Another adventure abroad
Door: Melanie
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Melanie
15 Maart 2012 | Italië, Cesena
Thursday evening, I am in front of my friends’ apartment to have dinner at their place. I ring their doorbell once; nothing. Twice; nothing. 20 times; still nothing. Since I just arrived yesterday I do not have a cellphone yet to call them. Here I am, in the middle of a quiet street, without a phone and with a doorbell that does not work. What do I do? After a couple of minutes, a man walks by. I decide that there is no other option than to ask him to use his phone to call my friends. So that's what I do. However, the man speaks neither English, nor French, and of course, nor Dutch. Instead of walking away immediately (since we can barely communicate) he does try to understand my problem and after a couple of minutes of intensive gestures with my hands and my phone-that-doesn’t-work he gives me his phone to call my friends! Then I realize, I am no longer in Paris, I have moved to Italy. And overall, the Italians are very nice and always willing to help you.
Do not get me wrong, I am not planning to list all the things that are better in Italy than in Paris because there are definitely things of Paris that I am missing here. It is just very interesting and funny to see those obvious differences between the two.
Cesena, another adventure abroad. Another country with a language I do not speak at all. And another new culture to discover. The first days I was terrified to go outside by myself without knowing the way and without speaking Italian. But already after one day I started to find my way here and since the people are very nice I discovered that it is not that big of a problem (yet) that I do not speak their language. Furthermore, I came from Paris together with three other students from my master program and Katia (one of them) is half Italian and therefore speaks fluently Italian ;). She is helping me a lot and at the university we all speak English with the other students of our program. A funny thing about me, my brain, and all the languages inside that brain is that while it was a relief for me to speak English in Paris, it is a relief for me to speak French in Cesena now. Therefore, I mostly still (try to) speak French with my friends Sandra and Katia from Paris to make sure that I do not lose it all.
So far I feel good here, my apartment is okay but I am mostly hanging out at Katia’s and Sandra’s. Furthermore, Cesena is a cute, small town and I like its charms very much.
One of the things that I love about living in a new country is discovering things in houses that are different than I am used to see them. In the United States I loved the fact that the light switches were different than in the Netherlands. In France I loved the (old) windows and the way you open them. In Italy I find it funny that the bathrooms are being locked by an actual key and that they have a system to dry the dishes in the kitchen cabinets. It is the whole process that I like; first you discover it in your own home and you just find it weird. Then you discover that there are more houses with the same weird things and you assume that it actually might be quite normal for this country. Call me strange, weird, or crazy, but this is simply one of the things I love about discovering a new country.
The Italians: well known for their non-English, their pasta, and their macho men. Even though these are all stereotypes, I have experienced that they are mostly true. Even the people that do speak English—like my teacher—do not speak it that perfectly. However, it does not matter how many mistakes somebody is making because it is all about the facial expressions and non-verbal communication. I respect the teacher a lot for all the efforts he is making to teach us in English because sometimes he clearly cannot find his words. He does look very brave in front of the class and I think we all appreciate it. Other than that, his class is—despite the four hours in a row with a fifteen minute break—very interesting and dynamic.
The pasta; while I am used to maybe half an aisle of different kinds of pasta in the Netherlands and France there is at least one whole aisle dedicated to that. And I love it!
And then the men. One by one they all look at you when you are walking in the street, buying your groceries or simply reading a book in the park. Seriously, I have never seen it this obvious in my life. Well, other than that they are not annoying (yet) so I will just have to get used to it I guess.
Anyway, while I was overstressed in Paris because of all the work, I will have just one class a week here. As in, I will have class on Monday from 9h00 until 13h00 and that will be it! So that leaves us plenty of time to study, work on our research, and to travel around. In other words, you will not hear me complaining I think.
I already managed to visit Rimini and Bologna. I think Italy has many charming places but I liked especially Bologna a lot. It is a very pretty city with a nice atmosphere. It is not that big so you can easily see all the hotspots in one or two days. I hope to tell you about other cities in my next blog!
Ciao!
Do not get me wrong, I am not planning to list all the things that are better in Italy than in Paris because there are definitely things of Paris that I am missing here. It is just very interesting and funny to see those obvious differences between the two.
Cesena, another adventure abroad. Another country with a language I do not speak at all. And another new culture to discover. The first days I was terrified to go outside by myself without knowing the way and without speaking Italian. But already after one day I started to find my way here and since the people are very nice I discovered that it is not that big of a problem (yet) that I do not speak their language. Furthermore, I came from Paris together with three other students from my master program and Katia (one of them) is half Italian and therefore speaks fluently Italian ;). She is helping me a lot and at the university we all speak English with the other students of our program. A funny thing about me, my brain, and all the languages inside that brain is that while it was a relief for me to speak English in Paris, it is a relief for me to speak French in Cesena now. Therefore, I mostly still (try to) speak French with my friends Sandra and Katia from Paris to make sure that I do not lose it all.
