After I made good use of my internet connection - and celebrated my ability to get my phone connected to mobile data - I decided to venture out into Milan. I wanted to see if I could get a monthly transit pass and sign up for Italian lessons. Armed with my functioning smart phone, what could go wrong?
I found the local subway station and stared at the ticket machine for a few minutes. I'm not convinced it actually sells tickets, but the tobacco stand definitely did. I asked for a weekly ticket (in Italian), not really knowing if it was available there. It was, but then we had a conversation about how it is only for one full trip a day and is actually only good for 6 days. Fine, Milan, but your idea of a "weekly" ticket is not my idea of a weekly ticket.
I was on the train, heading in the right direction, feeling very proud of myself. But then my phone turned off... because the battery had died. I knew what stop I was heading to, but I didn't know the address of the Italian Language school. I was optimistic about my ability to find it, since I am very good at cities and very lucky.
The station I got off at had entrances spread over a number of blocks, so I randomly walked around the area, looking for the language school. I have a fairly good sense of direction, so I could wander in 1 to 2 block circles and then go a different direction. I managed to find it! Getting set up with lessons was a bit involved - and the conversation was in Italian for a while, until we reached a question I didn't know how to answer in Italian. I'm set up with private lessons over the next week - the lessons aren't as late in the day as I had hoped, but I think my work schedule is flexible.
Part of signing up involved taking a 6-page placement test. I had taken some online placement tests, so I had some expectation of where I would be. I've spent a lot of time on DuoLingo, which I think is fairly easy and doesn't provide as robust learning as a class. However, it is an easy platform to practice with. The placement test was mostly "fill in the blank" - this isn't too hard when it is verb conjugation, but it is much more difficult when it is selecting articles or pronouns or other things. There isn't an English version of the sentence - one must just determine what Italian sentence could be self-consistent. I was a bit nervous about man parts, and had to leave some sections blank - but I still placed into the Intermediate level. I am motivated to cram tonight and tomorrow, so I can start strong with my lessons on Thursday. I have a lot to review!
After the test, I was feeling rather tired and hungry. However, I think it was early for dinner and I was feeling too drained to navigate a difficult cafe situation. They would likely be doing aperitivo, which isn't exactly dinner. I found a Chinese+Japanese restaurant which had a lot of tables - past experiences in foreign countries have taught me that Asian restaurants are easy in Europe since they are fairly similar to what I'm used to in the US. Of course, here they all do an "all you can eat" dinner package - which I was told about when I ordered. Ok, fine. Also, a glass of champaign was brought (gratis) at the beginning of dinner. I suppose this is how they compete with aperitivo! Dinner was good, though one of the dishes I thought would be vegetarian had meat (chicken? pork?) in it. I am very lucky to not have any food restrictions, so I can just eat whatever shows up. I spoke a mix of Italian and English with the staff there.
I made it home safely and look forward to sleeping. I'm still happy and surprised how well my Italian is supporting me. I still need to work up some courage to navigate the little fruit markets, aperitivo, and bars - but I have 3 months to learn and practice how to do these things. This is still years beyond my experience in France and Switzerland, where I could point and smile. I am surprised that people are tolerating my terrible Italian (as well as they seem to) and that more people don't speak English (to me). I've learned to not trust my phone, or at least take my portable charger with me.
Era una avventura!
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