Tuesday 6 September 2005

Sono a Milano: Italians


Milan has fabulous architecture, especially around the city and all the buildings are so old. I've not seen any modern buildings yet! Other than the really old architecture, frankly it's an ugly place, but it has it's charm and especially in the city it's so european.

But I digress and to continue from where I left off the last time, about that Italian guy... It would seem that Italian guys are very persistent and bold. I mentioned before that that guy was becoming somewhat of a pain coz he seems to think that he likes me. Perhaps you're wondering why I used "seems" basically coz I knew him for less than 24 hours and he asked me if I liked him and if I wanted to kiss him. Like hello?!! I don't even know you! Perhaps if he was cute I might have considered it lol but he's not even close...ok I know that's mean but he's really annoying now and everytime I think of him I get annoyed. Anyway he's being a real pain because unfortunately he has my cell phone no (coz he went with me to get it and he took it down) and so he keeps calling and texting me to ask me out. I have completely ignored him, deleted all his messages and still he doesn't seem to get the hint. I'm hoping if I continue ignoring him he'll go away...

From observing people in Milan, Italians pretty much drink a lot, eat a lot and smoke like chimneys!! Practically everyone smokes here...honestly...I think if I were to develop cancer it'll be coz of all the second hand smoke I breathe in here. Regarding drinking, people order drinks in the middle of the day...like it's not surprising to see someone having a cocktail at 1pm in the afternoon. Plus, every night, the clubs and bars are open and there are heaps of people having drinks or dancing...even on a Monday. Milan's party spot would have to be the streets along the 2 canals in town...Navaglio Grande and Navaglio Pavese. There are heaps of restaurants, bars and clubs and there are night markets every night. These streets are dead in the day though.

I've mentioned that Italians eat a lot...like heaps!! I went out for dinner one night with my room mate who is American Russian and we went to this restaurant on a boat on the canal and we ordered pizzas. We were told the pizzas were for 1 person so we each ordered one. The "single portion" pizza turned out to be the side of a large pizza from Pizza Hut!!! We could barely finish half of the whole thing. On our left and right were these couples and the chicks ordered pizzas too...but they managed to finish the entire thing! Plus the one on my left not only had a whole pizza, but ate 2 other courses (similar huge portions) as well. The thing is, the chicks were still super thin... I've yet to figure out how they eat so much and still stay so thin...or how they even manage to stomach so much food!!

The night we went out for dinner, was the first day I checked into Capitanio and was also the night I lost my keys...at the restaurant where we had dinner. I think I must be the only resident in Capitanio's history to lose my room keys so quickly!!! When I realised I lost my keys I called up the restaurant, but the waiter couldn't speak english! So I was trying to explain that I lost my keys in italian while frantically flipping through my dictionary for the words due to my limited vocabulary. It took me fifteen minutes and mentioning "perduto" and "chiave" like a gazillion times before the waiter finally got it and proceeded to help find my keys, except that he couldn't find them and he was like "no find key, I look but no find." So now I'm gonna have to pay €26 to get a new set of keys. My key problem didn't just end here. The keys I lost included the key to my closet which I had locked coz I had important documents and stuff inside. It took me another hour trying to explain to the receptionist that I couldn't open my closet and to ask if he had a spare key. Of course, given my luck that night, he didn't have one...or rather there was one but he couldn't find it. Luckily the next morning another of the management staff found the key and managed to open the door so I could get my stuff. As of now, my roomie and I are sharing a key which can get rather difficult given that we aren't together all the time (just most of the time).

Ok this is another really long blog and I believe I shall continue the story tomorrow...

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