cobblerocks

Pardon my absence for the past week +/-, we’ve been living in the stone-ish ages without any wifi. it’s vintage. and I like it as much as I don’t. It is nice to be without the internet, but when you’re in a city that you have yet to understand and you are overflowing with questions, and really, in this age of computers, the best way to find answers in the internet. So, with my spotty signal, I write to you all today!

It’s still beyond hot and grossly muggy here, with a sun that normally beats down through a blanket of yucky grey clouds, just basking us in our own sweat, but sometimes blue skies break through and it’s worth it.

I bought a bici. It’s wonderful. It makes a sound that drives my companions bonkers (imagine a metal fender banging against itself…add a noisy chain, and multiply it on cobblestone streets) but I live in hope that if someone were to steal my bike, they would ride it, hear the sound, and immediately put it back. please.

(This is when we were caught in the middle of a sudden downpour of rain. Hi Julia/Julia’s new bici!)

Though biking here is way scarier than in Davis, its more fun. Where else can you bike next to a prim young gentleman on the way to his work in his suit and tie, briefcase in the basket in front of him, or an elderly woman in a flowy floral dress who’s unafraid to use parolacce? Who else would you want to almost get hit by a bus together with? At least you’re in it insieme

Padova is…wonderful. It’s large, so now with a bicycle, it actually feels accessible. Walking’s fine, I like walking, but when it takes 30 minutes just to walk to class in the morning, the urge for faster transportation kicks in.

 

Seeing as our dorm gave us very little resources to understand our living situation, apart from sheets and furniture, we had to find out various things the hard way, which as an end result, has lead us to become friends with the baristas at our corner bar for our morning cappucino. It’s very nice that now they recognize both us and our order depending on what time of day.

Morning: cappuc

Afternoon/evening: Lo spritz

(there’s Marilyn. Hi Marilyn!)

Also, due to the fact that our dorm-type residence has one kitchen for all 5 floors…it and all the refrigerators are on the first floor, and we are on the fourth floor…we have found more ways around it which has proved equally as satisfying as our morning cappucinos: eating on our roof. All the other floors have patios…so we turned our communal roof into our own patio.

Without the means to cook things…dinners have become tomatoes and bread. And I am beyond okay with that.

 

Also, this is pretty cool, fountains with drinkable water. Novel!