Some of the ruins at the end of the peninsula

Opera Star Maria Callas stayed in Sirmione when she was recovering from her many addictions.

Lake Garda

Castle in Sirmione

I have been in Italy for almost a full five days now. After the IES students arrived in Milano on Monday, we left by busses in the afternoon for our orientation site, Sirmione, about an hour and a half away. Our hotel was on a peninsula that juts out into Lake Garda, the largest lake in Europe. This small vacation town was relatively empty during the off-season and was a great place to spend the first three days in Italy. When I wasn't in the orientation sessions, I was meeting the other Americans and exploring the town, including the ancient ruins left at the end of the peninsula. Many of the students are very cool, and we had fun getting to know each other.

We bussed back into Milan yesterday afternoon (Thursday), and we took cabs from the IES center to our new apartments. It turns out that I only have one other American roommate named Charlie. He goes to Grinnell, plays jazz piano and is pretty laid back. Another IES student, Alex, was originally going to live with us, but he was placed in another apartment in our building. The apartment is 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, a kitchen, and a living room. Charlie and I share a room and Francesco and Giuseppe (our Italian roommates) live in the other. They are both young university students who speak some English, and hopefully they will warm up to us. They were nice, they just didn't really have much to say to us at this point. Once we start our Italian class next week it will be easier to communicate. We are on the 5th floor and have more space in the apartment than I originally anticipated. It is in a lively neighborhood with a famous jazz club across the street. Last night, before I went to bed, I looked out our window and saw a ton of people standing outside of it trying to get in.

Today is the last day of our orientation, and this morning we went on a walking tour of part of Milan. We started at the Duomo (the third largest cathedral in the world), and continued through the Galleria (the first shopping mall in the world). We walked through the entire fashion district and saw Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, etc. The list goes on and on. I swear half the people in this district were models and the other half were very, very rich. It was like Rodeo Drive raised to the 5th power.

I didn't realize that I wouldn't have very much internet access while I was in Italy. We can use our University ID's to use the labs at Cattolica, but they are only open from 10AM until 6PM. We don't have internet or a phone line in our apartment, either. I guess this is for the best...I should be out exploring instead of sitting on the internet.

Sorry this post is quick and to the point: I will probably be able to write more soon. I am still adjusting to the time difference I think. We are just so busy all the time either in workshops or socializing that I get extremely tired in the afternoons.

Tonight we are going out for aperitivo at 6. This is sort of the Italian "happy hour" where restaurants give patrons free food in order to entice them to buy drinks.

Oh, and look for some pictures on here soon. I will try to get them put up once I transfer them to my computer from my camera. Ciao!