Posts Tagged ‘Italy’

Introduction to Italian culture: Culture Shock

Italian culture is an amazing mix of history, passion, and poetry. It’s been said that French is the language of love, Spanish the language of God, and Italian the language of Poetry. The mixed artistic and cultural heritage created and passed down since the early Roman Empire is nearly unsurpassed in the European theater. Italians as a people in this modern age are a little different than most traveling Americans expect. I’d like to spend this blog doing a brief introduction to my revelations regarding those differences.

Italians are a strong, passionate cultural group with amazing food, great family connection and strong national pride. However, they’ve got a different concept on a few key interactions.

In my travels I’ve found that Italians are much more physically active in conversation and interaction. Hand gestures which are a fully integral part to the Italian language and communication structure are essential to Italian conversation. I often joke with my Italian friends that they couldn’t hold a conversation if they held their hands behind their backs. They’re also more willing to make physical contact and build friendships quickly. This said it is important to note that there is a major difference between northern and southern Italians. Southern Italians are often much easier to build a quick report with, if you’ve got the patience to deal with their passionate attitude of life. Now, by that comment I mean that in conversation and daily interaction even the smallest point of conversation or daily frustration is like the end of the world. It’s a huge disaster regardless of the scale and must to be dealt with immediately. Southern Italians in my experience are also much more touchy-feely. They will quickly accept you and I found that they were generally the group which invited me home for dinner or to meet their families within only a few hours/days of knowing me.

Northern Italians are much more reserved. Again I’ve only had experience with Italians from the larger cities of Northern Italy, and it’s only a generalized perception but, having taken a lesson from their industry they’ve got a more global perspective and have pushed themselves toward a more business class/materialistic/withdrawn attitude. This was especially expressed during my time in Milan. Northern Italians are often colder at first and it takes much more effort to get to know them and be on a friendly basis with them. They were also often more reserved than their southern counterparts. In my opinion, this is in part due to their heritage, influenced by being the major cross roads for Austrian, German, and Asian/Eastern European and French/Spanish markets over the last 3 thousand years and the fact that they are now the financial and business heart of Italy. They are now more exposed to the international market than their southern brethren.

On a note more for travelers, I have often had non-Italian female friends express their shock at Italian men. It is worth mentioning that Italian men are much more forward and thoroughly blunter when it comes to courting a woman. They will often make physical contact -especially if you’ve made eye contact – and can even create threatening situations if they get out of control. In addition given a camera you may find that you’re having your picture taken without your permission. I think that this is in part due to a Media and cultural influence. All their lives they’ve been fed a glorified media image of foreign women being easy, open and accessible, where as Italian women are more reserved and much harder to court. It is my opinion that they have not discovered how to balance the reality and the image. Often it can be overwhelming and can be quite frightening for female travelers to encounter this type of behavior. The key is to be strong and to maintain calm.

Male travelers will encounter a slightly different difficulty. Often times they encounter a much colder welcome from Italian women. Italian women deal with the stronger pursuit from Italian men all their lives. So it takes a lot more effort and a different approach to generate a friendship and or a relationship with a native Italian in Italy. I met my girlfriend through my Internship in Milan (she’s from the south) and luckily had four months of work and social events to get to know her and her friends and date her. This different environment gave me an advantage. However as a traveler in hostels and cities through northern Italy and across eastern and central Europe I discovered that as a male traveling, you need to be careful. Although clubbing culture is becoming more globalized it is still culturally different in each country and province/region, the way you dance and interact on a social level in Italian clubs is much different than here in the U.S. there is a greater emphasis on personal boundaries and space. In addition Italian men, especially family are extremely protective of their sisters/female friends. You can find yourself ostracized very quickly by interacting rudely or without finesse regarding your courtship.

