After a great first few days I have come to understand that
most good thing come to an end whether they bloom into better things or worse
depends on you and the situation. After my great Orientation week and before my
pre-session language courses began we had a couple days and the weekend off to
go gallivanting through Milan and surrounding places. I for one was excited I
mean you doesn’t want time off from work/school to gallivant through
Italy. So yesterday we didn’t do much do
to weather (it was snowing). Though today it was still ugly outside the
travel/explorer bug was biting us hard. So I and a friend went to the Duomo
(Cathedral).
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| Duomo |
Man it is beautiful and tells many stories through its
windows. Everything was all good and I
should have known that the other shoe would drop sooner or later. It did believe me it did. As we were walking around the little (rather
large actually) shopping center that surrounds the Duomo we were pickpocketed.
Tragic right. When they say that the
pickpockets are good they mean professional (it’s their job to get in and out
unnoticed. After the tiring calls back
and forth and the help from my mom in the states I got all of my bank cards
cancelled and accounts frozen for the time being (until the new card
arrives. Other than those cards and my
MC ID, driver’s license, ISIC card, insurance cards, and money of course was
stolen in my wallet (oh and a keychain).
I have typed and emailed everyone notifying them which impressed the
advisors here that I reacted so quickly with handling this issue. So I give you the tip of if you are slightly
curious and think something may have been stolen find somewhere to stop and
check. If something is missing make the
necessary moves from there. The
international advisors here at UCSC are very helpful and were genuinely worried
about me and my friend. They are going
to help me file the police report in case any of my items turn up. Though, this mishap is not discouraging me at
all on this trip. Like the old saying if
it happens once shame on them, happens twice shame on me. Ladies (and gentlemen some of this pertains
to you as well) don’t carry a bag because it is pretty make sure it is a super
complicated zipper pouch zipper flap zipper bag with a combination to get
in. Also spread your money out to
different places (e.g. under shoes inserts, bra stasher &/or bra, front
pockets, jacket pocket, hidden pockets in bags, leave some in your room safe,
hide it in books, and etc.).
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| Crema Gelato |
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| Pizza |
Milano the place where you can have it all and/or nothing at
all. After my situation stated above I was
down in my life and energy. I was
stressed and just wondering what I was going to do. It was a Friday and banks
and other places would be closed. What was I supposed to do? Luckily I still had my UCSC ID and my metro
card as well as my meal tickets (tickets for restaurants and markets). So I could eat and travel back and forth to
school. Though I couldn’t buy much else
with my remaining Euros I had stashed away.
That night I had been out and about looking for food and went into a
gelato shop. Man delicious doesn’t even cover what it was. Then I got a pizza and took it back to my
room to eat and relax. Pizza is about
the only food you can take away (carry-out/ doggy bag) in Italy without looking
completely crazy. Over the weekend I didn’t
get out much do to having a cold and my allergies hitting , which I was so happy
to have my own medicine from home I knew would work. I went to the market and got a few snacks and
cereal (Frosted Flakes Italy style).
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| Reminder of home |
Mondays the devil of a day.
Not only was I still sick and hadn’t really eaten much for two days but I
had to wake up and get ready for class across town. I had to summon the energy to ride the metro
for 8 minutes and walk for 10 minutes the up four flights of stairs (Italians
actually start floors from ground, first, second, third, etc.) and find my
classroom. I was exhausted by the time I
got there. I was very impressed by how
our teacher talked to us. After class I needed
to go to the policed station to file the stolen property report so I got the
address and put it in google maps then started walking there. Halfway there I got turned around and had no Wi-Fi
to reroute. So I started asking and one woman gave me directions which ended up
being directions to the prison (scary). After
they found a guard that spoke enough English to help me get there. I got my report filled out and went on my
way. So as my advisor said I got the
full emersion into Italian culture.
Ciao amicos!