Its sunday morning. The family is at mass and I'm enjoying a quiet cup of coffee in the kitchen watching BBC world news. In a little over an hour the family will come back and I will accompany them to a restaurant for lunch. I woke up fairly late this morning because I went out last night for the first time so getting the kids ready this morning was a little bit rushed! Usually I have my coffee before seeing the kids...not after. But they got all prepared in time and even had a little time to play!
On Friday I had met up with Kimberley and she invited me to come out with her and her Italian friend Luigi for aperitivo and drinks on Saturday. After a long day of helping out with the kids I got ready and was out at night for the first time! Milano is absolutely beautiful under the stars and I can't even begin to explain how nice it was to actually be out of the house at night! I met Luigi and Kimberley by the Duomo and from there we walked down Via Torino to a place that had good aperitivo. Aperitivo is an Milanese tradition. It is meant to be the appetizers and drinks that you have before dinner, but the food buffet is enough to fill you up so much you don't need dinner! The food is all included with the price of your drink and you can return to the buffet as many times as you want! The first place we went to was totally full and we couldn't get a table (which was unfortunate because it was meant to be one of the best and the food looked amazing). We found a place with a table and started in on the food....there was foccacia, bruchetta, pastas, risottos, french fries, chicken wings, cookies, etc. Luigi asked if I'd ever had Italian cocktails before and of course I hadn't so he explained some of the popular choices to me. Campari is a very popular italian alcohol, but has a very bitter distinctive taste. I decided to go with (I can't remember the name) a vodka, lime, strawberry, and sugary drink which tasted so good! After aperitivo we stopped at another bar for a drink...the whole time just talking and exchanging stories. Luigi is an engineering student at the polytechnic university here in milano. He was so friendly and his english was nearly perfect! Kim met him through a mutual friend (from australia) and said that he has really taken her under his wing, showing her the ropes of italy! (I think also being some real moral support...she still seems to be having difficulty with the girl she is working with). Talking with Kimberley and Luigi was very natural and we had very little difficulty in communicating (except trying to explain that i lived in Hawaii not Ohio...the same confusion happened later in the night, weird). In fact after talking to both of them for a little while it seemed like we could have been friends for longer rather than having just met. In fact they even invited me to go see the band the Prodigy in Copenhagen with them in November....no commitments but we'll see!
Around 11 we went down near the Navilgi district...right by the columns of san lorenzo and met up with some of his university friends. This area was incredible at night! So alive and full of energy! There were people everywhere, parties in the streets, and on the trams! I'd never seen anything like it before in my life (and never would in America...these people would all get arrested in a heartbeat for drinking in the streets etc.). We went into a park and chatted with his friends who were all very curious about America and Australia. Most spoke very good English and many of them told me about when they had visited America where they went etc. It was really good for me to start meeting Italian people my age! Everyone was so nice and the atmosphere was really fun...it also helped that it was a gorgeous night! One of the guys told me that this type of atmosphere (the parties in the streets etc.) is very unique to milan. Some cities in Spain are the only other places you will find this type of fun (I'm laughing as I write this because every time this guy used the word fun he said funny so well it was funny).
Around 1:45 I was pretty tired and the group was moving on to a different location for another party. So I headed home (it was really pretty close to where I live and I knew exactly where to go...I'm starting to know my way around milan...yay!). Luigi gave me his number and made sure I called him when I was home safely! Kim and I made plans to meet again this week...probably at the gym! All in all I'd say it was a good night. I was social and met new people, experienced new things, and most importantly I was safe (yes mom that's for you). But I really did have a good time and feel much less alone now that I've started to meet some people!
Along the same lines of meeting people...I'm pretty sure that Elizabeth from Celtic Childcare (my agency) just put my cell number on a contact list because i got 2 calls from other au pairs yesterday! The first was an Irish girl named Anie and the second was a girl who sounded german named Trudi (i think...the connection/accent was difficult). Either way it was good to start getting some contact with other people. Tomorrow I'm meeting Trudi (again I really hope that is her name because the phone connection was so bad!) by the Duomo for coffee.
Overall I'd say this weekend was a success! I have started to meet people...even Italian people! I managed to get to the gym, I had my first aperitivo experience, and no major tantrums from the kids (yet...there is still today).
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