Another bit of shock when encountering the Italian culture is its proclivity to lively argument and prolonged yelling/screaming verbal encounters. I’ve heard countless stories and even encountered it myself. After a long prolonged, loud, and aggravated verbal encounter a non-Italian would escalate the confrontation to a physical encounter. He would be immediately surrounded and prevented from fighting as the Italians, shocked at this behavior reacted in horror, with questions shooting from every side asking if something was wrong – The general response… “of course something is wrong we’ve been arguing for 30 minutes”. This is the best illustration of Italian social interaction I can describe. To them an argument, yelling and screaming is only a part of normal interaction. It’s not a fight, it’s an expression. Only if something truly upsetting occurs can physical confrontation begin. Even then it is still frowned upon.

Hello folks! I apologize for the delay in blogging. Since Alex and I set off into the Highlands of Scotland and then across into Northern Ireland and then I continued into Northern England and down to London to return home I’ve not been able to blog. I’ve got quite a bit of catching up to do. As part of that process I’m now posting some of my writings regarding travel and some fun stuff that I’ve been working on during my trip. You’ll find the first of these below with more to come.

I’ve posted a great video:

And built up a nice follow-up blog of that video in Text:

Train travel and general travel tips in Italy:

Train travel in Italy is a friendly experience and one that can be faced without fear. Traveling by train in Western and Central European countries is the preferred route of travel by most visitors. Buses are an option, and although often cheaper may leave you at the outskirts of a city or have very limited departure and travel times.

I’d like to outline my experiences and draw on my time in Milan and traveling through central and eastern Europe to give you some insight into Train travel. I arrived in Milan, Italy January 20th 2009 and stayed until May 1st before participating in a Travel Study program across Eastern, Central and North Western Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Bosna I Herzegovena, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Czech, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, British isles). During my Travels I used a mixture of Trains and Buses. I’d like to focus the first half of this post on Train travel in Western Europe.

Specifically I’d like to start with the Italian train system as an example. The system is open, straightforward and efficient. There are three major rules,

1. When you enter a train station, look for automated tellers (usually coded for 3-5 major languages). This has two benefits, the first is that the machines avoid speaking with a teller who may or may not speak more than one language. Second this will help you get written information and possibly provide information in English/German/Native language/ Chinese. Do be sure to check if there are student/youth/senior rates that are only available from a teller.

2. Find the departures board and the regular/regional train board. These provide information on the types of trains (as well as a description of what their symbols mean) and a regular daily time table so you can plan day trips on short notice.

3. VALIDATE YOUR TICKET! I can’t stress this enough. In every country I visited it was required that you validate your ticket. In Italy the fine for failing to do so can be 50-150 euro. It varies country by country but often the cost of forgetting or failing to Validate is 2-5 times that of the ticket. If you notice you’ve forgotten or the machines are out of order, Train conductors (in Italy at least) are required to validate your ticket if you come and find them. If they find you and it’s not validated some will validate it for a in pocket fee of 5 euro.

If you keep these three rules in mind, travel in any country via train is simple, stress free and can be significantly easier.

In Rule 2 I mentioned that there are different types of trains. In Italy there are fast trains, normal trains, and then there are the big commuters – called regional trains. Treno Regionale are the cheapest form of train transport in Italy. They are generally half the cost of normal trains and 1/3 that of the fast trains. They take a little while longer since they stop at almost every station but the difference in cost can make up for the delay. If your traveling across Italy, it may be worth the time to check different major cities along the path and check the Regionale connections. Instead of an express train you can catch a few Regionale commuters for a fraction of the cost. (Note this is not always the case, at times the number of changes can make the cost savings minimal).

The photo’s included here are representations of Italian (Trenitalia) equipment. However, the principles held true in Germany, Poland, Czech, Belgium, Holland, and the UK. Validation, and Train departure/automated systems are nearly universal in developed countries.

The second half of this Blog refers to Bus travel in Eastern Europe.

