Decided that today was the day to venture to Ikea. On Saturdays there is a bus line which goes directly there from the centre, but on any other day the number 16 bus also goes there.  Getting to where I could get the number 16 from involved going in completely the wrong direction with the number 11. In fact, the journey I took with the number 11 is the same one I will take if I ever get the bus to school, so I now know where the nearest stop to get it from is and where to get off, which is useful.

So, catching the number 11 was successful in all respects (had to wait about 13 minutes for it in the first place). Got off at the right place, crossed the road and looked at the stop for the number 16. The next one wasn’t coming for 20 minutes and what’s more it was only going as far as the end of Zone 1 (Ikea is in Zone 2). Chatted to a lady at the bus stop while we waited. The next bus that would go all the way wasn’t coming for 40 minutes, but luckily as Ikea was marked on my bus route map I could see that if I got the 16 as far as it went then I could probably walk to Ikea from there, which is exactly what I did.   The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere, but soon the big blue box loomed reassuringly on the horizon.

First stop: the Ikea restaurant, for some sustenance of a non-Italian variety.  Not that I am in any way, shape or form complaining about Italian sustenance (which you can rest assured I love), but you can have too much of a good thing and it was nice to have some Swedish meatballs and good old daim cake.... very glad that even in Italy they had all this in the restaurant, although I was amused to see that in the cafe part they also had lots of panini and of course, espresso (no refillable hot drinks there then!).

The shop was, of course, completely identical (I could have been in Bristol, except for the Euro prices, obviously). Managed to find the things I was after...and many more things I didn’t know I was after until I saw them...

Loaded myself up with two full blue bags and a folding chair, and headed off towards the bus stop, with lizards running all around my feet as I exited the car park (ok, so I would have been surprised if that had happened in Bristol...).

I picked the worst time to come home... the bus was nice and empty as I got on, so I had space to arrange myself. Then about half way along the route we stopped somewhere near a school and about 20 teenagers got on... I almost didn’t get off the bus as he started moving again while I was still swinging my bags all over the place, whacking as many of the teenagers as I possibly could, dropping my chair etc etc... luckily someone shouted for him to stop so I did manage to get off, hopefully without having done too much damage to my fellow passengers!  I then walked to the next bus stop for the number 11, which very kindly stops outside my house on the way back!

So, here I am. All purchases seem great, although the lack of a screwdriver for putting my bedside lamp together could be annoying, as could the fact that the bulb doesn’t seem to be working even though it appears to be the right one, and the fact that I couldn’t find an extension lead to get it to reach anywhere near my bedside table in the first place...   Hmm, perhaps not getting the light would have been a better idea.
Oh, and I wanted a rug to make my floor a bit cosier (cold tiles at the mo), but unfortunately the cheap one is quite garish striped colours, and it clashes hideously with my floor tiles. Really doesn’t look great... otherwise all is good!

Oh and the foot seems to be healing quite well, which is a relief!

Thankfully I have been feeling much better today, although walking is still a bit of an issue. I decided it would be better to stay at home, especially as it being Sunday means that nothing would be open. So instead of going out, I took the opportunity to watch a bit of Italian TV. I love how even watching TV now counts as “homework” as it’s “good practice”!

Dominating the first programme I watched (a sort of Sunday chat show) was the loss of 6 Italian soldiers in Kabul. There was a debate about the so-called ‘peace campaign’ in Afghanistan. Quite interesting to see it from the perspective of another country, and clearly as this was a big loss for Italy (the biggest since they went to Afghanistan in 2004) it has provoked a massive reaction nationwide – the tricolour is flying everywhere and tomorrow there will be a huge state ceremony for the funerals, with all the major leaders present.

Later I watched the news itself, which covered this and also the end of Ramadan (linking to it various stories such as protests against the Burkha which took place in Milan today, leaving somebody injured, and the story of a Muslim girl who was killed by her father because she was in love with an Italian). The presenter then noted that Muslims in Italy had also prayed today for the Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan...

Some lighter hearted items informed me that today is Sofia Loren’s birthday and that Wednesday will see the start of fashion week. There was also an item about bikes which reminded me that I need to go to the hire place to see about getting one myself while I am here...

