17-9-08

17-9-08: It was a very trying day today, the kind that makes me want to pack my bags and get on the next flight out of town. After having trouble finding the garage, I was 30 min late to class, where we were studying pronominal verbs, which I had never studied. Adding pronouns to verbs not only confuses me, but changes the meaning of the verb completely. For example: andare means “to go”, while andar(sene) (lit. “to go oneself of it”) means to leave. After class, we went to apply for our permit of stay and on the way I stopped at the copy store to pick up our course descriptions. I was in the store probably one minute and left my new bike in plain sight right outside the door. You probably all know where this story is going. The bike was stolen. So I went and reported it to the police (a process in itself) and now, should I happen to find it, I call the police and they authorize me to take it back. There seems to be something wrong with this process that I can’t put my finger on, but given that this is a town of 130,000 people and 120,000 bikes, I don’t expect to run across it any time soon.
On the up side, my new apartment is turning out very well. I eat dinner with my roommates most every night and we talk a lot. One is a student of literature and philosophy and one is a recently graduated elementary school teacher. Without my bike, it’s about a 20 minute walk to the university, which isn’t as far as I originally thought. It’s almost the weekend and I will finally have two days of not having to get up at 6. Emmons and I might go to the beach on Saturday, which would be really nice if it isn’t cold. I’m told it’s around an hour by train or bus from here.
Also, my new address, should anyone need to contact me is:

Via Belgio, 24
Interno 11
Ferrara, Emiglia-Romagna 44100
ITALY

and my new mobile phone is:
011-39-327-5440758

The postal system is unreliable here, so I would strongly suggest not sending anything of any value (economically, historically, emotionally, etc.) or anything that you desperately need to reach me. I have my phone mostly for emergencies, so if you have an emergency, please call me, if no, an e-mail will suffice. Ok I leave you all with photos of my new place, I hope you like them.