Sian Sophia

So. Yes. There was an earthquake in Bologna last night. I have to be honest I'm quite embarrassed I slept through most of it. I thought it was in my dream until I heard Maria and my landlord shouting my name, it was quite surreal, plus my landlord was trying to find a dictionary throughout the whole the ordeal so he could tell me it was an earthquake, I was trying to say to him, yeah I get it! Everythings shaking! Luckily me and the Padova kids decided to cancel our trip to Bologna this weekend - thank God, the aftershock was bad enough.

This has been a rather eventful weekend, we went to watch the football last night, it was incredible being surrounded by Italians cheering for Chelsea and a few outnumbered Bayern Munich fans. Kristal, our Estonian friend, was going fucking mental for Chelsea, it was hilarious but to be fair when they won I have never lost my shit more in all my life. I spent a lot of money texting people from home during the hype, oh how I miss the boys!  

So with the football and the earthquake my beautiful sister also finally gave birth to a little boy on Friday morning. When my Mum called me at work, I was crying, my boss was crying it was an emotional extravaganza. I can't wait to meet him, obviously its up to me to pass on my wisdom to make him the coolest kid in town. 

My landlord's also cooled down a little bit which is good, I've stopped breaking things and I think he appreciated me helping him bring in a giant table he found on the street the other day. "Its so cheap Sian!".....well yes love...you found it on the street. Its free. He's quite funny really -.-

My landlord is currently recleaning the bathroom. I have to mop thoroughly after a shower (bizarre I know) I always make a point of cleaning loudly so he knows I've done it. But he insists on redoing it. Idiot. 

ooo. My writing of this was interrupted by JR telling me he'd just seen this video on youtube "this man is inglese yes?"

I just spent a further 10 minutes researching 'Cubby' to prove he is in fact American, not English. Things are improving with the landlord. He seems to have calmed and got used to having me around...at the moment anyway. He was shouting "I'll kill you!" in Italian off the balcony earlier. Some joke between him and Maria that I definitely didn't understand, and the neighbours most certainly won't have understood.

Today is the first day I've felt good in Florence...physically not mentally I love it here....I've just had this dayuum cold for about 2 weeks. Everyone in the Dog House had it and I left with it. Some sort of parting gift from Bill Clinton.

I went out with Maria and her friends again this weekend. It was...interesting. I met some fellow French and Spanish ETS participants, it was hilarious, I won't go into all the events, they're all 'had to be there' stories. We did however find a random bar at 4 in the morning. It was basically a hidden doorway in an ancient Italian wall. We entered a lobby where we were escorted by a tall, muscly, angry looking, bald Italian man through a curtain, to fill in our details address, job, number...blood type. Then we were led through another curtain to the 'club' filled with smoke (apparently the smoking law doesn't apply in this place) and grungy looking Italians. I'm not entirely sure what I signed up for, the place doesn't even have a name, we found it again today, its just a door. I told Rebecca I'm concerned I may have a joined an underground Mafia.

Everythings going well...just need my sister to hurry up and give birth now!

So. My landlord definitely hates me. 

I'm sure he thinks it was me who slammed the door and made all the noise on Saturday. Obviously I'm not going to tell on my housemate, who was extremely drunk, but since the weekend he barely acknowledges me now. 

I've noticed that when I walk into a room he completely blanks me. I'm trying my hardest to remember all his rules but there's too many. Its a tiny flat for three people and I have a huge ass so naturally I keep walking into things. I walked into the fridge tonight and a bottle fell off the top and smashed all over the floor. My landlord was very angry...I think. I said sorry but he blanked me, however I did hear when I walked past him a mutter under his breathe "impossible". I don't know if it was a special beer bottle.

Oh dear.

I was upset because I keep trying to remember things I can and can't do, I'm constantly on edge but then I was just annoyed because I'm really fucking trying and he's just fucking unreasonable. 

So screw you Jon Richardson. 

I'll probably just smash some more shit up, just to make it a bit more awkward.

Having a lazy Sunday today. Dreading the return of our landlord. He kindly left a note in both English and Italian for me and Maria, saying we slammed a door last night and left a kitchen light on. I'm a really terrible tenant, I keep forgetting all the rules about soap, lights and how to use the taps. Yesterday I got a lecture about doing my washing, I must make sure I don't leave anything in my pockets, don't mix colours and whites. I lived alone for 3 years and still did my own washing at home after uni, I really am not retarded. 

