropped me off at the Duomo from where I only had to go down a short road. Landu and Ada greeted me and helped me bring my baggage up to the top floor. I had the house to myself so was able to choose the room – I went for the individual one with the nice window view and Internet connection. Landu gave me a map and explained where the supermarkets and the bar for breakfast were, so I rested a bit and then went out to the Piazza to grab some dinner, took a shower and went to bed. Also, I hear the clock tower bells every hour fml

My actual first day in Siena was pretty efficient. The airbnb I’m in is really centric and Siena is quite small so I can walk anywhere I need to go. I have everything I need to keep me going the first few days before I move into a flat: cooking stuff, shower, internet and washing machine. The weather over the first few days was really nice – sunny but chilly – which helped a lot as I did a lot of walking. Don’t have to worry about gaining much weight, walking up and down the hills will help with that! The Piazza is nothing like I imagined. It’s a lot smaller and it’s concave! And Siena is generally much smaller than I thought – which is handy but eventually might be limiting too. It’s like the Italian version of Bath: picturesque and full of little streets and laundry hung under the windows covering the terracotta coloured buildings. The Duomo also looks amazing – a proper Italian Rinascimento creation! And the views from the balcony of the airbnb are my favourite, for sure:

I was woken up by bustle in the streets so I got up and ready to go have breakfast at the bar-gelatteria. My breakfast is basically a cappuccino and a pastry – tastes great but not too healthy, is it? I then headed to the University Welcome Office where I was told I had to wait till registration day but that in the meantime I could contact my Erasmus Coordinator to discuss my subjects, so I sent him an email. I then went to TIM and, after coming and going a few times, got my Italian SIM card up and running [let me know if you need my number]. I also went to the Tourist Information Office which wasn’t very helpful – I got some information about the museums and different walking tours I can follow but they didn’t have information about transport. A girl told me how to get the bus urbani though; you buy the ticket off a tabaccheria which I find so strange! I then headed to Piazza Gramsci to check the buses and then shopped at the “big” Conad supermarket, which is in fact quite small and very, very packed. Back home I made lunch and tried to put my life together and plan things to do the next few days – turned out, there was not that much to do so I ended up with a lot of free time to binge watch TV shows and sleep in…

I headed out the door while there was still sun and set out to explore the more student-y side of the city – I found a Tiger shop and a cheap multitienda  kind of place, yay! I failed, however, to find my faculty. I was actually outside it, but missed the sign lolz. Oh, and I found a dreamy vintage shop too, who would’ve known?

On Saturday I had my house viewing but I got there early so I popped into the nearby Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico. It was a massive building with a noticeable lack of decorations, but the view of Siena from the nearby street was breath-taking. The house viewing went well and I decided to get the flat so later that day I paid the deposit and we’re currently sorting out the contract. Apparently, I’ll be sharing with another Erasmus student who’ll come along in late February and I will be moving in next week.

That same day Jess arrived in Siena so I helped her get to her airbnb and we met for dinner. We decided to get one of those pizza slices to go and sit at the Piazza before exploring the city. It was good to see someone from Bath and having news of what my coursemates are up to. Having spent the last few months in a more isolated location, it’d been ages since I’d seen anybody from Bath!

On Sunday I decided to sleep in and skip breakfast. I took a shower and updated the blog and then had lunch before meeting Jess to go out and explore. We managed to find the Università degli Stranieri where we were to have the language test a couple days later. We went past Porta Camollia and down the escalator (yes, escalator) to go down the hill to the station. We also found a big(ger) supermarket and a decent-looking sushi place. Making a list of potential places to try out!

On our way back to the Piazza we went down the road off the Basilica and found the best view to take pictures – the sun was setting and you could see both of the big hills in Siena with the house stacked one on top of the other. I swear, it is so beautiful!

Then Jess came over to use my kitchen and we discovered that someone had been around the house. I really don’t know what happened. I assumed someone had moved into the other room but then I there was nobody around. Later that night I heard someone in the living room and it was Simonetta, the owner who told me there was someone (or so I understood), but then the following day whoever was there seemed to have left? I don’t know; it was so weird…

Monday and Tuesday were quite boring as it was that in-between moment before starting any lessons so I didn’t have much to do. I binge watched a lot of Glee, which I hadn’t seen in ages because I fall out of it quickly. I did some shopping and found a really good place to get cosmetics and house stuff, so I bought some towels and will be going back to get bed linen once I move into the flat. I also did the groceries again and cooked some garbanzas – tbh, I’ve pretty much lived out of garbanzas weekly since I‘ve had to cook for myself. And the weather got cloudy and rainy, so I ran some short errands but spent most of my time in my room just chilling: watching films, reading, revising some Italian, doing laundry, trying to sort out more paperwork… The Wi-Fi doesn’t work well with my laptop and it keeps making it crash so I’ve been relying on my mobile phone which is not ideal...

On Wednesday we had the Italian language placement test and it was a disaster of a day. Jess and I got there on time and all, and the written test went absolutely fine – so much easier than what we are given in Bath. Then we were told to wait outside for the oral test: they’d call us in as they marked our written test. Well, all good and well. We met new people, all international. An Argentinian guy, a Norwegian girl, a Swiss guy, two Mexican girls and even a Spanish girl from no other but Tenerife! What are the odds? However, there were also tons of Asians and something seemed a bit off… Nearly 2 and half hours later, we realized we’d done the test in the wrong place; with the internationals, not Erasmus. I mean, it was the same test, but we were worried we’d be left out from the actual Erasmus group as we were supposed to have the lessons in the afternoon, not the morning… Well, we enquired – turned out our tests hadn’t been marked yet and neither could we find anybody who actually knew what was going on… So we waited to have our orals and then, about five hours after the start of the test (omg Italy are you always this way?), we were given a timetable and told to go downstairs to reception and ask there. The lady downstairs gave us another timetable – same Italian level but different times, and told us to wait for the lists to be put up sometime between 2 and 4. I then went home for lunch and chilled until three-something before heading back to check the list. Got there; no lists yet. They’d be up at 5. Like wtf. Anyhow, I waited and they eventually put them up. I was level C1, morning lesson. Apparently, the higher levels are small groups so we only have lessons in the morning, but it clashed with the University registration the following day… Eventually someone came and said that the Erasmus students missing tomorrow was a justified absence so no problem, but honestly, Italian paperwork takes literal ages, it was so annoying. I then came back home, stopping on the way by the supermarket and running a couple extra errands. I got a new patch for my famous backpack and also broke a decorative dish while trying to turn on the light. My luck could not be better -.- At least I had yummy fish and veggies for dinner…

Then on the Thursday it was registration day so I met with Jess at the venue. There were not as many people as I thought they’d be, but considering that we’ve arrived quite early, it was fine. They gave us all the formal info about choosing the modules and the Erasmus paperwork and all that. In late February we'll have the proper induction though. The Erasmus group guys seemed pretty excited about the Welcome Week which is promising. We got our ESN discount card and then I went back home for lunch. After lunch I tried to use the University connection to get some stuff done on my laptop… but exam season, alas no place, alas ended up at Jess’ place using her connection and here I am.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post - I know it's a bit all over the place but I've had to write it in chunks. I can’t believe it’s already been a week since I arrived. Hopefully things will get going soon. A presto!