Sunday 10AM: At UNI

Friday was simply a long day at Uni, once more. I had also planned to work at night, but it actually turned into a drinking binge with my flatmates. This was kinda cool. We had a lot of fun and drank a lot of wine. The next morning, I got up reasonably early (10.30) and started my day by going to a costume store. I wanted to buy and axe for Halloween and found one that was very nice. Afterwards, I went to the market to buy lots of Vegetables etc. At home, I waited for the rest of the house to wake up, so I could ask MEghan whether she had any other accessories I could use for Halloween (so I wouldnt have to buy them). Luckily, she did. I did realise, however, I had to go back to the market to buy some other accesories. I went with Cedric, this time. And afterwards we went to the cheapo supermarket. When we got home it was already 5PM. Perfect time for lunch and Cedric cooked an amazing meal of gigantic mushrooms, of some sort of dubious tree-climbing kind. We had our lunch on the terrace until about 9PM, when it finally did get a bit too cold. I must say, however, that the weather has been amazingly gorgeous the past week...
Today, I got up early to go to Uni early. After all, it is now time to do something and I know I wont get it done at home...
Btw, I have now made a final decision about what to wear on Halloween. I will be Devon, who is a character from the movie The Brotherhood (a cult gay horror movie), although I am kind of fusing him with some other characters from the movie as well.
Alright, I will now go to work.
ciao tutti,
OJ

I spent today 9AM-7PM at Uni again, working on my paper for my Income Inequality class. I am trying to prove that it is possible for ageing to have an equalising effect, using Latvia as an example and its income distribution in 2060. This is a rather hopeless task, but at least I will have a paper to hand in. Tomorrow, we will also receive our take-home for Numerical Methods... That is going to suck. Even worse, however, will be the class exam of NumMet: The teacher told us today: "Of course, you have to know all the equations by heart, you are PhDs after all!" (we are talking about 200-300 equations. And oh right, I havent really done a lot for that course yet... Well, I am really going to have to think about whether I want to invest in making the take-home exam, if it is going to be hopeless to pass for the class-exam anyway...
I did, however, buy another flight ticked yesterday: January 28, I will come to Holland again for 4 days!
Furthermore, tomorrow (technically, this would be now) is Fedors birthday: WOOHOO.
*Happy birthday to you*
*Happy birthday to you*
*Happy birthday, dear Fedor*
*Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuuu*
hihi,
ciao, OJ

To draw a cappuchino...

Yesterday, I brought Fedor to the Airportbus in the morning. The goodbye wasnt extremely bad, because we will see each other again in just over 2 weeks... When I will be in Holland. Afterwards, I was able to get to Uni early... Really early. I managed to get a fair bit of work done! This included finally bringing the Consulate's paperwork to the PhD Main Office. It finally arrived!!! A huge envelope, with inside of it the previous envelope and inside of that the envelope of before that, but it did include all my documents!!!
Last night, I started my little book of Learning Italian (it also explains things about Italy: "In Italy, to order something in a bar, you name the product..."--> OH MY GOD, REALLY I thought I would have to draw a picture!!!!
Today was another long day of working. And tonight I, once again didnt do anything...
Tomorrow will be another day of work: All very boring, I guess...
ciao,
OJ

Record breaking 11-hour lunch!

