WEEK 2 - CITTÀ DI CREMONA & SETTLING IN!

Cremona's 'Duomo' and clock tower!

Buongiorno! Well it’s 8am here in Pavia which is the earliest that I’ve been up in a long time thanks to the workmen drilling on the flats over the other side of the road. The roar of their drills is deafening- so much so that I’ve now put in some earplugs to keep myself from going insane! 

I haven't blogged for over a week now, so I thought it was time for an update of 'Mi Vita Erasmus' in Italy. I’ve nearly been here for two weeks now, and where the time is going I have no idea! Mum left nearly a week ago, but before she went home we had time to go on a little trip to a nearby city called Cremona. Just over an hour east from Pavia by train, it was perfect for a day trip and it turned out to be a lovely city full of gorgeous Renaissance and Medieval architecture. I especially loved the main 'Piazza del Comune'  and the 'Duomo' with its very tall clock tower.  It's 112m in height according to my guide book, and is one of Italy's tallest medieval towers built in the mid 13th century! We really enjoyed wandering around the small city centre and to me it was a perfect little Italian city. Not many people would have heard of Cremona as when you think of Italy, people tend to think of the bigger more well-known cities such as Milan, Bologna, Rome, Pisa, Verona, Venice..... but I think it's such a shame to overlook the smaller provincial cities such as Cremona as they have so much to offer, and are incredibly rich in architecture and history.  It's always a good thing to travel more widely and experience all a country has to offer as well! Whilst I am here in Pavia, I really want to see as much of the north of Italy as I can as train travel is so cheap and Pavia is an excellent base for my travels. So far I've seen Milan, Cremona and of course Pavia, and next weekend Vicky and I are going to visit another provincial city called Mantova which is 2 hours east of Pavia. It's supposedly a wonderful pretty city according to my my trusty friend- the 'Rough Guide to Italy', so we shall see! and then the weekend after when Flo comes we are going to Verona for the weekend! I am incredibly excited as it's meant to be the most romantic city in Italy due to being the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and I've always wanted to go. 

Back to Cremona, Mum and I enjoyed wandering around and taking photos! We found this wonderful statue of a lion-type creature on the entrance to the 'Duomo' and I just couldn't resist having a photo with the mythical creature! What do you think he is?

My lovely lion-type creature!

One of the cute little streets by the Piazza

The magnificent Duomo through one of the arches on the Piazza

After all of our wandering around the little side streets, we decided to park up for a cappuccino in one of the street cafes which faced onto the Piazza. I honestly couldn't think of a better way to enjoy the sun going down than sitting with a cappuccino with a gorgeous view of the Duomo and the lively Piazza! As the evening started, Mum and I took some lovely photos of the Duomo all lit up, and then started to slowly wander back towards the train station whilst enjoying browsing in the street market.

Our cappuccinos!

The view of the piazza and the Duomo as sunset came!

Last view of Cremona's piazza and Duomo!

The street-market all lit up!

We certainly had a lovely day visiting Cremona- definitely worth it for a day trip. Since Mum went home, I've been settling into my 'Vita Erasmus' in Pavia nicely. Lizi and I are really enjoying our Italian classes and the teacher is so good! We have a class later on this evening and I'm looking forward to going! I just need to complete the homework first! I still don't have my modules confirmed yet, or sent off my learning agreement. I do however have a set of possible modules, and I'll get some more information and get those modules approved tomorrow when I go for a meeting with the Erasmus head of Modern Languages- Then maybe I can actually start going to the classes! Last week Lizi and I also went to our first Erasmus social event which was a 'meet and greet' type of evening 'Aperitivo' at a local bar called 'Pane & Salame' (Bread and Salami?) - strange name for a bar! At first we were a bit overwhelmed, but we soon started chatting to people and met Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, Lithuanians, English, Americans and even Danish! A real mix of people! Lizi and I also got our 'ESN' (Erasmus Student Network) membership cards, and we thought that we had to pay for food and drinks, but we found a bottle of wine on a table outside and soon we had a group of people to chat to! There was also lots of free food- so we tucked into that aswell! After the bar we all then went to an area of grass near Uni to play 'orientation games' which involved crazy team activities such as getting an apple from one end of the line to the other end by using your teeth, making a free-standing tower out of newspaper, playing blindfolded dodgeball with newspaper balls and threading string through each team member's trousers and tops (see photo below!).  We certainly had some fun :)

Us all chatting over wine and nibbles

The string-threading task!

On Friday for the day Lizi and I 'popped to Milan'. I love saying that as it's amazing that we can just go for the day to such a fantastic city just because it is so close! We decided we fancied a bit of a shopping trip, and we had lunch at my place beforehand to avoid paying for lunch, and then by 13.30 we were already hitting the shops! Lizi got some jeans and I got a new jacket and a skirt ready for the summer. When we were tired of shopping we got ice creams and sat down to enjoy them on the piazza infront of the Duomo whilst sunbathing and engaging in a spot of people watching! It was a lovely day out! I already took lots of photos of Milan on the last trip when we went with my Mum, so I didn't take as many on this visit. Still, here's another photo of the incredible Duomo!

Milan's Duomo!

On Saturday I finally met up with Vicky for the first time since being here. We went for a walk down by the river and enjoyed the sunshine! We also bumped into some other Erasmus girls and chatted to them for a bit on the grass before continuing our walk all along the river. The riverside was so pretty and I snapped a few photos (yes.... by now you know I'm a bit obsessed with photography!)

The Ponte Coperto

Everyone enjoying the sun on the river banks

A view of the Ticino river

Then Saturday evening Vicky and I went out for a bite to eat at a restaurant/bar called 'Loft 10' in the center of town. It was really busy there as it was Saturday evening, so we had to sit outside but it wasn't a problem as it was sheltered . We ordered a cocktail each for 7 euros, and then we were allowed free unlimited access to the buffet! It was honestly one of the best buffet's I've been to, and consisted mainly of vegetarian food! There were different types of pastas, mini pizzas, all types of salad, cheeses, bread, rice dishes, chickpeas, risotto, mozzarella and tomato salad..... the list is endless! My Piña Colada cocktail was also divine =] I can't wait to take Flo there next week, and Gemma in May aswell! She'll love it as she's a vegetarian like me!

Piña Colada cocktail!!

After our buffet dinner, Vicky took me to a bar called 'Manà' in the center where we ordered some gigantic cocktails and chatted for a while before meeting Lizi and some other Erasmus girls! Before long we were all pretty drunk and chatting away drinking even more cocktails! I should probably have stopped there when I was 'happy drunk' as this soon turned into very drunk and Vicky and I decided we should probably head home! It was a really great night though, and I can't wait to meet more Erasmus people and discover more places to go out. 

The girls =] Karolina, Lizi, Vicky, Melane and Stefanie

Me with my gigantic 'Sex on the beach' cocktail!

Lizi and me =]

Stefanie, Me, Lizi, Vicky and Melane

All of us with shots! (i think they were free from the barman!)

One, two, three DOWN ITTTTTT! (I was so drunk by this point that I didn't even taste this shot!)

Right that's it from me for now! I'm going to go and make myself a lovely Italian spaghetti lunch with a mozzarella and tomato salad! Then this afternoon I think I need to do some work for my Italian course ready for this evening! Time to organise all my notes and do the homework! I'll be back this weekend after my trip to Mantova with Vicky! baciii da Italia xxx