My morning started with the challenge of getting up early into a cold apartment, taking a shower, etc, and getting out the door. While I didn't leave as early as I had hoped to, I was to the office within the window I had set for myself. I don't have a badge yet, but I had been told to buzz and that someone would let me in. I pushed what I thought was the buzzer, but nothing happened... Luckily, someone arrived who was entering the same office area and they let me in - I don't know if I had met them yesterday or not.
Almost no one was around, but I knew what I could make progress on. One of the people I share an office with arrived a bit later. Eventually, I worked up the courage to ask her about lunch - I didn't want to eat by myself, but I wasn't sure I could eve navigate the system (whatever it was) on my own. She happily agreed to take me to lunch. I also asked her about the Metro transfer back from OSR, since I didn't want to run into the same problem as yesterday where I couldn't exit.
Lunch was fine - cafeteria food, so it won't be providing my most delicious meals in Italy, but it will certainly work for weekly lunches. Interestingly, I had been warned it was expensive - but it wasn't. Perhaps I was given the wrong change or the cashier assumed I got the employee/student price. I'm sure I will figure out the actual price soon.
I made more progress in the afternoon, and I think I am ready to run some (example) simulations tomorrow. Basically, instead of using my primary simulation tool directly, I am going to be using something that interfaces to it. I think this will be advantageous in the end, but now I have to deal with a learning curve. So my achievement for today was reading over 200 pages of software documentation.
Chatting with my office mate, I learned that she dances salsa - including Cuban salsa! I find it pretty amazing that I have met a small handful of people in Milan, and yet already I have a connection to the local salsa scene. She also helped me a little bit with the monthly transit pass I hoped to get and explained a little more about the transit pass I currently have. Her advice was very helpful, as I actually found the machine to validate my ticket to avoid being scolded by the transit employees today.
I stopped at home to change out of work clothes and because I thought I (maybe?) could only use it if I returned to the station I departed from. I figured out, with the help of the internet, what ticket I needed to buy to supplement it (for today and tomorrow) and headed to the Loreto transit stop. I was behind schedule, but I hoped to get my electronic transit card and sign up for the monthly ticket today.
My office mate had written down how to ask for the card and ticket, which I thought I could say on my own, but with the nervousness of sorting out the situation it was very helpful to reference something written down. There was a form to fill out, which I more or less managed. The fields had English translations, but that wasn't that helpful. "Civic code?" I took my best guess and left a field blank which I think is for the equivalent of the Italian social security number. I had read that was needed, which is why I wasn't sure I could get the card at all. My form was accepted, I had a passport picture with me (since I had read the website ahead of time!), and I immediately had my card. The entire process took about 10 minutes!
I was right on time for my language lesson, which is also in that area. I'm very happy with how the lesson went - we mostly conversed, but she would occasionally pause to correct mistakes that I was consistently making. We were mostly speaking in Italian, but we used English to clarify grammer details (or when I had no idea how to say something). I'm very optimistic that I will improve over the next week of working with her. I'd like to sit and practice/review right now, but I feel very tired...
After the lesson, I stopped into a store that had caught my eye yesterday. It is called "Tiger", and I would describe it as an Ikea of random small stuff. It seems to be from Denmark, and clearly is design-focused - but there is little pattern to what they have. I saw they had (European) USB wall adapters, which I wanted to get. But I discovered they also had stationary, craft supplies, exercise equipment, kitchenware, pet supplies, and spices. Between the notebooks, glitter, and spices, this is basically my favorite store ever!
I did, of course, look at the spices. They had a strange mix of spices - including "Dragoncello". I could figure out what most everything else was, but didn't have a guess on that. Instead of buying it (because I am a reasonable human being), I took and picture and translated it later. The English name (Tarragon) isn't that exciting, so I shall call it dragoncello henceforth!
Just like Ikea, everything was very cheap. There are a number of kitchen supplies I'd like to acquire for the apartment, but they didn't quite have what I needed. I did buy a small ceramic (paring-style) knife, which will be an improvement over the steak knives I've been using to cut bread and cheese. I managed to not buy any glitter. I had no idea how to ask for the USB charger in Italian, but the cashier spoke enough English that I got it.
I promised myself I would stop at the pasticceria, next to the metro station, on the way home to get bread. I bought two pastries (I don't know their name in Italian, so I did call them "these" and point) and a small loaf for dinner. I was fairly pleased with the interaction! I felt emboldened to head back out to one of the small meat markets, but once I was in my apartment I decided I was too tired. I've managed to write this and eat dinner, but I think my bed is in my near future...
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