So tired...

I was very slow to get out of bed this morning and then it was extra cold on my way to work.  But I did it - I worked a nice full day, like I'm not actually on vacation.  Not only did I put in many hours, I was ridiculously effective.  When I was in graduated school I implemented a variety of time managed/scheduling techniques that help me stay on task and be productive.  But here, I'm not actually using any of those and still being incredibly effective.  Why?

1. While I can access my e-mail, I am getting very few e-mails during the day.  Partially this is because I'm on leave (yay!) but the time difference helps too. 
2. I can absolutely stay on task.  There is only one person who might possibly come in and talk to me (and he does so very rarely).  I don't have any other meetings, etc that I need to go to.   I don't think I have had this much control of my schedule since I was an undergraduate!
3. The hospital apparently blocks a number of websites.  I haven't tried to look up anything ridiculous on the internet, but at one point I thought about blogging (blocked) and had wanted to check the news today (blocked).  So, even if I wanted to take a 5 or 10 minute Internet break, I couldn't.  My phone gets no cell signal in the office - I put it in airplane mode to save battery.
4. I don't have tea or water at my desk.  So, I never need to get up for refills or to use the restroom.
5. I am not listening to music - I don't need to set up playlists or search out a specific song.  

The last two items come from watching my colleagues.  While plenty of people have in headphones on the subway and on the streets, no one in my office area listens to music at work.  Similarly, I don't see beverages outside of the break room.  I don't know if these things are "regulations" or cultural norms, but I don't plan on breaking them either way.

Today I did an incredibly amount of literature searching - it felt like I accomplished 3 days worth of science.  I've even looked at some of these specific topics today - and I found new resources today.  Tracing down literature, even when I'm taking a lot of notes, is much more effective when it can happen all at once, rather than being spread out over a few days.

I had some conversations with a colleague in Italian today - she was doing most of the talking, but I was able to follow almost all of what she said.  She is from Sardinia and was telling me (and showing me pictures and videos) about the Sardinian Carnivale.  She has been very nice and helpful in explaining things about Milan, the hospital, and Italy.  She is also very encouraging of me speaking my (not so good) Italian to her, so hopefully I can keep getting practice!

I returned home exhausted, but hadn't hit my FitBit step goal for the day!  I headed out to a cafe, which ended up being closed, but I visited an interesting store.  It is focused on furniture and home goods, but it really has a bit of everything.  I bought an umbrella and a bread knife.  I think I will need the umbrella tomorrow, and the knife is a big improvement over what I had been trying to cut bread with...

Una bella mostra al Palazzo Reale

I didn't go to work today.  There is another person who uses the simulation computer, but she can only dedicate one day per week to simulations.  On those days I will make alternate plans, like taking in my laptop.  Today, I went to a museum and had my last Italian lesson.

The Palazzo Reale is the museum I intended to go to the other day - but it gets very crowded, so the best thing to do is buy a ticket ahead of time with a reserved entrance time.  I arrived in my window and was able to go right in.  There are 3 major exhibits at Palazzo Reale right now, and each one requires a separate ticket.  I chose the MC Escher exhibit, and it was phenomenal.  The exhibit included his early, less-famous woodblock prints, many of which are of Italian landscapes.  The famous works were all there, along with interactive exhibits and explanations.  There was a nice section at the end showing the cultural impact, which (of course!) included the appropriate clip from the end of Labyrinth playing on loop.  (Sadly, I have no pictures because of the whole "no pictures in the exhibit" rule)

I am now finished with my Italian lessons.  I'm very glad that I chose to do 1-on-1 lessons right away.  While I still have a lot to learn (and practice), I think I made a lot of progress over the past week.  This was a great use of my time and money, but it is also good that they are wrapping up.  I need to drill words and conjugations, which is what I've been doing for the past year.  Now I have a new selection of words and phrases to work on and a number of verb tenses I should practice.  I hope that I can spend a focused 30-60 minutes practicing each day.

Having the Italian lessons in the afternoon meant that I didn't spend too many hours at work each day.  I still feel like I'm "on vacation", rather than living and working here.  I don't want to get into a mode where all I do is work, but I need to rebalance a little bit.  For instance, I'm really neglecting my e-mail and all of my "side projects" that I intended to continue while I am here.  Yet, I want to keep seeing the sights in Milan during the week and traveling on the weekend.  If I can find a way to focus on "work" for 4 days a week and sightsee on the fifth, I might be happiest.