When I left the European Union and the fringe Shengen countries, I encountered an interesting phenomenon. Major train lines passed through capital cities and avoided smaller principalities. Leaving me with only one option – Buses. Eastern Europe, Greece, and Turkey especially were prone to major inconveniences when using the Train system. The trains were slower, less comfortable (minus sleeper cars) and had less flexibility and variety in travel destination, however to my surprise Bus travel in Eastern Europe is exceptional.

Eurolines is one company that does cross European transit – I’ll use their coaches as an example of the type of buses made available to travelers:

These large, 40+ seat buses generally have media – TV/VCR/DVD and in eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia) they also have in drive refreshments (soda/water/snack food for free) and Orangeways and now some of the other major companies like Eurolines even have WIFI built into the buses. It’s a sense of luxury travel for a fraction of train ticket prices. As an illustrative example, I traveled from Istanbul, Turkey to Plovdiv, Bulgaria for 1/3 the price of the train ticket and arrived in just under ¾ of the time. As I continued my travels through Eastern Europe I ran into a lot of travelers who had purchased Inter/Euro Rail passes and found them to be a bad investment for eastern European countries for two reasons.

The first is that Train transportation in Western Europe is Much more expensive than eastern Europe making a Inter/Euro Rail pass a great investment because it sets a standard cost for each journey. However, Given the lack of functionality on most train lines and the lower cost in E. European countries the pass was more expensive than buying tickets individually and didn’t allow use of bus travel.

Saturday
Saturday morning I awoke and decided to take advantage of a quiet day in a quiet apartment. My roommates have all abandoned Milan for the warmth and comfort of family and friends to celebrate the Easter holiday. The house quiet and clean, I settled into the couch and started on the second of C. Descry’s Triology: The Brothers Shikoku. The first book, The Daughters of Onoto, flew by and I couldn’t wait to get into the second. Descry’s got a great writing style, descriptive yet quick-witted and a corny sense of humor. I’d recommend the series. (You can find the books and more on the author at www.Cdescry.com).

As the day came to a close I showered, went for a quick walk and headed to the McDonalds in Piazza 24 di Maggio to meet up with Annamaria, Valeria and Fabrizia. After dinner we went our separate ways and I meandered home excited for Sunday and Monday. On Sunday I made my way to Monza and had Pasqua pranzo with Gabriella’s family. What a treat! We had fish inside deviled eggs, pasta with funghi (mushrooms) and peas and lamb. Excellent lunch and marvelous company. It was a real pleasure to be invited into her home and to meet her family and watch an Easter lunch Italian style.

We returned to Milan (she drove me home) and I made dinner…A mixture of breaded eggplant, steamed broccoli and cucumber, sautéed onions garlic and cucumber and finished with fresh slices of pineapple.
I gave a basic salsa lesson and then it was off to bed for me.

Monday I met up with Gabri again and we headed to Monza to meet her friends. We stopped at her house and Gabri picked up some salmon and grilled veggies. Then off we went into Monza. We arrived at the park a little after 12:50 and spent 40 minutes looking for parking. Every square inch of parkable space was taken and there was hardly any green visible in the stretch of bodies and grills choking the park. The mass of humanity was nearly unbelievable. We finally lucked out and grabbed a space ten minutes walk from Gabri’s friends. We grabbed the food and headed over. There were about 30 of Gabri’s Italian friends at the park. We enjoyed the afternoon (until 7) lazily eating in the sun. We had a mixture of steaks, pork chops, bacon, wine, beer, fresh salsa (tomatoes and basil) breads and hookah. A beautiful day with a beautiful girl. Piccola amore.

Piú Dopo!

Allora, Ieri sera io sono andato alle pub con Paul. Ho visto gli amici di Paul and ho parlato molto. Ho bevuto un po.

