The Evolution

The first two weeks of my time in Milan have been veritably successful. Trying, yes – very – but also profitable. When I said in my last post that bravery and familiarity accurately describe my first week, I would add that this theme has continued and no doubt will keep up its applicability every day for a while.

There were many difficulties, emotionally and in Me vs. Milan, in the first week of my being here, and I can say that the ratio of difficulties to successes has balanced out this week. Starting this last Monday, I experienced my first slew of international classes. Each class period is two hours long (twice what I’m used to at Roanoke) and meets twice a week. I was afraid it might overwhelm me, but so far it has been tolerable. Wednesday’s are the hardest day of my week (rapid fire classes from 9:30AM to 5:30PM, with no real lunch break), but I get Tuesday’s completely off, so I have no complaints in that department.

One funny occurrence this week was Monday morning, when I got up to get ready to face the metro and go to my first class. Now, I have been complimenting the shower and how I have not had any trouble with the pressure or the temperature (both of which were constant issues during my time in Peru), and also that the showerhead was not like the widow-makers in Peru. So, naturally, come Monday morning when I have a real timetable to uphold, I go to pop in the shower, and right as I’m about to shampoo, the temperature nose-dives with the pressure falling rapidly. I wait for only a minute or so to see if it will fix itself, which it doesn’t. I test the sink – no water. I go into the kitchen – no response from that faucet, either.

Apparently there was some work going on in the apartment complex that just so happened to commence shortly after I began to shower. Go figure.

On my first day of classes, the only thing I was really worried about was making a decent impression, so of course it had to be the day that my hair was kind of greasy and slicked back into a tight bun, and I never took my jacket off due to a minor fear of stinking anyone out. You know, so it ended up being the perfect first day that everyone wants.

That aside, everything has come to me as a small battle, but those victories are so sweet, let me tell you. I had to visit the main campus this week (all my classes are in the modest international building a few streets over), and it is extremely intimidating. It’s beautiful (one of these days the sun will be out on my way to lunch and I’ll snap some photos) like the rest of the architecture of Milan, but boy is it big. I got a little lost on my way to it from the international building, and also got lost inside the main campus building, but in my wanderings I managed to locate the library, which gave me time to sit down and map out where I needed to go and how. Eventually I was able to do it, and found the cafeteria building (which is also a few streets down). I was very hesitant to try out the student cafeteria only because I wasn’t sure how it worked, though for the sake of hunger I was going to give it my best darned shot regardless of my fear.

And what’s beautiful, friends, is that as I was approaching the main doors and gearing myself up to expect some bumps and bruises and probably make myself look like an imbecile – but walk out of there with a full belly – a friend from the international building showed up directly behind me, right at that moment. She had been to the cafeteria before and was able to answer all my detailed questions on how to do it right. She walked me through it without any condescension whatsoever.

I’ve known for a most of my life that I am a visual and hands-on sort of learner, but this time in Milan has also shown me that I am a very observational learner as well. If I can watch someone do it first, I can get it down just like that (*snaps*). However, without that, I am lost like a man at sea without even a lighthouse for guidance.

My directional skills and ability to read maps have evolved oh-so-slowly, too, which is something I really need during my time here. I am not at all used to living in big cities with several streets coming off of Piazza’s (plaza’s) like a giant spider. I’m used to crosshatch roads and being able to whip out my phone, plop in “current location,” and enter where I want to go. While I’m out between my apartment and the university, I have no cellular data; therefore it is the old school, map-reading life for me. (Seriously – I’ve got one of those foldout ones and everything.) Since I did not grow up on learning to read maps, it is something I am quickly getting used to. (Refer back to my post, Carving Ruts (and Getting Stuck) for a perfect example of this.)

This morning, however, I proved that my skills are indeed evolving and that it wasn’t just a fabricated hope in my little mind. As I was gliding through the tunnels of the metro, I made a small wrong move and ended up surfacing at the wrong exit (which was my problem the first time I got lost off the metro, too). It was nearby the school, my intended destination, but not nearby enough for me to know the streets yet. So I drew out my trusty map (which I have made markings on to assist me in locating my current position) and scanned for street names surrounding me. I went astray at least twice, but found a main street I recognized and went with that.