As I thought, I dint have any chance of writing on my blog, with Fedor here. The party we went to on Thursday was great! Some lovely people there and simply a fun time! Friday, I had to start class at 11, so I left early, while Fedor stayed in bed and joined me at Uni later. After some more time at Uni, we went home and chilled out for the night.
Saturday, we spent shopping. The market, some supermarkets and presents for Friends and Family of Fedor (he manages to miss 4 bdays in the week he is here). Saturday night, we were supposed to go clubbing with Cedric, but we really really couldnt be bothered. In the end, Cedric was quite happy with that, because he didnt really feel like it either! We just stayed in again and finished our Star Wars Marathon (we saw 1, 2 and 3: Damn, they suck!
We also quite wanted to go to bed early, because Sunday, we celebrated our one-year anniversary!!! Obviously, we had ourselves a champagne breakfast and all, but most importantly, we had a BBQ/Pizza lunch party. Lots of friends came over for lunch and we heated up the wood oven on the terrace again. Unfortunately, the weather wasnt looking too good, but at least it didnt rain (and it wasnt too cold). 30 pizzas, a lot of BBQ, some pasta and about 30-35 bottles of wine and spirits further, the lunch finished at around 1AM. I had already gone to bed at 11, but Fedor managed to stay out until 1. This is why I am now able to do some work, and write my blog, because he is still sleeping. I have one class this afternoon, so we will go to Uni for that. And tonight, we are meeting with Nina and Antonio, for aperitivo. Unfortunately, Fedor will go home again tomorrow!!!!!! But, in a positive light: In less than 3 weeks I will see him again, when I go to Holland for a week!
Anyway, I will now add some photos of our lunch yesterday...
ciao, OJ

Studying.... real studying...

Well, as soon as Fedor as here, I have so little time on my hands that I rarely post on my blog anymore! So, I will now actually give myself a short break from studying to write a quick msg. Tuesday, I went to Uni really early, because I knew Fedor would arrive, so I would only have half a day. When Fedor did arrive, this was obviously wonderful!!!! He took so much stuff again that I still had in Holland. It was awesome! At night, we went to a lovely chinese restaurant in Chinatown.
Wednesday we slept a bit late and went to Uni for a quick pizza lunch and some studying (actually, I went to class and Fedor studied). At night, we simply stayed home and chilled out.
This morning, we got up early again, because I had to be at class at 9 o'clock. Fedor is simply studying again all day, while I went to that class and will be studying until 16.30, when I have another class. Tonight, we will go the Fashion Cafe, where there is a big party. Michele will be DJing, and everyone will be there: it will be great!!! Unfortunately, I do have to go to class tomorrow at 11, but that will be fine!
Alore, arrivederci!
OJ

Quick post

I am gonna have to make this a quick post, because my network is very instable today and I dont know when I will be thrown off again!
Today, I went to Uni (I love my new way of going Uni: I dont have to transfer at all... So I can get a lot of time into reading Gianbattista's New Science (of which all my Italian friends tell me I am completele insane for reading it. They wouldnt even be able to read it in Italian, let alone in english)
Arrived at Uni at 8.45 for a working class in Numerical Methods. In the afternoon, there was a lecture in Numerical Methods (darn, its boring), and the rest of the day was spent on my paper for Income Inequality.
At 19.30, I went home again. To prepar for tomorrow: FEDOR WILL BE ARRIVING!!!! I am soooooooooooo looking forward to it! I cant wait to see him again. I will go to Uni early to get some work done before he arrives, because he will be here for a WHOLE WEEK!!!! WOOHOO.
Anyways, I hope to be able to post this post, without the network crashing before me again!
ciao, OJ

Things I love

The past two days, I have hardly been outside the house. I have been trying to get two programmes to work on my computer and I have been working on some data. Unfortunately, this didnt all go well, even though I need to write a paper about all this pretty soon. Tomorrow, I will try to do all this at University, where the computers are significantly better than my laptop is. This might increase my chances of getting things done.
I also just wanted to mention that there are two companies I absolutely love. Companies that are innovative, customer-friendly and simply brilliant. The two companies I mean are Google and Amazon.
Google is obviously most well-known for its search engine, but a rather recent feature was Google Earth. This feature enables you to get a satellite picture of the entire world, down to the detail that I can recognise the car of my former landlady in Sydney!!! Unfortunately, not everything has been loaded this well, but it is exactly this level of detail that has led India to actually think that Google might be helping terrorists!!! A more recent awesome feature that Google has launched is the weblog search engine. This is another amazing Google feature!!!
Amazon, on the other hand, has wholly different cool features. Apart from the incredible convenience of being able to order everything over the Internet, the single one thing I love most about Amazon is its Recomendation List. Amazon automatically generates a range of recommendations on the basis of past purchases. And, to be really honest, these recommendations are always incredibly good! I have already found so many books/DVDs I own and love in the recommendations list. I also have ordered lots of them!!! I simply want to say: I am impressed!
ciao, OJ

Discoveries...

