Tonight the International Office is paying for all the International Students to go get pizza at a local restaurant so I better go get ready!
Ciao!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Lake Como/Tropicana
Yesterday all of the international students including myself took a bus to Lake Como which is about 45 minutes or so north of Castellanza. After arriving we took a tour of part of the lake by boat. The view of Lake Como was amazing with all the the houses sitting on the side of a mountain that overlooked the lake. After our tour of the lake, those who chose to, took a trolley up the mountain to get a better look of the lake. The weather was nice but it was a little foggy so our view was impaired a little at the top but the view was still amazing! After spending several hours at the lake and touring around a bit we took the bus back to Castellanza. Later that night after getting back we took another bus and headed to Milano to club Tropicana where we all got to experience Milano at night with the locals!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Milano
Yesterday was our second visit to Milano and this trip was a lot smoother since we had prior experience with the transportation system earlier in the week. After getting off of the metro and ignoring the people from Africa that were giving away their "free" bracelets, we made our way to the opposite side of the plaza away from the Duomo to look what else was around the area. After walking and looking at a lot of well known Italian stores we made our way to Sforza castle. The castle was "built in the late 1300's as a military fortress, which guarded the gate to the city wall and defended Milan from enemies "within and without." In the castle we saw parts of the original castle and walked around a museum which had amazing painted ceilings and Michelanglo's Pieta. Michelanglo died while working on the Pieta which by definition is a "representation of a dead Christ with a sorrowful Virgin Mary." After touring around the museum we ate lunch and headed back to Castellanza for our first Erasmus (International Student Network) dinner at a local restaurant where we had a really fun time getting to know everyone from all over the world.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Arrivo
We have arrived! We have been here four days and so far have had a great time. It's one in the morning here and I remembered that I should probably post to my blog. When we first arrived we had a student from the University pick us up at the airport and he brought us to our dorm and helped translate with the people at the reception desk. He then showed us where Billa (the local grocery store was), which is a 10 minute walk from the dorm. We joke and say that Billa is our new place to hangout because we seem to go there 1 and sometimes 2 times a day!
The day before yesterday we decided to take our first trip to Milano which is about an hour away by train and metro. Since it was our first time using the public transportation system we found it difficult to find out how everything worked. We were first informed that we needed to catch a LIUC bus to take us to the train station since it would be a 40 minute walk. The people in reception attempted (since they speak little to NO English) to tell us that the bus route was new so they really didn't know where the bus picked up and were not really sure of the time that it picked up. The morning we left, after running several times to different locations we finally caught the bus to take us to the train station. Once there, a nice woman who spoke English (one of the first locals we met who spoke English) helped us purchase our train and metro tickets. After riding the train into Milano we had to take a metro into downtown Milano near the Duomo. When we got off the metro we met some people from Africa who kept pushing braclets at us saying that they were made in Africa and were free. At first we declined the braclets but after much insistence we finally agreed to take them since they were free. After they put the braclets on all of our hands they then asked for a donation of 2 euro (which we came to notice that the donation was not really optional). We refused to pay repeating their phase that it was free but they followed us everywhere and we eventually caved in and payed them so they would go away. Right after we got away from them two more people came up to us and opened some of our hands and put bread crumbs in them so birds would land on us and make a cool picture in front of the Duomo. After taking the pictures with our cameras of everyone with the birds they asked for a donation. I didn't accept the bread crumbs (because of the fool me once saying), but 2 or 3 people from our group did and refused to pay for the "free" bread crumbs. After being husstled for a cheap braclet and bread crumbs we finally made our way into the Duomo. While inside we saw the red light that marked where the nail from the cross of Jesus was and we read that the nail was displayed 3 times a year in mid-september. We also saw the statue of St. Bartolomeo, an apostle and first-century martyr skinned alive by the Romans that was carved by a student of Leonardo da Vinci. After admiring all the old architecture and stained-glass windows we made our way across the street to the Piazza del Duomo to get something to eat. After eating we payed 5 euro to go on top of the Duomo only to find out that the very top where the great view is was closed because of ice. Even though the very top was closed we still got good pictures from another part of the roof and some of the group (hum hum Denver and Rocio), went under the fence and went to the top where they discovered there was no ice and no reason for the roof to be closed. When they returned from the roof a pair of Itailan grandparents and their grandchild saw how Denver and Rocio got up there by going under the fence and they each did the same thing (talking about cool grandparents!) After exploring the rest of the top of the Duomo we went back down the stairs and explored the Piazza del Duomo where we spun on a bulls testicles for good luck and saw a lot of expensive clothing and design stores. We then ate our first Gelato which was AMAZING and tasted like very rich ice cream. After our Gelato we returned back to Castellanza and fell asleep. In the few days we have been here we have met people from all over the world including Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, Hong Kong, Holand, and France. We have also ate at a lot of amazing local restaurants including a pizza place called MARIPIZZA where we ate our first night. Even though the owner spoke no English he was extremely nice and even gave us a free dessert pizza made with nutella which turned out to be awesome! Everyone in Castellanza seems to be very patient when it comes to the language barrier and will play along with your game of charades.
