Trying to keep busy

Well lately I've been trying to get over the adjustment period.  ie.  Time change, language barrier, culture shock.  I'm feeling a lot better now.  I finally got to meet with the people at my school today.  I'm officially enrolled as a student but my registration doesn't get to go through until I go to the classes in about two weeks and get the professors' approval.  I was told that I could take any level of the classes including the masters level which are in English!!! 

A view of my school from the street, it was all gated in on Sunday.

School seal above the gate.  The buildings are really modern and look new.  Lots of color too.

Also on Sunday I took a trip to Pinacoteca di Brera.  A very famous art museum in Milan known for housing lots of Renaissance art.  I couldn't even count how many Madonna con Bambino paintings there were.  (Madonna with child).  They had a specially Caravaggio exhibit going on.  It consisted of 4 paintings and you were only aloud in for 10  minutes.  His "L'ultima Cena" (Last Supper) is very unique, much different than da Vinci's.  I liked it a lot.  Anyways, these were taken before I saw the "non foto" sign.  I really would have liked to show you the restoration room they had set up, it looked like a hyperbaric chamber.  Lots of tools and paint and big fancy things.  

Below are pictures from Colonne di San Lorenzo which is located in the historical district of the city.  Has a row of ancient Roman columns and a large Basilica.  A very pretty area.  I met Marta there today for lunch at a nice little restaurant.  Molto Buono (very good).

This is another church I saw while walking downtown.  I can't remember the name though.

This is Constantine looked high and mighty.

The rest of the day consisted of errand running that took a long long long time.  First I went to Vodafone, the popular Italian cell phone company.  Anita, one of my room mates, is allowing me to borrow her old phone so I had to get a sim card so it would work and I would have a phone number.  After that I took a trip to the Tourist office because this city is not very tourist friendly, especially in the transportation department.  You'd think they could at least label each Tram stop or something right?  So I got a bunch of maps and booklets.  It was nice to speak to an English person!  

After that, I went to the ATM point which is the public transportation office.  I signed up for a monthly unlimited student travel card so I don't have to keep buying tram tickets.  Only 17 euro a month compared to the 30 for everyone else.  The man was very nice and helpful, he also has a son at Politecnico.  Its funny how I start speaking Italian to people and they automatically start speaking English and kind of laugh at me.  

After that, I went on a scavenger hunt for my Residency packet.  Because I'm staying longer than 3 months I have to establish a residency in the city.  I went to 3 different post office buildings until I found someone who could tell me where to go.  I think I walked into some sort of police station because I saw someone getting interrogated around the corner, the information desk man walked me around the corner to the correct part of the building.  The residency packet is for all foreign people staying in Italy, Italy being the only country that speaks Italian as a national language, but all the forms are in Italian.  Why not choose a more universal language like English?  I might need some help with it.  

After that I hopped on Tram 3 and took a long ride home.  It was a full day to say the least.

Ciao!