Tomorrow will be a full day at work, so hopefully I can turn that into some real scientific progress.  I have a hotel booked for Friday night in Genova, so I won't be working too late on Friday so that I can catch a 6 or 7 PM train. 

Favorite place in Milan: A cemetery, of course

After my Italian lesson I did a spot of shopping.  I have been here one week, and this is the first time I have been in a bookstore and I only bought one book.  This might be a record for me!  When I visited London two summers ago, I think I bought 6 books within an hour of arriving in the city.  I bought a book in Italian and can justify the physical book (rather than eBook) since I want to annotate it with translations, etc.

I then headed to il Cimitero Monumentale, a large cemetery in Milan.  Unfortunately the sun was already setting and I only had an hour before they closed.  This is one of the most amazing cemeteries I have ever seen, and I will definitely be going back!  Not only is it huge, but almost all of the graves have extremely elaborate memorials.   This ranged from large mausoleum buildings to rose gardens encased in glass to incredible sculptural work.  My main thought was, "How could there be this many people with this much money?"

I barely saw 10% of this amazing cemetery, which is unfortunately a bit far from my apartment.  Otherwise, I would go back often!

I didn't even go inside this building.  The tomb of a very famous writer is inside.

This building was huge, and in some places there were grave markers from 2015 next to others from 1915

Many graves had amazing sculptures like this.

Thank goodness it has been a long time since I've seen the Doctor Who episode "Blink", but it kept coming to mind...

Crying statues are very much a thing here.

Check out the rose garden in the bottom right!

This is maybe 5% or less of the total cemetery in this picture.

Things I am slowly figuring out in my aparment...

The laundry machine.  It is small.  It is front loading.  I managed to buy detergent at the supermarket (google had to do some translating for me to be sure) and the apartment already had some fabric softener (again, thanks google!).  I did one load without the fabric softener, and that was apparently a mistake.  It all dried very quickly overnight (on a line inside), but then was stiff and scratchy.  The second load had fabric softener in it - I had to google how to use liquid fabric softener.  This was better, but it still needs more fabric softener!

The gas stove.  How hard can it be, right?  Well, the main burner I use doesn't always stay on, but I'm getting a knack for it.  Or, I'm acquiring patience.

The hot water.  There seems to be a rhythm to it, when bathing.  The water is nice and hot, then scalding for 1 second before it is cold for 2 seconds, then back to reasonably hot.

Why Italians like bottled water so much.  I am sure that my tap water is "safe", but the mineral content (ie, lime) is ridiculous.  My tea tasted funny, had a lot of sediment, and the tea kettle kept acquiring a disturbing coating on the inside.  Using bottled water (even though it is still theoretically mineral water, I guess) has fixed all of those problems.

The window shutters.  European apartments have outer shutters.  They are theoretically supposed to block light, provide more privacy and thermal insulation.  Early on, I figured out how to open and close them, but they didn't seem particularly effective.  I only now figured out I wasn't closing them all the way.  Now they are much more effective about blocking light (and hopefully keeping in heat).

The hallway lights.  I was shocked the hallways/staircase wasn't lit.  Then, during the day, I saw that there were lights but they were off.  Later one evening, the lights were actually on.  I figured that either they were on a schedule, which people must base their lives around, or that there was a method to control them.  I figured the later was more likely, but I was nervous about pushing buttons in a building with an intercom system.  Eventually I became more adventurous, and I noticed the backlit switch in the hallway.  Now I control the hallway/stair lights like some sort of magician.

I'm really not sure how many of these things are specific to Europe, vs Milan, or perhaps just my building.  

A Parrot and a Pizza

I left work and had lunch at home today, since my Italian lesson was a 2 PM.  After, I headed in the direction of some modern art museums.  On the way there I remembered that everything is closed on Monday - but I have an unlimited metro pass, so it doesn't matter!  I was very proud of myself for correctly activating and using my electronic card (tessera) this morning.  This is the first transit card I've ever had with my picture on it.

