So I really suck at keeping this totally updated.
At the start of the month I went to Milan for a long weekend to celebrate my 22nd, and it was magical. I picked up Italian my sophomore year of college just for funsies, and those four semesters were the four easiest As of my life. However, when you’re in France for five months straight, completely immersed in the French language…it gets buried a little. So the Carly going through Italy this time was a bit weaker than she would have been a year ago, but whatever. I remembered enough to know what was going on, wiggle my way through a crowd, interact with a cashier, and go to a restaurant. It was pretty bare bones, but it was enough to get by.
I totally forgot about European sale season, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it indeed started on my birthday in Milan. The stores here don’t really have a “clearance” section ever; they just have gigantic multi week sales in January and July/August to get rid of their stock to make way for the new season. The shopping neighborhood in Milan was more or less the size of the center of town in Aix, which was amazing. Parts of it were normal stores, and parts were giant D&G’s and whatnot. I stuck to the normal stores and left town with a few pieces that I saved a bunch of money on. Had I brought a larger bag—I would have bought so much more. So it was probably for the best that I was restrained.
But overall it was a wonderful trip. I went with the other two girls from my program that are here for the whole year and also study at Sciences Po. We saw some touristy stuff, did our shopping, and ate some food. Oh, Italian food… Pizza was a staple of our diet, and I was in heaven. Between that and obtaining some Italian hot chocolate, I was just so happy.
After Italy, I had to get back into the swing of things rather quickly here. My schedule required a bit of re-tooling, due to constantly being disappointed with classes I was testing out. Ultimately, I think I’ve decided on courses dealing with all things Canada, France in the World, States and Societies in Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries, International Humanitarian Crises, International Economics, and Contemporary International Relations. The last one is specifically dealing with the EU’s relations with the rest of the world and requires a 20 minute oral presentation and 15 page research paper. I’m actually really excited for it, and I think I’m going to focus on the EU’s relationship with the United States. Since this is my last semester in school for a while, or maybe ever, I decided to find classes that I would really enjoy being in and topics I was interested in—regardless of the way they fell into a schedule. I can make fun happen around a schedule, but I can’t make myself hate life less in a super boring class.
My program acquired about 30 new students who are here from Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, but just for the spring semester. Only six of them are studying at Sciences Po, though. The rest are at the liberal arts school with the rest of my program. I’ve had the opportunity to meet quite a few of them and they seem nice. But of course, I’ll never see most of them since they don’t go to my university and we have no real reason to be in the same place at the same time. Regardless, two years as an RA and 22 years as a nice person have led me to share my semester’s worth of tips and tricks. One of them moved into an empty room in my apartment, which is nice. I’m sick of having unpredictable people passing through here, which brings me to my next point. Nevermind, she’s getting her own post.
Last weekend, I took a little day trip with the international association at Sciences Po. They are so so so so awesome. I give them seven euro, and they charter a bus to take us to a town in the region, feed us breakfast when we get there, and then show us around. What more do you need? I almost wish I wasn’t graduating so that I could get back to UWM and be a part of the international student association just so that I could “pay it forward” and help out people adjusting to Milwaukee. So I saw a bunch of old churches and buildings, which has started to feel so normal. We spent some time wandering around a 12th century abbey, and it was really neat. We don’t have anything nearly as old and impressive in the States. Don’t get me wrong, the US has plenty of impressive things—they’re just not that old. With the exception of the Grand Canyon, take that Europe.
And since I know there are people who read this that aren’t on facebook, like my grandmother, here are public links so that you can see the photos I took in all of these places:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2409263984728.131582.1045057187&type=3&l=c0cb843b88
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2820500145375.140181.1045057187&type=3&l=ee9d077d1f
I’ll have even more updates soon. My life is busy and amazing right now. Still working on that voting situation, if anyone is concerned. Still working…
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