Today, it was quite a challenge to rise from my bed and prepare to go to Uni. I did so, anyway. I had to go to class, so I had to go to Uni. I received great news there, because one of my exams has been cancelled. There was going to be an exam and a paper for my inequality course, but now the exam has been cancelled! So I have only one exam in 3 weeks!
After class, I arranged some more bureacracy and had lunch with the girls. Afterwards, I decided to try out another route home... I live just North of the City centre, the University is just south of it. The circular tram comes past both. I had taken the west-route once, but it took about an hour. Normally, I take the metro and then the tram, which takes about half an hour. Today, however, I wanted to try the eastern route. And it turns out to be really fast (on the map it appears to be a reallly long way). It took less than 25 minutes, and I didnt have to transfer even once! Finally, it also reduces my chances of being victimised in a terrorist attack, because I dont have to go past the prime target metro station anymore! Finally, I also discovered that I live really close to the Republica Metro Station (which is a different line than my normal Garibaldi station)!
At home, I helped cleaning for a while and chilled out afterwards. I will now continue to do so.
ciao, OJ

Pizza Party @ Via de Cristoforis

Today, I went to Uni at 9, which gave me a lot of time to work. I wasnt as productive as I wanted to be, unfortunately. But I finally did have a brainwave and a revelation at the end of the day, so at least I do now where I am going... I had a lovely lunch, with a few people, and worked more after this. At 16.30 I had an extremely boring class in Income Inequality (I should really find out what the official subject is, because Income Inequality is not actually it...) until 18.00.
By the way, here's a cool feature about Milan. We get to choose our own exam dates. There is an official exam week, and we were simply told to arrange all our exams to take place in that week. So, a lot of bargaining took place and I came out reasonably bad (one exam on Friday and one on Monday after that).
Anyways, my flatmate Michele emailed me thi morning that we should enjoy the weather while its still good and "we" decided to have a Pizza Party. On our terrace, we also have a sort of oven, which we can use to make pizzas. So we had a number of people over and had our pizza party. It was great (damn, these self-burnt pizza are darn good, seriously!!!!!!!)
ciao tutti!!! OJ (PS I am not drunk, just happy)

Can you feel the rhythm?

I didnt actually start crying yesterday, although I was very close once I got to the post office. Overthere, I was first told I that I was an idiot, because I didnt speak Italian. Afterwards, the lady at the desk told Silvia (over the phone) that she "obviously" couldnt do anything and that the documents "obviously" went back to Holland again. Or maybe, they didnt, but she couldnt possibly know, or try to find out. I simply went home, sad.
And drank with my flatmates, who could understand my sadness (seriously, changing my email address was simply as low as one could possibly go).
Today, however, I started with fresh courage and went to my first class at 9. Afterwards, I tried to use a computer programme, which was protesting quite a lot against me. But I managed to kind of use in the end. At around 20 o'clock, I left the University (I am finally getting into a working rhythm again) to watch Italy-Moldova with Bjoern. The match ended 2-1 and it sucked. I mean, seriously sucked... So now, I am home and will go to sleep. I did, btw, manage to reach the Consulate. I will pay them an additional 15 euros and hopefully my documents will now actually arrive (having it sent to the University, this time). In addition to that, they will also send a fax with the most important details to the University, to make sure I am not actually kicked out of the programme by force!
Bonnenotte, OJ

I will start crying soon...

