Friday, February 22, 2008

18.02.2008

Monday we were up early to pack the rest of my stuff up, as my dad was leaving that afternoon. We made a run to my apartment to drop everything off, and then to the welcome office where I had to fill out some more papers. I said bye to my dad because I wasn’t sure if I would be done with my orientation when he had to leave. At the welcome office I met two other students who were in the engineering program, and also living in my apartment complex. The girl was from Singapore and the guy was from Brazil. The three of us had lunch at a bar in the centre. I still couldn’t find any international stamps, the people kept telling me to come back early in the morning everywhere I went though. I went grocery shopping at the small market by my apartment and got some groceries (the staples: olive oil, tomatoes, tortellini, spaghetti, cheese//formaggio, etc). When I went to check out the lady said something about a shopping bag. I thought she said “Do you have a shopping bag” so I said no, and she looked at me kind of funny but then rang me up. She moved onto the next customer and I was just standing at the end of the conveyer belt looking at all my groceries and without bags. Apparently she asked if I wanted bags (because you have to pay 15 cents for a plastic bag). So that was confusing; I kind of held up the line for a little while.

I got back to my apartment to unpack everything and move in, and I discovered that when we went to the shopping center and I got my hair dryer I must have bought the display box, either that or someone had stolen the hair dryer from the inside, because it was empty aside from the free shampoo that it came with. So now I have to go back and try to explain to them what happened in Italian.

Still had not met my roommates, or found anywhere that had internet access. In order to use the university computers or wireless networks you need a username and password, which I will not have until Monday. For dinner I cooked my first meal in Italy- spinach and cheese tortellini. I hopped on the bus a little before 21,00 and because the routes switched or something I had to wait on the bus by myself for 15 minutes with only me and the driver.. That was a pretty awkward conversation.. the only thing I really understood was that he wants to take me snowboarding. I met up with my friend Jo from the UK, who introduced me to some of her friends and then we all went to dinner. I had already eaten though. The restaurant was nice, we sat at a round table in the middle of the whole thing and it was on a glass floor and underneath the floor you could see all the pipes that brewed the beer. The conversation was interesting, people from Africa, France, Portugal, Italy and other places. Everyone spoke English pretty well, but a lot of them spoke Portuguese and French in addition to Italian. I talked to a student from Africa who will be in Trento for 2 more years to finish his program. He wanted to talk about Britney Spears and Obama. He also said that his favorite artists were Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys. The two students from Portugal talked up Lisbon, so I might have to give that a visit while I am here. We went back to their apartment in a part of Trento called Roncafort to hang out. Haha the French girl was pretty funny “I would drink a little bit juice and a lot a bit vodka.” It was a fun time but most of them are leaving this weekend because they were here last semester and are going home.

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