Just to explain the change in title, Zooropa was a U2 album released in the early 90's. After going for a more American sound and content with the Joshua Tree, they radically changed gears, producing an album that had many Eurotrash techno influences. Their music in the album Zooropa was meant specifically to capture the realities of Europe immediately after the Berlin wall; the kind of chaos that ensued with so many different countries coming together to make something new. I'm admittedly stealing their title because I like the play on words and the theme of a chaotic new beginning.
These past couple of days have been chaotic; Monday I specifically had to do a substantial amount of bureaucratic crusading. It involved first a trip to the Student Services Office. There, I was given a kind of Wish List of documents I needed to collect in order to properly enroll in courses. This was fun, to say the least. Luckily, in Italy at least, they seem to have a one stop shop for all your bureaucratic needs...the post office? It was one of those ordeals where you need to get document A to go with document Q, filling in every other page except for the even ones, THEN making a photocopy of the odd pages and buying a stamp from a local tobacco stand (because of course, the stamp you need isn't at the post office). I think I was yelled at to come back the next day four separate times by the same lady. In the end though, when I finally got everything one, I even saw her crack a smile.
So, that's all done and now I'm officially registered... but for what?
The information I've received from the university so far has been somewhat vague. I finally figured out courses start next week on, the 6th, yesterday. We have an information session tomorrow which, OF COURSE, was rescheduled to start 15 minutes after I have an interview for an advanced marketing program (The Alta Scuola Politecnica).
I'm now in my new residence as well. For you McGill people, it's a nice cross between New Rez and Doug with a SIGNIFICANT improvement in the quality of the food :) The director, is kind of a young, mafioso version of Sue Davies (though very nice and dedicated to his job). There is a good age mix here; students from first year live alongside masters students. I like it... though, I am starting to feel like the stereotypical international student that becomes kind of a sideshow spectacle. So far though, people have been very nice and friendly, quick to present themselves who seem to never avoid saying "hi".
Milan itself is a very interesting city. It is by far not the prettiest city in Italy, but I tend to prefer places that "work" where you can actually live. The streetcar line to the center of the city passes right in front of the residence. Everywhere around here there is graffiti. I found an incredibly beautiful public pool a quick 20 minutes by streetcar from the residence as well. The facilities were gorgeous with HEATED floors in the locker room. When I compare that to Casamento I shudder at the thought of what we've done to a lot of our public facilities. The pool cost only 4 Euro for entrance to free swim and I had the lane all to myself... well, not really. I met this nice Italian girl who let me share with her, so we struck up conversation and I charmed her with my cheesy American grin and Yankee accent.
Anyway, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll have some more exciting stories in the coming days; though, here is a recap of little things I've learned this week.
1) Anyone in Italy has the right to scold you. I wasn't wearing flip flops in the locker room at the pool and got a lecture on foot hygiene.
2) Do not trust the Italian mail. Apparently, according to the Favarò's, people at the post office have a knack for stealing stuff. Elena, their daughter, recently got married and they sent out little candies with their thank you notes.... only half of them arrived.
3) There is nothing more enjoyable than a good ride in a streetcar; I think I will be going out of my way to take mass transit.
4) There is a guy who robs and sells bikes around here. I just have to find the buzzer to his house and hopefully I'll get a decent deal.
I'll be saving my tirade for the current events in the New World for a different blog. Now, I leave you with some lyrics from a U2 song of the album, Zooropa...ponder, please.
And I have no compass,
And I have no map,
And I have no reasons,
No reasons to get back,
And I have no religion,
And I don't know what's what,
And I don't know the limit,
The limit of what we've got
Don't worry baby, it'll be alright,
You got the right shoes,
To get you through the night,
It's cold outside, but brightly lit,
Skip the subway,
Let's go to the overground,
Get your head out of the mud baby,
Put flowers in the mud baby, overground.
Global Opportunity: A Definition
The title and contents of this blog were largely inspired by an exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia. The theme was architecture and the purpose was to discuss who architects would be designing for in the future.
The [global opportunist] was defined as the following:
WORKS on remaining a student for as long as possible
LIVES where his studies take him
CELEBRATES freedom
BELIEVES one day he will settle down. Maybe.
As this seemed like a fairly adequate description of my life at the moment, I took it on as a project to document [global opportunity] in all its forms and hopefully say a thing or two about people, places and life for a new generation in a world of opportunity.
Since obviously I can't presume to speak for everyone, this is meant to be an open forum for discussion, hence the plural [opportunists]. If you are interested in posting your experiences and consider yourself a [global opportunist] as well, give me some time and I'll figure out how to make Blogger do this for all of us.
In the mean time, if you have a story, experience or observation that you wish to share in WHATEVER language, please write to me at:
matthew.arancio@gmail.com
and I will be sure to post it.
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