Seriously, the whole world is after me...
I finally received an email of the Consulate (on my Yahoo address, instead of my Uni address), saying they have tried to reach me a few times, but that me email address appears not to work (even though they used it last week). It also included the service number of the parcel. So I then tried to find out which post office it should be. Unfortunately the 'post-office-finding'-feature of the website of Poste Italia did not work. Instead, Silvia called them, but the registration number I received was invalid. Instead, I went to the website of the Dutch post. This website has an online tracking service, great! Unfortunately, this additional service is only available for normal mail, packages, blablabla, but NOT for registered mail... So Now I called my brother, who will call the Dutch Post and then get back to me.
In the meantime, I have tried to find out why the Consulate email didnt arrive. The reason for this is that they have CHANGED my email address, without telling me!!! So, in conclusion, I will now have my ass kicked because the documents arent here, and they arent here because the Uni fucked up my user account. This is pissing me off.
Obviously, the fact that I was sitting in front of the computer half the morning, waiting, didnt really help either. I was waiting, because there was no electricity. And when the electricity came back, the central server was offline, so I couldnt do anything either!
Finally, I am trying to get something working on Amazon, but it doesnt. So I sent them an email, saying what I did and asking what else I should do. I then received an email back with the exact steps I had just described as completed!!!
I AM NOT HAPPY
ciao, OJ

A Jacobian matrix is totally different from a Jacobian-Matrix. Busy man, that Jacobi...

This morning, I managed to get an early start, leaving for Uni at around nine. This was quite pleasant, because I was actually able to get some work done today. Of course I did have to go to two classes in Numerical Methods for Macroeconomics today (shoot me now, please... PLEASE), but I survived them.
I wonder, however, whether I will survive my confrontation with the PhD director. Officially, I had to hand in my paperwork in July. I got a 2-month extension until the 15 of September. When I still didnt have everything ready, I got a final extension, but he really really wants everything to be done by the 14th... aka. This Friday!!! Of course, my paperwork IS ready, but I just seem to be unable to get hold of it. The Consulate in Amsterdam has sent it for the second time, last week, but it hasnt arrived. Unfortunately, the Consulate has also lost its ability to read email. So they do not respond to me (and I know they dont answer the phone either), and I dont know where my diploma is!!!! This is starting to PISS ME OFF!!! I think I will actually ask the PhD director to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, to see if they are able to kick someone's ass... I hope so, anyway!
On a wholly other subject, I have discovered another significant difference between Italians and e.g. the Dutch. The Italians do not appear to like salty snacks! In a random supermarket (not so big), sweet snacks occupy about 10-20% of the space. This is quite a bit more than in Holland. Salty snacks (crisps, nuts) take up about 1% of the space. In fact, my normal supermarket (which is relatively well-stocked: they have at least 40 kinds of pasta) has 1 brand of crisps, in 3 flavours. No nuts, no other salty snacks. I reckon this is weird.
ciao, OJ

Some people can knit ... and tomato *June Whitfield*

This Sunday was another lovely sunny day. I stayed in, however, to study. I was also waiting for Fedors Skype, as he was visiting my brother today. I finally got skyped at the end of the afternoon and talked to Fedor (and Lars, Rachel and Leah)... Very nice. For the rest, I didn't do much today.
However, I will use this opportunity to clarify what I mean if I say Aperitivo. Quite a few people have MSNd/emailed/said to me this weekend I partied so much, and I finally understood where the confusion comes from (because I have only been out twice in the past 5 weeks: not really big partying). It is the concept of the Aperitivo. The Aperitivo is an Italian custom of a bit of eating and a bit of drinking in the early evening, before going out for dinner around 10 or 11pm. In Milan, the concept of the Aperitivo is interpreted differently though. Here it means that you can go to a bar (until 10pm mostly) and if you order a drink (a beer or cocktail) for about 5-7 euros, you get to eat for free. In fact, this is the cheapest food you can get in Milan. Going to the supermarket will cost you more than that... Even without a cocktail! So when I say I go to an Aperitivo, it just means I grab a bite to eat.
Well, this has been quite enough again for today. I shall now go to bed to be up and running again tomorrow!
ciao, OJ

The Sun actually exists...

