An Italian(ish) Lunch

I have succeeded in cooking beans for lunch - and made good use of the spices that I brought!  Unfortunately, I do not yet have much of a plan for food, other than bread, cheese, fruit, pasta, and beans.  I suppose that is mostly what I live on in the US, but it seems like I should do a bit better here.

I need to buy fresh bread every day or two - and there are many local shops where I can get it.  Much like the fruit markets, I need to figure out (presumably through trial and error) how one actually buys things there.  At least I have a while to figure it out!  I should brave some sort of market tonight so that I have food for dinner. 

Today's Adventures: Crossing a City without a map

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! 

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.

Hello Milan

The flight from Paris to Milan was beautiful - all I did was look out the window at snow covered farms and the Alps.  When we landed, all my baggage appeared and I even figured out the baggage cart system.  I hopped in an (expensive!) taxi and headed to my apartment.

My Airbnb host had let me know she was at the apartment, but without the airport wireless I had no way of contacting her.  I stood outside the building and tried to figure out which buzzer it was.  The Airbnb listing said "7th intercom", but that isn't helpful when they aren't numbered and are in a grid.  I tried two buzzers that seemed promising - and was met with one woman glaring down at me from an upper floor.

Eventually, an older gentleman came to enter the building.  We discussed my situation - in Italian!  I felt very proud at the time, though I later realized I botched some of the verb conjugations.  Eventually the glaring woman came back and joined in on the conversation - finally, my host appeared and all was solved.

After a brief tour of the apartment, I vaguely unpacked and went to sleep for a few hours.  The trash system here doesn't quite make sense to me, but that may have been because of how tired I was.  I made sure to get up before it was completely dark, and I went out to see the nearby main street.  I was hoping to locate a mobile phone store, some food, and possibly a place where I could access internet.  There is a wifi hotspot in the apartment, but I have yet to get it to work.

The area has many small markets and bars (cafes), but is short of 'proper' (in my mind) restaurants.  I did locate a mobile shop, but decided I am too tired to navigate that exchange - which may need to be in Italian - and will do so tomorrow.  I didn't see anywhere with Internet.

I was debating whether one of the small markets would fulfill my needs, but then I found a supermarket.  I picked up food for dinner and breakfast.  At the checkout though, I was scolded for something involving the onions.  I didn't know the word, but the cashier pointed at the self-weighing system I had missed.  Oops.  This is why I went with the supermarket over the small markets - I don't know how to navigate a small market!  On the bright side, being yelled at in Italian didn't make me panic.  When I lived in France, whenever someone spoke to me in French I vaguely panicked. 

So far, I consider my arrival a success.  I knew that connecting with my Airbnb host and getting into the apartment (without a way to reach her) was going to be difficult.  I managed to have a conversation in Italian, even in a stressful situation and when tired.  The final obstacle is sorting out this wifi hotspot.  Without internet, I can't communicate with my Airbnb host, so I can't ask for her help easily.  Luckily, the instruction book is here and I think my Italian is good enough to read it!  

Goodbye Atlanta

With all of my travels to India, I am getting used to flying Air France and through CDG.  My first flight had no issues - we left on time, my two bags were checked for free, and no one hassled me about the size or weight of my carry-on.  I was nervous about the short layover in Paris - given that I was staying in the EU, I realized that border control would be here.  At some places (maybe only the US) that means getting your bags, going through border control/customs, then re-checking them.  Not possible in 1.5 hours!  I almost followed the signs to baggage, but that was the wrong thing to do.  "Border control" consisted of someone stamping my passport without asking any questions.  Even with the detour and needing to get to the other side of the airport, I made it before boarding started.

Even though the plane was much smaller, I had no issues with the size of my carry-on bag.  The only issue was that my seat was switched when I was boarded - otherwise, I would have been upgraded to business class!

Packing Haikus

it's time to check in
should probably be packed
but oh wait i am

seriously though
my spices are essential
better take a lot

too bad air france bites
i'd like to take way more bags
delta would let me

hiding bags from cats
they're suspicious anyways
i can't make them sad

trying to plan for
lost luggage at CDG
i need my stuff though

some major projects
are not done but i'm packing
procrastination?

Preparing for Italy

I am very fortunate to work at an institution that provides "pre-tenure leave" for one semester in our 4th year on the faculty.  The expectation is that we will make significant research progress during it, with no commitment on campus (teaching or otherwise).  One year ago, I was beginning to plan for it, not entirely looking forward to spending a semester by myself in my lab on campus.  I wasn't sure how much progress I would make.

I had a particularly brave moment and sent an e-mail to a researcher in my field; I respected the work he and his group have published, but had never met him.  Suddenly I had an exciting plan: spend 3 months in Milan, working on a new research collaboration.  Since then there have been a number of ups and downs: a grant proposal I was proud of, but that was not funded; feeling uncertain of my abilities, and then proving myself knowledgable about Geant4 (my primary research tool).  Somehow nothing has fallen apart, though I try to keep in mind it still could.

I depart January 15th.  The flights and AirBnb have been booked for months; my Italian skills have been inching along since last spring.  I now have 2.5 weeks to pull together the final details...

Teaching: While I do not have any teaching obligations this spring, I have a terrifying amount of things on my to-do list regarding teaching (past and future).  I never finished the assessment/notes from last spring's courses or from this summer.  There are notes to write up from this fall's courses.  A small pile of recommendation letters have impending deadlines...  On top of that, there is some planning for this coming summer and fall that cannot entirely wait for my return in April.

Technology: After many years of service, my little netbook had a scary moment of "cannot find a hard drive" on the way to India this month.  I already knew my (new-ish) large laptop would be going to Italy with me, but it isn't particularly portable.  I finally bought a table - after 24 hours of ownership, I'm fairly happy with it.  It isn't going to run Geant4 simulations or build LaTeX documents, but it seems to have its uses.  I'm even experimenting with eBooks now (don't tell my books!).

Travel: While my priority for the next 3 months is research, I want to take this opportunity to travel.  I'm half-way through the first guidebook of three (Northern Italy, Croatia, Eastern Europe) that I will rely on for this trip, and I already know that I won't have enough time to go everywhere that I would like to.  I have many planes and trains in my future...

Research: This is my first time doing a "visiting collaborator" stint, so I really have no idea how to approach it.  What fraction of my collaborator's time will be spent on our project, versus his typical duties and other projects?  Will I have a desk and computer?  I'm asking some of these questions, but I'm also trying to relax and "go with the flow."  Luckily, I can distract myself with a different, ongoing project that I need to wrap up ASAP.  Before I leave, I do need to try to organize my research resources.  Do I take the relevant papers (in printed form), or just organize my digital research library?  I need to get my research computer (in my lab) set up for remote operation and update the version of Geant4 on it.  I may not need it for running simulations, but it is likely that the extra computing power will be helpful.

I intend to maintain this blog over the next few months, documenting my travel and research adventures.  My tablet is never going to have Facebook on it, but there is probably a way to blog from it...