The news programme itself was all very odd. Some guy in his seventies was reading off sheets of paper that he was flapping around all over the place (what happened to autocue?!). He was the most uncharismatic presenter I have ever seen, and he didn’t really seem to know what was going on anyway. Perhaps the Italians love him?! Anyway, he certainly didn’t have one of the infamous Italian TV girls running around making the screen look pretty.... although he did occasionally turn to some women sitting down for more information. Quite bizarre in all respects...perhaps I was watching the wrong channel! (Our TV is fairly limited in what it will/won’t receive though).

Oh, they also talked about swine flu/seasonal flu and a DIY kit that may be available in a few days (to see which type of flu you are suffering for), while we wait for a vaccine programme. At least after being forced to wear a mask all day in hospital yesterday (because clearly my temperature indicated flu and I was lying about not having any other symptoms...) I now have it in case I do need it at a later stage!

Having gone to bed with a fever last night, I hoped to wake up feeling a lot better this morning.

No such luck - the fever had escalated and I felt really quite ill (headache, neck ache etc). It was fairly obvious that the fever was because of the nasty blister on my foot, which was now even more swollen and had turned the rest of my foot red and painful to touch as well. It didn’t look very good at all. It was kind of a blister/blood blister/bruise all in one...not quite like anything I’ve ever seen before! Yuck!

I texted Elena, my mentor at the school, and asked her whether there was an out of hours doctor I could visit on Saturday. She rang me and said there wasn’t, but that she could take me to casualty. I wasn’t too keen on this idea, it not seeming serious enough for that. However, we arranged to meet and when she saw it herself she said we were definitely going there!

She drove me to casualty and upon arrival I was promptly given a face mask because I had a fever (and had to assure them I didn’t have a sore throat or cough about 10 times during the day). The face mask made me feel really quite ill and so at the point where I became very faint/sick they put me in a bed. More good Italian practice – had to speak to various doctors and nurses, and Elena had gone home after she and the doctor had reassured each other that my Italian was good enough to cope on my own! They took blood and all the other vitals, and then put me on a drip. My temperature was still way up. After about three hours downstairs on the horrible drip, someone came in to move me up to ‘chirugia plastica’ (plastic surgery). He was very concerned that I didn’t have any relatives with me, and I have to say at that point so was I – not knowing what they were going to do to me up there(chop my foot off etc...?) . Anyway after spending some more time on the bed in the corridor, I got to see Doctor Paolo the plastic surgeon, who did all sorts of nasty things which hurt lots, but none of which involved chopping off the foot. He then dressed and bandaged it as below, and sent me back downstairs with an illegible prescription. Had to wait another hour to see the doctor downstairs again before being discharged with my complete record of blood test results, all the other vitals and the prescription. Took this to the pharmacy and parted with €23!

So, not an ideal Saturday, but I suppose it was a bit of an adventure! I just really hope it does heal reasonably quickly as it’s kind of hard to walk at the moment!

That is the heading on p26 of my textbook ‘Surfing the World’ which I spent this morning beginning to read. The answer to that question is “Yes, I most certainly do”.
Luckily, having taking note of the fact last time that any tea sold in Italian supermarkets, even Twining’s English Breakfast Tea, is nothing of the sort, I brought a stash of tea bags to keep me going (hopefully) until Christmas! I am therefore being very English at this moment and sitting here with a nice cup of tea.

Making the tea reminded me so much of July 2006 when I spent a month in Perugia, along with Sally, Fran and Debbie, doing our pre-Erasmus Intensive Italian Course. We had a hilarious time trying to boil water in a saucepan on a horrible old stove and then pour it into tiny espresso cups...  the stove issue was the same here, but luckily I bought a lovely big mug from a € shop yesterday and the little saucepan I was using has a pouring groove in it. All in all much easier to be English here!

The book has some classic lines in it that had me laughing this morning:

‘That is not to say that RP is dead: many people, especially amongst the older middle classes, still consider a northern accent an indication of a lower even criminal species.’

‘There are plenty of takeaway shops in Britain, because many people like buying food from a shop instead of cooking it at home.’

‘British people have ‘a sweet tooth’ and therefore enjoy a great variety of delicious cakes and puddings.’

‘British people show little interest in politics.’

