The First 5 Days

Getting to Genova...

After having little to no trouble getting from the United States to London, Leslee and I boarded a plane to Genova. This was only supposed to be a two hour flight but turned into a day long adventure. We sat on the plane for an hour due to reported wintery weather in Genova. After taking off, I was quickly asleep and awaiting my home for the next four months. The turbulence was awful when approaching Genova and the visibility was nonexistent. Our pilot tried unsuccessfully twice to land in Genova but the weather was uncooperative. Instead we were redirected to Pisa which is about a three hour bus ride south of Genova. Luckily we had no problem retrieving our luggage and we were able to get to the villa quickly after arriving in Genova.

Snow covered the streets and cars in Genova but I was not interested playing in it, but only trying to get unpacked and settled in my new home. Our villa is almost on top of the mountain overlooking the city of Genova and its sea port. The villa consists of three stories. The first floor is the kitchen and dining area. We have a cook, Angelina, who cooks for us three meals a day but only during the week. The food is really good and you never have to worry about going hungry. The next floor is the professor's residence, office, and our studio space. Off from the studio space is our own private garden, complete with patio and fish pond. The space is planted with native plants of Genova as well as orange trees, grape fruit, and banana. It also has some familiar flora such as the southern magnolia and loquat. It is really an impressive garden with views to the sea. The third floor consists of 5 bedrooms for students and 6 bathrooms. It also includes a guest room, with a sleeping porch and private bath. The three bedrooms on the front of the house all have access to a balcony. Luckily Leslee and I were some of the first students to arrive and we were able to pick the rooms and beds that we wanted. I have 5 other roommates that are all architect majors from Clemson, of whom I did not know until I arrived. There are 16 students in total this semester all taking the same classes. It is a mix of undergraduate and graduate students in the villa but everyone will be taking the same course load. Also some of the graduate students are married and their spouses decided to come along to support their husbands and wives. Everyone is very nice and are from all walks of life but it seems that we will get along just fine.

After getting settled in, we made contact with family and friends and fell asleep quickly.

With our professor not arriving until Sunday we had a couple of days to tour around the city and explore for ourselves. The first outing consisted of us getting lost and wondering around the city for a couple of hours trying to find our way back. But as more outings continued, we quickly learned the routes and I am sure we will learn more as time goes on.

I am not mentioning the sites visited yet because I am sure we will have several trips around the city with our class. We will learn more about these sites and I will be able to explain them in much greater detail.

About the second day I realized that my new Apple computer charger was not working and that was going be a problem. I could not afford being cut off from the rest of the world (and especially Anne) for four months so luckily my classmates and I went on a trek to find an Apple store. We walked literally for miles (not yet knowing the routes of the public transit) and ran across a store called "Saturn." It was equivalent to a Best Buy for us and they were helpful but they could not help me. But they told us of an Apple store in Genova that I could go to that would fix it. I have not made the journey but hopefully in the coming days we will be in that area and I can get a new charger. For now I am borrowing a charger from Lindsey, a fellow classmate from Pelzer, SC.

We have gone out a couple of nights with a "friend of the villa". Lucca is a resident of Genova that makes it a point to meet the current students of the villa and show them around town. He took us a pizzeria which served the best pizza and beer. You can not even image the amount of toppings and options you have on a pizza in Italy. After leaving the pizzeria, Lucca took us to two places to drink wine. The first place was similar to a small library with book shelves complete with a fire place. We had a glass of red wine (Merlot) there before heading out to my favorite place so far. This next place was so cool. It was a small bar that looked like a "hole in wall" from the outside but the inside was amazing. The walls were stucco with exposed brick supporting these huge oak like beams. The floor had two round holes in the center of the room covered in glass which used to be the top of a well. Looking through these holes one could see a tiny room with a glass floor. This room was once the actual well. The floor of this room was complete made of glass and you could see water flowing underneath you feet. I tried my first glass of Chianti (not sure the spelling) wine. It supposed to be a great Italian wine that is inexpensive but really good. Lucca introduced us to some of his friends and we all had a good time.

The next night we attended a play in which I did not understand a word and was totally confused. Even though the play was an Italian tragedy I found it quite comical. Afterwards we had a quick bite to eat and a beer before going home.

Classes will begin this week and I will then know more about a daily schedule and also our travel schedule for the semester. Tonight our Italian teacher is taking us to her favorite restaurant thats supposed to have authentic Genovese cuisine.