Hardest thing so far: Cleaning

There have been a number of things I have done this trip that make it clear I'm "living" here, and not simply on vacation.  First, I got an Italian SIM card and a monthly pass to the Metro.  I've never had a monthly Metro pass anywhere before!  I've listed my address (here) on a few forms.  I've done lots of laundry in the apartment, and even got dry cleaning done.

Finally, today, I cleaned the apartment.  Well, I tried.  The entire apartment is in tile, which means I needed to mop.  I knew where the mop was, but I couldn't figure out what to add to the water.  There are a variety of cleaning products, but none of them seemed mop-appropriate.  I went with dish detergent... which seems to have worked ok. 

I know mopping shouldn't be ridiculously hard, but this was.  I'm used to only mopping small areas, and I typically use a swiffer.  So easy.  The last time I needed to mop a large area, it was when I worked in retail in High School!  Mopping the entire apartment meant I had to be clever about moving furniture from one room to another and doing parts at a time.  It took hours, which is part of why I've lived here for 6 weeks without mopping yet.  In Atlanta, I typically vacuum at least once a week.

Without cats, perhaps I wouldn't need to clean frequently here, right?  Oh my gosh, no.  I couldn't understand why dust built up so quickly here and why there was so much of it.  But... the heating here is from radiators.  In the US, I've always had central heating - so as air circulates, the filters on the HVAC system grab a lot of the particles in the air.  Here, it all settles to the ground.  Dust bunnies appear overnight.

I clearly need to mop more frequently, but it is hard to find the time.  I decided to stay in Milan this weekend since it is Carnevale here - but it is pouring down rain, so I might not actually leave the apartment tody.  I felt exhausted yesterday, and actually went to bed around 7:30 PM (!?).  This meant I could sleep as much as I wanted, set no alarm... and still get up before 9 AM.  I'm happy that I have enough time to both do a massive amount of cleaning and to get some work done.