The weather finally cleared up today, after nearly a week of torrential rain... I got up much later than I planned to, at 12. I quickly went to the market to get some fruit and then went downtown to actually do some shopping (for the first time). While enjoying the weather, I analysed the shops. This was quite difficult, as I was not the only person who decided that it was a good time to go shopping. In fact, most of Milan apparently decided that the past week of cold rain made them realise that today was the perfect day to stock up on winter clothing... In other words, it was incredibly busy. Bjoern joined me, later, because he also needed to purchase something. He succeeded, and so did I: I bought 2 nice scarves, which made me really happy! They will be very comfortable and enjoyable.
After this small victory, I went home to rest for a bit. Tonight, there was football, so we went to a bar at the Naviglio Grande to watch the embarrassingly difficult victory of Italy over Slovenia. 2/3 of the bar was filled with Dutch people, however, so I also got live updates of how the Dutch team was doing against the Czech Republic... (excellent, that is)
And now I am home, and I will go to sleep and get ready for a day of studying tomorrow.
ciao, OJ

Friday....the weekend is here.

Today, I started by going to my D'Ambrosio class in Income Inequality. It turned out to be a private class, because everyone else's trams got stuck in a downtown demonstration. Halfway, the rest of the class did turn up however (mind you, the rest of the class is a total of 3 people). The lecture was rather good though, mostly. After lunch I went home again, because I wanted to find the cheap supermarket Meghan described. And I finally found it: It is like Aldi... Absolutely amazingly cheap (In Holland comparable to Albert Heijn prices), but no service. Which is fine by me! I did manage to buy a package of Pringles, however. This is quite rare in Italy, because Italians apparently do not like salty snacks... In a big supermarket, they will have two entire stands of sweats, but only 4 different types of salty snacks... weird....
So I enjoyed myself there, before going home and studying some more. At. 20.30, I went for an aperitivo at the Naviglio Grande. There was supposed to be some international student party as well tonight, but I didnt want to go there. However, at the Aperitivo, Max and Bjoern convinced me I should. So we went to my place, because I had to change and then walked towards it. However, the staff was rude and it was extremely expensive (hmmmm, maybe I do not want to pay 15 euros to go into a bar which is half-empty and which will close in 45 minutes.....).
So instead we actually went to the bar I was on Wednesday: Fashion Cafe. Isn't it great to go to places, where you meet friends and acquaintances at random. Well, Fashion Cafe is kinda like that. I even met Lara, the girl who used to live in my room and now lives in Geneva! It is such a small world.... isnt it?
But anyways, Now it is time for bed. Because I should sleep.
And tomorrow will be my first (cloth) shopping since I live in Milano: I will buy a scarf. I need it, because it is so fucking cold all the fcking time!!!!!
*today is the sixth day of rain*
ciao, OJ

Once upon a day, there was a post

I had written a post about what I have done today (not a lot, to be honest), but through some sort of a freak connection problem, I have now lost the post. I will summarise it, but I cannot be bothered to write it again: Today, I worked and followed a class until 6PM. Afterwards I went home to fight with my computer and my internet connection
ciao! OJ

One more step to go...

Today, I started by taking Silvia to.... the Ufficio Municipale!!! It was very nice, the people were very friendly and they gave me nearly 2 hours to work on my verbs... Arriving there and hearing "There are currently 104 people waiting in line, please take a number" didn't seem so promising, but in less than 2 hours, we got our turn. And, this is the surprising bit, quite easily got me a Declaration of Residence... Only temporary, of course, because an officer of the local residential services department will come to my flat unanounced and check whether I really live there(whats he gonna do? Take fingerprints?). But I did get my conditional declaration, which now enables me to enrol at the local Medicare office! Woohoo!
After this, I went to Uni and studied. I didnt have any classes today, so I simply read a number of articles and tried to pick up on old research (Yes Mark, I will send you an email tomorrow). Tonight, I went to Michele's first night as a DJ at the Fashion Bar. Meghand and I felt it was our obligation as flatmate and girlfriend to go and see. It was quite enjoyable, actually, and there were a lot of people from the fashion school...
Btw, did I already mention that I had contact with the Consulate in Amsterdam and that they tried to send my documents, but they returned to Amsterdam as "Undelivarable". They have sent them again, last Monday, but I am worried they might never arrive. And I do have the PhD Director's firy breath in my neck at the same time... My point is: If anyone would ever try to send me anything, please let me know in advance... (which reminds me, Amazon's replacement DVD, which was sent because the previous one was stolen at the post, arrived yesterday... Woohoo)

ciao, OJ

*I just can't hide it*

So yesterday, I was still a mess: totally fucked... Just like the weather!