So far I feel good here, my apartment is okay but I am mostly hanging out at Katia’s and Sandra’s. Furthermore, Cesena is a cute, small town and I like its charms very much.
One of the things that I love about living in a new country is discovering things in houses that are different than I am used to see them. In the United States I loved the fact that the light switches were different than in the Netherlands. In France I loved the (old) windows and the way you open them. In Italy I find it funny that the bathrooms are being locked by an actual key and that they have a system to dry the dishes in the kitchen cabinets. It is the whole process that I like; first you discover it in your own home and you just find it weird. Then you discover that there are more houses with the same weird things and you assume that it actually might be quite normal for this country. Call me strange, weird, or crazy, but this is simply one of the things I love about discovering a new country.
The Italians: well known for their non-English, their pasta, and their macho men. Even though these are all stereotypes, I have experienced that they are mostly true. Even the people that do speak English—like my teacher—do not speak it that perfectly. However, it does not matter how many mistakes somebody is making because it is all about the facial expressions and non-verbal communication. I respect the teacher a lot for all the efforts he is making to teach us in English because sometimes he clearly cannot find his words. He does look very brave in front of the class and I think we all appreciate it. Other than that, his class is—despite the four hours in a row with a fifteen minute break—very interesting and dynamic.
The pasta; while I am used to maybe half an aisle of different kinds of pasta in the Netherlands and France there is at least one whole aisle dedicated to that. And I love it!
And then the men. One by one they all look at you when you are walking in the street, buying your groceries or simply reading a book in the park. Seriously, I have never seen it this obvious in my life. Well, other than that they are not annoying (yet) so I will just have to get used to it I guess.
Anyway, while I was overstressed in Paris because of all the work, I will have just one class a week here. As in, I will have class on Monday from 9h00 until 13h00 and that will be it! So that leaves us plenty of time to study, work on our research, and to travel around. In other words, you will not hear me complaining I think.
I already managed to visit Rimini and Bologna. I think Italy has many charming places but I liked especially Bologna a lot. It is a very pretty city with a nice atmosphere. It is not that big so you can easily see all the hotspots in one or two days. I hope to tell you about other cities in my next blog!
Ciao!
-
15 Maart 2012 - 11:17
Celiiiiiine :
wahouuuu soo happy for you !! sounds great !!! -
15 Maart 2012 - 11:51
Nicole:
Hahaha dat klinkt inderdaad niet als een gestresst leven dat je daar gaat leiden. Het stadje ziet er super schattig uit, hopelijk zal ik het binnenkort met eigen ogen zien ;) Oh en dat droogsysteem hebben ze hier inderdaad ook, best handig toch? Haha. Veel plezier met alles! x -
15 Maart 2012 - 15:35
Ise:
Ok, I was catching up on your past posts but I'm so glad you're that exited and willing to learn italian which will make our verbal conversation easier and more understandable hihi.
Have a great time!
Ciao bella ragazza. -
15 Maart 2012 - 18:25
Raach:
Lieve Mel,
Je klinkt happy!! En daar ben ik blij om:) Geniet van het ontstressen. Heb je verdiend!
Dikke kus uit Mumbai -
15 Maart 2012 - 20:57
Laura:
Hi Mellie,
Klinkt goed zeg, dat leven in Italië! Even lekker ontspannen je dingen doen. Geniet ervan en veel succes met je onderzoek en je colleges.
Dikke kus uit Apeldoorn -
15 Maart 2012 - 23:01
Bernadette:
Mellie!!!
Mooi verhaal weer! En heel fijn dat je zo weinig college hebt. Nu maar hopen dat je die zo nu en dan toch kan skippen om alle tripjes volledig mee te kunnen doen :) Heb zoveel zin om samen naar Verona te gaan!!!
Succes met je onderzoeken, thesis, ontdekkingsreizen etc etc en vooral genieten van het mooie Italië en het heerlijke eten daar!
Veel liefs! -
18 Maart 2012 - 18:58
Marco :
Ha,
Lucky you! Van alle plekken zou ik hier het liefst zijn! Bologna moet ook geweldig voor eten zijn. En zo dicht bij zee! Dat stukje over lichtschakelaars is niet gek, dat is wat het leuk maakt om in een ander land te zijn, ik doe hetzelfde als ik ergens ben.
Ik zou me pas zorgen gaan maken als ze niet meer keken, de Italianen. Leve de Primavera en een hele fijne tijd daar! Ciao, M -
20 Maart 2012 - 15:37
Marieke:
Dat klinkt positief!! Leuk hoor :-)
Komt goed met die test. Geniet ervan daaro! XXX
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
