A millionaire artist in Turin!

So! Here I am, my first day in Turin, Italy. My heart hops for adventure and curiosity. Because, finally I am abroad.

It is so funny not to understand what other people are talking about which at the same time they are trying to communicate with different sort of expressions.

In contrast, what is not so funny is to have learned the word ‘freddo’ (which means ‘cold’ translated from Italian to English). Practically, Turin was frozen, I had to learned how to go to bed with three trousers and five t-shirts because of the extremely ‘freddo weather’! In Greece when someone says ‘freddo’, she is referring about freddo espresso.

In the coming days since I arrived in Turin, I loved the fact that of getting lost so easily. Being honest, would I have ever thought about having this opportunity at the age of 21? This chance of living abroad enable me to fight my fears, encouraged me to interact with unknown people and asking the following simple question:‘Mi scusi, per via Antonio Pigafetta?’.

After one month, I gave up and I decided to replace my old-fashioned method (printed maps of Turin) by using the devil-diamond application known as gps!

In the upcoming days, everything seems to be improving, for instance weather is getting warmer. My Italian pronunciation better as well. I could relate it to spaghetti, but not al dente.

Now, properly allocated in Turin, I started with my trips outside of Turin. My first trip is in the Alps. Until then I don’t have any knowledge about snow activities. But I decide to learn how to snowboard when an old man is asking us.. : ’’Ciao, would you like learn how to snowboard?’’. We naively answer ‘’yes’’. The next days we are realizing that he is the drunk man of the hotel. Despite of this, I took my snowboard lesson. Have you ever feel like a sculpture while they are trying to move you to another position? Well, I did!

I will never ever forget my hairdresser ex-perience! This story is hiding a beautiful sur-price. Once he had already dyed my hair, he is saying to me: ‘’Ninety euros, please’’. I am kindly asking him ‘’Ninety or nineteen, Sir?’’. After the ‘’I am an artist student from Greece’’, the price is different.

About my Accademia, permit me to call it museum. What an amazing building, with those spacious classrooms! Professors can speak only Italian, so we could improve our drawing skills. In my class 90% of the students, are Chinese. My friend is still laughing at me. I lended her my pen and next days I couldn’t recognize her to ask it back.

As for the food, Turin people use to have for dinner the typical ‘’aperitivo’’. The good part of aperitivo is that you can drink anything and eat as much as you desire paying the same price. The bad part is that you need more tables for the next plates (they will give you).

Turin is an ideal city for students. It has a lot of museums, plenty of restaurants, friendly pubs, tasteful pizza, a good variety of chocolates and regular public transport. But the best of all is the position of this city. It is really close to France and Switzerland. You can take the bus and travel easily to these countries.

Life has a great meaning! Take the risk, make choices that you can support. The key is hidden in your soul. Turin is my own key. Now I can open other doors and explore this world. I am not calling it ‘’Erasmus student experience’’. I am calling it ‘’frozen happiness’’. From now on, day by day, month by month, this frozen happiness is going to warm my daily life, my dreams, my thoughts. A beautiful melody that hardly could hear, now is being louder. Do you hear it? Dark colors transferred into bright and alive ones. Can you see it? Open your eyes, child! You are not going to close them again.