Thursday, February 11, 2010

End of Italian Class, Ikea, Super Bowl Victory and Travel Plans!

Sorry for the long delays, but Italian class has kept me busy. In between my last post and this one, so many things have happened, so this might be kind of wordy. Let's begin. =)

Getting a Permit of Stay:

The Permit of Stay process was, very honestly, difficult and time consuming and completely unlike getting your tram pass (which is a very enjoyable experience in comparison.)

Step One: Ironically, the easiest part of it all was filling out the necessary forms that were entirely in Italian- with the help of Bocconi of course.

Step Two: Then, you have to go to a Tobacco shop and buy a stamp for your forms.

Step Three: Afterward, a group of us ended up trekking to the post office on 2-3 separate days and had to go to three different post offices. One of the post offices kept running out of the receipts we needed. Another was closed. The third one was very crowded and closed at 6PM and only gave a certain amount of receipts out each day. So we went back to the closed one the next morning, and we were finally able to turn everything in.

Step Four: Now, I have to go to the police station at some point to turn everything in.

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Aperitivo:

Aperitivos are a Milan-only experience, so if anyone comes to visit me- this is a must! Basically, you pay 6-10 Euros for a drink, and you get a free buffet of food! We went to this place called Maya, and they had french fries, pasta, salami meats, and lots and lots of other food. I wish I had pictures of the food, but I wasn't thinking, heh. So I'll take some next time.

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My First Ikea Experience- Including the Ikea Bus!

I have never been to an IKEA, so this was an especially interesting experience on multiple levels. But the best part was definitely the IKEA bus. =D

Since everything is built around the public transportation system, IKEA has a bus that will take you from a stop off of the metro that will bring you to the store. It costs 2 Euros to go round trip, but if you go to the store and buy something, they subtract 1 Euro off of your total.



The Marketing dork in me came out in full force when I saw it!

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Who Dat! The Super Bowl in Italy!


So I found a bar in Milan called Fiori Oscuri, and a group of us went to go watch the Super Bowl! Woo! Unfortunately, there were a ton of Colts fans, but fortunately- we definitely got the last laugh! Moreover, the owner of the bar graduated from Texas Tech, so he made REAL burgers. And they were so delicious. I split a Bacon Cheeseburger with Jessica, who's also studying abroad from UT, and Lena had a BBQ Chicken burger and split it with Lene, who is our awesome other roommate. I'm sure you must be asking- why would you split an awesome burger? And I have a very simple answer for you- 10 Euros. That's right, 10, which with the exchange rate would bring it up to $15 or something, but man- I appreciated that burger. Please people, eat a burger for me! I miss it so.

Even better, the bar was so elegant. It's three floors with artwork and awesome light fixtures. Unfortunately, all the pictures i have are of the food and Saints game. Next time though, and there will be one, I'll take pics!

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Venice, Dublin, Paris, and Brussels Trips

Finally, TRIPS!

I'm going to Venice this Saturday for Carnivale! AHHH! I'm SO excited. I also bought tickets for Dublin, Paris, and Brussels. I'll be in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day! =D I'm afraid this entire portion will end up in all caps,  so I won't go on too much about it. But- here are the general dates:

Paris and Brussels- last week of Feb. to first week of March, spending 3 days in each city

And I'm currently planning my trip to the UK, yay!

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