The museums were closed, but I'll probably return tomorrow.  A sign informed me that one of them (PAC) had been damaged by a bombing in 1993!  Luckily, the mafia hasn't bombed major Italian churches and cultural centers since them.  There was a large park nearby, so I wandered through for a bit.  I was wearing my work shoes (boots with heels), so I wasn't quite in a frolicking mood.  But I think I saw a parrot.  At first I saw it flying (and it had the right shape), but then it landed in a tree and I could get a closer look.  It was green and was eating nuts off the tree like a parrot does.  Does Milan have parrots?  Google was no help.  I have no pictorial proof because I had forgotten my phone at home.

Back at home, I successfully bought some fruit - my first interaction with a fruit vendor!  And then, feeling extra confident, I bought some tasty little fruit pies from a bakery.  I was actually on a quest to buy stamps (so that people may someday get postcards).  I successfully asked for stamps at one of the shops, but they only had stamps for domestic mail.  It may take 3 months just to find the correct stamps.

Contemplating what dinner would actually be, I found myself in front of the pizzeria at the end of my street.  I hadn't eaten pizza yet (on this trip) and decided to get one.  The guy behind the counter spoke a little English, but we mostly chatted in Italian while the pizza cooked.  This was my third conversation about Trump - the first one entirely in Italian.  Clearly this is the part of my Italian vocabulary I should keep working on!  In the end, the pizza was good, but much bigger than expected.  The size options were "normale" and "grande", and based on the price I expected a normale to be a small or "personal" one.  Nope - this was at least a medium.  I'm looking forward to cold pizza for breakfast!

Oggi sono stata una turista

I did some internet searching for art exhibits and saw that there were two that end this coming weekend, both at Palazzo Reale.  This museum is open Sunday, so after a quick lunch I headed out.  There had been warnings on their website to get tickets online and avoid the line, but I figured winter would not be too busy.

Palazzo Reale is next to the duomo, the major cathedral of Milan.  I had seen the duomo when I visited Milan about 7 years ago, and I absolutely loved it.  For years it was the background on my phone.  After looking at the duomo for a little bit and enjoying the piazza, I headed over to the Palazzo Reale.  The line for tickets was very long!  I ended up decided to go to the duomo instead.

I started by heading to the roof of the duomo.  When buying a ticket to the duomo, you can pay more to take the elevator.  I chose to take the stairs, of course.  The view from the roof is incredible - both of the surrounding city, but also of the architecture of the duomo itself.  I'm not good with the terminology - but there are lots of spires and pokey bits and statues on top.   It took many centuries to build/finish, and clearly people went with the "more is better" approach, which I appreciate.

I descended back down the (narrow!) stairs and headed inside.  The duomo has some excellent stained glass, as well as many lovely statues.  I would have used the audioguide to actually learn more (and be able to say something more detailed and useful) but they are not available on Sundays.  I've seen many excellent cathedrals in Europe, but I don't have the knowledge of art or architecture to dwell on the details.

After I enjoyed the duomo, knowing I could go back many times over the next 3 months, I did some shopping.  There is a "mall" next to the duomo that is one of the world's oldest - the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.  I'm not in need of any Gucci or Prada, but I was thinking that some more sweaters or a warmer coat could be really helpful.  Next to the duomo (but not in the mall) was a H&M, and I figured that was closer to my price point.  I succeeded in finding some warm layers, mostly for weekends and evenings after work.  So far, the puffer vest is succeeding at keeping me warm.

This was my first trip into a touristy area since arriving.  I heard plenty of Italian spoken by other visitors to the Duomo, but also French, English, German, and Eastern European languages.  There are many hawkers on the piazza, selling guidebooks and whatnot.  Interestingly, when they approached me some of them spoke English and others Italian.  In past trips, I felt like all of the street vendors immediately spoke English to me.  I suppose that my attempt to "blend in" is working a little.  Though, one of the security officers at the Duomo (they do bag screenings and have metal detectors) asked if I was Russian.     

Grocery Shopping: Some important lessons

1. The word for cream is "panna", not crema
2. I can barely carry a 6-pack of water (12 L = 12 kg = 26 lb) back (0.5 km = 0.3 mi) to my apartment.
3. Parmesan seems to be really cheap here and Listerine is very expensive.
4. Had I not been slightly panicked and rushed, the 6-pack of water would have fit in the grocery cart (a small one in the apartment, a bag on wheels) and I wouldn't have had to carry it!