Coming up to another Piazza, I unfolded the map again to see where I was. A kind stranger who spoke good English asked me if I needed directions, to which I said yes. (Really, who turns down directions from a native?) I told him what street I needed – that if I could get there, I would be golden. He gave me instructions and walked off after I thanked him.

It turns out I can totally botch instructions like these as easily as I do reading maps, but he had at the very least pointed me in the general direction I needed to go, so I wound and wound through the complicated little streets – and I made it! In half an hour, and mostly on my own power plus a map, I made it from an unknown place to a known!

I was half an hour late to class, but it was the first one of the semester (the professor was very forgiving) and I was just glad to be somewhere familiar and not out wandering around till dusk (like my first post details) pondering what on earth I should do.

One last thing that nearly made me fall to pieces today happened during lunch hour. I went to the cafeteria with two new friends from my only class today, and as some of you know and others don’t, I have to wear top and bottom clear retainers because I just got my braces off three months ago. Naturally I have to take them out to eat, and today I had forgotten the convenient carrying case given to prevent the misplacing of this costly appliance.

As subtly as I could, I removed them from my mouth (saliva, yay!) and placed them on my tray, tucking them behind a bowl. I was conscious of their whereabouts during the entire meal until we got up to put our trays on the tray return, and in my distraction, left them on the tray. Seconds after I had sentenced my tray to the back room to get cleaned, I realized what I had done, but it was too late – the debris of my lunch was out of sight.

I was filled with a wave of despair. It was not easy and it was not cheap to have another pair of those made, especially since I was out of the US for three more months. Without my retainers, my teeth could shift and all that time I spent decked out in braces would be out the window.

I prayed the entire way home.

And schemed and researched like a madwoman. What could I do to alleviate the situation? Or at least make it a little better? As soon as I got to the apartment, I emailed the nice ladies at the international office who have already helped me so much, and inquired about a lost and found at the university. I knew it was a huge stretch to see if anyone had set aside my weird teeth things instead of throwing them in the trash like the plastic remnants they resembled, but I had to reach out and try. It was the perfectly wrong day to have this happen, because the ladies only stay in the office during short hours in the afternoons and no one would be around to help this weekend, so I thought I would have to wait until Monday for any kind of answer – probably a no, but I wouldn’t quite give up hope yet.

In the meantime, I emailed mom and explained what had happened while researching do-it-yourself retainers that would work temporarily until I got back to the States to get a new pair. I was desperate. I would melt down an empty soda bottle and stuff that in my mouth if I knew that would help, that it would be something.

Moments later I saw a new email in my inbox – from a lady at the international office! She had called over to the cafeteria building and asked on my behalf if they had found anything bearing my description, and praise the Lord, they had! She told me with a typographical smile that someone had found my retainer and had set it aside, that I could pick it up on Monday by talking to someone in the cafeteria. She told me how to ask for it in Italian, too, which was extremely helpful.

I cried when I read the email. (For the first time in a couple days, thank you very much!) It was impossible to me that anyone would pay that much attention and notice my retainer. I had pretty much already written off any possibility of getting it back, but it’s waiting for me in the hands of someone I hope can feel the gratitude radiating off of me come Monday, because I will not be able to fully express it through words (through words she could understand, at least).

These are little battles, I know, but the results are hugely satisfying. I am one of those people who likes to do things as perfectly as I can manage the first time around, with as little mistakes as possible. Well, let me tell you, I have been forced to realize that I can’t always have things my way. On the contrary, these past two weeks (more or less) have been riddled with error after error and blunder after blunder, but you know what? I will remember very clearly not to do it that way the next time I try and not let that deter me from trying again.

Compassion and mercy are the two new words to describe these last few days – not from me, but from everyone else to me. I have been so thankful and so grateful for the understanding of those around me and the compassion that then stems from that knowledge. I am also gracious for God’s hand in all this, because I know I have acted such a fool and made an idiot of myself these past few weeks, but every single thing has turned out all right. I don’t know about you, but I have flung open the door to the potential for everything to go wrong, but it hasn’t. In the journey through some experiences it has certainly felt that way, but at the end? Relief and overall satisfaction rush through in the wake of those mistakes.

With all that in mind, I can muscle through any distasteful situation that befalls me. You got game, Milan? ‘Cause I’m bringin’ the heat!

Ciao, i miei splendidi amici!

V