I made it to Parma-- my future home! I came down here via 3 trains to look for apartments, explore, and meet my new bosses, and man was it a great trip. It was supposed to rain almost the entire time, but there was only a 10 minute thunderstorm the first day, thankfully! I guess Italian meteorologists are just as wrong as American meteorologists tend to be (sorry guys, but y'all crazy).
It's my last morning here now, and as I sit at Caffetteria La Pulcinella (the most adorable cafe ever), I'm excited to begin living and working in this small city at the end of the summer. Parma is a pretty flat city, so there are tons of people biking all over town. I've found that because it's small, it's also extremely easy to navigate. It's divided by a stream which was actually somewhat dry, and this stream divides the city into two parts. I looked at apartments on both sides of the stream, and I chose one on the side that seemed more city-like to me with fewer trees and more historical monuments (Philly & art history gal forever, #represent).
I also found that people here seem super sweet! I could not figure out the damn bus system and asked a woman, in very broken Italian, if the bus at our particular stop was going to another particular stop. She ended up somehow convincing me that I was in the right place and we got on the bus together and got off at my stop together. She then wrote down her name and phone number (and I think her address??) in my notebook and wished me a buona giornata. I also met a man who ran a handmade child's clothing shop and we had a great talk about his shop and my plans to move here and come back to visit him at the end of the summer. Let me be clear-- my Italian is not good, and still people were helpful and tried to talk to me, get to know me, show me apartments, etc.
Moral of the story: if you're in a foreign country and know the language even a little, try to use it! People appreciate the effort, even if your verbs aren't conjugated correctly and you're speaking slowly.
I haven't even left yet and I can't wait to come back. A presto, Parma.