Yesterday was pretty darn interesting. I went to the pub with Paul and we decided to walk it. (from Paul’s to the pub is 20-25 minutes) It was COLD! But as we walked toward the duomo and the pub we encountered that same concert only this time as we walked by there was a live band playing. They were metal and the lead singer was screaming… but in Italian. A weird realization as I listened to it. The police were still quietly sitting at each of the exits of the piazza waiting in riot gear and their armor… I guess they are just for show. We passed through after listening to one song and continued on our journey.

We made it to the pub and started playing Jenga with the bartenders and some Italian/English guys who were regulars. I had a few drinks and so did Paul. Ended up wandering around and chatting with a bunch of folks, it was a very interesting night. I met a visiting Swede who was studying Italian and a young man whose parents work for the consulate. He said he would ask them if they knew of any places renting for pretty cheap or any families I could stay with. I gave him my card with my e-mail on it so now I can only wait and hope that it works out. At some point in the night I lost Paul. He wandered off somewhere with some of his friends. I waited at the bar chatting and having a good time until it closed. When the bar closed I decided that I’d wait 10 minutes and then walk home. I walked home without finding him and ended up waiting outside the front gate to his apartment complex.

Outside the complex I found a kebab shop that was great…3 euro for a wrap the size of my two palms and meat and veggies… not bad for 2:15 in the morning! After that I saw a guy go in the building. I propped open the door, got inside, and made it up to the apartment. I got in the apartment and went to bed knowing Paul had his key and would be fine with his friends. He came in about 15-20 minutes later apologized for losing track of me at the pub and went to bed.

All in all a fun night full of good conversation and interesting events!

Ciao Ciao!

Buon Giorno,

Ieri sera, io sono andato alle sei al agenzia immobiliare. Il agenzia immobiliare trova apartamenti con un contratto per 1-4 anni … non per 3-4 mese. Cerco per un apartamento ma non lo trovo.

The group of four guys who live down on Viale Bligny called and talked with me. The three I’ve met liked me the most of all the people who have asked about the apartment but their friend who is not moving out is worried about my short stay. His lease is up in June, and he is worried about not being able to fill the room by then and fill his space as well. Because I will be leaving on May 1st, he would only have a month to fill the space. He talked with his roommates and ten minutes later they called me again and said he changed his mind and would think about it. Then he called me directly and the gist of what I got from his Italian was that he wanted me to help him look for a replacement. I said I couldn’t fully understand but I got some of it and asked if we could meet in person to discuss it today. We set up an appointment at 6 and will discuss it then. I’m not sure if he wants me to guarantee a new roommate (which is impossible and too much stress for me to take on) or if he just wants me to help him write and post public announcements about the room on all the different sites… easy since I’ve used 5-10 different sites and can easily write a ‘bed for rent’ advert in English. He does not speak English which is what he is worried about … I think. I won’t know until I can hear him speak in person, I get so much more out of that and can gesture to make myself understood. I will take my dictionary with me… hehehe.

After that I walked home and listened in to a public concert in the square down Viale (Via) Gottardo. That was really fun … a bunch of big white vans parked under the massive freestanding archway just blasting music. At each corner of the square there were Italian police in riot gear… It was a little disconcerting. As I finished up my walk home I came to peace with the idea of moving into a hostel for a few nights if I had too. I have not found another immediate housing option but I have 3 that are open on February 1st. My main concern now is that the ones open February 1st are farther away than this shared place and much more private. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. I know private is nice … but I also don’t have any problem with sharing and it will help my Italian immensely to be living with Italians and not locked away in my room. Also those are 500-550 and have internet while the shared room is a meager 370 per month total without internet. The first month would be about the same since internet activation is 120 euro and 10 euro per month. I don’t understand how its so damn expensive to activate it but I think maybe I can negotiate.

I’m getting more comfortable with the idea of this shared place. It’s also in a great location. Three minutes walk from the Yellow line which goes straight to the consulate instead of a 20+ minute commute to the Duomo and then 10-15 to Turatti on the Giallo line. There is also a Latin dance school 100meteres down the street and Club Tropicana 60meteres down the street! Youtube Tropicana and you’ll see the club. That’s a big plus for me because the buses and metro shut down at 12:00-1am.