I met Maria's friends on Friday and Saturday, I was absolutely terrified but it was great. My Italian is slowly improving and bars in Florence don't close at midnight. Florence 1 Padova 0

I'm also going to a tandem learning place this week to meet more people who want to improve their English which means I'll have more friends. Yay.

I've also been listening to the Smash soundtrack intensely this week, makes me miss Mia a lot. On my last night before I left we drove around Felixstowe singing Let Me Be Your Star 

I wrote this on word yesterday, enjoy: 

It was my first day on the job today. For the majority I was a bit glum that once again I was stuck in an office. But then I realised I’m in an office in Florence. After work Maria took me to the city centre for a cup of tea, we had a nice chat and I now feel less terrified about being away from everyone.

My boss (Federica) asked if I missed everyone in Padova, and if I still miss them in a week she can organise me going back, but I don’t want to give up just yet. The first 2 weeks are always the hardest so I’m powering through, plus I was given the option of spending the first month in Florence and the second in Padova, so we’ll see.

I went with Federica to pick up her children from nursery after work – her son is the same age as Lilly-Ella, I thought it would be really cute but Italian children frighten me cos we don’t understand each other. I couldn’t stop thinking about my niece when I was there and had to stop myself from having a breakdown in front of a group of angry Italian mothers.

Oh. On the Jon Richardson front. If he tells me how to use the taps, where to store my mushrooms and how to wash up one more time, I’m going to go all Russell Howard, 2007, on his ass. I don’t know why the British fill up a sink with soapy water and leave it to drain instead of rinsing the soap off thoroughly but I don’t believe it causes cancer …. someone’s been reading the Daily Mail.  “The British are lazy – is this why?” I’m not sure he realises he’s offending me. I don’t like people watching me cook and clean it puts me on edge. I’m going to come home skinny as hell because I can’t be bothered with the drama of cooking …. either that or its takeaway every night. 

A hilarious first day in Florence. Everywhere was closed for Festa so I couldn’t buy a bus ticket, I therefore decided to find my way into town alone, it took me an hour there and back in the rain, without a coat, and I didn’t even make it right into the centre.

It was nice to get out of the flat though, it can be a bit claustrophobic, especially living with Jon Richardson, as he shall now be known. I researched places to meet Erasmus students today but wasn’t really successful so I’ll carry on my search tomorrow once I start working in the centre.

Jon Richardson is a character. He likes to follow me around the kitchen when I’m cooking, asking what I’m doing and picking up various utensils and shouting their names at me in Italian. I’m also not allowed to turn the taps on too fast because of the government or something. The language barrier is quite difficult with him and Maria but I think its slowly helping my Italian :/

I want to go into the kitchen and eat my yogurt but I’m afraid he’s going to ask me what yogurt is in Italian and tell me about the various names of spoons used for eating yogurt.

Last night he showed me his black and white photographs of old Portugal and Turkey (I’d just told him I was part Greek), he also showed me his calligraphy. He’s an architect who works in marketing who dreams of becoming a wedding planner.

If only Rebecca were here to see this.

Oh and there’s a fuck load of mosquito’s in Florence so I have a massive lump on my face. 

I’m currently sitting in my new, shared bedroom in Florence. Italians are fans of shared bedrooms – I am not, I like my personal space, so it’s been a learning curve.

I’m absolutely petrified about the next 2 months, how am I going to meet new people? Am I going to accidentally kill my new landlord who’s allergic to dust?

Its really weird being separated from everyone in Padova, even though Padova was lacking in excitement. But I liked being surrounded by other terrified ETS people. I start my new job on Wednesday, I think I’ll be more relaxed once I’ve started the job I’m here to do.

My new housemate is Maria, she’s Spanish and speaks very little English, but very good Italian, which means I’ll be forced to practice my Italian – this is a good thing. We also live with our landlord lord Mr Grimaldi and yes he’s allergic to dust. He’s very sweet though and looks kind of like Jon Richardson.

This place is also without wireless so I’ll have to buy a dongle which is a little annoying but its worth it so I can skype people.

Until then Maria is lending me her dongle so I can contact the family and check Facebook, so I’ll report back when I have one of my own.

