My Neighborhood

Even though I only have a little over a month left here, I thought it probably would be nice to put up some pictures of where I spend most of my days and nights. Milan is a large city, but in comparison to big cities in the States, most European cities don't have the large skyscraper buildings that can house hundreds of offices or people, so the city is much more spread out to fit everyone in it. I admit that there are many parts of the city I have never seen, and probably won't. I live on the southern side of the city in an old hotel that was bought by my University and houses all of the International students. It's a bit of a hike from our campus, a 25 minute tram ride to be exact. I'll start explaining in the order of the pictures as they appear. The first picture is leading up to the track that is across the street from my dorm. It's a little over a half mile for just one lap so it's not a normal sized track. On nice days the track will be filled with kids rollarblading, people biking, and a few runners as well. The next picture is of my main source of food - Esselunga. It's the large grocery store ever so conveniently located around the corner from the dorm as well. You can tell you're in Italy when in the grocery stores they have two FULL aisles of just pasta and noodles - no joke it's quite ridiculous. Especially when you go to the cereal aisle and they have maybe a max of 15 cereals to choose from - cereal isn't too big here. The next picture you will see is of a tram. The public transportation here is really nice and they have these trams, buses, and subways. I have to take the tram pretty much everyday when I go into school or downtown. They're nice until they breakdown. I've had some bad luck in the last week with that happening two days in a row and had to do a fair amount of walking in the humid and hot 90 degree weather - yuck! There are apartment buildings surrounding the dorm and the next picture shows the one I see when looking out from my balcony. They are very into their plants and flowers which give color and privacy for them. Some of the buildings are nicer than others though. Next you will see pictures of my dorm building. The first one is a look at it from the park nearby. It is the greyish looking building on the right. The park is nice because it's tons of green space that is perfect for sitting out and working on homework in. And it almost feels like you're not in a city, especially with the farmland that lies on the other side. The next picture is a better shot of the dorm. It's a pretty large building and could look nice, but they don't do much to it. And the excessive amount of graffiti on the walls make it look a little trashy as well. Graffiti is everywhere in Milan. It's one of my main complaints about the city because it would look so much prettier and appealing without it. Finally, there are some pictures of my room. The first ones are of my room which, I have to comment about how it may look messy, especially with the tshirt hanging and drying - I went running the morning I took these and it was raining so I was drying it. The glass doors open up to a balcony that I share with my roommate. Also I share the small kitchen area with my roommate. And now you have an idea of where I've been living for the past 4 months. At the moment, I've taken time off from traveling and am studying for classes and exams. My last week of classes is this week and then finals start in June. The weather has been almost to the point of uncomfortable lately. It gets really hot, but on top of the the humidity is always between 80 and 100% so it seems even hotter than it is. This weekend has been up to the mid-90's and has stayed in the mid-80's until like 9 or 10 at night. I've been blasting my AC all week. Once we get a little into next week, it's supposed to drop from the 90's back to 80's so I'm looking forward to that.
Keep your eyes peeled because I'm hoping to post a new entry as soon as my nephew is born, which for my sister's sake, I hope is soon....but really I don't mind him taking a while longer to show up because then he won't be as old when I first get to meet him. Sorry Abbie but it's true:) Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!