14 July 2014

I woke up pretty down.  Just a crappy morning with a long list of things I needed to do and no time to do them.  I had to borrow Meg’s tablet because I didn’t have an alarm clock anymore.  Turned that off and then was just sad.

The nice thing was that today Massimo was lecturing.  His lectures are always interesting.  He did really good job today.  I went up to the computer lab for part of his lecture because I needed to get online to check on the train tickets.  Unfortunately, I didn’t’ know any of my new passwords, but I was able to get onto my work email to answer a few more emails and figure some stuff out that way.  Told the students what had happened and choked up (which annoyed me).  But they were supportive because we all know how stressful it would be to be without a phone!

After class, we went to Milano Centrale. There is a WIND store (my Italian carrier) there and I needed to let them know my old sim card had been stolen.  He took care of if immediately and replaced my card with a new one that has the same number.  Yippee!!  Then, we went up to buy train tickets for the return home on Wednesday.  Normally I would do this online, but I wanted to get tickets for people individually so they could come home when they wanted to do so. 

In the train station, there are people (aka thieves) there to help you if you need it.  And to also help alleviate you of the burden of carrying your money and credit cards.  To say that Meg and I were frantic is a lot of understatement.  If you’re smart, it’s not usually a problem…..but we were hyperaware to where if anyone so much as glanced our way from two football fields away, we freaked out.

That and since my worthless US credit card doesn’t have a chip, I cannot use a credit card to pay.  That meant that I needed to get out hundreds of Euros to pay for the tickets.  And, the machines don’t give back more than 9.90 euros.  We were just not impressed.

Meg played bodyguard and I clutched my wallet so hard my fingers went numb.  But, we got most of the tickets we needed.  I ran out of small bills and told her I’d come back tomorrow to get them.  After that, we got lunch and then we went back to the dorms.

Back at the dorms, answered a few more emails (they multiply like bunnies, haha!) and then got to the email from the travel insurance that told me how to get to the paperwork.  I figured out what I needed to do and then started the paperwork as much as I could.  It was at that time I realized that I would need to go to the police station tomorrow and get a “denuncia” (report) declaring the theft.  I figured I would, but I was hopeful that I wouldn’t need to, ha!

yuck!  Rain :o(

After that it was time for the aperitivo at Corso Como.  This is when we go to the fashionable part of town and we go into a store to find the most expensive thing.  This year it was a gold ring for 40,000E.  Yikes!!  It is a boutique/chic store that has a lot of high-end name brand products.  It is always funny to hear people’s reactions because some of the things in the store are kind of ugly :o)

Group Selfie!

The other part of the assignment is so very tough…..we sit out in the middle of the pedestrian area and have an aperitivo and watch the very fashionable people walk by.  Last year, a couple of the girls were able to have their photos taken with the two Dolce & Gabbana owners.  This year, no such luck.  

We were all sitting outside eating and then the heavens opened up!   A couple of loud cracks of thunder and some impressive lightening and we took cover under the umbrellas over the tables.

The rest of us scuttled across the pavement and into the teeny bar area.  I figured that people would just run back to the metro, but 19 of the 20 stayed to wait out the rain storm and have fun.  There was a lot of laughter and people talking with each other, and it was an all-around great time to be out.   A couple girls said they went to two stores looking for flowers for me because I lost my phone, which I thought was super sweet.  I teared up a little!

after the rain.....nice and dry!

About 17 of us stayed out until a little past 10 and then I came home to fall into bed.  No photos today because I used my phone because it had such a great camera!

The last 24 hours have been completely tumultuous and emotional.  The phone can be replaced, but the fact that it was stolen really bothers me.  I guess it’s the memories, the convenience and the fact that IT WAS MINE!!!  That really irritates me.  Oh well…..a good night’s sleep will help.