Via Zizani 7B

we moved into our apartment yesterday. Via Zinzani 7B, 43052 Colorno (PR). (click bubble A then, street view...there's no construction outside, but we are the three storied yellow house - and our balcony is on the 3rd floor. yes, hulling our bags up all those stairs was quite the feat.) Our apartment is a lot bigger than i expected - we each have our own room, one bathroom, a kitchen, living room, and two balconies. the people before left us with some cleaning supplies, slow food magazines, tons of kitchen utensils and appliances, and a hair dryer which was nice so that we didn't have to buy those. each room has a ton of closet space, desk, bed with pillows and duvet, shelving and bureau. There's a washing machine (and clothes pins to hang out your knickers to dry) and a tv. i will Not being using the scale but maybe try out the bidet :o) All pretty nice for student housing! There's an IKEA close by, LIDL is the Italian version of Costco - sort of - but more importantly, the bottles of wine are all under 2 euro! and then we also went to Conad which is a supermarket that has more of a selection. it'll definitely be interesting though managing without a car; we'll have to figure out the bus system.

Tonight mum and I went to dinner with Arina (left) and Samara at Trattoria Corrieri in Parma where we had torta frita (pictured in Samara's hand: fried bread - puffy and popular with the fried funnel cake flavor but not as sweet), house made pasta with sausage, tortellin's and tagliatelli with wild mushrooms (delicious and buttery) to start and then eggplant parmesan (very light and flavorful, not pounded and breaded), and tagliate with brie and

rocket.

Mum left us after dinner and I was really sad to say goodbye, but was happy that I had nice room mates to go back with - I don't know if they'll even come close to comparing to my portsmouth roomies!! :o) xoxo she's off to ireland, but i'm really glad she came with me to help me move in, be my support and be able to see my new life in italy and everything with me for the first time.

Colorno is a lot smaller than Parma, but I'm glad that I chose to live here because the bus only runs every hour and is like 30-40 minute ride. There's a lot more flexibility living so close to the university - we are probably less that a 5 minute walk. and maybe the small town will help me focus on my studies rather than going out :o) maybe. did i mention bottles of wine for less than 2 euro??