Since landing in Italy I have noticed a few differences in the way that businesses are run in Italy and the US. In Italy it appears that businesses don't carry a lot of change in their cash registers so if a group of us go somewhere they make us pay together so they don't have to give us all change. Also in the supermarket there are several differences including: people putting on gloves to pick up the produce; people weighing and getting barcodes for their own produce so the cashier doesn't have to do it; the cashier has a seat; and you are expected to bag your own groceries.
Well we are going to Milano again tomorrow since a lot more exchange students have came in and want to go, so I need to get in the bed so I can get up early!
Ciao!
The day before yesterday we decided to take our first trip to Milano which is about an hour away by train and metro. Since it was our first time using the public transportation system we found it difficult to find out how everything worked. We were first informed that we needed to catch a LIUC bus to take us to the train station since it would be a 40 minute walk. The people in reception attempted (since they speak little to NO English) to tell us that the bus route was new so they really didn't know where the bus picked up and were not really sure of the time that it picked up. The morning we left, after running several times to different locations we finally caught the bus to take us to the train station. Once there, a nice woman who spoke English (one of the first locals we met who spoke English) helped us purchase our train and metro tickets. After riding the train into Milano we had to take a metro into downtown Milano near the Duomo. When we got off the metro we met some people from Africa who kept pushing braclets at us saying that they were made in Africa and were free. At first we declined the braclets but after much insistence we finally agreed to take them since they were free. After they put the braclets on all of our hands they then asked for a donation of 2 euro (which we came to notice that the donation was not really optional). We refused to pay repeating their phase that it was free but they followed us everywhere and we eventually caved in and payed them so they would go away. Right after we got away from them two more people came up to us and opened some of our hands and put bread crumbs in them so birds would land on us and make a cool picture in front of the Duomo. After taking the pictures with our cameras of everyone with the birds they asked for a donation. I didn't accept the bread crumbs (because of the fool me once saying), but 2 or 3 people from our group did and refused to pay for the "free" bread crumbs. After being husstled for a cheap braclet and bread crumbs we finally made our way into the Duomo. While inside we saw the red light that marked where the nail from the cross of Jesus was and we read that the nail was displayed 3 times a year in mid-september. We also saw the statue of St. Bartolomeo, an apostle and first-century martyr skinned alive by the Romans that was carved by a student of Leonardo da Vinci. After admiring all the old architecture and stained-glass windows we made our way across the street to the Piazza del Duomo to get something to eat. After eating we payed 5 euro to go on top of the Duomo only to find out that the very top where the great view is was closed because of ice. Even though the very top was closed we still got good pictures from another part of the roof and some of the group (hum hum Denver and Rocio), went under the fence and went to the top where they discovered there was no ice and no reason for the roof to be closed. When they returned from the roof a pair of Itailan grandparents and their grandchild saw how Denver and Rocio got up there by going under the fence and they each did the same thing (talking about cool grandparents!) After exploring the rest of the top of the Duomo we went back down the stairs and explored the Piazza del Duomo where we spun on a bulls testicles for good luck and saw a lot of expensive clothing and design stores. We then ate our first Gelato which was AMAZING and tasted like very rich ice cream. After our Gelato we returned back to Castellanza and fell asleep. In the few days we have been here we have met people from all over the world including Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, Hong Kong, Holand, and France. We have also ate at a lot of amazing local restaurants including a pizza place called MARIPIZZA where we ate our first night. Even though the owner spoke no English he was extremely nice and even gave us a free dessert pizza made with nutella which turned out to be awesome! Everyone in Castellanza seems to be very patient when it comes to the language barrier and will play along with your game of charades.
Since landing in Italy I have noticed a few differences in the way that businesses are run in Italy and the US. In Italy it appears that businesses don't carry a lot of change in their cash registers so if a group of us go somewhere they make us pay together so they don't have to give us all change. Also in the supermarket there are several differences including: people putting on gloves to pick up the produce; people weighing and getting barcodes for their own produce so the cashier doesn't have to do it; the cashier has a seat; and you are expected to bag your own groceries.
Well we are going to Milano again tomorrow since a lot more exchange students have came in and want to go, so I need to get in the bed so I can get up early!
Ciao!
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