Adventurs in Procurring the Internet

Last night I spent some quality time with the user manual for the wifi hotspot in the apartment.  Overall, it seems like the hotspot should be working, except that it doesn't succeed in connecting me to the internet.  I assume that it is out of Bytes or time and that my Airbnb host needs to put money on it.  But without the internet, how will I let her know that?

After breakfast, I went on a quest for a SIM card.  "Potrebbe parlare inglese?" I ask the gentlemen in the cell phone store.  Nope!  Ok, this will be exciting!  I walked out with a contract, a SIM card in my smartphone, an understanding that it would be an hour before messaging and internet would be ready... But I think there is something else I need to do.  Possibly add more money?  Or verify a credit card number?  I received text messages, in Italian, with numbers to call - but those menus were in very fast (and low quality) Italina.  The helpful gentlemen had written down what numbers to push to navigate the menus, but once I did that I had no idea what to do next.  I think my phone is working, but I can't get data.  I do not know if that is a network/SIM problem, or if I need to change a phone setting somewhere.  Yikes.

As the posting of this blog entry indicates, I do have internet.  I gave up and purchased access to the local Vodafone wifi network.  I may have done so 4 times, oops!  At least I can let everyone know that I am alive and that I am difficult to reach, given that I do not have internet.  I've contacted my Airbnb host about the wifi hotspot, and I'm navigating the Vodafone menus to try to figure out my cell phone data problem.

I don't know the last time I went 24 hours without any type of internet access at all.  I don't think I am particularly internet-dependent, and I am certainly not addicted to Facebook or texting.  However, it was strange to be without a conduit to information.  I wanted to google the best way to utilize radiators (I seriously need some sort of "radiators for dummies") - nope!  It was nice to wake up and not be able to check the news or e-mail.  However, I do hope that I can secure a permanent means of getting internet in my apartment soon.