‘The Monarchy is quite popular with the majority of the British people. The very next paragraph starts: At present the attitudes of the British people towards the Royal Family are divided.’ Spot the contradiction...

Overall though it seems a very thorough course, covering many of the aspects of British culture that I had in mind to do activities based upon. Of course only the first section of the book is about the UK, as much of it is about America and then a small section on Canada/New Zealand and Australia at the end.  I may struggle more filling them in on those bits!!

This afternoon I wandered around town South of where I went yesterday. I wanted to go to the station to get my ticket for Turin (done, at half the cost I thought it was going to be by choosing only regional trains, even if they mean waiting around a bit in Milan). I had a blister before I set out, which was quite painful but not touching on my flip flops. It got more and more painful as I went around, and when I got home and took the plaster off it was the most swollen blister I have ever seen. Really really disgusting and really very painful. I don’t know whether it’s related but I have quite a high temperature at the moment and am not generally feeling the best, and it’s kind of hard to walk. I think tomorrow might be a day to stay at home. Shame as I wanted to go to Ikea (there is a bus that goes there on Saturdays).  Oh well!

Here I am, in my room in Brescia. All is very well so far! The journey turned out not to be as bad as expected – thanks to a few kind Italians who helped me with bag + stair issue! Except when I actually arrived in Brescia, when everyone just kind of stared at me while I struggled up 2 flights of stairs...typical!

I actually thought I might have got the wrong train as we approached Brescia – it looked exactly like arriving in Trento (with the mountains etc). Since many of the stops on the way are ones I passed through on way to/from Trento at various times, I seriously wondered whether it was the wrong one! However, it wasn’t, and all was well.

The arrangement was to meet my landlord’s mother’s husband (!) at the flat at 18.00. I arrived about 17.45 and thought I would just send him a message in case he was hanging about too. No reply. 18.10 arrived, no sign of anyone. Tried calling at 18.15, no answer... Then about 18.20 I had a message (followed swiftly by a call) from him saying he was so sorry, he had forgotten and he could be there in 30 minutes.  At 19.00 I had a message apologising once again, saying he had forgotten the keys and would be there in 10 minutes. He finally arrived at 19.15! In the meantime, I had been standing outside the Palazzo with all my luggage, dying for the loo and absolutely starving having not eaten since breakfast! Anyway, when he did arrive he was very apologetic and friendly and nice. He carried my big holdall (23kg) singlehandedly up the 8 flights of stairs to reach the 4^th floor! Thank God! 

The Flat

So, when I arrived and was standing outside the flat, all I could think about was how very high the building was. Knowing I was going to be on the top floor with no lift, I was not looking forward to getting up the stairs! However, they turned out not to be as bad as they could have been. 92 in total!

My room is much nicer than I anticipated! Well furnished and they have kindly provided all the necessary bedding. Saves a trip to Ikea! (I still plan to go on Saturday to get a few non-essential items that I would still quite like to have, like a rug – I do miss carpet!).
In fact, that aside, the flat has everything I could need – fully equipped kitchen (basic but adequate), complete with TV and sofa bed... COME AND STAY!! Drying racks, ironing board etc in hall. Bathroom also fine, with washing machine.  I had a cold shower this morning because the taps are helpfully marked the wrong way round which I didn’t figure out...

My room overlooks a nice courtyard. I can watch bats flying around it in the evening!

I am literally RIGHT in the centre. Piazza della Loggia is 1 minute from my front door. I haven’t explored the rest of the city too much; I only saw bits as I wandered around to find a supermarket. I intend to explore better the rest of this week. I like what I have seen so far a lot though!

Flatmates

I have two, both girls. I have only met Isabella, 22, Sicilian. She is nice and luckily I understand most of what she is saying, and we have already chatted quite a bit which is good.

The other is apparently hardly ever here –  I haven’t met her yet. More details to follow!! I think her not being here that often is quite good in terms of bathroom/fridge etc sharing though!

