The Rhodent/ Osculati / Drunk in love, mi chiamo Jennifer Lawrence

I’ve lost count of how many days I’ve been in Milan, but I do know that I have just successfully completed my first week as a Cattolica student! The past few days have been hectic, exciting, and as per usual, full of the unexpected events and chance encounters. 

Our world never ceases to amaze me- There are 7 billion people on the planet, 7 billion individuals, and sometimes something crazy happens and we find connections among people we think to be strangers. On the first day of orientation I just so happened to sit next to a Rhodes student! We started talking about our apartment situations (and I totally picked up on her beautiful South African accent) around Milan, both agreeing that as long as we had running water we were fine, which led me to ask her where she was from/goes to school. I’ve truly missed Rhodes and all the people I met there as well as the memories associated with the campus and with South Africa. It was super comforting knowing that I have a little bit of South African here with me because it will always be my second home. 

Switching gears a bit to moving into my apartment!!!!

Monday (February 3rd) we moved into our real apartment and met our roommates and fellow study abroad neighbors, and I’ve gotta say we hit the jackpot as far as roommates and neighbors go. The Osculati Crew (and adopted crew members) is by far the best group here in Milan. There a special bond between all of us because we are the furthest apartment from the University and we also have had quite a few unexpected problems to deal with. I knew that I wasn’t moving into a 5 star apartment, and I was actually pleasantly surprised by our digs- however, we did have a serious mold issue. 

I’ve got to say that between our parents, the Global Education Office at WAC, and the international Office at UCSC, the mold problem as well as some other minor issues was taken care of very quickly (*we still have some in our kitchen but they are coming back to clean this week) A big thank you to everyone who helped us get this issue resolved because the people we live with are far too awesome to leave because of some stupid mold. 

With the mold issue out of the way, and orientation under out belt we had our first language classes at the end of the week (Feb 6th and 7th). Alright let me just say that my language teacher, Sylvia, is the most adorable woman on the planet. Not only is she super sweet but she’s also one of the best language teachers I’ve ever had. I’m in the ABSOLUTE beginners Italian course because I suck at languages (and I don’t know any Italian) and bless that womans heart, she decided to teach the baby class. Sylvia is a trooper though, on Friday she wanted us to go around the room and introduce ourselves like we were at a party, and to make it authentic asked what kinda of music we were into- thus Beyonces’ Drunk in Love was blasting in our classroom and we wandered around and introduced ourselves in Italian. And if that wasn’t awesome enough, she ended the class with an activity that was basically celebrity speed dating in Italian- Of course I was Jennifer Lawrence (as if that was even a question). This Italian language class is probably the first language class that I’ve enjoyed since high school and I’m super excited to continue learning and practicing my Italian throughout the semester and throughout Italy.

-Ciao