The guilt of staying in your room: a day of organising everything

Dear Venice,

Today I decided to agree to having a chilled day, a day to dedicate myself to organising and planning my month.

I started off by posting my work online on Erasmusu: Link, then I went to find an Italian girl staying in my convent to ask for advice. She's the only girl who is studying at the same university as me.

I asked her all the questions I had concerning the credit system and the content of the courses (the workload, etc... ).

I found out that it was possible to have English credits directly by just presenting a language certificate! Frankly, if I can do it, it would save me a lot of precious time to better make the most of this city and my friends.

The eternal traveller syndrome... But on Erasmus

Today I felt a sort of pressure. The same pressure I felt during my intense travelling all around Europe!

I'll explain what I mean: when I was travelling around (2 days in one city, then onto the next one), I felt under pressure to use my precious time wisely ("I had to make the most of exploring, doing different activities in the city, because I would perhaps never go back again").

But here, since I'm staying in Venice for a few months, there's no reason to feel this pressure.

However, today I felt so guilty for staying at home and organising my room, even though it was lovely weather outside.

I feel good sitting at my desk, and I have a lot of things to sort out, yet I feel bad for not "making the most" of going out.

It's strange to put myself under pressure whilst knowing that I'll have so much time to explore and go for long walks in Venice!

For that matter, I wonder if it's something that only happens to me, or if it's common.

This cliché is so true

As it's a Saturday, we don't have access to the canteen in my convent and I was able to make my first little homemade meal.

Something I would like to mention here is that it's really surprising to see that amongst the twenty or so people who are either making something to eat (or who are about to eat) at the same time as me, 99% of the dishes are only "pasta"!

And I thought that eating pasta for every meal was a stereotype, however it doesn't seem like it is, pasta is life!

And what I found funny was to see every saucepan with boiling water and pasta of all different shapes. For everyone's taste and all different colours!

And even I wasn't about to escape this stereotype since I was planning on eating pasta as well (by using rice flour)! Anyway, I'm not going to hide the fact that I started thinking about the way to make pasta, since as I was surrounded by Italians who have made traditional pasta all their lives, I had to respect the good tradition and the good cooking. (Don't worry, they've already warned me about using Ketchup).

(Edit: after rereading this, it's true that pasta is the ultimate dish for all western students, so it's not that surprising when you think about it).

Organisation: classes, piano, and events

After eating, I finished choosing the classes I wanted to take (as I wrote in my article yesterday: Link), it took me a long time because I had to read each description carefully and find the best timetable possible in terms of the time and day.

I then sent all that to the administration office and after I concentrated on another of my concerns: where to find a piano!

On the website 'Subito Market' (it's the Italian equivalent of Gumtree), I found an advert which seemed interesting. A big electronic keyboard which I could go to look at in Mestre. But before rushing into it, I'd prefer to take my time to think about it, because I still don't know if it's worth the money, spending 70 euros on a keyboard that I'm only going to be able to use for 5 months... I'll let you know.

(Edit: I found one for 40 euros! I'm waiting to find out more information from the seller).

Then I sat back at my desk again, but this time to draw up a calendar: I listed all the important dates, the dates of events (carnival, ESN parties, university meetings... ) and I added all the deadlines for my personal projects, and there you have it! That's February sorted, and it's already full up, (but with good things only!).

Finishing the day in French

I ate with a Cameroonian girl who told me that it was crazy for her to be able to express how she feels in French. She has been in Venice for two years and she's very fluent in Italian. But it's still so nice for her to speak French!

We had a good chat, I was asking her for recommendations in Venice, and we decided to meet up again tomorrow (on Sunday) to go for a stroll.

Since I spent the day inside to organise my things and set out everything more clearly, I think I can counter-balance it with a beautiful day of walking around tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed that it's going to be nice weather tomorrow so I can see the beautiful parades at the carnival!

Thank you, Venice

• for your great atmosphere and colours,
• for having given me the chance to meet nice people,
• for offering me an enjoyable study framework.

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