They also have Italian XFactor, its advertised everywhere and looks hilarious – I think Suzanne should definitely check it out.  

So today I was supposed to be moving to Firenze (Florence) but after taking the advice that I didn’t need to prebook my train ticket, there were no seats left.

I cooked a feast for everyone last night then we went out for farewell drinks in Padova, which involved moshing with Italians in Piazza Del Signori to some random live band. Unfortunately all bars close at midnight in Padova (thank god I’m moving to Florence) somehow we still ended up arriving home at half 2 so waking up at 7 to catch a train was difficult. I was also pissed off that I paid €20 for a taxi to the station and €20 to get home.

I’m looking forward to moving but I’m gonna miss the gang, we’ve only lived together for 2 weeks but we’ve had a hoot, mainly centered around drinking Bellini’s after our language class because THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO DO. Cadoneghe is beautiful but it’s in the middle of nowhere. We’ve had to make our own fun with Bill Clinton and Prosecco.

It’s been a pretty busy two weeks, I’ve tried to store stuff in my head to put in my blog but I seem to have forgotten it all now. Its just been nice being able to sit in the sun, eating ice creams in the main square and drinking spritz when this time last month I was miserably sitting at a desk panicking about Italy.

I really miss my family and the gang, I don’t think I’d miss them as much if it was easier to talk to them but its so expensive and since I don’t have wireless I’m cut off from everyone until I find a bar with free wifi. Which in Italy is pronounced weefee – I thought Rebecca would enjoy that.

So my Saturday has consisted of travelling to the station and back but ultimately sitting in the sun eating lollies in our beautiful garden with Bill Clinton. I’m meeting the family on skype at 4 o’clock, they should prepare for a mental breakdown I can’t wait to see their faces.

Oh I also went to a Gasoline Road bar last night, which Rachel would have loved. It was like the Diner but with alcohol and rock music. We accidentally gate crashed someone’s wedding reception – not that a road bar would be my choice for a wedding reception. We got a lot of dirty looks from the ladies in the wedding party. That’s been the worst thing about Italy, the women are horrible and the men don’t mind being leery.

You can’t quietly get on the metro-tram home without a woman looking you up and down and then staring you out for the entire journey – they have no shame – or a man whispering ciao ciao and miaowing at me.

Excuse the punctation and grammar, italian keyboards are really backwards, if anyone knows how to find apostrophes or the at key that would be really helpful.

Im really tired, we got here Monday, after a long delay, at around 9\10pm, then we started our language course the next day and havent really stopped since. There is a lot of walking. In Felixstowe the paths exist and are even, plus it doesnt take more than 20 minutes to get somewhere but here we,re busing, metrotramming and fucking walking everywhere. I have blisters on the soles of my feet and achey legs. And no Im not lazy everyone said that they feel the same. We literally havent had a chance to do anything. The food is amazing but we,re eating when we have time. My Mum is probably loving this right now "haha Sian exercising".

The language classes are going well, the guy teaching, Marco, is really sweet, he wears old school jumpers with horses on - something I know Simon would enjoy. The class is mixed ability though, some people didnt do any self study before we came so a few of us are finding it a bit boring and frustrating going over old ground. We,re getting some good practice on the buses and in restauraunts though, I managed to tell a lookie lookie man yesterday that I speak english and very little italian and no I dont want an umbrella. He was from Bangladesh so it was a bit lost on both of us.

Finding a decent cup of tea has been really hard. No matter how many times I say "te caldo con lait" they still bring me a cup with a lemon in it and no milk. They look at me lik Im insane when I say "no, milk!"

Its really weird sharing a bedroom with someone else, because Im quite funny about my personal space boundaries and having time on my own to watch Entourage and New Girl reruns on my mac. The people are lovely though and there a few that I,ll definitely miss when I move to Florence next Saturday. Im excited to go though, Padova hasnt really got a lot going for itself. Its really pretty but we went out last night and there is nowhere to dance at all....we were invited to a house party by a random italian man. His house was packed, but we decided not to go in...he was charging the boys to go in but not the girls. A bit keen.

Theres not really much else to tell at the moment. Im really enjoying the metrotram and hot weather when its not raining. Im going to do some shopping now and then return home to watch Entourage. Exciting times.