After two years of living in the cute, small town of Opera - a municipality of Milan, I have moved to a new apartment in the city! I will miss many things about Opera - perhaps mostly the bike ride to and from work through fields of risotto and corn. I am very ready, though, for an adventure in the city. I am still a bit further south from the very center of the city than I would like to be BUT the apartment that I found ticks most of the things on my 'want' list. It's a great space and after being here for a bit over one week, it already feels like Home. : ) Here are some pictures of my open-space loft apartment:
The "bedroom" with lots of storage space behind the blinds:
AND there's a walk-in closet!!! A dream.
I never thought I would have a closet spacious enough to hang artwork in! : P
I really like the way this building is designed. It is rather new - about 2 or 3 years old. Looking at the first photo above, there is a small hallway when entering the apartment. On one side is the bathroom and the other side is the walk-in closet. Above that area is where the bed and storage space is. The rest of the apartment is one large open space with a high ceiling. I also really love the large windows with sliding doors. : )
Well, it has been over a month since I posted. It's been BUSY!
Since my lovely weekend in Lido di Jesolo, I've been in 4 different countries:
Istanbul, Turkey
Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara in Uzbekistan
Vienna, Austria,
aaaand Penfield, New York in the States
For about 6 weekends straight, I was traveling. Oh - well, one weekend I was here in Milan... and hosted my brother and his wife during the beginning of their two-week vacation in Italy!
It has mostly been fun activities and adventures and I plan on sharing photos soon.
Unexpectedly, I made a trip back home to my parents' in Upstate New York. It was supposed to be three days but turned into a full week.
My grandma (mom's mom) passed away at 94 years old. I went home to spend time with mom.
During my 2nd day home, my Poppy (dad's dad) passed away at 84 years old. I stayed the rest of the week.
There are many weird happenings surrounding all of it... the week was sad and difficult... but beyond the details and the difficulty of death, I was extremely thankful to be home. I was thankful to be with my parents and family members.
I've been back in Milan for a week now and trying to catch up on things at work. So far so good for the most part.
A few weeks before the trip home was our spring break and I went to Istanbul for only a few hours. I met a friend there and we had a long layover before spending a week in Uzbekistan! Istanbul looks like a great city and I hope to get back there -- perhaps this summer since my tourist visa is good for 180 days.
A good friend of mine from my time in Vietnam, now lives and teaches in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I decided to go see her and travel around that country for my spring break. What a trip!!
Coming back from Uzbekistan, the next weekend I was off to Vienna for a workshop on our library's catalog system. I was able to stay with another good friend from my time in Vietnam and the workshop was right at her school so we commuted to and from together.
Later that same week, my brother, Lenny, and his wife, Lexey, got into town. We enjoyed both Milan and Opera... before they were off to travel throughout Italy and see our family's cousins in both Abruzzo and Calabria.
The World EXPO has started up in Milan. I plan to post more about this too. It goes from May 1 - October 31 and 20 million visitors are expected to come through Milan for the EXPO. (Advertising and preparations have been going on since I moved here 22 months ago.) The city has done some great renovations and it is busy with visitors. (Also busy, probably because The New York Times listed Milan as the #1 place to visit in 2015... out of 52 named cities.)
Anyway... here is a song that I like and the video shows some lovely sights around Milan:
Ooooo! One more update! I have found an apartment in the city to move into this summer!!
I hosted a get-together last weekend. This is one of the first times I have hosted friends at my place... and it was a good time! ...Nice to get together with some of the other ladies in Opera for laughter and good food.
I made banana walnut muffins with Nutella swirled on top : )
Here's the start of the spread... plus coffee and tea...
and once the others showed up... the spread grew and there wasn't enough room for all of the delicious foods! Awesome : )
Mom found this GREAT apartment in Orvieto... the landlord, Francesca, is incredibly sweet and personable. She has very limited English but aims to please. She wants to make sure you enjoy Orvieto as well as the apartment. There were two spiral staircases, a master bedroom, a smaller bedroom, a cot set up in the living room, a cute kitchen, and a two-story bathroom. We loved it.
I splurged and bought a gorgeous shower curtain. I'm basically in love with it. The one thing I would change if I could, however, is the length. I wish it were a bit longer. BUT... nothing's perfect. This is close to perfect in my mind though : P
My mom even went to buy this for me in the States (I was unable to get the online purchase to work here from Italy)... and then mailed it to me! She's a superstar. Truly.
I know it's a silly thing to get so excited over... but my little apartment is cozy... and this curtain adds so much to it. As soon as you walk into the apartment, you have a direct view into the bathroom - to the tub - down the little hallway... and, well, sometimes it's the little things, right?!
It had a bunch of furniture, posters, and things that I've put downstairs in my cantina (like a storage closet)... but overall I really like it! My shipment of things arrives tomorrow morning from the States! Whoohoo! ...We'll see how different (more crowded) the apartment looks after all of that stuff is inside too.
I feel really lucking to have air conditioning AND a washer and dryer! Not all apartments have them. I do wish my balcony/windows had screens on them... as the mosquitoes are killer right now.