Two days ago I bought my student pass for 67 euro for 3 months. Unlimited access to all trains, buses, and trams within the metro area. Without it the transit costs 3 euro per day where as the pass is 17 per month with an initial 10euro for the card and photo. It looks like a fat phone card.

I also bought a cell phone 34 euro and a plan 10 euro, and put 20 euro of minutes on it. It has proved immeasurably useful in looking for apartments. I think I make 15-20 calls a day to different places asking about rooms.

I went inside my first big church today… they are so silent; I wanted to stay and just sit and calm myself. It was very tempting but I have to find a safe place to lay my head first then once that stress is gone I can prepare myself for work and really begin to explore Milan in depth.

If this place is where I end up staying then I won’t be online for a few days until I get internet sorted out. Don’t worry if that happens. At the latest I’ll get on from work when I start on Monday at the consulate. It will mean that at least I am in an apartment!! I’ve also found some internet cafés so maybe I can use them.

Got a great message from my folks. It was really wonderful to read their note and have their support. It makes such a difference in my determination and energy to know that my brother, mom and dad have full faith and confidence in my decisions.

As you can tell my mind is pretty focused on finding the apartment. I’ve got to go soon to meet up with the guy and talk to him. If we come to a reasonable agreement then I think I will do that. If I do I’ll need to get the deposit (2 months rent) and get a receipt from them. I wonder if I will need to sign a contract? Guess all good questions to ask today.

Ciao,

Baci.

Journal 5 – Thursday 22 2009:

Long day today. Started at 12:00 with my first appointment way out in Biscligli. About an hours ride outside Milan city centre. Too far, not going to be feasible as a place to stay… also out there the air is thick with smog. I got a headache and strong cough from walking through it for only 20 minutes. I coulden’t imagine doing it every day. Next on the list was back in Milan city centre.

Via Collodi. Found my way to it. The seller showed me the door inside and after I found the apartment on the first floor I talked for a few minutes with the folks inside. It wouldn’t be ready until the 20th of February. That marked that off the list.

As I made my way back into Milan I got struck by a wild hair to visit Polytechnico an industrial design school on the northern edge of Milan. I went for a train ride out to Polytechnico and found I couldn’t make my way onto the campus.

After returning by train (a different experience than Metro or Tram) I hurried down the Yellow line to Porta Romana. In Porta Romana I looked at two apartments. The first was nice, wood floors not tile and it looked much more like a house than a rental. Unfortunately the young man I would be renting from seemed shady. He was not sure on how much rent cost (weird right???) and mentioned having a private rental agreement. I kept it in mind because despite the young man the apartment itself was the nicest I had seen yet. Although the loft I would have rented was too short for me. So I’d be bent over and hunched if I did end up there. That fact alone makes it pretty low on the list.

The final place on today’s list was a four man three room apartment. Two bigger rooms with 2 beds each (shared) with one bathroom shared between the four. A kitchen/living room conglomeration and no internet. It was the cheapest I’d found so far coming in at 370 total with heating, light, gas, and rent. If I can’t find a place by Saturday that is the Apartment I’ll end up in. If I do end up there I’ll need to arrange for the building to turn on the internet service which might cost me another 25-40 Euro. I’m not sure.

Paul and his Italian roommate have been very kind about letting me stay on the couch. But I feel that I’m outstaying my welcome. I’ve been crashing here since Tuesday and I’d only planned to be here one day. I need to find something before the weekend.

Tomorrow I’m going to step into an Apartment locating office. Agencia Immobiliare. I’ll let them know what I’m looking for and hopefully have results by the end of the night.

The city was more active today. There was a protest of some sort in the Main square north of Paul’s apartment. Big white vans blasting music and a huge amount of people. Police were everywhere around the edges. I don’t know what it was about but it looked pretty interesting.

