It is wonderful to be back in Italy, 6 months after departing Milan. The conference has taken up most of my time in Naples, so I haven't been able to fully explore the city. However, I managed to see a few churches and visit Pompeii my first day here. I have half a day of tourist-ing tomorrow, during which I plan to go to the archaeological museum, which holds most of the artefacts from Pompeii.
Even though I am in a very different part of Italy and within a very different context, I've found that being here is very familiar and Italy "feels like home" in many ways. This experience would likely be much less fun and much more overwhelming had I not lived in Milan for 3 months:
Even though I am in a very different part of Italy and within a very different context, I've found that being here is very familiar and Italy "feels like home" in many ways. This experience would likely be much less fun and much more overwhelming had I not lived in Milan for 3 months:
- I more-or-less knew how to navigate the bus system here. The hardest part is figuring out where to buy tickets - and I wasn't surprised when the news-seller refused to take a 20-Euro bill. Small change is a necessity here!
- I mostly did ok taking the train to Pompeii and back. The only mistake I made was not knowing the name of the station I wanted to get off at in Naples - I thought it was Centrale. Luckily, it was the last station and I had to get off, even though I was waiting for the train to continue on.
- My Italian is serving me ok and coming easier than expected. I'm still nowhere near the level I was last March, but I am succeeding in starting most interactions in Italian. At the conference, all of the scientists speak English, but some of the staff seem to not speak very much.
- I managed to find a great tea shop on my first day. Obviously I do this in every city I travel to, but I had known that I could find some tea to take home.
- I know that restaurants are going to annoyed if I arrive before 8 PM, even if they are open. I managed to eat at an Italian dinner time today and yesterday, but I knew I was way too early the first day...
- I know how to get espresso, and can (more or less) identify the correct way to pay in different types of bars. I know that cappuccinos go with breakfast (which is pastries) and that espresso is called cafe and that it goes after meals.
- I wasn't surprised by the building my hotel is in. There is this style of urban buildings that have an inner courtyard with a strange door for people to enter from outside. I have never seen anything like it in the US and it was very surprising to me the first time I went in one in Milan. The common areas are simultaneously elegant and run down, but then they can hold very nice apartments. This building holds many business and apartments. The elevator is terrifying - and there are some subtleties to this one I haven't figured out yet. But had I not had practice with the strange door system at my Italian tutor's place, I may never have managed to get into the hotel!
- Italian cities are loud, and in a different way from American cities. In my apartment in Milan I could hear everything from the apartments around me (including chanting from upstairs) and there was frequently shouting in the street. Here there is plenty of noise from upstairs and some nearby dogs that bark all of the time. Compared to the US there seems to be much less traffic noise.
- The cord in the shower is an emergency pull and not for drying clothes. It is not to be pulled, except in emergencies.
- Gelato can definitely be for dinner, and I even have a favorite flavor (cassata)
As much as I enjoy the conference and sightseeing, I also enjoy the day-to-day details of being in Italy. I hope to come back again, though I do not know when that will be. Assuming that I get tenure, I hope I can spend part of my sabbatical here. This trip has shown me that it would be wonderful to be anywhere in Italy, not just in the north.
