After some delay, I finally moved into my flat last night. I'm now a resident of Via Eleonora Duse, and I have the set of keys to prove it! So far, things are going swimmingly.
The flat itself is enormous, or as enormous as a place without a proper sitting room can be. We have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and one large, L-shaped hall/kitchen/living room space. The bathroom alone is bigger than my room in Loopeng! Of the bedrooms, I have the larger one, the tradeoff being that I only have one window, but my, what a window! It fits the scale of the apartment and is quite large. It is both screened and shuttered. Soon, I hope to invest in some curtains.
I am not living with other SAIS students, but rather an Italian girl who has lived in this very flat for some time. She's still away on her summer break, but I'll meet her next week. So far, moving into an already-occupied flat has been a great blessing. While other SAISers hunt for furniture and try to figure out how to get internet access at their apartments, I walked into a fully furnished flat with WIFI. I was fully moved in as soon as I emptied my suitcase in the closet! It could not have been easier.
What could be easier is my commute to school. I walked both ways today, in the August heat, and it was rather brutal. It took exactly twenty-five minutes each way, as Google predicted. Hopefully it will become more pleasant as the weather cools down. The walk, while enjoyable in the sense of getting a bit of fresh air, is not particularly scenic. I may as well be in New York, or Cleveland, or Kimberley. It's terribly nondescript. While SAIS is on the edge of the medieval city center, and most students live further into that area, my flat is in the opposite direction. I am deep within the modern section of Bologna, and while it is brighter, cleaner and less crowded than the city center, it lacks a certain mystique. Oh well, on hot days, the fact that I am one of a very few students with air conditioning at home more than makes up for it!
School is definitely picking up at this time. I have my first problem set in economics due tomorrow, and plenty of Italian homework to keep me busy as well. Oh, and then there's SAIS's secret third required course: Professional Development. I have assignments for that as well. I roll my eyes at quite a lot of it, but frankly job placement is the only possible justification I can think of for their outrageous tuition fees, and I do appreciate them taking it so seriously.
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