I’m off to study more Italian, trying to pickup what I can. They speak so fast and are using words I can’t put together yet.

Peace.

Journal 4 – 2 Am Jan 22:

Milan 2009 – Observations. The city is interesting, like its population it is fitted. Tight streets, tight corners, tight clothes. Everyone I’ve seen is thin, and strangely… fitted, like a silhouette. It’s a little odd. The buildings here have seen better days, and with snow expected for Friday, it should be an interesting weekend. Graffiti is very common and the city is deep in winter mourning. Everything appears slightly dampened. It’s a new feeling. Not something I felt even in the cold grey that was London… but it was summer when I was in London. People here are seasonal I think. As spring and summer come along I trust Milano will shine.

I saw a lot of interesting things during my walk through the city, the graffiti and the hungry growl of winter push foremost in my mind. I’ll start taking photos tomorrow as I’m walking between the apartments I am looking at. I hope I’ll find a good fit.

The bar was a lot of fun. Guys studying at Bocconi and one young woman studying at the Catholic Univeristy. Interesting group – English pub and everyone speaking English with a little Italian mixed in. Played Uno and Jenga over a pint of Guiness – it tastes so much better here. Pub closed around 1:30 and we stayed inside with the folks running it.

Basta. Io ho bisogno di dormire. Alle due in la mattina e sono molto stanco. Suffro di Jet lag e sveglio alle sette.

Ciao

Journal Three Day two – Milan – Jan 21st Wednesday evening:

Wonderful morning. Buon Mattina! This morning Paul and I went over to the consulate and checked in. I had a wonderful chat with Mr. Kidwell about my duties and what our division of the consulate does. I think its going to be quite a lot of fun. From what he described I’ve got a bit of writing and reading ahead of me to stay on top of my learning curve. Nothing I can study for either. I just need to pick it up quickly. Time to start reading Italian newspapers and online sites each morning to work on my language skills. I’m excited to start work on the 26th.

Since I only have 5 days before I begin work I need to figure out this whole apartment issue. The two apartments I checked into today didn’t work out. The first won’t be available until February 1st five days after I am to start work. The second was already booked. I took the entire day to check into resources. I managed to find my way to University Bocconi. After speaking with the staff and getting some contacts I fired off two e-mails to their housing directors and spent a good half an hour scrounging through the bulletin boards for room availability postings. I called 20 different people today and 14 of the 20 rooms had already been booked. I emailed two, and set up appointments to visit the apartments tomorrow starting at 1pm and going until 7pm at night. I hope I’ll find something manageable. I don’t want to impose on Paul and he’s been nice enough to let me stay here two nights now as it is. I think I’ll end up staying tomorrow night as well and hopefully moving out on Friday.

Its pretty cold and I’ve been fighting my jet lag. Had to take a nap today around 6pm so I could focus. I did my first assignment for my online ITA 202 course. Made a post and now need to wait for my fellow students to ask me questions then respond. It seems like the course will be a lot of busy work. But over all I think I’ll do just fine. It is imperative that I find an apartment with Internet though. Been talking and asking for directions in Italian and trying to bring my mind around to the idea of thinking in it. I’ll know its happened when these blogs are in Italian.

Better run, meeting Paul at the Duomo then off to a pub for my first drink in Italia!

Ciao,

Baci.

Journal Heathrow 2009 – Jan 20th 3:28 Local time.

Ciao! Hello! Here I am! London, England sitting in the Heathrow airport trying to figure out why the free wireless internet connects but won’t bring up any pages… funny. Here I sit thousands of miles from home and my biggest concern is figuring out how to connect to the WIFI network in a foreign Airport. Strange, frustrating, Fun.

