Julia and I live on the fourth and top floor of our building that has a very Italian name, above an authentic Italian pizza shop (which is far better than American pizza, by the way) and across the street from beautiful Italian red tile roofs. The first floor is the shop, the second floor has two apartments: my professor and a double, the third floor has a double and a triple, and my floor has a double for Julia and I, and a quad for the 4 boys. The stairs are marble, and can be very slippery. I've already slipped and fallen coming down! I especially love that each landing has a different brightly-colored wall. The first landing is tangerine orange, the second floor is teal blue, and my floor is bright purple! The colors make he happy on the long walk up to my room :) The rest of the walls going up the stairs are yellow and lime green, and there's a big red picture of an abstract heart (at first I thought it was a poppy, which grow all around here!) in the bottom hallway. So colorful!
My room is a studio apartment, which means that we (Julia and I) have one room that is the kitchen, dining room and bedroom-in-one. The beds are rather small, and if she stretches out, my roommate's feet hang off the end! I, myself, have almost fallen off on occasion because they are so narrow. We now have a little bit of food in the refrigerator, and I wash the dishes every day. I also really enjoy opening the shutters every morning to let in the sunlight, not to mention I feel so cool when I open them and look out onto the bustling street below. We also have a bathroom with a teeny-tiny shower (you literally can't bend over) and we also have a bidet! Pepere asked if I had a bidet, and I told him "no" because I didn't know what it looked like. Well, Pepere, it turns out that I do! For those that don't know, a bidet is very common in European countries, and has a little faucet to wash off your rear after using the toilette. I dare you not to laugh: some girls in my group have been using it to shave their legs!
Above our apartment there is a little door that says "privato," so I don't think we're allowed up there. But there is also a skylight above the stairwell! I am really eager to sit on the landing under the bright sunlight streaming down and read my kindle. I'm still not done Sherlock Holmes! To be honest, I've spent most of my time either skyping or on blogger, but I'm not complaining. Those are the things I want to do most. Reading comes after being in the market, underneath the Italian balconies!
I love walking down the stairs and directly onto the street. We're just a minute's walk away from everything important: the university where we have classes, the river, the fresh fruit market, a convenience store where I have bought sun screen and tissues (I've been rather sick lately), and I live RIGHT next to a pizzeria, an amazing cafe, and bakery! The woman who runs the bakery is my new best friend, haha. She doesn't speak a word of English, but she is so cheerful, and we communicate using hand gestures. Julia and I bought 2 dozen cookies for the group dinner, and I loved watching her count out the cookies in Italian. Then I bought a strawberry cake-thingy for myself and my taste buds died and went to heaven!
I have just two complaints about my apartment; first, the hot water is all gone by the time I shower in the morning. I often jump around because it's so cold, so I've learned to shower at night before bed, even if it means messy hair the next day. And secondly, the noise from the traffic outside my window is unbearable! Despite living on the top floor of the building, even the shutters, windows and curtains can't keep out the shouts of the university students and the revs of the motorcycles (of which there are many). I think the noise reverberates off the buildings on each side of the street. During the day, the buses are the worst. There is a bus stop right across from our apartment. I don't sleep very well. Plus I've had a runny nose and persistent cough since I arrived. All in all though, I really do enjoy my apartment :)
This is a view of our apartment from across the street! We enter through the little door next to the blue awning, which is the pizzeria. Julia and I have the top set of windows :)
