My first 24 hours in Italia

My first 24 hours in Italy were very different to those 24 hours in Germany.


The first difference was that I wasn’t alone. I was picked up from the station by two teachers, they arrived 40 minutes after me because they needed to get from the school to the airport, so technically I was alone for that time but what’s 40 minutes between friends?


The two teachers were really enthusiastic and friendly. The one who was driving, L, was so into the conversation that she didn’t really have her eyes on the road much. A little scary but comforting to know that they were excited for my arrival. I found it difficult to contact my mentor teacher O while I was in preparing for this part of the year abroad and barely answered any of my questions and therefore I had the impression that she wasn’t too bothered about all of this. Maybe all of this friendliness is just temporary and their true selves will come out in time. Who knows? I hope not anyway.


They drove me to the apartment of my Host family. The area isn’t great but it’s not the worst. From the outside the apartment block looks very very depressing. It reminded me of the area just in front of German train stations where all of the Turks live. However from the inside it the apartment looks like a palace. I couldn’t believe my luck when the lady showed me around. They’ve even given me the bigger of the two bathrooms which at least triple the size of my BEDROOM at home. 
It was very scary when the two teachers left. It was just me and the guest mother, MG, and we could barely communicate. She had little patience with me trying to understand what she was saying and I couldn’t say anything of any sense. In the end she left me to unpack and went and had a lie down. 


While she was sleeping I had another look around and noticed that there was a wireless internet router. When she woke up I asked her about it but she was convinced that there was no password for it, yet my laptop wanted one. Finally she phoned her ex husband and he told her that it was on the bottom of the router “doh!”. All was good until the internet connection broke after 2 hours and didn’t come back. We still don’t know why.
I had a shower,the water temperature was very inconstant, very very annoying, but then when I tried to take the plug out of the bath tub it was stuck. I tried everything but it wouldn’t come out. I cried. I was just so exhausted and so scared of MG. I hid in my room for a bit before explaining to her what had happened. She was lovely about it and even gave me her hair dryer so that I could dry my hair properly.


MG’s son V came home and we all had dinner. he is such a sweet boy, especially for a 13 year old. Conversation at the table was not so tense. MG made us CottoLette while reminded me of Schnitzel and for afters we had Italian cheese and bread. The cheese wasn’t awful but I prefer Cheddar haha.


Today I met up with my teacher in the centre of Naples. There was bit of a misunderstanding with the time and I thought we were meeting at 10 but it turned out that she hadn’t set a time. Luckily my host family had accompanied me on the train so it wasn’t a big deal. She took me to get an espresso, my first one, a sim card and to look at the city. Naples is so different to Germany. The stereotypical Italian is laid back…well not in this city. You need to have eyes everywhere not just to look after your bag, but to make sure you don’t walk into anyone, you don’t get run over, you don’t step in dog poo. Urgh yes dog poo, barely saw the stuff in Marburg, Naples is definitely restoring the balance in the world when it come to dog poo. ITS EVERYWHERE. 


I have to mention the Mopeds. In Marburg my main worry when I walked down the street was being run over by a bicycle. The cyclists there are crazy. They don’t care that you are there, they just ring their bell and expect you to jump out of the way. Now I have the same threat with mopeds, except they don’t even warn you! Also where the hell are the traffic lights in this city. I’ve seen one pair and that’s close to the apartment.  

Lunch was back in the apartment. MG made us Ravioli in Brodo (Broth) it was lovely and after we had turkey on bread. She is being so kind to me and has finally got some patience “dimmi” (tell me) she says every time I’m struggling with my sentence.
It was making friends with people and keeping busy that got me through the first few weeks in Marburg, and it looks like the care from this family will do the same. I was sad yesterday, I had “doppelheimweh” as I called it because I missed Marburg so much, but also home. Even though I can’t access the internet on my laptop at the moment I’m not too distraught. Yes it’s an inconvenience but I know that my parents, boyfriend and friends are supporting me whether I can chat to them everyday or not.


Sorry for such a long post, there was just so much to say :)