This morning we left home, My parents and I drove, met with my Aunt and Uncle, then met with our cousins from Chicago. Nice to see everyone. We got to have lunch together and Alex made it over from work for lunch. A good send off. A great last memory of my family before I take off on this grand adventure. Seven months, my god what a long time it seems now, but I know before I even blink it will be over far too soon.

Alex took me to the airport. The flight in was pretty nice. Got through security on the American side in 10 minutes flat grabbed a seat and had a lovely chat with the gentleman to my left. He was a retired English gentleman from just outside London, worked all his life in London and came out to Arizona to visit his son who was training for his American PPL in Goodyear Arizona. To my left was a German woman headed to Munich to visit her daughter and grandchild. They helped pass the time as we waited to board the BA flight 288 to Heathrow.

The flight itself was fine. I’d describe the feeling as warm, cozy… tight, very tight. We were served two meals, the first – dinner – was served while we flew over New England and the second while we flew over Ireland. Dinner was a salad, beef brisket, muffin, red wine, and a nice slice of pie. Breakfast was a cheese sandwich with strawberrie yogurt and orange juice.

They turned off all the lights in the plane and I managed to sleep over the ocean. I fell asleep flying over the U.S. East Coast and woke up 20 minutes out from the Irish coast. While flying over the Appalachians I looked out and saw only burning clouds. The sight reminded me of Mordor, the cities burning bright beneath black clouds like the furnaces of mount doom covered by its own exhaust. Shadows in the clouds, perhaps some chemical or maybe just heavy rain filled the clouds, I’m not sure but the effect was captivating. Where the city light broke through it was muddied, red-brown with a yellowish taint. The outcome was Beautiful but eerie.

After my delightful nap and wake up call for breakfast we flew for another hour and a half before arriving in Heathrow five minutes early. Took me another half an hour to go through security, it seems I wont go through customs until Milano. The whole shoe thing seems global now, never had to take off and put my shoes back on so many times in such a short period of time.

It seems Public WiFi here at Heathrow does not work. Only the locked routers appear to allow connection. Unfortunate but I refuse to pay one of the businesses here to log onto their systems. I’ll wait until I am in Milan. Done writing this journals its 3:44 – Plane boards at 5:30 Can’t get the gate number until an hour before… foolish, makes me feel like I’m rushing when I’ve plenty of time.

PHX-Heathrow.

The flight to Milan: Interesting, tight, cramped, rough. Headache, little space, no visibility … Damn this is uncomfortable! Check my watch…duh only 5 minutes have passed. Only another hour and a half…Just close my eyes and focus on Milan.

Okay, I’m out, in the airport, through security, got my bags, out in the cold. 4 degrees Celsius… wait..It’s not that cold. Warm almost, low cloud cover, little bit of fog. The air is humid, not too damp but it makes it warmer. I’m not chilled…this is great! Tried Paul twice on the public phones – no go, something won’t let me connect… I’ll try at the Duomo.

Take Bus 73 from Linate to San Bablia. Wander around, find payphones. Two more tries, no luck with Paul, got a different message this time, something about service area, don’t fully understand the Italian. Wander around the Duomo…Beautiful – it’s lit so well its like daylight. Gorgeous. I take a few photos. Time to look for an internet café to e-mail Paul. No luck. Closed. Try two hotels. Customers only. Finally last chance is a hotel off in an alley. Success! Desk host lets me use the computer and calls Paul. Call goes through. Thank goodness. I’m safe, warm, waiting.

Meet Paul outside the Duomo at the statue. Ride the trolley to his apartment where I’m crashing on the couch. Gave Paul some of the oatmeal cookies. Had a nice chat. Good guy, interesting, well traveled. Neat to know more about him.

Write to do list and set my alarm. It’s 12:20am. Waking up at 7 – hot shower, shave and then off to the consulate to check in. Then it’s time to find a cell phone – cheap pay as you go. After that off to apartment hunting and the universities to check their wall postings. Looks good. Sleep.

Strange city…need to spend time with a map.