Day 3

Yesterday, Day 3, was a blast. In the morning, I had my first Italian class. There are six people in my class and it looks like it will be a great group. Our teacher is very high energy and kept telling use that we needed 'un sonriso', or 'a smile'. The activities were good though, and we're currently reviewing a lot of material. At one point, she had us stand in a circle and throw a hacky-sack. Whoever caught it had to conjugate the verb in the form she called out. It was unusual but effective, so I'm looking forward to improving my Italian with her. What I'm not looking forward to? The homework. We have 5 pages of activities for homework =(

Anyways, after classes, my roommates and I (minus 1) went to lunch together. So y'all know names for future reference, going clockwise left to right: Catie, Serena, Brielle, and Kyla. While I was there, I tried my first Italian lasagna bolognese. While very different from lasagna at home, it was delicious. It wasn't as heavy or cheese filled, but the sauce tasted fresher and more like the tomato-based sauce that it was. Also, as you can see in the picture below, there is a huge slice of butter on lettuce that Kyla ordered for her bread. Apparently that's what happens when you order butter at a small Italian restaurant right off of a college campus...

After lunch, we had a safety seminar to go to. It was long, boring and in a hot room, but it was also mandatory. One interesting thing, however, was that one-fourth of the presentation was about proper posture when sitting at a computer so that your body and eyes aren't damaged. Also? Italian workers get a 15-minute break every 2 hours of work so that they can move about, reset, and not be too uncomfortable. That sounds nice!

After the presentation, we had to do something called "Rush Hour Test Run" where we were given a map and directions. We then had two hours to get to our internship location, take a picture, email it back to IES, and get back. It was very do-able and I got there in a very short period of time.

Once I took my photos, I needed to send them in. Unlike home, I don't have 4G everywhere, so I had to find a place with free Wi-Fi. A small cafe on the corner had it, so I enjoyed an espresso while sending an email, messaging Alexa via Pinterest, and generally enjoying life. 

Some people might be wondering what this picture has to do with anything. Well...one thing I enjoy about Milan is the mix of the old and new, different architectural styles, and old churches beside tiny and modern bars. This is one example of an old church on the middle of a city block. It's 2 blocks from my internship and there's a phone store across the street. This city planning is very different that what we have at home, so I figured I figured I would share this little fact.

Next we went grocery shopping. Let me tell you...pasta is .20€ for a box and sauce is 1 €. However, meat is more expensive and some things are hard to translate. Still, a successful run. Tip for people buying groceries in Italy? Make a small run or bring bags. You have to pay for grocery bags here.

Finally, we ended the day at QC Terme Milano, an Italian spa. The outside looks like an old roman fort, which makes sense because it is. The inside is absolutely beautiful, and it's easy to navigate because signs are bilingual. There are plenty of pools, jacuzzis, saunas and relaxing rooms with aromatherapy. Everything was so relaxing and I loved it. In addition, they had lite foods, cookies, yogurt, juice and wine. These made a lovely snack when we were done. Afterward, Lauren and I navigated the metro together and made it back home at midnight. The four hours we spent at the spa were amazing, and we all slept so well. On a funny note, we saw a guy from our program on the metro coming back. He speaks fluent Italian and was flirting with a girl, even getting her number. He was so drunk and asked us if he could get arrested for biking drunk in public. When we got back, we mentioned it to the others and they said that they saw him at the same metro over an hour earlier and that he was asking if anyone wanted to go to this club. There has got to be an interesting story there...

Ciao for now!