Today, however, I simply had to be better again, because I had to go to the IMF recruitment officer's presentation. Not that I am looking for a job yet, or anything, because I will have to finish my PhD first... But it does give you something to look forward to. It is just great hearing the description of the perfect job. Exactly the things I want to do (research, but focus on the policy implications, help the poor, guide the blind and travel a lot!) and then hearing what a "competitive salary" comprises nowadays. A "competitive salary" apparently means a starting salary of 85 thousands dollars a year. AFTER tax!!! Plus fantastic secondary benefits!
Anyway, I am not there yet. Not even close. Not even remotely close... These are highly selective jobs given to the best PhDs, blablabla, but just the fact that these recruitment teams are paying a special visit to Bocconi, already seems like a positive starting point. Let's just say: it is not impossible to be playing in that kind of field when I am done (or even when I am not done: to do a 3-month internship for 4500$ a month net, with benefits).
Well, I was quite excited about all this. I wasnt able to ask any questions, if I had had any, because I hardly had any voice at all anymore. The lecture in Numerical Methods in Macroeconomics was horrible as always, after which I went home and back to bed...
Buone notte!
OJ

Rain, rain, rain

Why do I even plan to go to bloody Como anyway? Due to my plans to go there (I actually blame myself, and hoping the rest of the city won't find out), it has been pissing it down with rain again today. And worse, I think the Gods are trying to teach me a lesson: apparently the rain isnt going to stop for another week...

Another consequence of the weather (or whatever), is that I am now kind of ill. I have a horrific cold (including a fever, I think) and havent really been able to get out of bed today. I have already watched 2 seasons of Sex & the City (i.e. 24 episodes)... They are Meghans and I figured that there must be something good in them, considering the number of people that watch the show!

Well, I am just going to watch some more S&TC and go to bed early today. I hope to be better tomorrow...
ciao, OJ

Two quiet days...

Yesterday, I had a real normal-life day. It may have been one of the first days that I stopped feeling like I was on holiday, but felt at home instead. I simply went to Uni for a few hours until I went home to have dinner and chill out with my flatmates. Totally unexceptional, apart from the feeling of being at home, which I felt strongly yesterday. I no longer feel like a visitor in my flat...
Today, being Saturday, I stayed in bed late. Afterwards I went to the market, where I didnt get screwed for the first time... At the end of the afternoon I went to the INternational Foodstore with my flatmate Meghan and her friend Emma. It was great, especially because Emma bought ingredients to make an absolutely gorgeous Coconut Soup. And she made it afterwards, so that was brilliant. Monday will be my first test in the house, when I will cook for them. I am going to cook Mexican food, because I could not think of anything else. Cedric and Meghan are both great Asian cooks and obviously Michele knows more about Italian food than I do. And additionally, there is not much one can actually get overhere. I would like to make Indonesian food, but the ingredients are inobtainable. So I will wait for Fedors arrival, because he will take Indonesian ingredients along...
Tonight, I was supposed to go to a party, but I cant really be bothered. So I stayed at home, considering my options for tomorrow. I had finally decided to go to Genoa tomorrow, with Bjoern. But I then discovered how expensive it was to do so. So I changed my mind and we will go to Como instead... And I will go, no matter what the weather will do, even though the weather automatically seems to turn bad whenever I plan to go to Como...
Anyways, I am obviously enjoying myself still. So goodbye for now...
ciao, OJ