The School

I went this morning to meet my mentor teacher Elena. She told me to turn up whenever I wanted between 08.00 and 11.30. I decided to walk and it took just under 40 minutes (think normally it would be 35, I got very slightly lost at one point!). I managed to arrive just as she was coming down to teach a class...felt a bit bad as she basically abandoned them, but they were a 5^th Year class so old enough to be left! Anyway, she was lovely, and she showed me round to all the offices...I met the headmaster, various secretaries and the other 3 English teachers I will be teaching with. All were very friendly and helpful, so I feel happy about that. One of them had bought all the textbooks that we will be following so that I can have a look at them in advance.

They are:
Surfing the World – a guide to the English speaking countries of the world (UK, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). It’s got culture and history. I’m going to have to brush up my own knowledge of the UK!!!!

A Question of ICT (teacher book plus student book) – this is supposedly not teaching ICT but English. However, there is a LOT of stuff in it that I know nothing about! Again, going to have to learn a lot myself!

The school seemed nice and the classes that I saw (each time Elena interrupted one to introduce me to the teacher) seemed good – well behaved etc!

I probably won’t have to go back in until I start on October 5^th now, although I can use internet free up there so may well do so. They also registered me at the library which is helpful – I can borrow anything I want now.

Technology

My old Italian SIM had been permanently deactivated so I had to buy a new one. Not too traumatic as the SIM was €10 including €5 credit and a free CD which actually has quite a lot of Italian music on (crap, but good listening practice!) as well as some English hits. So, I’m back to the ‘ho wind’ (‘I’ve got wind’) routine, the network being called Wind.

As for the internet, I was hoping to find an unsecured wireless as I did in Trento. No such luck! I have found various internet cafes though and managed to get on skype etc at one earlier for not too much.  However, whilst buying my SIM I noticed that Wind also sell those plug in USB modems, and the internet cost for up to 100 hours would be €15 a month. Decided this was well worth it for having internet on tap in my room, so I have bought a key and supposedly activated another Wind SIM to do this. It’s not yet working.... may have to return to the Wind shop tomorrow to find out why not. Anyway, am hoping that I will get online soon, and if you are reading this then I probably have!

That’s quite enough for now I think!!! A presto!
PS. I’m not going to write my address or mobile number on here, but if anyone would like either then please send me an email to the usual address!

Well, I'm sitting in departures at Gatwick Airport.

I had to come online because I stupidly forgot to check I had Roberto's number in my phone (he's letting me in to the flat tonight). I had emptied my inbox where it was previously to be found.

Anyway, the adventure is underway. One of the difficult bits (security) done, with amusement:

Security guard: "They say there are definitely liquids in both these bags".... Me: "There definitely aren't." He unpacks bags and then 15 minutes later, "Okay, there aren't...I'm gonna tell that other guy he needs an eye test!". Both bags completely unpacked...took a while to get the case shut again as it was so carefully packed to fit earlier!! Another guy was laughing "sit on it, sit on it!".

The most difficult bit is going to be when I've got my whopping great holdall back at the other end and have to get from Verona airport to Brescia (via bus, train, walking). 

Tomorrow I am meeting my mentor teacher at the school between 8am and 11.30am.

I wonder when I will next find internet...I will update then!

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

"It's been a great year, and one that I always knew would have to end. If I had the opportunity to stay a bit longer in Italy then I would be doing so, but at the same time I know that it's not going to be difficult to come back after I graduate, so I'm happy that closing this chapter isn't closing the Italy book"

I wrote that in June 2007, and here I am in August 2009, about to embark on Italy Chapter 2.
I've accepted a British Council placement to be an English language assistant in an Italian secondary school, from September - June next year. Can't wait to reopen that book...

Well I failed spectacularly to update this.

So...back to England on Wednesday. Will be chez les parents until around Sept 24th when it's time to head back Exeter way for the 4th and final year. I have to start thinking about what I'm going to do with my life. HELP!

Well, I've been here a week already which is hard to believe!

Anyway... tomorrow I am going to Pont d'Ouilly which is a pretty little village 18km from here, where we run a small tourist office. Agnes, one of my colleagues, is taking me down there as she is working. On Sundays there is dancing in an open air cafe by the river, as well as canoeing and all sorts of leisure activities. I hope the weather is nice so that it's a really nice day. I'm going again for July 14th (Bastille Day) as apparently there are a few coaches of English people arriving so I'm going to go down there to help out (even though it's meant to be my day off!).