mi vida/vita erasmus !!!: FIRST BLOG FROM MY SEMESTER 2 IN PAVIA- ITALY!

Mum looking out over the Ticino river at sunset

A view of one of the courtyards at the Uni

Ciao! Well here’s my very first long-awaited blog from semester two of ‘Mi Vita Erasmus’ in Pavia, Italy! I’ve only been here two days, and already I love this little medieval Italian city! After a long 12 hour journey from the Isle of Wight on Wednesday leaving at 6am, we finally arrived in Pavia around 6pm to be greeted at the station by Elena; my Italian flatmate! It was hard at first to think in Italian to speak to her, but now two days later I’ve already improved so much! Mum, Elena and I then had a very short 5 minute walk to the flat, and then she showed me around my new home for the next 5 months.

My block of flats

My room!

Another shot of my room!

The flat is really great, centrally located and I’m so happy with it. It’s really student-like and quirky, and I have a large room with a double bed and plenty of space- score! And I have an Italian flatmate who will help me to improve so much as I’ll be using Italian on a daily basis! I am really happy to have found this place as I had heard that student flats in Italy usually involve sharing a room with someone, so I feel quite lucky to have found this place, and for €185 a month which is incredibly cheap in comparison to other places I came across when flat-hunting online. The room was a bit bare to begin with, but I soon made it homely and sprawled my extensive collection of posters, photos and post cards all over the walls! I think it looks quite nice now don’t you think?

Enough decoration?

The dining area

The hall

The balcony

After a bit of unpacking, Mum and I were desperate to see a bit of Pavia so we went for a wander into the city centre. Armed with a map, we navigated the 10 minute walk to the Piazza Vittoria which is the main plaza of the city. It is a rectangle shape with cobble stones and lined with restaurants and bars on either side. We were pretty hungry by then so we found what looked like a very popular pizzeria (Bella Napoli) as it was full of natives and went in to have our first real Italian pizza! It looked quite posh, but was actually very reasonably priced and we ordered two pizzas, a mixed salad and some drinks. Shortly the food came, and the size of the pizzas was incredible! They were very tasty and neither of us could finish them as they were so big! After dinner we then headed back to the flat and decided that we knew the way and that we didn’t need the map. We of course got lost and by accident stumbled across the Uni and a castle! Our diversion only took us an extra half an hour to get home, and then we both crashed out on the bed as we were so exhausted from the journey!

Another Uni courtyard

Mum and Lizi by a statue at the Uni

Thursday we woke up quite late after such a much needed long sleep and first of all went to find the nearest supermarket to stock up on a few cupboard and fridge essentials. We found a Carrefour Express just 2 minutes away so went there to buy a few bits before heading back to the apartment to have breakfast. We then went into the centre to meet Lizi who is also here from Leicester Uni for her second semester! We were all pretty hungry by mid-day so found a nice little cafe on the Piazza Vittoria and ordered three paninis and some drinks and settled down to enjoy people watching and enjoying the sunshine! A bit later we headed over to the Uni as we had an Italian exam to find out our Italian level for the course that we are going to be doing all semester. Lizi and I were fairly certain that it was going to be a written/multiple choice exam but were very wrong as it turned out to be an oral! We entered the room, and then realised that it was an oral in front of many other students so we just looked at each other with fear and ran out of the room before they could catch us! There was no way that either of us wanted to start speaking in Italian in front of a lot of people on our first day in Italy! It didn’t matter that we didn’t do the exam anyway as the coordinator had mentioned previously in an email that if students couldn’t make the exam then we would be placed in the level group that we had indicated on our form. It turns out now that Lizi and I are in the ‘elementary’ group which we both think suits our level as they are going to be following the same course book which we used for Italian at Leicester in Year 2- luckily I brought it with me to Italy!

The Ticino river

After scarpering from the exam and feeling quite rebellious, we then decided to explore the city a bit more! We had a wander around the many pretty court-yards which make up the University, and then we spotted a phone shop so we decided to go in and investigate getting an Italian phone number. Lizi wanted a phone new cheap phone, whereas I just wanted an Italian SIM-card for my iphone. We both ended up getting exactly what we wanted- see, our Italian can’t be that bad can it? Pleased with our new Italian phone numbers, we headed south-wards towards the Ticino river to sit on a bench and enjoy the view! We walked over the ‘Ponte Coperto’ which means just covered bridge, and took lots of pretty photos! It was especially pretty as the sun set don’t you think? Mum and I then went to accompany Lizi on a flat-viewing that she had arranged, and I’m happy to say that she took the flat so she now has somewhere to live and can move out of the hotel! Mum and I then got some more food shopping as we found a bigger Carrefour, and headed back to the flat to cook dinner, relax and go to sleep as we were tired again from all of the walking!

The Ticino river at sunset

Lizi and I on the bridge!

Today has been a lovely relaxing day, and after a long sleep in my super comfy double bed Mum and I woke up to some wonderful sunshine and a bright blue sky! We wandered into the centre as I wanted to get myself registered with the University. We found the Erasmus office without any problems and I managed to register and even had my Uni Erasmus card straight away! We then went to enjoy the 20 degree sunshine in a cafe on the Piazza Vittoria before wandering around the city a bit more admiring the architecture.

Our first Italian meal!

For lunch we made our first real Italian pasta dish and christened the kitchen. I then wanted to go for a walk down to the Ticino River again and as the sunshine was so bright we got some lovely photos! Mum and I were so hot we took off our coats and Mum even wanted to take off her cardigan, but decided against it as we were already getting some strange looks from the Italians who were all wrapped up and even wearing scarves, hats and gloves! I’m now with Mum and Lizi in Lizi’s hotel as I write this blog and we’re having a drink in the bar! We still don’t have wifi in my flat, but Elena has contracted it and I think we’re just waiting for activation now. Hopefully it’ll happen soon..... but then again going by the wifi wait in Salamanca I’m not getting my hopes up! Mum, Lizi and I are off to Milan tomorrow for the day so I’m pretty excited! I’ll update soon with lots of pretty photos from our trip to Milan and ‘Mi Vita Erasmus’ CIAO!